Buddhism, one of the major world religions, founded by
Siddhartha Gautama popularly known as the Buddha (the
Enlightened One), is regarded as one of the three most
widespread religions in the world today. Buddha was born in
India during the sixth century BCE into a royal family of the
Sakyan clan. Though He had all the comforts for a good life with
wealth, palaces for three seasons and so on He was not satisfied
with them. He saw life as suffering due to impermanent nature of
phenomena and determined to find a lasting solution to the
problem of suffering. So he gave up all material things and
became a homeless wanderer. He practiced severe self-
mortification for six long years in the hope of realizing
Nibbana in order to eradicate suffering. Having realized that
there are two extremes with regard to religious practices,
Siddhartha Gautama decided to follow the Middle Way (Majjhima
Patipada). Through the combined practice of Tranquility
(Samatha) and Insight (Vipassana) meditations he realized
Nibbana and beca