Tell them to check Wikepedia they will know http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gautam_Buddha Gautama Buddha From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Gautam Buddha) Gautama is the key figure in Buddhism, and accounts of his life, discourses, and monastic rules were summarized after his death and memorized by the saṅgha. Passed down by oral tradition, the Tripiṭaka, the collection of discourses attributed to Gautama, was committed to writing about 400 years later. Buddha's life As few of the details of the Buddha's life can be independently verified, it is difficult to gauge the historical accuracy of these accounts. The main sources of information on Siddhārtha Gautama's life are the earliest available Buddhist texts. The following is a summary of those narratives. Conception and birth According to tradition, Siddhārtha was born more than 200 years before the reign of the Maurya king Aśoka (lived 304–232 BCE). The birth of Siddharta, (2nd-3rd century).Siddhartha was born in Lumbini, Nepal. His father was Suddhodan, the chief of the Shakya nation, one of several ancient tribes on the growing state of Kosala. His mother was Queen Maya, King Sudhodhana's wife. The day of the Buddha's birth is widely celebrated in Buddhist countries as Vesak. Gautama was born a prince, destined to a luxurious life, with three palaces. Māyādevī dreamt that a white elephant entered her right side, and following the dream Siddharta was born from her right side (see image right). Various sources hold that the Buddha's mother died at his birth, a few days or seven days later. During the birth celebrations, the seer Asita announced that this baby would either become a great king (chakravartin) or a great holy man. His father, King Śuddhodana, wishing for Gautama to be a great king, shielded his son from religious teachings or knowledge of human suffering. While later tradition and legend characterized Śuddhodana as a hereditary monarch, the descendant of the Solar Dynasty of Ikṣvāku (Pāli: Okkāka), many scholars believe that Śuddhodana was the elected chief of a tribal confederacy. Go to the page to read the rest