Buckinghamshire Vbo-kiq-om-.shhA Administrative (pop., 2001: 479,028), geographic, and historic county, southern England. It is bor¬ dered by the River Thames, London, and the River Ouse valley in the north; its county seat is at Aylesbury. It was affected by each phase of English settlement, from the Neolithic to the Saxon. Under Saxon rule, as part of the kingdom of Mercia, it resisted Danish invasion and became prosper¬ ous. Before the 20th century it was a rural area, but the modem growth of London and the expansion of transportation links with it have brought population growth.
Buckley, William F(rank), Jr. (b. Nov. 24, 1925, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. writer and editor. He attended Yale University, where he was chairman of the Yale Daily News. In 1955 founded the National Review, as editor in chief, he used the journal as a forum for his conservative
views. His column “On the Right” was syndicated in 1962 and eventu¬ ally appeared in more than 200 newspapers. From 1966 he hosted Firing Line, a weekly television interview program in which he often employed his wit and debating skills against ideological opponents. His books include God and Man at Yale (1951), Rumbles Left and Right (1963), and a series of spy novels.
buckling Mode of failure under compression of a structural component that is thin (see shell structure) or much longer than wide (e.g., post, col¬ umn, leg bone). Leonhard Euler first worked out in 1757 the theory of why such members buckle. The definition by Thomas Young of the elastic modu¬ lus significantly propelled building construction science forward. The elastic theory formed the basis of structural analysis until World War II, when the behaviour of bomb-damaged buildings forced the modification of some of the theory’s underlying assumptions. See also post-and-beam SYSTEM.
buckminsterfullerene See fullerene
Buckner, Simon Bolivar (b. April 1, 1823, near Munfordville, Ky., U.S.—d. Jan. 8, 1914, near Munfordville) U.S. and Confederate military leader. He graduated from West Point and served in the Mexican War. In the American Civil War he established the Kentucky militia and became a Confederate general. Ordered to reinforce Fort Donelson, Tenn. (1862), he found the situation hopeless and unconditionally surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant. After his release in a prisoner exchange, he served the Confed¬ eracy in many capacities. He was later governor of Kentucky (1887-91).
buckwheat Either of two species (. Fagopyrum esculentum, or sagit- tatum, and F. tataricum ) of herbaceous plants and their edible, triangular seeds, used as a cereal grain though the plant is not a cereal grass. It is less productive than other grain crops on good soils but is particularly adapted to arid, hilly land and cool climates. Because it matures quickly, it can be grown as a late-season crop. It improves conditions for the cul¬ tivation of other crops by smothering weeds and may be planted as a green-manure crop. Buckwheat is often used as a feed for poultry and other livestock. It is high in carbohydrates and is about 11% protein and 2% fat. The hulled kernels, or groats, can be cooked and served much like rice. Buckwheat flour is unsatisfactory for bread but is used to make pan¬ cakes (“buckwheat cakes”).
buckyball See fullerene
bud Small lateral or terminal protuberance on the stem of a vascular plant that may develop into a flower, leaf, or shoot. Buds arise from meristem tissue. In temperate climates, trees form resting buds that are resistant to frost in preparation for winter. Flower buds are modified leaves.
Budapest Vbii-do-.pesA City (pop., 2001: 1,775,203), capital of Hun¬ gary. Situated on the Danube River, it acquired its name in 1873 when the towns of Buda and Obuda on the river’s right bank and the town of Pest on its left bank amalgamated. Inhabited from Neolithic times, Buda was the site of a Roman camp in the 2nd century ad. By the 13th century both Buda and Pest had German inhabitants. Buda was fortified by Matthias I Corvinus in the 15th century and became the capital of Hungary. It was taken and held by the Turks (1541-1686), then retaken by Charles V, duke of Lorraine. In 1848-49 both towns experienced nationalistic revolt, and Pest became the capital of Kossuth Lajos’s revolutionary government. It became the centre of revolt for Hungarian independence in 1918. After World War II, it came under communist control. It was the base of an unsuccessful anticommunist uprising in 1956 (see Hungarian Revolution). Anticommunist unrest there in the 1980s led to the declaration of the Hungarian republic in 1989. Budapest is a vital Hungarian transport cen¬ tre; its economy includes heavy industry and manufactures from telecom¬ munications and electronics.
Buddha Vbii-doX orig. Siddhartha Gautama (fl. c. 6th-4th cen¬ tury, b. Kapilavastu, Shakya republic, Kosala kingdom—d. Kusinara, Mafia republic, Magadha kingdom) Indian spiritual leader and founder of Buddhism. The term buddha (Sanskrit: “enlightened one”) is a title rather than a name, and Buddhists believe that there are an infinite number of past and future buddhas. The historical Buddha, referred to as the Bud¬ dha Gautama or simply as the Buddha, was bom a prince of the Shak- yas, on the India-Nepal border. He is said to have lived a sheltered fife of luxury that was interrupted when he left the palace and encountered an old man, a sick man, and a corpse. Renouncing his princely life, he spent seven years seeking out teachers and trying various ascetic prac¬ tices, including fasting, to gain enlightenment. Unsatisfied with the
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Buddhism ► Buffalo I 289
results, he meditated beneath the bodhi tree, where, after temptations by Mara, he realized the Four Noble Truths and achieved enlightenment. At Sarnath he preached his first sermon to his companions, outlining the Eightfold Path, which offered a middle way between self-indulgence and self-mortification and led to the liberation of nirvana. The five ascetics who heard this sermon became his first disciples and were admitted as bhiksus (monks) into the sangha, or Buddhist order. His mission fulfilled, the Buddha died after eating poisonous mushrooms served him by acci¬ dent and escaped the cycle of rebirth; his body was cremated, and stupas were built over his relics.
Buddhism Major world religion and philosophy founded in northeast¬ ern India in the 5th century bce. Based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, called the Buddha, Buddhism takes as its goal the escape from suffering and from the cycle of rebirth: the attainment of nirvana. It emphasizes meditation and the observance of certain moral precepts. The Buddha’s teachings were transmitted orally by his disciples; during his lifetime he established the Buddhist monastic order (sangha). He adopted some ideas from the Hinduism of his time, notably the doctrine of karma, but also rejected many of its doctrines and all of its gods. In India, the emperor Ashoka promoted Buddhism during the 3rd century bc, but it declined in succeeding centuries and was nearly extinct there by the 13th century. It spread south and flourished in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, and it moved through Central Asia and Tibet (see Tibetan Buddhism) to China, Korea, and Japan (see Pure Land Buddhism; Zen). In the 19th cen¬ tury, Buddhism spread to Europe and the United States, and it became increasingly popular in the West in the second half of the 20th century. Buddhism’s main teachings are summarized in the Four Noble Truths, of which the fourth is the Eightfold Path. Buddhism’s two major branches, Mahayana and Theravada, have developed distinctive practices and unique collections of canonical texts. In the early 21st century, the various tra¬ ditions of Buddhism together had more than 375 million followers.
Buddhist councils In most Buddhist traditions, two early councils on doctrine and practice. The first, which most modern scholars do not accept as historical, was reputedly held at Rajagrha (modern Rajgir), India, dur¬ ing the first rainy season after the Buddha’s death, to compile his remem¬ bered words, including the sutras and monastic rules. The second, which is accepted as historical, met more than a century later at Vaisali, India, to resolve disputes within the monastic community. Theravada Buddhism recognizes subsequent councils: a third, called by Ashoka c. ad 247, at which the doctrinal disputes were resolved in its favor, and others con¬ tinuing up to the mid-20th century. Other Buddhist traditions recognize other important councils at which their respective canons were established or edited.