What Happened In Siddhartha Guatama's Life?

Criterion A: Rationale and Preliminary Research
Every religion seems to have a leader that proclaims the message of their particular faith. I realized that Buddha is a very significant figure to many people around the world. I was shown a video in religion class about heaven (Heaven Where is it? How do I get there?) and the different viewpoints about it. The Dalai Lama was featured in the video and it is believed that he is the fourteenth reincarnation of Buddha. Since I was shown this video, I was curious to learn about the teachings of Buddhism and how it is connected to Buddha. I have wondered a lot about other religions given the fact that I have not been exposed to a lot of individuals of other faiths throughout my life. When presented with this, I felt the need to base my inquiry off of my questions
In order to discover the answer to this, I will research the life of Siddhartha through an article published by a college professor (Boeree). Then I will address the spiritual aspect of Siddhartha and his life by reading about his sermons. (Rahula, Walpola Sri.).
My initial questions revolved around who Buddha actually is and what he teaches. This question came from my initial research which encompassed reading an article that I was given in class. The article stated that to become the Buddha, he got rid of his luxury life to search for truth (Krishef, Rabbi David J.B.). This was confusing so I realized that to understand the teachings of Buddha, I first have to understand how Siddhartha became Buddha and why his actions leading up to his transformation were so significant. As a plan, I would like to research the life of Siddhartha and how this affects scripture. This will require me to read and try to understand sacred scripture. To analyze this, I plan to use sources to help me understand how to interpret sacred texts. (Rahula, Walpola