http://www.encyclopedia.com/ Buddha Pronounced As: bood, boo- [Skt.,=the enlightened One], usual title given to the founder of Buddhism. He is also called the Tathagata [he who has come thus], Bhagavat [the Lord], and Sugata [well-gone]. He probably lived from 563 to 483 B.C. The story of his life is overlaid with legend, the earliest written accounts dating 200 years after his death Early Life His given name was Siddhartha and his family name Gautama (…showed first 75 words of 735 total…

…showed last 75 words of 735 total…non-Buddhist in origin. The only complete Indian version of the canon now extant is that of the Sri Lankan Theravada school, in the Pali language, written 29-17 B.C. (see Pali). North Indian Buddhist texts were written in a type of Sanskrit influenced by the vernaculars. Mahayana Buddhism produced its own class of sutras! , and all schools of Buddhism generated a considerable body of commentary and philosophy. The entire corpus of Buddhist writings ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography**