Buddhism is an Indian religion founded on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, a Śramaṇa also called Shakyamuni (sage of the Shakya's), or "the Buddha" ("the Awakened One"), who lived c. 5th to 4th century BCE. Early texts

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The term "Buddhism" is an occidental neologism, commonly (and "rather roughly" according to Donald S. Lopez Jr.) used as a translation for the Dharma of the Buddha, fójiào in Chinese, bukkyō in Japanese, nang pa sangs rgyas pa'i chos in Tibetan, buddhadharma in Sanskrit,

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While the Noble Eightfold Path is best-known in the West, a wide variety of paths and models of progress have been used and described in the different Buddhist traditions. However, they

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Hearing and learning the Dharma
In various suttas which present the graduated path taught by the Buddha, such as the

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Buddhism, like all Indian religions, was initially an oral traditionin ancient times. The Buddha's words, the early doctrines, concepts, and their traditional interpretations were orally transmitted from one generation to the next. The earliest oral texts were

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Historical roots
Historically, the roots of Buddhism lie in the religious thought of Iron Age Indiaaround the middle of the

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Buddhists generally classify themselves as either Theravāda or Mahāyāna. This classification is also used by some scholars and is the one

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