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Five hundred years before Christ
a young prince set out on a journey.

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He would travel through pain
and suffering to reach nirvana

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- the everlasting bliss we all dream of.

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Symbol of peace

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Symbol of compassion,
symbol of non-violence.

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He was the Buddha.

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He grew up in a palace surrounded
by luxury.

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In his teens his privilege afforded him
every indulgence

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But he gave all this up
- to gain ultimate wisdom.

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He would travel the darkest corridors
of his mind to come face to face

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with the devil inside him.

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He founded the first world religion,

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followed today by over 400 million people

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- a religion where
meditation is used to reach

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a state of complete peace and happiness.

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Our own potential our own effort

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to know the ultimate reality.

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And the events of his life make up one of

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the greatest stories ever told

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- and the Buddha the world's most
enduring icon.

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Two and a half thousand years after
his death the Buddha's message lives on.

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The Dalai Lama

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- the spiritual figurehead of
Tibetan Buddhism

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- passes on the teachings of the Buddha

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- continuing a practice that
began the day he died.

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Buddhism has been adopted by many different
cultures and has many interpretations.

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The Buddha's teachings of
a higher mental calm

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and clarity are seen by some as a religion,
others a philosophy, even a psychotherapy.

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Some people
describe Buddhism is not a religion

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but Buddhism is science of mind.

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The Buddha's message is as relevant today

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as it was two
and a half thousand years ago.

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What has made Buddhism so popular

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is that it is insightful
and largely true that

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the Buddha discovered
immensely important things.

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Unlike other religions, Buddhism,

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which centers on the mind,
has no supreme God.

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Instead a great teacher
- the Buddha or the Awakened One.

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It seems very almost intuitive to an age

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in which psychology becomes for many people
an alternative to religion

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it's the means it's a therapeutic means

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to dealing with the problems of life

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and so it seems very accessible
to many people.

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There are many representations
of the Buddha

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- and Buddhists all have their own picture
in their minds of what he was like.

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Some kind of vibration of complete peace,
non-violence I think that must be there.

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Until little more than
one hundred years ago

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the life of the Buddha remained unknown
to the West.

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By the time the British colonized India

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- the country of the Buddha's birth
- Buddhism had all but died out,

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destroyed by Hindu kings
and Muslim invaders.

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The origins and the sites of
the Buddha's life became lost to everyone.

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It wasn't until
British colonial archaeologists

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began to explore Northern India
that their discoveries

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began to root the Buddha's life
in historical fact.

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In the 1860's,

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a series of archaeologists began to try

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and identify the sites associated
with the life of the Buddha.

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By the 1890's many of these sites

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had been successfully identified
within the Ganges area,

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but that time two of the great sites
connected with Buddhism were still missing,

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the site of Lumbini,
where the Buddha had actually been born,

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and the site of Kapilavastu
which was the childhood home of the Buddha.

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The area to the north of the Ganges
was less well known,

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partly because of
the very thick jungle there,

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tigers as well as malaria.

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It took a breakthrough discovery to unlock

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the story of the Buddha's origins.

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In a remote village across the border
in Nepal a pillar was discovered.

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A British expedition was sent out
to decipher its inscription.

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The script is the early Brami script

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and the language is
a local vernacular language

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of Northern India
and indeed the inscription itself depicts

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that this is where the Buddha,
the enlightened one was born.

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This was the first piece of
evidence to suggest that the Buddha

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was not just a legendary figure
- he actually existed.

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Ancient Buddhist texts
had named the Buddha's birthplace as Lumbini

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and now the archaeologists
had it located on the map.

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Now they tried to find
the Buddha's childhood home

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- an ancient city named in the texts as
- Kapilavastu.

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It was apparent that
it was located to the west

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perhaps 10 or 15 kilometers
to the west of Lumbini

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and that is where the search
began to intensify.

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Expeditions uncovered two possible sites

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for Kapilavastu
- one in India the other in Nepal.

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For a hundred years archaeologists
have argued over them.

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New research by Dr Coningham
and his team

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suggests the ancient city lay
at modern day Tilaurakot - in Nepal.

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It's an extremely exciting site
because it is so well preserved,

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we conducted that a series of
geo physical surveys

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and we then identified a series of roads
laid out and it became a clear

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that the entire city in its final phrase
had been laid out on a girded pattern.

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At its centre lay a palace.

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It is here that the Buddha's story begins.

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Two and a half thousand years ago

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Northern India was divided up
into Kingdoms and republics.

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The Buddha's father - Sudhodana

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- was the elected chieftain
of the Shakya tribe.

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He ruled his kingdom from his palace
near the foothills of the Himalayas.

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His queen was called Maya.

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Legend tells that on the night

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of the full moon
she had an extraordinary dream.

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It told that a special Being known

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as the Buddha
was about to be born again on earth.

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The legend goes on
that Four Guardian deities of the world

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carried Queen Maya up to
the Himalaya mountains in her bed.

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They anointed her with divine perfumes
and decked her with heavenly flowers.

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A white elephant with
six tusks descended from heaven,

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carrying a lotus flower in its trunk,
and entered her womb.

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The Buddha would be born of Maya.

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If one looks at this story of
the Buddhist conception and compares it

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to say the conception story of Jesus,
where you have angels appearing.

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I suppose a similar basic idea is there.
That the forces which are beyond

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are signaling that
something great is happening.

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Its said that the Buddha chose the time
and the place that he would be reborn.

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The baby boy was named Siddhartha
- meaning 'every wish fulfilled'.

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But his mother fell ill after giving birth
and died a few days later.

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Siddharta was brought up by his aunt.

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The family summoned Brahmin priests

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and then a trusted palace soothsayer
to predict the young prince's future

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We're told that he noticed

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the auspicious signs of a great
being upon Siddhartha's body,

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including the mark of
a wheel upon his feet.

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It's said that the Buddha was born

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with certain marks on his body
the so called 32 marks of a great person.

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They are seen as appearing on
the body of two kinds of people.

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One who will become the Buddha
and one who will become a world Emperor.

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His father was quite keen on the idea

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that his son would become
a great political leader.

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So this is why it is said that
he cosseted his son,

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to prevent him seeing things which
might send him in a religious direction.

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Everyone knew the signs meant Siddharta
was exceptional, especially the King.

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But as he watched his

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inquisitive young son growing up
he worried about these predictions

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- that one day his son would abandon
the palace and become the spiritual leader

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rather than stay to become
chief of the Shakyas.

