The Prince sank deeper and deeper into gloom. He seemed to lose interest in everything. He hardly ate anything anymore, and as a result began to look pale and unhealthy. The King and everyone else were very upset that these unhappy changes had come over their beloved Siddhartha.
One day he appeared before the King. “Father,” he began, “lately my mind has been very troubled. I feel restless and would like your permission to leave the palace once again. Perhaps a change of scenery will do me good.”
The King was quick to agree to his son’s request, for he would do anything to please him and make him happy again. But, as before, he asked some of his most trusted ministers to stay close to the Prince and keep an eye on him.
This time Siddhartha saddled Kantaka himself and rode out of the palace grounds in search of some beautiful countryside. Finally he came to the edge of some farmland and dismounted. The ministers followed close behind. They tried to gain his attention with stories, news, and gossip of the court. But the Prince had no interest in such idle talk, and soon the ministers left him alone and walked away, still chattering among themselves.
Siddhartha looked out over the farmland. A man and his oxen were plowing the field, the birds were singing, and the sun was shining brightly. “It is so beautiful here,” he thought. “The plowed rows in the field look like ripples on a lake.”
He sat down, and his mind relaxed for the first time in a long while. But as he looked more closely at the scene before him, he began to notice things he had not seen before.
Where the plow had come by and cut rows into the soil, he saw the bodies of hundreds of small insects that had been killed by its blade. He saw hundreds more running back and forth in confusion now that their homes had been destroyed.
He also noticed that the birds were not just gaily singing. They were also constantly searching for food, swooping down to snatch up the frightened insects. And the smaller birds darted about in fear, scared of the hawks and other large birds who circled hungrily above them.
He noticed that the oxen labored heavily while trying to drag the heavy plow through the ground. The lashes of the farmer’s whip cut painful blisters into their sweating sides. And the farmer, too, worked hard. Like the beasts, his rough and sunburned body glistened with sweat.
“Such a circle of misery,” thought the Prince. “This farmer, his animals, the birds, and the insects—they work all day trying to be happy and comfortable, to have enough to eat. But, in fact, they are constantly killing and hurting each other, and themselves! How pitiful the world seems to me.”
The Prince’s heart was filled with compassion for all these suffering creatures. He hated to see them so unhappy.
He found a shady place to sit under a rose-apple tree and began to meditate deeply on what had appeared to him. As he looked deeper and deeper into the nature of the suffering he had seen, his mind became more and more concentrated and calm. He experienced a quietness unlike anything had ever known before.
With his mind now at rest he began to think, “Every living thing is searching for happiness. Yet most are so blinded by their ignorance and desires that they find nothing but misery. Fear, disappointment, hunger, old age, sickness, death—these are the rewards they find for all their trouble!”
“Now that I have seen this, I have no more interest in the small and changeable pleasures of this world. I must find something that will bring me lasting peace and happiness. But how can I be content to free only myself from suffering? I must figure out a way to help all other living creatures as well. They have been so kind to me, and they are suffering so much! I must search for a way to end all this suffering and then share it with everyone else.”
When Prince Siddhartha had finished this compassionate meditation he opened his eyes. Standing before him, dressed like a poor beggar, was a man he had never seen before. His eyes were calm and bright and he had the look of great peace on his face.
“Please tell me,” the Prince asked, “who are you?”
The man answered, “I am someone who has become frightened by the sufferings of the world. I have grown tired of the so-called pleasures to be found in the company of others, so now I wander about alone. I have given up my home and now live and sleep in caves, in the forest, or wherever I find myself. My only interest is in finding the highest and most perfect happiness.” When he had spoken these words, the man disappeared as if by magic, leaving the Prince both astonished and overjoyed.
“At last I have found the true purpose of my life,” Siddhartha thought. “I, too, shall give up my home and begin my search for true happiness and the end of all suffering!” And so, with a firm mind and steady heart, he mounted his horse Kantaka and rode back to the palace.
