Brief History of Buddha
Buddha
Sanskrit: Awakened) in Buddhism is any being who has become fully awakened (enlightened),
and has experienced Nirvana.
In the Pali Canon and the Theravada tradition, the term 'buddha' usually refers to anyone who has become enlightened (i.e., awakened to the truth, or Dharma) on their own, without a teacher to point out the Dharma, in a time when the teachings on the Four Noble Truths or the Eightfold Path do not exist in the world. By comparison, those who awaken due to the teachings given by a Buddha are known as Arahants, a title also applied to Buddhas. Arahants and Buddhas are the same in the most fundamental aspects of Liberation (Nirvana), but differ in their paramis.
In the Mahayana tradition, the definition of Buddha extends to any being who becomes fully awakened. The Theravada Arhant would be considered a kind of Buddha (although not generally by Mahayana Buddhism itself) in this Mahayana sense, and this usage also occurs once in later (12th century) Theravada literature.
Buddhists do not consider Siddhartha Gautama to have been the only Buddha. The Pali Canon refers to many previous ones (see List of the 28 Buddhas), while the Mahayana tradition additionally has many Buddhas of celestial, rather than historical, origin (see Amitabha or Vairocana as examples). A common Buddhist belief across all Buddhism is that the next Buddha will be one named Maitreya (Pali: Metteyya). [ Source: Wikipedia ]
Gautama Buddha; Shakyamuni
Siddha-rtha Gautama (Sanskrit; Pali: Siddha-ttha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher
from ancient India and the founder of Buddhism. He is universally recognized by Buddhists as
the Supreme Buddha (Samma-sambuddha) of our age. The time of his birth and death are uncertain:
a majority of 20th-century historians date his lifetime from circa 563 BCE to 483 BCE,
but some more recent scholars have suggested dates around 410 or 400 BCE for his death.
This alternative chronology, however, has not yet been accepted by other historians.
Gautama, also known as Shakyamuni (“sage of the Shakyas”, in Pali "s'akamun.i"), is the key figure in Buddhism, and accounts of his life, discourses, and monastic rules were summarized after his death and memorized by the sangha. Passed down by oral tradition, the Tripitaka, the collection of discourses attributed to Gautama, was committed to writing about 400 years later.
Conception and birth
According to tradition, Siddha-rtha was born more than 200 years before
the reign of the Maurya king As'oka (273–232 BCE).
Siddhartha was born in Lumbini, Ancient India now in modern day Nepal. His father was King Suddhodana, the chief of the Shakya nation, one of several ancient tribes in the growing state of Kosala; Gautama was the family name. His mother, Queen Maha Maya (Ma-ya-devi-) and Suddhodana's wife, was a Koliyan princess. On the night Siddhartha was conceived, Queen Maya dreamt that a white elephant with six white tusks entered her right side, and ten lunar months later Siddhartha was born from her right side (see image right). As was the Shakya tradition, when his mother Queen Maya fell pregnant, she returned to her father's kingdom to give birth, but after leaving Kapilavastu, she gave birth along the way at Lumbini in a garden beneath a sal tree.
Early life and Marriage
Siddhartha, destined to a luxurious life as a prince, had three palaces (one for each season) especially built for him. His father, King S'uddhodana, wishing for Siddhartha to be a great king, shielded his son from religious teachings or knowledge of human suffering. Siddhartha was brought up by his mother's younger sister, Maha Pajapati.
As the boy reached the age of 16, his father arranged his marriage to Yas'odhara- (Pa-li: Yasodhara-), a cousin of the same age. In time, she gave birth to a son, Rahula. Siddhartha spent 29 years as a Prince in Kapilavastu, a place now situated in Nepal. Although his father ensured that Siddhartha was provided with everything he could want or need, Siddhartha felt that material wealth was not the ultimate goal of life.
Great Departure
At the age of 29, Siddhartha left his palace in order to meet his subjects. Despite his father's effort to remove the sick, aged and suffering from the public view, Siddhartha was said to have seen an old man. Disturbed by this, when told that all people would eventually grow old by his charioteer Channa, the prince went on further trips where he encountered, variously, a diseased man, a decaying corpse, and an ascetic. Deeply depressed by these sights, he sought to overcome old age, illness, and death by living the life of an ascetic. Siddhartha escaped his palace, accompanied by Channa aboard his horse Kanthaka, leaving behind this royal life to become a mendicant. It is said that, "the horse's hooves were muffled by the gods" to prevent guards from knowing the Bodhisatta's departure.
Great Enlightenment
After asceticism and concentrating on meditation and Anapana-sati
(awareness of breathing in and out), Siddhartha is said to have discovered what Buddhists call
the Middle Way—a path of moderation away from the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification.
He accepted a little milk and rice pudding from a village girl named Sujata, who wrongly believed him
to be the spirit that had granted her a wish, such was his emaciated appearance.
Then, sitting under a pipal tree, now known as the Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya, he vowed never to arise until he had found the Truth. Kaundinya and the other four companions, believing that he had abandoned his search and become undisciplined, left. After 49 days meditating, at the age of 35, he attained Enlightenment; according to some traditions, this occurred approximately in the fifth lunar month, and according to others in the twelfth. Gautama, from then on, was known as the Buddha or "Awakened One." Buddha is also sometimes translated as "The Enlightened One." Often, he is referred to in Buddhism as Shakyamuni Buddha or "The Awakened One of the Shakya Clan."
Great Passing
According to the Mahaparinibbana Sutta of the Pali canon, at the age of 80,
the Buddha announced that he would soon enter Parinirvana or the final deathless state abandoning
the earthly body. After this, the Buddha ate his last meal, which, according to different translations,
was either a mushroom delicacy or soft pork, which he had received as an offering from a
blacksmith named Cunda. Falling violently ill, Buddha instructed his attendant A-nanda to convince
Cunda that the meal eaten at his place had nothing to do with his passing and that his meal would be
a source of the greatest merit as it provided the last almsmeal for a Buddha.
At his death, the Buddha told his disciples to follow no leader, but to follow his teachings (dharma). [ Source: Wikipedia ]