The Life of Buddha
Part A
- Maya's Dream
- Queen Maya dreams that a great white elephant descends from the heavens into her womb where its arrival is celebrated by many gods. She wakes up and has the king summon a group of brahmans to interpret the dream. They are ecstatic to learn the queen's child will be the new buddha!
- Birth of Siddhartha
- The queen wanders through the beautiful gardens and woods near the palace where she gives birth very easily to a baby boy whom they name Siddhartha.
- Asita's Prediction
- Asita visits the king to let him know that he heard from a divine voice that the king would bear a son who would have the true knowledge and save everyone from the torment of rebirth. Asita notices that the child has the marks of omnipotence and states that the child's tiny body barely differs from that of a god. Asita cries because he is old and knows he will die and therefore miss out on Siddhartha's great life.
- Siddhartha at the Temple
- After the child's birth the kingdom flourished and prospered, but Queen Maya died only 7 days after the birth. Maya's sister, Mahaprajapati, is left in charge of the child. She tries to adorn him with jewels, but they do not look right. She is told by a goddess living in he garden to take the jewels off because if the Earth were made of gold, one ray of light from the child, would dull it.
- Siddhartha is taken to the temple of the Gods where all of the statues of the gods came to life and fell to their knees at the feet of the child before shouting his praises.
- Siddhartha's First Meditation
- Visvamitra takes Siddhartha as his student but soon realized there was nothing he could teach the boy. Siddhartha left, heading into the country towards another village. He stopped to rest and watch some peasants who were working in the field. As he sat, his mind wandered and he became lost in meditation. Then, 5 hermits saw him and exclaimed that he must be a god! They ran to the king to declare how blessed the son was. The son meditated for a long time, and the shadows of the trees around him lengthened and moved. However, the shadow of his tree remained the same. The king wept with joy at the sight of his son in meditation for he was truly a sight to be seen.
- First Encounter
- Siddhartha has an irresistible urge to leave the palace so he took off on a gold chariot. Soon he came upon a desolate old man with sad eyes. He wondered why the man looked the way he did and the chariot replied that old age ruins beauty and vigor while causing men to lose their memory. The prince is terrified and asks if he too will grow old to which the chariot replies yes and the prince freaks out and returns home with the fear of old age in his heart.
- Two more Encounters
- Next Siddhartha comes upon a very sick man and asks what is going on with him. The charioteer answers that sickness has made the man weak and ill. The prince trembled in fear and returned to the palace. The charioteer tells the king what happened and the king flips out and punishes the man who was supposed to clear the streets. He ordered that all the cripples, ill people, and old people be driven from the city so Siddhartha wouldn't see them. The gods don't like this so they made a corpse and four men to carry it who were all crying. Only Siddhartha could see them and he asks the charioteer what is happening. Siddhartha learns what death is.
- The Fair Maidens and Gopa's Dream
- Siddhartha's friend Udayin gathers a throng of beautiful women to dance in the garden and captivate the prince but they were all awkward, quiet, and timid because they were intimidated by his majestic splendor. He gives them a pep-talk and hey kick it into gear. They try everything to seduce and excite the prince but to no avail as he was thinking about death. He asks why he should partake in their beauty when he knows that everyone gets old and dies. Everyone retires to bed feeling down, little sleep was achieved that night.
- Gopa (Siddhartha's wife I think) has a dream that all sorts of awful things happen around her naked self and she runs to her husband asking for guidance. He soothes her fears saying that the things she saw were all good signs!
- The Great Truths
- Siddhartha goes out to the country to meditate. He meets a monk who is actually a god and is inspired. He decides to leave the palace and become a monk. He goes to his father the king and asks him to support his wish to leave. The king cries and pleads with him not to make such a huge decision at such a young age. Siddhartha says that if the king can promise him that life will not end in death, sickness will not ruin his health, age will not ruin his youth, and misfortune will not destroy his prosperity then he will stay. The king exclaims that his son is asking too much! In frustration and with tears in his eyes, he returns to his part of the palace. He sees his wife and her companions singing, dancing, and laughing but does not care. They all go to sleep and the prince declares that they are all dead because all of their spark seemed to be gone. With that he leaves and grabs a horse to get outta there.
Part B
- Siddhartha Leaves
- Siddhartha boards his father's horse Kanthaka and in the quiet of the night they silently slip away.
- Siddhartha the Hermit
- Siddhartha gives his jewels and horse to Chandaka before telling him to take them back to the palace and thanking the horse. Chandaka pleads with him to not leave behind everything. Siddhartha then took his sword and threw it into the sky where the gods caught it. He also switched clothes with Chandaka, giving him his beautiful robe. Then he set off for the hermitage and Chandaka left to take everything back to Kapilavastu.
