The word "Buddha," meaning the enlightened one, was the title given to Siddhartha Gautama by his followers two-thousand and five hundred years ago in India.1 By the time Buddha's death, thousands of people in India had become his followers. The religion which he founded, Buddhism, is now the majority religion in Asia and also the fourth largest of the world's religions.2 By the late 100's B.C., Buddhism had split into two branches - Hinayana and Mahayana.3 Buddha's concern for the problem of human suffering is shown through his early life history, teachings, and also the branches of Buddhism.

Prince Siddhartha Gautama, who would become known as Buddha, was born around the year of 563 B.C., in the town of Kapilavastu, which is now present day Nepal. 4 One day Queen Mahamaya, the wife of King Suddhodama and Siddhartha's mother, was troubled by a dream, which was interpreted to...