Dear Sukhdev and friends,

sorry I missed out your first question earlier. Most Buddhists follow
the World Fellowship of Buddhist (WFB) in determining the current
year, known as Buddhist Era (B.E.). This is based on the common dates
that the Buddha was born in B.C.E.623 and attained final nibbana in
B.C.E.543.

The new year of the B.E. begins on Vesak Day (22 May in 2005).
Presently, it is B.E.2548, and it will be B.E.2549 on May 22. Next
year Vesak, we will be celebrating B.E.2550.

The B.E. may not be the most accurate dating, and scholars may like
to have other alternatives provided for their studies. However, this
is one of the most established dating.

Using this dating, the Buddha passed away 2548 years ago. Given that
he lived for 80 years, the Buddha was born 2548 + 80 = 2628 years
ago, and that will be B.C.E.623 (2628 - 2004 - 1).

Hope that helps.


metta,
Yong Peng.

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, Sukhdev Singh wrote:

I have been 'lightly' following this subject due to the many weblinks
that have been offered for referal (couldnt make time to read all of
them). I have just one query for the moment, and that is, what is
the current "Buddhist date", including the "name of the year".