Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Happy Belated Birthday, Buddha!


Photo of painting of Gautama Buddha's first
sermon at the Deer Park - Click the painting
to enlarge

Buddhists celebrate April 8 as the birthday of Gautama Buddha; he was born in 563 B.C. as Prince Siddhartha, the son of the king of the Sakya people.

The prince, it was predicted, would either become a great world monarch or a Buddha--an uber-enlightened teacher. The Brahmans told his father, King Suddhodana, that Siddhartha would become a ruler if he were kept isolated from the outside world.

Siddhartha was brought up in great luxury, and married and fathered a son. But, at age 29, he decided to see more of the world and began excursions off the palace grounds in his chariot.

On his clandestine trips, he saw an old man, a sick man, and a corpse. The prince had been so cloistered that his charioteer had to explain to him about age, illness, and death. Finally, on one of his trips Siddhartha saw a monk and was so impressed that he left the palace and became a wandering ascetic, and The Buddha.
---o0o---
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We ", "logblog.com/img/icon18_wrench_allbkg.png' width='18'/>\n</a>\n</span>\n</span>\n<div class='clear'></div>\n</div><div class='widget HTML' data-version='1' id='HTML7'>\n<div class='widget-content'>\n<a rel=\"license\" href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/\"><img alt=\"Creative Commons License\" style=\"border-width:0\" src=\"https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/Zzf9pMeUxctaJhHshxhG0inIilSb5hSbsogtvO7uJB6srXaowS3KeDY0nUuJ9oGUBtk0Bcxrla1IE-Wb5wF_WEycLA=s0-d\"></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a rel=\"license\" href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License</a>.\n\nAll This Is That contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We make these materials available to advance the understanding of political, economic, literary, artistic, and social issues.  In some cases we satirize, parody, or lampoon materials from other sources.  We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of copyrighted material as provided for by section 107 of the US Co"], "copyright__copyright__copyright": ["ght up in great luxury, and married and fathered a son. But, at age 29, he decided to see more of the world and began excursions off the palace grounds in his chariot.\n\nOn his clandestine trips, he saw an old man, a sick man, and a corpse. The prince had been so cloistered that his charioteer had to explain to him about age, illness, and death. Finally, on one of his trips Siddhartha saw a monk and was so impressed that he left the palace and became a wandering ascetic, and The Buddha.\n---o0o---", "ght up in great luxury, and married and fathered a son. But, at age 29, he decided to see more of the world and began excursions off the palace grounds in his chariot.\n\nOn his clandestine trips, he saw an old man, a sick man, and a corpse. The prince had been so cloistered that his charioteer had to explain to him about age, illness, and death. Finally, on one of his trips Siddhartha saw a monk and was so impressed that he left the palace and became a wandering ascetic, and The Buddha.\n---o0o---", "ght up in great luxury, and married and fathered a son. But, at age 29, he decided to see more of the world and began excursions off the palace grounds in his chariot.\n\nOn his clandestine trips, he saw an old man, a sick man, and a corpse. The prince had been so cloistered that his charioteer had to explain to him about age, illness, and death. Finally, on one of his trips Siddhartha saw a monk and was so impressed that he left the palace and became a wandering ascetic, and The Buddha.\n---o0o---", "ght up in great luxury, and married and fathered a son. But, at age 29, he decided to see more of the world and began excursions off the palace grounds in his chariot.\n\nOn his clandestine trips, he saw an old man, a sick man, and a corpse. The prince had been so cloistered that his charioteer had to explain to him about age, illness, and death. Finally, on one of his trips Siddhartha saw a monk and was so impressed that he left the palace and became a wandering ascetic, and The Buddha.\n---o0o---", "ght up in great luxury, and married and fathered a son. But, at age 29, he decided to see more of the world and began excursions off the palace grounds in his chariot.\n\nOn his clandestine trips, he saw an old man, a sick man, and a corpse. The prince had been so cloistered that his charioteer had to explain to him about age, illness, and death. Finally, on one of his trips Siddhartha saw a monk and was so impressed that he left the palace and became a wandering ascetic, and The Buddha.\n---o0o---", "ght up in great luxury, and married and fathered a son. But, at age 29, he decided to see more of the world and began excursions off the palace grounds in his chariot.\n\nOn his clandestine trips, he saw an old man, a sick man, and a corpse. The prince had been so cloistered that his charioteer had to explain to him about age, illness, and death. Finally, on one of his trips Siddhartha saw a monk and was so impressed that he left the palace and became a wandering ascetic, and The Buddha.\n---o0o---"]}