Siddhattha became the Buddha at the age of thirty-five. He taught for the next forty-five years or so until he was eighty. At the ripe old age of eighty, he passed away, or more accurately, he entered final nirvana. His last days were documented in...
The story of the Buddha is primarily useful for us as a template to guide us in how to move forward with our own lives. It is helpful to us in the same way that knowing admirable people is helpful to us: we see them live in good ways, watch them make decisions that...
After his enlightenment, the Buddha spent seven weeks in Uruvela.[1] Some of the time was spent consolidating his teachings, specifically, the teachings on dependent origination (which we will explore in detail later in this series) was formulated during the...
Students of religion may find one thing very peculiar about the Buddha’s enlightenment story: it does not involve any god at all. In the Bible, for example, God appeared directly in front of Abraham, and revealed Himself to Moses through a burning bush. In...
(Continued from The Four Sights, Four Signs, and Four Sighs.) After shaving his head and beard, and exchanging his princely robes for rags, Siddhattha started his life as a penniless, homeless, wandering ascetic living off the charity of strangers. Pretty soon...
