The Biography of Buddha

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While the existence of Buddha is certain, the details about his life story and the substance of his Dharma or teachings often vary from sacred text to text. The inconsistencies in the details of Buddha’s story are a result of multiple scriptures about his life and teachings and the fact that they were not recorded until about 400 years after his death. Some of the texts contain what seem like exaggerated and even mythical type stories about Buddha’s life, all of the texts still consist of a consistent message, the texts just don’t always send that message the same way. The other trouble with identifying exact details about Buddha’s life is that there is no historical biography of Buddha, the entire story of his life is a combination of utilizing multiple sacred Buddhist texts to create a biography of the Buddha.

There are multiple texts’ that account for Buddha’s dharma and document his final life, and his previous lives. These texts have been categorized into five different time periods of Buddha’s journey to enlightenment. The first period represents 125,000 rebirths that happened anytime between 13 to 20 incalculable ages ago, it is called the period of “great cause.” The period of “very distant cause,” of Buddhahood contained 387,000 rebirths and occurred between 13 to 4 incalculable ages ago. The period that consist of 24 rebirths and marks some important progress in Buddhahood occurred between 4 incalculable ages ago and his final rebirth. The final rebirth Buddha would experience would be as Gautama, this time is referred to as the period of “near cause.” The final time period “proximate cause” illustrates the time after his enlightenment. The eastern world view on time is very different from western view, do you believe ...

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...t once, who would hear his teaching and decided to pursue enlightenment. The text “Discourse on the Fourfold Assembly” and “Book of the Discipline,” describe this time of expansion of Buddhism. The texts that describe the expansion of Buddhism, which include the “Great Story,” vary in some specific details, but their outlines are very similar. They portray Buddha’s journey after enlightenment through India spreading the Dharma to new places as well as back at his home where he had left his family years before. As more sermons where given more art and texts depicting Buddha’s journey would be established.

In conclusion, Buddha’s biography is a creation of many perspectives and events that would be documented in numerous forms after the death of Buddha. This creation would help establish Buddhism as a world religion and provide a path for many towards enlightenment.

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