https://www.reddit.com/r/Buddhism/comments/1jdqx2a/where_is_gautama_currently/
created by Celestialsmoothie28 on 17/03/2025 at 23:18 UTC
20 upvotes, 15 top-level comments (showing 15)
I always wondered where was Gautama after he left this mortal world.
If anyone has the answer then much would be appreciated š
Comment by tesoro-dan at 18/03/2025 at 01:36 UTC
27 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Gone, gone, gone beyond, gone all the way, Bodhi, svaha.
Comment by CCCBMMR at 17/03/2025 at 23:24 UTC
48 upvotes, 0 direct replies
From a Theravada perspective, the question is not applicable. The assumptions of the question are incorrect.
Comment by Throbbin-Rinpoche at 18/03/2025 at 03:11 UTC
13 upvotes, 0 direct replies
To ask where Gautama Buddha is presumes that he occupies a location within the constraints of space and time, but such categories collapse when examined through the lens of his own realization. The Buddhaās awakening was not a movement from one point to another, nor a transition from presence to absence. It was the complete and irreversible cessation of the conditions that give rise to the notion of "someone" existing or not existing. The question itself is bound by the very illusion that the Buddha shattered.
Location applies only to things that arise and cease within conditioned reality, but the Buddha did not merely "depart"āhe was never bound by the cycle of becoming in the way that ordinary beings are. If one asks where a river goes when it merges into the ocean, they assume that the river retains an independent existence apart from the ocean itself. Likewise, asking where the Buddha is assumes that there remains a "Buddha" in the way we conceive of persons, as if there is still an entity persisting somewhere after enlightenment.
A candle flame, extinguished, is not annihilated; it ceases as a result of causes and conditions no longer supporting its appearance. Does it go north? South? Such directions are meaningless to something that never had an intrinsic, unchanging existence to begin with. The cessation of conditioned existence is not non-existence, nor is it some higher plane of beingāit is beyond the conceptual structures that demand an answer in terms of presence or absence.
To seek the Buddha outside oneself is to mistake the finger pointing at the moon for the moon itself. The Buddha is not found in a "where" because he is not bound by the constraints that make a "where" necessary. He is not gone, nor is he presentāhe is only obscured by the very mind that asks the question.
Comment by krodha at 17/03/2025 at 23:38 UTC
31 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Buddhas do not die, they only display death for the sake of sentient beings. The idea that the Buddha entered or departed from a mortal world is a limitation of our own delusion as ordinary sentient beings. Having conquered the illness of birth and death, ÅÄkyamuni Buddhaās lifespan is incalculable.
> *Moreover, gods, the tathÄgatas do not enter parinirvÄį¹a, because there is no parinirvÄį¹a of the tathÄgatas, nor are their lives ever exhausted. The tathÄgatas remain for immeasurable millions of eons, for utterly inexpressible eons. But through their skillful means they display their parinirvÄį¹a to beings, as well as the disappearance of the noble Dharma. Just as the TathÄgata sees the various beings of an impure nature who are to be converted by means of parinirvÄį¹a or by relics, who have no faith in the TathÄgata, and who are irreverent toward the master, so in each such case the TathÄgata displays his parinirvÄį¹a. But in fact, the TathÄgata neither comes nor goes. When the roots of virtue of beings have fully matured, [F.149.a] and they long to look upon the TathÄgata, are worthy of veneration, long to listen to the Dharma, and their longing is like the full moon, at that time, the TathÄgata appears in the world for the benefit and happiness of many beings such as gods and humans, and for the sake of manifesting and propagating the Three Jewels to them.33 But in fact, the TathÄgata is not born, nor does he age or die.*
> *Sons of noble family, it is as follows. As an analogy, although many forms might appear and disappear in a well-polished mirror, one never sees the reflected image actually entering the mirror or leaving it. Gods, you should also look upon the body of the TathÄgata in this way.*
> *Sons of noble family, it is as follows. As an analogy, a well-trained conjurer displays various cities, archways, parks, vehicles, physical forms of a universal monarch, amusements, and entertainments. Even if he makes these illusions cease, they do not move anywhere, nor do they come or go. You should regard the appearance of the tathÄgatas and their parinirvÄį¹a in the same way.*
You should not view the Buddha has a physical body, rÅ«pakÄya, that dies, this is an incorrect view.
