Who was the Buddha?

The Buddha is most well known for his leading role in the religion Buddhism, but how much do we really know about the man behind the mask? The real life Buddha that lived over a thousand years ago? Not a whole lot is known, but there are basics about his life and what he carried out throughout it before reaching enlightenment. The Buddha himself was born into royalty, an Indian prince by the name Siddhartha Gautama, who lived in late 500 B.C. and grew up in a small kingdom with his father, as his mother had dies giving birth to him.

He stayed in this life of luxury for quite a while, but wanted more out of life and left the palace to learn the ways of meditation and the teachings of certain teachers. He stripped himself of all his material possessions to live as simply as possible and then agreed to become a teacher to the people, teaching about the overabundance of greed and hate within humanity. A few years later, after practiced deep mediation and such, he attained what is known as the enlightenment. He began his proper teachings after this, including what is known as the four noble truths and Dharma. (Both of these shall be further explained later on)

The Buddha lived a long and fulfilling life, never limiting his teachings to just a certain group. All were welcome and many learned of his beliefs. After he died, he is said to have entered into Parinirvana, the final stage of death where the body is abandoned and no re-incarnation occurs.

Buddhism is now the fourth largest world religion and is entirely based upon the teachings of the Buddha. Although it varies greatly depending on which form of Buddhism you look at, all are based on the same general teachings and all originated from the original Buddha himself.