Part 4

With holy zeal and a strong heart, the Sakyamuni gave himself up to meditative thought and rigorous mortification of the body. Whereas the five bhikkhus were severe, the Sakyamuni was severer still, and they revered him, their junior, as their master. 2

So the Bodhisatta continued for six years patiently torturing himself and suppressing the wants of nature. He trained his body and exercised his mind in the modes of the most rigorous ascetic life. At last, he ate each day one hemp-grain only, seeking to cross the ocean of birth and death and to arrive at the shore of deliverance. 3

And when the Bodhisatta was ahungered, lo! Māra, the Evil One, approached him and said: "Thou art emaciated from fasts, and death is near. What good is thy exertion? Deign to live, and thou wilt be able to do good works." But the Sakyamuni made reply: "O thou friend of the indolent, thou wicked one; for what purpose hast thou come? Let the flesh waste away, if but the mind becomes more tranquil and attention more steadfast. What is life in this world? Death in battle is better to me than that I should live defeated." 4

And Māra withdrew, saying: "For seven years I have followed the Blessed One step by step, but I have found no fault in the Tathāgata". 5

The Bodhisatta was shrunken and attenuated, and his body was like a withered branch; but the fame of his holiness spread in the surrounding countries, and people came from great distances to see him and receive his blessing. 6

However, the Holy One was not satisfied. Seeking true wisdom he did not find it, and he came to the conclusion that mortification would not extinguish desire nor afford enlightenment in ecstatic contemplation. 7

Seated beneath a jambu-tree, he considered the state of his mind and the fruits of his mortification. His body had become weaker, nor had his fasts advanced him in his search for salvation, and therefore when he saw that it was not the right path, he proposed to abandon it. 8

He went to bathe in the Nerañjara river, but when he strove to leave the water he could not rise on account of his weakness. Then espying the branch of a tree and taking hold of it, he raised himself and left the stream. But while returning to his abode, he staggered and fell to the ground, and the five bhikkhus thought he was dead. 9

There was a chief herdsman living near the grove whose eldest daughter was called Nandā; and Nandā happened to pass by the spot where the Blessed One had swooned, and bowing down before him she offered him rice-milk and he accepted the gift. When he had partaken of the rice-milk all his limbs were refreshed, his mind became clear again, and he was strong to receive the highest enlightenment. 10

After this occurrence, the Bodhisatta again took some food. His disciples, having witnessed the scene of Nandā and observing the change in his mode of living, were filled with suspicion. They were convinced that Siddhattha's religious zeal was flagging and that he whom they had hitherto revered as their Master had become oblivious of his high purpose. 11

When the Bodhisatta saw the bhikkhus turning away from him, he felt sorry for their lack of confidence, and was aware of the loneliness in which he lived. 12 Suppressing his grief he wandered on alone, and his disciples said, "Siddhattha leaves us to seek a more pleasant abode." 13

XI

MĀRA THE EVIL ONE.

The Holy One directed his steps to that blessed Bodhi-tree beneath whose shade he was to accomplish his search. 1

As he walked, the earth shook and a brilliant light transfigured the world. 2

When he sat down the heavens resounded with joy and all living beings were filled with good cheer. 3

Māra alone, lord of the five desires, bringer of death and enemy of truth, was grieved and rejoiced not. With his three daughters, Tanhā, Ragā and Arati, the tempters, and with his host of evil demons, he went to the place where the great samana sat. But Sakyamuni heeded him not. 4

Māra uttered fear-inspiring threats and raised a whirlwind so that the skies were darkened and the ocean roared and trembled. But the Blessed One under the Bodhi-tree remained calm and feared not. The Enlightened One knew that no harm could befall him. 5

The three daughters of Māra tempted the Bodhisatta, but he paid no attention to them, and when Māra saw that he could kindle no desire in the heart of the victorious samana, he ordered all the evil spirits at his command to attack him and overawe the great muni. 6

But the Blessed One watched them as one would watch the harmless games of children. All the fierce hatred of the evil spirits was of no avail. The flames of hell became wholesome breezes of perfume, and the angry thunderbolts were changed into lotus-blossoms. 7

When Māra saw this, he fled away with his army from the Bodhi-tree, whilst from above a rain of heavenly flowers fell, and voices of good spirits were heard: 8

"Behold the great muni! his heart unmoved by hatred. The wicked Māra's host 'gainst him did not prevail. Pure is he and wise, loving and full of mercy. 9

"As the rays of the sun drown the darkness of the world, so he who perseveres in his search will find the truth and the truth will enlighten him." 10

XII.

