Gautama Buddha - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Seite 1 von 9

Gautama Buddha
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Siddhartha Gautama)

"Siddhartha" redirects here. For other uses, see Siddhartha

(disambiguation).
"Gautama" redirects here. For other uses, see Gautama
(disambiguation).

Gautama Buddha was a spiritual teacher in the ancient Indian

subcontinent and the historical founder of Buddhism. He is universally
recognised by Buddhists as the Supreme Buddha of our age. The time of
his birth and death are unclear, but most modern scholars have him living
between approximately 563 BCE and 483 BCE.[1]
(http://indology.info/papers/cousins/) By tradition, he was born with the
name Siddhārtha Gautama and, after a quest for the truth behind life
and death, underwent a transformative spiritual change that led him to
claim the name of Buddha. He is also commonly known as Śākyamuni
("sage of the Śākya clan") and as the Tathāgata ("thus-come-one").

Gautama is the key figure in Buddhism, and accounts of his life,

discourses, and monastic rules were summarized after his death and
memorized by the saṅgha. Passed down by oral tradition, the Tripiṭaka, Standing Buddha, ancient region
the collection of discourses attributed to Gautama, was committed to of Gandhara, northern Pakistan,
1st century CE, Musée Guimet.
writing about 400 years later.

Contents
„ 1 Buddha's life
„ 1.1 Conception and birth
„ 1.2 Marriage
„ 1.3 The Great Departure
„ 1.4 After leaving
„ 1.5 The Great Passing
„ 2 Personality and character
„ 3 Physical characteristics
„ 4 Teachings
„ 5 Buddha as viewed by other religions
„ 5.1 Hinduism
„ 5.2 Christianity and Judaism
„ 5.3 Islam
„ 6 See also
„ 7 External links

Buddha's life
Few of the details of the Buddha's life can be independently verified, and it is difficult to determine what is
history and what is myth. Therefore this article will describe the life of Siddhārtha Gautama as told in the
earliest available Buddhist texts.

Conception and birth

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siddhartha_Gautama 11.07.2006
Gautama Buddha - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Seite 2 von 9

According to tradition, Siddhārtha was born more than 200 years before the reign of the Maurya king
Aśoka.

His mother dreamt one night that an elephant with six tusks and a head the colour of rubies came down from
the highest heaven and entered her womb on the right side. Eight Brahmins told her husband that the child
would be holy and achieve perfect wisdom. Later, she entered the garden of Lumbini with her attendants and
walked beneath the Śālā tree, which bent down. The queen took hold of the branch and looked up to the
heavens. At that moment, Siddhārtha was born out of her side. He immediately took seven steps towards each
Māyādevī's
quarter white and
of heaven, elephant dream.
at each step a lotus flower sprung up. He then declared he would have no more births,
Gandhāra, 2-3rd century CE.
that this was his last body and he would pluck out by the roots sorrow caused by birth and death.

Siddhārtha was born in Lumbini, Nepal, under the full moon of the sixth lunar month, in the spring. His father
was Śuddhodana (Pāli Suddhodana), of the K atriya var a, was the chief (rājā, or king) of the Śākya nation,
one of several ancient tribes on the margins of the growing state of Kośala (Pāli Kosala). His mother was
Māyādevī, one of Śuddhodana's wives.

The day of the Buddha's birth is widely celebrated in Buddhist countries as Vesak. Gautama was born a
prince, destined to a comfortable, even luxurious life by the standards of the day. All traditions agree that the
Buddha's mother died at his birth or a few days later. During the birth celebrations, the seer Asita announced
that this baby would either become a great king or a great holy man. His father, King Śuddhodana, wishing
for Gautama to be a great king, shielded his son from religious teachings or knowledge of human suffering.

While later tradition and legend characterized

Śuddhodana as a hereditary monarch, the descendant
of the Solar Dynasty of Ik vāku (Pāli: Okkāka),
many scholars believe that Śuddhodana was the
elected chief of a tribal confederacy. Since
Siddhārtha belonged to the Śākya clan, he came to be
known as Śākyamuni ("sage of the Śākyas").

