Siddhartha Gautama was the Buddha, the Awakened One and founder of Buddhism, who discovered the Middle Way and taught the path to liberation from suffering. How did a solitary seeker survive the extremes of near starvation in the forests of Uruvela to defeat the armies of Mara and awaken beneath the pipal tree at Bodh Gaya?
The narrative opens on the night of the Awakening, as the meditating Bodhisattva faces the accusations and terrors of Mara before touching the earth as his witness. From that luminous dawn, the text traces the living Dharma as Shakyamuni walks across northeastern India. Readers follow the Buddha to the Deer Park at Isipatana to deliver his first sermon to his former companions, and later to Kapilavastu where his father learns to receive alms from the son who once lived in palaces built to confine him. The account reveals a tireless teacher who spends forty-five rainy seasons shaping the Sangha, guiding figures from his hostile cousin Devadatta to the determined nun Mahaprajapati. The volume leaves the reader at the final rains retreat in Vesali, with the aged teacher preparing his community to continue without him.
- The fierce seeking: Siddhartha exhausts the teachings of Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta before enduring years of extreme asceticism with five companions.
- A simple offering: the village girl Sujata presents a bowl of rice cooked in milk, breaking his fast and opening the door to the Middle Way.
- Unbroken compassionate instruction: the Buddha walks the river plains to teach kings, beggars, and courtesans while establishing the rhythm of the annual rains retreat.
- Courageous early disciples: Mahaprajapati walks barefoot to insist on the capacity of women for full awakening, founding the order of nuns.
Book Two of The Awakened One: A Life of Siddhartha Gautama. The Prince Who Saw traces his youth in a royal palace and his initial encounters with worldly suffering, and The Dharma Remains explores his passage into Parinirvana and the endurance of the Eightfold Path across the centuries.
Readers seeking the story of Siddhartha Gautama, his awakening at Bodh Gaya and his first sermon at the Deer Park, who also want the history of his many rainy seasons shaping the Sangha.
