The Buddha who lived 2,600 years ago was not a god. He was an ordinary person, named Siddhartha Gautama, whose teachings on enlightenment and the end of suffering became the basis of the world religion of Buddhism.

The Buddha discovered a path to liberation, and more than two thousand years later people are still following in his footsteps. Heather Sanche unpacks his life, legacy, and essential teachings.

When the Buddha tended to a dying monk, he demonstrated how to live, how to die, how to care for others. Vanessa Sasson offers her retelling of that poignant story.

Trees can show us how to be bodhisattvas. Rafe Jnan Martin draws important lessons from an old tale.

Brian Lesage reflects on how we can honor past and future generations of Buddhist practitioners by bringing the spirit of offering into our everyday practice.

Question: Buddhism was an oral tradition for hundreds of years, and many of the earliest writings were lost centuries ago. If we can’t have 100 percent certainty about what the Buddha actually taught—and it seems that we can’t—how do we determine what is the true dharma? Bhante Sujato: In 2014 I coauthored, with Bhikkhu Brahmali,…