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Gautama Buddha – Wikipedia

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Gautama Buddha[note 3] (c. 563/480 c. 483/400 BCE), also known as Siddhrtha Gautama,[note 4] Shakyamuni (ie "Sage of the Shakyas") Buddha,[note 5] or simply the Buddha, after the title of Buddha, was an ascetic (ramaa) and sage, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded.[5] He is believed to have lived and taught mostly in the eastern part of ancient India sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE.[note 6]

Gautama taught a Middle Way between sensual indulgence and the severe asceticism found in the ramaa movement common in his region. He later taught throughout other regions of eastern India such as Magadha and Kosala.

Gautama is the primary figure in Buddhism. He is believed by Buddhists to be an enlightened teacher who attained full Buddhahood and shared his insights to help sentient beings end rebirth and suffering. Accounts of his life, discourses and monastic rules are believed by Buddhists to have been summarised after his death and memorised by his followers. Various collections of teachings attributed to him were passed down by oral tradition and first committed to writing about 400 years later.

In Vaishnava Hinduism, the historic Buddha is considered to be an avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu.[9] Of the ten major avatars of Vishnu, Vaishnavites believe Gautama Buddha to be the ninth and most recent incarnation.[10][11]

Scholars are hesitant to make unqualified claims about the historical facts of the Buddha's life. Most people accept that the Buddha lived, taught, and founded a monastic order during the Mahajanapada era during the reign of Bimbisara (c.558 c.491 BCE, or c. 400 BCE),[12][13][14] the ruler of the Magadha empire, and died during the early years of the reign of Ajatasatru, who was the successor of Bimbisara, thus making him a younger contemporary of Mahavira, the Jain tirthankara. Apart from the Vedic Brahmins, the Buddha's lifetime coincided with the flourishing of influential ramaa schools of thought like jvika, Crvka, Jainism, and Ajana. Brahmajala Sutta records sixty-two such schools of thought. It was also the age of influential thinkers like Mahavira (referred to as 'Nigantha Nataputta' in Pali Canon),[18] Praa Kassapa, Makkhali Gosla, Ajita Kesakambal, Pakudha Kaccyana, and Sajaya Belahaputta, as recorded in Samaaphala Sutta, whose viewpoints the Buddha most certainly must have been acquainted with.[note 7] Indeed, Sariputta and Moggallna, two of the foremost disciples of the Buddha, were formerly the foremost disciples of Sajaya Belahaputta, the sceptic; and the Pali canon frequently depicts Buddha engaging in debate with the adherents of rival schools of thought. There is also philological evidence to suggest that the two masters, Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta, were indeed historical figures and they most probably taught Buddha two different forms of meditative techniques. Thus, Buddha was just one of the many ramaa philosophers of that time. In an era where holiness of person was judged by their level of asceticism, Buddha was a reformist within the ramaa movement, rather than a reactionary against Vedic Brahminism. While the general sequence of "birth, maturity, renunciation, search, awakening and liberation, teaching, death" is widely accepted,[pageneeded] there is less consensus on the veracity of many details contained in traditional biographies.

The times of Gautama's birth and death are uncertain. Most historians in the early 20th century dated his lifetime as c. 563 BCE to 483 BCE. More recently his death is dated later, between 411 and 400 BCE, while at a symposium on this question held in 1988, the majority of those who presented definite opinions gave dates within 20 years either side of 400 BCE for the Buddha's death.[note 6] These alternative chronologies, however, have not been accepted by all historians.[note 8]

The evidence of the early texts suggests that Siddhrtha Gautama was born into the Shakya clan, a community that was on the periphery, both geographically and culturally, of the eastern Indian subcontinent in the 5th century BCE. It was either a small republic, or an oligarchy, and his father was an elected chieftain, or oligarch. According to the Buddhist tradition, Gautama was born in Lumbini, now in modern-day Nepal, and raised in the Shakya capital of Kapilvastu, which may have been either in what is present day Tilaurakot, Nepal or Piprahwa, India.[note 1] He obtained his enlightenment in Bodh Gaya, gave his first sermon in Sarnath, and died in Kushinagar.

No written records about Gautama were found from his lifetime or from the one or two centuries thereafter. In the middle of the 3rd century BCE, several Edicts of Ashoka (reigned c. 269232 BCE) mention the Buddha, and particularly Ashoka's Rummindei Minor Pillar Edict commemorates the Emperor's pilgrimage to Lumbini as the Buddha's birthplace. Another one of his edicts (Minor Rock Edict No. 3) mentions the titles of several Dhamma texts, establishing the existence of a written Buddhist tradition at least by the time of the Maurya era. These texts may be the precursor of the Pli Canon.[63] [note 10] The oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts are the Gandhran Buddhist texts, reported to have been found in or around Haa near Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan and now preserved in the British Library. They are written in the Gndhr language using the Kharosthi script on twenty-seven birch bark manuscripts and date from the first century BCE to the third century CE.[64]

On the basis of philological evidence, Indologist and Pali expert Oskar von Hinber says that some of the Pali suttas have retained very archaic place-names, syntax, and historical data from close to the Buddha's lifetime, including the Mahparinibba Sutta which contains a detailed account of the Buddha's final days. Hinber proposes a composition date of no later than 350320 BCE for this text, which would allow for a "true historical memory" of the events approximately 60 years prior if the Short Chronology for the Buddha's lifetime is accepted (but also reminds that such a text was originally intended more as hagiography than as an exact historical record of events).[65][66]

The sources for the life of Siddhrtha Gautama are a variety of different, and sometimes conflicting, traditional biographies. These include the Buddhacarita, Lalitavistara Stra, Mahvastu, and the Nidnakath. Of these, the Buddhacarita is the earliest full biography, an epic poem written by the poet Avaghoa in the first century CE.[73] The Lalitavistara Stra is the next oldest biography, a Mahyna/Sarvstivda biography dating to the 3rd century CE. The Mahvastu from the Mahsghika Lokottaravda tradition is another major biography, composed incrementally until perhaps the 4th century CE. The Dharmaguptaka biography of the Buddha is the most exhaustive, and is entitled the Abhinikramaa Stra, and various Chinese translations of this date between the 3rd and 6th century CE. The Nidnakath is from the Theravada tradition in Sri Lanka and was composed in the 5th century by Buddhaghoa.

From canonical sources come the Jataka tales, the Mahapadana Sutta (DN 14), and the Achariyabhuta Sutta (MN 123), which include selective accounts that may be older, but are not full biographies. The Jtakas retell previous lives of Gautama as a bodhisattva, and the first collection of these can be dated among the earliest Buddhist texts. The Mahpadna Sutta and Achariyabhuta Sutta both recount miraculous events surrounding Gautama's birth, such as the bodhisattva's descent from the Tuita Heaven into his mother's womb.

In the earliest Buddhist texts, the nikyas and gamas, the Buddha is not depicted as possessing omniscience (sabbau)[78] nor is he depicted as being an eternal transcendent (lokottara) being. According to Bhikkhu Analayo, ideas of the Buddha's omniscience (along with an increasing tendency to deify him and his biography) are found only later, in the Mahayana sutras and later Pali commentaries or texts such as the Mahvastu.[78] In the Sandaka Sutta, the Buddha's disciple Ananda outlines an argument against the claims of teachers who say they are all knowing [79] while in the Tevijjavacchagotta Sutta the Buddha himself states that he has never made a claim to being omniscient, instead he claimed to have the "higher knowledges" (abhij).[80] The earliest biographical material from the Pali Nikayas focuses on the Buddha's life as a ramaa, his search for enlightenment under various teachers such as Alara Kalama and his forty-five-year career as a teacher.[81]

Traditional biographies of Gautama generally include numerous miracles, omens, and supernatural events. The character of the Buddha in these traditional biographies is often that of a fully transcendent (Skt. lokottara) and perfected being who is unencumbered by the mundane world. In the Mahvastu, over the course of many lives, Gautama is said to have developed supramundane abilities including: a painless birth conceived without intercourse; no need for sleep, food, medicine, or bathing, although engaging in such "in conformity with the world"; omniscience, and the ability to "suppress karma". Nevertheless, some of the more ordinary details of his life have been gathered from these traditional sources. In modern times there has been an attempt to form a secular understanding of Siddhrtha Gautama's life by omitting the traditional supernatural elements of his early biographies.

Andrew Skilton writes that the Buddha was never historically regarded by Buddhist traditions as being merely human:

It is important to stress that, despite modern Theravada teachings to the contrary (often a sop to skeptical Western pupils), he was never seen as being merely human. For instance, he is often described as having the thirty-two major and eighty minor marks or signs of a mahpurua, "superman"; the Buddha himself denied that he was either a man or a god; and in the Mahparinibbna Sutta he states that he could live for an aeon were he asked to do so.

