Siddhartha Gautama

Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha (the Awakened One), was an ascetic and sage on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. He taught that suffering arises from craving and ignorance, and that liberation — nirvana — is attainable through the Noble Eightfold Path.

The Buddha's teachings — the Dharma — cover ethics, meditation, and wisdom. His rejection of the permanent self (anatta) and his analysis of impermanence (anicca) and suffering (dukkha) as the three marks of existence remain the philosophical core of all Buddhist traditions across Asia and beyond.