This book is an anthology of 162 quotes from Gautama Buddha and 55 selected facts about Gautama Buddha. Gautama was the family name. The word Buddha means "awakened one" or "the enlightened one." Gautama Buddha, also known as Siddhārtha Gautama, Shakyamuni, or simply the Buddha, was a sage on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. Gautama taught Middle Way between sensual indulgence and the severe asceticism found in the Sramana (renunciation) movement. Gautama is the primary figure in Buddhism, and accounts of his life, discourses, and monastic rules are believed by Buddhists to have been summarized after his death and memorized by his followers. Various collections of teachings attributed to him were passed down by oral tradition, and first committed to writing about 400 years later. Most scholars accept that he lived, taught and founded a monastic order during the Mahajanapada era in India during the reign of Bimbisara, the ruler of Magadha empire, and died during the early years of the reign of Ajatshatru, who was the successor of Bimbisara, thus making him a contemporary of Mahavira, the Jain teacher. The times of Gautama's birth and death are uncertain. Most historians in the early 20th century dated his lifetime as circa 563 BCE to 483 BCE. Siddharta Gautama was born as a Kshatriya, the son of Śuddhodana, "an elected chief of the Shakya clan", whose capital was Kapilavastu, and who were later annexed by the growing Kingdom of Kosala during the Buddha's lifetime. His mother, Queen Maha Maya and Suddhodana's wife, was a Koliyan princess. You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection.” “What we think, we become.” “You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger.” “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” “The past is already gone; the future is not yet here. There's only one moment for you to live, and that is the present moment.” “Three things can not hide for long: the Moon, the Sun and the Truth.” “Nothing is forever except change.” “To understand everything is to forgive everything.” “You only lose what you cling to.” “A dog is not considered a good dog because he is a good barker. A man is not considered a good man because he is a good talker.” “A family is a place where minds come in contact with one another. If these minds love one another the home will be as beautiful as a flower garden. But if these minds get out of harmony with one another it is like a storm that plays havoc with the garden.” “A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the things which renew humanity.” “A jug fills drop by drop.”

1. Gautama Buddha: Life & Words
By Ann Kannings
First Edition
Copyright © 2014 by Ann Kannings
*****
Gautama Buddha: Life & Words
*****
Foreword

2. “You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection.”
This book is an anthology of 162 quotes from Gautama Buddha and 55 selected facts about
Gautama Buddha.

3. Gautama was the family name.
The word Buddha means "awakened one" or "the enlightened one."
Gautama Buddha, also known as Siddhārtha Gautama, Shakyamuni, or simply the Buddha, was a
sage on whose teachings Buddhism was founded.
Gautama taught Middle Way between sensual indulgence and the severe asceticism found in the
Sramana (renunciation) movement.
Gautama is the primary figure in Buddhism, and accounts of his life, discourses, and monastic
rules are believed by Buddhists to have been summarized after his death and memorized by his
followers.
Various collections of teachings attributed to him were passed down by oral tradition, and first
committed to writing about 400 years later.
Most scholars accept that he lived, taught and founded a monastic order during the Mahajanapada
era in India during the reign of Bimbisara, the ruler of Magadha empire, and died during the early
years of the reign of Ajatshatru, who was the successor of Bimbisara, thus making him a
contemporary of Mahavira, the Jain teacher.
The times of Gautama's birth and death are uncertain. Most historians in the early 20th century
dated his lifetime as circa 563 BCE to 483 BCE.
Siddharta Gautama was born as a Kshatriya, the son of Śuddhodana, "an elected chief of the
Shakya clan", whose capital was Kapilavastu, and who were later annexed by the growing
Kingdom of Kosala during the Buddha's lifetime.
His mother, Queen Maha Maya and Suddhodana's wife, was a Koliyan princess.
You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection.”
“What we think, we become.”
“You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger.”
“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”
“The past is already gone; the future is not yet here. There's only one moment for you to live, and
that is the present moment.”
“Three things can not hide for long: the Moon, the Sun and the Truth.”
“Nothing is forever except change.”
“To understand everything is to forgive everything.”
“You only lose what you cling to.”
“A dog is not considered a good dog because he is a good barker. A man is not considered a good
man because he is a good talker.”
“A family is a place where minds come in contact with one another. If these minds love one
another the home will be as beautiful as a flower garden. But if these minds get out of harmony
with one another it is like a storm that plays havoc with the garden.”
“A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the things which renew
humanity.”
“A jug fills drop by drop.”
His Words