The ancient Indians were generally unconcerned with chronologies, being more focused on philosophy. Buddhist texts reflect this tendency, providing a clearer picture of what Gautama may have taught than of the dates of the events in his life. These texts contain descriptions of the culture and daily life of ancient India which can be corroborated from the Jain scriptures, and make the Buddha's time the earliest period in Indian history for which significant accounts exist. British author Karen Armstrong writes that although there is very little information that can be considered historically sound, we can be reasonably confident that Siddhrtha Gautama did exist as a historical figure. Michael Carrithers goes a bit further by stating that the most general outline of "birth, maturity, renunciation, search, awakening and liberation, teaching, death" must be true.

The Buddhist tradition regards Lumbini, in present-day Nepal to be the birthplace of the Buddha.[note 1] He grew up in Kapilavastu.[note 1] The exact site of ancient Kapilavastu is unknown. It may have been either Piprahwa, Uttar Pradesh, in present-day India, or Tilaurakot, in present-day Nepal. Both places belonged to the Sakya territory, and are located only 15 miles apart.

Gautama was born as a Kshatriya,[note 12] the son of uddhodana, "an elected chief of the Shakya clan", whose capital was Kapilavastu, and who were later annexed by the growing Kingdom of Kosala during the Buddha's lifetime. Gautama was the family name. His mother, Maya (Mydev), Suddhodana's wife, was a Koliyan princess. Legend has it that, on the night Siddhartha was conceived, Queen Maya dreamt that a white elephant with six white tusks entered her right side, and ten months later Siddhartha was born. As was the Shakya tradition, when his mother Queen Maya became pregnant, she left Kapilavastu for her father's kingdom to give birth. However, her son is said to have been born on the way, at Lumbini, in a garden beneath a sal tree.

The day of the Buddha's birth is widely celebrated in Theravada countries as Vesak. Buddha's Birthday is called Buddha Purnima in Nepal, Bangladesh, and India as he is believed to have been born on a full moon day. Various sources hold that the Buddha's mother died at his birth, a few days or seven days later. The infant was given the name Siddhartha (Pli: Siddhattha), meaning "he who achieves his aim". During the birth celebrations, the hermit seer Asita journeyed from his mountain abode and announced that the child would either become a great king (chakravartin) or a great sadhu. By traditional account,[which?] this occurred after Siddhartha placed his feet in Asita's hair and Asita examined the birthmarks. Suddhodana held a naming ceremony on the fifth day, and invited eight Brahmin scholars to read the future. All gave a dual prediction that the baby would either become a great king or a great holy man. Kondaa, the youngest, and later to be the first arhat other than the Buddha, was reputed to be the only one who unequivocally predicted that Siddhartha would become a Buddha.

While later tradition and legend characterised uddhodana as a hereditary monarch, the descendant of the Suryavansha (Solar dynasty) of Ikvku (Pli: Okkka), many scholars think that uddhodana was the elected chief of a tribal confederacy.

Early texts suggest that Gautama was not familiar with the dominant religious teachings of his time until he left on his religious quest, which is said to have been motivated by existential concern for the human condition. The state of the Shakya clan was not a monarchy and seems to have been structured either as an oligarchy, or as a form of republic. The more egalitarian gana-sangha form of government, as a political alternative to the strongly hierarchical kingdoms, may have influenced the development of the ramanic Jain and Buddhist sanghas, where monarchies tended toward Vedic Brahmanism.

Maya's dream, Gandhara, 2nd century CE.

The Infant Buddha Taking A Bath, Gandhara 2nd Century CE.

Siddhartha was brought up by his mother's younger sister, Maha Pajapati. By tradition, he is said to have been destined by birth to the life of a prince and had three palaces (for seasonal occupation) built for him. His father, said to be King uddhodana, wishing for his son to be a great king, is said to have shielded him from religious teachings and from knowledge of human suffering. While uddhodana has traditionally been depicted as a king, and Siddhartha as his prince, more recent scholarship suggests the Shakya were in-fact organised as a semi-republican oligarchy rather than a monarchy.[102]

When he reached the age of 16, his father reputedly arranged his marriage to a cousin of the same age named Yaodhar (Pli: Yasodhar). According to the traditional account,[which?] she gave birth to a son, named Rhula. Siddhartha is said to have spent 29 years as a prince in Kapilavastu. Although his father ensured that Siddhartha was provided with everything he could want or need, Buddhist scriptures say that the future Buddha felt that material wealth was not life's ultimate goal.

At the age of 29, Siddhartha left his palace to meet his subjects. Despite his father's efforts to hide from him the sick, aged and suffering, Siddhartha was said to have seen an old man. When his charioteer Channa explained to him that all people grew old, the prince went on further trips beyond the palace. On these he encountered a diseased man, a decaying corpse, and an ascetic. These depressed him, and he initially strove to overcome ageing, sickness, and death by living the life of an ascetic.

Accompanied by Channa and riding his horse Kanthaka, Gautama quit his palace for the life of a mendicant. It's said that "the horse's hooves were muffled by the gods" to prevent guards from knowing of his departure.

Gautama initially went to Rajagaha and began his ascetic life by begging for alms in the street. After King Bimbisara's men recognised Siddhartha and the king learned of his quest, Bimbisara offered Siddhartha the throne. Siddhartha rejected the offer but promised to visit his kingdom of Magadha first, upon attaining enlightenment.

He left Rajagaha and practised under two hermit teachers of yogic meditation. After mastering the teachings of Alara Kalama (Skr. ra Klma), he was asked by Kalama to succeed him. However, Gautama felt unsatisfied by the practice, and moved on to become a student of yoga with Udaka Ramaputta (Skr. Udraka Rmaputra). With him he achieved high levels of meditative consciousness and was again asked to succeed his teacher. But, once more, he was not satisfied, and again moved on.

According to the early Buddhist texts,[110] after realising that meditative dhyana was the right path to awakening, but that extreme asceticism didn't work, Gautama discovered what Buddhists know as being, the Middle Way[110]a path of moderation away from the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification, or the Noble Eightfold Path, as described in the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, which is regarded as the first discourse of the Buddha.[110] In a famous incident, after becoming starved and weakened, he is said to have accepted milk and rice pudding from a village girl named Sujata.[111] Such was his emaciated appearance that she wrongly believed him to be a spirit that had granted her a wish.[111]

Following this incident, Gautama was famously seated under a pipal treenow known as the Bodhi treein Bodh Gaya, India, when he vowed never to arise until he had found the truth. Kaundinya and four other companions, believing that he had abandoned his search and become undisciplined, ceased to stay with him, and went to somewhere else. After a reputed 49 days of meditation, at the age of 35, he is said to have attained Enlightenment,[113] and became known as the Buddha or "Awakened One" ("Buddha" is also sometimes translated as "The Enlightened One").

According to some sutras of the Pali canon, at the time of his awakening he realised complete insight into the Four Noble Truths, thereby attaining liberation from samsara, the endless cycle of rebirth, suffering and dying again.[114][116] According to scholars, this story of the awakening and the stress on "liberating insight" is a later development in the Buddhist tradition, where the Buddha may have regarded the practice of dhyana as leading to nirvana and moksha.[114][note 13]

Nirvana is the extinguishing of the "fires" of desire, hatred, and ignorance, that keep the cycle of suffering and rebirth going.[119] Nirvana is also regarded as the "end of the world", in that no personal identity or boundaries of the mind remain.[citation needed] In such a state, a being is said to possess the Ten Characteristics, belonging to every Buddha.[citation needed]

According to a story in the ycana Sutta (Samyutta Nikaya VI.1)a scripture found in the Pli and other canonsimmediately after his awakening, the Buddha debated whether or not he should teach the Dharma to others. He was concerned that humans were so overpowered by ignorance, greed and hatred that they could never recognise the path, which is subtle, deep and hard to grasp. However, in the story, Brahm Sahampati convinced him, arguing that at least some will understand it. The Buddha relented, and agreed to teach.

After his awakening, the Buddha met Taphussa and Bhallikatwo merchant brothers from the city of Balkh in what is currently Afghanistanwho became his first lay disciples. It is said that each was given hairs from his head, which are now claimed to be enshrined as relics in the Shwe Dagon Temple in Rangoon, Burma. The Buddha intended to visit Asita, and his former teachers, Alara Kalama and Udaka Ramaputta, to explain his findings, but they had already died.

He then travelled to the Deer Park near Varanasi (Benares) in northern India, where he set in motion what Buddhists call the Wheel of Dharma by delivering his first sermon to the five companions with whom he had sought enlightenment. Together with him, they formed the first sagha: the company of Buddhist monks.

All five become arahants, and within the first two months, with the conversion of Yasa and fifty-four of his friends, the number of such arahants is said to have grown to 60. The conversion of three brothers named Kassapa followed, with their reputed 200, 300 and 500 disciples, respectively. This swelled the sangha to more than 1,000.

For the remaining 45 years of his life, the Buddha is said to have travelled in the Gangetic Plain, in what is now Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and southern Nepal, teaching a diverse range of people: from nobles to servants, murderers such as Angulimala, and cannibals such as Alavaka. Although the Buddha's language remains unknown, it's likely that he taught in one or more of a variety of closely related Middle Indo-Aryan dialects, of which Pali may be a standardisation.

