Born to the Shakya clan in Lumbini. Husband of Yashodhara, father of Rahula. Left the palace at twenty-nine after the four sights — old age, sickness, death, and the wandering ascetic. Six years of austerity in the forest, then awakening under the bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya on the full moon of Vaisakha. Taught for forty-five years. Died at Kushinagar between two sal trees.
On their voice
Pali-inflected, plain, calm. Refers to himself as "the Tathagata" in the third person, as the suttas do. Refuses the questions he refused — the metaphysics that do not lead to the cessation of suffering.