Siddhartha was born to his private world without suffering or death. His father wanted to make sure that he never got exposed to the truth of the world. Against the will of his father, Siddhartha began sneaking out, and in the outside world, he saw four signs that made him determined that happiness was just an illusion. The first sign was a homeless man, starving, and begging for food. The second was a dead man with mourners surrounding his body. The third sign was a diseased man, and the fourth sign was a wandering monk. These four signs put together made Siddhartha come to the realization that all life is suffering. Once his son was born and his lineage was sure to go on, he left his family and his life to go seek out the truth of the suffering of life.
             He became an ascetic, limiting himself from food and turning his back on all pleasures trying to achieve self-transcendence. However, he did not feel as though he had reached the truth yet. Since he had experienced both self-denial and self-indulgence and found no truth in either, he started thinking about a Middle Path. He entered deep meditation about it and came to the bliss of Nirvana. The Buddha believed he had found true understanding. Although the enlightenment cannot be explained, only experienced, the Buddha (once Siddhartha) decided to teach others the way to enlightenment by creating the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. The Four Noble Truths' purpose was to recognize what causes suffering and cure it. They are closely related to the Eightfold Path. The Eightfold Path is eight ideas incorporating the right things to do in order to live a good life
             The first noble truth, life means suffering, offers a pessimistic view on life. It gives the tone of "why live?" which is what Siddhartha felt after he came across the four signs. I can understand that there is suffering in life. However, if Siddhartha had been kept from joy and he suddenly discovers four tremendous...