The sangha travelled through the subcontinent, expounding the dharma. This continued throughout the year, except during the four months of the Vassa rainy season when ascetics of all religions rarely travelled. One reason was that it was more difficult to do so without causing harm to animal life. At this time of year, the sangha would retreat to monasteries, public parks or forests, where people would come to them.

The first vassana was spent at Varanasi when the sangha was formed. After this, the Buddha kept a promise to travel to Rajagaha, capital of Magadha, to visit King Bimbisara. During this visit, Sariputta and Maudgalyayana were converted by Assaji, one of the first five disciples, after which they were to become the Buddha's two foremost followers. The Buddha spent the next three seasons at Veluvana Bamboo Grove monastery in Rajagaha, the capital of Magadha.

Upon hearing of his son's awakening, Suddhodana sent, over a period, ten delegations to ask him to return to Kapilavastu. On the first nine occasions, the delegates failed to deliver the message and instead joined the sangha to become arahants. The tenth delegation, led by Kaludayi, a childhood friend of Gautama's (who also became an arahant), however, delivered the message.

Now two years after his awakening, the Buddha agreed to return, and made a two-month journey by foot to Kapilavastu, teaching the dharma as he went. At his return, the royal palace prepared a midday meal, but the sangha was making an alms round in Kapilavastu. Hearing this, Suddhodana approached his son, the Buddha, saying:

"Ours is the warrior lineage of Mahamassata, and not a single warrior has gone seeking alms."

The Buddha is said to have replied:

"That is not the custom of your royal lineage. But it is the custom of my Buddha lineage. Several thousands of Buddhas have gone by seeking alms."

Buddhist texts say that Suddhodana invited the sangha into the palace for the meal, followed by a dharma talk. After this he is said to have become a sotapanna. During the visit, many members of the royal family joined the sangha. The Buddha's cousins Ananda and Anuruddha became two of his five chief disciples. At the age of seven, his son Rahula also joined, and became one of his ten chief disciples. His half-brother Nanda also joined and became an arahant.

Of the Buddha's disciples, Sariputta, Maudgalyayana, Mahakasyapa, Ananda and Anuruddha are believed to have been the five closest to him. His ten foremost disciples were reputedly completed by the quintet of Upali, Subhoti, Rahula, Mahakaccana and Punna.

In the fifth vassana, the Buddha was staying at Mahavana near Vesali when he heard news of the impending death of his father. He is said to have gone to Suddhodana and taught the dharma, after which his father became an arahant.

The king's death and cremation was to inspire the creation of an order of nuns. Buddhist texts record that the Buddha was reluctant to ordain women. His foster mother Maha Pajapati, for example, approached him, asking to join the sangha, but he refused. Maha Pajapati, however, was so intent on the path of awakening that she led a group of royal Sakyan and Koliyan ladies, which followed the sangha on a long journey to Rajagaha. In time, after Ananda championed their cause, the Buddha is said to have reconsidered and, five years after the formation of the sangha, agreed to the ordination of women as nuns. He reasoned that males and females had an equal capacity for awakening. But he gave women additional rules (Vinaya) to follow.

According to the Mahaparinibbana Sutta of the Pali canon, at the age of 80, the Buddha announced that he would soon reach parinirvana, or the final deathless state, and abandon his earthly body. After this, the Buddha ate his last meal, which he had received as an offering from a blacksmith named Cunda. Falling violently ill, Buddha instructed his attendant nanda to convince Cunda that the meal eaten at his place had nothing to do with his passing and that his meal would be a source of the greatest merit as it provided the last meal for a Buddha.[121] Mettanando and von Hinber argue that the Buddha died of mesenteric infarction, a symptom of old age, rather than food poisoning.[122][123]

The precise contents of the Buddha's final meal are not clear, due to variant scriptural traditions and ambiguity over the translation of certain significant terms; the Theravada tradition generally believes that the Buddha was offered some kind of pork, while the Mahayana tradition believes that the Buddha consumed some sort of truffle or other mushroom. These may reflect the different traditional views on Buddhist vegetarianism and the precepts for monks and nuns.

Waley suggests that Theravadins would take suukaramaddava (the contents of the Buddha's last meal), which can translate literally as pig-soft, to mean "soft flesh of a pig" or "pig's soft-food", that is, after Neumann, a soft food favoured by pigs, assumed to be a truffle. He argues (also after Neumann) that as "(p)lant names tend to be local and dialectical", as there are several plants known to have suukara- (pig) as part of their names,[note 14] and as Pali Buddhism developed in an area remote from the Buddha's death, suukaramaddava could easily have been a type of plant whose local name was unknown to those in Pali regions. Specifically, local writers writing soon after the Buddha's death knew more about their flora than Theravadin commentator Buddhaghosa who lived hundreds of years and hundreds of kilometres remote in time and space from the events described. Unaware that it may have been a local plant name and with no Theravadin prohibition against eating animal flesh, Theravadins would not have questioned the Buddha eating meat and interpreted the term accordingly.

According to Buddhist tradition, the Buddha died at Kuinra (present-day Kushinagar, India), which became a pilgrimage centre. Ananda protested the Buddha's decision to enter parinirvana in the abandoned jungles of Kuinra of the Malla kingdom. The Buddha, however, is said to have reminded Ananda how Kushinara was a land once ruled by a righteous wheel-turning king and the appropriate place for him to die.

The Buddha then asked all the attendant Bhikkhus to clarify any doubts or questions they had and cleared them all in a way which others could not do. They had none. According to Buddhist scriptures, he then finally entered parinirvana. The Buddha's final words are reported to have been: "All composite things (Sakhra) are perishable. Strive for your own liberation with diligence" (Pali: 'vayadhamm sakhr appamdena sampdeth'). His body was cremated and the relics were placed in monuments or stupas, some of which are believed to have survived until the present. For example, the Temple of the Tooth or "Dalada Maligawa" in Sri Lanka is the place where what some believe to be the relic of the right tooth of Buddha is kept at present.

According to the Pli historical chronicles of Sri Lanka, the Dpavasa and Mahvasa, the coronation of Emperor Aoka (Pli: Asoka) is 218 years after the death of the Buddha. According to two textual records in Chinese ( and ), the coronation of Emperor Aoka is 116 years after the death of the Buddha. Therefore, the time of Buddha's passing is either 486 BCE according to Theravda record or 383 BCE according to Mahayana record. However, the actual date traditionally accepted as the date of the Buddha's death in Theravda countries is 544 or 545 BCE, because the reign of Emperor Aoka was traditionally reckoned to be about 60 years earlier than current estimates. In Burmese Buddhist tradition, the date of the Buddha's death is 13 May 544 BCE. whereas in Thai tradition it is 11 March 545 BCE.

At his death, the Buddha is famously believed to have told his disciples to follow no leader. Mahakasyapa was chosen by the sangha to be the chairman of the First Buddhist Council, with the two chief disciples Maudgalyayana and Sariputta having died before the Buddha.

While in the Buddha's days he was addressed by the very respected titles Buddha, Shkyamuni, Shkyasimha, Bhante and Bho, he was known after his parinirvana nirvana as Arihant, Bhagav/Bhagavat/Bhagwn, Mahvira, Jina/Jinendra, Sstr, Sugata, and most popularly in scriptures as Tathgata.

After his death, Buddha's cremation relics were divided amongst 8 royal families and his disciples; centuries later they would be enshrined by King Ashoka into 84,000 stupas.[130] Many supernatural legends surround the history of alleged relics as they accompanied the spread of Buddhism and gave legitimacy to rulers.

An extensive and colourful physical description of the Buddha has been laid down in scriptures. A kshatriya by birth, he had military training in his upbringing, and by Shakyan tradition was required to pass tests to demonstrate his worthiness as a warrior in order to marry.[citation needed] He had a strong enough body to be noticed by one of the kings and was asked to join his army as a general.[citation needed] He is also believed by Buddhists to have "the 32 Signs of the Great Man".

The Brahmin Sonadanda described him as "handsome, good-looking, and pleasing to the eye, with a most beautiful complexion. He has a godlike form and countenance, he is by no means unattractive." (D, I:115)

"It is wonderful, truly marvellous, how serene is the good Gotama's appearance, how clear and radiant his complexion, just as the golden jujube in autumn is clear and radiant, just as a palm-tree fruit just loosened from the stalk is clear and radiant, just as an adornment of red gold wrought in a crucible by a skilled goldsmith, deftly beaten and laid on a yellow-cloth shines, blazes and glitters, even so, the good Gotama's senses are calmed, his complexion is clear and radiant." (A, I:181)

A disciple named Vakkali, who later became an arahant, was so obsessed by the Buddha's physical presence that the Buddha is said to have felt impelled to tell him to desist, and to have reminded him that he should know the Buddha through the Dhamma and not through physical appearances.

