Buddha
'The Enlightened One' Siddharta was miraculously born into the royal family of the Sakyas.
He lived and indulged luxurious and enclosed life in a guarded palace which was surrounded by strong walls. After many years, Siddharta wanted to leave the walls and his father arranged for him to visit a nearby town which had been cleaned and adorned so that his eyes would never fall on anything which might distress him.
Siddharta came across an aged man by chance however, and this shocked him as he had never known that things would eventually age and become wrinkled and impotent before they die. His father immediately arranged a marriage to take Siddharta's mind off of what he had seen and Siddharta became a father.
One night, discontent, Siddharta wandered through the palace and he saw the dancing girls asleep, some dribbled, some ground their teeth etc. This again made him realise that there was more to life than what he had always known, he decided to leave the palace.
In the real world Siddharta dressed himself as a common man and eventually became a wandering beggar. He practiced terrible self torture to try and satisfy his spiritual needs until he realised that this was not the way either. He then travelled to Bodi-Gaya to meditate under a tree. the meditation turned into a profound experience. During the meditation the demon Mara tried to distract him but Siddharta overcame him with the force of his meditation and the demon fled angered.
After weeks of meditation he realised that he had the choice of entering Nirvana or staying on earth to help his fellow man to reach enlightenment. He chose to stay and began preaching his doctrines of mercy, non violence and destruction of passions and desirelessness.
Adapted from 'A guide to the Gods' by Richard Carlyon
