Gautama Buddha, popularly known as the Buddha, was an ascetic, a religious leader and teacher who lived in ancient India. He is regarded as the founder of the world religion of Buddhism, and revered by Buddhists as an enlightened being, who rediscovered an ancient path to freedom from ignorance, craving and the cycle of rebirth and suffering. He taught for around 45 years and built a large following, both monastic and lay. His teaching is based on his insight into the arising of suffering or dissatisfaction and its ending—the state called Nirvana.
The four sights are four events described in the legendary account of Gautama Buddha's life which led to his realization of the impermanence and the ultimate dissatisfaction of conditioned existence. According to this legend, before these encounters Gautama Siddhartha had been confined to his palace by his father, who feared that he would become an ascetic if he came into contact with sufferings of life according to a prediction. However, his first venture out of the palace affected him deeply and made him realize the sufferings of all humans, and compelled him to begin his spiritual journey as a wandering ascetic, which eventually led to his enlightenment. The spiritual feeling of urgency experienced by Siddhārtha Gautama is referred to as saṃvega.
Rāhula was the only son of Siddhārtha Gautama, and his wife and princess Yaśodharā. He is mentioned in numerous Buddhist texts, from the early period onward. Accounts about Rāhula indicate a mutual impact between Prince Siddhārtha's life and the lives of his family members. According to the Pāli tradition, Rāhula was born on the day of Prince Siddhārta's renunciation, and was therefore named Rāhula, meaning a fetter on the path to enlightenment. According to the Mūlasarvāstivāda tradition, and numerous other later sources, however, Rāhula was only conceived on the day of Prince Siddhartha's renunciation, and was born six years later, when Prince Siddhārtha became enlightened as the Buddha. This long gestation period was explained by bad karma from previous lives of both Yaśodharā and of Rāhula himself, although more naturalistic reasons are also given. As a result of the late birth, Yaśodharā needed to prove that Rāhula was really Prince Siddhārtha's son, which she eventually did successfully by an act of truth. Historian H.W. Schumann has argued that Prince Siddhārtha conceived Rāhula and waited for his birth, to be able to leave the palace with the king and queen's permission, but Orientalist Noël Péri considered it more likely that Rāhula was born after Prince Siddhārtha left his palace.
Śuddhodana, meaning "he who grows pure rice," was a leader of the Shakya, who lived in an oligarchic republic in Ancient India, with their capital at Kapilavastu. He was also the father of Siddhartha Gautama, who later became The Buddha.
Queen Māyā of Sakya was the birth mother of Gautama Buddha, the sage on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. She was sister of Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī, the first Buddhist nun ordained by the Buddha.
Kapilvastu is a municipality and administrative center of Kapilvastu District in Lumbini Province of southern Nepal. The municipality is located roughly 25 kilometres (16 mi) to the south-west of Lumbini, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the birthplace of Gautama Buddha.
Yaśodharā was the wife of Prince Siddhartha —till he left his home to become a śramaṇa—the mother of Rāhula, and the sister of Devadatta. She later became a Buddhist Nun and is considered an arahatā. (or Lady Arhat).
Channa - The Divine Charioteer was a royal servant and head charioteer of Prince Siddhartha, who was to become the Buddha. Channa later became a disciple of the Buddha and achieved arahantship, as is described in the 78th verse of the Dhammapada.
The Anoma was a river in Majjhimadesa of ancient India. According to Buddhist tradition it was situated near Kapilavastu, and was crossed by Prince Siddhartha where he renounced the world before becoming the Buddha by cutting off his hair, abandoning his royal dress and exchanging it for the robes of an ascetic.
Koundinya, Kouṇḍinya, or Koṇḍañña (Pali), also known as Ājñātakauṇḍinya, Pali: Añña Koṇḍañña), was a brahmin, who became Buddhist monk follower of Gautama Buddha and the first to become an arhat. He lived during the 6th century BCE in what are now Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, India. According to traditional accounts, at the time of Gautama Buddha's birth, he predicted his future destination as an enlightened teacher.
Assaji was one of the first five arahants of Gautama Buddha. He is known for his conversion of Sariputta and Mahamoggallana, the Buddha's two chief male disciples, counterparts to the nuns Khema and Uppalavanna, the chief female disciples. He lived in what is now Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in northern India, during the 6th century BCE.
Anuruddha was one of the ten principal disciples and a cousin of Gautama Buddha.
The Xá Lợi Pagoda is the largest pagoda in Hồ Chí Minh City, Vietnam. It was built in 1956 and was the headquarters of Buddhism in South Vietnam. The pagoda is located in District 3, Hồ Chí Minh City and lies on a plot of 2500 square metres. The name Xá Lợi is the Vietnamese translation for śarīra, a term used for relics of Buddhists.
Princess Sundarī Nandā, also known simply a Sundarī, was the daughter of King Suddhodana and Mahaprajapati.She was the half-sister of Siddhartha Gautama, who later became a Buddha. She became a nun after the enlightenment of her half-brother and became the foremost bhikkhuni in the practise of jhana. She lived during the 6th century BCE in what is now Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in India.
The Buddha was born into a noble family of the kshatriyas in Lumbini in 563 BCE as per historical events and 624 BCE according to Buddhist tradition. He was called Siddhartha Gautama in his childhood. His father was king Śuddhodana, leader of the Shakya clan in what was the growing state of Kosala, and his mother was queen Maya. According to Buddhist legends, the baby exhibited the marks of a great man. A prophecy indicated that, if the child stayed at home, he was destined to become a world ruler. If the child left home, however, he would become a universal spiritual leader. To make sure the boy would be a great king and world ruler, his father isolated him in his palace and he was raised by his mother's younger sister, Mahapajapati Gotami, after his mother died just seven days after childbirth.
Asita or Kaladevala or Kanhasiri was a hermit ascetic depicted in Buddhist sources as having lived in ancient India. He was a teacher and advisor of Suddhodana, the father of the Buddha, and is best known for having predicted that prince Siddhartha of Kapilavastu would either become a great chakravartin or become a supreme religious leader; Siddhartha was later known as Gautama Buddha.
The Legend of Buddha is a 2004 Indian animated film directed by Shamboo Falke, produced by Stalin Saravanan and written by Caarthick Raju and Ramesh Karthikeyan. The film tells the story of Prince Siddhartha Gautama, who leaves his kingdom to become the spiritual leader, Buddha. The film was selected for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards.
Carved elephant tusk depicting Buddha life stories is an intricately carved complete single tusk now exhibited at the Decorative Arts gallery, National Museum, New Delhi, India. This tusk was donated to the Museum. This tusk, which is nearly five foot long, illustrates forty three events in the life of the Buddha and is thought to have been made by early 20th century craftsmen from the Delhi region.
Kapilavastu was an ancient city which was the capital of the clan of the Shakyas in Ancient India. King Śuddhodana and Queen Māyā are believed to have lived at Kapilavastu, as did their son Prince Siddartha Gautama until he left the palace at the age of 29.
The Great Renunciation or Great Departure is the traditional term for the departure of Gautama Buddha from his palace at Kapilavastu to live a life as an ascetic. It is called the Great Renunciation because it is regarded as a great sacrifice. Most accounts of this event can be found in post-canonical Buddhist texts from several Buddhist traditions, which are the most complete. These are, however, of a more mythological nature than the early texts. They exist in Pāli, Sanskrit and Chinese language.