Although there are no extant representations of the Buddha in human form until around the 1st century CE (see Buddhist art), descriptions of the physical characteristics of fully enlightened buddhas are attributed to the Buddha in the Digha Nikaya's Lakkhaa Sutta (D, I:142). In addition, the Buddha's physical appearance is described by Yasodhara to their son Rahula upon the Buddha's first post-Enlightenment return to his former princely palace in the non-canonical Pali devotional hymn, Narasha Gth ("The Lion of Men").[134]

Among the 32 main characteristics it is mentioned that Buddha has blue eyes.

Recollection of nine virtues attributed to the Buddha is a common Buddhist meditation and devotional practice called Buddhnusmti. The nine virtues are also among the 40 Buddhist meditation subjects. The nine virtues of the Buddha appear throughout the Tipitaka,[136] and include:

In the Pali Canon, the Buddha uses many Brahmanical devices. For example, in Samyutta Nikaya 111, Majjhima Nikaya 92 and Vinaya i 246 of the Pali Canon, the Buddha praises the Agnihotra as the foremost sacrifice and the Gayatri mantra as the foremost meter:

aggihuttamukh ya svitt chandaso mukham.

Sacrifices have the Agnihotra as foremost; of meter, the foremost is the Svitr.

One method to obtain information on the oldest core of Buddhism is to compare the oldest versions of the Pali Canon and other texts, such as the surviving portions of Sarvastivada, Mulasarvastivada, Mahisasaka, Dharmaguptaka, and the Chinese Agamas.[citation needed] The reliability of these sources, and the possibility of drawing out a core of oldest teachings, is a matter of dispute.. According to Vetter, inconsistencies remain, and other methods must be applied to resolve those inconsistencies.[note 15]

According to Schmithausen, there are three positions held by scholars of Buddhism:

A core problem in the study of early Buddhism is the relation between dhyana and insight. Schmithausen notes that the mention of the four noble truths as constituting "liberating insight", which is attained after mastering the Rupa Jhanas, is a later addition to texts such as Majjhima Nikaya 36.

According to Tilmann Vetter, the core of earliest Buddhism is the practice of dhyna, as a workable alternative to painful ascetic practices.[note 20] Bronkhorst agrees that Dhyna was a Buddhist invention,[pageneeded] whereas Norman notes that "the Buddha's way to release [...] was by means of meditative practices." Discriminating insight into transiency as a separate path to liberation was a later development.

According to the Mahsaccakasutta,[note 21] from the fourth jhana the Buddha gained bodhi. Yet, it is not clear what he was awakened to.[pageneeded] According to Schmithausen and Bronkhorst, "liberating insight" is a later addition to this text, and reflects a later development and understanding in early Buddhism.[pageneeded] The mentioning of the four truths as constituting "liberating insight" introduces a logical problem, since the four truths depict a linear path of practice, the knowledge of which is in itself not depicted as being liberating:

[T]hey do not teach that one is released by knowing the four noble truths, but by practicing the fourth noble truth, the eightfold path, which culminates in right samadhi.

Although "Nibbna" (Sanskrit: Nirvna) is the common term for the desired goal of this practice, many other terms can be found throughout the Nikayas, which are not specified.[note 22]

According to Vetter, the description of the Buddhist path may initially have been as simple as the term "the middle way". In time, this short description was elaborated, resulting in the description of the eightfold path.

According to both Bronkhorst and Anderson, the four truths became a substitution for prajna, or "liberating insight", in the suttas[114][pageneeded] in those texts where "liberating insight" was preceded by the four jhanas. According to Bronkhorst, the four truths may not have been formulated in earliest Buddhism, and did not serve in earliest Buddhism as a description of "liberating insight". Gotama's teachings may have been personal, "adjusted to the need of each person."

The three marks of existence[note 23] may reflect Upanishadic or other influences. K.R. Norman supposes that these terms were already in use at the Buddha's time, and were familiar to his listeners.

The Brahma-vihara was in origin probably a brahmanic term; but its usage may have been common to the Sramana traditions.

In time, "liberating insight" became an essential feature of the Buddhist tradition. The following teachings, which are commonly seen as essential to Buddhism, are later formulations which form part of the explanatory framework of this "liberating insight":

Some Hindus regard Gautama as the 9th avatar of Vishnu.[note 11] However, Buddha's teachings deny the authority of the Vedas and the concepts of Brahman-Atman.[165][166][167] Consequently Buddhism is generally classified as a nstika school (heterodox, literally "It is not so"[note 24]) in contrast to the six orthodox schools of Hinduism.[170][171]

The Buddha is regarded as a prophet by the minority Ahmadiyya[173] sect of Muslimsa sect considered a deviant and rejected as apostate by mainstream Islam.[174][175] Some early Chinese Taoist-Buddhists thought the Buddha to be a reincarnation of Laozi.

Disciples of the Cao i religion worship the Buddha as a major religious teacher. His image can be found in both their Holy See and on the home altar. He is revealed during communication with Divine Beings as son of their Supreme Being (God the Father) together with other major religious teachers and founders like Jesus, Laozi, and Confucius.

The Christian Saint Josaphat is based on the Buddha. The name comes from the Sanskrit Bodhisattva via Arabic Bdhasaf and Georgian Iodasaph. The only story in which St. Josaphat appears, Barlaam and Josaphat, is based on the life of the Buddha. Josaphat was included in earlier editions of the Roman Martyrology (feast day 27 November)though not in the Roman Missaland in the Eastern Orthodox Church liturgical calendar (26 August).

In the ancient Gnostic sect of Manichaeism, the Buddha is listed among the prophets who preached the word of God before Mani.[181]

In Sikhism, Buddha is mentioned as the 23rd avatar of Vishnu in the Chaubis Avtar, a composition in Dasam Granth traditionally and historically attributed to Guru Gobind Singh.[182]

Based on stone inscriptions, there is also speculation that Lumbei, Kapileswar village, Odisha, at the east coast of India, was the site of ancient Lumbini. Hartmann discusses the hypothesis and states, "The inscription has generally been considered spurious (...)" He quotes Sircar: "There can hardly be any doubt that the people responsible for the Kapilesvara inscription copied it from the said facsimile not much earlier than 1928."

Kapilavastu was the place where he grew up:[note 9]

Dhammika:"There is disagreement amongst scholars concerning which Pali suttas correspond to some of the text. Vinaya samukose: probably the Atthavasa Vagga, Anguttara Nikaya, 1:98100. Aliya vasani: either the Ariyavasa Sutta, Anguttara Nikaya, V:29, or the Ariyavamsa Sutta, Anguttara Nikaya, II: 2728. Anagata bhayani: probably the Anagata Sutta, Anguttara Nikaya, III:100. Muni gatha: Muni Sutta, Sutta Nipata 207221. Upatisa pasine: Sariputta Sutta, Sutta Nipata 955975. Laghulavade: Rahulavada Sutta, Majjhima Nikaya, I:421."

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SparkNotes: The Enlightenment (16501800): Brief Overview

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Causes

On the surface, the most apparent cause of the Enlightenmentwas the Thirty Years War. This horribly destructivewar, which lasted from 1618 to 1648,compelled German writers to pen harsh criticisms regarding the ideasof nationalism and warfare. These authors, such as HugoGrotius and John Comenius, were some of thefirst Enlightenment minds to go against tradition and propose bettersolutions.

At the same time, European thinkers interest in the tangible worlddeveloped into scientific study, while greater exploration of theworld exposed Europe to other cultures and philosophies. Finally,centuries of mistreatment at the hands of monarchies and the churchbrought average citizens in Europe to a breaking point, and themost intelligent and vocal finally decided to speak out.

The Enlightenment developed through a snowball effect:small advances triggered larger ones, and before Europe and theworld knew it, almost two centuries of philosophizing and innovationhad ensued. These studies generally began in the fields of earthscience and astronomy, as notables such as Johannes Kepler and Galileo Galilei tookthe old, beloved truths of Aristotle and disproved them. Thinkerssuch as Ren Descartes and Francis Bacon revisedthe scientific method, setting the stage for Isaac Newton andhis landmark discoveries in physics.

From these discoveries emerged a system for observingthe world and making testable hypotheses based on thoseobservations. At the same time, however, scientists faced ever-increasingscorn and skepticism from people in the religious community, whofelt threatened by science and its attempts to explain matters offaith. Nevertheless, the progressive, rebellious spirit of thesescientists would inspire a centurys worth of thinkers.

The first major Enlightenment figure in Englandwas Thomas Hobbes, who caused great controversywith the release of his provocative treatise Leviathan (1651).Taking a sociological perspective, Hobbes felt that by nature, peoplewere self-serving and preoccupied with the gathering of a limitednumber of resources. To keep balance, Hobbes continued, it was essentialto have a single intimidating ruler. A half century later, JohnLocke came into the picture, promoting the opposite typeof governmenta representative governmentin his Two Treatisesof Government (1690).

