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What Swamps Teach Us about Spiritual Life...Shrek Archetypes...Psychological Stagnation... Have you ever gotten tangled up “in the weeds”? "It's a wise man's part to practise a smooth-tempered self-control." by Hughes Songe

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Dreaming of a big, spilled swamp symbolizes small satisfactions. You are always trying to please yourself, in spite of obligations and other obstacles. You have rituals that are making you happy, so you always find time for them. You usually do sports, go out, take massages, or go to the cinema. Shrek since an elf is a fictional character, he may also represent the problems that you have created on your own. Symbolism:An elf represents festivity, problems, annoying people, intellectual minds, foes and health. If you dream of a laughing elf, it indicates the laughter of your enemy.

Despite Shrek's frightening and repulsive outer appearance and incorrect identification as a monster (devil figure), he turns out to be:

The Hero: Shrek fulfills the ultimate task of breaking Fiona's curse with the true love's kiss. He also follows the hero's journey with significant character development on his Quest.

Onion: Shrek speaks about how ogres are like onions, which also reflects on the universal theme of the movie. Onions have layers, and his analogy represents that despite his repugnant appearance, like that of an onion, he is actually kind-hearted and capable of love after you peel at the layers.

Wall: Shrek talks about putting up a wall around his swamp to keep people away, but I believe it's also a figurative symbol for his need for isolation and fear of not being accepted or loved. Shrek tries to shut people out before they can do the same to him.

Shrek's Swamp

By George Gantz

Name & Symbols where Shrek's symbols linked with Nephthis

live in the swamps of the Nile's delta... like King Moses with is born in the same Delta or Swamps!!!!

Afterlife, regeneration and Green Color slopes and the regeneration of trees on decaying boles in swamps.

'Nephthys' is the Latin version of her Egyptian name `Nebthwt' (also given as Nebet-het and Nebt-het) which translates as "Lady of the Temple Enclosure" or "Mistress of the House" and she is routinely pictured with the heiroglyph for 'house' on her crown. The 'house' is neither an earthly home nor temple but linked to the heavens as she was related to air and ether.

The 'enclosure' may refer to the courtyard outside a temple as she was represented by the pylons outside of temples. Shrek's pylons are his ears.

in her role as a protective goddess; just as the pylons and wall protected the inner temple, Nephthys protected the souls of the people. She was associated with death and decay from an early period and was regularly invoked during funeral services. Professional mourners at Egyptian funerals were known as "Hawks of Nephthys" and she is one of the four goddesses (along with Isis, Selket, and Neith) whose images were found in the tomb of Tutankhamun as guardians of his canopic vessels. Historian Margaret Bunson notes:Nephthys was associated with the mortuary cult in every era and was part of the ancient worship of Min [a god of fertility and reproduction]. The desert regions were dedicated to her and she was thought to be skilled in magic (188).

In folklore, a will-o'-the-wisp, will-o'-wisp or ignis fatuus is an atmospheric ghost light seen by travelers at night, especially over bogs, swamps or ... Folk belief attributes the phenomenon to fairies or elemental spirits, explicitly in the term " hobby and now in 2020 for the kids that's Shrek... mysterious lights as omens of death or the ghosts of once living human beings. In modern science, it is generally accepted that will-o'-the-wisp phenomena (ignis fatuus) are caused by the oxidation of phosphine (PH3), diphosphane (P2H4), and methane (CH4). These compounds, produced by organic decay, can cause photon emissions. Since phosphine and diphosphane mixtures spontaneously ignite on contact with the oxygen in air, only small quantities of it would be needed to ignite the much more abundant methane to create ephemeral fires. Furthermore, phosphine produces phosphorus pentoxide as a by-product, which forms phosphoric acid upon contact with water vapor, which can explain "viscous moisture" sometimes described as accompanying ignis fatuus.The idea of the will-o'-the-wisp phenomena being caused by natural gases can be found as early as 1596, as mentioned in the book Of Ghostes and Spirites, Walking by Night, And of Straunge Noyses, Crackes, and Sundrie forewarnings, which commonly happen before the death of men: Great Slaughters, and alterations of Kingdomes, by Ludwig Lavater, in the chapter titled "That many naturall things are taken to be ghoasts":

Many times candles & small fires appeare in the night, and seeme to runne up and downe... Sometime these fires goe alone in the night season, and put such as see them, as they travel by night, in great feare. But these things, and many such lyke have their naturall causes... Natural Philosophers write, that thicke exhilations aryse out of the earth, and are kindled. Mynes full of sulphur and brimstone, if the aire enter unto it, as it lyeth in the holes and veines of the earth, will kindle on fier, and strive to get out. "Shrek lets fart in a fairy tale". Farting across the animal kingdom is wonderfully diverse, a new Tale with Shrek ... and our mammalian relatives, farts are mainly the result of digestion or regeneration.

Swamp monsters in folklore, legends, and mythology

The Will-o'-the-wisp appears in swamps, and in some areas there are legends of it being an evil spirit.

The Bunyip are a creature from Aboriginal mythology that lurk in swamps, billabongs, creeks, riverbeds, and waterholes.

The Grootslang are huge elephant-like creature with a serpent's tail which according to legend live in caves, swamps, freshwater in South Africa.

The Lernaean Hydra in Greek and Roman mythology, was the creature Heracles killed in the swamp near Lake Lerna.

The Honey Island Swamp monster in Louisiana.

Mokele-mbembe, a legendary water-dwelling creature of Congo River basin folklore that resembles a Brontosaurus.

The skunk ape is a horrible smelling large ape creature said to live in swamps.

The Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp.

In Beowulf, Grendel lived in a marsh near King Hrothgar's mead hall, as did Grendel's mother.

Our world seems to be mired in anxiety and fear; and civic discourse has degenerated to accusations, outright lies, and rhetoric. While we hear calls to “drain the swamp,” any common understanding of what that means, and a willing consensus required to achieve it, seems to elude us. Perhaps we are looking at the situation from too narrow a perspective. It is not just our politicians who are lost in the marsh; it is our spiritual life, too.

The English language is full of references to the soggy, wet places of the world. Have you ever gotten tangled up “in the weeds”? Or perhaps someone you know is “stuck in the mud” (or perhaps is a “stick-in-the-mud”)? Recently, we have heard calls to “drain the swamp” of Washington DC lobbyists and political insiders. These sayings all have a common origin: the idea that marshy places should be avoided, lest we become entrenched in the unpleasantness they represent. While modern environmental science is struggling to change this negative narrative about “wetlands,” there are natural contextual explanations for it. The negative imagery is quite powerful, and it holds true on a variety of levels: from natural to psychological, societal, and spiritual. Let’s unpack these different layers of meaning.

The Nature of Wetlands

Marshes, mires, and swamps—collectively referred to as “wetlands”—are essential natural features found all around the globe. They often develop wherever the land intersects major bodies of water, at the interface, as water from terrestrial sources makes its way toward the sea. Technically, marshes are characterized by grassy or shrub-like vegetation, while swamps feature trees. Mires, or bogs, are acidic and contain accumulated humus deposits known as peat.

