Reading Notes: Life of Buddha Part B

Personal Image of a statue of Buddha from my time in Hong Kong

For me, this was the most exciting reading to work on so far. As I have previously mentioned, I was raised Buddhist by my father, so I have always had a deep connection with Buddhism and the "life of Buddha". I have made the joke many times that both my father and I are terrible Buddhists in practice, so any opportunity to learn more about the culture, the faith, and the history is exciting to me. Reading all of these stories this week made me feel more in tune with the faith that I was brought up in, obviously being in America, there is not much Buddhist culture to latch onto or learn about, but reading these little anecdotes was a very valuable experience for me. I loved reading the legends and the stories and the fables, all of the different aspects that lead from Siddartha Guatama becoming the Buddha. My favorite story, and the focal point of my notes, is "Siddhartha Becomes the Buddha". This short story nicely ties together all of the histories of the Buddha to one concise point. The last few lines reading, "I have had numerous births. In vain have I sought the builder of the house. Oh, the torment of perpetual rebirth! But I have seen you at last, O builder of the house. You no longer build the house. The rafters are broken; the old walls are down. The ancient mountain crumbles; the mind attains to nirvana; birth is no more for desire is no more" (Herold). Which is a great way to wrap up the entire story, and a great beginning to the life that the Buddha would lead. Although it was the end of this story, it is only the beginning of the Buddha.

Bibliography
Source: The Life of Buddha: Source
Siddhartha Becomes the Buddha: Source

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