Brief Biography of Gotama Buddha

By Dr. Khin Maung U

Mahā Calendar Year 67 (623 BC) – Full Moon Day of Waso (Thursday): Conception took place.

Mahā Calendar Year 68 (624 BC) – Full Moon Day of Kason (Vesākhā) (Friday): Born in Lumbini Park (now known as Padaria in modern Nepal.
Name as Buddha: Gotama
Name as Prince: Prince Siddattha
Mother: Mahā Māyā Devi
Father: King Suddhodana Mahārājā
City: Kāpilavatthu (now in India)
Royal Bride: Princess Yasodharā Devi
Son: Prince Rāhula

Mahā Calendar Year 97 (595 BC) – Full Moon Day of Waso (Monday): Renounced worldly life, became an ascetic to seek enlightenment.

Mahā Calendar Year 103 (589 BC – Full Moon Day of Kason (Vesākhā) (Wednesday): Attained enlightenment, became a Buddha. (Time: At dawn on the first Waxing Day of Kason (Vesākhā))

Mahā Calendar Year 104 (589 BC) – Full Moon Day of Waso (Saturday): Expounded Dhammacakkapavatthana Sutta

Mahā Calendar Year 148 (544 BC) – Full Moon Day of Kason (Tuesday): In the Sāla Grove in the City of Kusināra in Māllas (modern Kasia in the eastern part of Nepal), Buddha passed into Nibbānna.)

Mahā Calendar Year 148 (544 BC) – 12th Waxing Day of Kason (Vesākhā) (Sunday): The Buddha’s remains burned on their own in cremation.

Notes

• Dr. Khin Maung U (SPHS63) stood First in Burma in the Matriculation.
• He is a Multiple Luyechun (Outstanding Student) at IM (1).
• He did Teaching & Research in Burma and USA.
• He translated a part of Dr. Nandamalabhivansa’s course on Abhidhamma.
• He and his spouse Dr. Nyunt Nyunt Wai are Gawpaka at a monastery in Maryland, USA.