WHO IS THE BUDDHA?

Before the Buddha reached Enlightenment and established Buddhism, he was a prince named Siddhartha of Kapilavastu City in India.

During the celebration of his birth, Brahmin Kondanna predicted that Siddhartha would be an ascetic and become a Buddha. The prophecy troubled his father, King Suddhodana who wished for the prince to be a great King. He had three luxurious palaces built to surround his son with only young, beautiful people in the most pleasant environment and prevented him from seeing the Four Sights of Reality (Devatuta); the old, the sick, the dead, and the ascetic.

When Prince Siddhartha was 16 years old, he got married to Princess Yasodhara. It was when he reached 29 years old that he finally managed to go outside the palace. There, he saw an old man with gloomy face, a diseased man, a dead person surrounded by his grieving family, and then an ascetic. The encounter with the truth of life concealed for 29 years awakened the Prince, who felt half shocked and saddened to know that life is uncertain, and nobody can escape from death.

The shocking discovery of the truth awakened him to find a way to end this vicious cycle so he could bring his loved ones and his people out of the endless loop. With strong determination, he left the palace to lead an ascetic life in search of the path to liberation. It was also around the time his son, Rahul, was born. He started practicing extreme methods including fasting until his body looked skeletal. Finally after 6 years, he realized that going extreme was not an answer so he began eating normally again and doing everything in moderation.

On the full moon night of the sixth lunar month, Siddhartha was sitting under the Bodhi tree and began the Anapanasati meditation, then lifted his sharp meditative focus to absolute mindfulness in Vipassana meditation. Meanwhile, the Great Mara or Devil King, together with his troops, came to Siddhartha’s Mind to shake him with fear and temptations. With the power of equanimity and all his cultivated perfections, he won against all of them. The Prince finally reached Enlightenment and attained Buddhahood as Gautama Buddha before dawn.

Later the Buddha began traveling to places to teach people about the Noble Path. This lasted for 45 years until his final day at the age of 80.

From Spiritual Life Exhibition 2025