- Gautama Buddha
[
Gandhara Buddha. 1st–2nd century CE, Tokyo National Museum.]Siddhārtha Gautama (
Sanskrit ;Pali : Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritualteacher fromancient India and the founder ofBuddhism . [ [http://www.ancientindia.co.uk/buddha/home_set.html Buddha ] ] He is generally recognized by Buddhists as the Supreme "Buddha" (Sammāsambuddha) of our age. The time of his birth anddeath are uncertain: most early 20th-century historians date his lifetime from c. 563 BCE to 483 BCE; more recently, however, at a specialist symposium on this question, [ [http://indology.info/papers/cousins The Dating of the Historical Buddha: A Review Article] ] the majority of those scholars who presented definite opinions gave dates within 20 years either side of 400 BCE for the Buddha's death, with others supporting earlier or later dates.Gautama, also known as "Śākyamuni" or "Shakyamuni" ("sage of the
Shakya s"), is the key figure in Buddhism, and accounts of his life, discourses, and monastic rules were said to have been summarized after his death and memorized by the IAST|sangha. Passed down byoral tradition , the "IAST|Tripitaka", the collection of teachings attributed to Gautama by theTheravada , was committed to writing about 400 years later. "Scholars are increasingly reluctant to make unqualified claims about the historical facts of the Buddha's life and teachings." [cite book |last=Lopez | title= "Buddhism in Practice"| publisher=Princeton University Press| year= 1995 |pages= 16 ]Life
The prime sources of information regarding Siddhārtha Gautama's life are the
Buddhist texts . The Buddha and his monks spent four months each year discussing and rehearsing his teachings, and after his death his monks set about preserving them. A council was held shortly after his death, and another was held a century later. At these councils the monks attempted to establish and authenticate the extant accounts of the life and teachings of the Buddha following systematic rules. They divided the teachings into distinct but overlapping bodies of material, and assigned specific monks to preserve each one. From then on, the teachings were transmitted orally. From internal evidence it seems clear that the oldest texts crystallized into their current form by the time of the second council or shortly after it. The scriptures were not written down until three or four hundred years after the Buddha's death. By this point, the monks had added or altered some material themselves, in particular magnifying the figure of the Buddha. [Michael Carrithers, "The Buddha," 1983, pages 13, 14. Found in "Founders of Faith," Oxford University Press, 1986.]The ancient Indians were not concerned with chronologies, being far more focused on philosophy. The Buddhist texts reflect this tendency, and we have a much clearer picture of what the Buddha thought than of the dates of the events in his life. These texts contain descriptions of the culture and daily life of ancient India which can be corroborated from the
Jain scriptures, and make the Buddha's time the earliest period in Indian history for which substantial accounts exist. [Carrithers, page 15.] According to Michael Carrithers, there are good reasons to doubt the traditional account, though the outline of "birth, maturity, renunciation, search, awakening and liberation, teaching, death" must be true. [Carrithers, page 10.]Conception and birth
According to tradition, Siddhārtha was born more than 200 years before the reign of the
Maurya king Aśoka (273–232 BCE).Fact|date=December 2007Siddhartha was born in
Lumbini [http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhistworld/lumbini.htm] and raised in the small kingdom or principality ofKapilvastu , both of which are in modern dayNepal . Culturally, these can be considered part of the broader region ofAncient India . [UNESCO World Heritage Centre. 2006. Lumbini, the birthplace of the Lord Buddha. Available from: http://whc.unesco.org/pg.cfm?cid=31&id_site=666. Accessed 17 November 2006.] His father was KingSuddhodana Fact|date=December 2007, the chief of the Shakya nation, one of several ancient tribes in the growing state ofKosala ; Gautama was thefamily name . His mother, Queen Maha Maya (Māyādevī) and Suddhodana's wife, was aKoliya n princess. On the night Siddhartha was conceived, Queen Maya dreamt that a white elephant with six white tusks entered her right side [http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/lob/lob04.htm] , and tenlunar month s later Siddhartha was born. As was the Shakya tradition, when his mother Queen Maya became pregnant, she leftKapilvastu for her father's kingdom to give birth. However, she gave birth on the way, atLumbini , in a garden beneath asal tree. The day of the Buddha's