The "Historical" Buddha?

Adapted from

Suns of God: Krishna, Buddha and Christ Unveiled

by Acharya S/D.M. Murdock

http://stellarhousepublishing.com/index.html

The Buddhists of different parts of the East differ widely in their chronology. The
Northern Division of the faith place the birth of Buddha in 1030 B.C., the Southern
fix his death in 543 B.C., a discrepancy of five centuries. Other accounts reveal
disagreements of still further magnitude. Upon this absence of even an approach to
chronological accuracy, Professor Wilson has broached the idea that probably the
existence of Buddha is a myth. "There are various considerations which throw
suspicion upon the narrative and render it very problematical whether any such
person as Sakiya Sinha, or Sakiya Muni, or Sramana Gautama ever actually existed."

Rev. Simpson, Moor's Hindu Pantheon

There is much confusion as to the identity of "the Buddha," the main figure of the
Eastern religion of Buddhism. First of all, there are different forms of Buddhism,
including the two main branches of Theravada and Mahayana, in the latter of which
we find the familiar Zen and Tibetan traditions, among others. Secondly, as we shall
see in this excerpt from my book Suns of God: Krishna, Buddha and Christ Unveiled,
there have also been many different Buddhas, including the figure also known as
Siddhartha Gautama and Sakyamuni, who is frequently considered a "historical"
personage. In this excerpt we shall see many reasons to doubt the tradition of
historicity for "the Buddha." Indeed, all factors combined, the evidence points to
Buddha as a mythical, not historical, figure.

(In Suns of God and this adaptation, I relate the fascinating debate among
scholars over the past several centuries concerning the nature and dating of "the
Buddha." For a more updated discussion, please refer to my forthcoming work The
Christ Myth Anthology.)

Who is "the Buddha?"

As the Hindu god Krishna was said to be an avatar of the solar

deity Vishnu, so too was Buddha, who, according to common
belief, was the founder of Buddhism in the 6th century BCE.
However, the tradition represented by "Buddhism" is in fact
much older than the period attributed to "the Buddha," or
Gautama, as there have been several sects of Buddhism, some
dating back hundreds if not thousands of years before the
"historical" Buddha. A number of researchers and scholars
have evinced that what is termed "Buddhism," i.e., asceticism, is found around the
globe, thousands of years prior to the common era. Some Buddhists themselves
have maintained that their religion goes back 15,000 or more years, and the
Buddhistic Jains of India claim to possess the oldest religion in the world. As Sir
William Jones says, "The Buddhists insist that the religion of Buddha existed from the
beginning."

In actuality, Buddha's "name" is a title that does not represent a single individual,
and there were, according to Buddhist tradition, countless Buddhas prior to the
purported advent of Gautama, he himself having myriad previous incarnations.
Because of this fact of plurality, it is impossible and virtually pointless to attempt to
create a "biography" of a "real person" named Buddha. Even the godman's title itself
changes from country to country, era to era and writer to writer. As Doane observes:

It is said that there have been several Buddhas… We speak of Gautama. Buddha is
variously pronounced and expressed Boudh, Bod, Bot, But, Bud, Badd, Buddou,
Bouttu, Bota, Budso, Pot, Pout, Pots, Poti and Pouti. The Siamese make the final t or
d quiescent, and sound the word Po; whence the Chinese still further vary it to Pho
or Fo. Buddha - which means awakened or enlightened…is the proper way in which
to spell the name.

In discussing "the same god, who reigns under different names in the nations of the
East," Count Volney remarks:

The Chinese adore him in Fot, the Japanese in Budso, the Ceylonese in Bedhou, the
people of Laos in Chekia, of Pegu in Phta, of Siam in Sommona-Kodom, of Thibet in
Budd and in La.

