Buddha Sitting Under the Bodhi Tree in Bodh Gaya India 500 BC

 It is said that Siddhartha Guatama Buddha who was a Prince of Lumbini (which was on the present border of India and Nepal) was sitting under the Bodhi Tree in Bodh Gaya in India next to the river there. On a raft or boat heading down the river was a musician teaching a student how to tighten the string on his stringed instrument like a Sitar or something like this. 

The teacher said, 'The string has to be neither too tight or too loose. If it is too tight the string can break and if it is too loose it doesn't make the right sounds."

In his mind Buddha applied this to enlightenment and came up with the Middle Path or the 8 fold path of Buddhism which resulted in his enlightenment. He then traveled to Sarnath which is next to Varanasi which was then called "Benares" and his first students were Brahmin Monks who became the beginning of Buddhsim in India where it originated.