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Another person I read about over the holidays: Siddhartha Gautama. A fairly obvious thing to do in the wake of a trauma, perhaps. But nevertheless, there I was.

I took comfort in the fact that Gautama was an actual man. He was born into a caste of warrior aristocrats sometime around the year 560 B.C., in the Himalayan foothills of what is now Nepal. He enjoyed a sheltered childhood in a pleasure-filled palace, oblivious to the miseries of society. He partied a lot and enjoyed the company of several concubines.

Though the specifics of his life history are admittedly cloudy, most religious scholars seem to agree that Siddhartha had excelled in sports and the martial arts, while also enjoying a comprehensive education in literature, religion, philosophy, and agriculture management. He married a cousin of his at the age of sixteen. Her name was Yashodhara, and she bore him children.

Eventually, however, despite all of this comfort and stimulation, Siddhartha became restless. His charmed existence wasn’t enough to satisfy him. He tired of his palace, his concubines, his family. He tired of his parties. He tired of his trust fund. He had it all, yet he was deeply unhappy.

One night, against the wishes of his father, Siddhartha snuck out of the palace and wandered into the streets. Here is what he saw:

1 A sick man

2 A poor man

3 A beggar

4 A corpse

Shortly thereafter, Siddhartha freaked out, essentially. He abandoned his former way of life and dedicated himself to solving the riddle of suffering endemic in all human beings. He even abandoned his wife and family. Naked and alone, he set out into the countryside in search of true enlightenment. He became a wandering ascetic.

Naturally, his life in those days was pretty bleak. He stumbled around, starving and nude, mumbling to himself. He slept on a bed of thorns in the jungle. He held his breath until he passed out, hoping to unlock the mysteries of existence. He went on like this for about six years.

In the end, the experiment failed. Without any food in his belly, Siddhartha couldn’t really think straight. Eventually, he came to believe that a life of complete denial wasn’t a good idea, and neither was a life of total indulgence. The trick, he realized, was to live a life of balance. There was, he realized, a Middle Way.

Pleased with his newfound knowledge, Siddhartha went and sat in the shade of a large pipal tree for a round of intensive meditation. While sitting there, he had a series of incredible epiphanies. He became enlightened.

In the midst of this epiphanic trance, Siddhartha managed to reduce human existence to Four Noble Truths. Those Four Noble Truths are:

1  All humans suffer.

2 All human suffering is caused by human desire,particularly the desire that impermanent things be permanent.

3 Human suffering can be ended by ending human desire.

4 Desire can be ended by following the “Eightfold Noble Path”: right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.

Siddhartha went on to spend the rest of his life teaching the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Noble Path to anyone who would listen. He died at the age of eighty. His devotees generally believe that he passed into a state of nirvana at the moment of his death.

nirvana n.

1 Often cap:Buddhism: The ineffable ultimate in which one has attained disinterested wisdom and compassion.Hinduism: Emancipation from ignorance and the extinction of all attachment.

2 An ideal condition of rest, harmony, stability, or joy.

These days, Siddhartha is commonly referred to by his nickname: Buddha.