One day I asked him. "Sir, your a king. And yet you pay so much attention to your son, and he is never allowed to leave the castle. At least not without heavy protection and many people going in front of him. I have a feeling it's not all done for your son's safety?"
His response was shaky, like he didn't want to admit to it. "I'm afraid you're right. When Siddhartha was born I took to a fortune teller, and she said he would either become a great king and unify all of China or become 'awake' and influence the world in a religious way. I, of course, wanted him to become the king. Up until he was 16, my plan worked. He was married and happy. Then my guards let me down, and on his walks he saw 4 horrible things. Sickness, old age, and death. The last one isn't horrible, just something I wish he hadn't seen. He saw a monk, and I believe that is what he wants to be. I won't let him, so he become more unhappy with every passing day."
This was true, and at the age of 29 Siddhartha leaves for a forest and stays in it for 6 years being a Hindu monk, looking for the realm of life in which there is neither death nor sickness. Eventually he sits under this tree, which is now known as his immovable spot. He sat there and remembered all of his previous lives, and was able to end the cycle. He became enlightened. And here comes Buddhism.
It comes out of Hinduism, preached against ritual, preached against reincarnation, 4 noble truths (Dukkha, Tanha, Overcoming, and Eightfold path), and Nirvana. The Buddha dies in 483 BCE.
India was first to take in Buddhism in about 300 BCE. It came to China by being spread along the silk road, and actually reached China during the later Han Dynasty ( 206-220 AD).
http://www.mokeytree.org/silkroad/mindbody/buddhism.html
No comments:
Post a Comment