Buy this book on Amazon: A Short History of the World
Buddhism is a philosophy17 or way of life – although some people call it a religion – which originated in the 5th or 6th century BC (there is still disagreement about exactly when the Buddha lived). It is currently followed by over 300 million people on Earth.
Born into a royal family, Buddhism’s founder, Siddhartha Gautama, realised that material wealth did not guarantee happiness and left the comforts of his home at the age of 29 in order to understand the meaning of the suffering around him. After six years of study, meditation and self-denial, he is said to have awakened from the sleep of ignorance and become the Buddha, or ‘the Enlightened One’.
For the following 45 years he taught the principles of Buddhism throughout northern India; if one lived a moral life, was mindful of one’s actions, and developed wisdom, he taught, it was possible to dispel ignorance, rid oneself of desire and reach Nirvana, or a state without suffering.
His attempts at explaining injustices and inequality, and his teachings on how to avoid suffering, were met with a ready audience and spread rapidly around the world. Adopted by Ashoka in India in the 3rd century BC, Buddhism spread along the great trade routes from India into central and southeast Asia where it generally prospered, though it gradually became less popular in India itself.