Gautama Buddha or Siddhartha concentrated on meditation and Anapana-Sati or awareness of breathing in and out, Siddhartha finally discovered what is known as middle way by Buddhists. The middle way is the path of moderation, away from the extreme of self-indulgence and self-mortification. It is said that he took a little milk and rice pudding from a village girl named Sujata, who wrongly believed Buddha as the spirit who granted her wish because of his gaunt appearance. Then Buddha sat under the Pipal tree, which is now known as the Bodhi tree situated in Bodh Gaya and he vowed not to arise from his seat until he had found the truth of life. Kaundinya and other four companions believed that Buddha has deserted his search and had become undisciplined and they left him. Buddha went for a meditation of forty-nine days and then attained enlightenment at the age of thirty-five. Some traditions believe that this enlightenment occurred in the fifth lunar month while some others believe that this took place in the twelfth lunar month. From then onwards Gautama was known as Buddha, which means `Awakened One`. Buddha also means `the Enlightened One`. Often, he was referred to as Shakyamuni Buddha, which means `The Awakened one of Shakya Clan`.

At enlightenment Buddha realized that complete awakening and insight depends on the nature. Cause of human suffering was ignorance, which needed to be eliminated. The truth was then categorized into four Noble Truths. The state of supreme liberation that was possible for any being was termed as Nirvana. Buddha possessed all the nine characteristics that belonged to every Buddha.

In one of the stories of a Buddhist script, Ayacana Sutta, a scripture was found in Pali, which states that Buddha was wondering whether he should teach the Dharma to human beings. He thought that human beings were occupied by greed, hatred and illusion and this is the reason that they would not be able to realize the true Dharma, which was subtle, deep and hard to understand. Then a divine spirit named Brahma Sahampati mediated and asked Buddha to teach the Dharma to the universe, as there would be few who would understand the Dharma. Buddha had a great compassion for all living being in the universe and he agreed to become a teacher.