The risen Sun was radiating its light like large hands trying to reach out the nature’s beauty. A gentle wind was passing through the trees shaking their branches, leaves, and flowers. It made a mild sound as to denote happiness. Butterflies with wings of various colors were flying each and every direction enhancing the beauty of that felicitous morning. Chirping birds were actively flying from tree to tree. It was like they were excited about something that was going to happen on that day. Assorted but pleasant and heavenly aromas were being emanated from divine bodies that gathered in the sky. A miraculous moment that these divine beings were waiting for was approaching…It was an amazing incident that happened about 2600 years ago. A child was born in a garden full of cannonball flowers located at the root of the Himalayan Mountains in a small kingdom known as Kapilavattu in India at around 11 am on a full moon day (a Poyaday). When this newborn child was born, miraculous things happened around the entire world. Even the great hell (Ānatareika Niraya) was brightened at that time. His mother, Queen Mahāmāyā, could also see Brahmas from the Brahma world. They took this newborn child to their hands and said, “Esteemed mother, be happy. A holy child with great merits has been born.”

The child then walked seven paces towards the north direction stepping his small feet one by one. He raised his right arm, pointing his index finger to the sky and recited a stanza in a sweet voice:

“Aggō hamasmi lōkassa (I am the foremost to this world)
Jeththō hamasmi lōkassa (I am the eldest to this world)
Setthō hamasmia lōkassa (I am the supreme to this world)
Ayamantimā jāti, natthi dāni punabbhavō (This is my last birth; I do not have a reincarnation)”

With the birth of this magnificent child, all the chores in the palace were changed. The King’s heart was full of joy. He wanted to know his newborn beautiful child’s future. He summoned 108 Brahmins and asked about it. After carefully observing this meritorious child’s bodily characteristics, all of them except one raised two fingers saying “This child could follow a household life. If he remained at home, he will become the chief of the entire world, a Universal King. If he renounce the lay-life and embrace the monkhood, he will become a Samma Sambuddha (the Enlightened One) by himself without any help of a teacher.” While 107 out of 108 Brahmins were guessing the destiny of this child in two ways, a young Brahmin at the end of the hall raised only one finger. He said, “Lord King, this child doesn’t have two destinies but one. That is, he will definitely become the Samma Sambuddha. There are no doubts about it. It will happen for sure…” It actually became true when the child was 35 years old.

The child had an abnormally powerful mind. His thought patterns were extraordinary. His perspective about things was amazing. He could see things in a perfect manner. The distortions posed by worldly delusions were penetrated by his piercing wisdom. His various talents were astonishing. He was capable of contemplating about things that no one else could do. While kings are administering their armies to expand their kingdoms, collecting beautiful ladies to their harem, enjoying the irresistible taste of alcohols by their lips, this young Prince Siddhartha Gautama started to discover the meaning of this life.

The birth of the Supreme Buddha is a rare one. When it is the appropriate time for the renunciation, it was deities who helped the Prince Siddhartha Gautama. The deities showed the prince the Four Signs when it was the right time. These Four Signs (an old person, a sick person, a dead body, and a monk) helped the Siddhartha Gautama to induce the revolution in his mind that directed Him to His great renunciation. The King always wanted his son, the Prince Siddhartha, to become a Universal King. It is in fact the ways of parents. We know that sometimes when young children come to the Mahamevnawa Buddhist Monastery to ordain as a Bhikkhu, some parents do not approve it at once. They say that their intention was to see their children becoming engineers, doctors, or going abroad for higher studies and good jobs. Likewise, parents show their divergent intentions that they have for their children. These are the different levels of parents present today in our society. However, the intention of King Suddōdhana was to see his son becoming a Universal King. On the other hand, the king did not aware that it was also his very last life. The king attained the Nibbana and passed away as an Arahant, so that he will never reincarnate. Nevertheless, king did not know about it at that time.

