As Siddhartha grew older, he become more and more interested in what life outside his palace was like. When he was 16 he decided to escape from the palace during the night. Once Siddhartha was outside the palace, he saw an old man walking in the street with a cane. Never seeing this before, Siddhartha asked the man why he was walking funny. The old man replied that he was suffering from a broken leg.  When the old man was young  he had an accident and is forced to use a cane every time he walks. Siddhartha felt sorry for man and continued to walk down the street.

Further down the street Siddhartha saw another man sitting in the street. When Siddhartha walked up to him he noticed somthing was different. The man told Siddhartha that he was suffering from blindness and will never be able to see anything again. Siddhartha began to realize that people are all suffering from different problems.