Marriage

When the young Prince Siddhartha Gautama was still

Birth of Buddha at Lumbini
a baby, an ascetic named Kaladevala went into the
heaven of the Thirty-three gods and predicted that the
young prince would become the Buddha. As the boy reached the age of 16, his father arranged his marriage to
Yaśodharā (Pāli: Yasodharā), a cousin of the same age. In time, she gave birth to a son, Rahula. Gautama
spent 29 years of his life as a prince in Kapilavastu, a place now situated on the Indo-Nepal Border. Although
his father ensured that Gautama was provided with everything he could want or need, Gautama was troubled
and dissatisfied.

The Great Departure

While venturing outside of his palace, Gautama saw an old

crippled man (old age), a diseased man (illness), a decaying
corpse (death), and an ascetic. These four scenes are referred to as the four sights, or the four heavenly
messengers (Pali: devaduta). Gautama was inspired by these sights -- he sought to overcome old age, illness,
and death by living the life of an ascetic. Gautama soon left his home, his possessions, and his entire family at
age 29, to take up the lonely life of a wandering monk.

Abandoning his inheritance, he dedicated his life to learning how to overcome suffering. He meditated with
two hermits, and, although he achieved high levels of meditative consciousness, he was still not satisfied with
his path.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siddhartha_Gautama 11.07.2006
Gautama Buddha - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Seite 3 von 9

Gautama then chose the robes of a mendicant monk and

headed to Magadha in what is today Bihar in India. He
began his training in the ascetic life and practicing vigorous
techniques of physical and mental austerity. Gautama
proved quite adept at these practices, and surpassed even his
teachers.

However, he found no answer to his questions. Leaving

The Four Heavenly Messengers
father start the season's plowing, and he had fallen into a naturally concentrated and focused state that was
blissful and refreshing.
behind his caring teachers, he and a small group of close
companions set out to take their austerities even further.
Gautama tried to find enlightenment through complete
deprivation of worldly goods, including food, and became a
complete ascetic. After nearly starving himself to death
The Buddha as an
(some sources claim that he nearly drowned),
ascetic.Gautama
Gandhara, 2-
began to reconsider his path. Then, he 3rd century AD.
remembered a British
Museum.
moment in childhood in which he had been watching his

After leaving

After discarding asceticism and concentrating on meditation, Gautama discovered what Buddhists call the
Middle Way—a path of moderation away from the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification. He
accepted a little buttermilk from a passing goatherder, Sumedha. Then, sitting under a pipal tree, now known
as the Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya, he vowed never to arise until he had found the Truth. At the age of 35, he
attained Enlightenment; according to some traditions, this occurred approximately in May, and according to
others in December. Gautama, from then on, was known as "The Perfectly Self-Awakened One", the
Samyaksambuddha (Pāli: Sammāsambuddha).

He stated that he had realized complete Awakening and insight into the nature and cause of human suffering,
along with steps necessary to eliminate it. These truths were then categorized into the Four Noble Truths; the
state of supreme liberation—possible for any being—was called Nirvana.

According to one of the stories in the Āyācana Sutta (Samyutta Nikaya VI.1), a scripture found in the Pāli and
other canons, immediately after his Enlightenment, the Buddha was wondering whether or not he should teach
the Dharma. He was concerned that, as human beings were overpowered by greed, hatred and delusion, they
would not be able to see the true dharma, which was subtle, deep and hard to understand. However, a divine
spirit, Brahmā Sahampati, interceded and asked that he teach the dharma to the world, as "there will be those
who will understand the Dharma". With his great compassion, the Buddha agreed to become a teacher.

At the Deer Park near Vārā asī (Benares) in northern India, he set in
motion the Wheel of Dharma by delivering his first sermon to the
group of five companions with whom he had previously sought enlightenment. They, together with the
Buddha, formed the first saṅgha, the company of Buddhist monks.