4. “You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection.”
“What we think, we become.”
“You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger.”
“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”
“The past is already gone; the future is not yet here. There's only one moment for you to live, and
that is the present moment.”
“Three things can not hide for long: the Moon, the Sun and the Truth.”
“Nothing is forever except change.”
“To understand everything is to forgive everything.”
“You only lose what you cling to.”
“A dog is not considered a good dog because he is a good barker. A man is not considered a good
man because he is a good talker.”
“A family is a place where minds come in contact with one another. If these minds love one
another the home will be as beautiful as a flower garden. But if these minds get out of harmony
with one another it is like a storm that plays havoc with the garden.”
“A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the things which renew
humanity.”
“A jug fills drop by drop.”
“A man is not called wise because he talks and talks again; but if he is peaceful, loving and
fearless then he is in truth called wise.”
“A man traveling across a field encountered a tiger. He fled, the tiger after him. Coming to a
precipice, he caught hold of the root of a wild vine and swung himself down over the edge. The
tiger sniffed at him from above. Trembling, the man looked down to where, far below, another
tiger was waiting to eat him. Only the vine sustained him.
“All descriptions of reality are temporary hypotheses.”
“All phenomena do not inherently exist because of being dependent-arisings. All phenomena do
not inherently exist because of being dependently imputed.”
“All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts and made up
of our thoughts. If a man speak or act with an evil thought, suffering follows him as the wheel
follows the hoof of the beast that draws the wagon.... If a man speak or act with a good thought,

5. happiness follows him like a shadow that never leaves him.”
“All things appear and disappear because of the concurrence of causes and conditions. Nothing
ever exists entirely alone; everything is in relation to everything else.”
“All wrong-doing arises because of mind. If mind is transformed can wrong - doing remain.”
“Anger will never disappear so long as thoughts of resentment are cherished in the mind.”
“As a flower that is lovely and beautiful, but is scentless, even so fruitless is the well-spoken
word of one who practices it not.”
“As rain falls equally on the just and the unjust, do not burden your heart with judgements but
rain your kindness equally on all. ”
“As you walk and eat and travel, be where you are. Otherwise you will miss most of your life.”
“Attachment leads to suffering.”
“Awake. Be the witness of your thoughts. You are what observes, not what you observe”
“Be a lamp unto yourself. Work out your liberation with diligence.”
“Be greatly aware of the present.”
“Be vigilant; guard your mind against negative thoughts.”
“Be where you are; otherwise you will miss your life.”
“Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it
agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.”
“Better than a thousand hollow words is one word that brings peace.”
“Contentment is the greatest wealth”
“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply
because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found
written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your
teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many
generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason
and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.”
“Do not dwell in the past; do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present
moment.”
“Do not look for a sanctuary in anyone except your self.”

6. “Doubt everything. Find your own light.”
“Ennui has made more gamblers than avarice, more drunkards than thirst, and perhaps as many
suicides as despair.”
“Even as a solid rock is unshaken by the wind, so are the wise unshaken by praise or blame.”
“Every human being is the author of his own health or disease.”
“Every morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.”
“Few among men are they who cross to the further shore. The others merely run up and down the
bank on this side.”
“Following the Noble Path is like entering a dark room with a light in the hand; the darkness will
all be cleared away, and the room will be filled with light.”
“Friendship is the only cure for hatred, the only guarantee of peace.”
“From a withered tree, a flower blooms”
“Generosity brings happiness at every stage of its expression. We experience joy in forming the
intention to be generous. We experience joy in the actual act of giving something. And we
experience joy in remembering the fact that we have given.”
“Greed is an imperfection that defiles the mind; hate is an imperfection that defiles the mind;
delusion is an imperfection that defiles the mind.”
“Happiness comes when your work and words are of benefit to others.”
“Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule.”
“He is able who thinks he is able.”
“He who experiences the unity of life sees his own Self in all beings, and all beings in his own
Self, and looks on everything with an impartial eye.”
“He who loves 50 people has 50 woes; he who loves no one has no woes.”
“Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship. ”
“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else;
you are the one who gets burned.”
“How blissful it is, for one who has nothing. Attainders of-wisdom are people with nothing. See
him suffering, one who has something, a person bound in mind with people.”

