The prince had accomplished all his studies by the time he was 16 years old. It is said he was an expert horseman and archer and that soon his knowledge and skill of any subject would surpass that of his teacher.

As Siddhartha would stroll the palace grounds, an attendant would walk behind him with a white umbrella, shielding the prince from the sun and heat. His father saw to it that he was attended to by the most beautiful women and beautiful women musicians also.

At the age of 16, Siddhartha chose his cousin, Yasodhara as his main consort/wife. They were happily married for 13 years until the day Siddhartha left the palace to pursue the religious life. His life continued this way, with his wife, in all this luxury until he was 29 years old.

~*~LEAVING THE PALACE~*~

Sometime, in his 29th year, Siddhartha saw the Four Signs that would lead him into the spiritual life of a recluse. Accounts differ on how he saw them and the circumstances. Some say the Devas(gods) made them manifest before him as he walked in his garden. Others write that he encountered them on his outings with his close friend and charioteer, Channa. But, all agree on what the Four Signs were. First, he saw an old man, thus learning the truth and suffering of aging. Next, he saw a sick person and realized we all get ill and suffer at least once in our life. Then, he saw a funeral procession and the actual corpse. This was the first time he saw death. He saw the dead man. He saw the mourners. He knew it was everyone's fate to grow old and die. This stirred in him a great love and compassion for all sentient beings. The last sign was the prince seeing an ascetic - one who had renounced his life to seek enlightenment.

It was also at this time Princess Yasodhara gave birth to Siddhartha's first and only child - a son. Again, here many accounts differ. Some say his son was named after Siddhartha left the palace by the king. Some say before. Others say Siddhartha himself named the baby, which I tend to believe. Siddhartha named him Rahula, meaning "bond" or "fetter". I do not believe Siddhartha meant this in an adverse way. The birth of his son only made the prince suffer more when he did leave.

With the birth of his son, Siddhartha had fulfilled his obligation to continue the family line. Also, having seen the Four Signs, Siddhartha, finally exposed to death and suffering, was moved with great compassion for all sentient beings. If there was a way out of the cycle of birth, death and suffering, he was determined to find it.

He left the palace during the night. Entering his sleeping chamber he saw his wife and son. He wanted to pick up and hold his son, but feared waking his wife. His heart must have been terribly torn. But, he knew his wife and son would also get ill, grow old, suffer and die. He left without awakening them and avowed to return to them when he gained complete enlightenment. This vow he kept.

Siddhartha called upon Channa to accompany him and to fetch his horse, Kanthaka. Before they left the palace grounds, Siddhartha grabbed his princely long hair, worn in a bun, sheared it off with his sword and threw it into the air and said, "If I shall certainly become a buddha, may this hair stay in the sky!" And, the hair stayed.

Siddharth and Channa took off on Kanthaka and at dawn had crossed the Anoma River. Then, he cast off his princely silk garments and ornaments and gave them to Channa. He sent Channa and Kanthaka back to the palace. It's written as soon as Siddhartha was out of site, Kanthaka laid down and died out of sorrow, but was reborn in one of the heavenly realms as the god Kanthaka.

Siddhartha first studied under two masters - Alara and Uddaka respectively. However with both men he soon mastered their teachings and realized their path did not bring enlightenment. He declined becoming a disciple of both and graciously took leave of them.

Siddhartha then met up with Kondanna, who was also at one time a disciple of Uddaka's. He was living in the jungle of Urevela near Gaya in Magadha with four other ascetics. From that point on, Siddhartha took on the severest of austerities. It was believed that by ignoring the body, the mind would strengthen and enlightenment attained.At one point, Siddhartha was so emmaciated that if he pressed into his abdomen with his fingers, he could feel his spine. When he would stand, the imprint he left looked like a camel's footprint. Near death, Siddhartha realized the path he was seeking lay in neither extreme - being that of luxury or severe austerity - but in the middle. Thus, Siddhartha gave birth to the Middle Way.

