The Story of the Buddha (in brief)

The Story of the Buddha – Prince Siddhartha Gautama | complete

The Buddha brown and gold resin statue

(See U in History / Mythology) Gandharan (Afghan) Prince Siddhartha Gautama, who became "the Buddha" -- a title that means "the Awakened One," was born into a royal family in Central Asia.

This was in the 5th century BCE in what is now Afghanistan (not Nepal). That region was the northwestern frontier of the future Empire of India forged together by the Buddhist King Ashoka and may have been part of ancient Maha Bharatha in Vedic times.

After confronting the fact of human suffering (dukkha, "disappointment," susceptibility to aging, sickness, death, loss, separation from all that is loved, and rebirth in samsara), he renounced his princely life and set off on a quest for enlightenment to answer the question "Why do we suffer?" so that he could find a way to the end of all suffering.

• 00:00 - The Origin of the Buddha
• 04:05 - The Enlightenment of the Buddha
• 09:03 - The Teachings of the Buddha

The ascetic Siddhartha became "the Buddha."

With an introduction to absorption meditation (jhanas) from his two yogi teachers, Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta, he set off on his own to undertake severe ascetic practices. Five other yogis followed him, certain that if anyone was going to become enlightened, it was the wandering ascetic Siddhartha. He disappointed them by pushing austerities to the extreme then accepting food and nurturing from a woman named Sujata and her maid. They left him.

Restored in body and realizing that he had been punishing the body with penances (tapas) for what was mind/heart was actually doing, he changed his strategy and tried something new. It was what his yogi teacher originally taught him but taken further.

For he remembered that at the age of 7 (when he was now 35), he had been placed under a banyan tree and fallen spontaneously into a deep "trance" (a profound meditative absorption or jhana that turned his inward focus completely on a single thing rather than the diffuse and distracted attention of daily living). He realized that these blissful absorptions, not the painful penances he had undertaken for so long, were the way to enlightenment.

Helped by the women, he regained his physical strength and senses. He bathed and with renewed determination went into a new forest grove. There he found a sacred fig tree (Ficus religiosa), which came to be called the "Enlightenment (Bodhi) Tree," the oldest and most famous documented tree in history.

Under it, he realized the answer to his question by tracing back the suffering experienced now through the twelve-causal links of Dependent Origination. He achieved awakening, glimpsed nirvana, and now understood the causes and conditions behind suffering and the path to freedom by undoing those causes.

Now he was ready to teach the world and return home to save his relatives and friends from the endless suffering of the ocean of samsara they were drowning in without realizing the nature of their plight. But if he were going to establish this path of practice, the Dharma, in the world, he had to find disciples capable of understanding its subtleties, an impossible task in a world sunk in the pursuit of sensual pleasures.

There are four things to realize here and now...

He realized there were two people who could quickly understand, his former teachers, the yogis A. Kalama and U. Ramaputta. But with his psychic powers, he quickly realized they had already passed away and been reborn in worlds where they could not be reached. Next, he thought of his five former companions on the path. Realizing where they were, he set off to find them.

The First Sermon of the Buddha

He taught them, they understood, and they awakened, establishing a monastic spiritual community or sangha in the world to preserve this Dharma for many future generations. It was meant to last at least 1,000 years. That was approximately 2,600 years ago.

See U in History Art: Marcus Aquino. Color: Rod Fernandes #Mythology #SeeUinHistory #History #mythologyexplained

Here are two tagged products "See U in History / Mythology" earns a commission on, the lowes.com/pd/Red-Lantern-32-Pack-Brown-Resin-Oriental-Statue and wayfair.com Mistana...Eslinger-Meditating-Buddha-Garden-Statue.

• See U in History / Mythology (video); Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation) (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The Greek Buddha (Pyrrho of Elis)

(Pierrot)

• Pyrrho of Elis
• Greco-Buddhism
• Greco-Buddhist art

The Buddha's Mothers' Day (5/10)

Prince Siddhartha's [Central Asian/Scythian/Saka] mother, Maha Maya Devi, depicted in India

A "mother" is much more than one gives birth, she nurtures: Mother Maha Pajapati Gotami

Queen Maya as a sal tree spirit

Isn't there a grammatical error in the title? No, there is not. For it is not the Buddha's mother we are discussing. It is all of them and therefore this shall be the Buddha's Mothers' Day.

