The Early Years of the Buddha : หน้า 75/115

www.dharmmakaya.or.th THE BUDDHA'S LIFE The Early Years The Buddha was born in 566 B.C. as Prince Siddhattha Gotama, the son of King Suddhodana and Queen Maha Maya Dewi in the kingdom of the Sakyans, a tribe of the Aryan* race that lived in the North of India. At his birth it was predicted that the Prince would either become a world leader (universal monarch) or a Buddha (an Awakened One). King Suddhodana wanted his son to become a great ruler rather than a spiritual leader. Reasoning that it would be the experience of the hard side of life that would turn the young Siddhattha’s mind towards the religion, King Suddhodana created an environment of pleasure and luxury for his son and kept him far away from the unpleasant side of life. At age sixteen Siddhattha married Yashodhara, a beautiful princess of the same age from a neighboring state. Around the time that his one and only son, Rahula, was born, curiosity about the conditions in the outside world began to nibble away at him. King Suddhodana responded by arranging for Siddhattha to be driven down to the local village, but he first ordered that all people with any kind of disability be kept out of sight so as not to upset the prince’s sensitive nature.