Buddha's Ascetic Life & Enlightenment | Religion, Philosophy & Ethics for GCSE/IGCSE - Year 11 PDF Download

The Buddha’s Ascetic Life

• Ascetics adopt a rigorous and minimalistic lifestyle, owning very few possessions.
• Siddhartha embraced asceticism for six years in his quest to resolve the issue of suffering:
  • He was motivated to live as an ascetic after being inspired by a holy man, whom he encountered during the last of the Four Sights.
• His ascetic lifestyle included:
  • Residing in perilous forests
  • Sleeping on a bed made of thorns
  • Consuming so little food that he became extremely thin and frail
• During this period, Siddhartha studied under various spiritual teachers and mastered the practice of meditation.

Siddharta became dangerously thin while living an ascetic lifestyle

Siddharta Turns Away from Ascetism

• Throughout his six years of ascetic practices, Siddhartha developed strong discipline.
• However, he still had not discovered a solution to the problem of suffering:

“When the Great Being engaged in intense austerities for six years, it felt to him as though he were weaving knots across the sky” (The Jataka, vol. 1, p.67).

• One day, Siddhartha accepted a bowl of rice and milk from a cowgirl.
• This restored his energy, prompting him to abandon the ascetic lifestyle.

“Recognizing that such extreme austerities would not lead to Enlightenment, he began collecting alms in villages and towns” (The Jataka, vol. 1, p.67).

• Siddhartha came to understand that neither a life of luxury nor one of extreme self-denial would grant him spiritual wisdom.
• He realized he needed to pursue a middle path between these two extremes.

The Buddha's Enlightenment

Siddharta’s Meditation

• Siddhartha recognized that neither indulgence in luxury nor harsh self-denial was the correct path to spiritual awakening.
• He chose a third approach, the “middle way” of meditation.
• Siddhartha vowed to continue meditating until he achieved enlightenment:
  • “I will not rise from this seat of meditation until I attain supreme Enlightenment” (The Buddha in the Jataka, vol. 1, p.71).
• As he meditated, traditional accounts describe how the demon Mara repeatedly appeared to challenge him.
• Mara attempted to divert Siddhartha’s focus through tactics such as:
  • Sending his daughters to tempt Siddhartha
  • Deploying armies to attack him
  • Offering him dominion over his kingdom
  • Questioning his legitimacy to occupy the seat of enlightenment
• Siddhartha relied on his self-discipline to resist these distractions.
• He remained steadfast in his meditation.

The Buddha’s Enlightenment

Siddhartha attained enlightenment through three profound realizations, which occurred during different phases of the night, known as the three watches of the night.

The Enlightenment

• Following his enlightenment, Siddhartha became known as the Buddha, meaning “the enlightened one” or “the fully awakened one.”
• He first shared his spiritual insights with the five ascetics, who became his initial disciples.
• He encouraged his followers to adopt a middle way, balancing between the extremes of luxury and asceticism.
• His teachings, known as the Dhamma, guide Buddhists on the path to reducing Dukkha and achieving enlightenment in their own lives.