Research About Buddha - Essay Example

It was approximately four hundred years later that the traditions were written down, though by then the majority of the deeper teachings had been forgotten or altered because of the oral passing. Gautama as Buddha is something that has been debated, since there was no real proof - at least none that scholars could find - about the life and times of Gautama (Kerouac, 2008). However, this is the case in many religions; a religion, though, would not be what it is without faith from the practitioner.

All the same, there are many claims about Gautamas life that have not been proven, yet these are part of his teachings. It is pretty uncommon when the physical appearance of a god or a spiritual figure is important, though this is not so much the case when it comes to spiritual paths like Buddhism or Paganism. The physical appearance of Buddha actually plays a large role in how Buddha is regarded and worshipped in Buddhism. Buddha had a very welcoming appearance, one that would make people comfortable to approach him.

However, due to the fact that very little could be proven about Buddhas "human" life, there is a lot of controversy surrounding what he really looked like. The common portrayal of Buddha is of a fat man with long, stretched out earlobes. The appearance that scholars have come to declare as his, however, is that of a man who was fit and healthy, as he had had military training while he was growing up (Armstrong, 2004). Many argue and say that the former description is of Buddha as the godlike figure, while the latter appearance is what he looked like in his human persona.

While the godlike figure does not need to be questioned, as this is similar to many other godlike images in spiritual paths, there is very little to be said about how Buddha looked in real life - there is simply not enough evidence to prove against it or in its favor. Buddha is one of the few rare spiritual leaders who was not necessarily considered a god or a deity of any