传统姓名释义

乔达摩（梵语：，）又音译作瞿昙、乔答摩，是释迦族的姓氏，传统上认为这是释迦牟尼佛的姓，源自释迦族祖先乔达摩仙人的名字，其在劫比罗城和天示城等的族裔称为释迦族。《梨俱吠陀》作者之一（）之父是七仙人之乔答摩仙人，有传说释迦族或与之有关。

释迦族的姓氏除了「乔达摩」、「日种」、「甘蔗种」之外，《佛本行集经》还记载有个称呼是「奢夷耆耶」，以住处为姓故称「舍夷」。

悉达多（梵文：，）或译悉达陀、悉达，意思是「吉财」、「吉祥」、「一切功德成就」，又作「萨婆曷剌他悉陀」（梵文：），意为「意义成就」或「一切义成」，这是释迦牟尼佛的名字。佛陀传记中，净饭王还为他起了其他的名号如「天中天」和「千象力」等，佛陀证道后不希望人们仍以俗世时名号称呼如来。

释迦牟尼是后人对佛陀的尊称。「释迦」是他所属的部族释迦族的名称，有「能」、「勇」的意思；「牟尼」又音译为「文」，意为「仁」、「圣贤」、「禁欲修道僧」、「寂默」，所以又译作「能仁寂默」、「释迦文佛」、「能仁佛」等。按古印度传统，「牟尼」是当时对出家乞食、离欲修道、修行成就者的称谓，在《梨俱吠陀》的诵诗中，曾经记载一种出家修行者，称为「牟尼」，他蓄长发、著褐色的脏衣、可以飞行空中，喝饮毒汁而无恙。「释迦牟尼」可意译为「来自释迦族的修行成就者」、「释迦族的圣人」。

此外，大乘佛教对他又有不同的尊称，如《华严经》中又称他为毗卢遮那佛，毗卢遮那是光明遍照的意思，俗谓大日如来。依照大乘佛教不同派系的见解，或认为毗卢遮那佛是法身佛，释迦牟尼佛为应化身，而报身称为卢舍那佛。

生平事迹

释迦牟尼佛的生卒年，未记载于佛教前四次结集的早期三藏中，历来众说纷纭，详见后文传统记载和考证研究章节。早期三藏中也未包括佛生平的专门记载，经藏中的佛经缘起部分，偶有些似传记的叙述，而佛陀传记原型以《譬喻经》形式收录在《律藏》中；佛陀言行和教法是经律记录的重心，佛陀本人的生活同教义并不太牵连，并未引起三藏结集者的重视。在佛教广为流行后，佛教徒对佛陀的卓越人格逐渐发生兴趣，《本生经》和部份《譬喻经》从《律藏》中辑出编入《杂藏》或《经藏》，而更详尽的叙事文字遂在流行经典和变化多端的传说中而有所阐述。最早的佛陀生平传记，是佛陀灭度六百年后马鸣菩萨所著的《佛所行赞》（《佛本行经》），大乘佛教的佛陀传记有《佛本行集经》、《普曜经》和《方广大庄严经》。

2013年《美国国家地理》在尼泊尔蓝毗尼新近考古发现约前550年的古迹，认为释迦佛的生活年代在西元前6世纪，出生年可能比人们认知的还要早。

入胎

佛在世时，印度北部有十六大国，有传说称刹帝利种姓的共同祖先是劫初时诸有情公选的「大同意王」（摩诃三末多王），释迦族属刹帝利种姓，统治了东北部边缘的一些城邦及聚落，这些小国以憍萨罗为宗主国，释迦牟尼即出生于释迦族统治的迦毗罗卫国。释迦牟尼的父亲是劫比罗城净饭王，他先后娶天示城善悟王女儿「大幻化」和「幻化」为妻，释迦牟尼为「大幻化夫人」（摩耶夫人）所生。

根据《八十诵律》等记载，释迦牟尼佛入胎时摩诃摩耶夫人做了四种梦：

摩诃摩耶夫人将此事奏告净饭王。净饭王召集了些相师婆罗门，请他们解梦。他们回答：「王大夫人必当生男，具足三十二丈夫之相，庄严其身。若绍王位，当乘金轮，伏四天下。若出家修道，证法王位，名闻十方，作众生父。」

诞生

根据《八十诵律》、巴利文《中部·希有未曾有法经》和《长部·大本经》记载，摩耶夫人在其父王的兰毗尼园无忧树下，站立生下了释迦牟尼。《中阿含经·未曾有法经》和《长阿含经·大本经》有佛从母右脇出生的说法。

于此有一传奇，悉达多太子诞生后向四方行七步，环顾四周，说出「天上天下，唯我独尊」之偈句。

仙人阿私陀，在听闻太子出生后，立即来到王宫。阿私陀以天眼通观其未来，起初面露微笑，但一会之后，却又显出悲伤。一旁围观的人都被他的怪异神情弄得不知所措。他解释说，他微笑是因为太子必定觉悟成佛；他悲伤是因为他自己不久于人世，往生无色界，如此他就无法由觉者过人的智慧中得益。

早年生活

释迦牟尼降生七日，母亲摩耶夫人过世，升上忉利天，于是佛大放光明，祝福母亲，而天龙八部皆奔来朝拜释迦牟尼、缅怀摩耶夫人，故称佛显日。并由摩诃波闍波提（，也译为「大爱道·瞿昙弥」）抚养成人，有说只称「乳母」抚养未具姓名。大乘佛教中的佛陀传记说大爱道·瞿昙弥是佛陀的姨母。

他从八岁开始，向毗奢婆蜜多罗学习文化，向羼提提婆学习武艺，从小在宫中过著舒适的生活。成年后，为他建了春、夏、冬三幢宫殿，《佛本行集经》等记载他有三位夫人，第一夫人是释种女耶输陀罗或瞿夷，并与她生有一子罗睺罗。自16岁娶妻，在差不多13年的幸福婚姻期间，他过著在一般人眼中看似舒适且豪华的生活。也正因为如此，他的感受与一般人也是不一样的，对自己对世界会有更多更深的困惑与不安。

出家修行

29岁那年是释迦牟尼一生的转捩点，他的儿子罗睺罗在那年出生。释迦牟尼外出巡游时，恰遇老人、病人、死者和修行者，深感人间生老病死的苦恼，人称四门之游，释迦牟尼经常在阎浮树下沉思，但是不得离苦之道，于是在29岁时的某个月夜乘马出家修道。

释迦牟尼为了寻求解脱，遍访名师，遇阿罗逻伽蓝。阿罗逻为数论派上师，释迦牟尼要求按照阿罗逻伽蓝的教义和教规过梵行生活。这种教义主张通过一系列禅定功夫，达到无所有处定的禅定状态（以色空识三者均无所有故名）。不久释迦牟尼达到了阿罗逻所教导的一切，使阿罗逻叹服不已，建议释迦牟尼一起领导他的沙门团体。然而释迦牟尼却不满足于这种学说而选择退出。仍未成道的他接著又跟随郁陀罗摩子（）修行，得到非想非非想处定（又译作非有想非无想定）的禅定状态。但是他认为这仍然不是解脱的境界，然而释迦牟尼已经找不到老师。

悟道成佛

于是释迦牟尼与五比丘在苦行林中修苦行6年，忍受饥饿痛苦。在一次苦行中昏倒了，巧遇一位牧羊女供养了羊乳后恢复精神体力，便意识到苦行无法达到解脱，修行应取中道而修。于是便转往菩提伽耶，于菩提树下铺设吉祥草，跏趺而座。上座部佛教《南传菩萨道》记载，释迦牟尼于座上下定决心发愿道：「且让我剩下皮，且让我剩下腱，且让我剩下骨头，且让我的血肉乾枯。除非能证悟一切知智，否则我绝不从此座起身。」依《南传大藏经》记载，释迦牟尼入四种禅，得三明，现观四谛与十二缘起而成无上正等正觉。

北传佛教说，释迦牟尼发愿不成正觉，永不起身。直到了第七日中的第七夜，天正晓明，瞻望明星而悟道。悟得三明与四谛，证得无上正等正觉，而成为佛陀。

传播佛教

释迦牟尼悟道成佛之后，在鹿野苑开始传教（佛教称初转法轮），为憍陈如等五比丘宣说「四圣谛」，「八圣道」，「无我相经」，此为出家僧团的开端。后来波罗奈国长者之子耶舍，与其他四位友人，一同加入僧团，成为佛陀弟子，随后城中其他豪族有五十人也加入，僧团在此扩张，也开始有了在家居士的护持，耶舍的父母，成为僧团第一位优婆塞、优婆夷。舍利弗、目犍连在听到马胜比丘说法后，率二百弟子加入僧团；随后迦叶三兄弟率领一千名弟子加入，佛陀的千二百五十弟子常随游行，是释迦牟尼佛陀僧团的骨干，又称常随、常随众。

佛陀的教团以此为中心，逐渐扩大教化。净饭王听到佛陀的消息，派遣侍者前往，邀请佛陀回国说法。释迦族的贵族子弟，如富楼那尊者、阿难陀、提婆达多、难陀等人，纷纷加入僧团。此后说法住世四十五年，度化了许多弟子，其中著名的有大迦叶等。他为了度化众生，走遍印度各地，以摩揭陀、憍萨罗、拔沙三国为中心，曾在舍卫城祇园精舍说法25年。

三转法轮

阿含经中记载释迦牟尼佛在波罗奈国鹿野苑「转法轮」说四圣谛，以示转（初转），教转（二转），证转（三转），三次宣说四圣谛，称为三转法轮。

而大乘佛教认为释迦牟尼佛在色究竟天先说《华严经》，但此了义之教甚难领会，所以佛陀渐次成熟不同根性的众生的善根，使众生入于佛乘。在《解深密经》中即说明佛在人间「初转法轮」先从四圣谛（即苦集灭道）开始，说明众生的流转到烦恼的还灭；此系列的经典为《阿含经》。「第二转无相法轮」，藉由体解世间一切法皆空无自性，认知到烦恼生死和涅盘是不二的。因此在升起悲悯众生的大慈悲心同时，有能力不住于涅盘，直至成佛以前不证入实际，能在无数阿僧祇的时间中利益众生，使其入于无馀涅盘；此阶段的经典为《大品般若经》及《小品般若经》。有些众生不了解甚深空性，佛陀便对无自性再分别解释，「第三转善分别法轮」的《解深密经》、唯识方广诸经、《如来藏经》、《妙法莲华经》，以更显了的方式说明般若经等开示的「一切法无生无灭，本来寂静，自性涅盘」。对「未种善根，未清净障，未成熟相续，未多修胜解，未能积集福德、智慧二种资粮」的众生看来，这道理深而又密，所以必须以方便解释一番，才能浅显明了，能信能解，究竟了义。

进入涅盘

佛陀八十岁时在毗舍离城坐雨安居，宣布将在三个月后进入入灭（般涅盘、涅盘、圆寂），偕弟子向西北行走，后食用铁匠纯陀（又译准陀、真达、周那）供养的世间奇珍栴檀树耳（），重病发作（南传佛教记载为痢疾，北传佛教记载为背痛）。释迦牟尼口渴，让阿难去给他打水喝。释迦牟尼佛喝完，同弟子们继续向前走。走到拘尸那揭罗醯连尼耶跋提河的岸边，佛告知弟子们将入涅盘，命阿难在娑罗双树中间铺下卧具（《杂阿含经》记载为「绳床」），头部向北，佛陀躺下，向右侧偃卧，左足置右足上，弟子们都守候在身边，聆听佛陀的最后教诲。夜里须跋陀罗（）去求佛开示，成为佛陀的最后弟子，并在佛陀涅盘之前先行早一步圆寂，佛陀最后于拘尸那揭罗城附近的娑罗双树下涅盘。火化后的舍利由摩揭陀国王阿闍世和释迦族等八王带回建塔（即舍利塔）供养。

弟子

佛陀在世说法时，有著名的十大弟子，他们是：摩诃迦叶（头陀第一）、目犍连（神通第一）、富楼那（说法第一）、须菩提（解空第一）、舍利弗（智慧第一）、罗睺罗（密行第一）、阿难陀（多闻第一）、优波离（持律第一）、迦旃延（论议第一）、阿那律（天眼第一）。比丘尼众中的佼佼者，则有大爱道比丘尼、莲花色比丘尼、差摩比丘尼等。

身后事迹

在佛涅盘后的坐雨安居，摩诃迦叶率五百大阿罗汉，在王舍城外集会合诵经典；由持戒第一的优波离诵出律藏，由多闻第一的阿难陀诵出经藏。经过大众认可，这是佛教的第一次结集。此后弟子们陆续汇集、整理佛陀一生的言传身教，又通过多次结集，形成经、律、论「三藏」。佛教在印度孔雀帝国阿育王时代传遍印度全境并对外传播至斯里兰卡、金地等地。

关于释迦牟尼佛基本的教义，后世有许多不同的见解，但是无论是大乘佛教、部派佛教都同意保存在《阿含经》中的四圣谛、八正道、十二因缘、三十七道品等，是释迦牟尼最初的教义。

西元十二世纪后佛教在印度本土绝迹，随著现代佛法传播范围的日益扩大，佛教逐渐成为全球宗教。

纪念日

南传佛教订定的佛诞与涅盘日为同一日（卫塞节），在新历五月的满月，一般即农历四月十五日。

汉传佛教地区，一般将佛诞日定在农历四月初八，将佛出家日订为二月初八，佛成道日订为十二月初八，佛灭日（佛涅盘日）则为二月十五。日本与朝鲜半岛的佛诞节可说源于中国佛教，一般基本上沿用了四月初八的说法。

