Gautama buddha

A new prince was born in ancient India, about 2500 years ago (in 553 BCE). His named was Prince Siddhartha Gautama. His parents loved him very much. All his life, growing up, his parents gave the prince excellent food to eat, fine clothes to wear, and good servants to wait on him. When he became a man, his parents gave him a different palace for each season of the year. The prince and his wife were blessed with the birth of a baby, a new son, who was strong and healthy. You might say the prince had everything! But all the prince could see was suffering. It had bothered him greatly, all his life, that pain and old age, and sickness and death were all part of life. The thought of this had always made him very unhappy. One day, the prince met a monk. That changed his world. He could not believe that the monk could find happiness in a world that held such misery. The prince made a startling decision. He decided to leave his parents, his wife, and his newborn son, and become a monk.