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This page lists reliable tertiary sources that are about the founder of Buddhism, and includes brief excerpts to show how they refer to him. Chief names found are Gautama Buddha (also Gotama), Siddartha (in various combinations), and the Buddha (or Buddha).

Introduction

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According to article title policy, "Wikipedia does not necessarily use the subject's "official" name as an article title; it generally prefers the name that is most commonly used (as determined by its prevalence in a significant majority of independent, reliable English-language sources)." When the literature about a topic is vast, it may be difficult to determine the common name.

Tertiary sources are references like encyclopedias or dictionaries, and are are especially valuable in determining questions of due weight, such as reflecting the majority view of secondary sources. As such, they may be a good proxy for resolving the question about the majority view of secondary sources on the naming question.

In the lists below, all entries are anchored, so in order to refer to any of these entries from a Talk page, just link it (like this: Talk:Gautama Buddha/Tertiary sources#Encyclopedia of Religion) and your link should go to the right place. Feel free to add more tertiary sources; see § Scope and methodology below to see what qualifies as on-topic for this page.

Explanatory notes in small italic font like this follow the tertiary source content they apply to. They are "buttnotes", not hatnotes.

Encyclopedias

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Academic American Encyclopedia 1995

  • Buddha. The word Buddha is a general term meaning one who is enlightened or awakened. It is primarily applied to the historical founder of Buddhism, a prince of a small kingdom spanning northern India and Nepal, who was known as Sakyamuni, which means "the silent sage of the Sakya tribe", and Gautama, his clan name. His personal name was Siddartha, "he who will accomplish". Legend and controversy shround Siddartha's life. The core of accepted beliefs derive from traditions current during the reign of the Buddhist emperor Asoka about three centuries after Buddha's life (c. 560 to 480 BC).[1]
  • Gautama, Siddartha see Buddha.[2]

A Concise Encyclopedia of Buddhism 2013

  • Siddhārta Gautama According to Buddhist tradition, this is the given name of Sākyamuni Buddha. He was the son of Suddhodana, king of Kapilavastu, and his wife Māyā.[3]
  • buddha (Pāli buddha; Tib. sangs rgyas; Chin. fo; Jpn. butsu; awakened one) An epithet of those who successfully break the hold of ignorance, liberate themselves from cyclic existence, and teach others the path to liberation. [...] The buddha of the current era is referred to as "Sākyamuni" (Sage of the Sākyas"). He was born Siddhārta Gautama, a member of the Sākya clan.[4]

American Desk Encyclopedia 1998

  • Buddha (Enlightened one) Title adopted by Gautama Siddhartha (c.563–c.483 bc), the founder of Buddhism. Born at Lumbini, Nepal, Siddhartha was son of the ruler of the Sakya tribe, and his early years were spent in luxury. At the age of 29, he realized that human life is little more than suffering. He gave up his wealth and comfort, deserted his wife and small son, and took to the road as a wandering ascetic. He sought truth in a six-year regime of austerity and self-mortification.
After abandoning asceticism as futile, he sought his own middle way towards enlightenment. The moment of truth came (c.528 BC) as he sat beneath a banyan tree in the village of Buddha Gaya, Bihar, India. After this, he taught others about his way to truth. The title "buddha" applies to those who have achieved perfect enlightenment. Buddhists believe that there have been several buddhas before Siddhartha, and there will be many to come. The term also serves to describe a variety of Buddha images.[5]
compare World Encyclopedia below

An Encyclopædia of Religion 1943

  • Buddhist Terminology [6]
    • Buddha, Gotama [subsection] It is difficult to distinguish facts from fiction about a man who was one of the greatest ever to have lived on this earth and who has influenced the life and thought of more than half the human race. Because of the nobility of his character, the vastness of his vision, the depth of his compassion, and the profundity of his teachings, idealization of his life was inevitable.[7] [more]
not to be confused with § An Encyclopaedia of Religions immediately following, or with § Encyclopedia of Religion further below

An Encyclopaedia of Religions 1921

  • BUDDHISM The religion founded by Gautama, afterward called the Buddha, who seems to have been born about 567 B.C.[8][more; full text available; no separate entry for 'Buddha', or for 'Gautama'.]

Companion Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy 1997

  • The Buddha (chapter)
The Buddha is the typical title given to Siddartha Gautama, founder or re-founder of the Buddhist tradition. It is among a number of epithets assigned to Gautama and to some other spiritual leaders of the period. The term means 'awakened one' or 'enlightened one' and is related to the word bodhi, meaning 'awakening' or 'enlightenment'. The latter expression has become the favorite translation of the word in modern English. Siddartha was his given name, and Gautama his family or clan name.[9]

Columbia Encyclopedia 2000

  • Buddha usual title given to the founder of buddhism. He is also called the Tathagata [he who has come thus], Bhagavat [the Lord], and Sugata [well-gone]. He probably lived from 563 to 483 B.C. [...][10]

Encyclopedia Americana 2006

  • BUDDHA AND BUDDHISM Buddhism, one of the world's great religions, is practiced today throughout East and Southeast Asia...[remainder of lead paragraph omitted]
Buddhism began in India in the 6th century B.C. with the birth of the founder, Siddartha Gautama, the son of a local ruler of a kingdom on the western slopes of the Himalaya. The religion Gautama preached was a kind of protestantism aimed against the religious-social monopoly of the Brahmanic caste of priests (see Brahmanism) who long had held as their special domain the proper ordering of the cosmos, which they alone, as proprietors of the cosmic law (dharma), were qualified to oversee.[11]

Encyclopædia Britannica (1911) 11th ed 1911

 
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
  • BUDDHA. According to the Buddhist theory (see Buddhism), a "Buddha" appears from time to time in the world and preaches the true doctrine. After a certain lapse of time this teaching is corrupted and lost, and is not restored till a new Buddha appears. In Europe, Buddha is used to designate the last historical Buddha, whose family name was Gotama, and who was the son of Suddhōdana, one of the chiefs of the tribe of the Sākiyas, one of the republican clans then still existent in India.[12] [fulltext available online via Wiksource]

Encyclopædia Britannica 2010 (15th ed)

  • Buddha, original name gautama, also called siddārtha (fl. c.6th–4th century BC; b. Kapilavastu, Sākya Republic, Kosala Kingdom [India]—d. Kusinārā, Malla republic, Magadha kingdom [India]) founder of Buddhism, the religion and philosophical system that produced a great culture throughout much of southern and eastern Asia.[13]
  • Gautama: see Buddha. [14]
  • The Buddha and Buddhism Buddhism is a pan-Asian religion that has played a central role in the spiritual, cultural, and social life of the Eastern world, and...[15] [more]
    • (section) the life of the buddha Buddha (Sanskrit: "awakened one") is one of the epithets of a teacher who flourished in northern India sometime between the 6th and 4th century before the Common Era. His followers, known as Buddhists, propagated the religion that is known today as Buddhism.
full text available at Archive.org
compare § Encyclopædia Britannica online

Encyclopedia of Biography 1997

  • Buddha 'enlightened one'. Title of Prince Gautama Siddhārta (c. 563–483 BC). Religious leader, founder of Buddhism, born at Lumbini in Nepal. At the age of 29 he left his wife and sone and a life of luxury, to escape from the material burderns of exitence. After six years of austerity he realized that asceticism, like overindulgence, was futile, and chose the middle way of meditation. He became enightened under a bo, or bodhi, tree near Buddh Gaya in Bihar, India. He began teaching at Varanasi, and founded the Sangha, or order of monks. He spent the rest of his life travelling around N India, and died at Kusinagara in Uttar Pradesh.[16]
  • Gautama family name of the historical ⇨ Buddha.[17]
identical or nearly so, to § HarperCollins Dictionary of Biography

Encyclopedia of Religion 2005

  • BUDDHA. Etymologically, the Sanskrit/Pali word buddha means "one who has awakened"; in the context of Indian religions it is used as an honorific title for an individual who is enlightened. This metaphor indicates the change in consciousness that, according to Buddhism, is always characteristic of enlightenment. It suggests the otherness and splendor associated with those named by this epithet in various Buddhist traditions.[18]
not to be confused with § An Encyclopedia of Religion above
identical or near-identical language in § Encyclopedia of Religion online below

Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics 1910

  • BUDDHA, LIFE OF THE.—Gautama, the Buddha, (Pāli Gotama), the founder of the Buddhist faith, which at one time numbered in all probability more adherents than any other form of religious belief, was born in or about the year 560 B.C. in the Lumbini Grove, near the ancient town of Kapilavastu, the ruins of which lie hidden beyond the British border in the dense tarai region of south Nepāl, a few miles north of the Basti district, of the United Provinces.[much more...][19]
  • Gautama. See BUDDHA.[20]

Encyclopedia of Religion and Religions 1951

  • BUDDHA (c. 563-c.483 B.C.). The founder of Buddhism. He was born at Lumbini, near the town of Kapilavastu (Kapilavatthu) i sourthern Nepal, about 100 miles north of Benares, and was the Suddhodana, a "king", i.e., petty prince or rajah, of the Sakyas, and his wife Maya. [more][21]
  • Gautama or Gotama. An ancient Hindu sage, founder of the Nyaya (q.v.) school of philosophy. The name is a common one, and was the clan name of Buddha (q.v.).[22]
The Gautama above refers to a sage from the 1st c. CE; see § Chambers Biographical Dictionary below.