Marshes are often difficult to access and to maneuver in (especially for us humans). The water usually moves slowly and may be brackish, or salty. Typically, oxygen levels are low, a condition to which indigenous species adapt. Reeds, for example, grow hollow stems for sucking oxygen to their root structures. Marshes do, however, provide useful water storage and filtration functions: they fill up with water in rainy periods and drain water downstream in dry periods; and they serve as a filter and a sink basin for sediments and pollutants.

Marshes can be highly productive biologically. But they can be quite unpleasant and inhospitable as well, as some of that productivity includes a variety of parasites, leeches, spiders, snakes, and even alligators. Since marsh waters move slowly, oxygen may be depleted by respiration and decomposition, particularly when pollution levels are high. Hypoxia, or oxygen deficiency, may result, causing the death of fish and invertebrates. When decomposition turns anaerobic, fetid odors are produced. This all helps explain the negative reputation held by marshes, mires, and swamps. And as a result, they have become fertile sources for our imaginative depiction of the horrors of stagnation.

Marshes and their renewing properties are also vulnerable to degradation if the natural water cycles are disrupted, and their historically negative reputation has made them a great target for human intervention. We have been very aggressive in intentional filling and draining, damming for flood control, water withdrawals, agricultural and urban development, and pollution. According to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data, perhaps half of all the marshes in the United States were drained or destroyed prior to 1970. And that destruction has continued. A Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) study reported that in the five years between 2004 and 2009, almost one percent of coastal wetlands disappeared as a result of development pressures and silviculture (human-planned forests) expansion.

Psychological Stagnation

Stagnation is defined simply as “a state of not flowing,” yet our imagination associates the word with the unpleasant “marshy” qualities of death and decay. In the natural world, the low-oxygen conditions of stagnation are unfavorable to growth and change, and they give rise to illness and death. In the psychological sense, stagnation refers to the similar condition of being emotionally or rationally stuck or stunted. Without the ability to renew ourselves by absorbing new thoughts, ideas, experiences, and emotions, our vitality and resilience stagnate.

The story of Narcissus offers a good example. Narcissus was a beautiful Greek youth who fell in love with his own reflection. He became so enamored of his image that he forgot about food and rest, and he eventually died. This story is the origin of the modern personality diagnosis of narcissism, an excessive pre-occupation with self-gratification and self-image. Some current psychological research suggests that our omnipresent digital environment and our excessive attention to social media, in particular, promote narcissistic tendencies.

Depression is another psychological condition that represents the quality of stagnation, as it involves getting “stuck” in negative thought patterns and losing the motivation and energy to reach out to others or try something new. While the causes of depression may be varied and difficult to assess, it is clear that extreme emotional distress and feelings of isolation and alienation are shared by many: depression is on the rise worldwide, as is suicide, an ultimate and tragic statement of hopelessness. As we will see below, one key to preventing psychological stagnation may be found in better understanding our spiritual condition.

Societal Entrenchment

In economics and politics, marsh-like stagnation is often referred to as entrenchment. The word entrench simply means “to put in a trench,” which is suggestive of being stuck or tightly confined. A corporate management team may become entrenched, for example, if its members stick too closely together and refuse to bring in outside people or outside ideas. Entrenchment can be deadly for a business enterprise when upstart competitors with new and better ideas come along. An individual, a group, or an entire enterprise can get “mired in the weeds” arguing about minutiae while in the midst of a crisis. Stuck in this way, they are unable to break through an impasse or develop a realistic plan forward. As the saying goes, “Nero fiddled while Rome burned.” In the broader economic sense, monopolies, cartels, price-fixing, and insider trading represent different forms of entrenchment; they are all disastrous for productivity, creativity, and healthy markets.

In the political arena, entrenchment refers to the condition in which incumbents or small, tightly controlled elite groups are able to dominate and control the political process. By cutting out other participants, eliminating dissent, and rejecting new ideas, these groups set the agenda and determine the outcomes—all in their own favor. As a result, what is lost is any sense of renewal or accountability to the citizens whom the government is presumed to serve. It is on this basis that our nation’s capital is described as a swamp, dominated by professional politicians, who have been in office a long time, and their enablers, the lobbyists who wield immense war chests of campaign funds and who trade in secrets and inside information. The entrenchment narrative has become more prevalent in recent years, as indicated by the large volume of books and articles that talk about governments behaving as oligarchies, kleptocracies, or autocracies.

The common thread in our negative image of wetlands, psychological stagnation, and societal entrenchment is this: when what is pure and fresh—whether it be water, our emotions, or our relationships with others—does not flow into each of these systems, the system ceases to thrive and grow and goes into decomposition and decay.

But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they are to be left for salt. (Ezekiel 47:11)

Friendly Beast: The donkey aids Shrek throughout the journey and is his constant companion through all the trials. As an animal, he shows that nature supports Shrek.

Fire/Red/Black: The dragon has dark red skin representing violent passion and fire, setting up the character to be perceived as cruel and monstrous. Dark colors such as black are used in her tower to develop this theme as well.

The writers started with a fun and cartoony premise, and then layered in one technique after another which makes the film resonate with adults.

Our Spiritual Condition

Emanuel Swedenborg devoted much of his writing to the idea of spiritual correspondences. In a spiritual sense, flowing water is living truth. When the flow of water stops, this truth becomes stagnant and spiritual life dies. Being stuck in the marsh spiritually means becoming confirmed in falsities.

Those who cannot be reformed because they are in the falsities of evil are signified by “the miry places and marshes that are not healed, but are given to salt.” (Apocalypse Explained §513:7)

“To be given to salt” signif[ies] not to receive spiritual life, but to remain in a life merely natural, which, separate from spiritual life, is defiled by falsities and evils, which are “miry places” and “marshes.” (Apocalypse Explained §342:7)

One common feature of a healthy spiritual life is the belief in and commitment to a truth that is higher than just the laws that govern the natural world. Out of one’s personal commitment to a transcendent realm (the infinite) or agent (God), many blessings can flow. These include a sense of purpose, feelings of joy and gratitude, and the willingness to improve the world and the lives of those around us with love. Without such an affirmative commitment, our understanding of life is by definition constrained to the finite realm of physical space and time. If we do not believe in and are not open to spiritual ideas and experiences, then we destroy our potential to receive any inflow of such ideas and experiences.

Meaning and purpose, as they relate to Creation as a whole or to our lives in particular, become limited and relative only to the physical parts of experience. Some thinkers take this to an extreme, framing meaning and purpose as mere illusions. Love becomes just a biological function. Improving the world is defined in purely materialistic terms. This is the condition referred to in Ezekiel, above, where one’s spirit has been given to salt.

A commitment to the idea that there is no spiritual life—that the natural world is all there is—is destructive to spiritual life. When we are confirmed in this falsity, any goodness that we might see, feel, or experience is sucked out of life. We are stuck in the marsh and cannot be spiritually reformed, cleansed, and healed.