汉传佛教称四月十五日为「佛显日」或「佛吉祥日」，认为佛在出生七日时，显示种种祥瑞，而天龙八部纷纷奔来聚会供佛，属于佛诞的馀绪，通常与佛诞合并庆祝，而不独立庆祝。

朝鲜半岛地区的燃灯会，在每年的农历四月初八前的周末，用以庆祝释迦牟尼佛的诞辰。

生卒年传统记载

释迦牟尼佛的生卒年未记载于佛教前四次结集的早期三藏中，历来众说纷纭。

南传佛教

南传佛教作西元前624年至前544年，或西元前623年至前543年。

南传上座部佛教中，锡兰、缅甸传说，释迦牟尼入灭于西元前544年；暹罗、高棉，传为西元前543年。依《菩提伽耶碑记》，有人认为佛灭应为西元前546年。

汉传佛教

出后汉书列传七十八，案汉法本内传记载，佛陀出生为周昭王即位二十四年甲寅岁四月八日，壬申之年十九出家。在汉统师记载，佛十九出家。当周昭王四十二年壬申之岁。佛入涅盘，壬申之年二月十五日，当周穆王五十二年壬申之岁。

案周书异记载。周穆王即位五十二年壬申岁二月十五日。 从过去史实所纪录，以汉代印度摩腾、竺法兰二尊者，魏书沙门昙谟最，加上近代虚云法师等说法，

佛陀出生时间是周昭王在位二十四年甲寅岁四月八日，涅盘时间为周穆王在位五十二年壬申岁二月十五日为正确。所以佛陀涅盘时间离现今认知更久远，约西元前1027年，若以此年号为佛历，计算方法为佛历减去1027年即西元年历。如虚云老和尚当时为佛历二九八二，即西元一九五五年。

藏传佛教

藏传佛教格鲁派，又传有西元前1041年生，前961年灭之说。

种族相貌传统记载

在《八十诵律》中记载，在迦叶波如来出世时，波罗痆斯城王为吉枳，百馀代后人乔达摩仙人有二子，有四名号，后代承袭自称「日种」、「甘蔗种」，姓「乔达摩」；百馀代后，补多勒迦城增长王立幼子为储，年长四子至雪山下弶伽河侧，近劫比罗仙人所住之处，先结庐后立劫比罗城，再立天示城，因其「大能」而得名「释迦」，其子孙万代以为族名。释迦牟尼的姨母称为瞿昙弥（Gautamī），其父族与母族拘利族为同姓亲族。毗琉璃王诛灭劫比罗城之时，城中部份人脱逃至末罗国和尼波罗国各地，另有传说有四支释迦族迁出在印度境内西北部另立四国。

按照印度人心目中的转轮王外貌特徵，佛经记载释迦牟尼拥有三十二大丈夫相，又有八十种好。佛陀因具足大丈夫相和福泽亲族眷属，而常比喻为「公牛王」（梵语：，巴利语：），翻译时或略为「牛王」。佛法也常比喻为牛王正道。

在《杂阿含经》中婆罗豆婆遮婆罗门称佛陀为「领群特」即「领群之牛父」，而在相应的《别译杂阿含经》中对应称呼为旃荼罗，即婆罗门误认释迦牟尼为贱民。南传《经集·无种姓者经》（有译为《贱民经》）中的对应段落，婆罗堕闍婆罗门称释迦牟尼为「秃发者」、「沙门」、「无种姓者」（梵语：，巴利语：），其中的「无种姓者」即是贱民之义。《经集·孙陀利迦婆罗堕闍经》记载了另一个婆罗堕闍婆罗门与佛陀会面的情况：婆罗门只能从外貌上看出佛陀是「没有头发者」和「沙门」，佛陀也不再宣称自己的刹帝利种姓，进而婆罗门问佛陀是否是婆罗门，并要考问吠陀知识来验证，婆罗门不能从外貌上判定出佛陀的种姓。

在佛陀在世时有六个部族全族信佛，在《巴利律藏·七百犍度》记载中，毗舍离结集虽然批判了六族中的毗舍离跋闍子比丘有十事非法，但对其地域族群名称使用的依然是 （毗舍离）未至于 （无种姓者、贱民）。

考证研究

姓名考证

现代有研究者认为释迦族是刹帝利种姓，不应以婆罗门仙人的名字为姓氏。如中国语言学家季羡林宣称，「乔达摩」（Gautama）是依照古印度贵族的习惯，借用婆罗门氏族名而取的另一个名字，非姓氏。

生卒年考证

佛陀生卒年考证，与佛教信仰本身关系不大，关切与争论涉及到，从佛灭至阿育王灌顶之间，教派付法祖师的记载中，有五师三代或五师五代；在记载中的一百馀年或两百馀年间，甚至更长的时间段内，祖师们和作为时间参照的诸王需要有足够长的寿命，得以不间断传承。

文献考证

南传《善见律毗婆沙》与《岛史》记载，佛灭后218年，阿育王即位；汉传佛教的文献则记载，佛灭后116年，阿育王即位。西方学者基于南传佛教对摩揭陀国王世系的记载，推算释迦牟尼入灭时约为西元前五世纪早期，支持此论点的人有吕澄等人。

日本学界，质疑南传记载中在这两百馀年间斯里兰卡只有五王相继在位，和《岛史》所称阿育王时代第三次结集成立《论事》前佛教已经分裂为十八部派，如小野玄妙、宇井伯寿、水野弘元、平川彰等人，还有中国的印顺法师，根据汉译印度各部派三藏史献的考证、比对及研究，认可阿育王即位于佛灭后116年。如果以佛灭116年为阿育王灌顶年，则释迦牟尼涅盘约为西元前387年到前384年间。如果以佛灭116年为阿育王自立为王的一年，再过三年才灌顶，那末佛灭应为西元前390年到前387年间。

考古发现

2013年，由考古学家率领的国际考古队，在蓝毗尼的摩耶夫人庙内的一个砖造阿育王庙底下，挖掘出一个木造结构遗迹，研究人员以放射碳定年法和光释光测年法，推断该考古场址发现的木炭碎片和沙粒，推断这个古代神庙存在于西元前6世纪。出土的木造结构设计中有个开放空间，似乎曾有一棵树从这里向外生长，地质学研究也支持这个寺庙中央露天地方有树根存在。

这颗树有可能是传说中释迦牟尼出生的无忧树（一说为娑罗树）。研究人员认为，如果这个古代神庙是由释迦牟尼信徒所建，则释迦牟尼可能生活于西元前6世纪之前。这可能是第一个将佛陀出生地，和他创立的佛教与特定年代连结起来的考古文物，但因为当地自古有崇拜树神的传统，这个神庙的兴建是否与佛教有关，学界尚未得到一致共识。

种族考证

释迦牟尼佛出身释种，传统上认为，他们出身刹帝利种姓，为雅利安人后裔，《增一阿含经》有记载称，佛陀最初僧团的主体是迦叶三兄弟及其一千弟子，而释迦族认为这些婆罗门「颜貌极丑」。

19世纪，德国社会学家马克斯·韦伯指出，现存婆罗门与刹帝利氏族的系谱有长久的伪造传统。低阶层婆罗门会为各地部落领导人伪造出身，让他们可以成为刹帝利氏族。刹帝利氏族实际上可能是由印度各地土著部落各自发展出来的，并非单一起源于北方雅利安人。

1950年代，美国籍的立陶宛考古学家玛利亚·金布塔斯提出坟冢假说，称印度的雅利安人源自高加索白色人种，经过巴克特里亚·马尔吉阿纳文明体，由印度西北方，逐步往东南拓展。印度的雅利安人肤色比印度土著民族达罗毗荼人要浅白，外貌差距较大，学者曾较为普遍的认为，印度婆罗门以自身种姓为傲，轻视低种姓和印度原有民族，是其自认纯粹雅利安人并对其他人种加以种族歧视。现代有学者据此认为，释迦牟尼佛应不是纯粹雅利安人。加上释迦族僻处雅利安人国土边缘，释迦族的血统应出身自印度东方土著民族即黄色人种。

印顺根据《杂阿含经》记载婆罗豆婆遮婆罗门误认释迦牟尼佛为领群特，或旃陀罗的事例，认为「领群特」可以解释为「领群的特牛」，牸牛（：母牛）与毗舍离 语音相近，释迦族与毗舍离人有共同祖先，正统婆罗门有种族上的歧视，轻视毗舍离人，释迦族因此也同样遭到婆罗门的歧视；释迦族的血统近于喜马拉雅山脉土著人，如尼泊尔的克拉底人、内瓦尔人等、不丹人与锡金人，而非雅利安人，如尼泊尔的廓尔喀人等。

佛教传统和学术研究的各种说法，目前皆缺少直接证据可以证实。

时代背景

在佛陀时代之前，上古原始印欧人遗留下来的信仰，被称为吠陀教。他们经常会呼唤神的协助。在战胜之后，则感谢神灵的帮助。他们并不怕死，并认为战死之后可以光荣上升天堂。因此，古婆罗门教之中，充满了许多祭祀的仪式，以及赞颂神的赞美诗。这些仪式及赞美诗都收在《吠陀经》，梵语是在宗教仪式中使用的唯一语言。负责宗教仪式的人，称为婆罗门。负责战斗的武士阶层，则称为刹帝利。

但是印度东南部居民信奉的当地本土宗教，他们的代表人物，则是沙门。沙门崇尚出家苦行，在原野独居，修道时不结婚生子，整日端坐不动以求进入禅定。他们不相信《吠陀经》中记载的仙神及升天之说，但他们相信轮回转世，认为今生所做所为（称为业），会影响到来世的好坏。要脱离轮回，唯一的方式就是通过苦行而得到解脱。《梨俱吠陀》中所说的「牟尼」，也是属于沙门中的一种。

西元前第七、八世纪兴起了《奥义书》信仰，与婆罗门教信仰不同，受到沙门传统的影响，他们相信轮回业报，崇尚禅定苦行，但是他们也相信古婆罗门经典，追求梵我合一。奥义书信仰以秘密传授的方式，主要流传在刹帝利阶层中，后者对婆罗门阶级不满，认为宗教特权不能由他们独占。在后世，逐渐形成了婆罗门六派信仰中的数论、瑜伽二派。

佛教兴起之前，印度有许多不同的宗教流派，但基本属于婆罗门、沙门这两种传统。佛陀本人曾经向数论派的一名上师阿蓝迦蓝学习无所有处定，向郁头蓝弗（Udraka Rāmaputra）学习无想定（Asamjni samapatti），也曾加入苦行沙门，一天只食一颗麻麦。因此也认为佛教兴起之初属于沙门团体的分支。在教义上，佛教与耆那教有许多相似的地方，这也是因为他们同属于沙门传统所致。

语言

释迦牟尼佛的主要活动范围，在恒河两岸的憍萨罗国、摩揭陀国和毗舍离国之间，所以他说法使用的语言很可能是印度东部的方言摩揭陀语。佛灭后，弟子们编纂经典时使用的语言，也应该是摩揭陀俗语；但是随著佛教传播地区的逐渐扩大，在各种方言的影响之下，佛教语言不可能保持纯粹单一。各方言本身也在演化，学者称摩揭陀俗语后来演变为半摩揭陀语，在发现阿育王摩崖敕令和石柱刻文后，学者对于摩揭陀俗语开始有了更多的了解。

根据南传佛教觉音等人的说法，现存的巴利语就是摩揭陀方言，也就是佛陀所使用的语言。但是古印度语言学研究者认为，巴利语应该是来自印度西部的方言，与源自东部的摩揭陀语不同，但它很可能受到摩揭陀语的影响，从而接受了它的某些特徵。

佛教的理论是关于解脱的理论，语言只是工具而不是目的，所以佛陀拒绝弟子要求依婆罗门传统以梵语为统一的传教语言，而允许弟子以自己的方言语音来持诵佛陀所说教法。因此早期的佛教经典不以梵语诵持，经律到后来才混合梵语进而出现梵语版本。

史学界观点

存世最早的佛经文本犍陀罗佛教原稿的书写时间，在西元前1世纪至3世纪之间，悉达多·乔达摩的事迹，在生前及死后二百馀年内，并无任何历史文献记载。西元前249年，阿育王于兰毗尼所立的阿育王石柱上，有如下文字：「释迦牟尼生于此地，石栏石柱为至尊而立，兰毗尼之税收减至八分之一…」。

在历史研究者看来佛陀生平的描述多属于诉诸默认，更多基于诉诸无知的后世描述中悉达多的生平常伴随超自然现象。豪族/部落领袖之子出家成道是沙门运动时期故事的常见主题，耆那教中与乔达摩同时代的笩駄摩那有著非常类似的故事。不过根据佛教典籍记载佛陀于拘尸那伽示现大涅盘时笩駄摩那早已离世，史学研究还有待考量。

其他宗教对于乔达摩·悉达多的看法

• 印度教教内的多数教派认为佛陀是毗湿奴十化身中的第九化身，他出现的目的是为了否定婆罗门的牺牲祭祀，倡导不杀生；也要迷惑一些智根浅薄的世人远离吠达经典。但也有个别教派认为不是这样。

