Siddhartha Gautama began the religion of Buddhism around 600 B.C. in India. Since then, it has spread throughout the world, to each country and into each culture. As the Buddha, he accomplished many amazing tasks throughout his life, and touched the lives of people everywhere.
             Siddhartha Gautama was born about 563 B.C. in the town of Kapilavastu (what is now Southern Nepal). His given name was Siddhartha and his clan name was Gautama. His father, Shuddhodana, was the leader of a people known as the Shakyas. Gautama is therefore frequently referred to as Shakyamuni, or "Sage of the Shakyas" (Powell 13).
             According to the Buddhist tradition, Gautama's mother, Queen May, was a "woman of perfect form and bee-black tresses, fearless in heart and full of grace and virtue" (Wangu 16). One day, a feeling of great peace and joy came over her. That night while she slept, she had a dream that an elephant with six tusks, carrying a lotus flower in its trunk, touched her right side. It was at that moment that her son was conceived. When the queen told her husband of her dream, he called Brahmins, learned men, to interpret it. They predicted that the child would either become the greatest king in the world, or the greatest ascetic, a holy man who practices self-denial. His name would be Siddhartha, which means "he whose aim is accomplished" (Wangu 16-18).
             Accompanied by guards and dancing women, Queen Maya went to her father's home to prepare for the birth. As she stepped out of her chariot in the Lubini Gardens, she stopped to rest, taking hold of a branch of a Sal tree (Wangu 18).
             Legend tells that at this moment, Buddha emerged from her right side. Without any help, the infant walked seven steps in each of the four direction of the compass. In his footprints, lotus flowers sprouted from the earth. The miraculous infant announced, "No further births have I to endure, for this is ...