Siddhartha Gautama Our Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama was born around 500 BCE
To the warrior Shakya clan, a noble family
In a place called Lumbini, now in Southern Nepal
The boy who would later become Buddha, wanted for nothing and had it all.
He grew up within the palace walls, shielded from all bad
From all misery, ugliness and anything sad
He was surrounded by everything that’s beautiful in life
So there was only comfort and happiness and never any strife.
At 16 he married Yashodhara and eventually had a son
But by 29 he was fed up of luxury, ease and fun
So one day in his chariot he snuck out of the palace gate
And what he saw outside forever sealed his fate.
He saw poverty, sadness, death and dirt
He felt shocked, confused, ignorant and hurt
For being protected for so long from the truth and the real
There was suffering in the world that he wanted to heal.
He left the palace renouncing everything and everyone
And spent 6 years in discipline waiting for something to happen
There was no longer the pleasures of sensuality and food
His body battered by the elements as he was almost nude.
One day he accepted some rice from a little girl
And once he’d eaten a realization began to unfurl
He could not find the resolution to the world’s suffering this way
So everything would change from that day.
Balance not extremism in food, pleasures and all else
This balance would lead to mental, physical and spiritual health
He meditated all night under the bodhi tree
And at 35 became the Buddha, the enlightened one, the free.
He was liberated from suffering and would help others too
As he taught The Middle Way the number of disciples grew
His 1st sermon was in Benares, in a deep park in Sarnath
Where he taught the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path.
Even his family joined the sangha with followers of kings and queens
And he’d established an order of monks and nuns happy to live in simple means
All living daily for compassion, peace and joy
According to the Buddha, once a gilded princely boy.
For many years he was listened to and loved by all around
Who through his words and love, felt they had finally been found
At 80 he fell ill and passed away in Kushinagar
But his teachings will keep spreading forever, wide and far.
OM MANI PADME HUM
