Siddhartha Gautama, born into the Kshatriya [kingly / warrior] caste by birth, was severely restricted by the authority, his father the King, who did not want him to be disallusioned by the world’s suffering. The monarch restricted the movement of Prince Gautama and did not allow him outside of the palatial complex until he finally broke free at the age of 29 – still blissfully ignorant of the world. However, after his departure with his faithful charioteer Channa, he saw 4 sights – 3 of dukkha (suffering) and 1 of release from it. All sights gave him the knowledge he so desperately craved in his isolation. Eventually, this Prince Gautama would become an ascetic – the fourth sight of release, before realizing that the way to stop suffering was to practice moderation and that knowledge was bliss. This level of enlightenment occurred unfer the Bodhi Tree, and he became the Buddha.
The Bodhi Flower website is meant to hark back to the age of Siddhartha Gautama and his enlightenment in an age when youth connotes ignorance. The Bodhi Flower is a small oasis of beauty and knowledge in a harsh world of ignorance. It is here that youth can share their thoughts through intelligent discussion and gain profound insight into the world.
The site is in Beta version at the moment, but the ultimate ideal is to have students from the GTA and beyond contributing their thoughts in intelligent discussion.
May 27, 2008 at 6:39 am
Thank you for your blog. It is brilliant oasis in a vapid desert of ignorance. I will look forward in reading your articles in the upcoming months