Leaving the Palace (Tricycle)

Twenty-five hundred years ago, Prince Siddhartha Gautama slipped out of his father’s palace in the ancient Indian capital of Kapilavastu. Twenty-nine years old and dissatisfied with his pleasure-seeking existence, he wanted to find the deeper meaning of life. He traveled the roads of India, living as an ascetic and studying with renowned spiritual teachers. After six years, he experienced an awakening and became the Buddha. His insights included the realization that all life is suffering and suffering is caused by desire.

When I first heard of Gautama’s quest and his epiphany, I felt confused. Hadn’t desire driven him from the palace, leading him not to sorrow but to enlightenment?

In any case, I didn’t need the Buddha to tell me desire caused suffering. There was so much I desired—I’d lived in a state of desire for as long as I could remember—and it only seemed to make me unhappy.

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