BUDDHA"S CHILDHOOD.

The religion of Buddha claims to have a number of Buddhas in its doctrine. The Buddha, literally translated as the awakened one or the enlightened one, is the being who has found a way to end the suffering of all the living beings in existence. The philosophy of Buddhism came into existence after one man attained enlightenment and sought out to spread the knowledge of peace, compassion and generosity among the people around 2600 years ago. This man, known as Shakyamuni Buddha, is an historical figure, hence termed as the historical Buddha. The story of Shakyamuni Buddha is an extraordinary story, where he is born in a noble royal family only to renounce his princehood to find a way to end the suffering of life. People wonder how his life and childhood may have been spent during that period of time. Let us discuss his childhood in this section of the website. Birth According to the legends, it is believed that Queen Mayadevi, the queen of the Shakya Clan in Kapilvastu, Nepal, dreamed of a white elephant entering her. This was an auspicious sign and was believed that the conceived child was bound to do great things in his lifetime. Ten months later, nearing the time of birth, with her husband, King Suddhodhana’s blessings she left to her parents’ home in Devdaha to give birth as it was a tradition back then to give birth at the queen’s parents’ home. On her way to Devdaha, the royal caravan came across a beautiful garden of Lumbini (near Tilaurakot, close to the current Nepal-India border), with scented flowers and beautiful meadows, a perfect place to rest for the queen. There she gave birth to a healthy and charming child who is believed to have walked seven steps, with each step a lotus appeared in the ground. This phenomenon was considered auspicious and it was for certain that this child was not an ordinary child. This was indeed the physical birth of the Buddha, or whom he would turn out to be in future. Buddha childhood Childhood Following the young prince’s birth, both the child and the mother were taken to the palace. A few weeks later Queen Mayadevi passed away only for the child to be raised by her sister, Prajapati Gautama, who was also married to the king. The young prince was named Siddhartha Gautama. A holy man, a brahmin sooth seer prophesied that the new born prince would either be a great emperor, a military leader or a great spiritual leader who would play an important role in ending the suffering of life in the world. The king, who wanted his child to be the former, wanted his child to do nothing with spiritual concerns. Therefore, King Suddhodhana made every effort to prevent the young prince from being distracted with earthly pleasures and luxury. Siddhartha’s childhood was spent inside the luxury of the palace. Despite living in luxury, the prince grew to be a compassionate and a generous human being. The prince educated with the highest level of the martial arts skills and combat skills alongside various diplomatic lessons fitting for the rulers during the day. The young prince excelled in each and every of these disciplines showing signs of his dedication and concentration. His compassionate side, on the other hand, left no sign of leaving. During one instance, one of his cousins, Prince Devdutta, alongside other Shakya princes, were hunting birds with their bows and arrows. A swan fell down after getting hit in its wing by the arrow. Siddhartha went to the injured bird and tended to its injury until the bird got back to its full health and could fly again. This event shows the compassionate nature of Siddhartha Gautam. Marriage and Young Adult Life After turning 16, Siddartha was married to a beautiful young woman Yasodhara, the daughter of a Shakya chieftain. They later gave birth to a son named Rahula. Before turning 29, the prince decided to venture outside his palace for the first time to see what the actual world looked like. During these ventures, he came across a sick man, an ageing man, a corpse and a spiritual sage. Shocked by the inevitable suffering of life that would come not only to him but also to his loved ones, he was determined to find the reason for this and to end the suffering. Distraught and frustrated, the prince decided to renounce his princehood and leave the palace to find the answers to the questions that had been troubling him after his ventures outside the palace walls. On a full moon night of Baishakh, he left his young wife and his new born child during their sleep, and left everything behind to search for the answers. For six years, he sought out wisdom from various spiritual leaders, holy men, punished his body and practiced meditation to find the end of sufferings of life. On a full moon night of Baishakh, under a Bodhi tree near the town of Bodhi tree, Siddhartha finally attained enlightenment after meditating for six straight days and finally became the Buddha, the enlightened one.END=NAM MO SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA.( 3 TIME ).WORLD VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST ORDER=BUDDHIST DHARMA WHEEL GOLDEN MONASTERY=VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=THE WOMEN OF THE SAKYA CLAN CHAN TANH.AUSTRALIA,SYDNEY.20/2/2022.