There is nothing more delightful than a marshy, and also a urinous [stink] to those who have confirmed themselves in falsities, and have extinguished in themselves the affection for truth. (Apocalypse Explained §659:5)

Conclusion

By following the chain of correspondences, we can identify solutions to the various forms of stagnation. As we know from the natural world, fresh water must continue to flow in and through the marsh in order to keep it healthy and biologically productive. In addition, external pollutants must be limited to what the marsh can absorb.

Similarly, our emotional and psychological lives need to include appropriate amounts of openness, recreation, and renewal in order for us to remain healthy. We need to balance our internal preoccupations with outward companionship, aesthetic experiences, and learning opportunities; and we need to avoid the “pollutants” of excessive stimulation, addiction, obsession, and distraction.

In society, we need to foster and support institutions that are resilient, responsive, and open to new people and new ideas. This requires that we go against our natural tendencies toward complacency and complicity and that we resist the temptations of using institutions for personal gain, as all of these behaviors pollute civic life.

To grow spiritually, we need to be open to transcendent possibilities, searching for knowledge and experiences that enrich our appreciation of spiritual truth. If we close ourselves off to spiritual ideas and to the possibility of having spiritual experiences, then our spiritual life will be deprived of sustenance and will decay.

If our spiritual life is “stuck,” then where is the foundation for a healthy psychological and emotional experience? When we focus on our own inadequacies or our personal gratifications, we undermine our opportunities to learn, to share love, and to be a full participant in our community. A healthy spiritual life is the wellspring for a healthy psychological and emotional life. It also sustains the virtues essential for a vibrant and thriving civic life: the commitment to truth and the dedication to the well-being of those we are responsible for serving.

Without a healthy civic life, we will never be able to agree on the rules and the practices that will assure that clean water flows into all our different marshes, refreshing, renewing, and rejuvenating the life that exists within them.

It all ends where it begins: with the water of truth that is the source of life.

George Gantz is a writer and philosopher at Spiral Inquiry and directs the Swedenborg Center Concord (SCC), a non-denominational educational project supported by the New Church of Concord, Massachusetts, that seeks to integrate the knowledge of science with the wisdom of religion.

Read more posts from the Spirituality in Practice series >

Here are some of those techniques:

Edgy Comedy

What's considered funny in our culture tends to change from time to time. It might be Mork and Mindy one year, Northern Exposure further down the line, and South Park a few years later. Of course, this is an over-simplification, for there are quite a number of popular comedy styles alive at any moment.

Still, there do tend to be trends, and adults are likely to be responsive to them. One trend alive today is a somewhat gross, edgy kind of comedy.

In Shrek the grossness doesn't have a sexual component, such as in American Pie, but there is a scene where Fiona sings a morning duet with a little bird in a nest. When Fiona hits an extremely high note, the bird swells up and explodes. The camera zooms in on the two little eggs left behind, then zooms out on them, now frying away, as Fiona cooks them for Shrek and Donkey.

In another scene, Fiona makes some cotton candy for Shrek by wrapping a spider's web around a stick, and then catching flies with the mess. She and Shrek both enjoy the delicacy. In yet another scene, Fiona and Shrek feast on cooked rats together.

This is very original, hip, and edgy comedy. It appeals to (at least some) adults.

Parody Humor: Spoofing Cultural References

When you spoof cultural references, especially when you do it well, you can create a kind of humor to which adults will respond.

In Shrek, Walt Disney Pictures and Disneyland bear the brunt of some clever spoofing. It was done with enough intelligence and wit that adults would appreciate it, such as:

Seeing, near the start of the film, various Disney-like animated characters depressed (and thus the opposite of their usual normal cheery selves) as they're being hauled away.

Lord Farquaad's castle, which possesses the ominous overtones of a nightmarish Disneyland, or

The weird singing toy figures which greet Shrek and Donkey at the castle wall, which spoof the singing toy figures in Disneyland's Small, Small World ride.

Non-Cliché Characters

A cliché character is one whom we've seen before, especially a character we've seen frequently. Shrek is certainly not a cliché. His personality is marked by some of the following attributes, or as I call them, Traits.

He likes himself (evident in the bathing scene under the opening credits).

He's clever. (He scares off the townspeople by convincing them he's much meaner than he is.)

He's brave (never shirking from a fight).

He's afraid of rejection, resulting in him pushing people away before they can reject him, which results in:

He's a loner (at least in the beginning), but he longs for connection with others, even as he also fights it off.

Can you think of another film or TV character with this exact set of traits? If you have a hard time remembering one, that's exactly why Shrek isn't a cliché.

Fiona also has an interesting array of traits:

She's romantic.

She's earthy. That's what I call women who eat rats.)

She's tough. She beats up Robin Hood with a few moves borrowed from The Matrix.)

She thinks she's ugly. And, like Shrek, she fears rejection.

Once again, we have a non-cliché character. Adults respond to characters who aren't clichés.

Emotional Problems We Can Relate To

Both Shrek and Fiona, for similar reasons (feeling that they're hideous), believe that no one could love them. This fear is so great in both of them, that it drives many of their actions.

Giving a character a powerful fear, a shame, or an emotional problem that adults can relate to will also help draw an adult audience -- as will that character's arc (his or her path of emotional growth) as circumstances in the plot force them to wrestle with this issue.

The Use Of Masks

A Mask is the term I use to describe ways characters can hide their fears and vulnerability.

There are at least eight different kinds of Masks that characters can hide behind. In Fiona's case, of course, her Mask is literally a visual lie: a fake body and face, created by magic.

Shrek's Mask is an attitude—the attitude that he doesn't need or want anyone in his life. (An Attitude is one of the eight types of Masks characters can hide their fears behind.) His behavior, stemming from this attitude, is the one I touched upon earlier: to push people away before they can reject him.

This is a Mask because, by watching this attitude and corresponding behavior, you might initially think that he hates others. But it simply covers up his fear that they would find him loathsome.

Using one of the eight types of Masks to create more complex characters is another technique that gives the film adult appeal.

Parallel Plot-Lines

There are about 100 techniques I'm aware of to give a feeling of emotional depth to a plot. I call these Plot Deepening Techniques.

(By the way, there are also Dialogue Deepening Techniques, Character Deepening Techniques [like the eight types of Masks], and Scene Deepening Techniques.)

The whole area of techniques which inject emotional and psychological depth into one's writing is vast, but we see one such Plot Deepening Technique used here, and that's parallel plot-lines.

There is the parallel of both Shrek and Fiona feeling too hideous to be lovable, but there's a third one too. The dragon, who falls in love with Donkey, uses such behaviors as shish-kabobbing people as a form of stopping them from getting too close.

Her efforts to frighten people off are very similar to the way Shrek handles the same fear.

As a general rule of thumb, Deepening Techniques work best when no more than 25% of the audience consciously notices them. Usually, to maximize their emotional effectiveness, you want them to operate a little bit outside the level of awareness of those watching the film.

