GAUTAMA, WHO BECAME THE BUDDHA 

Everyone on this mailing list is probably familiar with the story of 
Gautama, who became the Buddha. The son of a king, when Gautama was 
born, a seer predicted that he would either become a great king or a 
great religious reformer. Since Gautama's father wanted him to follow in 
his footsteps, he ordered that his son not be allowed to witness any of 
traumas that afflict humanity. But one day, after the king's guards had 
cleared Gautama's path of all the things that would make him suspect 
that something was wrong with the world, three angels intervened. The 
first appeared as an old man. The second as a sick man. And the third as 
a dead man. Gautama, sheltered all his life from such things, was 
astonished. A fourth vision then came of a wandering holy man, which 
inspired Gautama to leave his wife and newborn child so he could find a 
way to end all human suffering. 

That was 2,500 years ago.