A DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF BUDDHA AS A MAN AND A RELIGION PERSONIFIED

To being with, this author should like to proffer some background, i.e. the word Buddha is a general term meaning one who is enlightened. It is primarily applied to the historical founder of Buddhism, a prince of a small kingdom spanning northern India and Nepal, who was known as Sakyamuni, which means “the silent sage of the Sakya tribe” and Gautama, his clan name. His personal name was Siddhartha, “he who will accomplish”. Alleged in controversy shroud Siddhartha’s life. The core of the attempted beliefs derived from traditions current during the reign of the Buddhist Emperor Asoka about three centuries after Buddha life (c 560 to c 480). The legend begins with divine conception. His mother, Maya, dreamed of a white elephant that entered her womb. She gave birth after 10 months and died 7 days later. A sage prophesized that the child would either become a great monarch or Buddha. Siddhartha’s father, seeking to prevent the child from becoming Buddha, allowed him to experience only pleasure. He married at age 16 and was on course to political leadership when he took a fateful chariot trip outside the palace. For the first...