All Plot Deepening Techniques contribute to making a film resonate more strongly with adults. The writers of Shrek employ many other techniques besides the one mentioned here, but my limited space here doesn't permit me to list them all.

Set-Ups And Payoffs

Sometimes a writer will introduce an object, and action, an image, or a phrase spoken by a character—the set-up—and then revisit it one or more times later in the script, usually in interesting ways (the payoff or payoffs).

It makes for sophisticated writing, which in turn makes the script appeal to adults.

Shrek utilizes many set-ups and payoffs. Here's one: When we first meet Shrek, he's in his outhouse. We learn his outhouse, like the rest of his swamp, is a place where he can be alone in total self-contentment. It's a symbol of his privacy, but here his desire for privacy is seen in a good light: as a reflection of his self-satisfaction.

Later in the film, when Shrek has experienced his worst nightmare—rejection by Fiona—and when he in turn has pushed Donkey away, he retreats into an outhouse. Now this symbol of solitude represents all his fears of getting close to others, and of literally shutting them out.

So, the outhouse is set up in the beginning, and then revisited later in an interesting payoff.

Don't worry if you didn't catch this when you saw the film, for, like Deepening techniques, set-ups and payoffs, in general, create their greatest emotional impact if they operate a little outside the conscious awareness of most people in the audience.

Summary:

The bottom line is that it's no accident that Shrek appealed as much to adults as it did to kids. The writers took a fun and amusing story which any kid would enjoy, and then artfully wove into the script a number of techniques not found in normal kids' fare.

The writing in this script is extremely tight. For me, tight means that most scenes accomplish several functions simultaneously: moving the story forward, drawing us into the characters, making us laugh or sad or both simultaneously, setting up elements which will be revisited later on, and always entertaining us with highly original lines and scenes.

If you want to reach both kids and adults and thus capture a wide demographic for your film, it wouldn't hurt to master the techniques these writers employed so artfully.

swedenborg.com/what-swamps-teach-us-about-spiritual-life/

:: Royal Discourse :: by Ahab Abdel-Aziz

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International Conference on Ecological by David Keller

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David Keller at the International Conference on Ecological

Discourse, Tamkang University, Tamshui, Taiwan, 2005

India - Uttar Pradesh - Kushinagar - Matha Kuar Shrine - Buddha Statue - 8 by Manfred Sommer

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Gautama Buddha, also known as Siddhārtha Gautama, Shakyamuni, or simply the Buddha, was a sage on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. He is believed to have lived and taught mostly in northeastern India sometime between the sixth and fourth centuries BCE.

The word Buddha means "awakened one" or "the enlightened one". "Buddha" is also used as a title for the first awakened being in a Yuga era. In most Buddhist traditions, Siddhartha Gautama is regarded as the Supreme Buddha (Pali sammāsambuddha, Sanskrit samyaksaṃbuddha) of the present age. Gautama taught a Middle Way between sensual indulgence and the severe asceticism found in the śramaṇa movement common in his region. He later taught throughout regions of eastern India such as Magadha and Kosala.

Gautama is the primary figure in Buddhism and accounts of his life, discourses, and monastic rules are believed by Buddhists to have been summarized after his death and memorized by his followers. Various collections of teachings attributed to him were passed down by oral tradition and first committed to writing about 400 years later.

CONTENTS

HISTORICAL SIDDHARTA GAUTAMA

Scholars are hesitant to make unqualified claims about the historical facts of the Buddha's life. Most accept that he lived, taught and founded a monastic order during the Mahajanapada era during the reign of Bimbisara, the ruler of the Magadha empire, and died during the early years of the reign of Ajasattu, who was the successor of Bimbisara, thus making him a younger contemporary of Mahavira, the Jain tirthankara. Apart from the Vedic Brahmins, the Buddha's lifetime coincided with the flourishing of other influential śramaṇa schools of thoughts like Ājīvika, Cārvāka, Jainism, and Ajñana. It was also the age of influential thinkers like Mahavira, Pūraṇa Kassapa , Makkhali Gosāla, Ajita Kesakambalī, Pakudha Kaccāyana, and Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta, whose viewpoints the Buddha most certainly must have been acquainted with and influenced by. Indeed, Sariputta and Moggallāna, two of the foremost disciples of the Buddha, were formerly the foremost disciples of Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta, the skeptic. There is also evidence to suggest that the two masters, Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta, were indeed historical figures and they most probably taught Buddha two different forms of meditative techniques. While the general sequence of "birth, maturity, renunciation, search, awakening and liberation, teaching, death" is widely accepted, there is less consensus on the veracity of many details contained in traditional biographies.

The times of Gautama's birth and death are uncertain. Most historians in the early 20th century dated his lifetime as circa 563 BCE to 483 BCE. More recently his death is dated later, between 411 and 400 BCE, while at a symposium on this question held in 1988, the majority of those who presented definite opinions gave dates within 20 years either side of 400 BCE for the Buddha's death. These alternative chronologies, however, have not yet been accepted by all historians.

The evidence of the early texts suggests that Siddhārtha Gautama was born into the Shakya clan, a community that was on the periphery, both geographically and culturally, of the northeastern Indian subcontinent in the 5th century BCE. It was either a small republic, in which case his father was an elected chieftain, or an oligarchy, in which case his father was an oligarch. According to the Buddhist tradition, Gautama was born in Lumbini, nowadays in modern-day Nepal, and raised in the Shakya capital of Kapilavastu, which may have been in either present day Tilaurakot, Nepal or Piprahwa, India. He obtained his enlightenment in Bodh Gaya, gave his first sermon in Sarnath, and died in Kushinagar.

No written records about Gautama have been found from his lifetime or some centuries thereafter. One Edict of Asoka, who reigned from circa 269 BCE to 232 BCE, commemorates the Emperor's pilgrimage to the Buddha's birthplace in Lumbini. Another one of his edicts mentions several Dhamma texts, establishing the existence of a written Buddhist tradition at least by the time of the Maurya era and which may be the precursors of the Pāli Canon. The oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts are the Gandhāran Buddhist texts, reported to have been found in or around Haḍḍa near Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan and now preserved in the British Library. They are written in the Gāndhārī language using the Kharosthi script on twenty-seven birch bark manuscripts and date from the first century BCE to the third century CE.

TRADITIONAL BIOGRAPHIES

BIOGRAPHICAL SOURCES

The sources for the life of Siddhārtha Gautama are a variety of different, and sometimes conflicting, traditional biographies. These include the Buddhacarita, Lalitavistara Sūtra, Mahāvastu, and the Nidānakathā. Of these, the Buddhacarita is the earliest full biography, an epic poem written by the poet Aśvaghoṣa, and dating around the beginning of the 2nd century CE. The Lalitavistara Sūtra is the next oldest biography, a Mahāyāna/Sarvāstivāda biography dating to the 3rd century CE. The Mahāvastu from the Mahāsāṃghika Lokottaravāda tradition is another major biography, composed incrementally until perhaps the 4th century CE. The Dharmaguptaka biography of the Buddha is the most exhaustive, and is entitled the Abhiniṣkramaṇa Sūtra, and various Chinese translations of this date between the 3rd and 6th century CE. The Nidānakathā is from the Theravada tradition in Sri Lanka and was composed in the 5th century by Buddhaghoṣa.

