Prince Siddhartha Gautama was born in northern India around 563 BC and grew up wealthy as a member of the Kshatriya warrior caste. Dissatisfied with life, he left his family at age 30 to pursue spiritual enlightenment. After years of meditation and fasting, Siddhartha achieved nirvana - a state of perfect peace and freedom from suffering - under a bodhi tree and became known as the Buddha. The Buddha taught that suffering stems from desire and ignorance, and that by following an eightfold path of right view, intent, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness and concentration, one can overcome desire and ignorance to reach nirvana.

1. Carolina Olea Mr. Perez Spring 2011