According to legend the man who became Buddha, or the Enlightened One, was born a prince, over five hundred years before Christ. He was screened by a doting father from all unhappiness until he married, and himself a father. Then, accidentally, he learned about old age, sickness, and death, and suddenly it was clear to him that he had been depending on transient things for his happiness. He stole away from his home to seek a truth which would not decay, and after a long asceticism which brought him no help, the truth he sought was revealed under the Bodhi-tree. He became the Buddha, the Enlightened One. He began to explain the Dharma, or Truth. Through many years he preached the Eightfold path, and the brotherhood of Buddhist monks grew in size and influence. Upon his death his disciples ) according to legend) recorded his sayings for the sake of future generations. But it is not certain that the earliest Buddhist books date back twenty-five hundred year to his death. The narrative of his life has an its principal source the Sanskrit stories of the monk Asvaghosha, which were translated into Chinese in 420 A.D. and from the Chinese into English by Samuel Beale in the Eighteenth Century. The present text is derived chiefly from The Gospel of Buddha, a compilation by Paul Carus from many source-books of Buddhist teachings, including Beale.