Black and White Marble Buddha Statue

Siddhartha Gautama,[e] most commonly referred to as the Buddha,[f][g] was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE[4][5][6][c ] and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in Lumbini, in what is now Nepal,[b] to royal parents of the Shakya clan, but renounced his home life to live as a wandering ascetic (Sanskrit: śramaṇa).[7] ] After leading a life of begging, asceticism, and meditation, he attained enlightenment at Bodh Gaya in what is now India. The Buddha thereafter wandered through the lower Indo-Gangetic Plain, teaching and building a monastic order.He taught a Middle Way between sensual indulgence and severe asceticism,[8] leading to Nirvana,[i] that is, freedom from ignorance, craving, rebirth, and suffering. His teachings are summarized in the Noble Eightfold Path, a training of the mind that includes ethical training and meditative practices such as sense restraint, kindness toward others, mindfulness, and jhana/dhyana (meditation proper). He died in Kushinagar, attaining paranirvana.[d] The Buddha has since been venerated by numerous religions and communities across Asia.