The great mother, Queen Mahamāya, of Prince Siddhartha died after 7 days of his birth. She was then born in the divine world called ‘Thusitha’. Prajāpathi Gautamī was assigned to feed the newborn baby with her breast milk. She also dreamed of seeing her beloved son becoming a Universal King. Prajāpathi Gautamī also did not know that it was her final lifetime. There exists a wondrous design in this world. This design is what the Supreme Buddha introduced as the ‘world’s subject’. It is like someone is doing it. That is how marvelous this design is. This is the reason why most people are deceived by the misconception of this world as to be someone’s grand design.

King Suddōdhana asked those ascetic Brahmins about how to keep the young Siddhartha Gautama attached to the household to prevent him becoming a monk. The hermits told the king to give the young prince happiness as much as he could. They told the king to bring everything he likes to him, so that he would be retained in the chains of desire. The king built a beautiful palace for the prince to spend time in the winter season. Another palace was designed for summer and a separate one for the rainy season. In the rainy season, the raining occurs continuously. The Supreme Buddha told the Bhikkus in a later time, “I lived a fine and delicate life when I was a prince. It was a tremendously tender life. I didn’t even come down from the upstairs of the palace when it was raining in the rainy season. Various types of dancing ladies came each day and danced to please me. Beautiful ladies were present around me all the time.” There were some times that the Supreme Buddha remembered his past and mentioned about it to the Bhikkhus. This handsome young prince who spent time in these enchanting palaces, which are called Rammya, Surammya, and Subha, and surrounded by beautiful ladies, had taken his delicious meals in a gold plate. He slept in beds decorated with lacquer thread bed sheets. Everywhere he looks is equipped with beautiful things.

This young prince did not know what this Buddhahood is. However, he was born with one important gift; the ability to see things through with his mind. When the right moment was approached, the deities thought it is the time for this young prince to let go of the household life. By that time, it was forbidden for gravely old people to enter the City Kapilavattu. It was also illegal for the people who suffered with dangerous illnesses to live in the city. The dead people were secretly removed from the city area. The people of the city did not fully understand some of these events carried out under the supervision of the royal palace.

The Prince Siddhartha was shown a gravely aged man as the first sign. How wonderful it is to meet objectives to a mind of a person with the well equipped perfecting merits and a matured and profound wisdom…? After seeing that aged and very old person’s decayed body with a bent back, a skinny body with apparently advanced bones, aged white hair, and toothless mouth, the Prince Siddhartha was surprised. The prince received something to think. For a normal human being, it is just another object to take his eyes away. For Prince Siddhartha, it was something to contemplate.

On another day, the deities showed the prince another figure: the second sign. This time it was a patient with injuries in the whole body, swollen everywhere, and suffering with a great pain. A person charmed by the world would refuse such sight taking his eyes away just as he confronts it. However, the Siddhartha Gautama looked at that sick person closely. All of these events transformed into messages that gave light to Prince Siddhartha’s life. These things transformed into signs that showed the young prince a new way, which transcended all he has known up to that point.

The deities showed the Prince Siddhartha a dead body on another day. A group of people were following the dead body, which was carried by few other people, crying sadly. Prince Siddhartha kept on looking at this incidence. These peoples’ pain looks enormous. The sobbing was unbearable. The pain of loved ones’ departure seems to be excruciating. This was the third sign that changed Prince Siddhartha’s life completely.

Among the things that add to ones life as time goes, aging is a process that cannot be stopped by any means. Who would be able to stop one being getting sick? Even though everyone is afraid of the death, who would be able to stop meeting the death in someone’s life? These processes of aging, getting sick and dying are ruthless, aggravating, and inescapable matters of everyone’s lives. People around the world do so many things to prevent aging. They do everything that they could think of with the intention of being young forever. But they cannot escape it by means of those physical applications. It is same with respect to getting sick. Even though people try hard to be healthy all the time, becoming victims of sickness is the bitter truth. It is also their wish to live forever without dying. However, failing even the all modern remedies and making them ineffective, a person gets old. Making every remedy, every medication ineffective, the illnesses become worst in front of our eyes. Even with tremendous efforts to live forever, every being still has to face the death. Only the sadness and wailing are left behind, making all the expectations fade away. Prince Siddhartha realized all these unfortunate events that belong to a life just after seeing these first three signs. However, an answer for these matters was not even close to apprehend.

