Editing Shakyamuni

{{Era|Individuals}}{{WP-REAL}}
{{Character Infobox
|image=Buddha closeup.png
|birth=
|death=c. 480 BCE or c. 400 BCE<ref name="Wikipedia">{{WP|Gautama Buddha}}</ref><br>
{{Wiki|Kushinagar}}, {{Wiki|Malla (India)|Malla Republic}}<ref name="Wikipedia" />
|species= [[Isu]]<ref name="Dynasty 7">''[[Assassin's Creed: Dynasty]]'' – [[The Flower Banquet (Part 7)]]</ref>
}}
'''Siddhārtha Gautama''' (died c. 483/400 BCE),<ref name="Wikipedia" /> popularly known as '''Shakyamuni''' or simply the '''Buddha''',<ref name="Dynasty 7" /> was a philosopher and spiritual leader on whose teachings [[Buddhism]] was founded. Those few who knew of his true nature called him a [[Isu|Precursor]],<ref name="Dynasty 7" /> and he spent decades of his life teaching in [[India]] a path to {{wiki|Moksha|liberation}} from {{wiki|Duḥkha|suffering}} which involved attaining {{wiki|Nirvana (Buddhism)|nirvana}}, an enlightened state which ceases the cycle of rebirth.<ref name="Wikipedia" />

==Biography==
In remote antiquity, Shakyamuni educated the masses of people living in the Indian states on the Buddhadharma. His guidance earned him innumerable disciples and the profound admiration of everyday people. Eventually, he chose to "relinquish his flesh" and passed away to the overwhelming grief of his followers. His body was cremated, but his disciples recovered among his ashes pearl-like stones of a rainbow of colours which were referred to as [[śarīra]]. Consecrated as sacred relics, the śarīra were actually reservoirs of Shakyamuni's [[Genetic memory|genetic memories]], thereby offering invaluable insights on the world of eons past—what the [[Japan]]ese scholar [[Abe no Nakamaro]] later called "the truth of the world".<ref name="Dynasty 7" /> 

===Legacy===
After his death, the Buddhadharma continued to be taught throughout India by the disciples he left behind. His teachings became Buddhism, and over the centuries, this religion spread throughout [[Asia]] along the [[Silk Road]]. By the latter [[Han dynasty]], it had reached [[China]] via the [[Western Regions]].<ref name="Dynasty 7" /> There, its influence became paramount during the [[Tang dynasty]],<ref name="Dynasty 7" /> from which it was further disseminated into [[Japan]].<ref name="Buddhism">{{WP|Buddhism}}</ref>

The śarīra that had been drawn from Shakyamuni's remains became the first of many of these memory receptacles collected by the Buddhist monks. Their spiritual masters protected them fiercely, enshrining them in their temples, and passing them on from generation to generation.<ref name="Dynasty 7" />

The proliferation of Buddhism also inspired the creation of numerous art based on the life of the Buddha alongside statues of the many successors that came after him. These sculptures sometimes reached colossal heights, with one example being the [[Mengshan Giant Buddha]] built under the {{wiki|Northern Qi}} in [[Taiyuan]].<ref name="Dynasty 32">''[[Assassin's Creed: Dynasty]]'' – [[Integrity's Last (Part 8)]]</ref> The province of {{wiki|Gansu}} in the {{wiki|People's Republic of China}} today is also home to labyrinthine caves filled with thousands of Buddhist statues and murals, among the most famous being the [[Maijishan Grottoes]].<ref name="Maijishan Grottoes">''[[Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China]]'' – [[Database: Maijishan Grottoes]]</ref> 

One of the murals in {{wiki|Dunhuang}}, Gansu appears to depict the legend of the Buddha resisting the temptation of {{wiki|Mara (demon)|Mara}} to sway him from his meditative quest for Enlightenment.<ref name="Dunhuang mural">''[[commons:File:FireLanceAndGrenade10thCenturyDunhuang.jpg|Fire Lance and Grenade, 10th Century Dunhuang]]'', uploaded by "[[commons:User:World Imaging|User:World Imaging]]". {{Wiki|Wikimedia Commons}}, 6 August 2007.</ref> Replete with images of demons assaulting the Buddha, it is also purportedly the earliest known illustration of [[firearm]]s and [[bomb|explosives]]: one demon wields a fire lance and another a flaming ball.<ref name="Song science">{{WP|Science and technology of the Song dynasty}}</ref> In 2012, this very section of the mural was included within one of the [[Glyph]] puzzles the [[Assassins|Assassin]] [[Clay Kaczmarek]] had hidden in the [[Animus]] for his successor [[Desmond Miles]] to solve. Prompting Desmond to locate [[Piece of Eden|Pieces of Eden]] among various works of art, Clay indicated that the flaming ball in the demon's hand was actually a depiction of an [[Apples of Eden|Apple of Eden]], not a bomb.<ref name="Glyph 4">''[[Assassin's Creed II]]'' – [[Glyphs|Glyph]] #4: "Infinite Knowledge"</ref> In this way, he suggested that an Apple of Eden was involved in the Buddha's life or at the very least one had surfaced in the [[Song dynasty]] when the painting was drawn.<ref name="Dunhuang mural" /><ref name="Glyph 4" /> Apart from this, Clay also hid a {{Wiki|binary}} code reading "{{Wiki|Me (mythology)|Sumerian, Me 23}}" within the painting.<ref name="Glyph 4" />

==Appearances==
*''[[Assassin's Creed II]]'' {{Io|painting}}
*''[[Assassin's Creed: Dynasty]]'' {{Io|Sculpture}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}
[[Category:480 BCE births]]
[[Category:400 BCE deaths]]
[[Category:Individuals]]
[[Category:Isu]]
[[Category:Monks]]
[[Category:Philosophers]]
[[Category:Teachers]]
[[fr:Siddhartha Gautama]]