Pronunciation: [shì jiā mù ní]

The founder of Buddhism, Sakyamuni (Buddha), was a member of the Sakyamuni tribe of Kapilavastu in ancient Central India. He existed in the AD mid-first millennium BC. At this time, the prosperity of commodity trade promoted the rise of the Kshatriya class, and the authoritative status of traditional Brahmanism, which had constituted an obstacle, was weakened, and the ideological circles were active in Samana thought, including Buddhism.

The life of Sakyamuni did not attract the attention of the early Tripitaka editors. They only recorded the words of the teacher in as much detail as possible; more detailed narratives and more legendary stories were only elaborately fabricated later. Regarding the image of Buddha, what is relatively reliable is a basic outline. He grew up in a wealthy environment. After marrying a wife and having children, he became a monk when he was about 29 years old. Neither the meditation nor asceticism he learned could solve the problem. He attained the enlightenment of the Buddha when he was about 35 years old. For the rest of his life, he traveled all over the Ganges River Basin, preaching sermons and teachings to all walks of life. His sublation of heretical ideas corrected certain deviations in the civilization of the times and safeguarded the class interests of the Kshatriyas, making him revered as a saint of the Sakya clan.

After the death of the Buddha, the holy scriptures were first recited orally, and later written scriptures gradually appeared; the original scriptures were later re-edited by various sects. Through this series of processes, the original teachings of the Buddha have been processed. Therefore, in all the Tibetan scriptures, certain Dharma meanings appear in slightly different ways. At most, it can only embody the Buddha's teachings to a certain extent. It is the "original Buddhism" endorsed by the Pali Five Nikayas and the Chinese translation of the Four Agamas. Its content structure is mostly the Three Dharma Seals, the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, and the Twelve Dependent Origination, Thirty-Seven Paths, etc. The fundamental principle of the Buddha is based on the origin of impermanence and selflessness. For example, before Shariputra takes refuge in the Buddha, you only need to tell him: "The World Honored One said that all dharmas are the arising and passing away of causes and conditions."

Sakyamuni-Baidu Encyclopedia