7. “How wonderful! How wonderful! All things are perfect, exactly as they are.”
“However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if
you do not act on upon them?”
“I consider the positions of kings and rulers as that of dust motes. I observe treasure of gold and
gems as so many bricks
“I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done.”
“If a traveler does not meet with one who is his better, or his equal, let him firmly keep to his
solitary journey; there is no companionship with a fool.”
“If it is not truthful and not helpful, don't say it.
“If the selflessness of phenomena is analyzed and if this analysis is cultivated, it causes the effect
of attaining nirvana. through no other cause does one come to peace.”
“If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly our whole life would change. ”
“If we fail to look after others when they need help, who will look after us?”
“If you are facing in the right direction, all you need to do is keep on walking.”
“If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading”
“If you find no one to support you on the spiritual path, walk alone. There is no companionship
with the immature.”
“If you light a lamp for somebody, it will also brighten your path. ”
“If you propose to speak always ask yourself, is it true, is it necessary, is it kind.”
“If you truly loved yourself, you could never hurt another.”
“If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.”
“Imagine that every person in the world is enlightened but you. They are all your teachers, each
doing just the right things to help you learn perfect patience, perfect wisdom, perfect
compassion.”
“In separateness lies the world's greatest misery; in compassion lies the world's true strength.”
“In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own
minds and then believe them to be true.”

8. “It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.”
“It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It
cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.”
“It is better to travel, than to arrive.”
“It is in a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe that leads him to evil ways.”
“Just as a snake sheds its skin, we must shed our past over and over again.”
“Just to say 'I believe' or 'I do not doubt' does not mean that you understand and see. To force
oneself to see and accept a thing without understanding is political and not spiritual or
intellectual.”
“Kindness should become the natural way of life, not the exception.”
“Learn this from water: loud splashes the brook but the oceans depth are calm.”
“Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot at least we learned a little, and if we
didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us
all be thankful.”
“Life is a river always flowing. Do not hold onto things. Work hard.”
“Long is the night to him who is awake; long is a mile to him who is tired; long is life to the
foolish who do not know the true law.”
“Look not to the faults of others, nor to their omissions and commissions. But rather look to your
own acts, to what you have done and left undone.”
“May all that have life be delivered from suffering.”
“Monks, even if bandits were to savagely sever you, limb by limb, with a double-handled saw,
even then, whoever of you harbors ill will at heart would not be upholding my Teaching. Monks,
even in such a situation you should train yourselves thus: 'Neither shall our minds be affected by
this, nor for this matter shall we give vent to evil words, but we shall remain full of concern and
pity, with a mind of love, and we shall not give in to hatred. On the contrary, we shall live
projecting thoughts of universal love to those very persons, making them as well as the whole
world the object of our thoughts of universal love — thoughts that have grown great, exalted and
measureless. We shall dwell radiating these thoughts which are void of hostility and ill will.' It is
in this way, monks, that you should train yourselves.”
“More than those who hate you, more than all your enemies, an undisciplined mind does greater
harm.”
“Most problems, if you give them enough time and space, will eventually wear themselves out”

9. “No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.”
“Nothing can harm you as much as your own thoughts unguarded.”
“Nothing ever exists entirely alone; everything is in relation to everything else.”
“Opinion, O disciples, is a disease; opinion is a tumor; opinion is a sore. He who has overcome
all opinion, O disciples, is called a saint, one who knows.”
“Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Suffering follows an evil thought as
the wheels of a cart follow the oxen that draw it.
“Our theories of the eternal are as valuable as are those that a chick which has not broken its way
through its shell might form of the outside world.”
“Pain is certain, suffering is optional.”
“Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.”
“People with opinions just go around bothering one another.”
“Praise and blame, gain and loss, pleasure and sorrow come and go like the wind. To be happy,
rest like a giant tree in the midst of them all”
“Rage is a powerful energy that with diligent practice can be transformed into fierce compassion.
However much we disagree with our enemies, our task is to identify with them. They too feel
justified in their point of view.”
“Remembering a wrong is like carrying a burden on the mind.”
“Resolutely train yourself to attain peace.”
“Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving
and tolerant with the weak and wrong. Sometime in your life, you will have been all of these.”
“Set your heart on doing good. Do it over and over again, and you will be filled with joy.”
“She, who knows life flows, feels no wear or tear, needs no mending or repair.”
“Silence the angry man with love. Silence the ill-natured man with kindness. Silence the miser
with generosity. Silence the liar with truth.”
“So too, friend, purification of virtue is for the sake of reaching purification of mind; purification
of mind is for the sake of reaching purification of view; purification of view is for the sake of
reaching purification by overcoming doubt; purification by overcoming doubt is for the sake of
reaching purification by knowledge and vision of what is the path and what is not the path;

