Version 1 1/2 - The Walls Around Us
The story of Buddha, or at least a part of it, has always motivated me so I wanted to share his story.
There are a lot of theories and versions about his life which you can find online and in books. I wanted to share a version that has always meant a lot to me. This is based upon my interpretation of his story. So “peace” in advance if you feel offended.
Siddhartha Gautama was born to a king named Suddhodana and a queen named Mahamaya in the sixth century B.C Nepal.
The prince grew up within the palace walls, having no contact with the outside world. Whatever he learned or experienced he did it within the confines of those walls only.
He married a beautiful Princess named Yashodhara and they had a son. He was named Rahula. They lived happily together within the world of wealth and power.
Siddartha soon grew bored of the life inside the walls of the palace and wanted to experience the life outside.
Some say he snuck out of the palace to firsthand experience the life outside, while others have said that he requested his father, King Suddhodana, to let him go out and experience life. It doesn’t matter to me how he went out, what matters is what he experienced when he went out to see the world outside the confines of the palace walls.
He journeyed out into the city and for the first time in his life saw misery. While the life inside his palace was all beautiful full of riches and pleasures of all kind but the life outside was a total contrast.
Outside he once saw an old man, a sick man, a dead man and an ascetic (someone avoiding physical pleasures and living a simple life, often for religious reasons – as per Cambridge Dictionary). He was shocked to see the difference between the two lives; life in the Palace and the life outside the Palace. His visits to the outside world led to him realizing the fundamental truths of life. These truths were:
Siddhartha left his wife and son at the palace and set out to learn the way of finding salvation and understanding.
Siddhartha wandered through the forests seeking understanding from wise men and ascetics. However, this did not bring him satisfaction or greater understanding. Finally, Siddhartha settled under a tree to meditate. After many days of meditating, Siddhartha achieved Enlightenment. From that point, he was known as the ‘Buddha’.
The walls that his story refers to are not always the physical walls around us or the walls created due to external factors, they are many a times the walls and boundaries from within us which we create in our mind. Overcoming these walls that are made up of our own doubts and fears is the biggest learning for me from Buddha’s story.
I for one was scared of venturing out of my walls of comfort. So many questions came to my mind before getting my book published; do I have what it takes to be a writer, is it good enough to be published or not, why would anybody read about the life of a common man and so and so forth. But as I ventured out of my walls of comfort, these questions didn’t matter anymore. How many of us are scared of venturing out of our walls of comfort to do something we have always wanted to do for a long time? Remember that these walls may not always be the physical walls as in Buddha’s case, most of the times these walls are made up of our own doubts and fears.
I guess someone has rightly said “success lies beyond your comfort zone” and that zone is the zone beyond our conventional thinking. We often get comfortable doing the same mundane thing over and over again and in the process lose interest because we are too afraid to change.
Going beyond your comfort zone can also mean doing the same thing in a better way by putting your heart and soul into it.
Also, lessons can be drawn from his ‘observation skills’ when he ventured out. How many of us simply miss opportunities because we miss those ‘crucial signs’ which are right in front of us? How many of us simply ignore opportunities because our mind was preoccupied with something else? i.e. problems I for one can admit that it has happened to me many times.
Those are my learning’s from his story. This is my view about Buddha’s life, peace out...
#versiononeandahalf #version11/2
There are a lot of theories and versions about his life which you can find online and in books. I wanted to share a version that has always meant a lot to me. This is based upon my interpretation of his story. So “peace” in advance if you feel offended.
Siddhartha Gautama was born to a king named Suddhodana and a queen named Mahamaya in the sixth century B.C Nepal.
The prince grew up within the palace walls, having no contact with the outside world. Whatever he learned or experienced he did it within the confines of those walls only.
He married a beautiful Princess named Yashodhara and they had a son. He was named Rahula. They lived happily together within the world of wealth and power.
Siddartha soon grew bored of the life inside the walls of the palace and wanted to experience the life outside.
Some say he snuck out of the palace to firsthand experience the life outside, while others have said that he requested his father, King Suddhodana, to let him go out and experience life. It doesn’t matter to me how he went out, what matters is what he experienced when he went out to see the world outside the confines of the palace walls.
He journeyed out into the city and for the first time in his life saw misery. While the life inside his palace was all beautiful full of riches and pleasures of all kind but the life outside was a total contrast.
Outside he once saw an old man, a sick man, a dead man and an ascetic (someone avoiding physical pleasures and living a simple life, often for religious reasons – as per Cambridge Dictionary). He was shocked to see the difference between the two lives; life in the Palace and the life outside the Palace. His visits to the outside world led to him realizing the fundamental truths of life. These truths were:
- all men who are born eventually have to die, sickness comes to all men;
- old age comes to all men;
- and renouncing worldly possessions is the way to attain peace and salvation.
Siddhartha left his wife and son at the palace and set out to learn the way of finding salvation and understanding.
Siddhartha wandered through the forests seeking understanding from wise men and ascetics. However, this did not bring him satisfaction or greater understanding. Finally, Siddhartha settled under a tree to meditate. After many days of meditating, Siddhartha achieved Enlightenment. From that point, he was known as the ‘Buddha’.
The walls that his story refers to are not always the physical walls around us or the walls created due to external factors, they are many a times the walls and boundaries from within us which we create in our mind. Overcoming these walls that are made up of our own doubts and fears is the biggest learning for me from Buddha’s story.
I for one was scared of venturing out of my walls of comfort. So many questions came to my mind before getting my book published; do I have what it takes to be a writer, is it good enough to be published or not, why would anybody read about the life of a common man and so and so forth. But as I ventured out of my walls of comfort, these questions didn’t matter anymore. How many of us are scared of venturing out of our walls of comfort to do something we have always wanted to do for a long time? Remember that these walls may not always be the physical walls as in Buddha’s case, most of the times these walls are made up of our own doubts and fears.
I guess someone has rightly said “success lies beyond your comfort zone” and that zone is the zone beyond our conventional thinking. We often get comfortable doing the same mundane thing over and over again and in the process lose interest because we are too afraid to change.
Going beyond your comfort zone can also mean doing the same thing in a better way by putting your heart and soul into it.
Also, lessons can be drawn from his ‘observation skills’ when he ventured out. How many of us simply miss opportunities because we miss those ‘crucial signs’ which are right in front of us? How many of us simply ignore opportunities because our mind was preoccupied with something else? i.e. problems I for one can admit that it has happened to me many times.
Those are my learning’s from his story. This is my view about Buddha’s life, peace out...
#versiononeandahalf #version11/2
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