Material: Copper. Gilded. Handmade

Size: Approx. 27 cm high

Narrative:

Siddhārtha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, was a great thinker and spiritual teacher. His story is inspiring and reveals a profound search for the meaning of life.

Birth and Childhood

Sakyamuni Buddha was born around the 6th century BC in the ancient Indian kingdom of Kapilavastu (now in Nepal), his original name was Siddhartha Gautama. His father, King Suddhodana, was the local king, and his mother, Queen Maya, gave birth to him in the Lumbini Garden. Legend has it that when he was born, auspicious signs appeared in the sky. The prince pointed to the sky with one hand and to the earth with the other, and said, "I am the only one who is supreme in heaven and on earth." This symbolized his extraordinary mission in the future.

Prince Siddhartha was extremely intelligent since childhood and received a comprehensive education. He married Princess Yasodhara at the age of 16 and had a son, Rahula. However, despite his abundant life, he was deeply confused by the sufferings of life - birth, aging, sickness and death.

Becoming a monk and practicing Buddhism

At the age of 29, Prince Siddhartha witnessed the old, the sick, the dead and the practitioners during his tour of the Four Gates, and felt deeply the impermanence and suffering of life. He decided to give up the wealth and glory of the palace and embark on a journey to seek liberation. He cut off his hair, put on simple monk's robes, and began a six-year ascetic life.

During his ascetic life, he almost starved to death, but failed to find the true way to liberation. Eventually, he realized that extreme asceticism was not the right path, so he adopted the "middle way" of practice, which was neither indulgence nor asceticism.

Enlightenment and Teaching

Prince Siddhartha meditated under a Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya and vowed not to get up until he attained enlightenment. After 49 days of deep meditation, he finally became fully enlightened when he saw the morning star rise and became **Shakyamuni Buddha**, which means "the saint of the Shakya clan."

After attaining enlightenment, he went to Deer Park and taught the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path to five monks for the first time. This is called the First Turning of the Wheel of Dharma. From then on, he began a 45-year career of spreading Buddhism, teaching sentient beings how to escape suffering and attain happiness, and finally entered Nirvana in Kusinagara at the age of 80.

The teachings of Sakyamuni Buddha still influence hundreds of millions of people around the world and have become the core ideas of Buddhism.