Who was the Buddha?
Siddhartha Gautama was born around the 5th century BCE in Lumbini, in present-day Nepal. Raised as a prince, he left his comfortable life after encountering old age, sickness and death, and spent years searching for a way beyond suffering. After deep meditation under the Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya in Bihar, he became the Buddha, “the awakened one”, and taught for the rest of his life.
The Four Noble Truths
The Buddha's first teaching, given at Sarnath near Varanasi, is summed up in four truths:
- Dukkha: life contains dissatisfaction and suffering.
- Samudaya: suffering arises from craving and clinging.
- Nirodha: suffering can end when craving ends.
- Magga: there is a path that leads to that ending.
This is often compared to a doctor's approach: recognise the illness, find its cause, know that recovery is possible, and follow the treatment.
The Noble Eightfold Path
The path is traditionally grouped into wisdom, ethical conduct and mental discipline:
- Wisdom: right view and right intention
- Ethical conduct: right speech, right action and right livelihood
- Mental discipline: right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration
“Right” here means wise or skilful rather than rigidly correct. The steps support each other and are practised together, not one after another.
The three main traditions
- Theravada, practised mainly in Sri Lanka, Thailand and Myanmar, focuses on the early teachings and meditation.
- Mahayana, found in China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam, emphasises compassion and the bodhisattva ideal of awakening for the benefit of all beings.
- Vajrayana (Tibetan Buddhism), followed in Tibet, Bhutan, Ladakh, Sikkim and the Himalayas, adds practices such as mantra, visualisation and devotion to figures like Tara and Avalokiteshvara.
Bringing it into daily life
- Take a few mindful breaths before reacting.
- Notice cravings and worries without immediately acting on them.
- Practise kindness to yourself as well as to others.
- Sit quietly for five minutes a day and simply watch the breath.
You don't need to become a Buddhist to benefit from these teachings. Many people simply find that they bring more calm, clarity and compassion into ordinary life.