 
Which all? There is, of course, the Buddha's biological birth mother, Maha Maya Devi (Queen Maya, literally "Great Illusion"). She was reborn on earth, gave birth to the Bodhisatta (the Buddha-to-be), and passed away seven days later.

 

Madonna Pajapati and child

Prince Siddhartha Gautama (Pali Siddhattha Gotama) was mothered -- adopted, raised, and cared for intensely -- by her sister, Queen Pajapati Gotami, the co-wife of King Suddhodana ("Pure Giving"). She for her efforts years later was rewarded with a very rare distinction: she became the world's first Buddhist nun, Ven. Maha Pajapati Gotami, and reached enlightenment.

• Honor My Mother Gotami (bhikkhuni.net)
• Mahapajapati's going forth in the Madhyamaka-Agama (Ven. Analayo)
• The non-historicity of the Eight Additional Nuns' Rules as revealed in the Bhikkhuni Vinaya (Ayya Tathaaloka)
• Non-historicity of the Eight Garudhammas (Ayya Tathaaloka)
• Articles (Alliance for Bhikkhunis)
• Doubtful history of the Eight Garudhammas

Most Buddhists interested in history or genealogy will know this much, as much as it may come as a surprise to others. But there was a third very important mother figure in the Buddha's life. The texts call her Nakulamata the Gahapatani, mata meaning "mother").

• Did the Buddha love his mother(s)?

This may seem like a strange depiction of baby Siddhartha,
but it is how he looks on the casket of his funerary ashes:

Detail of Afghan Bimaran casket (Charles Masson)

.

Queen Maya had a marvelous dream.

The story goes that one day as the Buddha was walking in northern India with his attendant Ven. Ananda (his Scythian/Shakyian cousin or possibly son in some traditions), he came by a village. And there sat the elderly "Nakulamata" and "Nakulapitu," Nakula's mother and father. Seeing the Awakened One, they became overjoyed and started to shout, "Son! Son! After a long time, you finally found time to visit us!"

Ancient carving of Buddha’s mother Maya found

Ananda became confused because the Buddha did not correct them. He warmly greeted them like a son. They lamented that he had been away so long, leaving them alone, but at least now he was back. Ananda's consternation grew. "What do they mean in calling you 'son,' venerable sir? Surely, your mother is in Kapilavatthu, the Land of the Sakas [Shakyas, Indo-Scythians]."

Then the Buddha explained that for 500 ("many") lives, these two had been his parents, and indeed this woman many, many times through many rebirths had been his mother.

• 

  Possible to marry, be intimate, remain happy?

  Nakulamata appears on a list of the Buddha's eminent lay females. The story goes that a father and mother (husband and wife) were householders in Sumsumaragiri in the Bhagga country. When the Buddha visited their village, staying in Bhesakala Forest Grove, they went to see him. They immediately fell at his feet, calling him "son" and asking why he had been away so long. It is said that they had been the Bodhisatta's parents for 500 previous births and his close relatives for many more. The Buddha taught them, and they became stream enterers (the first stage of enlightenment). The Buddha visited their village again when they were old. They entertained him, telling him of their devotion to one another in this life and many previous lives, asking for instruction on the sort of karma that would keep them together in the afterlife (many future rebirths). The Buddha referred to this in the assembly of the monastic community, declaring them the most intimate companions among his disciples. More: Nakulapita Gahapati and Nakulamata Gahapatani
• Eight qualities of women, Nakulamata (AN 8:48)
• "Marriage" (Guide To Buddhism A To Z)

I dreamed a great double tusker entered my side, and I knew I had conceived.

Why did Siddhartha's mother pass after a week? Legend has it that the only she took rebirth on Earth in the human plane from Tusita on the fortunate deva plane was to give birth to him. Mission accomplished. She then returned to that world. And the Buddha went to Tavatimsa (Sakka's Heaven of the Thirty-Three) to hear him teach the Abhidhamma as the Buddha, leading to her and many other devas' attainments of insight and enlightenment.

.

