Who was the Buddha?

“Buddha” (properly speaking) refers, not to a single individual, but rather to a category of beings: those who have, through their own effort, attained complete enlightenment.

But, more typically, “the Buddha” refers to the Sakyan prince who, in the 5th century BCE Gangetic Plain, first rediscovered nibbāna and taught the way for attaining it.

Over 500 million people now worship the Buddha as their teacher, but the Buddha was no God. Indeed, it’s even said that a Buddha can only arise as a human—never as a deity (deva)— because only the human realm balances the misfortunes and mistakes of life which are necessary to motivate the practice, with the ease and discernment which allow it to ripen.

But while the Buddha was born a man, a man he did not remain. Through his superior striving and wisdom (over countless eons) he was able to transcend gender, caste, creed, identities, views, suffering and even death itself and to teach others how to transcend themselves too. We call such a teacher, “Buddha.”

Prerequisites

If you’re looking for a quick and inspiring biography of the Buddha, I recommend The Biography of Shakyamuni Buddha by Master Hsing Yun. This course goes beyond the basics to reading the primary sources themselves, and therefore requires some comfort reading the Early Buddhist Texts.

Course Materials

This syllabus has no associated lectures. It weaves together several, free books, mostly on the Pāli texts.

Textbooks

Main Anthology

The Life of the Buddha – Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli Thera (.pdf)
  • This classic, quirky anthology gives a good presentation of the Canonical account of the Buddha’s life. It will be the primary biography used in this course, and we will follow the book’s ordering of events.

Other Anthologies

To supplement Ñanamoli’s judicious selections from the Pāli Canon, we will use these anthologies to underline a couple themes I think worth dwelling on:

Teacher of the Devas – Susan E. Jootla (.pdf) (.epub)
  • To understand the Buddhist cosmology requires seeing the way the Gods and the Buddha related with one another.
Buddha, My Refuge – Laurence Khantipalo Mills (.pdf)
  • While it is important to mine the Pāli literature for historical and mythological details, it is also important to not lose sight of the Buddha’s extraordinary personal qualities, explained in this anthology through the nine characteristics of the Buddha.

Primary Texts

There’s one significant primary text in this course, but it isn’t an early text.

The Nidānakathā: Introduction to the Jātaka Stories (.pdf) (.epub)
  • This traditional Pāli commentary contains one of the first systematic biographies of the Buddha and formed the basis for many of the later hagiographies. While not necessarily a reliable source of information about the historical Buddha himself, it is of critical importance for understanding the myths and stories about the Buddha which persist today.

Academic Works

A number of articles and essays will be weaved in throughout the course. We’ll also be reading these two, free books:

Original Versions of Some Entries for the Encyclopedia of Buddhism – Peter Harvey (.pdf)
  • A collection of Encyclopedia articles introducing the Buddha from one of the English language’s best authors of rigorous introductions.
The Genesis of the Bodhisattva Ideal – Bhikkhu Anālayo (.pdf)
  • In this monograph, the renowned scholar of early Buddhism explores what the early literature can tell us about how the Buddha became the Buddha: a topic of extraordinary importance in later centuries.

Course Outline

I’ve sequenced the above books into an inter-woven, narrative arc which I (at least!) find compelling.

If I were to actually teach this course, I’d perhaps meet twice per week for 13 weeks. The readings below have been bunched together according to this hypothetical schedule, but for individual study you’re of course welcome to work through the readings as you like.

Introduction

  1. [Entries - Peter Harvey] The Early Buddhist Concept of the Buddha

  2. [Entries] Past and Future Buddhas

  3. [E] Dates of the Buddha
  4. [Nidanakatha: The Introduction to the Jatakas] The Introduction by T. W. Rhys Davids
  5. [E] The Buddha’s Historical Context

Part 1: Becoming the Buddha

  1. [Life of the Buddha] Birth and Childhood
  2. DN 30: The Marks of a Great Man (.pdf)
    • This mythic text gives the 32 characteristics of Gotama’s body, which,legend has it, marked him for greatness at an early age. Note that some of the Suttas are not as early as others!
  3. On the Origins of the 32 Marks of a Great Man – Nathan McGovern (.pdf)
  4. Politics of the Buddha’s Genitals – Bhante Sujato (.pdf)

  5. [E] The Buddha’s Family

  6. [Life] The Struggle for Enlightenment

  7. [Bodhisattva Ideal - Analayo] Chapter 1: Gautama as a Bodhisattva

  8. [Nidanakatha] The Middle Epoch

    • Note especially any contrasts to the earlier texts.

