Buddha Shakyamuni

Buddha Shakyamuni

Buddha Shakyamuni (Skt. Śākyamuni; Tib. སངས་རྒྱས་ཤཱཀྱ་ཐུབ་པ་, Wyl. sangs rgyas shAkya thub pa) — the Indian prince Gautama Siddhartha, who reached enlightenment (and thus became a buddha) in the sixth century B.C., and who taught the spiritual path followed by millions all over the world, known today as Buddhism.

Dates

Dates for the parinirvana according to:

• 2420 B.C.E. the Pandita Sureshamati
• 2150 B.C.E. the rGya-bod-yig-tshang
• 2146 B.C.E. Üpa Losal
• 2136 B.C.E. Atisha
• 2133 B.C.E. Sakya Pandita
• 949 B.C.E. The Blue Annals refering to a Chinese tradition from Fo-lin and accepted by the Japanese schools: Jodo, Jodo-Shinshu and Nichirenshu
• 881 B.C.E. Pakpa Lhundrup (followed by Butön and Dudjom Rinpoche)
• 876 B.C.E. Butön based on the Kalachakra tantra
• 835 B.C.E. Jonangpa school scholars
• 750 B.C.E. Tshalpa Kunga Dorje, based on the history of the Sandalwood Buddha
• 718 B.C.E. Kamalashila
• 651 B.C.E. Orgyenpa
• 544/543 B.C.E. Shakyashri, last abbot of Vikramashila
• 544 B.C.E. Theravadin tradition
• 489 B.C.E. based on the reign of Ashoka being 218 years after the parinirvana
• 486 B.C.E. "dotted record" which came to China through Samghabhadra
• 483 B.C.E. some modern scholars (an adjustment to the "dotted record")
• 386/383 B.C.E. modern Japanese scholars
• 371 B.C.E. based on the reign of Ashoka being 100 years after the parinirvana

Disciples

• Buddha Shakyamuni's Disciples

Further Reading

• Ashvaghosha, Buddhacharita (one of the most famous and inspiring accounts of Buddha's life)
• Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, What Makes You Not a Buddhist (Boston & London: Shambhala, 2007)
• Thich Nhat Hanh, Old Path White Clouds (Berkeley: Parallax Press, 1991)
• Tulku Thondup, Masters of Meditation and Miracles, edited by Harold Talbott (Boston: Shambhala, 1999), 'Shākyamuni Buddha'.

Oral Teachings Given to the Rigpa Sangha

• Dzogchen Rinpoche, Buddha’s Life and Path of Liberation, Lerab Ling, 6-7 June 1998
• Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, Lerab Ling, 9 September 2011

Internal Links

• Mantra of Buddha Shakyamuni
• Twelve deeds
• Two images of Buddha Shakyamuni

External Links

• The Treasury of Blessings: A Practice of Buddha Shakyamuni by Mipham Rinpoche
• Shakyamuni Buddha Outline page at Himalayan Art
• 'Who Was Shakyamuni Buddha?' by Alexander Berzin
• 'The Life of the Buddha As Pieced Together from the Pali Canon' by Alexander Berzin