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As Siddhartha grew older his father
was delighted to see the boy's exceptional

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ability at the princely sports of fencing,
wrestling and archery.

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But he also noticed that Siddharta
was a deeply thoughtful and curious child.

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He appeared to be more interested in
trying to understand

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the nature of the world around him
than in military pursuits.

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For the King these were
the most important skills

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young Siddharta should learn
if he was to become a leader of men.

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Siddhartha was expected to become

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the future King
and defender of Kapilavasthu

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- one of the very first cities
in Northern India.

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The Palace where Siddhartha grew up
has long since crumbled away.

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Its mud and wood construction

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have left nothing
for archaeologists to examine.

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But more durable materials have recently
been discovered at Tilaurakot.

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We cut a trench 3 meters by 3 meters
and eventually

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We had a very clear sequence at the site

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and then we began to be somewhat surprised
by identifying a material known as

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painted greyware which is basically
a flat bowl with black paint.

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This tiny fragment has huge significance.

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Dr Coningham believes it was
made in the 5th Century BC

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- at the time Siddhartha was
growing up in the palace.

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What we have is a centre of small industry
- We are probably dealing with a settlement

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that we would even hesitate
to call a city today

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- centered around a large
courtyard belonging to the ruler.

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And the majority of the population living
in the agrarian hinterland.

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It was this hinterland,

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lying beyond the city walls
that fascinated Siddhartha.

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So when at the age of nine

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his father allowed him out
to celebrate the annual ploughing festival

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he eagerly participated.

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His first glimpse of reality beyond

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the palace walls would open a door
for Siddharta to a new vision of the world

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and would become
the turning point of his life.

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The story recalls that
he watched a farmer ploughing.

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He saw the toil and effort, struggle and
repetition of this back-breaking work,

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something he'd never seen in the palace.

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He managed to slip away from
the festivities and be alone.

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This first experience of real life
had a profound effect upon him.

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To everyone else this was a celebration

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- but to Siddhartha it symbolized
something quite different.

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He felt his mind leading him
into a contemplative state.

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He watched the plough as it cut

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and parted the ground and noticed a bird
eating a freshly unearthed worm.

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He asked himself why living beings
have to suffer in this way.

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If the farmer had not been ploughing
the bird would not have eaten the worm.

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He realized that everything was connected
and that all actions had consequences.

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This simple observation would become

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one of the corner stones of his teachings
- known as karma.

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As Siddharta's mind focused
on these profound thoughts he slipped

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into a trance or jana
- a mental state which would become

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his first step
on the road to enlightenment.

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He was sat under a tree

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and he was just focusing on
the plough going through the earth.

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And its said while doing that
he fairly Naturally went into

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a meditative state called a first Jana.
Which was very very joyful and happy.

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And which he later uses
as part of his spiritual path.

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The connection to Buddhist meditation

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is the focusing on something
which has a calming centering effect.

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Possibly also the idea of compassion

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for the worms being killed as
the plough went through the earth.

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So I suppose one would see this as
just part of his rather special nature.

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The young prince's behavior
deeply unsettled the King.

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Brahmanism
- the religious tradition of the time

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- insisted that sons should follow
in the footsteps of their fathers.

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One of the things that I think
makes this narrative so powerful is,

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again we can imagine
this scene of his father

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trying to protect his son
encountering any suffering.

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Now the reason for doing this is
that there has been a prophesy that/

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he'll either become a universal monarch

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or he'll become a renunciant
who will gain enlightenment.

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His father of course wants him to become
a king to follow in his footsteps.

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As Siddhartha grew up

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his father did all he could to tempt him
to stay inside the palace.

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He tried to create a perfect
and seductive world for him to live in.

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As was Customary for a prince,
Siddhartha was offered beautiful maidens

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to entertain him with music and
to pleasure him with their physical beauty.

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When Siddhartha reached the age of sixteen

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the King even found him a beautiful bride
- Princess Yasodhara.

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Siddharta had to compete for her hand

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and the King was delighted how skillfully
his son fought off the competition.

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The King began to convince himself

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that palace life was beginning
to suit his son at last.

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But this was wishful thinking

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and Siddhartha pestered his father
to allow him out of the palace.

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Unable to refuse
his son's wishes any longer,

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the King desperately set about

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clearing every eyesore
from the surrounds of the palace.

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Like a Hollywood film set, the sick,
the poor and the old were all deleted

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from the fantasy
presented to the young prince.

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Despite his father's efforts,

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Siddhartha's first taste of the
outside world would reveal stark realities.

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With the naivety of a child
he set out with Chana,

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his charioteer, as his guide.

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The prince would make four journeys
and see four signs

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- as predicted
by the palace fortune teller.

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Early Buddhist texts place great importance
on this point in the story

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as each journey would reveal to Siddhartha

234
00:16:54,948 --> 00:16:57,518
an aspect of life which had been
deliberately hidden from him.

235
00:16:57,518 --> 00:17:03,957
On his first trip Siddhartha
went out into the country,

236
00:17:03,957 --> 00:17:07,494
away from his father's influence.

237
00:17:07,494 --> 00:17:11,131
He noticed an old man painfully making
his way through a village.

238
00:17:11,131 --> 00:17:16,170
He asked Chana what was wrong with the man

239
00:17:16,170 --> 00:17:18,672
and Chana explained
the process of ageing to him.

240
00:17:18,672 --> 00:17:24,878
Siddhartha was alarmed

241
00:17:24,878 --> 00:17:25,913
when he learnt that ageing is inescapable
and happens to us all.

242
00:17:25,913 --> 00:17:34,454
For Siddhartha,

243
00:17:34,454 --> 00:17:35,522
reality was beginning to unveil
a cruel picture of the world.

244
00:17:35,522 --> 00:17:39,827
- Where misfortune and suffering appeared
to dominate every aspect of life.

245
00:17:39,827 --> 00:17:48,936
The second sign was soon to follow

246
00:17:48,936 --> 00:17:50,804
when Siddhartha noticed a sick man,
his features twisted with disease.

247
00:17:50,804 --> 00:17:57,778
He asked Chana if anyone could become sick
and again he was shocked

248
00:17:57,778 --> 00:18:02,015
when he learnt the brutal truth
that we all can.

249
00:18:02,015 --> 00:18:08,822
The protective wall of fantasy around him
was beginning to crumble.

