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"Siddhartha" redirects here. For other uses, see Siddhartha (disambiguation) .

"Gautama" redirects here. For other uses, see Gautama (disambiguation) .


Gautama Buddha was a spiritual teacher of ancient India . He was born in Lumbini , a place situated in modern Nepal near the borders of modern India . He spent most of his life in the regions of Northern India . His dates are the subject of conflicting tradition and scholarly controversy. A consensus through much of the 20th century placed his dates of birth at 563 BCE and his death at 483 BCE . Almost all traditional accounts would place his dates sixty or more years earlier; some current scholars, on the other hand, place him as much as a century later, e.g. 480 BCE - 400 BCE . This revision affects the dating of many other events in early India that depend on the Buddha's date. (See the review article by Cousins for discussion {Link without Title} .)

Born with the name (according to most texts) of Siddhārtha (Sanskrit) or '''Siddhattha''' (Pāli), meaning "he who has achieved his goals", he belonged to the clan or (Pāli: Kapilavatthu).

Gautama, after entering on a quest for the causes of life and death, underwent a transformative spiritual change that led him to claim the name of gotra") and as the Tathāgata ("thus-come-one").

Gautama is the key figure in Buddhism , and accounts of his life, discourses, and Monastic rules were summarized after his death and memorized by the Saṅgha . Passed down by Oral Tradition , the Tripiṭaka , the collection of discourses attributed to Gautama, was committed to Writing about four hundred years later.


BUDDHA'S LIFE

Few of the details of the Buddha's life can be independently verified, and it is difficult to determine what is history and what is Myth . Therefore this article will describe the life of Siddhārtha Gautama as told in the earliest available Buddhist Texts .


Conception and birth

's white elephant dream. Gandhara , 2-3rd century CE.]]

According to tradition, Siddhārtha was born more than two hundred years before the reign of the Maurya king Aśoka . His mother dreamt one night that an elephant with six tusks and a head the colour of rubies came down from the highest heaven and entered her womb on the right side. Eight Brahmins told her husband the child would be holy and achieve perfect wisdom. Later she entered the garden of Lumbini with her attendants, and walked beneath the Śālā tree, which bent down. The queen took hold of the branch and looked up to the heavens. At that moment Siddhārtha was born out of her side. He immediately took seven steps towards each quarter of heaven, and at each step a lotus flower sprung up. He then declared he would have no more births, that this was his last body and he would pluck out by the roots sorrow caused by birth and death.