The Buddhas Enlightenment
Siddhartha Gautama, who we know as the Buddha founded Bhramayana – ‘The Path to the absolute’ that is outlined in his only two sermons – The Four Noble Truths and The eightfold path. When the Britts came to Southern Asia and meet the Yellow Robed Theravadans, did they term the religion they found as ‘Buddhism’.
Bhramayana ‘enlightenment’ is simply knowing the cause of your suffering, that being your Mind that is caught between the unburn and undying permanent soul and the birth and decay of Phenomena.
Students of Bhramayana often reached enlightenment in only a few weeks, however, that is not the END GOAL, rather it is a pre-requisite to begin the Greater Path (Mahayana) of Liberating the Soul and becoming an Arhat, a worthy one.
Of course, once you liberate your own soul helping others liberate theirs becomes second-nature and the only important thing to do!
So, the above is Original Buddhism, directly out of the Buddhist canonical writings. As Bhramayana became institutionalized through the monastic systems, and later nationalized through the rulers and kings, that used these institutions as schools for the royal and wealthy families as well. So, if you are guessing that a lot of politics gets put into this institutionalized Buddhism, you would be correct!