ENLIGHTENMENT.

The Bodhisatta, having put Māra to flight, gave himself up to meditation. All the miseries of the world, the evils produced by evil deeds and the sufferings arising therefrom, passed before his mental eye, and he thought: 1

"Surely if living creatures saw the results of all their evil deeds, they would turn away from them in disgust. But selfhood blinds them, and they cling to their obnoxious desires. 2

"They crave pleasure for themselves and they cause pain to others; when death destroys their individuality, they find no peace; their thirst for existence abides and their selfhood reappears in new births. 3

"Thus they continue to move in the coil and can find no escape from the hell of their own making. And how empty are their pleasures, how vain are their endeavors! Hollow like the plantain-tree and without contents like the bubble. 4

"The world is full of evil and sorrow, because it is full of lust. Men go astray because they think that delusion is better than truth. Rather than truth they follow error, which is pleasant to look at in the beginning but in the end causes anxiety, tribulation, and misery." 5

And the Bodhisatta began to expound the Dharma. The Dharma is the truth. The Dharma is the sacred law. The Dharma is religion. The Dharma alone can deliver us from error, from wrong and from sorrow. 6

Pondering on the origin of birth and death, the Enlightened One recognized that ignorance was the root of all evil; and these are the links in the development of life, called the twelve nidānas: 7

In the beginning there is existence blind and without knowledge; and in this sea of ignorance there are stirrings formative and organizing. From stirrings, formative and organizing, rises awareness or feelings. Feelings beget organisms that live as individual beings. These organisms develop the six fields, that is, the five senses and the mind. The six fields come in contact with things. Contact begets sensation. Sensation creates the thirst of individualized being. The thirst of being creates a cleaving to things. The cleaving produces the growth and continuation of selfhood. Selfhood continues in renewed births. The renewed births of selfhood are the cause of suffering, old age, sickness, and death. They produce lamentation, anxiety, and despair. 8

The cause of all sorrow lies at the very beginning; it is hidden in the ignorance from which life grows. Remove ignorance and you will destroy the wrong appetences that rise from ignorance; destroy these appetences and you will wipe out the wrong perception that rises from them. Destroy wrong perception and there is an end of errors in individualized beings. Destroy the errors in individualized beings and the illusions of the six fields will disappear. Destroy illusions and the contact with things will cease to beget misconception. Destroy misconception and you do away with thirst. Destroy thirst and you will be free of ail morbid cleaving. Remove the cleaving and you destroy the selfishness of selfhood. If the selfishness of selfhood is destroyed you will be above birth, old age, disease, and death, and you will escape all suffering. 9

The Enlightened One saw the four noble truths which point out the path that leads to Nirvāna or the extinction of self: 10

The first noble truth is the existence of sorrow. 11

The second noble truth is the cause of suffering. 12

The third noble truth is the cessation of sorrow. 13

The fourth noble truth is the eightfold path that leads to the cessation of sorrow. 14

This is the Dharma. This is the truth. This is religion. And the Enlightened One uttered this stanza: 15

"Through many births I sought in vain The Builder of this House of Pain. Now, Builder, thee I plainly see! This is the last abode for me. Thy gable's yoke and rafters broke, My heart has peace. All lust will cease." 16

There is self and there is truth. Where self is, truth is not. Where truth is, self is not. Self is the fleeting error of samsāra; it is individual separateness and that egotism which begets envy and hatred. Self is the yearning for pleasure and the lust after vanity. Truth is the correct comprehension of things; it is the permanent and everlasting, the real in all existence, the bliss of righteousness. 17 The existence of self is an illusion, and there is no wrong in this world, no vice, no evil, except what flows from the assertion of self. 18

The attainment of truth is possible only when self is recognized as an illusion. Righteousness can be practised only when we have freed our mind from passions of egotism. Perfect peace can dwell only where all vanity has disappeared. 19

Blessed is he who has understood the Dharma. Blessed is he who does no harm to his fellow-beings. Blessed is he who overcomes wrong and is free from passion. To the highest bliss has he attained who has conquered all selfishness and vanity. He has become the Buddha, the Perfect One, the Blessed One, the Holy One. 20

XIII.

THE FIRST CONVERTS.

The Blessed One tarried in solitude seven times seven days, enjoying the bliss of emancipation. 1

At that time Tapussa and Bhallika, two merchants, came traveling on the road near by, and when they saw the great samana, majestic and full of peace, they approached him respectfully and offered him rice cakes and honey. 2

This was the first food that the Enlightened One ate after he attained Buddhahood. 3

And the Buddha addressed them and pointed out to them the way of salvation. The two merchants, conceiving in their minds the holiness of the conqueror of Māra, bowed down in reverence and said: "We take our refuge, Lord, in the Blessed One and in the Dharma." 4

Tapussa and Bhallika were the first that became followers of the Buddha and they were lay disciples. 5

XIV.

