By the age of 29, Siddhartha Gotama realized that he was about to become the King, as during this lifetime you would become the King at age 30. The father, the King, would retire when their son reached the age 30 and live along side their son helping them to learn how to be a very good King.
Knowing that he would soon be the King and would need to rule over the population of people in the Kingdom, Siddhartha Gotama did not understand how he could be a good King and rule over the people, considering he had never been outside the palace.
So, without his father’s knowledge and against his wishes, Siddhartha Gotama left the royal palace and traveled into the Kingdom. He took with him his royal attendant, this is like his chief of staff.
When outside the palace, he had what is referred to as “The Four Observations”. He observed an aging person, a sick person, a dead corpse, and a roaming Ascetic.
First, he saw an aging person, they were old and decrepit, having difficulties to even walk. The individual and the people around them were disgruntled. He had to ask his royal attendant what was going on over there.
It was explained to him that those people were struggling to acquire the basic necessities to sustain their life. They were having hardships, and due to the person’s advanced age, they would have difficulties acquiring the basic needs to sustain their life.
This had a real impact on the young Siddhartha Gotama, as he was living a life of luxury and had no idea that people lived in this way.
If you grew up for twenty-nine (29) years in a royal palace, never seeing the outside world, you might think that everyone lived the same as you but, Siddhartha Gotama was confronted with this experience that people were struggling and having difficulties in the Kingdom, something that was foreign to him.
Second, Siddhartha Gotama observed a sickly person, an individual who was ill. There was also disgruntledness around this person and he needed to turn to his royal attendant and ask him what was happening with that person. It was the same story, that due to his illness, him and his family would have difficulties sustaining their life.
This also had an impact on the young Prince.
Third, he saw a dead corpse with a family grieving around the body. He needed to ask his royal attendant what was going on over there and why were those people having such sorrow.
Again, it was a similar story that the family would have difficulties to sustain their life through not having easy access to the basic necessities to sustain their life.
Then finally, he had the fourth observation.
Fourth, Siddhartha Gotama saw a roaming Ascetic meditating and he needed to ask his royal attendant what that person was doing. It was explained to him that person was attempting to figure out why people experience sickness, aging, and death, why they are so discontent during that timeframe, and how to escape it.
Siddhartha Gotama decides that is what he was interested to do, he was no longer interested in being a King. Instead, he was interested in understanding why people experience these difficulties and struggles and how to help them escape from those challenges.
Siddhartha Gotama decided that he would go on a journey of discovery to understand sickness, aging, and death, its cause, and its escape.
He considered that the Kingdom was full of misery and despair, and he was not interested in ruling over misery and despair. Instead, he was interested in doing something to help people out of that misery and the difficulties of life.
