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Transcript

ALEXANDRA STAMPFER

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The life of the Buddha

Early Life

500 years before christ...

  • Born in Nepal between 4-6 BC, Siddhartha Gautama was gifted with every luxury imaginable.This was not only becuase he was a prince - but also because he was prophethised to either become a very pious man or a monarch. Siddhartha's father wanted only the latter, and forbade the boy from venturing outside the palace walls for fear he would see the suffering in the world and become very religious.

First Venture Outside

after a life of luxury, outside lay...

This remained the case for over 29 years, until the prince decided he wanted to see the world for himself. His father cleared out the surrounding area from peasants and anything he considered an eyesore to make it more aesthetically pleasing for his son.

Early Life

... A world of suffering.

  • However, without his father's knowledge, he went outside three times more. Now, without his father's 'polishing' of the visual impact, Siddhartha saw the world as it truly is; full of suffering.

First Three Sights

senescence, disease and death

Siddhartha saw three men that shocked him the most. First, he saw an aging man, and was shocked to discover this would befall him. Next, he saw a sick man, and was alarmed to learn that everyone gets sick. Lastly, he saw an dying man, and was horrified that this too would happen to him one day.

Fourth Sight

asceticism

Lastly, he saw a holy man. He was inspired by this ascetic who had devoted his life to finding the root of human suffering, and decided to follow his example.

Reaching Enlightenment

attempt at asceticism

  • After leaving his family and cutting his hair, Siddhartha tried to reach enlightenment through asceticism - where one abstains from worldly pleasures. Siddhartha practiced a very extreme form of asceticism, which included starvation and self-mutilation. However, he realised this was not helping him reach enlightenment.

Reaching Enlightenment

The Middle way

Instead, Siddhartha realised that there should be a fine balance to reach enlightenment - he called this the middle way. This meant not overindulging in material goods or experiences - but also not depriving oneself of basic needs.

Reaching Nirvana

The flames of desire...

  • After sitting under a tree for seven days, Siddhartha reached a very deep state of meditation. So deep was this state that Maar - the demon king of ego and illusion - tried to attack him. He used his army to throw flaming arrows at him - to no avail. He tried to tempt Siddhartha with his demon daughters - but Siddhartha now knew that in order to reach enlightenment, one must extinguish the flames of desire - and defeated Maar.

Buddhism today

buddhism in the 21st century

Today, over 535 million follow the words of the Buddha - called the 'sutras'. This accounts for over 7-8% of the world population.

Thank you!