Buddha

Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha, is the founder of Buddhism.

According to the earliest Buddhist traditions, Gautama was born into a royal family near Lumbini, now located in Nepal, in 563 BC. His father was the chief of the small kingdom of Kaplilavastu. He was raised by an adoring father who sought to protect him from the sight and knowledge of evil. He married early and had a son while he was still a youth.

According to legend, he rode forth from his home in his chariot at age 29. By the roadside he saw an aged man, a sick man, and a corpse on a litter. Shocked by his first experience with old age, sickness, and death, the prince lost all joy in living, realising that wealth and luxury did not guarantee happiness. One night he left his sleeping wife and infant son and rode away into the forest. Gautama denounced the world, instead choosing to explore the different teachings religions and philosophies of the day, seeking the key to lasting human happiness. The practices he undertook included many ascetic ones which he pursued with such dedication that he came even to the point of almost starving to death. Still insight into life's meanings escaped him.

After six years of study and meditation he finally found 'the middle path' (so called because it eschews extreme asceticism as well as indulgence) and was enlightened. As he meditated in solitude under the Bo tree, which Buddhists call the tree of wisdom, he experienced a spiritual awakening, known as "the enlightenment."

After enlightenment, the Buddha spent the rest of his life wandering through India and teaching the principles of Buddhism, called the Dhamma, or Truth, until his death until his death at the age of 80.