Gold container of the Buddha's relics

The Awakened One came back home and taught them, and they became awakened. Therefore, the Buddha offered the greatest thing any son or daughter could do for a mother or father: dhamma-dana.

• The Gift of the Dharma — the giving of enlightening teachings, known as dhamma-dāna — according to the Buddha, surpasses all other gifts. This type of giving, sharing, generosity includes those who elucidate the Buddha’s teachings, such as monastics who recite sutras from the Tripitaka or preach sermons or explain them, teachers of meditation, unqualified persons who at least encourage others to keep precepts, or helping support teachers of Dharma and meditation. The most common form of giving is material support, charity, donations, gifts of food, money, robes, shelter, and medicine [41]. More
• Treasury of the Buddha's Discourses: Appreciation of parents' love
• Buddhist attitude towards parents in Theravada Buddhism (drarisworld)

La vie de Bouddha (montagne de marbre, Danang): Sujata (milkmaid) and Punna offer dana

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Other "mothers" in Buddhism

Earth Witnessing Mudra (c. 850)

It's not hard to get woo-woo. It's easy. Behold: Y'know, come to think of it, Siddhartha had another mother who saved him, Mother Nature (Bhumi, Tierra, Gaia, Urth, Mat Zemlya). One day, the wandering ascetic was striving and struggling under the bodhi tree. Mara didn't worry, didn't bother to step in. But then Siddhartha remembered that at age 7, at the Ploughing Festival of the Scythians/Sakas, he spontaneously entered meditative absorption (jhana) from past life practice. The wandering ascetic realized that this was the way to awakening, to enlightenment, and faulted himself for fearing pleasure (piti), realizing that the bliss that results from absorption is blameless and supersensual.

He determined to take up samadhi (practice of the four material absorptions), which his first yoga teachers, Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta, had taught him six years earlier. Mara took notice. He began to intervene as an obstacle. He took on the form of an ogre (yakkha, rakshasa), chief of an entire army of ghouls and monsters to chase him off his meditation seat at the base of that tree. Mara challenged the ascetic: "What gives you the right to sit there on my spot? Get out of here!" Rather than fearing or fleeing, ascetic Siddhartha made a mudra (hand gesture), pointing at his Earth Mother (earth witnessing mudra).

• Kisa Gotami: The mother who could not let go: After losing her only child, she became desperate, unhinged, and asked if anyone could help her. Her sorrow was so great she went crazy until a man out of kindness pointed her to the Buddha, the Master Physician, to bring her child back to life. He would have medicine, she was assured, and he did.
• Ven. Patacara, foremost exponent of the Vinaya: A harrowing and unbelievable story of childbirth, motherhood, and loss has been attributed to her in some ancient Buddhist texts and in others has been attributed to Kisa Gotami.

Kisa Gotami: I failed as a mother! My baby's dead! - Let's make a cure. Get mustard seed... - I can do that! I'll be right back! - from a house not touched by death. - OK, that should be no problem.

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Siddhartha, Sujata, and Punna at offering

He was born under a sal tree as his mother gave birth, Queen Maya, gave birth standing like a tree spirit/dryad (salabhanjika). Then he went into spontaneous absorption sitting in the shade of another tree at the Ploughing Festival, age 7.

Ascetic Siddhartha as emaciated as a spirit

Then years later as a wandering ascetic, leaving the Group of Five wandering ascetics, he continued his struggling under another tree. But now it was too late; he had gone too far and was collapsing, malnourished and exhausted by his striving through painful austerities. Who should appear but a woman, Sujata, who pledged to make offerings to a tree [spirit] if she could become a mother. Realizing a miracle had occurred and she was now pregnant, she took an offering of milk rice to emaciated Siddhartha, mistaking him for the spirit of that tree. This kept him from dying, turned him around, led to him renouncing extreme austerities, and put him on the road to buddhahood, supreme awakening with the ability to teach.

• Sujata (Sujātā, Nandabala) was a farmer's wife, who offered dana in the form of food (kheer, a milk-rice pudding) for the wandering ascetic Siddhartha under a big old tree, ending his six years of asceticism. Sujata's servant/attendant, Punna, had gone to clean up around the tree ahead of the offering when she spotted Siddhartha under the tree and mistook him for a dryad in the flesh. His emaciated appearance did not look human, but rather he seemed as withered as bark.