10. purification by knowledge and vision of what is the path and what is not the path is for the sake
of reaching purification by knowledge and vision of the way; purification by knowledge and
vision of the way is for the sake of reaching purification by knowledge and vision; purification by
knowledge and vision is for the sake of reaching final Nibbāna [Nirvana] without clinging. It is
for the sake of final Nibbāna without clinging that the holy life is lived under the Blessed One.”
“Speak the truth do not become angered and give when asked, even be it a little. By these three
conditions one goes to the presence of the gods.”
“The forest is a peculiar organism of unlimited kindness and benevolence that makes no demands
for its sustenance and extends generously the products of its life activity; it affords protection to
all beings, offering shade even to the axe-man who destroys it.”
“The Gift of Truth excels all other Gifts.”
“The greatest prayer is patience.”
“The ignorant man is an ox. He grows in size, not in wisdom.”
“The one who has conquered himself is a far greater hero than he who has defeated a thousand
times a thousand men.”
“The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows.”
“The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, nor to worry about the
future, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.”
“The teaching is simple. Do what is right. Be Pure.”
“The tongue like a sharp knife... Kills without drawing blood.”
“The trouble is, you think you have time.”
“The virtuous man delights in this world and he delights in the next”
“The Way is not in the sky; the Way is in the heart.”
“The whole secret of existence is to have no fear. Never fear what will become of you, depend on
no one. Only the moment you reject all help are you freed.”
“The wise man makes an island of himself that no flood can overwhelm.”
“There are no chains like hate...dwelling on your brother's faults multiplies your own. You are far
from the end of your journey.”
“There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not
starting.”

11. “There has to be evil so that good can prove its purity above it.”
“There is no fire like passion, there is no shark like hatred, there is no snare like folly, there is no
torrent like greed.”
“There is no path to happiness: happiness is the path.”
“There is nothing more dreadful than the habit of doubt. Doubt separates people. It is a poison
that disintegrates friendships and breaks up pleasant relations. It is a thorn that irritates and hurts;
it is a sword that kills.”
“There is nothing so disobedient as an undisciplined mind, and there is nothing so obedient as a
disciplined mind.”
“There isn't enough darkness in the entire world to snuff out the light of one little candle.”
“Therefore, be ye lamps unto yourselves, be a refuge to yourselves. Hold fast to Truth as a lamp;
hold fast to the truth as a refuge. Look not for a refuge in anyone beside yourselves. And those,
who shall be a lamp unto themselves, shall betake themselves to no external refuge, but holding
fast to the Truth as their lamp, and holding fast to the Truth as their refuge, they shall reach the
topmost height.”
“This I tell you: decay is inherent in all conditioned things. Work out your own salvation, with
diligence.”
“Those which are produced from causes are not produced. they do not have an inherent nature of
production. Those which depend on causes are said to be empty; those who know emptiness are
aware.”
“Those which arise dependently are free of inherent existence.”
“Those who attempt to conquer hatred by hatred are like warriors who take weapons to overcome
others who bear arms. This does not end hatred, but gives it room to grow. But, ancient wisdom
has advocated a different timeless strategy to overcome hatred. This eternal wisdom is to meet
hatred with non-hatred. The method of trying to conquer hatred through hatred never succeeds in
overcoming hatred. But, the method of overcoming hatred through non-hatred is eternally
effective. That is why that method is described as eternal wisdom. ”
“Those who consider the inessential to be essential
“Those who have failed to work toward the truth have missed the purpose of living.”
“Though one should live a hundred years without wisdom and control, yet better, indeed, is a
single day’s life of one who is wise and meditative.”
“Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be

12. shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.”
“To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a way of life; foolish people are idle, wise
people are diligent.”
“To become vegetarian is to step into the stream which leads to nirvana.”
“To force oneself to believe and to accept a thing without understanding is political, and not
spiritual or intellectual.”
“To insist on a spiritual practice that served you in the past is to carry the raft on your back after
you have crossed the river.”
“To life in the consciousness of the inevitability of suffering, of becoming enfeebled, of old age
and of death, is impossible -- we must free ourselves from life, from all possible life.”
“True love is born from understanding.”
“Wear your ego like a loose fitting garment.”
“What is evil? Killing is evil, lying is evil, slandering is evil, abuse is evil, gossip is evil, envy is
evil, hatred is evil, to cling to false doctrine is evil; all these things are evil. And what is the root
of evil? Desire is the root of evil, illusion is the root of evil.”
“What you are is what you have been. What you'll be is what you do now.”
“When you realize how perfect everything is you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky”
“Whoever sees me sees the teaching, and whoever sees the teaching sees me.”
“Will not be punished for your anger, your anger is the punishment.”
“With our thoughts we make the world.”
“Words do not express thoughts very well; every thing immediately becomes a little different, a
little distorted, a little foolish. And yet it also pleases me and seems right that what is of value and
wisdom of one man seems nonsense to another.”
“Words have the power to both destroy and heal. When words are both true and kind, they can
change our world.”
“Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others.”
“Yes, Kālāmas, it is proper that your have doubt, that you have perplexity, for a doubt has arisen
in a matter which is doubtful. Now, look you Kālāmas, do not be led by reports, or traditions, or
hearsay. Be not led by the authority of religious texts, not by the delight in speculative opinions,

13. nor by seeming possibilities, not by the idea: 'this is our teacher'. But, O Kālāmas, when you
know for yourself that certain things are unwholesome, and wrong, and bad, then give them up...
And when you know for yourself that certain things are wholesome and good, then accept them
and follow them.”
“You are the community now. Be a lamp for yourselves. Be your own refuge. Seek for no other.
All things must pass. Strive on diligently. Don’t give up.”
“You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love
and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You, yourself,
as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”
“You throw thorns, falling in my silence they become flowers.”
“Your purpose in life is to find your purpose and give your whole heart and soul to it”
Facts of Life
Gautama was the family name.
The word Buddha means "awakened one" or "the enlightened one."
Gautama Buddha, also known as Siddhārtha Gautama, Shakyamuni, or simply the Buddha, was a
sage on whose teachings Buddhism was founded.
Gautama taught Middle Way between sensual indulgence and the severe asceticism found in the
Sramana (renunciation) movement.
Gautama is the primary figure in Buddhism, and accounts of his life, discourses, and monastic
rules are believed by Buddhists to have been summarized after his death and memorized by his
followers.
Various collections of teachings attributed to him were passed down by oral tradition, and first
committed to writing about 400 years later.
Most scholars accept that he lived, taught and founded a monastic order during the Mahajanapada
era in India during the reign of Bimbisara, the ruler of Magadha empire, and died during the early
years of the reign of Ajatshatru, who was the successor of Bimbisara, thus making him a
contemporary of Mahavira, the Jain teacher.
The times of Gautama's birth and death are uncertain. Most historians in the early 20th century
dated his lifetime as circa 563 BCE to 483 BCE.
Siddharta Gautama was born as a Kshatriya, the son of Śuddhodana, "an elected chief of the
Shakya clan", whose capital was Kapilavastu, and who were later annexed by the growing

14. Kingdom of Kosala during the Buddha's lifetime.
His mother, Queen Maha Maya and Suddhodana's wife, was a Koliyan princess.
Legend has it that, on the night Siddhartha was conceived, Queen Maya dreamt that a white
elephant with six white tusks entered her right side, and ten months later Siddhartha was born.
As was the Shakya tradition, when his mother Queen Maya became pregnant, she left Kapilvastu
for her father's kingdom to give birth. However, her son is said to have been born on the way, at
Lumbini, in a garden beneath a sal tree.
The day of the Buddha's birth is widely celebrated in Theravada countries as Vesak.
Buddha's birth anniversary holiday is called "Buddha Purnima" in Nepal and India as Buddha is
believed to have been born on a full moon day. The infant was given the name Siddhartha,
meaning "he who achieves his aim". During the birth celebrations, the hermit seer Asita
journeyed from his mountain abode and announced that the child would either become a great
king (chakravartin) or a great holy man.
Various sources hold that the Buddha's mother died at his birth, a few days or seven days later.
His father, Suddhodana, held a naming ceremony on the fifth day after Buddha's birth, and
invited eight Brahmin scholars to read the future. All gave a dual prediction that the baby would
either become a great king or a great holy man. Kaundinya, the youngest, and later to be the first
arahant other than the Buddha, was reputed to be the only one who unequivocally predicted that
Siddhartha would become a Buddha.
Siddhartha was brought up by his mother's younger sister, Maha Pajapati.
Siddhartha is said to have been destined by birth to the life of a prince, and had three palaces (for
seasonal occupation) built for him.
When Siddhartha reached the age of 16, his father reputedly arranged his marriage to a cousin of
the same age named Yaśodhara. She gave birth to a son, named Rahula
Siddhartha is said to have spent 29 years as a prince in Kapilavastu.
A kshatriya by birth, Siddhartha had military training in his upbringing, and by Shakyan tradition
was required to pass tests to demonstrate his worthiness as a warrior in order to marry. He had a
strong enough body to be noticed by one of the kings and was asked to join his army as a general.
Although his father ensured that Siddhartha was provided with everything he could want or need,
Buddhist scriptures say that the future Buddha felt that material wealth was not life's ultimate
goal.
At the age of 29, Siddhartha left his palace to meet his subjects. Despite his father's efforts to hide
from him the sick, aged and suffering, Siddhartha was said to have seen an old man. When his

