ABSTRACT
The Buddhist tradition began in India, in approximately 528 bce, with the enlightenment of Siddhartha Gautama. Buddhism began as a philosophy of life, emphasizing human insight and effort. But as it developed it came to be interpreted as a religious way, a quest for salvation predicated on faith in the Buddha and his teachings. According to a widely accepted tradition, the person who became the Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, was born in 563 bce at Kapilavastu in what is today Nepal. First Siddhartha sought out the famous yoga teacher Arada Kalama, with whom he studied until he had attained the same level of meditational attainment as his teacher, the level described as the "attainment of nothingness". After his enlightenment, in approximately 528 BCE, Siddhartha, now called the Buddha by his followers, devoted his life to teaching the way of overcoming suffering that he had discovered. These teachings, in simplest form, consist in the Noble Fourfold Truth and the Noble Eightfold Path.
