                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                     500 BC                                 
                                                                            
                               BUDDHA, THE GOSPEL                           
                                                                            
                            (HIS LIFE AND TEACHINGS)                        
                                                                            
                              Edited by Paul Carus                          
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
                               CONTENTS                                     
                                                                            
           THE DISCIPLE SPEAKS                                              
                Rejoice                                                     
                Samsara and Nirvana                                         
                Truth, the Savior                                           
                                                                            
           THE ENLIGHTENMENT                                                
                The Ties of Life                                            
                The Three Woes                                              
                The Bodhisattva's Renunciation                              
                King Bimbisara                                              
                The Bodhisattva's Search                                    
                Uruvela, Place of Mortification                             
                Mara, the Evil One                                          
                Enlightenment                                               
                The First Converts                                          
                The Brahma's Request                                        
                                                                            
           FOUNDING THE KINGDOM                                             
                Upaka Sees the Buddha                                       
                The Sermon at Benares                                       
                The Sangha or Community                                     
                Yasa, the Youth of Benares                                  
                Kassapa, the Fire-Worshiper                                 
                The Sermon at Rajagaha                                      
                The King's Gift                                             
                Sariputta and Moggallana                                    
                Anathapindika, the Man of Wealth                            
                The Sermon on Charity                                       
                Jetavana, the Vihara                                        
                The Three Characteristics and the Uncreate                  
                The Buddha's Father                                         
                Yasodhara, the Former Wife                                  
                Rahula, the Son                                             
                                                                            
           THE REGULATIONS                                                  
                Suddhodana Attains Nirvana                                  
                Women in the Sangha                                         
                On Conduct Toward Women                                     
                Visakha and Her Gifts                                       
                The Uposatha and Patimokkha                                 
                The Schism                                                  
                The Re-establishment of Concord                             
                The Bhikkhus Rebuked                                        
                The Jealousy of Devadatta                                   
                Name and Form                                               
                The Goal                                                    
                Miracles Forbidden                                          
                The Vanity of Worldliness                                   
                Secrecy and Publicity                                       
                The Annihiliation of Suffering                              
                Avoiding the Ten Evils                                      
                The Preacher's Mission                                      
                                                                            
           THE TEACHER                                                      
                The Two Brahmans                                            
                Guard the Six Quarters                                      
                Simha's Question Concerning Annihilation                    
                All Existence is Spiritual                                  
                Identity and Non-Identity                                   
                The Buddha Omnipresent                                      
                One Essence, One Law, One Aim                               
                The Lesson Given to Rahula                                  
                The Sermon on Abuse                                         
                The Buddha Replies to the Deva                              
                Words of Instruction                                        
                Amitabha, the Unbounded Light                               
                The Teacher Unknown                                         
                                                                            
           PARABLES AND STORIES                                             
                The Widow's Mite, and the Three Merchants                   
                The Man Born Blind                                          
                The Lost Son                                                
                The Giddy Fish                                              
                The Cruel Crane Outwitted                                   
                Four Kinds of Merit                                         
                The Light of the World                                      
                Luxurious Living                                            
                The Communication of Bliss                                  
                The Listless Fool                                           
                Rescue in the Desert                                        
                The Sower                                                   
                The Outcast                                                 
                The Woman at the Well                                       
                The Peacemaker                                              
                The Hungry Dog                                              
                The Despot Cured                                            
                Vasavadatta, the Courtesan                                  
                The Marriage-Feast in Jambunada                             
                In Search of a Thief                                        
                In the Realm of Yamaraja                                    
                The Mustard Seed                                            
                Walking on Water                                            
                The Sick Bhikkhu                                            
                The Patient Elephant                                        
                                                                            
           THE LAST DAYS                                                    
                Sariputta's Faith                                           
                The Visit to Pataliputta                                    
                The Mirror of Truth                                         
                The Courtesan Ambapali                                      
                The Buddha's Farewell                                       
                The Buddha Announces His Death                              
                Chunda, the Smith                                           
                Metteyya                                                    
                Entering into Nirvana                                       
                Conclusion                                                  
                                                                            
                                                                            

                         THE DISCIPLE SPEAKS                                
                               REJOICE                                      
                                                                            
  REJOICE at the glad tidings! The Buddha our Lord has found the            
root of all evil; he has shown us the way of salvation. The Buddha          
dispels the illusions of our mind and redeems us from the terror of         
death.                                                                      
  The Buddha, our Lord, brings comfort to the weary and                     
sorrow-laden; he restores peace to those who are broken down under          
the burden of life. He gives courage to the weak when they would fain       
give up self-reliance and hope. You who suffer from the tribulations        
of life, you who have to struggle and endure, you who yearn for a           
life of truth, rejoice at the glad tidings!                                 
  There is balm for the wounded, and there is bread for the hungry.         
There is water for the thirsty, and there is hope for the despairing.       
There is light for those in darkness, and there is inexhaustible            
blessing for the upright.                                                   
  Heal your wounds, you wounded, and eat your fill, you hungry.             
Rest, you weary, and you who are thirsty quench your thirst. Look up        
to the light, you who sit in darkness; be full of good cheer, you           
who are forlorn.                                                            
  Trust in truth, you who love the truth, for the kingdom of                
righteousness is founded upon earth. The darkness of error is               
dispelled by the light of truth. We can see our way and take firm           
and certain steps. The Buddha, our Lord, has revealed the truth. The        
truth cures our diseases and redeems us from perdition; the truth           
strengthens us in life and in death; the truth alone can conquer the        
evils of error. Rejoice at the glad tidings!                                
                                                                            
                                                                            

                         SAMSARA AND NIRVANA                                
                                                                            
  LOOK about and contemplate life! Everything is transient and              
nothing endures. There is birth and death, growth and decay; there is       
combination and separation. The glory of the world is like a flower:        
it stands in full bloom in the morning and fades in the heat of the         
day.                                                                        
  Wherever you look, there is a rushing and a struggling, and an            
eager pursuit of pleasure. There is a panic flight from pain and            
death, and hot are the flames of burning desires. The world is Vanity       
Fair, full of changes and transformations. All is Samsara, the              
turning Wheel of Existence.                                                 
  Is there nothing permanent in the world? Is there in the universal        
turmoil no resting-place where our troubled heart can find peace? Is        
there nothing everlasting? Oh, that we could have cessation of              
anxiety, that our burning desires would be extinguished! When shall         
the mind become tranquil and composed?                                      
  The Buddha, our Lord, was grieved at the ills of life. He saw the         
vanity of worldly happiness and sought salvation in the one thing           
that will not fade or perish, but will abide for ever and ever.             
  You who long for life, learn that immortality is hidden in                
transiency. You who wish for happiness without the sting of regret,         
lead a life of righteousness. You who yearn for riches, receive             
treasures that are eternal. Truth is wealth, and a life of truth is         
happiness.                                                                  
  All compounds will be dissolved again, but the verities which             
determine all combinations and separations as laws of nature endure         
for ever and aye. Bodies fall to dust, but the truths of the mind           
will not be destroyed.                                                      
  Truth knows neither birth nor death; it has no beginning and no           
end. Welcome the truth. The truth is the immortal part of mind.             
Establish the truth in your mind, for the truth is the image of the         
eternal; it portrays the immutable; it reveals the everlasting; the         
truth gives unto mortals the boon of immortality.                           
  The Buddha has proclaimed the truth; let the truth of the Buddha          
dwell in your hearts. Extinguish in yourselves every desire that            
antagonizes the Buddha, and in the perfection of your spiritual             
growth you will become like unto him. That of your heart which cannot       
or will not develop into Buddha must perish, for it is mere illusion        
and unreal; it is the source of your error; it is the cause of your         
misery.                                                                     
  You attain to immortality by filling your minds with truth.               
Therefore, become like unto vessels fit to receive the Master's             
words. Cleanse yourselves of evil and sanctify your lives. There is         
no other way of reaching truth.                                             
  Learn to distinguish between Self and Truth. Self is the cause of         
selfishness and the source of evil; truth cleaves to no self; it is         
universal and leads to justice and righteousness. Self, that which          
seems to those who love their self as their being, is not the               
eternal, the everlasting, the imperishable. Seek not self, but seek         
the truth.                                                                  
  If we liberate our souls from our petty selves, wish no ill to            
others, and become clear as a crystal diamond reflecting the light          
of truth, what a radiant picture will appear in us mirroring things         
as they are, without the admixture of burning desires, without the          
distortion of erroneous illusion, without the agitation of clinging         
and unrest.                                                                 
  Yet you love self and will not abandon self-love. So be it, but           
then, verily, you should learn to distinguish between the false self        
and the true self. The ego with all its egotism is the false self.          
It is an unreal illusion and a perishable combination. He only who          
identifies his self with the truth will attain Nirvana; and he who          
has entered Nirvana has attained Buddhahood; he has acquired the            
highest good; he has become eternal and immortal.                           
  All compound things shall be dissolved again, worlds will break to        
pieces and our individualities will be scattered; but the words of          
Buddha will remain for ever.                                                
  The extinction of self is salvation; the annihilation of self is          
the condition of enlightenment; the blotting out of self is Nirvana.        
  Happy is he who has ceased to live for pleasure and rests in the          
truth. Verily his composure and tranquility of mind are the highest         
bliss.                                                                      
  Let us take our refuge in the Buddha, for he has found the                
everlasting in the transient. Let us take our refuge in that which          
is the immutable in the changes of existence. Let us take our refuge        
in the truth that is established through the enlightenment of the           
Buddha. Let us take our refuge in the community of those who seek           
the truth and endeavor to live in the truth.                                
                                                                            
                                                                            

                          TRUTH, THE SAVIOR                                 
                                                                            
  THE things of the world and its inhabitants are subject to change.        
They are combinations of elements that existed before, and all              
living creatures are what their past actions made them; for the law         
of cause and effect is uniform and without exception.                       
  But in the changing things there is a constancy of law, and when          
the law is seen there is truth. The truth lies hidden in Samsara as         
the permanent in its changes.                                               
  Truth desires to appear; truth longs to become conscious; truth           
strives to know itself.                                                     
  There is truth in the stone, for the stone is here; and no power          
in the world, no god, no man, no demon, can destroy its existence.          
But the stone has no consciousness. There is truth in the plant and         
its life can expand; the plant grows and blossoms and bears fruit.          
Its beauty is marvelous, but it has no consciousness. There is truth        
in the animal; it moves about and perceives its surroundings; it            
distinguishes and learns to choose. There is consciousness, but it          
is not yet the consciousness of Truth. It is a consciousness of self        
only.                                                                       
  The consciousness of self dims the eyes of the mind and hides the         
truth. It is the origin of error, it is the source of illusion, it          
is the germ of evil. Self begets selfishness. There is no evil but          
what flows from self. There is no wrong but what is done by the             
assertion of self. Self is the beginning of all hatred, of iniquity         
and slander, of impudence and indecency, of theft and robbery, of           
oppression and bloodshed. Self is Mara, the tempter, the evil-doer,         
the creator of mischief. Self entices with pleasures. Self promises         
a fairy's paradise. Self is the veil of Maya, the enchanter. But the        
pleasures of self are unreal, its paradisian labyrinth is the road          
to misery, and its fading beauty kindles the flames of desires that         
never can be satisfied.                                                     
  Who shall deliver us from the power of self? Who shall save us            
from misery? Who shall restore us to a life of blessedness?                 
  There is misery in the world of Samsara; there is much misery and         
pain. But greater than all the misery is the bliss of truth. Truth          
gives peace to the yearning mind; it conquers error; it quenches the        
flames of desires; it leads to Nirvana. Blessed is he who has found         
the peace of Nirvana. He is at rest in the struggles and                    
tribulations of life; he is above all changes; he is above birth and        
death; he remains unaffected by the evils of life.                          
  Blessed is he who has found enlightenment. He conquers, although          
he may be wounded; he is glorious and happy, although he may suffer;        
he is strong, although he may break down under the burden of his            
work; he is immortal, although he will die. The essence of his being        
is purity and goodness.                                                     
  Blessed is he who has attained the sacred state of Buddhahood, for        
he is fit to work out the salvation of his fellow-beings. The truth         
has taken its abode in him. Perfect wisdom illumines his                    
understanding, and righteousness ensouls the purpose of all his             
actions. The truth is a living power for good, indestructible and           
invincible! Work the truth out in your mind, and spread it among            
mankind, for truth alone is the savior from evil and misery. The            
Buddha has found the truth and the truth has been proclaimed by the         
Buddha! Blessed be the Buddha!                                              
                                                                            
                                                                            

                          THE ENLIGHTENMENT                                 
                                                                            
  THERE was in Kapilavatthu a Sakya king, strong of purpose and             
reverenced by all men, a descendant of the Okkakas, who call                
themselves Gotama, and his name was Suddhodana or Pure-Rice. His            
wife Maya-devi was beautiful as the water-lily and pure in mind as          
the lotus. As the Queen of Heaven, she lived on earth, untainted by         
desire, and immaculate.                                                     
  The king, her husband, honored her in her holiness, and the spirit        
of truth, glorious and strong in his wisdom like unto a white               
elephant, descended upon her. When she knew that the hour of                
motherhood was near, she asked the king to send her home to her             
parents; and Suddhodana, anxious about his wife and the child she           
would bear him, willingly granted her request.                              
  At Lumbini there is a beautiful grove, and when Maya-devi passed          
through it the trees were one mass of fragrant flowers and many             
birds were warbling in their branches. The Queen, wishing to stroll         
through the shady walks, left her golden palanquin, and, when she           
reached the giant sala tree in the midst of the grove, felt that her        
hour had come. She took hold of a branch. Her attendants hung a             
curtain about her and retired. When the pain of travail came upon           
her, four pure-minded angels of the great Brahma held out a golden          
net to receive the babe, who came forth from her right side like the        
rising sun bright and perfect.                                              
  The Brahma-angels took the child and placing him before the mother        
said: "Rejoice, O queen, a mighty son has been born unto thee."             
  At her couch stood an aged woman imploring the heavens to bless           
the child. All the worlds were flooded with light. The blind                
received their sight by longing to see the coming glory of the Lord;        
the deaf and dumb spoke with one another of the good omens                  
indicating the birth of the Buddha to be. The crooked became                
straight; the lame walked. All prisoners were freed from their chains       
and the fires of all the hells were extinguished.                           
  No clouds gathered in the skies and the polluted streams became           
clear, whilst celestial music rang through the air and the angels           
rejoiced with gladness. With no selfish or partial joy but for the          
sake of the law they rejoiced, for creation engulfed in the ocean of        
pain was now to obtain release. The cries of beasts were hushed; all        
malevolent beings received a loving heart, and peace reigned on             
earth. Mara, the evil one, alone was grieved and rejoiced not.              
  The Naga kings, earnestly desiring to show their reverence for            
most excellent law, as they had paid honor to former Buddhas, now           
went to greet the Bodhisattva. They scattered before him mandara            
flowers, rejoicing with heartfelt joy to pay their religious homage.        
  The royal father, pondering the meaning of these signs, was now           
full of joy and now sore distressed. The queen mother, beholding her        
child and the commotion which his birth created, felt in her                
timorous heart the pangs of doubt.                                          
  Now there was at that time in a grove near Lumbini Asita, a rishi,        
leading the life of a hermit. He was a Brahman of dignified mien,           
famed not only for wisdom and scholarship, but also for his skill in        
the interpretation of signs. And the king invited him to see the            
royal babe.                                                                 
  The seer, beholding the prince, wept and sighed deeply. And when          
the king saw the tears of Asita he became alarmed and asked: "Why has       
the sight of my son caused thee grief and pain?"                            
  But Asita's heart rejoiced, and, knowing the king's mind to be            
perplexed, he addressed him, saying: "The king, like the moon when          
full, should feel great joy, for he has begotten a wondrously noble         
son. I do not worship Brahma, but I worship this child; and the gods        
in the temples will descend from their places of honor to adore him.        
Banish all anxiety and doubt. The spiritual omens manifested                
indicate that the child now born will bring deliverance to the whole        
world.                                                                      
  "Recollecting that I myself am old, on that account I could not           
hold my tears; for now my end is coming on and I shall not see the          
glory of this babe. For this son of thine will rule the world. The          
wheel of empire will come to him. He will either be a king of kings         
to govern all the lands of the earth, or verily will become a Buddha.       
He is born for the sake of everything that lives. His pure teaching         
will be like the shore that receives the shipwrecked. His power of          
meditation will be like a cool lake; and all creatures parched with         
the drought of lust may freely drink thereof. On the fire of                
covetousness he will cause the cloud of his mercy to rise, so that          
the rain of the law may extinguish it. The heavy gates of despondency       
will he open, and give deliverance to all creatures ensnared in the         
self-entwined meshes of folly and ignorance. The king of the law has        
come forth to rescue from bondage all the poor, the miserable, the          
helpless."                                                                  
  When the royal parents heard Asita's words they rejoiced in their         
hearts and named their new-born infant Siddhattha, that is, "he who         
has accomplished his purpose."                                              
  And the queen said to her sister, Pajapati: "A mother who has             
borne a future Buddha will never give birth to another child. I             
shall soon leave this world, my husband, the king, and Siddhattha,          
my child. When I am gone, be thou a mother to him." And Pajapati            
wept and promised.                                                          
  When the queen had departed from the living, Pajapati took the boy        
Siddhattha and reared him. And as the light of the moon increases           
little by little, so the royal child grew from day to day in mind           
and in body; and truthfulness and love resided in his heart. When a         
year had passed Suddhodana the king made Pajapati his queen and             
there was never a better stepmother than she.                               
                                                                            
                                                                            

                           THE TIES OF LIFE                                 
                                                                            
  WHEN Siddhattha had grown to youth, his father desired to see him         
married, and he sent to all his kinsfolk, commanding them to bring          
their princesses that the prince might select one of them as his            
wife.                                                                       
  But the kinsfolk replied and said: "The prince is young and               
delicate; nor has he learned any of the sciences. He would not be           
able to maintain our daughter, and should there be war he would be          
unable to cope with the enemy."                                             
  The prince was not boisterous, but pensive in his nature. He loved        
to stay under the great jambu-tree in the garden of his father, and,        
observing the ways of the world, gave himself up to meditation. And         
the prince said to his father: "Invite our kinsfolk that they may           
see me and put my strength to the test." And his father did as his          
son bade him.                                                               
  When the kinsfolk came, and the people of the city Kapilavatthu           
had assembled to test the prowess and scholarship of the prince, he         
proved himself manly in all the exercises both of the body and of           
the mind, and there was no rival among the youths and men of India          
who could surpass him in any test, bodily or mental. He replied to          
all the questions of the sages; but when he questioned them, even the       
wisest among them were silenced.                                            
  Then Siddhattha chose himself a wife. He selected his cousin              
Yasodhara, the gentle daughter of the king of Koli. In their wedlock        
was born a son whom they named Rahula which means "fetter" or "tie,"        
and King Suddhodana, glad that an heir was born to his son, said:           
"The prince having begotten a son, will love him as I love the              
prince. This will be a strong tie to bind Siddhattha's heart to the         
interests of the world, and the kingdom of the Sakyas will remain           
under the scepter of my descendants."                                       
  With no selfish aim, but regarding his child and the people at            
large, Siddhattha, the prince, attended to his religious duties,            
bathing his body in the holy Ganges and cleansing his heart in the          
waters of the law. Even as men desire to give happiness to their            
children, so did he long to give peace to the world.                        
                                                                            
                                                                            

                            THE THREE WOES                                  
                                                                            
  THE palace which the king had given to the prince was resplendent         
with all the luxuries of India; for the king was anxious to see his         
son happy. All sorrowful sights, all misery, and all knowledge of           
misery were kept away from Siddhattha, for the king desired that no         
troubles should come nigh him; he should not know that there was            
evil in the world.                                                          
  But as the chained elephant longs for the wilds of the jungles, so        
the prince was eager to see the world, and he asked his father, the         
king, for permission to do so. And Suddhodana ordered a                     
jewel-fronted chariot with four stately horses to be held ready, and        
commanded the roads to be adorned where his son would pass.                 
  The houses of the city were decorated with curtains and banners,          
and spectators arranged themselves on either side, eagerly gazing at        
the heir to the throne. Thus Siddhattha rode with Channa, his               
charioteer, through the streets of the city, and into a country             
watered by rivulets and covered with pleasant trees.                        
  There by the wayside they met an old man with bent frame, wrinkled        
face and sorrowful brow, and the prince asked the charioteer: "Who          
is this? His head is white, his eyes are bleared, and his body is           
withered. He can barely support himself on his staff."                      
  The charioteer, much embarrassed, hardly dared speak the truth. He        
said: "These are the symptoms of old age. This same man was once a          
suckling child, and as a youth full of sportive life; but now, as           
years have passed away, his beauty is gone and the strength of his          
life is wasted."                                                            
  Siddhattha was greatly affected by the words of the charioteer,           
and he sighed because of the pain of old age. "What joy or pleasure         
can men take," he thought to himself, "when they know they must soon        
wither and pine away!"                                                      
  And lo! while they were passing on, a sick man appeared on the            
way-side, gasping for breath, his body disfigured, convulsed and            
groaning with pain. The prince asked his charioteer: "What kind of          
man is this?" And the charioteer replied and said: "This man is sick.       
The four elements of his body are confused and out of order. We are         
all subject to such conditions: the poor and the rich, the ignorant         
and the wise, all creatures that have bodies are liable to the same         
calamity."                                                                  
  And Siddhattha was still more moved. All pleasures appeared stale         
to him, and he loathed the joys of life.                                    
  The charioteer sped the horses on to escape the dreary sight, when        
suddenly they were stopped in their fiery course. Four persons              
passed by, carrying a corpse; and the prince, shuddering at the             
sight of a lifeless body, asked the charioteer: "What is this they          
carry? There are streamers and flower garlands; but the men that            
follow are overwhelmed with grief!"                                         
  The charioteer replied: "This is a dead man: his body is stark;           
his life is gone; his thoughts are still; his family and the friends        
who loved him now carry the corpse to the grave." And the prince was        
full of awe and terror: "Is this the only dead man," he asked, "or          
does the world contain other instances?"                                    
  With a heavy heart the charioteer replied: "All over the world it         
is the same. He who begins life must end it. There is no escape from        
death."                                                                     
  With bated breath and stammering accents the prince exclaimed: "O         
worldly men! How fatal is your delusion! Inevitably your body will          
crumble to dust, yet carelessly, unheedingly, ye live on." The              
charioteer observing the deep impression these sad sights had made          
on the prince, turned his horses and drove back to the city.                
  When they passed by the palace of the nobility, Kisa Gotami, a            
young princess and niece of the king, saw Siddhattha in his manliness       
and beauty, and, observing the thoughtfulness of his countenance,           
said: "Happy the father that begot thee, happy the mother that nursed       
thee, happy the wife that calls husband this lord so glorious."             
  The prince hearing this greeting, said: "Happy are they that have         
found deliverance. Longing for peace of mind, I shall seek the bliss        
of Nirvana."                                                                
  Then asked Kisa Gotami: "How is Nirvana attained?" The prince             
paused, and to him whose mind was estranged from wrong the answer           
came: "When the fire of lust is gone out, then Nirvana is gained;           
when the fires of hatred and delusion are gone out, then Nirvana is         
gained; when the troubles of mind, arising from blind credulity, and        
all other evils have ceased, then Nirvana is gained!"                       
  Siddhattha handed her his precious pearl necklace as a reward for         
the wisdom she had inspired in him, and having returned home looked         
with disdain upon the treasures of his palace.                              
  His wife welcomed him and entreated him to tell her the cause of          
his grief. He said: "I see everywhere the impression of change;             
therefore, my heart is heavy. Men grow old, sicken, and die. That is        
enough to take away the zest of life."                                      
  The king, his father, hearing that the prince had become estranged        
from pleasure, was greatly overcome with sorrow and like a sword it         
pierced his heart.                                                          
                                                                            
                                                                            

                    THE BODHISATTVA'S RENUNCIATION                          
                                                                            
  IT was night. The prince found no rest on his soft pillow; he             
arose and went out into the garden. "Alas!" he cried "all the world         
is full of darkness and ignorance; there is no one who knows how to         
cure the ills of existence." And he groaned with pain.                      
  Siddhattha sat down beneath the great jambu-tree and gave himself         
to thought, pondering on life and death and the evils of decay.             
Concentrating his mind he became free from confusion. All low               
desires vanished from his heart and perfect tranquility came over           
him.                                                                        
  In this state of ecstasy he saw with his mental eye all the misery        
and sorrow of the world; he saw the pains of pleasure and the               
inevitable certainty of death that hovers over every being; yet men         
are not awakened to the truth. And a deep compassion seized his             
heart.                                                                      
  While the prince was pondering on the problem of evil, he beheld          
with his mind's eye under the jambu tree a lofty figure endowed with        
majesty, calm and dignified. "Whence comest thou, and who mayst thou        
be?" asked the prince.                                                      
  In reply the vision said: "I am a samana. Troubled at the thought         
of old age, disease, and death I have left my home to seek the path         
of salvation. All things hasten to decay; only the truth abideth            
forever. Everything changes, and there is no permanency; yet the            
words of the Buddhas are immutable. I long for the happiness that           
does not decay; the treasure that will never perish; the life that          
knows of no beginning and no end. Therefore, I have destroyed all           
worldly thought. I have retired into an unfrequented dell to live in        
solitude; and, begging for food, I devote myself to the one thing           
needful."                                                                   
  Siddhattha asked: "Can peace be gained in this world of unrest? I         
am struck with the emptiness of pleasure and have become disgusted          
with lust. All oppresses me, and existence itself seems intolerable."       
  The samana replied: "Where heat is, there is also a possibility of        
cold; creatures subject to pain possess the faculty of pleasure; the        
origin of evil indicates that good can be developed. For these              
things are correlatives. Thus where there is much suffering, there          
will be much bliss, if thou but open thine eyes to behold it. Just          
as a man who has fallen into a heap of filth ought to seek the great        
pond of water covered with lotuses, which is near by: even so seek          
thou for the great deathless lake of Nirvana to wash off the                
defilement of wrong. If the lake is not sought, it is not the fault         
of the lake. Even so when there is a blessed road leading the man           
held fast by wrong to the salvation of Nirvana, if the road is not          
walked upon, it is not the fault of the road, but of the person. And        
when a man who is oppressed with sickness, there being a physician          
who can heal him, does not avail himself of the physician's help,           
that is not the fault of the physician. Even so when a man oppressed        
by the malady of wrong-doing does not seek the spiritual guide of           
enlightenment, that is no fault of the evil-destroying guide."              
  The prince listened to the noble words of his visitor and said:           
"Thou bringest good tidings, for now I know that my purpose will be         
accomplished. My father advises me to enjoy life and to undertake           
worldly duties, such as will bring honor to me and to our house. He         
tells me that I am too young still, that my pulse beats too full to         
lead a religious life."                                                     
  The venerable figure shook his head and replied: "Thou shouldst           
know that for seeking a religious life no time can be inopportune."         
  A thrill of joy passed through Siddhattha's heart. "Now is the            
time to seek religion," he said; "now is the time to sever all ties         
that would prevent me from attaining perfect enlightenment; now is          
the time to wander into homelessness and, leading a mendicant's life,       
to find the path of deliverance."                                           
  The celestial messenger heard the resolution of Siddhattha with           
approval. "Now, indeed," he added, "is the time to seek religion. Go,       
Siddhattha, and accomplish thy purpose. For thou art Bodhisatta, the        
Buddha-elect; thou art destined to enlighten the world. Thou art the        
Tathagata, the great master, for thou wilt fulfill all righteousness        
and be Dharmaraja, the king of truth. Thou art Bhagavat, the Blessed        
One, for thou art called upon to become the savior and redeemer of          
the world. Fulfill thou the perfection of truth. Though the                 
thunderbolt descend upon thy head, yield thou never to the                  
allurements that beguile men from the path of truth. As the sun at          
all seasons pursues his own course, nor ever goes on another, even so       
if thou forsake not the straight path of righteousness, thou shalt          
become a Buddha. Persevere in thy quest and thou shalt find what thou       
seekest. Pursue thy aim unswervingly and thou shalt gain the prize.         
Struggle earnestly and thou shalt conquer. The benediction of all           
deities, of all saints of all that seek light is upon thee, and             
heavenly wisdom guides thy steps. Thou shalt be the Buddha, our             
Master, and our Lord; thou shalt enlighten the world and save               
mankind from perdition."                                                    
  Having thus spoken, the vision vanished, and Siddhattha's heart           
was filled with peace. He said to himself: "I have awakened to the          
truth and I am resolved to accomplish my purpose. I will sever all          
the ties that bind me to the world, and I will go out from my home to       
seek the way of salvation. The Buddhas are beings whose words cannot        
fail: there is no departure from truth in their speech. For as the          
fall of a stone thrown into the air, as the death of a mortal, as           
the sunrise at dawn, as the lion's roar when he leaves his lair, as         
the delivery of a woman with child, as all these things are sure and        
certain- even so the word of the Buddhas is sure and cannot fail.           
Verily I shall become a Buddha."                                            
  The prince returned to the bedroom of his wife to take a last             
farewell glance at those whom he dearly loved above all the                 
treasures of the earth. He longed to take the infant once more into         
his arms and kiss him with a parting kiss. But the child lay in the         
arms of his mother, and the prince could not lift him without               
awakening both. There Siddhattha stood gazing at his beautiful wife         
and his beloved son, and his heart grieved. The pain of parting             
overcame him powerfully. Although his mind was determined, so that          
nothing, be it good or evil, could shake his resolution, the tears          
flowed freely from his eyes, and it was beyond his power to check           
their stream. But the prince tore himself away with a manly heart,          
suppressing his feelings but not extinguishing his memory.                  
  The Bodhisattva mounted his noble steed Kanthaka, and when he left        
the palace, Mara stood in the gate and stopped him: "Depart not, O          
my Lord," exclaimed Mara. "In seven days from now the wheel of              
empire will appear, and will make thee sovereign over the four              
continents and the two thousand adjacent islands. Therefore, stay,          
my Lord."                                                                   
  The Bodhisattva replied: "Well do I know that the wheel of empire         
will appear to me; but it is not sovereignty that I desire. I will          
become a Buddha and make all the world shout for joy."                      
  Thus Siddhattha, the prince, renounced power and worldly                  
pleasures, gave up his kingdom, severed all ties, and went into             
homelessness. He rode out into the silent night, accompanied only by        
his faithful charioteer Channa. Darkness lay upon the earth, but the        
stars shone brightly in the heavens.                                        
                                                                            
                                                                            

                            KING BIMBISARA                                  
                                                                            
  SIDDHATTHA had cut his waving hair and had exchanged his royal            
robe for a mean dress of the color of the ground. Having sent home          
Channa, the charioteer, together with the noble steed Kanthaka, to          
King Suddhodana to bear him the message that the prince had left the        
world, the Bodhisattva walked along on the highroad with a beggar's         
bowl in his hand.                                                           
  Yet the majesty of his mind was ill-concealed under the poverty of        
his appearance. His erect gait betrayed his royal birth and his eyes        
beamed with a fervid zeal for truth. The beauty of his youth was            
transfigured by holiness and surrounded his head like a halo. All           
the people who saw this unusual sight gazed at him in wonder. Those         
who were in haste arrested their steps and looked back; and there           
was no one who did not pay him homage.                                      
  Having entered the city of Rajagaha, the prince went from house to        
house silently waiting till the people offered him food. Wherever           
the Blessed One came, the people gave him what they had; they bowed         
before him in humility and were filled with gratitude because he            
condescended to approach their homes. Old and young people were             
moved and said: "This is a noble muni! His approach is bliss. What a        
great joy for us!"                                                          
  And King Bimbisara, noticing the commotion in the city, inquired          
the cause of it, and when he learned the news sent one of his               
attendants to observe the stranger. Having heard that the muni must         
be a Sakya and of noble family, and that he had retired to the bank         
of a flowing river in the woods to eat the food in his bowl, the king       
was moved in his heart; he donned his royal robe, placed his golden         
crown upon his head and went out in the company of aged and wise            
counselors to meet his mysterious guest.                                    
  The king found the muni of the Sakya race seated under a tree.            
Contemplating the composure of his face and the gentleness of his           
deportment, Bimbisara greeted him reverently and said: "O samana,           
thy hands are fit to grasp the reins of an empire and should not            
hold a beggar's bowl. I am sorry to see thee wasting thy youth.             
Believing that thou art of royal descent, I invite thee to join me          
in the government of my country and share my royal power. Desire for        
power is becoming to the noble-minded, and wealth should not be             
despised. To grow rich and lose religion is not true gain. But he           
who possesses all three, power, wealth, and religion, enjoying them         
in discretion and with wisdom, him I call a great master."                  
  The great Sakyamuni lifted his eyes and replied: "Thou art known,         
O king, to be liberal and religious, and thy words are prudent. A           
kind man who makes good use of wealth is rightly said to possess a          
great treasure; but the miser who hoards up his riches will have no         
profit. Charity is rich in returns; charity is the greatest wealth,         
for though it scatters, it brings no repentance.                            
  "I have severed all ties because I seek deliverance. How is it            
possible for me to return to the world? He who seeks religious              
truth, which is the highest treasure of all, must leave behind all          
that can concern him or draw away his attention, and must be bent           
upon that one goal alone. He must free his soul from covetousness and       
lust, and also from the desire for power.                                   
  "Indulge in lust but a little, and lust like a child will grow.           
Wield worldly power and you will be burdened with cares. Better than        
sovereignty over the earth, better than living in heaven, better            
than lordship over all the worlds, is the fruit of holiness. The            
Bodhisattva has recognized the illusory nature of wealth and will           
not take poison as food. Will a fish that has been baited still             
covet the hook, or an escaped bird love the net? Would a rabbit             
rescued from the serpent's mouth go back to be devoured? Would a man        
who has burnt his hand with a torch take up the torch after he had          
dropped it to the earth? Would a blind man who has recovered his            
sight desire to spoil his eyes again?                                       
  "The sick man suffering from fever seeks for a cooling medicine.          
Shall we advise him to drink that which will increase the fever?            
Shall we quench a fire by heaping fuel upon it?                             
  "I pray thee, pity me not. Rather pity those who are burdened with        
the cares of royalty and the worry of great riches. They enjoy them         
in fear and trembling, for they are constantly threatened with a loss       
of those boons on whose possession their hearts are set, and when           
they die they cannot take along either their gold or the kingly             
diadem.                                                                     
  "My heart hankers after no vulgar profit, so I have put away my           
royal inheritance and prefer to be free from the burdens of life.           
Therefore, try not to entangle me in new relationships and duties,          
nor hinder me from completing the work I have begun. I regret to            
leave thee. But I will go to the sages who can teach me religion and        
so find the path on which we can escape evil.                               
  "May thy country enjoy peace and prosperity, and may wisdom be            
shed upon thy rule like the brightness of the noon-day sun. May thy         
royal power be strong and may righteousness be the scepter in thine         
hand."                                                                      
  The king, clasping his hands with reverence, bowed down before            
Sakyamuni and said: "Mayest thou obtain that which thou seekest, and        
when thou hast obtained it, come back, I pray thee, and receive me          
as thy disciple." The Bodhisattva parted from the king in friendship        
and good-will, and purposed in his heart to grant his request.              
                                                                            
                                                                            

                       THE BODHISATTVA'S SEARCH                             
                                                                            
  ALARA and Uddaka were renowned as teachers among the Brahmans, and        
there was no one in those days who surpassed them in learning and           
philosophical knowledge. The Bodhisattva went to them and sat at            
their feet. He listened to their doctrines of the atman or self,            
which is the ego of the mind and the doer of all doings. He learned         
their views of the transmigration of souls and of the law of karma;         
how the souls of bad men had to suffer by being reborn in men of low        
caste, in animals, or in hell, while those who purified themselves by       
libation, by sacrifices, and by self-mortification would become             
kings, or Brahmans, or devas, so as to rise higher and higher in the        
grades of existence. He studied their incantations and offerings and        
the methods by which they attained deliverance of the ego from              
material existence in states of ecstasy.                                    
  Alara said: "What is that self which perceives the actions of the         
five roots of mind, touch, smell, taste, sight, and hearing? What is        
that which is active in the two ways of motion, in the hands and in         
the feet? The problem of the soul appears in the expressions 'I             
say,' 'I know and perceive,' 'I come,' and 'I go' or 'I will stay           
here.' Thy soul is not thy body; it is not thy eye, not thy ear, not        
thy nose, not thy tongue, nor is it thy mind. The I is the one who          
feels the touch in thy body. The I is the smeller in the nose, the          
taster in the tongue, the seer in the eye, the hearer in the ear,           
and the thinker in the mind. The I moves thy hands and thy feet. The        
I is thy soul. Doubt in the existence of the soul is irreligious, and       
without discerning this truth there is no way of salvation. Deep            
speculation will easily involve the mind; it leads to confusion and         
unbelief; but a purification of the soul leads to the way of escape.        
True deliverance is reached by removing from the crowd and leading a        
hermit's life, depending entirely on alms for food. Putting away all        
desire and clearly recognizing the non-existence of matter, we reach        
a state of perfect emptiness. Here we find the condition of                 
immaterial life. As the munja grass when freed from its horny case,         
as a sword when drawn from its scabbard, or as the wild bird escaped        
from its prison, so the ego, liberating itself from all limitations,        
finds perfect release. This is true deliverance, but those only who         
will have deep faith will learn."                                           
  The Bodhisattva found no satisfaction in these teachings. He              
replied: "People are in bondage, because they have not yet removed          
the idea of the ego. The thing and its quality are different in our         
thought, but not in reality. Heat is different from fire in our             
thought, but you cannot remove heat from fire in reality. You say           
that you can remove the qualities and leave the thing, but if you           
think your theory to the end, you will find that this is not so.            
  "Is not man an organism of many aggregates? Are we not composed of        
various attributes? Man consists of the material form, of sensation,        
of thought, of dispositions, and, lastly, of understanding. That            
which men call the ego when they say 'I am' is not an entity behind         
the attributes; it originates by their co-operation. There is mind;         
there is sensation and thought, and there is truth; and truth is            
mind when it walks in the path of righteousness. But there is no            
separate ego-soul outside or behind the thought of man. He who              
believes the ego is a distinct being has no correct conception. The         
very search for the atman is wrong; it is a wrong start and it will         
lead you in a false direction.                                              
  "How much confusion of thought comes from our interest in self,           
and from our vanity when thinking 'I am so great,' or 'I have done          
this wonderful deed?' The thought of thine ego stands between thy           
rational nature and truth; banish it, and then wilt thou see things         
as they are. He who thinks correctly will rid himself of ignorance          
and acquire wisdom. The ideas 'I am' and 'I shall be' or 'I shall not       
be' do not occur to a clear thinker.                                        
  "Moreover, if our ego remains, how can we attain true deliverance?        
If the ego is to be reborn in any of the three worlds, be it in             
hell, upon earth, or be it even in heaven, we shall meet again and          
again the same inevitable doom of sorrow. We shall remain chained to        
the wheel of individuality and shall be implicated in egotism and           
wrong. All combination is subject to separation, and we cannot              
escape birth, disease, old age, and death. Is this a final escape?"         
  Said Uddaka: "Consider the unity of things. Things are not their          
parts, yet they exist. The members and organs of thy body are not           
thine ego, but thine ego possesses all these parts. What, for               
instance, is the Ganges? Is the sand the Ganges? Is the water the           
Ganges? Is the hither bank the Ganges? Is the hither bank the               
Ganges? Is the farther bank the Ganges? The Ganges is a mighty river        
and it possesses all these several qualities. Exactly so is our ego."       
  But the Bodhisattva replied: "Not so, sir! If we remove the water,        
the sand, the hither bank and the farther bank where can we find any        
Ganges? In the same way I observe the activities of man in their            
harmonious union, but there is no ground for an ego outside its             
parts."                                                                     
  The Brahman sage, however, insisted on the existence of the ego,          
saying: "The ego is the doer of our deeds. How can there be karma           
without a self as its performer? Do we not see around us the effects        
of karma? What makes men different in character, station,                   
possessions, and fate? It is their karma, and karma includes merit          
and demerit. The transmigration of the soul is subject to its karma.        
We inherit from former existences the evil effects of our evil deeds        
and the good effects of our good deeds. If that were not so, how            
could we be different?'                                                     
  The Tathagata meditated deeply on the problems of transmigration          
and karma, and found the truth that lies in them. "The doctrine of          
karma," he said, "is undeniable, but the theory of the ego has no           
foundation. Like everything else in nature, the life of man is              
subject to the law of cause and effect. The present reaps what the          
past has sown, and the future is the product of the present. But            
there is no evidence of the existence of an immutable ego-being, of         
a self which remains the same and migrates from body to body. There         
is rebirth but no transmigration.                                           
  "Is not this individuality of mine a combination, material as well        
as mental? Is it not made up of qualities that sprang into being by         
a gradual evolution? The five roots of sense-perception in this             
organism have come from ancestors who performed these functions. The        
ideas which I think, came to me partly from others who thought them,        
and partly they rise from combinations of the ideas in my own mind.         
Those who have used the same sense-organs, and have thought the same        
ideas before I was composed into this individuality of mine, are my         
previous existences; they are my ancestors as much as the I of              
yesterday is the father of the I of today, and the karma of my past         
deeds affects the fate of my present existence.                             
  "Supposing there were an atman that performs the actions of the           
senses, then if the door of sight were torn down and the eye plucked        
out, that atman would be able to peep through the larger aperture           
and see the forms of its surroundings better and more clearly than          
before. It would be able to hear sounds better if the ears were torn        
away; smell better if the nose were cut off; taste better if the            
tongue were pulled out; and feel better if the body were destroyed.         
  "I observe the preservation and transmission of character; I              
perceive the truth of karma, but see no atman whom your doctrine            
makes the doer of your deeds. There is rebirth without the                  
transmigration of a self. For this atman, this self, this ego in the        
'I say' and in the 'I will' is an illusion. If this self were a             
reality, how could there be an escape from selfhood? The terror of          
hell would be infinite, and no release could be granted. The evils of       
existence would not be due to our ignorance and wrong-doing, but            
would constitute the very nature of our being."                             
  Then the Bodhisattva went to the priests officiating in the               
temples. But the gentle mind of the Sakyamuni was offended at the           
unnecessary cruelty performed on the altars of the gods. He said:           
"Ignorance only can make these men prepare festivals and hold vast          
meetings for sacrifices. Far better to revere the truth than try to         
appease the gods by shedding blood. What love can a man possess who         
believes that the destruction of life will atone for evil deeds? Can        
a new wrong expiate old wrongs? And can the slaughter of an innocent        
victim blot out the evil deeds of mankind? This is practicing               
religion by the neglect of moral conduct. Purify your hearts and            
cease to kill; that is true religion. Rituals have no efficacy;             
prayers are vain repetitions; and incantations have no saving power.        
But to abandon covetousness and lust, to become free from evil              
passions, and to give up all hatred and ill-will, that is the right         
sacrifice and the true worship."                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
URUVELA                                                                     
                   URUVELA, PLACE OF MORTIFICATION                          
                                                                            