• 许多历史学家认为关于天主教民间圣人贝尔拉姆与约瑟伐特的故事取材自《普曜经》所记载的关于乔达摩·悉达多的故事。

• 更正教传教士艾约瑟司牧声称释迦文佛只是世上的一个贤人，不是主宰万物的神灵，而且他早已去世，故此崇拜他此举无法带来益处，但原始佛教认为释尊瞿昙本来就是一个否认梵神造出万物的沙门，他致力以四圣谛及八正道教化众生，而不打算以神通拯救世人。

相关列表

家谱

以下为释迦牟尼的家谱：

• 七世祖大善生王。

• 六世祖师摩懿王。

• 高祖忧陀罗王。

• 曾祖瞿罗王。

• 祖父，与妻子迦旋娜（Kaccanā）育有四子。

• 父亲：前6世纪印度迦毗罗卫国净饭王，是由迦毗罗卫城的上层阶级所推选出来的执政官，释迦族中一位德高望重的国王，同时也是一位刹帝利(属于武士阶级的国王)。

家庭

• 生母：拘利族天臂城主善觉大王的胞妹摩耶(大幻化夫人，天示城善悟王的女儿)。生释迦牟尼，产后七日病逝。

• 继母、姨母或乳母：摩诃波闍波提·瞿昙弥（Mahāprajāpati Gautamī，也译为「大爱道·瞿昙弥」）。大幻化夫人之妹，天示城善悟王的女儿。大乘佛教佛陀传记说大爱道·瞿昙弥是释迦牟尼的姨母。

• 姊妹：公主难陀，净饭王所生，母不详。

• 弟弟：王子难陀，净饭王所生，母不详。

• 正妻：耶输陀罗，释迦牟尼佛的表妹。与释迦牟尼结婚并育有一子罗睺罗。

• 长子：罗睺罗，7岁出家，成为释迦牟尼的弟子之一。

• 另有两名夫人虞闭迦、蜜里誐惹，皆无子女。

父系亲戚

• 姑婆耶输陀罗（与释迦牟尼妻子同名，祖父师子颊王之妹），婚配天臂城主阿拏释迦王

• 二叔白饭王，育有2子

　• 堂兄提婆达多

　• 堂弟阿难（十大弟子之一）

• 三叔斛饭王，育有2子

　• 堂弟摩诃男（五比丘之一）

　• 堂弟阿尼律陀（十大弟子之一）

• 四叔甘露饭王，育有2子

　• 堂弟婆娑

　• 堂弟跋提（即小贤，五比丘之一）

• 姑姑甘露（善觉王妃）

母系亲戚

外公天臂城主阿拏释迦王，婚配外婆耶输陀罗，育有三名舅舅、一名姨姨：

• 大舅天臂城主善觉王

　• 表弟提婆

　• 表妹兼妻子耶输陀罗

• 二舅阿若憍陈如（摩耶夫人之弟、五比丘之一）

• 三舅十力迦叶（摩耶夫人之弟）

• 小姨摩诃波闍波提

• 亲戚阿说示（五比丘之一）

师长

• 文化导师：毗奢婆蜜多罗

• 武艺导师：羼提提婆

文艺作品

• 《西游记》中的如来佛祖。

• 日本漫画家手冢治虫漫画作品《佛陀》(1972年)。

• 佛光山释星云《释迦牟尼佛传》(1955年)。

• 「浴佛节」所供之佛像，多取幼年时悉达多太子一手指天、一手指地之形象。

影视形象

• 《佛典故事》（仏典物语）（1986年日本OVA动画）：田中秀幸配音。

• 《小活佛》（1993年）：基努·李维饰演成年悉达多太子直至证道成佛。

• 《佛陀》(2011～2014年日本动画电影)：吉冈秀隆配音。

• 《释迦牟尼佛传》（2013年香港电影）：徐天佑和吕良伟分别饰演少年和成年悉达多。

• 《佛陀》（2014年电视剧）：希曼叔·索尼（Himanshu Soni）饰演成年悉达多；维谢什·班萨 (Vishesh Bansal)饰演幼年悉达多。

Etymology, names and titles

Siddhārtha Gautama and Buddha Shakyamuni

According to Donald Lopez Jr., "... he tended to be known as either Buddha or Sakyamuni in China, Korea, Japan, and Tibet, and as either Gotama Buddha or Samana Gotama ('the ascetic Gotama') in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia."

Buddha, "Awakened One" or "Enlightened One", is the masculine form of budh (बुध् ), "to wake, be awake, observe, heed, attend, learn, become aware of, to know, be conscious again", "to awaken" to open up' (as does a flower)", "one who has awakened from the deep sleep of ignorance and opened his consciousness to encompass all objects of knowledge". It 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", is the faculty which discerns truth (satya) from falsehood.

The name of his clan was Gautama (Pali: Gotama). His given name, "Siddhārtha" (the Sanskrit form; the Pali rendering is "Siddhattha"; in Tibetan it is "Don grub"; in Chinese "Xidaduo"; in Japanese "Shiddatta/Shittatta"; in Korean "Siltalta") means "He Who Achieves His Goal". The clan name of Gautama means "descendant of Gotama", "Gotama" meaning "one who has the most light", and comes from the fact that Kshatriya clans adopted the names of their house priests.

While the term Buddha is used in the Agamas and the Pali Canon, the oldest surviving written records of the term Buddha is from the middle of the 3rd century BCE, when several Edicts of Ashoka (reigned –232 BCE) mention the Buddha and Buddhism. Ashoka's Lumbini pillar inscription commemorates the Emperor's pilgrimage to Lumbini as the Buddha's birthplace, calling him the Buddha Shakyamuni (Brahmi script: ������������ �������������������������������� Bu-dha Sa-kya-mu-nī, "Buddha, Sage of the Shakyas").

Śākyamuni, Sakyamuni, or Shakyamuni (, ) means "Sage of the Shakyas".

Tathāgata

Tathāgata (Pali; ) is a term the Buddha commonly used when referring to himself or other Buddhas in the Pāli Canon. The exact meaning of the term is 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 beyond all coming and going—beyond all transitory phenomena. A tathāgata is "immeasurable", "inscrutable", "hard to fathom", and "not apprehended".

Other epithets

A list of other epithets is commonly seen together in canonical texts and depicts some of his perfected qualities:

• Bhagavato (Bhagavan) – The Blessed one, one of the most used epithets, together with tathāgata

• Sammasambuddho – Perfectly self-awakened

• Vijja-carana-sampano – Endowed with higher knowledge and ideal conduct.

• Sugata – Well-gone or well-spoken.

• Lokavidu – Knower of the many worlds.

• Anuttaro Purisa-damma-sarathi – Unexcelled trainer of untrained people.

• Satthadeva-Manussanam – Teacher of gods and humans.

• 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".

• Jina – Conqueror. Although the term is more commonly used to name an individual who has attained liberation in the religion Jainism, it is also an alternative title for the Buddha.

The Pali Canon also contains numerous other titles and epithets for the Buddha, including: All-seeing, All-transcending sage, Bull among men, The Caravan leader, Dispeller of darkness, The Eye, Foremost of charioteers, Foremost of those who can cross, King of the Dharma (Dharmaraja), Kinsman of the Sun, Helper of the World (Lokanatha), Lion (Siha), Lord of the Dhamma, Of excellent wisdom (Varapañña), Radiant One, Torchbearer of mankind, Unsurpassed doctor and surgeon, Victor in battle, and Wielder of power. Another epithet, used at inscriptions throughout South and Southeast Asia, is Maha sramana, "great sramana" (ascetic, renunciate).

Sources

Historical sources

Pali suttas

On the basis of philological evidence, Indologist and Pāli expert Oskar von Hinüber says that some of the Pāli suttas have retained very archaic place-names, syntax, and historical data from close to 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 this text, which would allow for a "true historical memory" of the events approximately 60 years prior if the Short Chronology for the Buddha's lifetime is accepted (but he also points out that such a text was originally intended more as hagiography than as an exact historical record of events).

John S. Strong sees certain biographical fragments in the canonical texts preserved in Pāli, as well as Chinese, Tibetan and Sanskrit as the earliest material. These include texts such as the "Discourse on the Noble Quest" (Ariyapariyesanā-sutta) and its parallels in other languages.

Pillar and rock inscriptions

No written records about Gautama were found from his lifetime or from the one or two centuries thereafter. But from the middle of the 3rd century BCE, several Edicts of Ashoka (reigned c. 268 to 232 BCE) mention the Buddha and Buddhism. Particularly, Ashoka's Lumbini pillar inscription commemorates the Emperor's pilgrimage to Lumbini as the Buddha's birthplace, calling him the Buddha Shakyamuni (Brahmi script: ������������ �������������������������������� Bu-dha Sa-kya-mu-nī, "Buddha, Sage of the Shakyas"). 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"), establishing the existence of a written Buddhist tradition at least by the time of the Maurya era. These texts may be the precursor of the Pāli Canon.

"Sakamuni" is also mentioned in a relief of Bharhut, dated to , in relation with his illumination and the Bodhi tree, with the inscription Bhagavato Sakamunino Bodho ("The illumination of the Blessed Sakamuni").

Oldest surviving manuscripts

The oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts are the Gandhāran Buddhist texts, found in Gandhara (corresponding to modern northwestern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan) and written in Gāndhārī, they date from the first century BCE to the third century CE.

Biographical sources

Early canonical sources 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. 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. The Mahāpadāna Sutta and Achariyabhuta Sutta both recount miraculous events surrounding Gautama's birth, such as the bodhisattva's descent from the Tuṣita Heaven into his mother's womb.

The sources which present a complete picture of the life of Siddhārtha Gautama are a variety of different, and sometimes conflicting, traditional biographies from a later date. These include the Buddhacarita, Lalitavistara Sūtra, Mahāvastu, and the Nidānakathā. Of these, the Buddhacarita is the earliest full biography, an epic poem written by the poet Aśvaghoṣa in the first century CE. The Lalitavistara Sūtra is the next oldest biography, a Mahāyāna/Sarvāstivāda biography dating to the 3rd century CE.

The Mahāvastu from the Mahāsāṃghika Lokottaravāda tradition is another major biography, composed incrementally until perhaps the 4th century CE. 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. The Nidānakathā is from the Theravada tradition in Sri Lanka and was composed in the 5th century by Buddhaghoṣa.

Historical person

Understanding the historical person

Scholars are hesitant to make claims about the historical facts of the Buddha's life. Most of them accept that the Buddha lived, taught, and founded a monastic order during the Mahajanapada period, specifically during the reign of Bimbisara, ruler of Magadha, and died during the reign of Bimbisara's successor Ajatashatru, thus also making him a contemporary of Mahavira, the Jain tirthankara.

There is less consensus on the veracity of many details contained in traditional biographies, as "Buddhist scholars ... have mostly given up trying to understand the historical person." The earliest versions of Buddhist biographical texts that we have already contain many supernatural, mythical, or legendary elements. In the 19th century, some scholars simply omitted these from their accounts of the life, so that "the image projected was of a Buddha who was a rational, socratic teacher—a great person perhaps, but a more or less ordinary human being". More recent scholars tend to see such demythologisers as remythologisers, "creating a Buddha that appealed to them, by eliding one that did not".

Dating

The dates of Gautama's birth and death are uncertain. Within the Eastern Buddhist tradition of China, Vietnam, Korea and Japan, the traditional date for Buddha's death was 949 BCE, but according to the Ka-tan system of the Kalachakra tradition, Buddha's death was about 833 BCE.

Buddhist texts present two chronologies which have been used to date the lifetime of the Buddha. The "long chronology", from Sri Lankese chronicles, states the Buddha had a lifespan of 80 years and died 218 years before Asoka's coronation, thus from which it is inferred that he was born about 298 years before the coronation. According to 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 around 268 BCE (based on Greek evidence) put the Buddha's lifespan later at 566–486 BCE.

However, the "short chronology", from Indian sources and their Chinese and Tibetan translations, while also giving a lifespan of 80 years, place the Buddha's death 100 years before Asoka's coronation, from which his birth is inferred at about 180 years before the coronation. Following the Greek sources of Asoka's coronation as 268 BCE, this dates the Buddha's lifespan even later as 448–368 BCE.

Most historians in the early 20th century use the earlier dates of 563–483 BCE, differing from the long chronology based on Greek evidence by just three years. More recently, there are attempts to put his death midway between the long chronology's 480s BCE and the short chronology's 360s BCE, so circa 410 BCE. At a symposium on this question held in 1988, the majority of those who presented gave dates within 20 years either side of 400 BCE for the Buddha's death. These alternative chronologies, however, have not been accepted by all historians.

The dating of Bimbisara and Ajatashatru also depends on the long or short chronology. In the long chrononology, Bimbisara reigned , and died 492 BCE, while Ajatashatru reigned . In the short chronology Bimbisara reigned , while Ajatashatru died between and 330 BCE. According to historian K. T. S. Sarao, a proponent of the Short Chronology wherein the Buddha's lifespan was , it can be estimated that Bimbisara was reigning , and Ajatashatru was reigning .

Historical context

Shakyas

According to the Buddhist tradition, Shakyamuni Buddha was a Shakya, a sub-Himalayan ethnicity and clan of north-eastern region of the Indian subcontinent. The Shakya community was on the periphery, both geographically and culturally, of the eastern Indian subcontinent in the 5th century BCE. The community, though describable as a small republic, was probably an oligarchy, with his father as the elected chieftain or oligarch. The Shakyas were widely considered to be non-Vedic (and, hence impure) in Brahminic texts; their origins remain speculative and debated. Bronkhorst terms this culture, which grew alongside Aryavarta without being affected by the flourish of Brahminism, as Greater Magadha.

