Approximately 150,000,000 people worship as Buddhists living mostly in Asia although the founder of the religion, Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha (563~483 B.C.), came from India. In India Buddhism was absorbed by Hinduism of which it is an offshoot, whereas in China it is one of the three great religions. About 165,000 Buddhists reside in the United States.
The Buddhism taught and practiced in Tibet is known as Lamaism. Its spiritual leader is the Dalai Lama. Great writings of Buddhism include the Tripitakas, the Dhammapada – a kind of extract of the Tripitakas – and the Udanavagra. The Avadana are stories to illustrate Karma – the Law of the Deed. Buddhists aim to archive Nirvana by following the Eight~fold Path: right views, right aims, right speech, right conduct, right living, right effort or self control, right~mindedness and right meditation.