“It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you.” – The Buddha
There’s no dearth of exemplary teachers in the books of history and mythology. While some of them may be forgotten eventually, some are remembered through time. These are teachers who dedicate their lives to sharing their wisdom, encouraging their disciples to surpass them. When they pass on, they leave behind a legacy of knowledge and learning for the world to benefit from. One such teacher’s life touched many others as he generously left behind the legacy of his wisdom; his was a life that inspired many a transformation; his was the life of a Buddha. Siddhartha Gautama, known to the world as the Buddha, renounced the pleasures of life as a prince to understand the nature of reality.
Born a prince, Siddhartha Gautama renounced the worldly pleasures of life to understand the nature of reality. His search took him to great teachers, but their teachings failed to quench his thirst for understanding this reality of life. And so, he set out to find his own path. He went to Bodhgaya and meditated under a tree for seven intense years until he achieved enlightenment, and became the Buddha. For the remainder of his life, he helped people discover the nature of life.
Today, one doesn’t have to give up on worldly pleasures to understand the Buddha’s teachings. They are for anyone and everyone. That’s what makes them relevant even today. In this feature, Soulveda brings to you five gems of wisdom from the life of the enlightened one.
After Siddhartha attained enlightenment, he travelled extensively to propagate his teachings. During one of his travels, he came across a woman who had lost her child. When she learned that the Buddha was visiting her town, she pleaded with him to bring her son back to life. He agreed to her request and asked her to bring some mustard from a house that had not seen death. As she visited every house in the town asking for mustard, she realised there wasn’t a house that had not witnessed death.
Death is inevitable and there is no escaping it. All one can do is make peace with it and pray for the departed.
“If you’re angry, it doesn’t impact me. It’s you who is hurt in the process and not me.”
When asked to bring mustard from a house that had not witnessed death, a woman realized that every house had experienced death. Buddha taught that death is inevitable and we should make peace with it.
Buddha taught that holding onto anger harms oneself more than others. He used the analogy of drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.
Buddha advised his disciples to focus on practical matters rather than wasting time on metaphysical questions. He emphasized that liberation and enlightenment could be found in practical actions.
Comments