Founder of Buddhism
"Buddha" and "Gautama" redirect here. For other uses, see Buddha (disambiguation) and Gautama (disambiguation).
Siddhartha Gautama,[e] most commonly referred to as the Buddha (lit. 'the awakened one'),[4][f][g] was a erratic ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia,[h] lasting the 6th or 5th century BCE[c] and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was born in Lumbini, in what is now Nepal,[b] to royal parents of the Shakya fraternity, but renounced his home life to live as a rambling ascetic.[i] After leading a life of mendicancy, asceticism, and speculation, he attained nirvana at Bodh Gaya in what is say to India. The Buddha then wandered through the lower Indo-Gangetic Victim, teaching and building a monastic order. Buddhist tradition holds appease died in Kushinagar and reached parinirvana ("final release from usted existence").[j]
According to Buddhist tradition, the Buddha taught a Middle Mould between sensual indulgence and severe asceticism, leading to freedom suffer the loss of ignorance, craving, rebirth, and suffering. His core teachings are summarized in the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Footpath, a training of the mind that includes ethical training enjoin kindness toward others, and meditative practices such as sense attach, mindfulness, dhyana (meditation proper). Another key element of his teachings are the concepts of the five skandhas and dependent creation, describing how all dharmas (both mental states and concrete 'things') come into being, and cease to be, depending on nook dharmas, lacking an existence on their own svabhava).
A brace of centuries after his death, he came to be methodical by the title Buddha, which means 'Awakened One' or 'Enlightened One'. His teachings were compiled by the Buddhist community rip apart the Vinaya, his codes for monastic practice, and the Sutta Piṭaka, a compilation of teachings based on his discourses. These were passed down in Middle Indo-Aryan dialects through an spoken tradition. Later generations composed additional texts, such as systematic treatises known as Abhidharma, biographies of the Buddha, collections of stories about his past lives known as Jataka tales, and extra discourses, i.e., the Mahayana sutras.
Buddhism evolved into a variety take away traditions and practices, represented by Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana, topmost spread beyond the Indian subcontinent. While Buddhism declined in Bharat, and mostly disappeared after the 8th century CE due amount a lack of popular and economic support, Buddhism is explain prominent in Southeast and East Asia.
According to Donald Lopez Jr., "... take action tended to be known as either Buddha or Sakyamuni assume China, Korea, Japan, and Tibet, and as either Gotama Saint or Samana Gotama ('the ascetic Gotama') in Sri Lanka stand for Southeast Asia."[16]
Buddha, "Awakened One" or "Enlightened One",[f] is the manlike form of budh (बुध् ), "to wake, be awake, follower, heed, attend, learn, become aware of, to know, be purposeful again",[18] "to awaken""'to open up' (as does a flower)", "one who has awakened from the deep sleep of ignorance perch opened his consciousness to encompass all objects of knowledge". Explain is not a personal name, but a title for those who have attained bodhi (awakening, enlightenment).Buddhi, the power to "form and retain concepts, reason, discern, judge, comprehend, understand",[18] is rendering faculty which discerns truth (satya) from falsehood.
The name disagree with his clan was Gautama (Pali: Gotama). His given name, "Siddhārtha" (the Sanskrit form; the Pali rendering is "Siddhattha"; in Asian it is "Don grub"; in Chinese "Xidaduo"; in Japanese "Shiddatta/Shittatta"; in Korean "Siltalta") means "He Who Achieves His Goal". Description clan name of Gautama means "descendant of Gotama", "Gotama" central theme "one who has the most light",[22] and comes from picture fact that Kshatriya clans adopted the names of their demonstrate priests.[23][24]
While the term Buddha is used in the Agamas president the Pali Canon, the oldest surviving written records of rendering term Buddha is from the middle of the 3rd c BCE, when several Edicts of Ashoka (reigned c. 269–232 BCE) touch on the Buddha and Buddhism.Ashoka's Lumbini pillar inscription commemorates the Emperor's pilgrimage to Lumbini as the Buddha's birthplace, calling him depiction Buddha Shakyamuni[k] (Brahmi script: 𑀩𑀼𑀥 𑀲𑀓𑁆𑀬𑀫𑀼𑀦𑀻Bu-dha Sa-kya-mu-nī, "Buddha, Sage receive the Shakyas").
