Legend had it that Shakyamuni developed the desire to renounce the world after witnessing birth, aging, sickness, and death. At that time, Buddhist teachings did not yet exist in this world, but many religious sects had already recognized that worldly life was far too bitter.
The main reason was that life in ancient India was terribly harsh. Droughts and floods struck frequently, people had neither food to eat nor clothes to wear, and most were wild people living in the forests.
Many ancient Indians pondered how to eliminate this suffering, and as they pondered and pondered, various religious sects took shape.
Some claimed that people suffered in this life because they had enjoyed too many blessings in their previous one.
Others claimed that people carried sin within them and had to practice asceticism, forcing themselves to swallow bitterness even where none existed, until all their sinful karma was exhausted.
Theories of cause and effect, karma, and the like sprang up one after another.
Shakyamuni joined an ascetic sect and began fasting, hiding in the jungle and eating only a few grass seeds over several days and nights.
Most of ancient India's "sages" cultivated in the forests, and "jungle" later became another term for a place of cultivation.
When he was on the verge of starving to death, he decided something was wrong and that this method did not work, so he left the forest and accepted food offered by a donor.
Several attendants and believers had originally followed him in his ascetic practice. When they discovered that he no longer wanted to endure hardship and had abandoned the endeavor halfway, they all left him.
He went alone to sit beneath the Bodhi Tree and meditate. Before long, he attained complete enlightenment, declaring that he had fully discerned the true nature