  9. [E] The Bodhisattva Career in the Theravada
  10. [Bodhisattva] Chapter 2: Meeting the Previous Buddha

  11. [Nidanakatha] The Distant Epoch

  12. [Buddha, My Refuge] Introduction
  13. [Life] After the Enlightenment
  14. Epithets of the Buddha (.jpeg) (.jpeg)

  15. The Meaning of the Word Tathāgata According to the Pāli Commentaries: Text and Introduction – Bhikkhu Bodhi (.pdf) (.pdf)

  16. The Weary Buddha: Why the Buddha Nearly Couldn’t Be Bothered – David Webster (.pdf) (.pdf)
  17. [Entries] Pratyeka-buddhas
  18. [Entries] Optional: The Four Ennobling Truths

  19. [Refuge] Arahaṁ

  20. [Life] Spreading the Dhamma
  21. [L] The Two Chief Disciples

  22. [L] Anathapindika: Feeder of the Poor

  23. [N] The Last Epoch
  24. [Refuge] sammā-sambuddho
  25. DN 28: Inspiring Confidence (.pdf)

Part 2: Establishing the Religion

  1. [E] Review: The Story of the Buddha

  2. [Teacher of the Devas] Introduction: The Devas

  3. [Life] Formation of the Order of Nuns
  4. A Whisper in the Silence: Nuns Before Mahāpajāpatī – Liz Williams (.pdf) (.pdf)

  5. Mahāpajāpatī’s Going Forth in the Madhyama-āgama – Bhikkhu Anālayo (.pdf)

  6. [Refuge] Vijjā-caraṇa-sampanno

  7. The Buddha and Omniscience – Bhikkhu Anālayo (.pdf)

  8. [L] The Quarrel at Kosambi

  9. [R] Sugato

  10. [L] End of the First Twenty Years
  11. MN 35: Cūḷasaccaka Sutta (.pdf)
  12. [T] Teaching the Devas

  13. [R] Locavidū

  14. [L] The Middle Period

  15. [E] The Buddha’s Style of Teaching

  16. [R] Anuttaro purisa-damma-sārathi
  17. [L] The Person
  18. MN 91: With Brahmāyu (.pdf)

  19. The Buddha Was Bald – Eisel Mazard (.pdf)

  20. [L] The Doctrine

  21. [E] Anatman

  22. [R] Satthā deva-manussānaṁ
  23. [T] Devas Honor the Buddha

  24. [L] Devadatta

  25. [R] Buddho
  26. [L] Old Age
  27. [E] The Buddha and Cakravartins

  28. Review: [T] Devas in the Buddha’s Career

  29. [L] The Last Year
  30. Sūkaramaddava: The Buddha’s Last Meal – John D. Ireland (.pdf) (.pdf)
  31. [E] Relics of the Buddha

  32. [R] Bhagava

  33. [E] Early Symbols of the Buddha
  34. [L] The First Council
  35. [T] Liberation and Conclusion

Epilogue: The Far Future

  1. [Bodhisattva] Maitreya

Further Reading

Articles

The Bad Karma of the Buddha (2002) – Guang Xing

The Buddha’s bad karma refers to ten problematic incidents that happened in the life of the historical Buddha. […] The texts related to the bad karma of the Buddha can be divided into two groups: those texts accepting the bad karma and those rejecting the whole matter.

Cremated Like a King: The Funeral of the Buddha within the Ancient Indian Context (2009) – Oskar von Hinüber

Intertextuality, Contradiction, and Confusion in the Prasādanīya-sūtra, Sampasādanīya-sutta, and 自歡喜經 (Zì huānxǐ jīng) (2016) – Charles DiSimone

Did the Buddha Exist (2019) – Alexander Wynne

Did the Buddha know Sanskrit? (2013) – Richard Gombrich

Audio/Video

Recollections of the Buddha (2007) – Ayya Vayama

Asalha Puja: Celebrating the Turning of the Wheel (2009) – Bhante Yuttadhammo

Writing Yasodhara and the Buddha (2021) – Vanessa Sasson

Booklets

The Buddha’s Last Bequest: A Translation from the Chinese Tipiṭaka (1967) – Laurence Khantipalo Mills

Canonical Works

DN 16: The Mahāparinibbāna Sutta (2018)

MN 19: Dvedhāvitakka (Two Kinds of Thought) (2009)

MN 27: The Shorter Discourse on the Simile of the Elephant’s Footprint (2009)

MN 67: At Cātumā (2018)

MN 77: The Greater Discourse to Sakuludāyin (2009)

And even those disciples of his who fall out with their companions in the holy life and abandon the training to return to the low life–even they praise the Master and the Dhamma and the Sangha; they blame themselves instead of others, saying: “We were unlucky, we have little merit”

MN 81: Ghaṭikāra (2018) – Roland Kitchen

MN 87: Piyajātika Sutta (2009)

I did not delight in the contemplative Gotama’s speech; I condemned it, rose from my seat, and left!

MN 107: Moggallāna the Accountant (1959)

The Mahākhandhaka (2021)

The canonical account of the Buddha’s first days and the story of how the religion was founded.

Ud 4.5: The Nāga Elephant (2008)

Essays

Buddha and the Political Events of His Times (2016) – Alexander Berzin

A Study of the Buddha’s Travels (2020) – Bhante Shravasti Dhammika

What Did the Buddha Think of Women? (2012) – Bhikkhu Cintita

Monographs

A Meditator’s Life of the Buddha: Based on the Early Discourses (2017) – Bhikkhu Anālayo

Reference Shelf

A Map of Jambudīpa

Advanced Courses

The Majjhima Nikāya
Many stories from life in the early Sangha and the most complex teachings of the Canon, analyzed methodically by Bhikkhu Bodhi.
The Pāli Language: Level 1
An introduction to the language of the Buddha.
or feel free to check out any of our University's other fine offerings.