I am looking forward to catching the PBS special on April 7th - Prince Siddhartha of India. The documentary will look at the life of Prince Siddhartha, or more commonly known as the Buddha.
The bodhi tre and leaf is an important symbol in Buddhism. As Buddha achieved enlightenment while sitting under a bodhi tree. I took this photo many summers ago at a Buddhist temple in northern California.
The reclining statue of the Buddha in Uttar Pradesh. - Photo from PBS, The Story of India. There are also statues like this found in many Buddhist temples in Laos and Thailand.
Here is a little synopsis of Buddha’s life from the University of Minnesota, Mankato:
“The historical Buddha was born Prince Siddhatha Gotama in Kapilavatthu, near the present-day border of India and Nepal, on the May Full Moon day in 623 B.C. His parents, King Suddhodana and Queen Maya, had waited for a child for a long time. Everyone in the kingdom rejoiced at his birth.
At this time India already had a rich spiritual heritage. It had been prophesized there would soon be an ascetic who would realize the ultimate truth and become the greatest teacher. According the Hindu tradition, five days after his birth seven Brahmin priests came to the temple to name the baby using astrology and forecast his future by reading his body signs. Each of the Brahmins said this baby would become a universal monarch or leave his princely life to become a world spiritual leader. The youngest priest, Kondanna, was so confident that this was the future Buddha that he left the priesthood to wait in the forest for his future teacher.”
And here is the preview. Check your local listing here mark your calendar!
This documentary explores the life of Prince Siddhartha of India, whose spiritual quest for enlightenment gave birth to Buddhism. The film is narrated by Richard Gere and includes interviews with the Dalai Lama.
The Wisdom of Buddha as recited by a lovely young lady. Also from Youtube. “I am awake.”
10:09 pm on March 7th, 2010
I borrowed a children book from the library for Lee not too long ago, and the story is very interest, his quest to end suffering and at the end the answer is within oneself. Even though it’s a children book, I think the storyline is still too complex for Lee to understand. I need to check our local listing to see when it’ll play here.
7:50 pm on March 9th, 2010
That’s neat that your local library has such a book available. It seem with age comes wisdom all the Buddhist teachings are starting to make more sense to me now.
6:37 am on December 15th, 2010
[...] This apricot tree was planted years ago in memory of my father. It’s a nice tree that gives us pink blossoms in the spring, shade in the summer and sweet juicy apricots too. I also like that some of the leaves are heart shaped just like the Bodhi tree. [...]