Siddhartha+Gautama

Maggie Gosiger Siddhartha Gautama Tournament of Greatness Greatness is the quality of being above the average. Siddhartha Gautama was a great Indian prince who founded Buddhism, becoming the Buddha, or the "enlightened one". Siddhartha Gautama was a great leader because he founded a religion, taught and shared his beliefs, and brought peace to the world. Gautama founded Buddhism, which was important because it became the main religion in India, replacing Hinduism. Finding Buddhism was Siddhartha Gautama's main success because he created a religion that spread throughout the world and was based off of all of Gautama's own ideas. Gautama did not have many failures, but he thought his main failures were being unable to reach enlightenment several times before he actually could. Gautama did not disappoint anyone majorly in India, so it is hard for him to be called a failure. Before searching for enlightenment, Gautama saw old age, disease, death, and a beggar, which he had never seen before, so he was depressed and decided to switch his thoughts and take the choice of renunciation. Gautama thought that "happiness was an allusion". Gautama went on a search for enlightenment, and found the Bodhi Tree, where he was attacked by an army, and seduced by a young woman, and he did not move, proving that he had reached enlightenment. Gautama was not only a leader, but a teacher. Gautama focuses on spreading his ideas and helping others find enlightenment. Gautama was the first to reach nirvana, which is what made him the official Buddha. At first, Gautama was teaching the people how to reach enlightenment, but he decided to start teaching and making people realize how they can reach their own enlightenment. Everyone, or most people, looked up and cherished Siddhartha Gautama. The people thought that he was a great man, and they would all visit him and learn from him. Gautama did not just want to be in charge, but he wanted to be a companion and a teacher of the people. Gautama decided that teaching was exactly how he wanted to spend the rest of his life, so he completely devoted himself to his teaching. He wanted to do everything that he could to make himself loved, and to make India a peaceful, easy to live in place. Siddhartha Gautama's main reason for his teaching, besides reaching enlightenment, was to bring peace to India. Gautama thought that Buddhism was the religion that could completely change India because it is a religion that is peaceful and has many different paths within, all leading to the same place; enlightenment. Before Gautama founded Buddhism, brought it into India, and became the Buddha, Hinduism was the main religion, and there were few people who were absolutely satisfied with the religion. Gautama changed these people's views when Buddhism became the main religion. Buddhism made India a stable, peaceful place, and had more of an open idea on religion, rather than Hinduism. Siddhartha Gautama is one of the greatest men because he not only created a world wide religion, but was the man of the religion. Followers of Buddhism look up to Siddhartha Gautama because he created their sense of spirituality. If Buddhism was not created, there would be lack of peace in many places, and places, such as India, would have fallen apart without the uprise.

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