15. charioteer Channa explained to him that all people grew old, the prince went on further trips
beyond the palace. On these he encountered a diseased man, a decaying corpse, and an ascetic.
These depressed him, and he initially strove to overcome aging, sickness, and death by living the
life of an ascetic.
Accompanied by Channa and riding his horse Kanthaka, Gautama quit his palace for the life of a
mendicant. It's said that, "the horse's hooves were muffled by the gods" to prevent guards from
knowing of his departure.
Gautama initially went to Rajagaha and began his ascetic life by begging for alms in the street.
After King Bimbisara's men recognised Siddhartha and the king learned of his quest, Bimbisara
offered Siddhartha the throne. Siddhartha rejected the offer, but promised to visit his kingdom of
Magadha first, upon attaining enlightenment.
Siddhartha left Rajagaha and practised under two hermit teachers of yogic meditation. After
mastering the teachings of Alara Kalama, he was asked by Kalama to succeed him. However,
Gautama felt unsatisfied by the practise, and moved on to become a student of yoga with Udaka
Ramaputta.
With Udaka Ramaputta Gautam achieved high levels of meditative consciousness, and was again
asked to succeed his teacher. But, once more, he was not satisfied, and again moved on.
Siddhartha and a group of five companions led by Kaundinya are then said to have set out to take
their austerities even further. They tried to find enlightenment through deprivation of worldly
goods, including food, practising self-mortification.
After nearly starving himself to death by restricting his food intake to around a leaf or nut per
day, Siddhartha collapsed in a river while bathing and almost drowned. Siddhartha began to
reconsider his path. Then, he remembered a moment in childhood in which he had been watching
his father start the season's plowing. He attained a concentrated and focused state that was
blissful and refreshing, the jhāna.
According to the early Buddhist texts, after realizing that meditative dhyana was the right path to
awakening, but that extreme asceticism didn't work, Gautama discovered what Buddhists call the
Middle Way — a path of moderation away from the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification,
or the Noble Eightfold Path.
In a famous incident, after becoming starved and weakened, Siddhartha is said to have accepted
milk and rice pudding from a village girl named Sujata. Such was his emaciated appearance that
she wrongly believed him to be a spirit that had granted her a wish. Following this incident,
Gautama was famously seated under a pipal tree—now known as the Bodhi tree—in Bodh Gaya,
India, when he vowed never to arise until he had found the truth. After a reputed 49 days of
meditation, at the age of 35, he is said to have attained Enlightenment. According to some
traditions, this occurred in approximately the fifth lunar month, while, according to others, it was
in the twelfth month. From that time, Gautama was known to his followers as the Buddha or
"Awakened One".

