Siddhartha Gautama was a spiritual teacher from ancient India and the founder of Buddhism. He is generally recognized by Buddhists as the Supreme Buddha (Sammasambuddha) of our age. The time of his birth and death are uncertain: most early 20th-century historians date his lifetime from circa 563 BCE to 483 BCE; more recently, however, at a specialist symposium on this question, the majority of those scholars who presented definite opinions gave dates within 20 years either side of 400 BCE for the Buddha's death, with others supporting earlier or later dates.

Gautama, also known as Sakyamuni or Shakyamuni (sage of the Shakyas), is the key figure in Buddhism, and accounts of his life, discourses, and monastic rules were said to have been summarized after his death and memorized by the sangha. Passed down by oral tradition, the Tripitaka, the collection of teachings attributed to Gautama by the Theravada, was committed to writing about 400 years later. Scholars are increasingly reluctant to make unqualified claims about the historical facts of the Buddha's life and teachings.

The founder of "Buddhism" was Gautam Buddha who lived in India some five hundred years before Christ. The name is a combination of the family name "gautam" and "Buddha" which means the enlightened one. Buddhism today is divided into two major branches known to their respective followers as Theravada, the Way of the Elders, and Mahayana, the great vehicle. Followers of Mahayana refer to Theravada using the derogatory term Hinayana, the Lesser vehicle. Buddhism has been significant not only in India but also in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar (formerly known as Burma), and Laos, where Theravada has been dominant; Mahayana has had its greatest impact in china, Japan, Taiwan, Tibet, Nepal, Mongolia, Korea, and Vietnam, as well as in India. The number of Buddhists worldwide has been estimated at between 150 and 300 million. The reason for such a range are twofold: throughout much of Asia religious affiliation has tended to be non- exclusive; and it is especially difficult to estimate the continuing influence of Buddhism in Communist countries such as China.

Gautam Buddha was born Kapilavastu, that is in present day Nepal. He was the son of the head of the Shaky warrior''s caste and he was called Siddhartha. Though living a life of luxury, Siddharth felt dissatisfied with the pointless existence of a rayol life. Toeing his father''s wishes he had married and was blessed with a son. He was twenty nine years old when he decided to give up the life of luxury and follow the ascetic path.

Legend has it that, one day in 533, he came upon a sick man, an old man and a corpse. He was perturbed by the sufferings of all three and realized that suffering was common to all of mankind. He than met a monk whose worldly detachment made him look calm and serene. Gautam decided to follow his path and give up his worldly existence. He walked out at midnight without a word to anybody. It was anguish to him as he stood by his sleeping wife and son. But he turned away, responding to the calling that was in him much stronger. Siddhartha was on his way to look for enlightenment. This day is celebrated by Buddhist all over the world as the Great renunciation.

Among the ascetics the fame of Buddha spread "like the sound of a great gong in the sky." He had five followers who were impressed by his gift of application of what he believed in. At first Buddha thought that a path of rigid self- mortification was the way to salvation. One day after six years of self-mortification, when he was attacked by violent pains he fell dead faint. This made him realize that in order to break open the secrets of the universe one has to adopt a "middle way," between ascetic self denial and sensual indulgence. This was considered a sacrilege in those days and Gautam was abandoned by his five followers and he had to search for wisdom all alone.

Gautum''s way of thought was akin to the western view point. His chastity was absolute. His one big meal, taken at noon, consisted of curry and rice, and after that nothing solid. He throve on this and he became a healthy saint in body and in mind. It was with such an enduring body and mind that Gautam sat under the "Bo Tree" –the tree of Knowledge and received enlightenment. Falling into a trance towards the wee hours of the morning one day he beheld with a kind of incandescent clarity the whole intricate concentration of cause and effect that make up the puzzle of life. He also beheld with the same clarity the path of deliverance into bliss.

The five followers that had renounced the friendship of Buddha were taken in by the holy glow that belongs to the saint''s visage. Gautam became the enlightened one and preached a sermon that presented an outline of the new way of life.

Buddha''s discovery under the Bo Tree was that the cause of human suffering is ignorance. We are always craving satisfaction for something we call self. But there is according to Buddha no self. We are merely transitory formations crystallized out of the general flux of things and events. We must, if we want to achieve a state of peace abandon this delusion of selfhood and the ignorant cravings that go with it. And he specified; "cravings for success in this life." We must learn through the liberation of our minds from superstition, through the austere discipline of wills, and through love, to interflow with the world and be a humble and unhankering part of it. In this lies perfect peace and happiness. He advocated peace that results from understanding and passed it.

