The Buddha: Difference between revisions
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'''Gautama Buddha''', also known as '''Siddhārtha Gautama''',{{refn|group=note|([[Sanskrit]]: [[wikt:सिद्धार्थ|सिद्धार्थ]] [[wikt:गौतम|गौतम]] [[wikt:बुद्ध|बुद्ध]]; [[Pali]]: '''Siddhattha Gotama'''; {{lang-si|'}}ගෞතම බුදුරජාණන් වහන්සේ''')}} '''Shakyamuni''',{{refn|group=note|Baroni: "The sage of the Shakya people"{{sfn|Baroni|2002|p=230}}}} or simply the '''Buddha''', was a sage{{sfn|Baroni|2002|p=230}} on whose teachings [[Buddhism]] was founded.<ref>{{cite web|last = Boeree|first = George | authorlink = C. George Boeree |title=An Introduction to Buddhism |
'''Gautama Buddha''', also known as '''Siddhārtha Gautama''',{{refn|group=note|([[Sanskrit]]: [[wikt:सिद्धार्थ|सिद्धार्थ]] [[wikt:गौतम|गौतम]] [[wikt:बुद्ध|बुद्ध]]; [[Pali]]: '''Siddhattha Gotama'''; {{lang-si|'}}ගෞතම බුදුරජාණන් වහන්සේ''')}} '''Shakyamuni''',{{refn|group=note|Baroni: "The sage of the Shakya people"{{sfn|Baroni|2002|p=230}}}} or simply the '''Buddha''', was a sage{{sfn|Baroni|2002|p=230}} on whose teachings [[Buddhism]] was founded.<ref>{{cite web|last = Boeree|first = George | authorlink = C. George Boeree |title=An Introduction to Buddhism |
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|publisher=Shippensburg University|url=http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/buddhaintro.html|accessdate=10 September 2011}}</ref> Born in the [[Shakya|Shakya republic]] in the [[Himalayan foothills]] sometime between the sixth and fourth centuries BCE,{{sfn|warder|2000|p=45}}{{refn|group=note|Scholars traditionally regard Kapilavastu, present-day Nepal, to be the Buddha's birthplace.{{sfn|Warder|2000|p=45}}{{sfn|Walsh|1995|p=20}} Buddhist tradition mentions Lumbini. UNESCO lists [[Lumbini]], [[Nepal]], as a world heritage site and birthplace of Gautama Buddha.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/666|title=Lumbini, the Birthplace of the Lord Buddha|publisher=UNESCO|accessdate=26 May 2011}}</ref><ref group=web name="BuddhistPilgrimageSites">{{cite web|url=http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/t/the-astamahapratiharya-buddhist-pilgrimage-sites/ |title=The Astamahapratiharya: Buddhist pilgrimage sites - Victoria and Albert Museum |publisher=Vam.ac.uk |date= |accessdate=25 December 2012}} |
|publisher=Shippensburg University|url=http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/buddhaintro.html|accessdate=10 September 2011}}</ref> Born in the [[Shakya|Shakya republic]] in the [[Himalayan foothills]] sometime between the sixth and fourth centuries BCE,{{sfn|warder|2000|p=45}}{{refn|group=note|Scholars traditionally regard Kapilavastu, present-day Nepal, to be the Buddha's birthplace.{{sfn|Warder|2000|p=45}}{{sfn|Walsh|1995|p=20}} Buddhist tradition mentions Lumbini. UNESCO lists [[Lumbini]], [[Nepal]], as a world heritage site and birthplace of Gautama Buddha.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/666|title=Lumbini, the Birthplace of the Lord Buddha|publisher=UNESCO|accessdate=26 May 2011}}</ref><ref group=web name="BuddhistPilgrimageSites">{{cite web|url=http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/t/the-astamahapratiharya-buddhist-pilgrimage-sites/ |title=The Astamahapratiharya: Buddhist pilgrimage sites - Victoria and Albert Museum |publisher=Vam.ac.uk |date= |accessdate=25 December 2012}} |
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'''Buddha''' means "awakened one" or "the [[Enlightenment in Buddhism|enlightened]] one." "Buddha" is also used as a title for the first awakened being in an [[Yuga|era]]. In most Buddhist traditions, Siddhartha Gautama is regarded as the [[Buddhahood|Supreme Buddha]] ([[Pali]] ''sammāsambuddha'', [[Sanskrit]] ''samyaksaṃbuddha'') of our age.{{refn|group=note|[[Sister language|Hypothetical root]] ''budh'' "perceive" 1. Pali ''buddha'' – "understood, enlightened", [[Grammatical gender|masculine]] "the ''Buddha''"; Aśokan (the language of the [[Edicts of Ashoka|Inscriptions of Aśoka]]) ''Budhe'' [[Nominative case|nominative]] [[grammatical number|singular]]; [[Prakrit]] ''buddha'' – ‘ known, awakened ’; [[Waigali language|Waigalī]] ''būdāī'', "truth"; [[Kalami language|Bashkarīk]] ''budh'' "he heard"; [[Torwali language|Tōrwālī]] ''būdo'' [[preterite]] of ''bū'', "to see, know" from ''bṓdhati''; [[Phalura language|Phalūṛa]] ''búddo'' preterite of ''buǰǰ '', "to understand" from ''búdhyatē''; [[Shina language|Shina]] Gilgitī dialect ''budo'', "awake"; Gurēsī dialect ''budyōnṷ'' [[Intransitive verb|intransitive]] "to wake"; [[Kashmiri language|Kashmiri]] ''bọ̆du'', "quick of understanding (especially of a child)"; [[Sindhi language|Sindhī]] ''ḇudho'', past [[participle]] ([[Passive voice|passive]]) of ''ḇujhaṇu'', "to understand" from ''búdhyatē'', West [[Pahari languages|Pahāṛī]] ''buddhā'', preterite of ''bujṇā'', "to know"; [[Sinhala language|Sinhalese]] ''buj'' (''j'' written for ''d''), ''budu'', ''bud'', ''but'', "the Buddha".{{cite web |url= http://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/contextualize.pl?p.2.soas.1976481 |title= buddha 9276; 1962–1985 |accessdate=22 February 2010 |last= Turner |first= Sir Ralph Lilley |authorlink= Ralph Lilley Turner |work= A comparative dictionary of the Indo-Aryan languages. London: Oxford University Press |publisher= Digital Dictionaries of South Asia, University of Chicago |page=525}}}} |
'''Buddha''' means "awakened one" or "the [[Enlightenment in Buddhism|enlightened]] one." "Buddha" is also used as a title for the first awakened being in an [[Yuga|era]]. In most Buddhist traditions, Siddhartha Gautama is regarded as the [[Buddhahood|Supreme Buddha]] ([[Pali]] ''sammāsambuddha'', [[Sanskrit]] ''samyaksaṃbuddha'') of our age.{{refn|group=note|[[Sister language|Hypothetical root]] ''budh'' "perceive" 1. Pali ''buddha'' – "understood, enlightened", [[Grammatical gender|masculine]] "the ''Buddha''"; Aśokan (the language of the [[Edicts of Ashoka|Inscriptions of Aśoka]]) ''Budhe'' [[Nominative case|nominative]] [[grammatical number|singular]]; [[Prakrit]] ''buddha'' – ‘ known, awakened ’; [[Waigali language|Waigalī]] ''būdāī'', "truth"; [[Kalami language|Bashkarīk]] ''budh'' "he heard"; [[Torwali language|Tōrwālī]] ''būdo'' [[preterite]] of ''bū'', "to see, know" from ''bṓdhati''; [[Phalura language|Phalūṛa]] ''búddo'' preterite of ''buǰǰ '', "to understand" from ''búdhyatē''; [[Shina language|Shina]] Gilgitī dialect ''budo'', "awake"; Gurēsī dialect ''budyōnṷ'' [[Intransitive verb|intransitive]] "to wake"; [[Kashmiri language|Kashmiri]] ''bọ̆du'', "quick of understanding (especially of a child)"; [[Sindhi language|Sindhī]] ''ḇudho'', past [[participle]] ([[Passive voice|passive]]) of ''ḇujhaṇu'', "to understand" from ''búdhyatē'', West [[Pahari languages|Pahāṛī]] ''buddhā'', preterite of ''bujṇā'', "to know"; [[Sinhala language|Sinhalese]] ''buj'' (''j'' written for ''d''), ''budu'', ''bud'', ''but'', "the Buddha".{{cite web |url= http://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/contextualize.pl?p.2.soas.1976481 |title= buddha 9276; 1962–1985 |accessdate=22 February 2010 |last= Turner |first= Sir Ralph Lilley |authorlink= Ralph Lilley Turner |work= A comparative dictionary of the Indo-Aryan languages. London: Oxford University Press |publisher= Digital Dictionaries of South Asia, University of Chicago |page=525}}}} |
