The Story of the Buddha
Over 2,500 years ago, Prince Siddharta Gautama was born in what's now called Lumbini in Nepal. He was born a prince and his birth was received all sorts of distinctive signals that suggested a life of greatness. The prince's father went to a wiseman who lived within the kingdom for advice regarding his boy. The sage man believed that the prince, Siddharta Gautama, might either follow in his father's footsteps and become a great king or he might become a spiritual leader.
Praying that his son would develop into his heir, the king did his best to separate the prince from those things that could encourage him towards a spiritual existence. The prince was bombarded by extravagance and excess, every one of the benefits that his royal position could offer. Siddharta Gautama proved to be an intelligent student and exceptional sportsman. He married a lovely woman whom he adored and they bore a child.
At the age of 29, the prince discovered that the world surrounding him was much more problematic than he experienced in the walls of his palace. Out and about amidst the citizens of the kingdom, he found reality: sickness, old-age and death. The surprise of this finding left the youthful prince shaken. He made the decision then to dedicate himself to ending the suffering. Leaving behind his wife and child, the prince forsaked his worldly possessions and embarked on a spiritual journey.
Guatama began a course of study with numerous instructors to understand their practices. With the help of Alara Kalama, he soon started to comprehend meditation and discovered an exalted form called absorption. This allowed him to accomplish a state of nothingness where there is no moral or cognitive dimension. Although this was helpful it was clear to the former prince that it wouldn't eliminate the suffering he had observed. Guatama carried on his search for other people who could guide him on his spiritual voyage. Udraka Ramputra, aided Gautama to comprehend a state of neither perception or non-perception, but this to wasn't precisely what he was searching for. The next step in his journey led Gautama to Uruvilva in North India. It was there that he chose an ascetic path, living a life of deprival for nearly 6 years. This only led to the destruction of his entire body, weakness and self-destruction. Although it cost him his five followers, Gautama rejected this ascetic lifestyle.
The end of this spiritual journey appeared as far away as ever, so the Buddha sat down under a Bodhi tree and proclaimed that “flesh may wither, blood may dry up, but I shall not rise from the spot until Enlightenment has been one.” After 40 days and nights of thought and meditation, the Buddha finally achieved Enlightenment.
It is the Buddhist understanding that at that moment he accomplished a state of being that surpasses anything else in the world. Each of our normal experiences are based on preconceptions and circumstances: how we were raised, our encounters, flaws and mistakes. Enlightenment is a state when the convoluted inner workings of life become apparent and the source of human suffering discovered.
For the next 45 years, the Buddha journeyed through much of what is today northern India. He taught the way of Enlightenment to all that desired to understand. This particular instruction came to be referred to as the dharma or “the teaching of the enlightened one.    The Buddha took numerous disciples who subsequently attained their own Enlightenment and they trained others.
Buddhists believe that Buddha attained a state of being that moves beyond everthing else in the world. If typical experience is based on conditions – parental input, mindsets, views, awareness, and so on – Enlightenment is Unconditioned. It was a state when the Buddha obtained insight into the deepest workings of life and for that reason, into the reason for human suffering, the problem that had set Him on His spiritual quest in the first place.
The Buddha statue we often see doesn not represent a god and didn't consider himself as a divine creature. He was simply a man who endeavored to transform himself through self reflection and meditation. Buddhists see him as an ideal and his journey as a guideline which could encourage them on the path to enlightenment. Most homes that practice Buddhism will display some type of Buddha decor like a statue of Buddha, but this is intended to remind them of their own spiritual journey.