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Posted on 11/26/2013 3:47:06 PM PST by ThanhPhero
They unearthed a 6th Century BC timber structure buried within the Maya Devi Temple at Lumbini in Nepal.
The shrine appears to have housed a tree. This links to the Buddha nativity story - his mother gave birth to him while holding on to a tree branch.
Its discovery may settle the dispute over the birth date of the Buddha, the team reports in the journal Antiquity. Radiocarbon
Every year thousands of Buddhists make a holy pilgrimage to Lumbini - long identified as the birthplace of Siddhartha Gautama, who became the Buddha. Continue reading the main story Lumbini
Located in the south-western Nepali plains 300km from Kathmandu and very close to India's border Birthplace of Siddhartha Gautama, who later become the Buddha Designated a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1997 Surrounded by large zone in which only monasteries can be built and no commercial premises The site has a number of ancient ruins of monasteries, a sacred Bo Tree and a bathing pool
Lumbini: What happened to 'Buddhist Mecca'? Buddhism at a glance
Yet despite the many texts chronicling his life and teachings, it is still uncertain when he lived.
Estimates for his birth stretch as far back as 623 BC, but many scholars believed 390-340 BC a more realistic timeframe.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
Not really interested in that stuff but “gave birth while hanging from a tree” was not that unusual for the time with difficult births. Apparently they did stuff like that all over Asia.
Good Buddhists don't worship Buddha, nor do they pray to him. He's not a god.
“Good Buddhists don’t worship Buddha, nor do they pray to him. He’s not a god. “
You are correct. I know several Chinese who believe in Buddhism as a way of life, and believe in Jesus as their savior. They say the two paths are in perfect concordance.
Gravity is very helpful in delivery. Hanging on to a tree branch, if one is available, makes perfect sense.
This may have been a figure of speech to avoid a lengthy explanation where one wasn't appropriate.
Conception involved a magical elephant.
probably more than I need to know already
“One night, Queen Mayadevi dreamed that a white elephant descended from heaven and entered her womb. The white elephant entering her womb indicated that on that very night she had conceived a child who was a pure and powerful being. “
http://www.aboutbuddha.org/english/life-of-buddha.htm/
Didn’t work too well, she died 7 days after the birth.
A queen, well that couldn’t possibly be self-serving
Like Mohmmad making up a faith to get his troops fired up as he ravaged the region
The queen didn’t make up any faith.
Nor did she talk to a burning bush.
“Good Buddhists don’t worship Buddha, nor do they pray to him. He’s not a god. “
You are correct. I know several Chinese who believe in Buddhism as a way of life, and believe in Jesus as their savior. They say the two paths are in perfect concordance.
* * *
Buddhism, as I understand it, is indeed a philosophy and approach to living, rather than a religion. However, it is widespread in the East, and has tended to mingle with the local earlier religion as it spread from place to place, resulting in some really interesting (and not terribly germane or appropriate) legends about the Buddha.
For instance, it mingled with the Bo religion in Tibet, resulting in some very colorful rituals featuring devil costumes and such, which has nothing at all to do with anything the Buddha ever said or did, but a lot to do with the earlier indigenous animistic religion.
depends on which buddhist denomination: Theravada do not, but many Mahayana sub-sects do
all the tales of the Buddha's pre-births etc. arose later
what IS definite is that he was a prince
Oh, well. They didn’t have antibiotics then.
No she didn’t talk to a burning bush. She was impregnated by a magical white elephant.
She also died shortly after the birth.
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