Mini:Buddha
"The Buddha", or "Gautama Buddha" was just a man who, after looking hard for enlightenment through physical hardships and deprivations, went back on the "middle way", and found enlightenment, sitting under the Bodhi Tree, in India, some 2,500 years ago. He then taught his doctrine, or Dharma (create), the path to enlightenment, for some 45 years, assembling a large community of followers, "the Sangha". After his death, those Buddhist monks spread Buddhism throughout all India, the Far East, China, Tibet, Mongolia and Japan. Gautama was teaching the "The four noble truths" on human suffering, and the "Noble Eightfold Path", on how to get rid of suffering and reach the Nirvana. He was also teaching to trust no leader and only follow the Dharma, which was not a divine revelation, and to make the experience of it by oneself.
For Buddhists, a Buddha is any man who achieved enlightenment, whether through Buddhist teachings or by himself. Buddhas are only human beings, but many Buddhist schools consider some of them divine as well and providing patronage to believers.
All forms of Buddhism acknowledge the existence of other Buddhas. The Pali canon recognizes twenty-eight Buddhas of the past, as well as Maitreya (Sanskrit; Pali: Metteya), the Buddha who is yet to come. Mahāyāna tradition teaches the existence of Buddhas and bodhisattvas without number. An example of the former would be Amitabha (create).
For other uses see the article of Wikipedia:
