Buddha

Buddha is a being which has attained the enlightenment from own strength and is released from the cycle of the rebirths. The historical Buddha Shakyamuni (Siddhartha Gautama) was born in the 6-th century B.C. in Nepal. His mother, Mayadevi, died shortly after his birth. His father, prince Suddhodana from the gender Shakya shielded him from the outside world because he feared what should happen at last, nevertheless: Siddharta recognised the suffering in the world and decided to leave his native country and to lead a meditative life. Hard physical asceticism brought him no enlightenment; in the end, Gautama sat down under a tree with the intention to endure there until he would have found the cause of the suffering. Under this Bodhi tree he was actually enlightened.
Beside Buddha Gautama exist other Buddhas, they can be recognised by the different hand gestures.