The deities showed the prince a monk as the final sign they wanted him to see. For Prince Siddhartha, it was a new pathway. It is not even a pathway for many. It is not a way that many would recognize. It was not a pleasant way that the minds of many would be even dwelled in. Many would retreat from that pathway. Becoming a monk, by letting go of everything, is the way to find a path to free from a world of aging, sickness, and death. It is also a way that should be followed alone.

This figure of the monk stirred Prince Siddhartha’s mind. As soon as he saw this ascetic figure, the enchanting and royal life he spent in Rammya, Surammya and Subha palaces became worthless like the dust that wipes away by his feet. That monk’s figure touched Prince Siddhartha’s heart. It touched prince’s heart deep enough, so that his whole life changed completely. His fondness for parties was vanished away from his mind. The fondness for performances of dancing ladies was vanished away. The only thought that dwelled in his mind was the question of when he could become a monk. When would he be able to find an answer to the aging and the death of these beings? Something that no one would think of was being echoing in this young Siddhartha’s heart. No one would encourage the prince to follow such a path. The royal family in the palace helped him only with the idea of becoming a Universal King. These new thoughts of freedom are alien to others, but the prince seems determined in perusing his goal…

At the end, he had to leave everything behind even if it was not permitted by his royal family. He gave up everything. Since the time Prince Siddhartha saw that monk’s figure and was awoken with that serious thought of when to become a monk, someone was whispering to his ears. “Dear Prince, enjoy your life. You are a father now. A child was born to you.” The love to one’s own son would rise in a mind of any person in this world. He would then be attached to that love. Prince Siddhartha’s heart was also filled with love to his child. The love was so strong such that some words came out from his mouth: “Bandanan jātan, Rāhulō jātan (A bond was formed).” The word ‘Rāhulō’ became his son’s name, Rāhula, afterwards. On that same day, he came to a sturdy decision “No, I must find an answer to the aging and death. I must help all beings to free from their suffering by freeing from all these bonds.” Prince loved to see his newborn child. He was a father now. Everyone in the palace was happy, but the prince was not coming to see the child. The night was passing by, and the prince decided to leave everything behind and abandon the royal life.

We might have left our homes in this world endlessly in the journey of the Samsara. We might have also come back even without knowing it. Therefore, the renunciation of a normal person is like a journey in a circle. He embraces what he left in no time. However, the great renunciation of the young Prince Siddhartha Gautama was different. On that day he left the palace, he had the desire to see his newborn child. It was normal to have such a love for a father to his child. He opened the door slightly to have a final glimpse at his child. The child was sleeping in his dearest wife’s bosom. At once, he had a yearning to hold his child. Nevertheless, he did not. How great effort and mindfulness he must have had to not to yield to that desire? It was amazing…

Someone was keep watching at all these events that had happened on that day. He sensed that this Siddhartha’s renunciation was not just a normal one, but to end the journey of Samsara. He kept looking at what was happening. He followed the prince even when the sage Siddhartha Gautama attained the Buddhahood at a later time. He tried hard to interfere Siddhartha’s way to find Nibbana. He always tried to keep the beings trapped within the world. He does not have any consent for the beings being freeing themselves from the world. Prince Siddhartha made his decision by himself. He had a great power that he inherited from the merits of perfecting to become a Samma Sambuddha. This was what helped him to make that decision.

