Buddhism started as a Hindu influenced religion in India. Details about Buddha’s life and original teachings as presented in the first century BC Buddhist scriptures are important for understanding how Chinese Buddhism developed. Guatama Buddha was the founder of the religion. He lived between 600 and 400 BC. Buddha and his followers left no writings, but his rules for monastic life and teachings were memorized and passed down by oral tradition until about the second century BC when the first Buddhist scriptures were written. The oral tradition was corrupted. Shortly after this, the first scriptures were brought to China.
Guatama Buddha was said to be the prince of a little kingdom that was in modern Nepal. Maybe he wasn't Indo-European. There are many legends such as that seers predicted that he would be either a great holy man or a great king. His father wanted him to be a great king and tried to keep his son from all religion and sights of death and suffering. So when grew up, he was shocked by seeing an old man and a corpse. Then, he wanted to solve suffering and death.
When he was 29 years old, he became a disciple of famous teachers in India, learned Hinduism, and wasn't satisfied. Then, he tried to learn the truth through not eating and body mortification. He nearly starved himself to death and almost drowned. Then, he ate, meditated and avoided extremes of self-indulgence or self-mortification. However, he was almost like a skeleton. He vowed to sit under a tree until he knew the truth and became Enlightened when he was 35.
Then, he started teaching. He taught that everybody could be Enlightened. He contradicted the Hindu belief that only high-caste people might be holy which threatened the hierarchical society. It is said that many disciples became “Arhats,” and he taught everybody no matter their caste. Some Hindus thought that the religion was false, and his enemies tried to kill him. His idea would destroy the hierachical society. He died in old age, and his body was cremated.