In general, ‘Buddha’ means ‘Awakened One’, someone who has awakened from the sleep of ignorance and sees things as they really are. A Buddha is a person who is completely free from all faults and mental obstructions, having great compassion embracing all living beings without discrimination. Buddhism started with Buddha, who was born as Siddhartha Gautama in Nepal around 2,500 years ago. He did not claim to be a god or a prophet. He was a human being who became Enlightened, understanding life in the deepest way possible.
Siddhartha was born into the royal family of a small kingdom on the Indian-Nepalese border. The prince would take every opportunity to convey spiritual meanings and to encourage others to follow spiritual paths. However He confronted with the reality of inevitable suffering of life. These encounters left a deep impression on his mind. Because he understood the laws of reincarnation he also realized that they experience these sufferings not just once, but in life after life without cessation. Seeing how all living beings are trapped in this vicious circle of suffering he felt deep compassion for them, and he developed a sincere wish to free all of them from their suffering.
This prompted him to puzzle over the meaning of life. Eventually he felt impelled to leave his palace and follow the traditional Indian path of the wandering holy man, a seeker after Truth. The King tried to arrange a marriage for him in the hope that he change his mind.
"Father, if you can give me permanent freedom from the sufferings of birth, sickness, ageing and death I shall stay in the palace; but if you cannot I must leave and make my human life meaningful.”
For six years, Siddhartha submitted himself to rigorous ascetic practices, studying and following different methods of meditation in Bodh Gaya, India. But he still hadn’t solved the mystery of life and death. He realised that physical austerities were not the means to achieve liberation. So he abandoned this way and looked into his own heart and mind; he decided to trust his intuition and learn from direct experience. He encouraged people to follow a path of balance rather than extremism. He called this The Middle way. He sat down beneath a bodhi tree and vowed not to rise until he attained perfect enlightenment. After 40 days, on the full moon in May, Siddhartha finally attained ultimate Freedom. He purified his mind of all defilements and attained enlightenment at the age of thirty-five, thus earning the title Buddha, or "Enlightened One". For the remainder of his eighty years, the Buddha preached the Dharma in an effort to help other sentient beings reach enlightenment.
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