From canonical sources, the Jataka tales, the Mahapadana Sutta (DN 14), and the Achariyabhuta Sutta (MN 123) which include selective accounts that may be older, but are not full biographies. The Jātakas retell previous lives of Gautama as a bodhisattva, and the first collection of these can be dated among the earliest Buddhist texts. The Mahāpadāna Sutta and Achariyabhuta Sutta both recount miraculous events surrounding Gautama's birth, such as the bodhisattva's descent from the Tuṣita Heaven into his mother's womb.

NATURE OF TRADITIONAL DEPICTIONS

In the earliest Buddhists texts, the nikāyas and āgamas, the Buddha is not depicted as possessing omniscience (sabbaññu) nor is he depicted as being an eternal transcendent (lokottara) being. According to Bhikkhu Analayo, ideas of the Buddha's omniscience (along with an increasing tendency to deify him and his biography) are found only later, in the Mahayana sutras and later Pali commentaries or texts such as the Mahāvastu. In the Sandaka Sutta, the Buddha's disciple Ananda outlines an argument against the claims of teachers who say they are all knowing while in the Tevijjavacchagotta Sutta the Buddha himself states that he has never made a claim to being omniscient, instead he claimed to have the "higher knowledges" (abhijñā). The earliest biographical material from the Pali Nikayas focuses on the Buddha's life as a śramaṇa, his search for enlightenment under various teachers such as Alara Kalama and his forty five year career as a teacher.

Traditional biographies of Gautama generally include numerous miracles, omens, and supernatural events. The character of the Buddha in these traditional biographies is often that of a fully transcendent (Skt. lokottara) and perfected being who is unencumbered by the mundane world. In the Mahāvastu, over the course of many lives, Gautama is said to have developed supra-mundane abilities including: a painless birth conceived without intercourse; no need for sleep, food, medicine, or bathing, although engaging in such "in conformity with the world"; omniscience, and the ability to "suppress karma". Nevertheless, some of the more ordinary details of his life have been gathered from these traditional sources. In modern times there has been an attempt to form a secular understanding of Siddhārtha Gautama's life by omitting the traditional supernatural elements of his early biographies.

Andrew Skilton writes that the Buddha was never historically regarded by Buddhist traditions as being merely human:

It is important to stress that, despite modern Theravada teachings to the contrary (often a sop to skeptical Western pupils), he was never seen as being merely human. For instance, he is often described as having the thirty-two major and eighty minor marks or signs of a mahāpuruṣa, "superman"; the Buddha himself denied that he was either a man or a god; and in the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta he states that he could live for an aeon were he asked to do so.The ancient Indians were generally unconcerned with chronologies, being more focused on philosophy. Buddhist texts reflect this tendency, providing a clearer picture of what Gautama may have taught than of the dates of the events in his life. These texts contain descriptions of the culture and daily life of ancient India which can be corroborated from the Jain scriptures, and make the Buddha's time the earliest period in Indian history for which significant accounts exist. British author Karen Armstrong writes that although there is very little information that can be considered historically sound, we can be reasonably confident that Siddhārtha Gautama did exist as a historical figure. Michael Carrithers goes a bit further by stating that the most general outline of "birth, maturity, renunciation, search, awakening and liberation, teaching, death" must be true.

BIOGRAPHY

CONCEPTION AND BIRTH

The Buddhist tradition regards Lumbini, in present-day Nepal to be the birthplace of the Buddha. He grew up in Kapilavastu. The exact site of ancient Kapilavastu is unknown. It may have been either Piprahwa, Uttar Pradesh, present-day India, or Tilaurakot, present-day Nepal. Both places belonged to the Sakya territory, and are located only 15 miles apart from each other.

Gautama was born as a Kshatriya, the son of Śuddhodana, "an elected chief of the Shakya clan", whose capital was Kapilavastu, and who were later annexed by the growing Kingdom of Kosala during the Buddha's lifetime. Gautama was the family name. His mother, Maya (Māyādevī), Suddhodana's wife, was a Koliyan princess. Legend has it that, on the night Siddhartha was conceived, Queen Maya dreamt that a white elephant with six white tusks entered her right side, and ten months later Siddhartha was born. As was the Shakya tradition, when his mother Queen Maya became pregnant, she left Kapilvastu for her father's kingdom to give birth. However, her son is said to have been born on the way, at Lumbini, in a garden beneath a sal tree.

The day of the Buddha's birth is widely celebrated in Theravada countries as Vesak. Buddha's Birthday is called Buddha Purnima in Nepal and India as he is believed to have been born on a full moon day. Various sources hold that the Buddha's mother died at his birth, a few days or seven days later. The infant was given the name Siddhartha (Pāli: Siddhattha), meaning "he who achieves his aim". During the birth celebrations, the hermit seer Asita journeyed from his mountain abode and announced that the child would either become a great king (chakravartin) or a great sadhu. By traditional account, this occurred after Siddhartha placed his feet in Asita's hair and Asita examined the birthmarks. Suddhodana held a naming ceremony on the fifth day, and invited eight Brahmin scholars to read the future. All gave a dual prediction that the baby would either become a great king or a great holy man. Kondañña, the youngest, and later to be the first arhat other than the Buddha, was reputed to be the only one who unequivocally predicted that Siddhartha would become a Buddha.

While later tradition and legend characterized Śuddhodana as a hereditary monarch, the descendant of the Suryavansha (Solar dynasty) of Ikṣvāku (Pāli: Okkāka), many scholars think that Śuddhodana was the elected chief of a tribal confederacy.

Early texts suggest that Gautama was not familiar with the dominant religious teachings of his time until he left on his religious quest, which is said to have been motivated by existential concern for the human condition. The state of the Shakya clan was not a monarchy, and seems to have been structured either as an oligarchy, or as a form of republic. The more egalitarian gana-sangha form of government, as a political alternative to the strongly hierarchical kingdoms, may have influenced the development of the śramanic Jain and Buddhist sanghas, where monarchies tended toward Vedic Brahmanism.

EARLY LIFE AND MARRIAGE

Siddhartha was brought up by his mother's younger sister, Maha Pajapati. By tradition, he is said to have been destined by birth to the life of a prince, and had three palaces (for seasonal occupation) built for him. Although more recent scholarship doubts this status, his father, said to be King Śuddhodana, wishing for his son to be a great king, is said to have shielded him from religious teachings and from knowledge of human suffering.

When he reached the age of 16, his father reputedly arranged his marriage to a cousin of the same age named Yaśodharā (Pāli: Yasodharā). According to the traditional account, she gave birth to a son, named Rāhula. Siddhartha is said to have spent 29 years as a prince in Kapilavastu. Although his father ensured that Siddhartha was provided with everything he could want or need, Buddhist scriptures say that the future Buddha felt that material wealth was not life's ultimate goal.

