Siddhartha Gautama

Siddhartha Gautama (Hindi: सिद्धार्थ गौतम) taught as the Buddha, Dharma and became the founder of the Buddhism. Siddhartha was born into a noble family of the North Indian people of the Shakya. He left the palace and the kingdom of his parents and began to live the life of an ascetic. He learned the yoga practice and meditation as a student. So he spent six years in the valley of the Ganges, but he didn’t find answers and he wasn’t able to end his thirst of knowledge. Near starvation, he realized that this is not the way to Bodhi. So he gave up the traditional religions and their methods, and devoted himself to finding his own way. At the age of 35 he was sitting on a moonlit night under a Bodhi tree and reached Bodhi. Hatred, desire and ignorance fell away from him. He became the Buddha. After his awakening Siddhartha lectured to a group of five ascetics, his first sermon. From that day on, he taught for 45 years in the north-eastern India his "middle path"; the eightfold path of virtue, meditation and wisdom, which would lead to the awakening. He spoke to people of all casts. The path he taught was open to all men and women who were willing to understand him.