ABSTRACT
Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, lived circa 563 to 483 bce in Lumbini (now Nepal near the Indian border). The city is at the foothills of the Himalayas, where Siddhartha lived until the age of twenty-nine. As his father was a king, Siddhartha was destined for a life of luxury. When he was twenty-nine, he ventured out and was disturbed to see the sick, aged, and suffering that contrasted greatly with his own life. Further excursions reinforced this reality. Moved by these events, he decided to overcome these scourges by becoming an ascetic. Siddhartha escaped his surroundings, and this was the beginning of a journey that eventually led to his Enlightenment.
