The Buddha at 7

This section covers the Bodhisatta's boyhood, his schooling and growing up at Kapilavatthu. “Seven” is the age at which the Buddha biographies say he began to learn writing; eight and ten are also given. Reckoning from a going forth at twenty-nine and an awakening at thirty-five, no exact age can be worked out for these events. The sources differ greatly on his age when he first entered meditative absorption beneath a tree at the edge of a field; it is placed in this section by the order of events.