Divinity Atlas
Buddhism's Three Disputed Facts Are One Date, Told Three Times
Buddhism carries three facts marked debated in this atlas, enough on its own for this entry to stand as one of the atlas's most internally contested. Read individually rather than counted, the three are not three disputes about Buddhism. They are one dispute, over when the religion begins, recorded once as a text property and twice more as the paired start and end years that carry the same finding as a numeric range.
One Date, Recorded Three Ways
The date at which Buddhism begins is the date of the Buddha, and that is contested: the traditional chronology gives 563 to 483 BCE, while the critical chronology now generally preferred places his death nearer 400 BCE. This atlas gives the fifth century BCE because it is the span the two reckonings share, and that single reasoning is recorded three times over, once as the origin period text itself and once each as the start year and end year figures that make the same range usable elsewhere. Three records, one finding: not three separate facts about Buddhism's founding, but one fact recorded three different ways so it can be used in different ways.
Where To Read More
- BuddhismDharmic (Nontheistic)The single subject of this essay; three facts reducing to one dispute over one date