Siddhartha: an in-depth look at the man who became the Buddha
June, 14 2013

I chose to watch The Buddha, The story of Siddhartha a documentary about the life of Siddhartha Gautama the prince who would become the Buddha the teacher behind the Buddhist religion. This documentary starts out explaining how Siddhartha Gautama was born and the prophecies that were told about the prince that was soon to born. It was foretold that the prince would either become a king who would rule the land greatly or he would leave his kingdom to become a great teacher or spiritual being. The king, Siddhartha’s father kept him in the palace and gave into the young prices every whim. The prince never had to suffer he had a great life but, unbeknown to him he had already suffered the greatest loss that a person can suffer. When Siddhartha was born his mother died mysteriously when the prince was only one week old. When Siddhartha was 16 years old he is married to his cousin. He stays in the palace for 29 years he leaves one day after just seeing his son being born. He goes out into the world and has four encounters. His first encounter was with an old person he sees that people change they do not stay young and beautiful. The second encounter was with someone who is ill. He finds out that everyone gets sick at some point. The third encounter is with a corpse. He sees that life is impermanent and he is shocked by this. He begins to wonder if he will become old, if he will become ill, and if he will one day die. He wonders how he would deal with all of the suffering. His fourth and final encounter is with a spiritual seeker. He sees that this man is looking for the same answer to his last question, how do I deal with suffering? The prince returns to his palace he sees his son who he has named fetter, because he knows he is holding him to this life he currently lives. Siddhartha leaves. He knows that he will not find the knowledge that he seeks if he does not sacrifice. The prince goes out into the world cuts all of his hair off and becomes homeless. He sees that every other person is having problems with the current religion of Vedic Hinduism which is full of rituals and chants. A social change was beginning people were hungry for a new religion. Siddhartha renounces the Vedic ways and goes and mediates. He tries to figure out a way to escape the cycle of life and rebirth. According to Asian beliefs a person does not just live and die, they live many lives as many different creatures. IT is said that Siddhartha lived many lives as many different types of creature some human some animal and even as a god. Each life leads to the person becoming more and more enlightened each time becoming wiser and wiser. Siddhartha had an apprenticeship under a few gurus. He spent much time doing yoga and meditating. Rarely eating he was close to death. Believing that since he used to receive the most extreme luxuries he wants to go the complete opposite and make his mind and body go through complete deprivation. He sat out in the open barely eating constantly meditating. Siddhartha does this for six years following the ascetics trying to remove all of the bad things inside of his body. His questions were never answered he was constantly thinking about his body and that got in the way. He thought back to a day when he was young sitting by the lake with his father and he saw how beautiful the earth was and saw how much compassion he felt for everything he felt so connected to everything. After he has this thought a young girl comes by and offers him some rice milk and he eats he now knows that you cannot live life alone and that you cannot bury the emotions that you have they will always be there. His fellow ascetics turn him away because they think by eating he is indulging in luxuries. Siddhartha now knows that he must look within himself and to trust his instincts. He goes and sits under a Bodhi tree and decides that he will not move until he has solved the