Siddhartha Gautama, a prince of the Sakya tribe of Nepal ( At that time,It was in North India ) who was the son of the king Suddhodhana and queen Maha Maya was born, in approximately 566 BC. When he was 16 years old, he married with princess Yasodhara.
He left the comforts of his palace at 29 years of his age to seek the meaning of the suffering he saw around him. He studied several theories under several teachers but, he couldn't find what he was seeking. Afterthat, he did more difficult yoga training limiting his food and water intake. He found it was useless but, he didn't abondoned his effort.
On the wesak full moon poya day, he sat beneath a Asathu bodhi tree which was situated at the city 'Gaya', Bihar and thought, though I died here I would not stand again without understanding the truth. He started to meditate. With the rising of the morning star, Siddhartha Gauthama became the Buddha, the enlightened one.
The lord Buddha wandered throughout the india, teaching the path or Dharma ( Buddhism ) he had realized in that moment. A learge community or Sangha of monks developed around him drawn from every tribe and cast. He spread the buddhism among several contries including the our country, Sri Lanka.
At the age of eighty, he passed into Parinibbana ( passed away ) on the wesak full moon poya day leaving the world.
Now, Buddhism exists as a religion in Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Tibet, China, Japan, Mongolia, Korea, and some areas of India, Pakistan, Nepal and Russia. World buddhist population is more than 500,000,000.