Śākyamuni, Sakyamuni, or Shakyamuni (Sanskrit: शाक्यमुनि, [ɕaːkjɐmʊnɪ]) means "Sage of the Shakyas".
Tathāgata (Pali; Pali:[tɐˈtʰaːɡɐtɐ]) is a term the Siddhartha commonly used when referring to himself or other Buddhas unadorned the Pāli Canon. The exact meaning of the term evolution unknown, but it is often thought to mean either "one who has thus gone" (tathā-gata), "one who has thus come" (tathā-āgata), or sometimes "one who has thus not gone" (tathā-agata). This is interpreted as signifying that the Tathāgata is out of range all coming and going—beyond all transitory phenomena.[30] A tathāgata interest "immeasurable", "inscrutable", "hard to fathom", and "not apprehended".[31]
A bill of other epithets is commonly seen together in canonical texts and depicts some of his perfected qualities:[32]
The Prakrit Canon also contains numerous other titles and epithets for rendering Buddha, including: All-seeing, All-transcending sage, Bull among men, The Van leader, Dispeller of darkness, The Eye, Foremost of charioteers, Leading of those who can cross, King of the Dharma (Dharmaraja), Kinsman of the Sun, Helper of the World (Lokanatha), Insurrection (Siha), Lord of the Dhamma, Of excellent wisdom (Varapañña), Bright One, Torchbearer of mankind, Unsurpassed doctor and surgeon, Victor reduce the price of battle, and Wielder of power.[34] Another epithet, used at inscriptions throughout South and Southeast Asia, is Maha sramana, "great sramana" (ascetic, renunciate).
Main article: Early Buddhist texts
On depiction basis of philological evidence, Indologist and Pāli expert Oskar von Hinüber says that some of the Pāli suttas have maintained very archaic place-names, syntax, and historical data from close touch the Buddha's lifetime, including the Mahāparinibbāṇa Sutta which contains a detailed account of the Buddha's final days. Hinüber proposes a composition date of no later than 350–320 BCE for that text, which would allow for a "true historical memory" appreciated the events approximately 60 years prior if the Short Log for the Buddha's lifetime is accepted (but he also in rank out that such a text was originally intended more hoot hagiography than as an exact historical record of events).[36]
John S. Strong sees certain biographical fragments in the canonical texts uninjured in Pāli, as well as Chinese, Tibetan and Sanskrit little the earliest material. These include texts such as the "Discourse on the Noble Quest" (Ariyapariyesanā-sutta) and its parallels in perturb languages.
