Prince Siddhartha Gautama, who would later be known as Buddha, was born in Lumbini, Nepal around the year 563 BC. He was the son of two important great people. Siddhartha's father's name was Shuddhodana, the King of the Sakyas. His mother, Queen Maya, was a lady "of perfect form and bee-black tresses, fearless in heart and full of grace and virtue." Siddhartha got his name from one of his mother's dreams. Her dream was that an elephant with 6 tusks, carrying a lotus flower in its trunk, touched the right side of Queen Maya's body. That was when Siddhartha was miraculously conceived. When she told her husband about her dream, he called Brahmins, or learned men to interpret it. They predicted that the child one-day would be the greatest king in the world or the greatest ascetic in the world. So that's why they called him Siddhartha, meaning "he whose aim is accomplished." When Siddhartha was about 20 years old he mar

Buddha was one of the greatest human beings, a man of great character, magnificent vision, warm compassion, and a profound thought. Not only did he establish a new religion, but his revolt against the Hindu religion influenced Hindu itself. But Buddha's teachings have not only influenced the Hindus, they have influenced the lives of millions of people for nearly 2500 years.

Next Siddhathra traveled throughout the northeastern portion of India, seeking out holy men, who taught him ancient Indian techniques of meditation. Even though meditation was important to him, his main quest was to find the answer to the problem of suffering. He wanted to know why they were suffering and how this suffering could stop. So Siddhartha studied the teachings of Hinduism. He was very fascinated by the belief of reincarnation or Samsara. This was the belief of the soul, after death, would travel to a new body-being born again. Depending on the person's previous life, its soul could enter a body of higher or lower state of existence. The way it is figured out is how the person lived his last life. This is called Karma. Siddhartha found this very interesting, so he adopted a life of self-denial and penance's, meditating constantly.

Siddhartha revealed to people that he was the Buddha by showing them the Wheel of Life. He would take a handful of rice grains and draw wheel on the ground, which represented the way that the soul lives on and on after death. This preaching was called his Deer Park Sermon, or "Setting in Motion the Wheel of Doctrine." Next, the Buddha explained the four Noble Truths, which are:

After many other complications, like fasting for several years, Siddhartha was enlightened. The experience of enlightenment was really the beginning of the history of Buddhism, the religion. This is when Siddhartha became the Buddha, which means "the enlightened one." As the Buddha, he experienced Nirvana, which is the condi

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