{"collection":"Buddhism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/bud/tib/sakyamni.htm","path":"bud/tib/sakyamni.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/bud/tib/sakyamni.htm","text":"A SMALL LIFE STORY OF SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA\nHomage to the living embodiment of Compassion and loving kindness\nto all beings.\nYou who have worked three incalculable aeons of time to establish\nthe two merits of accumulation and wisdom.\nTo you who become the source of all purelands.\nTo the Buddha Shakyamuni, I prostrate.\nMy faith is a fresh-blooming lotus, reflecting the splendor of the\nmoon's shining rays.\nThe lotus' ten petals close in a heart-felt prostration to you, oh\nGreat Lord of Compassion,\nAs I hold the spontaneous reflection of your wondrous image in the\nmirror of my mind.\nI offer you boundless praise and adoration.\nEven though this effort is less than a single hair on your body, by\nthe offering of these small unceasing praises of your life, I ask that\nyou grant your ceaseless blessings.\nIn the Kingdom of the Shakyas lived King Zay-tsang and his wife\nGyutrulma, daughter of Bishukarma. In a previous life Gyutrulma had prayed\nto be born as the mother to a Buddha.\nIn the deva realm , the bodhisattva Dampatogkarpo gave his crown to\nthe bodhisattva Maitreya, in preparation to his descending to earth. He\nthen emanated himself as a white elephant. As his mother, Gyutrulma lay\nsleeping she had a dream that a white elephant, shining with a glorious\nlight, was within her womb and she flew through the sky and climbed\nmountains. Many kings and minister bowed and prostrated to her, It was at\nthat time that the Buddha entered her womb.\nTen months later, at Lumbini, the Buddha was born in a miraculous\nmanner. Without womb obscuration he appeared from the right side of his\nmother's ribs. Instantly Indra, King of the Gods, appeared and offered the\ninfant Buddha clothes to wear.\nThe Buddha then took seven steps in each of the four directions and\neach footprint became a lotus. Then He looked East and said, \"From this\npoint on I am the arising of enlightenment.\" Looking South he exclaimed,\n\"From this point I will achieve complete knowledge, both ordinary and\nextraordinary.\" Then he looked to the West, saying, \"From this point I am\nborn to be the cure of suffering and completing this, my last lifetime, I\nwill dissolve.\" Finally, he looked North and said, \"From this point, in my\nLife I will completely purify all of my karmic obscurations.\" Then the deva\nrealm beings appeared and offered him all auspicious substances.\nAt this time, throughout the entire area of his birth, everyone\nwas witness to the phenomena of clear light free from darkness and shadow.\nAll of the people talked of this phenomena and called on a great Brahmin to\ngive an explanation. He cast an astrology chart and said that in the\ncountry of the Shakyas a great bodhisattva had been born that day.\nThe infant Buddha was named Prince Ton-kun-drup. His father, King\nof the region, was told that according to his son's astrology chart, the\nprince was destined to become the greatest of Kings if he stayed home, or\nupon leaving his home, would become a monk and thus become enlightened. At\nthis point, it was observed that the palm of the child-prince possessed all\nthe minor marks of perfection.\nSeven days after the Buddha's birth, his mother passed away and\nentered the god-realms. Everyone thought that the prince would have\nproblems without a mother, but he proved to be a very calm and peaceful\nbaby. The people of his kingdom called him Shakya-Tug-pa, or Great Courage\nof the Shakyas.\nDuring his youth, the gods and goddesses from the deva realms would\noften visit him and his father called him the God's god. He was given\nextensive training by great teachers at a very early age. As the years\npassed, all of his studies and physical trainings were learned to\nperfection.\nWhen he had grown to a young man, the prince married a young Serkya\nprincess named Sa-Tso. Up to then, the King had protected his son from\nobserving the suffering of everyday life out of love for him. After his\nson's marriage an astrology chart showed that the prince would either stay\nand rule as a great King or leave and become a monk.\nThe King decided to create a diversion for his son by planning an\nouting for him and his new wife. The Prince and his new wife then left the\npalace with their servants for a day's excursion. it was then that the\nprince first saw a very old man and then looked at his own body groaned.\n\"This youthful body is pleasing and ripe, but it will change into\nan aged and decrepit body. The hair will all turn gray and fall out. The\nskin will hang loose until only the veins remain between skin and bone. The\nbody will become bent and wrinkled and will need sticks to help it walk.\nThe teeth will rot and fall out and the mouth will drool. Soon it will not\nbe able to hear or see and the mind will become vague and the memory will\nbe gone. This is the impermanence of our body and why it is unreliable. I\nwould rather be a monk in the forest and rely on meditation.\"\nLater, while on the outing, the Prince sees a sick person and\nfurther illustrates the nature of the body. \"My body is flesh and the\nnature of flesh is to spontaneously gather sickness. This is why my body\nis not so precious, because it harbors sickness. Why should I trust this\nbody and support it?\" Then the prince saw a corpse and the relatives were\nsurrounding it and grieving. The prince thinks that the relatives who are\ngrieving are suffering with a deluded mind. \"Nothing is useful or\nmeaningful in Samsara because we are all trapped by Karma. After death the\nmind is wandering in the bardo. The body becomes inanimate like a log or a\nstone, a mere piece of earth. Samsara's suffering is like a river. All\nkarma is like a wind blowing the trees and so my life's nature is illusory.\nWhy rely on the illusion of my life? Better I avoid this worldly idea and\nbecome a yogi. I will seek the truth.