Prince Siddhattha in his childhood developed the habit of meditating. Many phenomena he observed touched him strongly and made him think hard: e.g. the hungry, thirsty and exhausted peasants working under the scorching sun, panting and sweating cattle being flogged as they plough, the struggle among snakes, insects, birds and beasts under the law of the jungle, weak and ugly old people, the moaning and suffering sick, the dead in funeral processions with their families and friends weeping behind. All these presented him with a problem: how to deliver the world from suffering. Neither the Veda he had read nor the knowledge he had acquired, nor his future throne and power could solve this problem. Therefore, he harbored the idea of renouncing the world in his early days, and finally he relinquished his throne.
悉達(dá)多王子在幼年的時(shí)候,就有沉思的習(xí)慣,世間許多現(xiàn)象,給他看到,都容易引起他的感觸和深思:饑渴困乏、在烈日下耕田的農(nóng)人,繩索鞭打、口喘汗流拖著犁頭耕地的牛,蛇蟲鳥獸弱肉強(qiáng)食的情景,衰丑龍鐘的老人,輾轉(zhuǎn)呻吟的病人,親朋哭泣送葬中的死人,這些都促使他思索著一個問題——如何解脫世界的苦痛。他讀過的吠陀書(Veda,婆羅門經(jīng)典)不能解決他的問題。他學(xué)到的知識和他未來的王位、權(quán)力也都不能解決他的問題。于是他很早就有了出家的念頭,后來終于舍棄了王位。