Life and Teachings of Gautama Buddha

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Buddha was born approximately 400 BCE in the district of Lumbini, which is now modem-day Nepal, dose to the Indian border. He was brought up in a palace with all the comforts and luxuries possible. Growing up a young noble prince, it is said his father sought to shield the young prince Siddhartha from the pain and suffering of the world. It is said his father had a premonition that Siddhartha would one day renounce the world. However, Siddhartha was successful and entered into the blissful consciousness of Nirvana for several days. On returning to normal consciousness, Siddhartha the Buddha (Buddha means 'enlightened one) made the decision to spend the remainder of his life teaching others how to escape the inherent suffering of Life. The book is accompanied by introduction, preface, bibliography and general index. Besides these, an addition of glossary of Buddhist technical terms is another notable feature of this work. Hence, the present edition would be immensely useful to the students as well as researchers to understand the life of Lord Buddha.

Dr. S.B. Singh, Masters in Buddhism and history and Ph.D., Asst. Professor, teaching Buddhism under Delhi University for last eighteen years. He has published several research papers and articles in journals and magazines of national repute and attended seminars and conferences and presented research papers. He has also organised several Inter college seminars and debates.

Buddha was born approximately 400 BCE in the district of Lumbini, which is now modern-day Nepal, close to the Indian border. He was brought up in a palace with all the comforts and luxuries possible. Growing up a young noble prince, it is said his father sought to shield the young prince Siddhartha from the pain and suffering of the world. It is said his father had a premonition that Siddhartha would one day renounce the world.

The Buddha would often give talks on enlightenment, but on one occasion, he simply held up a flower and maintained silence. Many left not understanding the point, but when later questioned, the Buddha replied that his real teaching could only be understood in silence. Talks could only give limited intellectual information which was not real enlightenment.

The Buddha sought to avoid deep philosophy, he avoided using the term God, preferring to talk about the practical way that a person may escape the cycle of birth and rebirth and attain enlightenment. Like many spiritual teachers, he often taught in parables to keep his teachings simple and practical.

Armed with his new knowledge, the Buddha was initially hesitant to teach, because what he now knew could not be communicated to others in words. According to legend, it was then the king of gods, Brahma, convinced Buddha to teach, and he got up from his spot under the Bodhi tree and set out to do just that.

**Contents and Sample Pages**