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The Story of Siddhartha Gautama

Siddhartha Gautama was born in the southern region of present-day Nepal in the sixth century BC. According to Buddhist tradition, a holy man foretold that the young prince would one day become either a powerful ruler or a spiritually awakened teacher. Determined to protect him from hardship, Siddhartha’s father surrounded him with wealth, pleasure, and privilege, keeping the realities of suffering far from his son’s world.

But at age twenty-nine, Siddhartha ventured beyond the palace walls and encountered what his sheltered life had hidden from him: sickness, old age, and death. Deeply shaken by what he saw, he left behind his position, family, and comfortable life in search of an answer to human suffering.

For the next six years, Siddhartha lived as a wandering ascetic, embracing severe self-denial and devoting himself to meditation. Yet despite his rigorous practices, he found no lasting solution to the suffering he sought to overcome.

According to tradition, Siddhartha eventually sat beneath a bodhi tree near present-day Gaya, India, determined not to rise until he had attained enlightenment. After persevering through temptation and distraction, he believed he had discovered the ultimate truth. From then on, he was known as the Buddha, meaning “Awakened One.” He spent the remainder of his life teaching others the path he believed could lead them beyond suffering.