From SGI USA, I'm Cassidy Bradford, and this is Budability.

The weekly series where I talk with Buddhists from all walks of life about the power we each have to change our lives and the world around us.

If you were to Google Buddhism, you'll probably find as many different teachings as there are people.

Well, maybe not that many, but there's a lot.

And it's hard to know where to start when you want to learn more.

So today, we're covering some early history of Buddhism, where the Lotus Sutra comes from,

what makes it unique, and a bit about how it was preserved and transmitted outside India.

Let's start where it all began.

Shakyamuni Buddha, who is also sometimes referred to as Siddhartha.

Shakyamuni, the eldest son to a king, was born around 500 BCE in northeastern India.

He grew up as a prince and a life of luxury, in complete ease and comfort.

Buddhist scriptures describe four encounters outside the palace walls where he saw, from a young

age, the different kinds of sufferings humans experience.

These inescapable sufferings affect all people, birth, aging, sickness, and death.

Seeing these sufferings, Shacamuni wanted to find a way to relieve all people of them.

He renounced his status as a prince and started a spiritual quest.

Buddhist philosopher Daisaku Akeda has said of Shakamuni, the force that impelled him to take up

the religious life, and indeed became the point of departure for the entire Buddhist religion,

was an ardent desire to transcend the sufferings inherent in human life.

First, Shacamuni tried meditation. Then, asceticism, which meant subjecting his body to

painful austerities in order to free himself of desires. These practices, however, didn't satisfy him, so he rejected them to seek

something deeper. In his 30s, while sitting under a bodai tree meditating, he awakened to the

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