• 

  Had this mother not stepped in to nurture him?

  Wrongly believing him to be tree-spirit who had granted Sujata's wish to get pregnant, Punna ran to get Sujata, who came with the offering. That gift (dana) gave him enough strength to cultivate his path-of-practice, the Middle Way that avoids extremes of sensual indulgence and extreme asceticism, develop the absorptions (jhana) that temporarily purify the heart/mind and give rise to supernormal perception, and attain enlightenment (bodhi) by systematic practice of Dependent Origination, after which he became known as the Buddha, the "Awakened One" [1, 2, 3]. Why was Sujata so fortunate as to generate such incredible merit? It is said that in a previous life, she had met Padumuttara Buddha, who made a certain predicting that one day she would be the first lay disciple of a future buddha [4]. Now it had come to pass because by going for guidance (sarana) to him, she preceded even the man on the road as the Buddha went to find the Group of Five at Isipatana and teach them. More

Mother of the household: Rahulamata

Cousin, wife, confidante Bimba nurtures Sid

One need not stop here when traveling Woo-Woo Road. There was another key mother in Siddhartha and the Buddha's life, namely, Princess Yasodhara (Bimba Devi), Prince Siddhartha's wife and the mother of their child, Prince Rahula.

Prajñāpāramitā Devī, Cambodia

She did not stop becoming important when Prince Siddhartha renounced the world and left worldly riches, power, and fame behind. She took on a much more important role when she asked to ordain as a Buddhist nun with the Buddha's foster mother (stepmother, aunt, adoptive mother, primary caretaker) Queen Pajapati Gotami. The Buddha's former wife became famous in her own right as the fiercest spiritual disputant in all the land. It became her custom to travel to a town, set up a broom, and anyone who knocked it down was thereby challenging her to debating contest, all of which she won. So prominent was she that sexism in the monkhood (bhikkhu sangha) seems to have led to reciters and scholar monks burying her in the texts by giving her many names: Yasodhara ("Gracious One"), Rahulamata ("Rahula's mother"), Ven. Kaccānā Bhikkhuni (later Theri), Bhadda ("Gentle") Kaccānā, Bhadra Kātyāyani, Sundari (not to be confused with the Buddha's sister, Sundari ["Beautiful"] Nanda aka Janapada Kalyani), and so on. (It seems Christians took the same tact in the Bible, burying Mary's significance by confusing various Marys).

• Compassion, Mercy, and Love: Guanyin and the Virgin Mary (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Seven mothers of the Buddha?

Prajñāpāramitā Devī, Berkeley

Seven mothers are enough, but in addition to Maya, Pajapati, Nakulamātā, Sujata, Bhumi, and Yasodhara (Bimba, Rahulamata), who would be the seventh? Certainly, there's a devi (goddess, "shining one," angel, deity) out there who helped young Siddhartha and/or the Buddha, who nurtured him, supported him, saved him, or so encouraged him that he was able to accomplish his aim of supreme enlightenment (samma-sam-buddhahood) to teach countless humans and devas and help countless others by alleviating a mass of suffering.

Ambapali bests the conceited Licchavis

Perhaps one could argue for Prajnaparamita of Java (Prajñāpāramitā Devī), Kwan Yin (female Avalokitesvara), brilliant courtesan and supporter Ambapali, a colorful Tara, Yeshe Tsogyal, Goddess Marici, Ven. Khema, Ven. Uppalavanna -- his two foremost female monastic disciples -- or the Queen of Heaven (Saraswati, Shri Lakshmi, Ma Durga, Maha Devi, Rati, Parvati, Radha, Matsu), whoever that Heavenly Queen might be (Guanyin or Virgin Mary), even if it turns out to be Maya Devi in Tusita.

Mothers so love their children that when they become novices (samaneras), they feed them.

 

Mother Sutra: We've all been mothers?

(Mata Sutta, SN 15.14-19 PTS: S ii 189 CDB i 659)

Whatever greatness we achieve, it is often on the backs of our mothers, whom we rarely thank.

 

Statue of mother and children (Genoa)

Thus have I heard. The Buddha was staying in Savatthi, and there he said: "Inconceivable is the beginning of rebirth (samsara). No beginning point is seen from which time beings, hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving, have been reborn and continue wandering on [from life to life, world to world, sphere to sphere].

