Editing The Buddha (section)

====Pillar and rock inscriptions====
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| image1            = Lumbini_inscription_(complete).jpg
| image2            = Buddha Sakyamuni on the Rummindei pillar of Ashoka.jpg
| footer            = [[Ashoka]]'s [[Lumbini pillar inscription]] ({{circa|250 BCE}}), with the words "Bu-dhe" (𑀩𑀼𑀥𑁂, the Buddha) and "[[Shakyas|Sa-kya]]-[[Muni (Saint)|mu-nī]] " ([[wikt:𑀲𑀓𑁆𑀬𑀫𑀼𑀦𑀻|𑀲𑀓𑁆𑀬𑀫𑀼𑀦𑀻]], "Sage of the [[Shakyas]]") in the [[Brahmi script]]{{sfnp|Weise|2013|pp=46–47}}<ref name="Brill">{{cite book |last1=Bronkhorst |first1=Johannes |title=How the Brahmins Won |chapter=Appendix X Was there Buddhism in Gandhāra at the Time of Alexander? |date=2016 |publisher=Brill |pages=483–489, page 6 of the appendix |doi=10.1163/9789004315518_016 |isbn=978-90-04-31551-8 |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/25308643 |access-date=1 May 2022 |archive-date=24 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220424162155/https://www.academia.edu/25308643 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Beckwith |first1=Christopher I. |title=Greek Buddha: Pyrrho's Encounter with Early Buddhism in Central Asia |date=2017 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-17632-1 |page=168 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=53GYDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA168 |access-date=1 May 2022 |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111053950/https://www.google.com/books/edition/Greek_Buddha/53GYDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA168&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref>
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No written records about Gautama were found from his lifetime or from the one or two centuries thereafter.{{sfnp|Bary|2011|p=8}}{{sfnp|Fogelin|2015}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Prebish |first1=Charles S. |title=Buddhism: A Modern Perspective |date=1 November 2010 |publisher=Penn State Press |isbn=978-0-271-03803-2 |page=29 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cILDj-pXQVYC&pg=PA29}}</ref> But from the middle of the 3rd century BCE, several [[Edicts of Ashoka]] (reigned c. 268 to 232 BCE) mention the Buddha and Buddhism.{{sfnp|Bary|2011|p=8}}{{sfnp|Fogelin|2015}} Particularly, [[Ashoka]]'s [[Lumbini pillar inscription]] commemorates the Emperor's pilgrimage to Lumbini as the Buddha's birthplace, calling him the ''Buddha Shakyamuni'' ([[Brahmi script]]: 𑀩𑀼𑀥 [[wikt:𑀲𑀓𑁆𑀬𑀫𑀼𑀦𑀻|𑀲𑀓𑁆𑀬𑀫𑀼𑀦𑀻]] ''Bu-dha Sa-kya-mu-nī'', "Buddha, Sage of the Shakyas").{{efn|In [[Ashoka]]'s [[Lumbini|Rummindei Edict]] {{circa|260 BCE}}, in {{harvtxt|Hultzsch|1925|p=164}}}}{{sfnp|Weise|2013|pp=46–47}}<ref name="Brill"/> Another one of his edicts ([[Minor Rock Edict|Minor Rock Edict No. 3]]) mentions the titles of several ''[[Dharma|Dhamma]]'' texts (in Buddhism, "dhamma" is another word for "dharma"),<ref>{{Cite web |title=Definition of dhamma |website=Dictionary.com |url=https://www.dictionary.com/browse/dhamma |access-date=27 October 2020 |archive-date=25 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201125120313/https://www.dictionary.com/browse/dhamma |url-status=live }}</ref> establishing the existence of a written Buddhist tradition at least by the time of the [[Maurya Empire|Maurya era]]. These texts may be the precursor of the [[Pāli Canon]].{{sfnp|Dhammika|1993}}<ref>{{cite web |translator-last=Bhikkhu |translator-first=Thanissaro |date=1993 |title=That the True Dhamma Might Last a Long Time: Readings Selected by King Asoka |website=[[Access to Insight]] |url=http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/asoka.html |access-date=8 January 2016 |archive-date=28 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171028112019/https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/asoka.html |url-status=live }}</ref>{{efn|Minor Rock Edict Nb3: "These Dhamma texts – Extracts from the Discipline, the Noble Way of Life, the Fears to Come, the Poem on the Silent Sage, the Discourse on the Pure Life, Upatisa's Questions, and the Advice to Rahula which was spoken by the Buddha concerning false speech – these Dhamma texts, reverend sirs, I desire that all the monks and nuns may constantly listen to and remember. Likewise the laymen and laywomen."{{sfnp|Dhammika|1993}}<br /><br />Dhammika: "There is disagreement amongst scholars concerning which Pali suttas correspond to some of the text. Vinaya samukose: probably the Atthavasa Vagga, Anguttara Nikaya, 1:98–100. Aliya vasani: either the Ariyavasa Sutta, Anguttara Nikaya, V:29, or the Ariyavamsa Sutta, Anguttara Nikaya, II: 27–28. Anagata bhayani: probably the Anagata Sutta, Anguttara Nikaya, III:100. Muni gatha: Muni Sutta, Sutta Nipata 207–21. Upatisa pasine: Sariputta Sutta, Sutta Nipata 955–75. Laghulavade: Rahulavada Sutta, Majjhima Nikaya, I:421."{{sfnp|Dhammika|1993}}<br><br> See [https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/asoka.html ''Readings Selected by King Asoka''] for a translation of these texts.}}

"Sakamuni" is also mentioned [[:File:Bhagavato Sakamunino Bodho inscription in Bharhut.jpg|in a relief]] of [[Bharhut]], dated to {{circa|100 BCE}}, in relation with his illumination and the [[Bodhi tree]], with the inscription ''Bhagavato Sakamunino Bodho'' ("The illumination of the Blessed Sakamuni").<ref name="KTSS80">{{cite book |last1=Sarao |first1=K. T. S. |title=The History of Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya |date=16 September 2020 |publisher=Springer Nature |isbn=978-981-15-8067-3 |page=80 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H5n9DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA80 |access-date=1 May 2022 |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111053951/https://books.google.com/books?id=H5n9DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA80 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=JL>{{cite book |last1=Leoshko |first1=Janice |title=Sacred Traces: British Explorations of Buddhism in South Asia |date=2017 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-351-55030-7 |page=64 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gS4rDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA64 |access-date=5 October 2018 |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111053950/https://books.google.com/books?id=gS4rDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA64 |url-status=live }}</ref>