After making the decision to leave the royal palace, he shut the door to his child and wife’s room and left. He got onto his horse. It was amazing that there was no sound from the horse’s pins hitting on the ground on that day. They went to the main gate of the palace. Another amazing thing; everyone at the gate was sleeping. Even the gigantic gate was opened. Prince Siddhartha together with his minister who was called Channa went towards the forest. Where else would he go? Who would he go searching for? To whom would he be going to? Without knowing anything, he stepped towards the forest. Since the day the Prince Siddhartha went to the jungle, his life was a complete battle. It was a complete struggle. It was a complete exhaustion. It was a complete exertion. He had an abnormal effort that no one else in the world has. We cannot even imagine how fast the Prince Siddhartha let go of the household life.

Prince Siddhartha cut his fascicle of bluish hair. He removed all his ornaments and wore a robe made out of pieces of cloths used to cover dead bodies. He had a clay bowl. He went for collection of alms from house to house with that bowl on his hands. He did not have a place to stay; no hut or shelter, only the plane of stars in the sky. The effort taken to realize the life by this marvelous reverend monk, who lived such a hard ascetic life, was immeasurable and enormous.

After he attained the Buddhahood, the Mara once told the Buddha that he followed Buddha’s each step for seven years. The Mara followed the Buddha since he took the first step to the great renunciation as Prince Siddhartha at that night. Dark forces of Mara are powerful and if there is someone who tries to free from the Samsara, the entire world dominated by that force would try to stop that person.

The Prince Siddhartha is now the reverend monk Siddhartha Gautama. Whenever he heard about a teacher who teaches a way to free from the Samsara, he went looking for him. Regardless of what the message said about these teachers, he could not find what he was looking for, the way of getting rid of the Samsara, by studying under them. In fact, those teachings just brought forth another message about resting in the Samsara or following it. Fully learning what they taught quickly and recognizing that they do not have what he was looking for, he went to another teacher.

These teachers told the Siddhartha Gautama: “Dear reverend monk, this is the freedom. This is what you are being looking for. This is the freedom from the Samsara. There is nothing else beyond this.” However, Siddhartha Gautama’s heart told him “No, this is not what I am looking for.”

At that time, he could not understand what he was looking for. But his thirst for truth and the farsighted thinking ability would not let him to just accept what they taught. His mind was focused to his one and only intention of freeing himself and others from the dangerous Samsara. But, others could not understand this great sage’s exploration. He asked those teachers to tell him a place without the birth, a place without the aging, and a place without the death. Every teacher told him that it was what they were showing to him. He had to argue with them and show that they do not answer his search in their teachings. “You are teaching another state of existence; a new place to be born as the end to this suffering. But, each of these places has something that is being formed (due to a cause). If there is something that is being formed, then it has the nature of being ended. Every place with this nature consists of death.” This astounding monk, who was looking for something that is not being formed, amazed everyone. This extraordinary young sage, the royal prince, the royal priest, who was asking for something that is not being formed, with a strong and a stunning figure, brought a tremendous delectation to everyone.

There was no one who could tell him about a thing that has not being formed. No one was there in the world to tell him about a place where birth does not exist. Everyone was talking about either an eternal life or something else. At the end, he relinquished his desire of finding a teacher who would wise enough to answer his questions and show him the Nirvana. He started the search of the truth behind this life by himself. It was incredible how he came to that decision by himself…

How many millions and billions of lifetimes must this great Bōdhisatta (one who commits himself in perfecting his merits with an aim of becoming the Sammā Sambuddha) have searched for that truth by himself and died without realizing the path. Though, this time it was different. This great reverend monk started to test all the paths, which had been known to the man at that time, as the paths to end the suffering, by himself. It was incredible…

