uthward for many miles and entered the very heart of the
great Indian jungle, teeming with poisonous snakes and filled with
savage beasts. Here he prayed and fasted, seeking enlightenment; and he
carried out his fasts with such severity that he nearly died as a
result of them.

While in the jungle the Prince met five other holy men who were so much
impressed with his fasts and his thoughtful demeanor that they became
his disciples. But when he ceased to fast because he did not come any
nearer the truth by going hungry, these disciples left him, believing
that he had strayed from the path of the truth and never would gain the
enlightenment he sought.

After several years the Prince left the jungle and commenced traveling
through the country, begging his food wherever he happened to be. And
now he was close to gaining the vision that he so greatly desired, for
without his knowledge his years of thought and of self-denial had borne
their fruit.

One day, bitterly discouraged, and heartsick with his many failures and
temptations, he seated himself beneath a peepul tree with the firm
resolve that he would not stir from the spot until he gained the truth
that he sought. And while he sat there, the legends tell us, he was
assailed by all the powers of darkness and evil, and devils crowded
upon him so thickly that they darkened the sky and threw all Nature
into convulsions in which the earth shook and the air was filled with
thunder. All night the Prince sat motionless and all through the night
the evil forces strove to turn him from the truth that they knew he was
about to achieve. In the morning they departed, and the Prince as he
sat, saw flowers spring up and blossom all around him with miraculous
swiftness. The air seemed purer than ever before, the sun was
wonderfully bright and a peaceful serenity seemed to enfold the entire
earth. And when night came and the stars awoke, the truth for which the
Prince had been seeking flowed into his soul. He had indeed become a
Buddha.

Gone were the temptations and the sorrows in a divine peace--a peace
that became the reward of all disciples of the religion that he
founded. This peace was called by him Nirvana and his disciples say he
is the only man who attained it in his lifetime, for Nirvana is
supposed to come only to the spirits of the dead, who have purified
themselves not in one life, but in many. In Buddha's belief (for as
Buddha we shall now know him), human beings live