birth is widely celebrated inTheravada countries asVesak . [Turpie, D. 2001. Wesak And The Re-Creation of Buddhist Tradition. Master's Thesis. Montreal, Quebec: McGill University. (p. 3). Available from: http://www.mrsp.mcgill.ca/reports/pdfs/Wesak.pdf. Accessed 17 November 2006.] Various sources hold that the Buddha's mother died at his birth, a few days or seven days later. The infant was given the name Siddhartha (Pāli: Siddhatta), meaning "he who achieves his aim". During the birth celebrations, the hermit seerAsita journeyed from his mountain abode and announced that the child would either become a great king (chakravartin ) or a great holy man.Fact|date=December 2007 This occurred after Siddhartha placed his feet in Asita's hair and Asita examined the birthmarks. Suddhodarna held a naming ceremony on the fifth day, and invited eightbrahmin scholars to read the future. All gave a dual prediction that the baby would either become a great king or a great holy man.Fact|date=December 2007Kaundinya (Pali: Kondanna), the youngest, and later to be the first arahant, was the only one who unequivocally predicted that Siddhartha would become a Buddha. [Narada (1992), p11-12]While later tradition and legend characterized Śuddhodana as a
hereditary monarch , the descendant of the Solar Dynasty of IAST|Ikṣvāku (Pāli: Okkāka), many scholars believe that Śuddhodana was the elected chief of a tribal confederacy.Early life and marriage
Siddhartha, destined to a luxurious life as a prince, had three palaces (for seasonal occupation) especially built for him. His father, King Śuddhodana, wishing for Siddhartha to be a great king, shielded his son from religious teachings or knowledge of human suffering. Siddhartha was brought up by his mother's younger sister, Maha Pajapati.Narada (1992), p14]
As the boy reached the age of 16, his father arranged his marriage to Yaśodharā (Pāli: Yasodharā), a cousin of the same age. Though this is the traditional account, an early source casts doubt as to the historicity of his married life. [Carrithers, page 25.] According to the traditional account, in time, she gave birth to a son,
Rahula . Siddhartha spent 29 years as a Prince inKapilavastu . Although his father ensured that Siddhartha was provided with everything he could want or need, Siddhartha felt that material wealth was not the ultimate goal of life.Narada (1992), p14]The Great Departure
At the age of 29, Siddhartha left his palace in order to meet his subjects. Despite his father's effort to remove the sick, aged and suffering from the public view, Siddhartha was said to have seen an old man. Disturbed by this, when told that all people would eventually grow old by his charioteer Channa, the prince went on further trips where he encountered, variously, a
disease d man, a decaying corpse, and an ascetic. Deeply depressed by these sights, he sought to overcome old age, illness, and death by living the life of an ascetic.Siddhartha escaped his palace, accompanied by Channa aboard his horse
Kanthaka , leaving behind this royal life to become amendicant . It is said that, "the horse's hooves were muffled by the gods" [Narada (1992), pp15-16] to prevent guards from knowing the Bodhisatta's departure. This event is known as "The Great Departure".Siddhartha initially went to Rajagaha and began his ascetic life by begging for alms in the street. Having been recognised by the men of King
Bimbisara , Bimbisara offered him the throne after hearing of Siddhartha's quest. Siddhartha rejected the offer, but promised to visit his kingdom ofMagadha first, upon attaining enlightenment.Siddhartha left Rajagaha and practiced under two hermit teachers. After mastering the teachings of
Alara Kalama , Siddhartha was asked by Kalama to succeed him, but moved on after being unsatisfied with his practices. He then became a student ofUdaka Ramaputta , but although he achieved high levels of meditative consciousness and was asked to succeed Ramaputta, he was still not satisfied with his path, and moved on. [Narada (1992), pp19-20]Siddhartha and a group of five companions led by Kondanna then set out to take their austerities even further. They tried to find enlightenment through near total deprivation of worldly goods, including food, practicing self-mortification. After nearly starving himself to death by restricting his food intake to around a leaf or nut per day, he collapsed in a river while bathing and almost drowned. Siddhartha began to reconsider his path. Then, he remembered a moment in childhood in which he had been watching his father start the season's plowing, and he had fallen into a naturally concentrated and focused state that was blissful and refreshing, the
jhana .The Great Enlightenment
After asceticism and concentrating on
