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The four sights are four events described in the legendary account of Gautama Buddha's life which led to his realization of the impermanence and the ultimate dissatisfaction of conditioned existence. According to this legend, before these encounters Gautama Siddhartha had been confined to his palace by his father, who feared that he would become an asceticism if he came into contact with sufferings of life according to a prediction. However, his first venture out of the palace affected him deeply and made him realize the sufferings of all, and compelled him to begin his spiritual journey as a wandering ascetic, which eventually led to his enlightenment. The spiritual feeling of urgency experienced by Siddhārtha Gautama is referred to as saṃvega.
Śuddhodana, who was determined that his son should be a great king, confined the prince within the palace and surrounded him with earthly pleasures and luxury, thereby concealing the realities of life that might encourage him to renounce these pleasures and become an ascetic.
According to the more elaborated accounts such as the Lalitavistara Sūtra, a Mahayana text originally in Sanskrit, probably from the 3rd century, the Four Sights were placed on his route by the gods, to encourage the development of Siddharta's thinking. The 9th-century Borobudor reliefs illustrate this account.
Some time after this incident (the accounts differ considerably as to the timing) and realizing the true nature of life after observing the four sights, Siddhārtha left the palace on his horse Kanthaka accompanied only by Channa. This is known as the Great Departure. He sent Channa back with his possessions and began an ascetic life, at the end of which he attained Bodhi as Gautama Buddha. Before this, he saw a group of people meditating and he decided to join them. The leaders of this group thought him to be so good that they asked him to run their class. However, he thought that meditation was not the only factor on his path to enlightenment. He tried to discipline his body by fasting, but he realized that by doing this, he would die before he reached enlightenment.
In the early Pali suttas, the four sights as discrete encounters were not mentioned with respect to the historical Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama. Rather, Siddhārtha's insights into old age, sickness and death were abstract considerations.
Analogous passages for illness and death follow.
Similarly, the Ariya-pariyesana Sutta (Majjhima Nikaya 26) describes rather abstract considerations:
These passages also do not mention the fourth sight of the renunciant. The renunciant is a depiction of the Sramana movement, which was popular at the time of Siddhārtha and which he consequently joined. Over the next six years Siddhartha wandered from place to place, in search of the mystery of life and death. He sat under a peepal tree in Bodh Gaya and began to meditate. After many days of meditation he attained enlightenment and came to be known as Buddha or the 'Enlightened One'. Buddha gave his first sermon at the Deer park in Sarnath. For the next forty-five years he spent his life travelling and preaching.He died at the age of eighty and by this time there were thousands of people who had started following Buddhism.
Buddha followed a simple path and inspired people to lead a simple life. His religious philosophy is called 'Buddhism'. He preached in Magadhi. In the early Pali sources, the legendary account of the four sights is only described with respect to a previous legendary Buddha Vipassī (Mahāpadāna Sutta, Digha Nikaya 14). In the later works Nidanakatha, Buddhavamsa and the Lalitavistara Sūtra, the account was consequently also applied to Siddhārtha Gautama.
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