Shakyamuni

Shakyamuni, also Śākyamuni Buddha, is an epithet of Siddhartha Gautama, the historical founder of Buddhism. The name literally means "Sage of the Shakyas." He is revered in Theravada and Mahayana traditions as the teacher who attained awakening and taught the path to liberation.

Traditionally dated to the late 6th to 4th century BCE, he was born in Lumbini, in the Shakya clan, to King Suddhodana and Queen Maya. Raised in Kapilavastu, he left his palace after encountering old age, sickness, and death, and later renounced worldly life to seek awakening. After years of ascetic practice, he attained Enlightenment while meditating under a bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya.

As an awakened teacher, Shakyamuni delivered a series of sermons, beginning with the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta in Sarnath, where he outlined the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path. He established a monastic community, the Sangha, to preserve and teach the Buddhist path. His teachings emphasize impermanence, dependent origination, and the cessation of suffering through ethical conduct, meditation, and wisdom.

Tradition holds that he died at Kusinara (Kushinagar) in present-day India, entering parinirvana at an advanced age. His teachings were transmitted orally and later compiled in scriptures such as the Pali Canon (for Theravada) and various Mahayana sutras, with later commentaries and scholastic treatises.

Shakyamuni remains a central figure in Buddhism, regarded as the historical source of the Dharma, and his life story has shaped devotional and doctrinal traditions across Asia and beyond.