Shakyamuni, originally named Siddhartha Gautama, was a person from the kingdom of Kapilavastu in India (present-day Nepal) in the 6th century BCE. His father was the king of Kapilavastu at that time. “Shakya” is the name of his family clan, and “Muni” means sage in translation. “Shakyamuni” is the respectful title people gave him after his enlightenment.
Legend has it that when Queen Maya (Shakyamuni’s mother) was about to give birth, according to local custom, she needed to return to her parents’ home. However, on the way back, she passed through the Lumbini Garden and saw a beautiful Ashoka tree in the garden. When she reached up with her left hand to grasp a branch of this great tree, Prince Siddhartha was born. The ruins of Lumbini Garden are now protected by the Nepalese government as a Buddhist holy site, welcoming pilgrims from Buddhist communities around the world.
According to the records in the “Diamond Immortal Record”: When the Buddha was born into the world, there were three auspicious signs. First, walking in the air (feet not touching the ground); second, seven-jeweled lotus flowers supporting the soles of his feet; third, when walking, his feet were four finger-widths above the ground, with thousand-spoked wheel marks on his soles reflecting on the ground, and the entire ten directions of the world were illuminated with bright light. It is recorded that this was during the time of King Zhao of Zhou in China. King Zhao saw the five-colored auspicious light and was greatly amazed. He inquired of the ministers present about the symbolic meaning of this auspicious sign. At that time, a Grand Historian memorialized: “This five-colored light foretells that a great sage has been born in the west. This sage will make all under heaven submit to and revere him. Without needing to speak, people throughout the world will naturally believe in and submit to him. His teachings will spread to China after a thousand years.” King Zhao then issued an edict to have this event carved on a stone tablet to proclaim it to the world.
After Queen Maya gave birth to Prince Siddhartha, she died shortly thereafter, and the prince’s childhood was spent being raised by his aunt. King Shuddhodana, having a son in his old age, was overjoyed and wholeheartedly hoped he would inherit the throne and become a wheel-turning sacred king who would unify the world. He hired famous scholars of the time to teach the prince literature, philosophy, mathematics, military strategy, and martial arts. The prince in his youth was naturally intelligent, able to understand ten things upon hearing one, and within a few years had mastered all learning and possessed superior physical strength in combat and superhuman archery skills. However, in what should have been a carefree age, he displayed characteristics completely different from other children his age—he loved contemplation and meditation, and everyday small matters around him often touched his heart with insights.
During one outing, he saw a hungry, thirsty, and exhausted farmer desperately whipping a plowing ox with a leather whip, with blood flowing from where the whip struck. Earthworms turned up from the plowed soil were being pecked at by flying birds, and before the birds could eat their fill, they were swallowed by vultures from the sky. This scene of the strong preying on the weak made him feel the inequality of the world. Another time, he saw by the roadside a frail old man resembling a skeleton, trembling with every step, short of breath and weak. He also saw moaning, suffering patients on the verge of death, and not far away, wailing funeral processions carrying coffins of the deceased… These scenes of suffering weighed heavily like thousands of pounds in the young prince’s heart. “Why is human life so full of suffering? What is the root of suffering? How can one be liberated from these sufferings?” The prince repeatedly asked himself these painful questions but could find no answers.
The prince therefore studied and contemplated even harder, initially placing his hopes in the Brahmanical scriptures, the Vedas, but the books did not answer his questions. After repeated contemplation, the prince realized that “knowledge” and “royal position” could not truly solve the sufferings of birth, aging, sickness, and death in human life. This plunged him into even deeper contemplation, and he determined to renounce worldly life. King Shuddhodana could not understand why his son was so troubled by these difficult-to-answer questions. He tried every means to persuade him, but faced with his son’s questions, he was speechless and could only hope to use life’s pleasures and beautiful women to dilute his son’s wild thoughts.
When the prince was sixteen, King Shuddhodana ordered him to marry Princess Yashodhara from a neighboring kingdom. Six years later, they had a son named Rahula. Even so, Prince Siddhartha did not change his intention to renounce worldly life and seek the path of liberation; rather, this intention grew stronger day by day. Learning of his son’s thoughts, King Shuddhodana built four seasonal palaces for spring, summer, autumn, and winter, and bestowed many beautiful women upon him, with day-and-night banquets, singing, dancing, and music, hoping that a life of wealth and happiness would change the prince’s intention to renounce worldly life. However, in Prince Siddhartha’s eyes, all this was merely passing clouds, drowning muddy pits, and a blazing house on fire, which only strengthened his determination to renounce worldly life.