The Buddha's tribe of origin, the Shakyas, seems to have had non-Vedic religious practices which persist in Buddhism, such as the veneration of trees and sacred groves, and the worship of tree spirits (yakkhas) and serpent beings (nagas). They also seem to have built burial mounds called stupas. Tree veneration remains important in Buddhism today, particularly in the practice of venerating Bodhi trees. Likewise, yakkas and nagas have remained important figures in Buddhist religious practices and mythology.

Shramanas

The Buddha's lifetime coincided with the flourishing of influential śramaṇa schools of thought like Ājīvika, Cārvāka, Jainism, and Ajñana. The Brahmajala Sutta records sixty-two such schools of thought. 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, Pūraṇa Kassapa, Makkhali Gosāla, Ajita Kesakambalī, Pakudha Kaccāyana, and Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta, as recorded in Samaññaphala Sutta, with whose viewpoints the Buddha must have been acquainted.

Śāriputra and Moggallāna, two of the foremost disciples of the Buddha, were formerly the foremost disciples of Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta, the sceptic. The Pāli canon frequently depicts Buddha engaging in debate with the adherents of rival schools of thought. There is philological evidence to suggest that the two masters, Alara Kalama and Uddaka Rāmaputta, were historical figures and they most probably taught Buddha two different forms of meditative techniques. Thus, Buddha was just one of the many śramaṇa philosophers of that time. In an era where holiness of person was judged by their level of asceticism, Buddha was a reformist within the śramaṇa movement, rather than a reactionary against Vedic Brahminism.

Coningham and Young note that both Jains and Buddhists used stupas, while tree shrines can be found in both Buddhism and Hinduism.

Urban environment and egalitarianism

The rise of Buddhism coincided with the Second Urbanisation, in which the Ganges Basin was settled and cities grew, in which egalitarianism prevailed. According to Thapar, the Buddha's teachings were "also a response to the historical changes of the time, among which were the emergence of the state and the growth of urban centres". While the Buddhist mendicants renounced society, they lived close to the villages and cities, depending for alms-givings on lay supporters.

According to Dyson, the Ganges basin was settled from the north-west and the south-east, as well as from within, "coming together in what is now Bihar (the location of Pataliputra)". The Ganges basin was densely forested, and the population grew when new areas were deforestated and cultivated. The society of the middle Ganges basin lay on "the outer fringe of Aryan cultural influence", and differed significantly from the Aryan society of the western Ganges basin. According to Stein and Burton, "the gods of the brahmanical sacrificial cult were not rejected so much as ignored by Buddhists and their contemporaries." Jainism and Buddhism opposed the social stratification of Brahmanism, and their egalitarism prevailed in the cities of the middle Ganges basin. This "allowed Jains and Buddhists to engage in trade more easily than Brahmans, who were forced to follow strict caste prohibitions."

Semi-legendary biography

Nature of traditional depictions

In the earliest Buddhist texts, the nikāyas and āgamas, the Buddha is not depicted as possessing omniscience (sabbaññu) nor is he depicted as being an eternal transcendent (lokottara) being. According to Bhikkhu Analayo, ideas of the Buddha's omniscience (along with an increasing tendency to deify him and his biography) are found only later, in the Mahayana sutras and later Pali commentaries or texts such as the Mahāvastu. In the Sandaka Sutta, the Buddha's disciple Ananda outlines an argument against the claims of teachers who say they are all knowing while in the Tevijjavacchagotta Sutta the Buddha himself states that he has never made a claim to being omniscient, instead he claimed to have the "higher knowledges" (abhijñā). The earliest biographical material from the Pali Nikayas focuses on the Buddha's life as a śramaṇa, his search for enlightenment under various teachers such as Alara Kalama and his forty-five-year career as a teacher.

Traditional biographies of Gautama often 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". As noted by Andrew Skilton, the Buddha was often described as being superhuman, including descriptions of him having the 32 major and 80 minor marks of a "great man", and the idea that the Buddha could live for as long as an aeon if he wished (see DN 16).

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. 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. Michael Carrithers goes further, stating that the most general outline of "birth, maturity, renunciation, search, awakening and liberation, teaching, death" must be true.

Previous lives

Legendary biographies like the Pali Buddhavaṃsa and the Sanskrit Jātakamālā depict the Buddha's (referred to as "bodhisattva" before his awakening) career as spanning hundreds of lifetimes before his last birth as Gautama. Many of these previous lives are narrated in the Jatakas, which consists of 547 stories. The format of a Jataka typically begins by telling a story in the present which is then explained by a story of someone's previous life.

Besides imbuing the pre-Buddhist past with a deep karmic history, the Jatakas also serve to explain the bodhisattva's (the Buddha-to-be) path to Buddhahood. In biographies like the Buddhavaṃsa, this path is described as long and arduous, taking "four incalculable ages" (asamkheyyas).

In these legendary biographies, the bodhisattva goes through many different births (animal and human), is inspired by his meeting of past Buddhas, and then makes a series of resolves or vows (pranidhana) to become a Buddha himself. Then he begins to receive predictions by past Buddhas. One of the most popular of these stories is his meeting with Dipankara Buddha, who gives the bodhisattva a prediction of future Buddhahood.

Another theme found in the Pali Jataka Commentary (Jātakaṭṭhakathā) and the Sanskrit Jātakamālā is how the Buddha-to-be had to practice several "perfections" (pāramitā) to reach Buddhahood. The Jatakas also sometimes depict negative actions done in previous lives by the bodhisattva, which explain difficulties he experienced in his final life as Gautama.

Birth and early life

According to the Buddhist tradition, Gautama was born in Lumbini, now in modern-day Nepal, and raised in Kapilavastu. The exact site of ancient Kapilavastu is unknown. It may have been either Piprahwa, Uttar Pradesh, in present-day India, or Tilaurakot, in present-day Nepal. Both places belonged to the Sakya territory, and are located only apart.

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."

According to later biographies such as the Mahavastu and the Lalitavistara, his mother, Maya (Māyādevī), Suddhodana's wife, was a princess from Devdaha, the ancient capital of the Koliya Kingdom (what is now the Rupandehi District of Nepal). 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, and ten months later Siddhartha was born. As was the Shakya tradition, when his mother Queen Maya became pregnant, she left Kapilavastu for her father's kingdom to give birth.

Her son is said to have been born on the way, at Lumbini, in a garden beneath a sal tree. The earliest Buddhist sources state that the Buddha was born to an aristocratic Kshatriya (Pali: khattiya) family called Gotama (Sanskrit: Gautama), who were part of the Shakyas, a tribe of rice-farmers living near the modern border of India and Nepal. His father Śuddhodana was "an elected chief of the Shakya clan", whose capital was Kapilavastu, and who were later annexed by the growing Kingdom of Kosala during the Buddha's lifetime.

The early Buddhist texts contain very little information about the birth and youth of Gotama Buddha. Later biographies developed a dramatic narrative about the life of the young Gotama as a prince and his existential troubles. They depict his father Śuddhodana as a hereditary monarch of the Suryavansha (Solar dynasty) of (Pāli: Okkāka). This is unlikely, as many scholars think that Śuddhodana was merely a Shakya aristocrat (khattiya), and that the Shakya republic was not a hereditary monarchy. The more egalitarian form of government, as a political alternative to Indian monarchies, may have influenced the development of the śramanic Jain and Buddhist sanghas, where monarchies tended toward Vedic Brahmanism.

The day of the Buddha's birth, enlightenment and death is widely celebrated in Theravada countries as Vesak and the day he got conceived as Poson. Buddha's Birthday is called Buddha Purnima in Nepal, Bangladesh, and India as he is believed to have been born on a full moon day.

According to later biographical legends, during the birth celebrations, the hermit seer Asita journeyed from his mountain abode, analyzed the child for the "32 marks of a great man" and then announced that he would either become a great king (chakravartin) or a great religious leader. Suddhodana held a naming ceremony on the fifth day and invited eight Brahmin scholars to read the future. All gave similar predictions. Kondañña, the youngest, and later to be the first arhat other than the Buddha, was reputed to be the only one who unequivocally predicted that Siddhartha would become a Buddha.

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. According to the early Buddhist Texts of several schools, and numerous post-canonical accounts, Gotama had a wife, Yasodhara, and a son, named Rāhula. Besides this, the Buddha in the early texts reports that "I lived a spoilt, a very spoilt life, monks (in my parents' home)."

The legendary biographies like the Lalitavistara also tell stories of young Gotama's great martial skill, which was put to the test in various contests against other Shakyan youths.

Renunciation

While the earliest sources merely depict Gotama seeking a higher spiritual goal and becoming an ascetic or śramaṇa after being disillusioned with lay life, the later legendary biographies tell a more elaborate dramatic story about how he became a mendicant.

The earliest accounts of the Buddha's spiritual quest is found in texts such as the Pali Ariyapariyesanā-sutta ("The discourse on the noble quest", MN 26) and its Chinese parallel at MĀ 204. These texts report that what led to Gautama's renunciation was the thought that his life was subject to old age, disease and death and that there might be something better. The early texts also depict the Buddha's explanation for becoming a sramana as follows: "The household life, this place of impurity, is narrow—the samana life is the free open air. It is not easy for a householder to lead the perfected, utterly pure and perfect holy life." MN 26, MĀ 204, the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya and the Mahāvastu all agree that his mother and father opposed his decision and "wept with tearful faces" when he decided to leave.

Legendary biographies also tell the story of how Gautama left his palace to see the outside world for the first time and how he was shocked by his encounter with human suffering. These depict Gautama's father as shielding him from religious teachings and from knowledge of human suffering, so that he would become a great king instead of a great religious leader. In the Nidanakatha (5th century CE), Gautama is said to have seen an old man. When his charioteer Chandaka 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 that inspired him. This story of the "four sights" seems to be adapted from an earlier account in the Digha Nikaya (DN 14.2) which instead depicts the young life of a previous Buddha, Vipassi.

The legendary biographies depict Gautama's departure from his palace as follows. Shortly after seeing the four sights, Gautama woke up at night and saw his female servants lying in unattractive, corpse-like poses, which shocked him. Therefore, he discovered what he would later understand more deeply during his enlightenment: dukkha ("standing unstable", "dissatisfaction") and the end of dukkha. Moved by all the things he had experienced, he decided to leave the palace in the middle of the night against the will of his father, to live the life of a wandering ascetic.

Accompanied by Chandaka and riding his horse Kanthaka, Gautama leaves the palace, leaving behind his son Rahula and Yaśodhara. He travelled to the river Anomiya, and cut off his hair. Leaving his servant and horse behind, he journeyed into the woods and changed into monk's robes there, though in some other versions of the story, he received the robes from a Brahma deity at Anomiya.

According to the legendary biographies, when the ascetic Gautama first went to Rajagaha (present-day Rajgir) to beg for alms in the streets, King Bimbisara of Magadha learned of his quest, and offered him a share of his kingdom. Gautama rejected the offer but promised to visit his kingdom first, upon attaining enlightenment.

Ascetic life and awakening

Majjhima Nikaya 4 mentions that Gautama lived in "remote jungle thickets" during his years of spiritual striving and had to overcome the fear that he felt while living in the forests. The Nikaya-texts narrate that the ascetic Gautama practised under two teachers of yogic meditation. According to the Ariyapariyesanā-sutta (MN 26) and its Chinese parallel at MĀ 204, after having mastered the teaching of Ārāḍa Kālāma, who taught a meditation attainment called "the sphere of nothingness", he was asked by Ārāḍa to become an equal leader of their spiritual community.

Gautama felt unsatisfied by the practice because it "does not lead to revulsion, to dispassion, to cessation, to calm, to knowledge, to awakening, to Nibbana", and moved on to become a student of Udraka Rāmaputra. With him, he achieved high levels of meditative consciousness (called "The Sphere of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception") and was again asked to join his teacher. But, once more, he was not satisfied for the same reasons as before, and moved on.

According to some sutras, after leaving his meditation teachers, Gotama then practiced ascetic techniques. The ascetic techniques described in the early texts include very minimal food intake, different forms of breath control, and forceful mind control. The texts report that he became so emaciated that his bones became visible through his skin. The Mahāsaccaka-sutta and most of its parallels agree that after taking asceticism to its extremes, Gautama realized that this had not helped him attain nirvana, and that he needed to regain strength to pursue his goal. One popular story tells of how he accepted milk and rice pudding from a village girl named Sujata.

According to the 身毛喜竖经, his break with asceticism led his five companions to abandon him, since they believed that he had abandoned his search and become undisciplined. At this point, Gautama remembered a previous experience of dhyana ("meditation") he had as a child sitting under a tree while his father worked. This memory leads him to understand that dhyana is the path to liberation, and the texts then depict the Buddha achieving all four dhyanas, followed by the "three higher knowledges" (tevijja), culminating in complete insight into the Four Noble Truths, thereby attaining liberation from samsara, the endless cycle of rebirth.

According to the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta (SN 56), the Tathagata, the term Gautama uses most often to refer to himself, realized "the Middle Way"—a path of moderation away from the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification, or the Noble Eightfold Path. In later centuries, Gautama became known as the Buddha or "Awakened One". The title indicates that unlike most people who are "asleep", a Buddha is understood as having "woken up" to the true nature of reality and sees the world 'as it is' (yatha-bhutam). A Buddha has achieved liberation (vimutti), also called Nirvana, which is seen as the extinguishing of the "fires" of desire, hatred, and ignorance, that keep the cycle of suffering and rebirth going.

