Siddhartha Gautama (The Buddha)

~563–~483 BCE · Indian (Shakya clan, modern Nepal) · Ancient India

Known for: Abandoned a palace to sit under a tree and figure out why humans suffer — 2,500 years later, half a billion people follow his answer

Siddhartha Gautama was a prince of the Shakya clan in what is now Nepal who renounced his wealth, family, and royal inheritance at age 29 to seek the cause of — and cure for — human suffering. After six years of ascetic practice, he achieved enlightenment (bodhi) while meditating under a Bodhi tree at age 35, becoming 'the Buddha' (the Awakened One). He spent the remaining 45 years of his life teaching.

His core teachings — the Four Noble Truths (life is suffering, suffering comes from desire, suffering can end, there's a path to its end) and the Eightfold Path — became the foundation of Buddhism, now the world's fourth-largest religion with over 500 million adherents across Asia and increasingly the West. He established the sangha (monastic community) and taught anyone regardless of caste.

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