| buddhism | Siddharta Gautama (the Buddha) |  | 520 BC, NE India. | 360 million | Varies: Theravada atheistic; Mahayana more polytheistic. Buddha taught nothing is permanent. | Purpose is to avoid suffering and gain enlightenment and release from cycle of rebirth, or at least attain a better rebirth by gaining merit. | Reincarnation (understood differently than in Hinduism, with no surviving soul) until gain enlightenment | Meditation, mantras, devotion to deities (in some sects), mandalas (Tibetan) | Tripitaka (Pali Canon, Mahayana sutras like the Lotus Sutra, and others. |