"It is difficult to ever find a being who has not already been your mother at some time in the past or pother...

• a being who has not already been your father...
• your brother...
• your sister...
• your son...
• your daughter at some time in the past or other.

My beautiful Black mom

"Why? Inconceivable is the beginning of rebirth. No beginning is seen from which time beings, hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving, have been reborn and continue wandering on.

"Long have beings thus experienced suffering, experienced pain, experienced loss, swelling cemeteries — long enough to become disenchanted with all formation (composite fabricated things), long enough to become dispassionate, long enough to find release." More

• Mata Sutta: "Mother Discourse" (Ven. Thanissaro translation)
• Women in Buddhism (Wikipedia)
• Conceived and compiled by Dhr. Seven with the help of Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Amber Larson, and Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The blue 'Medicine Buddha' - Healer

WATCH NOW: The MEDICINE BUDDHA: Buddhism's Forgotten Healer | Bhaisajyaguru

The MEDICINE BUDDHA: Buddhism's Forgotten Healer | Bhaisajyaguru

(Buddha's Wisdom) March 4th, 2026: #MedicineBuddha #Buddhism #BuddhistHealing 🔍 THE MEDICINE BUDDHA HEALS WITHOUT CURING — AND HERE'S WHY:

The Medicine Buddha (BhaisajyaGuru) is one of the most fascinating figures in Mahāyāna Buddhism: a blue-skinned buddha associated with healing, compassion, and the Pure Land of Lapis Lazuli (a beautiful blue Afghan gemstone).

 

But if Buddhism teaches impermanence, non-self (anattā), and detachment from the body, why does it include a buddha devoted to curing illness?

This video explores the history, philosophy, and psychological depth behind Bhaiṣajyaguru...and what Buddhist healing really means.

This is the story of how Buddhism's "doctor who prescribes enlightenment" challenges everything we think we know about healing, suffering, and what it means to be broken.

📿 DISCOVER:

• Why Medicine Buddha's 12 vows made him Buddhism's most controversial figure
• How 8th-century Buddhist monasteries became the world's first integrated healthcare systems
• The blind Chinese Buddhist monk who taught healing despite losing his sight
• Why Tibetan, Japanese, and Chinese Buddhists practice Medicine Buddha in completely different ways
• What modern science reveals about meditation, stress, and the mind-body connection.

⏳ TIMESTAMPS:

• 00:00 The blue-skinned god that shouldn't exist
• 02:32 The twelve vows that changed Buddhism
• 08:55 When temples became clinics
• 14:55 The disease behind the disease
• 21:22 Three Buddhas, one Truth
• 30:51 The cure that isn't

🙏 If this exploration of Buddhism's healing paradox opens eyes to a deeper truth, subscribe to Buddha's Wisdom for videos that bridge ancient Buddhist teachings with modern questions. Hit the bell icon to catch this journey into Buddhism's most fascinating mysteries. 📱 Join a community: Instagram: / buddhaswizdom Facebook: / buddhaswizdom X: https://x.com/BuddhasWizdom Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5ndnBU5... TikTok: / buddhas.wisdom ☕ Support the channel: https://buymeacoffee.com/buddhaswisdom

#MedicineBuddha #Buddhism #BuddhistHealing #Bhaisajyaguru #BuddhismExplained #BuddhistPhilosophy #TibetanBuddhism #MahayanaBuddhism #AncientMedicine #BuddhistPractice #Enlightenment #Bodhisattva #Anatta #PureLand #Bhaisajyaguru

📚 SOURCES AND FURTHER READING:

• Primary Buddhist Texts: Bhaiṣajyaguru-vaiḍūrya-prabhā-rāja Sūtra (Medicine Buddha Sutra)
• Vinaya Piṭaka (Monastic Disciplinary Code)
• Dhammapada (Imprint of the Buddha's Teachings)
• Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Path
• Madhyamaka Philosophy (Nāgārjuna)
• Yogācāra texts (Vasubandhu)

Historical Sources:

• "The Great Tang Records on the Western Regions" by Xuanzang (7th century) amzn.to/4b3eCYP
• Records of Jianzhen's journey to Japan (735-763 CE) Tōdai-ji Temple archives (Nara, Japan)
• Tang Dynasty medical records Tibetan Gyushi (Four Medical Tantras)
• Archaeological findings from Bamiyan and Gandhāra

Modern Scholarly Works:

• "The Healing Buddha" by Raoul Birnbaum amzn.to/4r5YNqp
• "Buddhism and Medicine: An Anthology of Premodern Sources" edited by C. Pierce Salguero amzn.to/4ct4ivS
• "Tibetan Medicine in the Contemporary World" by Laurent Pordié amzn.to/4rQuAwU
• Studies on placebo effect and meditation (Harvard Medical School, NIH research)
• Research on mindfulness and pain management Neuroscience studies on visualization practices

Related Academic Resources:

• Journal of Buddhist-Christian Studies Buddhist-Christian Studies journal articles on Medicine Buddha
• Contemporary research on Buddhist medical ethics
• Cross-cultural studies of Medicine Buddha practice

⚡ In a world obsessed with curing the body, Medicine Buddha asks a deeper question: If there is no permanent self…who is being healed? [Ugh, the momentarily dependently arisen "self" (atman, atta)?]

DISCLAIMER: This video is for educational purposes. Medicine Buddha practice is a spiritual/meditative practice and should not replace professional medical care. Always consult qualified healthcare providers for medical conditions.

US military child sex crime ring: gay elites

(MintPress News) Fort Bragg's child sex crime epidemic and U.S. military cover up, sparing elites and punishing low level homosexual rapist soldiers

• 

  EXPOSED: The Fort Bragg Cartel

  American soldiers committed bacha bazi (forcing abducted and enticed boys to cross dress and dance for gay and bisexual rapists, who keep them as sexual slaves, torturing, kidnapping, and human trafficking/prostituting them to other men as well as producing child pornography and profiting from it in rings) at American military bases in foreign lands AND at home in U.S. in places like Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where drug dealing internally and externally to civilians is also conducted:
• The Fort Bragg Cartel: Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces by Seth Harp

(Unfiltered Stories) A child sold to the most powerful men in the world

Deeper into Central Asia's Cannabis Fields

(Strain Hunters) Kyrgyzstan Expedition, Dec. 22, 2025

• Part 1: The Lost Cannabis of the Silk Road
• Buddhism in Kyrgyzstan
• Buddhism in Afghanistan
• Buddhism in Central Asia
• Kharosthi Buddhist language
• Ancient Gandhāran Buddhist texts
• 3,000-year-old temple secrets unearthed in Peru

India versus China (explained)

Lost Cannabis of the Silk Road: Stans

Field of dreams...greens (hemp)

(Strain Hunters) The Lost Cannabis of the Silk Road, Kyrgyzstan Expedition | Strain Hunters, Episode 1.

• What does Buddhism have to do with Central Asia?
• Buddhism in Kyrgyzstan
• The historical Buddha and this iteration of "Buddhism" (the timeless, rediscovered Dharma) was born in ancient Gandhara (the three seasonal capitals collectively referred to as "Kapilavastu" (Pali Kapilavatthu and Kapilapura) not Nepal, but modern Afghanistan -- Bamiyan, Kabul, Mes Aynak -- and Pakistan and Bihar, India, near Himalayan foothill regions of the Hindu Kush and Kashmir)
• Though born here, modern scholars imagine a Silk Road transmission of Buddhism
• The wandering ascetic (shramana) Siddhartha awakened in Bodh Gaya ("Enlightenment Grove"), Bihar (Vihar), but at that time there was no "India." That came into being when many disparate kingdoms and republics were untied under Buddhist Emperor Ashoka. Prior to the many mahajanapadas or "familial territories" (lit. "greater territorial clan footholds").
• Soon after awakening (mahabodhi or "great enlightenment"), the Buddha (the "Awakened One") returned to his hometown in Central Asia, Kapilavastu (quite likely Bamiyan, according to Indian historian Dr. Ranajit Pal) and gained many Scythian/Shakyian/Saka followers, many who took up a life of wandering asceticism and followed him back to Bihar (Vihar'), so named because there were at one time so many viharas (Buddhist temples, monasteries and nunneries, and chaityas) across the land.
• Technically speaking, "Buddhism" was born in Rajgir, India, where the great former-Brahmin Buddhist monk Maha Kassapa called together the First Buddhist Council to standardize and create a formal "religion" or "Eastern philosophy"
• The Kharosthi (Gandhari) language texts (Gandhāran Buddhist texts) are the world's oldest known Buddhist texts.

