The life of Siddhartha or Gautama Buddha, the light of Asia and the founder of Buddhism, is fairly well-known. Born in a Royal family of Kapilavastu (on the foot- hills of the Himalayas, north of the India) in the sixth century B.C., Siddhartha renounced the World early in the life. The sight of disease, old age and death impressed the young prince with idea the world was full of suffering, and the life of a care-free mendicant suggested to him a possible way of escape. As an ascetic. He was restless in search of the real source of all sufferings and of the means of complete deliverance. He sought light from many religious teachers and scholars of the day and practiced great austerities; but nothing satisfied him. This threw him back on his own resources. With an iron will and a mind free from all disturbing thoughts and passions, he endeavored to unravel, through continued intense meditation. The mystery of the world miseries, till at last his ambition was crowned with success. Siddhartha become Buddha or the Enlightened. The Buddhist religion and philosophy which, in course of time, spread far and wide- to Ceylon, Burma and Siam in the south, and to Tibet,China,Japan and Korea in the north.
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