WHO IS BUDDHA?

The Buddha was a prince born with the name " Siddhartha" . Gautama was Siddhartha's family name. His father was told that his son was destined to be a holy man. Siddharta's father kept him isolated from all the ills of the world. He was well educated and tought skills of a warrior. At the age of 16 he was married to his cousin, and still, for the next thirteen years, he would not see the ugliness of disease and decay from the "outside world". On one particular day, Prince Siddhartha came upon an aged man, and in seeing the truth about the world, had set out to abolish suffering.

He tried every method he could find to attain the enlightenment required to help rid the world of suffering. Finally, after 15 days of meditation under a tree, after a stupendous struggle of six strenuous years, in His 35th year, unaided and unguided by any supernatural agency, and solely relying on His own efforts and wisdom, eradicated all defilements, ended the process of grasping, and, realizing things as they truly are by His own intuitive knowledge, became a Buddha -- an Enlightened or Awakened One. For the next 45 years of his life, he was revered as Lord Buddha, the World Honored One. Buddha gave us the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path, to begin to live our lives devoid of suffering.

See our Links page for more detailed accounts of Buddha's ife.