Gutama soon realized that these were fleeting and he yearned for a pleasure that was more permanent. The idea of renunciation has never been a particularly attractive one for most people, even when its importance as an ideal has been admitted. For much of the Western world today, however, renunciation seems not so much unpalatable as unfamiliar, but mostly it is just incomprehensible for most people.
What the Buddha experienced on that day of self-discovery is known as "The Four Sights". These play a great role in the idea of permanent and impermanent pleasure. Gutama soon found out that the only way he could fully satisfy himself was to be satisfied spiritually as well as materially. The Four Sights were what made the Buddha go out and renounce his fortune and relationships. Buddhist monks follow Gutama's suit and believe that in order to escape from the reincarnation cycle, one must attain nirvana.
On further outings he was aggrieved by the sufferings of plow animals and even the slaughter of the worms rent by the blade of the plow. This led to the Buddhist idea that killing and causing pain to any living creature is wrong and that it creates bad karma. While contemplating the round of suffering that pervades life he met a man of religious orders and made up his mind to follow a path of strict discipline to see if it lead to permanent spiritual happiness. Buddhists believe that although the Buddha loved his family, he was following a higher dharma and giving up these things for a life of homelessness for a cause far greater.
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Thereafter the Buddha went in search for a number of teachers. Through them, the Buddha learned a form of mediation leading to the attainment of a state of nothingness. Gutama practiced and attained it but decided it did not lead to an ultimate "Awakening" and nirvana. The next teacher taught a method for achieving a higher state of consciousness of neither perception nor non-perception.