The Buddha emphasized that he was not a god, he was simply enlightened. He stated that there is no
intermediary between mankind and the divine; distant gods are subjected to karma themselves in decaying
heavens; and the Buddha is solely a guide and teacher for the sentient beings who must tread the path of
Nirvā a (Pāli: Nibbāna) themselves to attain the spiritual awakening called bodhi and see truth and reality as
it is. The Buddhist system of insight, thought, and meditation practice was not revealed divinely, but by the
understanding of the true nature of the mind, which could be discovered by anybody.

For the remaining 45 years of his life, the Buddha traveled in the Gangetic Plain of Northeastern India,
teaching his doctrine and discipline to an extremely diverse range of people— from nobles to street outcaste

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siddhartha_Gautama 11.07.2006
Gautama Buddha - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Seite 4 von 9

sweepers, including many adherents of rival philosophies and

religions. The Buddha founded the community of Buddhist monks and
nuns (the Sangha) to continue the dispensation after his Parinirvā a
(Pāli: Paribbāna) or "complete Nirvā a", and made thousands of
converts. His religion was open to all races and classes and had no
caste structure. On the other hand, Buddhist texts record that he was
reluctant to ordain women as nuns: he eventually accepted them on
the grounds that their capacity for enlightenment was equal to that of
men (and the Lotus Sutra, in Chapter 12, contains a description of the
dragon king's daughter attaining enlightenment in her present body),
but he gave them certain additional rules (Vinaya) to follow.

The Great Passing

According to the
Mahaparinibbana Sutta of the
Pali canon, at the age of 80, Painting of the first sermon depicted
at Wat Chedi Liem in Thailand.
the Buddha announced that
he would soon enter
Parinirvana or the final deathless state abandoning the earthly body.
After this, the Buddha ate his last meal, which, according to different
translations, was either a mushroom delicacy or soft pork, which he
had received as an offering from a blacksmith named Cunda. Falling
violently ill, Buddha instructed his attendant Ānanda to convince
Cunda that the meal eaten at Cunda's place had nothing to do with
his passing.
Buddha's entry into Parinirvana.
Buddha recovers his health:

48. And the Venerable Ananda said to the Blessed One: "Marvellous it is, O Lord, most
wonderful indeed it is, how clear and radiant the skin of the Tathagata appears! This set of
golden-hued robes, burnished and ready for wear, Lord, now that it is arranged upon the body
of the Blessed One seems to have become faded, its splendor dimmed."

Ananda protested Buddha's decision to enter Parinirvana in the abandoned jungles of Kuśināra (Pāli:
Kusināra) of the Mallas. Buddha, however, reminds Anand that his message is to free us from suffering and
how Kushinara was a land once that resounded in joy:

44. "Kusavati, Ananda, resounded unceasingly day and night with ten sounds -- the trumpeting
of elephants, the neighing of horses, the rattling of chariots, the beating of drums and tabours,
music and song, cheers, the clapping of hands, and cries of 'Eat, drink, and be merry!'

Buddha then asked all the attendant Bhikshus to clarify any doubts or questions they had. They had none. He
then finally entered Parinibbana. The Buddha's final words were, "All composite things pass away. Strive for
your own salvation with diligence." The Buddha's body was cremated and the relics were placed in
monuments or stupas, some of which are believed to have survived until the present. (For example, "The
Temple of the Tooth" or "Dalada Maligawa" in Sri Lanka is the place where the right tooth relic of Buddha is
kept at present.)

