The story of Buddha is an inspiring one. His story serves as a powerful guide for anyone who wishes to find more substance and fulfilment in their spiritual journey.
Buddha was a prince living the life many of us today probably would aspire to, having all the riches one can imagine and basically leading a carefree life. But that didn’t really satisfy him. He found life rather meaningless. So he relinquished the life of worldly pleasures for a spiritual one. He had already seen what life was like for the less privileged and wanted to further explore this side of the world which has eluded his experience to that point. He sought spiritual guidances from many gurus and did various ascetic practices. He made some progress but he was still not satisfied. Something was missing. So he left the acetic life and went on his own path. He wanted to examine things for himself.
Buddha then decided to abandon asceticism and allowed more food into his body. One day, after having some food, Buddha came to what later became the Bodhi tree and sat under the tree and meditated. After six days, he finally ‘found’ what he was looking for. He was enlightened. But the magical thing is, he realised the thing he was looking for had always been there.
The important thing about this story is not necessarily the fact that Buddha became enlightened or what enlightenment is, perhaps that’s something for another time. But what’s more important is that we should examine and investigate things for ourselves. Only from our own examination can we gain real understanding and make it our own experience. Without that personal experience, it remains a story told by someone about someone else. Perhaps Buddha himself said it most succinctly (I have rearranged it because it’s a long quote and I tried my best to not alter the original meaning), ‘don’t believe in anything simply because it’s regarded as the truth, but observe and analyse it until you reach your own conclusion.’