The whole idea of Buddhism encompasses the ideas of its founder Siddartha Gautama. He is also known as the Buddha . The term "Buddha" means enlightened one. One of the major concepts of Buddhism is therefore the idea of being enlightened. The process of enlightenment is difficult to attain as Siddartha Gautama found out. Only after failed attempts with meditation and asceticism did Siddartha Gautama finally become enlightened.
There are many stories, legends and myths about Siddartha Guatama's life. Some scholars say he was born around the years 569-563 b.c.e. His parents were the king Suddhadana and the queen Maya. There are many different stories about what occurred during Siddartha's childhood. One of them is that Suddhadana was told that his son was either going to grow up to be a great political leader or a homeless monk (Young p.137). Another had the son as a possessor of great supreme knowledge who knew the secret to ending the cycle of samsara (rebirth). The king thought his child to be very special. So throughout Siddartha's life he was kept from experiencing sorrow. The king did this to ensure that Siddartha would grow up to be the "great political leader". He did not want his son to grow up to become a monk. He figured that if Siddartha never experienced sorrow, he would never be pulled toward religion.
Therefore, for Siddartha's entire life so far he had been somewhat sequestered in an "ideal world" produced by his father the king. Siddartha had never experienced sorrow, grief, suffering, etc. For his entire life he felt nothing but happiness. He never knew there was another world beyond the one in which he was living. He thought that everyone and everything possessed this happiness.
One day Siddartha decided he wanted to travel outside of his father's kingdom. He had lived his entire childhood, adolescence and early adulthood trapped in his father's ideal world. Siddartha was married and had a son by this time now. Somewhere in his twenties, most say age 29, Siddartha became disgruntled as a householder and family man and decided to pursue life outside the kingdom. When his father heard of this he ordered all sick, diseased, homely and decrepit persons to be cleared from whatever path Siddartha may travel. When this was done Siddartha was permitted to begin his journey.
Now everyone knows trying to clear all the sick, decrepit and diseased from the path would be almost impossible. Siddartha was bound to run into something. That something occurred three times. The first time he saw an old man, the second time he saw a diseased man and the third time he saw a dead man. Siddartha could not understand any of these concepts and decided to go off alone to be with his thoughts. He must find a way to end this suffering.
For six years Siddartha spent time with five monks in search for a way to end suffering. He tries the meditation and asceticism previously mentioned. Neither works. Not until he sits under a tree does he achieve the complete enlightenment into reality (Groliers). The enlightenment he received was that desire is the cause of suffering. Once one could overcome desire, suffering would no longer occur. Hence the release from samsara could be granted. With this enlightenment Siddartha became the Buddha.
Groliers Multimedia Encyclopedia 1994
Van Voorst, Robert E. "The Life of Gotama the Buddha." Anthology of the World Scriptures. pp. 75-84
Young, William A. The World's Religions