gotama buddha – founder of buddhism

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Gotama Buddha – Founder of Buddhism

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Gotama Buddha was the founder of Buddhism. He lived around 2,500 years ago in India.

He gained the title Buddha, meaning ‘the awakened one’, when he became enlightened at the age of 35.

The wheel is the main symbol of Buddhism. It symbolizes the Noble Eightfold Path to enlightenment.

For the next 45 years he taught the Noble Eightfold Path to enlightenment and the end of all suffering.

Who was Gotama Buddha?


Where and when was the Buddha born?

The Buddha was born in Kapilavastu, India in 563 BC. Before he became the Buddha he was known as PrinceSiddhartha Gotama.


Map of the Buddha’s life


Date Event Age Place

563 BCE 0 Lumbini

547 BCE Marriage Kapilavastu

BCE Renunciation 29

528 BCE 35 Bodh Gaya

528 BCE First sermon Sarnath

BCE Death 80 Kusinara

Fill in the missing information. Check your answers and then write a short ‘Life of the Buddha’.

Birth

16

534 Kapilavastu

Enlightenment

483

35

The life of the Buddha


Before he was born, Gotama’s mother – Queen Maya – had a dream that a white elephant entered her womb. Ten months later she gave birth to her son on a full moon night at Lumbini while on her way home to see her parents. When he was born it is said that he leapt onto the ground and where he touched it a lotus flower sprang up. Astrologers predicted he would either be a great ruler or a great religious teacher.

Buddhists today visit Lumbini during the festival of Wesak in April–May.

Why was the Buddha’s birth special?


Gotama the prince

Prince Gotama grew up surrounded by luxury. His father tried to keep him in the palace as he wanted him to rule the kingdom. Astrologers had predicted that if he saw suffering he would become a great religious teacher.

Gotama married at the age of 16 and had a son. However, he became dissatisfied with his life.


He realized that life involves suffering. He gave up his life as a prince, and set off to find out why people suffer. He was 29 years old.

Why do you think Gotama left home?

1. An old person

2. An ill person

3. A corpse

4. A holy man

Gotama leaves home

Prince Gotama left the palace and went into the cityof Kapilavastu. He saw four sights that changed his life.

We all grow old.We all get ill.

We all die.

You can be happy without wealth.


Gotama went to live in the forest, in the company of five wandering holy men. He ate only the minimum to stay alive, but, after six years, he realised he was no closer to knowing the meaning of life. He then decided to live a life between the extremes of luxury and self-denial.

The enlightenment of the Buddha

Gotama became fully enlightened while meditating under a Bo tree at Bodh Gaya. He experienced perfect peace, and awareness of the cause and end of all suffering. He became the Buddha, the Enlightened One.


The Buddha decided to teach others the path to enlightenment and gave his first sermon in the deer park at Sarnath. His teachings are called the Dhamma.

How did the Buddha achieve enlightenment?

What effect did achieving enlightenment have on the Buddha?

The Four Noble TruthsThe Five PreceptsThe Noble Eightfold path

The Buddha’s teachings

The Buddha’s teachings include:


The Buddha taught The Middle Way between luxury and self-denial.

Luxury Self-denial

Living the life of a prince with everything

Living the life of a holy man with

nothing

The Middle Way of Buddhism


Which do you think is the wisest solution?

A warrior is hit by a poisoned arrow on the battlefield.

A) He refuses to remove it until he knows everything about the arrow and who fired it.

B) He finds a doctor who can remove the arrow quickly and safely.

Wisdom

The Buddha said that you need to have wisdom to know the cause of suffering and how to find release from it. Here is an example of wisdom.


Life is full of suffering

Suffering is caused by desire

Suffering can be ended by overcoming desire

The way to end suffering is by following the middle path through life

The Four Noble Truths


The Five Precepts


Right mindfulness

Right effort

Right concentration

Right livelihood

Right speech

Right views

Right intention

Right action

How do you think these steps could be put into practice?

The Noble Eightfold Path

The Buddha listed eight steps to guide his followers through life. These steps form the Noble Eightfold Path.


Practising the Noble Eightfold Path


Mystery object


Buddha statues

This is an ancient statue of the Buddha from Sukhothai in Thailand. It shows the Buddha meditating. One hand touches the ground as witness to his enlightenment. The symbol on his head reminds Buddhists of the enlightenment too.

This picture shows a statue of the Buddha as he was attaining Nirvana. It is in Wat Pho – The Temple of the Reclining Buddha in Bangkok, Thailand.


Buddhist countries

Buddhism is practised across the world, including in Nepal, Mongolia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Burma, China and Japan.


Step 1 – mindfulness of breathing

The first step in Buddhist meditation is to calm the mind. This can be done by focusing on the breathing.

Buddhist meditation

Step 2 – insight meditationThen you can begin to develop insight into things as they really are because your mind is more alert.

Step 3 – loving kindnessYou can also develop compassion and love towards all living beings.


Without the teachings of the Buddha we would not know how to achieve true happiness.

Buddhism is a way of life. The Buddha wanted us to try things out for ourselves rather than just accept what he taught.

Meditation helps me to understand how the mind works. It helps me to become more aware.

How important is the Buddha today?


What Buddhists think about the Buddha

What I think about his teachings

The most important things I have learnt

The reason why the Buddha is important today.

How important is the Buddha today?

Write an answer to the question above.

Use these paragraph headings in your answer:

gotama buddha – founder of buddhism

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