Student Essay on Siddhartha's Road to Enlightenment

Upon witnessing the misery that afflicted his people, Prince Siddhartha concluded that he had been living a decadent life as the scion of a family of warrior-kings in northern India. Determined to make amends, Siddhartha embarked on a journey of enlightenment that would result in his metamorphosis into the Buddha, or Enlightened One. Preaching until the age of eighty, Buddha preached that man could achieve peace and salvation only through pursuing a middle path, in which he repudiated materialism, maintained self-control and an open mind, rejected selfish drives, and nurtured goodness.

Prince Siddhartha Guatama was the scion of a family of warrior-kings in northern India. He was being indoctrinated for the time when he would assume his father's throne. Growing up in an atmosphere of opulence, the young Prince was constantly shielded from the cruel realities of the world. An army of obsequious servants and tutors catered to his every desire, providing Siddhartha with instruction in riding, fencing dancing, and painting-while lavishing fulsome praise upon him. It wasn't until the prince was thirty that he took the first step that led to his becoming the Buddha, one of the world's greatest spiritual leaders.

One day, Prince Siddhartha expressed the desire to leave his lush surroundings and ride out among his people. He was profoundly shaken by the misery, destitution, disease, and excruciating pain.....