The Encyclopedia of World Religions

62 S Buddha, the

Siddhartha’s birth into our world was to be his last. It is said that he carefully chose the time and location of that birth, to a princely family in north east India in the sixth century B . C . E . According to legend, his mother, Queen Maya, dreamed that four deities were carrying her bed to the Hima laya Mountains. They were followed by a white elephant. The white elephant circled the bed, then plunged his tusk into Maya’s side. When she awoke, she discovered she was pregnant. During the sixth month of her pregnancy, Maya went to visit her cousin. Along the way, she stopped in a grove at Lumbini (today in Nepal). There she gave birth to Siddhartha prematurely. Astrologers who read the body marks predicted a double destiny for the baby: He would either con quer the world or renounce it. Siddhartha’s father wanted to ensure that his son chose to conquer the world, so they protected him from the EVILS of the world and saw that his every wish was fulfilled. As a result, Siddhartha lived the life of pleasure that many people only dream about, but in living that life, he found that it was insufficient. Siddhartha married and had a son. Then, at the age of 29, he made the fateful decision to explore the world outside his palaces. On succes sive trips he encountered four new “sights”: an older person, a sick person, a decaying corpse, and a wandering ascetic. Siddhartha had finally confronted the realities of duhkha or suffering: old age, sickness, and death. He resolved to renounce his life of pleasure and search for the solution to these problems. First he tried various techniques of MEDITA TION . He mastered the skills quickly but found that they did not provide the answers he was seeking. Then, for five years he practiced various ascetic exercises, denying his body until he was so thin it was said one could feel his backbone through his abdomen. Close to death from these exer cises, Siddhartha resolved to find a middle way between indulgence and denial. After sitting for an extended period under the so-called bodhi-tree in Bodh Gaya (today in Bihar state, India), he spent an entire night in meditation. During that night he discovered the principles that govern the processes

In the 1990s young Catholic priests began to respond in the spirit of the Pentecostal churches. They sang with bands, danced, and put on stage shows, all in the service of their religion. The performances attracted many people. For exam ple, in November 1997 one controversial priest, Marcelo Rossi (b. 1967), drew a crowd of more than 100,000 people to a rally in a soccer stadium in Sao Paulo. The theme was “I’m happy to be Catholic.” This new form of Catholicism probably does not count as a new religious movement. But together with Afro-Brazilian religions and new Pentecostal movements, it helps make for religious vitality and diversity in Brazil. Further reading: José Oscar Beozzo and Luiz Carlos Susin, eds., Brazil: People and Church(es), trans. Paul Burns (London: SCM Press, 2002); André Corten, Pentecostalism in Brazil: Emotion of the Poor and Theological Romanticism, trans. Arianne Dorval (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999); Toyin Falola and Matt D. Childs, eds. The Yoruba Diaspora in the Atlantic World (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2004). Buddha, the A title meaning “awakened” or “enlightened.” It is most commonly applied to Sid dharta Gautama (c. 560–c. 480 B . C . E .), the person who founded the religion of B UDDHISM . Buddhist mythology actually identifies many different Bud dhas. Siddhartha Gautama is the historical Bud dha, that is, the Buddha who has appeared in our world’s history. In some traditions he is known as Sakyamuni, “sage of the Sakyas,” because he was born in northeast India among a people known as the Sakyas. LIFE Buddhists believe that when people die, they are reborn ( see SAMSARA ). In keeping with this belief, they believe that Siddhartha Gautama had many births prior to the birth in which he became the Buddha. Texts known as jatakas, “birth stories,” recount events from some of these prior births.