Buddhism - History and Characteristics

The religion of Buddhism was created by a man by the name of Siddhartha Gautama who is said to have been conceived by a miraculous conception "in which the future Buddha came to his mother in the form of a white elephant and entered her right side." Siddhartha was born into an affluent family; his father was a king in what is now Nepal. He was raised in a life of luxury and shielded from the poverty and suffering of the world. However, he experienced visions showing him the stark realness of the world around him, and later in life he renounced his wealth and family and become an ascetic, seeking for answers to the mysteries of life.…