  THE Bodhisattva went in search of a better system and came to a           
settlement of five bhikkhus in the jungle of Uruvela; and when the          
Blessed One saw the life of those five men, virtuously keeping in           
check their senses, subduing their passions, and practicing austere         
self-discipline, he admired their earnestness and joined their              
company. With holy zeal and a strong heart, the Sakyamuni gave              
himself up to meditative thought and a rigorous mortification of the        
body. Whereas the five bhikkhus were severe, the Sakyamuni was              
severer still, and so they revered him, their junior, as their              
master.                                                                     
  So the Bodhisattva 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.         
  And when the Bodhisattva was ahungered, lo! Mara, 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 work." 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."                   
  And Mara withdrew, saying: "For seven years I have followed the           
Blessed One step by step, but I have found no fault in the                  
Tathagata."                                                                 
  The Bodhisattva 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. 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.                                    
  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. He went to bathe in the Neranjara 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 lay as though dead.                                                     
  There was a chief herdsman living near the grove whose eldest             
daughter was called Nanda; and Nanda 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.              
  After this occurrence, the Bodhisattva again took some food. His          
disciples, having witnessed the scene of Nanda and observing the            
change in his mode of living, were filled with suspicion. They              
feared 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.                                                        
  When the Bodhisattva saw the bhikkhus turning away from him, he           
felt sorry for their lack of confidence, and was aware of the               
loneliness of his life. Suppressing his grief he wandered on alone,         
and his disciples said, "Siddhattha leaves us to seek a more pleasant       
abode."                                                                     
                                                                            
                                                                            
MARA                                                                        
                          MARA, THE EVIL ONE                                
                                                                            
  THE Holy One directed his steps to that blessed Bodhi-tree beneath        
whose shade he was to accomplish his search. As he walked, the earth        
shook and a brilliant light transfigured the world. When he sat down        
the heavens resounded with joy and all living beings were filled            
with good cheer. Mara alone, lord of the five desires, bringer of           
death and enemy of truth, was grieved and rejoiced not. With his            
three daughters, Tanha, Raga 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. Mara 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.                
  The three daughters of Mara tempted the Bodhisattva, but he paid          
no attention to them, and when Mara 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. 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.                        
  When Mara 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: "Behold the great muni! his heart        
unmoved by hatred. The wicked Mara's host 'gainst him did not               
prevail. Pure is he and wise, loving and full of mercy. 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."           
                                                                            
                                                                            
ENLIGHTENMENT                                                               
                            ENLIGHTENMENT                                   
                                                                            
  THE Bodhisattva, having put Mara 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:                                                 
  "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. 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. 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. 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."                                                                
  And the Bodhisattva 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.         
  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 nidanas: 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 birth. The renewed births of selfhood are the causes of             
sufferings, old age, sickness, and death. They produce lamentation,         
anxiety, and despair.                                                       
  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 desires that rise from ignorance; destroy            
these desires 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 all 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.                                          
  The Enlightened One saw the four noble truths which point out the         
path that leads to Nirvana or the extinction of self: The first             
noble truth is the existence of sorrow. The second noble truth is           
the cause of suffering. The third noble truth is the cessation of           
sorrow. The fourth noble truth is the eightfold path that leads to          
the cessation of sorrow.                                                    
  This is the Dharma. This is the truth. This is religion. And the          
Enlightened One uttered this stanza:                                        
                                                                            
               "Through many births I sought in vain                        
               The Builder of this House of Pain.                           
               Now, Builder, You are plain to see,                          
               And from this House at last I'm free;                        
               I burst the rafters, roof and wall,                          
               And dwell in the Peace beyond them all."                     
                                                                            
  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 samsara;         
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.         
  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. The attainment of truth is possible only when self is                 
recognized as an illusion. Righteousness can be practiced only when         
we have freed our mind from passions of egotism. Perfect peace can          
dwell only where all vanity has disappeared.                                
  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 FIRST CONVERTS                                
                                                                            
  THE Blessed One tarried in solitude seven times seven days,               
enjoying the bliss of emancipation. 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.           
  This was the first food that the Enlightened One ate after he             
attained Buddhahood.                                                        
  And the Buddha addressed them and pointed out to them the way of          
salvation. The two merchants, seeing the holiness of the conqueror          
of Mara, bowed down in reverence and said: "We take our refuge,             
Lord, in the Blessed One and in the Dharma." Tapussa and Bhallika           
were the first that became followers of the Buddha and they were lay        
disciples.                                                                  
                                                                            
                                                                            

                         THE BRAHMA'S REQUEST                               
                                                                            
  THE Blessed One having attained Buddhahood while resting under the        
shepherd's Nigrodha tree on the banks of the river Neranjara,               
pronounced this solemn utterance:                                           
                                                                            
                "How sure his pathway in this wood,                         
                Who follows truth's unchanging call!                        
                How blessed, to be kind and good,                           
                And practice self-restraint in all!                         
                How light, from passion to be free,                         
                And sensual joys to let go by!                              
                And yet his greatest bliss will be                          
                When he has quelled the pride of 'I'.                       
                                                                            
  "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. 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. 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. The truth remains hidden from him who is in the bondage        
of hate and desire. Nirvana 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."                                         
  Mara, 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           
Nirvana."                                                                   
  Then Brahma Sahampati descended from the heavens and, having              
worshiped the Blessed One, said: "Alas! the world must perish,              
should the Holy One, the Tathagata, decide not to teach the Dharma.         
Be merciful to those that struggle; have compassion upon the                
sufferers; pity the creatures who are hopelessly entangled in the           
snares of sorrow. 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."         
  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. And the Blessed           
One said to Brahma Sahampati: "Wide open be the door of immortality         
to all who have ears to hear. May they receive the Dharma with              
faith."                                                                     
  Then the Blessed One turned to Mara, saying: "I shall not pass            
into the final Nirvana, 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 wonder-working 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!"                                                                 
  Then Brahma Sahampati understood that the Blessed One had granted         
his request and would preach the doctrine.                                  
                                                                            
                                                                            

                         FOUNDING THE KINGDOM                               
                         UPAKA SEES THE BUDDHA                              
                                                                            
  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."        
  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 practiced in vain.                                   
  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        
to him: "Thy countenance, my friend, is serene; thine eyes are              
bright and indicate purity and blessedness."                                
  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."                            
  Upaka replied: "Thou professest then, friend, to be Jina, the             
conqueror of the world, the absolute one and the holy one."                 
  The Blessed One said: "Jinas are all those who have conquered self        
and the passions of self; those alone are victorious who control            
their minds and abstain from evil. Therefore, Upaka, I am the Jina."        
  Upaka shook his head. "Venerable Gotama," he said, "thy way lies          
yonder," and taking another road he went away.                              
                                                                            
                                                                            

                        THE SERMON AT BENARES                               
                                                                            
  ON seeing their old teacher approach, the five bhikkus 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." 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."                              
  When they had thus received the Blessed One, he said: "Do not call        
the Tathagata 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. The                
Tathagata," 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 Tathagata has found the middle        
path.                                                                       
  "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.             
  "Neither abstinence from fish and 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. 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. Anger, drunkenness, obstinacy, bigotry,                
deception, envy, self-praise, disparaging others, superciliousness          
and evil intentions constitute uncleanness; not verily the eating of        
flesh.                                                                      
  "A middle path, O bhikkhus, avoiding the two extremes, has been           
discovered by the Tathagata- a path which opens the eyes, and bestows       
understanding, which leads to peace of mind, to the higher wisdom,          
to full enlightenment, to Nirvana! What is that middle path, O              
bhikkhus, avoiding these two extremes, discovered by the                    
Tathagata- that path which opens the eyes, and bestows understanding,       
which leads to peace of mind, to the higher wisdom, to full                 
enlightenment, to Nirvana? 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!                                     
  "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 need of the body.                                          
  "Sensuality is enervating; the self-indulgent man is a slave to           
his passions, and pleasure-seeking is degrading and vulgar. 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 minds strong and clear. Water              
surrounds the lotus flower, but does not wet its petals. This is the        
middle path, O bhikkhus, that keeps aloof from both extremes."              
  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.                               
  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 Nirvana.             
  The Buddha said: "The spokes of the wheel are the rules of pure           
conduct: justice is the uniformity of their length; wisdom is the           
tire; modesty and thoughtfulness are the hub in which the immovable         
axle of truth is fixed. He who recognizes the existence of                  
suffering, its cause, its remedy, and its cessation has fathomed the        
four noble truths. He will walk in the right path.                          
  "Right views will be the torch to light his way. Right aspirations        
will be his guide. Right speech will be his dwelling-place on the           
road. His gait will be straight, for it is right behavior. His              
refreshments will be the right way of earning his livelihood. Right         
efforts will be his steps: right thoughts his breath; and right             
contemplation will give him the peace that follows in his footprints.       
  "Now, this, O bhikkhus, is the noble truth concerning suffering:          
Birth is attended with pain, decay is painful, disease is painful,          
death is painful. Union with the unpleasant is painful, painful is          
separation from the pleasant; and any craving that is unsatisfied,          
that too is painful. In brief, bodily conditions which spring from          
attachment are painful. This, then, O bhikkhus, is the noble truth          
concerning suffering.                                                       
  "Now this, O bhikkhus, is the noble truth concerning the origin of        
suffering: Verily, it is that craving which causes the renewal of           
existence, accompanied by sensual delight, seeking satisfaction now         
here, now there, the craving for the gratification of the passions,         
the craving for a future life, and the craving for happiness in this        
life. This, then, O bhikkhus, is the noble truth concerning the             
origin of suffering.                                                        
  "Now this, O bhikkhus, is the noble truth concerning the                  
destruction of suffering: Verily, it is the destruction, in which no        
passion remains, of this very thirst; it is the laying aside of, the        
being free from, the dwelling no longer upon this thirst. This, then,       
O bhikkhus, is the noble truth concerning the destruction of                
suffering.                                                                  
  "Now, this, O bhikkhus, is the noble truth concerning the way             
which leads to the destruction of sorrow. Verily, it is this noble          
eightfold path; that is to say: Right views; right aspirations;             
right speech; right behavior; right livelihood; right effort; right         
thoughts; and right contemplation. This, then, O bhikkhus, is the           
noble truth concerning the destruction of sorrow.                           
  "By the practice of loving-kindness I have attained liberation of         
heart, and thus I am assured that I shall never return in renewed           
births. I have even now attained Nirvana."                                  
  When the Blessed One had thus set the royal chariot-wheel of truth        
rolling onward, a rapture thrilled through all the universes. The           
devas left their heavenly abodes to listen to the sweetness of the          
truth; the saints that had parted from life crowded around the great        
teacher to receive the glad tidings; even the animals of the earth          
felt the bliss that rested upon the words of the Tathagata: and all         
the creatures of the host of sentient beings, gods, men, and beasts,        
hearing the message of deliverance, received and understood it in           
their own language.                                                         
  And when the doctrine was propounded, the venerable Kondanna, the         
oldest one among the five bhikkhus, discerned the truth with his            
mental eye, and he said: "Truly, O Buddha, our Lord, thou hast found        
the truth!" Then the other bhikkhus too, joined him and exclaimed:          
"Truly, thou art the Buddha, thou hast found the truth."                    
  And the devas and saints and all the good spirits of the departed         
generations that had listened to the sermon of the Tathagata,               
joyfully received the doctrine and shouted: "Truly, the Blessed One         
has founded the kingdom of righteousness. The Blessed One has moved         
the earth; he has set the wheel of Truth rolling, which by no one in        
the universe, be he god or man, can ever be turned back. The kingdom        
of Truth will be preached upon earth; it will spread; and                   
righteousness, good-will, and peace will reign among mankind."              
                                                                            
                                                                            

                       THE SANGHA OR COMMUNITY                              
                                                                            
  HAVING pointed out to the five bhikkhus the truth, the Buddha             
said: "A man that stands alone, having decided to obey the truth,           
may be weak and slip back into his old ways. Therefore, stand ye            
together, assist one another, and strengthen one another's efforts.         
Be like unto brothers; one in love, one in holiness, and one in your        
zeal for the truth. Spread the truth and preach the doctrine in all         
quarters of the world, so that in the end all living creatures will         
be citizens of the kingdom of righteousness. This is the holy               
brotherhood; this is the church, the congregation of the saints of          
the Buddha; this is the Sangha that establishes a communion among all       
those who have taken their refuge in the Buddha."                           
  Kondanna was the first disciple of the Buddha who had thoroughly          
grasped the doctrine of the Holy One, and the Tathagata looking into        
his heart said: "Truly, Kondanna has understood the truth."                 
Therefore the venerable Kondanna received the name "Annata-Kondanna"-       
that is, "Kondanna who has understood the doctrine."                        
  Then the venerable Kondanna spoke to the Buddha and said: "Lord,          
let us receive the ordination from the Blessed One." And the Buddha         
said: "Come, O bhikkhus! Well taught is the doctrine. Lead a holy           
life for the extinction of suffering."                                      
  Then Kondanna and the other bhikkhus uttered three times these            
solemn vows: "To the Buddha will I look in faith: He, the Perfect           
One, is holy and supreme. The Buddha conveys to us instruction,             
wisdom, and salvation; he is the Blessed One, who knows the law of          
being; he is the Lord of the world, who yoketh men like oxen, the           
Teacher of gods and men, the Exalted Buddha. Therefore, to the Buddha       
will I look in faith.                                                       
  "To the doctrine will I look in faith: well-preached is the               
doctrine by the Exalted One. The doctrine has been revealed so as to        
become visible; the doctrine is above time and space. The doctrine is       
not based upon hearsay, it means 'Come and see'; the doctrine to            
welfare; the doctrine is recognized by the wise in their own hearts.        
Therefore to the doctrine will I look in faith.                             
  "To the community will I look in faith; the community of the              
Buddha's disciples instructs us how to lead a life of righteousness;        
the community of the Buddha's disciples teaches us how to exercise          
honesty and justice; the community of the Buddha's disciples shows          
us how to practice the truth. They form a brotherhood in kindness           
and charity, and their saints are worthy of reverence. The community        
of the Buddha's disciples is founded as a holy brotherhood in which         
men bind themselves together to teach the behests of rectitude and          
to do good. Therefore, to the community will I look in faith."              
  The gospel of the Blessed One increased from day to day, and many         
people came to hear him and to accept the ordination to lead                
thenceforth a holy life for the sake of the extinction of suffering.        
And the Blessed One seeing that it was impossible to attend to all          
who wanted to hear the truth and receive the ordination, sent out           
from the number of his disciples such as were to preach the Dharma,         
and said unto them:                                                         
  "The Dharma and the Vinaya proclaimed by the Tathagata shine forth        
when they are displayed, and not when they are concealed. But let           
not this doctrine, so full of truth and so excellent, fall into the         
hands of those unworthy of it, where it would be despised and               
contemned, treated shamefully, ridiculed and censured. I now grant          
you, O bhikkhus, this permission. Confer henceforth in the different        
countries the ordination upon those who are eager to receive it,            
when you find them worthy.                                                  
  "Go ye now, O bhikkhus, for the benefit of the many, for the              
welfare of mankind, out of compassion for the world. Preach the             
doctrine which is glorious in the beginning, glorious in the middle,        
and glorious in the end, in the spirit as well as in the letter.            
There are beings whose eyes are scarcely covered with dust, but if          
the doctrine is not preached to them they cannot attain salvation.          
Proclaim to them a life of holiness. They will understand the               
doctrine and accept it."                                                    
  And it became an established custom that the bhikkhus went out            
preaching while the weather was good, but in the rainy season they          
came together again and joined their master, to listen to the               
exhortations of the Tathagata.                                              
                                                                            
                                                                            
YASA                                                                        
                      YASA, THE YOUTH OF BENARES                            
                                                                            
  AT that time there was in Benares a noble youth, Yasa by name, the        
son of a wealthy merchant. Troubled in his mind about the sorrows of        
the world, he secretly rose up in the night and stole away to the           
Blessed One. The Blessed One saw Yasa coming from afar. Yasa                
approached and exclaimed: "Alas, what distress! What tribulations!"         
  The Blessed One said to Yasa: "Here is no distress; here are no           
tribulations. Come to me and I will teach you the truth, and the            
truth will dispel your sorrows."                                            
  When Yasa, the noble youth, heard that there were neither                 
distress, nor tribulations, nor sorrows, his heart was comforted. He        
went into the place where the Blessed One was, and sat down near            
him. Then the Blessed One preached about charity and morality. He           
explained the vanity of the thought "I am"; the dangers of desire,          
and the necessity of avoiding the evils of life in order to walk on         
the path of deliverance.                                                    
  Instead of disgust with the world, Yasa felt the cooling stream of        
holy wisdom, and, having obtained the pure and spotless eye of              
truth, he looked at his person, richly adorned with pearls and              
precious stones, and his heart was shamed.                                  
  The Tathagata, knowing his inward thoughts, said: "Though a person        
be ornamented with jewels, the heart may have conquered the senses.         
The outward form does not constitute religion or affect the mind.           
Thus the body of a samana may wear an ascetic's garb while his mind         
is immersed in worldliness. A man that dwells in lonely woods and yet       
covets worldly vanities, is a worldling, while the man in worldly           
garments may let his heart soar high to heavenly thoughts. There is         
no distinction between the layman and the hermit, if but both have          
banished the thought of self."                                              
  Seeing that Yasa was ready to enter upon the path, the Blessed One        
said to him: "Follow me!" And Yasa joined the brotherhood, and              
having put on a bhikkhu's robe, received the ordination.                    
  While the Blessed One and Yasa were discussing the doctrine,              
Yasa's father passed by in search of his son; and in passing he             
asked the Blessed One: "Pray, Lord, hast thou seen Yasa, my son?"           
  The Buddha said to Yasa's father: "Come in, sir, thou wilt find           
thy son"; and Yasa's father became full of joy and he entered. He           
sat down near his son, but his eyes were holden and he knew him not;        
and the Lord began to preach. And Yasa's father, understanding the          
doctrine of the Blessed One, said:                                          
  "Glorious is the truth, O Lord! The Buddha, the Holy One, our             
Master, sets up what has been overturned; he reveals what has been          
hidden; he points out the way to the wanderer who has gone astray;          
he lights a lamp in the darkness so that all who have eyes to see           
can discern the things that surround them. I take refuge in the             
Buddha, our Lord: I take refuge in the doctrine revealed by him: I          
take refuge in the brotherhood which he has founded. May the Blessed        
One receive me from this day forth while my life lasts as a lay             
disciple who has taken refuge in him." Yasa's father was the first          
lay member who became the first lay disciple of the Buddha by               
pronouncing the threefold formula of refuge.                                
  When the wealthy merchant had taken refuge in the Buddha, his eyes        
were opened and he saw his son sitting at his side in a bhikkhu's           
robe. "My son, Yasa," he said, "thy mother is absorbed in lamentation       
and grief. Return home and restore thy mother to life."                     
  Then Yasa looked at the Blessed One, who said: "Should Yasa return        
to the world and enjoy the pleasures of a worldly life as he did            
before?" Yasa's father replied: "If Yasa, my son, finds it a gain to        
stay with thee, let him stay. He has become delivered from the              
bondage of worldliness."                                                    
  When the Blessed One had cheered their hearts with words of truth         
and righteousness, Yasa's father said: "May the Blessed One, O Lord,        
consent to take his meal with me together with Yasa as his                  
attendant?" The Blessed One, having donned his robes, took his              
alms-bowl and went with Yasa to the house of the rich merchant. When        
they had arrived there, the mother and also the former wife of Yasa         
saluted the Blessed One and sat down near him.                              
  Then the Blessed One preached, and the women having understood his        
doctrine, exclaimed: "Glorious is the truth, O Lord! We take refuge         
in the Buddha, our Lord. We take refuge in the doctrine revealed by         
him. We take refuge in the brotherhood which has been founded by            
him. May the Blessed One receive us from this day forth while our           
life lasts as lay disciples who have taken refuge in him." The mother       
and the wife of Yasa, the noble youth of Benares, were the first            
women who became lay disciples and took their refuge in the Buddha.         
  Now there were four friends of Yasa belonging to the wealthy              
families of Benares. Their names were Vimala, Subahu, Punnaji, and          
Gavampati.                                                                  
  When Yasa's friends heard that Yasa had cut off his hair and put          
on bhikkhu robes to give up the world and go forth into                     
homelessness, they thought: "Surely that cannot be a common                 
doctrine, that must be a noble renunciation of the world."                  
  And they went to Yasa, and Yasa addressed the Blessed One saying:         
"May the Blessed One administer exhortation and instruction to these        
four friends of mine." And the Blessed One preached to them, and            
Yasa's friends accepted the doctrine and took refuge in the Buddha,         
the Dharma, and the Sangha.                                                 
                                                                            
                                                                            
KASSAPA                                                                     
                     KASSAPA, THE FIRE-WORSHIPER                            
                                                                            
  AT that time there lived in Uruvela the Jatilas, Brahman hermits          
with matted hair, worshiping the fire and keeping a fire-dragon; and        
Kassapa was their chief. Kassapa was renowned throughout all India,         
and his name was honored as one of the wisest men on earth and an           
authority on religion. And the Blessed One went to Kassapa of               
Uruvela, the Jatila, and said: "Let me stay a night in the room where       
you keep your sacred fire."                                                 
  Kassapa, seeing the Blessed One in his majesty and beauty, thought        
to himself: "This is a great muni and a noble teacher. Should he            
stay overnight in the room where the sacred fire is kept, the               
serpent will bite him and he will die." And he said: "I do not              
object to your staying overnight in the room where the sacred fire          
is kept, but the serpent lives there; he will kill you and I should         
be sorry to see you perish."                                                
  But the Buddha insisted and Kassapa admitted him to the room where        
the sacred fire was kept. And the Blessed One sat down with body            
erect, surrounding himself with watchfulness. In the night the              
dragon came, belching forth in rage his fiery poison, and filling           
the air with burning vapor, but could do him no harm, and the fire          
consumed itself while the World-honored One remained composed. And          
the venomous fiend became very wroth so that he died in his anger.          
When Kassapa saw the light shining forth from the room he said:             
"Alas, what misery! Truly, the countenance of Gotama the great              
Sakyamuni is beautiful, but the serpent will destroy him."                  
  In the morning the Blessed One showed the dead body of the fiend          
to Kassapa, saying: "His fire has been conquered by my fire." And           
Kassapa thought to himself. "Sakyamuni is a great samana and                
possesses high powers, but he is not holy like me."                         
  There was in those days a festival, and Kassapa thought: "The             
people will come hither from all parts of the country and will see          
the great Sakyamuni. When he speaks to them, they will believe in him       
and abandon me." And he grew envious. When the day of the festival          
arrived, the Blessed One retired and did not come to Kassapa. And           
Kassapa went to the Buddha on the next morning and said: "Why did           
the great Sakyamuni not come?"                                              
  The Tathagata replied: "Didst thou not think, O Kassapa, that it          
would be better if I stayed away from the festival?" And Kassapa was        
astonished and thought: "Great is Sakyamuni; he can read my most            
secret thoughts, but he is not holy like me."                               
  The Blessed One addressed Kassapa and said: "Thou seest the truth,        
but acceptest it not because of the envy that dwells in thy heart.          
Is envy holiness? Envy is the last remnant of self that has remained        
in thy mind. Thou art not holy, Kassapa; thou hast not yet entered          
the path." And Kassapa gave up his resistance. His envy disappeared,        
and, bowing down before the Blessed One, he said: "Lord, our Master,        
let me receive the ordination from the Blessed One."                        
  And the Blessed One said: "Thou, Kassapa, art chief of the                
Jatilas. Go, then, first and inform them of thine intention, and let        
them do as thou thinkest fit." Then Kassapa went to the Jatilas and         
said: "I am anxious to lead a religious life under the direction of         
the great Sakyamuni, who is the Enlightened One, the Buddha. Do as          
ye think best."                                                             
  The Jatilas replied: "We have conceived a profound affection for          
the great Sakyamuni, and if thou wilt join his brotherhood, we will         
do likewise." The Jatilas of Uruvela now flung their paraphernalia of       
fire-worship into the river and went to the Blessed One.                    
  Nadi Kassapa and Gaya Kassapa, brothers of the great Uruvela              
Kassapa, powerful men and chieftains among the people, were dwelling        
below on the stream, and when they saw the instruments used in              
fire-worship floating in the river, they said: "Something has               
happened to our brother." And they came with their folk to Uruvela.         
Hearing what had happened, they, too, went to the Buddha.                   
  The Blessed One, seeing that the Jatilas of Nadi and Gaya, who had        
practiced severe austerities and worshiped fire, were now come to           
him, preached a sermon on fire, and said: "Everything, O Jatilas, is        
burning. The eye is burning, all the senses are burning, thoughts           
are burning. They are burning with the fire of lust. There is anger,        
there is ignorance, there is hatred, and as long as the fire finds          
inflammable things upon which it can feed, so long will it burn, and        
there will be birth and death, decay, grief, lamentation, suffering,        
despair, and sorrow. Considering this, a disciple of the Dharma will        
see the four noble truths and walk in the eightfold path of                 
holiness. He will become wary of his eye, wary of all his senses,           
wary of his thoughts. He will divest himself of passion and become          
free. He will be delivered from selfishness and attain the blessed          
state of Nirvana."                                                          
  And the Jatilas rejoiced and took refuge in the Buddha, the               
Dharma, and the Sangha.                                                     
                                                                            
                                                                            

                   THE SERMON AT RAJAGAHA                                   
                                                                            
  THE Blessed One having dwelt some time in Uruvela went to                 
Rajagaha, accompanied by a number of bhikkhus, many of whom had been        
Jatilas before. The great Kassapa, chief of the Jatilas and formerly        
a fire-worshiper, went with him.                                            
  When the Magadha king, Seniya Bimbisara, heard of the arrival of          
Gotama Sakyamuni, of whom the people said, "He is the Holy One, the         
blessed Buddha, guiding men as a driver curbs bullocks, the teacher         
of high and low," he went out surrounded with his counselors and            
generals and came to the grove where the Blessed One was. There they        
saw the Blessed One in the company of Kassapa, the great religious          
teacher of the Jatilas, and they were astonished and thought: "Has          
the great Sakyamuni placed himself under the spiritual direction of         
Kassapa, or has Kassapa become a disciple of Gotama?"                       
  The Tathagata, reading the thoughts of the people, said to                
Kassapa: "What knowledge hast thou gained, O Kassapa, and what has          
induced thee to renounce the sacred fire and give up thine austere          
penances?"                                                                  
  Kassapa said: "The profit I derived from adoring the fire was             
continuance in the wheel of individuality with all its sorrows and          
vanities. This service I have cast away, and instead of continuing          
penances and sacrifices I have gone in quest of the highest Nirvana.        
Since I have seen the light of truth, I have abandoned worshiping           
the fire."                                                                  
  The Buddha, perceiving that the whole assembly was ready as a             
vessel to receive the doctrine, spoke thus to Bimbisara the king: "He       
who knows the nature of self and understands how the senses act,            
finds no room for selfishness, and thus he will attain peace                
unending. The world holds the thought of self, and from this arises         
false apprehension. Some say that the self endures after death, some        
say it perishes. Both are wrong and their error is most grievous. For       
if they say the self is perishable, the fruit they strive for will          
perish too, and at some time there will be no hereafter. Good and           
evil would be indifferent. This salvation from selfishness is without       
merit.                                                                      
  "When some, on the other hand, say the self will not perish, then         
in the midst of all life and death there is but one identity unborn         
and undying. If such is their self, then it is perfect and cannot be        
perfected by deeds. The lasting, imperishable self could never be           
changed. The self would be lord and master, and there would be no use       
in perfecting the perfect; moral aims and salvation would be                
unnecessary.                                                                
  "But now we see the marks of joy and sorrow. Where is any                 
constancy? If there is no permanent self that does our deeds, then          
there is no self; there is no actor behind our actions, no perceiver        
behind our perception, no lord behind our deeds.                            
  "Now attend and listen: The senses meet the object and from their         
contact sensation is born. Thence results recollection. Thus, as the        
sun's power through a burning-glass causes fire to appear, so               
through the cognizance born of sense and object, the mind originates        
and with it the ego, the thought of self, whom some Brahman teachers        
call the lord. The shoot springs from the seed; the seed is not the         
shoot; both are not one and the same, but successive phases in a            
continuous growth. Such is the birth of animated life.                      
  "Ye that are slaves of the self and toil in its service from morn         
until night, ye that live in constant fear of birth, old age,               
sickness, and death, receive the good tidings that your cruel master        
exists not. Self is an error, an illusion, a dream. Open your eyes          
and awaken. See things as they are and ye will be comforted. He who         
is awake will no longer be afraid of nightmares. He who has                 
recognized the nature of the rope that seemed to be a serpent will          
cease to tremble.                                                           
  "He who has found there is no self will let go all the lusts and          
desires of egotism. The cleaving to things, covetousness, and               
sensuality inherited from former existences, are the causes of the          
misery and vanity in the world. Surrender the grasping disposition          
of selfishness, and you will attain to that calm state of mind which        
conveys perfect peace, goodness, and wisdom."                               
  And the Buddha breathed forth this solemn utterance:                      
                                                                            
               "Do not deceive, do not despise                              
               Each other, anywhere.                                        
               Do not be angry, and do not                                  
               Secret resentment bear;                                      
               For as a mother risks her life                               
               And watches over her child,                                  
               So boundless be your love to all,                            
               So tender, kind and mild.                                    
                                                                            
               "Yea, cherish good-will right and left,                      
               For all, both soon and late,                                 
               And with no hindrance, with no stint,                        
               From envy free and hate;                                     
               While standing, walking, sitting down,                       
               Forever keep in mind:                                        
               The rule of life that's always best                          
               Is to be loving-kind.                                        
                                                                            
  "Gifts are great, the founding of viharas is meritorious,                 
meditations and religious exercises pacify the heart, comprehension         
of the truth leads to Nirvana, but greater than all is                      
loving-kindness. As the light of the moon is sixteen times stronger         
than the light of all the stars, so loving-kindness is sixteen times        
more efficacious in liberating the heart than all other religious           
accomplishments taken together. This state of heart is the best in          
the world. Let a man remain steadfast in it while he is awake,              
whether he is standing, walking, sitting, or lying down."                   
  When the Enlightened One had finished his sermon, the Magadha king        
said to the Blessed One: "In former days, Lord, when I was a prince,        
I cherished five wishes. I wished: O, that I might be inaugurated as        
a king. This was my first wish, and it has been fulfilled. Further,         
I wished: Might the Holy Buddha, the Perfect One, appear on earth           
while I rule and might he come to my kingdom. This was my second            
wish and it is fulfilled now. Further I wished: Might I pay my              
respects to him. This was my third wish and it is fulfilled now. The        
fourth wish was: Might the Blessed One preach the doctrine to me,           
and this is fulfilled now.                                                  
  "The greatest wish, however, was the fifth wish: Might I understand       
the doctrine of the Blessed One. And this wish is fulfilled too.            
  "Glorious Lord! Most glorious is the truth preached by the                
Tathagata! Our Lord, the Buddha, sets up what has been overturned;          
he reveals what has been hidden; he points out the way to the               
wanderer who has gone astray; he lights a lamp in the darkness so           
that those who have eyes to see may see. I take my refuge in the            
Buddha. I take my refuge in the Dharma. I take my refuge in the             
Sangha."                                                                    
  The Tathagata, by the exercise of his virtue and by wisdom, showed        
his unlimited spiritual power. He subdued and harmonized all minds.         
He made them see and accept the truth, and throughout the kingdom the       
seeds of virtue were sown.                                                  
                                                                            
                                                                            

                       THE KING'S GIFT                                      
                                                                            
  SENIYA BIMBISARA, the king, having taken his refuge in the Buddha,        
invited the Tathagata to his palace, saying: "Will the Blessed One          
consent to take his meal with me tomorrow together with the                 
fraternity of bhikkhus?" The next morning the king announced to the         
Blessed One that it was time for taking food: "Thou art my most             
welcome guest, O Lord of the world, come; the meal is prepared."            
  The Blessed One having donned his robes, took his alms-bowl and,          
together with a great number of bhikkhus, entered the city of               
Rajagaha. Sakka, the king of the Devas, assuming the appearance of a        
young Brahman, walked in front, and said: "He who teaches                   
self-control with those who have learned self-control; the redeemer         
with those whom he has redeemed; the Blessed One with those to whom         
he has given peace, is entering Rajagaha! Hail to the Buddha, our           
Lord! Honor to his name and blessings to all who take refuge in him."       
And Sakka intoned this stanza:                                              
                                                                            
           "Blessed is the place in which the Buddha walks,                 
           And blessed the ears which hear his talks;                       
           Blessed his disciples, for they are                              
           The tellers of his truth both near and far.                      
                                                                            
           "If all could hear this truth so good                            
           Then all men's minds would eat rich food,                        
           And strong would grow men's brotherhood."                        
                                                                            
  When the Blessed One had finished his meal, and had cleansed his          
bowl and his hands, the king sat down near him and thought:                 
  "Where may I find a place for the Blessed One to live in, not too         
far from the town and not too near, suitable for going and coming,          
easily accessible to all people who want to see him, a place that is        
by day not too crowded and by night not exposed to noise, wholesome         
and well fitted for a retired life? There is my pleasure-garden, the        
bamboo grove Veluvana, fulfilling all these conditions. I shall             
offer it to the brotherhood whose head is the Buddha."                      
  The king dedicated his garden to the brotherhood, saying: "May the        
Blessed One accept my gift." Then the Blessed One, having silently          
shown his consent and having gladdened and edified the Magadha king         
by religious discourse, rose from his seat and went away.                   
                                                                            
                                                                            

                       SARIPUTTA AND MOGGALLANA                             
                                                                            
  AT that time Sariputta and Moggallana, two Brahmans and chiefs of         
the followers of Sanjaya, led a religious life. They had promised           
each other: "He who first attains Nirvana shall tell the other one."        
  Sariputta seeing the venerable Assaji begging for alms, modestly          
keeping his eyes to the ground and dignified in deportment,                 
exclaimed: "Truly this samana has entered the right path; I will ask        
him in whose name he has retired from the world and what doctrine he        
professes." Being addressed by Sariputta, Assaji replied: "I am a           
follower of the Buddha, the Blessed One, but being a novice I can           
tell you the substance only of the doctrine."                               
  Said Sariputta: "Tell me, venerable monk; it is the substance I           
want." And Assaji recited the stanza:                                       
                                                                            
                 "Nothing we seek to touch or see                           
                 Can represent Eternity.                                    
                 They spoil and die: then let us find                       
                 Eternal Truth within the mind."                            
                                                                            
  Having heard this stanza, Sariputta obtained the pure and spotless        
eye of truth and said: "Now I see clearly, whatsoever is subject to         
origination is also subject to cessation. If this be the doctrine I         
have reached the state to enter Nirvana which heretofore has                
remained hidden from me." Sariputta went to Moggallana and told him,        
and both said: "We will go to the Blessed One, that he, the Blessed         
One, may be our teacher."                                                   
  When the Buddha saw Sariputta and Moggallana coming from afar, he         
said to his disciples, "These two monks are highly auspicious." When        
the two friends had taken refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma and the          
Sangha, the Holy One said to his other disciples: "Sariputta, like          
the first-born son of a world-ruling monarch, is well able to assist        
the king as his chief follower to set the wheel of the law rolling."        
  Now the people were annoyed. Seeing that many distinguished young         
men of the kingdom of Magadha led a religious life under the                
direction of the Blessed One, they became angry and murmured: "Gotama       
Sakyamuni induces fathers to leave their wives and causes families          
to become extinct." When they saw the bhikkhus, they reviled them,          
saying: "The great Sakyamuni has come to Rajagaha subduing the minds        
of men. Who will be the next to be led astray by him?"                      
  The bhikkhus told it to the Blessed One, and the Blessed One said:        
"This murmuring, O bhikkhus, will not last long. It will last seven         
days. If they revile you, answer them with these words: 'It is by           
preaching the truth that Tathagatas lead men. Who will murmur at the        
wise? Who will blame the virtuous? Who will condemn self-control,           
righteousness, and kindness?" And the Blessed One proclaimed:               
                                                                            
                 "Commit no wrong, do only good,                            
                 And let your heart be pure.                                
                 This is the doctrine Buddhas teach,                        
                 And this doctrine will endure."                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
ANATHAPINDIKA                                                               
                   ANATHAPINDIKA, THE MAN OF WEALTH                         
                                                                            
  AT this time there was Anathapindika, a man of unmeasured wealth,         
visiting Rajagaha. Being of a charitable disposition, he was called         
"the supporter of orphans and the friend of the poor." Hearing that         
the Buddha had come into the world and was stopping in the bamboo           
grove near the city, he set out on that very night to meet the              
Blessed One.                                                                
  And the Blessed One saw at once the sterling quality of                   
Anathapindika's heart and greeted him with words of religious               
comfort. And they sat down together, and Anathapindika listened to          
the sweetness of the truth preached by the Blessed One. And the             
Buddha said: "The restless, busy nature of the world, this, I               
declare, is at the root of pain. Attain that composure of mind which        
is resting in the peace of immortality. Self is but a heap of               
composite qualities, and its world is empty like a fantasy.                 
  "Who is it that shapes our lives? Is it Isvara, a personal creator?       
If Isvara be the maker, all living things should have silently to           
submit to their maker's power. They would be like vessels formed by         
the potter's hand; and if it were so, how would it be possible to           
practice virtue? If the world had been made by Isvara there should be       
no such thing as sorrow, or calamity, or evil; for both pure and            
impure deeds must come from him. If not, there would be another cause       
beside him, and he would not be self-existent. Thus, thou seest, the        
thought of Isvara is overthrown.                                            
  "Again, it is said that the Absolute has created us. But that             
which is absolute cannot be a cause. All things around us come from         
a cause as the plant comes from the seed; but how can the Absolute          
be the cause of all things alike? If it pervades them, then,                
certainly, it does not make them.                                           
  "Again, it is said that Self is the maker. But if self is the             
maker, why did it not make things pleasing? The causes of sorrow and        
joy are real and touchable. How can they have been made by self?            
  "Again, if we adopt the argument that there is no maker, our fate         
is such as it is, and there is no causation, what use would there be        
in shaping our lives and adjusting means to an end? Therefore, we           
argue that all things that exist are not without cause. However,            
neither Isvara, nor the absolute, nor the self nor causeless chance,        
is the maker, but our deeds produce results both good and evil              
according to the law of causation.                                          
  "Let us, then, abandon the heresy of worshiping Isvara and of             
praying to him; let us no longer lose ourselves in vain speculations        
or profitless subtleties; let us surrender self and all selfishness,        
and as all things are fixed by causation, let us practice good so           
that good may result from our actions."                                     
  And Anathapindika said: "I see that thou art the Buddha, the              
Blessed One, the Tathagata, and I wish to open to thee my whole mind.       
Having listened to my words advise me what I shall do. My life is           
full of work, and having acquired great wealth, I am surrounded with        
cares. Yet I enjoy my work, and apply myself to it with all                 
diligence. Many people are in my employ and depend upon the success         
of my enterprises.                                                          
  "Now, I have heard thy disciples praise the bliss of the hermit           
and denounce the unrest of the world. 'The Holy One,' they say, 'has        
given up his kingdom and his inheritance, and has found the path of         
righteousness, thus setting an example to all the world how to              
attain Nirvana.' My heart yearns to do what is right and to be a            
blessing unto my fellows. Let me then ask thee, Must I give up my           
wealth, my home, and my business enterprises, and, like thyself, go         
into homelessness in order to attain the bliss of a religious life?"        
  And the Buddha replied: "The bliss of a religious life is                 
attainable by every one who walks in the noble eightfold path. He           
that cleaves to wealth had better cast it away than allow his heart         
to be poisoned by it; but he who does not cleave to wealth, and             
possessing riches, uses them rightly, will be a blessing unto his           
fellows. It is not life and wealth and power that enslave men, but          
the cleaving to life and wealth and power. The bhikkhu who retires          
from the world in order to lead a life of leisure will have no gain,        
for a life of indolence is an abomination, and lack of energy is to         
be despised. The Dharma of the Tathagata does not require a man to go       
into homelessness or to resign the world, unless he feels called upon       
to do so; but the Dharma of the Tathagata requires every man to free        
himself from the illusion of self, to cleanse his heart, to give up         
his thirst for pleasure, and lead a life of righteousness. And              
whatever men do, whether they remain in the world as artisans,              
merchants, and officers of the king, or retire from the world and           
devote themselves to a life of religious meditation, let them put           
their whole heart into their task; let them be diligent and                 
energetic, and, if they are like the lotus, which, although it grows        
in the water, yet remains untouched by the water, if they struggle in       
life without cherishing envy or hatred, if they live in the world not       
a life of self but a life of truth, then surely joy, peace, and bliss       
will dwell in their minds."                                                 
                                                                            