\"\nAt this, the prince sees a monk wearing robes, carrying a begging\nbowl, and walking along smoothly. This attracts the prince and he has\ngreat joy in seeing this. Upon passing some farmers during this outing the\nprince is filled with extreme compassion at the burden of work both man and\nanimals have to endure. He gives alms to them.\nOn that day it was very hot as the prince and family made their way\nback to the palace. They stopped to take a break and rested under the\nforest trees. When the prince sat down under these trees he entered a\nmeditative state. His father joined him and noticed that his son's shadow\nand the tree he is under doesn't move as the day wears on. The king was\namazed and prostrated to his son. After this they passed a cemetery with a\ncorpse laying out and the prince thought, \"All have to die.\" Vultures and\ncrows were tearing at the corpses eyes. The prince then thought, \"All that\nis born is bound to die, why should I be attached to my body, it is already\na corpse and belongs to the animals.\"\nWhen they passed by a beautiful women who was up on the roof of a\nbuilding the king noticed his son admiring her great beauty and sent for\nher to come to be the prince's second wife. On the last night of the\ncrucial week after the wedding, the princess Sa-Tso has a terrible dream.\nAll her ornaments were torn away, her glory decreased, the sun and moon set\nand the world was in darkness. At this, she became very upset and woke to\ntell her husband. He replied to her, \"In Samsara, all dreams are unreliable.\nI had a dream that a great tree grew from my navel and extended throughout\nthe sky. My pillow was Mt. Meru.\"\nThat night the prince decided to leave the palace. He left his\nsleeping wife and woke his servant Dunpa to bring him his horse. The\nservant then brought him his horse Ngagdan which they mounted and flew in\na circle around the palace. The prince exclaimed sorrow over those to be\nleft behind. The king placed guardians around the palace to prevent his son\nfrom leaving. As the king looked out into the night he thought he was\nseeing the moon but then realized it was his son escaping and cried out,\n\"How can you leave your kingdom?\"\nThe prince gave a teaching to the guardian he encountered upon his\ndeparture: \"All of ones relatives and friends are like links of a chain.\nIf I don't cut these links, when will I be released from Samsara? My youth\nwill soon age, my wonderful body will be dead. Then having had attachment\nto these objects, this kingdom, it will have been like drinking poison.\nSamsara is an unconscious, undisciplined realm. My wealth is like a\npoisonous snake rapping on my head, it will destroy my virtue. Non-virtue\nis like a poison, it will bear fruit and send you to a lower realm. It is\nlike jumping into a bonfire. And so, I will choose the great path of\nBodhicitta and live in a house of nectar.\" The prince and his servant then\nflew away on the horse. All of the palace awoke and plunged into a\nsorrowful grief.\nNear Bodha was the Forest of Chod-tan-nam-dak. It was here that the\nprince landed. He gave his servant his precious ornaments and the horse and\nsent them back to the palace. He then spoke, \"I won't be caught up in the\nlasso of illusion. I remain alone in the forest with a satisfied mind.\nEveryone is born alone and will die alone. I renounce this world of form,\nand so, there is no source to fill this lake of defilement, and it will be\ndry. I suppress samsara and show the path to Liberation.\" Then he cut his\nhair in front of the Chod-tan-nam-dak stupa.\nNear the Narrajana River he entered into a state meditation. For\ntwo years he ate only seven grains of rice a day and one drop of water. The\nnext two years only one grain of rice and one drop of water. Then for two\nyears he took no food or drink. His mother had been reborn into the deva\nrealm and through clairvoyance she saw the suffering of her son and his\nsorrows. Through her compassion, she appeared before her son. The prince\ntold her not to be depressed because soon he was to be enlightened at which\nshe became very joyous.\nTo develop his view, the prince gave up his self mortification. Two\nworthy girls, in fulfillment of a prediction, gave the prince the boiled\nmilk of 500 cows. When he drank this all signs of his mortification\ndisappeared and his body became shiny and golden-yellow.\nHe then went to the mountain to meditate but the mountain bowed low.\nHe felt bad when a voice from the sky said, \"You are not bad, you have more\nmerit than anyone and the mountain is too small to hold it. It cannot be\ncontained. You must go to Bodgaya to gain your enlightenment.\"\nOn the way to Bodgaya, a woman offered the prince kusha grass,\nwhich he used as his cushion at the base of the Bodhi tree. He then\nmeditated there. When the evening came he defeated the four maras who came\nto distract him from his purpose. At first they frightened him with a\nvision of destruction but he didn't move. Then they enticed him with\nextremely beautiful women but he was not distracted. Finally they shot\narrows at him but instead of touching him they turned into flowers.\nOn this same night the princess Sa-tso gave birth to Prince Ton-\nkun-drup's son, Dra-chand-zin. The baby had been in her womb for six years\nand the princess was so upset that she swaddled him and threw him into the\nriver. The child did not sink but sat smiling in the seven point posture.\nAfter witnessing this the princess happily took him back.\nAt midnight on the same day her husband the prince entered into\nSamadi. In the early morning he took the great light initiation by self-\nempowerment and with this clarity and radiant luminosity of light he then\nattained perfect enlightenment.\nMay the beings of this smallest of praise raise the foundation of\nenlightenment for all beings and in reading this may you gain the\nconfidence and wisdom, courage and strength to pursue your perfect dharma\npath.","title":"A Small Life Story of Shakyamuni Buddha","type":"page"}