Following his decision to leave his meditation teachers, MĀ 204 and other parallel early texts report that Gautama sat down with the determination not to get up until full awakening (sammā-sambodhi) had been reached; the Ariyapariyesanā-sutta does not mention "full awakening", but only that he attained nirvana. In Buddhist tradition, this event was said to have occurred under a pipal tree—known as "the Bodhi tree"—in Bodh Gaya, Bihar.

As reported by various texts from the Pali Canon, the Buddha sat for seven days under the bodhi tree "feeling the bliss of deliverance". The Pali texts also report that he continued to meditate and contemplated various aspects of the Dharma while living by the River Nairañjanā, such as Dependent Origination, the Five Spiritual Faculties and suffering (dukkha).

The legendary biographies like the Mahavastu, Nidanakatha and the Lalitavistara depict an attempt by Mara, the ruler of the desire realm, to prevent the Buddha's nirvana. He does so by sending his daughters to seduce the Buddha, by asserting his superiority and by assaulting him with armies of monsters. However the Buddha is unfazed and calls on the earth (or in some versions of the legend, the earth goddess) as witness to his superiority by touching the ground before entering meditation. Other miracles and magical events are also depicted.

First sermon and formation of the saṅgha

According to MN 26, immediately after his awakening, the Buddha hesitated on whether or not he should teach the Dharma to others. He was concerned that humans were overpowered by ignorance, greed, and hatred that it would be difficult for them to recognise the path, which is "subtle, deep and hard to grasp". However, the god Brahmā Sahampati convinced him, arguing that at least some "with little dust in their eyes" will understand it. The Buddha relented and agreed to teach. According to Anālayo, the Chinese parallel to MN 26, MĀ 204, does not contain this story, but this event does appear in other parallel texts, such as in an Ekottarika-āgama discourse, in the Catusparisat-sūtra, and in the Lalitavistara.

According to MN 26 and MĀ 204, after deciding to teach, the Buddha initially intended to visit his former teachers, Alara Kalama and Udaka Ramaputta, to teach them his insights, but they had already died, so he decided to visit his five former companions. MN 26 and MĀ 204 both report that on his way to Vārānasī (Benares), he met another wanderer, an Ājīvika ascetic named Upaka in MN 26. The Buddha proclaimed that he had achieved full awakening, but Upaka was not convinced and "took a different path".

MN 26 and MĀ 204 continue with the Buddha reaching the Deer Park (Sarnath) (Mrigadāva, also called Rishipatana, "site where the ashes of the ascetics fell") near Vārānasī, where he met the group of five ascetics and was able to convince them that he had indeed reached full awakening. According to MĀ 204 (but not MN 26), as well as the Theravāda Vinaya, an Ekottarika-āgama text, the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, the Mahīśāsaka Vinaya, and the Mahāvastu, the Buddha then taught them the "first sermon", also known as the "Benares sermon", i.e., the teaching of "the noble eightfold path as the middle path aloof from the two extremes of sensual indulgence and self-mortification". The Pali text reports that after the first sermon, the ascetic Koṇḍañña (Kaundinya) became the first arahant (liberated being) and the first Buddhist bhikkhu or monastic. The Buddha then continued to teach the other ascetics and they formed the first , the company of Buddhist monks.

Various sources such as the Mahāvastu, the Mahākhandhaka of the Theravāda Vinaya and the Catusparisat-sūtra also mention that the Buddha taught them his second discourse, about the characteristic of "not-self" (Anātmalakṣaṇa Sūtra), at this time or five days later. After hearing this second sermon the four remaining ascetics also reached the status of arahant.

The Theravāda Vinaya and the Catusparisat-sūtra also speak of the conversion of Yasa, a local guild master, and his friends and family, who were some of the first laypersons to be converted and to enter the Buddhist community. The conversion of three brothers named Kassapa followed, who brought with them five hundred converts who had previously been "matted hair ascetics", and whose spiritual practice was related to fire sacrifices. According to the Theravāda Vinaya, the Buddha then stopped at the Gayasisa hill near Gaya and delivered his third discourse, the Ādittapariyāya Sutta (The Discourse on Fire), in which he taught that everything in the world is inflamed by passions and only those who follow the Eightfold path can be liberated.

At the end of the rainy season, when the Buddha's community had grown to around sixty awakened monks, he instructed them to wander on their own, teach and ordain people into the community, for the "welfare and benefit" of the world.

Travels and growth of the saṅgha

For the remaining 40 or 45 years of his life, the Buddha is said to have travelled in the Gangetic Plain, in what is now Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and southern Nepal, teaching a diverse range of people: from nobles to servants, ascetics and householders, murderers such as Angulimala, and cannibals such as Alavaka. According to Schumann, the Buddha's travels ranged from "Kosambi on the Yamuna (25 km south-west of Allahabad )", to Campa (40 km east of Bhagalpur)" and from "Kapilavatthu (95 km north-west of Gorakhpur) to Uruvela (south of Gaya)". This covers an area of 600 by 300 km. His sangha enjoyed the patronage of the kings of Kosala and Magadha and he thus spent a lot of time in their respective capitals, Savatthi and Rajagaha.

Although the Buddha's language remains unknown, it is likely that he taught in one or more of a variety of closely related Middle Indo-Aryan dialects, of which Pali may be a standardisation.

The sangha wandered throughout the year, except during the four months of the Vassa rainy season when ascetics of all religions rarely travelled. One reason was that it was more difficult to do so without causing harm to flora and animal life. The health of the ascetics might have been a concern as well. 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. According to the Pali texts, shortly after the formation of the sangha, the Buddha travelled to Rajagaha, capital of Magadha, and met with King Bimbisara, who gifted a bamboo grove park to the sangha.

The Buddha's sangha continued to grow during his initial travels in north India. The early texts tell the story of how the Buddha's chief disciples, Sāriputta and Mahāmoggallāna, who were both students of the skeptic sramana Sañjaya Belaṭṭhiputta, were converted by Assaji. They also tell of how the Buddha's son, Rahula, joined his father as a bhikkhu when the Buddha visited his old home, Kapilavastu. Over time, other Shakyans joined the order as bhikkhus, such as Buddha's cousin Ananda, Anuruddha, Upali the barber, the Buddha's half-brother Nanda and Devadatta. Meanwhile, the Buddha's father Suddhodana heard his son's teaching, converted to Buddhism and became a stream-enterer.

The early texts also mention an important lay disciple, the merchant Anāthapiṇḍika, who became a strong lay supporter of the Buddha early on. He is said to have gifted Jeta's grove (Jetavana) to the sangha at great expense (the Theravada Vinaya speaks of thousands of gold coins).

Formation of the bhikkhunī order

The formation of a parallel order of female monastics (bhikkhunī) was another important part of the growth of the Buddha's community. As noted by Anālayo's comparative study of this topic, there are various versions of this event depicted in the different early Buddhist texts.

According to all the major versions surveyed by Anālayo, Mahāprajāpatī Gautamī, Buddha's step-mother, is initially turned down by the Buddha after requesting ordination for her and some other women. Mahāprajāpatī and her followers then shave their hair, don robes and begin following the Buddha on his travels. The Buddha is eventually convinced by Ānanda to grant ordination to Mahāprajāpatī on her acceptance of eight conditions called gurudharmas which focus on the relationship between the new order of nuns and the monks.

According to Anālayo, the only argument common to all the versions that Ananda uses to convince the Buddha is that women have the same ability to reach all stages of awakening. Anālayo also notes that some modern scholars have questioned the authenticity of the eight gurudharmas in their present form due to various inconsistencies. He holds that the historicity of the current lists of eight is doubtful, but that they may have been based on earlier injunctions by the Buddha.

Anālayo notes that various passages indicate that the reason for the Buddha's hesitation to ordain women was the danger that the life of a wandering sramana posed for women that were not under the protection of their male family members, such as dangers of sexual assault and abduction. Due to this, the gurudharma injunctions may have been a way to place "the newly founded order of nuns in a relationship to its male counterparts that resembles as much as possible the protection a laywoman could expect from her male relatives".

Later years

According to J.S. Strong, after the first 20 years of his teaching career, the Buddha seems to have slowly settled in Sravasti, the capital of the Kingdom of Kosala, spending most of his later years in this city.

As the sangha grew in size, the need for a standardized set of monastic rules arose and the Buddha seems to have developed a set of regulations for the sangha. These are preserved in various texts called "Pratimoksa" which were recited by the community every fortnight. The Pratimoksa includes general ethical precepts, as well as rules regarding the essentials of monastic life, such as bowls and robes.

In his later years, the Buddha's fame grew and he was invited to important royal events, such as the inauguration of the new council hall of the Shakyans (as seen in MN 53) and the inauguration of a new palace by Prince Bodhi (as depicted in MN 85). The early texts also speak of how during the Buddha's old age, the kingdom of Magadha was usurped by a new king, Ajatashatru, who overthrew his father Bimbisara. According to the Samaññaphala Sutta, the new king spoke with different ascetic teachers and eventually took refuge in the Buddha. However, Jain sources also claim his allegiance, and it is likely he supported various religious groups, not just the Buddha's sangha exclusively.

As the Buddha continued to travel and teach, he also came into contact with members of other śrāmana sects. There is evidence from the early texts that the Buddha encountered some of these figures and critiqued their doctrines. The Samaññaphala Sutta identifies six such sects.

The early texts also depict the elderly Buddha as suffering from back pain. Several texts depict him delegating teachings to his chief disciples since his body now needed more rest. However, the Buddha continued teaching well into his old age.

One of the most troubling events during the Buddha's old age was Devadatta's schism. Early sources speak of how the Buddha's cousin, Devadatta, attempted to take over leadership of the order and then left the sangha with several Buddhist monks and formed a rival sect. This sect is said to have been supported by King Ajatashatru. The Pali texts depict Devadatta as plotting to kill the Buddha, but these plans all fail. They depict the Buddha as sending his two chief disciples (Sariputta and Moggallana) to this schismatic community in order to convince the monks who left with Devadatta to return.

All the major early Buddhist Vinaya texts depict Devadatta as a divisive figure who attempted to split the Buddhist community, but they disagree on what issues he disagreed with the Buddha on. The Sthavira texts generally focus on "five points" which are seen as excessive ascetic practices, while the Mahāsaṅghika Vinaya speaks of a more comprehensive disagreement, which has Devadatta alter the discourses as well as monastic discipline.

At around the same time of Devadatta's schism, there was also war between Ajatashatru's Kingdom of Magadha, and Kosala, led by an elderly king Pasenadi. Ajatashatru seems to have been victorious, a turn of events the Buddha is reported to have regretted.

Last days and parinirvana

The main narrative of the Buddha's last days, death and the events following his death is contained in the Mahaparinibbana Sutta (DN 16) and its various parallels in Sanskrit, Chinese, and Tibetan. According to Anālayo, these include the Chinese Dirgha Agama 2, "Sanskrit fragments of the Mahaparinirvanasutra", and "three discourses preserved as individual translations in Chinese".

The Mahaparinibbana sutta depicts the Buddha's last year as a time of war. It begins with Ajatashatru's decision to make war on the Vajjika League, leading him to send a minister to ask the Buddha for advice. The Buddha responds by saying that the Vajjikas can be expected to prosper as long as they do seven things, and he then applies these seven principles to the Buddhist Sangha, showing that he is concerned about its future welfare.

The Buddha says that the Sangha will prosper as long as they "hold regular and frequent assemblies, meet in harmony, do not change the rules of training, honour their superiors who were ordained before them, do not fall prey to worldly desires, remain devoted to forest hermitages, and preserve their personal mindfulness". He then gives further lists of important virtues to be upheld by the Sangha.

The early texts depict how the Buddha's two chief disciples, Sariputta and Moggallana, died just before the Buddha's death. The Mahaparinibbana depicts the Buddha as experiencing illness during the last months of his life but initially recovering. It depicts him as stating that he cannot promote anyone to be his successor. When Ānanda requested this, the Mahaparinibbana records his response as follows:

After travelling and teaching some more, 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 death and that his meal would be a source of the greatest merit as it provided the last meal for a Buddha. Bhikkhu Mettanando and Oskar von Hinüber argue that the Buddha died of mesenteric infarction, a symptom of old age, rather than food poisoning.

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. Modern scholars also disagree on this topic, arguing both for pig's flesh or some kind of plant or mushroom that pigs like to eat. Whatever the case, none of the sources which mention the last meal attribute the Buddha's sickness to the meal itself.

As per the Mahaparinibbana sutta, after the meal with Cunda, the Buddha and his companions continued travelling until he was too weak to continue and had to stop at Kushinagar, where Ānanda had a resting place prepared in a grove of Sala trees. After announcing to the sangha at large that he would soon be passing away to final Nirvana, the Buddha ordained one last novice into the order personally. His name was Subhadda. He then repeated his final instructions to the sangha, which was that the Dhamma and Vinaya was to be their teacher after his death. Then he asked if anyone had any doubts about the teaching, but nobody did. The Buddha's final words are reported to have been: "All saṅkhāras decay. Strive for the goal with diligence (appamāda)" (Pali: 'vayadhammā saṅkhārā appamādena sampādethā').