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Revision as of 05:40, 26 June 2014
Gautama Buddha | |
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![]() A statue of the Buddha from Sarnath, 4th century CE | |
Born | Between c. 563 BCE to 483 BCE[1] |
Died | c. 483 BCE (aged 80) or 411 and 400 BCE |
Known for | Founder of Buddhism |
Predecessor | Kassapa Buddha |
Successor | Maitreya Buddha |
Parents |
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Part of a series on |
Buddhism |
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Gautama Buddha, also known as Siddhārtha Gautama,[note 1] Shakyamuni,[note 2] or simply the Buddha, was a sage[4] on whose teachings Buddhism was founded.[5] Born in the Shakya republic in the Himalayan foothills sometime between the sixth and fourth centuries BCE,[6]{{refn|group=note|Scholars traditionally regard Kapilavastu, present-day Nepal, to be the Buddha's birthplace.[7][8] Buddhist tradition mentions Lumbini. UNESCO lists Lumbini, Nepal, as a world heritage site and birthplace of Gautama Buddha.[9]Cite error: A <ref>
tag is missing the closing </ref>
(see the help page). common in his region. He later taught throughout regions of eastern India such as Magadha and Kośala.[10][11]
Gautama is the primary figure in Buddhism, and account of his life, discourses, and monastic rules are believed by Buddhists to have been summarized after his death and memorized by his followers. Various collections of teachings attributed to him were passed down by oral tradition, and first committed to writing about 400 years later.
Historical Siddhārtha Gautama
The times of Gautama's birth and death are uncertain: most historians in the early 20th century dated his lifetime as circa 563 BCE to 483 BCE,[1] but more recent opinion dates his death to between 486 and 483 BCE or, according to some, between 411 and 400 BCE.[12][note 3] However, at a symposium on this question held in 1988,[1][13] the majority of those who presented definite opinions gave dates within 20 years either side of 400 BCE for the Buddha's death. These alternative chronologies, however, have not yet been accepted by all other historians.[14][15] The discovery of a possible Buddhist shrine dated to 550 BCE at the Maya Devi Temple, Lumbini may push back the Buddha's birth date.[16]
The evidence of the early texts suggests that Siddhārtha Gautama was born in a community that was on the periphery, both geographically and culturally, of the northeastern Indian subcontinent in the 5th century BCE.[17] It was either a small republic, in which case his father was an elected chieftain, or an oligarchy, in which case his father was an oligarch.[17]
According to the Theravada Tripitaka scriptures[which?] (from Pali, meaning "three baskets"), Gautama was born in Lumbini in modern-day Nepal, around the year 563 BCE, and raised in Kapilavastu.[18][19]
No written records about Gautama have been found from his lifetime or several centuries thereafter. The Gandhāran Buddhist texts, the oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts, reported to have been found in or around Haḍḍa near Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan and preserved in the British Library today, was written in the Kharoṣṭhī script and the Gāndhārī language on twenty-seven Birch bark scrolls from the first century BCE to the third century CE.[20]
Traditional biographies
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Otgonbayar_Ershuu_Buddha_Painting.jpg/220px-Otgonbayar_Ershuu_Buddha_Painting.jpg)
Biographical sources
The sources for the life of Siddhārtha Gautama are a variety of different, and sometimes conflicting, traditional biographies. These include the Buddhacarita, Lalitavistara Sūtra, Mahāvastu, and the Nidānakathā.[21] Of these, the Buddhacarita[22][23] is the earliest full biography, an epic poem written by the poet Aśvaghoṣa, and dating around the beginning of the 2nd century CE.[21] The Lalitavistara Sūtra is the next oldest biography, a Mahāyāna/Sarvāstivāda biography dating to the 3rd century CE.[24] The Mahāvastu from the Mahāsāṃghika Lokottaravāda tradition is another major biography, composed incrementally until perhaps the 4th century CE.[24] The Dharmaguptaka biography of the Buddha is the most exhaustive, and is entitled the Abhiniṣkramaṇa Sūtra,[25] and various Chinese translations of this date between the 3rd and 6th century CE. Lastly, the Nidānakathā is from the Theravāda tradition in Sri Lanka, was composed in the 5th century CE by Buddhaghoṣa.[26]
From canonical sources, the Jātakas, the Mahapadana Sutta (DN 14), and the Achariyabhuta Sutta (MN 123) include selective accounts that may be older, but are not full biographies. The Jātakas retell previous lives of Gautama as a bodhisattva, and the first collection of these can be dated among the earliest Buddhist texts.[27] The Mahāpadāna Sutta and Achariyabhuta Sutta both recount miraculous events surrounding Gautama's birth, such as the bodhisattva's descent from Tuṣita Heaven into his mother's womb.
Nature of traditional depictions
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ca/Astasahasrika_Prajnaparamita_Queen_Maya_Birth.jpeg/220px-Astasahasrika_Prajnaparamita_Queen_Maya_Birth.jpeg)
Traditional biographies of Gautama generally include numerous miracles, omens, and supernatural events. The character of the Buddha in these traditional biographies is often that of a fully transcendent (Skt. lokottara) and perfected being who is unencumbered by the mundane world. In the Mahāvastu, over the course of many lives, Gautama is said to have developed supramundane abilities including: a painless birth conceived without intercourse; no need for sleep, food, medicine, or bathing, although engaging in such "in conformity with the world"; omniscience, and the ability to "suppress karma".[28] Nevertheless, some of the more ordinary details of his life have been gathered from these traditional sources. In modern times there has been an attempt to form a secular understanding of Siddhārtha Gautama's life by omitting the traditional supernatural elements of his early biographies.
