The Buddha was a philosopher, mediator, teacher and spiritual leader who founded Buddhism. He was born into an aristocratic family in India as Siddhartha Gautama. At the age of 29, he decided to leave behind all the comforts of his life to seek the meaning of the suffering he saw around him. He abandoned the path of self-mortification after six years of arduous yogic training and instead sat under a Bodhi tree for mindfulness meditation. On the full moon and rising stars, Siddhartha Gautama became the Buddha or the awakened one. He wandered around for more than 45 years, teaching Dharma, he had realised at that moment. Till today he is being worshipped as the enlightened one who has escaped the cycle of birth and re-birth, transcending Karma. His teachings mainly focus on their insight into suffering and the end of suffering. So let us all look into some important life lessons given to us by Buddha. The Four Noble Truths. According to the Buddha, the root cause of your suffering is your desire. He mentioned the Four Nobel Truths- The Noble Truth of Suffering: We have to accept the existence of sufferings. The Noble Truth of Origin of Suffering: We have to accept that our Desires are the only reason behind our sufferings. The Noble Truth of the Path to End Suffering: We can release ourselves from the suffering by releasing our desires. The Noble Eightfold Path or middle way: Buddha tells us to choose the middle way that is a life between luxury and extreme poverty. A balance between our necessities and our desire is important. The Wheel of Dharma. The symbolic wheel of dharma has 8 spokes that define the Noble Eightfold Path. Right View. Right Thought. Right Speech. Right Action. Right Livelihood. Right Effort. Right Mindfulness. Right Concentrations. Buddha says that any negative situation is powerless without our reaction. Our daily decision is highly affected by our thoughts and with the clearer foundations of our thinking; we would make better decisions in all aspects of our lives. Show your Wisdom in Silence. There is always a time to speak and to listen. One must talk only when he means well, but one must learn the ability to listen more because we do not know everything. Little knowledge is always dangerous. Try to learn from others rather than creating unnecessary chaos with your little knowledge. Create Good Karma. According to Buddha, Karma means only actions of one’s own volition, not all actions. Volition is something at the intersection point between emotion and reasons. We should at first work on our attitude and intentions to be clean in our thoughts and feelings. Live life to the fullest. Do not keep your work for tomorrow what is to be done today. If we see every day to be our last, then we will live ardently each day, making peace with everyone and sleep peacefully at night knowing that we lived our day to the fullest. If we have to summarise the teachings of Buddha, it will be- Do not do any evil; cultivate good and have a pure heart. These mantras should be followed for a better living!
