Before He Was Buddha tells of a doting father who worries when he learns his son is destined for great things, and of a son who excels in school at math and languages and grows to love wrestling and archery. We encounter Siddhartha"s father rejoicing when his son marries and has his own child, then lamenting when he leaves home to find himself in the world; and Siddhartha painfully realizing that he must depart without ever seeing the face of his newborn son. Most important, it is a biographical profile that reveals the strength and gentleness of Buddha"s character. The author follows Siddhartha"s spiritual path from his life as an ascetic to the fateful moment at age thirty-five when he experiences enlightenment under the Bodhi tree.