Andrew Skilton writes that the Buddha was never historically regarded by Buddhist traditions as being merely human:[29]
It is important to stress that, despite modern Theravada teachings to the contrary (often a sop to skeptical Western pupils), he was never seen as being merely human. For instance, he is often described as having the thirty-two major and eighty minor marks or signs of a mahāpuruṣa, "superman"; the Buddha himself denied that he was either a man or a god; and in the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta he states that he could live for an aeon were he asked to do so.
The ancient Indians were generally unconcerned with chronologies, being more focused on philosophy. Buddhist texts reflect this tendency, providing a clearer picture of what Gautama may have taught 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 significant accounts exist.[30][full citation needed] British author Karen Armstrong writes that although there is very little information that can be considered historically sound, we can be reasonably confident that Siddhārtha Gautama did exist as a historical figure.[31] [dubious – discuss] Michael Carrithers goes a bit further by stating that the most general outline of "birth, maturity, renunciation, search, awakening and liberation, teaching, death" must be true.[32][unreliable source?]
Biography
Conception and birth
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e2/Birthplacebuddha.jpg/220px-Birthplacebuddha.jpg)
Most scholars regard Kapilavastu, present-day Nepal, to be the birthplace of the Buddha.[7][8][note 5] Other possibilities are Lumbini, present-day Nepal [note 6] Kapileswara, Odisha, present-day India; [note 7] and Piprahwa, Uttar Pradesh, present-day India.[note 8]
Siddharta Gautama was born as a Kshatriya,[36][note 9] the son of Śuddhodana, "an elected chief of the Shakya clan",[7] whose capital was Kapilavastu, and who were later annexed by the growing Kingdom of Kosala during the Buddha's lifetime. Gautama was the family name. His mother, Queen Maha Maya (Māyādevī) and Suddhodana's wife, was a Koliyan princess. Legend has it that, on the night Siddhartha was conceived, Queen Maya dreamt that a white elephant with six white tusks entered her right side,[web 4] and ten months later Siddhartha was born. As was the Shakya tradition, when his mother Queen Maya became pregnant, she left Kapilvastu for her father's kingdom to give birth. However, her son is said to have been born on the way, at Lumbini, in a garden beneath a sal tree.
The day of the Buddha's birth is widely celebrated in Theravada countries as Vesak.[38] Buddha's birth anniversary holiday is called "Buddha Poornima" in India as Buddha is believed to have been born on a full moon day. 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: Siddhattha), meaning "he who achieves his aim". During the birth celebrations, the hermit seer Asita journeyed from his mountain abode and announced that the child would either become a great king (chakravartin) or a great holy man.[39] By traditional account,[which?] this occurred after Siddhartha placed his feet in Asita's hair and Asita examined the birthmarks. Suddhodana held a naming ceremony on the fifth day, and invited eight Brahmin scholars to read the future. All gave a dual prediction that the baby would either become a great king or a great holy man.[39] Kaundinya (Pali: Kondañña), the youngest, and later to be the first arahant other than the Buddha, was reputed to be the only one who unequivocally predicted that Siddhartha would become a Buddha.[40]
While later tradition and legend characterized Śuddhodana as a hereditary monarch, the descendant of the Solar Dynasty of Ikṣvāku (Pāli: Okkāka), many scholars think that Śuddhodana was the elected chief of a tribal confederacy.
Early texts suggest that Gautama was not familiar with the dominant religious teachings of his time until he left on his religious quest, which is said to have been motivated by existential concern for the human condition.[41] At the time, many small city-states existed in Ancient India, called Janapadas. Republics and chiefdoms with diffused political power and limited social stratification, were not uncommon amongst them, and were referred to as gana-sanghas.[42] It was not a monarchy, and seems to have been structured either as an oligarchy, or as a form of republic.[43] The more egalitarian gana-sangha form of government, as a political alternative to the strongly hierarchical kingdoms, may have influenced the development of the Shramana-type Jain and Buddhist sanghas, where monarchies tended toward Vedic Brahmanism.[44]
Early life and marriage
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7e/Departure_of_Siddhartha.jpg/170px-Departure_of_Siddhartha.jpg)
Siddhartha was brought up by his mother's younger sister, Maha Pajapati.[45] By tradition, he is said to have been destined by birth to the life of a prince, and had three palaces (for seasonal occupation) built for him. Although more recent scholarship doubts this status, his father, said to be King Śuddhodana, wishing for his son to be a great king, is said to have shielded him from religious teachings and from knowledge of human suffering.
When he reached the age of 16, his father reputedly arranged his marriage to a cousin of the same age named Yaśodharā (Pāli: Yasodharā). According to the traditional account,[which?] she gave birth to a son, named Rāhula. Siddhartha is said to have spent 29 years as a prince in Kapilavastu. Although his father ensured that Siddhartha was provided with everything he could want or need, Buddhist scriptures say that the future Buddha felt that material wealth was not life's ultimate goal.[45]
Departure and ascetic life
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b3/Siddharta_Gautama_Borobudur.jpg/220px-Siddharta_Gautama_Borobudur.jpg)
At the age of 29, the popular biography[which?] continues, Siddhartha left his palace to meet his subjects. Despite his father's efforts to hide from him the sick, aged and suffering, Siddhartha was said to have seen an old man. When his charioteer Channa explained to him that all people grew old, the prince went on further trips beyond the palace. On these he encountered a diseased man, a decaying corpse, and an ascetic. These depressed him, and he initially strove to overcome aging, sickness, and death by living the life of an ascetic.[46]
Accompanied by Channa and riding his horse Kanthaka, Gautama quit his palace for the life of a mendicant. It's said that, "the horse's hooves were muffled by the gods"[47] to prevent guards from knowing of his departure.
Gautama initially went to Rajagaha and began his ascetic life by begging for alms in the street. After King Bimbisara's men recognised Siddhartha and the king learned of his quest, Bimbisara offered Siddhartha the throne. Siddhartha rejected the offer, but promised to visit his kingdom of Magadha first, upon attaining enlightenment.
He left Rajagaha and practised under two hermit teachers of yogic meditation.[48][49][50] After mastering the teachings of Alara Kalama (Skr. Ārāḍa Kālāma), he was asked by Kalama to succeed him. However, Gautama felt unsatisfied by the practise, and moved on to become a student of yoga with Udaka Ramaputta (Skr. Udraka Rāmaputra).[51] With him he achieved high levels of meditative consciousness, and was again asked to succeed his teacher. But, once more, he was not satisfied, and again moved on.[52]
Siddhartha and a group of five companions led by Kaundinya are then said to have set out to take their austerities even further. They tried to find enlightenment through deprivation of worldly goods, including food, practising 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. He attained a concentrated and focused state that was blissful and refreshing, the jhāna.
