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. The Buddha, originally named Siddhartha Gotama, was born in the year 563 BCE and died in 483 BCE. He was born in modern day Nepal, and taught in modern day northeast India.
He ultimately figured out how to attain Enlightenment from the age of 29 to 35 in a six (6) 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 forty-five (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.
