The Buddha (meaning The Enlightened or Awakened One) is a pivotal figure in history who achieved Enlightenment after dedicated search, and he ultimately reached Nirvana after meditating for 7 weeks straight (unmoving!) under a Bodhi tree. This talk explores a brief history of the man (Siddhartha Gautama 480-400BC) who became the Buddha; wisdom he shared, taken from the book “Teachings of The Buddha” by Jack Kornfield that I first bought at age ten(!); and a brief discussion of the disciplined path of the Buddha (that is meant to purify one to enable Awakening) and how that contrasts with Zen Buddhism (starting with the marriage of Buddhism and Taoism in China, which became “Chán” in China and “Zen” in Japan) and the mystical path of Zen which is a relaxed way that takes away all rules/formality and allows for instant enlightenment through direct pointing and experiencing of the Buddha nature. Namasté. selenasage.com // Fb+IG: Selena Sage - Author
