Reading Notes: Life of Buddha, Part A

Two More Encounters by Andre Ferdinand Herold (1922)

Siddhartha, after experiencing old age during his first encounter, decided to go through the city again. The city was purposely swiped clean of any signs of suffering by the king to protect Siddhartha from seeing these atrocities. Yet, the Gods made this time a man, suffering from a deadly disease, walk down the street on which Siddhartha was traveling. Again. Siddhartha was shocked at this sight and very distraught about it, too. He has now seen how sickness has affected humans and deathly shocked of it. The prince was very depressed about the realities of life, and the king, in an act to cheer up his precious son, allowed him to go out again. The Gods, being manipulative as they are, made a corpse that caused the prince to learn about death. After learning about the idea of death. the prince became even more somber, lamenting on this ill-fated destiny of human beings.

(Lotus blossom, a symbol of Buddhism: Pixabay)

-This story seems kind of far fetched to me, just because the fact that Siddhartha's own mother died from a sickness. There has to be a way he knows about death or sickness just from that. If I were to retell this story, I would do it from a perspective a young princess who has been locked up all her life. This can be sort of like Rapunzel. Instead of the somber tone in the original, I want to bring a more uplifting tone, where she is amazed at all of the new discoveries of the world!