mintzoe

The king, perferring his son to become a more conventional emperor, surrounded the prince with luxury to attach him to a worldly life.  The streets were clear of all unpleasant sights, so he was blissfully unaware of the suffering in the world.
But the plan backfired. One day, while standing in his carriage, he unexpectedly saw an old man. Later, he saw a sick man, and then a corpse. Witnessing the pain and frailty of human existance, shock him to the core. When the prince saw a holy man, he was inspired and his destiny was sealed.
-I have to say this colourful accounts of Buddha's early palace life does have more than a ring of fable to it. It feels like a kind of textbook, heroic story, but it also seems to refect a real eccentric crisis.
The Buddha observed that our lives were permeated by suffering. His quest was to find out if there is a way to overcome it.
He left the remote Himalayan foothills and headed south, abandoning everything, his privilege, his family, his homeland.