Gautama Buddha is believed to have had 550 incarnations.  Many previous Buddhas and other Buddhas yet to come are known as Buddhas.  To distinguish from all other Buddhas, he has been called Sakyamuni (the lion of the Sakya clan), the son of King Suddhodana and Queen Mayadevi.  He was born on 563 B.C. at Lumbini, in the western part of Nepal.  He had attained “Bodhi” or knowledge after six years in fasting and mediation and then he was called “Buddha” as he was “the enlightened one”.  He died at the age of 80 at Kusinagara.

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