It was indeed incredible how he gave his body the unimaginable suffering to realize the truth of the life. The monk Siddhartha Gautama did not understand that the path he took was not the correct path to fulfill his goal. No one in the entire world knew about it and to explain it to him. In these extreme exertions, he took a mouth full of breath and stayed for hours without letting it go. He exhaled and stayed hours without taking another breath. He explained the excruciating pain that these extreme practices caused him at a later time. “I suffered from a great pain in my stomach. That pain was similar to what a cow undergoes when it is being cut by a butcher. When I tightened my mouth, air went out from my ears making a loud noise. I stiffened it again, but none of these pains could disperse or disorient my mind in any way. Each moment, even if it was painful, my mind was well-focused.” It was incredible…

When he was performing these arduous activities, he used to immerse himself in the River Nēranjanā in the freezing winters. Even when his body was frozen like a rock in that cold water, his mind was focused only on one thing; to find the way to free from the circle of birth-death (Samsara).

He did not care about food at all. He sternly decided not to take any food. “I must try to realize this life without taking any food at all.” The deities told him not to stop taking food. “Oh! The Great One, please do not stop taking the food. If you do so, we will insert the divine food extracts into your body through the hair pores of your skin.” The sage Siddhartha Gauatama thought that he does not have the chance to prevent taking food completely due to deities’ interference. “If I stop taking food, these deities would enter their divine food extracts into my body through these hair pores. My promise may become a lie if that happens.” Then, he told the deities, “Dear deities, you don’t have to worry about that. I will take some food that would help me to be alive.” The ascetic Gautama ate one seed of rice or a green gram per day. The Buddha told Arahant Sāriputta at a later time like this: “Someone might think that the seed of rice I ate was huge. Those seeds of green grams were huge. No Sāriputta, the seeds of rice and green grams were the same size like we have now.”

When the ascetic Gautama was lessening the food he took, his whole body was changed. His bluish and large eyes immersed and displayed like a small amount of water in a deep and dried well. His head wrinkled like a shell of a papaya dehydrated under the heat of the Sun. His hands and legs shrunk like bamboo dehydrated under the heat of the Sun. How many times must this great, heroic monk have denied eating and strived hard to find a path to free from the ocean of circle of birth-death, so that his stomach would shrink to its cortex? It was incredible…

One day, this great sage fainted on the sandy plain near the River Nēranjanā. The one who followed the sage Siddhartha Gautama’s each step for few years, the one who is the relative of the tardy people, the Māra, came to the sage Siddhartha Gautama and told him “Hey Monk, you got a chance of 1 out of 1000 to live and 999 to die. No one in this entire world could free oneself from this Bhavaya, even after trying so hard. So, please let go of all your efforts to free yourself from the Ocean of Bhava at least now.” The great sage Gautama then answered the Mara “Hey Mara, I know that you are telling me this not out of compassion or for my well-being. Mara, look at that river. When this wind crosses that river sweeping my body, its water could dry out. That is how strong the will power I have in my mind. Therefore, Mara, it is noble to die without being defeated by this war with defilements rather than living a life defeated from it.” It is incredible how these immensely prudent words, which made the Mara reluctant, came out from our Bōdhisattha’s mouth even before his enlightenment.

Eventually, the sage Siddhartha Gautama himself understood it. He realized that he tortured himself with these extremely painful activities, and it has no effect on realizing the life. “I tortured myself for a long time. I tried hard by torturing and making tired of myself for so many times. Still, the answer to my search seems to be far away.”

See how this meritorious Bōdhisatta, with the well equipped perfecting merits, has a marvelous moment of remembering his past even after that extreme torturing he went through for years. That is how focused his mind was. “Yes, I can still remember that day. It was my father’s sowing feast day. I remember I did the Ānāpānasati meditation (the Breath Awareness Meditation; meditation of concentrating on the inhale and exhale) on that day.” He then started to do the Ānāpānasati meditation. But, he was too weak. He fell down. On that day, he decided to give up the torturing himself and the starvation. “For the sake of living, to overcome the hunger, to prevent forming any new hunger, to maintain the body, I must eat.” This great sage took the bowl to his hands once again and went for collecting alms in the Village Sēnāni of the Forest of Uruvela. There were five great meritorious monks named Kondanñña, Bhaddhiya, Vappa, Mahānāma and Assaji. They ordained as monks in the name of a Buddha who they thought to be born in the future. They had the merits perfected in the Samsara to become the first group of disciples of the Supreme Buddha. They were waiting to see the sage Siddhartha Gautama attaining the Enlightenment and becoming the Supreme Buddha through the extreme practicing of self torture. They had the idea of one can only become a Buddha by physical exertions. Therefore, when the sage Siddhartha Gautama started to collect alms to feed him, they left him without knowing his true intensions. They left him deciding to follow their own paths.

