How did the Buddha look then? Who is the Buddha? Let’s try to understand with the story of Gautama Buddha, The ‘Shakya Muni Buddha’ as we call him. So, who was he? Let’s look at his central characteristics. One, someone who is well versed in the knowledge of his time. Buddha had deep scriptural knowledge. He was born in a Hindu Kshatriya family, he was a prince and ever since his childhood he was quite talented. So, one thing about him is that he was quite well-read. Second thing is, he was deeply interested in knowing the depths of life. He did not want to remain merely at the superficial levels, so he would observe a lot, he would think a lot. https://acharyaprashant.org/en/articles/todays-buddha-1_4d1b6bf
This summary is AI-generated. Please read the full article for complete understanding.
So, you remember the very famous incident when he goes to the youth festival being celebrated in the kingdom and comes across an old man, a sick man and finally a dead man. Now, these are not very rare occurrences, these are not extremely special sites. We know of oldness and sickness at least, even if we do not see bodies every day. But the Buddha looks at those sites and is deeply perturbed. He has a certain curiosity. He does not live in the feeling that 'I already know.'
