Siddhartha Gautama, [e] most commonly referred to as the Buddha (lit. ' the awakened one '), [4] [f] [g] was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia, [h] during the 6th or 5th century BCE [5] [6] [7] [c] and founded Buddhism.According to Buddhist legends, he was born in Lumbini, in what is now Nepal, [b] to royal parents of …