Beyond the Palace Walls

From time to time, I recall the anecdote explaining why Siddhartha Gautama decided to abandon everything in his life to seek the truth.

His father, Suddhodana, the king of a wealthy clan, had heard from a fortune teller at Siddhartha’s birth that his son would either become a prominent king inheriting the royal wealth, or a wise monk seeking to alleviate people’s suffering.

For the concerned father, the choice was clear. He desired his son to inherit his position and enhance the prestige of their land. To prevent any chance of Siddhartha choosing the path of a monk, the father ensconced him in a life of opulence, shielding him from any trace of suffering. If Siddhartha were to realize that life was inherently full of suffering, Suddhodana was certain his insightful son would choose the monastic life to alleviate people’s pain.

Siddhartha Gautama found himself in the sheltered confines of the palace, where life was deceptively and superficially beautiful, abundant with material possessions and transient pleasures. This artificial paradise, filled with simulated joy, seemingly satisfied him. His only task was to consume all that was offered, from one festivity to another, ensuring he never had a chance to grow bored or reflect upon his own life and existence in general. Such philosophical, existential, and spiritual questions were entirely forbidden.

Was Siddhartha Gautama’s life truly so special and exceptional? Not necessarily.

This might be seen as an allegorical representation of our lives in general, transcending time and place, and perhaps more prominent in our highly advanced, consumeristic, postmodern society. We resemble young Siddhartha Gautama, ensnared in a realm of superficial, deceptive joy and pleasure, hopping from one celebration to another.

“What is your life goal? Mine is to be happy, happy, and happy. Provide me anything that brings pleasure and happiness. I want to buy this and that. I wish to travel here and there. Feed me more information and knowledge; I yearn to consume it all. I labor intensely to earn more money and accumulate wealth, all to consume increasingly more. Less is more? Fine. I’ll purchase and subscribe to more books and videos on the subject.”

In this superficiality, even philosophical, existential, and spiritual inquiries become commodities to consume.

“Life shouldn’t be shallow, you say? Please, tell me more about this. Where can I find a guru for this or that? Have I already achieved sufficient spirituality? Have I reached a higher level of consciousness? Not yet? Where can I find more effective hacks for meditation and prayer? Should my life be transformed in this way or that? Which course should I take? Who is the best guru, preacher, coach, and the like? Is it expensive?”

All these activities take place within the palace of superficial happiness. The pursuit of happiness appears to be just one of the many parties we attend in the palace, much like Siddhartha Gautama.

One day, curiosity overwhelmed Siddhartha, prompting him to explore beyond the palace walls with his charioteer, Channa. As they roamed the city, Siddhartha experienced the outside world for the first time. He witnessed sights previously unknown to him – an elderly man wrestling with frailty, a sick individual enduring pain, and a funeral procession mourning the loss of a loved one.

These encounters deeply affected Siddhartha, compelling him to reflect on the nature of life and the inevitable suffering that comes with it. Recognizing that life was not solely about luxury and pleasure, he started questioning the meaning of existence, seeking a way to alleviate the suffering he had observed.

This well-known story highlights how young Siddhartha came to understand that life is characterized by suffering, brought about by sickness, aging, and death. Inside the palace, life appeared peaceful and perfect. Everyone seemed healthy, wealthy, and young. However, beyond the palace walls, the harsh reality revealed human suffering due to illness, poverty, aging, and the inevitability of death. Nothing is permanent, including our lives.

Perhaps as an astute young prince, Siddhartha had acquired knowledge about these realities from books. Yet within the palace, these were nothing more than intellectual puzzles he consumed for entertainment, similar to the philosophical, existential, and spiritual questions that led him to seek one guru after another.

How can we escape the palace of superficiality? This task is not simple, as many of us continue to fail. We may believe we’ve exited the palace, but in reality, we’ve simply started a different game within its confines.

So, what did Siddhartha do to break free from the palace? He left everything behind – his family, relatives, royal duties and more – to embark on the path of asceticism, seeking wisdom and enlightenment through strict self-denial and meditation. However, even seemingly outside the palace, following his extreme asceticism, he realized he was merely playing another game of self-denial. This game was nothing more than a display of his pride and bravado, a belief that he alone could attain enlightenment that eluded others.

We can readily recall the story of the rich young man who asked Jesus how to enter the kingdom of heaven. The young man became despondent because he was wealthy and unable to relinquish everything, including his pride in being good and respectable. Even if you sacrifice yourself, if there is no love (agape), all your efforts are in vain.

In the throes of extreme self-denial, fasting, and meditating under the Bodhi tree for forty days and nights, to the point of being able to touch his spine through his stomach, Siddhartha’s pride soared arrogantly high. He took immense pride in his ability to endure such hardships. At that moment, he was not so different from the despondent young man who asked Jesus what to do, or from the extreme sacrifices that Apostle Paul labeled “nothing” in the absence of love (agape).

At this critical juncture, a humble female villager, Sujata, offered Siddhartha a bowl of milk rice. Her simple act of kindness led Siddhartha towards true enlightenment, transforming him into the Buddha. This humble, sincere gesture of compassion was an act of love (agape) that should not be overlooked. Without it, all efforts, no matter how extreme, heroic, intelligent, righteous, profound, or knowledgeable, would merely be part of the games within the palace walls.

Just as Sujata’s act moved Siddhartha, Mary Magdalene’s humble gesture of washing Jesus’ feet with her tears led him to declare her sins forgiven, all because of her love (agape).

My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.

Luke 7:46-47

Image by Manfred Richter