TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN TO ALL RELIGION CONCERNED
KINDLY REFRAIN FROM CASTING COMMENT'S ON SPIRITUAL LEADER'S OF ANY RELIGIOUS GROUPS.
Siddhārtha Gautama Buddha (
Sanskrit:
सिद्धार्थ गौतम बुद्ध;
Pali:
Siddhattha Gotama) was a
spiritual teacher from the
Indian subcontinent, on whose teachings
Buddhism was founded.
[1] The word
Buddha is a title for the first awakened being in an era. In most Buddhist traditions, Siddharth Gautam is regarded as the Supreme
Buddha (P.
sammāsambuddha, S.
samyaksaṃbuddha) of our age, "Buddha" meaning "awakened one" or "the enlightened one."
[note 1] Siddhārtha Gautama may also be referred to as
Gautama Buddha or as
Śākyamuni ("Sage of the
Śākyas"). The Buddha found a
Middle Way that ameliorated the extreme
asceticism found in the
Sramana religions
[2].
The time of Gautama's birth and death are uncertain: most early 20th-century historians dated his lifetime as
c. 563 BCE to 483 BCE,
[3] but more recent opinion dates his death to between 486 and 483 BCE or, according to some, between 411 and 400 BCE.
[4][5] UNESCO lists
Lumbini,
Nepal as a world heritage site and birthplace of Gautama Buddha.
[6][7] There are also claims about birth place of Gautama Buddha to be Kapilavastu at Piprahwa,
Uttar Pradesh, or Kapileswara,
Orissa, modern India.
[8][9][10][11][12] He later taught throughout regions of eastern India such as
Magadha and
Kośala.
[13][14]
Gautama is the primary figure in Buddhism, and accounts of his life, discourses, and
monastic rules are believed by Buddhists to have been summarized after his death and memorized by his followers. Various collections of teachings attributed to him were passed down by
oral tradition, and first committed to writing about 400 years later.