reminded by his charioteer that illness, old age, and death were very much
a part of life. On yet another “field trip” he saw an ascetic, with arms upraised,
staring into the sun and was told here was one seeking answers to life’s
mysteries. Whatever the historicity of this story, it was intended to demon-
strate the young prince’s increasingly troubled mind at the tragedies of
existence. His restlessness became known to his father, the story goes on,
who decided to throw a gala party intending to relieve the prince’s brooding
mind. Yet, as the evening of the party wore on and dancing girls became
increasingly tired and disheveled, and the music faded, the transitoriness
of pleasure and wealth was dramatized. Gautama determined to leave the
palace and seek for answers in the forests. According to some early texts, this
occurred while the young man was in his teens; later texts indicate it was
after he had married and had a child.
Gautama spent a number of years in quest of the answer to life’s traumas.
Much of that time was spent with Jain mendicants, when fastidious fasting
and other extremities were practiced. Whether or not these events occurred
as later legends have it, they do nonetheless reflect a prevailing mood of
this transition period – a disenchantment with city life, and the allure of the
forest and the life of the ascetic, known as s ́ramanain the non-Vedic
movements.
Gautama’s quest ended with his attainment of enlightenment. It is said
to have occurred under a “bo” tree at the mythological center of the world
along the Ganges. “Enlightenment” encompassed several levels of experi-
ence: there was a dawning of intuition that allowed him to transcend
everyday knowledge (manas) and attain wisdom (buddhi). The experience
may have had physiological overtones as well, insofar as the nervous system
is sometimes triggered by such stimuli as fasting and discipline into energetic
or quiescent responses. Ultimately, a certain cognition occurred that offered
Gautama a basic framework with which to comprehend existence. Known
as the four noble truths, this became the foundation of Buddhism. His
enlightenment and the insights it afforded became the central paradigms
of Buddhism.
Tempted to stay where enlightenment occurred, the Buddha rather
chose to offer his ideas to fellow seekers and to spend the rest of his life as
a teacher. His first sermon, said to have occurred in a deer park near
Bana ̄ras, summarized the “four noble truths,” shared by all Buddhists even
today though interpreted differently.
The first formulation of this framework, as is so common in Indian
speculations, was a statement about the nature of the world. The world was
duh.kha(unsatisfactory). This concept had several implications. For one
thing, the entire universe was understood to be chthonic, that is, comprised
only of matter. All things were impermanent (anitya) though there was a
42 The Early Urban Period