Looking back at Prince Siddhartha's journey, you should be able to observe that he had possessed an extraordinary ability to constantly perform self-contemplating introspections.

"Self-contemplating introspection" refers to a deep and reflective process of examining one's own thoughts, emotions, and experiences. Self-contemplation involves observing and analyzing one's beliefs, values, desires, motivations, and actions, while an introspective individuals looks into their own patterns of thinking, emotional responses, and behaviors. The combination of these two process of self-reflective examinations allow one to develop greater self-awareness, identify areas for personal growth and development, and make more conscious choices aligned with their aspirations and evolving values.

Prince Siddhartha went through seven stages of self-reflection during his journey from being an ordinary person to attaining enlightenment. Let's take a closer look at the strength of his self-contemplating introspections.

Firstly, he was born a prince in a royal family and had already possessed wealth and prosperity. Whereas for most of us, we need to overcome greed and resist our constant desire for more wealth or power or both. While most of us are still fighting to grasp something so very difficult to obtain, he had simply reached the point to decide to just keep or let go.

Secondly, he was born with good health and was a skilled martial artist. He won the heart of a beautiful woman and marry her after a world martial arts competition. What about us? Modern lifestyle plagues us with the constant struggle to maintain good health, we need to keep figuring out what vitamins and types of foods to be an optimal well-being, and we need to pay money to run or ride on a treadmill in a room going nowhere. Physically speaking, we are far for being healthy.

Third, he received the best education at his palace. Top scholars of his time visited his palace to educate him, so he had a deep understanding of literature and academic knowledge. He was not ignorant and his knowledge was very extensive. Now, let's look at ourselves. How much do we truly know? While we may not need a high level of knowledge in every field, we should at least possess a basic level of understanding.

Fourth, he had a happy family, his love life was joyful, and he was healthy mentally and physically.

One could say that Prince Siddhartha was truly blessed with all of these wonderful conditions and good fortune. Looking at ourselves today, it is probably not easy to think of another person during this modern era fulfill with these four aspects as he did. While many people who talk about spiritual practices are essentially pursuing these four conditions, he surpassed them. So that means we also must go beyond these four aspects.

But here's the problem…

If you have poor health, how can you possibly just let go and simply forget about this problem?

If you are not wealthy enough, how can you let go and ignore the pursuit of wealth?

Can you detach yourself from the happiness or unhappiness of your family life?

Can you let go and transcend the level of education with just the knowledge you currently have?

Although Prince Siddhartha had these conditions, he transcended past them instead of pondering upon them. Similarly, regardless if you have or not those conditions, you should also focus on transcending past them, not restricted by their existence or not. Try to not them those conditions become attached to you, and you should never feel any self-pity if you never have possessed them.

Because Prince Siddhartha was able to transcend past them, and that was why he made the decision to climb over the palace wall and left it all in the middle of the night. He had the courage to do so through his own self-contemplating introspection. Despite having a prosperous and happy life, after reflecting his life, he transcended and let everything go. This was the first instance showing how he was a brave, valuable and a truly noble character. Many people overlook this part of his character, but I strongly recommend that you keep this in your mind during your own spiritual journey.

After renouncing his royal life, he first went and sought refuge with a new teacher. Keep in mind that this is about 3000 years ago; There was no internet for you to google and to check if a teacher has a 4+ star review track record. And keep in mind that he was basically secluded in a palace with limited information that were filtered. He might have heard from the limited number of people that have taught him and told him about some learned people on the outside, but it takes tremendous amount of guts and bravery to give up everything and go learn from someone you really have no clue what would happen. From several historical Buddhist texts, it's been known that his father, the old king, was very afraid that his son might renounce his worldly life, so he made extra precaution that the prince was not informed much about spiritual related practices.

