The prince knew 64 languages and was also very skilled in
mathematics. He mastered martial arts, archery and quality education. He was a follower
of spirituality and also encouraged others to follow the spiritual path. Sometimes
he would visit the people living in the city and during these visits he
realized that people were suffering from sickness, poverty, ageing and death. He
was so moved by the condition of people living outside the palace that he
neglected his luxurious life to find out the answer to why people suffer.
Thus he went ahead and sat under a tree for forty-nine days to meditate and
realized the most common thing that we already know somewhere in our mind. He realized
that people suffer because they desire for things they can’t or don’t have. Rich
suffer because they want more money, poor suffer because they don’t have money,
those who don’t have families want family and those who do don’t want a family.
The prince came to the conclusion that there’s no end to suffering and people
just have to let go of trying to resist the pain and loss plus let go of their
desires. This prince later became known as the Buddha whose path is followed by
520 million followers called Buddhists.