meditation and Anapana-sati (awareness of breathing in and out), Siddhartha is said to have discovered what Buddhists call the Middle Way—a path of moderation away from the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification. He accepted a little milk and rice pudding from a village girl namedSujata , who wrongly believed him to be the spirit that had granted her a wish, such was his emaciated appearance. Then, sitting under apipal tree, now known as theBodhi tree inBodh Gaya , he vowed never to arise until he had found the Truth.Kaundinya and the other four companions, believing that he had abandoned his search and become undisciplined, left. After 49 days meditating, at the age of 35, he attained Enlightenment; according to some traditions, this occurred approximately in the fifth lunar month, and according to others in the twelfth. Gautama, from then on, was known as the "Buddha" or "Awakened One." Buddha is also sometimes translated as "The Enlightened One." Often, he is referred to in Buddhism asShakyamuni Buddha or "The Awakened One of the Shakya Clan."At this point, he realized complete awakening and insight into the nature and cause of human suffering which was ignorance, along with steps necessary to eliminate it. These truths were then categorized into the
Four Noble Truths ; the state of supreme liberation—possible for any being—was calledNirvana . He then came to possess the Nine Characteristics, which are said to belong to every Buddha.According to one of the stories in the "
Āyācana Sutta " (Samyutta Nikaya VI.1), a scripture found in thePāli and other , immediately after his Enlightenment, the Buddha was wondering whether or not he should teach the "Dharma" to human beings. He was concerned that, as human beings were overpowered by greed, hatred and delusion, they would not be able to see the true "dharma", which was subtle, deep and hard to understand. However, a divine spirit, Brahmā Sahampati, interceded and asked that he teach the "dharma" to the world, as "there will be those who will understand the "Dharma". With his great compassion to all beings in the universe, the Buddha agreed to become a teacher.Formation of the sangha
[
Wat Chedi Liem inThailand .]After becoming enlightened, two merchants whom the Buddha met, named
Tapussa andBhallika became the first lay disciples. They are given some hairs from the Buddha's head, which are believed to now be enshrined in theShwe Dagon Temple inRangoon ,Burma . The Buddha intended to visitAsita , and his former teachers,Alara Kalama andUddaka Ramaputta to explain his findings, but they had already died.The Buddha thus journeyed to Deer Park near IAST|Vārāṇasī (Benares) in northern India, he set in motion the Wheel of Dharma by delivering his first sermon to the group of five companions with whom he had previously sought enlightenment. They, together with the Buddha, formed the first IAST|saṅgha, the company of Buddhist monks, and hence, the first formation of
Triple Gem (Buddha, Dharma andSangha ) was completed, withKaundinya becoming the firststream-enterer . All five soon become arahants, and with the conversion ofYasa and fifty four of his friends, the number of arahants swelled to 60 within the first two months. The conversion of the three Kassapa brothers and their 200, 300 and 500 disciples swelled the sangha over 1000, and they were dispatched to explain the dharma to the populace.It is unknown what language the Buddha spoke, and no conclusive documentation has been made at this point. However, some modern scholars, primarily
philologist s, believe it is most likely that the Buddha spoke a vulgate then current in eastern India, Mâgadhî Prakrit.Ministry
For the remaining 45 years of his life, the Buddha is said to have traveled in the
Gangetic Plain , in what is nowUttar Pradesh ,Bihar and southernNepal , teaching his doctrine and discipline to an extremely diverse range of people— from nobles to outcaste street sweepers, mass murderers such asAngulimala and cannibals such asAlavaka . This extended to many adherents of rival philosophies and religions. The Buddha founded the community of Buddhist monks and nuns (the "Sangha ") to continue the dispensation after his "Parinirvāna" (Pāli : Parinibbāna) or "complete Nirvāna", and made thousands of converts. His religion was open to all races and classes and had nocaste structure. He was also subject to attack from opposition religious groups, including attempted murders and framings.The sangha travelled from place to place in India, expounding the dharma. This occurred throughout the year, except during the four months of thevassana rainy season. Due to the heavy amount of flooding, travelling was difficult, and ascetics of all religions in that time did not travel, since it was more difficult to do so without stepping on submerged animal life, unwittingly killing them. During this period, the sangha would retreat to a monastery, public park or a forest and people would come to them.The first vassana was spent at
