About the Chapter
📖 Author: Betty Renshaw
The chapter describes how Prince Siddhartha became Gautama Buddha — and his first sermon after enlightenment.
Story of the Buddha
- Siddhartha Gautama (c. 563 BCE) — born as a prince in Kapilavastu (Nepal)
- At 25, he saw old age, sickness, and death for the first time — left his palace to seek answers
- After 7 years of wandering and meditation, attained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya
- Gave his first sermon at the deer park in Sarnath (near Benares/Varanasi)
The Parable of Kisa Gotami
- Kisa Gotami's son dies; she goes mad with grief, carrying the dead child, begging for medicine
- Buddha tells her to bring mustard seeds from a house where no one has died
- She goes house to house — every family has lost someone; there is no house untouched by death
- She realises: death is universal — she buries her son and accepts the truth
⚡ Buddha's Teaching
"The life of mortals in this world is troubled and brief and combined with pain. For there is not any means by which those that have been born can avoid dying; after reaching old age there is death; of such a nature are living beings." Death is universal and inevitable — grief is natural but we must accept this truth to find peace.