Back around the 5th century, in what is now considered Nepal, a very large and important religion was founded, Buddhism!

Before around 500BC, Hinduism remained the biggest religion in India until a prince decided to give up everything to find the meaning for suffering.

Siddhartha Gautama, better known as Buddah, was a prince born around 624BC in a kingdom called Lumbibi. We know about his stories through ancient Buddhist scriptures.

The stories state that Buddah grew up so sheltered that he had never experienced any suffering or unhappiness. The prince had decided one day to leave the palace and take a chariot ride around the city. As he rode around, he was shocked to see a man bent over a stick. The man driving the chariot told him that he was old and he too would grow old one day. The next two days he went on another chariot ride around the city, eventually coming across a sick man and a dead body. After that experience, he went back to the palace and started to wonder what the point of life even was.

After leaving the palace, he st out on a quest to find out the meaning behind suffering. For over six years he traveled and talked to holy men but after that time he still found no answer.

One night, he decided to meditate under a tree. When he did he experienced a flash of knowledge. He was then known as "The Enlightened One." After that he traveled around India to spread his knowledge with others.

Today there is about 376 million people in the world who follow buddhist views. Most of these people reside in Eastern Asia.

Buddhists today follow a few things called the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eight Fold Path, and The Five Precepts.

The Four Noble Truths are:

1. Unsatisfactoriness and suffering exist and are universally experienced.

1. Desire and attachment are the causes of unsatisfactoriness and suffering.

There is an end to unsatisfactoriness and suffering.

The end can be attained by journeying on the Noble Eightfold Path.