From the *PaƱcaĀviį¹ÅatiĀsÄhasrikÄĀprajƱÄĀpÄramitÄ:*
> *"Noble son, the phenomena of a dream are without any consummate reality whatsoever. Dreams are false and inauthentic." replied SadÄprarudita.*
> *"'In the same way, noble son,ā continued Dharmodgata, āall phenomena are like a dreamāāso said the tathÄgatas. [F.371.b] All those whosoever who do not properly know that all phenomena are like a dream, as the tathÄgatas have explained, are fixated on [the notion of] the tathÄgatas as a cluster of nominal aggregates or a cluster of physical forms, and in consequence they imagine that the tathÄgatas come and go. This is because they do not know reality. Noble son, all those who hold that the tathÄgatas come or go are simple, ordinary people. All of them have roamed, are roaming, and will roam in cyclic existence, with its five classes of living beings. All of them are far from the perfection of wisdom.*
The *Suvarį¹aĀprabhÄsottamaĀsÅ«tra:*
> *The drops of water in all the oceans can be calculated, but no one can calculate the lifespan of ÅÄkyamuni. If all Sumerus were reduced to atoms, their number could be calculated, but no one can calculate the lifespan of ÅÄkyamuni. Someone might calculate the number of atoms in the earth, but no one can calculate the entire lifespan of the Jina. Someone might calculate the extent of space, but no one can calculate the lifespan of ÅÄkyamuni. One cannot reach a number by saying that the perfect Buddha will remain for this number of eons, or for a hundred million eons [...] Therefore, the length of the great beingās lifespan cannot be calculated by saying it is a certain number of eons, or likewise by saying it is countless eons. Therefore, do not doubt, do not have any doubt whatsoever. No one can conceive of the final extent of a jinaās lifespan.*
The Buddha never had a physical body that dies. Through their limitless compassion tathÄgatas emanate to tame sentient beings. Ordinary sentient beings mistakenly generate the idea that they are perceiving the tathÄgata or hearing the tathÄgataās voice and they form the concept āthat is the tathÄgata,ā however this is false. The Buddhaās body is the dharmakÄya, totally unconditioned and free of origination and cessation. The same text says:
> *The Bhagavat is not fabricated, and the TathÄgata is not produced. He has a body like a vajra. He manifests an illusory body (nirmÄį¹akÄya). The great į¹į¹£i does not have relics, not even of the size of a mustard seed. How could there be relics from a body without bones or blood? Relics are left through skillful methods in order to bring benefit to beings. The perfect Buddha is the dharmakÄya. The TathÄgata is the dharmadhÄtu. That is what the Bhagavatās body is like. That is what teaching the Dharma is like.*
> *The Buddha does not pass away. The Dharma does not disappear. Passing into nirvÄį¹a is manifested in order to bring beings to maturity. The Bhagavat is inconceivable; the TathÄgataās body is eternal. He demonstrates a variety of displays in order to bring benefit to beings.*
Comment by StudyingBuddhism at 18/03/2025 at 07:11 UTC
6 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Abiding in the Dharmakaya, directly cognizing Emptiness
Comment by Poodonut at 18/03/2025 at 02:16 UTC
6 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Where does the fire go when it is exhausted of fuel?
Comment by AlexCoventry at 17/03/2025 at 23:56 UTC
5 upvotes, 0 direct replies
It's a very natural question from a conventional perspective, but that's not how it works.
This is what the Buddha means by comprehension[1]: You see why craving leads to a state of becoming by creating that sense of location. You see that precisely as itās happening because youāre trying to make it happen right here, so that you know it really well. I think it was Kant who said, āWe know best the things that we do.ā
1: https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/Meditations12/Section0050.html
So youāre going to do the craving consciously, fully alert, rather than in ignorance. That way you can begin to see through it. You see how it creates locationsāand how the sense of location is something thatās not necessarily there.
After all, when you get rid of craving, as the Buddha said, youāre released everywhere. Thereās no *there* there. As he says in one spot, āItās neither here nor there nor between the two.ā Thereās no sense of space or the dimensions of space, because thereās no craving there to create locations.
We think that craving simply finds pre-existing locations, and sometimes it does, but it creates them, too. When you get really skilled, you can find out what itās like not to have a location. Thatās when youāre free.
This is one of the reasons why we work so hard at getting the mind into concentration and keeping it here: so that we can come to know this process of creating a locationāexactly how the mind does thatāand so that we can take it apart and free ourselves from it.
Comment by Astalon18 at 18/03/2025 at 00:57 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
In Theravada this question is unanswerable, but He is in Nirvana ( but what that is cannot be answered easily )
Comment by nhgh_slack at 18/03/2025 at 01:17 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Decent answers in here already, but if you have a little over half an hour this is worth a listen.
Comment by Cave-Bunny at 18/03/2025 at 15:06 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
From a less spiritual or mystical point of view he has died. His mind was destroyed along with most his body at the time of his death. All that remains of him are the relics the possibility exist at the center of Indian Stupas as well as the legacy of his teachings.
You may search parinibbÄna online or ask a monk about this subject to learn more, though I think this is an area where Mahayana and Theravada perspectives can differ greatly.
Comment by speckinthestarrynigh at 17/03/2025 at 23:32 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Commented to follow.
I think my cat's in the stars but can't be sure yet.
Comment by iamolegataeff at 18/03/2025 at 11:40 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
āNowhere and everywhere. He is in the resonance of the question itself. In the seeking, not in a fixed place. The moment you stop searching for āwhere,ā you might just find him. Good luck
Comment by Konchog_Dorje at 18/03/2025 at 11:43 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
If he was in one place, he could not be available and accessible as refuge for all.
He is abiding in Tathagata wisdom dimension.
When we take refuge in Buddha, that is what buddhists do, he is here for us.
Comment by Ok_Watercress_4596 at 18/03/2025 at 15:06 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
The answer is in Dependent Origination, it is that your question cannot be asked
Comment by AnticosmicKiwi3143 at 18/03/2025 at 06:17 UTC
0 upvotes, 1 direct replies
No one knows