Buddhism is a set of principles or philosophy based on the teachings of Lord Buddha, who was born in 563 BCE at Lumbini, Nepal as Siddhartha Gautam, a Shakya prince. Basically, Buddhism preaches the path of practice and spiritual development, thus, leading an insight into the truth of life. With its realistic base, Buddhism today is one of the major religions of the countries of Central Asia, Sri Lanka, Tibet, China, Korea, Japan and southeast Asia.

The main objective of Buddhism is to end the suffering of cyclic existence or 'samsara' by awakening a being to the realisation of the truth and the achievement of liberation. According to the Buddhist doctrine, there is only one way to reach the destination of reality - One should purify and train the mind and heart and act as per the laws of Karma to purify the soul.

Buddhism, which is considered today more of a religion than a thought, focuses on moral discipline or 'sila', meditation or 'samadhi' and wisdom or 'prajna' rather than that of idol-worship. According to the principles of Buddhism, any being can attain enlightenment by following certain codes and conducts such as Five Preceptions, Eightfold Path and Four Noble Truths.


The basic tenets or teachings of Buddhism are straightforward, practical and states

• Nothing is fixed or permanent,
  
• Change is possible, and
  
• Actions have consequences.