250
00:18:08,822 --> 00:18:12,960
And the further the young Prince ventured
the more of life's horrors confronted him.

251
00:18:16,514 --> 00:18:20,067
Now he saw a corpse, bound in linen,

252
00:18:20,067 --> 00:18:22,736
being carried to the funeral pyre
- and the story records that Siddhartha

253
00:18:22,736 --> 00:18:26,673
is appalled to discover
not only that all men are mortal,

254
00:18:26,673 --> 00:18:30,511
but also that it was a Brahmin belief
that after death we are all reborn

255
00:18:30,511 --> 00:18:35,082
- to suffer and die time and time again.

256
00:18:35,082 --> 00:18:41,722
There seemed no end

257
00:18:41,722 --> 00:18:43,157
and no solution to life's miserable
and inevitable cycle.

258
00:18:43,157 --> 00:18:48,929
The Buddha's life is an allegory
because the most important point in it is

259
00:18:48,929 --> 00:18:54,434
that here is a young man
who is brought up with every luxury

260
00:18:54,434 --> 00:18:59,406
and he realizes that isn't enough
because he has a shock.

261
00:18:59,406 --> 00:19:03,410
He has a shock because for the first time
he encounters old age,

262
00:19:03,410 --> 00:19:10,184
disease and death.

263
00:19:10,184 --> 00:19:14,087
It's not plausible to think that
growing up as an intelligent youth

264
00:19:14,087 --> 00:19:18,959
he wouldn't have known anything about it.
The point is rather to

265
00:19:18,959 --> 00:19:23,463
convey the tremendous impact that
coming face to face with

266
00:19:23,463 --> 00:19:28,101
these fundamental facts of human existence,
has and must have upon us,

267
00:19:28,101 --> 00:19:33,874
and that it's urgent
that we do something about it.

268
00:19:33,874 --> 00:19:40,948
But it was the fourth sign that would
definitively point to Siddharta's future

269
00:19:40,948 --> 00:19:45,686
- a man wearing a simple robe
with a begging bowl before him.

270
00:19:45,686 --> 00:19:51,525
Why should anyone want to give up
the pleasures of the world

271
00:19:51,525 --> 00:19:54,261
to wander the countryside, begging?
Asked the prince.

272
00:19:54,261 --> 00:19:58,065
Chana explained that the man had renounced
such pleasures in order to confront reality

273
00:19:58,065 --> 00:20:03,337
and seek answers to this painful existence.

274
00:20:03,337 --> 00:20:09,843
The account of the four signs
I see as quite an effective story way

275
00:20:09,843 --> 00:20:15,516
of putting certain existential realizations
we all know we are going to get old

276
00:20:15,516 --> 00:20:20,454
we all know we are going to get sick
we all know we are going to die

277
00:20:20,454 --> 00:20:23,190
in our heads but its very different
to sit down on day

278
00:20:23,190 --> 00:20:26,660
and realize here no is not just
other people who get old sick and die

279
00:20:26,660 --> 00:20:31,899
its I'm going to get old
I'm going to get sick and I'm going to die

280
00:20:31,899 --> 00:20:36,904
and I think the story accounts
are trying to portray

281
00:20:36,904 --> 00:20:40,641
that moment of existential realization
where you see it for the first time

282
00:20:40,641 --> 00:20:45,579
you are going to die
and you know it and you taste it.

283
00:20:45,579 --> 00:20:49,716
When Siddartha returned to the palace
after this fourth journey

284
00:20:49,716 --> 00:20:53,487
his mind was reeling
with his new understanding of the world.

285
00:20:53,487 --> 00:21:01,328
The fruits and flowers around him
would rot and wither away.

286
00:21:01,328 --> 00:21:06,066
Even the walls of the palace
would one day crumble.

287
00:21:06,066 --> 00:21:11,338
His wife had just given
birth to a beautiful child.

288
00:21:11,338 --> 00:21:14,575
But they would both one day grow old,

289
00:21:14,575 --> 00:21:17,277
become ill and die. It was inevitable.

290
00:21:17,277 --> 00:21:22,716
He had learnt the meaning of impermanence
and saw it in everything around him.

291
00:21:22,716 --> 00:21:28,755
Siddharta knew he had to leave his family

292
00:21:28,755 --> 00:21:31,058
to seek answers to the questions
that tormented him,

293
00:21:31,058 --> 00:21:34,728
even though this meant
abandoning his wife and son.

294
00:21:34,728 --> 00:21:38,632
Against the tradition of his family
and the Brahmin religion,

295
00:21:38,632 --> 00:21:42,269
Siddhartha left home to find
his own answers to life's suffering.

296
00:21:42,269 --> 00:21:50,010
One story recalls

297
00:21:50,010 --> 00:21:51,512
how a hypnotic mist sent
the guards to sleep

298
00:21:51,512 --> 00:21:54,481
allowing him to escape with Chana,
through the Eastern Gate of the palace.

299
00:21:54,481 --> 00:22:12,332
It is said that beside the river Anoma,
he removed his jewellery,

300
00:22:12,332 --> 00:22:17,004
exchanged his robes for rags
and cut off his long hair.

301
00:22:17,004 --> 00:22:21,475
He asked Chana to carry them
back to the palace.

302
00:22:21,475 --> 00:22:28,415
Siddhartha was alone for the first time.

303
00:22:28,415 --> 00:22:31,251
He had at last escaped
the false world of palace life

304
00:22:31,251 --> 00:22:34,588
where suffering had been
swept out of sight.

305
00:22:34,588 --> 00:22:38,892
Now he needed to come
face to face with reality,

306
00:22:38,892 --> 00:22:41,995
if he was ever to find a solution
to the pain of existence.

307
00:22:41,995 --> 00:22:49,203
Siddhartha was confronted
by suffering on a scale

308
00:22:49,203 --> 00:22:52,005
he'd never seen before
when he arrived in the cities.

309
00:22:52,005 --> 00:22:58,779
And within those cities people
were being thrown together,

310
00:22:58,779 --> 00:23:00,681
at times there was perhaps
an increase in disease and suffering.

311
00:23:00,681 --> 00:23:04,818
Some people have seen
this as a particular trigger

312
00:23:04,818 --> 00:23:07,621
for the Buddha's emphasis on suffering.

313
00:23:07,621 --> 00:23:10,924
It accentuated a universal problems
that any human being in any society faces.

