BUDDISM
Founder: Siddhartha Gautama (c. 5th century B.C.E.)
Origin: India
Spiritual teaching: Four Noble Truths:
1) human life is full of suffering;
2) suffering stems from cravings for pleasure and avoidance of pain;
3) suffering can be eradicated;
4) the path of freedom from suffering is the path of enlightenment
Followers: the sangha, a community of monks
Ethical guidelines: not to take human life, not to lie, not to steal, not to use intoxicants, not to engage in illicit sexual behavior
First Buddhist ruler: Ashoka Introduction

Buddism a religious tradition based on sacrifice to powerful and sometimes capricious deities had dominated the land we now call india since 1500 b.c.e. Among these were karma and reincarnation, which had been readily adopted, and may have represented the revival and reconceptualization of ancient ideas already present within the culture. According to this structure of beliefs, one's social status was a result of one's karma. Deeds in previous lives determined the level of one's rebirth. Social inequalities were thus justified by religion, in a land where social mobility was impossible. This system left no place for arguments for social justice or equality
Beginings
Buddhism evolved from the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama who was born in the 5th century B.C.E. (some scholars have argued for the 4th century B.C.E.) in the Indian state of Kapilavastu, now part of Nepal. Born a prince, the young man who would become the Buddha renounced a life of wealth and power, according to Buddhist texts, to become a spiritual seeker.After years of wandering and asceticism he becameenlightened that is, he had a realization about his own true nature. He saw that his own thinking was the only obstacle preventing the spiritual understanding he had been seeking.That obstacle was removed when he realized that his sense of himself as a