Gautama Buddha
Gautama Buddha (गौतम बुद्ध, traditionally c. 563–483 BCE; modern scholarship generally places him in the 6th–5th centuries BCE), born Siddhartha Gautama, was a spiritual teacher of the eastern Indo-Gangetic plains and the founder of Buddhism. He is regarded as the Tathagata (thus-gone), the fully awakened one, who discovered the path to liberation from suffering and taught it to the world.
Early life
Siddhartha was born in Lumbini (present-day Nepal) into the Shakya clan, a ruling family. According to tradition, his father shielded him from all knowledge of suffering, aging, and death. At age 29, upon encountering an old man, a sick man, a corpse, and a wandering ascetic, he realized the inescapable reality of suffering and renounced his palace life to seek a solution.
Awakening and teaching
After six years of spiritual practice under various teachers, Siddhartha sat beneath the Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya and attained full enlightenment. He became the Buddha — the awakened one — and delivered his first sermon at Sarnath, establishing the Four Noble Truths: the truth of suffering (dukkha), its origin (samudaya), its cessation (nirodha), and the path leading to cessation (magga).
The Noble Eightfold Path provides the practical framework for this cessation: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. The Buddha’s teaching emphasizes the Middle Way — avoiding the extremes of indulgence and asceticism.
Legacy
The Buddha spent 45 years teaching, establishing a community of monks (sangha) and lay followers. His teachings, preserved in the Pali Canon (Tipitaka), form the foundation of Theravada Buddhism, while later Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions developed from his core insights. Buddhism spread throughout Asia and now has millions of adherents worldwide.
Verification notes
- Audited against Wikipedia (September 2026).