Awakening
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c1/Astasahasrika_Prajnaparamita_Victory_Over_Mara.jpeg/220px-Astasahasrika_Prajnaparamita_Victory_Over_Mara.jpeg)
According to the early Buddhist texts,[web 5] after realizing that meditative jhana was the right path to awakening, but that extreme asceticism didn't work, Gautama discovered what Buddhists call the Middle Way[web 5]—a path of moderation away from the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification, or the Noble Eightfold Path, as was identified and described by the Buddha in his first discourse, the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta.[web 5] In a famous incident, after becoming starved and weakened, he is said to have accepted milk and rice pudding from a village girl named Sujata.[web 6] Such was his emaciated appearance that she wrongly believed him to be a spirit that had granted her a wish.[web 6]
Following this incident, Gautama was famously seated under a pipal tree—now known as the Bodhi tree—in Bodh Gaya, India, when he vowed never to arise until he had found the truth.[53] Kaundinya and four other companions, believing that he had abandoned his search and become undisciplined, left. After a reputed 49 days of meditation, at the age of 35, he is said to have attained Enlightenment.[53][54] According to some traditions, this occurred in approximately the fifth lunar month, while, according to others, it was in the twelfth month. From that time, Gautama was known to his followers as the Buddha or "Awakened One" ("Buddha" is also sometimes translated as "The Enlightened One").
According to Buddhism, at the time of his awakening he realized complete insight into the cause of suffering, and the steps necessary to eliminate it. These discoveries became known as the "Four Noble Truths",[54] which are at the heart of Buddhist teaching. Through mastery of these truths, a state of supreme liberation, or Nirvana, is believed to be possible for any being. The Buddha described Nirvāna as the perfect peace of a mind that's free from ignorance, greed, hatred and other afflictive states,[54] or "defilements" (kilesas). Nirvana is also regarded as the "end of the world", in that no personal identity or boundaries of the mind remain. In such a state, a being is said to possess the Ten Characteristics, belonging to every Buddha.
According to a story in the Āyācana Sutta (Samyutta Nikaya VI.1) — a scripture found in the Pāli and other canons — immediately after his awakening, the Buddha debated whether or not he should teach the Dharma to others. He was concerned that humans were so overpowered by ignorance, greed and hatred that they could never recognise the path, which is subtle, deep and hard to grasp. However, in the story, Brahmā Sahampati convinced him, arguing that at least some will understand it. The Buddha relented, and agreed to teach.
Formation of the sangha
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/78/Sarnath1.jpg/220px-Sarnath1.jpg)
After his awakening, the Buddha met two merchants, named Tapussa and Bhallika, who became his first lay disciples. It is said that each given hairs from his head, which are now claimed to be enshrined as relics in the Shwe Dagon Temple in Rangoon, Burma. The Buddha intended to visit Asita, and his former teachers, Alara Kalama and Udaka Ramaputta, to explain his findings, but they had already died.
He then travelled to the Deer Park near Vārāṇasī (Benares) in northern India, where he set in motion what Buddhists call the Wheel of Dharma by delivering his first sermon to the five companions with whom he had sought enlightenment. Together with him, they formed the first saṅgha: the company of Buddhist monks.
All five become arahants, and within the first two months, with the conversion of Yasa and fifty four of his friends, the number of such arahants is said to have grown to 60. The conversion of three brothers named Kassapa followed, with their reputed 200, 300 and 500 disciples, respectively. This swelled the sangha to more than 1,000.
Travels and teaching
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/TheBuddhaAndVajrapaniGandhara2ndCentury.jpg/170px-TheBuddhaAndVajrapaniGandhara2ndCentury.jpg)
For the remaining 45 years of his life, the Buddha is said to have traveled in the Gangetic Plain, in what is now Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and southern Nepal, teaching a diverse range of people: from nobles to servants, murderers such as Angulimala, and cannibals such as Alavaka. Although the Buddha's language remains unknown, it's likely that he taught in one or more of a variety of closely related Middle Indo-Aryan dialects, of which Pali may be a standardization.
The sangha traveled through the subcontinent, expounding the dharma. This continued throughout the year, except during the four months of the vassana rainy season when ascetics of all religions rarely traveled. One reason was that it was more difficult to do so without causing harm to animal life. At this time of year, the sangha would retreat to monasteries, public parks or forests, where people would come to them.
The first vassana was spent at Varanasi when the sangha was formed. After this, the Buddha kept a promise to travel to Rajagaha, capital of Magadha, to visit King Bimbisara. During this visit, Sariputta and Maudgalyayana were converted by Assaji, one of the first five disciples, after which they were to become the Buddha's two foremost followers. The Buddha spent the next three seasons at Veluvana Bamboo Grove monastery in Rajagaha, capital of Magadha.
Upon hearing of his son's awakening, Suddhodana sent, over a period, ten delegations to ask him to return to Kapilavastu. On the first nine occasions, the delegates failed to deliver the message, and instead joined the sangha to become arahants. The tenth delegation, led by Kaludayi, a childhood friend of Gautama's (who also became an arahant), however, delivered the message.
Now two years after his awakening, the Buddha agreed to return, and made a two-month journey by foot to Kapilavastu, teaching the dharma as he went. At his return, the royal palace prepared a midday meal, but the sangha was making an alms round in Kapilavastu. Hearing this, Suddhodana approached his son, the Buddha, saying:
"Ours is the warrior lineage of Mahamassata, and not a single warrior has gone seeking alms."
The Buddha is said to have replied:
"That is not the custom of your royal lineage. But it is the custom of my Buddha lineage. Several thousands of Buddhas have gone by seeking alms."
Buddhist texts say that Suddhodana invited the sangha into the palace for the meal, followed by a dharma talk. After this he is said to have become a sotapanna. During the visit, many members of the royal family joined the sangha. The Buddha's cousins Ananda and Anuruddha became two of his five chief disciples. At the age of seven, his son Rahula also joined, and became one of his ten chief disciples. His half-brother Nanda also joined and became an arahant.
Of the Buddha's disciples, Sariputta, Maudgalyayana, Mahakasyapa, Ananda and Anuruddha are believed to have been the five closest to him. His ten foremost disciples were reputedly completed by the quintet of Upali, Subhoti, Rahula, Mahakaccana and Punna.
In the fifth vassana, the Buddha was staying at Mahavana near Vesali when he heard news of the impending death of his father. He is said to have gone to Suddhodana and taught the dharma, after which his father became an arahant.
The king's death and cremation was to inspire the creation of an order of nuns. Buddhist texts record that the Buddha was reluctant to ordain women. His foster mother Maha Pajapati, for example, approached him, asking to join the sangha, but he refused. Maha Pajapati, however, was so intent on the path of awakening that she led a group of royal Sakyan and Koliyan ladies, which followed the sangha on a long journey to Rajagaha. In time, after Ananda championed their cause, the Buddha is said to have reconsidered and, five years after the formation of the sangha, agreed to the ordination of women as nuns. He reasoned that males and females had an equal capacity for awakening. But he gave women additional rules (Vinaya) to follow.