He then entered his final meditation and died, reaching what is known as parinirvana (final nirvana; instead of a person being reborn, "the five aggregates of physical and mental phenomena that constitute a being cease to occur"). The Mahaparinibbana reports that in his final meditation he entered the four dhyanas consecutively, then the four immaterial attainments and finally the meditative dwelling known as nirodha-samāpatti, before returning to the fourth dhyana right at the moment of death.

Posthumous events

According to the Mahaparinibbana sutta, the Mallians of Kushinagar spent the days following the Buddha's death honouring his body with flowers, music and scents. The sangha waited until the eminent elder Mahākassapa arrived to pay his respects before cremating the body.

The Buddha's body was then cremated and the remains, including his bones, were kept as relics and they were distributed among various north Indian kingdoms like Magadha, Shakya and Koliya. These relics were placed in monuments or mounds called stupas, a common funerary practice at the time. Centuries later they would be exhumed and enshrined by Ashoka into many new stupas around the Mauryan realm. Many supernatural legends surround the history of alleged relics as they accompanied the spread of Buddhism and gave legitimacy to rulers.

According to various Buddhist sources, the First Buddhist Council was held shortly after the Buddha's death to collect, recite and memorize the teachings. Mahākassapa was chosen by the sangha to be the chairman of the council. However, the historicity of the traditional accounts of the first council is disputed by modern scholars.

Teachings and views

Historicity

Scholarly views on the earliest teachings

One method to obtain information on the oldest core of Buddhism is to compare the oldest versions of the Pali Canon and other texts, such as the surviving portions of Sarvastivada, Mulasarvastivada, Mahisasaka, Dharmaguptaka, and the Chinese Agamas. The reliability of these sources, and the possibility of drawing out a core of oldest teachings, is a matter of dispute. According to Lambert Schmithausen, there are three positions held by modern scholars of Buddhism with regard to the authenticity of the teachings contained in the Nikayas:

• "Stress on the fundamental homogeneity and substantial authenticity of at least a considerable part of the Nikayic materials".

• "Scepticism with regard to the possibility of retrieving the doctrine of earliest Buddhism".

• "Cautious optimism in this respect".

Scholars such as Richard Gombrich, Akira Hirakawa, Alexander Wynne and A.K. Warder hold that these Early Buddhist Texts contain material that could possibly be traced to the Buddha. Richard Gombrich argues that since the content of the earliest texts "presents such originality, intelligence, grandeur and—most relevantly—coherence...it is hard to see it as a composite work." Thus he concludes they are "the work of one genius". Peter Harvey also agrees that "much" of the Pali Canon "must derive from his Buddha's teachings". Likewise, A. K. Warder has written that "there is no evidence to suggest that it shared teaching of the early schools was formulated by anyone other than the Buddha and his immediate followers." According to Alexander Wynne, "the internal evidence of the early Buddhist literature proves its historical authenticity."

Other scholars of Buddhist studies have disagreed with the mostly positive view that the early Buddhist texts reflect the teachings of the historical Buddha, arguing that some teachings contained in the early texts are the authentic teachings of the Buddha, but not others. Ainslie Embree writes that many sermons credited to the Buddha are the works of later teachers, so there is considerable doubt about his original message. According to Tilmann Vetter, inconsistencies remain, and other methods must be applied to resolve those inconsistencies. According to Tilmann Vetter, the earliest core of the Buddhist teachings is the meditative practice of dhyāna, but "liberating insight" became an essential feature of the Buddhist tradition only at a later date.

He posits that the Fourth Noble Truths, the Eightfold path and Dependent Origination, which are commonly seen as essential to Buddhism, are later formulations which form part of the explanatory framework of this "liberating insight". Lambert Schmithausen similarly argues that the mention of the four noble truths as constituting "liberating insight", which is attained after mastering the four dhyānas, is a later addition. Johannes Bronkhorst also argues that the four truths may not have been formulated in earliest Buddhism, and did not serve in earliest Buddhism as a description of "liberating insight".

Edward Conze argued that the attempts of European scholars to reconstruct the original teachings of the Buddha were "all mere guesswork".

Core teachings

A number of teachings and practices are deemed essential to Buddhism, including: the samyojana (fetters, chains or bounds), that is, the sankharas ("formations"), the kleshas (unwholesome mental states), including the three poisons, and the āsavas ("influx, canker"), that perpetuate sasāra, the repeated cycle of becoming; the six sense bases and the five aggregates, which describe the process from sense contact to consciousness which lead to this bondage to sasāra; dependent origination, which describes this process, and its reversal, in detail; and the Middle Way, summarized by the later tradition in the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, which prescribes how this bondage can be reversed.

According to N. Ross Reat, the Theravada Pali texts and the Mahasamghika school's Śālistamba Sūtra share

these basic teachings and practices. Bhikkhu Analayo concludes that the Theravada Majjhima Nikaya and Sarvastivada Madhyama Agama contain mostly the same major doctrines. Likewise, Richard Salomon has written that the doctrines found in the Gandharan Manuscripts are "consistent with non-Mahayana Buddhism, which survives today in the Theravada school of Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, but which in ancient times was represented by eighteen separate schools".

Samsara

All beings have deeply entrenched samyojana (fetters, chains or bounds), that is, the sankharas ("formations"), kleshas (unwholesome mental states), including the three poisons, and āsavas ("influx, canker"), that perpetuate sasāra, the repeated cycle of becoming and rebirth. According to the Pali suttas, the Buddha stated that "this saṃsāra is without discoverable beginning. A first point is not discerned of beings roaming and wandering on hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving." In the Dutiyalokadhammasutta sutta (AN 8:6) the Buddha explains how "eight worldly winds" "keep the world turning around ... Gain and loss, fame and disrepute, praise and blame, pleasure and pain". He then explains how the difference between a noble (arya) person and an uninstructed worldling is that a noble person reflects on and understands the impermanence of these conditions.

This cycle of becoming is characterized by dukkha, commonly referred to as "suffering", dukkha is more aptly rendered as "unsatisfactoriness" or "unease". It is the unsatisfactoriness and unease that comes with a life dictated by automatic responses and habituated selfishness, and the unsatifacories of expecting enduring happiness from things which are impermanent, unstable and thus unreliable. The ultimate noble goal should be liberation from this cycle.

Samsara is dictated by karma, which is an impersonal natural law, similar to how certain seeds produce certain plants and fruits. Karma is not the only cause for one's conditions, as the Buddha listed various physical and environmental causes alongside karma. The Buddha's teaching of karma differed to that of the Jains and Brahmins, in that on his view, karma is primarily mental intention (as opposed to mainly physical action or ritual acts). The Buddha is reported to have said "By karma I mean intention." Richard Gombrich summarizes the Buddha's view of karma as follows: "all thoughts, words, and deeds derive their moral value, positive or negative, from the intention behind them".

The six sense bases and the five aggregates

The āyatana (six sense bases) and the five skandhas (aggregates) describe how sensory contact leads to attachment and dukkha. The six sense bases are eye and sight, ear and sound, nose and odour, tongue and taste, body and touch, and mind and thoughts. Together they create the input from which we create our world or reality, "the all". This process takes place through the five skandhas, "aggregates", "groups", "heaps", five groups of physical and mental processes, namely form (or material image, impression), sensations (or feelings, received from form), perceptions, mental activity or formations, consciousness. They form part of other Buddhist teachings and lists, such as dependent origination, and explain how sensory input ultimately leads to bondage to samsara by the mental defilements.

Dependent Origination

In the early texts, the process of the arising of dukkha is explicated through the teaching of dependent origination, which says that everything that exists or occurs is dependent on conditioning factors. The most basic formulation of dependent origination is given in the early texts as: 'It being thus, this comes about' (Pali: evam sati idam hoti). This can be taken to mean that certain phenomena only arise when there are other phenomena present, thus their arising is "dependent" on other phenomena.

The philosopher Mark Siderits has outlined the basic idea of the Buddha's teaching of Dependent Origination of dukkha as follows:

In numerous early texts, this basic principle is expanded with a list of phenomena that are said to be conditionally dependent, as a result of later elaborations, including Vedic cosmogenies as the basis for the first four links. According to Boisvert, nidana 3-10 correlate with the five skandhas. According to Richard Gombrich, the twelve-fold list is a combination of two previous lists, the second list beginning with tanha, "thirst", the cause of suffering as described in the second noble truth". According to Gombrich, the two lists were combined, resulting in contradictions in its reverse version.

Anatta

The Buddha saw his analysis of dependent origination as a "Middle Way" between "eternalism" (sassatavada, the idea that some essence exists eternally) and "annihilationism" (ucchedavada, the idea that we go completely out of existence at death). in this view, persons are just a causal series of impermanent psycho-physical elements, which are anatta, without an independent or permanent self. The Buddha instead held that all things in the world of our experience are transient and that there is no unchanging part to a person. According to Richard Gombrich, the Buddha's position is simply that "everything is process".

The Buddha's arguments against an unchanging self rely on the scheme of the five skandhas, as can be seen in the Pali Anattalakkhaṇa Sutta (and its parallels in Gandhari and Chinese). In the early texts the Buddha teaches that all five aggregates, including consciousness (viññana, which was held by Brahmins to be eternal), arise due to dependent origination. Since they are all impermanent, one cannot regard any of the psycho-physical processes as an unchanging self. Even mental processes such as consciousness and will (cetana) are seen as being dependently originated and impermanent and thus do not qualify as a self (atman).

The Buddha saw the belief in a self as arising from our grasping at and identifying with the various changing phenomena, as well as from ignorance about how things really are. Furthermore, the Buddha held that we experience suffering because we hold on to erroneous self views. As Rupert Gethin explains, for the Buddha, a person is

Due to this view (termed ), the Buddha's teaching was opposed to all soul theories of his time, including the Jain theory of a "jiva" ("life monad") and the Brahmanical theories of atman (Pali: atta) and purusha. All of these theories held that there was an eternal unchanging essence to a person, which was separate from all changing experiences, and which transmigrated from life to life. The Buddha's anti-essentialist view still includes an understanding of continuity through rebirth, it is just the rebirth of a process (karma), not an essence like the atman.

The path to liberation

The Buddha taught a path (marga) of training to undo the samyojana, kleshas and āsavas and attain vimutti (liberation). This path taught by the Buddha is depicted in the early texts (most famously in the Pali Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta and its numerous parallel texts) as a "Middle Way" between sensual indulgence on one hand and mortification of the body on the other.

A common presentation of the core structure of Buddha's teaching found in the early texts is that of the Four Noble Truths, which refers to the Noble Eightfold Path. According to Gethin, another common summary of the path to awakening wisely used in the early texts is "abandoning the hindrances, practice of the four establishments of mindfulness and development of the awakening factors".

According to Rupert Gethin, in the Nikayas and Agamas, the Buddha's path is mainly presented in a cumulative and gradual "step by step" process, such as that outlined in the Samaññaphala Sutta. Other early texts like the Upanisa sutta (SN 12.23), present the path as reversions of the process of Dependent Origination.

Bhāvanā, cultivation of wholesome states, is central to the Buddha's path. Common practices to this goal, which are shared by most of these early presentations of the path, include sila (ethical training), restraint of the senses (indriyasamvara), sati (mindfulness) and sampajañña (clear awareness), and the practice of dhyana, the cumulative development of wholesome states leading to a "state of perfect equanimity and awareness (upekkhā-sati-parisuddhi)". Dhyana is preceded and supported by various aspects of the path such as sense restraint and mindfulness, which is elaborated in the satipatthana-scheme, as taught in the Pali Satipatthana Sutta and the sixteen elements of Anapanasati, as taught in the Anapanasati Sutta.

Jain and Brahmanical influences

In various texts, the Buddha is depicted as having studied under two named teachers, Āḷāra Kālāma and Uddaka Rāmaputta. According to Alexander Wynne, these were yogis who taught doctrines and practices similar to those in the Upanishads. According to Johannes Bronkhorst, the "meditation without breath and reduced intake of food" which the Buddha practiced before his awakening are forms of asceticism which are similar to Jain practices.

According to Richard Gombrich, the Buddha's teachings on Karma and Rebirth are a development of pre-Buddhist themes that can be found in Jain and Brahmanical sources, like the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. Likewise, samsara, the idea that we are trapped in cycles of rebirth and that we should seek liberation from them through non-harming (ahimsa) and spiritual practices, pre-dates the Buddha and was likely taught in early Jainism. According to K.R. Norman, the Buddhist teaching of the three marks of existence may also reflect Upanishadic or other influences . The Buddhist practice called Brahma-vihara may have also originated from a Brahmanic term; but its usage may have been common in the sramana traditions.

Homeless life

The early Buddhist texts depict the Buddha as promoting the life of a homeless and celibate "sramana", or mendicant, as the ideal way of life for the practice of the path. He taught that mendicants or "beggars" (bhikkhus) were supposed to give up all possessions and to own just a begging bowl and three robes. As part of the Buddha's monastic discipline, they were also supposed to rely on the wider lay community for the basic necessities (mainly food, clothing, and lodging).

The Buddha's teachings on monastic discipline were preserved in the various Vinaya collections of the different early schools.

Buddhist monastics, which included both monks and nuns, were supposed to beg for their food, were not allowed to store up food or eat after noon and they were not allowed to use gold, silver or any valuables.