- Gopa and Suddhodana Grieve
- Gopa and Suddhodana awake to discover Siddhartha has left. They are struck with grief and can no longer take pleasure in anything. the horse returned to the stables but was so saddened that he died.
- Arata Kalama
- Siddhartha reaches the hermitage of Arata Kalama and soon the hermit asks him to teach alongside him for Siddhartha knows the law as well as he does. Siddhartha questions if he is on the right path. Surely Arata's doctrine is right and his followers will go to heaven, but when they die humanity will still be subject to old age an death. These men will live a life of suffering, grow old, and die just like any others and the world will continue to fear death and do everything they can to be reborn in a positive life. Siddhartha informs Arata that he will not teach his disciples and that he is going to leave. He then sets out for the country of Magadha where he stayed on the slope of a mountain and meditated.
- Siddhartha and King Vimbasara
- Siddhartha enters the city of Rajagriha where he is spotted by King Vimbasara who was confused why a god of sorts was begging on the street. He ordered that Siddhartha be followed so he could know where he was dwelling. The next day the king traveled to the hero's retreat. He asks him many questions about his quest and finally proclaimed that when the hero was enlightened he should come teach the king his ways. Then he left and went to visit Rudraka, son of Rama but learned that his teachings knew nothing of the law just as Arata's so he traveled on followed by 5 of Rudraka's disciples.
- Siddhartha Deserted by his First Disciples
- Siddhartha came to a beautiful area where he became so enthralled in meditating that he stopped breathing and fainted. The gods saw this and freaked out. Was he dead?! Maya saw what had happened and cried before spreading flowers over her son before he spoke to her. He told her not to worry for he would soon attain supreme knowledge.
- For 6 years he stayed there, but true knowledge did not come to him so he left and came to a village called Uruvilva where he spent many long hours in meditation. Soon the women of the village began bringing him food which he ate happily. He gained weight and became healthy once more. Things were going well, but because he had not attained true knowledge yet his disciples left him and called him a madman and a fool.
- The Tree of Knowledge
- Siddhartha took the clothes off a dead man and washed them with help from the gods. He then fell asleep and had 5 dreams.
- He was lying in a large bed which was the whole earth with his head on the Himalaya, his right hand on the W. sea, his left on the E. sea, and his feet on the S. sea.
- A reed grew out of his navel and up into the sky
- Worms crawled up his legs, completely covering them
- Birds made of gold were flying toward him from every direction
- He was at the foot of a mountain of filth and excrement which he climbed all the way to the summit before ascending, unaffected.
- He woke up and knew that today was the day he would learn the true knowledge and become a Buddha. He went into the village to beg and received some delicious milk in a golden bowl. He bathed and ate before throwing the bowl into the river. If the bowl went upstream it meant that today he would become a Buddha, if it went downstream today was not the day. It went upstream.
- As night fell, Siddhartha walked toward the tree of knowledge. As he approached, he saw Svastika, the reaper who gave him 8 handfuls of grass in exchange for being taught true knowledge later. Siddhartha lay the grass down under the tree like a carpet before sitting down, facing the east, and saying that no matter what he would not move until he attained supreme knowledge. He crossed his legs and sat straight, preparing to wait as long as it would take.
- Mara's Defeat
- The light from Siddhartha's body reached everywhere, even the underworld, where Mara the evil one reigned. Mara's army tried to assure him that they would annihilate the soon-to-be Buddha. He called them fools and told them to leave Siddhartha alone. Mara would take care of it himself. He set out to attack, but wanted to scare the hero first. He made rain fall down with great violence but Siddhartha remained unmoved. Then he hurled blazing rocks at the hero but before they could hit him the rocks turned into flowers and fell softly to the ground. Mara then commanded his army to fire arrows at the hero, but they too turned into flowers. The army attacked, but Siddhartha's light acted as a shield and no harm came to him. The soldiers fled in fear. Mara was pissed. Why should he be defeated? He has been kind and generous to his people and they would bear witness to that. Who had Siddhartha been kind and generous to? Who would witness for him? Then, the Earth itself spoke to Mara, bearing witness to Siddhartha's generosity. Mara wept because he had been defeated.
- Siddhartha Becomes the Buddha
- Siddhartha comes to realize that ignorance lies at the root of death, old age, suffering, and despair. He comes to the conclusion that leading a life of holiness leads to stifled desire, and we cease to endure birth and suffering.
- In the morning he became a Buddha and was revered by all.
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