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

Epithets

There are many epithets for the Buddha. The Amarakosha lists them as follows:

Omniscient One, Gone to Bliss (Skt. Sugata), Awakened One, King of Dharma, Thus Gone One (Skt. Tathāgata),

Always Good, Blessed Lord (Skt. Bhagavan), Victor over Māra, Victor of the World, Victorious One,

Possessor of Six Super-Knowledges, Possessor of Ten Strengths, Speaker of Non-Duality, Remover of Obstacles,

King of Sages, Full of Glory, Teacher, The Sage, Sage of the Śākyas,

Lion of the Śākyas, Accomplisher of All Aims, Son of Śuddhodana,

Gautama, Kinsman of the Sun, Son of Māyādevī.

Traditional Biographical Sources

• Buddhacharita by Ashvaghosha
• Lalitavistara Sutra
• White Lotus of Compassion Sutra

Further Reading

• Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, What Makes You Not a Buddhist (Boston & London: Shambhala, 2007)
• Sir Edwin Arnold, The Light of Asia
• 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
• Dominique Side, Melbourne, Australia, 21-22 October 2017
• Philippe Cornu, Rigpa centre, Levallois, 4 November 2019
• Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, Sikkim, India, June/July 2020: The Life of the Buddha: Heart Lessons, available as video on demand here

Internal Links

• Mantra of Buddha Shakyamuni
• Twelve deeds
• Two images of Buddha Shakyamuni
• Quotations: Sutras, a collection of quotations from different sutras.

External Links

• Buddha Śākyamuni Prayers & Practices on Lotsawa House
• 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