REL 2000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Sutta Pitaka, Dukkha, Varanasi
Document Summary
Experts in dream interpretation decided that buddha would either become a great king or a greater teacher: as a result of the dream interpretation, the kind raised is son in a luxurious and princely manner he had every extravagance and was given the finest education, including the arts of battle and warfare, still unsatisfied, buddha went for a walk outside the castle one night. There he saw a sick man, and old man, a dead body, and finally a sadhu (monk), smiling and content in meditation: reflecting on what he had seen, buddha (age 25) decided to leave his house, wife and son to practice austerity, meditation, fasting, despite following these strict hindu guidelines, buddha still felt unsatisfied, at the age of 35, sitting under a banyan tree in deer park, benaras(most sacred place for the hindus), buddha achieved wisdom.
