Talk:Buddha

Hey all- I've been working on the main Buddhism article, and I thought this one could use some tweaks as well. I have been working out of the brief discussion of the Buddha's biography in Rupert Gethin's book 'The Foundations of Buddhism'. I have tried to push this article a little closer to current scholarly understanding of the Buddha's life, but there is a lot more that could be done. I will try to add some detail about the renouncer tradition at some point. This article is not something I am actively working on, though, so feel free to add whatever you like. Thanks, Brian P. Long 11:59, 11 April 2008 (CDT)

There's going to be a problem down the line with using 'Buddha' for a description of the historical figure... in Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism there are many other figures to whom the term Buddha is applied. And even Theravada Buddhism applies the term to several other figures since the Pali Cannon identifies our historical Buddha as neither the first nor last. It'd be better to keep this page for what a Buddha is.--Hope Raven Nield 15:18, 10 July 2008 (CDT)

The Buddha and a buddha are two completely different things. If you would like to differentiate, you should start a page called Buddha. This should be renamed The Buddha. --Michael J. Formica 10:26, 30 August 2008 (CDT)

Hey Michael-- There hasn't been a whole lot of work on this article, as you might have noticed. As one of the few people paying attention to the article, I would be fine with moving the article on Siddhartha Gautama to a more precisely-named location. I personally don't feel that "The Buddha" is much better than straight "Buddha" ("The Buddha" may also run afoul of naming conventions, though I'd have to check); how would you feel about Siddhartha Gautama or Sammasambuddha? Brian P. Long 15:29, 31 August 2008 (CDT)