Although Hobbes would be more influential among his contemporaries,it was clear that Lockes message was closer to the English peopleshearts and minds. Just before the turn of the century, in 1688,English Protestants helped overthrow the Catholic king JamesII and installed the Protestant monarchs William andMary. In the aftermath of this Glorious Revolution,the English government ratified a new Bill of Rights that grantedmore personal freedoms.

Many of the major French Enlightenment thinkers, or philosophes, wereborn in the years after the Glorious Revolution, so Frances Enlightenmentcame a bit later, in the mid-1700s.The philosophes, though varying in style and area of particularconcern, generally emphasized the power of reason and sought todiscover the natural laws governing human society. The Baronde Montesquieu tackled politics by elaborating upon Locke'swork, solidifying concepts such as the separation of power bymeans of divisions in government. Voltaire took a morecaustic approach, choosing to incite social and political changeby means of satire and criticism. Although Voltaires satires arguablysparked little in the way of concrete change, Voltaire neverthelesswas adept at exposing injustices and appealed to a wide range ofreaders. His short novel Candide is regarded as oneof the seminal works in history.

Denis Diderot, unlike Montesquieu and Voltaire,had no revolutionary aspirations; he was interested merely in collectingas much knowledge as possible for his mammoth Encyclopdie.The Encyclopdie, which ultimately weighed in atthirty-five volumes, would go on to spread Enlightenment knowledgeto other countries around the world.

In reaction to the rather empirical philosophiesof Voltaire and others, Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote TheSocial Contract (1762),a work championing a form of government based on small, direct democracy thatdirectly reflects the will of the population. Later, at the endof his career, he would write Confessions, a deeplypersonal reflection on his life. The unprecedented intimate perspectivethat Rousseau provided contributed to a burgeoning Romantic erathat would be defined by an emphasis on emotion and instinct insteadof reason.

Another undercurrent that threatened the prevailing principlesof the Enlightenment was skepticism. Skeptics questionedwhether human society could really be perfected through the useof reason and denied the ability of rational thought to reveal universaltruths. Their philosophies revolved around the idea that the perceived worldis relative to the beholder and, as such, no one can be sure whetherany truths actually exist.

Immanuel Kant, working in Germany duringthe late eighteenth century, took skepticism to its greatest lengths,arguing that man could truly know neither observed objects nor metaphysicalconcepts; rather, the experience of such things depends upon thepsyche of the observer, thus rendering universal truths impossible. Thetheories of Kant, along with those of other skeptics such as DavidHume, were influential enough to change the nature of European thoughtand effectively end the Enlightenment.

Ultimately, the Enlightenment fell victim to competingideas from several sources. Romanticism was more appealing to less-educated commonfolk and pulled them away from the empirical, scientific ideas ofearlier Enlightenment philosophers. Similarly, the theories of skepticismcame into direct conflict with the reason-based assertions of theEnlightenment and gained a following of their own.

What ultimately and abruptly killed the Enlightenment,however, was the French Revolution. Begun with thebest intentions by French citizens inspired by Enlightenment thought,the revolution attempted to implement orderly representative assembliesbut quickly degraded into chaos and violence. Many people citedthe Enlightenment-induced breakdown of norms as the root cause of theinstability and saw the violence as proof that the masses could notbe trusted to govern themselves. Nonetheless, the discoveries andtheories of the Enlightenment philosophers continued to influenceWestern society for centuries.

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Amazon.com: The Dream of Enlightenment: The Rise of Modern …

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Anthony Gottliebs landmark The Dream of Reason and its sequel challenge Bertrand Russells classic as the definitive history of Western philosophy.

Western philosophy is now two and a half millennia old, but much of it came in just two staccato bursts, each lasting only about 150 years. In his landmark survey of Western philosophy from the Greeks to the Renaissance, The Dream of Reason, Anthony Gottlieb documented the first burst, which came in the Athens of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Now, in his sequel, The Dream of Enlightenment, Gottlieb expertly navigates a second great explosion of thought, taking us to northern Europe in the wake of its wars of religion and the rise of Galilean science. In a relatively short periodfrom the early 1640s to the eve of the French RevolutionDescartes, Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, Leibniz, and Hume all made their mark. The Dream of Enlightenment tells their story and that of the birth of modern philosophy.

As Gottlieb explains, all these men were amateurs: none had much to do with any university. They tried to fathom the implications of the new science and of religious upheaval, which led them to question traditional teachings and attitudes. What does the advance of science entail for our understanding of ourselves and for our ideas of God? How should a government deal with religious diversityand what, actually, is government for? Such questions remain our questions, which is why Descartes, Hobbes, and the others are still pondered today.

Yet it is because we still want to hear them that we can easily get these philosophers wrong. It is tempting to think they speak our language and live in our world; but to understand them properly, we must step back into their shoes. Gottlieb puts readers in the minds of these frequently misinterpreted figures, elucidating the history of their times and the development of scientific ideas while engagingly explaining their arguments and assessing their legacy in lively prose.

With chapters focusing on Descartes, Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, Pierre Bayle, Leibniz, Hume, Rousseau, and Voltaireand many walk-on partsThe Dream of Enlightenment creates a sweeping account of what the Enlightenment amounted to, and why we are still in its debt.

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Enlightenment – HISTORY

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Contents

European politics, philosophy, science and communications were radically reoriented during the course of the long 18th century (1685-1815) as part of a movement referred to by its participants as the Age of Reason, or simply the Enlightenment. Enlightenment thinkers in Britain, in France and throughout Europe questioned traditional authority and embraced the notion that humanity could be improved through rational change. The Enlightenment produced numerous books, essays, inventions, scientific discoveries, laws, wars and revolutions. The American and French Revolutions were directly inspired by Enlightenment ideals and respectively marked the peak of its influence and the beginning of its decline. The Enlightenment ultimately gave way to 19th-century Romanticism.

The Enlightenments important 17th-century precursors included the Englishmen Francis Bacon and Thomas Hobbes, the Frenchman Renee Descartes and the key natural philosophers of the Scientific Revolution, including Galileo, Kepler and Leibniz. Its roots are usually traced to 1680s England, where in the span of three years Isaac Newton published his Principia Mathematica (1686) and John Locke his Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689)two works that provided the scientific, mathematical and philosophical toolkit for the Enlightenments major advances.

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Did you know? In his essay 'What Is Enlightenment?' (1784), the German philosopher Immanuel Kant summed up the era's motto in the following terms: 'Dare to know! Have courage to use your own reason!'

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Locke argued that human nature was mutable and that knowledge was gained through accumulated experience rather than by accessing some sort of outside truth. Newtons calculus and optical theories provided the powerful Enlightenment metaphors for precisely measured change and illumination.

There was no single, unified Enlightenment. Instead, it is possible to speak of the French Enlightenment, the Scottish Enlightenment and the English, German, Swiss or American Enlightenment. Individual Enlightenment thinkers often had very different approaches. Locke differed from Hume, Rousseau from Voltaire, Thomas Jefferson from Frederick the Great. Their differences and disagreements, though, emerged out of the common Enlightenment themes of rational questioning and belief in progress through dialogue.

Centered on the dialogues and publications of the French philosophes (Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu, Buffon and Diderot), the High Enlightenment might best be summed up by one historians summary of Voltaires Philosophical Dictionary: a chaos of clear ideas. Foremost among these was the notion that everything in the universe could be rationally demystified and cataloged. The signature publication of the period was Diderots Encyclopdie (1751-77), which brought together leading authors to produce an ambitious compilation of human knowledge.

It was an age of enlightened despots like Frederick the Great, who unified, rationalized and modernized Prussia in between brutal multi-year wars with Austria, and of enlightened would-be revolutionaries like Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson, whose Declaration of Independence (1776) framed the American Revolution in terms taken from of Lockes essays.

It was also a time of religious (and anti-religious) innovation, as Christians sought to reposition their faith along rational lines and deists and materialists argued that the universe seemed to determine its own course without Gods intervention. Secret societiesthe Freemasons, the Bavarian Illuminati, the Rosicruciansflourished, offering European men (and a few women) new modes of fellowship, esoteric ritual and mutual assistance. Coffeehouses, newspapers and literary salons emerged as new venues for ideas to circulate.

The French Revolution of 1789 was the culmination of the High Enlightenment vision of throwing out the old authorities to remake society along rational lines, but it devolved into bloody terror that showed the limits of its own ideas and led, a decade later, to the rise of Napoleon. Still, its goal of egalitarianism attracted the admiration of the early feminist Mary Wollstonecraft and inspired both the Haitian war of independence and the radical racial inclusivism of Paraguays first post-independence government.

Enlightened rationality gave way to the wildness of Romanticism, but 19th-century Liberalism and Classicismnot to mention 20th-century Modernismall owe a heavy debt to the thinkers of the Enlightenment.

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Enlightenment on Steam

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About This GameEnlightenment is an action-shooter Roguelike game with a unlinear narrative. Players will venture into a Wasteland-inspired dungeon known as the Ark and experience a risky journey plagued by crisis.