314
00:23:10,924 --> 00:23:22,536
Siddhartha realized that

315
00:23:22,536 --> 00:23:24,071
if he was to find an answer
to the suffering surrounding him,

316
00:23:24,071 --> 00:23:27,307
he would have to challenge

317
00:23:27,307 --> 00:23:28,675
the Brahmin religion under
which everyone lived.

318
00:23:28,675 --> 00:23:32,679
What the Brahmins had was sacred knowledge
this sacred knowledge

319
00:23:32,679 --> 00:23:39,153
centered on knowing certain texts
called the Vedas

320
00:23:39,153 --> 00:23:42,723
the word Veda itself simply means knowledge
and the implication is that

321
00:23:42,723 --> 00:23:47,060
that was the only knowledge
which was really worth having.

322
00:23:47,060 --> 00:23:51,465
With their sacred knowledge,

323
00:23:51,465 --> 00:23:53,500
Brahmin priests
oversaw every stage of life,

324
00:23:53,500 --> 00:23:57,004
from birth to death.

325
00:23:57,004 --> 00:24:02,442
Their blessing was essential

326
00:24:02,442 --> 00:24:04,278
but their knowledge could only be
handed down to their sons.

327
00:24:04,278 --> 00:24:08,448
The position of
Brahmin families remained assured

328
00:24:08,448 --> 00:24:11,652
- until a new wave of thinkers
began to challenge this.

329
00:24:11,652 --> 00:24:16,056
It was a time when Brahamism,

330
00:24:16,056 --> 00:24:18,425
early form of Hinduism
was being questioned,

331
00:24:18,425 --> 00:24:23,964
it was a little bit like
the time of the ancient philosophers

332
00:24:23,964 --> 00:24:27,768
such as Plato
and Socrates in Ancient Greece.

333
00:24:27,768 --> 00:24:31,772
People debating arguing with people and

334
00:24:31,772 --> 00:24:35,075
the Buddha tried to cut a way through that.

335
00:24:35,075 --> 00:24:38,545
He described the context as a welter
of views a jungle of views.

336
00:24:38,545 --> 00:24:45,752
As Siddhartha explored
this jungle he realized that

337
00:24:45,752 --> 00:24:49,189
the solution to life's suffering
needed to be available to everyone,

338
00:24:49,189 --> 00:24:53,427
rather than an exclusive few
- like the Brahmin tradition.

339
00:24:53,427 --> 00:24:57,764
The Buddha disagreed with the Brahmins
and he said one does not become a Brahmin

340
00:24:57,764 --> 00:25:04,204
by birth one becomes a Brahmin

341
00:25:04,204 --> 00:25:07,007
by living well one
does not become an outcast

342
00:25:07,007 --> 00:25:10,310
by birth one becomes an outcast
by living badly.

343
00:25:10,310 --> 00:25:15,115
Now that's a wonderful and important thought
its like saying in our society

344
00:25:15,115 --> 00:25:21,588
a true gentleman is not one
who is born into a particular family

345
00:25:21,588 --> 00:25:25,792
but one who behaves properly.

346
00:25:25,792 --> 00:25:31,265
Siddhartha traveled further
on his search into Northern India.

347
00:25:31,265 --> 00:25:36,203
He was looking
for an alternative way of life

348
00:25:36,203 --> 00:25:38,906
that attempted to overcome
the suffering he'd seen around him.

349
00:25:38,906 --> 00:25:46,280
He was interested
in all the new philosophies

350
00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:49,616
but he wanted to go further
- to reach deeper into his mind.

351
00:25:49,616 --> 00:25:54,788
He now decided to focus on
the technique of meditation

352
00:25:54,788 --> 00:25:58,292
and sought out
the leading gurus of the day.

353
00:25:58,292 --> 00:26:01,895
There been broadly speaking two kinds
of meditation in ancient India.

354
00:26:01,895 --> 00:26:07,100
Which consisted in putting yourself
under various kinds of pressure

355
00:26:07,100 --> 00:26:11,104
by controlling your breathing
or sometimes fasting

356
00:26:11,104 --> 00:26:16,109
or undergoing other forms of discomfort

357
00:26:16,109 --> 00:26:19,980
and the aim is really to obtain what
we call altered states of consciousness.

358
00:26:19,980 --> 00:26:26,820
So they would think that they had climbed
to very high plains in the universe.

359
00:26:26,820 --> 00:26:32,926
They're not taking this literally,

360
00:26:32,926 --> 00:26:34,895
its not that they think that
they go five thousand feet up in the air,

361
00:26:34,895 --> 00:26:37,998
so to speak but they think that
there are certain planes which become more

362
00:26:37,998 --> 00:26:42,069
and more abstract such things
as the plane of infinity of space

363
00:26:42,069 --> 00:26:47,941
and that's followed by the plane of
infinite consciousness as you got

364
00:26:47,941 --> 00:26:51,111
and then the plane of infinite nothingness,

365
00:26:51,111 --> 00:26:53,847
these were the sorts of things

366
00:26:53,847 --> 00:26:55,048
the Buddha definitely must have learnt
from his teachers.

367
00:26:55,048 --> 00:26:58,685
It is said that Siddhartha,

368
00:26:58,685 --> 00:27:00,053
so excelled at mediating that
he attracted a group of five followers

369
00:27:00,053 --> 00:27:04,892
and his teachers asked him to stay on
and take over their schools.

370
00:27:04,892 --> 00:27:09,496
But Siddhartha decided that
this practice alone was not

371
00:27:09,496 --> 00:27:12,199
the answer to the problem of suffering
and rebirth or reincarnation.

372
00:27:12,199 --> 00:27:18,172
He set out to explore other techniques
- this time focusing on his body.

373
00:27:18,172 --> 00:27:23,043
So he then goes to try another method
which is harsh asceticism.

374
00:27:23,043 --> 00:27:28,382
This involved things like fasting,
not washing,

375
00:27:28,382 --> 00:27:33,053
meditations where you hold your breath
for a very long time

376
00:27:33,053 --> 00:27:36,390
and its very forceful willful way.

377
00:27:36,390 --> 00:27:47,301
Ascetics may starve
and even mutilate themselves.

378
00:27:47,301 --> 00:27:50,804
For them the physical body
is a barrier to spiritual liberation.

