Buddha

Tradition identifies the Buddha as Siddhartha Gautama, a spiritual teacher from ancient India who founded Buddhism. Most scholars place his life sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE. Born into a noble family in what is now Nepal, he is said to have left behind wealth and status after confronting sickness, old age, and death, determined to understand why people suffer.

After years of study and severe ascetic practice, he rejected extremes and followed what became known as the Middle Way. Buddhist tradition says he attained enlightenment while meditating under the Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya. He then spent decades teaching across northern India, explaining the nature of suffering and a path toward freedom through ethical living, meditation, and insight.

Because he lived so long ago, many details of his biography come through religious texts rather than modern historical records. Even so, the broad outline of his life and influence is widely accepted: he gathered disciples, established a teaching community, and left behind ideas that became one of the world's major religious traditions.