Who was Buda?

His father was Sudodana, ruler of the kingdom of the Sakya (located in the current Nepal) and his mother Queen Maya. According to the custom of the time she married at age 16 with the princess Yasodara, with whom she had a son.

The young prince should have religious guessed that his father, as Siddhartha in the palace was isolated and surrounded by all the luxuries possible to prevent him from reaching the normal problems and sufferings of humanity. However a number of "coincidences" that led directly addressed Siddhartha poverty, disease, extreme old age and death. Deeply affected by the vision of these problems (perhaps his luxurious isolation became even stronger impression), to find the cause and solution to these seemingly irremediable evils, so thought of seeking appropriate lessons. So it was decided to leave as his future kingdom, his wife and son in search of an antidote to evil.

During the 6 years a furious prince Siddhartha practiced asceticism, as was indicated by the various teachers who were finding their way. So weak and skeletal came to be that, as have subsequent chronic, could hardly stand on their feet with all his ribs covered by a light blanket of flesh. But the antidote to the suffering he was shy and did not find anything conclusive in its tireless quest.

At one time a villager was smelly and pity of skeletal ascetic and offered a few drops of milk. Siddhartha, who had already thought about the consequences of such extreme deprivation useless, accept these few drops, and with renewed energy he sat at the foot of a tree with the determination to find, once and for all, the missing piece in the cosmic puzzle.
  

That was how Siddhartha sat down to meditate at the foot of the tree (since then known as the Bodhi tree, or "Wisdom"), along the Neranjara in Buddha Gaya (in Bihar today), when already 35 years. After many days and nights, where he was subjected to all sorts of temptations and depressions, attained enlightenment and with it the transformation. He had sat to meditate Siddhartha, the Buddha was lifted.

Buddha comes from the root "Bud" which means "awake" or "enlightened" and Christ means "anointed."
Subsequent to hesitate on that experience to make crucial and according to legend, the gods of heaven will not be asked to do this but the shared experience with other men. That was how the park gazelles in Isipatana (now Sarnath), the Buddha was once again the 5 ascetics who had shared with him part of their search.

At first they refused to listen, believing that accepting food (those drops of milk) was worst. But the serenity and confidence of the Buddha was imposed and heard the first sermon. In this way, the legend, it started to spin the wheel of the law: the four noble truths of Buddhism characterized with its own identity. Thus was born the Sangha.

The Sangha, the Buddhist community is the result of the preaching of Buddha. Not resist the temptation to transcribe the passionate words of Edward Conze, a renowned scholar of Buddhism:

"The Buddhist community is the oldest institution of mankind. It has survived longer than any other institution, except for the affinity of the Jain sect. There are the great and proud history of empires, guarded by legions of soldiers, ships and judges. Hardly any of them lasted more than three centuries. And there is a voluntary movement of beggars, always appreciated more poverty than wealth, who had sworn not to harm or kill other beings, who spent time dreaming wonderful dreams, inventing beautiful lands of never, that despised everything that the world valued, appreciated everything that the world despise, gentleness, generosity, idle contemplation. Yet, while these powerful empire, built on greed, hatred and deceit, lasted only a few centuries, the impulse of self led to the Buddhist community through 2500 years. "

Buddha preached for 45 years for all kinds of people: men and women, rich, poor, saints and thieves.

The personality of the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gotama, as in all stories of the day, is overwhelming. His personality is projected through the ages in every story we read it. The Buddha died in Kusinara (now Uttar Pradesh), for 80 years, surrounded by a crowd of disciples. According to Buddhist writings his last words were: "all things are perishable. Strive for your salvation."