Chapter 22: The Four Encounters｜Old Age, Sickness, Death, and a Holy Man

One of the pivotal moments in the Buddha’s life is the Four Encounters. According to tradition, Prince Siddhartha, sheltered within the palace, had never seen suffering. At age 29, accompanied by his charioteer Channa, he left the palace through four gates in succession, each time witnessing a fundamental truth of existence.

In Gandharan reliefs, the episode is often condensed into a series of scenes:

• East Gate: Old Age — Siddhartha encounters an elderly man, frail and bent, realizing that youth fades.
• South Gate: Sickness — He sees a man writhing in pain, a stark image of human vulnerability.
• West Gate: Death — He comes across a funeral procession, confronted with the finality of mortality.
• North Gate: The Ascetic — Finally, he meets a serene renunciant, whose calm presence inspires him to seek liberation.

Visually, Gandharan artists often structured the relief with the chariot as the central motif. The prince, seated in the cart, directs his gaze toward each encounter, with the figures of the old man, the sick, the corpse, and the monk arranged around him in narrative sequence.

This marks a decisive transition: from a sheltered prince to a future seeker of truth. Gandharan sculptors, influenced by Hellenistic realism, rendered suffering with striking physical detail—stooped backs, gaunt faces, sorrowful expressions—compelling the viewer to reflect on impermanence.

As scholars note, this is more than a religious tale. It is a visual philosophy, crystallizing universal human concerns: Why do we suffer? Is there a way beyond suffering?