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Ormation of the Sangha 9 top home ALL From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 1. Gautama Buddha 2. Traditional biographies / Primary biographical sources 3. Nature of traditional depictions 4. Biography Conception and birth 5. Early life and marriage 6. Departure and ascetic life 7. Enlightenment 8. Formation of the sangha 9. Travels and teaching 10. Assassination attempts 11. Mahaparinirvana 12. Physical characteristics 13. Teachings 14. Other religions 15. Buddhism 16. Life of the Buddha 17. Buddhist concepts 18. Life and the World 19. Suffering's causes and solution - The Four Noble Truths / Noble Eightfold Path 20. The Four Immeasurables 21. Middle Way 22. Nature of existence 23. Dependent arising 24. Emptiness 25. Nirvana 26. Buddha eras 27. Devotion 28. Buddhist ethics 29. Ten Precepts 30. Monastic life 31. Samādhi (meditative cultivation): samatha meditation 32. In Theravada 33. Praj๑ā (Wisdom): vipassana meditation 34. Zen 35. History 36. Indian Buddhism, Pre-sectarian Buddhism, Early Buddhist schools, Early Mahayana Buddhism, Late Mahayana Buddhism, Vajrayana (Esoteric Buddhism) 37. Development of Buddhism 38. Buddhism today 39. Demographics 40. Schools and traditions 41. Timeline 42. Theravada school 43. Mahayana traditions 44. Bodhisattvas, Vajrayana tradition 45. Buddhist texts, Pāli Tipitaka 46. Mahayana sutras 47. Comparative studies 48. History 49. Lineage of nuns 50. Modern developments 51. Overview of Philosophy 52. Fundamentals of Theravada, Cause and Effect, The Four Noble Truths, The Three Characteristics, The Three Noble Disciplines 53. Meditation 54. Scriptures 55. Lay and monastic life, Ordination, Lay devote 56. Monastic practices 57. Influences 58. Monastic orders within Theravada 59. Noble Eightfold Path 60. Dependent Origination 61. The Twelve Nidanas 62. Three lives 63. Destiny after rebirth 64. Understanding in Buddhist tradition 65. Understanding in Therevada Abhidhamma 66. Understanding in the Mahayana tradition 67. God in Buddhism 68. Primordial Buddhas 69. The Eternal Buddha of Shin Buddhism 70. Intentionally not used 71. Devas and the supernatural in Buddhism 72. Attitudes towards theories of creation 73. Veneration of the Buddha 74. Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa 75. Radioation of loving kindness 76. Worship to the tripple gem 77. Salutatio to the triple 78. Salutation to the Buddha 79. Morning chanting (Pali) Praise to the Buddha 80. Praise to the Dhamma 81. Praise to the Sangha 82. Evening chanting (Pali) Praise to the Buddha 83. Praise to Dhamma 84. Praise to Sangha 85. Radiation of love kindness 86. Praise to the Sangha (Pali) 87. Radiatiom of loving kindness top home 1. Gautama Buddha "Buddha" and "Gautama" redirect here. For other uses, see Buddha (disambiguation) and Gautama (disambiguation). [1] Born c. 563 BCE Lumbini (today in Nepal) c. 483 BCE (aged 80) or 411 and 400 BCE Died Kushinagar (today in Uttar Pradesh, India) Ethnicity Shakya Known for Founder of Buddhism Predecessor Kassapa Buddha Successor Maitreya Buddha Gautama Buddha or Siddhārtha Gautama Buddha (Sanskrit: सिद्धार्थ गौतम बुद्ध; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher from the Indian subcontinent, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded.[2] The word Buddha is a title for the first awakened being in an era. In most Buddhist traditions, Siddhartha Gautama is regarded as the Supreme Buddha (P. sammāsambuddha, S. samyaksaṃbuddha) of our age, "Buddha" meaning "awakened one" or "the enlightened one." [note 1] Gautama Buddha may also be referred to as Śākyamuni (Sanskrit: शा啍यमुसि "Sage of the Śākyas"). The Buddha found a Middle Way that ameliorated the extreme asceticism found in the Sramana religions.[3] The time of Gautama's birth and death are uncertain: most early-20th-century historians dated his lifetime as c. 563 BCE to 483 BCE,[4] but more recent opinion dates his death to between 486 and 483 BCE or, according to some, between 411 and 400 BCE.[5][6] UNESCO lists Lumbini, Nepal, as a world heritage site and birthplace of Gautama Buddha.[1][7] There are also claims about birthplace of Gautama Buddha to be Kapileswara, Orissa[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] or Kapilavastu at Piprahwa, Uttar Pradesh. He later taught throughout regions of eastern India such as Magadha and Kośala.[16][17] Gautama is the primary figure in Buddhism, and accounts 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. top home 2. Traditional biographies / Primary biographical sources The primary sources for the life of Siddhārtha Gautama are in a variety of different and sometimes conflicting traditional biographies. These include the Buddhacarita, Lalitavistara Sūtra, Mahāvastu, and the Nidānakathā.[18] Of these, the Buddhacarita is the earliest full biography, an epic poem written by the poet Aśvaghoṣa, and dating around the beginning of the 2nd century CE.[18] The Lalitavistara Sūtra is the next oldest biography, a Mahāyāna/Sarvāstivāda biography dating to the 3rd century CE.[19] The Mahāvastu from the Mahāsāṃghika Lokottaravāda sect is another major biography, composed incrementally until perhaps the 4th century CE.[19] The Dharmaguptaka biography of the Buddha is the most exhaustive, and is entitled the Abhiniṣkramaṇa Sūtra, and various Chinese translations of this date between the 3rd and 6th century CE. Lastly, the Nidānakathā is from the Theravāda sect in Sri Lanka, composed in the 5th century CE by Buddhaghoṣa.[20] From canonical sources, the Jātaka tales, Mahapadana Sutta (DN 14), and the Achariyabhuta Sutta (MN 123) include selective accounts that may be older, but are not full biographies. The Jātaka tales retell previous lives of Gautama as a bodhisattva, and the first collection of these can be dated among the earliest Buddhist texts.[21] The Mahāpadāna Sutta and Acchariyaabbhuta Sutta both recount miraculous events surrounding Gautama's birth, such as the bodhisattva's descent from Tuṣita Heaven into his mother's womb. top home 3. Nature of traditional depictions Queen Māyā miraculously giving birth to Prince Siddhārtha. Sanskrit manuscript. Nālandā, Bihar, India. Pāla period. 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".[22] 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:[23] 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.[24][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.[25] 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.[26] top home 4. Biography Conception and birth Exact birthplace of Gautama Buddha in Lumbini.[1] This is a holy shrine also for Hindus, who believe Buddha is the 9th of 10 Dashavataras of Vishnu[27] Various sites have been identified as possible places of Gautama Buddha's birth. UNESCO lists Lumbini, Nepal as a world heritage site and birthplace of Gautama Buddha. There are other claims of Buddha's birth in Piprahwa in Uttar Pradesh, India; or Kapileswara in Orissa, India.[8][9][10][12][28][13][14][15]and raised in the small kingdom or principality of Kapilavastu.[29] According to the most traditional biography,[which?] the Buddha's father was King Śuddhodana, the leader of Shakya clan, 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,[30] 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.[31] Various sources hold that the Buddha's mother died at his birth, a few days or seven days later.
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