According to the Pāli historical chronicles of Sri Lanka, the Dīpavaṃsa and Mahāvaṃsa, the coronation of
Aśoka (Pāli: Asoka) is 218 years after the death of Buddha. According to one Mahayana record in Chinese
(十八部論 and 部執異論), the coronation of Aśoka is 116 years after the death of Buddha. Therefore, the
time of Buddha's passing is either 486 BC according to Theravāda record or 383 BCE according to Mahayana
record. However, the actual date traditionally accepted as the date of the Buddha's death in Theravāda

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siddhartha_Gautama 11.07.2006
Gautama Buddha - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Seite 5 von 9

countries is 544 or 543 BC, because the reign of Aśoka was traditionally reckoned to be about 60 years earlier
than current estimates (based on Aśoka's own inscriptions, and therefore among the soundest dates in early
Indian history).

Personality and character

The Buddha as presented in the Buddhist scriptures is notable for such
characteristics as:

„ A comprehensive education and training in those fields

appropriate to a warrior aristocrat, such as martial arts,
agricultural management, and literature, and also a deep
understanding of the religious and philosophical ideas of his
culture.
„ Athletic and fit throughout his life, competent in martial arts
such as chariot combat, wrestling, and archery, and later easily
hiking miles each day and camping in the wilderness. Images of
a fat "Jolly Buddha" or Laughing Buddha are actually depictions
of either Maitreya the future Buddha (Chinese Mile Fo), or a
10th century Chinese monk, Budai Heshang (Japanese Hotei)
„ A superb teacher, with a fine grasp of the appropriate metaphors,
and tailoring his teachings to the audience at hand. Gandhara Buddha, 1st-2nd century
„ Fearless and unworried at all times, whether dealing with CE, Musée Guimet.
religious debators, royalty, or murderous outlaws. He was never
past exasperation when monks of his order misrepresented his
teachings.
„ Temperate in all bodily appetites. He lived a completely celibate life from age 29 until his death. He
was indifferent to hunger and environmental conditions.

Physical characteristics
Buddha is perhaps one of the few sages for whom we have mention of
his rather impressive physical characteristics. He was at least six feet
tall and had a strong enough body to be noticed by one of the kings
and was asked to join his army as a general. Although the Buddha was
not represented in human form until around the 1st century AD (see
Buddhist art), his physical characteristics are described in one of the
central texts of the traditional Pali canon, the Digha Nikaya. They help
define the global aspect of the historical Buddha, his physical
appearance is described by Buddha's wife to his son Rahula upon
Buddha's return in the scripture of the "Lion of Men":

"Like the full moon is His face; He is dear to Gods and men; He is
like an elephant amongst men; His gait is graceful as that of an
elephant of noble breed. That, indeed, is your father, lion of men.

"He is of Aryan (aristocratic nobility) lineage, sprung from the

Kshatriya caste; His feet have been honoured by Gods and men; His
mind is well established in morality and concentration. That, indeed,
Seated Buddha, Gandhara, 1st-2nd
is your father, lion of men. century AD, Tokyo National
Museum.
"Long and prominent is His well-formed nose, His eye-lashes are like
those of a heifer; His eyes are extremely blue ; like a rainbow are His
deep blue eyebrows. (The word used is "adhi nila", meaning "very blue", nila is used for the word blue
sapphire.) That, indeed, is your father, lion of men.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siddhartha_Gautama 11.07.2006
Gautama Buddha - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Seite 6 von 9

"Round and smooth is His well-formed neck; His jaw is like that of a lion; His body is like that of king of
beast; His beautiful skin is of bright golden colour. That, indeed is your father, lion of men."

Interpretations may vary, and the reliability of the Sutras may be questioned. The description above is
indicative of a typically Indo-Aryan body type. This can also be related to the tradition describing the historic
Buddha as a member of the Indian Kshatriya warrior caste.

