e who had renounced materialistic things to seek enlightenment, and was therefore content and happy. This incident left an indelible mark on the mind of the young prince.These 4 inevitable events became known as the 4 Passing Sights. As time passed these thoughts became great burdens to Gautama and he increasingly became dissatisfied with the shallow dissolute life of the royal court in which he lived. He lost interest in the pleasantries in which his father surrounded him, fleshy pleasures had lost their appeal. One night during his 29th year, although married with a beautiful young son and also the heir to a very rich throne, he forsook it all and took to the woods to begin his journey to attain the truth of life. At the edge of the forest, Siddhartha took off his jeweled sword, and cut off his hair and beard, and entered the forest to seek enlightenment. Six years followed, during this time he directed his efforts to accomplishing this task. He studied the Hindu scriptures under Brahmin priests, but became disillusioned with the teachings of Hinduism. He then devoted himself to a life of extreme asceticism in the forest. Legend has it that he eventually learned to exist on one grain of rice a day which reduced his body to a skeleton. He soon concluded, however, that asceticism did not lead to peace and self realization but merely weakened the mind and body. This was the first constructive part of his program, which was the principle of the middle way between extremes of asceticism and indulgence.Gautama eventually turned to a life of meditation. Sensing that a breakthrough was near, he sat down under a fig tree known as the Bohdi tree (meaning, "tree of wisdom"), vowing not to get up until he had achieved his ultimate goal of Enlightenment. While he was meditating, Mara, the 'evil one', attempted to disrupt Gautama's concentration. He tried to tempt him with disasters, fear, dancing girls and distractions of...