RENUNCIATION AND ASCETIC LIFE

At the age of 29, the popular biography continues, Siddhartha left his palace to meet his subjects. Despite his father's efforts to hide from him the sick, aged and suffering, Siddhartha was said to have seen an old man. When his charioteer Channa explained to him that all people grew old, the prince went on further trips beyond the palace. On these he encountered a diseased man, a decaying corpse, and an ascetic. These depressed him, and he initially strove to overcome aging, sickness, and death by living the life of an ascetic.

Accompanied by Channa and riding his horse Kanthaka, Gautama quit his palace for the life of a mendicant. It's said that, "the horse's hooves were muffled by the gods" to prevent guards from knowing of his departure.

Gautama initially went to Rajagaha and began his ascetic life by begging for alms in the street. After King Bimbisara's men recognised Siddhartha and the king learned of his quest, Bimbisara offered Siddhartha the throne. Siddhartha rejected the offer, but promised to visit his kingdom of Magadha first, upon attaining enlightenment.

He left Rajagaha and practised under two hermit teachers of yogic meditation. After mastering the teachings of Alara Kalama (Skr. Ārāḍa Kālāma), he was asked by Kalama to succeed him. However, Gautama felt unsatisfied by the practice, and moved on to become a student of yoga with Udaka Ramaputta (Skr. Udraka Rāmaputra). With him he achieved high levels of meditative consciousness, and was again asked to succeed his teacher. But, once more, he was not satisfied, and again moved on.

Siddhartha and a group of five companions led by Kaundinya are then said to have set out to take their austerities even further. They tried to find enlightenment through deprivation of worldly goods, including food, practising self-mortification. After nearly starving himself to death by restricting his food intake to around a leaf or nut per day, he collapsed in a river while bathing and almost drowned. Siddhartha was rescued by a village girl named Sujata and she gave him some payasam (a pudding made from milk and jaggery) after which Siddhartha got back some energy. Siddhartha began to reconsider his path. Then, he remembered a moment in childhood in which he had been watching his father start the season's ploughing. He attained a concentrated and focused state that was blissful and refreshing, the jhāna.

AWAKENING

According to the early Buddhist texts, after realizing that meditative dhyana was the right path to awakening, but that extreme asceticism didn't work, Gautama discovered what Buddhists call the Middle Way - a path of moderation away from the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification, or the Noble Eightfold Path, as was identified and described by the Buddha in his first discourse, the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta. In a famous incident, after becoming starved and weakened, he is said to have accepted milk and rice pudding from a village girl named Sujata. Such was his emaciated appearance that she wrongly believed him to be a spirit that had granted her a wish.

Following this incident, Gautama was famously seated under a pipal tree - now known as the Bodhi tree - in Bodh Gaya, India, when he vowed never to arise until he had found the truth. Kaundinya and four other companions, believing that he had abandoned his search and become undisciplined, left. After a reputed 49 days of meditation, at the age of 35, he is said to have attained Enlightenment. According to some traditions, this occurred in approximately the fifth lunar month, while, according to others, it was in the twelfth month. From that time, Gautama was known to his followers as the Buddha or "Awakened One" ("Buddha" is also sometimes translated as "The Enlightened One").

According to Buddhism, at the time of his awakening he realized complete insight into the cause of suffering, and the steps necessary to eliminate it. These discoveries became known as the "Four Noble Truths", which are at the heart of Buddhist teaching. Through mastery of these truths, a state of supreme liberation, or Nirvana, is believed to be possible for any being. The Buddha described Nirvāna as the perfect peace of a mind that's free from ignorance, greed, hatred and other afflictive states, or "defilements" (kilesas). Nirvana is also regarded as the "end of the world", in that no personal identity or boundaries of the mind remain. In such a state, a being is said to possess the Ten Characteristics, belonging to every Buddha.

According to a story in the Āyācana Sutta (Samyutta Nikaya VI.1) - a scripture found in the Pāli and other canons - immediately after his awakening, the Buddha debated whether or not he should teach the Dharma to others. He was concerned that humans were so overpowered by ignorance, greed and hatred that they could never recognise the path, which is subtle, deep and hard to grasp. However, in the story, Brahmā Sahampati convinced him, arguing that at least some will understand it. The Buddha relented, and agreed to teach.

FORMATION OF THE SANGHA

After his awakening, the Buddha met Taphussa and Bhallika — two merchant brothers from the city of Balkh in what is currently Afghanistan - who became his first lay disciples. It is said that each was given hairs from his head, which are now claimed to be enshrined as relics in the Shwe Dagon Temple in Rangoon, Burma. The Buddha intended to visit Asita, and his former teachers, Alara Kalama and Udaka Ramaputta, to explain his findings, but they had already died.

He then travelled to the Deer Park near Varanasi (Benares) in northern India, where he set in motion what Buddhists call the Wheel of Dharma by delivering his first sermon to the five companions with whom he had sought enlightenment. Together with him, they formed the first saṅgha: the company of Buddhist monks.

All five become arahants, and within the first two months, with the conversion of Yasa and fifty four of his friends, the number of such arahants is said to have grown to 60. The conversion of three brothers named Kassapa followed, with their reputed 200, 300 and 500 disciples, respectively. This swelled the sangha to more than 1,000.

TRAVELS AND TEACHING

For the remaining 45 years of his life, the Buddha is said to have traveled in the Gangetic Plain, in what is now Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and southern Nepal, teaching a diverse range of people: from nobles to servants, murderers such as Angulimala, and cannibals such as Alavaka. Although the Buddha's language remains unknown, it's likely that he taught in one or more of a variety of closely related Middle Indo-Aryan dialects, of which Pali may be a standardization.

The sangha traveled through the subcontinent, expounding the dharma. This continued throughout the year, except during the four months of the Vāsanā rainy season when ascetics of all religions rarely traveled. One reason was that it was more difficult to do so without causing harm to animal life. At this time of year, the sangha would retreat to monasteries, public parks or forests, where people would come to them.

The first vassana was spent at Varanasi when the sangha was formed. After this, the Buddha kept a promise to travel to Rajagaha, capital of Magadha, to visit King Bimbisara. During this visit, Sariputta and Maudgalyayana were converted by Assaji, one of the first five disciples, after which they were to become the Buddha's two foremost followers. The Buddha spent the next three seasons at Veluvana Bamboo Grove monastery in Rajagaha, capital of Magadha.

Upon hearing of his son's awakening, Suddhodana sent, over a period, ten delegations to ask him to return to Kapilavastu. On the first nine occasions, the delegates failed to deliver the message, and instead joined the sangha to become arahants. The tenth delegation, led by Kaludayi, a childhood friend of Gautama's (who also became an arahant), however, delivered the message.