379
00:27:50,804 --> 00:27:58,245
By shedding their attachment to the body

380
00:27:58,245 --> 00:28:00,481
they will cleanse the mind
and liberate the soul.

381
00:28:00,481 --> 00:28:08,622
Siddhartha tried to
achieve this state of liberation.

382
00:28:08,622 --> 00:28:12,426
He fasted for so long
his life hung by a thread.

383
00:28:12,426 --> 00:28:18,098
'All my limbs became like
the knotted joints of withered creepers,

384
00:28:18,098 --> 00:28:22,436
my buttocks like a bullocks hoof,

385
00:28:22,436 --> 00:28:25,139
my protruding backbone
like a string of balls,

386
00:28:25,139 --> 00:28:28,809
my gaunt ribs like the crazy rafters
of a tumbledown shed.

387
00:28:28,809 --> 00:28:33,881
My eyes lay deep in their sockets,

388
00:28:33,881 --> 00:28:36,450
their pupils sparkling
like water in a deep well.

389
00:28:36,450 --> 00:28:40,287
As an unripe gourd shrivels
and shrinks in the hot wind,

390
00:28:40,287 --> 00:28:44,658
so became my scalp.

391
00:28:44,658 --> 00:28:53,333
Just as Siddhartha
was about to die of starvation a young girl

392
00:28:53,333 --> 00:28:57,271
saved his life by giving him
a bowl of rice and milk.

393
00:28:57,271 --> 00:29:02,442
He now realized that
if he starved himself again

394
00:29:02,442 --> 00:29:06,013
he would simply die
having achieved nothing.

395
00:29:06,013 --> 00:29:11,351
And the story says that
he is living on one grain of rice a day.

396
00:29:11,351 --> 00:29:14,188
He's practically starved himself to death

397
00:29:14,188 --> 00:29:17,090
and realizes that disciplining the body
through extreme self renunciation,

398
00:29:17,090 --> 00:29:25,732
aestheticism inflicting pain upon the body
that doesn't solve the problem.

399
00:29:25,732 --> 00:29:34,708
When his five followers saw Siddhartha

400
00:29:34,708 --> 00:29:36,677
had given up his fast
they lost faith in him.

401
00:29:36,677 --> 00:29:40,414
They no longer believed he had the strength

402
00:29:40,414 --> 00:29:42,382
to live up to his spiritual convictions
and abandoned him.

403
00:29:42,382 --> 00:29:47,221
He feels he tried what's on offer,

404
00:29:47,221 --> 00:29:49,523
they haven't worked,

405
00:29:49,523 --> 00:29:51,859
and its at this stage
that he remembers meditation

406
00:29:51,859 --> 00:29:54,495
that he went into spontaneously
in his teens/ and he thinks mm,

407
00:29:54,495 --> 00:29:59,266
maybe that is a way through to awakening
because its not taken up the desires

408
00:29:59,266 --> 00:30:04,872
of the body
but it is very joyful and happy.

409
00:30:04,872 --> 00:30:09,610
By chance Siddharta came across
a musician tuning his sitar.

410
00:30:09,610 --> 00:30:14,348
When the string was too slack
it would not play.

411
00:30:14,348 --> 00:30:17,951
When it was too tight it snapped.

412
00:30:17,951 --> 00:30:20,988
Somewhere in the middle lay
tuneful harmony.

413
00:30:20,988 --> 00:30:26,260
Siddhartha realized that

414
00:30:26,260 --> 00:30:27,561
this simple observation signified
something of great importance.

415
00:30:27,561 --> 00:30:32,499
It was the middle way that would lead him
to the state of mind he was looking for

416
00:30:32,499 --> 00:30:36,837
- to a state of tuneful harmony
- enlightenment.

417
00:30:36,837 --> 00:30:42,009
But how could he achieve it?

418
00:30:42,009 --> 00:30:45,179
And the way that Buddha eventually uses
is what one could call mindfulness

419
00:30:45,179 --> 00:30:49,416
or awareness of the body,

420
00:30:49,416 --> 00:30:51,118
which neither ignores it nor tries
to forcefully master it,

421
00:30:51,118 --> 00:30:54,454
but it's a kind of middle way.

422
00:30:54,454 --> 00:31:00,327
The middle way led Siddhartha
through the countryside.

423
00:31:00,327 --> 00:31:04,264
He had been traveling for six years,
He had experienced pain and suffering

424
00:31:04,264 --> 00:31:09,670
and had stretched
the boundaries of his mind.

425
00:31:09,670 --> 00:31:12,639
But he'd still not found the inner peace
and harmony he was searching for.

426
00:31:12,639 --> 00:31:17,611
The state of absolute wisdom and
everlasting bliss known as Enlightenment.

427
00:31:17,611 --> 00:31:27,688
Siddhartha arrived at Bodh Gaya.

428
00:31:27,688 --> 00:31:30,424
Here his torment would end.

429
00:31:30,424 --> 00:31:35,729
He sat down beneath a tree and vowed not to
leave until he had reached ENLIGHTENMENT.

430
00:31:35,729 --> 00:31:52,179
'Flesh may decay, bones may fall apart,

431
00:31:52,179 --> 00:31:55,916
but I will never leave this place
until I find the way to enlightenment. '

432
00:31:55,916 --> 00:32:04,658
He's no longer giving himself a hard time,

433
00:32:04,658 --> 00:32:07,694
he's not stressing himself unbearably,
he's not undergoing anything painful,

434
00:32:07,694 --> 00:32:13,634
he thinks, well life is painful without
taking the trouble to make it more painful,

435
00:32:13,634 --> 00:32:18,772
but let me just calmly think things out,
think of how life works.

436
00:32:18,772 --> 00:32:27,247
He starts to focus the mind by attention
to the slow movement of the breath coming

437
00:32:27,247 --> 00:32:35,088
and going out a refined sensation
which exists in the body

438
00:32:35,088 --> 00:32:40,127
just around the nose in a way which
starts to lead to the mind quietening,

439
00:32:40,127 --> 00:32:48,535
stilling, settling, gathering, purifying.

440
00:32:48,535 --> 00:33:43,924
Siddhartha's mind was now so focused

441
00:33:43,924 --> 00:33:46,660
that he could successfully
enter the darkest reaches of his unconscious.

442
00:33:46,660 --> 00:33:52,733
It was now that he would face
his final and greatest torment.

443
00:33:52,733 --> 00:33:56,970
The demon Mara - the Lord of Ego
and illusion appeared before him.

