The Naming Ceremony
King Suddhodana
had an old teacher who was known to be very wise. He was called
Asita the Sage. Asita lived in the jungle. While sitting one
day he heard the devas singing and saw them dancing. "Why
are you so happy?" he asked. "Because the most excellent
of all beings has been born at Lumbini Park to Queen Maha
Maya," replied the devas. When he heard this, Asita went
quickly to see the king and queen and their newborn son.
The
king was very happy to see his wise old teacher again. In
the palace, after the sage was seated, the king brought the
prince before him and said, "Teacher, my son was born
only yesterday. Here he is. Please see if his future will
be good."
As
the king said this, he lowered the infant prince before the
sage so that he might examine him properly. However, the baby
turned his feet on to the sage's head. Thus surprised, Asita
took hold of the baby's feet and examined them very carefully,
finding some marks on them. He got up and said, "This
prince will become a very great teacher in this world."
The sage was very pleased and, putting his palms together,
paid due respect to the baby prince. The king, seeing this,
did the same. This was the first salutation of the king.
On
the fifth day of his son's life, the king invited five wise
men to witness the naming ceremony and to suggest a good name
for the prince. The wise men examined the birthmarks of the
prince and concluded, "The prince will be King of Kings
if he wants to rule. If he chooses a religious life then he
will become the Wisest — the Buddha."
The
youngest of the five wise men, Kondanna, then said, "This
prince will be the Buddha and nothing else."
Then
the wise men gave him the name Siddhartha meaning "wish-fulfilled"
or "one who has accomplished his goal".
The Prince's Education
When
Prince Siddhartha was only a few years old, King Suddhodana
sent him to school. There were many children in his class,
all of them from noble families. His teacher was
called Sarva Mitra.
He
studied languages, reading, writing, mathematics, history,
geography, science, and games like boxing, archery, wrestling
and many others. He learnt all these subjects faster than
any other pupil in his class. He was the cleverest in
the class and the best at games. He gained distinction
in every subject and became cleverer than his teachers.
He was the wisest and the only one who asked many questions
from his teachers and elders. He was the strongest, the
tallest and the most handsome boy in the class. He was
never lazy, he never misbehaved and was never disobedient
to the teachers. He loved everybody and everybody loved
him. He was a friend to all.
Prince Siddhartha's Kindness
Prince
Siddhartha was very kind to people, animals and other
living things. He was also a very brave horseman and won
many prizes in the country. Although he did not have to
suffer any hardships and difficulties, as he had everything,
he always thought of the poor people and living things
who were working hard to make him happy. He felt sorry
for them and wanted to make them happy too.
One
day he was walking in the woods with his cousin Devadatta,
who had brought his bow and arrows with him. Suddenly,
Devadatta saw a swan flying and shot at it. His arrow
brought the swan down. Both the boys ran to get the bird.
As Siddhartha could run faster than Devadatta, he reached
the swan's injured body first and found, to his surprise,
that it was still alive. He gently pulled out the arrow
from the wing. He then got a little juice from cool leaves,
put it on the wound to stop the bleeding and with his
soft hand stroked the swan, which was very frightened.
When Devadatta came to claim the swan, Prince Siddhartha
refused to give it to him. Devadatta was very angry to
see his cousin keeping the swan away from him. "Give
me my bird! I shot it down," said Devadatta.
"No,
I am not going to give it to you," said the Prince.
"If you had killed it, it would have been yours.
But now, since it is only wounded but still alive, it
belongs to me."
Devadatta
still did not agree. Then Siddhartha suggested, "Let
us go to the court of the Sage and ask him who really
owns the swan." Devadatta agreed, so off they went
to the court of the Sage to tell him about their quarrel.
The
Sage, hearing both boys' version of the story, said, "A
life certainly must belong to he who tries to save it,
a life cannot belong to one who is only trying to destroy
it. The wounded swan by right belongs to Siddhartha."
