What was Siddharta really trying to teach?

The value of any story is in what you get out of it rather then if it is historically true or not. People should regard anything attributed to the buddha with suspicion since he did not write anything himself. This includes the Tripitaka. There are no 100% provable direct quotes from Buddha. All sources are at least second hand. I heard that story from Alan Watts, a notable English scholar on the subject.


Benjamin Franklin - “The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason.”

 

Well said. Accept what is taught and verify it with your experience. That is shraddha.