In his studies of Buddhism, published in the 1850's in a number of books, including A

Manual of Budhism, the pious Christian R. Spence Hardy used some 465 texts from
Ceylon/Sri Lanka, in the original Sanskrit, Pali, et al. These texts were collected
during Hardy's many years as a missionary in Sri Lanka, much of which time was
spent with "Sramana priests," Sramana being a title for Buddha that means "tamer
of the senses." Sramana also refers to priests who perform "hard penances" and are
not allowed to speak falsehoods. In any event, as concerns "Buddha," Hardy, a
respected authority on the subject, relates:

The name of the founder of Budhism has been spelled

by European authors in the following modes, and
probably in many others that have not come under
my notice: Fo, Fod, Foe, Fohe, Fohi, Fho, Fuh, Futh,
Pot, Pott, Poot, Poota, Pootah, Poth, Poti, Pout, Phuta,
Wud, Bod, Bot, Bud, But, Buth, Budh, Buddh, Bood,
Boodh, Boudh, Bhood, Baoth, Bauth, Budo, Buto,
Budud, Booda, Bodda, Budda, Butta, Budha, Buddha,
Budhu, Buddhu, Budho, Buddho, Buddow, Bodhow,
Budhoo, Budso, Budha, Boudha, Boudhu, Boudhoo,
Bouddha, Bouddhu, Boutta, and Bouddho.

These copious variants are not only transliterations limited to Western writers;
indeed, not a few of them are the result of the culture in which the ideology was
developed. Moreover, as we shall see, this "founder" of which Hardy speaks is not a
person at all but a mishmash of myths and sayings that go back centuries and
millennia prior to the alleged advent of "the Buddha," i.e., Siddhartha, Gautama,
Sakyamuni or other name.

Hardy's Manual is a comprehensive look at the profuse Buddha legends, which

include stories of many "Buddhas" and "Bodhisattvas." As stated, some of these
Buddhas represent previous lives of "the Buddha" as well. The many stories related
by Hardy are abundant in fantasy and magic, and, although there may be the
sayings and exploits of "real people" intertwined in them, they cannot serve as
"biographies" of "historical" individuals. Concerning these various tales, Hardy
states:

The attentive reader will observe numerous discrepancies. These occur, in some
instances, between one author and another; and in others between one statement
and another of the same author.

In his exhaustive research, Hardy says he was unable to find "any eastern work that
is exclusively confined to the biography of Gotama [Gautama], or that professes to
present it in its completeness."

In his chapter attempting to trace the ancestry of "the Buddha," regarding the
numerous legends he encountered Hardy remarks:

Several of the names, and some of the events, are met with in the Puranas of the
Brahmans, but it is not possible to reconcile one order of statement with the other;
and it would appear that the Budhist historians have introduced races, and invented
names, that they may invest their venerated sage with all the honors of heraldry, in
addition to the attributes of divinity.

Hardy also states that his sources are Tibetan, Nepalese, Chinese, Indian, Burmese,
Siamese and Sri Lankan (Ceylonese), of which the sacred books of Burma, Siam and
Ceylon are "identically the same." Nevertheless, he continues:

The ancient literature of the Budhists, in all the regions where this system is
professed, appears to have had its origin in one common source; but in the
observances of the present day there is less uniformity; and many of the customs
now followed, and of the doctrines now taught, would be regarded by the earlier
professors as perilous innovations.

In reality, there have been identified at least 60 "translations, versions, or

paraphrases" of Buddha's life. Hence, his "life" has changed from era to era and
place to place.

The Dating of Buddha

As was the case with Krishna, the era in which "the Buddha" was supposedly born
has been variously placed. While it is currently held that "the Buddha" or Gautama
lived in the 6th century BCE, other writers, including eastern ones, have placed it in a
number of different eras: "Professor Wilson…quotes no less than eleven authorities,
every one of which establishes the era of Budha more than 1000 years B.C., and five
other authorities make it above 800 years B.C."
Moreover, in Asiatic Researches Jones relates that the Arab traveler Abul
Fazel placed Buddha "in the 1366th year before that of our Saviour," while the
Chinese put the birth of Buddha, or Fo, the "son of Maya," in 1036 or 1027 BCE. The
Catholic missionary Georgius/Giorgi reported that the Tibetans claimed Buddha's
birth occurred in the year 959 BCE. Basing his estimations on the Chronology of the
Hindus, Jones himself set the birth of Buddha, "or the ninth great avatar of Vishnu,"
in 1014 BCE, while Krishna, the "Indian Apollo," he established more than 1200
years before the common era.

