Reading Notes: The Life of Buddha, Part A

I chose to read this story particularly because of the mini Buddhas I have in my room that my friend had gotten me. I know a little about Buddhism from learning about it in my religion class. I thought it would be interesting to read the stories!

The intro to the story, Maya's Dream, was very detailed and eye opening. I like how it mentioned that the child chose that specific family even before it was born. I also liked how the powerful King felt week at the thought of a child being born and he did not know why. It would be fascinating to turn create a story out of a dream and make it come to life. The Queen and King were summoned by the Gods and they knew that something magical was going to be born. I enjoyed how good things began to happen to those around them as they prepared for something greater. In my story I could make it about someone being healed or having the power to heal... Just a thought!

As the story continues, the son is about to be born and is gifted with all this magical stuff. It made me desire to have all the things the King could offer his Queen at the time of birth. The detail was truly amazing. I think it is interesting how effortlessly they made childbirth seem. Maybe I could put a twist into the story to show that childbirth is not as magical as the Queen had made it appear... Siddhartha was born and everything in the world seemed to be great just because of his appearance.

A hermit comes to see the son and is weeping at the sight. The powerful words that he says to the king really resided in me and I want my story to leave some kind of lasting impact. The son is supposed to "destroy the evil of rebirth".. The King was left with many questions.

The story continued and I was sad, as the mother of Siddhartha had passed away and he was now left in the care of her sister, Mahaprajapati. I would like to add some sort of feelings to my stories as well. I think emotion is key for people to stay intrigued. The sister had Siddhartha wearing nice jewelry that a Goddess did not like. She was ordered to take it off of him.

(Siddhartha and Mahaprajapati) 

Siddhartha grew older and was taken to a temple. He was taught things, but already knew everything that his teacher Visvamitra taught him. Wouldn't that be nice? Just to know everything already. I wish I had that ability in school (ha ha). He began to meditate. Maybe I could do a story about finding peace and meditation after something bad. Finding a sense of belonging in a world...

Bibliography: "The Life of Buddha" by Andre Ferdinand Herold; Web Source