Now two years after his awakening, the Buddha agreed to return, and made a two-month journey by foot to Kapilavastu, teaching the dharma as he went. At his return, the royal palace prepared a midday meal, but the sangha was making an alms round in Kapilavastu. Hearing this, Suddhodana approached his son, the Buddha, saying:

"Ours is the warrior lineage of Mahamassata, and not a single warrior has gone seeking alms."

The Buddha is said to have replied:

"That is not the custom of your royal lineage. But it is the custom of my Buddha lineage. Several thousands of Buddhas have gone by seeking alms."

Buddhist texts say that Suddhodana invited the sangha into the palace for the meal, followed by a dharma talk. After this he is said to have become a sotapanna. During the visit, many members of the royal family joined the sangha. The Buddha's cousins Ananda and Anuruddha became two of his five chief disciples. At the age of seven, his son Rahula also joined, and became one of his ten chief disciples. His half-brother Nanda also joined and became an arahant.

Of the Buddha's disciples, Sariputta, Maudgalyayana, Mahakasyapa, Ananda and Anuruddha are believed to have been the five closest to him. His ten foremost disciples were reputedly completed by the quintet of Upali, Subhoti, Rahula, Mahakaccana and Punna.

In the fifth vassana, the Buddha was staying at Mahavana near Vesali when he heard news of the impending death of his father. He is said to have gone to Suddhodana and taught the dharma, after which his father became an arahant.The king's death and cremation was to inspire the creation of an order of nuns. Buddhist texts record that the Buddha was reluctant to ordain women. His foster mother Maha Pajapati, for example, approached him, asking to join the sangha, but he refused. Maha Pajapati, however, was so intent on the path of awakening that she led a group of royal Sakyan and Koliyan ladies, which followed the sangha on a long journey to Rajagaha. In time, after Ananda championed their cause, the Buddha is said to have reconsidered and, five years after the formation of the sangha, agreed to the ordination of women as nuns. He reasoned that males and females had an equal capacity for awakening. But he gave women additional rules (Vinaya) to follow.

MAHAPARINIRVANA

According to the Mahaparinibbana Sutta of the Pali canon, at the age of 80, the Buddha announced that he would soon reach Parinirvana, or the final deathless state, and abandon his earthly body. After this, the Buddha ate his last meal, 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 his place had nothing to do with his passing and that his meal would be a source of the greatest merit as it provided the last meal for a Buddha. Mettanando and Von Hinüber argue that the Buddha died of mesenteric infarction, a symptom of old age, rather than food poisoning. The precise contents of the Buddha's final meal are not clear, due to variant scriptural traditions and ambiguity over the translation of certain significant terms; the Theravada tradition generally believes that the Buddha was offered some kind of pork, while the Mahayana tradition believes that the Buddha consumed some sort of truffle or other mushroom. These may reflect the different traditional views on Buddhist vegetarianism and the precepts for monks and nuns.

Waley suggests that Theravadin's would take suukaramaddava (the contents of the Buddha's last meal), which can translate as pig-soft, to mean soft flesh of a pig. However, he also states that pig-soft could mean "pig's soft-food", that is, after Neumann, a soft food favoured by pigs, assumed to be a truffle. He argues (also after Neumann) that as Pali Buddhism was developed in an area remote to the Buddha's death, the existence of other plants with suukara- (pig) as part of their names and that "(p)lant names tend to be local and dialectical" could easily indicate that suukaramaddava was a type of plant whose local name was unknown to those in the Pali regions. Specifically, local writers knew more about their flora than Theravadin commentator Buddhaghosa who lived hundreds of years and kilometres remote in time and space from the events described. Unaware of an alternate meaning and with no Theravadin prohibition against eating animal flesh, Theravadins would not have questioned the Buddha eating meat and interpreted the term accordingly.

Ananda protested the Buddha's decision to enter Parinirvana in the abandoned jungles of Kuśināra (present-day Kushinagar, India) of the Malla kingdom. The Buddha, however, is said to have reminded Ananda how Kushinara was a land once ruled by a righteous wheel-turning king that resounded with 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!"

The Buddha then asked all the attendant Bhikkhus to clarify any doubts or questions they had. They had none. According to Buddhist scriptures, he then finally entered Parinirvana. The Buddha's final words are reported to have been: "All composite things (Saṅkhāra) are perishable. Strive for your own liberation with diligence" (Pali: 'vayadhammā saṅkhārā appamādena sampādethā'). His 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 what some believe to be the relic of the right tooth of Buddha is kept at present.

According to the Pāli historical chronicles of Sri Lanka, the Dīpavaṃsa and Mahāvaṃsa, the coronation of Emperor Aśoka (Pāli: Asoka) is 218 years after the death of the Buddha. According to two textual records in Chinese (十八部論 and 部執異論), the coronation of Emperor Aśoka is 116 years after the death of the Buddha. Therefore, the time of Buddha's passing is either 486 BCE 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 countries is 544 or 545 BCE, because the reign of Emperor Aśoka was traditionally reckoned to be about 60 years earlier than current estimates. In Burmese Buddhist tradition, the date of the Buddha's death is 13 May 544 BCE. whereas in Thai tradition it is 11 March 545 BCE.

At his death, the Buddha is famously believed to have told his disciples to follow no leader. Mahakasyapa was chosen by the sangha to be the chairman of the First Buddhist Council, with the two chief disciples Maudgalyayana and Sariputta having died before the Buddha.

While in the Buddha's days he was addressed by the very respected titles Buddha, Shākyamuni, Shākyasimha, Bhante and Bho, he was known after his parinirvana as Arihant, Bhagavā/Bhagavat/Bhagwān, Mahāvira, Jina/Jinendra, Sāstr, Sugata, and most popularly in scriptures as Tathāgata.

BUDDHA AND VEDAS

Buddha's teachings deny the authority of the Vedas and consequently [at least atheistic] Buddhism is generally viewed as a nāstika school (heterodox, literally "It is not so") from the perspective of orthodox Hinduism.

RELICS

After his death, Buddha's cremation relics were divided amongst 8 royal families and his disciples; centuries later they would be enshrined by King Ashoka into 84,000 stupas. Many supernatural legends surround the history of alleged relics as they accompanied the spread of Buddhism and gave legitimacy to rulers.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

An extensive and colorful physical description of the Buddha has been laid down in scriptures. A kshatriya by birth, he had military training in his upbringing, and by Shakyan tradition was required to pass tests to demonstrate his worthiness as a warrior in order to marry. He had a strong enough body to be noticed by one of the kings and was asked to join his army as a general. He is also believed by Buddhists to have "the 32 Signs of the Great Man".

