Siddhartha Gautama, later known as the Buddha ("the Awakened One"), was born around 563 BCE in Lumbini, in present-day Nepal. A prince of the Shakya clan, he renounced his privileged life after encountering suffering and spent years in ascetic practice before attaining enlightenment under the Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya. His teachings on the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path became the foundation of Buddhism, which spread across Asia and now counts hundreds of millions of adherents worldwide.
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