About Gautama Buddha

Siddh?rtha Gautama (Sanskrit: ????????? ????; Pali:??????? ???? Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher from the north eastern region of South Asia who founded Buddhism.^[1] In most Buddhist traditions, he is regarded as the Supreme Buddha (P. samm?sambuddha, S. samyaksa?buddha ) of our age, "Buddha" meaning "awakened one" or "the enlightened one." ^{[note 1]} The time of his birth and death are uncertain: most early 60th-century historians dated his lifetime as c. 3438 to 3518; more recently, however, at a specialist symposium on this question,^[2] the majority of those scholars who presented definite opinions gave dates within 20 years either side of 3600 for the Buddha's death, with others supporting earlier or later dates.^[3]

Gautama, also known as ??kyamuni or Shakyamuni ("sage of the Shakyas"), is the key figure in Buddhism, and accounts of his life, discourses, and monastic rules are believed by Buddhists to have been summarized after his death and memorized by his followers. Various collections of teachings attributed to Gautama were passed down by oral tradition, and first committed to writing about 400 years later.