Gautam Buddha
13 May 2014
Being Vesak Day, I was just curious about where and what Buddha’s birth place and race during his time, like what I’ve learned about my Lord Jesus’ historical facts.
On my previous post, I did a slight in depth study about Buddhism as a general knowledge since I’m borned Chinese and followed my family’s tradition without much understanding during my teenage… Now that I have a functioning adult brain, I came to learn about the 3 main school of Buddhism - Theravada (“Way of the Elders”), Mahayana (“Greater Vehicle”) and Vajrayana (“Diamond Vehicle”).
On his birth place and race, all I knew Buddha and his teaching originated somewhere in India and he spoke Pali - period.
So, I went to look it up, now I am made aware that:
his birth and death are actually uncertain.
Most scholars regard Kapilavastu, present-day Nepal, to be the birthplace of the Buddha. Other possibilities are Lumbini, present-day Nepal. Kapileswara, Odisha, present-day India; and Piprahwa, Uttar Pradesh, present-day India.
Born in the Shakya republic in the Himalayan foothills, Gautama Buddha taught primarily in northeastern India.
The Shakya clan belonged to Gautama gotra, which is a Brahmin gotra.
The Shakya clan, even though a Kshatriya clan, traces its lineage from Maharishi Gautam (Hindi: महर्षि गौतम), one of the great seven rishis or Saptrishi.
This is the reason why Buddha is known as Gautam Buddha.