                                                                            

                        THE SERMON ON CHARITY                               
                                                                            
  ANATHAPINDIKA rejoiced at the words of the Blessed One and said: "I       
dwell at Savatthi, the capital of Kosala, a land rich in produce and        
enjoying peace. Pasenadi is the king of the country, and his name is        
renowned among our own people and our neighbors. Now I wish to found        
there a vihara which shall be a place of religious devotion for your        
brotherhood, and I pray you kindly to accept it."                           
  The Buddha saw into the heart of the supporter of orphans; and            
knowing that unselfish charity was the moving cause of his offer, in        
acceptance of the gift, the Blessed One said: "The charitable man is        
loved by all; his friendship is prized highly; in death his heart is        
at rest and full of joy, for he suffers not from repentance; he             
receives the opening flower of his reward and the fruit that ripens         
from it. Hard it is to understand: By giving away our food, we get          
more strength, by bestowing clothing on others, we gain more beauty;        
by donating abodes of purity and truth, we acquire great treasures.         
  "There is a proper time and a proper mode in charity; just as the         
vigorous warrior goes to battle, so is the man who is able to give.         
He is like an able warrior a champion strong and wise in action.            
Loving and compassionate he gives with reverence and banishes all           
hatred, envy, and anger.                                                    
  "The charitable man has found the path of salvation. He is like           
the man who plants a sapling, securing thereby the shade, the               
flowers, and the fruit in future years. Even so is the result of            
charity, even so is the joy of him who helps those that are in need         
of assistance; even so is the great Nirvana. We reach the immortal          
path only by continuous acts of kindliness and we perfect our souls         
by compassion and charity."                                                 
  Anathapindika invited Sariputta to accompany him on his return to         
Kosala and help him in selecting a pleasant site for the vihara.            
                                                                            
                                                                            
JETAVANA                                                                    
                         JETAVANA, THE VIHARA                               
                                                                            
  ANATHAPINDIKA, the friend of the destitute and the supporter of           
orphans, having returned home, saw the garden of the heir-apparent,         
Jeta, with its green groves and limpid rivulets, and thought: "This         
is the place which will be most suitable as a vihara for the                
brotherhood of the Blessed One." And he went to the prince and asked        
leave to buy the ground. The prince was not inclined to sell the            
garden, for he valued it highly. He at first refused but said at            
last, "If thou canst cover it with gold, then, and for no other             
price, shalt thou have it." Anathapindika rejoiced and began to             
spread his gold; but Jeta said: "Spare thyself the trouble, for I           
will not sell." But Anathapindika insisted. Thus they contended until       
they resorted to the magistrate.                                            
  Meanwhile the people began to talk of the unwonted proceeding, and        
the prince, hearing more of the details and knowing that                    
Anathapindika was not only very wealthy but also straightforward and        
sincere, inquired into his plans. On hearing the name of the Buddha,        
the prince became anxious to share in the foundation and he accepted        
only one-half of the gold, saying: "Yours is the land, but mine are         
the trees. I will give the trees as my share of this offering to the        
Buddha."                                                                    
  Then Anathapindika took the land and Jeta the trees, and they             
placed them in trust of Sariputta for the Buddha. After the                 
foundations were laid, they began to build the hall which rose              
loftily in due proportions according to the directions which the            
Buddha had suggested; and it was beautifully decorated with                 
appropriate carvings. This vihara was called Jetavana, and the friend       
of the orphans invited the Lord to come to Savatthi and receive the         
donation. And the Blessed One left Kapilavatthu and came to Savatthi.       
  While the Blessed One was entering Jetavana, Anathapindika                
scattered flowers and burned incense, and as a sign of the gift he          
poured water from a golden dragon decanter, saying, "This Jetavana          
vihara I give for the use of the brotherhood throughout the world."         
The Blessed One received the gift and replied: "May all evil                
influences be overcome; may the offering promote the kingdom of             
righteousness and be a permanent blessing to mankind in general, to         
the land of Kosala, and especially also to the giver."                      
  Then the king Pasenadi, hearing that the Lord had come, went in           
his royal equipage to the Jetavana vihara and saluted the Blessed           
One with clasped hands, saying: "'Blessed is my unworthy and obscure        
kingdom that it has met with so great a fortune. For how can                
calamities and dangers befall it in the presence of the Lord of the         
world, the Dharmaraja, the King of Truth. Now that I have seen thy          
sacred countenance, let me partake of the refreshing waters of thy          
teachings. Worldly profit is fleeting and perishable, but religious         
profit is eternal and inexhaustible. A worldly man, though a king,          
is full of trouble, but even a common man who is holy has peace of          
mind."                                                                      
  Knowing the tendency of the king's heart, weighed down by avarice         
and love of pleasure, the Buddha seized the opportunity and said:           
"Even those who, by their evil karma, have been born in low degree,         
when they see a virtuous man, feel reverence for him. How much more         
must an independent king, on account of merits acquired in previous         
existences, when meeting a Buddha, conceive reverence for him. And          
now as I briefly expound the law, let the Maharaja listen and weigh         
my words, and hold fast that which I deliver!                               
  "Our good or evil deeds follow us continually like shadows. That          
which is most needed is a loving heart! Regard thy people as men do         
an only son. Do not oppress them, do not destroy them; keep in due          
check every member of thy body, forsake unrighteous doctrine and            
walk in the straight path. Exalt not thyself by trampling down              
others, but comfort and befriend the suffering. Neither ponder on           
kingly dignity, nor listen to the smooth words of flatterers.               
  There is no profit in vexing oneself by austerities, but meditate         
on the Buddha and weigh his righteous law. We are encompassed on all        
sides by the rocks of birth, old age, disease, and death, and only          
by considering and practicing the true law can we escape from this          
sorrow-piled mountain. What profit, then, in practicing iniquity?           
  "All who are wise spurn the pleasures of the body. They loathe            
lust and seek to promote their spiritual existence. When a tree is          
burning with fierce flames, how can the birds congregate therein?           
Truth cannot dwell where passion lives. He who does not know this,          
though he be a learned man and be praised by others as a sage, is           
beclouded with ignorance. To him who has this knowledge true wisdom         
dawns, and he will beware of hankering after pleasure. To acquire           
this state of mind, wisdom is the one thing needful. To neglect             
wisdom will lead to failure in life. The teachings of all religions         
should center here, for without wisdom there is no reason.                  
  "This truth is not for the hermit alone; it concerns every human          
being, priest and layman alike. There is no distinction between the         
monk who has taken the vows, and the man of the world living with           
his family. There are hermits who fall into perdition, and there are        
humble householders who mount to the rank of rishis. Hankering after        
pleasure is a danger common to all; it carries away the world. He           
who is involved in its eddies finds no escape. But wisdom is the            
handy boat, reflection is the rudder. The slogan of religion calls          
you to overcome the assaults of Mara, the enemy.                            
  "Since it is impossible to escape the result of our deeds, let us         
practice good works. Let us guard our thoughts that we do no evil,          
for as we sow so shall we reap. There are ways from light into              
darkness and from darkness into light. There are ways, also, from the       
gloom into deeper darkness, and from the dawn into brighter light.          
The wise man will use the light he has to receive more light. He will       
constantly advance in the knowledge of truth.                               
  "Exhibit true superiority by virtuous conduct and the exercise of         
reason; meditate deeply on the vanity of earthly things, and                
understand the fickleness of life. Elevate the mind, and seek               
sincere faith with firm purpose; transgress not the rules of kingly         
conduct, and let your happiness depend, not upon external things,           
but upon your own mind. Thus you will lay up a good name for distant        
ages and will secure the favor of the Tathagata."                           
  The king listened with reverence and remembered all the words of          
the Buddha in his heart.                                                    
                                                                            
                                                                            

              THE THREE CHARACTERISTICS AND THE UNCREATE                    
                                                                            
  WHEN the Buddha was staying at the Veluvana, the bamboo grove at          
Rajagaha, he addressed the brethren thus: "Whether Buddhas arise, O         
priests, or whether Buddhas do not arise, it remains a fact and the         
fixed and necessary constitution of being that all conformations are        
transitory. This fact a Buddha discovers and masters, and when he           
has discovered and mastered it, he announces, publishes, proclaims,         
discloses, minutely explains and makes it clear that all                    
conformations are transitory.                                               
  "Whether Buddhas arise, O priests, or whether Buddhas do not arise,       
it remains a fact and a fixed`and necessary constitution of being,          
that all conformations are suffering. This fact a Buddha discovers          
and masters, and when he has discovered and mastered it, he                 
announces, publishes, proclaims, discloses, minutely explains and           
makes it clear that all conformations are suffering.                        
  "Whether Buddhas arise, O priests, or whether Buddhas do not              
arise, it remains a fact and a fixed and necessary constitution of          
being, that all conformations are lacking a self. This fact a Buddha        
discovers and masters, and when he has discovered and mastered it,          
he announces, teaches, publishes, proclaims, discloses, minutely            
explains and makes it clear that all conformations are lacking a            
self."                                                                      
  And on another occasion the Blessed One dwelt at Savatthi in the          
Jetavana, the garden of Anathapindika. At that time the Blessed One         
edified, aroused, quickened and gladdened the monks with a religious        
discourse on the subject of Nirvana. And these monks grasping the           
meaning, thinking it out, and accepting with their hearts the whole         
doctrine, listened attentively. But there was one brother who had           
some doubt left in his heart. He arose and clasping his hands made          
the request: "May I be permitted to ask a question?" When permission        
was granted he spoke as follows:                                            
  "The Buddha teaches that all conformations are transient, that all        
conformations are subject to sorrow, that all conformations are             
lacking a self. How then can there be Nirvana, a state of eternal           
bliss?"                                                                     
  And the Blessed One, in this connection, on that occasion, breathed       
forth this solemn utterance: "There is, O monks, a state where there        
is neither earth, nor water, nor heat, nor air; neither infinity of         
space nor infinity of consciousness, nor nothingness, nor perception        
nor non-perception; neither this world nor that world, neither sun          
nor moon. It is the uncreate. That, O monks, I term neither coming          
nor going nor standing; neither death nor birth. It is without              
stability, without change; it is the eternal which never originates         
and never passes away. There is the end of sorrow.                          
  "It is hard to realize the essential, the truth is not easily             
perceived; desire is mastered by him who knows, and to him who sees         
aright all things are naught. There is, O monks, an unborn,                 
unoriginated, uncreated, unformed. Were there not, O monks, this            
unborn, unoriginated, uncreated, unformed, there would be no escape         
from the world of the born, originated, created, formed. Since, O           
monks, there is an unborn, unoriginated, uncreated and unformed,            
therefore is there an escape from the born, originated, created,            
formed."                                                                    
                                                                            
                                                                            

                         THE BUDDHA'S FATHER                                
                                                                            
  THE Buddha's name became famous over all India and Suddhodana, his        
father, sent word to him saying: "I am growing old and wish to see          
my son before I die. Others have had the benefit of his doctrine,           
but not his father nor his relatives." And the messenger said: "O           
world-honored Tathagata, thy father looks for thy coming as the lily        
longs for the rising of the sun."                                           
  The Blessed One consented to the request of his father and set out        
on his journey to Kapilavatthu. Soon the tidings spread in the              
native country of the Buddha: "Prince Siddhattha, who wandered forth        
from home into homelessness to obtain enlightenment, having attained        
his purpose, is coming back."                                               
  Suddhodana went out with his relatives and ministers to meet the          
prince. When the king saw Siddhattha, his son, from afar, he was            
struck with his beauty and dignity, and he rejoiced in his heart,           
but his mouth found no words to utter. This, indeed, was his son;           
these were the features of Siddhattha. How near was the great samana        
to his heart, and yet what a distance lay between them! That noble          
muni was no longer Siddhattha, his son; he was the Buddha, the              
Blessed One, the Holy One, Lord of truth, and teacher of mankind.           
Suddhodana the king, considering the religious dignity of his son,          
descended from his chariot and after saluting his son said: "It is          
now seven years since I have seen thee. How I have longed for this          
moment!"                                                                    
  Then the Sakyamuni took a seat opposite his father, and the king          
gazed eagerly at his son. He longed to call him by his name, but he         
dared not. "Siddhattha," he exclaimed silently in his heart,                
"Siddhattha, come back to thine aged father and be his son again!"          
But seeing the determination of his son, he suppressed his                  
sentiments, and desolation overcame him. Thus the king sat face to          
face with his son, rejoicing in his sadness and sad in his rejoicing.       
Well might he be proud of his son, but his pride broke down at the          
idea that his great son would never be his heir.                            
  "I would offer thee my kingdom," said the king, "but if I did, thou       
wouldst account it but as ashes."                                           
  And the Buddha said: "I know that the king's heart is full of love        
and that for his son's sake he feels deep grief. But let the ties of        
love that bind him to the son whom he lost embrace with equal               
kindness all his fellow-beings, and he will receive in his place a          
greater one than Siddhattha; he will receive the Buddha, the teacher        
of truth, the preacher of righteousness, and the peace of Nirvana           
will enter into his heart."                                                 
  Suddhodana trembled with joy when he heard the melodious words of         
his son, the Buddha, and clasping his hands, exclaimed with tears in        
his eyes: "Wonderful in this change! The overwhelming sorrow has            
passed away. At first my sorrowing heart was heavy, but now I reap          
the fruit of thy great renunciation. It was right that, moved by thy        
mighty sympathy, thou shouldst reject the pleasures of royal power          
and achieve thy noble purpose in religious devotion. Now that thou          
hast found the path, thou canst preach the law of immortality to all        
the world that yearns for deliverance." The king returned to the            
palace, while the Buddha remained in the grove before the city.             
                                                                            
                                                                            
YASODHARA                                                                   
                      YASODHARA, THE FORMER WIFE                            
                                                                            
  ON the next morning the Buddha took his bowl and set out to beg his       
food. And the news spread abroad: "Prince Siddhattha is going from          
house to house to receive alms in the city where he used to ride in         
a chariot attended by his retinue. His robe is like a red clod, and         
he holds in his hand an earthen bowl."                                      
  On hearing the strange rumor, the king went forth in great haste          
and when he met his son he exclaimed: "Why dost thou thus disgrace          
me? Knowest thou not that I can easily supply thee and thy bhikkhus         
with food?" And the Buddha replied: "It is the custom of my race."          
  But the king said: "How can this be? Thou art descended from              
kings, and not one of them ever begged for food."                           
  "O great king," rejoined the Buddha, "thou and thy race may claim         
descent from kings; my descent is from the Buddhas of old. They,            
begging their food, lived on alms." The king made no reply, and the         
Blessed One continued: "It is customary, O king, when one has found         
a hidden treasure, for him to make an offering of the most precious         
jewel to his father. Suffer me, therefore, to open this treasure of         
mine which is the Dharma, and accept from me this gem": And the             
Blessed One recited the following stanza:                                   
                                                                            
                 "Arise from dreams and delusions,                          
                 Awaken with open mind.                                     
                 Seek only Truth. Where you find it,                        
                 Peace also you will find."                                 
                                                                            
  Then the king conducted the prince into the palace, and the               
ministers and all the members of the royal family greeted him with          
great reverence, but Yasodhara, the mother of Rahula, did not make          
her appearance. The king sent for Yasodhara, but she replied:               
"Surely, if I am deserving of any regard, Siddhattha will come and          
see me."                                                                    
  The Blessed One, having greeted all his relatives and friends,            
asked: "Where is Yasodhara?" And on being informed that she had             
refused to come, he rose straightway and went to her apartments.            
  "I am free," the Blessed One said to his disciples, Sariputta and         
Moggallana, whom he had bidden to accompany him to the princess's           
chamber; "the princess, however, is not as yet free. Not having seen        
me for a long time, she is exceedingly sorrowful. Unless her grief          
be allowed its course her heart will cleave. Should she touch the           
Tathagata, the Holy One, ye must not prevent her."                          
  Yasodhara sat in her room, dressed in mean garments, and her hair         
cut. When Prince Siddhattha entered, she was, from the abundance of         
her affection, like an overflowing vessel, unable to contain her            
love. Forgetting that the man whom she loved was the Buddha, the Lord       
of the world, the preacher of truth, she held him by his feet and           
wept bitterly.                                                              
  Remembering, however, that Suddhodana was present, she felt               
ashamed, and rising, seated herself reverently at a little distance.        
  The king apologized for the princess, saying: "This arises from           
her deep affection, and is more than a temporary emotion. During the        
seven years that she has lost her husband, when she heard that              
Siddhattha had shaved his head, she did likewise; when she heard            
that he had left off the use of perfumes and ornaments, she also            
refused their use. Like her husband she had eaten at appointed times        
from an earthen bowl only. Like him she had renounced high beds with        
splendid coverings, and when other princes asked her in marriage,           
she replied that she was still his. Therefore, grant her                    
forgiveness."                                                               
  And the Blessed One spoke kindly to Yasodhara, telling of her             
great merits inherited from former lives. She had indeed been again         
and again of great assistance to him. Her purity, her gentleness,           
her devotion had been invaluable to the Bodhisattva when he aspired         
to attain enlightenment, the highest aim of mankind. And so holy had        
she been that she desired to become the wife of a Buddha. This,             
then, is her karma, and it is the result of great merits. Her grief         
has been unspeakable, but the consciousness of the glory that               
surrounds her spiritual inheritance increased by her noble attitude         
during her life, will be a balm that will miraculously transform all        
sorrows into heavenly joy.                                                  
                                                                            
                                                                            
RAHULA                                                                      
                           RAHULA, THE SON                                  
                                                                            
  MANY people in Kapilavatthu believed in the Tathagata and took            
refuge in his doctrine, among them Nanda Sidhattha's half-brother,          
the son of Pajapati; Devadatta, his cousin and brother-in-law; Upali        
the barber; and Anuruddha the philosopher. Some years later Ananda,         
another cousin of the Blessed One, also joined the Sangha.                  
  Ananda was a man after the heart of the Blessed One; he was his           
most beloved disciple, profound in comprehension and gentle in              
spirit. And Ananda remained always near the Blessed Master of truth,        
until death parted them.                                                    
  On the seventh day after the Buddha's arrival in Kapilavatthu,            
Yasodhara dressed Rahula, now seven years old, in all the splendor          
of a prince and said to him: "This holy man, whose appearance is so         
glorious that he looks like the great Brahma, is thy father. He             
possesses four great mines of wealth which I have not yet seen. Go          
to him and entreat him to put thee in possession of them, for the           
son ought to inherit the property of his father."                           
  Rahula replied: "I know of no father but the king. Who is my              
father?" The princess took the boy in her arms and from the window          
she pointed out to him the Buddha, who happened to be near the              
palace, partaking of food.                                                  
  Rahula then went to the Buddha, and looking up into his face said         
without fear and with much affection: "My father!" And standing near        
him, he added: "O samana, even thy shadow is a place of bliss!"             
  When the Tathagata had finished his repast, he gave blessings and         
went away from the palace, but Rahula followed and asked his father         
for his inheritance. No one prevented the boy, nor did the Blessed          
One himself.                                                                
  Then the Blessed One turned to Sariputta, saying: "My son asks for        
his inheritance. I cannot give him perishable treasures that will           
bring cares and sorrows, but I can give him the inheritance of a            
holy life, which is a treasure that will not perish."                       
  Addressing Rahula with earnestness, the Blessed One said: "Gold           
and silver and jewels are not in my possession. But if thou art             
willing to receive spiritual treasures, and art strong enough to            
carry them and to keep them, I shall give thee the four truths which        
will teach thee the eightfold path of righteousness. Dost thou desire       
to be admitted to the brotherhood of those who devote their life to         
the culture of the heart seeking for the highest bliss attainable?"         
  Rahula replied with firmness: "I do. I want to join the                   
brotherhood of the Buddha."                                                 
  When the king heard that Rahula had joined the brotherhood of             
bhikkhus he was grieved. He had lost Siddhattha and Nanda, his sons,        
and Devadatta, his nephew. But now that his grandson had been taken         
from him, he went to the Blessed One and spoke to him. And the              
Blessed One promised that from that time forward he would not ordain        
any minor without the consent of his parents or guardians.                  
                                                                            
                                                                            
REGULATIONS                                                                 
                           THE REGULATIONS                                  
                                                                            
  LONG before the Blessed One had attained enlightenment,                   
self-mortification had been the custom among those who earnestly            
sought for salvation. Deliverance of the soul from all the                  
necessities of life and finally from the body itself, they regarded         
as the aim of religion. Thus, they avoided everything that might be         
a luxury in food, shelter, and clothing, and lived like the beasts in       
the woods. Some went naked, while others wore the rags cast away upon       
cemeteries or dung-heaps.                                                   
  When the Blessed One retired from the world, he recognized at once        
the error of the naked ascetics, and, considering the indecency of          
their habit, clad himself in cast-off rags.                                 
  Having attained enlightenment and rejected all unnecessary                
self-mortifications, the Blessed One and his bhikkhus continued for         
a long time to wear the cast-off rags of cemeteries and dung-heaps.         
Then it happened that the bhikkhus were visited with diseases of all        
kinds, and the Blessed One permitted and explicitly ordered the use         
of medicines, and among them he even enjoined, whenever needed, the         
use of unguents. One of the brethren suffered from a sore on his            
foot, and the Blessed One enjoined the bhikkhus to wear                     
foot-coverings.                                                             
  Now it happened that a disease befell the body of the Blessed One         
himself, and Ananda went to Jivaka, physician to Bimbisara, the             
king. And Jivaka, a faithful believer in the Holy One, ministered           
unto the Blessed One with medicines and baths until the body of the         
Blessed One was completely restored.                                        
  At that time, Pajjota, king of Ujjeni, was suffering from                 
jaundice, and Jivaka, the physician to king Bimbisara, was                  
consulted. When King Pajjota had been restored to health, he sent to        
Jivaka a suit of the most excellent cloth. And Jivaka said to               
himself: "This suit is made of the best cloth, and nobody is worthy         
to receive it but the Blessed One, the perfect and holy Buddha, or          
the Magadha king, Senija Bimbisara."                                        
  Then Jivaka took that suit and went to the place where the Blessed        
One was; having approached him, and having respectfully saluted the         
Blessed One, he sat down near him and said: "Lord, I have a boon to         
ask of the Blessed One." The Buddha replied: "The Tathagatas,               
Jivaka, do not grant boons before they know what they are."                 
  Jivaka said: "Lord, it is a proper and unobjectionable request."          
  "Speak, Jivaka," said the Blessed One.                                    
  "Lord of the world, the Blessed One wears only robes made of rags         
taken from a dung-heap or a cemetery, and so also does the                  
brotherhood of bhikkhus. Now, Lord, this suit has been sent to me by        
King Pajjota, which is the best and most excellent, and the finest          
and the most precious, and the noblest that can be found. Lord of the       
world, may the Blessed One accept from me this suit, and may he allow       
the brotherhood of bhikkhus to wear lay robes."                             
  The Blessed One accepted the suit, and after having delivered a           
religious discourse, he addressed the bhikkhus thus: "Henceforth ye         
shall be at liberty to wear either cast-off rags or lay robes.              
Whether ye are pleased with the one or with the other, I will approve       
of it."                                                                     
  When the people at Rajagaha heard, "The Blessed One has allowed the       
bhikkhus to wear lay robes," those who were willing to bestow gifts         
became glad. And in one day many thousands of robes were presented          
at Rajagaha to the bhikkhus.                                                
                                                                            
                                                                            

                      SUDDHODANA ATTAINS NIRVANA                            
                                                                            
  WHEN Suddhodana had grown old, he fell sick and sent for his son to       
come and see him once more before he died; and the Blessed One came         
and stayed at the sick-bed, and Suddhodana, having attained perfect         
enlightenment, died in the arms of the Blessed One.                         
  And it is said that the Blessed One, for the sake of preaching to         
his mother Maya-devi, ascended to heaven and dwelt with the devas.          
Having concluded his pious mission, he returned to the earth and            
went about again, converting those who listened to his teachings.           
                                                                            
                                                                            

                         WOMEN IN THE SANGHA                                
                                                                            
  YASODHARA had three times requested of the Buddha that she might          
be admitted to the Sangha, but her wish had not been granted. Now           
Pajapati, the foster-mother of the Blessed One, in the company of           
Yasodhara, and many other women, went to the Tathagata entreating           
him earnestly to let them take the vows and be ordained as disciples.       
  The Blessed One, foreseeing the danger that lurked in admitting           
women to the Sangha, protested that while the good religion ought           
surely to last a thousand years it would, when women joined it,             
likely decay after five hundred years; but observing the zeal of            
Pajapati and Yasodhara for leading a religious life he could no             
longer resist and assented to have them admitted as his disciples.          
  Then the venerable Ananda addressed the Blessed One thus: "Are            
women competent, venerable Lord, if they retire from household life         
to the homeless state, under the doctrine and discipline announced by       
the Tathagata, to attain to the fruit of conversion, to attain to a         
release from a wearisome repetition of rebirths, to attain to               
saintship?"                                                                 
  The Blessed One declared: "Women are competent, Ananda, if they           
retire from household life to the homeless state, under the doctrine        
and discipline announced by the Tathagata, to attain to thefruit of         
conversion, to attain to a release from a wearisome repetition of           
rebirths, to attain to saintship.                                           
  "Consider, Ananda, how great a benefactress Pajapati has been. She        
is the sister of the mother of the Blessed One, and as foster-mother        
and nurse, reared the Blessed One after the death of his mother. So,        
Ananda, women may retire from household life to the homeless state,         
under the doctrine and discipline announced by the Tathagata."              
  Pajapati was the first woman to become a disciple of the Buddha           
and to receive the ordination as a bhikkhuni.                               
                                                                            
                                                                            

                       ON CONDUCT TOWARD WOMEN                              
                                                                            
  THE bhikkhus came to the Blessed One and asked him: "O Tathagata,         
our Lord and Master, what conduct toward women dost thou prescribe          
to the samanas who have left the world?"                                    
  The Blessed One said: "Guard against looking on a woman. If ye see        
a woman, let it be as though ye saw her not, and have no conversation       
with her. If, after all, ye must speak with her, let it be with a           
pure heart, and think to yourself, 'I as a samana will live in this         
sinful world as the spotless leaf of the lotus, unsoiled by the mud         
in which it grows.'                                                         
  "If the woman be old, regard her as your mother, if young, as your        
sister, if very young, as your child. The samana who looks on a             
woman as a woman, or touches her as a woman, has broken his vow and         
is no longer a disciple of the Tathagata. The power of lust is great        
with men, and is to be feared withal; take then the bow of earnest          
perseverance, and the sharp arrow-points of wisdom. Cover your heads        
with the helmet of right thought, and fight with fixed resolve              
against the five desires. Lust beclouds a man's heart, when it is           
confused with woman's beauty, and the mind is dazed.                        
  "Better far with red-hot irons bore out both your eyes, than              
encourage in yourself sensual thoughts, or look upon a woman's form         
with lustful desires. Better fall into the fierce tiger's mouth, or         
under the sharp knife of the executioner, than dwell with a woman           
and excite in yourself lustful thoughts.                                    
  "A woman of the world is anxious to exhibit her form and shape,           
whether walking, standing, sitting, or sleeping. Even when                  
represented as a picture, she desires to captivate with the charms of       
her beauty, and thus to rob men of their steadfast heart. How then          
ought ye to guard yourselves? By regarding her tears and her smiles         
as enemies, her stooping form, her hanging arms, and her disentangled       
hair as toils designed to entrap man's heart. Therefore, I say,             
restrain the heart, give it no unbridled license."                          
                                                                            
                                                                            

                        VISAKHA AND HER GIFTS                               
                                                                            
  VISAKHA, a wealthy woman in Savatthi who had many children and            
grandchildren, had given to the order the Pubbarama or Eastern              
Garden, and was the first in Northern Kosala to become a matron of          
the lay sisters.                                                            
  When the Blessed One stayed at Savatthi, Visakha went up to the           
place where the Blessed One was, and tendered him an invitation to          
take his meal at her house, which the Blessed One accepted. And a           
heavy rain fell during the night and the next morning; and the              
bhikkhus doffed their robes to keep them dry and let the rain fall          
upon their bodies.                                                          
  When on the next day the Blessed One had finished his meal, she           
took her seat at his side and spoke thus: "Eight are the boons, Lord,       
which I beg of the Blessed One."                                            
  Said the Blessed One: "The Tathagatas, O Visakha, grant no boons          
until they know what they are." Visakha replied: "Befitting, Lord,          
and unobjectionable are the boons I ask."                                   
  Having received permission to make known her requests, Visakha            
said: "I desire, Lord, through all my life long to bestow robes for         
the rainy season on the Sangha, and food for incoming bhikkhus, and         
food for outgoing bhikkhus, and food for the sick, and food for those       
who wait upon the sick, and medicine for the sick, and a constant           
supply of rice-milk for the Sangha, and bathing robes for the               
bhikkhunis, the sisters."                                                   
  Said the Buddha: "But what circumstance is it, O Visakha, that thou       
hast in view in asking these eight boons of the Tathagata?"                 
  Visakha replied: "I gave command, Lord, to my maidservant, saying,        
'Go, and announce to the brotherhood that the meal is ready.' And           
the maid went, but when she came to the vihara, she observed that           
the bhikkhus had doffed their robes while it was raining, and she           
thought: 'These are not bhikkhus, but naked ascetics letting the            
rain fall on them.' So she returned to me and reported accordingly,         
and I had to send her a second time. Impure, Lord, is nakedness, and        
revolting. It was this circumstance, Lord, that I had in view in            
desiring to provide the Sangha my life long with special garments           
for use in the rainy season.                                                
  "As to my second wish, Lord, an incoming bhikkhu, not being able          
to take the direct roads, and not knowing the place where food can          
be procured, comes on his way tired out by seeking for alms. It was         
this circumstance, Lord, that I had in view in desiring to provide          
the Sangha my life long with food for incoming bhikkhus. Thirdly,           
Lord, an outgoing bhikkhu, while seeking about for alms, may be left        
behind, or may arrive too late at the place whither he desires to go,       
and will set out on the road in weariness.                                  
  "Fourthly, Lord, if a sick bhikkhu does not obtain suitable food,         
his sickness may increase upon him, and he may die. Fifthly, Lord, a        
bhikkhu who is waiting upon the sick will lose his opportunity of           
going out to seek food for himself. Sixthly, Lord, if a sick bhikkhu        
does not obtain suitable medicines, his sickness may increase upon          
him, and he may die.                                                        
  "Seventhly, Lord, I have heard that the Blessed One has praised           
rice-milk, because it gives readiness of mind, dispels hunger and           
thirst; it is wholesome for the healthy as nourishment, and for the         
sick as a medicine. Therefore I desire to provide the Sangha my life        
long with a constant supply of rice-milk.                                   
  "Finally, Lord, the bhikkhunis are in the habit of bathing in the         
river Achiravati with the courtesans, at the same landing-place, and        
naked. And the courtesans, Lord, ridicule the bhikkhunis, saying,           
'What is the good, ladies, of your maintaining chastity when you are        
young? When you are old, maintain chastity then; thus will you              
obtain both worldly pleasure and religious consolation.' Impure,            
Lord, is nakedness for a woman, disgusting, and revolting. These are        
the circumstances, Lord, that I had in view."                               
  The Blessed One said: "But what was the advantage you had in view         
for yourself, O Visakha, in asking the eight boons of the                   
Tathagatha?"                                                                
  Visakha replied: "Bhikkhus who have spent the rainy seasons in            
various places will come, Lord, to Savatthi to visit the Blessed One.       
And on coming to the Blessed One they will ask, saying: 'Such and           
such a bhikkhu, Lord, has died. What, now, is his destiny?' Then will       
the Blessed One explain that he has attained the fruits of                  
conversion; that he has attained arahatship or has entered Nirvana,         
as the case may be.                                                         
  "And I, going up to them, will ask, 'Was that brother, Sirs, one          
of those who had formerly, been at Savatthi?' If they reply to me,          
'He has formerly been at Savatthi, then shall I arrive at the               
conclusion, 'For a certainty did that brother enjoy either the robes        
for the rainy season, or the food for the incoming bhikkhus, or the         
food for the outgoing bhikkhus, or the food for the sick, or the food       
for those that wait upon the sick, or the medicine for the sick, or         
the constant supply of rice-milk.'                                          
  "Then will gladness spring up within me; thus gladdened, joy will         
come to me; and so rejoicing all my mind will be at peace. Being            
thus at peace I shall experience a blissful feeling of content; and         
in that bliss my heart will be at rest. That will be to me an               
exercise of my moral sense, an exercise of my moral powers, an              
exercise of the seven kinds of wisdom! This, Lord, was the advantage        
I had in view for myself in asking those eight boons of the Blessed         
One."                                                                       
  The Blessed One said: "It is well, it is well, Visakha. Thou hast         
done well in asking these eight boons of the Tathagata with such            
advantages in view. Charity bestowed upon those who are worthy of it        
is like good seed sown on a good soil that yields an abundance of           
fruits. But alms given to those who are yet under the tyrannical            
yoke of the passions are like seed deposited in a bad soil. The             
passions of the receiver of the alms choke, as it were, the growth          
of merits."                                                                 
  And the Blessed One gave this thanks to Visakha:                          
                                                                            
               "O noble woman of an upright life,                           
               Disciple of the Blessed One, thou givest                     
               Unstintedly in purity of heart.                              
                                                                            
               "Thou spreadest joy, assuagest pain,                         
               And verily thy gift will be a blessing                       
               As well to many others as to thee."                          
                                                                            
                                                                            

                     THE UPOSATHA AND PATIMOKKHA                            
                                                                            
  WHEN Seniya Bimbisara, the king of Magadha, was advanced in years,        
he retired from the world and led a religious life. He observed that        
there were Brahmanical sects in Rajagaha keeping sacred certain             
days, and the people went to their meeting-houses and listened to           
their sermons. Concerning the need of keeping regular days for              
retirement from worldly labors and religious instruction, the king          
went to the Blessed One and said: "The Parivrajaka, who belong to the       
Titthiya school, prosper and gain adherents because they keep the           
eighth day and also the fourteenth or fifteenth day of each                 
half-month. Would it not be advisable for the reverend brethren of          
the Sangha also to assemble on days duly appointed for that purpose?"       
  The Blessed One commanded the bhikkhus to assemble on the eighth          
day and also on the fourteenth or fifteenth day of each half-month,         
and to devote these days to religious exercises.                            
  A bhikkhu duly appointed should address the congregation and              
expound the Dharma. He should exhort the people to walk in the              
eightfold path of righteousness; he should comfort them in the              
vicissitudes of life and gladden them with the bliss of the fruit of        
good deeds. Thus the brethren should keep the Uposatha. Now the             
bhikkhus, in obedience to the rule laid down by the Blessed One,            
assembled in the vihara on the day appointed, and the people went to        
hear the Dharma, but they were greatly disappointed, for the bhikkhus       
remained silent and delivered no discourse.                                 
  When the Blessed One heard of it, he ordered the bhikkhus to              
recite the Patimokkha, which is a ceremony of disburdening the              
conscience; and he commanded them to make confession of their               
trespasses so as to receive the absolution of the order. A fault, if        
there be one, should be confessed by the bhikkhu who remembers it           
and desires to be cleansed, for a fault, when confessed, shall be           
light on him.                                                               
  And the Blessed One said: "The Patimokkha must be recited in this         
way: Let a competent and venerable bhikkhu make the following               
proclamation to the Sangha: 'May the Sangha hear me! Today is               
Uposatha, the eighth, or the fourteenth or fifteenth day of the             
half-month. If the Sangha is ready, let the Sangha hold the Uposatha        
service and recite the Patimokkha. I will recite the Patimokkha.' And       
the bhikkhus shall reply: 'We hear it well and we concentrate well          
our minds on it, all of us.' Then the officiating bhikkhu shall             
continue: 'Let him who has committed an offense confess it; if there        
be no offense, let all remain silent; from your being silent I shall        
understand that the reverend brethren are free from offenses. As a          
single person who has been asked a question answers it, so also, if         
before an assembly like this a question is solemnly proclaimed three        
times, an answer is expected: if a bhikkhu, after a threefold               
proclamation, does not confess an existing offense which he                 
remembers, he commits an intentional falsehood. Now, reverend               
brethren, an intentional falsehood has been declared an impediment by       
the Blessed One. Therefore, if an offense has been committed by a           
bhikkhu who remembers it and desires to become pure, the offense            
should be confessed by the bhikkhu; and when it has been confessed,         
it is treated duly.'"                                                       
                                                                            
                                                                            
SCHISM                                                                      
                              THE SCHISM                                    
                                                                            
  WHILE the Blessed One dwelt at Kosambi, a certain bhikkhu was             
accused of having committed an offense, and, as he refused to               
acknowledge it, the brotherhood pronounced against him the sentence         
of expulsion.                                                               
  Now, that bhikkhu was erudite. He knew the Dharma, had studied the        
rules of the order, and was wise, learned, intelligent, modest,             
conscientious, and ready to submit himself to discipline. And he            
went to his companions and friends among the bhikkhus, saying: "This        
is no offense, friends; this is no reason for a sentence of                 
expulsion. I am not guilty. The verdict improper and invalid.               
Therefore I consider myself still as a member of the order. May the         
venerable brethren assist me in maintaining my right."                      
  Those who sided with the expelled brother went to the bhikkhus who        
had pronounced the sentence, saying: "This is no offense"; while the        
bhikkhus who had pronounced the sentence replied: "This is an               
offense." Thus altercations and quarrels arose, and the Sangha was          
divided into two parties, reviling and slandering each other.               
  All these happenings were reported to the Blessed One. Then the           
Blessed One went to the place where the bhikkhus were who had               
pronounced the sentence of expulsion, and said to them: "Do not             
think, O bhikkhus, that you are to pronounce expulsion against a            
bhikkhu, whatever be the facts of the case, simply by saying: 'It           
occurs to us that it is so, and therefore we are pleased to proceed         
thus against our brother.' Let those bhikkhus who frivolously               
pronounce a sentence against a brother who knows the Dharma and the         
rules of the order, who is learned, wise, intelligent, modest,              
conscientious, and ready to submit himself to discipline, stand in          
awe of causing divisions. They must not pronounce a sentence of             
expulsion against a brother merely because he refuses to see his            
offense."                                                                   
  Then the Blessed One rose and went to the brethren who sided with         
the expelled brother and said to them: "Do not think, O bhikkhus,           
that if you have given offense you need not atone for it, thinking:         
'We are without offense.' When a bhikkhu has committed an offense,          
which he considers no offense while the brotherhood consider him            
guilty, he should think: 'These brethren know the Dharma and the            
rules of the order; they are learned, wise, intelligent, modest,            
conscientious, and ready to submit themselves to discipline; it is          
impossible that they should on my account act with selfishness or in        
malice or in delusion or in fear.' Let him stand in awe of causing          
divisions, and rather acknowledge his offense on the authority of his       
brethren."                                                                  
  Both parties continued to keep Uposatha and perform official acts         
independently of one another; and when their doings were related to         
the Blessed One, he ruled that the keeping of Uposatha and the              
performance of official acts were lawful, unobjectionable, and valid        
for both parties. For he said: "The bhikkhus who side with the              
expelled brother form a different communion from those who pronounced       
the sentence. There are venerable brethren in both parties. As they         
do not agree, let them keep Uposatha and perform official acts              
separately."                                                                
  And the Blessed One reprimanded the quarrelsome bhikkhus, saying          
to them: "Loud is the voice which worldings make; but how can they          
be blamed when divisions arise also in the Sangha? Hatred is not            
appeased in those who think: 'He has reviled me, he has wronged me,         
he has injured me.' For not by hatred is hatred appeased. Hatred is         
appeased by not-hatred. This is an eternal law.                             
  "There are some who do not know the need of self-restraint; if            
they are quarrelsome we may excuse their behavior. But those who            
know better, should learn to live in concord. If a man finds a wise         
friend who lives righteously and is constant in his character, he           
may live with him, overcoming all dangers, happy and mindful.               
  "But if he finds not a friend who lives righteously and is                
constant in his character, let him rather walk alone, like a king           
who leaves his empire and the cares of government behind him to lead        
a life of retirement like a lonely elephant in the forest. With fools       
there is no companionship. Rather than to live with men who are             
selfish, vain, quarrelsome, and obstinate let a man walk alone."            
  And the Blessed One thought to himself: "It is no easy task to            
instruct these headstrong and infatuate fools." And he rose from his        
seat and went away.                                                         
                                                                            
                                                                            