444
00:33:56,970 --> 00:34:01,909
He could make any horror real
in Siddhartha's mind.

445
00:34:01,909 --> 00:34:06,914
It's very important to remember
that Mara this demon king

446
00:34:06,914 --> 00:34:09,550
is not like the Christian Satan
because he isn't a tempter

447
00:34:09,550 --> 00:34:14,321
and he isn't any kind of counterpart
to God,

448
00:34:14,321 --> 00:34:17,691
he is purely psychological forces
which we have within us,

449
00:34:17,691 --> 00:34:28,302
Mara unleashed an army of demons
to attack Siddhartha.

450
00:34:28,302 --> 00:34:32,539
They fired flaming arrows at him.

451
00:34:32,539 --> 00:34:41,281
But mid flight
Siddhartha turned them into lotus blossoms

452
00:34:41,281 --> 00:34:45,219
and they fell harmlessly around him.

453
00:34:45,219 --> 00:34:56,096
Having failed Mara
then tried to seduce Siddhartha

454
00:34:56,096 --> 00:34:59,333
with his tempting daughters.

455
00:34:59,333 --> 00:35:07,841
He's assailed by the demon king
who is the same time death

456
00:35:07,841 --> 00:35:12,279
and desire very Freudian
that in a way desire is death,

457
00:35:12,279 --> 00:35:16,984
death is desire and in fact the Demon king
offers him his three daughters

458
00:35:16,984 --> 00:35:22,289
who are both passion or lust and aversion
where it is equally bad

459
00:35:22,289 --> 00:35:29,897
if you shy away from this
and say it is disgusting

460
00:35:29,897 --> 00:35:33,333
you are also a slave to passion

461
00:35:33,333 --> 00:35:36,570
- and he can be completely calm
and indifferent

462
00:35:36,570 --> 00:35:39,006
and just gaze at them without
any feelings of attraction or repulsion.

463
00:35:39,006 --> 00:35:46,446
The faces of Mara's daughters
began to rot before Siddharta's eyes.

464
00:35:46,446 --> 00:35:52,119
The evil daughters
then disappeared into the earth.

465
00:35:52,119 --> 00:35:57,524
It is in fact
you could say the Buddha's very recognition

466
00:35:57,524 --> 00:36:01,795
that Mara is an aspect of himself

467
00:36:01,795 --> 00:36:05,532
the total recognition of that
is his enlightenment.

468
00:36:05,532 --> 00:36:10,737
The earth is said to have trembled
as he dispelled the devil.

469
00:36:10,737 --> 00:36:14,341
Siddhartha, now aged 35,
passed through four Janas

470
00:36:14,341 --> 00:36:18,545
to reach enlightenment

471
00:36:18,545 --> 00:36:19,880
and become the Buddha - or Awakened One.

472
00:36:19,880 --> 00:36:25,986
He then spent 7 days beneath the tree
in a meditative state of absolute bliss.

473
00:36:25,986 --> 00:36:35,829
This is seen as a state where the mind
is incredibly refined and sensitive,

474
00:36:35,829 --> 00:36:41,301
and an image might be of a lake,
which is totally still,

475
00:36:41,301 --> 00:36:45,205
which would register
even an insect on the surface.

476
00:36:45,205 --> 00:36:49,343
So this is seen as a state
where the mind is very,

477
00:36:49,343 --> 00:36:51,845
very powerful as
an instrument of knowledge, very sensitive.

478
00:36:51,845 --> 00:36:56,250
In this highly attuned state,

479
00:36:56,250 --> 00:36:58,519
the Buddha saw way to escape

480
00:36:58,519 --> 00:37:00,287
the inevitable cycle of old age sickness
and death.

481
00:37:00,287 --> 00:37:04,424
He realized that if we remove desire

482
00:37:04,424 --> 00:37:07,594
we can remove dissatisfaction
and suffering from our lives.

483
00:37:07,594 --> 00:37:12,733
A key cause of the painfulness

484
00:37:12,733 --> 00:37:15,903
and frustration of life
is craving kind of demanding desires.

485
00:37:15,903 --> 00:37:20,507
So There's a general mismatch

486
00:37:20,507 --> 00:37:23,477
between how you want things to be
and how they actually are.

487
00:37:23,477 --> 00:37:28,215
The insight the Buddha attained
beneath the tree was the birth of Buddhism

488
00:37:28,215 --> 00:37:32,920
- a religion followed today
by 400 million people.

489
00:37:32,920 --> 00:37:38,692
The Buddha summed up his wisdom
in four noble truths

490
00:37:38,692 --> 00:37:42,229
which are the foundation
of all Buddhist beliefs

491
00:37:42,229 --> 00:37:47,701
The first noble truth recognized
that there is suffering in life.

492
00:37:47,701 --> 00:37:52,473
The second diagnosed
the cause of that suffering - desire.

493
00:37:52,473 --> 00:37:57,611
In the third truth, like a doctor,

494
00:37:57,611 --> 00:38:00,080
the Buddha revealed
that there was a cure for desire.

495
00:38:00,080 --> 00:38:03,584
And in the fourth noble truth
he gave the prescription

496
00:38:03,584 --> 00:38:07,354
- how to cure the illness
and achieve Enlightenment or Nirvana.

497
00:38:07,354 --> 00:38:13,227
The ultimate aim was to reach
a state of mind completely free of craving,

498
00:38:13,227 --> 00:38:17,698
ignorance, greed, hatred and delusion,

499
00:38:17,698 --> 00:38:21,034
thereby free of all
the causes of future rebirth

500
00:38:21,034 --> 00:38:25,806
when an enlightened person dies
they're seen as going beyond rebirth

501
00:38:25,806 --> 00:38:29,743
to a state beyond if you like space
and time and not coming back

502
00:38:29,743 --> 00:38:34,081
so that is seen as a state of liberation.

503
00:38:34,081 --> 00:38:40,287
The Buddha would further teach
that morality, meditation and wisdom

504
00:38:40,287 --> 00:38:44,558
were the stepping stones to enlightenment.

505
00:38:44,558 --> 00:38:50,898
He would dedicate the rest of his life
helping others to follow this path

506
00:38:50,898 --> 00:38:55,335
- towards freedom from suffering.

