From Rich to Poor in Search of Something More
Storyboard Text
- I am King Suddhona, ruler of the Sakya clan in northeast India. It is the sixth century B.C. My wife Mahamaya is pregnant with our son.
- In this beautiful grove, I, Mahamaya, gave birth to my son, and I felt no pain. Suddhona and I have named him Siddartha Gautama. It is a beautiful day of celebration, but there were many strange circumstances surrounding his birth. One was a weird dream that I had that I cannot seem to get out of my head. Right before the birth of my son, I dreamed of a white elephant entering my womb!
- I want my son to grow up to be a king, not a religious monk. I will prevent him from seeing things related to old age, disease, death or religious renunciation.
- I have heard from the itinerant sage and the court astrologers about a prophecy concerning Saddartha.
- What have they said?
- They have said that Saddartha will either become a great king or a religious monk.
- My mother soon died after the prophecy concerning my future was made. Despite my father's attempts to make me nonreligious, I was always inclined to spiritual things. I have a beautiful wife named Yasodhara and we have a baby boy named Rahula. One day I persuaded my father to take me on a chariot ride. Despite his attempts to remove objects and scenery that would invoke religious thoughts, I witnessed four signs: an old man, a man with a disease, a funeral procession, and a holy monk. My heart was heavy and I learned that my glamorous life right now was temporary.
- I left my wife and child at the palace, cut my hair, and embarked on a journey to find the solution to the emptiness of life and to be enlightened. I was not turning back. For years I starved myself and practiced asceticism. I was even joined by five other monks, but I still did not become Enlightened. Seven years passed, and I was certain I would either reach Enlightenment or reach death. I ate a bowl of rice and waited under a tree for either circumstance to occur. I was tempted by Mara, the evil god of desire, but still I persisted. The next morning I had become the Buddha, the Enlightened One. The fig tree under which I sat would be called the "bodhi tree."
- Saddhartha has passed away after he ate some spoiled pork someone had offered him! We bow down to and worhsip him who is the Enlightened One at the bohdi tree.