Gautama Buddha is referred to as the “Enlightened One” due to his sheer devotion to inner transformation through great sacrifice. Also known as Siddhartha, he was born to King Suddhodana in the foothills of the Himalayas around the region of what is know Nepal. Historical records place his life from 563 to 483 BC. Prior to his birth, it had been prophesied that Gautama would rise to a position of import along the lines of world teacher, but none could have foreseen the magnitude of what he was destined to accomplish. In all likelihood, the prediction of his son’s future life was interpreted by the King as a rise to nobility, which meant following in the King’s footsteps and eventually succeeding him on the throne. Therefore, his father sheltered Gautama from the world outside of the palace from anything that would influence what the king foresaw as his son’s “noble attainment.” As a youth, Gautama lived in the lap of luxury and did not know much of the world outside of the palace walls. He married at a fairly young age and fathered a son. It is said that not long after the birth of his son, Gautama ventured outside the palace grounds. Some of the people he encountered lived in poverty, distress and knew not the life he had come to know inside the palace walls. Gautama learned of the great suffering and death and therefore, his perspective of life radically changed. He realized that his destiny lie elsewhere than the one his father had prepared for him. Renouncing his eventual rise to his fathers throne, as well as leaving his wife and son, he secretly departed the palace, never to return. Gautama became a wandering ascetic in search of truth.

The life of Gautama Buddha is shrouded in mystery. Accounts say that he studied yoga and other meditational techniques under the direction of guru teachers. Failing to attain the truth for which he sought, he undertook other measures, such as fasting, but eventually gave them up as well. Gautama eventually poised himself under the celebrated banyan tree and vowed to remain there until he reached enlightenment. The time he spent sitting in meditation under the tree remains a mystery. Some accounts say he achieved enlightenment in a relatively short time span, while other accounts say he remained there for a number of years. Some speculate that he periodically left his physical body in pursuit of higher levels of consciousness. Either way, he endured many internal battles and temptations thrust upon him by “evil ones.”

Regardless of how long the journey took, Gautama raised his consciousness to the state of Mastery and achieved transfiguration at age 35. His attained illumination awarded him the attribute of “enlightened one,” or “Buddha.” For the next 45 years, Gautama Buddha walked the lands of India teaching and preaching and gaining followers. His teachings are composed of the wheel of dharma, the four noble truths and the eightfold path.

Dharma is associated with the essential nature of the universe and conformity to the laws that govern life. The wheel of dharma is basically translated to mean that one will continue to remain “revolving” on the wheel of reincarnation until his or her karma is balanced enabling that individual to move beyond the death and rebirth cycle into higher states of being.

The four noble truths are all associated with suffering and the steps for the seeker of truth to take to facilitate its release. They are the noble truth of suffering, the noble truth of the origin of suffering, the noble truth of the cessation of suffering, and the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering.

The eightfold path consists of eight characteristic qualities the disciple must master to be released from suffering on the path to enlightenment. These traits are Perfect View, Perfect Resolve, Perfect Speech, Perfect Conduct, Perfect Livelihood, Perfect Effort, Perfect Mindfulness, Perfect Concentration. These characteristics are represented by the eight spokes on the wheel of dharma.

Gautama died at the age of 80. Reports say that the Buddha appears from time to time in physical embodiment, but for the most part he works in the higher realms of the Earth assisting disciples and the transformation of mass karma as we spoke of previously.