Gautama Buddha

Gautama Buddha (also Siddhārtha Gautama, Siddhattha Gotama; Shakyamuni, Sakkamuni; and The Buddha) was an ascetic and spiritual teacher of ancient India who lived during the 6th or 5th century BCE. He was the founder of Buddhism and is revered by Buddhists as a fully enlightened being who taught a path to Nirvana. Now he is regarded as one of the most important historical figures in Nepal.

According to Buddhist tradition, the Buddha was born in Lumbini, Nepal, to highborn Shakya clan parents, but abandoned his family to live as a wandering ascetic. He attained enlightenment at Bodh Gaya after a life of begging, asceticism, and meditation. Following that, the Buddha wandered through the lower Gangetic plain, teaching and establishing a monastic order. He taught a middle path between sensual indulgence and severe asceticism, a mind training that included ethical training as well as meditative practices like effort, mindfulness, and jhana. He died in Kushinagar, having attained paranirvana. The Buddha has since been revered by many religions and communities throughout Asia.

Several centuries after the Buddha's death, the Buddhist community compiled his teachings in the Vinaya, his codes for monastic practice, and the Suttas, texts based on his discourses. Later generations composed additional texts, such as systematic treatises known as Abhidharma, biographies of the Buddha, collections of stories about his past lives known as Jataka tales, and additional discourses, i.e. the Mahayana sutras, in Middle Indo-Aryan dialects.