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Figure Buddhist traditions
The Buddha
𑀲𑀺𑀤𑁆𑀥𑀢𑁆𑀣 𑀕𑁄𑀢𑀫 pi गौतम बुद्धः sa སྟོན་པ་ཤཱཀྱ་ཐུབ་པ། bo
Indian philosopher and the founder of Buddhism (623 or 563 BCE – 543 or 483 BCE)
- Child of Śuddhodana and Maya
- Married to Yaśodharā
- Dated 1st millennium BCE
- Recognised as Thaumaturge
A life on the record,
dated by its sources.
Roles, not beliefs
Overview
From Wikipedia, quoted unmodified under CC BY-SA 4.0; the article’s history is its list of authors.
Life
Affiliation
As a third party recorded it, often for one period of a life.
What this means
As the records give them: every row is a third party’s statement, not a self-description, and a role or an affiliation is often held for one period of a life only. An affiliation is not a belief, and this site does not ask anyone about theirs. For an office: which one, for how long, and where the records give an ordinal or the holders either side. Recognition of a tenure is never universal: contested lines appear as overlapping tenures rather than as one corrected sequence.
Family
The family of The Buddha
Parents, consorts and children as the accounts give them. Choose a consort to see the children the stories give the two.
Accounts differ about a god’s family. Where they name different parents, the tree sets them side by side instead of choosing one.
The family as a list · 8
Kinship in an account 1
What this means
Parentage as a named source tells it. Not an independently established biological relationship, and different accounts disagree.
Does not imply marriage as a legal institution · exclusivity, or a single canonical pairing
Imported from Wikidata unless a tile says otherwise. Nothing here has been read by an editor.
Family 7
What this means
A documented human family relationship. Not a succession mechanism, and not religious transmission.
Does not imply a right to an office · transmission of a teaching · a religious affiliation held by the whole house · continuous rule · a shared religious affiliation
Imported from Wikidata unless a tile says otherwise. Nothing here has been read by an editor.
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child of (child) Maya queen; mother of the Buddha -
child of (child) Śuddhodana King of Shakya Kingdom - of the house family of Gautama Buddha family of the founder of Buddhism
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parent of (father) Rāhula son of the Śākyamuni Buddha -
sibling of Sundarānanda Half-brother of Gautama Buddha -
sibling of Sundari Nanda Half-sister of Gautama Buddha -
married to Yaśodharā Wife of Prince Siddhartha (Gautama Buddha)
Transmission
Teachers and students
Teaching passed from one person to another, in the direction of the arrows — not ancestry, and not succession.
What this means
In the direction the records give it. This is not biological ancestry and it is not institutional succession: a student who inherited no office still received the teaching, and an heir who received the office may have been taught by someone else entirely. It does not imply that teacher and student agreed.
Studied under 2
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The Buddha Indian philosopher and the founder of Buddhism (623 or 563 BCE – 543 or 483 BCE) Taught 10
Religious context
What the records tie them to
Founded, supported, associated with — as third parties recorded it.
What this means
A founding is an attribution, usually contested, and not a claim that the tradition began fully formed. Patronage is an act, not a belief: it says nothing about the religion of a population, and nothing about the patron’s own practice in every period of a life. Domains are as sources record them — for a saint, usually a patronage — rarely exclusive, and not the same in every account.
Texts
In the texts
Works this figure appears in. A work’s date is the source’s, not this figure’s.
Also in films, games and series: Pom Poko
Connections
How The Buddha connects
Grouped by the kind of relationship, because a successor is not a son and a shared symbol is not an influence.
Affiliation 1
What this means
Association with a tradition or school. Traditions branch, overlap and re-merge; this is not a clean single-origin tree.
Does not imply a fixed roster · that every account of the tradition knows this figure
Imported from Wikidata unless a tile says otherwise. Nothing here has been read by an editor.
Succession in office 2
What this means
Who held an office after whom. Not parentage, not discipleship, and not universally recognised — offices are contested.
Does not imply parentage · discipleship · an explanation of why the succession happened
Imported from Wikidata unless a tile says otherwise. Nothing here has been read by an editor.
Identification 3
What this means
One figure treated as another in some context. Not literal identity in all contexts, and usually a claim by a third party.
Does not imply literal identity in all contexts · that either tradition made the identification
Imported from Wikidata unless a tile says otherwise. Nothing here has been read by an editor.
Documented influence 6
What this means
A transmission argued from evidence. Not shared symbols, and not a short path through a database.
Does not imply shared symbols as evidence · a short path through a database
Imported from Wikidata unless a tile says otherwise. Nothing here has been read by an editor.
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was influenced by Dīpankara Buddha figure of Buddhist mythology, one of the Buddhas of the past -
influenced Ashoka Mauryan emperor from 268 to 232 BCE -
influenced Leo Tolstoy Russian author (1828–1910) -
influenced Mahatma Gandhi Indian independence activist (1869–1948) -
influenced Marpa Chokyi Lodro Tibetan Buddhist teacher -
influenced Rahul Sankrityayan Indian Buddhist scholar, polyglot and travel writer (1893–1963); 'Father of Hindi travel literature'
Recorded events and days 1
What this means
Events Wikidata records in a subject’s history, and the day a festival is kept. Not a complete history, and the day a festival falls on is not when it began.
Does not imply that these are all the events in its history · that Wikidata ranks the events by importance
Imported from Wikidata unless a tile says otherwise. Nothing here has been read by an editor.
Sources
Sources and evidence
Where every statement on this page comes from, and how each one stands.
32 statements on this record
- 10 Has references The statement cites something outside Wikimedia. That citation has not been checked here.
- 22 Imported Taken from Wikidata as it stands. Nobody here has read it. 5 of them cite only Wikipedia: one source, counted once.
Only this record’s own statements. What other records say about it is counted on theirs.
Three layers, three licences
- Text
- Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted, not merged
- Pictures
- Wikimedia Commons · each file’s own terms
Review
Not yet read by an editor here. Every relationship on this page is an import.
Disagreements are kept, not resolved, and a count of sources is not a confidence score.
Keep exploring
More from Buddhist traditions
Theravāda, Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna, their figures, sutras, lineages and monasteries.