He taught a training of the mind that included ethical training, self-restraint, and meditative practices such as jhana and mindfulness. The Buddha taught a middle way between sensual indulgence and the severe asceticism found in the Indian śramaṇa movement. The Buddha then traveled throughout the Ganges plain teaching and building a religious community. According to Buddhist tradition, after several years of mendicancy, meditation, and asceticism, he awakened to understand the mechanism which keeps people trapped in the cycle of rebirth. The Buddha was born into an aristocratic family in the Shakya clan but eventually renounced lay life. His teaching is based on his insight into the arising of duḥkha (the unsatisfactoriness of clinging to impermanent states and things) and the ending of duhkha-the state called Nibbāna or Nirvana (extinguishing of the three fires). He taught for around 45 years and built a large following, both monastic and lay. He is regarded as the founder of the world religion of Buddhism, and revered by most Buddhist schools as a savior, the Enlightened One who rediscovered an ancient path to release clinging and craving and escape the cycle of birth and rebirth. Gautama Buddha, popularly known as the Buddha (also known as Siddhattha Gotama or Siddhārtha Gautama or Buddha Shakyamuni), was a Śramaṇa who lived in ancient India (c.
