The Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama was born as the son of a ruler of a petty kingdom in Lumbini, Nepal. As is common with wealthy individuals, he lived in luxury and richness during his childhood, and enjoyed the benefits of royalty. At an early life, a sage predicted that he would eventually become a Buddha. Because of the fact that his father wanted him to be a warrior and a ruler instead of indulging in reflection and meditation, Buddha was pressed to marry at an early age to experience worldly pleasure.
Finding the experience of self-indulgence dull, he went on a trip out of the palace and later met in his way three persons; an old man, a sick man and a dead body. With this experience, he began to realize that the life of man is full of suffering. Thus he renounced his wealth and inheritance, traveled and met with different teachers in order to find enlightenment. Failing to find this, Buddha resolved to answer the questions regarding the spiritual practices of his time. He meditated one day under a tree and for sometime found the “eternal truths”.
The spiritual practices of his time varied depending on the religions and beliefs prevalent at that time, so Buddha investigated these beliefs in order to delineate the truth from the untrue. He shared his insights on the path to Nirvana and providing answers to the right spiritual practices. Buddha questioned the Hindu practices of hedonism, asceticism and extreme spiritualism, eventually altering some of the Hindu traditions. Because of these, Siddhartha Buddha was able to establish one of the greatest religions on Earth and altered man’s perception of the spiritual life.
The Dissertation on Action Research As Spiritual Practice
... a man and the pain, both caused and experienced, with which masculinity has become associated (Keen, 1992).In our early practice of ... tasks of our time' (1991: 11). Action Research and the Via Transformativa The creation-centred spiritual tradition considers compassion ... Buddhas, we have to learn to recognize this truth! As John Heron put it 'simple openness to everyday participative experience, ...
