Gautama Buddha: The Enlightened One (563 - 483 B.C.)

Gautama Buddha, originally named Siddhartha Gautama, was born into the Shakya clan in Lumbini, now modern-day Nepal, around the 6th to 5th century BCE. Raised in luxury by his father, a ruler named Shuddhodana, Siddhartha's life took a profound turn after he ventured outside his palace and encountered the realities of aging, sickness, and death, known as the "Four Great Sights." These experiences prompted him to abandon his princely life at the age of 29 and seek enlightenment through ascetic practices, which he eventually found unsatisfactory. After a period of intense meditation under the Bodhi tree, he attained enlightenment and spent the remainder of his life teaching the path to liberation from suffering, thus founding Buddhism