The religion of Buddhism is a 25,000 year-old religion that is believed to have been started by a man named Siddhartha Guatama. Currently there are 376 million followers world wide. According to the BBC (n.d.), Buddhism is a spiritual tradition that focuses on personal spiritual development and the attainment of a deep insight into the true nature of life (Buddhism at a Glance, n.d.).
To understand Buddhism is to understand the first leader, Siddhartha Guatama. There are many different versions of how Siddhartha was born. In Buddhist tradition, Siddhartha was royalty that had palaces just for the seasons. Before he was born his mother, Queen Maya, had a dream that there was a white elephant that entered her body on the right side. Siddhartha was born the next day from her right side. However, she died afterwards from complications at birth. (Wikipedia, 2006)
After the birth there was a celebration and a seer announced that Siddhartha would be a king or a grand holy man. His father, King Suddhodana, wanted him to be an exceptional king and was afraid his son would not follow in his path. As a result, Siddhartha was sheltered from life outside the royal grounds. (Wikipedia, 2006)
Sometime during his young life, Siddhartha became married and had a child. He was provided everything in life, but still felt like there could be more. One day he wandered off of palace grounds and saw what is known as the four sights: an old crippled man, a sick man, a dead man, and an ascetic man. Siddhartha was disturbed by these images and decided to leave all his wealth to live an ascetic life and find a way to triumph over suffering. (Wikipedia, 2006)
During this time, Siddhartha nearly starved himself after living a while as an ascetic. He began to reconsider his methods becau ...