I personally make a distinction between the historical Buddha, who lived (probably) in India 2500 years ago, and the mythical or religious Buddha, who is the object of the present day Buddhist religion.

Religion is a tricky subject to write about, so I will just say that for me, personally (and this is personal), most of what is done in the Buddhist religion (all that bowing, chanting etc) is quite separate from the meditation the Buddha taught as we have it in the Pali Canon Suttas. I am not negating it, or saying anything negative about it, but simply that it is not for me.

Meditation is for me, however, and as I have explained elsewhere, it is a powerful validation to find my practice and experience of meditation supported by the Pali Canon Suttas.

So what is the essence of the Buddha's message? Well, countless books have been written about that, the best in my opinion is Thanissaro Bhikkhu's book Wings To Awakening, which can be obtained free from the BCBS.

And the Buddha's message in a nutshell? The best one-liner I have found is Leigh Brasington's:

Clean up your act, focus your mind, use your focused mind to see things clearly.

The Buddha himself put his own teaching in a nutshell. He was being hassled to give a summary by someone called Bahiya, and after refusing a couple of times, he finally said: