Lord Buddha

"Soft pity enters at an iron gate." 

It was in the sixth century about 563 B.C. a son was born to Sudhodhan in the village of Lumbini. His father was a Vassal of the Emperor of Koshala. His father tried to keep him engaged in various earthly pleasures. He was married to a beautiful girl named Yashodhara at the early age of sixteen.

One day, while he was on his drive, he saw three sights. These were of an old man, a sick man, and a dead man. All the three had such an adverse effect on him that he began to grieve when he thought that the world in which he was living was full of miseries and sorrows. While rising and sitting, sleeping, and walking these three sights always loomed before his eyes. There was a storm in his heart. He wanted to find a cure for all these ills. So one midnight he deserted his wife Yasodhara and child, Rahul, and drove out in search of the truth. He was hearing a call, a call of mankind that was suffering from sorrow. No doubt, he loved his wife and child, but he loved humanity more.

When his carriage came to a river, he sent back his driver Chandak with the message that the people of Kapilvastu should forgive him as he was yoked to a greater cause of mankind.

He studied philosophy, went to Brahmins to get light from them. He wandered from place to place in search of peace but he did not get it. Thereafter, he went to Gaya to undertake hard penances.

He kept fasts, undergone several kinds of painful experiences in the hope of receiving enlightenment but in vain. He became a mere skeleton. Consequently, he realized that such hardships were useless and gave up fasting. His five followers now deserted him.

It was a Bodh Gaya on the banks of Niranyna River, he fell ill and cure of all pains and sufferings was revealed to him. Thus he became the Buddha or enlightened one. After this, he went to Sarnath near Banaras where he preached throughout Kosla and Magadhya. He died at Kushinagar (modern Kasia in the Gorakhpur district) at the age of 80 in about B.C. 483.

Buddha taught that sorrow in life is due to repeated births and worldly objects. In order to escape suffering and sorrows, a man has to follow the middle course. The middle path or the eightfold path that consists of belief, thought speech, action, and meditation, in the proper way. The eightfold path "Ashtangik' Marg were : 

(i) Right view; 

(ii) Right aspiration; 

(iii) Right speech; 

(iv) Right conduct; 

(v) Right livelihood; 

(vi) Right effort; 

(vii) Right mindfulness; 

(viii) Right meditation.

Buddha declared that Vedic rites and practices were useless for salvation and did not acknowledge the superiority of Brahmins. He forbade the killing of animals for any purpose. He laid stress on moral values. According to him, a man doing good deeds will reborn in higher life. Evil deeds are sure to degrade a man to a lower level. Truthfulness, purity of like, charity, self-control is virtues that must be cultivated by everyone.