Householder (Buddhism) in the context of "Shakyamuni Buddha"

Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (lit. 'the awakened one'), was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was born in Lumbini, in what is now Nepal, to royal parents of the Shakya clan, but renounced his home life to live as a wandering ascetic. After leading a life of mendicancy, asceticism, and meditation, he attained nirvana at Bodh Gaya in what is now India. The Buddha then wandered through the lower Indo-Gangetic Plain, teaching and building a monastic order (sangha). Buddhist tradition holds he died in Kushinagar and reached parinirvana ("final release from conditioned existence").

According to Buddhist tradition, the Buddha taught a Middle Way between sensual indulgence and severe asceticism, leading to freedom from ignorance, craving, rebirth, and suffering. His core teachings are summarised in the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, a training of the mind that includes ethical training and kindness toward others, and meditative practices such as sense restraint, mindfulness, dhyana (meditation proper). Another key element of his teachings are the concepts of the five skandhas and dependent origination, describing how all dharmas (both mental states and concrete 'things') come into being, and cease to be, depending on other dharmas, lacking an existence on their own (svabhava).

Pabbajjā (Pali; Skt.: pravrajyā) literally means "to go forth" and refers to an ordination in Buddhism when a layperson leaves home to live the life of a Buddhist renunciate among a community of bhikkhus (fully ordained monks). This generally involves preliminary ordination as a novice (m. samanera, f. samaneri). It is sometimes referred to as "lower ordination". It is the ceremony that precedes the upasampadā ordination and allows the novice to experience monastic life for the first time. After a period or when the novice reaches 20 years of age, the novice can be considered for the upasampadā ordination (or "higher ordination") whereby the novice becomes a monk (bhikkhu) or nun (bhikkhuni). It has been used in pre-Buddhist religions along with traditions of later Buddhism. The role of pabbajjā to become a samanera is a way to train oneself in separation to experience spiritual transformation.

The term pabbajjā refers to withdrawing from worldly affairs and social obligations. This practice of renunciation has been a well-established way of life for those seeking spiritual liberation, even before the emergence of Buddhism. Individuals who chose this path often did so in pursuit of the brahmacharya lifestyle. These renunciants typically lived in solitude or as part of a community, and would depend on alms for sustenance. These renunciants were often mendicants and ascetics, and were already present in spiritual traditions predating the Buddhist era.

Buddhist vegetarianism is the practice of vegetarianism by significant portions of Mahayana Buddhist monastics and laypersons as well as some Buddhists of other sects. In Buddhism, the views on vegetarianism vary between different schools of thought. The Mahayana schools generally recommend a vegetarian diet, claiming that Gautama Buddha set forth in some of the sutras that his followers must not eat the flesh of any sentient being.