- Siddhartha's unhappy in his palace (lost like a lion stung by a poisoned dart)
- Leaves the palace in search through the common world.
- He pitied mankind for they can: get sick, old, weak, ignorant.
- He lost his understanding for everything mankind had to offer.
- Encountered a man, "monk" that only he could see.
- Spoke of solitude, an itinerant monk seeking 'deliverance'
- Seeks highest good, lives freely.
- Siddhartha believes he is 'God' in the form of a monk, because he went back to the sky.
- He then wanted to become a monk, his father saddened & wanted him to be King instead.
- Tried offering his father 4 options to keep him:
- His life wouldn't end in death
- sickness won't impair his health
- age won't follow his youth
- misfortune won't destroy his prosperity
- The King couldn't promise him this.
- "Solem as Meru Mountain": Mount Meru = center of universe for Hindu, Jain & Buddhist traditions
- Decides to leave, states w/the True Law that he could bring peace to all men bc the world is corrupt
(Lion rising from the dark. Pixabay.)
Maybe I could change Siddhartha to a lion cub as he is compared himself to so. A lion cub seeking peace among the other animals. He leaves his family for the jungle, an innocent lion knowing nothing of the wild. It could be a metaphor.
His father could deny this of him or instead of him being a cub, he could be fully grown and leave his wife and cubs.
Rather than the conversation between father and son, could be him talking to a God above. God offers plenty, but in the end he will learn the the world isn't perfect. It is perfect in its own way.
He was leaving to find true meaning to life. Though he's found it realizing that traveling alone, he misses his family. His family is his true meaning to his life.
There are trials along the way, but those that can be triumphed.
Bibliography: Life of Buddha: The Great Truths by Andre Ferdinand Herold. Link to Reading.
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