Varanasi when the sangha was first formed. After this, he travelled toRajagaha , the capital ofMagadha to visit KingBimbisara , in accordance with his promise after enlightenment. It was during this visit thatSariputta andMahamoggallana were converted byAssaji , one of the first five disciples; they were to become the Buddha's two foremost disciples. The Buddha then spent the next three seasons at Veluvana Bamboo Grove monastery inRajagaha , the capital ofMagadha . The monastery, which was of a moderate distance from the city centre was donated by Bimbisara.Upon hearing of the enlightenment, Suddhodana dispatched royal delegations to ask the Buddha to return to
Kapilavastu . Nine delegations were sent in all, but the delegates joined the sangha and became arahants. Neglecting worldly matters, they did not convey their message. The tenth delegation, lead byKaludayi , a childhood friend, resulted in the message being successfully conveyed as well as becoming an arahant. Since it was not the vassana, the Buddha agreed, and two years after his enlightenment, took a two month journey to Kapilavastu by foot, preaching the dharma along the way. Upon his return, the royal palace had prepared the midday meal, but since no specific invitation had come, the sangha went for an alms round in Kapilavastu. Hearing this, Suddhodana hastened to approach the Buddha, stating "Ours is the warrior lineage of Mahamassata, and not a single warrior has gone seeking alms", to which the Buddha repliedSuddhodana invited the sangha back to the royal palace for the meal, followed by a dharma talk, after which he became a
sotapanna . During the visit, many members of the royal family joined thesangha . His cousinsAnanda andAnuruddha were to become two of his five chief disciples. His sonRahula also joined the sangha at the age of seven, and was one of the ten chief disciples. His half-brotherNanda also joined the sangha and became an arahant. Another cousinDevadatta also became a monk although he later became an enemy and tried to kill the Buddha on multiple occasions.Of his disciples,
Sariputta ,Mahamoggallana ,Mahakasyapa ,Ananda andAnuruddha comprised the five chief disciples. His ten foremost disciples were completed by the quintet ofUpali ,Subhoti ,Rahula ,Mahakaccana andPunna .In the fifth vassana, the Buddha was staying at Mahavana near
Vesali . Hearing of the impending death of Suddhodana, the Buddha went to his father and preached the dharma, and Suddhodana became an arahant prior to death. The death and cremation led to the creation of the order of nuns. Buddhist texts record that he was reluctant to ordain women as nuns. His foster motherMaha Pajapati approached him asking to join the sangha, but the Buddha refused, and began the journey from Kapilavastu back to Rajagaha. Maha Pajapati was so intent on renouncing the world that she lead a group of royal Sakyan and Koliyan ladies, following the sangha to Rajagaha. The Buddha eventually accepted them five years after the formation of theSangha on the grounds that their capacity for enlightenment was equal to that of men, but he gave them certain additional rules (Vinaya ) to follow. This occurred afterAnanda interceded on their behalf.Yasodhara also became a nun, with both becomingarahant s.During his ministry,
Devadatta (who was not an arahant) frequently tried to undermine the Buddha. At one point Devadatta asked the Buddha to stand aside to let him lead the sangha. The Buddha declined, and stated that Devadatta's actions did not reflect on theTriple Gem , but on him alone. Devadatta conspired with PrinceAjatasattu , son of Bimbisara, so that they would kill and usurp the Buddha and Bimbisara respectively. Devadatta attempted three times to kill the Buddha. The first attempt involved the hiring of a group of archers, whom upon meeting the Buddha became disciples. A second attempt followed when Devadatta attempted to roll a large boulder down a hill. It hit another rock and splintered, only grazing the Buddha in the foot. A final attempt by plying an elephant with alcohol and setting it loose again failed. Failing this, Devadatta attempted to cause a schism in the sangha, by proposing extra restrictions on thevinaya . When the Buddha declined, Devadatta started a breakaway order, criticising the Buddha's laxity. At first, he managed to convert some of the bhikkhus, but Sariputta and Mahamoggallana expounded the dharma to them and succeeded in winning them back.When the Buddha reached the age of 55, he made Ananda his chief attendant.
