Who was Siddhartha Gautama?

Siddhartha Gautama (in Pali, Siddhattha Gotama) is the man known as the Buddha, "the awakened one". He lived in northern India, probably in the fifth century BCE, although scholars disagree about the exact dates. Everything in Buddhism goes back to his teaching.

Early life

By tradition, he was born in Lumbini, in what is now Nepal, into the Sakya clan. His father was a chief, or king, of the Sakyas, and he grew up in comfort in Kapilavatthu. Later stories say his father tried to shield him from the sufferings of the world.

In the early discourses, the Buddha recalls that even in his youth he reflected that he too would grow old, become ill and die. Later accounts tell of four sights: an old man, a sick man, a corpse and a wandering renunciant. These moved him to look for a way beyond suffering. At about twenty-nine, he left home to become a wandering seeker.

The search for awakening

He studied meditation with two teachers and mastered what they taught, but found it did not lead to the end of suffering. He then practised severe austerities, fasting until he was close to death. Concluding that this too was not the way, he took food again and turned to a middle way between indulgence and self-torment.

Seated under a tree at what is now Bodh Gaya, he meditated deeply and, at about thirty-five, realised awakening. The tree is known as the Bodhi tree, the tree of awakening. From then on he was called the Buddha.

Teaching

He gave his first teaching at the Deer Park near Benares (Varanasi) to five former companions. It set out the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path. For about forty-five years he walked through the Ganges plain, teaching people of every background and founding communities of monks and nuns, supported by lay followers.

His teaching was practical. He compared himself to a doctor who diagnoses an illness and prescribes a cure, and he encouraged people to test what he said in their own experience.

His death

At about eighty, the Buddha died at Kusinara (Kushinagar). His last words, as recorded in the Pali texts, urged his followers that all conditioned things are subject to decay and that they should strive on with diligence. Buddhists call his death the parinibbāna, his final nirvana.