Buddha: The Life of Siddhartha Gautama: A Biography Based on Traditional Sources By Jon Fergus Kindle Edition Buddha: The Life of Siddhartha Gautama: A Biography Based on Traditional Sources Over the centuries there have been numerous biographies of Gautama the Buddha in various formats, from the ancient traditional biographies, to epic poems like Sir Edwin Arnold’s Light of Asia, to articles, modern biographies and documentaries. Throughout all of these we find certain keynotes, certain events and ideas that form a basis for the life of Buddha, but we also find fantastical aspects to the stories. Modern scholars tend to dismiss the latter as merely “mythological” or exaggerated, and they seek to find the “real Buddha” by stripping these away. We must see, however, that these fantastical elements are central to the Buddhist (and Indian) method of story telling, and further that they are, in large part, allegorical, symbolic, metaphorical, with deep significance to one who would seek to understand the Buddha and Buddhism. The fantastical elements of the story not only breathe life into the biographies, they very often hide valuable teachings beneath their symbology. The traditional biographies thus incorporate a blend of factual information (places, names, events, etc.) along with allegories and symbols that help reveal the heart of the Buddha’s life and doctrine. The reason for such an approach to biography is not difficult to understand. The story of the Buddha’s life, as well as the stories of his supposed past lives, form a core element in the education of young Buddhists. Instead of relaying but the dry facts of Gautama’s life, as is our modern tendency, the Buddhists of old wove stories that would serve as both a historical foundation—teaching young disciples of the origins of Buddhism and of the great Teacher of Humanity—while also serving to supply the key elements of Buddhist doctrine, symbolical hints that serve to awaken our intuition. The very same method underlies the Upanishads, the Mahabharata and Bhagavad Gita, the Ramayana and many other traditional Indian texts, which provide certain historical elements interwoven with entertaining and fantastic stories and embedded with deep symbolism and hidden meaning. Further, we have, in the Buddha’s story, not just a biography, but a tale of the path of all aspirants, a blue print if you will, of the core elements of that Path—and this alongside hints of Buddhist doctrines, which, of course, are inseparable from that very path. We have, in short, a wonderfully layered teaching tool for young Buddhists. Our modern tendency to sweep all such elements aside in pursuit of dry fact seems to miss the importance of these “fantastical” elements. Those biographies who have done so are dry, shallow and rather meaningless, resulting in but a shell of a story with very little insight into the great man they wish to know. We will attempt here to trace not only the historical basis for the life of the Buddha, but to unveil, as much as is possible, some of the symbolism involved therein. How far we are successful in so doing is left to the reader to decide.

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Buddha: The Life of Siddhartha Gautama: A Biography Based on Traditional Sources By Jon Fergus

English

224

Kindle Edition

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Over the centuries there have been numerous biographies of Gautama the Buddha in various formats from the ancient traditional biographies to epic poems like Sir Edwin Arnold s Light of Asia to articles modern biographies and documentaries Throughout all of these we find certain keynotes certain events and ideas that form a basis for the life of Buddha but we also find fantastical aspects to the stories Modern scholars tend to dismiss the latter as merely mythological or exaggerated and they seek to find the real Buddha by stripping these away We must see however that these fantastical elements are central to the Buddhist and Indian method of story telling and further that they are in large part allegorical symbolic metaphorical with deep significance to one who would seek to understand the Buddha and Buddhism The fantastical elements of the story not only breathe life into the biographies they very often hide valuable teachings beneath their symbology The traditional biographies thus incorporate a blend of factual information places names events etc along with allegories and symbols that help reveal the heart of the Buddha s life and doctrine The reason for such an approach to biography is not difficult to understand The story of the Buddha s life as well as the stories of his supposed past lives form a core element in the education of young Buddhists Instead of relaying but the dry facts of Gautama s life as is our modern tendency the Buddhists of old wove stories that would serve as both a historical foundation teaching young disciples of the origins of Buddhism and of the great Teacher of Humanity while also serving to supply the key elements of Buddhist doctrine symbolical hints that serve to awaken our intuition The very same method underlies the Upanishads the Mahabharata and Bhagavad Gita the Ramayana and many other traditional Indian texts which provide certain historical elements interwoven with entertaining and fantastic stories and embedded with deep symbolism and hidden meaning Further we have in the Buddha s story not just a biography but a tale of the path of all aspirants a blue print if you will of the core elements of that Path and this alongside hints of Buddhist doctrines which of course are inseparable from that very path We have in short a wonderfully layered teaching tool for young Buddhists Our modern tendency to sweep all such elements aside in pursuit of dry fact seems to miss the importance of these fantastical elements Those biographies who have done so are dry shallow and rather meaningless resulting in but a shell of a story with very little insight into the great man they wish to know We will attempt here to trace not only the historical basis for the life of the Buddha but to unveil as much as is possible some of the symbolism involved therein How far we are successful in so doing is left to the reader to decide Buddha The Life of Siddhartha Gautama A Biography Based on Traditional Sources.