章節 613: 613. The Life of Buddha
Alexander was pleasantly surprised by this visit and he was not going to complain. Anyone would want to have some spiritual talks with the mortal who ascended and achieved enlightenment.
"Why don't we go to my realm and have a talk there? That place is more peaceful." Alexander said and invited him to Phixheim.
There, he took him to a sitting area beside the lake.
"This place is indeed peaceful and oozing with positivity," Buddha said as he looked around.
"EEEAAAA..."
Suddenly a huge roaring Noodles came. He was just playing in the lake. Usually, he would also scare strangers because he found it funny.
But, Buddha just stared at Noodles with a calm face. Noodles couldn't understand why this person was not getting scared, so he tried again by roaring.
"EEEEAAAAAAAAA..."
"Such a pure creature," Buddha commented.
Alexander laughed loudly, seeing Noodle's expression of shock and confusion. "Bwahaha... cut it, Noodles. You can not scare him. He is a sage. His mind and heart are calm and in harmony."
Buddha raised his palm towards Noodles. Noodles being the scaredy-cat he was, moved back a little first. But seeing Alexander there and also feeling the kindness in the strange man, he moved closer. Soon, his giant face was being caressed by a smiling Buddha.
"People must misunderstand you a lot," Buddha said.
Alexander also came forward and patted Noodles. "Yes, he was always like this. Kind of an outcast of his species because he was too kind and looking too cute instead of scary."
Alexander then gave Noodles some food and sent him back to play. Noodles had his own play toys and water slides to have fun.
Alexander and Buddha took a seat. He offered him some of Iroh's special tea.
*Sip*
Gautama Buddha sipped and stopped for a second, seemingly mesmerised by the taste.
"This is the most pleasant tea I have drank in all my travels. Who grows it?" he asked.
"I DO." Iroh came with Ragnarok not far behind. They both took seats,
"I am Iroh and this is Ragnarok." Iroh introduced themselves.
"Pleasure meeting you. It is a divine honour to taste the tea made by the God of tea himself." Buddha said and continued drinking.
Iroh blushed a little. Tea was a soft spot for him. "It is just a hobby I have."
"Bwahaha... yes yes, like how I like my drinks." Ragnarok laughed.
Alexander shook his head, "Raggy, don't talk about alcohol here."
Buddha simply waved his hand, "It is fine, I do preach my teachings but I do not force them. I condone consuming liquor or other intoxicants but I don't restrict others. Some communities even use these intoxicant hallucinogens to attain spiritual alertness so I do not judge people for this."
Alexander nodded, he already knew about this. "Buddha, can you tell me about your past? Is all of it true as it is written in scriptures? How does a pampered prince go to become the Gautama Buddha?"
Buddha put the teacup down and looked at the lake calmly. "It was not my lifestyle that had stopped me from attaining enlightenment in my early years, but instead, it was my narrow-mindedness.
"I was born to a ruler, a king. I was just 7 days old when my mother passed on to the next stage of life. Later, a holy man prophesied great things about me. That I would either be a great king or military leader or I would be a great spiritual leader.
"I was expected to be a great king. So, my father raised me in opulence in a palace built just for me and sheltered me from the knowledge of religion, human hardship and the outside world.
"I was naive back then. Too concentrated and content with the small bubble I was living in. But when I reached adulthood, I decided to go out. There, I saw the state of our world. My charioteer, whom I think was a man sent from upper realms explained me everything. I realised that the life we were living was nothing but a timebound vessel that will grow old, get sick and die someday.
"Questions about all I had not experienced led me to take more journeys of exploration, and on these subsequent trips, I encountered a diseased man, a decaying corpse and an ascetic. My charioteer explained that the ascetic had renounced the world to seek release from the human fear of death and suffering.
"At that moment, I knew what I needed to do. I still needed some answers. So, I left my kingdom to follow a more spiritual path, determined to find a way to relieve the universal suffering that I understood to be one of the defining traits of humanity.
"For the next six years, I lived an ascetic life, studying and meditating using the words of various religious teachers as my guide. Eventually, seeing my dedication to the quest, other ascetics became my followers.
"But when answers to my questions did not appear, I redoubled my efforts, enduring pain, fasting nearly to starvation and refusing water. Whatever I tried, I could not reach the level of insight I sought, until one day when a young girl, whom I think was also sent from upper realms to correct my path, offered me a bowl of rice. As I accepted the food I suddenly realised that corporeal austerity was not the means to achieve inner liberation and that living under harsh physical constraints was not helping me to achieve spiritual release.
"So I ate rice, drank water and bathed in the river. My followers guessed that I had given up the ascetic life and would now follow the ways of the flesh, so they promptly left me.
"But I had not given up, that night, I sat alone under the Bodhi tree, vowing to not get up until the truths I sought came to me, and I meditated until the sun came up the next day. I remained there for several days, purifying my mind, seeing my entire life, and previous lives, in my thoughts.
"During this time, I had to overcome the threats of Mara, an evil demon, who challenged my right to become the Buddha. I believe that this demon must be the reason why no one had been enlightened in all that time. But I did not waver.
"When Mara attempted to claim my enlightened state as his own, I touched my hand to the ground and asked the Earth to bear witness to my enlightenment, which it did, banishing Mara. Many more demons and beings came to stop me from attaining enlightenment but all their attempts were thwarted.
"And soon a picture began to form in my mind of all that occurred in the universe, and I finally saw the answer to the questions of suffering that I had been seeking for so many years. In that moment of pure enlightenment, I became Buddha.
"Initially, I was hesitant to teach, because what I now knew could not be communicated to others in words. Then I was visited by a great being from up there and he convinced me to teach others.
"I preached the path of balance instead of one characterised by either aesthetic extremism or sensuous indulgence. I called this path the Middle Way. My teachings slowly reached many ears and people started walking this path. At the age of 80, I passed on due to an illness caused by spoiled food. The rest is history." He finished speaking.
[You can see some depictions of Buddha's life on my Discord - https://discord.gg/DgHkrAn OR see them on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mister_immortal_novel]
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