The Four Noble Truths: (1) The Truth of Suffering: An insight regarding suffering, such as the four and eight kinds of suffering. The world we live in is suffering. (2) The Truth of the Arising of Suffering: An insight regarding the cause that gives rise to suffering. Desire is the cause of suffering. (3) The Truth of the Cessation of Suffering: An insight regarding the extinction of suffering. Removing desire, the source of suffering, equals arriving at the ideal: liberation. (4) The Truth of the Path to the Cessation of Suffering: An insight regarding the practices that make the extinction of suffering possible. Carrying out the Noble Eightfold Path.

The Middle Way: The “middle” in “middle way” refers to not relying on the two extremes of pleasure and asceticism, in other words, placing oneself in a free state without getting caught up in one-sided deluded attachments. Rather than a middle state between two extremes, it means to eliminate the contradiction between the two. The “way” refers to practice, or concrete methods leading to liberation. The “middle way” expresses the state of body and mind that leads to liberation.

In the Sutta-nipāta, a collection of some of the oldest scriptures, one can find what is likely the original expression of the teaching of dependent arising.

Not by birth is one a Brahman, nor is one by birth no Brahman; by acts one is a Brahman, by acts one is no Brahman.

By acts one is a husbandman, by acts one is an artisan, by acts one is a merchant, by acts one is a servant.

By acts one is a thief, by acts one is a soldier, by acts one is a priest, by acts one is a king.

So the wise know these acts as they really are.
They see dependent arising and understand acts and their results.

This set of verses describes the acts of an individual as determining their state of existence in the present. While we do not know if this early thought about dependent arising was really the content of Śākyamuni’s awakening, it can be seen that at this stage there was an awareness that the suffering of existence is a result of one’s own actions.

In contrast, a more organized theory of dependent arising, called the “twelve links of dependent arising,” presents twelve items for observation: ignorance, volition, consciousness, name and form, the six-fold sphere of sense contact, contact, sensation or feeling, craving, grasping, becoming, birth, and finally old age and death. Biographical scriptures state that when attaining enlightenment, Śākyamuni observed in order the process by which suffering comes into existence. Volition arises because there is ignorance. Consciousness is born because volition arises, and so on. Śākyamuni also observed the reverse order of the process by which suffering is extinguished. Volition is extinguished because ignorance is extinguished. Consciousness is extinguished because volition is extinguished, and so on. This kind of insight is called a dharma, meaning “law” or “teaching.”
Śākyamuni tried to enter nirvāṇa while keeping the content of this awakening to himself. However, it is said that at this point he was encouraged three times by Brahmā, a god in Brahmanism, to teach his awakening. He then decided to preach and declared the following: “The door of ambrosia (deathlessness) has been opened for those who have ears; Brahmā, do away with faith. I did not teach the correct Dharma thinking that it might harm people.

Let us consider the nature of Śākyamuni’s attainment of the Way, also called Awakening or Enlightenment. All scriptures say that he accomplished this while in a state of meditative concentration. Assuming this description is accurate, one wonders what is different between the states achieved by the meditation practices in which he had previously engaged and the state he reached in his enlightenment. One possible answer lies in the different motivations between the two.

When Śākyamuni was a prince, he was distressed regarding life. To overcome those doubts and despair about life that everyone has as a young adult, people attempt to adapt themselves to society and avoid their doubts while making excuses to themselves. Śākyamuni confronted this problem head-on. His resolve to solve the fundamental problem of suffering led him to a state that was not obtained by those who practiced before him. This state allowed him to grasp the dharma of dependent arising.

Dependent arising refers to an insight about relationships. It is related to time and existence in this world. It describes all phenomena as interdependent and not existing in and of themselves. Every effect always arises with some sort of cause as its condition. A typical way that Śākyamuni expressed this was, “This is because that is, this arises because that arises, this extinguishes because that extinguishes.”

Why did the prince renounce the secular world? The first story that can be offered to describe his motivation is the dramatic “Four Excursions out of the Gate” from the Lalita Vistara. This sūtra describes his going out of the east, west, south, and north gates of the Kapila Castle. As he left the east gate he encountered an old person. As he left the south gate he encountered a sick person. As he left the west gate he encountered a funeral procession. These encounters made him unable to live without sensing that his death would arrive at some point. In other words, he came face to face with the sufferings of birth, aging, sickness, and death. As he left the final north gate, he encountered the purity of one who had renounced the world. This gave the despairing prince a ray of hope. This “Four Excursions out of the Gate” episode can be seen as symbolically depicting the troubled mind of the young prince.

Finally as an adult at the age of sixteen, the prince married Princess Yaśodharā, who gave birth to their son Rāhula, whose name means “troublesome.” Even though the prince lived a materially blessed life in the castle, he regularly felt troubled with regard to existence.

Śākyamuni was born as a prince to King Śuddhodana and Queen Māyā, and given the name Siddhārtha Gautama: Prince Siddhārtha of the Gautama Family. This was translated into Chinese as Xīdáduō. “Gautama” means “the largest ox” and “Siddhārtha” means “one who accomplishes his goal.”

There are various versions of the eight phases [of the Buddha’s life], however generally they are as follows. Dates are based on the calendar of Northern Buddhism.

1. Descent from the Tuṣita Heaven: The previous incarnation of Śākyamuni Buddha as a bodhisattva decides to be born in our world, referred to as the “Sahā” world, and descends from the Tuṣita heaven as a six-tusked white elephant.
2. Entry into Mother’s Womb: He enters his birth mother Māyā’s womb through her left side.
3. Birth: On April 8th, after being born from Māyā’s right armpit at the Lumbinī Gardens, Śākyamuni walks seven steps and declares, “I alone am the honored one in all the heavens above and the earth below.”
4. Leaving Home: Seeing the impermanence of the world in the four excursions he took from his castle’s gates, he cast away his life as a prince and became a renunciate seeking enlightenment. He was 29 years old.
5. Subduing Demons: After six years of austerities, he entered a state of meditative concentration under a bodhi tree. Demons attacked and tried to interfere with his practice. However, he fought them off.
6. Attaining the Way: On December 8th, after fighting off all kinds of obstructions, he became a buddha or awakened one. He was 35 years old.
7. First Turning of the Wheel of the Dharma: Going to the Deer Park in Sārnāth, he for the first time preached the teachings of the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path to five bhikṣus, or mendicants. For the next fifty years, he traveled through India teaching sentient beings.
8. Entering Nirvāṇa: On February 15th, at 80 years old, he passed away and entered nirvāṇa under two śāla trees in Kuśināgara.

Sometimes, instead of (5) Subduing Demons, one finds “Encouragement from Brahmā.” It is said that Brahmā, who Indian people at the time considered the highest god of Brahmanism, encouraged the newly enlightened Śākyamuni to spread his teachings widely. Also, sometimes (7) First Turning of the Wheel of the Dharma is replaced with simply “Turning the Wheel of the Dharma,” referring to his fifty years of teaching as a whole.

The word Śākyamuni means “sage of the Śākya clan.” In sūtras he is also often called Bhagavat or World-Honored One, and tathāgata or Thus Come One. The “ten epithets of the buddha” is a list of these names. They are: Thus Come One, arhat or Worthy of Respect, samyak-sambuddha or Perfectly Awakened One, vidyā-carṇasaṃpanna or Perfected in Knowledge and Conduct, sugata or Well-Gone, lokavid or Knower of the Secular World, anuttarā or Unsurpassed, purusa-damya-sārathi or Trainer of People, śāstā deva-manuṣyānām or Teacher of Gods and Men, and World-Honored One.