He was born as a member in a warrior caste, but became unsatisfied with his lifestyle that was filled with inner longing and emptiness. Once he realized this, Siddhartha left behind his wife and two children to embark on a six year quest to discover the purest virtues of life and to escape suffering of material existence. Upon his journey, God sent him four passing sights: one with sickness and disease, one with old age, one who had died, and a content monk who was perfectly pleased with his life. These viewings showed that if he were to continue remaining in his life it would only ultimately result in experiencing suffering. Within his search, he attempts asceticism by surviving on a scarce diet of only consuming a single grain of rice a day. His efforts to attain happiness were still in vain as he nearly starved himself to death, fainted in a river, and thus discontinued in humiliating defeat. He grew to realize that his life of luxury in the palace or as an ascetic in the forest could not grant him the path to freedom of obtaining true enlightenment. Just when he was about to throw in the towel he ventured to a last resort. He tried sitting under a Bodhi tree, unmoving, until he achieved enlightenment. While he meditated, Mara, the God of desire and death strived to entice and lure him back to his older life of desire. Siddhartha refused and through an extensive time of meditation came to a realization
He was born as a member in a warrior caste, but became unsatisfied with his lifestyle that was filled with inner longing and emptiness. Once he realized this, Siddhartha left behind his wife and two children to embark on a six year quest to discover the purest virtues of life and to escape suffering of material existence. Upon his journey, God sent him four passing sights: one with sickness and disease, one with old age, one who had died, and a content monk who was perfectly pleased with his life. These viewings showed that if he were to continue remaining in his life it would only ultimately result in experiencing suffering. Within his search, he attempts asceticism by surviving on a scarce diet of only consuming a single grain of rice a day. His efforts to attain happiness were still in vain as he nearly starved himself to death, fainted in a river, and thus discontinued in humiliating defeat. He grew to realize that his life of luxury in the palace or as an ascetic in the forest could not grant him the path to freedom of obtaining true enlightenment. Just when he was about to throw in the towel he ventured to a last resort. He tried sitting under a Bodhi tree, unmoving, until he achieved enlightenment. While he meditated, Mara, the God of desire and death strived to entice and lure him back to his older life of desire. Siddhartha refused and through an extensive time of meditation came to a realization