                   THE RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF CONCORD                          
                                                                            
  WHILST the dispute between the parties was not yet settled, the           
Blessed One left Kosambi, and wandering from place to place he came         
at last to Savatthi. In the absence of the Blessed One the quarrels         
grew worse, so that the lay devotees of Kosambi became annoyed and          
they said: "These quarrelsome monks are a great nuisance and will           
bring upon us misfortune. Worried by their altercations the Blessed         
One is gone, and has selected another abode for his residence. Let          
us, therefore, neither salute the bhikkhus nor support them. They are       
not worthy of wearing yellow robes, and must either propitiate the          
Blessed One, or return to the world."                                       
  And the bhikkhus of Kosambi, when no longer honored and no longer         
supported by the lay devotees, began to repent and said: "Let us go         
to the Blessed One and let him settle the question of our                   
disagreement." Both parties went to Savatthi to the Blessed One. And        
the venerable Sariputta, having heard of their arrival, addressed           
the Blessed One and said: "These contentious, disputatious, and             
quarrelsome bhikkhus of Kosambi, the authors of dissensions, have           
come to Savatthi. How am I to behave, O Lord, toward those bhikkhus."       
  "Do not reprove them, Sariputta," said the Blessed One, "for harsh        
words do not serve as a remedy and are pleasant to no one. Assign           
separate dwelling-places to each party and treat them with impartial        
justice. Listen with patience to both parties. He alone who weighs          
both sides is called a muni. When both parties have presented their         
case, let the Sangha come to an agreement and declare the                   
re-establishment of concord."                                               
  Pajapati, the matron, asked the Blessed One for advice, and the           
Blessed One said: "Let both parties enjoy the gifts of lay members,         
be they robes or food, as they may need, and let no one receive             
preference over any other."                                                 
  The venerable Upali, having approached the Blessed One, asked             
concerning the re-establishment of peace in the Sangha: "Would it be        
right, O Lord," said he, "that the Sangha, to avoid further                 
disputations, should declare the restoration of concord without             
inquiring into the matter of the quarrel?"                                  
  The Blessed One said: "If the Sangha declares the re-establishment        
of concord without having inquired into the matter, the declaration         
is neither right nor lawful. There are two ways of re-establishing          
concord; one is in the letter, and the other one is in the spirit           
and in the letter.                                                          
  "If the Sangha declares the re-establishment of concord without           
having inquired into the matter, the peace is concluded in the              
letter only. But if the Sangha, having inquired into the matter and         
having gone to the bottom of it, decides to declare the                     
re-establishment of concord, the peace is concluded in the spirit           
and also in the letter. The concord re-established in the spirit and        
in the letter is alone right and lawful."                                   
  And the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus and told them the story        
of Prince Dighavu, the Long-lived. He said: "In former times, there         
lived at Benares a powerful king whose name was Brahmadatta of Kasi;        
and he went to war against Dighiti, the Long-suffering, a king of           
Kosala, for he thought, 'The kingdom of Kosala is small and Dighiti         
will not be able to resist my armies.' And Dighiti, seeing that             
resistance was impossible against the great host of the king of Kasi,       
fled leaving his little kingdom in the hands of Brahmadatta; and            
having wandered from place to place, he came at last to Benares, and        
lived there with his consort in a potter's dwelling outside the town.       
  "The queen bore him a son and they called him Dighavu. When               
Dighavu had grown up, the king thought to himself: 'King Brahmadatta        
has done us great harm, and he is fearing our revenge; he will seek         
to kill us. Should he find us he will slay all three of us.' And he         
sent his son away, and Dighavu having received a good education from        
his father, applied himself diligently to learn all arts, becoming          
very skillful and wise.                                                     
  "At that time the barber of King Dighiti dwelt at Benares, and he         
saw the king, his former master, and being of an avaricious nature,         
betrayed him to King Brahmadatta. When Brahmadatta, the king of             
Kasi, heard that the fugitive king of Kosala and his queen, unknown         
and in disguise, were living a quiet life in a potter's dwelling, he        
ordered them to be bound and executed; and the sheriff to whom the          
order was given seized King Dighiti and led him to the place of             
execution.                                                                  
  "While the captive king was being led through the streets of              
Benares he saw his son who had returned to visit his parents, and,          
careful not to betray the presence of his son, yet anxious to               
communicate to him his last advice, he cried: 'O Dighavu, my son! Be        
not far-sighted, be not near-sighted, for not by hatred is hatred           
appeased; hatred is appeased by not-hatred only.'                           
  "The king and queen of Kosala were executed, but Dighavu their son        
bought strong wine and made the guards drunk. When the night arrived        
he laid the bodies of his parents upon a funeral pyre and burned            
them with all honors and religious rites. When King Brahmadatta             
heard of it, he became afraid, for he thought, 'Dighavu, the son of         
King Dighiti, is a wise youth and he will take revenge for the death        
of his parents. If he espies a favorable opportunity, he will               
assassinate me.'                                                            
  "Young Dighavu went to the forest and wept to his heart's content.        
Then he wiped his tears and returned to Benares. Hearing that               
assistants were wanted in the royal elephants' stable, he offered           
his services and was engaged by the master of the elephants. And it         
happened that the king heard a sweet voice ringing through the night        
and singing to the lute a beautiful song that gladdened his heart.          
And having inquired among his attendants who the singer might be, was       
told that the master of the elephants had in his service a young man        
of great accomplishments, and beloved by all his comrades. They said,       
'He is wont to sing to the lute, and he must have been the singer           
that gladdened the heart of the king.'                                      
  "The king summoned the young man before him and, being much               
pleased with Dighavu, gave him employment in the royal castle.              
Observing how wisely the youth acted, how modest he was and yet             
punctilious in the performance of his work, the king very soon gave         
him a position of trust. Now it came to pass that the king went             
hunting and became separated from his retinue, young Dighavu alone          
remaining with him. And the king worn out from the hunt laid his            
head in the lap of young Dighavu and slept.                                 
  "Dighavu thought: 'People will forgive great wrongs which they            
have suffered, but they will never be at ease about the wrong which         
they themselves have done. They will persecute their victims to the         
bitter end. This King Brahmadatta has done us great injury; he              
robbed us of our kingdom and slew my father and my mother. He is now        
in my power.' Thinking thus he unsheathed his sword. Then Dighavu           
thought of the last words of his father. 'Be not far-sighted, be not        
near-sighted. For not by hatred is hatred appeased. Hatred is               
appeased by not-hatred alone.' Thinking thus, he put his sword back         
into the sheath.                                                            
  "The king became restless in his sleep and he awoke, and when the         
youth asked, 'Why art thou frightened, O king?' he replied: 'My             
sleep is always restless because I often dream that young Dighavu is        
coming upon me with his sword. While I lay here with my head in thy         
lap I dreamed the dreadful dream again; and I awoke full of terror          
and alarm.' Then the youth, laying his left hand upon the defenseless       
king's head and with his right hand drawing his sword, said: 'I am          
Dighavu, the son of King Dighiti, whom thou hast robbed of his              
kingdom and slain together with his queen, my mother. I know that men       
overcome the hatred entertained for wrongs which they have suffered         
much more easily than for the wrongs which they have done, and so I         
cannot expect that thou wilt take pity on me; but now a chance for          
revenge has come to me.'                                                    
  "The king seeing that he was at the mercy of young Dighavu raised         
his hands and said: 'Grant me my life, my dear Dighavu, grant me my         
life. I shall be forever grateful to thee.' And Dighavu said without        
bitterness or ill-will: 'How can I grant thee thy life, O king,             
since my life is endangered by thee? I do not mean to take thy life.        
It is thou, O king, who must grant me my life.'                             
  "And the king said: 'Well, my dear Dighavu, then grant me my life,        
and I will grant thee thine.' Thus, King Brahmadatta of Kasi and            
young Dighavu granted each other's life and took each other's hand          
and swore an oath not to do any harm to each other.                         
  "Then King Brahmadatta of Kasi said to young Dighavu: 'Why did thy        
father say to thee in the hour of his death: "Be not far-sighted, be        
not near-sighted, for hatred is not appeased by hatred. Hatred is           
appeased by not-hatred alone,"- what did thy father mean by that?'          
  "The youth replied: 'When my father, O king, in the hour of his           
death said: "Be not far-sighted," he meant, Let not thy hatred go           
far. And when my father said, "Be not near-sighted," he meant, be not       
hasty to fall out with thy friends. And when he said, "For not by           
hatred is hatred appeased; hatred is appeased by not-hatred," he            
meant this: Thou hast killed my father and mother, O king, and if I         
should deprive thee of thy life, then thy partisans in turn would           
take away my life; my partisans again would deprive thine of their          
lives. Thus by hatred, hatred would not be appeased. But now, O king,       
thou hast granted me my life, and I have granted thee thine; thus by        
not-hatred hatred has been appeased.'                                       
  "Then King Brahmadatta of Kasi thought: 'How wise is young Dighavu        
that he understands in its full extent the meaning of what his              
father spoke concisely.' And the king gave him back his father's            
kingdom and gave him his daughter in marriage."                             
  Having finished the story, the Blessed One said: "Brethren, ye are        
my lawful sons in the faith, begotten by the words of my mouth.             
Children ought not to trample under foot the counsel given them by          
their father; do ye henceforth follow my admonitions." Then the             
bhikkhus met in conference; they discussed their differences in             
mutual good will, and the concord of the Sangha was re-established.         
                                                                            
                                                                            

                         THE BHIKKHUS REBUKED                               
                                                                            
  IT happened that the Blessed One walked up and down in the open           
air unshod. When the elders saw that the Blessed One walked unshod,         
they put away their shoes and did likewise. But the novices did not         
heed the example of their elders and kept their feet covered.               
  Some of the brethren noticed the irreverent behavior of the               
novices and told the Blessed One; and the Blessed One rebuked the           
novices and said: "If the brethren, even now, while I am yet living,        
show so little respect and courtesy to one another, what will they          
do when I have passed away?"                                                
  The Blessed One was filled with anxiety for the welfare of the            
truth; and he continued: "Even the laymen, O bhikkhus, who move in          
the world, pursuing some handicraft that they may procure them a            
living, will be respectful, affectionate, and hospitable to their           
teachers. Do ye, therefore, O bhikkhus, so let your light shine             
forth, that ye, having left the world and devoted your entire life to       
religion and to religious discipline, may observe the rules of              
decency, be respectful, affectionate, and hospitable to your teachers       
and superiors, or those who rank as your teachers and superiors. Your       
demeanor, O bhikkhus, does not conduce to the conversion of the             
unconverted and to the increase of the number of the faithful. It           
serves, O bhikkhus, to repel the unconverted and to estrange them. I        
exhort you to be more considerate in the future, more thoughtful and        
more respectful."                                                           
                                                                            
                                                                            

                      THE JEALOUSY OF DEVADATTA                             
                                                                            
  WHEN Devadatta, the son of Suprabuddha and a brother of Yasodhara,        
became a disciple, he cherished the hope of attaining the same              
distinctions and honors as Gotama Siddhattha. Being disappointed in         
his ambitions, he conceived in his heart a jealous hatred, and,             
attempting to excel the Perfect One in virtue, he found fault with          
his regulations and reproved them as too lenient.                           
  Devadatta went to Rajagaha and gained the ear of Ajatasattu, the          
son of King Bimbisara. And Ajatasattu built a new vihara for                
Devadatta, and founded a sect whose disciples were pledged to severe        
rules and self-mortification.                                               
  Soon afterwards the Blessed One himself came to Rajagaha and              
stayed at the Veluvana vihara. Devadatta called on the Blessed One,         
requesting him to sanction his rules of greater stringency, by which        
a greater holiness might be procured. "The body," he said, "consists        
of its thirty-two parts and has no divine attributes. It is conceived       
in sin and born in corruption. Its attributes are liability to pain         
and dissolution, for it is impermanent. It is the receptacle of             
karma which is the curse of our former existences; it is the                
dwelling-place of sin and diseases and its organs constantly                
discharge disgusting secretions. Its end is death and its goal the          
charnel house. Such being the condition of the body it behooves us to       
treat it as a carcass full of abomination and to clothe it in such          
rags only as have been gathered in cemeteries or upon dung-hills."          
  The Blessed One said: "Truly, the body is full of impurity and its        
end is the charnel house, for it is impermanent and destined to be          
dissolved into its elements. But being the receptacle of karma, it          
lies in our power to make it a vessel of truth and not of evil. It is       
not good to indulge in the pleasures of the body, but neither is it         
good to neglect our bodily needs and to heap filth upon impurities.         
The lamp that is not cleansed and not filled with oil will be               
extinguished, and a body that is unkempt, unwashed, and weakened by         
penance will not be a fit receptacle for the light of truth. Attend         
to your body and its needs as you would treat a wound which you care        
for without loving it. Severe rules will not lead the disciples on          
the middle path which I have taught. Certainly, no one can be               
prevented from keeping more stringent rules, if he sees fit to do so        
but they should not be imposed upon any one, for they are                   
unnecessary."                                                               
  Thus the Tathagata refused Devadatta's proposal; and Devadatta            
left the Buddha and went into the vihara speaking evil of the Lord's        
path of salvation as too lenient and altogether insufficient. When          
the Blessed One heard of Devadatta's intrigues, he said: "Among men         
there is no one who is not blamed. People blame him who sits silent         
and him who speaks, they also blame the man who preaches the middle         
path."                                                                      
  Devadatta instigated Ajatasattu to plot against his father                
Bimbisara, the king, so that the prince would no longer be subject          
to him. Bimbisara was imprisoned by his son in a tower, where he            
died, leaving the kingdom of Magadha to his son Ajatasattu.                 
  The new king listened to the evil advice of Devadatta, and he gave        
orders to take the life of the Tathagata. However, the murderers            
sent out to kill the Lord could not perform their wicked deed, and          
became converted as soon as they saw him and listened to his                
preaching. The rock hurled down from a precipice upon the great             
Master split in twain, and the two pieces passed by on either side          
without doing any harm. Nalagiri, the wild elephant let loose to            
destroy the Lord, became gentle in his presence; and Ajatasattu,            
suffering greatly from the pangs of his conscience, went to the             
Blessed One and sought peace in his distress.                               
  The Blessed One received Ajatasattu kindly and taught him the way         
of salvation; but Devadatta still tried to become the founder of a          
religious school of his own. Devadatta did not succeed in his plans         
and having been abandoned by many of his disciples, he fell sick,           
and then repented. He entreated those who had remained with him to          
carry his litter to the Buddha, saying: "Take me, children, take me         
to him; though I have done evil to him, I am his brother-in-law. For        
the sake of our relationship the Buddha will save me." And they             
obeyed, although reluctantly.                                               
  And Devadatta in his impatience to see the Blessed One rose from          
his litter while his carriers were washing their hands. But his feet        
burned under him; he sank to the ground; and, having chanted a hymn         
on the Buddha, died.                                                        
                                                                            
                                                                            

                            NAME AND FORM                                   
                                                                            
  ON one occasion the Blessed One entered the assembly hall and the         
brethren hushed their conversation. When they had greeted him with          
clasped hands, they sat down and became composed. Then the Blessed          
One said: "Your minds are inflamed with intense interest; what was          
the topic of your discussion?"                                              
  And Sariputta rose and spake: "World-honored master, we were              
discussing the nature of man's own existence. We were trying to grasp       
the mixture of our own being which is called Name and Form. Every           
human being consists of conformations, and there are three groups           
which are not corporeal. They are sensation, perception, and the            
dispositions; all three constitute consciousness and mind, being            
comprised under the term Name. And there are four elements, the             
earthy element, the watery element, the fiery element, and the              
gaseous element, and these four elements constitute man's bodily            
form, being held together so that this machine moves like a puppet.         
How does this name and form endure and how can it live?"                    
  Said the Blessed One: "Life is instantaneous and living is dying.         
Just as a chariot-wheel in rolling rolls only at one point of the           
tire, and in resting rests only at one point; in exactly the same           
way, the life of a living being lasts only for the period of one            
thought. As soon as that thought has ceased the being is said to have       
ceased. As it has been said:- 'The being of a past moment of thought        
has lived, but does not live, nor will it live. The being of a future       
moment of thought will live, but has not lived, nor does it live. The       
being of the present moment of thought does live, but has not lived,        
nor will it live.'                                                          
  "As to Name and Form we must understand how they interact. Name           
has no power of its own, nor can it go on of its own impulse, either        
to eat, or to drink, or to utter sounds, or to make a movement. Form        
also is without power and cannot go on of its own impulse. It has no        
desire to eat, or to drink, or to utter sounds, or to make a                
movement. But Form goes on when supported by Name, and Name when            
supported by Form. When Name has a desire to eat, or to drink, or to        
utter sounds, or to make a movement, then Form eats, drinks, utters         
sounds, makes a movement.                                                   
  "It is as if two men, the one blind from birth and the other a            
cripple, were desirous of going traveling, and the man blind from           
birth were to say to the cripple as follows: 'See here! I am able to        
use my legs, but I have no eyes with which to see the rough and the         
smooth places in the road.' And the cripple were to say to the man          
blind from birth as follows: 'See here! I am able to use my eyes,           
but I have no legs with which to go forward and back.' And the man          
blind ffom birth, pleased and delighted, were to mount the cripple          
on his shoulders. And the cripple sitting on the shoulders of the           
man blind from birth were to direct him, saying, 'Leave the left and        
go to the right; leave the right and go to the left.'                       
  "Here the man blind from birth is without power of his own, and           
weak, and cannot go of his own impulse or might. The cripple also is        
without power of his own, and weak, and cannot go of his own impulse        
or might. Yet when they mutually support one another it is not              
impossible for them to go. In exactly the same way Name is without          
power of its own, and cannot spring up of its own might, nor perform        
this or that action. Form also is without power of its own, and             
cannot spring up of its own might, nor perform this or that action.         
Yet when they mutually support one another it is not impossible for         
them to spring up and go on.                                                
  "There is no material that exists for the production of Name and          
Form; and when Name and Form cease, they do not go anywhither in            
space. After Name and Form have ceased, they do not exist anywhere,         
any more than there is heaped-up music material. When a lute is             
played upon, there is no previous store of sound; and when the music        
ceases it does not go anywhither in space. When it has ceased, it           
exists nowhere in a stored-up state. Having previously been                 
non-existent, it came into existence on account of the structure and        
stem of the lute and the exertions of the performer; and as it came         
into existence so it passes away. In exactly the same way, all the          
elements of being, both corporeal and non-corporeal come into               
existence after having previously been non-existent; and having come        
into existence pass away.                                                   
  "There is not a self residing in Name and Form, but the cooperation       
of the conformations produces what people call a man. Just as the           
word 'chariot' is but a mode of expression for axle, wheels, the            
chariot-body and other constituents in their proper combination, so a       
living being is the appearance of the groups with the four elements         
as they are joined in a unit. There is no self in the carriage and          
there is no self in man. O bhikkhus, this doctrine is sure and an           
eternal truth, that there is no self outside of its parts. This self        
of ours which constitutes Name and Form is a combination of the             
groups with the four elements, but there is no ego entity, no self in       
itself.                                                                     
  "Paradoxical though it may sound: There is a path to walk on, there       
is walking being done, but there is no traveler. There are deeds            
being done, but there is no doer. There is a blowing of the air, but        
there is no wind that does the blowing. The thought of self is an           
error and all existences are as hollow as the plantain tree and as          
empty as twirling water bubbles.                                            
  "Therefore, O bhikkhus, as there is no self, there is no                  
transmigration of a self; but there are deeds and the continued             
effect of deeds. There is a rebirth of karma; there is reincarnation.       
This rebirth, this reincarnation, this reappearance of the                  
conformations is continuous and depends on the law of cause and             
effect. Just as a seal is impressed upon the wax reproducing the            
configurations of its device, so the thoughts of men, their                 
characters, their aspirations are impressed upon others in continuous       
transference and continue their karma, and good deeds will continue         
in blessings while bad deeds will continue in curses.                       
  "There is no entity here that migrates, no self is transferred            
from one place to another; but there is a voice uttered here and            
the echo of it comes back. The teacher pronounces a stanza and the          
disciple who attentively listens to his teacher's instruction,              
repeats the stanza. Thus the stanza is reborn in the mind of the            
disciple. The body is a compound of perishable organs. It is subject        
to decay; and we should take care of it as of a wound or a sore; we         
should attend to its needs without being attached to it, or loving          
it. The body is like a machine, and there is no self in it that makes       
it walk or act, but the thoughts of it, as the windy elements, cause        
the machine to work. The body moves about like a cart. Therefore 'tis       
said:                                                                       
                                                                            
                "As ships are blown by wind on sails,                       
                As arrows fly from twanging bow,                            
                So, when the force of thought directs,                      
                The body, following, must go.                               
                                                                            
                "Just as machines are worked by ropes,                      
                So are the body's gear and groove;                          
                Obedient to the pull of mind,                               
                Our muscles and our members move.                           
                                                                            
                "No independent 'I' is here,                                
                But many gathered mobile forces;                            
                Our chariot is manned by mind,                              
                And our karma is our horses.                                
                                                                            
  "He only who utterly abandons all thought of the ego escapes the          
snares of the Evil One; he is out of the reach of Mara. Thus says           
the pleasure-promising tempter:                                             
                                                                            
                   "So long as to those things                              
                   Called 'mine' and 'I' and 'me'                           
                   Your hungry heart still clings-                          
                   My snares you cannot flee.                               
                                                                            
  "The faithful disciple replies:                                           
                                                                            
                   "Naught's mine and naught of me,                         
                   The self I do not mind!                                  
                   Thus Mara, I tell thee,                                  
                   My path thou canst not find.                             
                                                                            
  "Dismiss the error of the self and do not cling to possessions            
which are transient, but perform deeds that are good, for deeds are         
enduring and in deeds your karma continues.                                 
  "Since, then, O bhikkhus, there is no self, there can not be any          
after life of a self. Therefore abandon all thought of self. But            
since there are deeds and since deeds continue, be careful with your        
deeds. All beings have karma as their portion: they are heirs of            
their karma; they are sprung from their karma; their karma is their         
kinsman; their karma is their refuge; karma allots beings to meanness       
or to greatness.                                                            
                                                                            
              "Assailed by death in life's last throes                      
              On quitting all thy joys and woes                             
              What is thine own, thy recompense?                            
              What stays with thee when passing hence?                      
              What like a shadow follows thee                               
              And will Beyond thine heirloom be?                            
                                                                            
              "'Tis deeds, thy deeds, both good and bad;                    
              Naught else can after death be had.                           
              Thy deeds are thine, thy recompense;                          
              They are thine own when going hence;                          
              They like a shadow follow thee                                
              And will Beyond thine heirloom be.                            
                                                                            
              "Let all then here perform good deeds,                        
              For future weal a treasure store;                             
              There to reap crops from noble seeds,                         
              A bliss increasing evermore."                                 
                                                                            
                                                                            
GOAL                                                                        
                               THE GOAL                                     
                                                                            
  THE Blessed One thus addressed the bhikkhus: "It is through not           
understanding the four noble truths, O bhikkhus, that we had to             
wander so long in the weary path of samsara, both you and I.                
  "Through contact thought is born from sensation, and is reborn by         
a reproduction of its form. Starting from the simplest forms, the           
mind rises and falls according to deeds, but the aspirations of a           
Bodhisattva pursue the straight path of wisdom and righteousness,           
until they reach perfect enlightenment in the Buddha.                       
  "All creatures are what they are through the karma of their deeds         
done in former and in present existences.                                   
  "The rational nature of man is a spark of the true light; it is           
the first step on the upward road. But new births are required to           
insure an ascent to the summit of existence, the enlightenment of           
mind and heart, where the immeasurable light of moral comprehension         
is gained which is the source of all righteousness. Having attained         
this higher birth, I have found the truth and have taught you the           
noble path that leads to the city of peace. I have shown you the way        
to the lake of ambrosia, which washes away all evil desire. I have          
given you the refreshing drink called the perception of truth, and          
he who drinks of it becomes free from excitement, passion, and              
wrong-doing.                                                                
  "The very gods envy the bliss of him who has escaped from the             
floods of passion and has climbed the shores of Nirvana. His heart is       
cleansed from all defilement and free from all illusion. He is like         
unto the lotus which grows in the water, yet not a drop of water            
adheres to its petals. The man who walks in the noble path lives in         
the world, and yet his heart is not defiled by worldly desires.             
  "He who does not see the four noble truths, he who does not               
understand the three characteristics and has not grounded himself in        
the uncreate, has still a long path to traverse by repeated births          
through the desert of ignorance with its mirages of illusion and            
through the morass of wrong. But now that you have gained                   
comprehension, the cause of further migrations and aberrations is           
removed. The goal is reached. The craving of selfishness is                 
destroyed, and the truth is attained. This is true deliverance; this        
is salvation; this is heaven and the bliss of a life immortal."             
                                                                            
                                                                            

                          MIRACLES FORBIDDEN                                
                                                                            
  JOTIKKHA, the son of Subhadda, was a householder living in                
Rajagaha. Having received a precious bowl of sandalwood decorated           
with jewels, he erected a long pole before his house and put the bowl       
on its top with this legend: "Should a samana take this bowl down           
without using a ladder or a stick with a hook, or without climbing          
the pole, but by magic power, he shall receive as reward whatever he        
desires."                                                                   
  The people came to the Blessed One, full of wonder and their              
mouths overflowing with praise, saying: "Great is the Tathagata. His        
disciples perform miracles. Kassapa, the disciple of the Buddha, saw        
the bowl on Jotikkha's pole, and, stretching out his hand, he took          
it down, carrying it away in triumph to the vihara."                        
  When the Blessed One heard what had happened, he went to Kassapa,         
and, breaking the bowl to pieces, forbade his disciples to perform          
miracles of any kind.                                                       
  Soon after this it happened that in one of the rainy seasons many         
bhikkhus were staying in the Vajji territory during a famine. And           
one of the bhikkhus proposed to his brethren that they should praise        
one another to the householders of the village, saying: "This               
bhikkhu is a saint; he has seen celestial visions; and that bhikkhu         
possesses supernatural gifts; he can work miracles." And the                
villagers said: "It is lucky, very lucky for us, that such saints are       
spending the rainy season with us." And they gave willingly and             
abundantly, and the bhikkhus prospered and did not suffer from the          
famine.                                                                     
  When the Blessed One heard it, he told Ananda to call the bhikkhus        
together, and he asked them: "Tell me, O bhikkhus, when does a              
bhikkhu cease to be a bhikkhu?"                                             
  And Sariputta replied: "An ordained disciple must not commit any          
unchaste act. The disciple who commits an unchaste act is no longer         
a disciple of the Sakyamuni. Again, an ordained disciple must not           
take except what has been given him. The disciple who takes, be it so       
little as a penny's worth, is no longer a disciple of the Sakyamuni.        
And lastly, an ordained disciple must not knowingly and malignantly         
deprive any harmless creature of life, not even an earthworm or an          
ant. The disciple who knowingly and malignantly deprives any harmless       
creature of its life is no longer a disciple of the Sakyamuni. These        
are the three great prohibitions."                                          
  And the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus and said: "There is            
another great prohibition which I declare to you: An ordained               
disciple must not boast of any superhuman perfection. The disciple          
who with evil intent and from covetousness boasts of a superhuman           
perfection, be it celestial visions or miracles, is no longer a             
disciple of the Sakyamuni. I forbid you, O bhikkhus, to employ any          
spells or supplications, for they are useless, since the law of karma       
governs all things. He who attempts to perform miracles has not             
understood the doctrine of the Tathagata."                                  
                                                                            
                                                                            

                      THE VANITY OF WORLDLINESS                             
                                                                            
  THERE was a poet who had acquired the spotless eye of truth, and          
he believed in the Buddha, whose doctrine gave him peace of mind and        
comfort in the hour of affliction. It happened that an epidemic             
swept over the country in which he lived, so that many died, and the        
people were terrified. Some of them trembled with fright, and in            
anticipation of their fate were smitten with all the horrors of             
death before they died, while others began to be merry, shouting            
loudly, "Let us enjoy ourselves today, for we know not whether              
tomorrow we shall live"; yet was their laughter no genuine gladness,        
but a mere pretense and affectation.                                        
  Among all these worldly men and women trembling with anxiety, the         
Buddhist poet lived in the time of the pestilence, as usual, calm           
and undisturbed, helping wherever he could and ministering unto the         
sick, soothing their pains by medicine and religious consolation.           
And a man came to him and said:                                             
  "My heart is nervous and excited, for I see people die. I am not          
anxious about others, but I tremble because of myself. Help me; cure        
me of my fear."                                                             
  The poet replied: "There is help for him who has compassion on            
others, but there is no help for thee so long as thou clingest to           
thine own self alone. Hard times try the souls of men and teach them        
righteousness and charity. Canst thou witness these sad sights              
around thee and still be filled with selfishness? Canst thou see thy        
brothers, sisters, and friends suffer, yet not forget the petty             
cravings and lust of thine own heart?" Noticing the desolation in the       
mind of the pleasure-seeking man, the Buddhist poet composed this           
song and taught it to the brethren in the vihara:                           
                                                                            
  "Unless you take refuge in the Buddha and find rest in Nirvana,           
  Your life is but vanity- empty and desolate vanity.                       
  To see the world is idle, and to enjoy life is empty.                     
  The world, including man, is but like a phantom, and the hope of          
    heaven is as a mirage.                                                  
                                                                            
  "The worldling seeks pleasures, fattening himself like a caged            
    fowl,                                                                   
  But the Buddhist saint flies up to the sun like the wild                  
    crane.                                                                  
  The fowl in the coop has food but will soon be boiled in the pot;         
  No provisions are given to the wild crane, but the heavens and the        
    earth are his.                                                          
                                                                            
  The poet said: "The times are hard and teach the people a lesson;         
yet do they not heed it." And he composed another poem on the vanity        
of worldliness:                                                             
                                                                            
  "It is good to reform, and it is good to exhort people to reform.         
  The things of the world will all be swept away.                           
  Let others be busy and buried with care.                                  
  My mind all unvexed shall be pure.                                        
                                                                            
  "After pleasures they hanker and find no satisfaction;                    
  Riches they covet and can never have enough.                              
  They are like unto puppets held up by a string.                           
  When the string breaks they come down with a shock.                       
                                                                            
  "In the domain of death there are neither great nor small;                
  Neither gold nor silver is used, nor precious jewels.                     
  No distinction is made between the high and the low.                      
  And daily the dead are buried beneath the fragrant sod.                   
                                                                            
  "Look at the sun setting behind the western hills.                        
  You lie down to rest, but soon the cock will announce morn.               
  Reform today and do not wait until it be too late                         
  Do not say it is early, for the time quickly passes by.                   
                                                                            
  "It is good to reform and it is good to exhort people to reform.          
  It is good to lead a righteous life and take refuge in the Buddha's       
    name.                                                                   
  Your talents may reach to the skies, your wealth may be untold-           
  But all is in vain unless you attain the peace of Nirvana."               
                                                                            
                                                                            

                        SECRECY AND PUBLICITY                               
                                                                            
  THE Buddha said: "Three things, O disciples, are characterized by         
secrecy: love affairs, priestly wisdom, and all aberrations from the        
path of truth. Women who are in love, O disciples seek secrecy and          
shun publicity; priests who claim to be in possession of special            
revelation, O disciples, seek secrecy and shun publicity; all those         
who stray from the path of truth, O disciples, seek secrecy and shun        
publicity.                                                                  
  "Three things, O disciples, shine before the world and cannot be          
hidden. What are the three? The moon, O disciples, illumines the            
world and cannot be hidden; the sun, O disciples, illumines the world       
and cannot be hidden; and the truth proclaimed by the Tathagata             
illumines the world and cannot be hidden. These three things, O             
disciples, illumine the world and cannot be hidden. There is no             
secrecy about them."                                                        
                                                                            
                                                                            

                    THE ANNIHILATION OF SUFFERING                           
                                                                            
  THE Buddha said: "What, my friends, is evil? Killing is evil;             
stealing is evil; yielding to sexual passion is evil; lying is evil;        
slandering is evil; abuse is evil; gossip is evil; envy is evil;            
hatred is evil; to cling to false doctrine is evil; all these               
things, my friends, are evil.                                               
  "And what, my friends, is the root of evil? Desire is the root of         
evil; hatred is the root of evil; illusion is the root of evil;             
these things are the root of evil.                                          
  "What, however, is good? Abstaining from killing is good;                 
abstaining from theft is good; abstaining from sensuality is good;          
abstaining from falsehood is good; abstaining from slander is good;         
suppression of unkindness is good; abandoning gossip is good; letting       
go all envy is good; dismissing hatred is good; obedience to the            
truth is good; all these things are good.                                   
  "And what, my friend, is the root of the good? Freedom from desire        
is the root of the good; freedom from hatred and freedom from               
illusion; these things, my friends, are the root of the good.               
  "What, however, O brethren, is suffering? What is the origin of           
suffering? What is the annihilation of suffering? Birth is suffering;       
old age is suffering; disease is suffering; death is suffering;             
sorrow and misery are suffering; affliction and despair are                 
suffering; to be united with loathsome things is suffering; the loss        
of that which we love and the failure in attaining that which is            
longed for are suffering; all these things, O brethren, are                 
suffering.                                                                  
  "And what, O brethren, is the origin of suffering? It is lust,            
passion, and the thirst for existence that yearns for pleasure              
everywhere, leading to a continual rebirth! It is sensuality, desire,       
selfishness; all these things, O brethren, are the origin of                
suffering.                                                                  
  "And what is the annihilation of suffering? The radical and total         
annihilation of this thirst and the abandonment, the liberation, the        
deliverance from passion, that, O brethren, is the annihilation of          
suffering.                                                                  
  "And what, O brethren, is the path that leads to the annihilation         
of suffering? It is the holy eightfold path that leads to the               
annihilation of suffering, which consists of right views, right             
decision, right speech, right action, right living, right struggling,       
right thoughts, and right meditation.                                       
  "In so far, O friends, as a noble youth thus recognizes suffering         
and the origin of suffering, as he recognizes the annihilation of           
suffering, and walks on the path that leads to the annihilation of          
suffering, radically forsaking passion, subduing wrath, annihilating        
the vain conceit of the "I-am," leaving ignorance, and attaining to         
enlightenment, he will make an end of all suffering even in this            
life."                                                                      
                                                                            
                                                                            

                        AVOIDING THE TEN EVILS                              
                                                                            
  THE Buddha said: "All acts of living creatures become bad by ten          
things, and by avoiding the ten things they become good. There are          
three evils of the body, four evils of the tongue, and three evils          
of the mind.                                                                
  "The evils of the body are, murder, theft, and adultery; of the           
tongue, lying, slander, abuse, and idle talk; of the mind,                  
covetousness, hatred, and error.                                            
  "I exhort you to avoid the ten evils: 1. Kill not, but have regard        
for life. 2. Steal not, neither do ye rob; but help everybody to be         
master of the fruits of his labor. 3. Abstain from impurity, and            
lead a life of chastity. 4. Lie not, but be truthful. Speak the             
truth with discretion, fearlessly and in a loving heart. 5. Invent          
not evil reports, neither do ye repeat them. Carp not, but look for         
the good sides of your fellow-beings, so that ye may with sincerity         
defend them against their enemies. 6. Swear not, but speak decently         
and with dignity. 7. Waste not the time with gossip, but speak to the       
purpose or keep silence. 8. Covet not, nor envy, but rejoice at the         
fortunes of other people. 9. Cleanse your heart of malice and               
cherish no hatred, not even against your enemies; but embrace all           
living beings with kindness. 10. Free your mind of ignorance and be         
anxious to learn the truth, especially in the one thing that is             
needful, lest you fall a prey either to scepticism or to errors.            
Scepticism will make you indifferent and errors will lead you               
astray, so that you shall not find the noble path that leads to life        
eternal."                                                                   
                                                                            
                                                                            

                        THE PREACHER'S MISSION                              
                                                                            
  THE Blessed One said to his disciples: "When I have passed away           
and can no longer address you and edify your minds with religious           
discourse, select from among you men of good family and education to        
preach the truth in my stead. And let those men be invested with the        
robes of the Tathagata, let them enter into the abode of the                
Tathagata, and occupy the pulpit of the Tathagata.                          
  "The robe of the Tathagata is sublime forbearance and patience.           
The abode of the Tathagata is charity and love of all beings. The           
pulpit of the Tathagata is the comprehension of the good law in its         
abstract meaning as well as in its particular application.                  
  "The preacher must propound the truth with unshrinking mind. He           
must have the power of persuasion rooted in virtue and in strict            
fidelity to his vows. The preacher must keep in his proper sphere and       
be steady in his course. He must not flatter his vanity by seeking          
the company of the great, nor must he keep company with persons who         
are frivolous and immoral. When in temptation, he should constantly         
think of the Buddha and he will conquer. All who come to hear the           
doctrine, the preacher must receive with benevolence, and his sermon        
must be without invidiousness. The preacher must not be prone to            
carp at others, or to blame other preachers; nor speak scandal, nor         
propagate bitter words. He must not mention by name other disciples         
to vituperate them and reproach their demeanor.                             
  "Clad in a clean robe, dyed with good color, with appropriate             
undergarments, he must ascend the pulpit with a mind free from blame        
and at peace with the whole world. He must not take delight in              
quarrelous disputations or engage in controversies so as to show the        
superiority of his talents, but be calm and composed. No hostile            
feelings shall reside in his heart, and he must never abandon the           
disposition of charity toward all beings. His sole aim must be that         
all beings become Buddhas. Let the preacher apply himself with zeal         
to his work, and the Tathagata will show to him the body of the holy        
law in its transcendent glory. He shall be honored as one whom the          
Tathagata has blessed. The Tathagata blesses the preacher and also          
those who reverently listen to him and joyfully accept the doctrine.        
  "All those who receive the truth will find perfect enlightenment.         
And, verily, such is the power of the doctrine that even by the             
reading of a single stanza, or by reciting, copying, and keeping in         
mind a single sentence of the good law, persons may be converted to         
the truth and enter the path of righteousness which leads to                
deliverance from evil. Creatures that are swayed by impure passions,        
when they listen to the voice, will be purified. The ignorant who           
are infatuated with the follies of the world will, when pondering on        
the profundity of the doctrine, acquire wisdom. Those who act under         
the impulse of hatred will, when taking refuge in the Buddha, be            
filled with good-will and love.                                             
  "A preacher must be full of energy, and cheerful hope, never              
tiring and never despairing of final success. A preacher must be            
like a man in quest of water who digs a well in an arid tract of            
land. So long as he sees that the sand is dry and white, he knows           
that the water is still far off. But let him not be troubled or give        
up the task as hopeless. The work of removing the dry sand must be          
done so that he can dig down deeper into the ground. And often the          
deeper he has to dig, the cooler and purer and more refreshing will         
the water be. When after some time of digging he sees that the sand         
becomes moist, he accepts it as a token that the water is near. So          
long as the people do not listen to the words of truth, the preacher        
knows that he has to dig deeper into their hearts; but when they            
begin to heed his words he apprehends that they will soon attain            
enlightenment.                                                              
  "Into your hands, O you men of good family and education who take         
the vow of preaching the words of the Tathagata, the Blessed One            
transfers, intrusts, and commends the good law of truth. Receive the        
good law of truth, keep it, read and re-read it, fathom it, promulgate      
it, and preach it to all beings in all the quarters of the universe.        
  "The Tathagata is not avaricious, nor narrow-minded, and he is            
willing to impart the perfect Buddha-knowledge unto all who are             
ready and willing to receive it. Do you be like him. Imitate him and        
follow his example in bounteously giving, showing, and bestowing the        
truth. Gather round you hearers who love to listen to the benign and        
comforting words of the law; rouse the unbelievers to accept the truth      
and fill them with delight and joy. Quicken them, edify them, and lift      
them higher and higher until they see the truth face to face in all         
its splendor and infinite glory."                                           
  When the Blessed One had thus spoken, the disciples said: "O thou         
who rejoicest in kindness having its source in compassion, thou             
great cloud of good qualities and of benevolent mind, thou quenchest        
the fire that vexeth living beings, thou pourest out nectar, the            
rain of the law! We shall do, O Lord, what the Tathagata commands.          
We shall fulfill his behest; the Lord shall find us obedient to his         
words."                                                                     
  And this vow of the disciples resounded through the universe, and         
like an echo it came back from all the Bodhisattvas who are to be           
and will come to preach the good law of Truth to future generations.        
  And the Blessed One said: "The Tathagata is like unto a powerful          
king who rules his kingdom with righteousness, but being attacked by        
envious enemies goes out to wage war against his foes. When the king        
sees his soldiers fight he is delighted with their gallantry and            
will bestow upon them donations of all kinds. Ye are the soldiers of        
the Tathagata, while Mara, the Evil One, is the enemy who must be           
conquered. And the Tathagata will give to his soldiers the city of          
Nirvana, the great capital of the good law. And when the enemy is           
overcome, the Dharma-raja, the great king of truth, will bestow upon        
all his disciples the most precious crown, which jewel brings               
perfect enlightenment, supreme wisdom, and undisturbed peace."              
                                                                            
