什麼是佛陀

活動時期約西元前6世紀～西元前4世紀

印度人的精神領袖和佛教創始人。佛陀的梵語意爲「覺悟者」，是他的稱號而不是名字，佛教徒相信有無限多個過去的和未來的佛陀。歷史上的佛陀（指佛陀喬答摩或簡稱佛陀）是印度-尼泊爾邊境地區的釋迦族王國的王子。據說青年時代的悉達多養尊處優，直到有一天他出宮遊玩，分別遇見一老人、一病人和一具死屍。他放棄王公貴族的生活，花了七年時間尋找老師，嘗試各種極端的苦修生活，包括絕食以求悟道，但結果都不能令他滿意。有一天他坐在菩提樹下深思冥想，在抗拒了魔的誘惑後，意識到「四諦」，並因而頓悟。佛陀到鹿野苑向他的同伴第一次說法，提綱挈領地宣講「八正道」，以此提供一條自我放縱與自我禁慾之間的中間道路，引向涅盤解脫。聽了這次說法的五個苦行僧成了他的第一批門徒，被接納爲僧伽或佛教等級中的比丘（僧人）。佛陀的使命完成了，在庫辛納拉（現名卡西亞）因意外食用有毒蘑菇而過世，逃脫了再生的輪迴；後人將佛陀遺體火化，在他的遺物上建塔供奉。

Buddha

Indian spiritual leader and founder of Buddhism. The term Buddha (Sanskrit: “Enlightened One”) is a title rather than a name, and Buddhists believe that there are an infinite number of past and future buddhas. The historical Buddha, referred to as the Buddha Gautama or simply as the Buddha, was born a prince of the Sakyas, on the India-Nepal border. He is said to have lived a sheltered life of luxury that was interrupted when he left the palace and encountered an old man, a sick man, and a corpse. Renouncing his princely life, he spent seven years seeking out teachers and trying various ascetic practices, including fasting, to gain enlightenment. Unsatisfied with the results, he meditated beneath the bodhi tree, where, after temptations by Mara, he realized the Four Noble Truths and achieved enlightenment. At Sarnath he preached his first sermon to his companions, outlining the Eightfold Path, which offered a middle way between self-indulgence and self-mortification and led to the liberation of nirvana. The five ascetics who heard this sermon became his first disciples and were admitted as bhiksus (monks) into the sangha or Buddhist order. His mission fulfilled, the Buddha died at Kusinara (present-day Kasia), after eating poisonous mushrooms served him by accident, and escaped the cycle of rebirth; his body was cremated, and stupas were built over his relics.