The birth of the prince "sage of the Sakya clan"

In the 6th century BC, in the kingdom of Kapilavastu (Kapilavattsu) ancient capital of Nepal, is ruled by the warrior class Shakyamuni (Shakyas - meaning "lion"), the king is Shuddhodana (Suddodana) and Queen's Maya (Mahamaya). The king and queen are waiting for their first child. According to legend, before the birth prince, the queen had a strange dream.

She dreamed that a white light shining on her amazing beauty, and from the light appeared a white elephant with six incredibly holy tusks. He walked up and dissolve into her body. Once awake, she narrated the dream to the king. That morning, the king summoned the wise to consult. They said it was a good omen implies that the queen will produce a great man.
He had a shock with the news. According to custom, Queen Maya will go home for the birth mother. It was a full moon day of the month of Vesak (later known as Vesak Day) Indian calendar, ie on May calendar. When she went to the Lumbini Park and see the beautiful groves, commanded her to stop and rest. When she passed by a tree Sa shouting, then suddenly become labor and gave birth to a baby boy. The Prince of Kapilavastu kingdom gave birth to the mundane.
Legend has it that the birth of her very easily and a light rain had washed wash for both mother and child. On the same day, seven other beings also emerged, respectively, linden, Princess Yasodhara (Yashodhara), the Kantaka (Kantaka), coachman Sa Nac (Channa), elephant Kaludayi (childhood friend of the prince), and seven treasure trove.
The child was immediately taken to the capital city that night. Five days later, the child was named Siddhartha (Siddhartha), meaning "that will achieve your goals." Many wise men came to meet and wishes for the new prince students, one of whom is a senior devotee named Asita, who is a former school teacher and a king ascetic has achieved many accomplishments.
The king, feel very honored Graduate directed by visit Asita (ASITA), should bring the child to the director for child Graduate homage to him. Instantly, Asita stood up and immediately recognize the contours of the body prince trends signal a spiritual and religious. With extraordinary power, he saw the great future of the newborn prince and welcomed him with the hand clenched tightly.

The prophecy about the religious life of the prince

Seven days later, Queen Maya died, leaving her position for the girls dresses Di (Mahaprajapati), and she was raised prince to love and care for all levels. When Siddhartha round 12, the king had to call the prophet to predict the future for the prince. They said that Siddhartha would exit ascetic if he saw the signs of aging, illness, death or having an ascetic.
The King wanted his son to become a military intelligence, Should he strictly guarded palace and banned the use of the word "death" or "suffering" in supply. He wrapped Siddhartha from anything that might inspire you to advance in spiritual path. So the prince is kept inside the royal palace to enjoy lavish lifestyle. Prince grew up and became a man strong. As a prince of the warrior caste, he trained fighting skills. You win the affection of a beautiful princess Yasodhara the neighboring kingdom, having defeated all opponents in athletic contests. They were married at the age of 16.

Four encounters with historical reality of life

Siddhartha continued to enjoy a lavish lifestyle, but as time passed, he became curious and want to explore the world outside the scope of the wall surrounding the palace. So he decided to go and visit neighboring towns, the spirit of his people, and the land of the kingdom.
The king had carefully arranged his trip, decorate everything and make it beautiful . The negative or distressing spectacle will be removed to prevent him seeing four signs were shown by the wise. But all the king's guard has become useless when the prince trips to the coachman Sa Anonymously.
In town, Siddhartha accidentally saw an old man, his face etched deep wrinkles . Siddhartha was surprised and asked Sa Anonymously on the man. Then he saw a man is sick and coughing, it makes you feel understood. Finally, a funeral home in waterfront and ascetic-who gave up all worldly joy to achieve inner peace and eternal happiness. The happiness on the faces of the monks was impressed to Siddhartha. He asked Sa Nac meaning of all these things. Coachman told the prince about the reality of life that deserve to know him a long time.
Back to the palace, Siddhartha asked his father to allow him to leave the palace and become a monk alms to seek the truth of his life, because he understands that all things in life are fleeting and illusory. Feeling very disappointed, his father had to strengthen defense around the palace as well as increase the fun pastime to pull his leg. At this time, Princess Yasodhara gave birth to his first son named Rahula (Rahula), meaning "chained" or "bound."
Siddhartha dissatisfied with life and decided to flee on the Kantaka with the help of trusted mentor, Sac Na. He woke up in the night, the last time at his wife, and horses, and rode away. At the gate, he cut thick hair coat and handed the prince for Excellence Na.

