Buddhism

Buddhist traditions look back to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly called the Buddha, or “Awakened One.” Scholars place the historical teacher in northern India sometime between the mid-sixth and mid-fourth centuries BCE, although his exact dates remain disputed. Accounts of his life combine religious tradition and historical memory, and the earliest surviving written Buddhist texts were recorded centuries after his lifetime. According to the tradition, after seeking an answer to human suffering, he taught a path to liberation and gathered a community of followers.

The Four Noble Truths are a central framework in Buddhist teaching. They describe dukkha—often translated as suffering, dissatisfaction, or unease—as a feature of conditioned existence; identify craving as a cause of suffering; affirm that its cessation is possible; and set out a path toward that cessation. The Eightfold Path names this path through right view, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration. Together these are often understood as a middle way that avoids both indulgence and severe self-mortification. Buddhist teachings also discuss karma, rebirth, impermanence, and the absence of a permanent, unchanging self, though their interpretation varies among traditions.

The “Three Jewels” are the Buddha, the dharma (teachings or path), and the sangha (the Buddhist community). Buddhist communities include monastics and lay practitioners, whose roles and daily practices differ. Depending on the tradition, practice may include meditation, ethical precepts, study, chanting, offerings, devotion, and pilgrimage. Images, stupas, temples, and other works of art can serve religious purposes as well as express the histories and visual cultures of particular Buddhist societies.

As Buddhism moved from India into Central, South, and East Asia, it encountered different languages, societies, and religious ideas. Trade networks, teachers, pilgrimage, and political patronage all contributed to its spread; Buddhist art and texts also travelled and changed in new settings. Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana are commonly named as major traditions, each containing diverse lineages and practices. Theravada is especially established in Sri Lanka and mainland Southeast Asia; Mahayana traditions are influential across China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam; and Vajrayana has a strong association with Tibet and other Himalayan regions. These labels are useful but do not capture all the variation within Buddhist life.

There is no single institution that governs all Buddhists, and Buddhist communities do not share one language, ritual form, or interpretation of every doctrine. Schools preserve different bodies of scripture and place differing emphasis on monastic discipline, meditation, devotion, ritual, or the bodhisattva ideal. The tradition's history is therefore both one of continuity with teachings attributed to the Buddha and of ongoing adaptation across cultures.