The only three connections of cannabis (ganja, marijuana, herb, flower, pot, weed) to Buddhism that we are aware of are indirect and not very connected to enlightenment, but some users of this plant treat them as if they are connected.

The first is possible but unlikely. Potheads are convinced -- either through wishful thinking, speculation, or some handed down mythology that got stretched to enhance cannabis' glorious reputation -- that when the wandering ascetic Siddhartha (the Bodhisatta or Future Buddha) was engaged in severe asceticism, he took less and less food until he was down to just one cannabis seed a day. This would have been a healthy choice because hemp is so incredibly nutritious, though not likely psychoactive.

• Hempseeds are extraordinary because they are one of a very few plant sources of balanced Omega 3, 6, and 9 fatty acids plus a great source of protein.
• To emphasize how dedicated struggling Siddhartha was to attaining Buddhahood, his austerities (tapas), penances, and asceticism are spoken of in the extreme to make a point. He ate a bowlful of grain (most often said to have been rice or sesame maybe mustard seed). Then regarding that as too indulgent, he took only a handful...until he took only a single grain a day. That didn't work to gain him calm, insight, or enlightenment, and he gave all of these practices up for the Middle Way that avoids extremes of hedonism and asceticism. He realized that jhana practice was the way to awakening/liberation, serving as the foundation of insight (vipassana, lit. "clear seeing").

Rules, rules, rules

Fat Happy addict Homer (olioart.com)

The second is a curious omission in the Monastic Disciplinary Code (Vinaya and Pāṭimokkha and Pratimokṣa), such as one freely available translation by American Theravada monk Ven. Thanissaro Bhikkhu (abbot of Metta Forest Monastery, San Diego), which states and explains (with a backstory) all the rules Buddhist monks and nuns vow to live by.

There are major rules, lesser rules (which might be described as "minor"), and many more miscellaneous rules of etiquette. Which is which is not completely obvious.

When Ananda was told by the Buddha that after his passing into final nirvana, the monastic order (sangha), could democratically vote to alter or abandon the "minor rules" but not the others. Ananda did not have the presence of mind to clarify by asking which were which, so the historically-based Theravada tradition chose to keep them all. But Buddhist Councils debate, argue, and attempt to define or redefine them, even on occasion voting to modify or better explain them. For instance, maybe in the past monastics walked or were driven, but today a rule might be relaxed to allow them to drive.

Among arguably "minor" rules is a rule that monastics can smoke [such as tobacco], but what exactly they would have been smoking in those days is not thoroughly specified. They can smoke something. So a monk or nun might smoke hemp leaf, THC-containing weed, or herbs and flowers and grass and think that no violation (of the rules they live by as laid down by the historical Buddha) is taking place.

(It may well be that cannabis was not very powerful back then so that it made little difference). Smoking weed would be taking a risk because one of the biggest rules incumbent on all Buddhists is the Fifth Precept to "abstain from intoxicants that occasion heedlessness," namely beer and liquor.

• The way the rules are classified is by way of seriousness and their consequences. As regards the most serious, there are FOUR "defeat offenses" (parajikas). This is a little odd because these four are the Five Precepts with one exception. The only one left out is the fifth, consuming intoxicants, getting high, taking a substance that occasions heedlessness (which mean breaking other rules through neglect, indifference, lack of mindfulness, or the ignorance that comes from being high a.k.a. tripping balls). Isn't it odd that getting intoxicated does not rise to a "defeat" offense but all the others do? Because of intoxication, one is likely to commit any of the other offenses, including the defeat offenses of sex, stealing, killing, or lying [about attainments] that immediately and irrevocably lead one to lose one's ordination as a monk or nun for this lifetime.

What is the drug?

