Young Buddha was known as Siddhartha. Young Siddhartha belonged to a clan of warriors called the Sakyas of Kapilavastu. Young Siddhartha’s mother Maya, died when Siddhartha was only seven days old. Siddhartha was nursed by a lady called Maha Pajapati Gotami. At a very young age Siddhartha was married to Yasodhara . A son was born and he was named Rahul.

It is said that Siddhartha, steeped in the luxury of his palace, was quite unaware of things such as old age or sickness or death. But one day while he was on the road in his chariot he saw an old man and he asked his charioteer: "What kind of man is this with a trembling and bent-down body and white hair and broken teeth and a stick to lean upon?" He was told that this was what man must become in old age. Another day, Siddhartha saw from his chariot a man gravely sick and he grieved upon seeing the misery sickness causes to man. And still another day, Siddhartha's chariot passed by a funeral and he came to learn that all men must die some day.

Thus Siddhartha came upon the knowledge that pleasures of the palace had hidden from him, the knowledge that man is subject to sufferings up to death. And it is said that it came to pass that Siddhartha also saw a hermit in a yellow robe, shaven-headed and calm of mien. Siddhartha thought, let me live like this man, get away from the pleasures which do not last and the sufferings which do not end in this life.

Upon leaving his home, Siddhartha first went to a sage called Alara Kalama, and then to another, and again to another. They taught Sidhhartha what they knew of yoga, of meditation, of the holy life. But they could not satisfy Siddhartha's questions about final release from sorrows. Therefore, he left them and went "roaming about among the folk of Magadh." He found "a pleasant forest grove and a river easy to reach and with clear water and close by a village where alms maybe taken. This is where Buddha, without guidance from teachers and sages, began to meditate. He took just a little food this made him very weak However, Siddhartha was not satisfied that he could reach by such penance and hardship what he sought, "noble knowledge surpassing mortality." He thought perhaps there was some other way to such knowledge. He felt the need for a state of ease which would help to direct his thoughts. But it was difficult to reach that stage with body so completely exhausted. Then Sujata, daughter of a herdsman came to spot she offered food to Siddhartha. Having recovered his strength, resumed his meditations and in the last watch of the night attained the knowledge he sought: "There arose in me the Light." Siddhartha had this experience near Bodhgaya, sitting under a pipal tree by the river Neranjara. And hereafter he was called the Buddha or 'The Enlightened One.'   The first time Buddha brought his teachings to other men was in the deer park of Isipatana, now called Sarnath, near Varanasi. The five disciples who had left him in the forest, disillusioned with Siddhartha when he gave up extreme penance and self-torture, now came back to him. These five were the first to hear of Buddha' dharma  which  we roughly translate a the Right Path, or the Truth. This was the first time that Buddha spoke of Nirvana which we may translate as  extinction, or bring to an end. And here the first five disciples were accepted by Buddha and this was the origin of the Buddhist Monks.