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sculpture, ancient region of Gandhara , northern Pakistan , 1st century CE, Musée Guimet .]] Siddhārtha Gautama ('' 563 BCE to 483 BC E, but some more recent scholars have suggested dates around 410 or 400 BCE for his death. The Dating of the Historical Buddha: A Review Article This alternative chronology, however, has not yet been accepted by other historians.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. Gautama, also known as ''Shakyamuni'' (“sage of the Shakya s”, in Pali "śakamuṇi"), is the key figure in Buddhism, and accounts of his life, discourses, and Monastic rules were summarized after his death and memorized by the Sangha . Passed down by Oral Tradition , the '' Tripitaka '', the collection of discourses attributed to Gautama, was committed to Writing about 400 years later. BUDDHA'S LIFE Sources 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. This was done orally until three generations after the Buddha's death, when they were recorded. 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, page 13. 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. The following is a summary of what is found in these texts. Conception and birth According to Tradition , Siddhārtha was born more than 200 years before the reign of the Maurya king Aśoka (273–232 BCE). Siddhartha was born in , the chief of the Shakya nation, one of several ancient tribes in the growing state of Kosala ; Gautama was the Family Name . His mother, Queen Maha Maya (Māyādevī) and Suddhodana's wife, was a Koliya n princess. On the night Siddhartha was conceived, Queen Maya dreamt that a white elephant with six white tusks entered her right side, and ten Lunar Month s later Siddhartha was born from her right side (see image right). As was the Shakya tradition, when his mother Queen Maya fell pregnant, she returned to her father's kingdom to give birth, but after leaving Kapilavastu , she gave birth along the way at Lumbini in a garden beneath a Sal tree. The day of the Buddha's birth is widely celebrated in , 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 Ikshvaku (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 . Siddhartha spent 29 years as a Prince in Kapilavastu , a place now situated in Nepal. 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 a Mendicant . 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. 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 of Magadha 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 of Udaka 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 , 2-3rd century CE. British Museum .]] 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 named Sujata , who wrongly believed him to be the spirit that had granted her a wish, such was his emaciated appearance. Then, sitting under a Pipal tree, now known as the Bodhi Tree in Bodh 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 as Shakyamuni 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 called Nirvana . He then came to possess the Nine Characteristics , which are said to belong to every Buddha. According to one of the stories in the '', 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 in Thailand .]] After becoming enlightened, two merchants whom the Buddha met, named Tapussa and Bhallika became the first lay disciples. They are given some hairs from the Buddha's head, which are believed to now be enshrined in the Shwe Dagon Temple in Rangoon , Burma . The Buddha intended to visit Asita , and his former teachers, Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta to explain his findings, but they had already died. The Buddha thus journeyed to Deer Park near Varanasi (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 Sangha , the company of Buddhist monks, and hence, the first formation of Triple Gem ( Buddha , Dharma and Sangha ) was completed, with Kaundinya becoming the first Stream-enterer . All five soon become arahants, and with the conversion of Yasa 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. Ministry For the remaining 45 years of his life, the Buddha is said to have traveled in the 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 the Vassana 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 to Rajagaha , the capital of Magadha to visit King Bimbisara , in accordance with his promise after enlightenment. It was during this visit that Sariputta and Mahamoggallana were converted by Assaji , 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 in Rajagaha , the capital of Magadha . 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 by Kaludayi , 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 replied Suddhodana 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 the Sangha . His cousins Ananda and Anuruddha were to become two of his five chief disciples. His son Rahula also joined the sangha at the age of seven, and was one of the ten chief disciples. His half-brother Nanda also joined the sangha and became an arahant. Another cousin Devadatta 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 and Anuruddha comprised the five chief disciples. His ten foremost disciples were completed by the quintet of Upali , Subhoti , Rahula , Mahakaccana and Punna . 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 mother Maha 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 the Sangha 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 after Ananda interceded on their behalf. Yasodhara also became a nun, with both becoming Arahant 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 the Triple Gem , but on him alone. Devadatta conspired with Prince Ajatasattu , 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 the Vinaya . 