Gautama

(called also Gotama , Buddha , and Sakyamuni ), great Hindu reformer and founder of Buddhism, b. Kapilavastu, 624 B.C. Many legends are told of his birth and life. He is said to have been a prince, who, pained with human misery, left his home to dedicate himself to emancipation. His system was rather a moral discipline than a religion. Though he did not deny the Hindu gods he a erted that all beings were subject to “Karma,” the result of previous actions. He said, “If a man for a hundred years worship Agni in the forest, and if he but for one moment pay homage to a man whose soul is grounded in true knowledge, better is that homage than sacrifice for a hundred years.” According to Ceylonese writers Gautama Buddha died at Kusinagara, B.C. 543.