http://www.sinc.sunysb.edu/Clubs/buddhism/nhj/wte.html
Chapter
1
THE PATH OF CULTIVATING ENLIGHTENMENT
There is a story behind this book. An old friend, Mr. Xiao, came
to see me. As he was about to leave, he asked me a question:
"Shakyamuni Buddha left home when he was 18,[1] and finally--much later,
after years of effort--lifted his head, saw a bright star, and was
enlightened. What was it that he was enlightened to?"
If it had been someone else who had asked this question, it
would not have had any great importance. But Mr. Xiao has been
studying Buddhism for many years, so when he raised this question,
it was no ordinary matter.
According to what is recorded in the scriptures and the
traditional accounts, as soon as Shakyamuni Buddha was born, he was
already equipped with an extraordinary natural endowment. Because
he had cultivated enlightenment practices through past lifetimes
over many eons, as soon as he was born in this life, various kinds
of auspicious things happened. He renounced his princely position
and left home, and for twelve years he sought enlightenment.
Everyone should pay attention to these twelve years, because it is
very easy to pass over them lightly.
At the moment we will emphasize the twelve years when Shakyamuni
Buddha cultivated various religious practices. At that time there
were many Indian religious sects that had been in existence for
quite a while, each with its own methods of cultivating practice.
Shakyamuni Buddha fully studied the various kinds of ascetic
practices and used various methods to cultivate and refine
himself.