The search for truth, the life of Siddhartha

After leaving the palace, Siddhartha went to Rajgir City, the capital of Magadha, the ancient India, where he met a monk meditating in the cave on the mountain. He became the disciple of monks A La La Ca Lam (Alara Klama), who taught him how to cultivate. After a period of cultivation, the prince did not see further progress should attend a hermit monk named Da La La Ma Death Benefits (Uddaka Ramaputta). However, after a while, he realized that he could not progress any further. Therefore, the year he joined the practice in the forest to cultivate Benares by mortification, eat less and experiencing extreme austerity. From then on, people began to call Prince Siddhartha under the name of Sakyamuni (Sakyamuni), means "sage of the Sakya clan." After practicing this for six years, Sakyamuni discovered that he had achieved enlightenment but his human body often becomes extremely depleted.
On a day when he was meditating, he suddenly heard a conversation between two musicians on a boat. The experienced musician told that the rope set of the above periods should not be too tense or too slack. If the rope is pulled tight, they will break; and if pulled too loose, the sound output will not be the case anymore.
Upon hearing this, Sakyamuni suddenly enlightened principles that are neutral (middle of the road) and not go to the extreme; then he left for a walk. Along the way, he meets a village girl named Sujata, and she expressed an interest in alms of rice cakes for Shakyamuni; which time it was too depleted. Legend has it that the body of Sakyamuni had returned to normal after eating it.

Enlightenment

Then he sat under the Bodhi tree in the forest Urvela and will abstain from meditation if not achieved enlightenment. He was faced with interference from a demon named Mara, it used hundreds of thousands of staff to harass his successor but was unable to turn the strong will of Sakyamuni. When witnessing the Sakyamuni breakthrough from the grip of lust and binding, Mara became extremely indignant and it sent dozens of weapons to the devil to attack Sakyamuni, but he still remain motionless. After being defeated and realized that it would be unable to interfere to the extraordinary power of Sakyamuni, Mara was sarcastic and said that although he did win, but no one saw this. Shakyamuni touched the ground, implying that the land would be material witnesses. The ground suddenly shook like to respond that it will see the glory of Sakyamuni. From that moment, Shakyamuni continued his meditation process and finally achieve enlightenment, the Buddha realm reached. As soon as the attainment of Buddhahood, he started the mission predestined his is to save sentient beings. Shakyamuni First Sermon preached to those who initiates his previous five monks in Benares. Gradually, the number of his followers had grown to number 80,000. When the King learned that his son had become a Buddha, he was invited to deliver Sakyamuni and his rebuke the went begging in the rich that he could feed thousands of devotees. Shakyamuni explained to his father that it was a requirement of his cultivation system. During this time, people his half brother Ananda (Ananda) of Shakyamuni, who will be appointed crown prince and princess betrothed Da Chun Li (Sundari), also decided to step feet into the path of cultivation and become a disciple of Sakyamuni. Then, the son of Sakyamuni is Rahula and mother also became his disciples. However, not all things are running smoothly; cousin of Sakyamuni was Devadatta (Devadutta) tried to kill him several times because of jealousy, but the Buddha forgive him for his compassion. Robber Angulimala (Angulimala - Angulimal) also tried to kill him, but eventually became his disciple. Sakyamuni went to a lot of places far away to give people the rescue free. Waterfront Kushinagar, he and his disciples used the meal was lifted by a blacksmith. Then, he felt unwell. On the night of the full moon right month of his birth, in 483 BC, Shakyamuni taught his disciples the last time before Nirvana.END=VIETNAMESE TRANSLATE ENGLISH BY=THICH CHAN TANH.THE MIND OF ENLIGHTMENT.WORLD VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST ORDER=VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=GOLDEN LOTUS MONASTERY=THE EIGHTHFOLD PATH.AUSTRALIA,SYDNEY.23/4/2015.