Gautama Buddha

Buddha, Gautama (c.563–c.483 B.C.), founder of Buddhism. He was born Siddhartha Gautama, son of the raja of Kapilavastu, India, near Nepal. At the age of 29, confronting human misery for the first time, he set out to find the path to peace and serenity. For 6 years he studied under Brahman teachers, living as a hermit. Enlightenment came to him while seated under a bodhi or pipal tree. Thereafter he preached and gathered disciples as Buddha (“The Enlightened One”).

See also: Buddhism.