507
00:38:55,335 --> 00:38:58,138
As his followers grew in number
he went on to set up a school or Sangha

508
00:38:58,138 --> 00:39:05,913
Today a temple stands beside a descendant

509
00:39:05,913 --> 00:39:08,315
of the very tree under
which the Buddha became enlightened.

510
00:39:08,315 --> 00:39:15,689
The monks here have become
a living library of the Buddha's teachings.

511
00:39:15,689 --> 00:39:23,764
Chanting his sacred words
beneath the Bodhi tree of Enlightenment

512
00:39:23,764 --> 00:39:27,568
is seen by Buddhists to give special power
to their practice.

513
00:39:27,568 --> 00:39:33,407
The chief monk is responsible

514
00:39:33,407 --> 00:39:34,808
for preserving this tradition
at the temple.

515
00:39:34,808 --> 00:39:38,011
The most important thing
is the practice of his teachings.

516
00:39:38,011 --> 00:39:43,183
Practice diligently, be ever mindful.

517
00:39:43,183 --> 00:39:48,755
So now I say I explain Buddhism
in two words,

518
00:39:48,755 --> 00:39:55,529
practice mindfulness.

519
00:39:55,529 --> 00:39:59,733
The path to enlightenment begins
with the focusing of the mind

520
00:39:59,733 --> 00:40:03,137
and following a number of commandments.

521
00:40:03,137 --> 00:40:07,107
Morality, meditation and wisdom.

522
00:40:07,107 --> 00:40:11,512
So not to kill, not to steal,

523
00:40:11,512 --> 00:40:16,283
not to have any sexual misconduct,

524
00:40:16,283 --> 00:40:20,254
not to tell a lie and not to have indulge
in intoxicating drinks or intoxicants.

525
00:40:20,254 --> 00:40:32,299
This was the way of life established by
the Buddha in the very first sangha.

526
00:40:32,299 --> 00:40:39,907
After eight years

527
00:40:39,907 --> 00:40:41,208
he went back to the palace
and the family he'd abandoned.

528
00:40:41,208 --> 00:40:45,446
We're told his father now forgave

529
00:40:45,446 --> 00:40:47,214
the Buddha for the deep hurt
he had caused.

530
00:40:47,214 --> 00:40:50,350
King Sudhodhana now realized the importance
of his son's quest.

531
00:40:50,350 --> 00:40:55,456
His stepmother even begged
to join his sangha

532
00:40:55,456 --> 00:40:58,559
and she went on to become
history's first nun.

533
00:40:58,559 --> 00:41:02,095
The Buddha is justified in the eyes
of all Buddhists of even leaving his wife

534
00:41:02,095 --> 00:41:06,433
and child to go on his solitary journey
to try and find what the solution

535
00:41:06,433 --> 00:41:13,440
to life's problems is
and how life should be lived

536
00:41:13,440 --> 00:41:16,977
and for him how life should be lived
is the question infinitely more important

537
00:41:16,977 --> 00:41:24,184
than having any possessions
or even the company of loved ones.

538
00:41:24,184 --> 00:41:30,190
The Buddha was to abandon his family again.
He set out to teach, for forty years

539
00:41:30,190 --> 00:41:36,597
- passing on to his followers the wisdom
he had attained beneath the bodi tree.

540
00:41:36,597 --> 00:41:41,869
But before he left he ordained
his son as a monk.

541
00:41:41,869 --> 00:41:48,442
The Buddha encouraged his followers
to live together in a monastery or Sangha

542
00:41:48,442 --> 00:41:52,913
- to help them focus
on the path to enlightenment.

543
00:41:52,913 --> 00:41:57,451
Some people become
a monk purely to meditate,

544
00:41:57,451 --> 00:42:01,622
purely to practice meditation,
purely to practice the life of a recluse.

545
00:42:01,622 --> 00:42:09,797
Some become a monk to work
for the propagation of the religion.

546
00:42:09,797 --> 00:42:16,436
Monks from all over the world

547
00:42:16,436 --> 00:42:17,938
come to live in monasteries established
around the temple of the Bodi Tree.

548
00:42:17,938 --> 00:42:23,177
Non-Monks or lay Buddhists,
come here too, to learn from them.

549
00:42:23,177 --> 00:42:29,583
Monks must be celibate
and give up every selfish desire.

550
00:42:29,583 --> 00:42:34,755
And that is the one part of the training
to get rid of self tendencies,

551
00:42:34,755 --> 00:42:42,830
tendencies to always think about yourself

552
00:42:42,830 --> 00:42:45,165
and put yourself fully in
the context of the community of the sanga

553
00:42:45,165 --> 00:42:51,939
Then when all the sacrifices
have been made the hard work begins

554
00:42:51,939 --> 00:42:56,410
- committing long chants
or mantras to memory.

555
00:42:56,410 --> 00:43:01,215
Mantras such as this have a purpose

556
00:43:01,215 --> 00:43:03,684
- they are designed
to test the monk's memory,

557
00:43:03,684 --> 00:43:05,919
concentration and commitment
to the Buddha's teachings.

558
00:43:05,919 --> 00:43:11,725
Over the centuries his message has evolved
into a number of different traditions,

559
00:43:11,725 --> 00:43:16,530
with their own interpretations
and monastic practices.

560
00:43:16,530 --> 00:43:22,402
But the Buddha taught that lay people

561
00:43:22,402 --> 00:43:24,238
can also follow the path to eternal bliss
and ultimate wisdom.

562
00:43:24,238 --> 00:43:30,043
Most westerners are not drawn to Buddhism
as a way of leaving society behind

563
00:43:30,043 --> 00:43:33,080
they're drawn to the practical
of meditation as a way of being

564
00:43:33,080 --> 00:43:36,316
more effective within society
and that's a way in which

565
00:43:36,316 --> 00:43:39,620
the message of Buddhism takes on
a very different caste

566
00:43:39,620 --> 00:43:43,223
because it becomes a form
of self improvement a way of dealing

567
00:43:43,223 --> 00:43:47,427
with the stresses of life a way
of clarifying your goals and objectives.

568
00:43:47,427 --> 00:43:54,535
Many westerners are especially attracted
to Buddhist meditation.

569
00:43:54,535 --> 00:44:00,140
I think all of us sometimes glimpse
that magic and mystery of the moment

570
00:44:00,140 --> 00:44:05,345
what meditation does
is to help us touch that more often,

571
00:44:05,345 --> 00:44:09,950
it helps us to be more calm
and controlled in our mind

572
00:44:09,950 --> 00:44:13,320
and we can create conditions
that allow us to come into

573
00:44:13,320 --> 00:44:16,423
a state of awareness of interdependence,
of impermanence, of nirvana.

574
00:44:16,423 --> 00:44:24,031
Some schools of Buddhism
believe the Buddha was superhuman

575
00:44:24,031 --> 00:44:27,768
a magical figure who consorted
with gods and performed miracles.

576
00:44:27,768 --> 00:44:32,473
Others that he was no more than

577
00:44:32,473 --> 00:44:33,740
a human being and they believe it is this
that adds power to his message.

578
00:44:33,740 --> 00:44:39,947
There is no doubt that the Buddha wished
to be remembered as a human being

579
00:44:39,947 --> 00:44:45,219
with human frailties not perhaps frailties
of the intellect or moral frailties

580
00:44:45,219 --> 00:44:51,859
but certainly physical frailties

581
00:44:51,859 --> 00:44:53,927
and the Buddha suffers from back pain
towards the end of his life

582
00:44:53,927 --> 00:44:58,432
he suffers from various physical complaints
and weaknesses.

583
00:44:58,432 --> 00:45:04,204
The Buddha would die at the age of eighty
from a common illness - food poisoning.

584
00:45:04,204 --> 00:45:12,079
It is said that before

585
00:45:12,079 --> 00:45:13,013
passing away he fell into a deep trance
on his journey from this world to Nirvana

586
00:45:13,013 --> 00:45:18,285
- a state of eternal bliss

587
00:45:18,285 --> 00:45:20,387
- free at last from rebirth,

588
00:45:20,387 --> 00:45:22,523
free at last from suffering and death.

589
00:45:22,523 --> 00:45:29,429
A council was assembled to record
for posterity the Buddha's teachings.

590
00:45:29,429 --> 00:45:35,102
These were learnt by heart and handed down
the centuries by generations of monks.

591
00:45:35,102 --> 00:45:42,209
The Buddha's body was cremated.

592
00:45:42,209 --> 00:45:44,211
And his remains were preserved.

593
00:45:44,211 --> 00:45:48,282
They were enshrined two hundred years later

594
00:45:48,282 --> 00:45:50,517
by India's first Emperor King Ashoka
who converted to Buddhism.

595
00:45:50,517 --> 00:45:58,392
He built vast monuments or stuppas

596
00:45:58,392 --> 00:46:01,228
and erected pillars to mark the key sites
of the Buddha's life.

597
00:46:01,228 --> 00:46:05,632
Asoka then becomes
an absolutely key figure,

598
00:46:05,632 --> 00:46:08,268
both in terms
of the actual spread of Buddhism

599
00:46:08,268 --> 00:46:12,005
but then as a model

600
00:46:12,005 --> 00:46:13,674
for future Buddhist leaders throughout Asia
they look back to Ashoka as

601
00:46:13,674 --> 00:46:18,779
the kind of ideal king
and supporter of Buddhism.

602
00:46:18,779 --> 00:46:24,985
So far as we know the Emperor Asoka

603
00:46:24,985 --> 00:46:27,087
who ruled over two thirds of modern India

604
00:46:27,087 --> 00:46:30,791
in the middle of the 3rd century BC,

605
00:46:30,791 --> 00:46:33,460
helped monks to send out missions
to countries bordering India,

606
00:46:33,460 --> 00:46:40,167
missionaries were sent up into Kashmir
to Nepal and certainly Sri Lanka.

607
00:46:40,167 --> 00:46:45,839
They converted the king,
the king give his patronize to Buddhism

608
00:46:45,839 --> 00:46:49,510
and Sri Lanka has therefore been
a Buddhist country from that day to this.

609
00:46:49,510 --> 00:46:53,781
And in country after country
we know over many centuries

610
00:46:53,781 --> 00:46:57,251
that this is the way
that Buddhism was successfully implanted.

611
00:46:57,251 --> 00:47:05,626
Ashoka's pillars outlived Buddhism in India
- they withstood Muslim invasions

612
00:47:05,626 --> 00:47:10,864
and survived to catch the attention
of the first colonial archaeologists.

613
00:47:10,864 --> 00:47:15,969
This gave a very significant impetus
to the revival of Buddhism

614
00:47:15,969 --> 00:47:19,573
- the desire to go back to the places
associated with the Buddha.

615
00:47:19,573 --> 00:47:22,976
Imagining Buddhism for people in the West
but these investigations also become

616
00:47:22,976 --> 00:47:27,981
the basest for a revival
within Buddhism in Asia.

617
00:47:27,981 --> 00:47:33,854
Today the sites associated
with the Budha's life attract tourists

618
00:47:33,854 --> 00:47:38,325
and pilgrims flock to Bodh Gaya
to follow in the Buddha's footsteps,

619
00:47:38,325 --> 00:47:42,496
hoping to find, as he did,

620
00:47:42,496 --> 00:47:44,965
eternal peace and happiness
and a cure for suffering and death.

621
00:47:44,965 --> 00:47:50,571
It's a great irony
that after the Buddha's death the person

622
00:47:50,571 --> 00:47:55,309
who preached of the uselessness of ritual
and also the uselessness

623
00:47:55,309 --> 00:47:59,580
of personality cult became
the object of ritual worship

624
00:47:59,580 --> 00:48:03,684
and as big a personality cult
as has ever existed in history.

625
00:48:03,684 --> 00:48:09,923
Buddhist temples have been
built in Bodh Gaya representing

626
00:48:09,923 --> 00:48:13,026
the different traditions
from around the world.

627
00:48:13,026 --> 00:48:17,531
Buddhism, in all its forms,
has come home, to the Bodi tree,

628
00:48:17,531 --> 00:48:22,736
to the place where once a prince reached
enlightenment and became the Buddha.

629
00:48:22,736 --> 00:48:29,777
The Buddha attained enlightenment on that
fleeting moment of a wink, this moment,

630
00:48:29,777 --> 00:48:39,319
fleeting moment is the time that takes
to realize that moment cannot be explained.

631
00:48:39,319 --> 00:48:51,865
That special moment gave birth
to the first world religion

632
00:48:51,865 --> 00:48:56,804
- A religion without a God

633
00:48:56,804 --> 00:48:59,006
where the path to Nirvana lies in the mind
of each and every one of us.

634
00:48:59,006 --> 00:49:05,745
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