The Great Passing
According to the
Mahaparinibbana Sutta of the Pali canon, at the age of 80, the Buddha announced that he would soon reachParinirvana or the final deathless state abandoning the earthly body. After this, the Buddha ate his last meal, which, according to different translations,especially the religious texts knowledge of Heenyan texts was pork, which he had received as an offering from a blacksmith named Cunda. Falling violently ill, Buddha instructed his attendant Ānanda to convince Cunda that the meal eaten at his place had nothing to do with his passing and that his meal would be a source of the greatest merit as it provided the last meal for a Buddha.The Mahayana
Vimalakirti Sutra explains, in Chapter 3, that the Buddha doesn't really become ill or old but purposely presents such an appearance only to teach those born during the five defilements the impermanence and pain of defiled worlds and to strive for Nirvana."'Reverend Ánanda, the Tathágatas have the body of the Dharma - not a body that is sustained by material food. The Tathágatas have a transcendental body that has transcended all mundane qualities. There is no injury to the body of a Tathágata, as it is rid of all defilements. The body of a Tathágata is uncompounded and free of all formative activity. Reverend Ánanda, to believe there can be illness in such a body is irrational and unseemly!' Nevertheless, since the Buddha has appeared during the time of the five corruptions, he disciplines living beings by acting lowly and humble." [14]
Ananda protested Buddha's decision to enter Parinirvana in the abandoned jungles of Kuśināra (Pāli: Kusināra) of the Mallas. Buddha, however, reminded Ananda how Kushinara was a land once ruled by a righteous wheel-turning king that resounded with joy:
Buddha then asked all the attendant
Bhikshu s to clarify any doubts or questions they had. They had none. He then finally entered Parinirvana. The Buddha's final words were, "All composite things pass away. Strive for your own liberation with diligence." The Buddha's body was cremated and therelic s were placed in monuments orstupa s, some of which are believed to have survived until the present. For example, TheTemple of the Tooth or "Dalada Maligawa" inSri Lanka is the place where the relic of the right tooth of Buddha is kept at present.According to the Pāli historical chronicles of Sri Lanka, the IAST|Dīpavaṃsa and IAST|Mahāvaṃsa, the coronation of Aśoka (Pāli: Asoka) is 218 years after the death of Buddha. According to one Mahayana record in Chinese (十八部論 and 部執異論), the coronation of Aśoka is 116 years after the death of Buddha. Therefore, the time of Buddha's passing is either 486 BCE according to Theravāda record or 383 BCE according to Mahayana record. However, the actual date traditionally accepted as the date of the Buddha's death in Theravāda countries is 544 or 543 BCE, because the reign of Aśoka was traditionally reckoned to be about 60 years earlier than current estimates.
At his death, the Buddha told his disciples to follow no leader, but to follow his teachings (
dharma ). However, at theFirst Buddhist Council ,Mahakasyapa was held by the sangha as their leader, with the two chief disciplesMahamoggallana andSariputta having died before the Buddha.Physical characteristics
Buddha is perhaps one of the few sages for whom we have mention of his rather impressive physical characteristics. A
kshatriya by birth, he had military training in his upbringing, and by Shakyan tradition was required to pass tests to demonstrate his worthiness as a warrior in order to marry. He had a strong enough body to be noticed by one of the kings and was asked to join his army as a general. He is also believed by Buddhists to have "the 32 Signs of the Great Man".The Brahmin Sonadanda described him as "handsome, good-looking, and pleasing to the eye, with a most beautiful complexion. He has a godlike form and countenance, he is by no means unattractive."(D,I:115).
"It is wonderful, truly marvellous, how serene is the good Gotama's appearance, how clear and radiant his complexion, just as the golden jujube in autumn is clear and radiant, just as a palm-tree fruit just loosened from the stalk is clear and radiant, just as an adornment of red gold wrought in a crucible by a skilled goldsmith, deftly beaten and laid on a yellow-cloth shines, blazes and glitters, even so, the good Gotama's senses are calmed, his complexion is clear and radiant." (A,I:181)
A disciple named Vakkali, who later became an Arahant, was so obsessed by Buddha's physical presence that Buddha has to tell him to stop and reminded Vakkali to know Buddha through the Dhamma and not physical appearances.
