The Story of Buddha
Siddhartha, also known as Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, was born about 2500 years ago. This was a time of rapid change in lives of people. Many thinkers were trying to understand these changes in society. They also wanted to try and find out the true meaning of life.
The Buddha belonged to a small gana known as the Sakya gana, and was a kshatriya. When he was a young man, he left the comforts of his home in search of knowledge. He wandered for several years, meeting and holding discussions with other thinkers. He finally decided to find his own path to realisation, and meditated for days on end under a peepal tree at Bodh Gaya in Bihar, where he attained enlightenment. After that he was known as the Buddha or the Wise One. He then went to Sarnath, near Varanasi, where he taught for the first time. He spent the rest of his life travelling on foot, going from place to place, teaching people, till he passed away at Kusinara.
The Buddha taught that life is full of suffering and unhappiness. This is caused because we have carvings and desires (which cannot be fulfilled). Sometimes, even if we get what we want, we are not satisfied, and went even more (or want other things). The Buddha described this as thirst or tanha. He taught that this constant carving could be removed by following moderation in everything. He also taught people to be kind, and to respect the lives of others, including animals.
He believed that the results of our actions (called karma), whether good or bad, affect us both in this life and the next. The Buddha taught in the language of the ordinary people, Prakrit, so that everybody could understand his message.
Here are 20 best motivational and inspirational quotes by Buddha
1.“You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger.”- Buddha
2.“Fake friends are like shadows. They follow you in Sun but leave you in Dark.”- Buddha
3.“Clean, Clear and Calm; these are characteristics of a noble person.”- Buddha
4.“It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you.”- Buddha
5.“What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: Our life is the creation of our mind.”- Buddha
6.“To keep the body in good health is a duty… Otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.”- Buddha
7.“Health is greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.- Buddha
8.“Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.”- Buddha
9.“Three things cannot be hidden: The Sun, The Moon and The Truth.”- Buddha
10.“Money is like water, try to grab it and it flows away, open your hands and it will move towards you.”- Buddha
11.“Your body is precious. It is our vehicle for awakening. Treat it with care.”- Buddha
12.“Follow your heart but take your brain with you.”- Buddha
13.“Worrying doesn’t take away tomorrow’s troubles. It takes away today’s piece.”- Buddha
14.“What you think, you become. What you feel, you attract. What you imagine, you create.”- Buddha
15.“Every morning we born again. What we do today is what matters most.”- Buddha
16.“Holding on to anger is like grasping a got coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.”- Buddha
17.“The greatest gift you can give someone is your time, because when you give your time you are giving a portion of your life that you will never get back.”- Buddha
18.“Sometimes things that hurt you most, teach you the greatest lesson in life.- Buddha
19.“In the end, people will judge you anyway, so don’t live your life impressing others, live your life impressing yourself.”- Buddha
20.“Always be thankful for what you have, many people have nothing.”- Buddha
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| 20 Best Motivational and Inspirational Quotes- By Buddha |
The Spread of Buddhism
The most famous Kushana ruler was Kanishka, who ruled around 1900 years ago. He organised a Buddhist council, where scholars met and discussed important matters. Ashvaghosha, a poet who composed a biography of Buddha, the Buddhacharita, lived in his court. Ashvaghosha and other Buddhist scholars now began writing in Sanskrit.
A new form of Buddhism, known as Mahayana Buddhism, now developed. This had two distinct features. Earlier the Buddhism presence was shown in sculpture by using certain signs. For instance, his attainment of enlightenment was shown by sculptures of the peepal tree.
Now, statues of the Buddha were made. Many of these were made in Mathura, while others were made in Taxila.
The second change was a belief in Bodhisattvas. These were supposed to be persons who had attained enlightenment. Once they were attained enlightenment, they could live in complete isolation and meditate in peace. However, instead of doing that, they remained in the world to teach and help other people. The worship of Bodhisattvas became very popular, and spread throughout Central Asia, China and later to Korea and Japan.
Buddhism also spread to western and southern India, were dozens of caves were hollowed out of hills for monks to live in.
Some of these caves were made on the orders of kings and queens, others by merchants and farmers. These were often located near passes through the Western Ghats. Roads connecting prosperous ports on the coast with cities in the Deccan ran through these passes. Traders probably halted in these caves monasteries during their travels.
Buddhism also spread south eastwards, to Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, and other parts of Southeast Asia including Indonesia. The older form of Buddhism, known as Theravada Buddhism was more popular in these areas.