The Buddha

Cultural  

1. A prince, originally named Gautama, who lived in India several hundred years before Jesus. After years of solitary contemplation, he began to teach a religion of self-denial and universal brotherhood. (See Buddhism.)

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Example Sentences

The Buddha -- who renounced material wealth to embrace and preach a life of non-attachment -- founded a religion that now has more than 500 million adherents.

From Barron's • Jan. 3, 2026

The Buddha survived, but the coral tree that shaded it was gone.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 5, 2025

The Buddha suggests that we work with the fundamental dissatisfaction we feel by releasing craving, and attuning to the sensory richness of the present moment.

From Slate • Aug. 3, 2024

Left without the use of his arms and legs, the award-winning writer of The Buddha of Suburbia and My Beautiful Laundrette has charted his experience in brutally-honest blog posts.

From BBC • Dec. 25, 2023

The Buddha said that suffering was caused by desire, we’d learned, and that the cessation of desire meant the cessation of suffering.

From "Looking for Alaska" by John Green