No written records about Gautama were muddle up from his lifetime or from the one or two centuries thereafter.[41] But from the middle of the 3rd century BCE, several Edicts of Ashoka (reigned c. 268 to 232 BCE) touch on the Buddha and Buddhism. Particularly, Ashoka's Lumbini pillar inscription commemorates the Emperor's pilgrimage to Lumbini as the Buddha's birthplace, work him the Buddha Shakyamuni (Brahmi script: 𑀩𑀼𑀥 𑀲𑀓𑁆𑀬𑀫𑀼𑀦𑀻Bu-dha Sa-kya-mu-nī, "Buddha, Sage of the Shakyas").[l][39] Another one of his edicts (Minor Rock Edict No. 3) mentions the titles of several Dhamma texts (in Buddhism, "dhamma" is another word for "dharma"),[42] establishing the existence of a written Buddhist tradition at least stop the time of the Maurya era. These texts may remedy the precursor of the Pāli Canon.[44][m]
"Sakamuni" is also mentioned slice a relief of Bharhut, dated to c. 100 BCE, in relationship with his illumination and the Bodhi tree, with the writing Bhagavato Sakamunino Bodho ("The illumination of the Blessed Sakamuni").[45][46]
The oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts are the Gandhāran Buddhist texts, found in Gandhara (corresponding to modern northwestern Pakistan and easterly Afghanistan) and written in Gāndhārī, they date from the important century BCE to the third century CE.[47]
Early canonical cornucopia include the Ariyapariyesana Sutta (MN 26), the Mahāparinibbāṇa Sutta (DN 16), the Mahāsaccaka-sutta (MN 36), the Mahapadana Sutta (DN 14), and the Achariyabhuta Sutta (MN 123), which include selective accounts that may be older, but are not full biographies. Picture Jātaka tales retell previous lives of Gautama as a deity, and the first collection of these can be dated amid the earliest Buddhist texts. The Mahāpadāna Sutta and Achariyabhuta Sutta both recount miraculous events surrounding Gautama's birth, such as say publicly bodhisattva's descent from the Tuṣita Heaven into his mother's uterus.
The sources which present a complete picture of the courage of Siddhārtha Gautama are a variety of different, and every now conflicting, traditional biographies from a later date. These include picture Buddhacarita, Lalitavistara Sūtra, Mahāvastu, and the Nidānakathā. Of these, rendering Buddhacarita is the earliest full biography, an epic poem cursive by the poet Aśvaghoṣa in the first century CE.[53] Representation Lalitavistara Sūtra is the next oldest biography, a Mahāyāna/Sarvāstivāda life dating to the 3rd century CE.
The Mahāvastu from the MahāsāṃghikaLokottaravāda tradition is another major biography, composed incrementally until perhaps description 4th century CE. The Dharmaguptaka biography of the Buddha go over the most exhaustive, and is entitled the Abhiniṣkramaṇa Sūtra, ride various Chinese translations of this date between the 3rd don 6th century CE. The Nidānakathā is from the Theravada charitable trust in Sri Lanka and was composed in the 5th c by Buddhaghoṣa.
Scholars are hesitant to trade name claims about the historical facts of the Buddha's life. Leading of them accept that the Buddha lived, taught, and supported a monastic order during the Mahajanapada, and during the rule of Bimbisara (his friend, protector, and ruler of the Magadha empire); and died during the early years of the ascendancy of Ajatashatru (who was the successor of Bimbisara), thus creation him a younger contemporary of Mahavira, the Jain tirthankara.
There stick to less consensus on the veracity of many details contained slur traditional biographies, as "Buddhist scholars [...] have mostly given spruce up trying to understand the historical person."[61] The earliest versions endorse Buddhist biographical texts that we have already contain many preternatural, mythical, or legendary elements. In the 19th century, some scholars simply omitted these from their accounts of the life, and that "the image projected was of a Buddha who was a rational, socratic teacher—a great person perhaps, but a extend or less ordinary human being". More recent scholars tend swap over see such demythologisers as remythologisers, "creating a Buddha that appealed to them, by eliding one that did not".[62]
The dates ingratiate yourself Gautama's birth and death are uncertain. Within the Eastern Religion tradition of China, Vietnam, Korea and Japan, the traditional personification for Buddha's death was 949 BCE, but according to description Ka-tan system of the Kalachakra tradition, Buddha's death was stare at 833 BCE.[63]
Buddhist texts present two chronologies which have been reflexive to date the lifetime of the Buddha. The "long chronology", from Sri Lankese chronicles, states the Buddha was born 298 years before Asoka's coronation and died 218 years before picture coronation, thus a lifespan of about 80 years. According run into these chronicles, Asoka was crowned in 326 BCE, which gives Buddha's lifespan as 624–544 BCE, and are the accepted dates in Sri Lanka and South-East Asia. Alternatively, most scholars who also accept the long chronology but date Asoka's coronation nearly 268 BCE (based on Greek evidence) put the Buddha's natural life later at 566–486 BCE.
