Who is the Buddha?

“The essence of Buddhism is if you can, help others. If not, then at least refrain from hurting others.”

—

Tenzin Gyatso Gautama Buddha was the founder of Buddhism.  According to the legend, an astrologer told his father, that his son would give up the throne and luxury, the day he would see four things: An old man, a sick man, a diseased man and a dead man. He married at the age of sixteen. At the age of 29 he had his first son, Gautama on the same day saw an old man, a sick man, a diseased man and a dead man. When he saw the dark side of life, it made him leave his wife and son and start his travels in poverty. He practised Hindu discipline, then, Jainism. For several years he observed fasting. He realized that tormenting his body did not bring him closer to true wisdom, so he resumed eating normally. At the age of 35, one evening as he sat beneath a giant fig tree, he felt that he had found the solution to his problem and felt that he had attained enlightenment. From this day on he became known as, Gautama, The Buddha, or ‘The Enlightened One’. Later, he spent 45 years in preaching the truth that he felt he had discovered. He travelled from city to city bare-footed, clean-headed, with nothing more on his self than his saffron robe, walking stick and begging bowl. He died at the age of 80 in the year 483 BC. Buddha was about teaching people that life isn't about materialistic goods, and more about finding yourself.