“The man who formulated Buddhism was Siddhartha Gautama, who was born a Hindu about 560 B.C. (Ridenour, 2001). Investigating Buddhism and Siddhartha’s life cannot be without describing the four sights Siddhartha encountered and the religious journey of discovery it began. Beyond looking at the four sights, and why they stirred Siddhartha to seek religious answers, Siddhartha grew spiritually while contemplating his beliefs and the newly gained knowledge. Such reflection is a meaningful exercise for all who want to grow spiritually.
Four Sights
For most of Siddhartha’s life, his father sheltered him from the troubles of the world in hopes of developing Siddhartha into a great king without being “influenced in the direction of religion” (Corduan, 2012, p.315). While Siddhartha’s father protected by keeping him inside the palace walls, the Hindu gods planned for Siddhartha to become a great religious leader (Corduan,
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Reflection is a meaningful part of spiritual growth because it forces us to look at what we believe, why we believe what we do, and what we do with the new information we learn (Haack, 2015). In Joshua 1:8, meditating on God’s laws is profitable and successful. As we look at what we believe, it forces us to take inventory of our beliefs and values. Reflection into what I believed provided me with a list of beliefs and values, and I was able to confirm if my values lined up with my beliefs. When my values and beliefs did not line up I had to reconcile these, which lead to more spiritual growth. For example, if I believed in heaven, why was I hating God for allowing my grandmother to die. By lining my belief and values up, with realizing my grandmother was in a good place and that it was not God’s fault, my list was reconciles and I then moved onto the validity of this