Final answer:
Siddhartha Gautama sought answers to questions about suffering, enlightenment, and spiritual liberation, which led to the establishment of Buddhism with its core teachings of the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path.
Step-by-step explanation:
The chief questions for which Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha, sought answers revolved around the nature of suffering, the path to enlightenment, and the possibility of spiritual liberation. Siddhartha's journey began when he was confronted with the realities of sickness, old age, and death, which led to his realization that these conditions are intrinsic to the human experience. He sought to find a way to escape the perpetual cycle of suffering that these conditions represented.
Buddhism, the tradition that arose from Siddhartha's teachings, centers on the Four Noble Truths: the existence of suffering, the cause of suffering being attachment to desires, the cessation of suffering through the elimination of desire, and the path to ending suffering, known as the Eightfold Path. This Eightfold Path offers a balanced approach to life, the "middle way," which involves ethical living, mental discipline, and wisdom. Buddhists believe that following this path can lead to nirvana, a state of peace and liberation from the cycle of birth and rebirth.