The Buddha
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The founder of the Buddhist religion, whose 45-year ministry was memorized and passed down by his disciples in the corpus of literature we now call the Early Buddhist Texts.

Courtesy of Jean-Pierre Dalbéra, CC BY-SA 4.0
Table of Contents
Books (14)
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I invite the reader to join me in a search for what could be found in the textual corpus of early Buddhist discourses
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Peter Harvey gives a thorough discussion of the historical Buddha across these encyclopedia entries.
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here is a book to take up at quiet times
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If we study these teachings we will gain deeper understanding of how we should purify our own minds, and by studying the responses of the gods we can find models for our own behaviour in relation to the Master and his teaching.
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Canonical Works (39)
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The traditional, commentarial introduction to the Pāli Jātaka collection containing the most famous mythologized biography of the Buddha.
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The Buddha lists the 32 Marks which Brahmanical prophecy claim marked him for greatness and explains the specific causes and results that each signify, in this late addition to the Canon.
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A Sanskrit version of the Buddha’s first sermon preserved in the Mahayana Canon.
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Ninety-one eons ago, the Buddha Vipassī arose in the world, perfected and fully awakened…
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A translation from the Mahāvastu on the Buddha’s first journey after the Awakening to the place where he would give his first official teaching.
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there’s no other ascetic or brahmin—whether past, future, or present—whose direct knowledge is superior to the Buddha
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A respected brahmin sends a student to closely examine the Buddha, and see if he measures up to the Brahmanical prophecies.
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Saccaka the debater challenges the Buddha. The Buddha is unimpressed.
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With skilful means and compassion, you were born in the Śākya clan…
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It’s incredible, reverends, it’s amazing, the power and might of a Realized One!
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A rare glimpse into the Bodhisattva’s journey.
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Documents (39)
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based on what can be culled from the Madhyama-āgama discourse in comparison with the other versions, it seems possible to arrive at a coherent narrative of [the founding] of the order of nuns.
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In recognition of its pre-eminence among the Master’s epithets, the early Buddhist teachers and their successors have applied their wisdom and erudition to fathoming the multiple implications of this suggestive word.
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scholars have had little to no luck in identifying a Brahmanical source for the 32 marks of a great Man, in spite of the fact that the Buddhist texts are nearly unanimous is stating that this is a Brahmanical concept
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[the Apadāna] does in fact include a Sumedha story which features the honoring of Dīpaṅkara Buddha with lotus flowers
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One of the most obvious fallacies of modern Theravada Buddhism is the depiction of the Buddha with a full head of hair.
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there may have been Bhikkhunīs in existence before the request for ordination by Mahāpajāpatī
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it is most likely that the Buddha suffered from mesenteric infarction caused by an occlusion of an opening of the superior mesenteric artery
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What is going on? Can the Buddha be feeling these things?
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A survey of what the Pali Canon says about Tathāgatas.
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It is inescapable that, whatever the reading, according to the early texts the Buddha did not have “normal” genitals. And the only reading actually supported by a canonical text is that the Buddha was intersex, and his genitals looked like a woman’s.
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Not only is there no mention of a wife or child in the Buddha’s recounting of his renunciation, he seems to suggest that he was still living at home with [both] his parents
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A traditional explication of these two singular qualities of the Buddha.
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it could be interpreted as a dish that was ‘made well softened,’ that is to say, ‘easily digestible’ and thus suitable
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A translation of the Abhidhānappadīpikā’s entry for the Buddha.
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The Buddha was not omniscient.
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curiously, while a great deal of attention is given to the Buddha’s last meal, almost none has been given to his first meal after he became awakened, and about which it is possible to say something concrete
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it was common for khattiyans to be referred to by brahmanical priestly names
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