BRAHMĀS REQUEST.

The Blessed One having attained Buddhahood while resting under the shepherd's Nigrodha tree on the banks of the river Nerañjarā, pronounced this solemn utterance: 1

"How blest in happy solitude Is he who hears of truth the call! How blest to be both kind and good, To practice self-restraint to all! How blest from passion to be free, All sensuous joys to let pass by! Yet highest bliss enjoyeth he Who quits the pride of 'I am I.' 2

"I have recognized the deepest truth, which is sublime and peace-giving, but difficult to understand; for most men move in a sphere of worldly interests and find their delight in worldly desires. 3

"The worldling will not understand the doctrine, for to him there is happiness in selfhood only, and the bliss that lies in a complete surrender to truth is unintelligible to him. 4

"He will call resignation what to the enlightened mind is the purest joy. He will see annihilation where the perfected one finds immortality. He will regard as death what the conqueror of self knows to be life everlasting. 5

"The truth remains hidden from him who is in the bondage of hate and desire. Nirvāna remains incomprehensible and mysterious to the vulgar whose minds are beclouded with worldly interests. Should I preach the doctrine and mankind not comprehend it, it would bring me only fatigue and trouble." 6

Māra, the Evil One, on hearing the words of the Blessed Buddha, approached and said: "Be greeted, thou Holy One. Thou hast attained the highest bliss and it is time for thee to enter into the final Nirvāna." 7

Then Brahmā Sahampati descended from the heavens and, having worshipped the Blessed One, said: 8

"Alas! the world must perish, should the Holy One, the Tathāgata, decide not to teach the Dharma. 9

"Be merciful to those that struggle; have compassion upon the sufferers; pity the creatures who are hopelessly entangled in the snares of sorrow. 10

"There are some beings that are almost free from the dust of worldliness. If they hear not the doctrine preached, they will be lost. But if they hear it, they will believe and be saved." 11

The Blessed One, full of compassion, looked with the eye of a Buddha upon all sentient creatures, and he saw among them beings whose minds were but scarcely covered by the dust of worldliness, who were of good disposition and easy to instruct. He saw some who were conscious of the dangers of lust and wrong doing. 12

And the Blessed One said to Brahmā Sahampati: "Wide open be the door of immortality to all who have ears to hear. May they receive the Dharma with faith." 13

And the Blessed One turned to Māra, saying: "I shall not pass into the final Nirvāna, O Evil One, until there be not only brethren and sisters of an Order, but also lay-disciples of both sexes, who shall have become true hearers, wise, well trained, ready and learned, versed in the scriptures, fulfilling all the greater and lesser duties, correct in life, walking according to the precepts--until they, having thus themselves learned the doctrine, shall be able to give information to others concerning it, preach it, make it known, establish it, open it, minutely explain it, and make it clear--until they, when others start vain doctrines, shall be able to vanquish and refute them, and so to spread the wonderworking truth abroad. I shall not die until the pure religion of truth shall have become successful, prosperous, widespread, and popular in all its full extent--until, in a word, it shall have been well proclaimed among men!" 14

Then Brahmā Sahampati understood that the Blessed One had granted his request and would preach the doctrine. 15

THE FOUNDATION OF THE KINGDOM OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.

XV.

UPAKA.

Now the Blessed One thought: "To whom shall I preach the doctrine first? My old teachers are dead. They would have received the good news with joy. But my five disciples are still alive. I shall go to them, and to them shall I first proclaim the gospel of deliverance." 1

At that time the five bhikkhus dwelt in the Deer Park at Benares, and the Blessed One rose and journeyed to their abode, not thinking of their unkindness in having left him at a time when he was most in need of their sympathy and help, but mindful only of the services which they had ministered unto him, and pitying them for the austerities which they practised in vain. 2

Upaka, a young Brahman and a Jain, a former acquaintance of Siddhattha, saw the Blessed One while he journeyed to Benares, and, amazed at the majesty and sublime joyfulness of his appearance, said: "Thy countenance, friend, is serene; thine eyes are bright and indicate purity and blessedness." 3

The holy Buddha replied: "I have obtained deliverance by the extinction of self. My body is chastened, my mind is free from desire, and the deepest truth has taken abode in my heart. I have obtained Nirvana, and this is the reason that my countenance is serene and my eyes are bright. I now desire to found the kingdom of truth upon earth, to give light to those who are enshrouded in darkness and to open the gate of deathlessness." 4

Upaka replied: "Thou professest then, friend, to be Jina, the conqueror of the world, the absolute one and the holy one." 5

The Blessed One said: "Jinas are all those who have conquered self and the passions of self, those alone are victors who control their minds and abstain from evil. Therefore, Upaka, I am the Jina." 6

Upaka shook his head. "Venerable Gotama," he said, "thy way lies yonder," and taking another road, he went away. 7

XVI.

