Bhikkhu
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A bhikkhu is an ordained male in Buddhist monasticism. Male and female monastics are members of the Sangha.
Bhikkhus in Thailand
Tibetan monks
Japanese monks of Jōdo Shinshū, Sōtō, and Shingon Buddhism.
A Cambodian monk in his robes
The Buddha
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Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was born in Lumbini, in what is now Nepal, to royal parents of the Shakya clan, but renounced his home life to live as a wandering ascetic. Buddhists believe that after leading a life of mendicancy, asceticism, and meditation, he attained nirvana at Bodh Gaya in what is now India. The Buddha then wandered through the lower Indo-Gangetic Plain, teaching and building a monastic order. Buddhist tradition holds he died in Kushinagar and reached parinirvana, final nirvana.
The Buddha, Tapa Shotor monastery in Hadda, Afghanistan, 2nd century CE
One of the earliest anthropomorphic representations of the Buddha, here surrounded by Brahma (left) and Śakra (right). Bimaran Casket, mid-1st century CE, British Museum.
Māyā miraculously giving birth to Siddhārtha. Sanskrit, palm-leaf manuscript. Nālandā, Bihar, India. Pāla period