Buddha
Part of a series on Buddhism History Timeline Gautama Buddha Councils Later Buddhists Dharma Concepts Four Noble Truths Five Aggregates Impermanence Suffering Non-self Dependent Origination Middle Way Emptiness Karma Rebirth Saṃsāra Cosmology Practices Three Jewels Buddhist Paths to liberation Morality Perfections Meditation Mindfulness Wisdom Compassion Aids to Enlightenment Monasticism Laity Nirvāṇa Four Stages Arhat Buddha Bodhisattva Traditions Canons Theravāda Pāli Mahāyāna Hinayana Chinese Vajrayāna Tibetan Navayana Outline Buddhism portal v t e Gautama Buddha Chinese name Chinese 佛陀 Transcriptions Hakka Romanization Sṳt-kâ-mèu-nì Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Fótuó Wade–Giles Fo T'o Bopomofo ㄈㄛˊ ㄊㄨㄛˊ Min Hokkien POJ Sek-khia-mô -nî Cantonese Jyutping bat6 to4 Vietnamese name Vietnamese alphabet Tất-đạt-đa Cồ-đàm Thai name Thai พระพ ทธเจ า Korean name Hangul 부처 Transcriptions Revised Romanization Bu Cheo McCune–Reischauer Pu Ch'ŏ Japanese name Hiragana ゴータマブッダ Transcriptions Romanization Gōtamabudda Nepali name Nepali ग तम ब द ध Tamil name Tamil கவ தம ப த த Hindi name Hindi ग तम ब द ध Gautama Buddha, also known as Siddhārtha Gautama,[note 3] Shakyamuni,[note 4] or simply the Buddha, was a sage on whose teachings Buddhism was founded.[web 2] He is believed to have lived and taught mostly in eastern India sometime between the sixth and fourth centuries BCE. [note 5] The word Buddha means "awakened one" or "the enlightened one". "Buddha" is also used as a title for the first awakened being in an era. In most Buddhist traditions, Siddhartha Gautama is regarded as the Supreme Buddha (Pali sammāsambuddha, Sanskrit samyaksaṃbuddha) of our age.[note 6] Gautama taught a Middle Way between sensual indulgence and the severe asceticism found in the Sramana (renunciation) movement common in his region. He later taught throughout regions of eastern India such as Magadha and Kośala. Gautama is the primary figure in Buddhism and accounts of his life, discourses, and monastic rules are believed by Buddhists to have been summarized after his death and memorized by his followers. Various collections of teachings attributed to him were passed down by oral tradition and first committed to writing about 400 years later.