Finally, on a night when the moon was full and radiant, he left without saying goodbye, departing his kingdom and entering a vast forest. There he removed his princely robes, shaved off his hair and beard, and became a spiritual seeker. He was twenty-nine years old at the time (some say nineteen).
Upon learning of the prince’s renunciation, King Shuddhodana was greatly shocked and repeatedly sent people to persuade the prince to change his mind, but all were refused. Having no choice but to protect the prince’s safety, King Shuddhodana selected five people from among his relatives to accompany the prince in renunciation. These five people became the Buddha’s first five disciples after his enlightenment and were the first members of Buddhism’s monastic organization, historically known as the Five Bhikshus. They were Kaundinya, Vashpa, Bhadrika, Mahanaman, and Assaji.
Prince Siddhartha led them to seek out several famous scholars of India at that time, following them to learn methods of ascetic practices, meditation, and other spiritual cultivation. Ancient India had many philosophical schools—reportedly over sixty at the time—with different degrees of research and different perspectives on life’s purpose. The most representative school at the time promoted “annihilationism,” believing that after death, everything returns to annihilation with no further existence in any form, death being the end of everything, with only present reality being true. Under this worldview’s guidance, they advocated immediate pleasure-seeking and indulgence, since nothing exists after death and they did not acknowledge the effect of “karma.”
Contrary to this, another school believed that after death there remains an imperishable soul, and for a person to achieve the soul’s peace, they must reach liberation through severe ascetic practices during life. This thought was followed by many religious groups of the time. Before his enlightenment, the Buddha had also practiced such asceticism. During six years of arduous practice, keeping body and mind motionless, eating only one grain or one wheat kernel daily, taking meditative joy as food, but none of this achieved the true purpose of liberation. Prince Siddhartha realized that fruitless asceticism could not obtain truth and was useless for liberation, so he unhesitatingly left the ascetic forest, washed away six years of accumulated grime in the Nairanjana River, accepted an offering of milk rice from a shepherdess, and gradually recovered his strength.
All this greatly puzzled his five companions, who thought Prince Siddhartha’s abandonment of asceticism showed he had lost his spiritual resolve. They agreed to ignore him and soon departed for Deer Park in Benares to continue their ascetic practices. Prince Siddhartha alone crossed the Nairanjana River, walked to near Mount Gaya to Bodh Gaya, and came to sit quietly under a Pippala tree. He made a firm vow: “Until I achieve supreme perfect enlightenment, I would rather have my body and mind shattered than rise from this seat!”
Thereafter, Prince Siddhartha sat in lotus position and entered meditation. For forty-nine days, he experienced countless afflictions and demonic obstacles, but the prince’s will was firm and he was never shaken. Finally, he subdued the demon king, thoroughly awakened to his mind-source, broke through all delusive thoughts and attachments, cut off the last trace of afflictions, and seeing the twinkling star appear at dawn, suddenly awakened to all truth and achieved supreme enlightenment. At this time and place, Prince Siddhartha became the greatly enlightened Buddha. This great tree was also reverently called the Bodhi Tree by people. Though this tree has experienced more than two thousand years and has been cut down several times, it has miraculously sprouted and grown branches each time. It still stands today in the suburbs of Gaya City in Bihar Province, India, becoming a symbol of enlightenment in people’s hearts.
Glossary of Terms
Ten Directions Buddhist scriptures refer to east, west, south, north, southeast, southwest, northeast, northwest, above, and below as the ten directions.
Wheel-Turning Sacred King A sacred monarch who unifies the world.
Rahula The son of Shakyamuni Buddha who renounced worldly life to follow the Buddha at age fifteen, becoming the first novice monk. He later achieved Arhat fruition. Among the Buddha’s ten great disciples, he was called “foremost in esoteric practices.”
Sangha Also called the monastic community, a group of many monks and bhikshus gathered together.
Karmic Force The power of karma—the operative force of good results produced by good karma and bad results produced by bad karma.
Meditative Joy A kind of happiness and joy that body and mind obtain when entering deep meditation.
Lotus Position A posture for practicing meditation. There are two types: placing the right foot on the left thigh, then placing the left foot on the right thigh, called the demon-subduing posture; placing the left foot on the right thigh, then placing the right foot on the left thigh is called the auspicious posture.
