The "excursions out of the four gates." According to legend， Gautama Siddhartha， becoming frustrated with his lack of experience with the world outside of his father's castle， eventually forced his father to allow him to travel outside. Despite the efforts of his father's retainers to clear the roadways of any problematic scenes， Gautama witnessed on four trips， a sick person， an extremely aged person， a corpse and a religious mendicant （/sraman!a）. These experiences catalyzed his determination to renounce his worldly life and seek enlightenment.