You might be asking yourself, “who was Siddhartha Gotama and what is a Buddha?”.
Siddhartha Gotama was born a Prince, destine to become a King. He chose to step down from his royal heritage to seek a better understanding of life through a journey towards Enlightenment. He was born in 563 BCE and died in 483 BCE.
He ultimately figured out how to attain Enlightenment from the age of 29 to 35 in a six year journey of training his mind, through his own wisdom, and without the guidance of any Teachers. He then taught others how to attain the Enlightened mental state for the next 45 years. By the time of his death at the age of 80, there were countless people who had attained Enlightenment.
An individual who will become a Buddha is able to attain Enlightenment without the assistance of any Teachers or guides, however, this is very rare in the world. The last Buddha that the world is currently aware of existed over 2,500 years ago.
A Buddha meets three primary criteria.
1.) They attain Enlightenment on their own, without the guidance of any Teachers.
2.) They dedicate the rest of their life to sharing their independently discovered Teachings with countless individuals, and countless beings attain Enlightenment during their lifetime.
3.) They preserve their Teachings, in such a way, that countless more beings will get to Enlightenment after their death.
You are able to attain Enlightenment but, you will not be a Buddha as you will need guidance from Teachers to point the way through gradual training and gradual practice to experience gradual progress.
One of the biggest myths about the life story of The Buddha is, that he sat under a tree and instantly attained Enlightenment. This is untrue, as we can clearly see in his Teachings, from his own words, that it was gradual training and gradual practice that led to gradual progress over a six (6) year journey.
This is true for you as well, that you will need gradual training and gradual practice to experience gradual progress. Everything you have ever done in life has been the same way. Whether it is to read, write, and speak a certain language, or some job or occupation where you have developed significant skills and abilities, it was gradual training and gradual practice that led to your gradual progress.
The journey to Enlightenment is the same way. It is accomplished through gradual training and gradual practice to experience gradual progress.
Common questions that many people ask about The Teachings of The Buddha are:
What is Meditation?
Meditation is a technique to actively train the mind during dedicated, independent, purposeful training sessions to eliminate unwholesome qualities of the mind and/or cultivate wholesome qualities of the mind in the positions of seated, lying, standing, or walking.
How Can Meditation Help Me?
Meditation is an important technique that will assist in training the mind to completely eliminate 100% of all discontent feelings such as sadness, anger, frustration, irritation, annoyance, guilt, shame, fears, boredom, loneliness, shyness, jealousy, resentment, stress, anxiety, etc. so that you can attain Enlightenment.
What is Enlightenment?
Enlightenment is a mental state attainable during this life, or at death, where the mind will be peaceful, calm, serene, and content with joy - permanently.
The mind will have eliminated 100% of all discontent feelings such as sadness, anger, frustration, irritation, annoyance, guilt, shame, fears, boredom, loneliness, shyness, jealousy, resentment, stress, anxiety, etc.
The mind will have a high degree of focus, concentration, memory, and clarity of mind. The mind will be stable, steady, and unshakable. Your personal and professional relationships will be blossoming and completely harmonious.
By the time you attain Enlightenment, the mind will not even experience a bad mood because, the “causes and conditions” that produce a bad mood have been eliminated from the mind.
What is The Path to Enlightenment?
The Path to Enlightenment is a purification of the mind by training the mind, reaching a point where the mind experiences only peacefulness, calmness, serenity, and contentedness with joy - the Enlightened mind.
The Path to Enlightenment is the solution to the challenges you experience in the world, and the solutions of how to heal from what hurt you so that you never need to hurt ever again.
This is accomplished through learning, growing, and evolving to cultivate wisdom of how to train the mind, not through belief. There are no rites, rituals, ceremonies, worship, or prayer in The Teachings of The Buddha. If you see these things associated with The Teachings of The Buddha, those are significant misunderstandings of his Teachings.
If you would like to experience the practice of meditation, and to gain a deeper understanding of The Teachings of The Buddha, we have classes, courses, and retreats, in English, at no cost, where you are able to learn with a dedicated Practitioner and Teacher. Please scan the QR code to visit our events calendar, or visit the website BuddhaDailyWisdom.com. You will find a host of classes, courses, and retreats that are all available, at no cost, to assist you in your growth and development towards the Enlightened mind and in this life.
Please proceed to station number 5 located outside the main hall.