Who was the founder of Buddhism?



Posted: Sunday, November 02, 2008

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This is a very common question about Buddhism. Who was the person who set this incredibly influenti
al religious tradition in motion? Was he a god? Was he a man? Did he claim to be a god? A man named Siddharta Gautama is considered the founder of Buddhism. The Buddhist tradition gets its name from the title he received from his followers: the Buddha, which means the enlightened one. Historically, we have just a handful of facts about him. We know that he was born in Northern India as a prince of the Shakya tribe, around the year 500 BC (the exact year is unknown). It has been common in the Buddhist world to refer to him as Shakyamuni, the sage of the Shakya tribe. Now, let's look at his life through Buddhist eyes. According to tradition, he lived in the palace as a prince until he was 30 years old. At that point in his life, he saw suffering for the first time. He saw a sick person, an old man and a dead body. This was so shoking for him that he decided to find a solution. He started his journey. First, he shaved his head and lived as a monk. He fasted to the limit. He found that by doing that he didn't solve anything, and tried to follow another path. He called his path the Middle Path. It is the Middle Path because it avoids the extremes, the extremes of self-indulgence and self-denial. After that turning in his life, everything turned clearer (not easier). He sat down under a tree and started to look for answers for the questions about life. After some time, he achieved enlightenment. He was tempted to stay there enjoying his own awakening, but he decided to teach about his experience to other people. He started to talk about the truths he found on the roads of Northern India. In this way, Buddhism was founded. To learn more about the Buddha, his life and teachings, you might be interested in the site by author Pablo Antuna:
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)
» left by Teresa Ortiz
 3 years 84 days ago.
187 fans.
Ho Pablo, welcome to searchwarp! Thank you for sharing this information. It was short, but packed with information. I learned a little something :-) Blessings to you
» left by Pablo Antuna 3 years 84 days ago.
3 fans.
Thank you very much Teresa. Yes, it was short, but I plan to write more and longer articles in the future. Thanks for the encouragement.
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