Search Results: Buddha

A small carved figurine sits high on a grand multi-tiered pedestal in a magnificent wat (temple) in Bangkok, Thailand. It has been sitting there since 1784 CE and was originally thought to be made of emerald. Hundreds of tourists and pilgrims...

The dates of the Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, have been a concern of, primarily, Western scholars for well over 100 years now owing to the particularly Western need for precise dating of historical persons and events. The problem with precise...

The different Buddhist schools of thought, still operating in the present day, developed after the death of the Buddha (l. c. 563 - c. 483 BCE) in an effort to perpetuate his teachings and honor his example. Each of the schools claimed to...

Mahasanghika (“Great Congregation”, also given as Mahasamghika) was an early Buddhist school of thought which is thought to have been formed after the Second Buddhist Council of 383 BCE when it separated itself from another school, the Sthaviravada...

Kapilavastu (“Place of Kapila”) is the name of the city where Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha, l. c. 563-483 BCE) grew up and lived for the first 29 years of his life before leaving to pursue the spiritual path which led to his enlightenment...

Mahayana Buddhism is the largest Buddhist sect in the world, and its beliefs and practices are what most non-adherents recognize as "Buddhism" in the modern era. It developed as a school of thought sometime after 383 BCE, possibly from the...

One of the first representations of the Buddha, 1st-2nd century CE, Gandhara: Standing Buddha. (Tokyo National Museum)

The huge bronze Buddha in the Daibutsuden or Great Buddha Hall at the Todaiji temple complex, Nara, Japan. c. 752 CE, Nara Period. Height: 15 metres (49 ft.).

Buddha head at Wat Mahathat, Ayutthaya Historical Park, Thailand. Wat Mahathat is called the Monastery of the Great Relic and was built during the reign of two kings: Borommaracha I (r. 1370-1388) and King Ramesuan (r. 1388-1395). The Buddha...

The huge bronze Buddha in the Daibutsuden or Great Buddha Hall at the Todaiji temple complex, Nara, Japan. c. 752 CE, Nara Period. Height: 15 metres (49 ft.). Partially restored with the legs and lower body being wholly original.