Encyclopedia of World Biography 1998 vol. 3

  • The Buddha
Bolded subtitle; unbolded here for ease of reading: The Buddha (ca. 560-480 B.C.) was an Indian philosopher, religious teacher, and the historical founder of Buddhism. He is regarded variously as human spiritual teacher or an omniscient, active deity.[23]

Encyclopedia of World Religions 2008

  • BUDDHISM
A pan-Asian religion and philosophy, Buddhism was founded by Siddhārtha Gotama in northeast India about the 5th century BCE. Buddhism has played a central role in the Eastern world and during the 20th century has spread to the West.
The Buddha's message
The teaching attributed to the buddha gotama wwas transitted orally by his disciples, prefaced by the phrase, "Evam me sutam" ("Thus have I heard"); therefore, it is difficult to say whether his discourses were related as they were spoken. An attempt was made by Buddhist councils in the first centuries after the Buddha's death to establish his true and original teachings.
It may be said that the Buddha based his entire teaching on the fact of human suffering. Existence is painful. The conditions that make an individual are precisely those that also give rise to suffering. Individuality implies limitation; limitation gives rise to desire; and, inevitably, desire causes suffering, since what is desired is transitory, changing, and perishing. It is the impermanence of the object of craving that causes disappointment and sorrow. By following the "path" taught by the Buddha, the individual can dispel the "ignorance" that perpetuates this suffering. The Buddha's doctrine was not one of despair. Living amid the impermanence of everything and being themselves impermanent, humans search for the way of deliverance, for that which shines beyond the transitoriness of human existence—in short for enlightenment.[24]

Great Soviet Encyclopedia 1973

  • Buddha (in Sanskrit, literally :the Enlightened One"), according to the Buddhist religion, a being who has attained highest sanctity. There is a plurality of Buddhas in the Buddhist pantheon. In a narrower sense, "Buddha" is a name for Siddartha Gautama, who, according to Buddhist tradition, was the founder of Buddhism and lived from 623 to 544 B.C. or 60 years later. According to Buddhist tradition, he came from a royal family of the clan of Gotama—hence his family name of Gautama—of the Shakya tribe, which lived in northern India at the southern border of present-day Nepal.[25] [more]

International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences 1968

Note: There is no 'Buddha' entry, but the following is found under 'Buddhism', and after two pages of intro, there is a section on the Buddha.
  • BUDDHISM "Buddhism" is a western term for the immensely diverse system of beliefs and practices centered on the teachings and person of the historical Buddha, who enunciated his message of salvation in India over two millenia ago.[26] [more: this intro goes on for two pages, followed by this subsection:]
    • The Buddha and his teachings. Efforts to reconstruct the life and teachings of the Buddha and the institutions of the earliest Buddhist community run aground on many refractory critical problems. But the Buddha's life story, overlaid in its many versions with legend and myth, is nevertheless persuasive in basic outline. The historical Buddha ("enlightened one"), named Siddartha Gautama, was born a prince of an indigenous Indian clan in northern India about 550 B.C.[27] [more]

Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions 1999

  • Buddha Gotama clan name Gotama, also called Siddārtha, (fl. 6th–4th c. bce; b. Lumbini, near Kapilavastu, Kosala Kingdom [India]—d. Kusinara, Malla Republic, Maghda kingdom [India]), founder of buddhism. The term buddha, literally meaning "awakened one" or "enlightented one", is not a proper name but rather a title, and Buddhists traditionally believe that there will be innumerable buddhas in the future as there have been in the past, and that there are other buddhas in presently existing cosmos as well. The Buddha who belongs to the present era of the cosmos in which we are living is often referred to as Gotama. When the term the Buddha is used, it is generally assumed that it refers to the Buddha Gotama.... The Buddha was born in the 6th or 5th century bce in the kingdom of the Sākyas, on the borders of present-day Nepal and India. Gotama is said to have been born of the king and queen of the Sākyas, Suddhodna, and mahāmāyā. The Buddha's legend however, begins with an account of a dream that his mother Mahāmāyā had one night before he was born...[28]

Webster's New Explorer Desk Encyclopedia

  • Buddha orig. Siddharta Gautama (fl.c.6th–4th cent. B.C.) Indian spiritual leader and founder of buddhism. The term Buddha (Sanskrit: "Elightened One") is a title rather than a name, and Buddhists believe that there are an infinite number of past and future buddhas. The historical Buddha, or Buddha Gautama, was born a prince on the India–Nepal border. His sheltered life of luxury was interrupted when he left the palace and encountered an old man, a sick man, and a corpse. Renouncing his princely life, he spent seven years seeking out teachers and trying various ascetic practices, including fasting, to gain enlightenment. Unsatisfied with the results, he meditated beneath the bodhi tree, where, after temptations by mara, he realized the four noble truths and achieved enlightenment. His eightfold-path offered a middle way between self-indulgence and self-mortification and led to the liberation of nirvana.[29]

World Book Encyclopedia 2020

  • Buddha, BOO duh (563?-483? B.C.) is the title given to the founder of Buddhism, one of the world's great religions. The Buddha's name was Siddartha Gautama. The title Buddha means Enlightened One. [more; one column of text][a]
  • Gautama. See Buddha.[b]

Dictionaries

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Chambers Biographical Dictionary 1997

  • (in boxed panel at top of page) Buddha ('the enlightened one') c.563–c.483BC
    with subtitle:The title of Prince Gautama Siddartha, the founder of Buddhism
  • Buddha was born the son of the rajah of the Sakya tribe ruling in Kapilavastu, 100 miles (160km) north of Benares, in Nepal. When about 30 years old, he left the luxuries of the court, his beautiful wife, and all earthly ambitions in exchange for the life of an ascetic; after six years of extreme self-mortification he saw in the contemplative life the perfect way to self-enlightenment.[30]
  • Gautama also known as Gotama 1st cenutry AD Indian philosopher
    Born in Bihar, he founded Nyaya, one of the six classical systems of Hindu philosophy. (needless to say, this is not the founder of Buddhism)[31]
very similar to § Houghton Mifflin Dictionary of Biography (2003)

A Dictionary of Buddhism 2004

  • Buddha (Skt.; Pāli). This is not a personal name but an epithet of those who have achieved enlightenment (*bodhi), the goal of the Buddhist religious life. Buddha comes from the *Sanskrit root 'budh', meaning to awaken, and the Buddhas are those who have awakened to the true nature of things as taught in the *Four Noble Truths.[32]
Gautama (Pāli, Gotama) Name of the clan to which the *Buddha belonged. Sometimes he is referred to simply by this name, particularly in *Pali sources and also in some of the Dirgha *Agama sutras. See also siddartha gautama.[33]
  • Siddharta Gautama (c. 485–405 BCE) (Skt.; Pāli, Siddattha Gotama). Name of the historical *Buddha. Siddharta (meaning 'one whose aim is accomplished') was his personal name, and Gautama his clan or family name. His dates are still uncertain, but recent scholarship inclines to the dates shown as opposed to the more conventional ones of 563–486 BCE (see date of the buddha). He was born into a noble family of the Sākya clan, and for this reason came to be known also as Sākyamuni (the sage of the Sākyas).[34]

A Dictionary of Comparative Religion 1970

  • Buddha (as generic title) in Buddh. thought, an 'enlightened one', or 'awakened one', and thus a man distinguished from all others by knowledge of the Truth (dhamma). As P.T.S. Dictionary points out, Buddha is an appellative, not a proper name. In Buddh. theory, the perfect knowledge, made known by a Buddha, eventually becomes lost to world, and has then to await emergence of a new Buddha, in order to be known and proclaimed again.
after some more text, some in-line subsections follow; first is Gotama:
  • (Gotama)   (Gautama-Skt.) Concerning dates and life-story of Gotama, the Buddha, there is no hist. certainty. Not until ⟶ Asvaghosa, in 1st/2nd cent. CE, composed his ⟶ Buddhacarita (Acts of the Buddha) was a comprehensive account of his life produced. [...] He was of the Gotama-clan, and his personal name is Siddhatta (same as that of 16th of preceding 24 of the preceding Buddhas ⟶ Buddhas (other than Gotama). Thus he was known, by personal and clan name together, as Siddhatta Gotama. (Skt. Siddhatta Gautama.) He was known also as the 'sage' (muni) of the Sakya tribe, i.e., Sakyamuni.[35]
  • Gotama (Pali); Gautama (Skt.); ⟶ Buddha, Gotama. t.o.l.[36]