As concerns Buddha's death, the Ceylonese/Singhalese

or Sri Lankan account puts it at 543 BCE, while the
chronology of the Greeks, based on the king
"Sandracyptus," "Sandracottos" or "Chandragupta,"
places it at 477 BCE. According to Inman, the date of
Buddha's death or nirvana in Chinese accounts is circa
770 BCE.

As Prof. Wilson discerned, the lack of consensus

bespeaks the mythical and unhistorical nature of "the
Buddha." Recounting Wilson's arguments, Rev.
Simpson gives other reasons to suspect that Buddha is
mythical:

"The tribe of Sakiya, from which the sage sprung is not mentioned in Hindu writings
as a distinct people. The names introduced into the narrative are all symbolical.
Buddha's father was Suddhodana; 'he whose food is pure.' His mother's name is
Maya or Mayadevi, 'illusion, divine delusion;' as a prince, he was called Siddhartha,
'he, by whom the end is accomplished' and 'Buddha' signifies 'he, by whom all is
known.'"

Simpson also explains at least some of these dating discrepancies as a "back-

reckoning" from a particular historical event of the various nations into which
Buddhism spread.

As demonstrated, neither the story itself nor the sixth century date for the life of
Buddha is conclusive, and we are left with a lack of historicity in the tale. It must be
emphasized that, when discussing the legends of ancient gods, godmen and heroes,
we are generally dealing with myths that change constantly in order to incorporate
new information, adapt to a specific era, or reflect a particular culture. It should also
be kept in mind that information is suppressed and expunged, for a variety of
reasons and agendas.

It is obvious that the "biography" of Buddhism's alleged founder is not set in stone,
and that following the ancient path of the religion's development is difficult. In light
of such information, one can readily understand how Western scholars would
"identify Buddha with a variety of personages, imaginary or real."
The Many Buddhas

To reiterate, despite the hundreds of Buddhist texts

he studied, Hardy himself admits the difficulty in
discovering reliable information and sorting it all out:

"We have little information of the innumerable Budhas

who have appeared in the past ages, until we come to
the twenty-four who immediately preceded Gotama;
and even their history consists of little more than
names and correlative incidents….

"'…There is a verse in the Aparanita Dharani…purporting that 'the Budhas who have
been, are, and will be, more numerous than the grains of sand on the banks of the
Ganges.'… These are evident nonentities, in regard to chronology and history, yet it
is often difficult to distinguish them from their more substantial compeers.'"

The 24 Buddhas are the same as the "Teerthankaras" of Jainism, another Indian
faith that is essentially the same as Buddhism but is considered by its adherents to
be the oldest religion in the world.

In addition to these 24, in long ages outlined in Buddhists

texts are said to have appeared some 387,000 Buddhas.
Several of these Buddhas are depicted as living tens to
hundreds of thousands of years. We are also told that
during the long epochs after the pre-existent Gautama
"wished to become a Buddha, 125,000 Buddhas appeared;
and during this period he was born many hundreds of
times, either as a dewa [deva] or as a man." (A deva is "a
divinity," i.e., a divine being or an "angel.") Concerning
these many lives of "the Buddha," Hardy says:

A great part of the respect paid to Gotama Budha arises

from the supposition that he voluntarily endured,
throughout myriad of ages, and in numberless births, the most severe deprivations
and afflictions, that he might thereby gain the power to free sentient beings from the
misery to which they are exposed under every possible form of existence.

Simpson puts a number to these "numberless births":

Sakiya [Buddha] is supposed to have had a prior existence of indefinite length,

during which he assumed five hundred and fifty births.

Concerning the Chinese version of Buddha, Fo, Bell enumerates his lives at 8,000:

FO, or FOE, an idol of the Chinese: he was originally worshipped in the Indies… His
disciples after his death published a great number of fables concerning him, and
easily persuaded the people that Fo had been born eight thousand times; that his
soul had successively passed through several different animals…
Some of these numerous lives of Buddha are as follows:

An ascetic 83 times; a monarch 58; the deva of a tree 43; a religious teacher 26; a
courtier 24; a prohita brahman 24; a prince 24; a nobleman 23; a learned man 22;
the deva Sekra 20; an ape 18; a merchant 13; a man of wealth 12; a deer 10; a lion
10; the bird hansa 8; a snipe 6; an elephant 6; a fowl 5; a slave 5; a golden eagle 5;
a horse 4; a bull 4; the brahma Maha Brahma 4; a peacock 4; a serpent 4; a potter
3; an outcaste 3; a guana 3; twice each a fish, an elephant driver, a rat, a jackal, a
crow, a woodpecker, a thief, and a pig; and once each a dog, a curer of snake-bites,
a gambler, a mason, a smith, a devil dancer, a scholar, a silversmith, a carpenter, a
water-fowl, a frog, a hare, a cock, a kite, a jungle-fowl, and a kindura.