16. According to Buddhism, at the time of his awakening he realized complete insight into the cause
of suffering, and the steps necessary to eliminate it. These discoveries became known as the
"Four Noble Truths", which are at the heart of Buddhist teaching. Through mastery of these
truths, a state of supreme liberation, or Nirvana, is believed to be possible for any being. The
Buddha described Nirvāna as the perfect peace of a mind that's free from ignorance, greed, hatred
and other afflictive state.
Nirvana is also regarded as the "end of the world", in that no personal identity or boundaries of
the mind remain. In such a state, a being is said to possess the Ten Characteristics, belonging to
every Buddha.
According to a story in the Āyācana Sutta — a scripture found in the Pāli and other canons —
immediately after his awakening, the Buddha debated whether or not he should teach the Dharma
to others. He was concerned that humans were so overpowered by ignorance, greed and hatred
that they could never recognise the path, which is subtle, deep and hard to grasp. However, in the
story, Brahmā Sahampati convinced him, arguing that at least some will understand it. The
Buddha relented, and agreed to teach.
After his awakening, the Buddha met two merchants, named Tapussa and Bhallika, who became
his first lay disciples. It is said that each given hairs from his head, which are now claimed to be
enshrined as relics in the Shwe Dagon Temple in Rangoon, Burma.
The Buddha intended to visit Asita, and his former teachers, Alara Kalama and Udaka
Ramaputta, to explain his findings, but they had already died.
The Buddha then travelled to the Deer Park near Benares in northern India, where he set in
motion what Buddhists call the Wheel of Dharma by delivering his first sermon to the five
companions with whom he had sought enlightenment. Together with him, they formed the first
saṅgha: the company of Buddhist monks.
For the remaining 45 years of his life, the Buddha is said to have traveled in the Gangetic Plain,
in what is now Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and southern Nepal, teaching a diverse range of people: from
nobles to servants, murderers such as Angulimala, and cannibals such as Alavaka.
Upon hearing of his son's awakening, Suddhodana sent, over a period, ten delegations to ask him
to return to Kapilavastu. On the first nine occasions, the delegates failed to deliver the message,
and instead joined the sangha to become arahants. The tenth delegation, led by Kaludayi, a
childhood friend of Gautama's, however, delivered the message.
The Buddha's cousins Ananda and Anuruddha became two of his five chief disciples. At the age
of seven, his son Rahula also joined, and became one of his ten chief disciples. His half-brother
Nanda also joined and became an arahant.
Of the Buddha's disciples, Sariputta, Maudgalyayana, Mahakasyapa, Ananda and Anuruddha are
believed to have been the five closest to him.

17. Buddhist texts record that the Buddha was reluctant to ordain women. His foster mother Maha
Pajapati, for example, approached him, asking to join the sangha, but he refused. Maha Pajapati,
however, was so intent on the path of awakening that she led a group of royal Sakyan and
Koliyan ladies, which followed the sangha on a long journey to Rajagaha. In time, after Ananda
championed their cause, the Buddha is said to have reconsidered and, five years after the
formation of the sangha, agreed to the ordination of women as nuns. He reasoned that males and
females had an equal capacity for awakening.
According to the Mahaparinibbana Sutta of the Pali canon, at the age of 80, the Buddha
announced that he would soon reach Parinirvana, or the final deathless state, and abandon his
earthly body.
No written records about Gautama have been found from his lifetime or some centuries
thereafter.
One edict of Emperor Ashoka, who reigned in the 3rd century BCE, commemorate the Emperor's
pilgrimage to the Buddha's birthplace in Lumbini, and another one mentions several Dhamma
texts which may be precursors of the Pali Canon.
The Gandharan Buddhist texts, the oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts, reported to have been
found in or around Hadda near Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan and preserved in the British
Library today, were written in the Kharosthi script and the Gandhari language on twenty-seven
Birch bark scrolls from the first century BCE to the third century CE.
The Buddhacarita is the earliest full biography of Gautama, an epic poem written by the poet
Asvaghosa, and dating around the beginning of the 2nd century CE.
The Jatakas retell previous lives of Gautama as a bodhisattva, and the first collection of these can
be dated among the earliest Buddhist texts.
The Mahapadana Sutta and Achariyabhuta Sutta both recount miraculous events surrounding
Gautama's birth, such as the bodhisattva's descent from Tusita Heaven into his mother's womb.
Gautama is said to have developed supramundane abilities including: a painless birth conceived
without intercourse; no need for sleep, food, medicine, or bathing, although engaging in such "in
conformity with the world"; omniscience, and the ability to "suppress karma".
The Buddha's final words are reported to have been: "All composite things are perishable. Strive
for your own liberation with diligence"
His body was cremated and the relics were placed in monuments or stupas, some of which are
believed to have survived until the present.
At his death, the Buddha is famously believed to have told his disciples to follow no leader.
After his death, Buddha's cremation relics were divided amongst 8 royal families and his

18. disciples; centuries later they would be enshrined by King Ashoka into 84,000 stupas.