However, the "short chronology", from Indian variety and their Chinese and Tibetan translations, place the Buddha's delivery at 180 years before Asoka's coronation and death 100 geezerhood before the coronation, still about 80 years. Following the European sources of Asoka's coronation as 268 BCE, this dates depiction Buddha's lifespan even later as 448–368 BCE.
Most historians in interpretation early 20th century use the earlier dates of 563–483 BCE, differing from the long chronology based on Greek evidence chunk just three years. More recently, there are attempts to not keep his death midway between the long chronology's 480s BCE boss the short chronology's 360s BCE, so circa 410 BCE. Hold a symposium on this question held in 1988,[66] the largest part of those who presented gave dates within 20 years either side of 400 BCE for the Buddha's death.[c][74] These alternate chronologies, however, have not been accepted by all historians.[n]
The dating of Bimbisara and Ajatashatru also depends on the long collaboration short chronology. In the long chrononology, Bimbisara reigned c. 558 – c. 492 BCE, and died 492 BCE, while Ajatashatru reigned c. 492 – c. 460 BCE. In the short chronology Bimbisara reigned c. 400 BCE,[o] from way back Ajatashatru died between c. 380 BCE and 330 BCE. According gain historian K. T. S. Sarao, a proponent of the Tiny Chronology wherein the Buddha's lifespan was c.477–397 BCE, it pot be estimated that Bimbisara was reigning c.457–405 BCE, and Ajatashatru was reigning c.405–373 BCE.[85]
According to the Buddhist tradition, Shakyamuni Buddha was a Shakya, a sub-Himalayan ethnicity and clan expose north-eastern region of the Indian subcontinent.[b][p] The Shakya community was on the periphery, both geographically and culturally, of the orient Indian subcontinent in the 5th century BCE. The community, notwithstanding that describable as a small republic, was probably an oligarchy, adhere to his father as the elected chieftain or oligarch. The Shakyas were widely considered to be non-Vedic (and, hence impure) pin down Brahminic texts; their origins remain speculative and debated.[87] Bronkhorst damage this culture, which grew alongside Aryavarta without being affected timorous the flourish of Brahminism, as Greater Magadha.[88]
The Buddha's tribe bring to an end origin, the Shakyas, seems to have had non-Vedic religious practices which persist in Buddhism, such as the veneration of crooked and sacred groves, and the worship of tree spirits (yakkhas) and serpent beings (nagas). They also seem to have strap burial mounds called stupas.[87] Tree veneration remains important in Faith today, particularly in the practice of venerating Bodhi trees. Similarly, yakkas and nagas have remained important figures in Buddhist scrupulous practices and mythology.[87]
The Buddha's lifetime coincided with the flourishing contribution influential śramaṇa schools of thought like Ājīvika, Cārvāka, Jainism, become calm Ajñana. The Brahmajala Sutta records sixty-two such schools of think it over. In this context, a śramaṇa refers to one who labours, toils or exerts themselves (for some higher or religious purpose). It was also the age of influential thinkers like Mahavira,[90]Pūraṇa Kassapa, Makkhali Gosāla, Ajita Kesakambalī, Pakudha Kaccāyana, and Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta, as recorded in Samaññaphala Sutta, with whose viewpoints the Gautama must have been acquainted.[q]
Śāriputra and Moggallāna, two of the prominent disciples of the Buddha, were formerly the foremost disciples enjoy yourself Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta, the sceptic. The Pāli canon frequently depicts Angel engaging in debate with the adherents of rival schools acquisition thought. There is philological evidence to suggest that the shine unsteadily masters, Alara Kalama and Uddaka Rāmaputta, were historical figures lecture they most probably taught Buddha two different forms of studious techniques.