The original inhabitants of this dim underground complex and those who have dared to enter it have either died or have lost their mind. Will you be the exception to the rule?

"...the asteroid hit the Earth in the end anyways, and fxxked everybody up."

"So let's cut this short: An asteroid wiped out civilization as we know it. Some wasteland tramp discovered that the asteroid shards grant possessors unexplained powers; so they founded this cult, calling it the 'Scientific Church of Enlightenment' and this 'Church of Enlightenment' built the Ark and they built a whole city around it. It's gonna be where the restoration of humanity starts, they said. But just look around you; these streets are all empty, not a soul to be seen at all now."

"Sounds worthy of your life to have a look... right?"

Mature Content DescriptionThis Game may contain content not appropriate for all ages, or may not be appropriate for viewing at work: Frequent Violence or Gore, General Mature Content

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Enlightenment on Steam

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Common Themes in Romanticism, The Enlightenment, and the …

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When considering three major movements in world civilization and history; Romanticism, the Enlightenment, and the Renaissance, one theme that runs throughout is that of rebellion. More specifically, this rebellion in all three movements was against past traditions and each of these periods in history was geared toward eradicating old ways of thinking. While the reasons for rebelling against the old social and artistic order vary for each of these movements, the fact remains that all three were successful at changing many aspects of society and all each movement has had an enormous impact on history and artistic expression.

Romanticism was a movement that took place in Europe throughout the latter part of the 18th century. This period in history was a direct rebellion against many of the artistic and societal values of the previous era, which was the Enlightenment. While the Enlightenment movement focused on ideas of reason, rationality, and empiricism, romanticism went the complete opposite direction and explored new ideas about emotions and beauty. The main part of this rebellion was centered around the notion that not everything could be coldly rationalized and that beauty and aesthetics were important parts of existence. Although it was in direct opposition to the Enlightenment, romanticism as a movement did also build off of some of the new ideas that were part of that period such as a renewed interest in the individual. Romanticism was a movement in history that went one step further and began to focus on individual experience as well as the human brainmostly as it related to feelings and personal thoughts. In general, however, it could be easily argued that without the Enlightenment movement there would not have been romanticism, mostly because the former had to exist for the rebellion in ideas to take place.

The Enlightenment, a movement in Western history that came just before romanticism, was itself a rebellious movement that developed out of a prior period that emphasized ideas such as religion. In addition, before this period, there was more weight given to speculations about god and the natural order of things whereas with the Enlightenment empiricism became one of the core ideas. During the Enlightenment movement new rebellious ideas about the nature of mans connection to the universe as well as the concept of the individual with natural rights emerged. These were rebellious notions, especially since before this time people viewed themselves as part of a hierarchy based on many religious and social notions such as class. Science and observation were at the forefront of this movement and many thinkers of the time wished to know the truth through their own experience and process of experimentation and hypothesis. This period in artistic history was a rebellion against the old order because before many people were content to believe in disprovable truths, such as the nature of the heavens or of things such as weather or medical phenomena. Although the Enlightenment sought to keep people rational, this would not be enough for later rebellious movements such as Romanticism, where people began to look behind facts and closer into the individual experience.

The Renaissance was a rebellious movement as well but not in the reactionary sense that the previous two movements in history discussed here were. This is because the Renaissance was more like an explosion in knowledge and learning that caused a huge intellectual shift throughout Europe, especially since it came on the heels of the advent of printing processes. What is, however, rebellious about this period is that it saw so many new ways of thinking and doing things. Artists, writers and philosophers were breaking out of the dark ages" and allowing themselves to experiment with new ideas. Men such as da Vinci were engaging with topics such as art, medicine and technology just as writers were finding new ways to tell stories or represent truths about their time period. What is most interesting about this movement is that it is in many ways the most rebellious since it saw so much change yet much of this change seems almost organic. It was rebelling against anything in particular but the changes were so vast and sweeping that it was the ultimate rebellious movement in Western civilization. Without the many new developments that arose out the of the Renaissance the world might never have experienced successive movements such as those discussed here.

Without rebellion there can be no history; time would just go on without anything to mark off significant or important periods. In these three movements it is possible to detect a string of rebellions that led to major intellectual shifts. It all started with the ultimate rebellion in thinkingthe Renaissance. After the Renaissance, new ideas, particularly about science and experimentation, went on to inform the events of the Enlightenment. After this, thinkers during the era of romanticism picked and chose some of the ideas of these previous movements and developed their own new, rebellious, and unique understanding of the world. In sum, all intellectual movements that influence history are part of a grand chain of rebellion and it seems that this will always be the case if history is any teacher.

Other essays and articles in the Literature Archives that are related to this topic include :Overview of Romanticism in Literature The Influence of the Enlightenment on The Formation of the United States The Influence of the Renaissance on Modern American Society Realism in American Literature

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SparkNotes: The Enlightenment (16501800): Key People & Terms

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PeopleJohannSebastian Bach (16851750)

An enormously influential German composer whorose to prominence in the early 1700s.Best known by his contemporaries as an organist, Bach also wrotean enormous body of both sacred and secular music that synthesizeda variety of styles and in turn influenced countless later composers.

An English philosopher and statesman who developed the inductive method or Baconianmethod of scientific investigation, which stresses observationand reasoning as a means for coming to general conclusions. Baconswork influenced his later contemporary Ren Descartes.

An Italian politician who ventured into philosophy toprotest the horrible injustices that he observed in various Europeanjudicial systems. Beccarias book On Crimes and Punishments (1764)exposed these practices and led to the abolition of many.

A Czech educational and social reformer who, in responseto the Thirty Years War, made the bold move of challengingthe necessity of war in the first place. Comenius stressed toleranceand education as alternatives for war, which were revolutionaryconcepts at the time.

A French philosopher and scientist who revolutionizedalgebra and geometry and made the famous philosophical statementI think, therefore I am. Descartes developed a deductive approachto philosophy using math and logic that still remains a standardfor problemsolving.

A French scholar who was the primary editor of the Encyclopdie,a massive thirty-five-volume compilation of human knowledge in the artsand sciences, along with commentary from a number of Enlightenmentthinkers. The Encyclopdie became a prominent symbolof the Enlightenment and helped spread the movement throughout Europe.

American thinker, diplomat, and inventor who traveledfrequently between the American colonies and Europe during the Enlightenmentand facilitated an exchange of ideas between them. Franklin exertedprofound influence on the formation of the new government of theUnited States, with a hand in both the Declarationof Independence and the U.S. Constitution.

A German author who wrote near the end of the Aufklrung,the German Enlightenment. Goethes morose The Sorrows ofYoung Werther (1774)helped fuel the Sturm und Drangmovement,and his two-part Faust (1808, 1832)is seen as one of the landmarks of Western literature.

A French feminist and reformer in the waning years ofthe Enlightenment who articulated the rights of women with her Declaration ofthe Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen (1791).

A Dutch scholar who, like Czech John Comenius,lived during the Thirty Years War and felt compelledto write in response to it. The result, a treatise on war and internationalrelations titled On the Law of War and Peace (1625),eventually became accepted as the basis for the rules of modernwarfare.

A German-English composer of the late Baroque period whose Messiah remainsone of the best-known pieces of music in the world. Handel was anactive court composer, receiving commissions from such notablesas King George I of England, for whom his Water Music suitewas written and performed.

A philosopher and political theorist whose 1651 treatise Leviathan effectivelykicked off the English Enlightenment. The controversial Leviathan detailedHobbess theory that all humans are inherently self-driven and eviland that the best form of government is thus a single, all-powerfulmonarch to keep everything in order.

A Scottish philosopher and one of the most prominent figuresin the field of skepticism during the Enlightenment.Hume took religion to task, asking why a perfect God would evercreate an imperfect world, and even suggested that our own sensesare fallible, bringing all observations and truths into question.Humes skepticism proved very influential to others, such as ImmanuelKant, and was instrumental in the shift away from rationalistthought that ended the Enlightenment.

American thinker and politician who penned the Declarationof Independence (1776),which was inspired directly by Enlightenment thought.

A German skeptic philosopher who built on DavidHumes theories and brought the school of thought to an evenhigher level. Kant theorized that all humans are born with innateexperiences that then reflect onto the world, giving them a perspective.Thus, since no one actually knows what other people see, the ideaof reasoning is not valid. Kants philosophies applied the brakesto the Enlightenment, effectively denouncing reason as an invalidapproach to thought.

Generally considered the founder of the Aufklrung,orGerman Enlightenment,who injected a bit of spiritualityinto the Enlightenment with writings regarding God andhis perfect, harmonious world. Also a scientist who shared creditfor the discovery of calculus, Leibniz hated the ideaof relying on empirical evidence in the world. Instead, hedeveloped a theory that the universe consists of metaphysical buildingblocks he called monads.

