Prince Siddhartha becomes Gautama Buddha Prince Siddhartha’s or Gautama’s search for enlightenment introduced him to many teachers. He also made five friends who had also given away the life of luxury and all of them practiced the ascetic life for six years. He practiced fasting and meditation to gather wisdom. Prince Siddhartha lived on one grain of rice every day. After some years, he stopped eating. He became thin like a bamboo stick and his eyes sank inside and with all the fasting, he looked like a living skeleton. But his desire to attain moksh (salvation) and enlightenment was so strong that he suffered his pain and hunger but did not break his fast and meditation. Prince Siddhartha would also hold his breath for a long time and many a times he fainted. He would meditate wherever he would roam in the forest and was not even scared of the wild animals. After six years, he realized that this pain and suffering was not giving him the desired wisdom and he then decided to visit the villages and beg for alms. When Gautama was travelling from one village to another, there is a famous story associated with him becoming Buddha (which means the enlightened one). A rich girl called Sujata wanted to marry and one priest told her to go to certain banyan tree near the Neranjara river and pray to the tree-god. Sujata acted on this and got married and also was blessed with a son. As the tree-god had fulfilled her wish, she made a delicious rice kheer from the milk of her cows and went to the tree. There she saw the Gautama meditating and took him to be the tree-god. She was delighted that the tree-god had come in person to accept her food which she had carried in a golden bowl. When she came closer to the tree, she realized that Gautama was a saint who was in meditation. She bowed with respect and requested him to accept her rice kheer. Gautama ate the kheer and then threw the golden bowl in the river. He said, if I have become a Buddha, the bowl will go upstream. And when the bowl was thrown, exactly the same happened. That is how the ascetic Gautama became Gautama Buddha. Buddhist Mythology Prince Siddhartha’s birth Buddhist Mythology Prince Siddhartha’s childhood Buddhist Mythology The Prophecy by the Sages Buddhist Mythology The First Sight of the Old Man Buddhist Mythology The Second Sight of the Sick Man Buddhist Mythology The Third Sight of the Dead Man Buddhist Mythology The Fourth Sight of the Monk Buddhist Mythology Gautama’s Renunciation Buddhist Mythology Prince Siddhartha becomes Gautama Buddha Buddhist Mythology The First Five Monks Buddhist Mythology The Story of the Serpent King Buddhist Mythology Angulimala, The Bandit Previous Next

The First Five Monks Once Prince Siddhartha became Gautama Buddha, he wanted to share his life learnings with other people. He went to Sarnath in Varanasi to meet his five friends who had also become monks. Initially, when they saw Buddha, they decided not to entertain him as he had given up a life of self-mortification and they thought that this was against the principles of worship. But when Buddha came closer to them, they saw a very different aura and could not stop themselves from wanting to be his disciples. These five monks are said to be Lord Buddha’s first disciples to whom the supreme knowledge was imparted at the Deer Park in Sarnath. This is how the first sangha or the first community of followers of Lord Buddha was formed.  The Buddha’s first teaching was called the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta. This discourse means Turning of the Wheel of Truth and was not only listened to by his five friends, but also by the other Gods. Buddha’s preachings were to give up extremes that were followed by many ascetic. He advised against self-indulgence as well as self-mortification. Spiritual development comes by following the middle path and he preached the four Noble Truths: the truth of suffering; its cause; its end; and the way to its end. He also preached the noble eightfold path to attain Nirvana or Salvation.  Buddhist Mythology Prince Siddhartha’s birth Buddhist Mythology Prince Siddhartha’s childhood Buddhist Mythology The Prophecy by the Sages Buddhist Mythology The First Sight of the Old Man Buddhist Mythology The Second Sight of the Sick Man Buddhist Mythology The Third Sight of the Dead Man Buddhist Mythology The Fourth Sight of the Monk Buddhist Mythology Gautama’s Renunciation Buddhist Mythology Prince Siddhartha becomes Gautama Buddha Buddhist Mythology The First Five Monks Buddhist Mythology The Story of the Serpent King Buddhist Mythology Angulimala, The Bandit Previous Next

