There is no path in heaven... you need to find an inner path.
Truly, everything passes, but the Buddhas always live in eternity.
Gautama Buddha, Dhammapada
Gautama Buddha was born in northern India around 563 BC on the day of the May full moon.
The boy was named Siddhartha Gautama.
He was the son of the rulers of the Shakya kingdom.
Immediately after his birth, seven brahmins predicted to the ruler that if the young prince stayed at home, he would become a ruler who would unite India, but if he left, he would become a Buddha and remove the veil of ignorance from the eyes of the world.
The eighth brahmin declared that Gautama would undoubtedly become a Buddha, renouncing the world after seeing the four signs an old man, a sick man, a dead man, a holy man.
The ruler, concerned about the loss of the heir, fenced his son from pain and suffering and surrounded him with all possible luxury (Gautama had 3 palaces and 40,000 dancers at his disposal).
The turning point in Siddhartha's life occurred when he was 29 years old during four journeys, when he suddenly saw a decrepit old man leaning on a staff; a man suffering from an illness; a corpse; and, finally, a monk in a yellow robe with a shaved head, begging for alms.
Filled with compassion for the first three, Gautama realized that life is subject to old age, illness and death.
The fourth sign showed him the possibility of overcoming these states and encouraged him to leave the old world in order to find a way to get rid of suffering.
In the middle of the night, the prince left his wife and newborn son and began the life of a wandering monk.
He joined a group of five ascetics and for six years practiced excessive asceticism, which exhausted Gautama so much that he almost died.
Realizing the futility of asceticism, the prince left this way of life in order to find his own path to enlightenment.
The other five ascetics rejected and left him.
One day, the daughter of a peasant fed Gautama rice with milk, which gave him strength.
After eating, he sat down under a fig tree and gave a promise not to leave this place until he reached enlightenment.
This tree became known as the Bo tree (from the word Bodhi, or enlightenment).
During the meditation, Mara, the embodiment of evil, tempted Gautama in much the same way that Satan tempted Jesus in the desert.
At the instigation of Mara, beautiful dancers and the goddess of seduction seduced him, followed by terrible demons who tried to frighten Gautama with burning stones, boiling mud and darkness.
Despite all this, Siddhartha remained motionless.
Finally, Mara questioned Gautama's right to do what he was doing.
In response, Gautama used the mudra of touching the earth, he touched the earth and it thundered: "I bear witness!" - after which Mara disappeared.
Gautama spent the rest of the night in deep meditation, in a state of samadhi, and eventually achieved enlightenment.
It happened on the May full moon in about 528 BC, when Gautama was 36 years old.
In the state of enlightenment, Gautama realized the Four Noble Truths that became the basis of his teaching: The Noble Truth about Suffering (life is suffering);
The noble Truth about the cause of suffering (suffering is caused by wrong desires that bind a person to the cycle of death and new births);
The noble Truth about the cessation of suffering (wrong desires can be overcome); and
The noble Truth about the path that leads to the cessation of suffering.
This path leading to final liberation is the Eightfold Path.
After enlightenment, Gautama went to Benares and preached the first sermon before five of his former companions, in which he revealed what he had learned - the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path and the Middle Path.
These monks became the first members of his community.
Gautama founded a sangha (community), which soon numbered more than 12,000 adherents.
Houston Smith writes in The Religions of Man: "It took almost half a century for the Buddha to walk the dusty roads of India, carrying the ego destroying and life giving elixir of his message, until his hair turned gray, his legs weakened and his body became decrepit.
He founded a monastic order, thereby challenging the dead society under the leadership of the brahmins, and received in response indignation, doubts and confusion caused by his words.
"He didnot have a clear daily routine.
In addition to teaching monks, maintaining discipline, and managing the affairs of the Order, he preached a lot to the people, as well as personally talked with people, gave advice to those who were in difficult situations, encouraged believers and comforted the suffering."
When Gautama was 80 years old, one of his devoted followers, the jeweler Chunda, unknowingly served him food with poisonous mushrooms.
The Buddha was struck by a severe illness.
Worried that Chunda might feel guilty for his death, Gautama asked Ananda, his main disciple, to tell Chunda that of all the dishes he had eaten during his life, only two were a special blessing: the first was served to him before enlightenment, and the second - what Chunda served opened the gates to his liberation.
Gautama made the transition on the day of the May full moon in about 483 BC..
A partial reflection of the key musical note of Gautama Buddha, which contains the frequencies of his Electronic Presence, is the Symphony No. 9 by L. Beethoven.
