1. Buddha’s Path to Enlightenment

2. Vocabulary Buddha, 563-483 B.C.E., Kapilavastu Kingdom, India
King Sudodhana, Queen Maya, Brahmins’ predictions
Lumbini Garden, dream, white elephant, six tusks
Prince Siddhartha, Princess Yasodhara, Rahula
Chandaka, ascetic, alms, Mara
Palaces, worldly pleasures, desires, luxuries
Suffering, Old age, sickness, death
Renunciation, meditation, Enlightenment, self-denial
Middle Way, Bodhi tree, nirvana, spiritual peace
Buddha, Awakened One, Four Noble Truths, Eightfold Path

3. Siddhartha’s Birth
Before her son was born, Queen Maya had a dream that she was carried over the Himalayas to a silver mountain and set on a silver couch. A white elephant, with 6 tusks, walked around her and pierced her side.
King Sudodana and Queen Maya consulted the Brahmins and they said: “You are carrying a child who will be a great man who could rule the universe. But if he left royal life and saw suffering, he will become a Buddha, an Enlightened One.
Queen Maya gave birth in the Lumbini Garden. The deaf were able to hear, the blind were able to see, flower petals rained, a celestial music was heard. The child looked a few years old, could walk and talk. He said: “I am the leader of the world and the guide to the world.”

4. Royal Life in the Palace
King Sudodana wanted his son to be a great and powerful ruler. He raised Siddhartha in a world of perfect wealth and beauty.
He provided his son with beautiful gardens, houses, education, and fine food. Servants took care of his every need: silk pillows, delicious foods, musicians, beautiful dancers, gardens with warm pools and soft grass, parasols to shade him from the hot sun.
But Siddhartha was curious about the outside world. At the age of 16, he was married to the beautiful Princess Yasodara. The couple lived in perfect peace and when the prince turned 29, they had a son, Rahula.

5. First Trip Outside the Palace
Siddhartha and Chandaka see a man walking with the aid of a stick. “Why does that man look so terrible?” asks the prince.
Chandaka replies that the man is old. He tells the prince everyone’s body weakens as it ages.

6. Second Trip
Siddhartha and his driver see a man crying out in pain on the ground. “What is the matter with the poor man?” the prince asks.
The driver explained that the man was sick, and that everyone can become sick.

7. Third Trip
The prince sees a group of people walking down the road carrying a figure wrapped in white cloth.
Chandaka, his driver, tells him “Death came for that man, and one day, it will come for you too.”

8. A Fourth Trip
Unable to sit home with his thoughts about old age, sickness, and death, Siddhartha leaves the palace a fourth time. This time he meets a man who glowed with inner peace and calm. The man was an ascetic, someone who gives up his worldly pleasures such as possessions, fine clothes, money, and even shelter.
“How can you sit so peacefully when there is so much suffering around you?” asks Siddartha. The ascetic replied, “To be free of suffering, one must give up the desires, pleasures, and comforts of the world. I find peace by helping others find peace.”

9. Old Age, Sickness, Death

10. The Prince Becomes an Ascetic
Siddhartha decides to leave his old life at the palace. Chandaka takes him to the forest. Siddhartha removes his royal robes, sandals, and jewels. He cuts off his hair and puts on a simple robe. He keeps only a small bowls for alms, or gifts of food.
He begins his life as an ascetic, and meets others, who like him, want to understand the nature of the world by meditating.

11. The Life of an Ascetic As an ascetic, Siddhartha denied his body
the basic needs.
He stayed up all night without sleeping.
He sat in the hot sun without shelter.
He held his breath for long periods of time.
He fasted, or stopped eating, for many days at a time.
He became pitifully thin from lack of food. Eventually he became unhappy with this extreme way of living, and he had not yet found the key to Enlightenment.

12. The Prince Becomes the Buddha
Siddhartha learns that giving up bodily pleasures does not bring Enlightenment. He decided to seek a” Middle Path” as a path to Enlightenment.
The other ascetics left him, but he was content to be alone.
On his 35th birthday, under a full moon, he bathed in the river and rested in a grove of trees. He awoke and felt he would soon become enlightened. A grass cutter gave him 8 handfuls of soft grass, and a milk maid gave him some milk.

13. Mara’s Challenge

14. Under the Bodhi Tree
Siddhartha decides to meditate until he reaches Enlightenment. While he meditates, a wicked god, Mara, tries to tempt him by sending his three daughters named Discontent, Delight, and Desire. Siddhartha resisted them all.
He meditates through the night about how to reach nirvana, or true happiness and peace. He sees his past lives and the great cycle of rebirth. He sees the importance of karma.
By morning he becomes the Buddha, the Awakened One.

15. The Four Noble Truths
1. Suffering is present in all things, and nothing lasts forever.
2. Suffering is caused by cravings (desires and wants).
3. The way to end suffering is to give up all cravings.
4. The way to give up all cravings is to live life according to the Eightfold Path.

17. Some Thoughts