Was the Buddha a man or a god? The legendary life of Shakyamuni

Introduction: Speaking of the Buddha, I think every Chinese will immediately think of the image of the Buddha in the 86th edition of Journey to the West, and will also recall the situation in the play to use magic to suppress Sun Wukong under the Five Finger Mountain. It gives the impression of a god with great powers. But were the historical Buddhas really so powerful? What was his path to Buddhahood? Let's briefly understand the life of the Buddha and the path to enlightenment.

Buddha was born

Shakyamuni, whose original name was Gautama Siddhartha, was a prince of the ancient Indian kingdom of Kapilava (present-day Nepal). His father was King Jingyi, and his mother, Lady Maya, was from the neighboring kingdom of Tsumari and was the younger sister of King Shanjue, lord of the Celestial Arm City. Lady Maya did not have children for many years after marrying the Queen of Pure Rice. One night, she dreamed that a six-toothed white elephant king flew into her body, and she was pregnant. In India, there is a tradition of women returning to their mother's house to give birth, so when it was almost time to give birth, Mrs. Maya, accompanied by the palace people, set off for Tianjian City. Passing through the Lumbini Garden, Mrs. Maya got out of the car to rest, and as she reached out to pick a carefree branch, she gave birth to Prince Siddhartha from its right rib. When the Buddha was born, he was different, the heavenly goddess scattered flowers, and as soon as he was born, he walked seven steps, one finger to the sky, one finger to the earth, and said: Heaven and earth, only I am exalted. However, seven days after Siddhartha was born, Lady Maya died, and the King of Pure Rice married Lady Maya's sister Bogopoti, who raised Siddhartha.

Siddhartha as a teenager

Siddhartha was gifted and intelligent, and by the age of 12, he had mastered the highest level of learning in India at that time, and at the age of 16, he married his cousin Yayuthara. His life was happy, but then something happened that changed his life, because he once drove out of town to play. As he drove through the three gates of the east, south, and west, he saw the three states of old age, sickness, and death of human beings, and realized that all people have inescapable suffering. Later, when he passed through the North Gate and saw an ascetic in a procession, he decided to pursue this ancient method of practice in order to get rid of the shackles of fate. One night when he was 29 years old, he left his wife and family behind and went out of the palace alone to practice asceticism.

Practicing Shakyamuni

After Siddhartha left the palace, he first lived a life of begging from house to house. Then he went to visit a sage named Kalama, a hermit who lived on Mount Ragaggreha. After Siddhartha found the sage Karama, he followed him to learn the method of attaining the Four Meditations through breathing and yoga. He quickly learned these methods, but he was not able to get out of his confusion, because he could not find the cause of all kinds of suffering and the way to eliminate it. So Siddhartha left Karama. Later, he studied "unconceived" from another hermit, Ramaputla, but this did not dispel the mystery in his mind. At this point, Siddhartha decided to find the answer on his own.

Enlightenment to Become a Buddha

One day, Siddhartha was meditating in the snowy mountains, and five ascetics respected his achievements and were willing to follow him. Since then, they have wandered together, living in the forest and begging for food. After six years of such asceticism, Siddhartha's body had become bony and on the verge of collapse, but he still had not found a real way to liberate himself. At this time Siddhartha realized that his asceticism was meaningless. So he went to the Nilian Zen River to wash away the dirt that had been deposited on his body for six years, and then accepted the chyrosus offered by the shepherd girl by the river and recovered his strength. The five men who followed him thought he had given up and all left him. In desperation, Siddhartha came alone to a Bipolo tree in Bodh Gaya and sat cross-legged, summing up past experiences and refactoring his way of thinking. After several days of hard thinking, he finally attained complete enlightenment and became a Buddha, known as Shakyamuni, who was only 35 years old.

Establish Buddhism

After Shakyamuni became a Buddha, he immediately went to find the five people who had left him. At the Kakino Garden in Polonai City, Shakyamuni found them and immediately taught them the Dharma he had realized. When these five people heard the teachings, they were convinced and all took refuge in Shakyamuni and became the first disciples of the Buddha, known as the "Five Bhikkhus." These five were the first bhikkhus in the world. Bhikkhu means a man who is a monk. Since then, Buddhism has acquired the three elements that make up a religious community: leaders, theories, and participants. Shakyamuni is the leader, Dharma is the theory, the five bhikkhus are the participants, and Buddhism calls these three factors the Three Jewels of "Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha." Therefore, the first turning of the Wheel of Dharma (transmission of the Dharma) in Shakyamuni Luyeyuan was defined as a sign of the establishment of Buddhism.

Buddha Nirvana

After attaining the five bhikkhus, Shakyamuni led them to continue to preach the Dharma everywhere, increase the number of bhikkhus, and expand the size of the monastic community. 45 years later, when Shakyamuni led his disciples to the city of Shunu to swim, he entered Nirvana in the grove next to the village of Pawa in the city of Shunu, and died at the age of 80. In order to ensure that the Dharma would not be destroyed, the Buddha instructed his disciple His Holiness Ananda to record the Dharmas spoken by the Buddha in the form of scriptures for future generations to pass on.