Siddhartha Gautama
By Adriana G.
What?
An Indian philosopher, he was a religious teacher, and the historical founder of Buddhism. He is regarded variously as a human spiritual teacher. His father was ruler of an Indian tribe, the Shakyas, one of the Buddha’s traditional epithets, Shakyauni. And he was expected to follow in the tradition of a worldly raja. The traditions relate that his father was disturbed by Gautama’s morbid preoccupation with the great spiritual enigmas of life; the problems of suffering, death, and the inequalities of human existence. The kind tried in vain to insulate him from these harsh realities and built a special palace for him surrounded with distracting luxuries. Gautama married and had a son, at the age of 29 he made a decisive move, he left his family and clan, and went on a search for the answers to the massive spiritual questions he had.
When & Where?
Gautama was born 563 BC, and died 483 BC.
“The Buddha” lived in Kapilavastu, India and died in Kusinagara, India.
Why?
Gautama is an interesting legend which reveals some of the problems inherent in formulating the Buddha’s teaching. He spread Buddhism all across India.
Works Cited.
"Buddha, The." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Biography in Context. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.