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Gautama Buddha

c. 563 BCE – c. 483 BCE · exact dates unknown^[1][2]

Philosophy & Thought

Fun Facts About Gautama Buddha

• Gautama Buddha's life became the story of a Christian saint: St. Josaphat, once listed in the Roman Martyrology, is based on the Buddha, and his name comes from the Sanskrit word Bodhisattva.^[1]
• Buddha is not a personal name but a title meaning "Awakened One" or "Enlightened One." His given name was Siddhartha Gautama.^[1]
• Nobody is sure what the Buddha's last meal was: the Theravada tradition says some kind of pork, while the Mahayana tradition says a truffle or other mushroom.^[1]
• Hinduism absorbed the Buddha as the 9th avatar of the god Vishnu, and many modern Hindus include him in their conception of Hinduism.^[1]
• The earliest Buddhist art did not show the Buddha at all: he was represented by symbols such as an empty throne, a riderless horse, footprints, or a Bodhi tree.^[1]
• According to the early texts, the Buddha fasted until his bones showed through his skin, then gave up extreme asceticism; a popular story says he accepted milk and rice pudding from a village girl named Sujata.^[1]
• Gautama Buddha was alive at the same time as Sophocles — their lives overlapped for about 13 years (c. 496 BCE–c. 483 BCE).^[1][2][3][4]
• Gautama Buddha was alive at the same time as Herodotus — their lives overlapped for about 1 year (c. 484 BCE–c. 483 BCE).^[1][2][5][6]

Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering religious teacher who lived in the eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was born in Lumbini, in what is now Nepal, to royal parents of the Shakya clan, but renounced his home life to live as a wandering ascetic. After leading a life of mendicancy, asceticism, and meditation, he attained nirvana at Bodh Gaya in what is now Bihar, India. The Buddha then wandered through the lower Indo-Gangetic Plain, teaching and building a monastic order (sangha). Buddhist tradition holds he died in Kushinagar and reached parinirvana.^[1]

Contemporaries

Lao Tzu

80 yr overlap

Pythagoras

68 yr overlap

Confucius

68 yr overlap

Leonidas I

57 yr overlap

Sun Tzu

48 yr overlap

Cyrus the Great

33 yr overlap

Sophocles

13 yr overlap

Herodotus

1 yr overlap

Questions About Gautama Buddha

When was Gautama Buddha born?

Gautama Buddha was born about 563 BCE and died about 483 BCE. The exact dates are not known.

What was Gautama Buddha known for?

Gautama Buddha was known for: Founder of Buddhism. Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering religious teacher who lived in the eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was born in Lumbini, in what is now Nepal, to royal parents of the Shakya clan, but renounced his home life to live as a wandering ascetic. After leading a life of mendicancy, asceticism, and meditation, he attained nirvana at Bodh Gaya in what is now Bihar, India. The Buddha then wandered through the lower Indo-Gangetic Plain, teaching and building a monastic order (sangha). Buddhist tradition holds he died in Kushinagar and reached parinirvana.

Who was alive at the same time as Gautama Buddha?

Gautama Buddha's closest contemporary was Lao Tzu. Their lives overlapped for 80 years.