Reading Notes Part A: The Life of Buddha

There once was a queen named Maya. One night in a dream an elephant entered her womb. She does not know what this means, but she knows it means something great. The king comes and they find out their son will be born a buddha.

When it is time to give birth the queen goes to a flower meadow. The world sang when the prince was born. She named him Siddhartha.

There was a great hermit named Asita. He says the baby has the mark of omnipotence. Asita begins to weep, but he tells the king not to be distressed. He says Sid will have the perfect understanding of the world set free.

After the birth of the prince the kingdom was doing great. However, after seven days Maya ascends to heaven. The prince is then put into the care of Maya's sister. She takes Sid to the temple of the gods. The king led him to the statues of the gods. The statues came to life, and the gods fell at the feet of Sid.

A famous wise man, Visvamitra, becomes Sid's teacher. However Vis tells Sid there is nothing he can teach him. Sid goes to a tree and meditates. Some passerby see him and notice that he has the mark of omnipotent. They say he will certainly become brilliant. They see Sid meditating under a tree whose shadow does not move. He awakes and tells the king that they must stop working in the fields.

One day the king thinks to himself, "Sid must never suspect the evil there is in the world." He has Sid go into the town on a golden chariot. The gods get jealous of Sid and place and old man in the road. Sid sees this and learns that someday youth will leave him. Sid no longer has any joy in his heart.

Next the gods place a sick man in the road. Sid learns about illness, and he returns to the palace wrapped in painful thoughts. The king decides that he will let Sid go out once more. This time the gods put a corpse in the road and Sid learns about death.

Udayin assmebles beautiful maiden in an attempt to improve the state Sid is in, but at first the maidens are afraid of Sid. Udayin gets rid of their fears, and the maidens start doing extravagant, over-the-top things to win Sid's heart. Sid is still unhappy; death is still on his mind. Gopa waits naked for Sid. In a dream she sees the Earth shake. This is good because it means that the gods will bow before her one day.

Sid can no longer find peace. A monk approaches Sid, and Sid decides the life of a monk is for him. The king tells him to give up on this idea. Sid tells his father to promise him. "Promise me that my life will not end in death, that sickness will not impair my health, that age will not follow my youth, that misfortune will not destroy my prosperity." His father tells him he cannot.

A statue of a young Buddha. Source 

Bibliography

The Life of Buddha by Andre Ferdinand Herold. https://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/myth-folklore-unit-life-of-buddha.html