Buddhism is different from many other faiths because it is not centred on the relationship between humanity and God. Buddhists do not believe in a personal creator God.
Who is the founder of Buddhism?
The Buddhist tradition is founded on and inspired by the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama. He was called the Buddha and lived in the 4th or 5th century B.C. in India.
Why is Siddhartha Gautama so important to Buddhists?
Siddhartha Gautama found the path to Enlightenment. By doing so he was led from the pain of suffering and rebirth towards the path of Enlightenment and became known as the Buddha or "awakened one".
Who was Siddhartha Gautama?
Siddharta Gautama is known as the Buddha.
He was born around the year 580 BCE in the village of Lumbini in Nepal. He was born into a royal family and for many years lived with in the palace walls away from the sufferings of life; sufferings such as sickness, age, and death. He did not know what they were. One day, after growing-up, marrying and having a child, Siddhartha went outside the royal palace and saw, each for the first time, an old man, a sick man, and a corpse. He was worried by what he saw. He learned that sickness, age, and death were the inevitable fate of human beings — a fate no-one could avoid.
Why did Siddhartha Gautama stop being a prince and become a Holy Man?
Siddharta had also seen a monk, and he decided this was a sign that he should leave his protected royal life and live as a homeless Holy Man.
Siddharta's travels showed him much more of the the suffering of the world.
He searched for a way to escape the inevitability of death, old age and pain first by studying with religious men. This didn't provide him with an answer.
He searched for a way to escape the inevitability of death, old age and pain first by studying with religious men. This didn't provide him with an answer.