Stages of life Flashcards
When was the Buddha born?
2500 years ago
What was the earliest text about his life found?
‘Acts of the Buddha’ by the poet Ashvaghosa
What was the first section of the Buddhas life and what happened? (9 things, list 4)
Birth:
- Father was king of shakya tribe
- Mothers pregnancy lasted 10 months
- Had a dream that an elephant with six white tusks entered her side (predicted that he would be a great religious leader or king)
- Born on full moon
- Mother gave birth standing
- Born clean
- Lotus flowers sprung from his steps
- Natural disasters on birth
- Took seven steps instantly
What was the second section of the Buddhas life and what happened? (4 things)
Upbringing:
- Brought up with aunt after mothers death
- Brahmin priest foretold he would be a great king or religious leader
- His father withheld all accounts of suffering to avoid him from becoming a religious leader (stories vary on the severity)
- Was married and had a son
What was the third section of the Buddha’s life and what happened? (4 things)
The four sights:
- He left his home with his charioteer
- Sees four sights:
1. Old man - showed inevitability of ageing
2. Sick man - showed that all things end
3. Dead man - showed that things come to an end
4. Religious ascetic - showed calm within the storm, showed you can devote life to trying to end the suffering
What was the fourth section of the Buddha’s life and what happened? (3 things)
Renunciation:
- Siddhartha left home and all his possessions, renouncing them
- Siddhartha became a religious wanderer
- Learnt meditation from teachers
What was the fifth section of the Buddha’s life and what happened? (4 things)
Asceticism:
- Siddhartha stared practicing asceticism, practices included heat exposure, holding ones posture, holding one’s breath, fasting,
- The idea of asceticism is that you rid the need of your body in order to free your soul, this is still a highly practiced art, even today monks regularly practice asceticism
- He eventually gave up these ascetic practices when he collapsed and realised he could not focus on meditation
- Woman gave him rice/porridge
What was the sixth section of the Buddha’s life and what happened? (4 things)
Enlightenment:
- He was abandoned by the other ascetics who felt he was weak for giving up
- Sat under a bodhi tree meditating until he became enlightened
- Mara tried to prevent the enlightenment through different methods
- He went through the four watches
What are the 4 watches?
First - Recalls his past lives
Second - Recognises and sees all lives are reborn int realms of existence
Third - Understand the cause of samsara and how to be liberated
Fourth - Reached the state of enlightenment
What was the last section of the Buddha’s life and what happened? (4 things)
- He started by teaching the five ascetics of his new awareness
- He told his first sermon at deer park and one of the ascetics became the first arhat
- Established the sangha
- Reconciled with family
Define asceticism
Severe self-discipline through physical test and restraint and avoiding of all forms of indulgence
Define renunciation
The formal rejection of something
What is the Buddha’s nickname
The Shakyamuni Buddha