The Story of the Serpent King Buddha’s preaching gained popularity and many disciples started visiting him. When he had around 60 disciples, Buddha requested them to leave Sarnath and travel and spread the knowledge to other people. Gautama Buddha also left for Magadh province. While walking towards Magadh city, he came near a river. He saw a hut and met three brothers who were leading an ascetic life. As it was evening, Gautama Buddha requested the eldest brother if he could spend a night in their hut. The three brothers gladly agreed but also warned the Buddha that there was a very big poisonous serpent who was staying in their kitchen. Gautama Buddha said he was ok to sleep in the kitchen. He went inside the kitchen, made his bedding with green grass and sat down to rest. When the serpent heard the noise, he came out of his hole in the wall and came to bite Gautama Buddha. Gautama Buddha looked at the serpent with kindness and this confused the serpent who was used to people getting scared of him and running away. Because of this confusion, and a very different energy, the snake could do no harm.  The next morning when the brothers came to the kitchen, they saw Gautama Buddha meditating. Surprised that he was still alive, they asked him about the serpent. Gautama Buddha smiled and opened his alms bowl. Once the bowl opened, the serpent came out hissing. The three brothers were terrified and were about to run away when Buddha stopped them and told them how to tame the serpent. The three brothers became devotees of Lord Buddha.  Buddhist Mythology Prince Siddhartha’s birth Buddhist Mythology Prince Siddhartha’s childhood Buddhist Mythology The Prophecy by the Sages Buddhist Mythology The First Sight of the Old Man Buddhist Mythology The Second Sight of the Sick Man Buddhist Mythology The Third Sight of the Dead Man Buddhist Mythology The Fourth Sight of the Monk Buddhist Mythology Gautama’s Renunciation Buddhist Mythology Prince Siddhartha becomes Gautama Buddha Buddhist Mythology The First Five Monks Buddhist Mythology The Story of the Serpent King Buddhist Mythology Angulimala, The Bandit Previous Next

Angulimala, The Bandit Ahinsak was a bandit who had decided to make a garland of thousand right hand human fingers. He used to hide in the jungle and attack and kill the nearby passengers, cut off their right-hand finger and then leave the corpses for the vultures to eat. He soon got named as Bandit Angulimala (anguli means fingers, mala means garland). There came a time when Angulimala killed 999 people and was waiting for his final kill. When Gautama Buddha came to know of the bandit, he decided to enter the forest and help the bandit. The villagers warned Buddha but he went into the jungle. When Angulimala saw Buddha, he charged towards him to kill him and get his thousandth finger. Lord Buddha started walking away, but Angulimala couldn’t match up to the speed even by running. Angulimala ran as fast as he could but he could not catch up with Buddha. He shouted at Buddha and hurled abuses, but Buddha smiled kindly at him and continued his walk. After several hours, when Angulimala couldn’t run any further, Lord Buddha also stopped walking and started walking towards Angulimala. When they came face to face, Angulimala just stood still and went into a spiritual trance. Gautama Buddha spoke to him and instantly Angulimala threw his weapons away and requested Buddha to accept him as a disciple. Lord Buddha agreed and that is how the great fearful bandit became a sage. The story of Angulimala is very significant story in Buddhist mythology as it talks of how a fearful dacoit became a sage with Lord Buddha’s contact. Buddhist Mythology Prince Siddhartha’s birth Buddhist Mythology Prince Siddhartha’s childhood Buddhist Mythology The Prophecy by the Sages Buddhist Mythology The First Sight of the Old Man: Buddhist Mythology The Second Sight of the Sick Man Buddhist Mythology The Third Sight of the Dead Man Buddhist Mythology The Fourth Sight of the Monk Buddhist Mythology Gautama’s Renunciation Buddhist Mythology Prince Siddhartha becomes Gautam Buddha Buddhist Mythology The First Five Monks Buddhist Mythology The Story of the Serpent King Buddhist Mythology Angulimala, The Bandit Previous Next