The Life of the Buddha
Introduction
Buddhism is one of the major world religions next
to Christianity, Islam and Hinduism. There are around 500 millions Buddhist
world-wide, but the majority of them is of course found in Asia, with a divide
in Southern (Sri Lanka, Thailand and so on) and Northern Buddhism (China,
Japan, Tibet and so on). Different Buddhist schools and traditions are very
diverse and there is no single dominant authority or spiritual head of Buddhism
as we for example find it in the case of the pope for Catholicism. What all of them share however is strong veneration
for the founder of Buddhism, the Buddha.
The Buddha’s Time
The man, who later came to be known as Buddha
Shakyamuni or in short the Buddha, was born in the town of Kapilavasthu
belonging to the small kingdom at the border between India and Nepal. The kingdom was governed by several noble
families among which the ruler of the country was elected. At the birth of the
Buddha, it was his father who reigned the kingdom of the Shakya, and the Buddha
was consequently born as Prince Siddhartha Gautama of the Shakya clan. In
accordance with the Theravada-tradition, he is said to have lived from 623-543 BCE. Due to differing accounts available in other sources, the exact dating
of the Buddha is however highly debated among Western scholars and it is
generally accepted that he lived somewhat between 500-350 BCE. Recent findings in Lumbini revealing the structure of an ancient shrine which dates back to the
6th century BCE could provide new fuel to the discussion.
