The Four Sights

Prince Gautama Siddharta lived a sheltered life. His courtesans contrived to keep him away from the harsh reality of real life outside the palace walls.

One day, the prince managed to evade his handlers and began to wander around the city.

He came upon an old smoker with grey pallor and rheumy eyes. The man coughed  and wheezed. This saddened Siddharta, and he recognized that the life of a smoker was smelly, filthy and uncomfortable.

Next, the prince came upon a drunkard. The man was crawling in a gutter in a pool of his own vomit.  The further saddened Siddharta, and he saw that the life of a drinker made one bleary-eyed, incapable of walking, and nauseous.

After that, the prince saw a heroin junkie. There was nothing more to do for the man, as he was already dead. Siddharta saw that there were old smokers, old drinkers, but no old junkies. It saddened the prince to learn that heroin brought only delirium, sloth, and, all too easily, overdose and death.

Finally, the young prince came upon a hasheesh eater. The man sat, smiling, hands folded on a plump belly. From this, he learned that hasheesh was part of a full, satisfied life.

Siddharta resolved to be more like the stoner and to avoid the suffering of the smoker, the drinker, and the junkie.