What is Buddhism?

Siddhartha Gautama was born around 563 BCE into a royal family in Lumbini, in present-day Nepal. According to tradition, his father shielded him from all suffering. Yet as a young man, Siddhartha encountered old age, sickness, and death for the first time.

These encounters shattered his sheltered worldview. Consequently, at the age of 29 he left his palace, his wife, and his newborn son to seek an answer to human suffering. For six years he studied with various teachers and practised extreme asceticism. However, neither luxury nor self-denial brought him understanding.

Finally, sitting beneath a Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya, he resolved not to move until he reached enlightenment. After deep meditation, he attained what Buddhists call nirvana — a state of complete liberation from suffering and the cycle of rebirth. From that point he became the Buddha.

The Buddha spent the remaining 45 years of his life teaching across northern India. He established a community of monks and nuns (the Sangha) and attracted followers from all social classes. His teachings, known as the Dharma, were preserved orally and later written down. Importantly, the Buddha did not claim to be a god. He described himself as a teacher who had found a path that others could follow. This distinguishes Buddhism from many other religious traditions. Its roots connect closely to the broader Hindu philosophical tradition, though the Buddha rejected key Hindu ideas like the caste system and the concept of an eternal soul.

The core teachings of Buddhism centre on understanding suffering and the path to overcoming it. The Buddha's first sermon at Sarnath laid out the framework that all Buddhist traditions share.

The Four Noble Truths

First, dukkha: life involves suffering, dissatisfaction, and impermanence. Second, samudaya: suffering arises from craving, attachment, and ignorance. Third, nirodha: it is possible to end suffering. Fourth, magga: the way to end suffering is the Eightfold Path.

The Noble Eightfold Path

The Eightfold Path provides a practical guide for ethical living, mental discipline, and wisdom. It includes right understanding, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. These are not steps to follow in sequence. Instead, they are practised together as an integrated way of life.

The Three Marks of Existence

Buddhism also teaches three fundamental characteristics of all existence. Anicca (impermanence) means nothing lasts forever. Dukkha (suffering) means that clinging to impermanent things causes pain. Anatta (non-self) means there is no permanent, unchanging soul. This last idea is one of the most distinctive features of Buddhist thought. It directly challenges the Hindu concept of Atman, an eternal self. As a result, debates between Buddhist and Hindu philosophers shaped the intellectual history of Asia for centuries.

Over the centuries, Buddhism evolved into three major branches, each with its own emphasis and geographical reach.

Theravada Buddhism

Theravada, meaning "the Teaching of the Elders," is considered the oldest surviving branch. It emphasises individual liberation through meditation, ethical conduct, and study of the earliest scriptures (the Pali Canon). Theravada is the dominant form of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia.

Mahayana Buddhism

Mahayana, meaning "the Great Vehicle," emerged around the 1st century CE. It introduced the ideal of the bodhisattva — a being who delays their own final liberation in order to help all sentient beings achieve enlightenment. Mahayana spread to China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. It includes diverse traditions such as Pure Land Buddhism and Zen Buddhism.

Vajrayana Buddhism

Vajrayana, meaning "the Diamond Vehicle," developed from Mahayana and incorporates tantric practices, rituals, and meditation techniques. It is the dominant form of Buddhism in Tibet, Mongolia, and Bhutan. The Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, is perhaps the most recognised Buddhist figure in the world today.

Buddhism has shaped civilisations across Asia for over two millennia. Today it continues to grow and adapt in new cultural contexts.

From its origins in India, Buddhism spread along trade routes. Monks carried it to Sri Lanka in the 3rd century BCE, to Central Asia and China by the 1st century CE, and then to Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia. In each region, Buddhism absorbed local traditions while maintaining its core teachings. Remarkably, Buddhism largely disappeared from India itself by the 13th century, though it has experienced a modern revival.

In the 20th and 21st centuries, Buddhism has also gained a significant following in Europe, North America, and Australia. Meditation practices rooted in Buddhist traditions, particularly mindfulness, have entered mainstream education and healthcare. Furthermore, the ideas of Confucianism and Buddhism interacted deeply in East Asia, producing unique philosophical syntheses.

Today, an estimated 500 million people identify as Buddhists. The tradition's emphasis on compassion, non-violence, and inner transformation continues to attract new practitioners. For students studying world religions and philosophy, Buddhism offers a profound example of how ideas can travel across cultures and centuries while remaining relevant to contemporary life.