He went to the river bank to wash and drink when a girl from the nearby village offered him a bowl of rice, which he accepted. In some writings, after finishing the rice, Siddhartha avowed, "If I shall certainly become a Buddha, may this bowl float upstream", and it did. Now, the five ascetics saw Siddhartha bathing and eating, told him he had broken his vows and they could no longer follow him. Some believe the five ascetics were the Buddha's first disciples. In some biographies it's said the Snake King once protected Siddhartha during meditation. As it began to rain, Siddhartha sat upon the cobra's coils and the Snake King's cobra hood shielded him and kept him dry. Taking this as a sign from the gods, the five ascetics became disciples. Despite this they renounced him and turned their back on him.

~*~ENLIGHTENMENT~*~

Siddhartha walked into a grove of sal trees. He proceeded to the base of a large pipal (Bodhi) tree, whereupon he sat and vowed not to move from that spot until he had attained full enlightenment. During his meditation, Mara (the Evil One, The Temptor) presented himself in several ways to convince Siddhartha to give up his quest. He even attacked him with hordes of demons. Yet, he did indeed defeat Mara. He spent the rest of the night in deep meditation. During the first watch of the night, knowledge of his former existences were made known to him. During the the second he achieved the "superhuman divine eye", sometimes called The Third Eye, which has the power to see the passing away and rebirth of beings. During the third and last watch, Siddhartha directed his mind towards knowledge of the destruction of all sores, cankers and defilements and he realized the truth. In his words, "My mind was emancipated...ignorance dispelled, light arose." Siddhartha had become the Buddha, the Awakened One or the Enlightened One. It's written at this momentthe heavens sang, flowers bloomed and the earth shook that a buddha had come to be.

He spent several more weeks in deep meditation and pondering as whether to teach what he had discovered. He was afraid that no one would be able to comprehend the Middle Path to enlightenment that he had found. Yet, with his great compassion, he wanted to teach to give them and us a raft that could be used to reach the shore of nirvana, complete enlightenment. It's written that the great Brahmanic deity, Sahampati, intervened. He told the Buddha to envision a lotus pond. Some lotus were still completely under water. Some had risen to just above the surface of the water while others were way over the water and untouched by it. So it is with the world, he told the Buddha. Upon hearing this, the Buddha became determined to proclaim the Middle Way.

~*~TEACHINGS~*~

It is written the first person the Buddha encountered after attaining nirvana was a Jain monk by the name of Upaka. He also met up with the five ascetics who had denounced him. They could see the clarity in his countenance and that he radiated a kind of light and glow, along with great wisdom and compassion. They all asked what teacher he had followed. The Buddha then told them he had no teacher and had attained enlightenment on his own. When asked how, the Buddha responded with his first public sermon known as the famous "Deer Park Sermon" in which he expounded the Four Noble truths and elaborated on the middle way and the Eighfold Path.

Thus began, at the age of 35, the Buddha's 40 years of relentless traveling and teaching. He acquired disciples and followers easily, numbering in the thousands. He instituted the order of monks (bhikkus) along with their vows, monastatic life, etc., which are still followed today. He also instituted an order of nuns (bhikkunis) upon the request of his aunt and a disciple.

The Buddha did, as he promised, return to his father's kingdom. The king seeing his son begging for food, door to door, on the palace grounds, was very upset until he was told this was their customary practice.

All the ladies of the court went to pay reverance to the Buddha. All except for Yasodhara. She refused, saying that the Blessed One would come to her if he thought she had any virtue in her. It is written she ahd stayed loyal to him all that time. The Buddha with his two chief disciples and the king went to see Yasodhara. She fell at the Buddha's feet and clasped his ankles and put her head on his feet. The king, Mahapajapati, Yasodhara and a large number of the Shakyas became followers of the Buddha.

