ENLIGHTENMENT AT BODH GAYA:
For six years he wandered in search of truth. he met the
spiritual teachers Alara kalam and Uddaka Ramputra and learned from them deep
absorptions concentrations ( the seventh & eighth jhanas) that were
practiced at that time.
At this stage in his search he proceeded to Senanigama in
Uruvela. There he practiced rigorous austerities along with five other
mendicants. –The pancavaggiya Bhikkhus-.
He realized the futility of austerities and gave them up by
accepting alms from the village. At this point his five companions left him. As
they were still convinced that the path of self- mortification led to
enlightenment.
He took a bath in river Neranjana and sat under a pipal tree
at Bodh Gaya with a firmdetermination., He spent that night in deep meditation
exploring the truth within, and rediscoveredthe long lost technique of
Vipassana .Vipassana is to see things as they really are and not just as they
would appear to be.. He realized at the experiential level the three
characteristics of anicca (impermanence), dukkha (suffering ) and anatta
(no-soul, not self) He was totally free from the
entire stock of defilements- existing as well as
accumulated- consisted of raga (greed), dosa (hatred) and moha (delusion)He
then came to be called as the Buddha or the Enlightened One.
On a full-moon day in May, he sat under the
Bodhi tree in deep meditation and said.
"I will not leave this spot until I find
an end to suffering."
During the night, he was visited by Mara, the
evil one, who tried to tempt him away from his virtuous path.First he sent his
beautiful daughters to lure Gautama into pleasure.
Next he sent bolts of lightning, wind and heavy
rain. Last he sent his demonic armies with weapons and flaming rocks. Gautama
met the armies and defeated them with his virtue.
As the struggle ended, he realized the cause of
suffering and how to remove it. He had gained the most supreme wisdom and
understood things as they truly are. He became the Buddha, 'The Awakened One'.
From then on, he was called Shakyamuni Buddha.
