The historical Buddha, Shakyamuni or Gautama Buddha, lived about 2,500 years ago in India. According to Buddhism however, he was not the first Buddha, and will not be the last either. The Buddha was born as prince Siddharta Gautama in what is now called Lumbini in Nepal. The King wanted his son to be his successor and tried to keep him far away from all matters of life that could incline him to a spiritual life. When Gautama was 29 years old, when visiting the city, he was confronted with sickness, old age and death and discovered there was much suffering in the world around him. Siddhartha left his wife and son at the palace and set out to learn the way of finding salvation and understanding. Gautama studied under various teachers and followed their practices until he mastered them all. When realizing he would not find a teacher who could help him find the highest goal, Siddhartha tried to achieve his goal trough asceticism. However, this did not bring him satisfaction or greater understanding. After about six years of searching, he realized that wearing down his body did not generate new insights, but rather leads to weakness and self-destruction. So he decided to give up extreme asceticism. He then sat down in a place now called Bodhgaya (North India) under a Bodhi-tree and decided not to get up anymore until he discovered the truth. After 49 days, he became a fully enlightened Buddha. This means that he actualized all positive potentials of a sentient being and rid himself of all negative qualities. With this, he realized the true nature of existence and suffering (emptiness), and how suffering can be ended. Seven weeks after enlightenment, the Buddha gave his first discourse in Sarnath, near Varanasi. Here he taught the 4 Noble Truths. The Buddha continued to teach during his life, until passing away at the age of 80. After his body was cremated, his ashes were divided up and taken to eight different sites. At each of these sites, a stupa was built to contain the ashes.