Ancient History
The Beginnings of Buddhism
Buddhism, one of the major world religions, started around 2,500 years ago in northern India by a man named Siddhartha Gautama, who later became known as Buddha, or "The Enlightened One". Siddhartha was born into a princely family in Lumbini (now located in Nepal) around 563 BC. Growing up, he was isolated from sufferings of the world by his parents, but through four encounters with old age, sickness, death and an ascetic, he discovered that unhappiness pervades all human life. These "Four Sights" led to a deep spiritual crisis, and Siddhartha left his palace, renouncing his princely title, wealth, wife and son, to become a wandering ascetic in the search for a solution to the problem of human suffering.
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