Week 5 Storytelling: The Buddha(s)

It came through a mystical dream on a breezy summer night. Unlike any other dream before, the mother, Maya was awoken. Maya had that gut wrenching feeling that something great was coming. She had waited all her life for this one moment...

Maya was married to King Suddhodana. They lived happily and healthy in their castle ruling over the land. They were good people and did much for their people. The King and Queen were connected on a spiritual level as well and could feel what each other were thinking.

King Suddhodana could feel the excitement that his wife was feeling and knew they were destined to have something great join their little family in their lavish lifestyle.

Although the King and Queen were good people, they lived their life enjoying all things wonderful. From fine dining to maid services to everything in between, they never really had any struggles. They helped the poor and worked with communities, but were never challenged like others that lived in the towns they ruled over. They had power and felt that what was coming would make them even stronger.

Just after the dream had come, Maya learned that she was pregnant. The King and Queen were ecstatic.

"This is a God sent gift to us. He has chosen us as the worthy ones to be the bearer of all things great through our child", the King exclaimed to Maya.

As the birth neared, all the sudden Maya had another dream. This dream was not like the coming of something great experience she had in the first dream. She woke in fear, as tears trickled down her face.

"What is wrong?", Suddhodana whispered.

"God came to me in a dream. He said where there is good, there is also evil. I fear for my pregnancy and what is to come", Maya cried back.

Weeks went on and Maya was nearing her pregnancy. The King wanted everything to be wonderful and for Maya to be showered with gifts and all things great. He ordered the servants to prepare for the birth of what they thought would bring them great glory.

It happened... But not quite as how they anticipated things would go.

A maiden came running to King Suddhodana yelling, "We come with some news. Two sons have been born, twins."

In a world of shock, the King did not know what to think or what to do. How should she feel? These dreams his wife was having had to have meant something. He went to go see his beautiful baby boys and give names to them. Gazing into their eyes and addressing them for the first time he said, "You shall be called Siddhartha and you shall be Hiddhartha."

As a great hermit came to welcome their sons into the world, he had a worried look on his face. He picked Siddhartha up and smiled. When he picked Hiddhartha up, he got a bad vibe from the child and set him back down. The hermit said, "Be careful, for life isn't always what it seems."

Not sure what to do or what that meant, Siddhartha and Hiddhartha were raised in the lavish lifestyle that the King and Queen provided for them. They knew eventually, that only one of the boys were going to be destined for greatness.

(Siddhartha and Hiddhartha) 

Siddhartha wasn't like his brother, he rejected the nice things and was always helping the people. He wanted to get away from the life he was provided and to get out into the world on his own. Hiddhartha, on the other hand, was a greedy boy. He enjoyed the expensive things in life and wanted nothing more than to take over with power.

The King and Queen were became very worried. Their sons were nothing alike. One wanted nothing to do with their fancy offerings and merely wanted to help the people. The other wanted power and was only worried about himself.

King Suddhodana called for God, "What must we do? We are lost and want our people to be safe under the chosen Buddha. Give us some guidance and we will be ever so thankful."

Siddhartha spent his days meditating and searching for the true meaning of life. He found that through prayer and practice life and death were connected. Hiddhartha thought he knew everything already and that he would be the chosen one. He didn't care about the connection or the people.

When the time came Siddhartha became the chosen one, the true Buddha. Although Siddhartha did not want the lifestyle, he had a way promoting peace and prosperity. Hiddhartha was sentenced to live under the teachings of his brother. Siddhartha would eventually come to teach the world nirvana. Only the good will prevail the evil.



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

Author's Note: The original story was about the life of Buddha. Siddhartha was born to a King and Queen who wanted nothing but the best for their son. He was hidden from the bad parts of life, but ultimately wanted to adventure. Although his parents were not pleased, Siddhartha went on his journey as a hermit and found nirvana through meditation. In the original story, his mom passed away and he was left to her sister. In my story, I made a twist in the fact that two sons were born instead of one. They were sort of competing to become the Buddha, but it is a chosen position. Siddhartha was the good son and his brother Hiddhartha was evil. In the end my story has the message that good outweighs the evil in the world, but that good and evil are accompanied by eachother.

Reading Notes: The Life of Buddha, Part B

The second part of the reading begins with Siddhartha leaving the city of Kapila. He also leaves on his horse Kanthaka. Siddhartha wants to discover life and death all together and feels like he must go out and venture. He wants to find good or evil. I think if I could tell it from the horses point of view that would be neat. I could also make up something along the lines that his father holds him at his palace like he is in prison. His father wants to ultimately be the greatest.

Siddhartha's leaving was very heartfelt and emotional. He talked with Chandaka and realized that he wanted to discover more. Leaving his family would be hard for them, but if he was to stay they might leave him (in death). Gopa realized that Siddhartha has left to become a hermit. The people are not happy and wonder if he can be persuaded to come back and rule. The horse also returned from Siddhartha and was silent and then died. I thought that was really sad and brought out a new emotional side. Maybe the horse was so heartbroken that their next prince who was so divine was straying away from his "path".

King Vimbasara set out looking for Siddhartha. He was told by a man that a God was wandering the streets of the city. He went to help Siddhartha. I thought this part of the story really stood out. Siddhartha had everything he could have ever wanted and chose to give it up to be poor. Maybe my story could have something more meaningful like that. Siddhartha was trying to find enlightenment.

Siddhartha went to Nairanjana where he for a moment was thought to be "dead". His mom Maya appeared among that Gods thinking that he was dead. She uttered powerful words to him. Siddhartha then meditated for SIX years on the banks of the river. What a long time. I wish I could meditate and stay concentrated for that long. He was also followed by five disciples who left him because he could not teach them the correct path of knowledge.

(Buddha Meditating) 

The tree of knowledge was another good part of the story. Siddhartha realizes he has the knowledge and some interesting things happen with an evil soul, Mara. Siddhartha eventually becomes the Buddha. In his time meditating and discovering, he finds that there is no life without death. I think it would be cool to add my own twist of life and death. I want to maybe do a story where something is reborn into something else after death.


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

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