Siddharth Gautama is an important figure in Buddhism and his teachings lay the foundation for this religion. The four sights, renunciation, enlightenment, and time as a teacher are pivotal in his emergence as a leader of a major world religion. Prior to his enlightenment, Siddhartha Gautama was born into a life of luxury, unaware of the difficulties experienced by people from the outside world. Despite living a life of luxury, he became unsatisfied and wanted to see if life had a deeper meaning. The first events that would forever change the life of Siddhartha Gautama was that of the Four Sights. From these sights, Siddhartha Gautama came to witness human suffering in various forms ranging from sickness, aging, and death. In the first three …show more content…
During this experience, he became so frail and weak and realized that his life of asceticism was not the path towards enlightenment and was never fully satisfied. One day, he had a chance encounter with a girl that offered him a bowl of rice. It was at that moment he realized that restricting oneself was not the path toward achieving liberation. He then shifted to the practice called, the Middle Way that encourages people to follow a path of balance rather than the extremes of living either poverty or luxury. It was said that one night, Siddhartha experienced supreme awakening after sitting in deep meditation beneath the Bodhi tree reflecting upon his experience of life. It was there where he passed through four states of serene contemplation and was able to recall all of his previous lives. During this time, he came to a realization of the wheel of death and rebirth and the actions of people in which a person’s actions and behaviors carry on into one’s future life. Siddhartha finally realized the cause of suffering and how to end it (“The Buddha”). It was after his enlightenment where Siddhartha Gautama became known as the Shakyamuni Buddha which means, “The Sage of the Shakya Clan.” (Fisher, …show more content…
He was a devoted teacher and attracted many followers. Many young men decided to become bhikshus (monks) and lived similarly to that of his time prior to his enlightenment. Buddha’s early disciples developed the Sangha, that carried on his teaching after his death. His followers were instructed to spread the practice of Dharma to spare humankind from suffering. The Dharma consists of three core teachings of Buddha that act as guidelines for achieving liberation from suffering. The Dharma consists of the Four Noble Truths, Three Marks of Existence, and the Eightfold Path (Fisher,