                                                                            
TEACHER                                                                     
                             THE TEACHER                                    
                                                                            
  THIS is the Dharmapada, the path of religion pursued by those who         
are followers of the Buddha:                                                
  Creatures from mind their character derive; mind-marshaled are they,      
mind-made. Mind is the source either of bliss or of corruption. By          
oneself evil is done; by oneself one suffers; by oneself evil is left       
undone; by oneself one is purified. Purity and impurity belong to           
oneself, no one can purify another. You yourself must make an effort.       
The Tathagatas are only preachers. The thoughtful who enter the way         
are freed from the bondage of Mara. He who does not rouse himself when      
it is time to rise; who, though young and strong, is full of sloth;         
whose will and thoughts are weak; that lazy and idle man will never         
find the way to enlightenment.                                              
  If a man hold himself dear, let him watch himself carefully; the          
truth guards him who guards himself. If a man makes himself as he           
teaches others to be, then, being himself subdued, he may subdue            
others; one's own self is indeed difficult to subdue. If some men           
conquer in battle a thousand times a thousand men, and if another           
conquer himself, he is the greatest of conquerors. It is the habit          
of fools, be they laymen or members of the clergy, to think, "this is       
done by me. May others be subject to me. In this or that transaction a      
prominent part should be played by me." Fools do not care for the duty      
to be performed or the aim to be reached, but think of themselves           
alone. Everything is but a pedestal of their vanity.                        
  Bad deeds, and deeds hurtful to ourselves, are easy to do; what is        
beneficial and good, that is very difficult. If anything is to be           
done, let a man do it, let him attack it vigorously!                        
  Before long, alas! this body will lie on the earth, despised,             
without understanding, like a useless log; yet our thoughts will            
endure. They will be thought again, and will produce action. Good           
thoughts will produce good actions, and bad thoughts will produce           
bad actions.                                                                
  Earnestness is the path of immortality, thoughtlessness the path          
of death. Those who are in earnest do not die; those who are                
thoughtless are as if dead already. Those who imagine they find             
truth in untruth, and see untruth in truth, will never arrive at            
truth, but follow vain desires. They who know truth in truth, and           
untruth in untruth, arrive at truth, and follow true desires. As            
rain breaks through an ill-thatched house, passion will break               
through an unreflecting mind. As rain does not break through a              
well-thatched house, passion will not break through a                       
well-reflecting mind. Well-makers lead the water wherever they like;        
fletchers bend the arrow; carpenters bend a log of wood; wise people        
fashion themselves; wise people falter not amidst blame and praise.         
Having listened to the law, they become serene, like a deep, smooth,        
and still lake.                                                             
  If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him as         
the wheel follows the foot of the ox that draws the wagon. An evil          
deed is better left undone, for a man will repent of it afterwards;         
a good deed is better done, for having done it one will not repent. If      
a man commits a wrong let him not do it again; let him not delight          
in wrongdoing; pain is the outcome of evil. If a man does what is           
good, let him do it again; let him delight in it; happiness is the          
outcome of good.                                                            
  Let no man think lightly of evil, saying in his heart, "It will not       
come nigh unto me." As by the falling of water-drops a water-pot is         
filled, so the fool becomes full of evil, though he gather it little        
by little. Let no man think lightly of good, saying in his heart, "It       
will not come nigh unto me." As by the falling of water-drops a             
water-pot is filled, so the wise man becomes full of good, though he        
gather it little by little.                                                 
  He who lives for pleasure only, his senses uncontrolled,                  
immoderate in his food, idle, and weak, him Mara, the tempter, will         
certainly overthrow, as the wind throws down a weak tree. He who lives      
without looking for pleasures, his senses well-controlled, moderate in      
his food, faithful and strong, him Mara will certainly not                  
overthrow, any more than the wind throws down a rocky mountain.             
  The fool who knows his foolishness, is wise at least so far. But a        
fool who thinks himself wise, he is a fool indeed. To the evil-doer         
wrong appears sweet as honey; he looks upon it as pleasant so long          
as it bears no fruit; but when its fruit ripens, then he looks upon it      
as wrong. And so the good man looks upon the goodness of the Dharma as      
a burden and an evil so long as it bears no fruit; but when its             
fruit ripens, then he sees its goodness.                                    
  A hater may do great harm to a hater, or an enemy to an enemy; but a      
wrongly-directed mind will do greater mischief unto itself. A               
mother, a father, or any other relative will do much good; but a            
well-directed mind will do greater service unto itself.                     
  He whose wickedness is very great brings himself down to that             
state where his enemy wishes him to be. He himself is his greatest          
enemy. Thus a creeper destroys the life of a tree on which it finds         
support.                                                                    
  Do not direct thy thought to what gives pleasure, that thou mayest        
not cry out when burning, "This is pain." The wicked man burns by           
his own deeds, as if burnt by fire. Pleasures destroy the foolish; the      
foolish man by his thirst for pleasures destroys himself as if he were      
his own enemy. The fields are damaged by hurricanes and weeds; mankind      
is damaged by passion, by hatred, by vanity, and by lust. Let no man        
ever take into consideration whether a thing is pleasant or                 
unpleasant. The love of pleasure begets grief and the dread of pain         
causes fear; he who is free from the love of pleasure and the dread of      
pain knows neither grief nor fear.                                          
  He who gives himself to vanity, and does not give himself to              
meditation, forgetting the real aim of life and grasping at                 
pleasure, will in time envy him who has exerted himself in meditation.      
The fault of others is easily noticed, but that of oneself is               
difficult to perceive. A man winnows his neighbor's faults like chaff,      
but his own fault he hides, as a cheat hides the false die from the         
gambler. If a man looks after the faults of others, and is always           
inclined to take offense, his own passions will grow, and he is far         
from the destruction of passions. Not about the perversities of             
others, not about their sins of commission or omission, but about           
his own misdeeds and negligences alone should a sage be worried.            
Good people shine from afar, like the snowy mountains; bad people           
are concealed, like arrows shot by night.                                   
  If a man by causing pain to others, wishes to obtain pleasure for         
himself, he, entangled in the bonds of selfishness, will never be free      
from hatred. Let a man overcome anger by love, let him overcome evil        
by good; let him overcome the greedy by liberality, the liar by truth!      
For hatred does not cease by hatred at any time; hatred ceases by           
not-hatred, this is an old rule.                                            
  Speak the truth, do not yield to anger; give, if thou art asked;          
by these three steps thou wilt become divine. Let a wise man blow           
off the impurities of his self, as a smith blows off the impurities of      
silver, one by one, little by little, and from time to time.                
  Lead others, not by violence, but by righteousness and equity. He         
who possesses virtue and intelligence, who is just, speaks the              
truth, and does what is his own business, him the world will hold           
dear. As the bee collects nectar and departs without injuring the           
flower, or its color or scent, so let a sage dwell in the community.        
  If a traveler does not meet with one who is his better, or his            
equal, let him firmly keep to his solitary journey; there is no             
companionship with fools. Long is the night to him who is awake;            
long is a mile to him who is tired; long is life to the foolish who do      
not know the true religion. Better than living a hundred years not          
seeing the highest truth, is one day in the life of a man who sees the      
highest truth.                                                              
  Some form their Dharma arbitrarily and fabricate it artificially;         
they advance complex speculations and imagine that good results are         
attainable only by the acceptance of their theories; yet the truth          
is but one; there are not different truths in the world. Having             
reflected on the various theories, we have gone into the yoke with him      
who has shaken off all sin. But shall we be able to proceed together        
with him?                                                                   
  The best of ways is the eightfold path. This is the path. There is        
no other that leads to the purifying of intelligence. Go on this path!      
Everything else is the deceit of Mara, the tempter. If you go on            
this path, you will make an end of pain! Says the Tathagata, The            
path was preached by me, when I had understood the removal of the           
thorn in the flesh.                                                         
  Not only by discipline and vows, not only by much learning, do I          
earn the happiness of release which no worldling can know. Bhikkhu, be      
not confident as long as thou hast not attained the extinction of           
thirst. The extinction of evil desire is the highest religion.              
  The gift of religion exceeds all gifts; the sweetness of religion         
exceeds all sweetness; the delight in religion exceeds all delights;        
the extinction of thirst overcomes all pain. Few are there among men        
who cross the river and reach the goal. The great multitudes are            
running up and down the shore; but there is no suffering for him who        
has finished his journey.                                                   
  As the lily will grow full of sweet perfume and delight upon a            
heap of rubbish, thus the disciple of the truly enlightened Buddha          
shines forth by his wisdom among those who are like rubbish, among the      
people that walk in darkness. Let us live happily then, not hating          
those who hate us! Among men who hate us let us dwell free from             
hatred!                                                                     
  Let us live happily then, free from all ailments among the ailing!        
Among men who are ailing let us dwell free from ailments! Let us            
live happily, then, free from greed among the greedy! Among men who         
are greedy let us dwell free from greed!                                    
  The sun is bright by day, the moon shines by night, the warrior is        
bright in his armor, thinkers are bright in their meditation; but           
among all, the brightest, with splendor day and night, is the Buddha,       
the Awakened, the Holy, Blessed.                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            

                           THE TWO BRAHMANS                                 
                                                                            
  AT one time when the Blessed One was journeying through Kosala he         
came to the Brahman village which is called Manasakata. There he            
stayed in a mango grove. And two young Brahmans came to him who were        
of different schools. One was named Vasettha and the other Bharadvaja.      
And Vasettha said to the Blessed One:                                       
  "We have a dispute as to the true path. I say the straight path           
which leads unto a union with Brahma is that which has been                 
announced by the Brahman Pokkharasati, while my friend says the             
straight path which leads unto a union with Brahma is that which has        
been announced by the Brahman Tarukkha. Now, regarding thy high             
reputation, O samana, and knowing that thou art called the Enlightened      
One, the teacher of men and gods, the Blessed Buddha, we have come          
to ask thee, are all these paths paths of salvation? There are many         
roads all around our village, and all lead to Manasakata. Is it just        
so with the paths of the sages? Are all paths paths to salvation, and       
do they all lead to a union with Brahma?                                    
  Then the Blessed One proposed these questions to the two Brahmans:        
"Do you think that all paths are right?" Both answered and said: "Yes,      
Gotama, we think so."                                                       
  "But tell me," continued the Buddha, "has any one of the Brahmans,        
versed in the Vedas, seen Brahma face to face?" "No sir!" was the           
reply.                                                                      
  "But, then," said the Blessed One, "has any teacher of the                
Brahmans, versed in the Vedas, seen Brahma face to face?" The two           
Brahmans said: "No, sir."                                                   
  "But, then," said the Blessed One, "has any one of the authors of         
the Vedas seen Brahma face to face?" Again the two Brahmans answered        
in the negative and exclaimed: "How can any one see Brahma or               
understand him, for the mortal cannot understand the immortal." And         
the Blessed One proposed an illustration, saying:                           
  "It is as if a man should make a staircase in the place where four        
roads cross, to mount up into a mansion. And people should ask him,         
'Where, good friends, is this mansion, to mount up into which you are       
making this staircase? Knowest thou whether it is in the east, or in        
the south, or in the west, or in the north? Whether it is high, or          
low, or of medium size?' And when so asked he should answer, 'I know        
it not.' And people should say to him, 'But, then, good friend, thou        
art making a staircase to mount up into something- taking it for a          
mansion- which all the while thou knowest not, neither hast thou seen       
it.' And when so asked he should answer, 'That is exactly what I do;        
yea I know that I cannot know it.' What would you think of him?             
Would you not say that the talk of that man was foolish talk?"              
  "In sooth, Gotama," said the two Brahmans, "it would be foolish           
talk!" The Blessed One continued: "Then the Brahmans should say, 'We        
show you the way unto a union with what we know not and what we have        
not seen.' This being the substance of Brahman lore, does it not            
follow that their task is vain?"                                            
  "It does follow," replied Bharadvaja.                                     
  Said the Blessed One: "Thus it is impossible that Brahmans versed in      
the three Vedas should be able to show the way to a state of union          
with that which they neither know nor have seen. Just as when a string      
of blind men are clinging one to the other. Neither can the foremost        
see, nor can those in the middle see, nor can the hindmost see. Even        
so, methinks the talk of the Brahmans versed in the three Vedas is but      
blind talk; it is ridiculous, consists of mere words, and is a vain         
and empty thing. Now suppose," added the Blessed One, "that a man           
should come hither to the bank of the river, and, having some business      
on the other side, should want to cross. Do you suppose that if he          
were to invoke the other bank of the river to come over to him on this      
side, the bank would come on account of his praying?"                       
  "Certainly not, Gotama."                                                  
  "Yet this is the way of the Brahmans. They omit the practice of           
those qualities which really make a man a Brahman, and say, 'Indra, we      
call upon thee; Soma, we call upon thee; Varuna, we call upon thee;         
Brahma, we call upon thee.' Verily, it is not possible that these           
Brahmans, on account of their invocations, prayers, and praises,            
should after death be united with Brahma.                                   
  "Now tell me," continued the Buddha, "what do the Brahmans say of         
Brahma? Is his mind full of lust?" And when the Brahmans denied             
this, the Buddha asked: "Is Brahma's mind full of malice, sloth, or         
pride?"                                                                     
  "No sir!" was the reply. "He is the opposite of all this."                
  And the Buddha went on: "But are the Brahmans free from these             
vices?" "No, sir!" said Vasettha.                                           
  The Holy One said: "The Brahmans cling to the five things leading to      
worldliness and yield to the temptations of the senses; they are            
entangled in the five hindrances, lust, malice, sloth, pride, and           
doubt. How can they be united to that which is most unlike their            
nature? Therefore the threefold wisdom of the Brahmans is a                 
waterless desert, a pathless jungle, and a hopeless desolation."            
  When the Buddha had thus spoken, one of the Brahmans said: "We are        
told, Gotama, that the Sakyamuni knows the path to a union with             
Brahma."                                                                    
  And the Blessed One said: "What do you think, O Brahmans, of a man        
born and brought up in Manasakata? Would he be in doubt about the most      
direct way from this spot to Manasakata?"                                   
  "Certainly not, Gotama."                                                  
  "Thus," replied the Buddha, "the Tathagata knows the straight path        
that leads to a union with Brahma. He knows it as one who has               
entered the world of Brahma and has been born in it. There can be no        
doubt in the Tathagata."                                                    
  The two young Brahmans said: "If thou knowest the way show it to          
us."                                                                        
  And the Buddha said: "The Tathagata sees the universe face to face        
and understands its nature. He proclaims the truth both in its              
letter and in its spirit, and his doctrine is glorious in its               
origin, glorious in its progress, glorious in its consummation. The         
Tathagata reveals the higher life in its purity and perfection. He can      
show you the way to that which is contrary to the five great                
hindrances. The Tathagata lets his mind pervade the four quarters of        
the world with thoughts of love. And thus the whole wide world, above,      
below, around, and everywhere will continue to be filled with love,         
far-reaching, grown great, and beyond measure. Just as a mighty             
trumpeter makes himself heard- and that without difficulty- in all the      
four quarters of the earth; even so is the coming of the Tathagata:         
there is not one living creature that the Tathagata passes by or            
leaves aside, but regards them all with mind set free, and deep-felt        
love.                                                                       
  "This is the sign that a man follows the right path: Uprightness          
is his delight, and he sees danger in the least of those things             
which he should avoid. He trains himself in the commands of                 
morality, he encompasseth himself with holiness in word and deed; he        
sustains his life by means that are quite pure; good is his conduct,        
guarded is the door of his senses; mindful and self-possessed, he is        
altogether happy. He who walks in the eightfold noble path with             
unswerving determination is sure to reach Nirvana. The Tathagata            
anxiously watches over his children and with loving care helps them to      
see the light.                                                              
  "When a hen has eight or ten or twelve eggs, over which she has           
properly brooded, the wish arises in her heart, 'O would that my            
little chickens would break open the egg-shell with their claws, or         
with their beaks, and come forth into the light in safety!' yet all         
the while those little chickens are sure to break the egg-shell and         
will come forth into the light in safety. Even so, a brother who            
with firm determination walks in the noble path is sure to come             
forth into the light, sure to reach up to the higher wisdom, sure to        
attain to the highest bliss of enlightenment."                              
                                                                            
                                                                            

                        GUARD THE SIX QUARTERS                              
                                                                            
  WHILE the Blessed One was staying at the bamboo grove near Rajagaha,      
he once met on his way Sigala, a householder, who, clasping his hands,      
turned to the four quarters of the world, to the zenith above, and          
to the nadir below. The Blessed One, knowing that this was done             
according to the traditional religious superstition to avert evil,          
asked Sigala: "Why performest thou these strange ceremonies?"               
  And Sigala in reply said: "Dost thou think it strange that I protect      
my home against the influences of demons? I know thou wouldst fain          
tell me, O Gotama Sakyamuni, whom people call the Tathagata and the         
Blessed Buddha, that incantations are of no avail and possess no            
saving power. But listen to me and know, that in performing this            
rite I honor, reverence, and keep sacred the words of my father."           
  Then the Tathagata said: Thou dost well, O Sigala, to honor,              
reverence, and keep sacred the words of thy father; and it is thy duty      
to protect thy home, thy wife, thy children, and thy children's             
children against the hurtful influences of evil spirits. I find no          
fault with the performance of thy father's rite. But I find that            
thou dost not understand the ceremony. Let the Tathagata, who now           
speaks to thee as a spiritual father and loves thee no less than did        
thy parents, explain to thee the meaning of the six directions.             
  "To guard thy home by mysterious ceremonies is not sufficient;            
thou must guard it by good deeds. Turn to thy parents in the East,          
to thy teachers in the South, to thy wife and children in the West, to      
thy friends in the North, and regulate the zenith of thy religious          
relations above thee, and the nadir of thy servants below thee. Such        
is the religion thy father wants thee to have, and the performance          
of the ceremony shall remind thee of thy duties."                           
  And Sigala looked up to the Blessed One with reverence as to his          
father and said: "Truly, Gotama, thou art the Buddha, the Blessed One,      
the holy teacher. I never knew what I was doing, but now I know.            
Thou hast revealed to me the truth that was hidden as one who bringeth      
a lamp into the darkness. I take my refuge in the Enlightened Teacher,      
in the truth that enlightens, and in the community of brethren who          
have been taught the truth."                                                
                                                                            
                                                                            

               SIMHA'S QUESTION CONCERNING ANNIHILATION                     
                                                                            
  AT that time many distinguished citizens were sitting together            
assembled in the town-hall and spoke in many ways in praise of the          
Buddha, of the Dharma, and of the Sangha. Simha, the general-in-chief,      
a disciple of the Niggantha sect, was sitting among them. And Simha         
thought: "Truly, the Blessed One must be the Buddha, the Holy One. I        
will go and visit him."                                                     
  Then Simha, the general, went to the place where the Niggantha            
chief, Nataputta, was; and having approached him, he said: "I wish,         
Lord, to visit the samana Gotama." Nataputta said: "Why should you,         
Simha, who believe in the result of actions according to their moral        
merit, go to visit the samana Gotama, who denies the result of              
actions? The samana Gotama, O Simha, denies the result of actions;          
he teaches the doctrine of non-action; and in this doctrine he              
trains his disciples."                                                      
  Then the desire to go and visit the Blessed One, which had risen          
in Simha, the general, abated. Hearing again the praise of the Buddha,      
of the Dharma, and of the Sangha, Simha asked the Niggantha chief a         
second time; and again Nataputta persuaded him not to go.                   
  When a third time the general heard some men of distinction extol         
the merits of the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha, the general           
thought: "Truly the samana Gotama must be the Holy Buddha. What are         
the Nigganthas to me, whether they give their consent or not? I             
shall go without asking their permission to visit him, the Blessed          
One, the Holy Buddha." And Simha, the general, said to the Blessed          
One: "I have heard, Lord, that the samana Gotama denies the result          
of actions; he teaches the doctrine of non-action, saying that the          
actions of sentient beings do not receive their reward, for he teaches      
annihilation and the contemptibleness of all things; and in this            
doctrine he trains his disciples. Teachest thou the doing away of           
the soul and the burning away of man's being? Pray tell me, Lord, do        
those who speak thus say the truth, or do they bear false witness           
against the Blessed One, passing off a spurious Dharma as thy Dharma?"      
  The Blessed One said: "There is a way, Simha, in which one who says       
so, is speaking truly of me; on the other hand, Simha, there is a           
way in which one who says the opposite is speaking truly of me, too.        
Listen, and I will tell thee: I teach, Simha, the not-doing of such         
actions as are unrighteous, either by deed, or by word, or by thought;      
I teach the not-bringing about of all those conditions of heart             
which are evil and not good. However, I teach, Simha, the doing of          
such actions as are righteous, by deed, by word, and by thought; I          
teach the bringing about of all those conditions of heart which are         
good and not evil.                                                          
  "I teach, Simha, that all the conditions of heart which are evil and      
not good, unrighteous action by deed, by word, and by thought, must be      
burnt away. He who has freed himself, Simha, from all those conditions      
of heart which are evil and not good, he who has destroyed them as a        
palm-tree which is rooted out, so that they cannot grow up again, such      
a man has accomplished the eradication of self.                             
  "I proclaim, Simha, the annihilation of egotism, of lust, of              
ill-will, of delusion. However, I do not proclaim the annihilation          
of forbearance, of love, of charity, and of truth. I deem, Simha,           
unrighteous actions contemptible, whether they be performed by deed,        
or by word, or by thought; but I deem virtue and righteousness              
praiseworthy."                                                              
  Simha said: "One doubt still lurks in my mind concerning the              
doctrine of the Blessed One. Will the Blessed One consent to clear the      
cloud away so that I may understand the Dharma as the Blessed One           
teaches it?"                                                                
  The Tathagata having given his consent, Simha continued: "I am a          
soldier, O Blessed One, and am appointed by the king to enforce his         
laws and to wage his wars. Does the Tathagata who teaches kindness          
without end and compassion with all sufferers, permit the punishment        
of the criminal? and further, does the Tathagata declare that it is         
wrong to go to war for the protection of our homes, our wives, our          
children, and our property? Does the Tathagata teach the doctrine of a      
complete self-surrender, so that I should suffer the evil-doer to do        
what he pleases and yield submissively to him who threatens to take by      
violence what is my own? Does the Tathagata maintain that all               
strife, including such warfare as is waged for a righteous cause,           
should be forbidden?"                                                       
  The Buddha replied: "He who deserves punishment must be punished,         
and he who is worthy of favor must be favored. Yet at the same time he      
teaches to do no injury to any living being but to be full of love and      
kindness. These injunctions are not contradictory, for whosoever            
must be punished for the crimes which he has committed, suffers his         
injury not through the ill-will of the judge but on account of his          
evil-doing. His own acts have brought upon him the injury that the          
executer of the law inflicts. When a magistrate punishes, let him           
not harbor hatred in his breast, yet a murderer, when put to death,         
should consider that this is the fruit of his own act. As soon as he        
will understand that the punishment will purify his soul, he will no        
longer lament his fate but rejoice at it."                                  
  The Blessed One continued: "The Tathagata teaches that all warfare        
in which man tries to slay his brother is lamentable, but he does           
not teach that those who go to war in a righteous cause after having        
exhausted all means to preserve the peace are blameworthy. He must          
be blamed who is the cause of war. The Tathagata teaches a complete         
surrender of self, but he does not teach a surrender of anything to         
those powers that are evil, be they men or gods or the elements of          
nature. Struggle must be, for all life is a struggle of some kind. But      
he that struggles should look to it lest he struggle in the interest        
of self against truth and righteousness.                                    
  "He who struggles in the interest of self, so that he himself may be      
great or powerful or rich or famous, will have no reward, but he who        
struggles for righteousness and truth, will have great reward, for          
even his defeat will be a victory. Self is not a fit vessel to receive      
any great success; self is small and brittle and its contents will          
soon be spilt for the benefit, and perhaps also for the curse, of           
others. Truth, however, is large enough to receive the yearnings and        
aspirations of all selves and when the selves break like soap-bubbles,      
their contents will be preserved and in the truth they will lead a          
life everlasting.                                                           
  "He who goeth to battle, O Simha, even though it be in a righteous        
cause, must be prepared to be slain by his enemies, for that is the         
destiny of warriors; and should his fate overtake him he has no reason      
for complaint. But he who is victorious should remember the                 
instability of earthly things. His success may be great, but be it          
ever so great the wheel of fortune may turn again and bring him down        
into the dust. However, if he moderates himself and, extinguishing all      
hatred in his heart lifts his down-trodden adversary up and says to         
him, 'Come now and make peace and let us be brothers,' he will gain a       
victory that is not a transient success, for its fruits will remain         
forever. Great is a successful general, O Simha, but he who has             
conquered self is the greater victor.                                       
  "The doctrine of the conquest of self, O Simha, is not taught to          
destroy the souls of men, but to preserve them. He who has conquered        
self is more fit to live, to be successful, and to gain victories than      
he who is the slave of self. He whose mind is free from the illusion        
of self, will stand and not fall in that battle of life. He whose           
intentions are righteousness and justice, will meet with no failure,        
but be successful in his enterprises and his success will endure. He        
who harbors in his heart love of truth will live and not die, for he        
has drunk the water of immortality. Struggle then, O general,               
courageously; and fight thy battles vigorously, but be a soldier of         
truth and the Tathagata will bless thee."                                   
  When the Blessed One had spoken thus, Simha, the general, said:           
"Glorious Lord, glorious Lord! Thou hast revealed the truth. Great          
is the doctrine of the Blessed One. Thou, indeed, art the Buddha,           
the Tathagata, the Holy One. Thou art the teacher of mankind. Thou          
showest us the road of salvation, for this indeed is true deliverance.      
He who follows thee will not miss the light to enlighten his path.          
He will find blessedness and peace. I take my refuge, Lord, in the          
Blessed One, and in his doctrine, and in his brotherhood. May the           
Blessed One receive me from this day forth while my life lasts as a         
disciple who has taken refuge in him."                                      
  The Blessed One said: "Consider first, Simha, what thou doest. It is      
becoming that persons of rank like thyself should do nothing without        
due consideration."                                                         
  Simha's faith in the Blessed One increased. He replied: "Had other        
teachers, Lord, succeeded in making me their disciple, they would           
carry around their banners through the whole city of Vesali, shouting:      
"Simha the general has become our disciple! For the second time, Lord,      
I take my refuge in the Blessed One, and in the Dharma, and in the          
Sangha; may the Blessed One receive me from this day forth while my         
life lasts as a disciple who has taken his refuge in him."                  
  Said the Blessed One: "For a long time, Simha, offerings have been        
given to the Nigganthas in thy house. Thou shouldst therefore deem          
it right also in the future to give them food when they come to thee        
on their alms-pilgrimage." And Simha's heart was filled with joy. He        
said: "I have been told, Lord: 'The samana Gotama says: To me alone         
and to nobody else should gifts be given. My pupils alone and the           
pupils of no one else should receive offerings.' But the Blessed One        
exhorts me to give also to the Nigganthas. Well, Lord, we shall see         
what is seasonable. For the third time, Lord, I take my refuge in           
the Blessed One, and in his Dharma, and in his fraternity."                 
                                                                            
                                                                            

                      ALL EXISTENCE IS SPIRITUAL                            
                                                                            
  THERE was an officer among the retinue of Simha who had heard of the      
discourses of the Blessed One, and there was some doubt left in his         
heart. This man came to the Blessed One and said: "It is said, O Lord,      
that the samana Gotama denies the existence of the soul. Do they who        
say so speak the truth, or do they bear false witness against the           
Blessed One?"                                                               
  And the Blessed One said: "There is a way in which those who say          
so are speaking truly of me; on the other hand, there is a way in           
which those who say so do not speak truly of me. The Tathagata teaches      
that there is no self. He who says that the soul is his self and            
that the self is the thinker of our thoughts and the actor of our           
deeds, teaches a wrong doctrine which leads to confusion and darkness.      
On the other hand, the Tathagata teaches that there is mind. He who         
understands by soul mind, and says that mind exists, teaches the truth      
which leads to clearness and enlightenment."                                
  The officer said: "Does, then, the Tathagata maintain that two            
things exist? that which we perceive with our senses and that which is      
mental?"                                                                    
  Said the Blessed One: "I say to thee, thy mind is spiritual, but          
neither is the sense-perceived void of spirituality. The bodhi is           
eternal and it dominates all existence as the good law guiding all          
beings in their search for truth. It changes brute nature into mind,        
and there is no being that cannot be transformed into a vessel of           
truth."                                                                     
                                                                            
                                                                            

                      IDENTITY AND NON-IDENTITY                             
                                                                            
  KUTADANTA, the head of the Brahmans in the village of Danamati,           
having approached the Blessed One respectfully, greeted him and             
said: "I am told, O samana, that thou art the Buddha, the Holy One,         
the All-knowing, the Lord of the world. But if thou wert the Buddha,        
wouldst thou not come like a king in all thy glory and power?" Said         
the Blessed One: "Thine eyes are holden. If the eye of thy mind were        
undimmed thou couldst see the glory and the power of truth."                
  Said Kutadanta: "Show me the truth and I shall see it. But thy            
doctrine is without consistency. If it were consistent, it would            
stand; but as it is not, it will pass away." The Blessed One                
replied: "The truth will never pass away."                                  
  Kutadanta said: "I am told that thou teachest the law, yet thou           
tearest down religion. Thy disciples despise rites and abandon              
immolation, but reverence for the gods can be shown only by                 
sacrifices. The very nature of religion consists in worship and             
sacrifice." Said the Buddha: "Greater than the immolation of                
bullocks is the sacrifice of self. He who offers to the gods his            
evil desires will see the uselessness of slaughtering animals at the        
altar. Blood has no cleansing power, but the eradication of lust            
will make the heart pure. Better than worshiping gods is obedience          
to the laws of righteousness."                                              
  Kutadanta, being of a religious disposition and anxious about his         
fate after death, had sacrificed countless victims. Now he saw the          
folly of atonement by blood. Not yet satisfied, however, with the           
teachings of the Tathagata, Kutadanta continued: "Thou believest, O         
Master, that beings are reborn; that they migrate in the evolution          
of life; and that subject to the law of karma we must reap what we          
sow. Yet thou teachest the non-existence of the soul! Thy disciples         
praise utter self-extinction as the highest bliss of Nirvana. If I          
am merely a combination of the sankharas, my existence will cease when      
I die. If I am merely a compound of sensations and ideas and                
desires, whither can I go at the dissolution of the body?"                  
  Said the Blessed One: "O Brahman, thou art religious and earnest.         
Thou art seriously concerned about thy soul. Yet is thy work in vain        
because thou art lacking in the one thing that is needful. There is         
rebirth of character, but no transmigration of a self. Thy                  
thought-forms reappear, but there is no ego-entity transferred. The         
stanza uttered by a teacher is reborn in the scholar who repeats the        
words.                                                                      
  "Only through ignorance and delusion do men indulge in the dream          
that their souls are separate and self-existent entities. Thy heart, O      
Brahman, is cleaving still to self; thou art anxious about heaven           
but thou seekest the pleasures of self in heaven, and thus thou             
canst not see the bliss of truth and the immortality of truth.              
  "I say to thee: The Blessed One has not come to teach death, but          
to teach life, and thou discernest not the nature of living and dying.      
This body will be dissolved and no amount of sacrifice will save it.        
Therefore, seek thou the life that is of the mind. Where self is,           
truth cannot be; yet when truth comes, self will disappear. Therefore,      
let thy mind rest in the truth; propagate the truth, put thy whole          
will in it, and let it spread. In the truth thou shalt live forever.        
Self is death and truth is life. The cleaving to self is a perpetual        
dying, while moving in the truth is partaking of Nirvana which is life      
everlasting."                                                               
  Then Kutadanta said: "Where, O venerable Master, is Nirvana?"             
"Nirvana is wherever the precepts are obeyed," replied the Blessed          
One.                                                                        
  "Do I understand thee aright," rejoined the Brahman, "that Nirvana        
is not a place, and being nowhere it is without reality?" "Thou dost        
not understand me aright," said the Blessed One, "Now listen and            
answer these questions: Where does the wind dwell?"                         
  "Nowhere," was the reply.                                                 
  Buddha retorted: "Then, sir, there is no such thing as wind."             
Kutadanta made no reply; and the Blessed One asked again: "Answer           
me, O Brahman, where does wisdom dwell? Is wisdom a locality?"              
  "Wisdom has no allotted dwelling-place," replied Kutadanta. Said the      
Blessed One: "Meanest thou that there is no wisdom, no                      
enlightenment, no righteousness, and no salvation, because Nirvana          
is not a locality? As a great and mighty wind which passeth over the        
world in the heat of the day, so the Tathagata comes to blow over           
the minds of mankind with the breath of his love, so cool, so sweet,        
so calm, so delicate; and those tormented by fever assuage their            
suffering and rejoice at the refreshing breeze."                            
  Said Kutadanta: "I feel, O Lord, that thou proclaimest a great            
doctrine, but I cannot grasp it. Forbear with me that I ask again:          
Tell me, O Lord, if there be no atman [soul], how can there be              
immortality? The activity of the mind passeth, and our thoughts are         
gone when we have done thinking."                                           
  Buddha replied: "Our thinking is gone, but our thoughts continue.         
Reasoning ceases, but knowledge remains." Said Kutadanta: "How is           
that? Are not reasoning and knowledge the same?"                            
  The Blessed One explained the distinction by an illustration: "It is      
as when a man wants, during the night, to send a letter, and, after         
having his clerk called, has a lamp lit, and gets the letter                
written. Then, when that has been done, he extinguishes the lamp.           
But though the writing has been finished and the light has been put         
out the letter is still there. Thus does reasoning cease and knowledge      
remain; and in the same way mental activity ceases, but experience,         
wisdom, and all the fruits of our acts endure."                             
  Kutadanta continued: "Tell me, O Lord, pray tell me, where, if the        
sankharas are dissolved, is the identity of my self. If my thoughts         
are propagated, and if my soul migrates, my thoughts cease to be my         
thoughts and my soul ceases to be my soul. Give me an illustration,         
but pray, O Lord, tell me, where is the identity of my self?"               
  Said the Blessed One: "Suppose a man were to light a lamp; would          
it burn the night through?" "Yes, it might do so," was the reply.           
  "Now, is it the same flame that burns in the first watch of the           
night as in the second?" Kutadanta hesitated. He thought "Yes, it is        
the same flame," but fearing the complications of a hidden meaning,         
and trying to be exact, he said: "No, it is not."                           
  "Then," continued the Blessed One, "there are two flames, one in the      
first watch and the other in the second watch." "No, sir," said             
Kutadanta. "In one sense it is not the same flame, but in another           
sense it is the same flame. It burns the same kind of oil, it emits         
the same kind of light, and it serves the same purpose."                    
  "Very well," said the Buddha, "and would you call those flames the        
same that have burned yesterday and are burning now in the same             
lamp, filled with the same kind of oil, illuminating the same room?"        
"They may have been extinguished during the day," suggested Kutadanta.      
  Said the Blessed One: "Suppose the flame of the first watch had been      
extinguished during the second watch, would you call it the same if it      
burns again in the third watch?" Replied Kutadanta: "In one sense it        
is a different flame, in another it is not."                                
  The Tathagata asked again: "Has the time that elapsed during the          
extinction of the flame anything to do with its identity or                 
non-identity?" "No, sir," said the Brahman, "it has not. There is a         
difference and an identity, whether many years elapsed or only one          
second, and also whether the lamp has been extinguished in the              
meantime or not."                                                           
  "Well, then, we agree that the flame of today is in a certain             
sense the same as the flame of yesterday, and in another sense it is        
different at every moment. Moreover, the flames of the same kind,           
illuminating with equal power the same kind of rooms, are in a certain      
sense the same." "Yes, sir," replied Kutadanta.                             
  The Blessed One continued: "Now, suppose there is a man who feels         
like thyself, thinks like thyself, and acts like thyself, is he not         
the same man as thou?" "No, sir," interrupted Kutadanta.                    
  Said the Buddha: "Dost thou deny that the same logic holds good           
for thyself that holds good for the things of the world?" Kutadanta         
bethought himself and rejoined slowly: "No, I do not. The same logic        
holds good universally; but there is a peculiarity about my self which      
renders it altogether different from everything else and also from          
other selves. There may be another man who feels exactly like me,           
thinks like me, and acts like me; suppose even he had the same name         
and the same kind of possessions, he would not be myself."                  
  "True, Kutadanta," answered Buddha, "he would not be thyself. Now,        
tell me, is the person who goes to school one, and that same person         
when he has finished his schooling another? Is it one who commits a         
crime, another who is punished by having his hands and feet cut             
off?" "They are the same," was the reply.                                   
  "Then sameness is constituted by continuity only?" asked the              
Tathagata. "Not only by continuity," said Kutadanta, "but also and          
mainly by identity of character."                                           
  "Very well," concluded the Buddha, "then thou agreest that persons        
can be the same, in the same sense as two flames of the same kind are       
called the same; and thou must recognize that in this sense another         
man of the same character and product of the same karma is the same as      
thou." "Well, I do," said the Brahman.                                      
  The Buddha continued: "And in this same sense alone art thou the          
same today as yesterday. Thy nature is not constituted by the matter        
of which thy body consists, but by thy sankharas, the forms of the          
body, of sensations, of thoughts. The person is the combination of the      
sankharas. Wherever they are, thou art. Whithersoever they go, thou         
goest. Thus thou wilt recognize in a certain sense an identity of           
thy self, and in another sense a difference. But he who does not            
recognize the identity should deny all identity, and should say that        
the questioner is no longer the same person as he who a minute after        
receives the answer. Now consider the continuation of thy personality,      
which is preserved in thy karma. Dost thou call it death and                
annihilation, or life and continued life?"                                  
  "I call it life and continued life," rejoined Kutadanta, "for it          
is the continuation of my existence, but I do not care for that kind        
of continuation. All I care for is the continuation of self in the          
other sense, which makes of every man, whether identical with me or         
not, an altogether different person."                                       
  "Very well," said Buddha. "This is what thou desirest and this is         
the cleaving to self. This is thy error. All compound things are            
transitory: they grow and they decay. All compound things are               
subject to pain: they will be separated from what they love and be          
joined to what they abhor. All compound things lack a self, an              
atman, an ego."                                                             
  "How is that?" asked Kutadanta. "Where is thy self?" asked the            
Buddha. And when Kutadanta made no reply, he continued: "Thy self to        
which thou cleavest is a constant change. Years ago thou wast a             
small babe; then, thou wast a boy; then a youth, and now, thou art a        
man. Is there any identity of the babe and the man? There is an             
identity in a certain sense only. Indeed there is more identity             
between the flames of the first and the third watch, even though the        
lamp might have been extinguished during the second watch. Now which        
is thy true self, that of yesterday, that of today, or that of              
tomorrow, for the preservation of which thou clamorest?" Kutadanta was      
bewildered. "Lord of the world," he said, "I see my error, but I am         
still confused."                                                            
  The Tathagata continued: "It is by a process of evolution that            
sankharas come to be. There is no sankhara which has sprung into being      
without a gradual becoming. Thy sankharas are the product of thy deeds      
in former existences. The combination of thy sankharas is thy self.         
Wheresoever they are impressed thither thy self migrates. In thy            
sankharas thou wilt continue to live and thou wilt reap in future           
existences the harvest sown now and in the past."                           
  "Verily, O Lord," rejoined Kutadanta, "this is not a fair                 
retribution. I cannot recognize the justice that others after me            
will reap what I am sowing now."                                            
  The Blessed One waited a moment and then replied: "Is all teaching        
in vain? Dost thou not understand that those others are thou thyself?       
Thou thyself wilt reap what thou sowest, not others. Think of a man         
who is ill-bred and destitute, suffering from the wretchedness of           
his condition. As a boy he was slothful and indolent, and when he grew      
up he had not learned a craft to earn a living. Wouldst thou say his        
misery is not the product of his own action, because the adult is no        
longer the same person as was the boy?                                      
  "I say to thee: Not in the heavens, not in the midst of the sea, not      
if thou hidest thyself away in the clefts of the mountains, wilt            
thou find a place where thou canst escape the fruit of thine evil           
actions. At the same time thou art sure to receive the blessings of         
thy good actions. To the man who has long been traveling and who            
returns home in safety, the welcome of kinfolk, friends, and                
acquaintances awaits. So, the fruits of his good works bid him welcome      
who has walked in the path of righteousness, when he passes over            
from the present life into the hereafter."                                  
  Kutadanta said: "I have faith in the glory and excellency of thy          
doctrines. My eye cannot as yet endure the light; but I now understand      
that there is no self, and the truth dawns upon me. Sacrifices              
cannot save, and invocations are idle talk. But how shall I find the        
path to life everlasting? I know all the Vedas by heart and have not        
found the truth."                                                           
  Said the Buddha: "Learning is a good thing; but it availeth not.          
True wisdom can be acquired by practice only. Practice the truth            
that thy brother is the same as thou. Walk in the noble path of             
righteousness and thou wilt understand that while there is death in         
self, there is immortality in truth."                                       
  Said Kutadanta: "Let me take my refuge in the Blessed One, in the         
Dharma, and in the brotherhood. Accept me as thy disciple and let me        
partake of the bliss of immortality."                                       
                                                                            
                                                                            

