Buddha clearly lived - there are primary sources of him as a ascetic founder of Buddhism.
Though note - one must stick with the Hinayana Buddhist commentary as that is the older form (found in Sri Lanka). Gautama explicitly said he was not a god, leave alone God. He was also explicitly within the Sanatana Dhama “Hindu” fold with his concept of escaping the cycles of birth-rebirth. This was/is similar to the Jainist adharma form, only Jainism is stricter and it denies any creator deity.
Gautama was a prince who was shocked by the reality of life and then became a sage, and used existing “Hindu” ascetism to found his own “way”.
This was later spread by the Emperor Chandragupta Maurya (who in circa 300 BC ruled over most of the Indian subcontinent from Afghanistan to Karnataka. And later around the time of Christ, a Tocharian/Kushan emperor spread Buddhism further.
Gautama pretty definitely DID exist as did Jesus. There are adequate historical evidence for both.
Strangely enough - there is no primary evidence for a Muhammad - no writings of him for the first 150 years after he allegedly died.
Thank you for your information.
Hope I pass your class.😊
Thanks Cronos, great post!
He was into recycling before recycling was cool.
>Strangely enough - there is no primary evidence for a Muhammad - no writings of him for the first 150 years after he allegedly died.
Raymond Ibrahim stated that in 650, the Egyptian Copt, John of Niklu said that “Muslims”, were not only “enemies of God” but followers of “the detestable doctrine of the beast, that is, Mohammed.” Also, in 634, just two years after Mohammad’s death, the oldest known parchment mentioning a militant prophet has a man asking a learned Jewish scribe his knowledge of “the prophet who has appeared among the Saracens.” The old man, “with much groaning,” replied: “He is deceiving. For do prophets come with swords and chariot? Verily, these events of today are works of confusion…. you will discover nothing true from the said prophet except human bloodshed.”