An English political theorist who focused on the structureof governments. Locke believed that men are all rational and capable peoplebutmust compromise some of their beliefs in the interest of forminga government for the people. In his famous Two Treatisesof Government (1690), he championedthe idea of a representative government that would best serve allconstituents.

The foremost French political thinker of the Enlightenment,whose most influential book, The Spirit of Laws, expanded JohnLockes political study and incorporated the ideas of a divisionof state and separation of powers. Montesquieus work also venturedinto sociology: he spent a considerable amount of time researchingvarious cultures and their climates, ultimately deducing that climateis a major factor in determining the type of government a givencountry should have.

A genius Austrian composer who began his career as a childprodigy and authored some of the most renowned operas and symphoniesin history. Mozarts music has never been surpassed in its blendof technique and emotional breadth, and his musical genius placeshim in a category with a select few other composers.

An English scholar and mathematician regarded as the fatherof physical science. Newtons discoveries anchored the ScientificRevolution and set the stage for everything that followed in mathematicsand physics. He shared credit for the creation of calculus,and his Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica introducedthe world to gravity and fundamental laws ofmotion.

English-American political writer whose pamphlet CommonSense (1776)argued that the British colonies in America should rebel againstthe Crown. Paines work had profound influence on public sentimentduring the American Revolution, which had begun just monthsearlier.

A French economist whose Tableau conomique (1758)argued against government intervention in the economy and inspiredScottish economist Adam Smiths seminal Wealthof Nations (1776).

An eclectic Swiss-French thinker who brought his own approachto the Enlightenment, believing that man was at his best when unshackledby the conventions of society. Rousseaus epic The SocialContract (1762) conceived of a systemof direct democracy in which all citizens contribute to an overarchinggeneral will that serves everyone at once. Later in his life,Rousseau released Confessions(1789),which brought a previously unheard-of degree of personal disclosureto the genre of autobiography. The frank personal revelations andemotional discussions were a major cause for the shift toward Romanticism.

An influential Scottish economist who objected to thestifling mercantilistsystems that were in place duringthe late eighteenth century. In response, Smith wrote the seminal Wealthof Nations (1776),a dissertation criticizing mercantilism and describing the manymerits of a free trade system.

A Dutch-Jewish lens grinder who questionedtenets of Judaism and Christianity, which helped undermine religiousauthority in Europe. Although Spinoza personally believedin God, he rejected the concept of miracles, the religious supernatural,and the idea that the Bible was divinely inspired. Rather, he believedthat ethics determined by rational thought were more important asa guide to conduct than was religion.

A French writer and the primary satirist of the Enlightenment,who criticized religion and leading philosophies of the time. Voltaires numerousplays and essays frequently advocated freedom from the ploys ofreligion, while Candide (1759),the most notable of his works, conveyed his criticisms of optimismand superstition into a neat package.

Another name for the German Enlightenment.

A system of faith to which many of the French philosophes andother Enlightenment thinkers subscribed. Deists believedin an all-powerful God but viewed him as a cosmic watchmaker whocreated the universe and set it in autonomous motion and then neveragain tampered with it. Deists also shunned organized religion,especially Church doctrines about eternal damnation and a naturalhierarchy of existence.

A trend in European governments during the later partof the Enlightenment, in which a number of absolute monarchs adopted Enlightenment-inspiredreforms yet retained a firm grip on power. Frederick the Great ofPrussia, Maria-Theresa and Joseph II ofAustria, Charles III of Spain, and Catherinethe Great of Russia are often counted among these enlighteneddespots.

A revolution in France that overthrew the monarchy andis often cited as the end of the Enlightenment. The French Revolutionbegan in 1789 whenKing Louis XVI convened the legislature in an attempt tosolve Frances monumental financial woes. Instead, the massive middleclass revolted and set up its own government. Although this newgovernment was effective for a few years, internal dissent grew andpower switched hands repeatedly, until France plunged into the brutallyviolent Reign of Terror of 17931794.Criticssaw this violence as a direct result of Enlightenment thought andas evidence that the masses were not fit to govern themselves.

The name given to the bloodless coup dtat in Englandin 1688, whichsaw the Catholic monarch, King James II, removed fromthe throne and replaced by the Protestants William and Mary.The new monarchs not only changed the religious course of Englandand the idea of divine right but also allowed the additional personalliberties necessary for the Enlightenment to truly flourish.

One of the cornerstones of the Enlightenment, a philosophystressing the recognition of every person as a valuable individualwith inalienable, inborn rights.

The economic belief that a favorable balance of tradethatis, more exports than importswould yield more gold and silver,and thus overall wealth and power, for a country. Governments tendedto monitor and meddle with their mercantilist systems closely, which Scottisheconomist Adam Smith denounced as bad economic practicein his Wealth of Nations.

The general term for those academics and intellectualswho became the leading voices of the French Enlightenment duringthe eighteenth century. Notable philosophes included Voltaire,the Baron de Montesquieu, and Denis Diderot.

Arguably the foundation of the Enlightenment, the beliefthat, by using the power of reason, humans could arrive at truthand improve human life.

Another fundamental philosophy of the Enlightenment, which declaredthat different ideas, cultures, and beliefs had equal merit. Relativismdeveloped in reaction to the age of exploration, which increasedEuropean exposure to a variety of peoples and cultures across theworld.

A movement that surfaced near the end of the Enlightenmentthat placed emphasis on innate emotions and instincts rather thanreason, as well as on the virtues of existing in a natural state.Writers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau and JohannWolfgang von Goethe both contributed greatly to the developmentof Romanticism.

Gathering places for wealthy, intellectually minded elitesduring the years during and prior to the Enlightenment. The salonstypically held weekly meetings where upper-class citizens gatheredto discuss the political and social theories of the day.

A gradual development of thought and approaches to thestudy of the universe that took place from approximately 1500 to 1700 and pavedthe way for the Enlightenment. Coming from humble beginnings withbasic observations, the Scientific Revolution grew to a fever pitchwhen scientists such as Galileo Galilei, RenDescartes, and Johannes Kepler entered the sceneand essentially rewrote history, disproving Church doctrines, explainingreligious miracles, and setting the world straight on all sortsof scientific principles. The result was not only new human knowledgebut also a new perspective on the acquisition of knowledge, suchas the scientific method.

A political idea, developed by John Locke andthe Baron de Montesquieu,that power in governmentshould be divided into separate branchestypically legislative,judicial, and executivein order to ensure that no one branch ofa governing body can gain too much authority.

A philosophical movement that emerged in response to rationalism andmaintained that human perception is too relative to be consideredcredible. David Hume brought skepticism into the spotlightby suggesting that human perceptions cannot be trusted, and then ImmanuelKant elevated the field when he proposed that humans are bornwith innate experiences that give shape to their own, individualworlds.

An idea in political philosophy, generally associatedwith John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau,stating that a government and its subjects enter into an implicitcontract when that government takes power. In exchange for cedingsome freedoms to the government and its established laws, the subjectsexpect and demand mutual protection. The governments authority,meanwhile, lies only in the consent of the governed.

Literally meaning storm and stress, the name given toan undercurrent of the German Enlightenment duringwhich German youths expressed their angst by rebelling against thepleasant optimism of the time. Influenced partly by JohannWolfgang von Goethes The Sorrows of Young Werther,participants in the Sturm und Drang movement harboreda depressed, more archaic idealism. Though it revealed a decidedone-sidedness of the German Enlightenment, the movement did notsustain itself for very long.

A brutal, destructive conflict in Germany between 1618 and 1648. TheThirty Years War began when Bohemian Protestants revolted out ofa refusal to be ruled by a Catholic king. The battle would eventuallyspread throughout Germany and involve many other countries on bothsides, resulting in the death of nearly a third of the German populationand unfathomable destruction. Enlightenment thinkers such as JohnComenius and Hugo Grotius reacted against the warwith treatises about education, international relations, and the natureof war itself.

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SparkNotes: The Enlightenment (16501800): Key People & Terms

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July 25th, 2018 at 10:44 am

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How to Attain Enlightenment: The Vision of Nonduality …

Posted: July 16, 2018 at 11:43 pm


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The Vision of Nonduality explains methods of Vedanta in his survey of spiritual techniques, pairing theory with practice and explaining the myths and realities behind an enlightened state. From reflections on moving to a larger living space and clutter to assimilating experiences, How to Attain Enlightenment is a powerful survey any new age library needs. (The Bookwatch, May 21, 2010)

How to Attain Enlightenment explains and focuses on Vedanta, the science of self-inquiry, and considers the myths behind the state of enlightenment and its connections to happiness. The ancient teachings of Vedanta form a foundation of knowledge and practice that has questioned the nature of reality itself, and this survey of love, lifestyle, experience and more offers a fine survey perfect for new age libraries.

(Midwest Book Review)

Though based on the ancient wisdom and knowledge of Vedanta, it comes as a breath of fresh air. A biased outlook may regard this information as old and musty, but the modern perspective displays a new approach to this gleaming and invaluable treasure.

