Page 11 - Suffering

Ascetic Gautama, having renounced the world at 29
years of age, went wandering and learning from several
teachers, which he did not get a fruitful answer to his search

to seek an end to suffering. After six years of wandering, at
the age of 35, he eventually found the way out of suffering;
having meditated under the Bodhi Tree.

According to the legend, after 6 long years of tiredless
searching, ascetic Siddhartha decided to rest himself at
the foot of a tree, which has since been called the Bodhi
Tree, the tree of enlightenment. He vowed to sit beneath
that tree contemplating profoundly where he had attained

deep insight into suffering. As he sat through the night, a
profound stillness settled upon his mind, like that of a lake
on a windless day. This stillness enabled him to see ever
more deeply and clearly into the cycle of grasping, clinging
and egotism found at the root of suffering.

It was on this full moon day of Vaisakha that he gained
enlightenment. He was called Gautama, the Buddha. He
discovered the Four Noble Truths:*

1. First Noble Truth of Suffering,

2. Second Noble Truth of the Cause of Suffering,
3. Third Noble Truth of the Ending of Suffering, and
4. Fourth Noble Truth of the Path that leads to the End
of Suffering.

Thus, the way to end suffering which he called the
Middle Way or the Noble Eightfold Path is to develop this
freedom of release from suffering.

11