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 enter Parinirvana or the final deathless state abandoning the earthly body. After this, the Buddha ate his last meal, which, according to different translations, was either a mushroom delicacy or soft 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 almsmeal for a Buddha. Ananda protested Buddha's decision to enter Parinirvana in the abandoned jungles of s. 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 salvation with diligence." The Buddha's body was cremated and the Relic s were placed in monuments or Stupa s, 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 the Relic Of The Right Tooth Of Buddha is kept at present. According to the Pāli historical chronicles of Sri Lanka, the .]] At his death, the Buddha told his disciples to follow no leader, but to follow his teachings ( Dharma ). However, at the First Buddhist Council , Mahakasyapa was held by the sangha as their leader, with the two chief disciples Mahamoggallana and Sariputta having died before the Buddha. PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS See Also: Physical characteristics of the Buddha Buddha is perhaps one of the few sages for whom we have mention of his rather impressive physical characteristics. He was at least six feet tall. 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 ), his physical characteristics are described in one of the central texts of the traditional Pali Canon , the Digha Nikaya . They help define the global aspect of the historical Buddha, his physical appearance is described by Yasodhara to his son Rahula upon Buddha's return in the scripture of the "Lion of Men". TEACHINGS See Also: Buddhist philosophy "The original teachings of the historical Buddha are extremely difficult, if not impossible, to recover or reconstruct."Lopez, ''Buddhism in Practice'', Princeton University Press, 1995, page 4 While there is disagreement amongst various Buddhist Sects over more esoteric aspects of Buddha's teachings and over Disciplinary Rules for monks, there is generally agreement over these points, among many others:
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 '' and see truth and reality as it is. The Buddhist system of insight and Meditation 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. Language 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 . BUDDHA AS VIEWED BY OTHER RELIGIONS Hinduism .]] See Also: Buddha as an Avatar of Vishnu he is twenty fourth of twenty five avatars, prefiguring a forthcoming final incarnation. A number of Hindu traditions portray Buddha as the most recent of ten principal avatars, known as the ''"Dasavatara"'' (''Ten Incarnations of God''). Siddhartha Gautama's teachings deny the authority of the Vedas and consequently Buddhism is generally viewed as a '' Nāstika '' school (heterodox, literally "It is not so" "in Sanskrit philosophical literature, 'āstika' means 'one who believes in the authority of the Vedas' or 'one who believes in life after death'. ('nāstika' means the opposite of these). The word is used here in the first sense." Satischandra Chatterjee and Dhirendramohan Datta. An Introduction to Indian Philosophy. Eighth Reprint Edition. (University of Calcutta: 1984). p. 5, footnote 1.) from the perspective of orthodox Hinduism. Taoism, Confucianism and Shinto See Also: Buddhism and Eastern teaching Some early Chinese Taoist-Buddhists thought Buddha to be a reincarnation of Lao Tzu born in the land of barbarians. The Cambridge History of China, Vol.1, (The Ch'in and Han Empires, 221 BC—220 BC) ISBN 0-521-24327-0 hardback In Japan, since one of the symbols of Dainichi Nyorai (one of the non-historical buddhas of Mahayana Buddhism) was the sun, many equated Amaterasu , the Sun Goddess, with a previous reincarnation (bodhisattva) of Dainichi Nyorai. Islam The Indian scholar in the Bible .
In Afghanistan , the Islamic theocratic Taliban government destroyed a number of ancient Buddhist relics, most notably the Bamiyan Buddhas . Christianity See Also: Christianity and Buddhism The Greek legend of " Barlaam And Ioasaph ", sometimes mistakenly attributed to the 7th century John Of Damascus but actually written by the Georgian monk Euthymios in the 11th century, was ultimately derived, through a variety of intermediate versions ( Arabic and Georgian ) from the life story of the Buddha. The king-turned-monk Ioasaph (Georgian ''Iodasaph'', Arabic ''Yūdhasaf'' or ''Būdhasaf'') ultimately derives his name from the Sanskrit Bodhisattva , the name used in Buddhist accounts for Gautama before he became a Buddha. Barlaam and Ioasaph were placed in the Greek Orthodox calendar of Saint s on 26 August , and in the West they were entered as "Barlaam and Josaphat " in the Roman Martyrology on the date of 27 November . The story was translated into Hebrew in the Middle Ages as "Ben-Hamelekh Vehanazir" ("The Prince and the Nazirite "), and is widely read by Jews to this day. Bahá'í views In Bahá'í Buddha is classified as one of the Manifestations Of God which is a title for a major prophet in the Bahá'í faith. Hornby, Helen Bassett (1994). Lights of Guidance: A Bahá'í Reference File. Bahá'í Publishing Trust (New Deli, India), p. 502 (#1684) . ISBN 8185091463 SEE ALSO
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