The historical Buddha, Shakyamuni or Siddhartha Gautama Buddha, was born some 2500 years ago as a prince in what now called Lumbini in Nepal.
At his birth, many special signs appeared. His father asked a sage living in his kingdom for advice on his son. The sage predicted that Gautama would either a great king or a great teacher.
The king wanted his son to be his successor and tried to keep his son far from all matters of life that could incline him to spiritual life. Gautama usually spent his life in his father’s palace, surrounded by all possible luxuries of the time. He proved to be a special child, being quite intelligent as wel as an excellent sportsman. He married to a beautiful woman he loved, and they had a son.
When he was 29 years old, he discovered there was much suffering in the world around him. Traditionally it is explained that he suddenly recognized the problems of sickness, old age and death when he was visiting the city. Beying shocked by the suffering of all living beings, he decided to search for way to end it. He left his wife and child, the palace and even his royal clothes, and started out on a spiritual quest.
Siddhartha studied under various teachers and followed their practicies until he mastered them all. After many years of searching, he realized that just wearing down his body did not generate new insights, but rather leads to weakness and self- destruction. When he decided to give up extreme asceticism, his students left him.
He then sat down in a place now called Bodhgaya (North-India) under a Bodhi-tree and decided not to get up anymore until he discovered the truth.
Just a short time later, he became a fully enlightened Buddha. This means that he actualized all positive potentials of a sentient being and rid himself of all negative qualities. With this, he realized the true nature of existence and suffering, and how suffering can be ended.
)){kind=link}