Gautama became known as the Buddha or “Awakened One”. The title indicates that unlike most people who are “asleep”, a Buddha is understood as having “woken up” to the true nature of reality and sees the world ‘as it is’ . A Buddha has achieved liberation, also called Nirvana, which is seen as the extinguishing of the “fires” of desire, hatred, and ignorance, that keep the cycle of suffering and rebirth going. According to various early texts, a Buddha has achieved three higher states: Remembering one’s former abodes (or past lives), the “Divine eye” ), which allows the knowing of others’ karmic destinations and the “extinction of mental intoxicants” This is his life and teachings.
