Sakyamuni Buddha

He lived from 566 to 486 BC. His teachings were passed down orally and they were only committed to writing in Sri Lanka around the middle of the first century BC. They consisted of three baskets or divisions called Pitaka. It has been estimated by scholars that if all the main points of the three baskets were listed in book form, that set of books would be equal to 360 volumes of our average encyclopedia today.

The Pitaka consists of 1) the discourses or sermons of the Buddha, 2) the Monastic rules, and 3) the Abhidhamma.

The four sacred Buddhist places are : Lumbini, Bodh Gaya, Sarnath and Kusinara. Lubini is now in Nepal, was the birthplace of Sakyamuni Buddha. Bodh Gaya, Sarnath and Kusinara are in India. Bodh Gaya was the place where Sakyamuni was enlightened, after He moved from place to place in India practicing meditation for seven years. Sarnath was the place where He carried out His first teaching, ( turning of the Dharma Wheel). Kusinara was the place of His final Nirvana. The Buddha personally said that Buddhists who visit these four places would travel to higher states.

He was born as an average person. This was a good sign because it means you and I can also become a Buddha. You don't need to be the most intelligent ones in the nation like the top 0.000001% of the population to be able to understand the Dharma to become a Buddha. If He was very intelligent, He would have attained Nirvana earlier, because as a child (aged 7) He sat under a rose-apple tree ( Bodhi Tree, Botanical name: ficus religiosa) watching His father carrying out the opening ceremony for the annual ploughing festival, He crossed legs and went on meditation and was believed to have reached the different levels of the Jhanas. He could have continued and practised harder and successfully attain Buddhahood without spending the six years which He did later on.

His most learned disciple was Ananda (Buddha's cousin) and Ananda was the last of the 1250 disciples to attain arahanthood. Ananda spent a lot of him time serving the Buddha and the guests of the Buddha. After the Great Decease of the Buddha, Ananda was less busy and he concentrated on meditation, attaining arahanthood while lying down. This attainment qualified him to participate in the first convocation of the Sangha with the aim of settling questions of doctrine and fixing the text of the scriptures. This Meeting was carried out, three months after the Buddha's final Nirvana, by five

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