After he left the palace and ran away, he visited and learnt from various teachers. And in six years, he had mastered the highest level of meditation attainable at that time in India, Naivasaṃjñānāsaṃjñāyatana (नैवसंज्ञानासंज्ञायतन), or the "sphere of neither perception nor non-perception," the fourth and highest of the four levels of the Formless Realm. This was where the formless beings have gone beyond a mere negation of perception and have attained a liminal state where they do not engage in "perception" but are not wholly unconscious.

However, here once again, we have to be amazed by his incredible self-contemplating introspections, as he ascertain that was not the ultimate state. How could he possibly know that? If you haven't practiced meditation, you wouldn't know either. And most of what we hear about Buddhism are general knowledge and stories. How did he determine something that none of his teachers have taught or told him was not the ultimate state? Can you figure it out?Can you even fathom how did he came to that conclusion? If you don't have his wisdom, don't expect to attain Buddhahood! He truly possessed that level of wisdom!

Just like us, Confucius was once an ordinary person conceived in the womb of his mother for ten months and born. At what crucial point did he awakened and made the decision to become a saint?

Now, Prince Siddhartha was also the same. He and many people of India at that time were all engaged in spiritual enlightenment practices. So, what was the key point that made him extraordinary, illuminating the eternal darkness of humanity? Where was the crucial point of his awakening? It is an important question! Therefore, if you want to understand the reason, you will never be able to comprehend only by reading some Buddhist stories. That is absolutely impossible. To truly understand, the only way is that you must discover it through the process of actual spiritual cultivation.

Through Buddhist texts, we know that Prince Siddhartha practiced the meditation method called "The Six Meditations 六行觀" to attain the state of 'neither perception nor non-perception. But what is The Six Meditations? Also known as 欣厭觀 or "The Appreciation Disenchantment Meditation", it is also known as the contemplation between appreciation and disenchantment: appreciating the three excellent aspects of a higher realm (calmness, mystical, unencumbered) and becoming disenchanted with the defilements of the distasteful lower realm (coarseness, suffering, and resistance). Those are the six aspects. Generally speaking, the three realms are divided into nine planes. The "Desire Realm" (कामधातु, kāmadhātu) consists of five types of sentient beings coexisting, then there is the "Form Realm" (रूपधातु, Rūpadhātu) which have four planes, and the "Formless Realm" (आरूप्यधातु, Ārūpyadhātu) which also have four planes, totaling nine planes.

How does a practitioner cultivate within these nine planes? He must utilize the three shortcomings of the five types of sentient beings within the Desire Realm. Then because there are three advantages upon entering the first dhātu, by employing these three advantages, one could eliminate the three shortcomings of the five types of sentient beings in the Desire Realm upon entering the first dhātu. Then, by developing faith on the three advantages of the second dhātu, one would generate an aversion towards the three shortcomings of the first dhātu. One would then remove the aversion by utilizing the mind of joy and enter the second dhātu. One would continue this process by using the three joys of the third dhātu to eliminate the three shortcomings of the second dhātu. In this way, one would repeatedly transform and progress through nine stages, nine levels, until reaching the state of 'neither perception nor non-perception.' Compared to his fellow disciples at that time, he was the youngest among them all, and achieved the greatest accomplishment.

Some people have been trying and practicing for a long time, but it is as if they were boiling rocks. Even after boiling for thousands or tens of thousands of years, they remain to be rocks. That's why we often say that if you want to cultivate, you shouldn't become stubborn like a piece of rock; no matter how long you boil it, it will remains a rock, and completely useless.

Prince Siddhartha was different. He quickly reached the highest goal. However, he discovered that after reaching the state of 'neither perception nor non-perception,' there was nothing to compare it to. Because he was already at the top, there was nothing above it known to men at that time. Without something to compare to, he realized that he was still within the three realms and couldn't transcend past them. So what did he do? At this point, once again, he employed his power of self-contemplating introspection. He wanted to find a method to transcend past the state of 'neither perception nor non-perception.' He began searching for that method, and he diligently endeavored to transcend past it.