Man has always tried to find his own path to fulfillment — and Buddhism is one of the most influential attempts. In this lesson, we examine the life of Siddhartha Gautama, the development of Buddhism's three major branches, and its core teachings including the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, and the pursuit of Nirvana. We then hold Buddhism up against the Bible on the questions that matter most: creation, the soul, suffering, salvation, the afterlife, and authority. We also compare the deaths of the Buddha and Jesus Christ — one died painfully of illness despite claiming liberation from suffering, the other was murdered on a cross and rose again three days later.