Assassination attempts
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According to colorful legends, even during the Buddha's life the sangha was not free of dissent and discord. For example, Devadatta, a cousin of Gautama who became a monk but not an arahant, more than once tried to kill him.
Initially, Devadatta is alleged to have often tried to undermine the Buddha. In one instance, according to stories, Devadatta even asked the Buddha to stand aside and let him lead the sangha. When this failed, he is accused of having three times tried to kill his teacher. The first attempt is said to have involved him hiring a group of archers to shoot the awakened one. But, upon meeting the Buddha, they laid down their bows and instead became followers. A second attempt is said to have involved Devadatta rolling a boulder down a hill. But this hit another rock and splintered, only grazing the Buddha's foot. In the third attempt, Devadatta is said to have got an elephant drunk and set it loose. This ruse also failed.
After his lack of success at homicide, Devadatta is said to have tried to create a schism in the sangha, by proposing extra restrictions on the vinaya. When the Buddha again prevailed, Devadatta started a breakaway order. At first, he managed to convert some of the bhikkhus, but Sariputta and Maudgalyayana are said to have expounded the dharma so effectively that they were won back.
Mahaparinirvana
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/88/Astasahasrika_Prajnaparamita_Buddha_Parinirvana.jpeg/220px-Astasahasrika_Prajnaparamita_Buddha_Parinirvana.jpeg)
According to the Mahaparinibbana Sutta of the Pali canon, at the age of 80, the Buddha announced that he would soon reach Parinirvana, or the final deathless state, and abandon his earthly body. After this, the Buddha ate his last meal, 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.[web 7] Dr Mettanando and Von Hinüber argue that the Buddha died of mesenteric infarction, a symptom of old age, rather than food poisoning.[55][note 10]
The precise contents of the Buddha's final meal are not clear, due to variant scriptural traditions and ambiguity over the translation of certain significant terms; the Theravada tradition generally believes that the Buddha was offered some kind of pork, while the Mahayana tradition believes that the Buddha consumed some sort of truffle or other mushroom. These may reflect the different traditional views on Buddhist vegetarianism and the precepts for monks and nuns.
Ananda protested the Buddha's decision to enter Parinirvana in the abandoned jungles of Kuśināra (present-day Kushinagar, India) of the Malla kingdom. The Buddha, however, is said to have reminded Ananda how Kushinara was a land once ruled by a righteous wheel-turning king that resounded with joy:
44. Kusavati, Ananda, resounded unceasingly day and night with ten sounds—the trumpeting of elephants, the neighing of horses, the rattling of chariots, the beating of drums and tabours, music and song, cheers, the clapping of hands, and cries of "Eat, drink, and be merry!"
The Buddha then asked all the attendant Bhikkhus to clarify any doubts or questions they had. They had none. According to Buddhist scriptures, he then finally entered Parinirvana. The Buddha's final words are reported to have been: "All composite things (Saṅkhāra) are perishable. Strive for your own liberation with diligence" (Pali: 'vayadhammā saṅkhārā appamādena sampādethā'). His body was cremated and the relics were placed in monuments or stupas, some of which are believed to have survived until the present. For example, The Temple of the Tooth or "Dalada Maligawa" in Sri Lanka is the place where what some believe to be the relic of the right tooth of Buddha is kept at present.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c2/Life_Scenes_of_Buddha_-_Birth-Enlightenment-Descent_from_Heaven-First_Sermon-Passing_Away_-_Circa_2nd_Century_CE_-_Rajghat_-_ACCN_00-H-1_-_Government_Museum_-_Mathura_2013-02-23_5843.JPG/220px-thumbnail.jpg)
According to the Pāli historical chronicles of Sri Lanka, the Dīpavaṃsa and Mahāvaṃsa, the coronation of Emperor Aśoka (Pāli: Asoka) is 218 years after the death of Buddha. According to two textual records in Chinese (十八部論 and 部執異論), the coronation of Emperor 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 545 BCE, because the reign of Emperor Aśoka was traditionally reckoned to be about 60 years earlier than current estimates. In Burmese Buddhist tradition, the date of the Buddha's death is 13 May 544 BCE,[56] whereas in Thai tradition it is 11 March 545 BCE.[57]
At his death, the Buddha is famously believed to have told his disciples to follow no leader. Mahakasyapa was chosen by the sangha to be the chairman of the First Buddhist Council, with the two chief disciples Maudgalyayana and Sariputta having died before the Buddha.
While in Buddha's days he was addressed by the very respected titles Buddha, Shākyamuni, Shākyasimha, Bhante and Bho, he was known after his parinirvana as Arihant, Bhagavā/Bhagavat/Bhagwān, Mahāvira,[58] Jina/Jinendra, Sāstr, Sugata, and most popularly in scriptures as Tathāgata.
Relics
After his death, Buddha's cremation relics were divided amongst 8 royal families and his disciples; centuries later they would be enshrined by King Ashoka into 84,000 stupas.[59] [60] Many supernatural legends surround the history of alleged relics as they accompanied the spread of Buddhism and gave legitimacy to rulers.
Physical characteristics
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/Buddha_Victoria_%26_Albert.jpg/170px-Buddha_Victoria_%26_Albert.jpg)
An extensive and colorful physical description of the Buddha has been laid down in scriptures. 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 the Buddha is said to have felt impelled to tell him to desist, and to have reminded him that he should know the Buddha through the Dhamma and not through physical appearances.
Although there are no extant representations of the Buddha in human form until around the 1st century CE (see Buddhist art), descriptions of the physical characteristics of fully enlightened buddhas are attributed to the Buddha in the Digha Nikaya's Lakkhaṇa Sutta (D,I:142).[61] In addition, the Buddha's physical appearance is described by Yasodhara to their son Rahula 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").[web 9]
Among the 32 main characteristics it is mentioned that Buddha has blue eyes.[62]
Nine virtues
Recollection of nine virtues attributed to the Buddha is a common Buddhist devotional practice. The nine virtues are also among the 40 Buddhist meditation subjects. The nine virtues of the Buddha appear throughout the Tipitaka,[63] and include:
- Buddho – Awakened
- Sammasambuddho – Perfectly self-awakened
- Vijja-carana-sampano – Endowed with higher knowledge and ideal conduct.
- Sugato – Well-gone or Well-spoken.
- Lokavidu – Wise in the knowledge of the many worlds.
- Anuttaro Purisa-damma-sarathi – Unexcelled trainer of untrained people.
- Satthadeva-Manussanam – Teacher of gods and humans.
- Bhagavathi – The Blessed one
- Araham – Worthy of homage. An Arahant is "one with taints destroyed, who has lived the holy life, done what had to be done, laid down the burden, reached the true goal, destroyed the fetters of being, and is completely liberated through final knowledge."