Society

Critique of Brahmanism

According to Bronkhorst, "the bearers of Brahmanical tradition, the Brahmins, did not occupy a dominant position in the area in which the Buddha preached his message." Nevertheless, the Buddha was acquainted with Brahmanism, and in the early Buddhist Texts, the Buddha references Brahmanical devices. For example, in Samyutta Nikaya 111, Majjhima Nikaya 92 and Vinaya i 246 of the Pali Canon, the Buddha praises the Agnihotra as the foremost sacrifice and the Sāvitrī meter as the foremost meter. In general, the Buddha critiques the animal sacrifices and social system on certain key points.

The Brahmin caste held that the Vedas were eternal revealed (sruti) texts. The Buddha, on the other hand, did not accept that these texts had any divine authority or value.

The Buddha also did not see the Brahmanical rites and practices as useful for spiritual advancement. For example, in the Udāna, the Buddha points out that ritual bathing does not lead to purity: only "truth and morality" lead to purity. He especially critiqued animal sacrifice as taught in Vedas. The Buddha contrasted his teachings, which were taught openly to all people, with that of the Brahmins', who kept their mantras secret.

The Buddha also critiqued the Brahmins' claims of superior birth and the idea that different castes and bloodlines were inherently pure or impure, noble or ignoble.

In the Vasettha sutta the Buddha argues that the main difference among humans is not birth but their actions and occupations. According to the Buddha, one is a "Brahmin" (i.e., divine, like Brahma) only to the extent that one has cultivated virtue. Because of this the early texts report that he proclaimed: "Not by birth one is a Brahman, not by birth one is a non-Brahman; – by moral action one is a Brahman"

The Aggañña Sutta explains all classes or varnas can be good or bad and gives a sociological explanation for how they arose, against the Brahmanical idea that they are divinely ordained. According to Kancha Ilaiah, the Buddha posed the first contract theory of society. The Buddha's teaching then is a single universal moral law, one Dharma valid for everybody, which is opposed to the Brahmanic ethic founded on "one's own duty" (svadharma) which depends on caste. Because of this, all castes including untouchables were welcome in the Buddhist order and when someone joined, they renounced all caste affiliation.

Socio-political teachings

The early texts depict the Buddha as giving a deflationary account of the importance of politics to human life. Politics is inevitable and is probably even necessary and helpful, but it is also a tremendous waste of time and effort, as well as being a prime temptation to allow ego to run rampant. Buddhist political theory denies that people have a moral duty to engage in politics except to a very minimal degree (pay the taxes, obey the laws, maybe vote in the elections), and it actively portrays engagement in politics and the pursuit of enlightenment as being conflicting paths in life.

In the Aggañña Sutta, the Buddha teaches a history of how monarchy arose which according to Matthew J. Moore is "closely analogous to a social contract". The Aggañña Sutta also provides a social explanation of how different classes arose, in contrast to the Vedic views on social caste.

Other early texts like the Cakkavatti-Sīhanāda Sutta and the Mahāsudassana Sutta focus on the figure of the righteous wheel turning leader (Cakkavatti). This ideal leader is one who promotes Dharma through his governance. He can only achieve his status through moral purity and must promote morality and Dharma to maintain his position. According to the Cakkavatti-Sīhanāda Sutta, the key duties of a Cakkavatti are: "establish guard, ward, and protection according to Dhamma for your own household, your troops, your nobles, and vassals, for Brahmins and householders, town and country folk, ascetics and Brahmins, for beasts and birds. let no crime prevail in your kingdom, and to those who are in need, give property." The sutta explains the injunction to give to the needy by telling how a line of wheel-turning monarchs falls because they fail to give to the needy, and thus the kingdom falls into infighting as poverty increases, which then leads to stealing and violence.

In the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta, the Buddha outlines several principles that he promoted among the Vajjika tribal federation, which had a quasi-republican form of government. He taught them to "hold regular and frequent assemblies", live in harmony and maintain their traditions. The Buddha then goes on to promote a similar kind of republican style of government among the Buddhist Sangha, where all monks had equal rights to attend open meetings and there would be no single leader, since The Buddha also chose not to appoint one. Some scholars have argued that this fact signals that the Buddha preferred a republican form of government, while others disagree with this position.

Worldly happiness

As noted by Bhikkhu Bodhi, the Buddha as depicted in the Pali suttas does not exclusively teach a world-transcending goal, but also teaches laypersons how to achieve worldly happiness (sukha).

According to Bodhi, the "most comprehensive" of the suttas that focus on how to live as a layperson is the Sigālovāda Sutta (DN 31). This sutta outlines how a layperson behaves towards six basic social relationships: "parents and children, teacher and pupils, husband and wife, friend and friend, employer and workers, lay follower and religious guides". This Pali text also has parallels in Chinese and in Sanskrit fragments.

In another sutta (Dīghajāṇu Sutta, AN 8.54) the Buddha teaches two types of happiness. First, there is the happiness visible in this very life. The Buddha states that four things lead to this happiness: "The accomplishment of persistent effort, the accomplishment of protection, good friendship, and balanced living." Similarly, in several other suttas, the Buddha teaches on how to improve family relationships, particularly on the importance of filial love and gratitude as well as marital well-being.

Regarding the happiness of the next life, the Buddha (in the Dīghajāṇu Sutta) states that the virtues which lead to a good rebirth are: faith (in the Buddha and the teachings), moral discipline, especially keeping the five precepts, generosity, and wisdom (knowledge of the arising and passing of things).

According to the Buddha of the suttas then, achieving a good rebirth is based on cultivating wholesome or skillful (kusala) karma, which leads to a good result, and avoiding unwholesome (akusala) karma. A common list of good karmas taught by the Buddha is the list of ten courses of action (kammapatha) as outlined in MN 41 Saleyyaka Sutta (and its Chinese parallel in SĀ 1042).

Good karma is also termed merit (puñña), and the Buddha outlines three bases of meritorious actions: giving, moral discipline and meditation (as seen in AN 8:36).

Physical characteristics

Early sources depict the Buddha's appearance as similar to other Buddhist monks. Various discourses describe how he "cut off his hair and beard" when renouncing the world. Likewise, Digha Nikaya 3 has a Brahmin describe the Buddha as a shaved or bald (mundaka) man. Digha Nikaya 2 also describes how king Ajatashatru is unable to tell which of the monks is the Buddha when approaching the sangha and must ask his minister to point him out. Likewise, in MN 140, a mendicant who sees himself as a follower of the Buddha meets the Buddha in person but is unable to recognize him.

The Buddha is also described as being handsome and with a clear complexion (Digha I:115; Anguttara I:181), at least in his youth. In old age, however, he is described as having a stooped body, with slack and wrinkled limbs.

Various Buddhist texts attribute to the Buddha a series of extraordinary physical characteristics, known as "the 32 Signs of the Great Man" (Skt. mahāpuruṣa lakṣaṇa).

According to Anālayo, when they first appear in the Buddhist texts, these physical marks were initially held to be imperceptible to the ordinary person, and required special training to detect. Later though, they are depicted as being visible by regular people and as inspiring faith in the Buddha.

These characteristics are described in the Digha Nikaya's (D, I:142).

Śākyamuni Buddha in Mahāyāna

In Mahāyāna Buddhism, the figure of Śākyamuni Buddha (Ch: 释迦牟尼佛, Shìjiāmóunífó) retains his central role as the historical Buddha who lived and taught in ancient India. However, Mahāyāna developments introduce significant reinterpretations of his nature, activities, and metaphysical status, presenting a cosmic, timeless identity. Unlike the more human-centered portrayals, Mahāyāna works present Śākyamuni as a transcendent being of inconceivable qualities, who operates within a vast cosmological framework. Moreover, Mahāyāna sutras often depict Śākyamuni preaching in vast assemblies composed of bodhisattvas, gods, other Buddhas, and beings from other realms. These assemblies vastly exceed the human scale of early canonical suttas.

In many Mahāyāna scriptures, Śākyamuni is presented as the preacher of profound Mahāyāna teachings intended for advanced bodhisattvas. In contrast to the mainstream Nikāya/Āgama presentations of Śākyamuni as a renunciant teacher, Mahāyāna texts emphasize his boundless wisdom, vast power, and infinite compassion. Furthermore, according to Mahāyāna sutras, Śākyamuni teaches myriad teachings according to the capacities of beings. Thus, what appears to be the classic teaching of the sravakayana path taught in the Nikāyas/Āgamas is considered a provisional teaching, which is preparatory to the ultimate Mahāyāna Dharma. The Lotus Sūtra develops this idea most explicitly, portraying Śākyamuni as a master teacher who uses various skillful means (upaya) to guide beings to the One Vehicle (ekayāna) which leads to Buddhahood for all.

While Śākyamuni is the central Buddha of our world (often called Sahā), Mahāyāna cosmology includes countless Buddhas presiding over various buddhafields. Śākyamuni is often depicted as one among an infinite assembly of Buddhas, yet his salvific function remains paramount in many texts. The Avataṃsaka Sūtra also presents Śākyamuni as inseparable from the cosmic Buddha Vairocana. The Gaṇḍavyūha Sūtra (a part of the Avataṃsaka) describes Śākyamuni's activities as pervading all worlds and times, manifesting various forms for the sake of sentient beings. He is sometimes seen as a Buddha who simultaneously appears in countless forms (bodhisattvas, teachers, even ordinary beings), subverting any fixed notion of a singular historical presence.

In contrast with early Buddhist views that emphasize the Buddha's struggle on the spiritual path, Mahāyāna scriptures, such as the Avataṃsaka Sūtra and Lotus Sūtra, portray Śākyamuni as already fully enlightened countless eons ago. Thus, his attainment under the Bodhi tree is also a didactic device (upaya), a demonstration for the sake of others rather than an actual personal breakthrough from delusion to awakening. This Śākyamuni who appeared to be born as a prince in the Śākya clan in India is understood to be a nirmāṇakāya, a docetic emanation. His apparent human birth, life, attainment of enlightenment, and death were skillful manifestations designed to teach and guide sentient beings, rather than literal events in the life of a finite being. The Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra reinforces this doctrine by denying that the Buddha truly enters parinirvāṇa. His apparent death is merely another teaching device. In fact, he remains eternally active, and his dharma-body (dharmakāya) continues to benefit beings. These texts collectively assert that the true Śākyamuni is eternal, unconditioned, and ever-present, even though he assumes various forms adapted to the spiritual capacities of those he teaches.

A central doctrinal framework for understanding Śākyamuni in Mahāyāna thought is the trikāya ("triple body") doctrine, which holds that Buddhas have a triune body: (1) Nirmāṇakāya ("emanation body"), the body which appears in the world, (2) Saṃbhogakāya ("enjoyment body"), a resplendent supranatural form, and (3) Dharmakāya, the formless body of ultimate reality. Through this framework, the "historical" Śākyamuni is not merely a historical teacher, but a cosmic being whose appearance on earth is but one of countless manifestations. His true identity is that of the saṃbhoga- and dharmakāyas, which extend beyond the limits of space and time. Not limited to a single location or lifespan, his bodies permeate the entire cosmos, appearing in innumerable worlds. In this view, the universe itself is Śākyamuni's pure land, gradually being purified and transformed through his spiritual presence and teaching. This aligns with Mahāyāna cosmology in which Buddhas are not absent from the world and never abandon it due to their great compassion.

In other religions

Hinduism

After the lifetime of the Buddha the Hindu synthesis emerged, between 500–200 BCE and , under the pressure of the success of Buddhism and Jainism. In response to the success of Buddhism, Gautama was incorporated into Vaishnavism as the 9th avatar of Vishnu. The adoption of the Buddha as an incarnation began at approximately the same time as Hinduism began to predominate and Buddhism to decline in India, and the inclusion is ambiguous, as the co-option into a list of avatars may be seen as an aspect of Hindu efforts to decisively weaken Buddhist power and appeal in India. While his inclusion has been rejected by some traditionalists, many modern Hindus include the Buddha in their conception of Hinduism.

Buddha's teachings deny the authority of the Vedas and the concepts of Brahman-Atman. Consequently, Buddhism is generally classified as a nāstika school (heterodox, literally "It is not so") in contrast to the six orthodox schools of Hinduism.

Islam

Buddhist ideas in Muslim culture can be traced to the presence of Buddhism in Transoxiana and K̲h̲urāsān. Buddhism lasted from the 2nd century B.C. to the 8th century, there, until it dwindled in the face of Zoroastrianism, the Sassanide state religion. Remnants of Buddhism remains until the 9th century and the lasting impact of Buddhist influence is reflected in Muslim arts and poetry of Islamic Persia. However, in the 9th century, the intellectual distance between Buddhism and Islam increased drastically. Only centuries later, during Turco-Mongol governance, the attention of Muslim scholars shifted towards Buddhism again.

In Islamic sources, Buddha is called Budd (Persian: but) or Shakyamuni. The former term is used in the writings of al-Jahiz, al-Mas'udi, al-Biruni, and al-Shahrastani. The term further denotes a temple or an idol, as many authors believed that Buddhists were idolaters. They are described further as believing in the eternity of the world, the retributation of actions after life, and the appearance of Buddha in various forms. Buddhists were referred to as sumaniyya.

Although Muslims had only rudimentary knowledge about Buddhism, they attempted to integrate the Buddha into their own religious history. Ibn Hazm defines the Buddha as a person who is not born, does not eat or drink, and does not die. The Buddha is compared to various Islamic figures by Muslim heresiologists. In his Fihrist, ibn al-Nadim reiterates three opinions from among the scholars, that the Buddha is either an angel, an ʿifrīt (demon), or a Prophet. Al-Shahrastani identified Buddha with the legendary al-Khizr.

