Buddhism is a widely known religion around the world that many people practice and teach on a daily basis. Buddhism comes 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 one or more God(s), each person must discover what they believe and think from their own experience (Barbara O'Brien , 2013.) The question is whether or not you believe that religion is worth pursuing for yourself. Siddhartha Gautama was born around 560 BC in northern India. Suddhodana, Siddhartha's father, was a ruler close to the Himalayas, which is today's city of Nepal. Growing up, his father sheltered him from the outside world, allowing him to only experience the pleasures and riches of the world. Eventually, Gautama one day became agitated and begged his father to allow him to explore the exterior of the palace. During this journey, Siddhartha was changed forever. While 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 distressed him deeply and he decided he had to do something to ease this pain. He decided that living a life of luxury was not for him and he embarked on 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, one returns to this world either to a higher or lower form of life, depending on your past life and the number of good and bad deeds you have done. This raised another question that Siddhartha wanted to resolve, how to break the rebir...... middle of paper...... violence and ignorance of the world to an unacceptable degree" (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. Buddhism appears to be a widely known religion that many people around the world love and follow. Some people agree with the thoughts and wisdom of a Buddhist's thoughts and actions, while others really don't. Personally, I agree with much of the Buddha's teachings and philosophies on how to live life, but I do not consider myself to have the religion of Buddhism. Whether or not you choose Buddhism as your personal religion depends on your personal thoughts and experiences. Either way, Buddhism seems to affect many people's daily lives and shares a lot of wisdom that we could all use in life..