Teachings
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/da/China-Shanghai-Jade_Buddha_Temple_6048-05.jpg/220px-China-Shanghai-Jade_Buddha_Temple_6048-05.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/60/Buddha_at_pandav_cave.jpg/220px-Buddha_at_pandav_cave.jpg)
Some scholars believe that some portions of the Pali Canon and the Āgamas contain the actual substance of the historical teachings (and possibly even the words) of the Buddha.[note 11][note 12] Some scholars believe the Pali Canon and the Agamas pre-date the Mahāyāna sūtras.[note 13] The scriptural works of Early 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. However, some scholars do not think that the texts report on historical events.[64][dubious – discuss][65][66]
Hajime Nakamura writes that there is nothing in the traditional Buddhist texts that can be clearly attributed to Gautama as a historical figure:[67]
[I]n the Buddhist texts there is no word that can be traced with unquestionable authority to Gautama Śākyamuni as a historical personage, although there must be some sayings or phrases derived from him.
Some of the fundamentals of the teachings attributed to Gautama Buddha are:
- The Four Noble Truths: that suffering is an ingrained part of existence; that the origin of suffering is craving for sensuality, acquisition of identity, and annihilation; that suffering can be ended; and that following the Noble Eightfold Path is the means to accomplish this;
- The Noble Eightfold Path: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration;
- Dependent origination: the mind creates suffering as a natural product of a complex process;
- Rejection of the infallibility of accepted scripture: 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 that come to be have an end;
- Dukkha (Sanskrit: duḥkha): That nothing which comes to be is ultimately satisfying;
- Anattā (Sanskrit: anātman): That nothing in the realm of experience can really be said to be "I" or "mine";
- Nibbāna (Sanskrit: Nirvāna): It is possible for sentient beings to realize a dimension of awareness which is totally unconstructed and peaceful, and end all suffering due to the mind's interaction with the conditioned world.
However, in some Mahayana schools, these points have come to be regarded as more or less subsidiary. There is disagreement amongst various schools of Buddhism over more complex aspects of what the Buddha is believed to have taught, and also over some of the disciplinary rules for monks.
According to tradition, the Buddha emphasized ethics and correct understanding. He questioned everyday 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 only a guide and teacher for beings who must tread the path of Nirvāṇa (Pāli: Nibbāna) themselves to attain the spiritual awakening called bodhi and understand reality. The Buddhist system of insight and meditation practice is not claimed to have been divinely revealed, but to spring from an understanding of the true nature of the mind, which must be discovered by treading the path guided by the Buddha's teachings.
Other religions
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/Avatarbuddha.jpg/220px-Avatarbuddha.jpg)
Some Hindus regard Gautama as the 9th avatar of Vishnu.[note 4]
The Buddha is also regarded as a prophet by the Ahmadiyya Muslims[68][69][70] and a Manifestation of God in the Bahá'í Faith.[71] Some early Chinese Taoist-Buddhists thought the Buddha to be a reincarnation of Lao Tzu.[72]
The Christian Saint Josaphat is based on the life of the Buddha. The name comes from the Sanskrit Bodhisattva via Arabic Būdhasaf and Georgian Iodasaph.[73] The only story in which St. Josaphat appears, Barlaam and Josaphat, is based on the life of the Buddha.[74] Josaphat was included in earlier editions of the Roman Martyrology (feast day 27 November) — though not in the Roman Missal — and in the Eastern Orthodox Church liturgical calendar (26 August).
Depiction in arts and media
- Films
- Little Buddha, a 1994 film by Bernardo Bertolucci
- Prem Sanyas, a 1925 silent film, directed by Franz Osten and Himansu Rai
- Television
- Buddha (TV series),a 2013 mythological drama on Zee TV
- Literature
- The Light of Asia, an 1879 epic poem by Edwin Arnold
- Buddha, a manga series that ran from 1972 to 1983 by Osamu Tezuka
- Siddhartha (novel) by Hermann Hesse, written in German in 1922
- Music
- Karuna Nadee, a 2010 oratorio by Dinesh Subasinghe
- The Light of Asia, an 1886 oratorio by Dudley Buck
See also
- Atamasthana (eight sacred places in Sri Lanka)
- Bodh Gaya
- Gautama Buddha in Hinduism
- Buddhahood
- History of Buddhism
- Iconography of the Buddha
- Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi, south branch of original fig tree planted in Anuradhapura
- List of the 28 Buddhas
- Maitreya Buddha (future Buddha)
- Seokbosangjeol
- Tharu people
Notes
- ^ (Sanskrit: सिद्धार्थ गौतम बुद्ध; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama; Sinhala: 'ගෞතම බුදුරජාණන් වහන්සේ)
- ^ Baroni: "The sage of the Shakya people"[4]
- ^ "[...], as is now almost universally accepted by informed Indological scholarship, a re-examination of early Buddhist historical material, [...], necessitates a redating of the Buddha's death to between 411 and 400 BCE, [...]" —Paul Dundas, The Jains, 2nd edition, (Routledge, 2001).[web 1]
- ^ a b Nagendra Kumar Singh (1997). "Buddha as depicted in the Purāṇas". Encyclopaedia of Hinduism, Volume 7. Anmol Publications PVT. LTD. pp. 260–275. ISBN 978-81-7488-168-7. Retrieved 16 April 2012.[dead link]
- ^ Warder: "The Buddha [...] was born in the Sakya Republic, which was the city state of Kapilavastu, a very small state just inside the modern state boundary of Nepal against the Indian frontier.[7]
Walsh: "He belonged to the Sakya clan dwelling on the edge of the Himalayas, his actual birthplace being a few miles north of the present-day Indian border, in Nepal. His father was in fact an elected chief of the clan rather than the king he was later made out to be, though his title was raja - a term which only partly corresponds to our word 'king'. Some of the states of North India at that time were kingdoms and others republics, and the Sakyan republic was subject to the powerful king of neighbouring Kosala, which lay to the south".[8] - ^ Lumbini figures in Buddhist narratives about buddha's conception and birth. UNESCO lists Lumbini, Nepal, as a world heritage site and birthplace of Gautama Buddha.[web 2][web 3]
- ^ There are also claims and speculations about birthplace to be Kapileswara, Odisha[33][34]
- ^ There are limited sources for this contention.[35]
- ^ According to Geoffrey Samuel, the Buddha was born as a Kshatriya,[36] in a moderate Vedic culture at the central Ganges Plain area, where the shramana-traditions developed. This area had a moderate Vedic culture, where the kshatriyas were the highest varna, in contrast to the Brahmanic ideology of Kuru-Panchala, were the Brahmins had become the highest varna.[36] Both the Vedic culture and the shramana tradition contributed to the emergence of the so-called "Hindu-synthesis" around the start of the Common Era.[37][36]
- ^ See also this article by Mettanando saying the same thing:[web 8]
- ^ 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
- ^ 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.
References
Written references
- ^ a b c L. S. Cousins (1996), "The dating of the historical Buddha: a review article", Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (3)6(1): 57–63.
- ^ "Lumbini, the Birthplace of the Lord Buddha". UNESCO. Retrieved 7 September 2013.
- ^ http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/odisha/article594888.ece
- ^ a b Baroni 2002, p. 230.
- ^ Boeree, George. "An Introduction to Buddhism". Shippensburg University. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
- ^ warder 2000, p. 45.
- ^ a b c d Warder 2000, p. 45.
- ^ a b c Walsh 1995, p. 20.
- ^ "Lumbini, the Birthplace of the Lord Buddha". UNESCO. Retrieved 26 May 2011.
- ^ Warder, A.K. Indian Buddhism. 2000. p. 45
- ^ Skilton, Andrew. A Concise History of Buddhism. 2004. p. 41.
- ^ See the consensus in the essays by leading scholars in The Date of the Historical Śākyamuni Buddha (2003) Edited by A. K. Narain. B. R. Publishing Corporation, New Delhi. ISBN 81-7646-353-1.
- ^ Prebish, Charles S. (2008). Cooking the Buddhist Books: The Implications of the New Dating of the Buddha for the History of Early Indian Buddhism, Journal of Buddhist Ethics 15, p. 2 PDF
- ^ Hans Wolfgang Schumann (2003). The Historical Buddha: The Times, Life, and Teachings of the Founder of Buddhism, p. xv. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. ISBN 8120818172.
- ^ Alex Wayman (1993) Untying the Knots in Buddhism: Selected Essays, pp 37-58. Motilal Banarsidass Publ.
- ^ Vergano, Dan (25 November 2013). "Oldest Buddhist Shrine Uncovered In Nepal May Push Back the Buddha's Birth Date". National Geographic. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
- ^ a b Richard Gombrich, Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benares to Modern Colombo. Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1988, page 49.
- ^ UNESCO, Lumbini is the birthplace of the Lord Buddha, Gethin Foundations, p. 19, which states that in the mid-3rd century BCE the Emperor Ashoka determined that Lumbini was Gautama's birthplace and thus installed a pillar there with the inscription: "... this is where the Buddha, sage of the Śākyas (Śākyamuni), was born."
- ^ For instance, Gethin Foundations, p. 14, states: "The earliest Buddhist sources state that the future Buddha was born Siddhārtha Gautama (Pali Siddhattha Gotama), the son of a local chieftain—a rājan—in Kapilavastu (Pali Kapilavatthu) what is now the Indian–Nepalese border." However, Professor Gombrich (Theravāda Buddhism, p. 1) and the old but specialized study by Edward Thomas, The Life of the Buddha, ascribe the name Siattha/fitta to later sources.
- ^ "UW Press: Ancient Buddhist Scrolls from Gandhara". Retrieved 4 September 2008.
- ^ a b Fowler, Mark. Zen Buddhism: beliefs and practices. Sussex Academic Press. 2005. p. 32
- ^ Beal, Samuel 1883
- ^ Cowell, E.B. 1894
- ^ a b Karetzky, Patricia. Early Buddhist Narrative Art. 2000. p. xxi
- ^ Beal, Samuel 1875
- ^ Swearer, Donald. Becoming the Buddha. 2004. p. 177
- ^ Schober, Juliane. Sacred biography in the Buddhist traditions of South and Southeast Asia. Motilal Banarsidass. 2002. p. 20
- ^ Jones, J.J. The Mahāvastu (3 vols.) in Sacred Books of the Buddhists. London: Luzac & Co. 1949–56.
- ^ Skilton, Andrew. A Concise History of Buddhism. 2004. pp. 64-65
- ^ Carrithers, page 15.
- ^ Armstrong, Karen (2000). Buddha. Orion. p. xii. ISBN 978-0-7538-1340-9.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: postscript (link) - ^ Carrithers, M. 2001. The Buddha: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press
- ^ Mahāpātra 1977.
- ^ Tripathy & year unknown.
- ^ Nakamura 1980, p. 18.
- ^ a b c d Samuel 2010.
- ^ Hiltebeitel 2002.
- ^ Turpie, D. 2001. Wesak And The Re-Creation of Buddhist Tradition. Master's Thesis. Montreal, Quebec: McGill University. (p. 3). Available from: Mcgill.ca. Retrieved 17 November 2006.
- ^ a b Narada (1992). A Manual of Buddhism. Buddha Educational Foundation. p. 9–12. ISBN 967-9920-58-5.
- ^ Narada (1992), p11-12
- ^ Sue Hamilton, Early Buddhism: A New Approach: The I of the Beholder. Routledge 2000, page 47.
- ^ Romila Thapar, The Penguin History of Early India: From Origins to AD 1300. Penguin Books, 2002, page 137.
- ^ Richard Gombrich, Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benares to Modern Colombo. Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1988, pages 49-50.
- ^ Romila Thapar, The Penguin History of Early India: From Origins to AD 1300. Penguin Books, 2002, page 146.
- ^ a b Narada (1992), p14
- ^ Conze (1959), pp39-40
- ^ Narada (1992), pp15-16
- ^ Upadhyaya, K. N. (1971). Early Buddhism and the Bhagavadgita. Dehli, India: Motilal Banarsidass. p. 95. ISBN 978-8120808805.
- ^ Laumakis, Stephen. An Introduction to Buddhist philosophy. 2008. p. 8
- ^ Grubin, David (Director), Gere, Richard (Narrator) (2010). The Buddha: The Story of Siddhartha (DVD). David Grubin Productions. 27:25 minutes in. ASIN B0033XUHAO.
- ^ Armstrong, Karen (2004). Buddha. New York, USA: Penguin Books. p. 77. ISBN 978-0143034360.
- ^ Narada (1992), pp19-20
- ^ a b Gyatso, Geshe Kelsang (2007). Introduction to Buddhism An Explanation of the Buddhist Way of Life. Tharpa. pp. 8–9. ISBN 978-0-9789067-7-1.
{{cite book}}
: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=
(help) - ^ a b c "The Basic Teaching of Buddha". Online.sfsu.edu. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
- ^ Mettanando Bhikkhu and Oskar von Hinueber, "The Cause of the Buddha's Death"; Vol. XXVI of the Journal of the Pali Text Society, 2000.
- ^ Kala, U (1724). Maha Yazawin Gyi (in Burmese). Vol. 1 (2006, 4th printing ed.). Yangon: Ya-Pyei Publishing. p. 39.
- ^ Eade, J.C. (1995). The Calendrical Systems of Mainland South-East Asia (illustrated ed.). Brill. pp. 15–16. ISBN 9789004104372.
- ^ Gatha of Theri Sundari Thig. verses 335-336, P. 22, Buddhist Images of Human Perfection: The Arahant of the Sutta Piṭaka By Katz Nathan
- ^ Donald S. Lope Jr. "Buddha".
- ^ Strong 2007, p. 136-137.
- ^ Maurice Walshe, The Long Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Dīgha Nikāya, 1995, Boston: Wisdom Publications, "[DN] 30: Lakkhaṇa Sutta: The Marks of a Great Man," pp. 441-60.
- ^ Epstein, Ronald. Buddhist Text Translation Society's Buddhism A to Z. 2003. p. 200.
