What is story of Buddha ?

By that time the wound had healed, and the bird had fully recovered. Siddhartha went out and let the bird go.

“The bird is free. It belongs to no one,” said Siddhartha as he watched the swan fly high in the air.

The history of Buddhism is the story of one man's spiritual journey to Enlightenment, and of the teachings and ways of living that developed from it.

By finding the path to Enlightenment, Siddhartha was led from the pain of suffering and rebirth towards the path of Enlightenment and became known as the Buddha or 'awakened one'.

Opinions differ as to the dates of Siddhartha Gautama's life. Historians have dated his birth and death as circa 566-486 BCE but more recent research suggests that he lived later than this, from around 490 BCE until circa 410 BCE.

He was born into a royal family in the village of Lumbini in present-day Nepal, and his privileged life insulated him from the sufferings of life; sufferings such as sickness, age and death.

One day, after growing up, marrying and having a child, Siddhartha went outside the royal enclosure where he lived. When he went outside he saw, each for the first time, an old man, a sick man, and a corpse.

This greatly disturbed him, and he learned that sickness, age, and death were the inevitable fate of human beings - a fate no-one could avoid.

Siddhartha Gautama, who would one day become known as Buddha ("enlightened one" or "the awakened"), lived in Nepal during the 6th to 4th century B.C. While scholars agree that he did in fact live, the events of his life are still debated.

Siddhartha had also seen a monk, and he decided this was a sign that he should leave his protected royal life and live as a homeless holy man.

According to the most widely known story of his life, after experimenting with different teachings for years, and finding none of them acceptable, Gautama spent a fateful night in deep meditation.

Siddhartha's travels showed him much more of the the suffering of the world.

During his meditation, all of the answers he had been seeking became clear, and he achieved full awareness, thereby becoming Buddha.

He searched for a way to escape the inevitability of death, old age and pain first by studying with religious men.

Buddha was born in the 6th century B.C.

This didn't provide him with an answer.

The Buddha, or "enlightened one," was born Siddhartha (which means "he who achieves his aim") Gautama to a large clan called the Shakyas in Lumbini, (today, modern Nepal) in the 6th century B.C. His father was king who ruled the tribe, known to be economically poor and on the outskirts geographically.

His mother died seven days after giving birth to him, but a holy man prophesized great things for the young Siddhartha:

Siddhartha followed this life of extreme asceticism for six years, but this did not satisfy him either; he still had not escaped from the world of suffering.

He would either be a great king or military leader or he would be a great spiritual leader.

The Buddha also practised meditation but concluded that in themselves, the highest meditative states were not enough.

To keep his son from witnessing the miseries and suffering of the world, Siddhartha's father raised him in opulence in a palace built just for the boy and sheltered him from knowledge of religion and human hardship.

Siddhartha encountered an Indian ascetic who encouraged him to follow a life of extreme self-denial and discipline.

According to custom, he married at the age of 16, but his life of total seclusion continued for another 13 years.

He abandoned the strict lifestyle of self-denial and ascetism, but did not return to the pampered luxury of his early life.