The next day, the Buddha himself ordained his half-brother, Prince Nandaand his own son, Rahula, who was now 10 years old. The king, however, was troubled by this ordination and spoke to the Buddha about it. Thus, the Buddha laid down a rule regarding ordaining sons; that none were to be ordained without their parents' consent. This rule is also followed to this day. Also, Nanda and Rahula became two of the Buddha's great disciples.

~*~THE DEATH OF THE BUDDHA~*~

The Buddha and his disciples went to Kushinagara towards evening. The Buddha being 80 years old at the time. It is written he laid down on a couch between two sal trees. "He laid himself down on his right side, with one leg resting on another, mindful and self-possessed." It was the full moon of May. Ananda, the Buddha's cousin and cherished disciple, was despondent over the Buddha's impending death, but the Buddha was able to comfort and strengthen Ananda. The Buddha's last words to his disciples were, "Then, bikkhus, I address you now: transient are all conditioned things. Try to accomplish your aim with diligence." Then the Buddha passed away and at that time, a terrible earthquake shook the world.

~*~What Was the Buddha Like?~*~

Through the ancient writings we can put together both a physical and personality profile of the Buddha. We know he was a very handsome man. Canki, who was a greatly respected Brahman leader, said this of the Buddha - "the recluse Gautama is lovely, good to look upon, charming, possessed of the greatest beauty and complexion, of sublime color, a perfect stature, noble of presence." Later, after his death, he was endowed witht he 32 characteristics of a 'mahapurusa' (great person).

The Buddha had a unique reputation as a superb and compassionate teacher. He was able to convert and train Angulimala. Angulimala was a murderer and badit who was a terror even to the king of Kosola. This is put forward as a prime example of the Buddha's great powers and abilities.

People were fascinated with the Buddha and quickly converted, leaving other teachers angry and resentful, saying that the Buddha must use magic to attract and keep so many disciples and followers.

The Buddha, having boundless compassion and wisdom, recognized and knew immediately how and what to teach an individual according to the level of their own capabilities.

The Buddha had a subtle, quiet sense of humor. the following dialogue shows this. A very conceited Brahman (priest) had a terrible habit of denigrating others. This Brahman asked the Buddha what the qualities of a good Brahman were. The Buddha replied and proceeded to state a list of qualities like freedom from evil and purity of heart, then added gently, 'not denigrating others'.

The Buddha also recognized women as being equal to men. The Buddha also did not condone the caste system employed by India at the time. He also recognized the connection between economic welfare and moral development. The Buddha said trying to suppress crime through punishment was 'futile'. As anyone can see nowadays, this has proven all too true. He suggested and spoke of improving economic conditions to decrease crime.

We also know the Buddha had miraculous powers and did perform miracles. Like Jesus, the Buddha did not want people to have blind faith just because one can perform miracles. He seldom displayed them to others. But, it is written he did heal the sick, could walk through walls unhindered, could read thoughts, walk on water, etc. The Buddha never looked at his ability to do these as a primary importance. Once, when a monk performed a miracle in public, the Buddha reproached him and made a rule reagrding the performance of miracles in front of the laity.

The Buddha was also very affectionate and devoted to his disciples. He was forever enquiring as to their well-being and progress. When visiting a monastery, the Buddha paid daily visits to the sick. Once, he discovered a monk, who was quite ill, left alone, while the others went out on their begging rounds. The Buddha found the monk laying in his own vomit, urine and feces. Along with his disciple Ananda, the Buddha cleaned the monk, put on fresh bed linen and clothed the monk in clean robes. When the monks returned, the Buddha spoke to them about this incident saying, "He who attends on the sick attends on me."

The Buddha still appreciated natural and physical beauty. Many times he would tell Anada how delightful certain places were to him. Many also could not believe how well the monks and nuns got along in the monasteries. When the Buddha was asked about this he answered that order was kept on the basis of the mutual love, affection and respect that exists between the teacher and the pupil.

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