- ^ Ven. Dr. K. Sri Dhammananda GREAT VIRTUES OF THE BUDDHA
- ^ Bareau, André, Les récits canoniques des funérailles du Buddha et leurs anomalies : nouvel essai d'interprétation, BEFEO, t. LXII, Paris, 1975, pp.151-189.
- ^ Bareau, André, La composition et les étapes de la formation progressive du Mahaparinirvanasutra ancien, BEFEO, t. LXVI, Paris, 1979, pp. 45-103.
- ^ Shimoda, Masahiro, How has the Lotus Sutra Created Social Movements: The Relationship of the Lotus Sutra to the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra, in A Buddhist Kaleidoscope, (pp320-22) Ed Gene Reves, Kosei 2002
- ^ Nakamura, Hajime. Indian Buddhism: A Survey with Bibliographical Notes. 1999. p. 57
- ^ Islam and the Ahmadiyya jamaʻat. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
- ^ "Buddhism". Islam International Publications. Retrieved 9 September 2010.
- ^ "An Overview". Alislam. Retrieved 9 September 2010.
- ^ Smith, Peter (2000). "Manifestations of God". A concise encyclopedia of the Bahá'í Faith. Oxford: Oneworld Publications. p. 231. ISBN 1-85168-184-1.
- ^ The Cambridge History of China, Vol.1, (The Ch'in and Han Empires, 221 BC—220 BC) ISBN 0-521-24327-0 hardback
- ^ Macdonnel, Arthur Anthony (1900). "
Sanskrit Literature and the West.". A History of Sanskrit Literature. New York: D. Appleton and Co. p. 420.
- ^ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. .
Online references
- ^ p. 24. Books.google.com. 2002. ISBN 9780415266062. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
- ^ a b "Lumbini, the Birthplace of the Lord Buddha". UNESCO. Retrieved 26 May 2011.
- ^ "The Astamahapratiharya: Buddhist pilgrimage sites - Victoria and Albert Museum". Vam.ac.uk. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
- ^ "Sacred-texts.com". Sacred-texts.com. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
- ^ a b c "Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta: Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion". Accesstoinsight.org. 12 February 2012. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
- ^ a b "The Golden Bowl". Buddhanet.net. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
- ^ Maha-parinibbana Sutta (DN 16), verse 56
- ^ "Buddhanet.net". Buddhanet.net. 15 May 2001. Retrieved 25 December 2012.[dead link]
- ^ "Buddhanet.net Ven. Elgiriye Indaratana Maha Thera, ''Vandana: The Album of Pali Devotional Chanting and Hymns'', 2002" (PDF). pp. 49–52. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
Sources
- Beal, Samuel (transl.), Asvaghosa (1883): The Fo-sho-hing-tsan-king, a life of Buddha, Clarendon, Oxford . Internet Archive (PDF 17,7 MB)
- Baroni, Helen J. (2002). "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Zen Buddhism". The Rosen Publishing GroupTemplate:Inconsistent citations
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(help)CS1 maint: postscript (link) - Beal, Samuel (transl.), (1875): The romantic legend of Sâkya Buddha, Trübner, London. Abhiniṣkramaṇa Sūtra (PDF 10,5 MB)
- Cowell, E.B. (transl.), (1894): The Buddha-Karita of Ashvaghosa. In Max Müller (ed.): Sacred Books of the East Vol. XLIX, Clarendon, Oxford Internet Archive (PDF 14,8 MB)
- Hiltebeitel, Alf (2002), Hinduism. In: Joseph Kitagawa, "The Religious Traditions of Asia: Religion, History, and Culture", Routledge
- Mahāpātra, Cakradhara (1977). "The real birth place of Buddha". Grantha MandirTemplate:Inconsistent citations
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(help)CS1 maint: postscript (link) - Nakamura, Hajime (1980). Indian Buddhism: a survey with bibliographical notes. Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN 978-81-208-0272-8Template:Inconsistent citations
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: CS1 maint: postscript (link) - Rockhill, William Woodville (1884): The life of the Buddha and the early history of his order, derived from Tibetan works in the Bkah-Hgyur and Bstan-Hgyur, followed by notices on the early history of Tibet and Khoten, Trübner, London. Internet Archive (PDF 13,8 MB). Reprint: Hoboken: Taylor and Francis, 2012
- Samuel, Geoffrey (2010), The Origins of Yoga and Tantra. Indic Religions to the Thirteenth Century, Cambridge University Press
- Strong, John S. (2007), Relics of the Buddha, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers
- Tripathy, Ajit Kumar. citations%5d%5d "The Real Birth Place of Buddha. Yesterday's Kapilavastu, Today's Kapileswar. In: The Orissa historical research journal, Volume 47".
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value (help) - Walshe, Maurice (1995). "The Long Discourses of the Buddha. A Translation of the Digha Nikaya". Boston: Wisdom PublicationsTemplate:Inconsistent citations
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(help)CS1 maint: postscript (link) - Warder, A.K. (2000). "Indian Buddhism". Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass PublishersTemplate:Inconsistent citations
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(help)CS1 maint: postscript (link) - Willemen, Charles, transl. (2009), Buddhacarita: In Praise of Buddha's Acts, Berkeley, Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research. ISBN 978-1886439-42-9 PDF
Further reading
- Ambedkar, B.R. (1957). The Buddha and His Dhamma. Bombay: People's Education Society.
- Armstrong, Karen (2001). Buddha. New York: Penguin Books.
- Bechert, Heinz, ed. (1996). When Did the Buddha Live? The Controversy on the Dating of the Historical Buddha. Delhi: Sri Satguru.
- Chopra, Deepak (2008). Buddha: A Story of Enlightenment. New York, USA: HarperOne. ISBN 978-0060878818.
- Conze, Edward, trans. (1959). Buddhist Scriptures. London: Penguin Books.
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - Ñāṇamoli, Bhikku (1992). The Life of the Buddha According to the Pali Canon (3rd ed.). Kandy, Sri Lanka: Buddhist Publication Society.
- Ortner, Jon (2003). Buddha. New York: Welcome Books.
- Rahula, Walpola (1974). What the Buddha Taught (2nd ed.). New York: Grove Press.
- Reps, Paul; Senzaki, Nyogen (1957). Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings. New York: Doubleday.
- Robinson, Richard H.; Johnson, Willard L.; Wawrytko, Sandra A.; DeGraff, Geoffrey (1996). The Buddhist Religion: A Historical Introduction. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co.
- Sathe, Shriram (1987). Dates of the Buddha. Hyderabad: Bharatiya Itihasa Sankalana Samiti.
- Senzaki, Nyogen; McCandless, Ruth Strout (1953). Buddhism and Zen. New York: Philosophical Library.
External links
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- Buddha on In Our Time at the BBC
- A sketch of the Buddha's Life
- Critical Resources: Buddha and Buddhism
- What Was The Buddha Like? by Ven S. Dhammika
- Photo Feature on early sites of Buddhism
- Use dmy dates from July 2011
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