Rashid al-Din Hamadani's (1247–1318) Jāmiʿ al-Tawārīkh dedicates an entire chapter on describing Buddhist beliefs to the Ilkhanate from a Muslim viewpoint. He identifies Buddha (Shakyamuni) as a monotheistic prophet. He integrates the cyclical reappearance of the Buddha into the lineage of Islamic prophets, who likewise raise whenever a community yielded into decay and violence. In line with Islamic prophetology, Rashid al-Din emphazizes the finality of Muhammad. In order to establish Buddha's monotheism, the author retells a story from the Lalitavistara Sūtra within an Islamic framework: Accordingly, the Indian deities, Vishnu, Brahma, Shiva, and Indra are prophets or angels who claim divinity for themselves and thus identified with the "people of Iblis" (ahl-i iblīs). When Buddha is brought to the idols and ordered to worship them, the idols bow down before Buddha instead, an idea linked to the Quranic story of angels prostrating before Adam, and the superiority of prophets over angels in Islamic theology (Kalām).

Muhammad Hamidullah (1908 – December 2002) identifies Buddha as a prophet based on the Quran Surah 95:1. The verse takes an oath by a fig-tree, followed by Mount Sinai. Since Moses received his revelation on Mount Sinai, the fig-tree features as the location of revelation for another prophet, identified with Buddha, since Buddha reached enlightenment under a fig-tree. He is further identified with the prophet Dhu al-Kifl, supposedly related to his birthplace in Kapila-Vastu. He furthermore compares Buddha's teachings with that of Muhammad: The teaching of the omnipresence of dukkha, as formulated in the Four Noble Truths, is compared to 90:04, stating that "humans are created in "pain toil and trial"". Similarly, by receiving his revelation, Muhammad would have entered into a state of peace (salam) and, as per hadith, his devilish nature surrendered to islam (aslama shayṭānī).

Christianity

The Christian saint Josaphat is based on the Buddha. The name comes from the Sanskrit Bodhisattva via Arabic Būdhasaf and Georgian Iodasaph. The only story in which St. Josaphat appears, Barlaam and Josaphat, is based on the life of the Buddha. 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).

Other religions

In the Baháʼí Faith, Buddha is regarded as one of the Manifestations of God.

Some early Chinese Taoist-Buddhists thought the Buddha to be a reincarnation of Laozi.

In the ancient Gnostic sect of Manichaeism, the Buddha is listed among the prophets who preached the word of God before Mani.

In Sikhism, Buddha is mentioned as the 23rd avatar of Vishnu in the Chaubis Avtar, a composition in Dasam Granth traditionally and historically attributed to Guru Gobind Singh.

Artistic depictions

The earliest artistic depictions of the Buddha found at Bharhut and Sanchi are aniconic and symbolic. During this early aniconic period, the Buddha is depicted by other objects or symbols, such as an empty throne, a riderless horse, footprints, a Dharma wheel or a Bodhi tree. Since aniconism precludes single devotional figures, most representations are of narrative scenes from his life. These continued to be very important after the Buddha's person could be shown, alongside larger statues. The art at Sanchi also depicts Jataka tales, narratives of the Buddha in his past lives.

Other styles of Indian Buddhist art depict the Buddha in human form, either standing, sitting crossed legged (often in the Lotus Pose) or lying down on one side. Iconic representations of the Buddha became particularly popular and widespread after the first century CE. Some of these depictions, particularly those of Gandharan Buddhism and Central Asian Buddhism, were influenced by Hellenistic art, a style known as Greco-Buddhist art. The subsequently influenced the art of East Asian Buddhist images, as well as those of Southeast Asian Theravada Buddhism.

Gallery showing different Buddha styles

File:A Royal Couple Visits the Buddha, from railing of the Bharhut Stupa, Shunga dynasty, early 2nd century BC, Bharhut, Madhya Pradesh, India, sandstone - Freer Gallery of Art - DSC05134.JPG|A Royal Couple Visits the Buddha, from railing of the Bharhut Stupa, Shunga dynasty, early 2nd century BC.

File:Adoration of the Diamond Throne and the Bodhi Tree Bharhut relief.jpg|Adoration of the Diamond Throne and the Bodhi Tree, Bharhut.

File:Descent of the Buddha from the Trayastrimsa Heaven Sanchi Stupa 1 Northern Gateway.jpg|Descent of the Buddha from the Trayastrimsa Heaven, Sanchi Stupa No. 1.

File:Miracle at Kapilavastu Suddhodana praying as his son the Buddha rises in the air with only path visible Sanchi Stupa 1 Northern Gateway.jpg|The Buddha's Miracle at Kapilavastu, Sanchi Stupa 1.

File:Bamboo garden (Venuvana) at Rajagriha, the visit of Bimbisara.jpg|Bimbisara visiting the Buddha (represented as empty throne) at the Bamboo garden in Rajagriha

File:Andhra pradesh, la grande dipartita, da regione di amaravati, II sec.JPG|The great departure with riderless horse, Amaravati, 2nd century CE.

File:MaraAssault.jpg|The Assault of Mara, Amaravati, 2nd century CE.

File:Isapur Buddha.jpg|Isapur Buddha, one of the earliest physical depictions of the Buddha, . Art of Mathura

File:The Buddha attended by Indra at Indrasala Cave, Mathura 50-100 CE.jpg|The Buddha attended by Indra at Indrasala Cave, Mathura 50-100 CE.

File:Buddha Preaching in Tushita Heaven. Amaravati, Satavahana period, 2d century AD. Indian Museum, Calcutta.jpg|Buddha Preaching in Tushita Heaven. Amaravati, Satavahana period, 2nd century CE. Indian Museum, Kolkata.

File:Gandhara Buddha (tnm).jpeg|Standing Buddha from Gandhara.

File:Berenike Buddha (drawing).jpg|The Berenike Buddha, discovered in Berenice, Egypt, 2nd century CE.

File:Buddha-Vajrapani-Herakles.JPG|Gandharan Buddha with Vajrapani-Herakles.

File:BuddhaTriadAndKushanCouple.JPG|Kushan period Buddha Triad.

File:Buddha Statue, Sanchi 01.jpg|Buddha statue from Sanchi.

File:Four Scenes from the Life of the Buddha - Birth of the Buddha - Kushan dynasty, late 2nd to early 3rd century AD, Gandhara, schist - Freer Gallery of Art - DSC05128.JPG|Birth of the Buddha, Kushan dynasty, late 2nd to early 3rd century CE.

File:InfantBuddhaTakingABathGandhara2ndCenturyCE.jpg|The infant Buddha taking a bath, Gandhara 2nd century CE.

File:Buddha with radiate halo and mandorla.Gandhara.Met.jpg|6th century Gandharan Buddha.

File:Upper Floor, Cave No. 6, Ajanta Caves - 1.jpg|Buddha at Cave No. 6, Ajanta Caves.

File:Standing Buddha Installed by Buddist Monk Yasadinna - Circa 5th Century CE - Jamalpur Mound - ACCN 00-A-5 - Government Museum Mathura Golden background.jpg|Standing Buddha, .

File:Sarnath standing Buddha 5th century CE.jpg|Sarnath standing Buddha, 5th century CE.

File:British Museum - Seated Buddha (Gupta period).JPG|Seated Buddha, Gupta period.

File:Gal Viharaya 02.jpg|Seated Buddha at Gal Vihara, Sri Lanka.

File:Clevelandart 1914.567.jpg|Chinese Stele with Sakyamuni and Bodhisattvas, Wei period, 536 CE.

File:Asuka dera daibutsu.jpg|The Shakyamuni Daibutsu Bronze, , Nara, Japan.

File:Buddha Seguntang Palembang.jpg|Amaravati style Buddha of Srivijaya period, Palembang, Indonesia, 7th century.

File:Seokguram Buddha.JPG|Korean Seokguram Cave Buddha, .

File:Buddha Mendut.jpg|Seated Buddha Vairocana flanked by Avalokiteshvara and Vajrapani of Mendut temple, Central Java, Indonesia, early 9th century.

File:Stupa Borobudur.jpg|Buddha in the exposed stupa of Borobudur mandala, Central Java, Indonesia, .

File:023 Vairocana Buddha, 9c, Srivijaya (35212721926).jpg|Vairocana Buddha of Srivijaya style, Southern Thailand, 9th century.

File:Seated Shaka Nyorai (Sakyamuni, Gautama Buddha).jpg|Seated Buddha, Japan, Heian period, 9th－10th century.

File:FireLanceAndGrenade10thCenturyDunhuang.jpg|Attack of Mara, 10th century, Dunhuang.

File:Naga-enthroned Buddha - Beyond Angkor - Cleveland Museum of Art (40887945882).jpg|Cambodian Buddha with Mucalinda Nāga, , Banteay Chhmar, Cambodia

File:Thai - Buddha at the Moment of Victory - Walters 542775.jpg|15th century Sukhothai Buddha.

File:Thai - Walking Buddha - Walters 542765.jpg|15th century Sukhothai Walking Buddha.

File:Sakyamuni, Lao Tzu, and Confucius - Google Art Project.jpg|Sakyamuni, Lao Tzu, and Confucius, c. from 1368 until 1644.

File:Shakyamuni detail, Clevelandart 1991.9 (cropped).jpg|Chinese depiction of Shakyamuni, 1600.

File:Sakyamuni Buddha on Snowy Mount, Tay Phuong pagoda, Ha Tay province, 1794 AD, lacquered wood - Vietnam National Museum of Fine Arts - Hanoi, Vietnam - DSC05083.JPG|Buddha on the snowy mountain, Vietnam, 18th century

File:Shakyamuni Buddha with Avadana Legend Scenes - Google Art Project.jpg|Shakyamuni Buddha with Avadana Legend Scenes, Tibetan, 19th century

File:Bodh Gaya - Wat Thai - Main Buddha Statue (9228460504).jpg|Golden Thai Buddha statue, Bodh Gaya.

File:Gautama Buddha-1.jpg|Gautama statue, Shanyuan Temple, Liaoning Province, China.

File:P1040704.JPG|Burmese style Buddha, Shwedagon pagoda, Yangon.

File:Large Gautama Buddha statue in Buddha Park of Ravangla, Sikkim.jpg|Large Gautama Buddha statue in Buddha Park of Ravangla.

File:MET DP264118 (cropped).jpg|Head of Buddha, from Hadda, Afghanistan, –6th century. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In other media

Films

• Buddha Dev (Life of Lord Buddha), a 1923 Indian silent film by Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, first depiction of the Buddha on film with Bhaurao Datar in the title role.

• Prem Sanyas (The Light of Asia), a 1925 silent film, directed by Franz Osten and Himansu Rai based on Arnold's epic poem with Rai also portraying the Buddha.

• , a 1952 Japanese feature film representing the life of Buddha.

• Gotoma the Buddha, a 1957 Indian documentary film directed by Rajbans Khanna and produced by Bimal Roy.

• Siddhartha, a 1972 drama film by Conrad Rooks, an adaptation Hesse's novel. It stars Shashi Kapoor as Siddhartha, a contemporary of the Buddha.

• Little Buddha, a 1994 film by Bernardo Bertolucci, the film stars Keanu Reeves as Prince Siddhartha.

• The Legend of Buddha, a 2004 Indian animated film by Shamboo Falke.

• Buddha's life, 2011 This animation movie is about the life of Buddha based on Pali Canon (Theravada Buddhism) and other commentaries. It was produced by members of the Buddhist community in cooperation with the Department of Religious Affairs and the National Office of Buddhism, Thailand. It is considered one of the most accurate story of the Buddha. It is almost 5 hours long and very detailed. The production took 8 years to complete (from 2003-2011).

• The Life of Buddha, or Prawat Phra Phuttajao, a 2007 Thai animated feature film about the life of Gautama Buddha, based on the Tipitaka.

• Tathagatha Buddha, a 2008 Indian film by Allani Sridhar. Based on Sadguru Sivananda Murthy's book Gautama Buddha, it stars Sunil Sharma as the Buddha.

• Sri Siddhartha Gautama, a 2013 Sinhalese epic biographical film based on the life of Lord Buddha.

• A Journey of Samyak Buddha, a 2013 Indian film by Praveen Damle, based on B. R. Ambedkar's 1957 Navayana book The Buddha and His Dhamma with Abhishek Urade in the title role.

Television

• Buddha, a 1996 Indian series which aired on Sony TV. It stars Arun Govil as the Buddha.

• The Buddha 2010 PBS documentary by filmmaker David Grubin and narrated by Richard Gere.

• Buddha, a 2013 Indian drama series on Zee TV starring Himanshu Soni in the title role.

Literature

• The Light of Asia, an 1879 epic poem by Edwin Arnold

• The Buddha and His Dhamma, a treatise on Buddha's life and philosophy, by B. R. Ambedkar

• Before He Was Buddha: The Life of Siddhartha, by Hammalawa Saddhatissa

• Buddha, a manga series that ran from 1972 to 1983 by Osamu Tezuka

• Siddhartha novel by Hermann Hesse, written in German in 1922

• Lord of Light, a novel by Roger Zelazny depicts a man in a far future Earth Colony who takes on the name and teachings of the Buddha

• Creation, a 1981 novel by Gore Vidal, includes the Buddha as one of the religious figures that the main character encounters

Music

• The Light of Asia, an 1886 oratorio by Dudley Buck based on Arnold's poem

• Karuna Nadee, a 2010 oratorio by Dinesh Subasinghe