Siddhartha Gautama, also known as Buddha, was a well known religious leader to people across India.

His story began hundreds of years ago, as the son of the ruler of northern India. After his birth, his father was visited by seven wise men, who told him that his son was gifted.

They said if he didn’t see the real world, he would be a great king. The ruler made sure his son did not see the negatives of the world, and gave him an easy life.

One day, Buddha was out with his servant when he came across a very, very old man who was suffering due to his age. Buddha asked his servant what was wrong with the man. His servant told him the man was struggling because of his age, which will happen to everyone someday.

The very next day, Buddha came across another man. This time, the man was lying on the roadside in pain. Once again, Buddha asked about the man’s health and was told about his suffering.

On the third day, Buddha noticed a funeral taking place where a woman and a child were crying. He became confused and asked about what was happening. He was then told about death and how it comes to everyone sooner or later.

On the fourth day, Buddha ran into a man holding a bowl begging for food on the side of the road. At this point, Buddha really saw the struggles of the world and came to the decision to leave his life and kingdom behind.

One night, he finally left home to go to the woods to begin his journey to find the answers to life.

Over the three periods of his life, Buddha found the answers to life. In the first period, he studied under Hindu hermits and learned all he could.

During the second period, Buddha tried to become selfless by giving up everything that made him happy and eating just one bean a day to help keep him alive. Buddha became so weak that his friends had to feed him rice.  He learned too much self-harm was as bad as too much luxury.

In the third period, Buddha discovered the power of meditation. He sat under a tree for 49 days, and when he finished meditating, he knew the answers to all life. He went to go tell his friends of what he learned, and began the religion of Buddhism.

The tree was known as Bo, which meant the Enlightened One. Buddha, once known as Gautama, became known as Buddha, which means Enlightened One.