The Life of Gotama Buddha

[Ngawang Drolma.]

I don't know how accurate this is, but I enjoyed it

The Life of Gotama Buddha

[tiltbillings]

It is a traditional Theravadin accounting taken from the Pali sources.

[DNS]

It is a traditional Theravadin accounting taken from the Pali sources.

Hi tilt,

Speaking of accuracy, did you notice that account had the Buddha's birth at 623 B.C. ? I know you have done some reading and research on the dating of the Buddha. What do you think a more accurate date of the life of Buddha is?

I suppose some prefer an older date, like 623 B.C., because it could make a founder/re-discoverer's status a little higher by the older he or she is. Most accounts use 563 B.C. to 483 B.C. and then there are some that put the dates a hundred years or so younger. What do you think?

[tiltbillings]

It is a traditional Theravadin accounting taken from the Pali sources.

Hi tilt,

Speaking of accuracy, did you notice that account had the Buddha's birth at 623 B.C. ? I know you have done some reading and research on the dating of the Buddha. What do you think a more accurate date of the life of Buddha is?

I suppose some prefer an older date, like 623 B.C., because it could make a founder/re-discoverer's status a little higher by the older he or she is. Most accounts use 563 B.C. to 483 B.C. and then there are some that put the dates a hundred years or so younger. What do you think?

Probablty 100 to 150 years from his death to that of Asoka reign, which pushes the time forward a far amount. Didn't some here post a link here to a scholarly article on this?

[pink_trike]

There is a disputed range of around 400-500 years among academic scholars who have no personal investment in when he lived or died. I'll have to go digging to see if I can find my notes/links for this.

[Cittasanto]

I remember the page but not the link. the authour settled on 500 as it showed that there is three different dates depending on the country sri lanka, burma, and thailand. I done a small calculation from the dates given and it worked out 512 or 515 were the mean depending on if you used all or just the earliest and latest posibilities to average it out, I am going with 512 as the full moon falls on my birthday that year )

but yeah I know none of that could be considdered scientific

[retrofuturist]

Greetings Laura,

I don't know how accurate this is, but I enjoyed it

The Life of Gotama Buddha

There's a couple of ways to look at this, but I think you get the most "accurate" picture if you rely on just the Vinaya and Sutta Pitakas, but you get the most "detailed" picture if you include other non-canonical Pali sources. It's therefore handy when writers state the sources of the information.

Metta,
Retro.

[MMK23]

According to Peter Harvey (Buddhist academic) the emerging 'probable' consensus of the Buddha's lifetime is around the area of 480-400BC.

[Nicholas Weeks]

Just wondering if anyone knows the factual elements that contribute to determining Buddha's birth & death dates. I recall something about reigning periods of certain Indian kings or princes, but how were they decided - archeology or...?

A full study of all the issues regarding His dates would be great - either here or a reference to some published work.

[sukhamanveti]

For those interested in the proposed dates for the historical Buddha, one might summarize them as follows:

Traditional Theravadin dates: 623/4-543/4 B.C.E. (rejected by scholars)

From the Dotted Record Chronology: 566-486 B.C.E. (fallen out of favor, according to Dr. Prebish)

From the Corrected Long Chronology: 563-483 B.C.E. (fallen out of favor)

Ryusho Hikata: 508-428 B.C.E. (rejected by virtually all scholars, acccording to Dr. Prebish)

From the Short Chronology (advocated by Heinz Bechert): 448-368 B.C.E.

Andre Bareau: 500/460-420/380 B.C.E.

U.I. Hakuju: 466-386 B.C.E.

Hajime Nakamura: 463-383 B.C.E.

Richard Gombrich (most recently proposed dates): 484-404 B.C.E.

The most plausible date ranges for the Buddha's life given at a symposium at the University of Gottingen in 1988 seem to be: 484-404 B.C.E., 448-368 B.C.E., and 463-383 B.C.E. Most arguments hinge on the question of how many years (100? 116? 218?...) passed from the Buddha's death to the relatively firm date of the coronation of King Asoka. (Asoka's accession date is derived from references to foreign rulers whose dates are known in an Asokan edict carved in rock. His coronation date was probably approximately 268 B.C.E., although it might have been anywhere from 280-267. The Buddha's birth would then be 80 years before the date of the Buddha's death, based upon the univeral testimony of the various ancient traditions.)

An article summarizing recent research may be found here:

http://www.buddhistethics.org/15/prebish-article.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Nicholas Weeks]

Great link sukhamanveti - thank you!

[chatra]

Excellent link. The pictures on the front page were surprisingly good, and they got me thinking ... are there any pictures of what The Buddha might have actually looked like? Forgive me for being a heretic, but I have trouble imaging him with gold skin.

PS: Yes, the "heretic" part was a joke.

[PeterB]

Like a chap.

[Wind]

Excellent link. The pictures on the front page were surprisingly good, and they got me thinking ... are there any pictures of what The Buddha might have actually looked like? Forgive me for being a heretic, but I have trouble imaging him with gold skin.

PS: Yes, the "heretic" part was a joke.

Perhaps "gold" skin refers to "yellow" skin. Like how we categorize people of Asian decent as being yellow skin. By calling it gold is a way of saying it is a radiant yellow. That's my guess.

[PeterB]

As I recall the Buddha said that those who have seen his Dhamma have seen him.