Sleeping Lord Buddha
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Birth and Early Life
The Buddha (meaning 'enlightened one' or 'awakened one') was born in Lumbini in northern India in about the sixth century BCE - the exact date is uncertain. His historical name was Siddhattha Gotama (Pali) - Siddhartha Gautama (in Sanskrit) - his personal name being Siddhattha and his clan name Gotama. His father, Suddhodhana, was a wealthy and prominent figure of the Sakyas, a noble and prestigious tribe. Siddhattha's mother, Mahamaya, died a week after giving birth to her son and so the boy was brought up by his mother's sister, Mahapajapati.
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A Life of Pleasure
There seems no doubt that the Buddha was born into a wealthy and privileged family and that materially he wanted for nothing. In the Magandiya Sutra the Buddha describes his home life: 'I enjoyed myself...I had three palaces, one for the rainy season, one for the winter, and one for the summer. I lived in the rains' palace for the four months of the rainy season, enjoying myself with musicians who were all female'. At sixteen, Gotama married a local princess, Yasodhara who gave birth to a son, Rahula, thirteen years later. Shortly after this, however - at the age of twenty-nine - Siddhattha's life took a radical change in direction...
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Seven Steps that Changed the World
Different stories surround the conception and actual birth of the Buddha. One has it that around the time of the Buddha's conception, Mahamaya had a dream in which she saw a large white elephant enter her side. This was interpreted by the Brahmins, or priests of the day, that the child would grow up to be a great emperor or a great holy man, the elephant being an auspicious symbol of sovereignty. Another tells how Mahamaya, on her way to visiting her relatives, gave birth to the Buddha standing up and holding on to a tree, which is why the Buddha seems to have been born at Lumbini rather than his father's town of Kapilavatthu. According to legend, as soon as he was born, the Buddha walked seven steps and announced: 'I am the highest in the world; I am the best in the world; I am the foremost in the world. This is my last birth; now there is no renewal of being for me'.
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