Buddha

Buddha (Pāli, Skt.; Chin., fo; Jap., butsu; Korean, pul)
1. An enlightened person, literally, ‘one who has awakened’ to the truth. Traditional Buddhism teaches that there are two sorts, samyaksaṃbuddha (see SAMMASAMBUDDHA) and pratyekabuddha; and that Gotama is one in a series of the former kind. Mahāyāna Buddhism extends the notion of a buddha into a universal principle: all beings possess a ‘buddha-nature’ and are therefore prospective buddhas.

2. Title applied to Gotama (Skt., Gautama), the historical founder of Buddhism (hence, the Buddha Gotama or Gotama Buddha).

Gotama Buddha is also known, especially in Mahāyāna, as Buddha Sākyamuni (i.e. the Wise One, or Sage, of the Śakya clan). There are uncertainties about his dates. According to the Long Chronology, he lived just over 200 years before Aśoka, giving approximate dates of 566–486 BCE. According to the Short Chronology, he lived 100 years before Aśoka, i.e. c.448–368. He was born Siddhārtha Gotama or Gautama, in Kapilavastu, in modern-day Nepal. After his enlightenment, he became known as the Buddha, the Enlightened One. Although many stories of his life are told, and immense bodies of teaching are attributed to him, it is not possible to reconstruct his biography or his own teaching with any historical certainty—nor, from a Buddhist point of view, is it in the least desirable. The Buddha is a physician who diagnoses illness and suggests treatment; but the worth or the value lies, not in the biography of the physician, but on whether the patient is cured.

Buddhist biographies are late (see e.g. Buddhacarita, Lalitavistara). They, and texts in the Pāli canon, suggest that Gotama was brought up in a royal household (perhaps son of the rāja of Kapilavastu), and that he married (perhaps more than one wife). His wife Yaśodharā bore a son, Rāhula. Although his father tried to protect Gotama from disturbing experiences, he ordered a carriage and saw, on separate occasions, a sick man, an old man, and a dead man. Disturbed by the thought that these conditions awaited him, he wondered how to escape them. On a fourth trip, he saw an emaciated religious ascetic. Gotama abandoned his wife and son, and embarked on extreme asceticism. He discovered that such practices attain their goal—but no more than their goal; and these goals do not lead to escape from suffering and death.

In disillusionment at the limited attainments of asceticism, Gotama reverted to ‘the middle way’ (a characteristic name for ‘Buddhism’) and sat beneath a tree (Bo Tree), concentrating on ‘seeing things as they really are’. He passed through the four stages or layers of progressive insight (jhānas), and reached enlightenment.

His initial response was to remain where he was, but eventually he was prevailed upon (by the god Brahmā) to share the truth, on the grounds that humans are like lotuses in a pool: all are rooted in mud; most are swamped below the surface; but a few are struggling to the light and some have already blossomed. The Buddha agreed to teach according to the capacity of his audiences (upāya-kauśalya).

The rest of his life (when he had in fact attained nirvāna, but the residual appearances of karma kept him in apparent form on this earth) was spent wandering, with an increasing band of disciples, in the area of the larger Ganges basin. According to Majihima Nikāya, his last words before death were, ‘Decay is inherent in all compounded things, so continue in watchfulness’ (or ‘… work out your own salvation with diligence’).