Buddhism analyzes human existence as made up of five aggregates or "bundles" (skandhas): the material body, feelings, perceptions, predisposition''s or karma tic tendencies, and consciousness. A person is only a temporary combination of these aggregates, which are subject to continual change. No one remains the same for any two consecutive moments. Buddhist deny that the aggregates individually or in combination may be considered a permanent, independently existing self or soul (atman). Indeed, they regard it as a mistake to conceive of any lasting unity behind the elements that constitute an individual. Buddha held that belief such a self results in egoism, craving, and hence in suffering. Thus he taught the doctrine of an atman, or the denial of a permanent soul. He felt that all existence is characterized by the three marks of an atman (no soul), amity (impermanence), and dacha suffering)the doctrine of an atman made it necessary for the Buddha to reinterpret they Indian idea of repeated rebirth in the cycle of phenomenal existence known as samaras. To this end he taught the doctrine of pratityasamutpada, or dependent origination. This 12-linked chain of causation shows how ignorance in a previous life creates the tendency for a combination of aggregates to develop. These in turn cause the mind and senses to operate. Sensations result, which lead to craving and a calling to existence. This condition triggers the process of becoming once again, producing a renewed cycle of birth, old age, and death. Through this causal chain a connection is made between one life and the next. What is posited is a stream of renewed existence''s rather than a permanent being that moves from life to life- in effect a belief in rebirth without transmigration.

Closely related to this belief is the doctrine of karma. Karma consists of a person''s acts and their ethical consequences. Human actions lead to rebirth, wherein good deeds are inevitably rewarded and evil deeds punished. Thus, neither undeserved pleasure nor unwarranted suffering exists in the world, but rather a universal justice. The karmic process operates through a kind of natural moral law rather than through a system of divine judgment. One''s karma determines such matters as one''s species, beauty, intelligence, longevity, wealth, and social status. According to the Buddha, Karma of varying types can lead to rebirth as a human, an animal, a hungry ghost, a denizen of hell, or even one of the Hindu gods.

Although never actually denying the existence of the gods, Buddhism denies them any special role. Their lives in heaven are long and pleasurable, but they are in the same predicament as other creatures, being subject eventually to death and further rebirth in lower states of existence. They are not creators of the universe or in control of human destiny, and Buddhism denies the value of prayer and sacrifice to them. Of the possible modes of rebirth, human existence is preferable, because the deities are so engrossed in their own pleasures that they lose sight of the need for salvation. Enlightenment is possible only for humans.

The ultimate goal of the Buddhist path is release from the round of phenomenal existence with its inherent suffering. To achieve this goal is to attain nirvana, an enlightened state in which the fires of greed, hatred, and ignorance have been quenched. Not to be confused with total annihilation, nirvana is a state of consciousness beyond definition. After attaining nirvana, the enlightened individual may continue to live, burning off any remaining karma until a state of final nirvana (Par nirvana) is attained at the moment of death.

In theory, the goal of nirvana I attainable by anyone, although it is a realistic goal only for members of the monastic community. In Theravada Buddhism an individual who has achieved enlightenment by following the Eightfold path is known as an arrant or worthy one, a type of solitary saint.

For those unable to pursue the ultimate goal, the proximate goal of better rebirth through improved karma is an option. This lesser goal is generally pursued by lay Buddhist in the hope that it will eventually lead to a life in which they are capable of pursuing final enlightenment as members of the sang a.

The ethic that leads to nirvana is detached and inner- oriented. It involves cultivating four virtuous attitudes, known as the Palaces of Brahma: loving –kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity. The ethic that leads to better rebirth, however, is centered on fulfilling one''s duties to society. It involves acts of charity, especially support of the sang a, as well as observance of the five precepts that constitute the basic moral code of Buddhism. The precepts prohibit killing, stealing, harmful language, sexual misbehavior, and the use of intoxicant. By observing these precepts, the three roots of evil-lust, hatred, and delusion- may be overcome.

The disarming tolerance preached by Buddha is another cause of the success of Buddhism. His appeal to man''s reason and experience is another important factor of his popularity. Not only must we work out own salvation but we must think out our own creed. "Do not believe anything, because the written testimony of some ancient wise men is shown to you.... Do not believe anything on the authority of teachers or priests. Whatever accords with your own experience and after thorough investigation agrees with your reason, and is conducive to your welfare and to that of all other things, that accept as truth and live accordingly".

For two thousand five hundred years now the teachings of this man of noble penetrating vision have introduced all those who have in contact with it to a new way of life. After 45 years of missionary activity Buddha died at the age of 80 at Kusinagara in Nepal.