The HarperCollins Dictionary of Biography

  • Buddha 'Enlightened One', title of Prince Gautama Siddārtha c. 563-483 BC. Religious leader, founder of Buddhism, born at Lumbini in Nepal.[37]
    remainder not shown; content identical to § Encyclopedia of Biography.
  • Gautama family name of the historical ⇨ Buddha[38][page needed]

The Houghton Mifflin Dictionary of Biography 2003

  • (as boxed panel at top of page) Buddha ('the enlightened one') c.563–c.483 BC[39]
    with subtitle:The title of Prince Gautama Siddartha, the founder of Buddhism
    remainder not shown; content identical to § Chambers Biographical Dictionary
  • Gautama also known as Gotama – 1st c. A.D. Indian philosopher.[40][page needed]

Merriam-Webster's Biographical Dictionary 1995

  • Sid·dhār·tha Gau·ta·ma Pali Sid·dat·tha Go·ta·ma. Known as the Bud·dha, i.e. Enlightened One. Called Sāk·ya·mu·ni, i.e. Sage of the Sākyas. c.563–c.483 B.C. Founder of Buddhism. Son of Suddhodana, kind of the Sākyas; b. Kapilavastu, site of present-day Rummindei, Nepal. At age 16 married his cousin Yasodharā; had one son, Rāhula.[41]
  • Buddha See Siddartha Gautama[42]
  • Gautama See Siddartha Gautama[43]

Oxford Desk Dictionary of People and Places 1999

  • Bud·dha |ˈbōōdə| (often the Buddha) a title given to the founder of Buddhism, Siddartha Gautama (c.563–c.460 bc). Born an Indian prince, he renounced wealth and family to become an ascetic, and after achieving enlightenment while meditating, taught all who came to learn from him.[44]

Oxford English Dictionary 1989

  • Buddha also [seven alternate spellings omitted] [a. Skr. buddha enlightened, awakened...] the title given by the adherents of one of the great Asiatic religions, thence called Buddhism, to the founder of their faith, Sākyamuni, Gautama, or Siddārtha, who flourished in northern India in the 5th century bc. Sākyamuni is regarded as only the latest of a series of Buddhas or infallible religious teachers which is hereafter to be continued indefinitely.[45]

Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (2001)

  • Buddha n. 1. Also called Butsu, Gautama, Gautama Buddha. (Prince Siddhātta or Siddartha) 566?-c480 B.C., Indian religious leader: founder of Buddhism. 2. Any of a series of leaders of Buddhism, of whom Gautama was the last, who bring enlightenment and wisdom. 3. (sometimes l.c.) a person who has attained full prajna, or enlightenment; Arhat.[46] [more]...
  • Gautama Buddha (def. 1)[47]

Roget's International Thesaurus 2019

Roget's thesaurus organizes entries thematically and not alphabetically, and numbers them without providing definitions, typically in a comma-series of similar terms, or examples. There is no thematic concept for "Buddha" or "Gautama" (or any individual). In this thesaurus, the word "Buddha" shows up under two thematic topics:
  • 667 Asceticism <self-denial>
    ascetic, puritan, Sabbatarian; Albigensian; Waldensian; Catharist; abstainer; anchorite, hermit; yogi, yogin; sannyasi, bhikshu, dervish; fakir, flagellant, Penitente; Buddha, bodhi; eremite; mendicant, Franciscan, barefooted Carmelite; Trappist[48]
  • 921 WISE PERSON <person with wisdom>
    2 <exemplars> Solomon, Socrates, Plato, Mentor, Nestor, Confucius, Buddha, Gandhi, Albert Schweitzer, Martin Luther King Jr[49]

Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language (1956)

  • Bud'dha [Skr. buddha awakened, enlightened, fr. the root of bodhati he awakes, understands See bid.] The title of an incarnations of self-abnegation, virute, and wisdom, or a deified religious teacher of the Buddhists, esp. Gautama Siddhartha. Gautama Buddha, 563-483 B.C., was born near Kapilavastu, of the Shakya clan, and hence was called Shakya Muni, the Shakya sage. He was married, left his home to become an ascetic, attained Enlightenment (that is he became a Buddha, having until then been a bodhisattva), established an order (sangha) of wandering monks, and taught, what is now called Early Buddhism. See bodhi, nirvana.[50]

Webster's Third New International Dictionary-unabridged 2002

  • Bud'dha [Skt. buddha awakened, enlightened, fr. bodhati he awakes, understands – more at bid.] 1 usu cap : a person who has attained Buddhahood 2 [after Gautama Buddha ab. 483 B.C. Indian philosopher who founded Buddhism ] a representation of the philosopher Gautama Buddha.[51]
  • Other searches:
    • Gautama: no; at p. 941 it goes from gauster to gauze.
    • Siddartha: nothing at p. 2111.

Textbooks

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The boxed section contains content added to Talk:The Buddha in a series of edits between 8 Nov. and 11 Nov. 2022 and copied here from rev. 1123969712.
  • 1 Coningham, Robin; Young, Ruth (2015), The Archaeology of South Asia: From the Indus to Asoka, c. 6500 BCE–200 CE, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-84697-4 Google scholar citation index 90.
Coningham and Young, Archaeology of South Asia

Buddhism is thought by many to have emerged in the same century as Jainism ; certainly within the latter part of the fi rst millennium BCE Buddhist philosophy offers a belief in the impermanence of the human self, social egalitarianism and a desire to be free of suffering and want. Like Hinduism, it ascribes successive re-birth cycles, the spiritual ideal of ascetic, and also many gods, demons and spirits alongside central Buddhist doctrine Siddhartha Gautama, a royal prince, was born at Lumbiniin what is now Nepalbut the date of his birth has been uncertain as there are different regional chronologies for his life, both long and shorter. In Sri Lankaand South-east Asia his life has been dated to between 624 and 544 BCE; Indian and some Western scholars date his life between 566 and 486 BCE using Greek sources, or alternatively between 563 and 483 BCE; Japanese scholars use Chinese and Tibetan texts and date his life to between 448 and 368 BCE (Amore and Ching 1996 : 221). Recent archaeological evidence from the Maya Devi Temple at Lumbini in modern Nepal has demonstrated the presence of a structure sequence at the shrine from the sixth century BCE onwards, favouring the longer chronology (Coningham et al. 2013 ). As a young man Siddhartha Gautama was taken outside the protected atmosphere of his childhood palace at Kapilavastuand saw three sights: a sick man, an old and suff ering man, and a dead man. He then saw a fourth sight – a renunciant whose calmness and peacefulness showed the way to overcome suffering. After many years as a wandering ascetic, Siddhartha Gautama finally achieved enlightenment or nirvana (thus he became a Buddha or enlightened one) under the Bodhi tree ( Ficus religiosa ) at Bodh Gaya in modern India. He continued to wander and preach for the rest of his life, and when he died at the age of eighty, he entered the state of parinirvana , in which the necessity for rebirth was gone, there is no more suffering, and perfect happiness is achieved (Amore and Ching 1996 : 230). In Chapters 11 and 12 , we will explore the impact of Buddhism on the Early Historic Traditionof South Asia and its patronage by the early rulers and merchants – including the Mauryans. Difficulties in assigning a single religious or ideological identity in archaeological contexts can be illustrated by reference to some of the material culture of religion in South Asia. For example, the architectural entity of the stupa , now closely identified with Buddhism , was used by both Jains and Buddhists in the Early Historic periods. Likewise, tree shrines are both Hindu and Buddhist in nature and even Lumbini , the birthplace of the Buddha, is a place of pilgrimage for Buddhists as well as Hindus. There are many other local examples, and this sharing or blending is important to recognise when trying to assign religious identity, or even trace origins of particular religions through material culture.