Any worldly and material knowledge is incomplete, for it is merely a minuscule part of the whole Universe. But self-knowledge, which emphasizes oneness and the non-dual, presents knowledge which is complete and whole.

This book goes through the entire gamut of topics covered by the Vedas, making use of yoga, detachment, the ego, karma, dharma, love, meditation and much more, to bring about an inner growth, wherein is visible the enlightened and luminous self.(East and West Magazine)

Sentient Publications presents its next best-seller, How to Attain Enlightenment:The Vision of Nonduality by acclaimed author James Schwartz, who offers his ample wisdom on the ancient teachings of 'Vedanta.'

In Hinduism, Vedanta is a system of philosophy that further develops the connotation in the philosophies that add to the theology of ancient Hinduism.

In his first chapter, Inquiry into Object Happiness Schwartz holds the key to what it means to discover enlightenment rather, a higher sense of awareness and consciousness to receive guidance and be in unison with the power of the Universe:

'What we call reality is governed by the uncertainly principle,' writes Schwartz, 'Because our source of food, animal or vegetable, is unconcerned about our need to survive, we are forced to either pursue it or cultivate it. Shelter does not simply happen on its own but requires effort to obtain.' The same principle holds true in what he further elaborates that even when material needs have been met, individuals often find that they are still not completely fulfilled or satisfied in their livesthis is where having and maintaining a state of Vedanta helps soul seekers to be at one with the self and with the Universe, regardless of life circumstances.

If you are on a quest for wisdom and are ready to manifest a heightened state of consciousness so that you can become liberated and freed from the limitations that negate your personal and spiritual happiness, then gain the knowledge you need that Schwartz offers in his book How to Attain Enlightenment through a vast array of teachings, meditations, and more.

(CarolAnnB)

Would you like to learn how to attain enlightenment? Well regardless of the semantics of whether enlightenment is something to be attained, welcome to the enlightenmentdudes.com review of How to Attain Enlightenment by James Swartz.

This really is a handbook of enlightenment. He covers what enlightenment is not, such as not an experiential state, and then gets into what enlightenment is. He talks about qualifications, or a background of spiritual maturity the seeker needs to have. And he explains what self inquiry really is.

Swartz also spends time debunking enlightenment myths and exposing the inaccuracy of the teachings of neo-advaita (primarily western) instant enlightenment spiritual teachers.

The book reminded me of how it is to enter a relationship. It started off well, but then you reach a point where you ask yourself whether you want to go on. There was a period where I was wondering what kind of point he was trying to make and if it was actually going anywhere. Like weathering a relationship through the tough times, I went on, and Im glad it did.

Swartz is very funny in parts of the book, and it was refreshing to see a guy write in a fashion that uses descriptive terms that dont have you reading the words consciousness, awareness or pure being in every paragraph. There are too many spiritual books full of that crap, and Swartz is a very pleasant departure from that.

The writer has a very keen understanding of self inquiry and other methods on the spiritual path, and he discusses the benefits of each. Swartz spent considerable time in India learning self-inquiry and has a chapter dedicated to questions about Ramana Maharshi. Swartzs teacher was not a Ramana follower so there are areas where he differentiates from Ramana. He also discusses how ones lifestyle has a major impact on enlightenment and he differentiates terms awakening and enlightenment as being two different things.

Overall, if you can get through the slow parts, this is an excellent and comprehensive book. Youll realize when you get through it that slow parts actually were part of a plan and have importance. Enlightenmentdudes.com highly recommends this book, and gives it an 8 out of 10 on our infinity scale.(Enlightenmentdudes.com)

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How to Attain Enlightenment: The Vision of Nonduality ...

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July 16th, 2018 at 11:43 pm

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Dialectic of Enlightenment (Cultural Memory in the Present …

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Dialectic of Enlightenment is undoubtedly the most influential publication of the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory. Written during the Second World War and circulated privately, it appeared in a printed edition in Amsterdam in 1947. "What we had set out to do," the authors write in the Preface, "was nothing less than to explain why humanity, instead of entering a truly human state, is sinking into a new kind of barbarism."Yet the work goes far beyond a mere critique of contemporary events. Historically remote developments, indeed, the birth of Western history and of subjectivity itself out of the struggle against natural forces, as represented in myths, are connected in a wide arch to the most threatening experiences of the present. The book consists in five chapters, at first glance unconnected, together with a number of shorter notes. The various analyses concern such phenomena as the detachment of science from practical life, formalized morality, the manipulative nature of entertainment culture, and a paranoid behavioral structure, expressed in aggressive anti-Semitism, that marks the limits of enlightenment. The authors perceive a common element in these phenomena, the tendency toward self-destruction of the guiding criteria inherent in enlightenment thought from the beginning. Using historical analyses to elucidate the present, they show, against the background of a prehistory of subjectivity, why the National Socialist terror was not an aberration of modern history but was rooted deeply in the fundamental characteristics of Western civilization.Adorno and Horkheimer see the self-destruction of Western reason as grounded in a historical and fateful dialectic between the domination of external nature and society. They trace enlightenment, which split these spheres apart, back to its mythical roots. Enlightenment and myth, therefore, are not irreconcilable opposites, but dialectically mediated qualities of both real and intellectual life. "Myth is already enlightenment, and enlightenment reverts to mythology." This paradox is the fundamental thesis of the book.This new translation, based on the text in the complete edition of the works of Max Horkheimer, contains textual variants, commentary upon them, and an editorial discussion of the position of this work in the development of Critical Theory.

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Dialectic of Enlightenment (Cultural Memory in the Present ...

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enLIGHTenment – The Lighting Industry Trade Publication

Posted: July 11, 2018 at 6:49 am


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Despite the higher price tag of U.S.-made lighting fixtures versus imported, these industry members find taking the time to explain the manufacturing backstory to consumers leads to increased sales nside the Hubbardton Forge factory in Vermont, the...

Advancements in LED technology are not just breaking ground on earth. Cutting-edge horticulture lighting developments are aiding space exploration. hen you think of food that astronauts eat, youre probably not imagining leafy green salads. For...

Lighting and furniture designer Asher Rodriquez-Dunn explores the intersection between nature, craft, and the spirit of adventure hen considering colleges, Asher Rodriquez-Dunn avoided furniture design at all costs. He pursued Industrial Design at...

This five-star, award-winning resort in the Canary Islands was recently renovated from top to bottom. he vistas from Tenerife, the largest and most populated of the seven Canary Islands, attracts approximately five million tourists each year...

This months column is for the career salespeople, those who have been in sales for some time and those who manage them. ith the increased performance demands placed on sales departments of every company in, and outside of, our industry, the people...

My first job in journalism was covering the kitchen and bath industry for a trade magazine, where Id attend trade shows and meet the suits at huge corporations such as Dupont, Formica, MASCO, Sharp, Wilsonart, and many others. None of the top...

Gift for Life, the gift, stationery, and home decor industries leading charitable organization, announces the Gift For Life/National Stationery Show team recently raised more than $27,000 for men, women, and families living with HIV/AIDS...

Twin Star Home, a leader in electric fireplaces and a premier designer and manufacturer of home furnishings based in Delray Beach, Fla., continued its 10-year commitment of supporting research center City of Hope at their recent West Coast event and...

NY NOW, the Market for Home, Lifestyle + Gift, will return to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center inNew York City, February 3-6, 2019. Included in the major additions, features, and changes planned for the winter Market is the co-location...

Dunes Point Capital (DPC) has acquired Sonneman A Way of Light, a leading designer and manufacturer of high-end architectural lighting for commercial and residential applications. Sonnemans product lines include 1,800 SKUs, with more than...

Dallas Market Center and enLIGHTenment magazine announced the winners of the fifth annual Market Choice Awards during Lightovation Dallas International Lighting Show. The awards program recognizes new product introductions during...

Describing it as an important victory for brick-and-mortar lighting retailers to help bring about retail fairness, Michael Weems, VP/Government Engagement for the American Lighting Association (ALA), released a statement to the ALA membership that...

Lighting One lived up to its 2018 convention theme, Be MORE, as the organization hosted its annual awards reception June 19 at the Marriott City Center in downtown Dallas. Gregg Garofalo, President of Lighting One, received the Guiding Light Award...

Focus Industries Inc., based in Lake Forest, Calif., has welcomed Pamala Wishard as its new Product Manager. Wishard will assume responsibility of all product line development with the support of CEO/Sales Director, Stan Shibata. With...

LIGHTFAIR International (LFI) set a record at McCormick Place in Chicago May 6-10, with a significant increase in registration over last year. The show featured 600exhibitors including 66 first-time exhibiting companies and 136...

PORT 68 will unveil a new showroom in Atlantas AmericasMart for the upcoming International Gift and Home Furnishings Market, July 10-16.The Chicago-based producer is moving up the corridor in AmericasMarts Building 1 to area 14 E-22...

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enLIGHTenment - The Lighting Industry Trade Publication

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