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October 20, 2016

Becoming The Buddha Part II: Enlightenment

Photographer: 25 Cents FC

According to Buddhist myth, one summer night Siddhartha Gautama observed his wife and his son sleeping. He thought if he would embrace them, he would never be able to leave. He turned away and left the palace, to seek Enlightenment, to seek, Nirvana. “Siddhartha’s dissatisfaction with his luxurious existence reached a head when he was twenty-nine years old, when he made the decision to leave his family home and his life of luxury, and to become a wandering seeker after the truth, his only possessions a begging-bowl and a simple robe.”1

Siddhartha began practicing an ascetic lifestyle, having already left material possessions and mastering gurus’ teachings and yogic ways, he felt dissatisfied and unable to answer still the solution to pain and suffering. “On going forth, he avoided evil deeds in body. Abandoning verbal misconduct, he purified his livelihood.”2 Siddhartha subjugated himself to the elements, meditating many hours, and barely eating to stay alive, he brought his physical body to a near skeletal state. “Simply from my eating so little, my limbs became like the jointed segments of vine stems or bamboo stems…. The gleam of my eyes appeared to be sunk deep in my eye sockets like the gleam of water deep in a well…. My scalp shriveled & withered like a green bitter gourd, shriveled & withered in the heat & the wind.”3 Nearing death, and still not having attained truth, he remembered a day in his youth. “I recall once, when my father the Sakyan was working, and I was sitting in the cool shade of a rose-apple tree, then—quite withdrawn from sensuality, withdrawn from unskillful mental qualities—I entered & remained in the first jhana: rapture & pleasure born from withdrawal, accompanied by directed thought & evaluation.”4 He realized the beauty of nature as it is, and he found a pleasure in nature that did not take hold of the mind and body in a negative manner. Coming to the conclusion that he could not maintain this state without food, a girl offered him a bowl of rice. The five ascetics he associated with soon looked down upon him as they found him eating. Siddhartha was near awakening; he knew he could not look externally to find the answer to the end of pain and suffering; he knew he had to look internally to find the truth.5

the_victory_of_buddha
Siddhartha reaching enlightenment | Courtesy of Abanindranath Tagore

“He sat down under a bodhi tree in the shelter of the natural world in all of its beauty and fullness, and he said I will not move from this place until I have solved my problem.”6 Siddhartha meditated under a Bodhi tree during a springtime night. Mara and his demons appeared and fired their weapons at the meditating Siddhartha; he remained at peace, and the weapons turned into flowers. Mara then used his three daughters to try to seduce Siddhartha. Siddhartha did not move at all from his position. For the final test of Mara, he asked Siddhartha who would be his witness for his worthiness to obtain Enlightenment. Siddhartha Guatama reached down and touched the earth. The earth tremored, and Mara’s demons vanished. “The Earth is my witness,” Siddhartha said. He meditated all night, able to see his previous lives and all the workings of life as it is, reincarnation and its place in the Universe. “Through the round of many births I roamed without reward, without rest, seeking the house-builder. Painful is birth again & again. House-builder, you’re seen! You will not build a house again. All your rafters broken, the ridge pole destroyed, gone to the Unformed, the mind has come to the end of craving.” Siddhartha Guatama had reached Nirvana, he had reached Enlightenment.7

Soon after, Siddhartha Guatama, now the Buddha, or “Enlightened One,” came across the five ascetics who had previously disowned him when they found him eating. To them he taught what he called “The Four Noble Truths.” “Now this, monks, is the noble truth of stress: Birth is stressful, aging is stressful, death is stressful; sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair are stressful; association with the unbeloved is stressful, separation from the loved is stressful, not getting what is wanted is stressful. In short, the five clinging-aggregates are stressful.”8 Buddha would continue to teach in the Deer Park at Sarnath about the beginning and end to,”stress”, or pain and suffering in life. Nevertheless, his enlightenment started a journey of teaching all the way to his death.9

Back to Part I

  1. Chris Pauling, Introducing Buddhism (Birmingham: Windhorse Publication, 1990), 6.
  2. Pabbaja Sutta, The Going Forth, translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu (Access to Insight (Legacy Edition), 30 November 2013), Sn 3.1.
  3. Maha-Saccaka Sutta, The Longer Discourse to Saccaka, translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu (Access to Insight (Legacy Edition), 30 November 2013), MN 36.
  4. Maha-Saccaka Sutta, The Longer Discourse to Saccaka, translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu (Access to Insight (Legacy Edition), 30 November 2013), MN 36.
  5. “The Buddha,” PBS Documentary, directed by David Grubin (PBS, 2010),  DVD.
  6. Quote by Jane Hirshfield, in “The Buddha,” PBS Documentary, directed by David Grubin (PBS, 2010),  DVD.
  7. “The Buddha,” PBS Documentary, directed by David Grubin (PBS, 2010),  DVD; Jaravagga, Aging, translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu (Access to Insight (Legacy Edition), 30 November 2013,), Dhp XI.
  8. “The First Noble Truth: The Noble Truth of dukkha“, edited by Access to Insight Access to Insight (Legacy Edition), 5 November 2013,(“dukkha” translates to “stress” or suffering).
  9. Maha-parinibbana Sutta, Last Days of the Buddha,”  translated from the Pali by Sister Vajira & Francis Story (Access to Insight (Legacy Edition), 30 November 2013), DN 16.

Tags from the story

Buddhism

Siddhartha Gautama

Recent Comments

Jezel Luna

I could not believe that such a holy man left he’s family. It was amazed to see that he managed to stay so calm and collected while demons were trying to fire their weapons at him. Finally, Siddhartha was now the…enlightened one! Great use of sources and you did a fantastic job connecting both parts.

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11/11/2016

9:10 am

Andres Palacios

Excellent article definitely learned a lot about Siddhartha’s ideals and beliefs. How Buddhism more than being a religion became a way of life style were simplicity and humbleness is the key to reaching the enlightenment.

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18/11/2016

9:10 am

Jacob Hall

Its interesting to me because when I think of Buddhism, I do not think of gods or demons. However during his meditation Siddhartha was tempted by a demon named Mara. it was interesting to see that no matter how Mara tempted him he would not waver, it truly displays the resolve that is required to reach nirvana, a resolve that very few people have in my opinion. that being said I really liked when Mara asked him who would witness his great achievement, that he answered with “The Earth is my witness,” its a very humble sentiment

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07/12/2016

9:10 am

Christian Lozano

Writing this article was an awesome experience, I learned a lot about Buddhism and myself. It was great to see a human being conquering the sorrows of the world, and realizing happiness and truth comes from within. What a hopeful and great story Siddhartha’s was.

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07/12/2016

9:10 am

Aimee Trevino

Beautifully written! I really enjoyed how you explained how Siddhartha came to find Nirvana, and became fully “Enlightened”. I find it incredible that he left everything, his family, his possessions, and essentially his life, in search of meaning. I had never heard of the “demons” tempting him, but I can definitely understand how temptation struck him during these times. Well done!

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30/01/2017

9:10 am

Bailey Rider

This was a very interesting article. I never knew that Buddha started as a man that reached enlightenment. It was interesting to me that he left his family in order to reach enlightenment, and I do hope that he found his way back to them eventually. It was cool to learn that Buddha first tried to find enlightenment through fasting and then realized that he could find it through his relationship to earth and during his mediation, he was tested by evil before he could find peace. Thank you for the informative article!

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15/02/2017

9:10 am

Mario Sosa

It was a relief to read how Siddhartha reached enlightenment despite almost starving to death and Mara’s temptations. I would imagine that only a handful of people would be willing to leave behind their wealth, power status and family for a life of seeking enlightenment. One thing left on my mind is if Siddhartha’s family ever knew what he had accomplished. Very nice job on the storytelling!

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03/04/2017

9:10 am

Samman Tyata

Amazing! I loved the way how you have presented this article. As I am from Nepal where Lord Buddha was born I knew about almost the every event discussed in the article but the details about Mara and his attempts was something new for me. This article perfectly depicts how Lord Buddha came to find Nirvana and became fully Enlightened. Apart from that, Lord Buddha not moving from this position though being tempted inspires me to stay focused. To sum it up, it was a good read.

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25/08/2017

9:10 am

Rebekah Esquivel

As I moved onto this article from part one it all started to make sense and flowed very well with each other. I was so amazed how Siddhartha was able to remain so composed and calm as he was taking fire from demons. Siddhartha was able to become and enlightened one where he wanted to be all along. I would like to know if his views about leaving his family ever changed as he became so enlightened or if the regret and sadness remained forever.

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01/10/2017

9:10 am

Aaiyanna Johnson

I enjoyed both parts of the article. It is very well written, with much detail. It was great to learn of the genesis of Buddhism. It has such a profound influence on many cultures internationally. I love Buddhism because everything it teaches is essentially allegory. Everything has a deeper meaning. I also enjoyed his relation of the five truths to his own experiences with hardships.

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02/10/2017

9:10 am

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