  • 2 Thapar, Romila (2004), Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300, University of Californian Press, ISBN 0-520-24225-4 Google scholar citation index: 574
Romila Thapar's Early India, University of California Press, 2004

Of the two near contemporaries, Mahavira and Gautama Buddha, the latter is the more famous since he founded a religion that was to prevail in Asia. The Buddha (or the Enlightened One), as he was called, belonged to the Shakya clan, and his father was the kshatriya raja of the Shakya gana-sangha. The legend of the Buddha's life has curious similarities with the legendary episodes in Christ's life such as the idea of the immaculate conception, and the temptation by the Devil. He was born in the sixth century BC and lived the life of a young aristocrat, but with increasing dissatisfaction after he came into contact with the sick, the suffering and the dead. Finally, he left his family and his home one night and went away to become an ascetic. After an austere period of ascetic practice he decided that this was not the way to achieve freedom from rebirth. He then resolved to discover the path towards liberation through meditation and, eventually, on the forty-ninth day of his meditation, is said to have received enlightenment and understood the cause of suffering in this world. He gave his first discourse at the Deer Park at Sarnath, in the vicinity of Varanasi, where he gathered his first five disciples. This has been called the 'Discourse on the Turning of the Wheel of Law', which was the nucleus of the Buddha's teaching. It incorporated the Four Noble Truths: the world is full of suffering; suffering is caused by human desires; the renunciation of desire is the path to nirvana or liberation from rebirth; and this can be achieved through the Eightfold Path. The latter consisted of eight principles of action, leading to a balanced, moderate life: right views, resolves, speech, conduct, livelihood, effort, recollection, and meditation, the combination of which was described as the Middle Way. To understand this discourse did not call for complicated metaphysical thinking, nor did it require complex rituals. It required a commitment to ethical behaviour, a central feature of which was that it was not based on the privileges and disabilities of caste identity but on a concern for the welfare of humanity. Such an approach suggests a degree of sensitivity to the social mores becoming current in urban living. The rational undertone of the argument was characteristic of the Buddhist emphasis on causality and logic as the basis of analysis, particularly in a system where little is left either to divine intervention or else to the kind of metaphysics that the Buddha described as splitting hairs. The Buddha did not see his teaching as a divine revelation, but rather as an attempt to reveal the truths that were apparent to him and required to be stated. In underlining elements of logic and rationality, the Buddha was reflecting some of the philosophical interests of his day. Freedom from the cycle of rebirth led to nirvana, interpreted either as bliss through enlightenment, or extinction. Thus the doctrine of karma and samsara, linking action and rebirth, was essential to the Buddhist system even if the Buddha denied the existence of the atman or soul. What continued was consciousness and this was modulated by actions. The denial of the soul gave a different edge to the Buddhist doctrine of action and rebirth. Implicit in the Four Noble Truths is the concept of karma, causally connected to desire and suffering. The Buddha's teaching was partially a response to the discourse of the early Upanishads, agreeing with some ideas and disagreeing with others. The disagreements were not insubstantial. But the teaching was a departure from that of the Vedic corpus and also a response to the historical changes of the time, among which were the emergence of the state and the growth of urban centres, posing questions that could not be answered by existing ideologies. ... Buddhist and Jaina sects and some of other persuasions had orders of monks (bhikkhu - literally, mendicants) and nuns (bhikkhuni). As a general category they were referred to as sbramanas or samanas - those who labour towards freedom from rebirth. This led to a distinction between what has been called Brahamanism and Shramanism, the two parallel streams of religious articulation that prevailed for many centuries. Monks renounced social obligations to take on an alternative life when they joined the Order. They lived as equal members of the Order, denying caste distinctions. But they lived in monasteries near villages and towns so that they could draw on the support of the lay community, namely, those who were Buddhists or Jainas but were not initiated into renunciatory groups. Lay followers were referred to as upasaka and upasika. Renunciation also gave the monks greater freedom so that they could concentrate on their own nirvana, as well as attending to the well-being of the community. Renunciation was not necessarily identical with asceticism and a distinction between them might be useful. The ascetic ideally lived in isolation, discarding all social obligations and performing his death-rites before leaving home. The renouncer discarded the social obligations required through family and caste ties, but entered an alternative society - that of the Sangha, where new obligations were assumed relating to the life of renouncers. With the increase in numbers of the lay community, the monks were called upon to perform life-cycle rituals linked to birth, puberty, marriage and death. This may well have been the beginning of a change, introducing a larger body of rituals than was originally intended.

Peter Robb on the Buddha

As they evolved, the Vedic ideas divided into or were superseded by two main streams —coming, that is, from origins within and beyond the Vedic priesthoods. One (the yogic way) emphasized the importance of desire, and hence the need for renunciation. Another emphasized the unity of creation and hence the proper performance of earthly duties. By such means, both developments transformed the ‘law of the fishes’ from a metaphor of order into one of chaos. The yogic impulse is well represented by Jainism and Buddhism. Jainism is an atheistic religion and the first known attempt to create a single doctrine from the rich Indic traditions. It includes the idea that life (jiva), as opposed to inanimate matter and to all worldly actions, is caught in an endless cycle of reincarnation. Through complete self-abnegation and profound contemplation, man can be liberated into an eternal, uncreated infinity beyond the cosmos. Jainism was associated with great teachers, especially Vadhamana, known as Mahavira (great hero), who probably lived in the sixth century BCE, and organized and instructed disciples so that his teachings survived. He, like his much earlier predecessor, Parshva, was said to have practised great austerities, renounced the world, gained true omniscience, and hence immortality. Buddhism is a subtle and elaborate version of similar ideas of rebirth and austerity. It was developed by Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha (enlightened one), also born in the sixth century BCE. Buddhism spawned a truly vast literature, starting with canonical texts, the Tripitaka (Three Baskets), that contain rules, narratives and commentaries. At the heart of their doctrine is the Noble Eightfold Path: including right thinking and goals, moral conduct, and a proper degree of renunciation and self-discipline (a Middle Way between extremes of abnegation and indulgence). The Buddha gained enlightenment through intense meditation, a contemplation without form, an utter but conscious emptying of the mind — ultimately breaking the cycle of rebirth by transcending the individual, becoming non-self (anatta), and perceiving nirvana, a state without creation or death. Though convinced of the transitory nature of things, the followers of the Buddha nevertheless developed orders of nuns and monks (the Sangha), proselytized for their beliefs (on the Buddha’s instructions), and built monasteries and stupas, with their characteristic rounded shape, containing Buddhist relics. The monks in these institutions were dependent upon the alms and bequests of lay followers. Then, as these lay people also sought to approach a higher state of existence, there arose cults of personal devotion (bhakti) to the Buddha and his successors (the Buddhas-to-be or Boddhisattvas) — one answer perhaps to the Vedic refrain ‘What god shall we adore with our oblation?’ (Rig Veda X. 121). Lay involvement gave rise in turn to the wider, ‘compassionate’ or Mahayana Buddhism (Greater Vehicle) as opposed to the stricter, monastic Hinayana Buddhism (Lesser Vehicle). This divide was also marked by doctrinal and philosophical differences. The second emphasis, upon ritual sacrifice and dharma rather than renunciation and contemplation, was found in the developments of the Brahmanist religion which coexisted and competed with the growth of Buddhism. It developed early, partly in response to the challenge of renunciation. In finding ways of living in the world, Vedic ideas were expanded into vast commentaries. The Brahmanas elaborate and explain myths and rituals. The Aranyakas or forest books, possibly so-called because they were produced by hermits, reflect on the rituals and their symbolic meanings. Finally, the Upanishads contain both philosophical exposition and teachings in the form of dialogues and parables, offering a variety of explanations of creation, and rules of conduct and of contemplation. Over some five hundred years before the Common Era, the Vedic texts thus became a religious canon, a distinction being made between their authority (shruti) and their exposition or explanation (smriti). Actual sacrifice became mor or less obsolete.

  • 4 Fogelin, Lars (2015). An Archaeological History of Indian Buddhism. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-1999-4821-5. Google Scholar citation index 50.
Lars Fogelin, Archaeological History of Indian Buddhism, Oxford, 2015

The Buddha was born to the chief of one of these Early Historic Period (i.e. between 600 BCE and 300 BCE) republics (the Shakyas) in what is now southern Nepal. More recently, several scholars have argued that these early republics and kingdoms can be subsumed within a broader rubric of city-states (see Chakrabarti 1995, 2001; Erdosy 1995; Kenoyer 1997). In this view, small states centered at individual cities were in constant communication and conflict with one another. Periodically one city-state might gain advantage over others, but territorial expansion was just as often followed by withdrawal. Particularly in the plains, cities began to build elaborate defensive walls. Merchants, traders, craftspeople, and religious specialists augmented the bulk of the population, who remained agriculturalists. Vedic rituals from earlier periods continued to be practiced, but during the Early Historic Period, a wide variety of religious traditions emerged to challenge the orthodoxy of Brahmanism that continued the practice of Vedic rituals. Textual sources that report on the Early Historic Period mention numerous wandering ascetics propounding a bewildering variety of religious views. Over time, some of these wandering ascetics began to attract followers and settle in small monasteries throughout the India. Of these sects, Jainism and Buddhism became major religions that persist to this day. Originating in the sixth century bce, they share many common doctrinal and ritual elements. Both saw the world in which we live as an illusion, both sought to end the cycle of rebirth, and both saw the cessation of rebirth as achievable through meditation and ritual acts. Both also downplayed the importance of caste in their teachings. Thapar (2002) has suggested that this allowed Jains and Buddhists to engage in trade more easily than Brahmans, who were forced to follow strict caste prohibitions. The result was that both Buddhism and Jainism thrived in the developing cities of the Gangetic Plain and spread rapidly from city to city from the fifth through third centuries bce. In sum, the picture that emerges of religious practice in the beginning of the Early Historic Period is of multiple overlapping religious sects, all competing for the support of the laity. Of these, Brahmanism, Jainism, and Buddhism have survived to this day in some form. Other sects (e.g., Ajivikas and Charvakas) have not (Basham 1967; Thapar 2002). While this book focuses on Buddhism, Buddhism was only one of many religious traditions in simultaneous practice throughout India. Given the similarities in the doctrinal beliefs and ritual practices of these different religions, it is often difficult to separate the material remains of different religions.

