"Siddhartha Gautama was born in approximately 624 B.C., in Kalinga, India. At 29 he left his wife, son, palace, and inheritance rights to assume the role of an ascetic. At 35, he was allegedly sitting under a Ficus tree when he received a life-changing vision. He returned to his fellow ascetics and announced himself as Lord Buddha (the one who has obtained enlightenment for himself), and spent the rest of his days teaching the deeper meaning and purpose of life to initiates....The primary function of Buddhism is to explain the meaning of life and our universal connection to a higher potential, which is directly related to an even higher state of being. Throughout each human life we engage in both good and improper behavior Karma is the cumulative total of these actions during our life. After death, if the amount of bad things we were responsible for during our lifetime is not in proper proportion to the good, Buddhism teaches that our soul will not be allowed to move up to a higher realm of existence (higher being) and we will be reborn into a new physical body (reincarnation). In living each life, we either get it right or will be compelled to continue on in the cycle of death and rebirth, with our soul reincarnating to inhabit new material bodies until we finally get it right." Intelligent Intervention, Robert Steven Thomas