Siddhartha Gautama, also known as the Buddha, lived from 563 BCE to 486 BCE in northern India. He was born into a noble family but sought to understand the true causes of human suffering. Through his teachings of the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path, he explained that suffering stems from craving and desire, but can be overcome through wisdom, enlightenment, and following moral guidelines to achieve a state of perfect peace known as nirvana. The Eightfold Path outlines steps to cultivate right view, intent, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration.