Buddha attained supreme enlightenment through meditation and then spent His whole life converting sentient beings. The Four Foundations of Mindfulness Sutra teaches a method of meditation to gain no-self, and to enter Nirvana.
Buddha And His Story
Buddha is not a private name; it is a title or an honorific used to refer to the Prince Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism. The term “Buddha” means “the awakened one” or “the enlightened one.” After attaining enlightenment, Siddhartha Gautama became known as Gautama Buddha or simply Buddha.
He was born on May’s full moon in 624 B.C. when His mother (Queen Maya) was passing by the Lumbini Park to return her hometown Devadaha from Kapilavastu capital. He was a Prince named Siddhartha. His father was Suddhodana, King of the Sakya clan.
Since childhood, He had manifested His extraordinary wisdom and boundless compassion. He possessed great talents for martial arts skills and for knowledge of all fields including philosophies, religious doctrines. And His greatest concern was to seek the absolute enlightenment and liberation for all sentient beings.
To bind Him to the throne, His father married Princess Yasodhara to Him when He was 16. At the age of 29, after His son Rahula had just been born, He left the city to become a monk on the night of March the 8th.
After six years of searching for teachers and practicing asceticism on His own with- out success, He chose the path of meditation. After 49 days and nights sitting motionless under the Bodhi tree in Gaya, Uruvela village, He attained Buddhahood, achieving the three supreme wisdoms, the six psychic powers, knowing all things in the universe, and having boundless compassion loving all sentient beings. He was 35 years old that year.
Since then, He had been travelling to many places to teach this doctrine of sublime enlightenment and liberation to humans and deities. Many kings, generals, Brahmin priests, merchants, even the poor, had followed Him as his devotees or ordained disciples. Many of His disciples also achieved extraordinary enlightenment.
On the full moon day of March 544 B.C., when the Buddha was 80 years old, He entered Nirvana. Many of His bone relics were found after the cremation and shrines were built to worship these relics, some of which have remained to this day. The holy Sangha, His disciples, compiled His teachings into three canons of sutras handed down forever.
Today, after countless suffering, grief, wars, and violence in human society, the United Nations has recognized Buddhism as a peaceful religion and chosen the Bud-dha’s birthday as a typical day for world religions and cultures. In 2000, the United Nations solemnly celebrated the birthday of Buddha called the Day of Vesak at UN Headquarters. Many famous intellectuals around the world have believed in Buddhism.
The disciples of the Buddha all strive to maintain absolute and limitless reverence for the Buddha, and consider that reverence as the most valuable asset to carry with them for many lives to come. Also, thanks to the absolute reverence for the Buddha, we will have countless blessings which support us on the way to enlightenment. Every day, kneeling down in front of the Buddha altar is such our true boundless happiness.
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