Our ascetic Siddhartha Gautama became alone in a state of lovely solitariness. On one Wesak Full Moon day, he ate the milk rice offered by a baron’s wife known as Sujātha. He went near the River Neranjāra with the empty bowl in his hands. He began to think. “There has to be an end to this effort. Yes, I need to see its end. If my effort is going to be fruitful, I should be able to feel it.” He put the empty bowl in the flowing stream of water thinking “If the water of this river flows to a specific direction, may this bowl move to the other direction! May this bowl be moving to the upstream and not to the downstream!” The bowl was let go, and it moved upstream. It was a miracle…

There was no other bowl for the great sage to have his meal on the next day? He even let go of a tomorrow. The meaning of letting go of the bowl is that the sage Siddhartha Gautama did not have an intention of eating again. He was not ready to live anymore and had no intention to go for the collection of alms. See how profound that change in his mind was, in the aspiration of free from the Bhavaya.

The sage Gautama crossed the River Neranjāra. The wide sandy plain and the forest dense with gigantic trees expand to a distance. This great sage saw an enormous tree at one end of the sandy plain. He saw the Asathu Tree. We call it the ‘Bōdhi Tree’ nowadays. He liked that place the first instance he saw the shade under that tree. He received the Kusa Tana (a kind of grass) from a passing by traveler. He came to the tree and laid it under that shade, so that he could see the flowing river when he sits on it. Before sitting, he put his four-fold bent robe on that grass. Then, he sat on it in the Padmāsana posture. He did not have any desire to live again without realizing what he was searching for. It was incredible…

On that day, the venerable sage sat under that Bōdhi Tree without any intention of standing up again. He sat with a decision to give up his life for his honorable goal. He was determined to realize the life;

“I will not stand up from this place ever. Let my life be ended. Let this body’s flesh and blood be dried out. Let only the bones, veins, and skin be left in my body. I will not stand up from this place.”

Think how difficult for us to even sit for 30 minutes at one place in a meditating posture. When we sit and try to bring forth a meritorious thought, our minds take us to various other thoughts by deviating us from the focused thoughts. However, it was not the case for the sage Siddhartha Gautama. It was his power he acquired from the merits perfected in his lives in the Samsara. In just a few minutes after he sat under the Bōdhi Tree, the Mara who was following the sage Gautama that entire time came to him. The Mara came on the elephant named Girimēkhalā with his supporters, the Bimbarak Dasa Māra Sēna (the large crowd of supporters of the Mara). The sky was darkened, clouds rumbled, and thundering started with heavy rainstorms. The great sage, the handsome venerable sage in his young age did not get frightened. He was still sitting on his seat under the tree. Various fearsome noises were made, storms of rocks were sent, storms of weapons were sent, but the sage Siddhartha Gautama was still unshaken. At the end, the Mara himself decided to threaten the monk Siddhartha Gautama. He threatened the sage to go away from the seat.

We get startled even if we hear a small sound of a door slam. We would become afraid even if a low noise is heard. We will open our eyes and check the surrounding for any threatening things when we hear even a small sound. We cannot even begin to fathom how fearful that situation the Siddhartha Gautama had to undergo.

