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Secondary sourceBook1880

The Life or Legend of Gaudama, the Buddha of the Burmese

Paul Ambrose Bigandet · 1880

A detailed 19th-century biography of the Buddha drawn from Burmese Buddhist tradition.

A later biography of the Buddha compiled from Burmese Buddhist tradition by a European missionary bishop.

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The Life or Legend of Gaudama, the Buddha of the Burmese
P. Bigandet, The Life or Legend of Gaudama, the Buddha of the Burmese, 1880.

About this source

What it is

This two-volume work, first printed in the 1850s-60s and reissued in 1880, is a detailed life of the Buddha compiled from Burmese Buddhist sources by Paul Ambrose Bigandet, a Catholic bishop working in Burma. It includes annotations and additional notes on Buddhist monastic practice.

Why it matters

The book shows how a Christian missionary studied and recorded Buddhist tradition in Burma, making local accounts of the Buddha's life available to European readers. It reflects both the Burmese Buddhist tradition and the outside perspective of its compiler.

Look closer

  • Why might a Christian bishop have chosen to study and record the life of the Buddha?
  • How might the background of the writer affect the way the Buddha's story is told?
  • What can we learn from comparing this Burmese account with Indian versions of the same story?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Buddha on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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