Although the Buddha was not represented in human form until around the 1st century CE (see
Buddhist art ), the physical characteristics of fully-enlightened Buddhas are described by the Buddha in theDigha Nikaya 's "IAST|Lakkhaṇa Sutta" (D,I:142). [Maurice Walshe, "The Long Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Dīgha Nikāya", 1995, Boston: Wisdom Publications, " [DN] 30: "IAST|Lakkhaṇa Sutta": The Marks of a Great Man," pp. 441-60.] In addition, the Buddha's physical appearance is described byYasodhara to their sonRahula upon the Buddha's first post-Enlightenment return to his former princely palace in the non-canonical Pali devotional hymn, "Narasīha Gāthā" ("The Lion of Men"). [Ven. Elgiriye Indaratana Maha Thera, "Vandana: The Album of Pali Devotional Chanting and Hymns", 2002, pp. 49-52, retrieved 2007-11-08 from "BuddhaNet" at http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/vandana02.pdf.]Teachings
Some scholars believe that some portions of the
Pali Canon and the Agamas could contain the actual substance of the historical teachings (and possibly even the words) of the Buddha. ["It is therefore possible that much of what is found in the Suttapitaka is earlier than c.250 B.C., perhaps even more than 100 years older than this. If some of the material is so old, it might be possible to establish what texts go back to the very beginning of Buddhism, texts which perhaps include the substance of the Buddha’s teaching, and in some cases, maybe even his words." How old is the Suttapitaka? Alexander Wynne, St John’s College, 2003, p.22 (this article is available on the website of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies: [www.ocbs.org/research/Wynne.pdf] ] ["It would be hypocritical to assert that nothing can be said about the doctrine of earliest Buddhism ... the basic ideas of Buddhism found in the canonical writings could very well have been proclaimed by him [the Buddha] , transmitted and developed by his disciples and, finally, codified in fixed formulas." J.W. De Jong, 1993: "The Beginnings of Buddhism", in The Eastern Buddhist, vol. 26, no. 2, p. 25] This is not the case for the later Mahayana sutras. ["The Mahayana movement claims to have been founded by the Buddha himself. The consensus of the evidence, however, is that it originated in South India in the 1st century CE" – Indian Buddhism, AK Warder, 3rd edition, 1999, p. 335.] The scriptural works ofEarly Buddhism precede the Mahayana works chronologically, and are treated by many Western scholars as the main credible source for information regarding the actual historical teachings of Gautama Buddha.Some of the fundamentals of the teachings of Gautama Buddha are:
* The
Four Noble Truths : that suffering is an inherent part of existence; that the origin of suffering is ignorance and the main symptoms of that ignorance are attachment and craving; that attachment and craving can be ceased; and that following theNoble Eightfold Path will lead to the cessation of attachment and craving and therefore suffering.
* TheNoble Eightfold Path : right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.
* Dependent origination: that any phenomenon 'exists' only because of the ‘existence’ of other phenomena in a complex web of cause and effect covering time past, present and future. Because all things are thus conditioned and transient (anicca ), they have no real independent identity (anatta ).
* Rejection of theinfallibility of acceptedscripture : Teachings should not be accepted unless they are borne out by our experience and are praised by the wise. See the "Kalama Sutta " for details.
* "Anicca " (Sanskrit: "anitya"): That all things are impermanent.
* "Anatta " (Sanskrit: "anātman"): That the perception of a constant "self" is an illusion.
* "Dukkha " (Sanskrit: "IAST|duḥkha"): That all beings suffer from all situations due to unclear mind.However, in some Mahayana schools, these points have come to be regarded as more or less subsidiary. There is some disagreement amongst various
schools of Buddhism over more esoteric aspects of Buddha's teachings, and also over some of the disciplinary rules for monks.According to tradition, the Buddha emphasized ethics and correct understanding. He questioned the average person's notions of divinity and salvation. He stated that there is no intermediary between mankind and the divine; distant gods are subjected to
karma themselves in decaying heavens; and the Buddha is solely a guide and teacher for the sentient beings who must tread the path of IAST|Nirvāṇa (Pāli : Nibbāna) themselves to attain the spiritual awakening called "bodhi " and see truth and reality as it is. The Buddhist system of insight andmeditation practice is not believed to have been revealed divinely, but by the understanding of the true nature of the mind, which must be discovered by personally treading a spiritual path guided by the Buddha's teachings.ee also
*
Iconography of the Buddha
*Buddha as an Avatar of Vishnu
*Buddha as viewed in other religions
*Buddhahood
*List of the 28 Buddhas
*Maitreya Buddha (Future Buddha)
*Physical characteristics of the Buddha References
Further reading
*Armstrong, Karen. Buddha. (New York: Penguin Books, 2001).
*Bechert, Heinz (ed.) (1996) "When Did the Buddha Live? The Controversy on the Dating of the Historical Buddha". Delhi: Sri Satguru.
*Sathe, Shriram: Dates of the Buddha. Bharatiya Itihasa Sankalana Samiti, Hyderabad 1987.External links
* [http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/buddha.html A sketch of the Buddha's Life]
* [http://www.synaptic.bc.ca/ejournal/buddhist.htm Critical Resources: Buddha & Buddhism]
* [http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhism/disciples05.htm What Was The Buddha Like?] by Ven S. DhammikaPersondata
NAME=Gautama Buddha
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Siddhārtha Gautama (birth name); Siddhattha Gotama (Pali); Śākya-muni (honorific); Sakyamuni (honorific); Tathāgata (honorific)
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Founder of Buddhism
DATE OF BIRTH=c. 563 BCE
PLACE OF BIRTH=Lumbini ,Nepal
DATE OF DEATH=c. 483 BCE
PLACE OF DEATH=Kusinagara, India
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