500 BC when Buddhism started in India
Today in India, Buddhism is not practiced by a lot of people. Only 1% of India’s people are Buddhist. Buddhism started in 500 BC. A prince named Siddhartha Gautama was the founder of Buddhism. Siddhartha came from a very wealthy family. Siddhartha lived in a palace which he never left. Until one day he left and saw poverty, sickness, and misery. Siddhartha felt bad for the people so he had to do something. Now he wanted to leave his palace and his rich life forever. He also gave his rich belongings to the poor. He found a group that was searching for the same enlightenment as he was. These people could have died of starvation because they gave up all the basics of life to feel good about themselves. At some point Siddhartha realized that this was not the right way towards enlightenment. He thought that the right path was somewhere in the middle which he called the “middle path”.
Siddhartha found his enlightenment, while sitting under a fig tree and fighting many temptations. In his area the people that were enlightened were called Buddha. Now Siddhartha was called Buddha.
Buddhism practices no violence. Buddha got mad at other customs that killed animals for religious ceremonies. People who religiously practice being a Buddhist are vegetarians, but they say that Buddha died from eating a sick animal. Buddhism does not have a god it believes in goodness of one self with life.
Now you know about how Buddhism got to India in 500 BC. You also learned who brought it to India.
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