                        THE BUDDHA OMNIPRESENT                              
                                                                            
  AND the Blessed One thus addressed the brethren: "Those only who          
do not believe, call me Gotama, but you call me the Buddha, the             
Blessed One, the Teacher. And this is right, for I have in this life        
entered Nirvana, while the life of Gotama has been extinguished.            
Self has disappeared and the truth has taken its abode in me. This          
body of mine is Gotama's body and it will be dissolved in due time,         
and after its dissolution no one, neither God nor man, will see Gotama      
again. But the truth remains. The Buddha will not die; the Buddha will      
continue to live in the holy body of the law.                               
  "The extinction of the Blessed One will be by that passing away in        
which nothing remains that could tend to the formation of another           
self. Nor will it be possible to point out the Blessed One as being         
here or there. But it will be like a flame in a great body of               
blazing fire. That flame has ceased; it has vanished and it cannot          
be said that it is here or there. In the body of the Dharma,                
however, the Blessed One can be pointed out; for the Dharma has been        
preached by the Blessed One.                                                
  "You are my children, I am your father; through me you have been          
released from your sufferings. I myself having reached the other            
shore, help others to cross the stream; I myself having attained            
salvation, am a savior of others; being comforted, I comfort others         
and lead them to the place of refuge. I shall fill with joy all the         
beings whose limbs languish; I shall give happiness to those who are        
dying from distress; I shall extend to them succor and deliverance.         
  "I was born into the world as the king of truth for the salvation of      
the world. The subject on which I meditate is truth. The practice to        
which I devote myself is truth. The topic of my conversation is truth.      
My thoughts are always in the truth. For lo! my self has become the         
truth. Whosoever comprehendeth the truth will see the Blessed One, for      
the truth has been preached by the Blessed One."                            
                                                                            
                                                                            

                    ONE ESSENCE, ONE LAW, ONE AIM                           
                                                                            
  THE Tathagata addressed the venerable Kassapa, to dispel the              
uncertainty and doubt of his mind, and he said: "All things are made        
of one essence, yet things are different according to the forms             
which they assume under different impressions. As they form themselves      
so they act, and as they act so they are. It is, Kassapa, as if a           
potter made different vessels out of the same clay. Some of these pots      
are to contain sugar, others rice, others curds and milk; others still      
are vessels of impurity. There is no diversity in the clay used; the        
diversity of the pots is only due to the moulding hands of the              
potter who shapes them for the various uses that circumstances may          
require.                                                                    
  "And as all things originate from one essence, so they are                
developing according to one law and they are destined to one aim which      
is Nirvana. Nirvana comes to thee, Kassapa, when thou understandest         
thoroughly, and when thou livest according to thy understanding,            
that all things are of one essence and that there is but one law.           
Hence, there is but one Nirvana as there is but one truth, not two          
or three.                                                                   
  "And the Tathagata is the same unto all beings, differing in his          
attitude only in so far as all beings are different. The Tathagata          
recreates the whole world like a cloud shedding its waters without          
distinction. He has the same sentiments for the high as for the low,        
for the wise as for the ignorant, for the noble-minded as for the           
immoral.                                                                    
  "The great cloud full of rain comes up in this wide universe              
covering all countries and oceans to pour down its rain everywhere,         
over all grasses, shrubs, herbs, trees of various species, families of      
plants of different names growing on the earth, on the hills, on the        
mountains, or in the valleys. Then, Kassapa, the grasses, shrubs,           
herbs, and wild trees suck the water emitted from that great cloud          
which is all of one essence and has been abundantly poured down; and        
they will, according to their nature, acquire a proportionate               
development, shooting up and producing blossoms and their fruits in         
season. Rooted in one and the same soil, all those families of              
plants and germs are quickened by water of the same essence.                
  "The Tathagata, however, O Kassapa, knows the law whose essence is        
salvation, and whose end is the peace of Nirvana. He is the same to         
all, and yet knowing the requirements of every single being, he does        
not reveal himself to all alike. He does not impart to them at once         
the fullness of omniscience, but pays attention to the disposition          
of various beings."                                                         
                                                                            
                                                                            

                      THE LESSON GIVEN TO RAHULA                            
                                                                            
  BEFORE Rahula, the son of Gotama Siddhattha and Yasodhara,                
attained to the enlightenment of true wisdom, his conduct was not           
always marked by a love of truth, and the Blessed One sent him to a         
distant vihara to govern his mind and to guard his tongue. After            
some time the Blessed One repaired to the place, and Rahula was filled      
with joy.                                                                   
  The Blessed One ordered the boy to bring him a basin of water and to      
wash his feet, and Rahula obeyed. When Rahula had washed the                
Tathagata's feet, the Blessed One asked: "Is the water now fit for          
drinking?"                                                                  
  "No, my Lord," replied the boy, "the water is defiled." Then the          
Blessed One said: "Now consider thine own case. Although thou art my        
son, and the grandchild of a king, although thou art a samana who           
has voluntarily given up everything, thou art unable to guard thy           
tongue from untruth, and thus defilest thou thy mind." And when the         
water had been poured away, the Blessed One asked again: "Is this           
vessel now fit for holding water to drink?"                                 
  "No, my Lord," replied Rahula, "the vessel, too, has become               
unclean." And the Blessed One said: "Now consider thine own case.           
Although thou wearest the yellow robe, art thou fit for any high            
purpose when thou hast become unclean like this vessel?" Then the           
Blessed One, lifting up the empty basin and whirling it round,              
asked: "Art thou not afraid lest it shall fall and break?" "No, my          
Lord," replied Rahula, "it is cheap, its loss will not amount to            
much."                                                                      
  "Now consider thine own case," said the Blessed One. "Thou art            
whirled about in endless eddies of transmigration, and as thy body is       
made of the same substance as other material things that will crumble       
to dust, there is no loss if it be broken. He who is given to               
speaking untruths is an object of contempt to the wise."                    
  Rahula was filled with shame, and the Blessed One addressed him once      
more: "Listen, and I will tell thee a parable: There was a king who         
had a very powerful elephant, able to cope with five hundred                
ordinary elephants. When going to war, the elephant was armed with          
sharp swords on his tusks, with scythes on his shoulders, spears on         
his feet, and an iron ball at his tail. The elephant-master rejoiced        
to see the noble creature so well equipped, and, knowing that a slight      
wound by an arrow in the trunk would be fatal, he had taught the            
elephant to keep his trunk well coiled up. But during the battle the        
elephant stretched forth his trunk to seize a sword. His master was         
frightened and consulted with the king, and they decided that the           
elephant was no longer fit to be used in battle.                            
  "O Rahula! if men would only guard their tongues all would be             
well! Be like the fighting elephant who guards his trunk against the        
arrow that strikes in the center. By love of truth the sincere              
escape iniquity. Like the elephant well subdued and quiet, who permits      
the king to mount on his trunk, thus the man that reveres                   
righteousness will endure faithfully throughout his life." Rahula           
hearing these words was filled with deep sorrow; he never again gave        
any occasion for complaint, and forthwith he sanctified his life by         
earnest exertions.                                                          
                                                                            
                                                                            

                         THE SERMON ON ABUSE                                
                                                                            
  THE Blessed One observed the ways of society and noticed how much         
misery came from malignity and foolish offenses done only to gratify        
vanity and self-seeking pride. And the Buddha said: "If a man               
foolishly does me wrong, I will return to him the protection of my          
ungrudging love; the more evil comes from him, the more good shall          
go from me; the fragrance of goodness always comes to me, and the           
harmful air of evil goes to him."                                           
  A foolish man learning that the Buddha observed the principle of          
great love which commends the return of good for evil, came and abused      
him. The Buddha was silent, pitying his folly. When the man had             
finished his abuse, the Buddha asked him, saying: "Son, if a man            
declined to accept a present made to him, to whom would it belong?"         
And he answered: "In that case it would belong to the man who               
offered it."                                                                
  "My son," said the Buddha, "thou hast railed at me, but I decline to      
accept thy abuse, and request thee to keep it thyself. Will it not          
be a source of misery to thee? As the echo belongs to the sound, and        
the shadow to the substance, so misery will overtake the evil-doer          
without fail."                                                              
  The abuser made no reply, and Buddha continued: "A wicked man who         
reproaches a virtuous one is like one who looks up and spits at             
heaven; the spittle soils not the heaven, but comes back and defiles        
his own person. The slanderer is like one who flings dust at another        
when the wind is contrary; the dust does but return on him who threw        
it. The virtuous man cannot be hurt and the misery that the other           
would inflict comes back on himself." The abuser went away ashamed,         
but he came again and took refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the        
Sangha.                                                                     
                                                                            
                                                                            

                    THE BUDDHA REPLIES TO THE DEVA                          
                                                                            
  ON a certain day when the Blessed One dwelt at Jetavana, the              
garden of Anathapindika, a celestial deva came to him in the shape          
of a Brahman whose countenance was bright and whose garments were           
white like snow. The deva asked questions which the Blessed One             
answered.                                                                   
  The deva said: "What is the sharpest sword? What is the deadliest         
poison? What is the fiercest fire? What is the darkest night?" The          
Blessed One replied: "A word spoken in wrath is the sharpest sword;         
covetousness is the deadliest poison; passion is the fiercest fire;         
ignorance is the darkest night."                                            
  The deva said: "Who gains the greatest benefit? Who loses most?           
Which armor is invulnerable? What is the best weapon?" The Blessed One      
replied: "He is the greatest gainer who gives to others, and he loses       
most who greedily receives without gratitude. Patience is an                
invulnerable armor; wisdom is the best weapon."                             
  The deva said: "Who is the most dangerous thief? What is the most         
precious treasure? Who is most successful in taking away by violence        
not only on earth, but also in heaven? What is the securest                 
treasure-trove?" The Blessed One replied: "Evil thought is the most         
dangerous thief; virtue is the most precious treasure. The mind             
takes possession of everything not only on earth, but also in               
heaven, and immortality is its securest treasure-trove."                    
  The deva said: "What is attractive? What is disgusting? What is           
the most horrible pain? What is the greatest enjoyment?" The Blessed        
One replied: "Good is attractive; evil is disgusting. A bad conscience      
is the most tormenting pain; deliverance is the height of bliss."           
  The deva asked: "What causes ruin in the world? What breaks off           
friendships? What is the most violent fever? Who is the best                
physician?" The Blessed One replied: "Ignorance causes the ruin of the      
world. Envy and selfishness break off friendships. Hatred is the            
most violent fever, and the Buddha is the best physician."                  
  The deva then asked and said: "Now I have only one doubt to be            
solved; pray, clear it away: What is it fire can neither burn, nor          
moisture corrode, nor wind crush down, but is able to reform the whole      
world?" The Blessed One replied: "Blessing! Neither fire, nor               
moisture, nor wind can destroy the blessing of a good deed, and             
blessings reform the whole world."                                          
  The deva, having heard the words of the Blessed One, was full of          
exceeding joy. Clasping his hands, he bowed down before him in              
reverence, and disappeared suddenly from the presence of the Buddha.        
                                                                            
                                                                            

                         WORDS OF INSTRUCTION                               
                                                                            
  THE bhikkhus came to the Blessed One, and having saluted him with         
clasped hands they said: "O Master, thou all-seeing one, we all wish        
to learn; our ears are ready to hear, thou art our teacher, thou art        
incomparable. Cut off our doubt, inform us of the blessed Dharma, O         
thou of great understanding; speak in the midst of us, O thou who           
art all-seeing, as is the thousand-eyed Lord of the gods. We will           
ask the muni of great understanding, who has crossed the stream,            
gone to the other shore, is blessed and of a firm mind: How does a          
bhikkhu wander rightly in the world, after having gone out from his         
house and driven away desire?"                                              
  The Buddha said: "Let the bhikkhu subdue his passion for human and        
celestial pleasures, then, having conquered existence, he will command      
the Dharma. Such a one will wander rightly in the world. He whose           
lusts have been destroyed, who is free from pride, who has overcome         
all the ways of passion, is subdued, perfectly happy, and of a firm         
mind. Such a one will wander rightly in the world. Faithful is he           
who is possessed of knowledge, seeing the way that leads to Nirvana;        
he who is not a partisan; he who is pure and virtuous, and has removed      
the veil from his eyes. Such a one will wander rightly in the world."       
  Said the bhikkhus: "Certainly, O Bhagavat, it is so: whichever            
bhikkhu lives in this way, subdued and having overcome all bonds, such      
a one will wander rightly in the world."                                    
  The Blessed One said: "Whatever is to be done by him who aspires          
to attain the tranquility of Nirvana let him be able and upright,           
conscientious and gentle, and not proud. Let a man's pleasure be the        
Dharma, let him delight in the Dharma, let him stand fast in the            
Dharma, let him know how to inquire into the Dharma, let him not raise      
any dispute that pollutes the Dharma, and let him spend his time in         
pondering on the well-spoken truths of the Dharma.                          
  "A treasure that is laid up in a deep pit profits nothing and may         
easily be lost. The real treasure that is laid up through charity           
and piety, temperance, self-control, or deeds of merit, is hid              
secure and cannot pass away. It is never gained by despoiling or            
wronging others, and no thief can steal it. A man, when he dies,            
must leave the fleeting wealth of the world, but this treasure of           
virtuous acts he takes with him. Let the wise do good deeds; they           
are a treasure that can never be lost."                                     
  Then the bhikkhus praised the wisdom of the Tathagata: "Thou hast         
passed beyond pain; thou art holy, O Enlightened One, we consider thee      
one that has destroyed his passions. Thou art glorious, thoughtful,         
and of great understanding. O thou who puttest an end to pain, thou         
hast carried us across our doubt. Because thou sawest our longing           
and carriedst us across our doubt, adoration be to thee, O muni, who        
hast attained the highest good in the ways of wisdom. The doubt we had      
before, thou hast cleared away, O thou clearly-seeing one; surely thou      
art a great thinker, perfectly enlightened, there is no obstacle for        
thee. All thy troubles are scattered and cut off; thou art calm,            
subdued, firm, truthful.                                                    
  Adoration be to thee, O noble sage, adoration be to thee, O thou          
best of beings; in the world of men and gods there is none equal to         
thee. Thou art the Buddha, thou art the Master, thou art the muni that      
conquers Mara; after having cut off desire thou hast crossed over           
and carriest this generation to the other shore."                           
                                                                            
                                                                            
AMITABHA                                                                    
                    AMITABHA, THE UNBOUNDED LIGHT                           
                                                                            
  ONE of the disciples came to the Blessed One with a trembling             
heart and his mind full of doubt. And he asked the Blessed One: "O          
Buddha, our Lord and Master, in what way do we give up the pleasures        
of the world, if thou forbiddest us to work miracles and to attain the      
supernatural? Is not Amitabha, the infinite light of revelation, the        
source of innumerable miracles?"                                            
  And the Blessed One, seeing the anxiety of a truth-seeking mind,          
said: "O savaka, thou art a novice among the novices, and thou art          
swimming on the surface of samsara. How long will it take thee to           
grasp the truth? Thou hast not understood the words of the                  
Tathagata. The law of karma is unbreakable, and supplications have          
no effect, for they are empty words."                                       
  Said the disciple: "Sayest thou there are no miraculous and               
wonderful things?"                                                          
  The Blessed One replied: "Is it not a wonderful thing, mysterious         
and miraculous to the worldling, that a man who commits wrong can           
become a saint, that by attaining true enlightenment he will find           
the path of truth and abandon the evil ways of selfishness? The             
bhikkhu who renounces the transient pleasures of the world for the          
eternal bliss of holiness, performs the only miracle that can truly be      
called a miracle. A holy man changes the curses of karma into               
blessings. But the desire to perform miracles arises either from            
covetousness or from vanity. The mendicant does right who does not          
think: 'People should salute me'; who, though despised by the world,        
yet cherishes no ill-will towards it. That mendicant does right to          
whom omens, meteors, dreams, and signs are things abolished; he is          
free from all their evils. Amitabha, the unbounded light, is the            
source of wisdom, of virtue, of Buddhahood. The deeds of sorcerers and      
miracle-mongers are frauds, but what is more wondrous, more                 
mysterious, more miraculous than Amitabha?"                                 
  "But, Master," continued the savaka, "is the promise of the happy         
region vain talk and a myth?"                                               
  "What is this promise?" asked the Buddha; and the disciple                
replied: "There is in the west a paradise called the Pure Land,             
exquisitely adorned with gold and silver and precious gems. There           
are pure waters with golden sands, surrounded by pleasant walks and         
covered with large lotus flowers. Joyous music is heard, and flowers        
rain down three times a day. There are singing birds whose                  
harmonious notes proclaim the praises of religion, and in the minds of      
those who listen to their sweet sounds, remembrance arises of the           
Buddha, the law, and the brotherhood. No evil birth is possible there,      
and even the name of hell is unknown. He who fervently and with a           
pious mind repeats the words 'Amitabha Buddha' will be transported          
to the happy region of this pure land, and when death draws nigh,           
the Buddha, with a company of saintly followers, will stand before          
him, and there will be perfect tranquility."                                
  "In truth," said the Buddha, "there is such a happy paradise. But         
the country is spiritual and it is accessible only to those that are        
spiritual. Thou sayest it lies in the west. This means, look for it         
where he who enlightens the world resides. The sun sinks down and           
leaves us in utter darkness, the shades of night steal over us, and         
Mara, the evil one, buries our bodies in the grave. Sunset is               
nevertheless no extinction, and where we imagine we see extinction,         
there is boundless light and inexhaustible life."                           
  "I understand," said the savaka, "that the story of the Western           
Paradise is not literally true."                                            
  "Thy description of paradise," the Buddha continued, "is                  
beautiful; yet it is insufficient and does little justice to the glory      
of the pure land. The worldly can speak of it in a worldly way only;        
they use worldly similes and worldly words. But the pure land in which      
the pure live is more beautiful than thou canst say or imagine.             
However, the repetition of the name Amitabha Buddha is meritorious          
only if thou speak it with such a devout attitude of mind as will           
cleanse thy heart and attune thy will to do works of righteousness. He      
only can reach the happy land whose soul is filled with the infinite        
light of truth. He only can live and breathe in the spiritual               
atmosphere of the Western Paradise who has attained enlightenment. I        
say to thee, the Tathagata lives in the pure land of eternal bliss          
even now while he is still in the body. The Tathagata preaches the law      
of religion unto thee and unto the whole world, so that thou and thy        
brethren may attain the same peace, the same happiness."                    
  Said the disciple: "Teach me, O Lord, the meditations to which I          
must devote myself in order to let my mind enter into the paradise          
of the pure land."                                                          
  Buddha said: "There are five meditations. The first meditation is         
the meditation of love in which thou must so adjust thy heart that          
thou longest for the weal and welfare of all beings, including the          
happiness of thine enemies.                                                 
  "The second meditation is the meditation of pity, in which thou           
thinkest of all beings in distress, vividly representing in thine           
imagination their sorrows and anxieties so as to arouse a deep              
compassion for them in thy soul.                                            
  "The third meditation is the meditation of joy in which thou              
thinkest of the prosperity of others and rejoicest with their               
rejoicings.                                                                 
  "The fourth meditation is the meditation on impurity, in which            
thou considerest the evil consequences of corruption, the effects of        
wrongs and evils. How trivial is often the pleasure of the moment           
and how fatal are its consequences!                                         
  "The fifth meditation is the meditation on serenity, in which thou        
risest above love and hate, tyranny and thraldom, wealth and want, and      
regardest thine own fate with impartial calmness and perfect                
tranquility.                                                                
  "A true follower of the Tathagata founds not his trust upon               
austerities or rituals, but giving up the idea of self relies with his      
whole heart upon Amitabha, which is the unbounded light of truth."          
  The Blessed One after having explained his doctrine of Amitabha, the      
immeasurable light which makes him who receives it a Buddha, looked         
into the heart of his disciple and saw still some doubts and                
anxieties. And the Blessed One said: "Ask me, my son, the questions         
which weigh upon thy soul."                                                 
  The disciple said: "Can a humble monk, by sanctifying himself,            
acquire the talents of supernatural wisdom called Abhinnas and the          
supernatural powers called Iddhi? Show me the Iddhi-pada, the path          
to the highest wisdom. Open to me the Jhanas which are the means of         
acquiring samadhi, the fixity of mind which enraptures the soul." And       
the Blessed One said: "Which are the Abhinnas?"                             
  The disciple replied: "There are six Abhinnas: The celestial eye;         
the celestial ear; the body at will or the power of transformation;         
the knowledge of the destiny of former dwellings, so as to know former      
states of existence; the faculty of reading the thoughts of others;         
and the knowledge of comprehending the finality of the stream of            
life."                                                                      
  And the Blessed One replied: "These are wondrous things; but verily,      
every man can attain them. Consider the abilities of thine own mind;        
thou wert born about two hundred leagues from here and canst thou           
not in thy thought, in an instant travel to thy native place and            
remember the details of thy father's home? Seest thou not with thy          
mind eye the roots of the tree which is shaken by the wind without          
being overthrown? Does not the collector of herbs see in his mental         
vision, whenever he pleases, any plant with its roots, its stem,            
its fruits, leaves, and even the uses to which it can be applied?           
Cannot the man who understands languages recall to his mind any word        
whenever he pleases, knowing its exact meaning and import? How much         
more does the Tathagata understand the nature of things; he looks into      
the hearts of men and reads their thoughts. He knows the evolution          
of beings and foresees their ends."                                         
  Said the disciple: "Then the Tathagata teaches that man can attain        
through the Jhanas the bliss of Abhinna." And the Blessed One asked in      
reply: "Which are the Jhanas through which man reaches Abhinna?"            
  The disciple replied: "There are four Jhanas. The first Jhana is          
seclusion in which one must free his mind from sensuality; the              
second Jhana is a tranquility of mind full of joy and gladness; the         
third Jhana is a taking delight in things spiritual; the fourth             
Jhana is a state of perfect purity and peace in which the mind is           
above all gladness and grief."                                              
  "Good, my son," enjoined the Blessed One. "Be sober and abandon           
wrong practices which serve only to stultify the mind." Said the            
disciple: "Forbear with me, O Blessed One, for I have faith without         
understanding and I am seeking the truth. O Blessed One, O                  
Tathagata, my Lord and Master, teach me the Iddhipada."                     
  The Blessed One said: "There are four means by which Iddhi is             
acquired: Prevent bad qualities from arising. Put away bad qualities        
which have arisen. Produce goodness that does not yet exist.                
Increase goodness which already exists.- Search with sincerity, and         
persevere in the search. In the end thou wilt find the truth."              
                                                                            
                                                                            

                         THE TEACHER UNKNOWN                                
                                                                            
  THE Blessed One said to Ananda: "There are various kinds of               
assemblies, O Ananda; assemblies of nobles, of Brahmans, of                 
householders, of bhikkhus, and of other beings. When I used to enter        
an assembly, I always became, before I seated myself, in color like         
unto the color of my audience, and in voice like unto their voice. I        
spoke to them in their language and then with religious discourse I         
instructed, quickened, and gladdened them.                                  
  "My doctrine is like the ocean, having the same eight wonderful           
qualities. Both the ocean and my doctrine become gradually deeper.          
Both preserve their identity under all changes. Both cast out dead          
bodies upon the dry land. As the great rivers, when falling into the        
main, lose their names and are thenceforth reckoned as the great            
ocean, so all the castes, having renounced their lineage and entered        
the Sangha, become brethren and are reckoned the sons of Sakyamuni.         
The ocean is the goal of all streams and of the rain from the               
clouds, yet is it never overflowing and never emptied: so the Dharma        
is embraced by many millions of people, yet it neither increases nor        
decreases. As the great ocean has only one taste, the taste of salt,        
so my doctrine has only one flavor, the flavor of emancipation. Both        
the ocean and the Dharma are full of gems and pearls and jewels, and        
both afford a dwelling-place for mighty beings. These are the eight         
wonderful qualities in which my doctrine resembles the ocean.               
  "My doctrine is pure and it makes no discrimination between noble         
and ignoble, rich and poor. My doctrine is like unto water which            
cleanses all without distinction. My doctrine is like unto fire             
which consumes all things that exist between heaven and earth, great        
and small. My doctrine is like unto the heavens, for there is room          
in it, ample room for the reception of all, for men and women, boys         
and girls, the powerful and the lowly.                                      
  "But when I spoke, they knew me not and would say, 'Who may this          
be who thus speaks, a man or a god?' Then having instructed,                
quickened, and gladdened them with religious discourse, I would vanish      
away. But they knew me not, even when I vanished away."                     
                                                                            
                                                                            

                          PARABLES & STORIES                                
                                                                            
  THE Blessed One thought: "I have taught the truth which is excellent      
in the beginning, excellent in the middle, and excellent in the end;        
it is glorious in its spirit and glorious in its letter. But simple as      
it is, the people cannot understand it. I must speak to them in             
their own language. I must adapt my thoughts to their thoughts. They        
are like unto children, and love to hear tales. Therefore, I will tell      
them stories to explain the glory of the Dharma. If they cannot             
grasp the truth in the abstract arguments by which I have reached           
it, they may nevertheless come to understand it, if it is                   
illustrated in parables.                                                    
                                                                            
                                                                            

              THE WIDOW'S MITE, AND THE THREE MERCHANTS                     
                                                                            
  THERE was once a lone widow who was very destitute, and having            
gone to the mountain she beheld hermits holding a religious                 
assembly. Then the woman was filled with joy, and uttering praises,         
said, "It is well, holy priests! but while others give precious             
things such as the ocean caves produce, I have nothing to offer."           
Having spoken thus and having searched herself in vain for something        
to give, she recollected that some time before she had found in a           
dung-heap two coppers, so taking these she offered them forthwith as a      
gift to the priesthood in charity.                                          
  The superior of the priests, a saint who could read the hearts of         
men, disregarding the rich gifts of others and beholding the deep           
faith dwelling in the heart of this poor widow, and wishing the             
priesthood to esteem rightly her religious merit, burst forth with          
full voice in a canto. He raised his right hand and said, "Reverend         
priests attend!" and then he proceeded:                                     
                                                                            
                 "The poor coppers of this widow                            
                 To all purpose are more worth                              
                 Than all the treasures of the oceans                       
                 And the wealth of the broad earth.                         
                                                                            
                 "As an act of pure devotion                                
                 She has done a pious deed;                                 
                 She has attained salvation,                                
                 Being free from selfish greed."                            
                                                                            
  The woman was mightily strengthened in her mind by this thought, and      
said, "It is even as the Teacher says: what I have done is as much as       
if a rich man were to give up all his wealth."                              
  And the Teacher said: "Doing good deeds is like hoarding up               
treasures," and he expounded this truth in a parable: "Three                
merchants set out on their travels each with his wealth; one of them        
gained much, the second returned with his wealth, and the third one         
came home after having lost his wealth. What is true in common life         
applies also to religion.                                                   
  "The wealth is the state a man has reached, the gain is heaven;           
the loss of his wealth means that a man will be reborn in a lower           
state, as a denizen of hell or as an animal. These are the courses          
that are open to the sinner.                                                
  "He who brings back his wealth, like unto one who is born again as a      
man. Those who through the exercise of various virtues become pious         
householders will be born again as men, for all beings will reap the        
fruit of their actions. But he who increases his wealth is like unto        
one who practices eminent virtues. The virtuous, excellent man attains      
in heaven to the glorious state of the gods."                               
                                                                            
                                                                            

                          THE MAN BORN BLIND                                
                                                                            
  THERE was a man born blind, and he said: "I do not believe in the         
world of light and appearance. There are no colors, bright or               
somber. There is no sun, no moon, no stars. No one has witnessed these      
things." His friends remonstrated with him, but he clung to his             
opinion: "What you say that you see," he objected, "are illusions.          
If colors existed I should be able to touch them. They have no              
substance and are not real. Everything real has weight, but I feel          
no weight where you see colors."                                            
  A physician was called to see the blind man. He mixed four                
simples, and when he applied them to the cataract of the blind man the      
gray film melted, and his eyes acquired the faculty of sight. The           
Tathagata is the physician, the cataract is the illusion of the             
thought "I am," and the four simples are the four noble truths.             
                                                                            
                                                                            

                             THE LOST SON                                   
                                                                            
  THERE was a householder's son who went away into a distant                
country, and while the father accumulated immeasurable riches, the son      
became miserably poor. And the son while searching for food and             
clothing happened to come to the country in which his father lived.         
The father saw him in his wretchedness, for he was ragged and               
brutalized by poverty, and ordered some of his servants to call him.        
When the son saw the place to which he was conducted, he thought, "I        
must have evoked the suspicion of a powerful man, and he will throw me      
into prison." Full of apprehension he made his escape before he had         
seen his father.                                                            
  Then the father sent messengers out after his son, who was caught         
and brought back in spite of his cries and lamentations. Thereupon the      
father ordered his servants to deal tenderly with his son, and he           
appointed a laborer of his son's rank and education to employ the           
lad as a helpmate on the estate. And the son was pleased with his           
new situation. From the window of his palace the father watched the         
boy, and when he saw that he was honest and industrious, he promoted        
him higher and higher.                                                      
  After some time, he summoned his son and called together all his          
servants, and made the secret known to them. Then the poor man was          
exceedingly glad and he was full of joy at meeting his father. Just         
so, little by little, must the minds of men be trained for higher           
truths.                                                                     
                                                                            
                                                                            

                            THE GIDDY FISH                                  
                                                                            
  THERE was a bhikkhu who had great difficulty in keeping his senses        
and passions under control; so, resolving to leave the Order, he            
came to the Blessed One to ask him for a release from the vows. And         
the Blessed One said to the bhikkhu: "Take heed, my son, lest thou          
fall a prey to the passions of thy misguided heart. For I see that          
in former existences, thou hast suffered much from the evil                 
consequences of lust, and unless thou learnest to conquer thy               
sensual desire, thou wilt in this life be ruined through thy folly.         
  "Listen to a story of another existence of thine, as a fish. The          
fish could be seen swimming lustily in the river, playing with his          
mate. She, moving in front, suddenly perceived the meshes of a net,         
and slipping around escaped the danger; but he, blinded by love,            
shot eagerly after her and fell straight into the mouth of the net.         
The fisherman pulled the net up, and the fish, who complained bitterly      
of his sad fate, saying, 'this indeed is the bitter fruit of my             
folly,' would surely have died if the Bodhisattva had not chanced to        
come by, and, understanding the language of the fish, took pity on          
him. He bought the poor creature and said to him: 'My good fish, had I      
not caught sight of thee this day, thou wouldst have lost thy life.         
I shall save thee, but henceforth avoid the evil of lust.' With             
these words he threw the fish into the water.                               
  "Make the best of the time of grace that is offered to thee in thy        
present existence, and fear the dart of passion which, if thou guard        
not thy senses, will lead thee to destruction."                             
                                                                            
                                                                            

                      THE CRUEL CRANE OUTWITTED                             
                                                                            
  A TAILOR who used to make robes for the brotherhood was wont to           
cheat his customers, and thus prided himself on being smarter than          
other men. But once, on entering upon an important business                 
transaction with a stranger, he met his master in the way of cheating,      
and suffered a heavy loss.                                                  
  The Blessed One said: "This is not an isolated incident in the            
greedy tailor's fate; in other incarnations he suffered similar             
losses, and by trying to dupe others ultimately ruined himself. This        
same greedy character lived many generations ago as a crane near a          
pond, and when the dry season set in he said to the fishes with a           
bland voice: 'Are you not anxious for your future welfare? There is         
at present very little water and still less food in this pond. What         
will you do should the whole pond become dry, in this drought?'             
'Yes, indeed' said the fishes, 'what should we do?' Replied the crane:      
'I know a fine, large lake, which never becomes dry. Would you not          
like me to carry you there in my beak?' When the fishes began to            
distrust the honesty of the crane, he proposed to have one of them          
sent over to the lake to see it; and a big carp at last decided to          
take the risk for the sake of the others, and the crane carried him to      
a beautiful lake and brought him back in safety. Then all doubt             
vanished, and the fishes gained confidence in the crane, and now the        
crane took them one by one out of the pond and devoured them on a           
big varana-tree.                                                            
  "There was also a lobster in the pond, and when the crane wanted          
to eat him too, he said: 'I have taken all the fishes away and put          
them in a fine, large lake. Come along. I shall take thee, too!'            
'But how wilt thou hold me to carry me along?' asked the lobster. 'I        
shall take hold of thee with my beak,' said the crane. 'Thou wilt let       
me fall if thou carry me like that. I will not go with thee!'               
replied the lobster. 'Thou needst not fear,' rejoined the crane; 'I         
shall hold thee quite tight all the way.'                                   
  "Then said the lobster to himself: 'If this crane once gets hold          
of a fish, he will certainly never let him go in a lake! Now if he          
should really put me into the lake it would be splendid; but if he          
does not, then I will cut his throat and kill him!' So he said to           
the crane: 'Look here, friend, thou wilt not be able to hold me             
tight enough; but we lobsters have a famous grip. If thou wilt let          
me catch hold of thee round the neck with my claws, I shall be glad to      
go with thee.'                                                              
  "The crane did not see that the lobster was trying to outwit him,         
and agreed. So the lobster caught hold of his neck with his claws as        
securely as with a pair of blacksmith's pincers, and called out:            
'Ready, ready, go!' The crane took him and showed him the lake, and         
then turned off toward the varana-tree. 'My dear uncle!' cried the          
lobster, 'The lake lies that way, but thou art taking me this other         
way.' Answered the crane: 'Thinkest so? Am I thy dear uncle? Thou           
meanest me to understand, I suppose, that I am thy slave, who has to        
lift thee up and carry thee about with him, where thou pleasest! Now        
cast thine eye upon that heap of fish-bones at the root of yonder           
varana-tree. Just as I have eaten those fish, every one of them, just       
so will I devour thee also!'                                                
  "'Ah! those fishes got eaten through their own stupidity,' answered       
the lobster, 'but I am not going to let thee kill me. On the contrary,      
it is thou that I am going to destroy. For thou, in thy folly, hast         
not seen that I have outwitted thee. If we die, we both die                 
together; for I will cut off this head of thine and cast it to the          
ground!' So saying, he gave the crane's neck a pinch with his claws as      
with a vise.                                                                
  "Then gasping, and with tears trickling from his eyes, and trembling      
with the fear of death, the crane besought the lobster, saying: 'O, my      
Lord! Indeed I did not intend to eat thee. Grant me my life!' 'Very         
well! fly down and put me into the lake,' replied the lobster. And the      
crane turned round and stepped down into the lake, to place the             
lobster on the mud at its edge. Then the lobster cut the crane's            
neck through as clean as one would cut a lotus-stalk with a                 
hunting-knife, and then entered the water!"                                 
  When the Teacher had finished this discourse, he added: "Not now          
only was this man outwitted in this way, but in other existences, too,      
by his own intrigues."                                                      
                                                                            
                                                                            

                         FOUR KINDS OF MERIT                                
                                                                            
  THERE was a rich man who used to invite all the Brahmans of the           
neighborhood to his house, and, giving them rich gifts, offered             
great sacrifices to the gods.                                               
  But the Blessed One said: "If a man each month repeat a thousand          
sacrifices and give offerings without ceasing, he is not equal to           
him who but for one moment fixes his mind upon righteousness." The          
Buddha continued: "There are four kinds of offering: first, when the        
gifts are large and the merit small; secondly, when the gifts are           
small and the merit small; thirdly, when the gifts are small and the        
merit large; and fourthly, when the gifts are large and the merit is        
also large.                                                                 
  "The first is the case of the deluded man who takes away life for         
the purpose of sacrificing to the gods, accompanied by carousing and        
feasting. Here the gifts are great, but the merit is small indeed.          
Next, the gifts are small and the merit is also small, when from            
covetousness and an evil heart a man keeps to himself a part of that        
which he intends to offer.                                                  
  "The merit is great, however, while the gift is small, when a man         
makes his offering from love and with a desire to grow in wisdom and        
in kindness. And lastly, the gift is large and the merit is large,          
when a wealthy man, in an unselfish spirit and with the wisdom of a         
Buddha, gives donations and founds institutions for the best of             
mankind to enlighten the minds of his fellow-men and to administer          
unto their needs."                                                          
                                                                            
                                                                            

                        THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD                              
                                                                            
  THERE was a certain Brahman in Kosambi, a wrangler and well versed        
in the Vedas. As he found no one whom he regarded his equal in              
debate he used to carry a lighted torch in his hand, and when asked         
for the reason of his strange conduct, he replied: "The world is so         
dark that I carry this torch to light it up, as far as I can." A            
samana sitting in the market-place heard these words and said: "My          
friend, if thine eyes are blind to the sight of the omnipresent             
light of the day, do not call the world dark. Thy torch adds nothing        
to the glory of the sun and thy intention to illumine the minds of          
others is as futile as it is arrogant." Whereupon the Brahman asked:        
"Where is the sun of which thou speakest?" And the samana replied:          
"The wisdom of the Tathagata is the sun of the mind. His radiancy is        
glorious by day and night, and he whose faith is strong will not            
lack light on the path to Nirvana where he will inherit bliss               
everlasting."                                                               
                                                                            
                                                                            

                           LUXURIOUS LIVING                                 
                                                                            
  WHILE the Buddha was preaching his doctrine for the conversion of         
the world in the neighborhood of Savatthi, a man of great wealth who        
suffered from many ailments came to him with clasped hands and said:        
"World-honored Buddha, pardon me for my want of respect in not              
saluting thee as I ought but I suffer greatly from obesity,                 
excessive drowsiness, and other complaints, so that I cannot move           
without pain."                                                              
  The Tathagata, seeing the luxuries with which the man was surrounded      
asked him: "Hast thou a desire to know the cause of thy ailments?" And      
when the wealthy man expressed his willingness to learn, the Blessed        
One said: "There are five things which produce the condition of             
which thou complainest: opulent dinners, love of sleep, hankering           
after pleasure, thoughtlessness, and lack of occupation. Exercise           
self-control at thy meals, and take upon thyself some duties that will      
exercise thy abilities and make thee useful to thy fellow-men. In           
following this advice thou wilt prolong thy life."                          
  The rich man remembered the words of the Buddha and after some            
time having recovered his lightness of body and youthful buoyancy           
returned to the World-honored One and, coming afoot without horses and      
attendants, said to him: "Master, thou hast cured my bodily                 
ailments; I come now to seek enlightenment of my mind."                     
  And the Blessed One said: "The worldling nourishes his body, but the      
wise man nourishes his mind. He who indulges in the satisfaction of         
his appetites works his own destruction; but he who walks in the            
path will have both the salvation from evil and a prolongation of           
life."                                                                      
                                                                            
                                                                            

                      THE COMMUNICATION OF BLISS                            
                                                                            
  ANNABHARA, the slave of Sumana, having just cut the grass on the          
meadow, saw a samana with his bowl begging for food. Throwing down his      
bundle of hay he ran into the house and returned with the rice that         
had been provided for his own food. The samana ate the rice and             
gladdened him with words of religious comfort.                              
  The daughter of Sumana having observed the scene from a window            
called out: "Good! Annabhara, good! Very good!" Sumana hearing these        
words inquired what she meant, and on being informed about Annabhara's      
devotion and the words of comfort he had received from the samana,          
went to his slave and offered him money to divide the bliss of his          
offering. "My lord," said Annabhara, "let me first ask the venerable        
man." And approaching the samana, he said: "My master has asked me          
to share with him the bliss of the offering I made thee of my               
allowance of rice. Is it right that I should divide it with him?"           
  The samana replied in a parable. He said: "In a village of one            
hundred houses a single light was burning. Then a neighbor came with        
his lamp and lit it; and in this same way the light was communicated        
from house to house and the brightness in the village was increased.        
Thus the light of religion may be diffused without stinting him who         
communicates it. Let the bliss of thy offering also be diffused.            
Divide it."                                                                 
  Annabhara returned to his master's house and said to him: "I present      
thee, my lord, with a share of the bliss of my offering. Deign to           
accept it." Sumana accepted it and offered his slave a sum of money,        
but Annabhara replied: "Not so, my lord; if I accept thy money it           
would appear as if I sold thee my share. Bliss cannot be sold; I beg        
thou wilt accept it as a gift." The master replied: "Brother                
Annabhara, from this day forth thou shalt be free. Live with me as          
my friend and accept this present as a token of my respect."                
                                                                            
                                                                            

                          THE LISTLESS FOOL                                 
                                                                            
  THERE was a rich Brahman, well advanced in years, who, unmindful          
of the impermanence of earthly things and anticipating a long life,         
had built himself a large house. The Buddha wondered why a man so near      
to death had built a mansion with so many apartments, and he sent           
Ananda to the rich Brahman to preach to him the four noble truths           
and the eightfold path of salvation. The Brahman showed Ananda his          
house and explained to him the purpose of its numerous chambers, but        
to the instruction of the Buddha's teachings he gave no heed. Ananda        
said: "It is the habit of I fools to say, 'I have children and              
wealth.' He who says so is not even master of himself; how can he           
claim possession of children, riches, and servants? Many are the            
anxieties of the worldly, but they know nothing of the changes of           
the future."                                                                
  Scarcely had Ananda left, when the old man was stricken with              
apoplexy and fell dead. The Buddha said, for the instruction of             
those who were ready to learn: "A fool, though he live in the company       
of the wise, understands nothing of the true doctrine, as a spoon           
tastes not the flavor of the soup. He thinks of himself only, and           
unmindful of the advice of good counselors is unable to deliver             
himself."                                                                   
                                                                            
                                                                            