THE SERMON AT BENARES.

On seeing their old teacher approach, the five bhikkhus agreed among themselves not to salute him, nor to address him as a master, but by his name only. "For," so they said, "he has broken his vow and has abandoned holiness. He is no bhikkhu but Gotama, and Gotama has become a man who lives in abundance and indulges in the pleasures of worldliness." 1

But when the Blessed One approached in a dignified manner, they involuntarily rose from their seats and greeted him in spite of their resolution. Still they called him by his name and addressed him as "friend Gotama." 2

When they had thus received the Blessed One, he said: "Do not call the Tathāgata by his name nor address him as 'friend,' for he is the Buddha, the Holy One. The Buddha looks with a kind heart equally on all living beings, and they therefore call him 'Father.' To disrespect a father is wrong; to despise him, is wicked. 3

"The Tathāgata," the Buddha continued, "does not seek salvation in austerities, but neither does he for that reason indulge in worldly pleasures, nor live in abundance. The Tathāgata has found the middle path. 4

"There are two extremes, O bhikkhus, which the man who has given up the world ought not to follow--the habitual practice, on the one hand, of self-indulgence which is unworthy, vain and fit only for the worldly-minded--and the habitual practice, on the other hand, of self-mortification, which is painful, useless and unprofitable. 5

"Neither abstinence from fish or flesh, nor going naked, nor shaving the head, nor wearing matted hair, nor dressing in a rough garment, nor covering oneself with dirt, nor sacrificing to Agni, will cleanse a man who is not free from delusions. 6

"Reading the Vedas, making offerings to priests, or sacrifices to the gods, self-mortification by heat or cold, and many such penances performed for the sake of immortality, these do not cleanse the man who is not free from delusions. 7

"Anger, drunkenness, obstinacy, bigotry, deception, envy, self-praise, disparaging others, superciliousness and evil intentions constitute uncleanness; not verily the eating of flesh. 8

"A middle path, O bhikkhus, avoiding the two extremes, has been discovered by the Tathāgata--a path which opens the eyes, and bestows understanding, which leads to peace of mind, to the higher wisdom, to full enlightenment, to Nirvāna! 9

"What is that middle path, O bhikkhus, avoiding these two extremes, discovered by the Tathāgata--that path which opens the eyes, and bestows understanding, which leads to peace of mind, to the higher wisdom, to full enlightenment, to Nirvāna? 10

"Let me teach you, O bhikkhus, the middle path, which keeps aloof from both extremes. By suffering, the emaciated devotee produces confusion and sickly thoughts in his mind. Mortification is not conducive even to worldly knowledge; how much less to a triumph over the senses! 11

"He who fills his lamp with water will not dispel the darkness, and he who tries to light a fire with rotten wood will fail. And how can any one be free from self by leading a wretched life, if he does not succeed in quenching the fires of lust, if he still hankers after either worldly or heavenly pleasures. But he in whom self has become extinct is free from lust; he will desire neither worldly nor heavenly pleasures, and the satisfaction of his natural wants will not defile him. However, let him be moderate, let him eat and drink according to the needs of the body. 12

"Sensuality is enervating; the self-indulgent man is a slave to his passions, and pleasure-seeking is degrading and vulgar. 13

"But to satisfy the necessities of life is not evil. To keep the body in good health is a duty, for otherwise we shall not be able to trim the lamp of wisdom, and keep our mind strong and clear. Water surrounds the lotus-flower, but does not wet its petals. 14

"This is the middle path, O bhikkhus, that keeps aloof from both extremes." 15

And the Blessed One spoke kindly to his disciples, pitying them for their errors, and pointing out the uselessness of their endeavors, and the ice of ill-will that chilled their hearts melted away under the gentle warmth of the Master's persuasion. 16

Now the Blessed One set the wheel of the most excellent law rolling, and he began to preach to the five bhikkhus, opening to them the gate of immortality, and showing them the bliss of Nirvāna. 17

The Buddha said: 18