  • 5 Gilbert, Marc Jason (2017). South Asia in World History. The New Oxford World History series. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-517653-7. Google scholar citation index 11
Marc Jason Gilbert, South Asia in World History, Oxford, 2017, on the Buddha

Siddhartha Gautama (563-483 BCE), a prince of the Shakya clan’s state to the north of Vaishali, also advocated these principles. Like Mahavira, he addressed the same spiritual issues as the philosophers of the forest and spent time as one of them. Also like Mahavira, he found unacceptable the idea that the social order of the living should be based on the presumed spiritual merit acquired in a past life. He eventually developed a vehicle of salvation along a middle path between the worldly rituals of the Brahmins and the extreme rejection of the material world advocated in the Upanishads and by Mahavira. The teachings of Siddhartha, who later was known as a bodhi (possessor of wisdom) or Buddha (Enlightened One), came to form the basis of Buddhism, a religion destined to influence many cultures within and beyond Asia. At the age of twenty-nine, Prince Siddhartha saw stark examples of the common fate of all humanity: old age, sickness, and death. What struck Siddhartha most about these encounters was how, despite the universality of these experiences, no human being was ever prepared for them. He then realized that all human grief, confusion, frustration, and pain were born of ignorance that everything in the material world was in constant flux and decay. In the midst of these thoughts, he encountered a wandering ascetic who may have been a follower of Upanishadic or Jain thought and whose calm demeanor suggested a way out through self-denial. Shortly thereafter, Siddhartha abandoned his royal life and joined an ashram. He quickly excelled in the practice of self-denial to the point of being able to fast unto death without pain. However, this achievement brought him no peace, as it offered no insight into the operation of the spiritual world. He ended his fasting and began mediating until he achieved nirvana, a state of consciousness beyond any form of attachment to the self, where he gained the understanding he sought. He then began preaching a dharma that could bring the wheel of rebirth to a halt in as little as one life. The Buddha’s followers codified his teachings, often expressed as the Four Noble Truths. Three of the Noble Truths are conditions or states of knowledge born of Siddhartha’s earliest spiritual encounters. All emotional connections and material things deemed worth possessing, such as loved ones, health, and wealth, are in a constant state of anicca (transition or decay); this uncertain hold over what seems to matter most in life produces frustration that grows inexorably into dhukka (a condition of suffering), and only through vidya (insight, from the root “to see”) into the truly transient nature of all things can avidya (blindness, or ignorance of the true nature of existence) be dispelled. Once aware that the world of desire offers nothing permanent and thus nothing worth possessing, the conscious mind awakens to nirvana—not a place, as all thoughts of places arise from a desire for permanence, but a state of consciousness wherein all desire for the self has ceased to exist. The fourth Noble Truth is the name given to the Buddha’s offering of an Eightfold Path by which a seeker of nirvana practices non-attachment through mental focus, proper action, expressing one’s purpose, relations with other individuals, relations with the larger community, daily life, examining one’s actions, and contemplating one’s existence. ... (there is a great deal more there)

Tim Dyson, A Population History of India, Oxford, 2019, on the Ganges Basin

Perhaps the first point to make is that the discovery of different types of ancient pottery tentatively suggests that—at least to a degree—something of a ‘pincer movement’ may have applied in the settlement of the Ganges basin. In particular, one series of pottery ‘finds’ is indicative of a north-west to south-east movement of people along the foothills of the Himalayas, while another fainter series of ‘finds’ has a broadly similar trajectory along the hills at the basin’s southern edge. Both series come together in what is now Bihar (the location of Pataliputra). Pataliputra). The suggestion that there may have been movements of people around the edges of the Ganges basin also has echoes in early Buddhist and Hindu texts. And, more generally, such a scenario is broadly analogous to the way in which river valleys are sometimes thought to have been settled in other parts of the world. The Ganges basin was vast and densely forested. Much of its riverine core consisted of swamps and marshes. Therefore, it was probably inevitable that, to some extent, it was colonized from the periphery as well as from parts of its core.56 As new tracts of forest were cleared and cultivated, so the population could expand. In turn, this meant that there were more ‘hands’ available to clear yet more forest. Population increase would have been needed for the drainage and exploitation of the wet soils of the basin’s bottomlands. However, once available, these soils were both fertile and potentially they could be irrigated. Consequently, with two-harvest farming the basin’s central lands were able to support larger and denser populations—which, in turn, facilitated the establishment of towns and the development of small kingdoms. In short, whether from the periphery or the core, population growth and the cultivation of new land reinforced each other in the settlement of the Ganges basin—a process that, in places, continued into fairly recent times.

Burton Stein and David Arnold, A History of India, Oxford-Wiley, 2012

THE HISTORICAL BUDDHA The teachings of the Buddha are the best known development of Upanishadic concepts. The historic title, ‘the Buddha’, derives from the meaning of that word: enlightened or awakened. Siddhartha, which was his personal name, is now thought to have been born, in the fifth century bce, a prince of the Sakya clan (which had also adopted the name Gautama). He was said to have renounced his family and the prospect of ruling a gana-sangha community of the Himalayan foothills in order to seek truths to share with his people and those in the kingdoms of Koshala and Magadha.Wandering the forests as an ascetic and mendicant, he pondered the reasons for the pervasive sorrow of the world. Although he found rigorous austerities unfruitful, protracted medi tation was finally rewarded when enlightenment came after he sat under a pipal tree (Ficus religiosa), near the town of Gaya in Magadha for forty-nine days. Suddenly he began to grasp the full implications of the common obser vation that sorrow and disappointment spring from desire. After seven more weeks of meditation, he left the Tree ofWisdom and travelled to Kashi, where he commenced teaching in a place called the Deer Park of Sarnath.The tradi tion of his followers recalls this ‘Sermon of the Turning of the Wheel’, with its ‘Four Noble Truths’ and ‘Noble Eightfold Path’. The Buddha’s sermons concerned the sources and relief of sorrow, which he held arises from birth, from age, from disease, from death and from life’s disap pointments. Most of all, it arises from desire, from the thirst for delight, passion and pleasure; quenching this thirst, this desire, is the sole way to conquer sorrow, and can be achieved by following a middle way between gratification and the denial of pleasure through the pain and hardship of harsh asceticism. The middle way was an eightfold path consisting of rightness in views, resolve, speech, conduct, livelihood, efforts, memories and meditation. Buddhist moderation was framed against existing religious practices. Bud dhists excoriated the brahmanical sacrifices because they involved the slaugh ter of animals and because of the large fees paid by men of property and commerce who were gaining importance in the newly founded towns of Koshala, Magadha and other Gangetic principalities. Other sects that criti cized brahmans, such as Jainas and Ajivikas, were condemned by Buddhists for their extreme ascetic practices. Moderation won adherents among the wealthiest class of merchants, among modest householders and among the poorest and most despised. The last included shudras (agriculturists, herdsmen and artisans) and slaves, as the term dasasudda suggests. By the time of the Buddha, ‘dasa’ had come to designate persons without legal standing or rights who could be held in bondage on account of their debts, their birth to parents in bondage or capture during wars. Even lower in status than the dasas were those now called candala, the sight of whom was regarded as polluting. Shudras and candalas were mentioned sympathetically in some the earliest Buddhist jatakas, which may have heightened the appeal of Buddhism for those classes. The jatakas paint a picture of the society of the middle of the first millen nium bce in the central Gangetic valley, a social order significantly changed from the earlier ‘Aryan’ society of the western Ganges. It was a more complex and urbanized formation, with little of the older gana-sangha collective iden tity. Such a society was fertile ground for the new ideologies, in the form of Buddhist doctrines and those ofJaina and Ajivika sects, all of which were alike in their emphasis on ethics and pure conduct rather than the propitiation of capricious gods. The gods of the brahmanical sacrificial cult were not rejected so much as ignored by Buddhists and their contemporaries in heterodoxy. All these, however, posited the importance of particular great men – usually the found ing teachers – and all spoke as brahmanical sectarians did of karma and samsara, though each put a different meaning upon how such doctrines worked. While Buddhists and Jainas believed that the condition of each indi vidual existence was determined by behaviour in previous incarnations, they supposed it could be altered by actions in the current life. The Ajivikas, however, insisted on a rigorously deterministic view of the universe, with regard to which only severe asceticism was a possible ameliorator.

