Siddhartha Gautam who is also known as the Gautam Buddha(Santi ka dut-The conveyor of peace) after enlightenment, was born in 563 Bc in the kingdom of Kapilvastu at Lumbini, Nepal. He was the founder of Buddhism, the fundamental goal and philosophy of which is attainment of peace in this and every other world.
He is also known as Sakyamuni or Tathagat. Siddhartha Gautama was born as a son of Shuddhodhana, the king of Kapilavastu and his queen, Mayadevi. But Mayadevi died after seven days of the birth of Siddhartha so, he was raised and cared by his stepmother, Gautami. On birth celebration of prince siddhartha, an astrologer predicted that siddhartha would renunciate the comforts of the materialistic world, and travel the world to find the meaning of life as a great sadhu(tapasi). When the King Shuddhodhana came to know about the prediction, he naturally became extremely cautious and tried to prevent a thing that was bound to happen, and he did not let Siddhartha even move out of the palace.
The King was planning to make his son his heir to the throne, so he kept siddhartha in luxury in the palace for his whole childhood without any contact from pain and struggle. When he was older, his father found a woman for Siddhartha to marry at the age of 16. He married the woman named Yashodhara, and they had a son, Rahul. Despite his father’s attempts to shield him from the struggle of life, one day he ventured out beyond the castle walls and encountered three aspects of life: the old, the sick and the dead. Right then, Gautama knew that nothing can stop people from being born, becoming old, getting sick, and dying. Each of these experiences troubled him and made him question the meaning of life. He decided to give up his worldly life. He would not keep his wives, his children, his wealth, or his palace. He would become a holy man with no home. He would look for the answer to the problem of birth, old age, sickness, and death.
When king Siddhartha was 29 years old he decided to renounce lay life. He left his home in the middle of a dark and stormy night. Siddhartha left his kingdom and went to several well-known teachers to study the ultimate nature of reality. But their teachings didn’t satisfy him and he set out to find his own path. Six years later he went to Bodgaya near the Neranjana River and sat under a tree. His mind is said to have become pure, and then, six years after he began his path, he said he found Enlightenment , and became the Buddha . When the Buddha became enlightened , he knew the answer to suffering , and he knew how to defeat suffering . Gautama Buddha taught that pain is a part of all life. He taught that pain is because of desire. And he showed that there is a way to end desire and end pain by doing good things, not doing bad things, and training one's mind. This is done to end pain and gain enlightenment . The teachings of the Buddha are known as Buddhism. Buddhism is mostly about ending the feeling of pain that all people feel inside.
The Buddha would not say if gods exist or not. He taught that people should not look to gods to save them or bring them enlightenment. The gods may have power over world events and they might help people, or they might not. But Buddha believed that it is up to each person to become enlightened. He gave emphasis on the purification of mind, heart and ultimately, soul by following the Eightfold Path, the Four Noble Truths and the Five Preceptions. This path included the right speech, understanding, determination, deeds, efforts, awareness, thinking and living. As per Buddhism, if one follows these paths, one could overcome desires, which were the reason for all the grieves and miseries. he did not pretend to be a god . He said he was just a man who had found the meaning of life (enlightenment), and that any person can also find the meaning of life.
For the rest of his life, he walked all over Southern Asia to teach what he learn about life . After spreading His message to the world successfully, Buddha died at the age of 80 years in around 483 BC.
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