Shakyamuni Buddha was born in India about 3000 years ago. (His exact dates are not known. Buddhist tradition says he was born about 1000 BC but many modern scholars consider this date to be approximately 500 BC). He was born as Prince Siddhartha and, in the normal course of events, would have become King of the Shakyas upon the death of his father, King Shuddhadana.

Siddhartha is said to have left his Father's palace successively by the North, South, East and West gates, where he observed human suffering among his Father's subjects. He was profoundly affected by this suffering. One day he left the palace to find the answer to the problems of suffering.

For eight years, he carried out all manner of austere practices in accordance with the religious tradition of his time but still did not come to any satisfactory conclusion. One day he sat beneath a tree (the Bodhi Tree) and put himself into a state of deep meditation, determining not to rise before he had found the solution to suffering.

Under this tree, he became awakened to the absolute truth of all phenomena and his total oneness with the true entity of life. This great event became known as Shakyamuni's enlightenment. Thereafter he was often referred to as "The Buddha" (the enlightened one). He immediately rose from his meditation and set about teaching his fellow human beings how to overcome suffering and achieve absolute happiness by means of their own enlightenment.

Shakyamuni preached for the next fifty years. At first, he carefully adapted his teachings to the capacity of whomsoever happened to be seeking his guidance at the time in question. After his death his teachings were passed on by the Eastern tradition of recitation and eventually were written down. These teachings, or sermons, are known as the SUTRAS, of which there are many thousands.

During the last eight years of his life, Shakyamuni abandoned his early method of adapting his teaching to his audience and preached only his definitive teaching in what is now known as THE LOTUS SUTRA. This sutra is recognised by millions of Mahayana Buddhists as the supreme teaching of Shakyamuni. In particular, it is the sutra upon which Nichiren Daishonin based his entire philosophy.

Shakyamuni died at the age of eighty. His last words were, "Work out your own salvation with diligence".