The Shakyamuni bears significant historic importance as the founder of buddhism. The first to find the enlightenment and this statue finds him at that very moment.
Born in Northern India in what is now Nepal, he was a prince named Siddartha of the Shakya clan before whose birth a prediction was made that unless he was prevented from seeing the hardships of life as it is lived by ordinary people, he would not grow up to be the world ruler as his father had hoped. Therefore, he was confined to the palace grounds even after he himself had fathered a son.
Care was taken to ensure that he be exposed only to what was good and beautiful. However, some say that one morning he awoke to see the still-sleeping women in their usual awkward drooling attitudes and was disgusted by the sight. This set him to thinking about what else he might not have noticed about life.
With his devoted driver, by horse and chariot he managed to elude the palace guards and to ride through the streets of Kapilavastu. There, he was shocked by the sight of a person disabled by advanced age, a person suffering from a serious illness and a corpse being carried to the cremation grounds followed by a group of weeping people.
Later, he noticed a poor wanderer in simple cotton garb who seemed peaceful and happy in the midst of the city chaos. Tibetan tradition holds that it was a deva, a god manifesting as a renunciate or monk.
Realizing that he had been deceived, he determined to discover the truth about human existence. He left his family; his wives, Yasodhara and Gopa, and the other ladies of the court. He left his friends and his son, Rahula, and set out into the world.
Following the example of the monk he had noticed, he cut off his own long hair with his ornate sword, and left everything behind including his horse and his faithful attendant. Wearing tattered clothing, carrying only a water pot and staff, he set off to discover what it was that lay behind the contented smile of the ascetic.
He studied the principles of Indian philosophy with renowned teachers for a few years. Not finding satisfying answers, he left them to study the methods of traditional yoga with a small group of fellow ascetics. Two of their names are given as Harada Kalama and Udraka Ramputra.
Now almost a skeleton -- very thin and weak from starvation -- he set off to find a tranquil spot in which to work on the problem. From a passing milkmaid, Sujata, he accepted an offering of payas or milk-rice to break his long fast. It was now six years since he had left his home and family. He said goodbye to his friends, five disciples who now left him in disgust and went away to Rishipatan (modern Sarnath).
After regaining some strength, Gautama, as he had been called -- after his clan or tribal affiliation -- came to the place where he determined to solve the problems of existence.
There he made the vow not to stir from beneath that tree until he had discovered the means to alleviate suffering, and went into a deeply concentrated state of meditation. The town is called Bodh-gaya , but the exact place is referred to as Thunderbolt Seat or in Sanskrit, vajr'asana (Tib. dorje den.)
There is a tradition that says that Buddha Shakyamuni was not certain whether or not he ought to keep his knowledge to himself. It is said that for the whole first week, he pondered the tree itself, and its form and nature may have persuaded him to spread his knowledge.
For another week he walked to and fro engrossed in his thoughts. On the third week he walked clockwise in meditative concentration around the site, and returned to sit in meditation.
Legend also has it that Muchalinda, king of serpents, spread his hoods as an umbrella to shelter him from rain and sun while he sat lost in meditation.
It is also said that the Adversary, Mara appeared to him and tried to tempt him back to a worldly life of influence and power. He also caused his gorgeous offspring to manifest in an attempt to lure Siddhartha to return to a life of indulgence in sensory pleasures. When the crucial moment arrived, the Earth was called to testify to Gautama's worthiness and at that, the Enlightenment occurred.
After His Awakening, He is reported to have said, "What I realized is like ambrosia. But I am not going to explain it, for nobody will understand it." And so He sat silently in a perfectly balanced state of awareness for 7 days until the gods Indra and Brahma intervened. They begged Him to teach others, to "turn the Wheel of Dharma" for the sake of other beings.
At last, he got up and walked to Rishipatan to find his five former companions. Then at what is now Sarnath near Varanasi, he delivered his first sermon that is described as the initial Turning of the Wheel of the Law (Skt. dharma-chakra-pravartana).
At Rajgriha, his two greatest disciples, Shariputra and Maudgalyayana were converted. Other important disciples were his cousins, Ananda and Devadatta. Anuruddha and Upali were the names of two others, but he soon acquired followers in the thousands.
For over 40 years he traveled around and taught, settling down only during the rains each winter. At the age of 80, Buddha attained Maha-parinirvana (great death without any necessity for rebirth -- this is where we get the term Tathagatha meaning 'gone that way') at Kushinagar which is today near Gorakhpur district in Uttar Pradesh. That was around 440 BCE.
The Buddha's last words are reputed to be, "All things which are made of parts eventually come apart. Be mindful, and achieve the Awakened state!"
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