Among the founders of religions, the Buddha (if we are allowed to call him the founder of religion in the popular sense of the word) was the only one who did not claim to be anything other than a man, a man in pure form, just a man. Other teachers were either God, or his incarnation in some form, or were inspired by him. Not only was the Buddha a human being, he did not claim any inspiration from any god or external force. He attributed everything he accomplished, gained and achieved to human effort and human wisdom. A man and only a man can become a Buddha. Every person has the opportunity to become a Buddha if he strives for it and makes efforts. We can call the Buddha a man "predominantly". He was so perfect in his “humanity” that later in the popular religion he was considered almost a “superman”.