The three greatest religions in the world are Buddhism, Christianity and Mohammedanism Buddhism, however, is the oldest of the three. It was founded twenty-five hundred years ago by Buddha. Buddha was the son of an Indian king. Buddha was the name he called himself after his. Enlightenment, meaning"The En-
lightened''. His real name was Prince Siddhattha His father was King Suddhodana of Kapilavasdu, and his mother Queen Siri Mahamaya, formerly a daughter of the King of Devadaha.
Like other Indian Princes, Siddhattha married Princess Yasodhara Bimba, also a daughter of the King of a neighbouring state, who had soon afterwards born him a son named Rahula. But unlike them instead of allowing himself to be chained all his life to his wife and son, Siddhattha broke up all these worldly fetters. At the age of twenty-nine, he stole out of his palace one night, set out on a long solitary journey, and left all his possessions behind.
He did so, known also as"His Great Renunciation'', because he grew tired of all worldly pleasures, realizing that all these never lasted long and that life was in fact full of sufferings, By doing so, he intended to discover the Ultimate Truth of the whole existence so as to find a sure way out of all sufferings his in solitude, and doing everything which he to lead him to success, starving.
He spent his time meditating in solitude, and doing everything which he believed to lead to suecess, hinsel until he became so weak and thin. After his mortifications, he finally found that the best way to"The avoiding the two extremes: indulging oneself in pleasures or torturing oneself to the utmost, At last he became enlightened in one full-moon night under a Bodhi tree on the bank of Nerunjara state Magadha, when he was thirty-five years old, after spending six years altogether in search of truth.
What he discovered was Four Noble Truths"Dukkha or sufferings"Samudaya" or the causes suffering, "Nirodha the of all sufferings, and"Magga" or the way to the extinction of all sufferings.
Dukkha" means that the whole human life, from birth to death is nothing but sufferings, as it is always changeable, that and uncontrollable, or"Anatta''Samudaya" means the main cause of all sufferings called"Tanha or desire. All of our sufferings according to Buddha, spring up from nothing but our ever-increasing desire, the desire to possess what seem to us pleasurable and to avoid what seem to us unpleasurable"Nirodha" means that by giving up"Tanha" or desire, which is the mainspring of all sufferings, we can get rid of all these sufferings themselves. Magga means the Noble Eightfold Path which leads to the extinction of all sufferings comprising Sammaditthi or Right Views, Sammasankappo Right Motives, Samma vaca or Right Speech, Sammakammanto orRight Action, Sammaajivo or Right Means of Livelihood, samma. vayamo or Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Sammasamadhi or Right Concentration.
Buddha preached "The Four Noble Truths" to his the disciples, who in turn preached them to the people of their time. Thus the of seeds of Buddhism were sown and began to spread far and wide at the years passed by, and when the Great Teacher passed away at the age of eighty, Buddhism had been firmly established in India.
The Indian king who did most in patronizing Buddhism and spreading it into foreign lands was King Asoka Thanks to this great king, Buddhism came to be established in Suwannabhumi, where it was finally embraced by the Thai le, and under the benevolent rule of King Ramkhamhaeng of Sukhothai, Buddhism became the Thai state religion.
Ever since the foundation of the Kingdom of Sukhothai,Thailand has been a stronghold of Buddhism, which has, no doubt, a great influence over the Thai people. Under its good influence, the Thais become a peace-loving nation, with unrivalled tolerance and hospitality to the people of different races and creeds. It is not too much to say that, in the past, this admirable characteristic of our nation helped a great deal in preserving our national independence while the neighbouring countries all around us were losing theirs.