Buddh Life

Buddha Life thangka (Life History of Shakyamuni Buddha)

Buddha life thangka illustrates the life history of Buddha.
Buddha was born in a royal family with king Suddhodhan and queen Mayadevi as the parents who ruled Kapilvastu, Lumbini – Nepal.
The king and queen were childless for a very long time until one night queen mayadevi had a dream about a white elephant which was Bodhisattva(Buddha) himself.And the queen became pregnant as the Bodhisattva entered into her womb.
One day queen set out to visit her parents’ house. She went to take a rest in the beautiful garden of Lumbini,where she gave birth to Siddhartha Gautam ( Buddha) from her right armpit without having any labour pain.
Immediately after his birth,he walked seven steps forward.
God and Goddess appeared in the sky,full of happiness,poured nectar of immortality and flowers onto him.
In his birth,the priest forecasted that either he will be great emperor of the world or will be a great yogi.
The King Suddhodhan tried a lot to keep his son from witnessing the miseries and suffering of the world, he raised him in opulence(luxury) in a palace built just for the body and sheltered him from knowledge of religion and human hardship.
According to custom, he married at the age of 16, but his life of total seclusion(privacy) continued for another 13 years.
The prince reached his late 20s with little experience of the world outside the walls of his opulent palaces, but one day he ventured(pretend) out beyond the palace walls and was quickly confronted(oppose) with the realities of human frailty(moral weakness) ……as he came across sorrow,pain,death and those sufferings—-he saw a beggar,a cripple,a corpse,and a holy man—-which affected him deeply ,awakening(the act of waking up) a deep desire to find the corpse of suffering and thus alleviate(relieve) it.
Siddhartha was overcome by these sights, and the next day, at age 29, he left his kingdom, wife and son to lead an ascetic life, and determine a way to relieve the universal suffering that he now understood to be one of the defining traits of humanity.
His years of fasting,meditation and time spent in painful search to find a way to endthe sufferings.
Whatever he tried, Siddhartha could not reach the level of satisfaction he sought(looked after), until one day when a young girl offered him a bowl of rice.As he accepted it, he suddenly realized that corporeal (material)austerity(the great self denial) was not the means to achieve inner liberation, and that living under harsh physical constraints(hold back) was not helping him achievespiritual release.
Finally, he had his rice, drank water and bathed in the river.
So, at that moment of pure enlightenment of continuing his meditation under Bodhi tree,on the very full moon night when he has a direct realization of Nirvana (eternal peace),which transformed prince Siddhartha Gautam into BUddha.
Much time ,he spent guiding people towards nirvana,love and friendship.
For the remainder of his 80 years, Buddha travelled, preaching the Dharma (the name given to the teachings of the Buddha) in an effort to lead others to and along the path of enlightenment. When he died, it is said that he told his disciples that they should follow no leader.