Teachings
The teachings of the Buddha are covered in the articles on Buddhism and Buddhist philosophy. While there
is disagreement amongst various Buddhist sects over more esoteric aspects of Buddha's teachings and over
disciplinary rules for monks, there is generally agreement over these points:

„ The Four Noble Truths: that suffering is an inherent part of existence; that suffering is caused by
attachment (craving); that craving can be ceased; and that following the Noble Eightfold Path will lead
to the cessation of craving (and suffering).
„ The Noble Eightfold Path: right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right
livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.
„ The concept of dependent origination: that any phenomenon 'exists' only because of the ‘existence’ of
other phenomena in a complex web of cause and effect covering time past, present and future. Because
all things are thus conditioned and transient (anicca), they have no real independent identity (anatta).
„ Rejection of the infallibility of accepted scripture: Teachings should not be accepted unless they are
borne out by our experience and are praised by the wise.
„ Anicca (Sanskrit: anitya): That all things are impermanent.
„ Anatta (Sanskrit: anātman): That the perception of a constant "self" is an illusion.
„ Dukkha (Sanskrit: du kha): That all beings suffer from all situations due to unclear mind.

Buddha as viewed by other religions

Hinduism
"The Hindu system of philosophy would have lost much of
their depth, interest and value, if they could not assimilate
much from Buddhism, and if they were not forced to take an
independent stand by its side.

I yield to none in my profound respect for the great teacher

Sankara, but a careful analysis of his writings demonstrate
indisputably that he largely borrowed his doctrine, his
phraseology, his dialectics and his method of approach from
Buddhism. Not only Sankara but many of his followers like Sri
Harsha, Ananda Janana and others who have constructed the
Vedānta into a rational system of philosophy deliberately
followed the footsteps of Nagarjuna and other Buddhist
writers."

(Dr. S. N. Dasgupta, Principal, Sanskrit College, Calcutta)

Contrary to most Buddhists, some Hindu denominations on the basis Some adherents of Hinduism regard
Buddha (bottom right) as one of the
of the Purāṇas of later Hinduism regard Buddha as the ninth avatar of
10 avatars of Viṣṇu
Viṣṇu, and the general decline of Buddhism in India has been
attributed to the development of Vedānta philosophy, which began
challenging Buddhism's philosophically strong image. There are accounts of the Buddha as an incarnation of
Viṣṇu that are pro- and anti-Buddhist. That is to say, either that Viṣṇu "really meant" what he said while

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siddhartha_Gautama 11.07.2006
Gautama Buddha - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Seite 7 von 9

incarnated as Buddha or that he was intentionally tricking those who follow unorthodox doctrines. In some,
the Buddha has been described in a manner that many Buddhists find unacceptable, as the texts say that Viṣṇu
had taken the Buddha incarnation to "mislead" the "demons" from the true Vedic path by deliberately
propagating a false religion. The term nirvana was popularized by the Buddha and his followers, as Hindu
scriptures generally concentrate instead on the principle of Brahman and Moksha. Hindus claim Parinirvana,
in Hinduism is known as Mahasamadhi -- this is incorrect as Vedic Dharma never went past Brahma Viharas
of the Buddhists. Buddhism is different from Hinduism, in which the Nirvana is Brahma-Nirvana.

The Buddha in some Hindu scriptures is referred to as a "Nastik", since he did not give preeminence to the
Vedas. However, it was the most well-known Buddhist scholar Rahula Vipola, who wrote that the Buddha
was trying to shed the true meaning of the Vedas. Buddha is said to be a knower of the Veda (vedajña) or of
the Vedanta (vedântajña) (Sa.myutta, i. 168); Sutta Nipâta, 463)

Christianity and Judaism

Although the philosophical systems of Buddhism and Christianity have evolved in rather different ways, the
moral precepts advocated by Buddhism from the time of Ashoka through his edicts do have some similarities
with the Christian moral precepts developed more than two centuries later: respect for life, respect for the
weak, rejection of violence, pardon to sinners, tolerance. The administrative structures formed by Buddhists
are also very similar : monasticism, early Christian Councils and missions all were predated by Buddhist
missions in the middle east in the same regions that Christianity began.

One theory is that these similarities may indicate the propagation of Buddhist ideals into the Western World,
with the Greeks acting as intermediaries and religious syncretists.

