Siddhartha also felt that the caste system resulted in suffering and devalued life. The system, some of which remains in place to this day, is directly opposed to Buddhist beliefs in social equality and freedom of choice. Siddhartha, though of the highest Brahman caste himself, taught that all people are born equal and that everyone must fulfill his or her own destiny, which cannot be dictated by another.
Members are born into a caste and can only rise in class through noble death and subsequent reincarnation, marriage, or via economic means (though this is very rare).
Siddhartha Gautama's search for enlightenment. Siddhartha Gautama was born about 563 B.C., a prince of the Shakya clan of Kapilavastu. His father was a king or prince and raised him in an opulent palace at the foot of the Himalaya Mountains. The king tried to shelter his son from the pain and suffering of life by keeping him inside the palace walls until age twenty-nine, but Siddhartha eventually left his comfortable surroundings to experience the outer world.
According to legend, once outside the comfort of his home, Siddhartha had three encounters that profoundly impressed him: he saw an old man, a sick man, and a dead man.
