2.  2,500 years, the religion we know today as Buddhism has been the primary inspiration behind many successful civilizations, the source of great cultural achievements and a lasting and meaningful guide to the very purpose of life for millions of people.  Buddhism is a path of practice and spiritual development leading to Insight into the true nature of reality.

3.  Buddhism arose about the same time as Hinduism and Judaism.  Buddhism was started by Siddharta Gautama

4.  The man who was to become the Buddha was born Siddhattha Guatama around 563BCE 2,600 years ago as a Prince of a small territory near what is now the Indian-Nepalese border. At age 29, Guatama left his wife and children to seek spiritual enlightenment.

5.  At the age of 35, on the full moon night of May, he sat beneath the branches of what is now known as the Bodhi Tree, in a secluded grove by the banks of the river Neranjara.  He developed his mind in deep but luminous, tranquil meditation. Using the extraordinary clarity of such a mind with its sharp penetrative power generated by states of deep inner stillness, he turned his attention to investigate upon the hidden meanings of mind, universe and life. Thus he gained the supreme Enlightenment experience and from that time on he was known as the Buddha.

6.  Buddhists who were the very first propagators of religion, spread their faith by travelling over the world.  The monks who ventured into those lands were tortured. Hundreds were killed by imperial decree.

7.  Buddhism does not include the idea of worshipping a creator god, some people do not see it as a religion in the normal, Western sense.  In Asia, it is thriving in countries like Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Korea and Japan.

8.  Buddhism first appeared in Thailand during the 3rd century B.C. in the area of the present day provincial capital Nakhon Pathom.  There are around 350 million Buddhists and a growing number of them are Westerners  Buddhism does not include the idea of worshipping a creator god, some people do not see it as a religion in the normal, Western sense.

9.  Buddhist practices like meditation are means of changing yourself in order to develop the qualities of awareness, kindness, and wisdom.

11. Buddhism shows itself in the way people eat, the construction of their building, the way in which people interact with each other. Buddhism has an affect on the Western side of China.

12.  Buddha died of young age.  The Buddha, at the age of 80, believed that he was near death. He ate his last meal as an offering from a blacksmith named Cunda, fell ill afterwards, and died. Controversy arose had he died a natural death, or had he been poisoned?His body was cremated and the relics were placed in monuments or stupas, which is believed to still be in existence today.