The Path of Purification

The third is related but tangential. There is the existence of an entheogenic elixir (an amrita or Greek ambrosia) called soma (an Indo-Aryan combination of natural "drugs" such as divine cannabis, of some extraordinary strain, Asian blue lotus or Egyptian blue lotus, fermented mare's milk or kumis, and other variants, perhaps psychoactive mushrooms or other DMT-containing ingredients, plus additives to process, enhance, or preserve it).

• Texts describe the preparation of soma by means of extracting juice from a plant, the identity of which is now unknown and debated among scholars. The ancient Historical Vedic religion's soma and Zoroastrianism's haoma (Avestan, name of the drink and plant) are not exactly the same [7].
• There has been much speculation about the most likely original botanical.
• Some accounts, such as those from practitioners of yogic Ayurveda, Siddha medicine, and Somayajna, identify the plant as "Somalata" (Cynanchum acidum) [8].
• Some researchers have proposed candidates including:
• Amanita muscaria (Fly agaric shamanic mushroom),
• Psilocybin (magic mushrooms),
• Peganum harmala (the alkaloid harmaline), and
• Ephedra gerardiana.
• [Into this or as a later substitute, it is believed cannabis was steeped in mare's milk kumis, perhaps a "poor man's soma."]
• So legendary is soma in the West that The Doors of Perception author Aldous Huxley used it as a central ingredient in his novel Brave New World, suggesting that the word refers to a psychoactive, entheogenic, psychedelic substance similar to mescaline, derived from cacti like peyote and San Pedro. But these might only be substitutes for the real thing because the character Linda tries mescal (the psychedelic protoalkaloid mescaline) and peyotl (peyote) and longs to get back to the World State and real soma.
• The society described in Brave New World keeps its citizens peaceful by various methods, including the constant consumption of the soothing, happiness-producing drug "soma."
• Botanical identity of soma–haoma

Zoroastrians use a soma to this day, identified as the plant ephedra, whose effects mirror the descriptions found in the Rig Veda [a pre-Hindu Brahminical text of great importance to Hindus].

The old Vedic religion was the belief system of some of the Vedic Indo-Aryan tribes, the Aryas (Aryans) [14][15], who migrated into the Indus River Valley region of the Indian subcontinent [16].

• [To be clear, the word Aryan, "noble," came to designate "enlightened" in Buddhist usage rather than being any kind of reference to race, ethnicity, or "Iranian" usage from which it originally derived.]
• The Buddha was a self-proclaimed Aryan [his mother, Maha Maya Gautami, being Iranian (from Sistan-Baluchistan, according to Dr. Ranajit Pal in his most remarkable book Non-Jonesian Indology), a descendant of the "Solar Race" (The Story of the Lineage or translation of the Nidanakatha in Buddhist Birth Stories by T.W. Rhys Davids).

Sakka, King of the Devas

The Indo-Aryans were speakers of a branch of the Indo-European language family, which originated in the Sintashta culture and further developed into the Andronovo culture, which in turn developed out of the Kurgan culture of the Central Asian steppes [17].

The Vedic beliefs and practices of the pre-classical era were closely related to the hypothesized Proto-Indo-European religion [18, Note 1] and show relations with rituals from the Andronovo culture, from which the Indo-Aryan people descended [14].

Sakka in Christianity: St. Michael

According to Anthony, the Old Indic religion probably emerged among Indo-European immigrants in the contact zone between the Zeravshan River (present-day Uzbekistan) and (present-day) Iran [19].

It was "a syncretic mixture of old Central Asian and new Indo-European elements" [19], which borrowed "distinctive religious beliefs and practices" [11] from the Bactria–Margiana culture (BMAC) [11].

This syncretic influence is supported by at least 383 non-Indo-European words that were borrowed from this culture, including the god Indra [Sakka] and the ritual drink Soma [12]. According to Anthony:

"Many of the qualities of Indo-Iranian god of might and victory Verethraghna were transferred to the adopted god Indra [Sakka of the Sakas], who became the central deity of the developing Old Indic culture.

Indra was the subject of 250 hymns, a quarter of the Rig Veda. He was associated more than any other deity with Soma, a stimulant drug (perhaps derived from ephedra) probably borrowed from the BMAC religion. His rise to prominence was a peculiar trait of the Old Indic speakers [20]." More: Soma (drink)

• Strain Hunters; Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson, Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit