It is that Buddha came into duality to teach us about non-duality.
Of course, he wasn’t aware of his potential during the early stages of his life, and this is obvious if we check what the tradition say, that he was pretty much enjoying the luxury of being a rich and spoiled little guy, having all what his heart desired, meaning All, for his father was afraid that the son will become a Holy Man or, worse, a Buddha, if the needs a pleasures of the young Siddhartha will not be fulfilled enough and to spare. But the Gods are playing tricks, and the young and restless good looking – who recently fathered a son – 29 years old Shakya Prince, acknowledged – with his own eyes – the other aspects of the human life, meaning sickness, aging and decaying, and death. And a monk. So, depressed – but enthusiast, changed gear and skipped all the fun for a trip into the unknown.
Next, we can find the eager and zealous man practicing the extremes of self-mortification in the woods and all, and this period ended with the almost drowning into a river because of the exhausting of all his physical leftovers. (Try to eat for 6 years just one leaf or just one grain of rice per day, and you will understand perfectly why – but not do this at home!) At that point in his life appeared one nice little lady who offered him a nice cup of payasam – and, for the despair and loathing of his brothers in arms, he accepted it and drink it, licking his lips and fingers for the pleasure of the tasty food. He still was a human being at that time, so it is natural to see the world with different eyes when you have a filled stomach. The energy was running again through his shriveled brains, and he had a sudden understanding (satori-like) that the middle way was way better. Of course, for his companions of the extreme-hardcoring his attitude was despicable, so, they left him by the river, by the future lucky Bodhi tree where, after a reputed 49 days of meditation, at the age of 35, he is said to have attained Enlightenment. Which is a Big Deal by the way! From now on he will be called Buddha. Shakyamuni Buddha. At the time of his awakening he realized complete insight into the cause of suffering, and the steps necessary to eliminate it. These discoveries became known as the “Four Noble Truths”, which now are at the heart of the Buddhist teaching. After gaining all this, he felt the urge to share the said truths to everybody, and he leaped into the last stage of his journey on earth, gathering all the people interested in enlightenment subject, forming the so called Sangha, and preaching the teaching, the so called Dharma. The journey continued successfully, but, at the age of 80, the Buddha announced that he would soon reach Parinirvana, and so he did.
He left us a lot of knowledge, in which the main attraction is that Life is Suffering, but he was a nice guy and he gave us the hope that all of the suffering can be eliminated if we will follow the path of dropping out the nasty desires. He also gave us a very precious tool, The Noble Eightfold Path – meaning right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration – to use it in order to be happy and not to worry anymore. So, don’t worry, be happy!
And stay tuned.