                         RESCUE IN THE DESERT                               
                                                                            
  THERE was a disciple of the Blessed One, full of energy and zeal for      
the truth, who, living under a vow to complete a meditation in              
solitude, flagged in a moment of weakness. He said to himself: "The         
Teacher said there are several kinds of men; I must belong to the           
lowest class and fear that in this birth there will be neither path         
nor fruit for me. What is the use of a hermit's life if I cannot by         
constant endeavor attain the insight of meditation to which I have          
devoted myself?" And he left the solitude and returned to the               
Jetavana.                                                                   
  When the brethren saw him they said to him: "Thou hast done wrong, O      
brother, after taking a vow, to give up the attempt of carrying it          
out"; and they took him to the Master. When the Blessed One saw them        
he said: "I see, O mendicants, that you have brought this brother here      
against his will. What has he done?"                                        
  "Lord, this brother, having taken the vows of sanctifying a faith,        
has abandoned the endeavor to accomplish the aim of a member of the         
order, and has come back to us." Then the Teacher said to him: "Is it       
true that thou hast given up trying?"                                       
  "It is true, O Blessed One!" was the reply.                               
  The Master said: "This present life of thine is a time of grace.          
If thou fail now to reach the happy state thou wilt have to suffer          
remorse in future existences. How is it, brother, that thou hast            
proved so irresolute? Why, in former states of existence thou wert          
full of determination. By thy energy alone the men and bullocks of          
five hundred wagons obtained water in the sandy desert, and were            
saved. How is it that thou now givest up?" By these few words that          
brother was re-established in his resolution. But the others                
besought the Blessed One, saying: "Lord! Tell us how this was."             
  "Listen, then, O mendicants!" said the Blessed One; and having            
thus excited their attention, he made manifest a thing concealed by         
change of birth. Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was reigning in         
Kasi, the Bodhisattva was born in a merchant's family; and when he          
grew up, he went about trafficking with five hundred carts. One day he      
arrived at a sandy desert many leagues across. The sand in that desert      
was so fine that when taken in the closed fist it could not be kept in      
the hand. After the sun had risen it became as hot as a mass of             
burning embers, so that no man could walk on it. Those, therefore, who      
had to travel over it took wood, and water, and oil, and rice in their      
carts, and traveled during the night. And at daybreak they formed an        
encampment and spread an awning over it, and, taking their meals            
early, they passed the day lying in the shade. At sunset they               
supped, and when the ground had become cool they yoked their oxen           
and went on. The traveling was like a voyage over the sea: a                
desert-pilot had to be chosen, and he brought the caravan safe to           
the other side by his knowledge of the stars.                               
  "Thus the merchant of our story crossed the desert. And when he           
had passed over fifty-nine leagues he thought, "Now, in one more night      
we shall get out of the sand," and after supper he directed the             
wagons to be yoked, and so set out. The pilot had cushions arranged on      
the foremost cart and lay down, looking at the stars and directing the      
men where to drive. But worn out by want of rest during the long            
march, he fell asleep, and did not perceive that the oxen had turned        
round and taken the same road by which they had come. The oxen went on      
the whole night through. Towards dawn the pilot woke up, and,               
observing the stars, called out: "Stop the wagons, stop the wagons!"        
The day broke just as they stopped and were drawing up the carts in         
a line. Then the men cried out: "Why, this is the very encampment we        
left yesterday! We have but little wood left and our water is all           
gone! We are lost!" And unyoking the oxen and spreading the canopy          
over their heads, they lay down in despondency, each one under his          
wagon.                                                                      
  But the Bodhisattva said to himself, "If I lose heart, all these          
will perish," and walked about while the morning was yet cool. On           
seeing a tuft of kusa-grass, he thought: "This could have grown only        
by soaking up some water which must be beneath it." And he made them        
bring a spade and dig in that spot. And they dug sixty cubits deep.         
And when they had got thus far, the spade of the diggers struck on a        
rock; and as soon as it struck, they all gave up in despair. But the        
Bodhisattva thought, "There must be water under that rock," and             
descending into the well he got upon the stone, and stooping down           
applied his ear to it and tested the sound of it. He heard the sound        
of water gurgling beneath, and when he got out he called his page. "My      
lad, if thou givest up now, we shall all be lost. Do not lose heart.        
Take this iron hammer, and go down into the pit, and give the rock a        
good blow."                                                                 
  The lad obeyed, and though they all stood by in despair, he went          
down full of determination and struck at the stone. The rock split          
in two and fell below, so that it no longer blocked the stream, and         
water rose till its depth from the bottom to the brim of the well           
was equal to the height of a palm-tree. And they all drank of the           
water, and bathed in it. Then they cooked rice and ate it, and fed          
their oxen with it. And when the sun set, they put a flag in the well,      
and went to the place appointed. There they sold their merchandise          
at a good profit and returned to their home, and when they died they        
passed away according to their deeds. And the Bodhisattva gave gifts        
and did other virtuous acts, and he also passed away according to           
his deeds.                                                                  
  After the Teacher had told the story he formed the connection by          
saying in conclusion, "The caravan-leader was the Bodhisattva, the          
future Buddha; the page who at that time despaired not, but broke the       
stone, and gave water to the multitude, was this brother without            
perseverance; and the other men were attendants on the Buddha."             
                                                                            
                                                                            
SOWER                                                                       
                              THE SOWER                                     
                                                                            
  BHARADVAJA, a wealthy Brahman farmer, was celebrating his                 
harvest-thanksgiving when the Blessed One came with his alms-bowl,          
begging for food. Some of the people paid him reverence, but the            
Brahman was angry and said: "O samana, it would be more fitting for         
thee to go to work than to beg. I plough and sow, and having                
ploughed and sown, I eat. If thou didst likewise, thou, too, wouldst        
have something to eat."                                                     
  The Tathagata answered him and said: "O Brahman, I, too, plough and       
sow, and having ploughed and sown, I eat." "Dost thou profess to be a       
husbandman?" replied the Brahman. "Where, then, are thy bullocks?           
Where is the seed and the plough?"                                          
  The Blessed One said: "Faith is the seed I sow: good works are the        
rain that fertilizes it; wisdom and modesty are the plough; my mind is      
the guiding-rein; I lay hold of the handle of the law; earnestness          
is the goad I use, and exertion is my draught-ox. This ploughing is         
ploughed to destroy the weeds of illusion. The harvest it yields is         
the immortal fruits of Nirvana, and thus all sorrow ends." Then the         
Brahman poured rice-milk into a golden bowl and offered it to the           
Blessed One, saying: "Let the Teacher of mankind partake of the             
rice-milk, for the venerable Gotama ploughs a ploughing that bears the      
fruit of immortality."                                                      
                                                                            
                                                                            
OUTCAST                                                                     
                             THE OUTCAST                                    
                                                                            
  WHEN Bhagavat dwelt at Savatthi in the Jetavana, he went out with         
his alms-bowl to beg for food and approached the house of a Brahman         
priest while the fire of an offering was blazing upon the altar. And        
the priest said: "Stay there, O shaveling; stay there, O wretched           
samana; thou art an outcast."                                               
  The Blessed One replied: "Who is an outcast? An outcast is the man        
who is angry and bears hatred; the man who is wicked and hypocritical,      
he who embraces error and is full of deceit. Whosoever is a provoker        
and is avaricious, has evil desires, is envious, wicked, shameless,         
and without fear to commit wrong, let him be known as an outcast.           
Not by birth does one become an outcast, not by birth does one              
become a Brahman; by deeds one becomes an outcast, by deeds one             
becomes a Brahman."                                                         
                                                                            
                                                                            

                        THE WOMAN AT THE WELL                               
                                                                            
  ANANDA, the favorite disciple of the Buddha, having been sent by the      
Lord on a mission, passed by a well near a village, and seeing Pakati,      
a girl of the Matanga caste, he asked her for water to drink. Pakati        
said: "O Brahman, I am too humble and mean to give thee water to            
drink, do not ask any service of me lest thy holiness be contaminated,      
for I am of low caste." And Ananda replied: "I ask not for caste but        
for water"; and the Matanga girl's heart leaped joyfully and she            
gave Ananda to drink.                                                       
  Ananda thanked her and went away; but she followed him at a               
distance. Having heard that Ananda was a disciple of Gotama Sakyamuni,      
the girl repaired to the Blessed One and cried: "O Lord help me, and        
let me live in the place where Ananda thy disciple dwells, so that I        
may see him and minister unto him, for I love Ananda." The Blessed One      
understood the emotions of her heart and he said: "Pakati, thy heart        
is full of love, but thou understandest not thine own sentiments. It        
is not Ananda that thou lovest, but his kindness. Accept, then, the         
kindness thou hast seen him practice unto thee, and in the humility of      
thy station practice it unto others. Verily there is great merit in         
the generosity of a king when he is kind to a slave; but there is a         
greater merit in the slave when he ignores the wrongs which he suffers      
and cherishes kindness and good-will to all mankind. He will cease          
to hate his oppressors, and even when powerless to resist their             
usurpation will with compassion pity their arrogance and                    
supercilious demeanor.                                                      
  "Blessed art thou, Pakati, for though thou art a Matanga thou wilt        
be a model for noblemen and noblewomen. Thou art of low caste, but          
Brahmans may learn a lesson from thee. Swerve not from the path of          
justice and righteousness and thou wilt outshine the royal glory of         
queens on the throne."                                                      
                                                                            
                                                                            
PEACEMAKER                                                                  
                             THE PEACEMAKER                                 
                                                                            
  IT is reported that two kingdoms were on the verge of war for the         
possession of a certain embankment which was disputed by them. And the      
Buddha seeing the kings and their armies ready to fight, requested          
them to tell him the cause of their quarrels. Having heard the              
complaints on both sides, he said:                                          
  "I understand that the embankment has value for some of your people;      
has it any intrinsic value aside from its service to your men?"             
  "It has no intrinsic value whatever," was the reply.                      
  The Tathagata continued: "Now when you go to battle is it not sure        
that many of your men will be slain and that you yourselves, O              
kings, are liable to lose your lives?" And they said: "It is sure that      
many will be slain and our own lives be jeopardized."                       
  "The blood of men, however," said Buddha, "has it less intrinsic          
value than a mound of earth?" "No," the kings said, "the lives of           
men and above all the lives of kings, are priceless." Then the              
Tathagata concluded: "Are you going to stake that which is priceless        
against that which has no intrinsic value whatever? The wrath of the        
two monarchs abated, and they came to a peaceable agreement.                
                                                                            
                                                                            

                            THE HUNGRY DOG                                  
                                                                            
  THERE was a great king who oppressed his people and was hated by his      
subjects; yet when the Tathagata came into his kingdom, the king            
desired much to see him. So he went to the place where the Blessed One      
stayed and asked: "O Sakyamuni, canst thou teach a lesson to the            
king that will divert his mind and benefit him at the same time?"           
  And the Blessed One said: "I shall tell thee the parable of the           
hungry dog: There was a wicked tyrant; and the god Indra, assuming the      
shape of a hunter, came down upon earth with the demon Matali, the          
latter appearing as a dog of enormous size. Hunter and dog entered the      
palace, and the dog howled so woefully that the royal buildings             
shook by the sound to their very foundations. The tyrant had the            
awe-inspiring hunter brought before his throne and inquired after the       
cause of the terrible bark. The hunter said, "The dog is hungry,"           
whereupon the frightened king ordered food for him. All the food            
prepared at the royal banquet disappeared rapidly in the dog's jaws,        
and still he howled with portentous significance. More food was sent        
for, and all the royal store-houses were emptied, but in vain. Then         
the tyrant grew desperate and asked: 'Will nothing satisfy the              
cravings of that woeful beast?' 'Nothing,' replied the hunter,              
'nothing except perhaps the flesh of all his enemies.' 'And who are         
his enemies?' anxiously asked the tyrant. The hunter replied: 'The dog      
will howl as long as there are people hungry in the kingdom, and his        
enemies are those who practice injustice and oppress the poor.' The         
oppressor of the people, remembering his evil deeds, was seized with        
remorse, and for the first time in his life he began to listen to           
the teachings of righteousness."                                            
  Having ended his story, the Blessed One addressed the king, who           
had turned pale, and said to him: "The Tathagata can quicken the            
spiritual ears of the powerful, and when thou, great king, hearest the      
dog bark, think of the teachings of the Buddha, and thou mayest             
still learn to pacify the monster."                                         
                                                                            
                                                                            

                           THE DESPOT CURED                                 
                                                                            
  KING BRAHMADATTA happened to see a beautiful woman, the wife of a         
Brahman merchant, and, conceiving a passion for her ordered a               
precious jewel secretly to be dropped into the merchant's carriage.         
The jewel was missed, searched for, and found. The merchant was             
arrested on the charge of stealing, and the king pretended to listen        
with great attention to the defense, and with seeming regret ordered        
the merchant to be executed, while his wife was consigned to the royal      
harem.                                                                      
  Brahmadatta attended the execution in person, for such sights were        
wont to give him pleasure, but when the doomed man looked with deep         
compassion at his infamous judge, a flash of the Buddha's wisdom lit        
up the king's passion-beclouded mind; and while the executioner raised      
the sword for the fatal stroke, Brahmadatta felt the effect in his own      
mind, and he imagined he saw himself on the block. "Hold,                   
executioner!" shouted Brahmadatta, "it is the king whom thou                
slayest!" But it was too late! The executioner had done the bloody          
deed. The king fell back in a swoon, and when he awoke a change had         
come over him. He had ceased to be the cruel despot and henceforth led      
a life of holiness and rectitude. The people said that the character        
of the Brahman had been impressed into his mind.                            
  O you who commit murders and robberies! The evil of self-delusion         
covers your eyes. If you could see things as they are, not as they          
appear, you would no longer inflict injuries and pain on your own           
selves. You see not that you will have to atone for your evil deeds,        
for what you sow you will reap.                                             
                                                                            
                                                                            
VASAVADATTA                                                                 
                      VASAVADATTA, THE COURTESAN                            
                                                                            
  THERE was a courtesan in Mathura named Vasavadatta. She happened          
to see Upagutta, one of Buddha's disciples, a tall and beautiful            
youth, and fell desperately in love with him. Vasavadatta sent an           
invitation to the young man, but he replied: "The time has not yet          
arrived when Upagutta will visit Vasavadatta." The courtesan was            
astonished at the reply, and she sent again for him, saying:                
"Vasavadatta desires love, not gold, from Upagutta." But Upagutta made      
the same enigmatic reply and did not come.                                  
  A few months later Vasavadatta was having a love-intrigue with the        
chief of the artisans. But at that time a wealthy merchant came to          
Mathura, and fell in love with Vasavadatta. Seeing his wealth, and          
fearing the jealousy of her other lover, she contrived the death of         
the chief of the artisans, and concealed his body under a dung-hill.        
When the chief of the artisans had disappeared, his relatives and           
friends searched for him and found his body. Vasavadatta was tried          
by a judge, and condemned to have her ears and nose, her hands and          
feet cut off, and flung into a graveyard. Vasavadatta had been a            
passionate girl, but kind to her servants, and one of her maids             
followed her, and out of love for her former mistress ministered to         
her in her agonies, and chased away the crows.                              
  Now the time had arrived when Upagutta decided to visit Vasavadatta.      
When he came, the poor woman ordered her maid to collect and hide           
under a cloth her severed limbs; and he greeted her kindly, but she         
said with petulance: "Once this body was fragrant like the lotus,           
and I offered thee my love. In those days I was covered with pearls         
and fine muslin. Now I am mangled by the executioner and covered            
with filth and blood."                                                      
  "Sister," said the young man, "it is not for my pleasure that I           
approach thee. It is to restore to thee a nobler beauty than the            
charms which thou hast lost. I have seen with mine eyes the                 
Tathagata walking upon earth and teaching men his wonderful                 
doctrine. But thou wouldst not have listened to the words of                
righteousness while surrounded with temptations, while under the            
spell of passion and yearning for worldly pleasures. Thou wouldst           
not have listened to the teachings of the Tathagata, for thy heart was      
wayward, and thou didst set thy trust on the sham of thy transient          
charms. The charms of a lovely form are treacherous, and quickly            
lead into temptations, which have proved too strong for thee. But           
there is a beauty which will not fade, and if thou wilt but listen          
to the doctrine of our Lord, the Buddha, thou wilt find that peace          
which thou wouldst have found in the restless world of sinful               
pleasures."                                                                 
  Vasavadatta became calm and a spiritual happiness soothed the             
tortures of her bodily pain; for where there is much suffering there        
is also great bliss. Having taken refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma,         
and the Sangha, she died in pious submission to the punishment of           
her crime.                                                                  
                                                                            
                                                                            

                   THE MARRIAGE-FEAST IN JAMBUNADA                          
                                                                            
  THERE was a man in Jambunada who was to be married the next day, and      
he thought, "Would that the Buddha, the Blessed One, might be               
present at the wedding." And the Blessed One passed by his house and        
met him, and when he read the silent wish in the heart of the               
bridegroom, he consented to enter. When the Holy One appeared with the      
retinue of his many bhikkhus, the host, whose means were limited,           
received them as best he could, saying: "Eat, my Lord, and all thy          
congregation, according to your desire."                                    
  While the holy men ate, the meats and drinks remained                     
undiminished, and the host thought to himself: "How wondrous is             
this! I should have had plenty for all my relatives and friends. Would      
that I had invited them all." When this thought was in the host's           
mind, all his relatives and friends entered the house; and although         
the hall in the house was small there was room in it for all of             
them. They sat down at the table and ate, and there was more than           
enough for all of them. The Blessed One was pleased to see so many          
guests full of good cheer and he quickened them and gladdened them          
with words of truth, proclaiming the bliss of righteousness:                
  "The greatest happiness which a mortal man can imagine is the bond        
of marriage that ties together two loving hearts. But there is a            
greater happiness still: it is the embrace of truth. Death will             
separate husband and wife, but death will never affect him who has          
espoused the truth. Therefore be married unto the truth and live            
with the truth in holy wedlock. The husband who loves his wife and          
desires for a union that shall be everlasting must be faithful to           
her so as to be like truth itself, and she will rely upon him and           
revere him and minister unto him. And the wife who loves her husband        
and desires a union that shall be everlasting must be faithful to           
him so as to be like truth itself; and he will place his trust in her,      
he will provide for her. Verily, I say unto you, their children will        
become like their parents and will bear witness to their happiness.         
Let no man be single, let every one be wedded in holy love to the           
truth. And when Mara, the destroyer, comes to separate the visible          
forms of your being, you will continue to live in the truth, and            
will partake of the life everlasting, for the truth is immortal."           
  There was no one among the guests but was strengthened in his             
spiritual life, and recognized the sweetness of a life of                   
righteousness; and they took refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the      
Sangha.                                                                     
                                                                            
                                                                            

                         IN SEARCH OF A THIEF                               
                                                                            
  HAVING sent out his disciples, the Blessed One himself wandered from      
place to place until he reached Uruvela. On his way he sat down in a        
grove to rest, and it happened that in that same grove was a party          
of thirty friends who were enjoying themselves with their wives; and        
while they were sporting, some of their goods were stolen. Then the         
whole party went in search of the thief and, meeting the Blessed One        
sitting under a tree, saluted him and said: "Pray, Lord, didst thou         
see the thief pass by with our goods?"                                      
  And the Blessed One said: "Which is better for you, that you go in        
search for the thief or for yourselves?" And the youths cried: "In          
search for ourselves!"                                                      
  "Well then," said the Blessed One, "sit down and I will preach the        
truth to you." And the whole party sat down and they listened               
eagerly to the words of the Blessed One. Having grasped the truth,          
they praised the doctrine and took refuge in the Buddha.                    
                                                                            
                                                                            

                       IN THE REALM OF YAMARAJA                             
                                                                            
  THERE was a Brahman, a religious man and fond in his affections           
but without deep wisdom. He had a son of great promise, who, when           
seven years old, was struck with a fatal disease and died. The              
unfortunate father was unable to control himself; he threw himself          
upon the corpse and lay there as one dead. The relatives came and           
buried the dead child and when the father came to himself, he was so        
immoderate in his grief that he behaved like an insane person. He no        
longer gave way to tears but wandered about asking for the residence        
of Yamaraja, the king of death, humbly to beg of him that his child         
might be allowed to return to life.                                         
  Having arrived at a great Brahman temple the sad father went through      
certain religious rites and fell asleep. While wandering on in his          
dream he came to a deep mountain pass where he met a number of samanas      
who had acquired supreme wisdom. "Kind sirs," he said, "can you not         
tell me where the residence of Yamaraja is?" And they asked him, "Good      
friend, why wouldst thou know?" Whereupon he told them his sad story        
and explained his intentions. Pitying his self-delusion, the samanas        
said: "No mortal man can reach the place where Yama reigns, but some        
four hundred miles westward lies a great city in which many good            
spirits live; every eighth day of the month Yama visits the place, and      
there mayst thou see him who is the King of Death and ask him for a         
boon."                                                                      
  The Brahman rejoicing at the news went to the city and found it as        
the samanas had told him. He was admitted to the dread presence of          
Yama, the King of Death, who, on hearing his request, said: "Thy son        
now lives in the eastern garden where he is disporting himself; go          
there and ask him to follow thee." Said the happy father: "How does it      
happen that my son, without having performed one good work, is now          
living in paradise?" Yamaraja replied: "He has obtained celestial           
happiness not for performing good deeds, but because he died in             
faith and in love to the Lord and Master, the most glorious Buddha.         
The Buddha says: 'The heart of love and faith spreads as it were a          
beneficent shade from the world of men to the world of gods.' This          
glorious utterance is like the stamp of a king's seal upon a royal          
edict."                                                                     
  The happy father hastened to the place and saw his beloved child          
playing with other children, all transfigured by the peace of the           
blissful existence of a heavenly life. He ran up to his boy and cried       
with tears running down his cheeks: "My son, my son, dost thou not          
remember me, thy father who watched over thee with loving care and          
tended thee in thy sickness? Return home with me to the land of the         
living." But the boy, while struggling to go back to his playmates,         
upbraided him for using such strange expressions as father and son.         
"In my present state," he said, "I know no such words, for I am free        
from delusion."                                                             
  On this, the Brahman departed, and when he woke from his dream he         
bethought himself of the Blessed Master of mankind, the great               
Buddha, and resolved to go to him, lay bare his grief, and seek             
consolation. Having arrived at the Jetavana, the Brahman told his           
story and how his boy had refused to recognize him and to go home with      
him.                                                                        
  And the World-honored One said: "Truly thou art deluded. When man         
dies the body is dissolved into its elements, but the spirit is not         
entombed. It leads a higher mode of life in which all the relative          
terms of father, son, wife, mother, are at an end, just as a guest who      
leaves his lodging has done with it, as though it were a thing of           
the past. Men concern themselves most about that which passes away;         
but the end of life quickly comes as a burning torrent sweeping away        
the transient in a moment. They are like a blind man set to look after      
a burning lamp. A wise man, understanding the transiency of worldly         
relations, destroys the cause of grief, and escapes from the                
seething whirlpool of sorrow. Religious wisdom lifts a man above the        
pleasures and pains of the world and gives him peace everlasting." The      
Brahman asked the permission of the Blessed One to enter the community      
of his bhikkhus, so as to acquire that heavenly wisdom which alone can      
give comfort to an afflicted heart.                                         
                                                                            
                                                                            

                           THE MUSTARD SEED                                 
                                                                            
  THERE was a rich man who found his gold suddenly transformed into         
ashes; and he took to his bed and refused all food. A friend,               
hearing of his sickness, visited the rich man and learned the cause of      
his grief. And the friend said: "Thou didst not make good use of thy        
wealth. When thou didst hoard it up it was not better than ashes.           
Now heed my advice. Spread mats in the bazaar; pile up these ashes,         
and pretend to trade with them." The rich man did as his friend had         
told him, and when his neighbors asked him, "Why sellest thou               
ashes?" he said: "I offer my goods for sale."                               
  After some time a young girl, named Kisa Gotami, an orphan and            
very poor, passed by, and seeing the rich man in the bazaar, said: "My      
lord, why pilest thou thus up gold and silver for sale?" And the            
rich man said: "Wilt thou please hand me that gold and silver?" And         
Kisa Gotami took up a handful of ashes, and lo! they changed back into      
gold. Considering that Kisa Gotami had the mental eye of spiritual          
knowledge and saw the real worth of things, the rich man gave her in        
marriage to his son, and he said: "With many, gold is no better than        
ashes, but with Kisa Gotami ashes become pure gold."                        
  And Kisa Gotami had an only son, and he died. In her grief she            
carried the dead child to all her neighbors, asking them for medicine,      
and the people said: "She has lost her senses. The boy is dead." At         
length Kisa Gotami met a man who replied to her request: "I cannot          
give thee medicine for thy child, but I know a physician who can." The      
girl said: "Pray tell me, sir; who is it?" And the man replied: "Go to      
Sakyamuni, the Buddha."                                                     
  Kisa Gotami repaired to the Buddha and cried: "Lord and Master, give      
me the medicine that will cure my boy." The Buddha answered: "I want a      
handful of mustard-seed." And when the girl in her joy promised to          
procure it, the Buddha added: "The mustard-seed must be taken from a        
house where no one has lost a child, husband, parent, or friend." Poor      
Kisa Gotami now went from house to house, and the people pitied her         
and said: "Here is mustard-seed; take it!" But when she asked, "Did a       
son or daughter, a father or mother, die in your family?" They              
answered her: "Alas! the living are few, but the dead are many. Do          
not remind us of our deepest grief." And there was no house but some        
beloved one had died in it.                                                 
  Kisa Gotami became weary and hopeless, and sat down at the                
wayside, watching the lights of the city, as they flickered up and          
were extinguished again. At last the darkness of the night reigned          
everywhere. And she considered the fate of men, that their lives            
flicker up and are extinguished. And she thought to herself: "How           
selfish am I in my grief! Death is common to all; yet in this valley        
of desolation there is a path that leads him to immortality who has         
surrendered all selfishness."                                               
  Putting away the selfishness of her affection for her child, Kisa         
Gotami had the dead body buried in the forest. Returning to the             
Buddha, she took refuge in him and found comfort in the Dharma,             
which is a balm that will soothe all the pains of our troubled hearts.      
  The Buddha said: "The life of mortals in this world is troubled           
and brief and combined with pain. For there is not any means by             
which those that have been born can avoid dying; after reaching old         
age there is death; of such a nature are living beings. As ripe fruits      
are early in danger of falling, so mortals when born are always in          
danger of death. As all earthen vessels made by the potter end in           
being broken, so is the life of mortals. Both young and adult, both         
those who are fools and those who are wise, all fall into the power of      
death; all are subject to death.                                            
  "Of those who, overcome by death, depart from life, a father              
cannot save his son, nor kinsmen their relations. Mark! while               
relatives are looking on and lamenting deeply, one by one mortals           
are carried off, like an ox that is led to the slaughter. So the world      
is afflicted with death and decay, therefore the wise do not grieve,        
knowing the terms of the world. In whatever manner people think a           
thing will come to pass, it is often different when it happens, and         
great is the disappointment; see, such are the terms of the world.          
  "Not from weeping nor from grieving will any one obtain peace of          
mind; on the contrary, his pain will be the greater and his body            
will suffer. He will make himself sick and pale, yet the dead are           
not saved by his lamentation. People pass away, and their fate after        
death will be according to their deeds. If a man live a hundred years,      
or even more, he will at last be separated from the company of his          
relatives, and leave the life of this world. He who seeks peace should      
draw out the arrow of lamentation, and complaint, and grief. He who         
has drawn out the arrow and has become composed will obtain peace of        
mind; he who has overcome all sorrow will become free from sorrow, and      
be blessed."                                                                
                                                                            
                                                                            

                           WALKING ON WATER                                 
                                                                            
  SOUTH of Savatthi is a great river, on the banks of which lay a           
hamlet of five hundred houses. Thinking of the salvation of the             
people, the World-honored One resolved to go to the village and preach      
the doctrine. Having come to the riverside he sat down beneath a tree,      
and the villagers seeing the glory of his appearance approached him         
with reverence; but when he began to preach, they believed him not.         
  When the world-honored Buddha had left Savatthi Sariputta felt a          
desire to see the Lord and to hear him preach. Coming to the river          
where the water was deep and the current strong, he said to himself:        
"This stream shall not prevent me. I shall go and see the Blessed           
One," and he stepped upon the water which was as firm under his feet        
as a slab of granite. When he arrived at a place in the middle of the       
stream where the waves were high, Sariputta's heart gave way, and he        
began to sink. But rousing his faith and renewing his mental effort,        
he proceeded as before and reached the other bank.                          
  The people of the village were astonished to see Sariputta, and they      
asked how he could cross the stream where there was neither a bridge        
nor a ferry. Sariputta replied: "I lived in ignorance until I heard         
the voice of the Buddha. As I was anxious to hear the doctrine of           
salvation, I crossed the river and I walked over its troubled waters        
because I had faith. Faith, nothing else, enabled me to do so, and now      
I am here in the bliss of the Master's presence."                           
  The World-honored One added: "Sariputta, thou hast spoken well.           
Faith like thine alone can save the world from the yawning gulf of          
migration and enable men to walk dry-shod to the other shore." And          
the Blessed One urged to the villagers the necessity of ever advancing      
in the conquest of sorrow and of casting off all shackles so as to          
cross the river of worldliness and attain deliverance from death.           
Hearing the words of the Tathagata, the villagers were filled with joy      
and believing in the doctrines of the Blessed One embraced the five         
rules and took refuge in his name.                                          
                                                                            
                                                                            

                           THE SICK BHIKKHU                                 
                                                                            
  AN old bhikkhu of a surly disposition was afflicted with a loathsome      
disease the sight and smell of which was so nauseating that no one          
would come near him or help him in his distress. And it happened            
that the World-honored One came to the vihara in which the unfortunate      
man lay; hearing of the case he ordered warm water to be prepared           
and went to the sick-room to administer unto the sores of the               
patient with his own hand, saying to his disciples:                         
  "The Tathagata has come into the world to befriend the poor, to           
succor the unprotected, to nourish those in bodily affliction, both         
the followers of the Dharma and unbelievers, to give sight to the           
blind and enlighten the minds of the deluded, to stand up for the           
rights of orphans as well as the aged, and in so doing to set an            
example to others. This is the consummation of his work, and thus he        
attains the great goal of life as the rivers that lose themselves in        
the ocean."                                                                 
  The World-honored One administered unto the sick bhikkhu daily so         
long as he stayed in that place. And the governor of the city came          
to the Buddha to do him reverence, and having heard of the service          
which the Lord did in the vihara asked the Blessed One about the            
previous existence of the sick monk, and the Buddha said:                   
  "In days gone by there was a wicked king who used to extort from his      
subjects all he could get; and he ordered one of his officers to lay        
the lash on a man of eminence. The officer little thinking of the pain      
he inflicted upon others, obeyed; but when the victim of the king's         
wrath begged for mercy, he felt compassion and laid the whip lightly        
upon him. Now the king was reborn as Devadatta, who was abandoned by        
all his followers, because they were no longer willing to stand his         
severity, and he died miserable and full of penitence. The officer          
is the sick bhikkhu, who having often given offense to his brethren in      
the vihara was left without assistance in his distress. The eminent         
man, however, who was unjustly beaten and begged for mercy was the          
Bodhisattva; he has been reborn as the Tathagata. It is now the lot of      
the Tathagata to help the wretched officer as he had mercy on him."         
  And the World-honored One repeated these lines: "He who inflicts          
pain on the gentle, or falsely accuses the innocent, will inherit           
one of the ten great calamities. But he who has learned to suffer with      
patience will be purified and will be the chosen instrument for the         
alleviation of suffering."                                                  
  The diseased bhikkhu on hearing these words turned to the Buddha,         
confessed his ill-natured temper and repented, and with a heart             
cleansed from error did reverence unto the Lord.                            
                                                                            
                                                                            

                        THE PATIENT ELEPHANT                                
                                                                            
  WHILE the Blessed One was residing in the Jetavana, there was a           
householder living in Savatthi known to all his neighbors as patient        
and kind, but his relatives were wicked and contrived a plot to rob         
him. One day they came to the householder and by worrying him with all      
kinds of threats took away a goodly portion of his property. He did         
not go to court, nor did he complain, but tolerated with great              
forbearance the wrongs he suffered. The neighbors wondered and began        
to talk about it, and rumors of the affair reached the ears of the          
brethren in Jetavana. While the brethren discussed the occurrence in        
the assembly hall, the Blessed One entered and asked "What was the          
topic of your conversation?" And they told him.                             
  Said the Blessed One: "The time will come when the wicked                 
relatives will find their punishment. O brethren, this is not the           
first time that this occurrence took place; it has happened before,"        
and he told them a world-old tale: Once upon a time, when                   
Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisattva was born in the            
Himalaya region as an elephant. He grew up strong and big, and              
ranged the hills and mountains, the peaks and caves of the torturous        
woods in the valleys. Once as he went he saw a pleasant tree, and took      
his food, standing under it. Then some impertinent monkeys came down        
out of the tree, and jumping on the elephant's back, insulted and           
tormented him greatly; they took hold of his tusks, pulled his tail         
and disported themselves, thereby causing him much annoyance. The           
Bodhisattva, being full of patience, kindliness and mercy, took no          
notice at all of their misconduct which the monkeys repeated again and      
again.                                                                      
  "One day the spirit that lived in the tree, standing upon the             
tree-trunk, addressed the elephant saying, 'My lord elephant, why dost      
thou put up with the impudence of these bad monkeys?' And he asked the      
question in a couplet as follows:                                           
                                                                            
            "'Why do you patiently endure each freak                        
            These mischievous and selfish monkeys wreak?'                   
                                                                            
  "The Bodhisattva, on hearing this, replied, 'If, Tree-sprite, I           
cannot endure these monkeys' ill treatment without abusing their            
birth, lineage and persons, how can I walk in the eightfold noble           
path? But these monkeys will do the same to others thinking them to be      
like me. If they do it to any rogue elephant, he will punish them           
indeed, and I shall be delivered both from their annoyance and the          
guilt of having done harm to others.' Saying this he repeated               
another stanza:                                                             
                                                                            
             "'If they will treat another one like me,                      
             He will destroy them; and I shall be free.'                    
                                                                            
  "A few days after, the Bodhisattva went elsewhere, and another            
elephant, a savage beast, came and stood in his place. The wicked           
monkeys thinking him to be like the old one, climbed upon his back and      
did as before. The rogue elephant seized the monkeys with his trunk,        
threw them upon the ground, gored them with his tusk and trampled them      
to mincemeat under his feet."                                               
  When the Master had ended this teaching, he declared the truths, and      
identified the births, saying: "At that time the mischievous monkeys        
were the wicked relatives of the good man, the rogue elephant was           
the one who will punish them, but the virtuous noble elephant was           
the Tathagata himself in a former incarnation."                             
  After this discourse one of the brethren rose and asked leave to          
propose a question and when the permission was granted he said: "I          
have heard the doctrine that wrong should be met with wrong and the         
evil-doer should be checked by being made to suffer, for if this            
were not done evil would increase and good would disappear. What shall      
we do?" Said the Blessed One: "Nay, I will tell you: You who have           
left the world and have adopted this glorious faith of putting aside        
selfishness, you shall not do evil for evil nor return hate for             
hate. Neither think that you can destroy wrong by retaliating evil for      
evil and thus increasing wrong. Leave the wicked to their fate and          
their evil deeds will sooner or later in one way or another bring on        
their own punishment." And the Tathagata repeated these stanzas:            
                                                                            
                "Who harms the man who does no harm,                        
                Or strikes at him who strikes him not,                      
                Shall soon some punishment incur                            
                Which his own wickedness begot,-                            
                                                                            
                "One of the gravest ills in life,                           
                Either a loathsome dread disease,                           
                Or sad old age, or loss of mind,                            
                Or wretched pain without surcease,                          
                                                                            
                "Or conflagration, loss of wealth;                          
                Or of his nearest kin he shall                              
                See some one die that's dear to him,                        
                And then he'll be reborn in hell."                          
                                                                            
                                                                            

                            THE LAST DAYS                                   
                                                                            
  WHEN the Blessed One was residing on the mount called Vulture's           
Peak, near Rajagaha, Ajatasattu the king of Magadha, who reigned in         
the place of Bimbisara, planned an attack on the Vajjis, and he said        
to Vassakara, his prime mister: "I will root out the Vajjis, mighty         
though they be. I will destroy the Vajjis; I will bring them to             
utter ruin! Come now, O Brahman, and go to the Blessed One; inquire in      
my name for his health, and tell him my purpose. Bear carefully in          
mind what the Blessed One may say, and repeat it to me, for the             
Buddhas speak nothing untrue."                                              
  When Vassakara, the prime minister, had greeted the Blessed One           
and delivered his message, the venerable Ananda stood behind the            
Blessed One and fanned him, and the Blessed One said to him: "Hast          
thou heard, Ananda, that the Vajjis hold full and frequent public           
assemblies?" He replied, "Lord, so I have heard."                           
  "So long, Ananda," said the Blessed One, "as the Vajjis hold these        
full and frequent public assemblies, they may be expected not to            
decline, but to prosper. So long as they meet together in concord,          
so long as they honor their elders, so long as they respect womanhood,      
so long as they remain religious, performing all proper rites, so long      
as they extend the rightful protection, defense and support to the          
holy ones, the Vajjis may be expected not to decline, but to prosper."      
  Then the Blessed One addressed Vassakara and said: "When I stayed, O      
Brahman, at Vesali, I taught the Vajjis these conditions of welfare,        
that so long as they should remain well instructed, so long as they         
will continue in the right path, so long as they live up to the             
precepts of righteousness, we could expect them not to decline, but to      
prosper."                                                                   
  As soon as the king's messenger had gone, the Blessed One had the         
brethren, that were in the neighborhood of Rajagaha, assembled in           
the service-hall and addressed them, saying: "I will teach you, O           
bhikkhus, the conditions of the welfare of a community. Listen well,        
and I will speak.                                                           
  "So long, O bhikkhus, as the brethren hold full and frequent              
assemblies, meeting in concord, rising in concord, and attending in         
concord to the affairs of the Sangha; so long as they, O bhikkhus,          
do not abrogate that which experience has proved to be good, and            
introduce nothing except such things as have been carefully tested; so      
long as their elders practice justice; so long as the brethren esteem,      
revere, and support their elders, and hearken unto their words; so          
long as the brethren are not under the influence of craving, but            
delight in the blessings of religion, so that good and holy men             
shall come to them and dwell among them in quiet; so long as the            
brethren shall not be addicted to sloth and idleness; so long as the        
brethren shall exercise themselves in the sevenfold higher wisdom of        
mental activity, search after truth, energy, joy, modesty,                  
self-control, earnest contemplation, and equanimity of mind,- so long       
the Sangha may be expected to prosper. Therefore, O bhikkhus, be            
full of faith, modest in heart, afraid of sin, anxious to learn,            
strong in energy, active in mind, and full of wisdom.                       
                                                                            
                                                                            

                          SARIPUTTA'S FAITH                                 
                                                                            
  THE Blessed One proceeded with a great company of the brethren to         
Nalanda; and there he stayed in a mango grove. Now the venerable            
Sariputta came to the place where the Blessed One was, and having           
saluted him, took his seat respectfully at his side, and said:              
"Lord! such faith have I in the Blessed One, that methinks there never      
has been, nor will there be, nor is there now any other, who is             
greater or wiser than the Blessed One, that is to say, as regards           
the higher wisdom."                                                         
  Replied the Blessed One: "Grand and bold are the words of thy mouth,      
Sariputta: verily, thou hast burst forth into a song of ecstasy!            
Surely then thou hast known all the Blessed Ones who in the long            
ages of the past have been holy Buddhas?" "Not so, O Lord!" said            
Sariputta.                                                                  
  And the Lord continued: "Then thou hast perceived all the Blessed         
Ones who in the long ages of the future shall be holy Buddhas?" "Not        
so, O Lord!"                                                                
  "But at least then, O Sariputta, thou knowest me as the holy              
Buddha now alive, and hast penetrated my mind." "Not even that, O           
Lord!"                                                                      
  "Thou seest then, Sariputta, that thou knowest not the hearts of the      
holy Buddhas of the past nor the hearts of those of the future. Why,        
therefore, are thy words so grand and bold? Why burstest thou forth         
into such a song of ecstasy?"                                               
  "O Lord! I have not the knowledge of the hearts of all the Buddhas        
that have been and are to come, and now are. I only know the lineage        
of the faith. Just as a king, Lord, might have a border city, strong        
in its foundations, strong in its ramparts and with one gate only; and      
the king might have a watchman there, clever, expert, and wise, to          
stop all strangers and admit only friends. And on going over the            
approaches all about the city, he might not be able so to observe           
all the joints and crevices in the ramparts of that city as to know         
where such a small creature as a cat could get out. That might well         
be. Yet all living beings of larger size that entered or left the           
city, would have to pass through that gate. Thus only is it, Lord,          
that I know the lineage of the faith. I know that the holy Buddhas          
of the past, putting away all lust, ill-will, sloth, pride, and doubt,      
knowing all those mental faults which make men weak, training their         
minds in the four kinds of mental activity, thoroughly exercising           
themselves in the sevenfold higher wisdom, received the full                
fruition of Enlightenment. And I know that the holy Buddhas of the          
times to come will do the same. And I know that the Blessed One, the        
holy Buddha of today, has done so now."                                     
  "Great is thy faith, O Sariputta," replied the Blessed One, "but          
take heed that it be well grounded."                                        
                                                                            
                                                                            

