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Religion and Non-Violence
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come out of his palace and to see for himself the world as it really was.
One day, he went out in the city on his chariot. He met an old man on the way. The prince, seeing the bent frame, the wrinkled face and the sorrowful brow asked the charioteer, who he was, why his head was white, his eyes bleary, and his body withered. The charioteer told him that those were the symptoms of old age. The same man was once a suckling child and a youth full of life, but as the years passed, the strength of his life was sapped and his body withered. Such was the fate of all mortals.
As he went further, a sick man appeared on the way. his body disfigured, gasping for breath and groaning with pain. The prince asked his charioteer, what was the matter with that man. The charioteer replied that the man was sick; the four elements of his body were in disequilibrium. He further stated that every body was subject to such conditions, the poor and the rich, the ignorant and the wise.
A little later, his chariot was suddenly obliged to stop as four persons passed by, carrying a corpse. The prince shuddered at the sight of a lifeless body and asked the charioteer, what they carried. The charioteer replied that it was a dead man; his body stiff and his life gone; his family and friends who loved him well, were carrying the corpse to the grave.
When he came face to face with such suffering, Gautama's heart became heavy with sadness and his soul was moved by unutterable compassion for his fellow beings. It was then that he awoke as it were, from the sleep of optimistic self-delusion. He could no longer enjoy the luxuries of a princely life. He thought of quitting his home, his wife and new-born son, in order to find ways and means of lessening the suffering of his fellow-beings.
One night as he arose and walked out in the garden, feeling very restless, he saw the figure of a monk under a tree. When the prince asked him where he had come from, the monk said, "I am a mendicant. I have renounced the worldly life. This is also the path for you to follow, Go out Siddhärtha, and find the goal. Now is the right time for you to leave the palace and to lead the life of a monk. You are a Bodhisattva now and you are destined to become the Buddha to enlighten the world.” So
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