The Life Of The Buddha By Siddhartha Gautama

Buddhacarita, which is believed to be written by the Indian poet Ashvagosha between the first and second century A.D. (Life of the Buddha, 56), describes the life and deeds of the Buddha. This paper specifically addresses the very first part of the Buddha’s story from this epic, which is about the story before Siddhartha Gautama went out of the palace for the first time. It is subtitled “His Birth and the Sage’s Prophesies” in the material online (Life of the Buddha, 57-60).

The story began with the Buddha-to-be’s parents, a glorious King and his wife Maya. One day Maya dreamed of a white elephant, and thus conceived. Knowing that, she travelled to a beautiful and serene grove, and the time of delivery came. The birth of the Siddhartha Gautama

It gives the background of the central figure of a religion, who is always an inalienable part in understanding the essence of his doctrine. Although decorated with legendary elements, it reflects people’s common perceptions about the Buddha--he was born a son of a king in a wealthy environment, and once confined in the palace for pleasure in his youth. His divine and non-divine nature are also shown. Gautama was not common people—his birth was filled with supernatural miracles and the bliss. However, he was also common people—he was not endowed with superpower, and could also be subject to worldly attractions at the beginning. From such duality, one may also see some significant attitude of Buddhist’s about life—one become a saint by arduous effort, but such fate may have been destined—which is related to another important mythological piece that the text convey to us--the view of the world. The existence of supernatural powers was affirmed in the text—the elephant that impregnated Maya as the best example—and they interact with the world in a tangible way. Some most fundamental concepts in Buddhism were also mentioned, including enlightenment and rebirth. From the words given by the Buddha immediately after his birth, the relationship of Enlightenment and rebirth was also made clear—Enlightenment puts an end to

For example, when describing the Buddha’s father, the poet compared him to Indra, who played important row in Hinduism as war god, and the mother as Shachi, who was Indra’s wife (Life of the Buddha, 58). Also, the prince relying on a nurse’s lab was described as the son of Agni, the Hindu fire God, relying on Devi’s lap (Life of the Buddha, 59). Such reference really makes one wonder why these names would so often appear in the text of Buddhism, which clearly is a potential rival of Hinduism. One probable case, considering the age when this epic was composed, was that Buddhism had actively integrated many Indian gods into its own mythological systems. This is possible, since the epic was composed in the same atmosphere which gave rise to Mahayana Buddhism (Life of the Buddha, 56), in which some famous deities of Hindu origin actually served as the protector of the Buddha. Another possibility may lie in the Buddha’s indifference about gods: they are not helpful, but they do exist (Brodd, 153). The existence of those deities was probably acknowledged by most Indians, and had no conflict with