Siddhartha the Life of a Prophet

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Buddhism was brought to light about 500 BC by Siddhartha Gautama. Buddhism has not been described as a religion as such but rather as philosophy. The story of Siddhartha Gautama and how he brought Buddhism to limelight is quite moving. In this essay the thoughts of Siddhartha Gautama are explained and how the society reacted to his arguments. Generally this essay will briefly describe the achievements of Siddhartha Gautama in his quest to attain enlightenment and how that impacted the society of his time and to some extent the current society.

It is reported that Buddha was born in 563 B.C.E. It is also reported that Buddha was born with an ability to walk and talk; he walked about and cried, “I am supreme in the world. This is my last birth: henceforth there shall be no more birth for me!” (Warren 105). His father who was a king was informed that Siddhartha would end up being a monk but if he could be prevented then he could make a powerful king. His father determined to make Siddhartha a great king tried all means to prevent him from becoming a monk. The king ensured that Siddhartha was contained within the palace walls far from the view of suffering in the society which could have moved his heart into being a monk. After marrying at the age of 19 and having a son, he wished to leave the palace and tour the area outside it. It is from this tour that he saw people suffering. It is reported that what he encountered on this tour changed his mind into wanting to be a monk (Warren 106). Siddhartha decided to change his life from the princely privileges to being a monk. After seeing the kind of suffering that people went through a strong desire grew within him to find a solution for human suffering. He did not believe the answer wa...

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...n countries and claims that this is so because Buddhism offers “answers to many of the problems in modern materialistic societies” (1). Buddhism has also been claimed to offer a good understanding of the human mind with prominent psychologists agreeing that the understanding offered is very effective and advanced (White 1).

Buddhism is a philosophy which advocates for mankind living happily by avoiding suffering. The philosophy advocates for people coexisting peacefully by avoiding hurting each other through wrong use of words or actions. The philosophy also teaches on forming weak attachment to things around us in order to avoid being hurt when these things are lost as they are not permanent. Buddhism has found a general acceptance among those who have listened and read about its principles as they are morally upright and worth to instil peace in a society.

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