a religion or philosophy that developed in India in the fifth and sixth cents bc out of the teaching of Gautama Buddha, maintaining that one can be liberated from the suffering inherent in life by ridding oneself of desire and self-delusion
A term of relatively recent coinage used to describe the various Asian traditions that derive inspiration and authority from the stories about and teachings of an itinerant Indian teacher of the 5th cent. BCE known as the Buddha (‘Awakened One’). Although the Buddha wrote nothing and scholars debate what he did and did not teach, myriad doctrines have been ascribed to him over the centuries — Professor Donald Lopez
Buddhist noun and adj