"I am not the first Buddha who came upon earth nor shall I be the last. In due time another Buddha will arise in the world - a holy one, a supremely enlightened one, endowed with wisdom in conduct, auspicious, knowing the universe, an incomparable leader of men, a master of angels and mortals."

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"Those who are free of resentful thoughts will surely find peace."

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"The wise ones fashioned speech with their thought, sifting it as grain is sifted through a sieve."

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Gautama Buddha also known as Siddhartha Gautama or simply the Buddha, after the title of Buddha, was a monk, mendicant, sage, philosopher, teacher and religious leader on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. He is believed to have lived and taught mostly in the northeastern part of ancient India sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE.

Gautama taught a Middle Way between sensual indulgence and the severe asceticism.

Gautama is the primary figure in Buddhism. He is believed by Buddhists to be an enlightened teacher who attained full Buddhahood and shared his insights to help sentient beings end rebirth and suffering.

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At the age of 29, Siddhartha left his palace to meet his subjects. Despite his father's efforts to hide from him the sick, aged and suffering, Siddhartha was said to have seen an old man. When his charioteer (great word… charioteer) explained to him that all people grew old, the prince went on further trips beyond the palace. On these he encountered a diseased man, a decaying corpse, and an ascetic. These depressed him, and he initially strove to overcome ageing, sickness, and death by living the life of an ascetic.

Gautama initially went to Rajagaha and began his ascetic life by begging for alms in the street – remarkably similar to Jesus’ quote, “If you want to be perfect go, sell your possessions and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven.” - After the King's men recognised Siddhartha and the king learned of his quest, he offered Siddhartha the throne. Siddhartha rejected the offer but promised to visit his kingdom of Magadha first, upon attaining enlightenment.

According to the early Buddhist texts, after realising that meditative dhyana was the right path to awakening, but that extreme asceticism didn't work, Gautama discovered what Buddhists know as being, the Middle Way—a path of moderation away from the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification, or the Noble Eightfold Path, which is regarded as the first discourse of the Buddha. In a famous incident, after becoming starved and weakened, he is said to have accepted milk and rice pudding from a village girl named Sujata. Such was his emaciated appearance that she wrongly believed him to be a spirit that had granted her a wish.

 Following this incident, Gautama was famously seated under a pipal tree—now known as the Bodhi tree—in Bodh Gaya, India, when he vowed never to arise until he had found the truth. Kaundinya and four other companions, believing that he had abandoned his search and become undisciplined, ceased to stay with him, and went to somewhere else. After a reputed 49 days of meditation, at the age of 35, he is said to have attained Enlightenment, and became known as the Buddha or "Awakened One"

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The Buddha, the enlightened one, his words bring tears to my eyes. Like Jesus he was a teacher above all teachers. A master above all masters. He was the personification of light, the embodiment of power. 

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"Without health life is not life. It is only a state of languor and suffering - an image of death."

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