Around the age of thirty Siddhartha, sees the Four Passing Signs and forgoes his life of luxuries and attachments to his wife and son, to become a wandering ascetic. It was considered respectable for noblemen in India during Siddhartha’s time to go off in search of truth, but in retirement, not as a young man. (Gach) Perhaps he was influenced by Vardhamana who had done the same thing a few years earlier forming Jainism.
According to the traditional accounts, Siddhartha follows an ascetic life for six years. The answers he first found gave him temporary bliss, but not permanent peace, he went off in his own direction before deciding that a middle path between mortification and indulgence of the body will provide the best hope of achieving
According to the traditional accounts, Siddhartha follows an ascetic life for six years. The answers he first found gave him temporary bliss, but not permanent peace, he went off in his own direction before deciding that a middle path between mortification and indulgence of the body will provide the best hope of achieving