A 13-part worldwide series exploring Man's religious quest
Presented by Ronald Eyre

'If you think about religion as something to do with God then the story we're going to tell is not about religion, it's about the teaching of a man. It's about Buddhism... but the question remains - who is the Buddha?'
Under a tree at Bodh Gaya in India the Buddha is said to have come to an understanding of the truth. A descendant of the tree still stands there to be seen, worshipped by the pilgrims, and filmed - but for an inkling of the truth that the Buddha sought, and found, we go to Sri Lanka - better known as Ceylon. Here the focal point of the faith lies in the monasteries. In the plantation town of Balangoda we join monks on their begging round, and witness the ceremony that marks the entry of an 11-year-old boy into the monastery, then on to remote hermitages in the jungle where the monks live a life of meditation.

'The key word in Buddhist meditation is mindfulness. When you're walking know that you're walking. When you're sweeping know that you're sweeping. When you're worrying know that you're worrying. And when you're breathing, and you must be breathing know that you're breathing, because it's with breathing that your meditation starts.'