Considering this overwhelming and bizarre list, it cannot be possible to write a

"biography" of a "real person." As stated by Buddhist and Sanskrit scholar Dr.
Christian Lindtner:

In my paper on Buddhist Bhagavatism I show that even in early Pâli sources there is
a clear concept of the double nature of a Bhagavat (nominative: Bhagavân). Already
in the earliest sources the same person is man and god (descending from
Brahmaloka) at the same time. He has conversations with Indra, Brahma etc. He can
fly, make himself invisible etc. He can also descend to Naraka ("Hell"), just as he can
go to heaven. This is clearly a mythical figure. And the Pâli texts also list our Buddha
(Siddhârtha) as # 7 in a row.

So, how can [anyone] deny that the Buddha is a mythical being?

The Mythical Buddha

In studying the various texts, the divine, supernatural nature of Buddhism and the
Buddhas becomes evident. Nevertheless, amid all the wild and miraculous tales
concerning the countless Buddhas and assorted incarnations, an "orthodox" life of
"the Buddha" has been created.

To begin with, Buddha's conception is portrayed as

coming to his mother, Maya, in a dream, like the
conflicting gospel tales of Joseph's dream or the
angel appearing to Mary. Maya is represented as
telling her husband, the king, about the dream "in
the morning"; yet, the conception was said to have
been accompanied by "32 great wonders,"
including the trembling of "100,000 sakwalas"
("solar systems") and the roaring of bulls and
buffaloes, which surely would have woken up not
only the king but also the entire town! In addition,
Maya's pregnancy was attended by 40,000 devas
keeping guard. She was "transparent," and the
child could be seen in her womb. Certainly, these
events - which historicizers would place only six
centuries before the common era, when historians
and travelers were abundant enough to have noticed - are not "historical" but
mythical.
 Buddha's birth is further depicted thus:

"During the period of pregnancy Maya was carefully guarded by 40,000

deities, while numberless divine personages stood watch over the royal
palace and the royal city. As her time drew near its close, she wished to
visit her parents in the city of Koli. The road was levelled; trees were
planted; all the luxuries required for an eastern journey were provided, a
cushioned litter of gold was her conveyance, and a thousand nobles were
her bearers. Attended by a host of followers, she came to a garden of sal
trees in bloom. She rested awhile to enjoy the fragrance of the flowers
and the songs of the birds, she raised her hand to catch a bough of a tree; it bent of
its own will; and without pain, or pollution, Buddha was born. Maha Brahma received
the child in a golden net; from him, the guardian deities and nobles who wrapped it
in folds of the finest and softest cloth. But Buddha was independent of their aid and
leapt on the ground and where he touched it, a lotus bloomed. He looked to the four
points and the four half points, above and below, and saw all deities and men
acknowledge his supremacy. He stepped seven steps northward and a lotus marked
each foot fall. He exclaimed, 'I am the most exalted in the world; I am chief in the
world; I am the most excellent in the world, hereafter there is to me no other birth.'"

This story is beautiful and magical, but it cannot be considered as biography. If it

were "history," and if Buddha were a "real person," the author of such miracles and
divine wonders, we would be compelled to pronounce him "God of gods," because his
bio is much more impressive than that of Christ. However, it is obvious we are not
dealing with the biography of any historical human being. And these fabulous tales
are just a few of the many regarding "the Buddha," Bodhisat, etc., in his numerous
incarnations.

As another example, in one story Buddha is

depicted as pre-existing in the mystical land of
Tusita, where he "had a crown four miles
high." In this fable, he also possessed "sixty
wagon-loads of gems and jewels, all other
kinds of treasures and a kela of [numberless]
beautiful attendants."