Kulke and Rothermund, History of India, Routledge, 2016

This new Gangetic civilisation found its spiritual expression in a reform movement which was a reaction to the Brahmin–Kshatriya alliance of the Late Vedic age. This reform movement is mainly identified with the teaching of Gautama Buddha who is regarded as the first historic figure of Indian history. ... As early Buddhist literature, in particular the Jataka stories of the Buddha’s previous lives, depict an already flourishing urban society in north India, archaeological evidence also seems to indicate that the Buddha lived in the fifth rather than in the sixth century when urbanisation in the Ganges valley was still in its incipient stage. ... (Buddhist thought) is characterised by a transition from the magic thought of the Vedas and the mystical speculations of the Upanishads to a new type of rationality. This rationality is also in evidence in the famous grammar of the great Indian linguist, Panini. His grammar, India’s first scientific treatise, was produced in this period. Buddha’s teachings were later on fused once more with mystical speculation and even with magic thought in Tantric Buddhism, but his original quest for rationally enlightened experience is clearly documented by this explanation of the four noble truths, and of the ‘eight-fold path’ of salvation from the burden of human suffering. He had practised penance and experienced the futility of mystical speculation before he arrived at his insight into the causes of human suffering and the way to remove them. The eightfold path of right conduct (in vision, thought, speech, action, giving, striving, vigilance and concentration) which leads to a cessation of the thirst for life and thus stops the cycle of rebirths appears to be a matter of practical instruction rather than the outcome of mystical speculation. The voluminous Buddhist scriptures throw a flood of light on the life and times of Gautama Buddha. He was born as the son of a Sakhya prince in a region which now belongs to Nepal. He left his family at the age of 29 and spent many years as a wandering ascetic until he experienced his enlightenment at Bodh Gaya. He then preached his first sermon at Sarnath near Varanasi and toured many parts of what is now Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh, spreading his teachings and gaining more and more followers. He met the high and mighty of his time – among them King Bimbisara of Magadha.

David Ludden, India and South Asia

Jain and Buddhist philosophies, monks, and patrons opposed the social stratification prescribed by Brahmanism, and the spiritual authority of the Brahmans and Vedic rites. Both schools of thought and spiritual discipline arose east of Prayaga, around Magadha, where Mahavira (born circa 550) and Gautama Buddha (born circa 480) originally preached. It is reasonable to surmise that both represent restless spiritual aspirations among new elites who challenged Vedic ideas about social rank. Merchants relegated to lower varna ranks were clearly influential patrons for Buddhist and Jain monks, who propagated the spiritual power of learning, piety, merit, discipline, and ethical values and rejected the idea that complete spiritual purity is attainable only by Brahmans. Jain and Buddhist paths to liberation are open to everyone. ... Agro-pastoral warrior lineages living in the western dry regions had superior access to most of the length of ancient trade routes, and their various janapadas had embraced Aryan culture as far east as Prayaga (Allahabad). Magadha lay further east on the outer fringe of Aryan cultural influence, and it was here, in the east, that the Buddha composed an alternative ethical system, opposed to Aryan Brahmanism. ... By Ashoka’s time, the teachings of Gautama Buddha and Mahavira had defined distinctive strains of cultural activity that we know under the names of Buddhism and Jainism; they shared many elements with Aryan Brahmanism but opposed its sacred division of caste society and established another set of values for rulers, including universal ethical norms that made salvation a moral quest. Rulers could support this righteous vision by becoming great alms-givers for learned monks who preached harmonious moral order and showed the way to enlightenment with their piety and learning. Buddhist righteousness (dhamma) became a moral compass for Ashoka’s empire. Ashoka used vast winnings from war to support Buddhist monks, ritual centres (stupas), preachers, and schools. Instead of conquering the kingdoms south of Kalinga, Ashoka brought them under his spiritual patronage, supporting Buddhist kings in Sri Lanka and Buddhist centres in Andhra, Karnataka, and the Tamil country. Jain missions also prospered in Ashoka’s imperial domain.

Michael Fisher,Environmental History of India, CUP, 2018

From the sixth century BCE onward, India’s shifting social, cultural, political, and economic environments produced various models of and for the universe. The two most prominent new movements coalesced as Jainism and Buddhism. These new religions had roughly contemporary founders as role models: Mahavira Jain (variously dated 600/540–527/468 BCE) and Siddhartha Gautama the Buddha (c. 560 – c. 480 BCE). Both were born Kshatriya men, raised surrounded by pleasures, who abandoned family, wealth, and sensuality by withdrawal of the senses and thus attained release from the cycle of rebirth, redeath, and rebirth. Mahavira devoted himself to the path of extreme asceticism to burn off the material residue of action (karma). Gautama, in contrast, renounced asceticism and preached the Middle Way of selfless giving. Both men left behind monastic orders (sangha): men and women who sought to escape earthy existence into absolute transcendence and peace (nirvana).While Jainism and Buddhism differed in their metaphysics (about the nature of the self, for instance) both regarded human and animal bodies as just varying levels of birth, ranging from imperceptible motes through animals and humans to deities. For instance, in the Buddhist Jatakas (accounts of the Buddha’s previous lives), he was born as variously elephant, tiger, monkey, rabbit, tree god, and in a variety of human roles (but always as a male, perhaps suggesting the gender attitudes of the compilers). As the Buddha, he achieved nirvana under the Bodhi fig tree in Bodhgaya (Bihar); pilgrims still reverently identify this tree with his enlightenment.These two religious movements advocated similar social structures for humans, with individual achievement of total nonviolence and compassion toward all living creatures as the basis of status. They thus critiqued Brahminic sacrifice of animals via fire to the gods and birth into a varna. ... In the Buddhist social model, people are ranked according to dana (from the same Indo-European root-word as “donation” in English) – that is, how much they give, in the broadest sense, including repudiating violence on anything in the environment. Monks and nuns give up everything, donating their lives to following the nonviolent path of dhamma (the popular Pali-language form of Sanskrit’s dharma). So, they rank the highest. But laypeople can also follow the Middle Way, to the extent that they are able. Consequently, any individual who practices nonviolence and dana could rise socially and morally.Much of the initial support for Jainism and Buddhism initially came from groups and individual men and women who found the Brahminic order unpersuasive, particularly since it ranked them low and seemed so identified with violence. This included upwardly mobile merchants who could live without themselves killing and also donate much wealth. Additionally, some Shudras and other non-Kshatriyas who had fought their way to kingship sought to harness the economic and political power of these thriving merchants. To advance their personal and imperial goals, Mauryan Emperor Chandragupta famously turned to Jainism while his grandson Emperor Ashoka turned to Buddhism.

Online encyclopedias

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Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions – via encyclopedia.com

Buddha (Pāli, Skt.; Chin., fo; Jap., butsu; Korean, pul)
1. An enlightened person, literally, 'one who has awakened' to the truth. Traditional Buddhism teaches that there are two sorts, samyaksaṃbuddha (see SAMMASAMBUDDHA) and pratyekabuddha; and that Gotama is one in a series of the former kind. Mahāyāna Buddhism extends the notion of a buddha into a universal principle: all beings possess a ‘buddha-nature’ and are therefore prospective buddhas.
2. Title applied to Gotama (Skt., Gautama), the historical founder of Buddhism (hence, the Buddha Gotama or Gotama Buddha).
Gotama Buddha is also known, especially in Mahāyāna, as Buddha Sākyamuni (i.e. the Wise One, or Sage, of the Śakya clan). There are uncertainties about his dates. According to the Long Chronology, he lived just over 200 years before Aśoka, giving approximate dates of 566–486 BCE. According to the Short Chronology, he lived 100 years before Aśoka, i.e. c.448–368. He was born Siddhārtha Gotama or Gautama, in Kapilavastu, in modern-day Nepal. After his enlightenment, he became known as the Buddha, the Enlightened One. Although many stories of his life are told, and immense bodies of teaching are attributed to him, it is not possible to reconstruct his biography or his own teaching with any historical certainty—nor, from a Buddhist point of view, is it in the least desirable. The Buddha is a physician who diagnoses illness and suggests treatment; but the worth or the value lies, not in the biography of the physician, but on whether the patient is cured.