For example, the "miracle" of walking on water, which is frequently attributed to Jesus in the New Testament,
is first found in Buddhist literature in the oldest Pali Canon Digha Nikaya 11, in the Kevatta Sutta. This is not
found in any other literature in the world except 500 years later in the Christian New Testament.

"Scholars have often considered the possibility that Buddhism influenced the early development of
Christianity. They have drawn attention to many parallels concerning the births, lives, doctrines, and
deaths of the Buddha and Jesus" (Bentley, "Old World Encounters").

The story of the birth of the Buddha was well known in the West, and possibly influenced the story of the
birth of Jesus: Saint Jerome (4th century CE) mentions the birth of the Buddha, who he says "was born from
the side of a virgin". Also a fragment of Archelaos of Carrha (278 CE) mentions the Buddha's virgin-birth.

Early 3rd-4th century Christian writers such as Hippolytus and Epiphanius write about a Scythianus, who
visited India around 50 AD from where he brought "the doctrine of the Two Principles". According to these
writers, Scythianus' pupil Terebinthus presented himself as a "Buddha" ("he called himself Buddas" Cyril of
Jerusalem). Terebinthus went to Palestine and Judaea where he met the Apostles ("becoming known and
condemned" Isaia), and ultimately settled in Babylon, where he transmitted his teachings to Mani, thereby
creating the foundation of what could be called Persian syncretic Buddhism, Manicheism. One of the greatest
thinkers and saints of western Christianity, Augustine of Hippo was originally a Manichean.

In the 2nd century CE, the Christian dogmatist Clement of Alexandria recognized Bactrian Buddhists
(Sramanas) and Indian Gymnosophists for their influence on Greek thought:

"Thus philosophy, a thing of the highest utility, flourished in antiquity among the barbarians, shedding
its light over the nations. And afterwards it came to Greece. First in its ranks were the prophets of the
Egyptians; and the Chaldeans among the Assyrians; and the Druids among the Gauls; and the
Sramanas among the Bactrians ("Σαρμαναίοι Βάκτρων"); and the philosophers of the Celts; and the
Magi of the Persians, who foretold the Saviour's birth, and came into the land of Judaea guided by a
star. The Indian gymnosophists are also in the number, and the other barbarian philosophers. And of
these there are two classes, some of them called Sramanas ("Σαρμάναι"), and others Brahmins

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siddhartha_Gautama 11.07.2006
Gautama Buddha - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Seite 8 von 9

("Βραφμαναι")." Clement of Alexandria "The Stromata, or Miscellanies" Book I, Chapter XV[21]

The main Greek cities of the Middle-East happen to have played a key role in the development of Christianity,
such as Antioch and especially Alexandria, and “it was later in this very place that some of the most active
centers of Christianity were established” (Robert Linssen, “Zen living”).

The Greek legend of "Barlaam and Ioasaph", sometimes mistakenly attributed to the 7th century John of
Damascus but actually written by the Georgian monk Euthymios in the 11th century, was ultimately derived,
through a variety of intermediate versions (Arabic and Georgian) from the life story of the Buddha. The king-
turned-monk Ioasaph (Georgian Iodasaph, Arabic Yūdhasaf or Būdhasaf) ultimately derives his name from
the Sanskrit Bodhisattva, the name used in Buddhist accounts for Gautama before he became a Buddha.
Barlaam and Ioasaph were placed in the Greek calendar of saints on 26 August, and in the West they were
canonized (as "Barlaam and Josaphat") in the Roman Martyrology on the date of 27 November.

The story was translated into Hebrew in the Middle Ages as "Ben-Hamelekh Vehanazir" ("The Prince and the
Nazirite"), and is widely read by Jews to this day.

