In History and Memory

TH E LIFE O F TH E B U D D H A
But fi
rst,just a tiny bit m ore on m ethod

Weve been over perennial and

reductive accounts of religion

Insider/Outsider (emic and etic)

Orthodoxy vs Orthopraxy: is religion

primarily about belief, or practice?
One goal of this class: understand what
scholars say as well as what most
practitioners say.
The Buddha in H istory

The Dating Game: when did the

Buddha live?
Short answer: we dont know.
Evidence: Emperor Aoka (ca. 270-
323 BCE)
The Buddha passed around 100 years
before the birth of Aoka, suggesting
that he lived approximately(!!) 450-370
BCE
Aoka identified the Bodhi Tree, created
shrines
The Buddha in H istory:Context

The Laws (dharma) of Manu and the Three Aims of Life

Pleasure (kma) in youth
Wealth (artha) in middle age
Asceticism and piety (dharma) in old age
Buddha rejected this structure, and household life in general
Idea of rebirth and sasra
Codified sometime before the Buddha lived
Importance of liberation (moks a)
Renunciant movements (raman a)
The Buddha was one voice in a long and storied
conversation about dharma (as both what there is and
what to do) and liberation
The Buddha and H is Story

Seeing things the way they really are:

Yathbhtadarana
Discovery, rather than Revelation
Buddhism as soteriology
Buddha discovered the way things
are, then taught it (ssana)
Dharma is both the truth and the
teachings
Suffering comes from thirst (trsn)
and/or ignorance (avidy)
The Buddha in H istory? Biography

Prince = Warrior/Princely Caste

Name: Siddhrtha Gotama kya
Born at Lumbini, on the India-Nepal border
Left home at 29 after experiencing some sort of
profound existential crisis (in literature: an old man, a
sick man, a dead man, a hermit)
Studied with teachers, harsh austerities
Figures it out for himself
Enlightenment at 35, at Bodh Gaya
Visions: sees himself; others; the universe; causality
May have had a son, Rhula
Teacher for 45 years, beginning at Sarnath
Died at 80
Buddhas Life as Exem plary:
H agiograpy
Hero story, or Saint story
Facts are less important than rhetoric, than
the exemplary qualities of the story.
Illustrates what the story-tellers thought was
important, often reflects their perspectives and
situations more than those of the storys
protagonist.
Teleology: sense of, this is the moment
everyones been waiting for
According to the Buddhacarita, the Bodhisattvas
first word is For Enlightenment (Buddhya)
Career as Bodhisattva

Life of Sumati
Makes an offering to the previous
Buddha, Dipankra
Vows to become a fully enlightened
Buddha (samyaksabuddha)
Receives a prophecy
Accumulates wisdom (praj) and
merit
(pun ya) for Three Incalculable Eons