Encyclopaedia Britannica online – https://www.britannica.com/

Buddha, (Sanskrit: “Awakened One”) clan name (Sanskrit) Gautama or (Pali) Gotama, personal name (Sanskrit) Siddhartha or (Pali) Siddhattha, (born c. 6th–4th century BCE, Lumbini, near Kapilavastu, Shakya republic, Kosala kingdom [now in Nepal]—died, Kusinara, Malla republic, Magadha kingdom [now Kasia, India]), the founder of Buddhism, one of the major religions and philosophical systems of southern and eastern Asia and of the world.
compare with print edition above.

Encyclopedia of Religion online – via encyclopedia.com

  • metadata: Reynolds, Frank; Hallisey, Charles; "Buddha". from Encyclopedia.com.
  • Excerpt from BUDDHA
BUDDHA
Etymologically, the Sanskrit/Pali word buddha means "one who has awakened"; in the context of Indian religions it is used as an honorific title for an individual who is enlightened. This metaphor indicates the change in consciousness that, according to Buddhism, is always characteristic of enlightenment. It suggests the otherness and splendor associated with those named by this epithet in various Buddhist traditions. Buddha is also related etymologically to the Sanskrit/Pali term buddhi, which signifies "intelligence" and "understanding." A person who has awakened can thus be said to be "one who knows."
identical or near-identical language in print media; see § Encyclopedia of Religion above

UXL Encyclopedia of World Biography – via encyclopedia.com

Buddha
The Buddha was an Indian philosopher (seeker of wisdom), religious teacher, and the historical founder of Buddhism. He is regarded by some as a human spiritual teacher (concerned with religious values) and by others as an all-knowing supreme being.
Early Years
The Buddha, or "enlightened one" (free from ignorance and misunderstanding), was born Siddhartha Gautama in northern India near the town of Kapilavastu. His father was ruler of a poor Indian tribe, the Shakyas. His mother died seven days after giving birth to him. Some legends say that he was able to walk and talk at birth. It is also written that he first fell into a state of meditation (focusing all of one's thoughts on something) as a boy while sitting under a tree watching his father plow a field. Meditation was to become an important part of his life.

Encyclopedia of World History – https://www.worldhistory.org/

Siddhartha Gautama (better known as the Buddha, l. c. 563 - c. 483 BCE) was, according to legend, a Hindu prince who renounced his position and wealth to seek enlightenment as a spiritual ascetic, attained his goal and, in preaching his path to others, founded Buddhism in India in the 6th-5th centuries BCE.
Note: questions have been raised about the reliability of EoWH as a source; see WP:RSN.

International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences online – via encyclopedia.com

Buddha. [table of contents...]
Though often used in a general sense to identify any individual who has achieved enlightenment without the aid of others, the term Buddha usually denotes the historical founder of Buddhism, Siddhártha Gautama. Scholars generally deem Gautama a historical figure who passed along to his followers the foundations of Buddhist philosophy and practice. Frequently referred to as "the Buddha," or the "Enlightened One," most Buddhists believe Gautama to be the Buddha for this age (though there have been numerous buddhas throughout history).
compare with print edition of IESS above

The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism 2013

  • buddha. (T. sangs rgyas; C. fo; J. butsu/hototke; K. pul). In Sanskrit and Pāli, "awakened one" or "enlightened one"; an epithet derived from the Sanskrit root √budh, meaning "to awaken" or "to open up" (as does a flower) and thus traditionally etymologized as one who has awakened from the deep sleep of ignorance and opened his consciousness to encomparass all objects of knowledge. The term was used in ancient India by a number of different religious groups, but came to be most strongly associated with followers of the teacher Gautama, the "Sage of the Sākya clan" (Sākyamuni), who claimed to be only the most recent of a succession of buddhas who had appeared in the world over many eons of time (kalpa).[52]
  • Gautama. (P. Gotama; T. Go ta ma; C. Jutan; J. Kudon; K. Kudam). The family name of the historical Buddha, also known as Sākyamuni Buddha. He was a member of the Sākya tribe of what is today southern Nepal (hence his epithet (Sākyamuni, "Sage of the Sākyas"). Within that group, his family or clan (gotra) was Gautama. He name means "descendants of Gotama" in Sanskrit, with Gotama (lit. "Excellent Cow") being the name of several brāhmanas of ancient India, including a poet of the Rg Veda. Thus, the name of the Buddha's tribe or ethnicgroup was Sākya, the name of his family or clan was Gautama, and his given name was Siddhārtha. In Pāli literature, he is more commonly referred to as Gotama Buddha; in Mahāyāna texts, Sākyamuni Buddha is more common.[53]
  • Sākyamuni. (P. Sakkamuni; T. Shākya thub pa; C. Shijiamouni; J. Shakamuni; in Korean Sokkamoini). In Sanskrit, "Sage of the Sakya Clan," one of the most common epithets of Gautama Buddha, especially in the Mahāyāna traditions, where the name Sākyamuni is used to distinguish the historical buddha from the myriad other buddhas who appear in the {{smallcaps}sutra}}s. The Sākyas were a tribe in northern India into which was born Siddārtha Gautama, the man who would become the historical buddha.[54]
  • Siddārtha. (P. Siddagattha; T. Don grub; C. Xidaduo; J. Shiddata/Shittatta; K. Siltalta). In Sanskrit, "He Who Achieves His Goal", the personal name of Gautama Buddha, also known as Sākyamuni. In some acconts of the life of the Buddha, afer his royal birth as the son of King Suddhodanda, the bodhisattva was given this name and is referred to by that name during his life as a prince and his practice of asceticism.[55]

World Encyclopedia – via encyclopedia.com

Buddha (Enlightened One) Title adopted by Gautama Siddhartha (c.563–c.483 bc), the founder of Buddhism. Born at Lumbini, Nepal, Siddhartha was son of the ruler of the Sakya tribe, and his early years were spent in luxury. At the age of 29, he realized that human life is little more than suffering. He gave up his wealth and comfort, deserted his wife and small son, and took to the road as a wandering ascetic. He travelled south, and sought truth in a six-year regime of austerity and self-mortification. After abandoning asceticism as futile, he sought his own middle way towards enlightenment. The moment of truth came in c.528 bc, as he sat beneath a banyan tree in the village of Buddha Gaya, Bihar, India. After this incident, he taught others about his way to truth. The title ‘buddha’ applies to those who have achieved perfect enlightenment. Buddhists believe that there have been several buddhas before Siddhartha, and there will be many to come. The term also serves to describe a variety of Buddha images.
compare American Desk Encyclopedia above

Online dictionaries

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American Heritage Dictionary – https://www.ahdictionary.com/

  • Bud·dha 1 (bdə, bdə)
See Siddhartha Gautama[56]
  • Gau·ta·ma (gôtə-mə, gou-), Siddhartha Known as "the Bud·dha" (bdə, bdə) 563?-483? BC.
Indian mystic and founder of Buddhism. Born a prince, he began preaching at the age of 35 after developing the central tenets of Buddhism through intense meditation.[57]

Merriam-Webster – https://www.merriam-webster.com/

  • Sid·​dhār·​tha Gau·​ta·​ma | \ si-ˈdär-tə-ˈgau̇-tə-mə , -ˈgō- \
circa 563–circa 483 b.c. The Buddha \ ˈbü-​də , ˈbu̇-​\ Indian philosopher and founder of Buddhism[58]
Other searches:
  • gautama buddha ⟶ no results; suggested searches: Pratyeka Buddha, Panama balata)
  • gautama ⟶ no direct result, one result shown inline: Siddhārtha Gautama
  • the buddha ⟶ redirects to Siddhārtha Gautama

OED Online – https://www.oed.com/  

  • Buddha, n.
Forms:
α. 1600s–1800s Buddou, 1800s Boodhoo, 1800s Boudhou, 1800s Buddho
[frequency, origin, etymology sections omitted]
1. Also with the: (a title for) Siddhārtha Gautama, or Śākyamuni, a spiritual teacher from South Asia on whose teachings Buddhism is based, and who is believed to have been born in what is now Nepal and flourished in what is now Bihar, northeastern India, during the 5th cent. b.c. Also: (a title given to) any Buddhist teacher regarded as having attained full awakening or enlightenment.[59]
[long list of examples over the centuries omitted]
2. A representation, esp. a statue, of the Buddha.
[examples omitted; other compound meanings omitted]
Other searches:
  • Search Gautama Buddha: No dictionary entries found for ‘Gautama Buddha’.
  • Search Gautama: No dictionary entries found for ‘Gautama’. (did you mean: agama, asthma, ...)
  • Search Siddartha: No dictionary entries found for ‘Siddartha’. (did you mean: siddha, mid-earth)
  • Search the buddha: redirects to Buddha (shown above).

Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English – via encyclopedia.com

Bud·dha / ˈboōdə; ˈboŏdə/ (often the Buddha) a title given to the founder of Buddhism, Siddartha Gautama (c.563–c.460 bc). Born an Indian prince, he renounced wealth and family to become an ascetic, and after achieving enlightenment while meditating, taught all who came to learn from him.
∎ [as n.] (a buddha) Buddhism a person who has attained full enlightenment. ∎ a statue or picture of the Buddha.
compare Oxford Desk Dictionary of People and Places above

Scope and methodology

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In order to comply with WP:AT article title policies that could affect the title of this article, I looked for tertiary sources in English with encyclopedia or dictionary in the title. That includes tertiary sources in translation (such as the § Great Soviet Encyclopedia) but there were only one or two such. Anything else that is clearly tertiary (such as a thesaurus, an almanac, a concordance, etc.) would also be in scope for this list.

For the online searches, I searched Google for entries with "encyclopedia" or "dictionary" in the title, and the words "the Buddha" or "Gautama Buddha" anywhere on the page. (I relied on Google to find titles with encyclopaedia or encyclopædia, and did not explicitly search for those terms.) The major result right away was "encyclopedia.com", which provided a lot of resources. The way encyclopedia.com organizes results is a bit odd, with long and comprehensive pages appearing to contain content (separately) from multiple encyclopedias in one long page; see the section on § Encyclopedia.com about the oddities involved in referring to content found there.

I also searched the Wikipedia Library, but haven't found anything that wasn't available by some other method, but I suspect that TWL general search of all databases doesn't work as well as searching the individual collections, so there may still be resources to discover there.

For print media, I started with library card catalog searches of the same type, and tried to access everything I could online, and got whatever hard copies I could. The list is not exhaustive, and in particular Hoopla has a lot of relevant content that I haven't been able to include for lack of time. If you have a library card, you can probably access Hoopla and add additional resources.

Whether online or print, I first searched for entries under Gautama Buddha (and variant Gotama Buddha), then Buddha, then Siddhartha. If a resource had a redirect or a cross-reference entry, I mentioned that (such as for § Encyclopædia Britannica, which includes: "Gautama: see Buddha").

The excerpts included are of different lengths, sometimes briefer as is usual with a dictionary entry, or when the question of how the source refers to the topic name under discussion is resolved by the headword or encyclopedic topic title or chapter name. Sometimes more context is required to resolve the usage question, and in those cases more text is excerpted. I omitted parentheticals about pronunciation in print media sources in the majority of cases, because it was too difficult to find or type the special characters required.

Regarding independence of sources, this is not always easy to determine. This is especially true in the case of Webster's Dictionary, which as the article states, can be any of "numerous related or unrelated dictionaries that have adopted the Webster's name" and has since become a genericized trademark and is "widely used in dictionary titles".

If I became aware of similar language or a linkage between two sources, I added a buttnote about this. For example, under § American Desk Encyclopedia (a print encyclopedia) there is a "compare..." note under the excerpt linking it with § World Encyclopedia in the online encyclopedia section, and a back-link from the latter to the former.

This page is strictly about listing sources; feel free to add any reliable source you can find that is within scope. This page is not about making arguments or drawing conclusions based on this list; please use another page for that.

Usage notes

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Encyclopedia.com

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Encyclopedia.com consolidates results from "over 200 individual encyclopedias and reference books" and provides direct search as well as by-topic browsing capability. I haven't found a complete list of their references, but here is their About page. This website stands out among all others because of its breadth and scope, and wide availability of reliable sources.

From the search box on the home page, you can do searches like:

Besides the search box on the home page where you can do general keyword search, you can also browse by topic, using the 'Explore' link top right, for example:

> Philosophy and Religion > Eastern Religions > Buddhism > Buddha

Search/browse/url oddities

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At encyclopedia.com, browsing and stepping through the breadcrumbs vs. searching can eventually get you to the same content, but sometimes the url appears to be a redirect, and the url in the address bar will be different than what you clicked, but the content is still there, somewhere down the page. Take "§ Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions" for example; the url given in that section is https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/buddha, but if you click it you end up at https://www.encyclopedia.com/philosophy-and-religion/eastern-religions/buddhism/buddha#Buddha, which also appears to have different content. But in fact, if you search down the page, you can see that the content is there (search on page, for example, for there are two sorts, and it will jump down to near the bottom; clicking the large "open quote" icon gets you the citation, and confirms that this is, in fact, the Bowker article, as expected).

So, if urls for any of the encyclopedia.com sources appear to be "incorrect" or redirects, or the page doesn't appear to have the content, that's what could be happening. If you view the page source of that HTML page, you can see it is actually very short, and just lists the half dozen or so different pages that are included there (by script, I think); so it's kind of like an old-style frame tag in html. In any case, encyclopedia.com urls and pages can do odd things, so just be aware, in case you think you're on the wrong page or wrong url, you might not be; content pages may be a portmanteau of content from several other pages, with the apparently "wrong" url corresponding to just one section of content on the rendered page you are on. This may act like a redirect, or something else.

Notes

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  1. ^ World Book volume 2, 'B' p. 667
  2. ^ volume 8 'G' p. 70
  3. ^ The actual Britannica search query cannot be linked or even listed here, because it is on Wikimedia's global spam blacklist.

References

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Citations

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  1. ^ AAE 1995, vol. 3, p=538.
  2. ^ AAE 1995, vol. 9.
  3. ^ Powers 2013, p. 198.
  4. ^ Powers 2013, p. 45.
  5. ^ American Desk Encyclopedia 1998, p. 129–130.
  6. ^ Ferm 1943, p. 91-110.
  7. ^ Ferm 1943, p. 93.
  8. ^ Canney 1921, p. 80.
  9. ^ Smart 1997, p. 305.
  10. ^ Columbia Encyclopedia 2000, p. 403.
  11. ^ Americana 2006, p. 687.
  12. ^ EB 1911 & v4, p. 737.
  13. ^ Britannica-v2 1998, p. 602.
  14. ^ Britannica-v5 1998, p. 151.
  15. ^ Britannica-v15 1998, p. 263.
  16. ^ Nicholls 1997, p. 135.
  17. ^ Nicholls 1997, p. 332.
  18. ^ Jones 2005, p. 1059–1060.
  19. ^ Hastings 1910, p. 881.
  20. ^ Hastings 1910, vol. 6, p=170.
  21. ^ Pike 1951, p. 69-70.
  22. ^ Pike 1951, p. 161.
  23. ^ Byers 1998, p. 97.
  24. ^ Reynolds 2008, p. 147.
  25. ^ GSE 1973, p. 136.
  26. ^ IESS 1968, vol 2, p. 165.
  27. ^ IESS 1968, vol 2, p. 167.
  28. ^ Doniger 1999, pp. 144–145.
  29. ^ WNEDE 2003, p. 183.
  30. ^ Parry 1997, p. 292–293.
  31. ^ Parry 1997, p. 717.
  32. ^ Keown 2004, p. 42.
  33. ^ Keown 2004, p. 100.
  34. ^ Keown 2004, pp. 216–217.
  35. ^ Brandon 1970, p. 154.
  36. ^ Brandon 1970, p. 310.
  37. ^ HarperCollins 1993, p. 103.
  38. ^ HarperCollins 1993.
  39. ^ Houghton Mifflin 2003, p. 239.
  40. ^ Houghton Mifflin 2003.
  41. ^ M-W Biog. Dict. 1995, p. 951.
  42. ^ M-W Biog. Dict. 1995, p. 154.
  43. ^ M-W Biog. Dict. 1995, p. 403.
  44. ^ Oxford Desk Dict 1999, p. 54.
  45. ^ OED 1989, Buddha.
  46. ^ RHW 2001, p. 272.
  47. ^ RHW 2001, p. 792.
  48. ^ Roget 2019, p. 500.
  49. ^ Roget 2019, p. 666.
  50. ^ Webster's Unabridged 1956, p. 1349.
  51. ^ Webster's Third 2002, p. 289.
  52. ^ Buswell & Lopez 2013, pp. 148–149.
  53. ^ Buswell & Lopez 2013, p. 316.
  54. ^ Buswell & Lopez 2013, pp. 741–742.
  55. ^ Buswell & Lopez 2013, p. 817.
  56. ^ American Heritage online, Buddha.
  57. ^ American Heritage online, Gautama.
  58. ^ Merriam-Webster, Siddhartha Gautama.
  59. ^ OED Online 2022, Buddha.

Works cited

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  • Paul Lagassé, ed. (2000). "Columbia Encyclopedia". The Columbia Encyclopedia (6th ed.). Columbia University Press. ISBN 0787650153. OCLC 973909284.
  • "OED Online". OED Online. Oxford University Press. September 2022. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
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