Biography of a Buddha is a musical, based on the story of Siddhatta Gotama, who was posthumously dubbed The Buddha. Buddhist tradition has it that all Buddhas have the same biographies. So, I have taken the substantive biography of Sidhatta Gotama and written it into a modern context, alluding to details of Gotama’s life where I could fit them in. I have called the hero of the story Hero. And why not, what is a rose by another name? I have not included Siddhatta's boyhood years, as accounts of it vary, and there’s a strong element of fable to it, whereas the process of birth, disease, old age and death, are phenomena that compel us all. These phenomena are indivisible from suffering, and we all work to minimise our suffering. The ending of suffering is the driving force in all Buddha-biographies.

The story starts when Hero is an adult, and decides to leave behind his urban life and go forth into a life of renunciation. In his search for the end of suffering, Siddhatta meets a range of people and philosophies, wise, bizarre and extreme. To make the story more relevant for today, I have had to include contemporary examples we would encounter that Siddhatta would not have, such as theoretical physics, logic, and statistics, but core disciplines such as fasting and meditation are included, reflecting Siddhatta's actual biography.

Ultimately Siddhatta went his own way to find enlightenment. My experience of renunciative practice tells me Nibbana (Nirvana) and Enlightenment are not the same thing. No doubt, traditional Buddhsts will balk at this. Buddhist tradition does not make the distinction between Nibbana and Enlightenment. But I say to the traditionalist, I speak with the Lion’s roar, and I have 'attained Nirvana', to use that misleading Buddhist expression. I say nothing is attained or even happens, one succumbs to true nothingness. I tell you; Enlightenment and Nirvana are not the same. One of the songs in the musical explains how this is so. Any offense is not intentional. I speak from my own experience.

Some might point out that Gotama did not condone music making as compatible for those following his discipline. That's true, but then I don't strictly follow his discipline anymore. I did, but intermittently, in a dedicated environment, such as a meditation retreats. The effort is "gruelling" to use Siddhatta's own description (Paranibbana discourse).

There is one more point about the musical that some might find perplexing.  I have researched many subjects, not least science and astronomy, as many aspiring spiritual people do. Some of my views and insights I have included in Part 2 of the musical where Hero attends the Annual General Meeting of Thinkers.  As the name suggests, this is attended by thinkers of various kinds, who sing their diverse wisdoms to the audience. There is one group, called the Astronumerologists, who believe they can predict the distance of over 80% of planets and exo-planets in over 80% of all star systems. In actual fact, I have developed an equation that actually does this. Realising this claim needs supporting, here in is the link to an excel spread sheet that presents the equation and maths behind this claim. It is applied to the first 117 exoplanets discovered. There are now several thousand exo-planets. There is also a small paper explaining how to understand the larger spread sheet