Although the numerous legends respecting the life und works of Sakyamuni, the reputed founder of the Buddhist faith, contain much that is fabulous, yet most of the incidents mentioned therein, when deprived of the marvelous garb with which early historians invariably used to embellish their tales, seem to be based on matters of fact. At present scientific researches have put Sakyamuni's real existence beyond a doubt; but the period in which he lived will ever remain somewhat vaguely defined.

Sakyanmni was born at Kapilavastu near Bihar. The legends tell us that his father, the king Suddhodana, requested one hundred and eight learned Brahmans to inform him of his son's destiny; the Brahmans, the legends say, after a careful examination of the prince's body, expressed their conviction that, "if he remained a layman during his lifetime, he would become a powerful monarch of vast territories; but in the event of his turning recluse, he would enter the state of a supreme Buddha or wise man: and in solemn assembly they declared that this prince would hereafter prove a blessing to the world, and that lie himself would also enjoy great prosperity." It was in consequence of this answer, that the prince received the name of Siddhartha, "the establisher.

Siddhartha proved to be endowed with extraordinary acuities, and the legends even go so far as to assert that, when he was about to be taught his letters, he could already distinguish them, and his eminent qualities were manifest, not only in his mental, but also in bodily perfection. It is added as particularly characteristic that already in his youth he was inclined to retirement and solitude: he abandoned his gay, playful comrades and buried himself in the dark recesses of dense forests, where he gave himself up to profound meditation.

Suddhodana, the father, however, wished his son to become rather a powerful monarch, than a lonely ascetic. When, therefore, after a renewed consultation -with the Brahmans, he learned that Siddhartha would certainly leave his magnificent palace and become an ascetic, in the event of his seeing four things, viz. decrepitude, sickness, a dead body, and a recluse, he placed guards on all sides of the palace, in order that these dreaded objects might not come near his beloved son. Moreover, in order to weaken his love of solitude and meditation, he married him to Gopa, the daughter of Dandapani, of the race of the Sakyas, and gave orders that he should be provided with every kind of pleasure. But all these precautions pro veil futile. Siddhartha, though living in the midst of festivities and in the enjoyment of all worldly pleasures, never ceased to reflect upon the pains which arise from' birth, sickness, decay, and death; upon their causes, and upon the remedies to be used against them.

Buddha found that existence is the real cause of these pains, that desire produces existence, and that the extinction of desire causes cessation of existence. He then determined as he had already done a hundred times before to lead human beings to salvation by teaching them the practice of virtues and by detaching them from the service of the world. Although he had hitherto often hesitated, his resolution to renounce the world and to become an ascetic was finally put into execution, when he happened, on his walk to a garden, in the vicinity of the palace, to meet at four periods, a leper, a dead body, and a man in religious garb. He had attained the age of 29 years, when he left his palace, his wife, and the infant son to while is said to given birth at the very moment of her husband's meeting with the recluse.

Siddhartha began his ascentic life by assiduously studying the doctrines of the Brahmans and by becoming the disciple of most learned of them. Being however, dissatisfied with their theories and practices, which, he declared, did not offer the true means of salvation, he left them altogether, and gave himself up during the next years 6 years to earnest meditation and the exercise of great austerities. The latter however, he soon renounced, perceiving from his own experiences, that the mortifications practiced by the Brahmans were not of a nature to lead to the attainment of perfection. The 6 years past, he proceeded to the holy spot of Bodhimanda, where the Bodhisattvas become Buddhas. And it was here, that having seated himself upon a couch of grass of the Kusa species, he arrived at supreme perfection, which became manifest of his remembering the exact circumstances of all human beings that had ever existed, by his obtaining the divine eye, by the aid of which he could see all things within the space of the infinite worlds, and by his receiving the knowledge that unfolds the causes of the ever-recurring circle of existence. Sakyamuni being now endowed with all these wonderful and marvelous faculties became the wisest man, the most perfect Buddha. But having arrived at this state of perfection, he still hesitated whether he should make known his doctrines and propound them to men, his principles being, in his opinion, opposed to all those then adhered to. He was, at first, afraid of being exposed to the insults of animated beings, which are unwise and filled with evil designs. But, moved by compassion, and reflecting, that there would remain nevertheless many beings who would understand him and be delivered by him from existence the cause of pains and sorrows he at once resolved to teach the law that had been revealed to him.