                       THE VISIT TO PATALIPUTTA                             
                                                                            
  WHEN the Blessed One had stayed as long as convenient at Nalanda, he      
went to Pataliputta, the frontier town of Magadha; and when the             
disciples at Pataliputta heard of his arrival, they invited him to          
their village rest-house. And the Blessed One robed himself, took           
his bowl and went with the brethren to the rest-house. There he washed      
his feet, entered the hall, and seated himself against the center           
pillar, with his face towards the east. The brethren, also, having          
washed their feet, entered the hall, and took their seats round the         
Blessed One, against the western wall, facing the east. And the lay         
devotees of Pataliputta, having also washed their feet, entered the         
hall, and took their seats opposite the Blessed One against the             
eastern wall, facing towards the west.                                      
  Then the Blessed One addressed the lay disciples of Pataliputta, and      
he said: "Fivefold, O householders, is the loss of the wrong-doer           
through his want of rectitude. In the first place, the wrong-doer,          
devoid of rectitude, falls into great poverty through sloth; in the         
next place, his evil repute gets noised abroad; thirdly, whatever           
society he enters, whether of Brahmans, nobles, heads of houses, or         
samanas, he enters shyly and confusedly; fourthly, he is full of            
anxiety when he dies; and lastly, on the dissolution of the body after      
death, his mind remains in an unhappy state. Wherever his karma             
continues, there will be suffering and woe. This, O householders, is        
the fivefold loss of the evil-doer!                                         
  "Fivefold, O householders, is the gain of the well-doer through           
his practice of rectitude. In the first place the well-doer, strong in      
rectitude, acquires property through his industry; in the next              
place, good reports of him are spread abroad; thirdly, whatever             
society he enters, whether of nobles, Brahmans, heads of houses, or         
members of the order, he enters with confidence and self-possession;        
fourthly, he dies without anxiety; and, lastly, on the dissolution          
of the body after death, his mind remains in a happy state. Wherever        
his karma continues, there will be heavenly bliss and peace. This, O        
householders, is the fivefold gain of the well-doer." When the Blessed      
One had taught the disciples, and incited them, and roused them, and        
gladdened them far into the night with religious edification, he            
dismissed them, saying, "The night is far spent, O householders. It is      
time for you to do what ye deem most fit."                                  
  "Be it so, Lord!" answered the disciples of Pataliputta, and              
rising from their seats, they bowed to the Blessed One, and keeping         
him on their right hand as they passed him, they departed thence.           
  While the Blessed One stayed at Pataliputta, the king of Magadha          
sent a messenger to the governor of Pataliputta to raise                    
fortifications for the security of the town. The Blessed One seeing         
the laborers at work predicted the future greatness of the place,           
saying: "The men who build the fortress act as if they had consulted        
higher powers. For this city of Pataliputta will be a dwelling-place        
of busy men and a center for the exchange of all kinds of goods. But        
three dangers hang over Pataliputta, that of fire, that of water, that      
of dissension."                                                             
  When the governor heard of the prophecy of Pataliputta's future,          
he greatly rejoiced and named the city-gate through which the Buddha        
had gone towards the river Ganges, "The Gotama Gate." Meanwhile the         
people living on the banks of the Ganges arrived in great numbers to        
pay reverence to the Lord of the world; and many persons asked him          
to do them the honor to cross over in their boats. But the Blessed One      
considering the number of the boats and their beauty did not want to        
show any partiality, and by accepting the invitation of one to              
offend all the others. He therefore crossed the river without any           
boat, signifying thereby that the rafts of asceticism and the gaudy         
gondolas of religious ceremonies were not staunch enough to weather         
the storms of samsara, while the Tathagata can walk dry-shod over           
the ocean of worldliness. And as the city gate was called after the         
name of the Tathagata so the people called this passage of the river        
"Gotama Ford."                                                              
                                                                            
                                                                            

                         THE MIRROR OF TRUTH                                
                                                                            
  THE Blessed One proceeded to the village Nadika with a great company      
of brethren and there he stayed at the Brick Hall. And the venerable        
Ananda went to the Blessed One and mentioning to him the names of           
the brethren and sisters that had died, anxiously inquired about their      
fate after death, whether they had been reborn in animals or in             
hell, or as ghosts, or in any place of woe.                                 
  The Blessed One replied to Ananda and said: "Those who have died          
after the complete destruction of the three bonds of lust, of               
covetousness and of the egotistical cleaving to existence, need not         
fear the state after death. They will not be reborn in a state of           
suffering; their minds will not continue as a karma of evil deeds or        
sin, but are assured of final salvation.                                    
  "When they die, nothing will remain of them but their good thoughts,      
their righteous acts, and the bliss that proceeds from truth and            
righteousness. As rivers must at last reach the distant main, so their      
minds will be reborn in higher states of existence and continue to          
be pressing on to their ultimate goal which is the ocean of truth, the      
eternal peace of Nirvana. Men are anxious about death and their fate        
after death; but consider, it is not at all strange, Ananda, that a         
human being should die. However, that thou shouldst inquire about           
them, and having heard the truth still be anxious about the dead, this      
is wearisome to the Blessed One. I will, therefore, teach thee the          
mirror of truth and let the faithful disciple repeat it:                    
  "'Hell is destroyed for me, and rebirth as an animal, or a ghost, or      
in any place of woe. I am converted; I am no longer liable to be            
reborn in a state of suffering, and am assured of final salvation.'         
  "What, then, Ananda, is this mirror of truth? It is the                   
consciousness that the elect disciple is in this world possessed of         
faith in the Buddha, believing the Blessed One to be the Holy One, the      
Fully-enlightened One, wise, upright, happy, world-knowing, supreme,        
the Bridler of men's wayward hearts, the Teacher of gods and men,           
the blessed Buddha. It is further the consciousness that the                
disciple is possessed of faith in the truth believing the truth to          
have been proclaimed by the Blessed One, for the benefit of the world,      
passing not away, welcoming all, leading to salvation, to which             
through truth the wise will attain, each one by his own efforts.            
  "And, finally, it is the consciousness that the disciple is               
possessed of faith in the order, believing in the efficacy of a             
union among those men and women who are anxious to walk in the noble        
eightfold path; believing this church of the Buddha, of the righteous,      
the upright, the just, the law-abiding, to be worthy of honor, of           
hospitality, of gifts, and of reverence; to be the supreme                  
sowing-ground of merit for the world; to be possessed of the virtues        
beloved by the good, virtues unbroken, intact, unspotted, unblemished,      
virtues which make men truly free, virtues which are praised by the         
wise, are untarnished by the desire of selfish aims, either now or          
in a future life, or by the belief in the efficacy of outward acts,         
and are conducive to high and holy thought. This is the mirror of           
truth which teaches the straightest way to enlightenment which is           
the common goal of all living creatures. He who possesses the mirror        
of truth is free from fear; he will find comfort in the tribulations        
of life, and his life will be a blessing to all his fellow-creatures."      
                                                                            
                                                                            

                        THE COURTESAN AMBAPALI                              
                                                                            
  THEN the Blessed One proceeded with a great number of brethren to         
Vesali, and he stayed at the grove of the courtesan Ambapali. And he        
said to the brethren: "Let a brother, O bhikkhus, be mindful and            
thoughtful. Let a brother, whilst in the world, overcome the grief          
which arises from bodily craving, from the lust of sensations, and          
from the errors of wrong reasoning. Whatever you do, act always in          
full presence of mind. Be thoughtful in eating and drinking, in             
walking or standing, in sleeping or waking, while talking or being          
silent."                                                                    
  When the courtesan Ambapali heard that the Blessed One was staying        
in her mango grove, she was exceedingly glad and went in a carriage as      
far as the ground was passable for carriages. There she alighted and        
thence proceeding to the place where the Blessed One was, she took her      
seat respectfully at his feet on one side. As a prudent woman goes          
forth to perform her religious duties, so she appeared in a simple          
dress without any ornaments, yet beautiful to look upon. The Blessed        
One thought to himself: "This woman moves in worldly circles and is         
a favorite of kings and princes; yet is her heart calm and composed.        
Young in years, rich, surrounded by pleasures, she is thoughtful and        
steadfast. This, indeed, is rare in the world. Women, as a rule, are        
scant in wisdom and deeply immersed in vanity; but she, although            
living in luxury, has acquired the wisdom of a master, taking               
delight in piety, and able to receive the truth in its completeness."       
  When she was seated, the Blessed One instructed, aroused, and             
gladdened her with religious discourse. As she listened to the law,         
her face brightened with delight. Then she rose and said to the             
Blessed One: "Will the Blessed One do me the honor of taking his meal,      
together with the brethren, at my house tomorrow?" And the Blessed One      
gave, by silence, his consent.                                              
  Now, the Licchavi, a wealthy family of princely rank, hearing that        
the Blessed One had arrived at Vesali and was staying at Ambapali's         
grove, mounted their magnificent carriages, and proceeded with their        
retinue to the place where the Blessed One was. The Licchavi were           
gorgeously dressed in bright colors and decorated with costly               
jewels. And Ambapali drove up against the young Licchavi, axle to           
axle, wheel to wheel, and yoke to yoke, and the Licchavi said to            
Ambapali, the courtesan: "How is it, Ambapali, that you drive up            
against us thus?"                                                           
  "My lords," said she, "I have just invited the Blessed One and his        
brethren for their tomorrow's meal." And the princes replied:               
"Ambapali! give up this meal to us for a hundred thousand."                 
  "My lords, were you to offer all Vesali with its subject                  
territory, I would not give up so great an honor!"                          
  Then the Licchavi went on to Ambapali's grove. When the Blessed           
One saw the Licchavi approaching in the distance, he addressed the          
brethren, and said: "O brethren, let those of the brethren who have         
never seen the gods gaze upon this company of the Licchavi, for they        
are dressed gorgeously, like immortals."                                    
  And when they had driven as far the ground was passable for               
carriages, the Licchavi alighted and went on foot to the place where        
the Blessed One was, taking their seats respectfully by his side.           
And when they were thus seated, the Blessed One instructed, aroused,        
and gladdened them with religious discourse. Then they addressed the        
Blessed One and said: "Will the Blessed One do us the honor of              
taking his meal, together with the brethren, at our palace tomorrow?"       
  "O Licchavi," said the Blessed One, "I have promised to dine              
tomorrow with Ambapali, the courtesan." Then the Licchavi, expressing       
their approval of the words of the Blessed One, arose from their seats      
and bowed down before the Blessed One, and, keeping him on their right      
hand as they passed him, they departed thence; but when they came           
home, they cast up their hands, saying: "A worldly woman has outdone        
us; we have been left behind by a frivolous girl!"                          
  At the end of the night Ambapali, the courtesan, made ready in her        
mansion sweet rice and cakes, and on the next day announced through         
a messenger the time to the Blessed One, saying, "The hour, Lord,           
has come, and the meal is ready!" And the Blessed One robed himself         
early in the morning, took his bowl, and went with the brethren to the      
place where Ambapali's dwelling-house was; and when they had come           
there they seated themselves on the seats prepared for them. Ambapali,      
the courtesan, set the sweet rice and cakes before the order, with the      
Buddha at their head, and waited upon them till they refused to take        
more.                                                                       
  When the Blessed One had finished his meal, the courtesan had a           
low stool brought, and sat down at his side, and addressed the Blessed      
One, and said: "Lord, I present this mansion to the order of bhikkhus,      
of which the Buddha is the chief." And the Blessed One accepted the         
gift; and after instructing, arousing, and gladdening her with              
religious edification, he rose from his seat and departed thence.           
                                                                            
                                                                            

                        THE BUDDHA'S FAREWELL                               
                                                                            
  WHEN the Blessed One had remained as long as he wished at Ambapali's      
grove, he went to Beluva, near Vesali. There the Blessed One addressed      
the brethren, and said: "O mendicants, take up your abode for the           
rainy season round about Vesali, each one according to the place where      
his friends and near companions may live. I shall enter upon the rainy      
season here at Beluva."                                                     
  When the Blessed One had thus entered upon the rainy season there         
fell upon him a dire sickness, and sharp pains came upon him even           
unto death. But the Blessed One, mindful and self-possessed, bore           
his ailments without complaint. Then this thought occurred to the           
Blessed One, "It would not be right for me to pass away from life           
without addressing the disciples, without taking leave of the order.        
Let me now, by a strong effort of the will, subdue this sickness, and       
keep my hold on life till the allotted time have come." And the             
Blessed One by a strong effort of the will subdued the sickness, and        
kept his hold on life till the time he fixed upon should come. And the      
sickness abated.                                                            
  Thus the Blessed One began to recover; and when he had quite got rid      
of the sickness, he went out from the monastery, and sat down on a          
seat spread out in the open air. And the venerable Ananda, accompanied      
by many other disciples, approached where the Blessed One was, saluted      
him, and taking a seat respectfully on one side, said: "'I have             
beheld, Lord, how the Blessed One was in health, and I have beheld how      
the Blessed One had to suffer. And though at the sight of the sickness      
of the Blessed One my body became weak as a creeper, and the horizon        
became dim to me, and my faculties were no longer clear, yet                
notwithstanding I took some little comfort from the thought that the        
Blessed One would not pass away from existence until at least he had        
left instructions as touching the order."                                   
  The Blessed One addressed Ananda in behalf of the order, saying:          
"What, then, Ananda, does the order expect of me? I have preached           
the truth without making any distinction between doctrine hidden or         
revealed; for in respect of the truth, Ananda, the Tathagata has no         
such thing as the closed fist of a teacher, who keeps some things           
back.                                                                       
  "Surely, Ananda, should there be any one who harbors the thought,         
'It is I who will lead the brotherhood,' or, 'The order is dependent        
upon me,' he should lay down instructions in any matter concerning the      
order. Now the Tathagata, Ananda, thinks not that it is he who              
should lead the brotherhood, or that the order is dependent upon            
him. Why, then, should the Tathagata leave instructions in any              
matter concerning the order?                                                
  "I am now grown old, O Ananda, and full of years; my journey is           
drawing to its close, I have reached the sum of my days, I am               
turning eighty years of age. Just as a worn-out cart can not be made        
to move along without much difficulty, so the body of the Tathagata         
can only be kept going with much additional care. It is only when the       
Tathagata, Ananda, ceasing to attend to any outward thing, becomes          
plunged in that devout meditation of heart which is concerned with          
no bodily object, it is only then that the body of the Tathagata is at      
ease.                                                                       
  "Therefore, O Ananda, be ye lamps unto yourselves. Rely on                
yourselves, and do not rely on external help. Hold fast to the truth        
as a lamp. Seek salvation alone in the truth. Look not for                  
assistance to any one besides yourselves.                                   
  "And how, Ananda, can a brother be a lamp unto himself, rely on           
himself only and not on any external help, holding fast to the truth        
as his lamp and seeking salvation in the truth alone, looking not           
for assistance to any one besides himself? Herein, O Ananda, let a          
brother, as he dwells in the body, so regard the body that he, being        
strenuous, thoughtful, and mindful, may, whilst in the world, overcome      
the grief which arises from the body's cravings. While subject to           
sensations let him continue so to regard the sensations that he, being      
strenuous, thoughtful, and mindful, may, whilst in the world, overcome      
the grief which arises from the sensations. And so, also, when he           
thinks or reasons, or feels, let him so regard his thoughts that being      
strenuous, thoughtful, and mindful he may, whilst in the world,             
overcome the grief which arises from the craving due to ideas, or to        
reasoning, or to feeling.                                                   
  "Those who, either now or after I am dead, shall be lamps unto            
themselves, relying upon themselves only and not relying upon any           
external help, but holding fast to the truth as their lamp, and             
seeking their salvation in the truth alone, and shall not look for          
assistance to any one besides themselves, it is they, Ananda, among my      
bhikkhus, who shall reach the very topmost height! But they must be         
anxious to learn."                                                          
                                                                            
                                                                            

                    THE BUDDHA ANNOUNCES HIS DEATH                          
                                                                            
  SAID the Tathagata to Ananda: "In former years, Ananda, Mara, the         
Evil One, approached the holy Buddha three times to tempt him. And          
now, Ananda, Mara, the Evil One, came again today to the place where I      
was, and, standing beside me, addressed me in the same words as he did      
when I was resting under the shepherd's Nigrodha tree on the bank of        
the Neranjara River: 'Be greeted, thou Holy One. Thou hast attained         
the highest bliss and it is time for thee to enter into the final           
Nirvana.' And when Mara had thus spoken, Ananda, I answered him and         
said: 'Make thyself happy, O wicked one; the final extinction of the        
Tathagata shall take place before long.'"                                   
  The venerable Ananda addressed the Blessed One and said: "Vouchsafe,      
Lord, to remain with us, O Blessed One! for the good and the happiness      
of the great multitudes, out of pity for the world, for the good and        
the gain of mankind!" Said the Blessed One: "Enough now, Ananda,            
beseech not the Tathagata!"                                                 
  And again, a second time, the venerable Ananda besought the               
Blessed One in the same words. He received from the Blessed One the         
same reply. And again, the third time, the venerable Ananda besought        
the Blessed One to live longer; and the Blessed One said: "Hast thou        
faith, Ananda?" Said Ananda: "I have, my Lord!"                             
  The Blessed One, seeing the quivering eyelids of Ananda, read the         
deep grief in the heart of his beloved disciple, and he asked again:        
"Hast thou, indeed, faith, Ananda?" And Ananda said: "I have faith, my      
Lord."                                                                      
  Then the Blessed One continued: "If thou hast faith, Ananda, in the       
wisdom of the Tathagata, why, then, Ananda, dost thou trouble the           
Tathagata even until the third time? Have I not formerly declared to        
you that it is in the very nature of all compound things that they          
must be dissolved again? We must separate ourselves from all things         
near and dear to us, and must leave them. How then, Ananda, can it          
be possible for me to remain, since everything that is born, or             
brought into being, and organized, contains within itself the inherent      
necessity of dissolution? How, then, can it be possible that this body      
of mine should not be dissolved? No such condition can exist! And this      
mortal existence, O Ananda, has been relinquished, cast away,               
renounced, rejected, and abandoned by the Tathagata."                       
  And the Blessed One said to Ananda: "Go now, Ananda, and assemble in      
the Service Hall such of the brethren as reside in the neighborhood of      
Vesali."                                                                    
  Then the Blessed One proceeded to the Service Hall, and sat down          
there on the mat spread out for him. And when he was seated, the            
Blessed One addressed the brethren, and said: "O brethren, ye to            
whom the truth has been made known, having thoroughly made                  
yourselves masters of it, practice it, meditate upon it, and spread it      
abroad, in order that pure religion may last long and be                    
perpetuated, in order that it may continue for the good and                 
happiness of the great multitudes, out of pity for the world, and to        
the good and gain of all living beings! Star-gazing and astrology,          
forecasting lucky or unfortunate events by signs, prognosticating good      
or evil, all these are things forbidden. He who lets his heart go           
loose without restraint shall not attain Nirvana; therefore, must we        
hold the heart in check, and retire from worldly excitements and            
seek tranquility of mind. Eat your food to satisfy your hunger, and         
drink to satisfy your thirst. Satisfy the necessities of life like the      
butterfly that sips the flower, without destroying its fragrance or         
its texture. It is through not understanding and grasping the four          
truths, O brethren, that we have gone astray so long and wandered in        
this weary path of transmigrations, both you and I, until we have           
found the truth. Practice the earnest meditations I have taught you.        
Continue in the great struggle against sin. Walk steadily in the roads      
of saintship. Be strong in moral powers. Let the organs of your             
spiritual sense be quick. When the seven kinds of wisdom enlighten          
your mind, you will find the noble, eightfold path that leads to            
Nirvana.                                                                    
  "Behold, O brethren, the final extinction of the Tathagata will take      
place before long. I now exhort you, saying: All component things must      
grow old and be dissolved again. Seek ye for that which is                  
permanent, and work out your salvation with diligence."                     
                                                                            
                                                                            
CHUNDA                                                                      
                          CHUNDA, THE SMITH                                 
                                                                            
  THE Blessed One went to Pava. When Chunda, the worker in metals,          
heard that the Blessed One had come to Pava and was staying in his          
mango grove, he came to the Buddha and respectfully invited him and         
the brethren to take their meal at his house. And Chunda prepared           
rice-cakes and a dish of dried boar's meat.                                 
  When the Blessed One had eaten the food prepared by Chunda, the           
worker in metals, there fell upon him a dire sickness, and sharp            
pain came upon him even unto death. But the Blessed One, mindful and        
self-possessed, bore it without complaint. And the Blessed One              
addressed the venerable Ananda, and said: "Come, Ananda, let us go          
on to Kusinara."                                                            
  On his way the Blessed One grew tired, and he went aside from the         
road to rest at the foot of a tree, and said: "Fold the robe, I pray        
thee, Ananda, and spread it out for me. I am weary, Ananda, and must        
rest awhile!" "Be it so, Lord!" said the venerable Ananda; and he           
spread out the robe folded fourfold. The Blessed One seated himself,        
and when he was seated he addressed the venerable Ananda, and said:         
"Fetch me some water, I pray thee, Ananda. I am thirsty, Ananda, and        
would drink."                                                               
  When he had thus spoken, the venerable Ananda said to the Blessed         
One: "But just now, Lord, five hundred carts have gone across the           
brook and have stirred the water; but a river, O Lord, is not far off.      
Its water is clear and pleasant, cool and transparent, and it is            
easy to get down to it. There the Blessed One may both drink water and      
cool his limbs."                                                            
  A second time the Blessed One addressed the venerable Ananda,             
saying: "Fetch me some water, I pray thee, Ananda, I am thirsty,            
Ananda, and would drink."                                                   
  And a second time the venerable Ananda said: "Let us go to the            
river."                                                                     
  Then the third time the Blessed One addressed the venerable               
Ananda, and said: "Fetch me some water, I pray thee, Ananda, I am           
thirsty, Ananda, and would drink." "Be it so, Lord!" said the               
venerable Ananda in assent to the Blessed One; and, taking a bowl, he       
went down to the streamlet. And lo! the streamlet, which, stirred up        
by wheels, had become muddy, when the venerable Ananda came up to it,       
flowed clear and bright and free from all turbidity. And he thought:        
"How wonderful, how marvelous is the great might and power of the           
Tathagata!"                                                                 
  Ananda brought the water in the bowl to the Lord, saying: "Let the        
Blessed One take the bowl. Let the Happy One drink the water. Let           
the Teacher of men and gods quench his thirst." Then the Blessed One        
drank of the water.                                                         
  Now, at that time a man of low caste, named Pukkusa, a young              
Malla, a disciple of Alara Kalama, was passing along the high road          
from Kusinara to Pava. Pukkusa, the young Malla, saw the Blessed One        
seated at the foot of a tree. On seeing him he went up to the place         
where the Blessed One was, and when he had come there, he saluted           
the Blessed One and took his seat respectfully on one side. Then the        
Blessed One instructed, edified, and gladdened Kukkusa, the young           
Malla, with religious discourse.                                            
  Aroused and gladdened by the words of the Blessed One, Pukkusa,           
the young Malla, addressed a certain man who happened to pass by,           
and said: "Fetch me, I pray thee, my good man, two robes of cloth of        
gold, burnished and ready for wear."                                        
  "Be it so, sir!" said that man in assent to Pukkusa, the young            
Malla; and he brought two robes of cloth of gold, burnished and             
ready for wear.                                                             
  The Malla Pukkusa presented the two robes of cloth of gold,               
burnished and ready for wear, to the Blessed One, saying: "Lord, these      
two robes of burnished cloth of gold are ready for wear. May the            
Blessed One show me favor and accept them at my hands!"                     
  The Blessed One said: "Pukkusa, robe me in one, and Ananda in the         
other one." And the Tathagata's body appeared shining like a flame,         
and he was beautiful above all expression.                                  
  The venerable Ananda said to the Blessed One: "How wonderful a thing      
is it, Lord, and how marvelous, that the color of the skin of the           
Blessed One should be so clear, so exceedingly bright! When I placed        
this robe of burnished cloth of gold on the body of the Blessed One,        
lo! it seemed as if it had lost its splendor!"                              
  The Blessed One said: "There are two occasions on which a                 
Tathagata's appearance becomes clear and exceeding bright. In the           
night, Ananda, in which a Tathagata attains to the supreme and perfect      
insight, and in the night in which he passes finally away in that           
utter passing away which leaves nothing whatever of his earthly             
existence to remain."                                                       
  And the Blessed One addressed the venerable Ananda, and said: "Now        
it may happen, Ananda, that some one should stir up remorse in Chunda,      
the smith, by saying: 'It is evil to thee, Chunda, and loss to thee,        
that the Tathagata died, having eaten his last meal from thy                
provision.' Any such remorse, Ananda, in Chunda, the smith, should          
be checked by saying: 'It is good to thee, Chunda, and gain to thee,        
that the Tathagata died, having eaten his last meal from thy                
provision. From the very mouth of the Blessed One, O Chunda, have I         
heard, from his own mouth have I received this saying, "These two           
offerings of food are of equal fruit and of much greater profit than        
any other: the offerings of food which a Tathagata accepts when he has      
attained perfect enlightenment and when he passes away by the utter         
passing away in which nothing whatever of his earthly existence             
remains behind- these two offerings of food are of equal fruit and of       
equal profit, and of much greater fruit and much greater profit than        
any other. There has been laid up by Chunda, the smith, a karma             
redounding to length of life, redounding to good birth, redounding          
to good fortune, redounding to good fame, redounding to the                 
inheritance of heaven and of great power."' In this way, Ananda,            
should be checked any remorse in Chunda, the smith."                        
  Then the Blessed One, perceiving that death was near, uttered             
these words: "He who gives away shall have real gain. He who subdues        
himself shall be free, he shall cease to be a slave of passions. The        
righteous man casts off evil; and by rooting out lust, bitterness, and      
illusion, do we reach Nirvana."                                             
                                                                            
                                                                            
METTEYYA                                                                    
                               METTEYYA                                     
                                                                            
  THE Blessed One proceeded with a great company of the brethren to         
the sala grove of the Mallas, the Upavattana of Kusinara on the             
further side of the river Hirannavati, and when he had arrived he           
addressed the venerable Ananda, and said: "Make ready for me, I pray        
you, Ananda, the couch with its head to the north, between the twin         
sala trees. I am weary, Ananda, and wish to lie down."                      
  "Be it so, Lord!" said the venerable Ananda, and he spread a couch        
with its head to the north, between the twin sala trees. And the            
Blessed One laid himself down, and he was mindful and self-possessed.       
  Now, at that time the twin sala trees were full of bloom with             
flowers out of season; and heavenly songs came wafted from the              
skies, out of reverence for the successor of the Buddhas of old. And        
Ananda was filled with wonder that the Blessed One was thus honored.        
But the Blessed One said: "Not by such events, Ananda, is the               
Tathagata rightly honored, held sacred, or revered. But the devout          
man, who continually fulfills the greater and lesser duties, walking        
according to the precepts, it is who rightly honors, holds sacred, and      
reveres the Tathagata with the worthiest homage. Therefore, O               
Ananda, be ye constant in the fulfillment of the greater and of the         
lesser duties, and walk according to the precepts; thus, Ananda,            
will ye honor the Master."                                                  
  Then the venerable Ananda went into the vihara, and stood leaning         
against the doorpost, weeping at the thought: "Alas! I remain still         
but a learner, one who has yet to work out his own perfection. And the      
Master is about to pass away from me- he who is so kind!"                   
  Now, the Blessed One called the brethren, and said: "Where, O             
brethren, is Ananda?" One of the brethren went and called Ananda.           
And Ananda came and said to the Blessed One: "Deep darkness reigned         
for want of wisdom; the world of sentient creatures was groping for         
want of light; then the Tathagata lit up the lamp of wisdom, and now        
it will be extinguished again, ere he has brought it out."                  
  The Blessed One said to the venerable Ananda, as he sat there by his      
side: "Enough, Ananda! Let not thy self be troubled; do not weep!           
Have I not already, on former occasions, told you that it is in the         
very nature of all things most near and dear unto us that we must           
separate from them and leave them? The foolish man conceives the            
idea of 'self,' the wise man sees there is no ground on which to build      
the idea of 'self,' thus he has a right conception of the world and         
well concludes that all compounds amassed by sorrow will be                 
dissolved again, but the truth will remain. Why should I preserve this      
body of flesh, when the body of the excellent law will endure? I am         
resolved; having accomplished my purpose and attended to the work           
set me, I look for rest! For a long time, Ananda, thou hast been very       
near to me by thoughts and acts of such love as is beyond all measure.      
Thou hast done well, Ananda! Be earnest in effort and thou too shalt        
soon be free from evils, from sensuality, from selfishness, from            
delusion, and from ignorance!"                                              
  Ananda, suppressing his tears, said to the Blessed One: "Who shall        
teach us when thou art gone?"                                               
  And the Blessed One replied: "I am not the first Buddha who came          
upon earth, nor shall I be the last. In due time another Buddha will        
arise in the world, a Holy One, a supremely enlightened One, endowed        
with wisdom in conduct, auspicious, knowing the universe, an                
incomparable leader of men, a master of angels and mortals. He will         
reveal to you the same eternal truths which I have taught you. He will      
preach his religion, glorious in its origin, glorious at the climax,        
and glorious at the goal, in the spirit and in the letter. He will          
proclaim a religious life, wholly perfect and pure; such as I now           
proclaim."                                                                  
  Ananda said: "How shall we know him?" The Blessed One said: "He will      
be known as Metteyya, which means 'he whose name is kindness.'"             
                                                                            
                                                                            

                        ENTERING INTO NIRVANA                               
                                                                            
  THEN the Mallas, with their young men and maidens and their wives,        
being grieved, and sad, and afflicted at heart, went to the                 
Upavattana, the sala grove of the Mallas, and wanted to see the             
Blessed One, in order to partake of the bliss that devolves upon those      
who are in the presence of the Holy One.                                    
  The Blessed One addressed them and said: "Seeking the way, ye must        
exert yourselves and strive with diligence. It is not enough to have        
seen me! Walk as I have commanded you; free yourselves from the             
tangled net of sorrow. Walk in the path with steadfast aim. A sick man      
may be cured by the healing power of medicine and will be rid of all        
his ailments without beholding the physician. He who does not do what       
I command sees me in vain. This brings no profit; while he who lives        
far off from where I am and yet walks righteously is ever near me. A        
man may dwell beside me, and yet, being disobedient, be far away from       
me. Yet he who obeys the Dharma will always enjoy the bliss of the          
Tathagata's presence."                                                      
  Then the mendicant Subhadda went to the sala grove of the Mallas and      
said to the venerable Ananda: "I have heard from fellow mendicants          
of mine, who were deep stricken in years and teachers of great              
experience: 'Sometimes and full seldom do Tathagatas appear in the          
world, the holy Buddhas.' Now it is said that today in the last             
watch of the night, the final passing away of the samana Gotama will        
take place. My mind is full of uncertainty, yet have I faith in the         
samana Gotama and trust he will be able so to present the truth that I      
may become rid of my doubts. O that I might be allowed to see the           
samana Gotama!"                                                             
  When he had thus spoken the venerable Ananda said to the mendicant        
Subhadda: "Enough! friend Subhadda. Trouble not the Tathagata. The          
Blessed One is weary." Now the Blessed One overheard this conversation      
of the venerable Ananda with the mendicant Subhadda. And the Blessed        
One called the venerable Ananda, and said: "Ananda! Do not keep out         
Subhadda. Subhadda may be allowed to see the Tathagata. Whatever            
Subhadda will ask of me, he will ask from a desire for knowledge,           
and not to annoy me, and whatever I may say in answer to his                
questions, that he will quickly understand."                                
  Then the venerable Ananda said: "Step in, friend Subhadda; for the        
Blessed One gives thee leave."                                              
  When the Blessed One had instructed Subhadda, and aroused and             
gladdened him with words of wisdom and comfort, Subhadda said to the        
Blessed One: "Glorious Lord, glorious Lord! Most excellent are the          
words of thy mouth, most excellent! They set up that which has been         
overturned, they reveal that which has been hidden. They point out the      
right road to the wanderer who has gone astray. They bring a lamp into      
the darkness so that those who have eyes to see can see. Thus, Lord,        
the truth has been made known to me by the Blessed One and I take my        
refuge in the Blessed One, in the Truth, and in the Order. May the          
Blessed One accept me as a disciple and true believer, from this day        
forth as long as life endures."                                             
  And Subhadda, the mendicant, said to the venerable Ananda: "Great is      
thy gain, friend Ananda, great is thy good fortune, that for so many        
years thou hast been sprinkled with the sprinkling of discipleship          
in this brotherhood at the hands of the Master himself!"                    
  Now the Blessed One addressed the venerable Ananda, and said: "It         
may be, Ananda, that in some of you the thought may arise, 'The word        
of the Master is ended, we have no teacher more!' But it is not             
thus, Ananda, that you should regard it. It is true that no more shall      
I receive a body, for all future sorrow has now forever passed away.        
But though this body will be dissolved, the Tathagata remains. The          
truth and the rules of the order which I have set forth and laid            
down for you all, let them, after I am gone, be a teacher unto              
you.When I am gone, Ananda, let the order, if it should so wish,            
abolish all the lesser and minor precepts."                                 
  Then the Blessed One addressed the brethren, and said: "There may be      
some doubt or misgiving in the mind of a brother as to the Buddha,          
or the truth, or the path. Do not have to reproach yourselves               
afterwards with the thought, 'We did not inquire of the Blessed One         
when we were face to face with him.' Therefore inquire now, O               
brethren, inquire freely."                                                  
  The brethren remained silent. Then the venerable Ananda said to           
the Blessed One: "Verily, I believe that in this whole assembly of the      
brethren there is not one brother who has any doubt or misgiving as to      
the Buddha, or the truth, or the path!"                                     
  Said the Blessed One: "It is out of the fullness of faith that            
thou hast spoken, Ananda! But Ananda, the Tathagata knows for               
certain that in this whole assembly of the brethren there is not one        
brother who has any doubt or misgiving as to the Buddha, or the truth,      
or the path! For even the most backward, Ananda, of all these brethren      
has become converted, and is assured of final salvation."                   
  Then the Blessed One addressed the brethren and said: "If ye now          
know the Dharma, the cause of all suffering, and the path of                
salvation, O disciples, will ye then say: 'We respect the Master, and       
out of reverence for the Master do we thus speak?'" The brethren            
replied: "That we shall not, O Lord."                                       
  And the Holy One continued: "Of those beings who live in                  
ignorance, shut up and confined, as it were, in an egg, I have first        
broken the egg-shell of ignorance and alone in the universe obtained        
the most exalted, universal Buddhahood. Thus, O disciples, I am the         
eldest, the noblest of beings.                                              
  "But what ye speak, O disciples, is it not even that which ye have        
yourselves known, yourselves seen, yourselves realized?" Ananda and         
the brethren said: "It is, O Lord."                                         
  Once more the Blessed One began to speak: "Behold now, brethren,"         
said he, "I exhort you, saying, 'Decay is inherent in all component         
things, but the truth will remain forever!' Work out your salvation         
with diligence!" This was the last word of the Tathagata. Then the          
Tathagata fell into a deep meditation, and having passed through the        
four jhanas, entered Nirvana.                                               
  When the Blessed One entered Nirvana there arose, at his passing out      
of existence, a mighty earthquake, terrible and awe-inspiring: and the      
thunders of heaven burst forth, and of those of the brethren who            
were not yet free from passions some stretched out their arms and           
wept, and some fell headlong on the ground, in anguish at the thought:      
"Too soon has the Blessed One died! Too soon has the Happy One              
passed away from existence! Too soon has the Light of the world gone        
out!"                                                                       
  Then the venerable Anuruddha exhorted the brethren and said:              
"Enough, my brethren! Weep not, neither lament! Has not the Blessed         
One formerly declared this to us, that it is in the very nature of all      
things near and dear unto us, that we must separate from them and           
leave them, since everything that is born, brought into being, and          
organized, contains within itself the inherent necessity of                 
dissolution? How then can it be possible that the body of the               
Tathagata should not be dissolved? No such condition can exist!             
Those who are free from passion will bear the loss, calm and                
self-possessed, mindful of the truth he has taught us."                     
  The venerable Anuruddha and the venerable Ananda spent the rest of        
the night in religious discourse. Then the venerable Anuruddha said to      
the venerable Ananda: "Go now, brother Ananda, and inform the Mallas        
of Kusinara saying, 'The Blessed One has passed away: do, then,             
whatsoever seemeth fit!'" And when the Mallas had heard this saying         
they were grieved, and sad, and afflicted at heart.                         
  Then the Mallas of Kusinara gave orders to their attendants, saying,      
"Gather together perfumes and garlands, and all the music in                
Kusinara!" And the Mallas of Kusinara took the perfumes and                 
garlands, and all the musical instruments, and five hundred                 
garments, and went to the sala grove where the body of the Blessed One      
lay. There they passed the day in paying honor and reverence to the         
remains of the Blessed One, with hymns, and music, and with garlands        
and perfumes, and in making canopies of their garments, and                 
preparing decorative wreaths to hang thereon. And they burned the           
remains of the Blessed One as they would do to the body of a king of        
kings.                                                                      
  When the funeral pyre was lit, the sun and moon withdrew their            
shining, the peaceful streams on every side were torrent-swollen,           
the earth quaked, and the sturdy forests shook like aspen leaves,           
whilst flowers and leaves fell untimely to the ground, like                 
scattered rain, so that all Kusinara became strewn knee-deep with           
mandara flowers raining down from heaven.                                   
  When the burning ceremonies were over, Devaputta said to the              
multitudes that were assembled round the pyre: "Behold, O brethren,         
the earthly remains of the Blessed One have been dissolved, but the         
truth which he has taught us lives in our minds and cleanses us from        
all error. Let us, then, go out into the world, as compassionate and        
merciful as our great master, and preach to all living beings the four      
noble truths and the eightfold path of righteousness, so that all           
mankind may attain to a final salvation, taking refuge in the               
Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha."                                        
  When the Blessed One had entered into Nirvana, and the Mallas had         
burned the body with such ceremonies as would indicate that he was the      
great king of kings, ambassadors came from all the empires that at the      
time had embraced his doctrine, to claim a share of the relics; and         
the relics were divided into eight parts and eight dagobas were             
erected for their preservation. One dagoba was erected by the               
Mallas, and seven others by the seven kings of those countries whose        
people had taken refuge in the Buddha.                                      
                                                                            
                                                                            
CONCLUSION                                                                  
                              CONCLUSION                                    
                                                                            
  WHEN the Blessed One had passed away into Nirvana, the disciples          
came together and consulted what to do in order to keep the Dharma          
pure and uncorrupted by heresies.                                           
  Upali rose, saying: "Our great Master used to say to the brethren:        
'O bhikkhus! after my final entrance into Nirvana you must reverence        
and obey the law. Regard the law as your master. The law is like            
unto a light that shines in the darkness, pointing out the way; it          
is also like unto a precious jewel to gain which you must shun no           
trouble, and be ready to bring any sacrifice; even, should it be            
needed, your own lives. Obey the Dharma which I have revealed to            
you; follow it carefully and if as in no way different from myself.'        
Such were the words of the Blessed One. The law, accordingly, which         
the Buddha has left us as a precious inheritance has now become the         
visible body of the Tathagata. Let us, therefore, revere it and keep        
it sacred. For what is the use of erecting dagobas for relics, if we        
neglect the spirit of the Master's teachings?"                              
  Then Anuruddha arose and said: "Let us bear in mind, O brethren,          
that Gotama Siddhattha has revealed the truth to us. He was the Holy        
One and the Perfect One and the Blessed One, because the eternal truth      
had taken abode in him. The Tathagata taught us that the truth existed      
before he was born into this world, and will exist after he has             
entered into Nirvana. The Tathagata said: 'The truth is omnipresent         
and eternal, endowed with excellencies innumerable, above all human         
nature, and ineffable in its holiness.'                                     
  "Now, let us bear in mind that not this or that law which is              
revealed to us in the Dharma is the Buddha, but the entire truth, the       
truth which is eternal, omnipresent, immutable, and most excellent.         
Many regulations of the Sangha are temporary; they were prescribed          
because they suited the occasion and were needed for some transient         
emergency. The truth, however, is not temporary. The truth is not           
arbitrary nor a matter of opinion, but can be investigated, and he who      
earnestly searches for the truth will find it. The truth is hidden          
to the blind, but he who has the mental eye sees the truth. The             
truth is Buddha's essence, and the truth will remain the ultimate           
standard. Let us, then, revere the truth; let us inquire into the           
truth and state it, and let us obey the truth. For the truth is Buddha      
our Master, our Teacher."                                                   
  And Kassapa rose and said: "Truly thou hast spoken well, O brother        
Anuruddha. Neither is there any conflict of opinion on the meaning          
of our religion. For the Blessed One possesses three personalities,         
and each of them is of equal importance to us. There is the Dharma          
Kaya. There is the Nirmana Kaya. There is the Sambhoga Kaya. Buddha is      
the all-excellent truth, eternal, omnipresent, and immutable: this is       
the Sambhoga Kaya which is in a state of perfect bliss. Buddha is           
the all-loving teacher assuming the shape of the beings whom he             
teaches: this is the Nirmana Kaya, his apparitional body. Buddha is         
the all-blessed dispensation of religion; he is the spirit of the           
Sangha and the meaning of the commands left us in his sacred word, the      
Dharma: this is the Dharma Kaya, the body of the most excellent law.        
  "If Buddha had not appeared to us as Gotama Sakyamuni, how could          
we have the sacred traditions of his doctrine? And if the                   
generations to come did not have the sacred traditions preserved in         
the Sangha, how could they know anything of the great Sakyamuni? And        
neither we nor others would know anything about the most excellent          
truth which is eternal, omnipresent, and immutable. Let us then keep        
sacred and revere the traditions; let us keep sacred the memory of          
Gotama Sakyamuni, so that people may find the truth."                       
  Then the brethren decided to convene a synod to lay down the              
doctrines of the Blessed One, to collate the sacred writings, and to        
establish a canon which should serve as a source of instruction for         
future generations.                                                         
                                                                            
                                                                            
                     THE END OF BUDDA, THE GOSPEL                           
                                                                            
                                                                            
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