The Life of the Buddha. Introduction. By Ananda Coomaraswamy.
The name Buddha, 'the Knower,' 'the Enlightened,' 'the Wake,' is the appellation by which the wandering preaching friar Gautama became best known to his disciples. Of this man we are able to say with some certainty that he was born in the year 563 B.C. and died in 483 B.C. He was the heir of a ruling house of the Sakyas, whose little kingdom, a rich irrigated plain between the Nepalese foot-hills and the river Rapti, lay to the north-east of the present province of Oudh. To the south-west lay the larger and more powerful kingdom of the Kosalas, to whom the Sakyas owed a nominal allegiance. The Buddha's personal name was Siddhattha, his family name Gautama, his father's name Suddhodana, his mother's Maya. It is only in later legend that Suddhodana is represented as a great king; most likely he was in fact a wealthy knight and landowner.
The name Buddha, 'the Knower,' 'the Enlightened,' 'the Wake,' is the appellation by which the wandering preaching friar Gautama became best known to his disciples. Of this man we are able to say with some certainty that he was born in the year 563 B.C. and died in 483 B.C. He was the heir of a ruling house of the Sakyas, whose little kingdom, a rich irrigated plain between the Nepalese foot-hills and the river Rapti, lay to the north-east of the present province of Oudh. To the south-west lay the larger and more powerful kingdom of the Kosalas, to whom the Sakyas owed a nominal allegiance. The Buddha's personal name was Siddhattha, his family name Gautama, his father's name Suddhodana, his mother's Maya. It is only in later legend that Suddhodana is represented as a great king; most likely he was in fact a wealthy knight and landowner.
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place time topic people language
India - Ancient - Religion/philosophy - Indians/Buddhists - English
India - Ancient - Religion/philosophy - Indians/Buddhists - English
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