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| This depiction represents the Buddha at the time of dying, at which point he gave his final instructions to 12 disciples gathered around him, and then he adopted this reclining pose and passed into Nirvana. Gautama Buddha was born in 563 B.C. in northeast India. The Buddha was the son of the King of the Sakyas. Suddhodana, who ruled at Kapilavatu, on the border of Nepal. His mother was Queen Maya. He was named Siddhartha. He lived amidst the pleasures of palace life and at age 16 he was married to Princess Yasodhara. They had a son named Rahula. After seeing a decrepid old man and invalid, and an ascetic beggar, he learned of suffering and decided to embrace asceticism. Soon afterwards at age 29, Siddhartha left the palace and his family and went to a hermitage where he became the monk Gautama, or as he is still called, Sakyamuni (The ascetic of the Sakyas). One day, meditating under a sacred fig tree he attained perfect illumination (Bodhi) He had become a Buddha. From there on he traveled and preached for 44 years what was to become one of the main religions of the world. He died at age 80. |
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