21/78 The evils of the world pressed on his heart and brain; the very air seemed full of mortality; all things were passing away. Was anything permanent? "Let me see that," said he, "and I can give lasting peace to mankind. Then shall I become their deliverer." So, in opposition to the strong entreaties of his father, wife, and friends, he left the palace one night, and exchanged the position of a prince for that of a mendicant. "I will never return to the palace," said he, "till I have attained to the sight of the divine law, and so become Buddha."[103] He first visited the Brahmans, and listened to their doctrines, but found no satisfaction therein. |