Ananya Saravanan

Mrs. Lucarelli

Modern Worlds Perspectives Honors History

November 3rd

The documentary that I choose to watch is The Life of Buddha by BBC. The

documentary starts off by talking about the background of the religion and how it started.

Siddhartha Gautama was a very rich prince in Indian and he got everything he had ever wanted.

He gave it all up so he could explore the outside world and rid himself of the devil inside of him.

The central theme of Buddhism and of the documentary is being one with your mind. The main

focus of the religion is to come to terms with your mind and rid yourself of all selfishness.

Buddhism is different than other religions because it does not have a higher god. They look up to

The Buddha as more of a teacher rather than a god. Another important message of the religion

is no violence and only peace. When the British colonized India, Buddhism was almost

completely gone since it had been destroyed by Hindu kings and the Muslims. The religion

portrays Buddhism as a religion that is different than others and one that promotes peace.

Gautama was never allowed outside the palace and when he was, he saw a beggar and was told

that he gave up his life to seek answers to suffering. Gutuma grew tired of the palace and left to

seek a life without suffering. He focused on meditation and asked for the help of many gurus. He

was very good at mediation but wanted to learn more so he turned to fasting and other ways of

giving up desires such as, bathing, and holding his breath. Buddhists believe that desires lead to

suffering so they must get rid of their desires. Once he was so close to death because of his

fasting, and a young girl fed him rice and saved his life. He then realized starvation will only

lead to his death and instead meditated. Buddhism influenced many people when it was a new
religion because people were looking for a way to get rid of their problems or suffering. It was

also very popular in the lower castes in India because they were treated very poorly by higher

castes. Buddhism believes that there is no social caste system and that anyone with good karma

will lead a happy life and reach nirvana after death. This shows that during that time it was very

popular and influenced many people in India and other parts of the world. In conclusion, this

documentary highlights parts of Siddhartha Gautama's life and gives information on the religion,

Buddhism.