The word “Buddha” is a title, which translates literally from the Chinese as “the knowing one”. It also is translated as “the enlightened one” and “the awakened one”.

According to tradition, Siddhārtha Gautama was born around 563 to 480 BCE (Before the Common Era), in Nepal, and died around 483 to 400 BCE, in what is now Kushingar, India, a pilgrimage site for Buddhists.

His birth mother died a week after her son’s birth, and the boy was reared by her sister Mahaprajapai Gautami, who was also married to his father. The child gained the name Siddhārtha Gautama. In his later years, hailed as the “sage of the Shakayas”, he bore the name Shakyamuni Buddha, as he had been born into the noble Shakaya extended family.

At age 29, according to tradition, Prince Siddhārtha became an ascetic, after the birth of his son. He gave up his home to wander as a yogi, seeking the “Four Noble Truths.” Dissatisfied with that path, he sought enlightenment through meditation. At age 35, he reached total enlightenment and Buddhahood, becoming the 28th to bear the title Buddha.

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