The Influences On The Siddhartha's Way Of Life

The Buddha, one of the most interesting philosophers in my opinion, was previously known as Siddhartha Gautama. During the 6th to 4th century B.C., he lived in Nepal and was born to a large clan called the Shakyas in Lumbini. His father was a king who ruled the tribe that was known to be economically poor. After giving birth to Siddhartha, his mother died seven days later. However, a holy man prophesized that Siddhartha would do great things: he would either be a great king or military leader or he would be a great spiritual leader. To keep his son from experiencing the darkness and suffering of the world, Siddhartha's father raised him in luxury in a palace built just for him and sheltered him from any knowledge of religion and humanity. One day, he was able to escape from the palace walls and finally experienced the suffering of the world outside his lavish life of luxury all these years. This led his curiosity to spike as he had more and more …show more content…
He practiced his new way of life with a group of five ascetics, and his dedication to his quest was so stunning that the five ascetics became Siddhartha's followers. Whatever he tried, Siddhartha could not reach the level of satisfaction he sought, until one day when a young girl offered him a bowl of rice. As he accepted it, he suddenly realized that austerity was not the means to achieve inner liberation, and that living under harsh physical constraints was not helping him achieve spiritual release so he had his rice, drank water and bathed in the river. The five ascetics decided that Siddhartha had given up the ascetic life and would now follow the ways of the flesh, and they soon left him. From then on, however, Siddhartha encouraged people to follow a path of balance instead of one characterized by extremism. He called this path the Middle