Reading Notes: Life of Buddha, Part A

My family is Buddhist and I knew the general story of the origins of Buddha from what I learned at my temple when I was younger, but I never had the chance to learn all of the details because I wasn't table to attend these weekend schools regularly.  I was also never fluent in my second language, and so reading much of what I learned when I was younger was lost in my suboptimal translation.  Many Buddhist practices make perfect sense once one realizes how detached Siddhartha was from the commercial value of material possessions.  

In different cultures, I find that the most popular forms of entertainment and media are rooted in concepts that the culture collectively respects.  I always felt that different genres like action, comedy and romance always looked a little bit different all around the world, not because of the language or the characters, but the concepts that were being highlighted to catered to the values of those people.  My point is, stories like that of Siddhartha at the Temple are so well-respected that it is one of the biggest plot tropes in eastern media (from my experience with movies and shows).  Almost ever popular movie or drama incorporates the concept of a character born into riches and power, who gives it all up to pursue something different.  I'm sure there are generations of other contributing factors to this idea aside from this story, but it was just a parallel that I noticed!

Gautama Siddhartha as an ascetic, Source

The Life of Buddha: Siddhartha at the Temple, by Andre Ferdinand Herold (1922).