How Siddhartha Gautama Became Buddha
Mahayana Buddhism: How Siddhartha Gautama Became Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama was the son of King Shuddodana Gautama, ruler of a country now known as southern Nepal (Boeree, 1999). A soothsayer, Asita, predicted that Siddhartha would either grow to become a king or a sage (“How Siddhartha Gautama”), and to ensure that Siddhartha would become king and not aspire for the religious life, the king ensured that Siddhartha lived a sheltered life and would not witness any suffering. Siddhartha was wandering the palace one day when he saw an old man, a sick man, and then a dead man. These confused him as he had ...