5.3 Case study 2: the buddha

The story of Buddhism begins with the life and teachings of Siddharta Gautama. He was born somewhere in the region of 566 BCE in the northeastern corner of India (today the area is situated in Nepal) as a prince of the Sakya clan. The so–called Ganges–civilisation, named after the river Ganges, that prevailed at the time of the Buddha’s birth, was composed of different cultures and accommodated many religious traditions. Although the religious system was known as Hinduism, it consisted of many different tradition with the main common feature the fact that they all originated on Indian soil

At birth it was prophesied that he would become either a great king or religious leader (a Buddha = enlightened one). Throughout his early life his father sought to protect him from the sorrows of the world. He grew up in delightful palaces, was schooled in the noble arts and married a beautiful princess who bore him a son.

However, while his son was still a baby, Gautama began to be disturbed by his sheltered life. Eventually one day he got the chance to inspect the outside world. There he met, one after the other, and old man in the last stages of senility, a sick man afflicted by disease, a corpse being carried to the cremation ground and, finally, a shaven–headed, wandering religious beggar, clad in a simple yellow robe, but radiating peace and joy.

Siddharta decided to leave his wife and baby son to search for peace and joy. This is called the Great Renunciation. For six years he tried various prescribed ways, including the life of an ascetic, which, at the end of this period, left him ill and starved almost to the point of death. He left his companions and went to meditate under a fig tree, determined not to stop before he found the answer. It was there that he reached his Great Enlightenment, and became the Buddha.

Gautama's first disciples were his former five companions with whom he had spent most of his time during his quest. A few days later he had gathered a band of sixty–odd disciples. Thus was founded the nucleus of the Buddhist order of the monks (sangha). For eight months of the year they would travel from place to place preaching, and then for the four months of the rainy season they would live in bamboo huts in great parks donated by wealthy followers.

Gautama died at the age of eighty, having received no calling nor divine revelation during his life–time. In this, he differs from the general pattern of a religious founder.