You are the community now. Be a lamp for yourselves. Be your own refuge. Seek for no other. All things must pass. Strive on diligently. Don’t give up.

Siddhartha Gautama (c. 563–c. 483 BCE), also known as the Buddha, was an ancient Indian philosopher, spiritual teacher, and religious leader whose teachings are the basis of the religion of Buddhism today. Born into an aristocratic family, his discovery of the nature of suffering and his attempts to follow various spiritual disciplines of the time led him to ultimately discover “The Middle Way” between sensual indulgence and spiritual asceticism, which brought him to spiritual enlightenment.