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623 BCE
Birth
Siddartha Gautama was born in Lumbini to the family of a King somewhat 500 years Before Christ -
623 BCE
Signs of a Great Being
Not long after his birth, his father had a seer read his horoscope. The seers found because of special markings on Siddartha's body revealed signs of a very special being, either a spiritual leader or emperor. -
610 BCE
Leaving The Palace
As Siddartha was now becoming a man his father did everything he could to keep him in the palace with various luxuries. Siddartha would later marry a woman and have a child but he would finally leave the castle for spiritual reasons -
610 BCE
Early Life
Because of this newly found information his Father seemed very pleased to the idea of him being his successor as an emperor. So much so that for the early years of his life he was isolated in the castle in which they lived in, in Kapilavastu so Siddartha did not get any ideas of religion. Also his mother died when he was young and his aunty had a part in raising him. He also exceeded in Sports -
610 BCE
The Plough, The Bird and The Worm
One of the first times Siddartha was let out of the castle was a farmers festival. During this time Siddartha reflected and discovered a new vision of the world. He saw how the whole world connected as the farmer ploughed the ground the worm came out which the bird would eat. He developed his understandings and saw all actions had consequences -
600 BCE
The Four Journeys
To experience the world out of the Kings control, Siddartha went into the country and experienced some important events. He was shown process of aging, misfortune, suffering, diseased sick man, dead corpse, begging man and how all of this can happen to anyone. He was urgently wanting to do something about it -
590 BCE
Realisation
While trying to find his path and the to find answers to life’s suffering he was led on poverty in cities where suffering was peaking. He tried many spiritual practices such as fasting but he
came to the realisation that none of the spiritual teachings helped in his search. He decided to follow in his own path and challenge the Brahman religion, solution to life’s suffering needed to be available to everyone. -
588 BCE
Enlightenment
Siddartha realised that he wanted to be at full enlightenment as a cure from suffering so to do this he would sit still under the Bodhi Tree at Bodh Gaya and contemplate. While sitting under the tree he would face the challenge of the demon of torture and illusion, a conscience inside of us. He would combat this and become enlightened at the age of 35 and become the Buddha. He would first preached in the Deer Park in Sarnath and start a Religion -
543 BCE
Death of Buddha
Buddha would die at the age of 80, his remains are in Kushinagar -
Present Day Buddhism
Buddha's influence was so large that it is still a living religion today. Emperor Asoka cremated him and was the first emperor who converted to Buddhism and acknowledge Buddha's life and is a key figure in it's life. Buddhism was introduced into the western world when England colonised India although it had died out, archaeologists began to explore Northern India they began to discover the Buddha's life in historical fact