So, at that moment, the Mara threatened the sage Siddhartha Gautama to stand up from that place. The Mara told him that seat was his. The sage asked the Mara in a tranquil voice. “What is the evidence you have for your claim?” The Mara Sēna shouted saying “We witness, we witness, we witness.” The whole surrounding was shaken from that fearsome sound. The Mara then asked the sage. “Monk, is there anyone who testifies the claim of this place being yours?” There was no one with the reverend sage. The army of the Mara was provoked. The Mara himself was also provoked. No one else could come close to that place. There was nothing that the sage Gautama could do. He touched the earth with his right hand and said, “Hey! Dharatī Mātā, you know how long I have being perfecting the merits needed to realize the life and free from the Samsara by becoming a Buddha. You know how hard I tried to achieve this position.”

It was incredible. The earth started to shake miraculously. The earth shook hard, so that the Mara, who was on the elephant Girimēkhalā, fell down. The Māra Sēna fled away from the scene. They vanished to every direction, without any sense of where they were running.
Once the situation was calmed down, our dear sage practiced his favorite type of meditation, the inhale-exhale meditation, in the first part of that day. The great sage developed the first, second, third, and the fourth states of contemplation (Jhyāna) consecutively. The Noble Eight-Fold Path was being developed within him steadily. In this first part of that day, he checked about his current and as well as his past lives. “Is my journey a short one or a long one? Did I follow this journey for a long time?” The estimable sage saw his endless journey within the Samsara. He has lived many different life times. He could see the details of all his past lives more clearly than in a filmstrip. Now, he has no doubt about it. He did not have to ask about it from anyone anymore.

For us, the journey in the Samsara is doubtful. We even take our horoscopes and get it checked to see if we have been existed in a previous life, or to check where we are going to be born in the next life. Others are looking for places where they could get some idea about their past lives from the art of pulse reading. We use to fulfill our curiosity from external sources, but the sage Siddhartha Gautama could clarify the existence of his past lives from within him. He clearly saw all these in his mind. This was one of his great wisdoms he achieved. He told us that it was his first wisdom; the wisdom of seeing past lives (the Pubbē Nivāsānussati Gnāna).

In the second part of the day, he focused his mind to see if others also have a similar Samsara. “Isn’t the Samsara belonging to others?” The great sage realized the ways of the minds of all these beings. He saw that there was a storehouse of Karma in each life. The door to the next life of each being opens with the help of the Karma. The great sage saw how the beings be born in low-level worlds (Dugathi) like in hell or in high-level worlds (Sugathi) like in humans’ and deities’ worlds according to the Karma they accumulated. He saw how the beings are born and how they die. The Buddha told us that it was his second wisdom: the Chutūpapātha Gnāna.

Then, the great sage Siddhartha Gautama inquired to see if there is a way to free him from these births and deaths. He started to realize the noble truth about the suffering (the Dukkha Āryasachcha), the noble truth about the formation of suffering (the Dukkha Samudaya Āryasachcha), the cessation of suffering (the Dukkha Nirōdha Āryasachcha), and the path to cease the suffering (the Dukkha Nirōdhagāminipatipadā Āryasachcha).

He realized the Dukkha Āryasachcha without any guidance of a teacher. He eradicated the Dukkha Samudaya Āryasachcha without any guidance of a teacher. He witnessed the Dukkha Nirōdha Āryasachcha without any guidance of a teacher. He practiced and completed the Dukkha Nirōdhagāminipatipadā Āryasachcha (the Noble Eight-Fold Path) without any guidance of a teacher. His realization of these Four Noble Truths was complete in three states (Thripavatthan) and twelve ways (Dvadasakaran). Afterwards, he attained an enlightenment of his realization of suffering, of his freedom from the Samsara, of his freedom from the Bhava. He realized that he is not going to fall back to this suffering again. He became the greatest being among all worlds. He became the Samma Sambuddha.

This was his Supreme Buddhahood (Samma Sambodhiya)…!!!