Final answer:
Siddhartha Gautama, later known as the Buddha, lived a life of luxury as a prince before encountering suffering, leading him to seek enlightenment and ultimately found Buddhism.
Step-by-step explanation:
According to the traditional Buddhist story, Siddhartha Gautama's early life was that of luxury and comfort being a prince in the small kingdom of Shakya, in what is now Nepal, around the fifth century BCE. Despite living a life filled with the pleasures of royalty, including marriage and children, Siddhartha encountered an old man, a sick man, and a decaying corpse, leading him to the realization that sickness, old age, and death were inescapable.
This revelation spurred Siddhartha to seek the truth and enlightenment by first engaging in various ascetic practices before discovering the 'middle way,' a balanced approach to life that led him to enlightenment without the need for extreme deprivation or indulgence.