Buddhism is a widely known religion throughout the world, which many people practice and teach daily. Buddhism derives from the teachings of a man named Siddhartha Gautama who lived about twenty-five centuries ago. The goal of Buddhism is to become “enlightened.” Unlike most religions, Buddhism is non-theistic, meaning that instead of believing in a God or Gods, you are left to discover what you believe and think about your own experience (Barbara O'Brien, 2013). it's whether or not you believe religion is worth pursuing for yourself. Siddhartha Gautama was born around 560 BC in the northern part of India. Suddhodana, Siddhartha's father, was a ruler near the Himalayas, which is now the city of Nepal. Growing up, his father protected him from the outside world, allowing him to experience only the pleasures and riches of the world. Finally, one day Gautama became restless and begged his father to allow him to explore outside the palace. During this journey, Siddhartha was changed forever. While he was outside the palace, he observed four people: an old man, a sick man, a dead man and a beggar. The experience of seeing these four people made him deeply distressed and he decided that he had to do something about this pain. He decided that living a life of luxury was not for him and began a quest to find the answer to the human experience of pain and suffering. He also believed in the Hindu tradition of reincarnation; that is, after death, you return to this world to a higher or lower form of life, depending on how many good and bad deeds you have committed in your past life. This brought up another question that Siddhartha wanted to solve: how do you stop the rebirth... middle of paper... the violence and ignorance of the world at an unacceptable level,” (Sam Harris, http:/ /www .samharris.org/site/full_text/killing-the-buddha/) Like everyone else, most people are influenced in their thoughts and decisions by what they have been exposed to widely known religion, which many people around the world worship and follow. Some people agree with the thoughts and wisdom of a Buddhist's thoughts and actions, while others personally not so much of the Buddha's teachings and philosophies on how to approach life, however I do not consider myself to belong to the religion of Buddhism Whether or not you choose Buddhism as your personal religion, it all depends on your personal thoughts and experiences Buddhism seems to influence many people's daily lives and share a lot of wisdom that we could all use in life..