The Brahmin Sonadanda described him as "handsome, good-looking, and pleasing to the eye, with a most beautiful complexion. He has a godlike form and countenance, he is by no means unattractive." (D, I:115)

"It is wonderful, truly marvellous, how serene is the good Gotama's appearance, how clear and radiant his complexion, just as the golden jujube in autumn is clear and radiant, just as a palm-tree fruit just loosened from the stalk is clear and radiant, just as an adornment of red gold wrought in a crucible by a skilled goldsmith, deftly beaten and laid on a yellow-cloth shines, blazes and glitters, even so, the good Gotama's senses are calmed, his complexion is clear and radiant." (A, I:181)

A disciple named Vakkali, who later became an arahant, was so obsessed by the Buddha's physical presence that the Buddha is said to have felt impelled to tell him to desist, and to have reminded him that he should know the Buddha through the Dhamma and not through physical appearances.

Although there are no extant representations of the Buddha in human form until around the 1st century CE (see Buddhist art), descriptions of the physical characteristics of fully enlightened buddhas are attributed to the Buddha in the Digha Nikaya's Lakkhaṇa Sutta (D, I:142). In addition, the Buddha's physical appearance is described by Yasodhara to their son Rahula upon the Buddha's first post-Enlightenment return to his former princely palace in the non-canonical Pali devotional hymn, Narasīha Gāthā ("The Lion of Men").

Among the 32 main characteristics it is mentioned that Buddha has blue eyes.

NINE VIRTUES

Recollection of nine virtues attributed to the Buddha is a common Buddhist meditation and devotional practice called Buddhānusmṛti. The nine virtues are also among the 40 Buddhist meditation subjects. The nine virtues of the Buddha appear throughout the Tipitaka, and include:

- Buddho – Awakened

- Sammasambuddho – Perfectly self-awakened

- Vijja-carana-sampano – Endowed with higher knowledge and ideal conduct.

- Sugato – Well-gone or Well-spoken.

- Lokavidu – Wise in the knowledge of the many worlds.

- Anuttaro Purisa-damma-sarathi – Unexcelled trainer of untrained people.

- Satthadeva-Manussanam – Teacher of gods and humans.

- Bhagavathi – The Blessed one

- Araham – Worthy of homage. An Arahant is "one with taints destroyed, who has lived the holy life, done what had to be done, laid down the burden, reached the true goal, destroyed the fetters of being, and is completely liberated through final knowledge."

TEACHINGS

TRACING THE OLDEST TEACHINGS

Information of the oldest teachings may be obtained by analysis of the oldest texts. One method to obtain information on the oldest core of Buddhism is to compare the oldest extant versions of the Theravadin Pali Canon and other texts. The reliability of these sources, and the possibility to draw out a core of oldest teachings, is a matter of dispute. According to Vetter, inconsistencies remain, and other methods must be applied to resolve those inconsistencies.

According to Schmithausen, three positions held by scholars of Buddhism can be distinguished:

"Stress on the fundamental homogeneity and substantial authenticity of at least a considerable part of the Nikayic materials;"

"Scepticism with regard to the possibility of retrieving the doctrine of earliest Buddhism;"

"Cautious optimism in this respect."

DHYANA AND INSIGHT

A core problem in the study of early Buddhism is the relation between dhyana and insight. Schmithausen, in his often-cited article On some Aspects of Descriptions or Theories of 'Liberating Insight' and 'Enlightenment' in Early Buddhism notes that the mention of the four noble truths as constituting "liberating insight", which is attained after mastering the Rupa Jhanas, is a later addition to texts such as Majjhima Nikaya 36

CORE TEACHINGS

According to Tilmann Vetter, the core of earliest Buddhism is the practice of dhyāna. Bronkhorst agrees that dhyana was a Buddhist invention, whereas Norman notes that "the Buddha's way to release [...] was by means of meditative practices." Discriminating insight into transiency as a separate path to liberation was a later development.

According to the Mahāsaccakasutta, from the fourth jhana the Buddha gained bodhi. Yet, it is not clear what he was awakened to. "Liberating insight" is a later addition to this text, and reflects a later development and understanding in early Buddhism. The mentioning of the four truths as constituting "liberating insight" introduces a logical problem, since the four truths depict a linear path of practice, the knowledge of which is in itself not depicted as being liberating:

[T]hey do not teach that one is released by knowing the four noble truths, but by practicing the fourth noble truth, the eightfold path, which culminates in right samadhi.

Although "Nibbāna" (Sanskrit: Nirvāna) is the common term for the desired goal of this practice, many other terms can be found throughout the Nikayas, which are not specified.

According to Vetter, the description of the Buddhist path may initially have been as simple as the term "the middle way". In time, this short description was elaborated, resulting in the description of the eightfold path.

According to both Bronkhorst and Anderson, the four truths became a substitution for prajna, or "liberating insight", in the suttas in those texts where "liberating insight" was preceded by the four jhanas. According to Bronkhorst, the four truths may not have been formulated in earliest Buddhism, and did not serve in earliest Buddhism as a description of "liberating insight". Gotama's teachings may have been personal, "adjusted to the need of each person."

The three marks of existence may reflect Upanishadic or other influences. K.R. Norman supposes that these terms were already in use at the Buddha's time, and were familiar to his listeners.

The Brahma-vihara was in origin probably a brahmanic term; but its usage may have been common to the Sramana traditions.

LATER DEVELOPMENTS

In time, "liberating insight" became an essential feature of the Buddhist tradition. The following teachings, which are commonly seen as essential to Buddhism, are later formulations which form part of the explanatory framework of this "liberating insight":

- The Four Noble Truths: that suffering is an ingrained part of existence; that the origin of suffering is craving for sensuality, acquisition of identity, and fear of annihilation; that suffering can be ended; and that following the Noble Eightfold Path is the means to accomplish this;

- The Noble Eightfold Path: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration;

- Dependent origination: the mind creates suffering as a natural product of a complex process.

OTHER RELIGIONS

Some Hindus regard Gautama as the 9th avatar of Vishnu. The Buddha is also regarded as a prophet by the Ahmadiyya Muslims and a Manifestation of God in the Bahá'í Faith. Some early Chinese Taoist-Buddhists thought the Buddha to be a reincarnation of Lao Tzu.

The Christian Saint Josaphat is based on the Buddha. The name comes from the Sanskrit Bodhisattva via Arabic Būdhasaf and Georgian Iodasaph. The only story in which St. Josaphat appears, Barlaam and Josaphat, is based on the life of the Buddha. Josaphat was included in earlier editions of the Roman Martyrology (feast day 27 November) — though not in the Roman Missal — and in the Eastern Orthodox Church liturgical calendar (26 August).

Disciples of the Cao Đài religion worship the Buddha as a major religious teacher. His image can be found in both their Holy See and on the home altar. He is revealed during communication with Divine Beings as son of their Supreme Being (God the Father) together with other major religious teachers and founders like Jesus, Laozi, and Confucius.

In the ancient Gnostic sect of Manichaeism the Buddha is listed among the prophets who preached the word of God before Mani.

WIKIPEDIA

Internal Discourse by Jim Datema

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Wrestlers discourse by Michael Forbes

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Critical Discourse (tamed) by John Seven

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The rise of the red heads.

India - Uttar Pradesh - Kushinagar - Matha Kuar Shrine - Buddha Statue - 18 by Manfred Sommer

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