Confused? That's completely understandable. I'll explain.

You may have heard the name Siddhartha, an Indian prince who grew up a living lavish lifestyle for his father feared that he would left the throne and followed a spiritual path. But of course, all luxury and distraction could not keep Him in the palace forever. He once had a stroll in a park outside the palace, and met an old man, a sick person, a corpse and a monk. That was all new to him; he had never witness sickness, aging, death and spiritual life. The turning point of his life was on the birthday of his son, Rahula. He exclaimed, "a fetter has arisen," and decided to left his throne for ordination.

After ordination, he tried multiple methods, approached several teachers and even let himself go through self-mortification. Still, he did not attain enlightenment. Only when he realized that the two extremes, sensual pleasures and severe asceticism are not the answer did he truly begin the Middle Way meditation and later attain enlightenment.

That's either the Buddha that you know of or that's just completely alien to you. Doesn't matter. My point is that Siddhartha Gotama Buddha is just one of the countless Buddha. To be more accurate according to the Tripitaka, the number of the Lord Buddhas is greater than the number of the sand in the great four ocean. He is just one of the truly countless Buddhas!

Another important thing to note on the most prominent figure in Buddhism, the Lord Buddha, is that, he is not our God. He is merely the Enlightened or the Awakened teacher. He attained enlightenment and he tried to teach his students, Buddhists, to follow his path.

One evidence confirming that there are in fact more than on Buddhas is the appearance of Buddha statues around the world, especially in the Eastern world. Some just look totally different from the common statues that we normally pray to. One possible explanation is that the Buddha was here approximately 2600 years ago. The artist then and now may use different techniques to mould. Also, the Buddha statues that were built later of course followed the previously available ones, which we cannot be certain are accurate.

When Buddhists approach Buddha statues, regardless of the appearance, we always bow to pay respect. When we do so, we are not just worshiping the Buddha just because he is the Enlightened one. We are also showing our gratitude to his teaching, which has major impact on our way of life. He gave us guidance on the path to attain Inner Peace.