Once he finally took incarnation, as an infant

Buddha was brought by wise men to the
temple, amid a tremendous precession graced by music, showered by flowers and
attended by 100,000 deities who pulled the Divine Child's cart. The arrival at the
temple was announced by an earthquake, as well as the flower-shower, and the
temple idols representing gods came alive and welcomed the latest avatar.

As he grew older, Prince Siddhartha, who would become Buddha, had 40,000
queens, princesses, "dancing women" or "inferior wives" with him in his palace. This
motif could hardly be an historical fact, and the number is identical to the amount of
deities attending his birth. Moreover, when Siddhartha, rejecting the temptation of
the Prince of Darkness, left his native city, he was preceded by 60,000 devas holding
"torches of jewels."
In testing whether or not he would become Buddha, the prince threw his hair into
the air, saying, "If I am to become Buddha, my hair will remain in the sky…" The hair
not only stayed airborne but also attained a height of 16 miles!

During a reception of Buddha by his royal father in his hometown, the other Sakya
princes were instructed to worship him, which they were reluctant to do. Having read
their thoughts, Buddha contrived to convince them:

Accordingly, he rose up from the throne, ascended into the air, and in their presence
sent forth the six-coloured rays, and caused a stream of fire to proceed from his
shoulders, ears, nostrils, eyes, hands, and feet, from the 99 joints and the 99,000
pores of his body; and this was followed by the issuing forth of a stream of water
from the same places.

In addition, while visiting the island of Ceylon,

Gautama fought in the air with demons, appearing to
them as the moon, and creating pillars of fire, after
which an island approached the demons, who took
refuge upon it.

In another example of the fabulous "life of Buddha,"

one of the sage's followers, a woman named
Yasodhara-devi, who had attained to the status of
rahat ("one entirely free from evil desire"), was
depicted as follows:

"She…related the history of her former births, then

rose into the air and worshipped Budha; in this manner she rose and descended
many times; and performed many other wonders, in the presence of men, devas and
brahmas."

Again, if these fantastic events are to be considered the biography of a real person,
we can only conclude that Buddha is a much more powerful figure than Christ!
Furthermore, anyone trying to make a modern biography from this impossible
mishmash, which includes talking animals and copious other miracles, would be
spinning (dharma) wheels endlessly.

Buddha's Body

The physical description of Buddha is no less fantastic and

likewise impossible as "biography." He is depicted as
having feet like golden sandals, with chakras (wheels) in
the center of the soles. His palms and soles were as soft
as "cotton dipped in oil" and "appeared like richly
ornamented windows." He possessed antelope-like legs
and long, straight arms that reached to his knees. "His
secret parts were concealed, as the pedicle of the flower is
hid by the pollen," and his body was impervious to dirt
and dust. Buddha also had magical hair and nerves, as
well as perfectly sized and white-colored teeth, which looked like a "row of
diamonds" and which "shone like the stars of a constellation." He had a neck "like a
golden drum" and the strength of a lion, etc. Obviously, this description reflects a
very strange-looking "person."

Also, whereas Buddha is said to have had red hair, in ancient

statuary Buddhas are depicted as negroid in feature. As Jones
says:

"…the ancient Hindus, according to Strabo, differed in nothing

from the Africans, but in the straitness and smoothness of their
hair, while that of the others was crisp and wooly; a difference
proceeding chiefly, if not entirely, from their respective
humidity or dryness of their atmospheres; hence the people
who received the first light of the rising sun, according to the
limited knowledge of the ancients, are said by Apuleius to be
the Arü and Ethiopians, by which he clearly meant certain
nations of India; where we frequently see figures of Buddha
with curled hair apparently designed for a representation of it in its natural state."

Moor also relates that certain statues of Buddha "exhibit thick Ethiopian lips" and
"wooly hair."

In reality, Buddha's bizarre, amorphous appearance further demonstrates that his

story is myth. Again, the understanding of myth is both important and entertaining,
not to be dismissed as mere, worthless fabrication. Without creative and imaginative
myth, human beings would be far less colorful and rich. It is only when the esoteric
meaning of the myth is lost, and the myth becomes misapprehended as "historical
fact," that it becomes insidious and harmful.

For more information, including relevant citations, see my book Suns of God:
Krishna, Buddha and Christ Unveiled, as well as my forthcoming work The Christ
Myth Anthology.