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Sakyamuni

In the year 565 BC in the kingdom of Kapilavastu (what is now Nepal) a prince was born. The prince's name was Siddhartha. The moment Siddhartha was born sages and astrologers alike foretold of his birth being a gift to the world.

As was the custom in those days he was duly married off to a princess from a neighboring country at quite a young age. He settled into married life and even had a son not too long after.

Young Siddhartha was an unusual prince, in that he rarely enjoyed the decadent lifestyle of average royalty. He was not interested in amassing great wealth or conquering neighboring countries. On the contrary, he was always looking for ways to improve the poverty-stricken and the downtrodden poor he saw in his travels.One summer night, he was startled awake by a dream that almost seemed to speak out to him. The realization was a powerful one, he had to search for the path of enlightenment. So he did something that no one would have expected of a young prince. He gave up everything and left the palace in search of the truth.

Under the guidance of sanyasins* he practiced meditation and undertook self-mortification for six years. After six years still unable to discover the truth within himself he began to search once again. The prevailing ideology in those times was Brahmanism, the path spelt out in the Hindu scriptures as interpreted by these scholars. Growing weary of this approach, Siddhartha travelled to Bodh Gaya to once again seek enlightenment.

It was here in Bodh Gaya that Siddhartha came upon The Four Noble Truths and The Twelve Factors of Causality after being in deep meditation for weeks. The Four Noble Truths are; suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering and the path to the cessation of suffering.

Siddharta then continued his journey, touring the northern and central parts of India. Everywhere he went, he preached the Dharma; to kings and paupers, the rich and poor alike. People flocked to him wherever he traveled, drawn to him by a strange unexplainable magnetism. He was later titled "Sakyamuni"; the sage of the Sakya clan, by the people of India.

At the age of 80, Sakyamuni traveled to Kusinagara to preach. It was here that he eventually passed away. Legend speaks of trees bursting into full bloom to pay homage to him where he lay. Sakyamuni, surrounded by his disciples, eventually entered deeper and deeper stages of meditation until he reached maha samadhi. His cremated ashes are still kept till this day in eight different kingdoms throughout India where shrines were built in Sakyamuni's honor.

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