One of the things that helped the young Siddharta Gautama realize that his was not the only reality was that while driving around the city one day he glimpsed men in different conditions... sick, old and dead.
Today, and even in that day it wouldn't be so unusual for someone to see those conditions. After all another teacher, Jesus said, "The poor are always with you." But Gautama's father, a rich prince, had made every effort to prevent his son from seeing such dire conditions. He ordered that his son's carriage be veiled and that no one inside could see anything going on outside.

It was as a result of young Gautama's disobedience to his father that he decided he needed to leave his father's house and seek greater light. It is from that search that Gautama became enlightened and has since been called the Enlightened One, Buddha. Buddhist sects of different kinds build learning temples and worship temples to him around the world. Here is one, a 'Wat" near my Phnom Penh house. Every morning hundreds of monks and nuns leave to beg their sustenance and return for meditation, prayer and learning.