The Sanskrit word, "bodhisatva" is translated as "nazir" and in Hebrew means: ("One who abstains"); and is
generally a word used for monks. Jesus too is referred throughout the Greek New Testament as a Nazarene:

Mark 01:24 ΝΑΖΑΡΗΝΕ Nazarene Jesus Nazarian Mark 10:47 Mark 14:67 Mark 16:06 Luke 04:34 Luke
24:19 Matthew 02:23 Matthew 26:71 Luke 18:37 John 18:05 John 18:07 John 19:19 Acts 02:22 Acts 03:06
Acts 04:10 Acts 06:14 Acts 22:08 Acts 26:09

Islam

The Indian scholar Maulana Abul Kalam Azad proposed in a commentary on the Qur'an that Siddhartha
Gautama is the prophet of Islam Dhū'l-Kifl referred to in Sura 21 and Sura 38 of the Qur'an together with the
Biblical characters Ishmael, Idris (Enoch), and Elisha. Azad suggested that the Kifl in Dhū'l-Kifl (Ar:
"possessor of a double portion") is an Arabic pronunciation of Kapilavastu, where the Buddha spent his early
life [2] (http://www.berzinarchives.com/islam/buddhist_islamic_view.html). There is no direct evidence to
support this speculation. According to other ancient Muslim scholars Dhū'l-Kifl was either a righteous man
and not a prophet, or he was the prophet called Ezekiel in the Bible.

The Buddhist monastic class flowed into what came to be called Islamic monasticism, meaning Sufism -
which has given many poets and scientists to both Islam and the world. A Muslim mystical movement, the
Kalandarriya Sufi Order, which arose in 9th Century as a result of the malamattiya, became established in
Khorasan as early in the 11th Century...had many Buddhist monks. (Gabriel Mandel Khan, from Great
Biographies, Buddha).

Ascetic practices within the sufi philosophy are associated with Buddhism. The notion of purification
(cleaning one' s soul from all evil things and trying to reach Nirvana and to become immortal in Nirvana)
plays an important role in Buddhism. The same idea shows itself in the belief of "vuslat" (communion with
God) in Sufi philosophy. (Kamuran Godelek, The Neoplatonist Roots of Sufi Philosophy)

“The mission of the Buddha was quite unique in its character, and therefore it stands quite apart from the
many other religions of the world. His mission was to bring the birds of idealism flying in the air nearer to the
earth, because the food for their bodies belonged to the earth.” Hazrat Inayat Khan, "The Sufi Message"

See also
„ Buddha
„ Buddhism
„ Iconography of the Buddha
„ Buddha as an Avatara of Vishnu

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siddhartha_Gautama 11.07.2006
Gautama Buddha - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Seite 9 von 9

External links
„ Life of the Buddha (http://www.buddhanet.net/e- Wikiquote has a collection of
learning/buddhism/lifebuddha/index.htm) quotations related to:
„ A sketch of the Buddha's Life Gautama Buddha
(http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/buddha.html)
„ Mahamevnawa Buddhist Monastery - Sri Lanka
(http://www.gautamabuddha.org/)
Wikisource has original works
„ Critical Resources: Buddha & Buddhism written by or about:
(http://www.synaptic.bc.ca/ejournal/buddhist.htm) Gautama Buddha
„ The Emaciated Gandharan Buddha Images:
Asceticism, Health, and the Body
(http://www.azibaza.com/lecture/lectures_emaciated.htm)
„ The Lalitavistara (http://www.borobudur.tv/lalitavistara.htm)
„ What was the Buddha really like? (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Buddhawaslike)
„ Relatives and Disciples of the Buddha (http://www.budsas.org/ebud/rdbud/rdbud-01.htm) by Radhika
Abeysekera

Buddhism

Terms and concepts History Schools and sects People By region and country
List of topics Timeline Temples Texts Culture
Portal

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gautama_Buddha"

Categories: 1029 BC births | 483 BC deaths | 563 BC births | 949 BC deaths | Buddha | Buddhism | Buddhist
philosophers | Hindu religious figures | History of Bihar | Indian philosophers | Indian religious figures | Forms
of Vishnu

„ This page was last modified 17:43, 11 July 2006.

„ All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free
Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.)
Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia
Foundation, Inc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siddhartha_Gautama 11.07.2006