Xa Loi Pagoda Old Man

Xa Loi Pagoda Old Man

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This image is of a panel in the ceremonial hall in Xa Loi Pagoda, Ho Chi Minh City. It depicts Prince Siddhartha as he sees his first sight after leaving the palace, the old man. In the drawing, you can see that Prince Siddhartha is being drawn by a carriage outside of the palace walls. This is his first time outside of the palace walls so he is very curious about everything that he encounters. In the drawing you can see that Prince Siddhartha is living a lavish life, his carriage is decorated and he has a person driving him around in it. His clothes also seem pretty lavish compared to that of the old man's. This is the first sight that Prince Siddhartha encounters. As he is leaving the palace walls, he sees an old man walking around in simple clothing and no shoes. This sight presented aging to Prince Siddhartha and this thought made him realize the suffering all humans would have to face one day. This is considered to be a significant life event in Prince Siddhartha’s life because at his birth it was predicted he would encounter an old man, a sick man, a dead man, and monk, and would have a realization that would make him leave his comfortable life in a palace to a life of asceticism where he would be traveling, wandering, and relying on others to be fed. In the picture, there is a glowing ring that appears to be surrounding Prince Siddhartha’s head. This glowing ring was also present at his birth so maybe a depiction of it in this picture indicates the significance of Prince Siddhartha encountering the first sight since it is his first real step into becoming the Buddha and realizing that the world and everything in it is inherently suffering.

Aafreen Vohra

DoktorMax. <i>XaLoiPagoda Old Man</i>. Digital image. <i>Wikimedia Commons</i>. N.p., Apr. 2009. Web. 4 Dec. 2015. &lt;https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:XaLoiPagoda_Old_man.jpg&gt;.

Buddhism: REL 222, Arts of Asia: ART 276

Dec. 9th - Dec. 10th

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DoktorMax - public domain license

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Drawing on cloth

English

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