Hello Derek


As i understand, there is no scholarly consenus. I did read a rather
remarkeable statment recently by Richard Gombrich that he
had 'solved' the problem, but i have not been able to come across
the details of his argument. He says the parinibbana was at 404 BCE
(plus or minus about ten years), which he arrives at because it is
136 years before Asoka.


in Dhamma

Bhante Sujato

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, "Derek" <derekacameron@...> wrote:
>
> Hi, All,
>
> A bit off-topic for the Pali list, but someone here may know the
> answer.
>
> I had always thought there were several methods for dating the
> lifetime of the Buddha. One gives 623 BC to 543 BC (the
traditional
> dates, used to determine for example that AD 2005 = 2548 BE). All
> the others give approximately 563 BC to 483 BC (generally quoted
in
> scholarly and historical works). See for example the discussion in
> H. W. Schumann, The Historical Buddha, pp. 10-13.
>
> However, recently I've come across references to a book I don't
> have, Heinz Bechert, The Dating of the Historical Buddha. Bechert
> proposes much more recent dates, up to a century later than
> previously thought. But then a review by L. S. Cousins in the
> Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society for 1996 says that Bechert
has
> overstated his case.
>
> Does anyone know what is the current scholarly consensus for the
> dates of the Buddha?
>
> Derek.