WORLD RELIGIONS

Detailed explanation-1: -When he was 29 years old, legend dictates, he was jolted out of his idleness by the “Four Signs”: he saw in succession an old man, a sick person, a corpse being carried to cremation, and a monk in meditation beneath a tree. He began to think about old age, disease, and death and decided to follow the way of the monk.

Detailed explanation-2: -However, at age 29, Siddhartha, with his charioteer, went out of the protected palace grounds and, for the first time, encountered suffering, which he understood to be an inevitable part of life. He saw four sights: a man bent with old age, a person afflicted with sickness, a corpse, and a wandering ascetic.

Detailed explanation-3: -At the age of 29, Siddhartha left his royal life to go in search of spiritual peace. During his journeys, he learned great truths that changed his life. By sharing these truths with others, he began the religion of Buddhism.

Detailed explanation-4: -After defeating the forces of the demon Mara, Siddhartha reached enlightenment (1982.233) and became a Buddha (“enlightened one”) at the age of thirty-five. The Buddha continued to sit after his enlightenment, meditating beneath the tree and then standing beside it for a number of weeks.