Buddhism

19 Pages 4712 Words

meaning “he whose aim is accomplished.” When Siddhartha was about 20 years old he married Yasodhara, who was the daughter of one of the King’s ministers. Siddhartha and his new wife had a child a year after they got married. They called their son Rahula, which means “impediment.”
Nine years later Siddhartha asked his charioteer to take him for a ride throughout the city. While riding he saw three things he had never seen before. One was an elder man, another was a man suffering from illness, and finally he saw a dead body surrounded by mourners. Since he had never seen anything like that before he asked his charioteer, Channa, what was wrong. He responded and told the Prince that these things were natural and unavoidable, that happen to all kinds of people. “Everything is transient; nothing in permanent in this world….Knowing that, I can find delight in nothing…How can a man, who knows that death is quite inevitable, still feel greed in his heart, enjoy the world of senses and not weep in this great danger?” Once again Siddhartha asked Channa to take him out into the city again and this time he was to see the last of four images that would change his life forever. The last sight he saw was a wandering old holy man with no possessions. His head was completely shaved and he was wearing a yellow robe. The Prince stopped and talked to him. The holy man said some inspiring words to the Prince. When Siddhartha got home that night he kissed his family goodbye and ordered his charioteer to take him out of the city. When he came to the edge of a forest he got rid of his prized possessions, shaved his head and beard, put on the yellow robe of the old man, and gave his clothes and jewelry to Channa and told him to bring it back to his father. According to legend he left his family and wealth to find the cause of human misery.
Next Siddhathra traveled throughout the northeastern portion of India, seeking out holy men, who taugh...