From these
words, I imagine a palace isolated
from poverty and misery, surrounded by high walls. Inside, I
imagine
beautiful gardens and a large, lovely palace.would be surrounded by young,
attractive,
healthy people whose job it would be to make sure he stayed
cheerful. The prince would know
nothing but good times with plenty of food
and shelter and all his material needs taken care of.
He would not be aware
of the poverty, suffering, and sadness in his kingdom, as that might take
away from his joy. It's easy to imagine, too, that the people around him might want to
keep him
from knowing about poverty to preserve the status quo and their own
privileges.
As the prince himself describes it, he lived
in such a high-walled palace that he
didn't know what tears were (because of
how sheltered his life was). He states he was pleased
with his
life.
It is only after he has died and turned into a statue in
the
center of the city that the prince realizes what suffering is. He has
been thrown out of his
life of illusion, and when the Swallow meets him, he
is crying tears for the pain he now can
see. As a statue, however, he can do
nothing about it, as he might have done when he was still
alive. This why the
Swallow is so valuable to him now.
His story is
reminiscent of what is told about Buddha, who was a wealthy prince kept from all
knowledge of
suffering. When he learned of suffering, he renounced desire and
spent his life doing
good.
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