When Gautama was 29,he began to contemplate the meaning of life with its inevitable decay, suffering, and death; like the monk he too must find a solution to these problems. Therefore he decided to renounce everything, and he left the palace immediately after the birth of his first son.
For a while he sought enlightenment by mortifying the flesh; fasting and eating only one seed a day, he became so thin that his bones stuck out. Weak from hunger, he fainted and almost died. Then he decided that this was not the way to enlightenment. He began to beg for food and concentrated on meditation. When he gave up the austerities, his five companions in spiritual aspiration left him in disgust.
One day when he was 35 he sat under a banyan tree with the resolve not to get up until he was enlightened. Perceiving that Siddartha wanted to pass beyond his control, the tempter Mara and his armies attacked him in various ways, but each time Gautama concentrated on the ten perfections (charity, morality, renunciation, wisdom, effort, patience, truth, determination, universal love, and equanimity) and received divine protection. Mara tried to persuade him to give up his struggle and live. However, Gautama identified the ten armies of Mara as follows: lust, dislike for the spiritual, hunger and thirst, craving, laziness, cowardice, doubt, inflexibility, glamour, and finally exalting oneself while despising others. Gautama said that by conquering these one could attain bliss and that he would rather die than be defeated. Mara retired, and Gautama went into deeper meditation, realizing his former lifetimes, becoming clairvoyant, and intuiting the psychological insights that became his principal teachings.
At first people did not know what to call him and asked him if he was a god, a devil, an angel, a person or what. Gautama replied simply, "I am awake." Thus he became known as the Buddha, which means the awakened one or the enlightened one.
The first sermon included here are the words of the Buddha when he spoke in the deer park at Benares as recorded in the SAMYUTTA-NIKAYA V:420, one of the collections of the SUTTA PITAKA, the largest of the "three baskets" of early Buddhist texts. Hearing this brief discourse, the five previous companions, who were at first skeptical of Buddha's new claims, were convinced and became the first five "perfected ones" in his order.
The order of monks or disciples grew, and soon the Buddha was sending out 60 of them in different directions to spread the teachings. The Buddha fulfilled his promise to return to talk with King Bimbisara after his enlightenment, and he was converted also. Although his father, King Suddhodana, did not like the idea of the Buddha begging for food, he accepted it; many of his relatives became followers also. Some of the wealthy built monasteries for the order.
Ananda, the Buddha's cousin and closest disciple, pleaded that women be allowed to join the order, and finally the order of nuns was established. Another cousin, Devadatta, wanted to become the Buddha's successor; but when he was rejected, he tried three times to kill Gautama but failed. Then Devadatta tried to split the order. However, two of the greatest disciples, Sariputta and Moggallana, were able to persuade those who had followed him to return to the Buddha. Devadatta became ill; but as he was dying, the Buddha forgave him.
When he was about 80 years old, the Buddha became seriously ill himself but felt that he should not die until he had prepared the order for his departure. Thus he fought off the illness. Ananda asked for instructions, but the Buddha said that he had not presented "the closed fist of the teacher." In other words, he had not held back any of the teachings. Not even Sariputta nor Moggallana were to be his successor; rather everything was to be decided by majority vote. He suggested that they take refuge in the teachings, but they might abolish minor rules if they wished.
Finally the Buddha instructed a friend named Cunda to prepare him a meal, which was either pork or mushrooms trodden by pigs; the leftovers were to be buried, and the other monks were to be given something else. Soon after eating this meal, the Buddha became very sick with violent pains. The Buddha declared that Cunda was to be honored as equal to the one who had given him the last meal before his enlightenment. Finally he asked the monks three times if they had any questions, but none of them spoke. Then the Buddha said his last words, "Transient are all conditioned things. Work out your salvation with diligence." The body of Gautama was cremated a week later, and an argument over the relics of the Buddha was settled peacefully by dividing them into eight portions.
low, vulgar, common, ignoble, and useless,
and that joined with self-torture---
painful, ignoble, and useless.
Avoiding these two extremes the one who has thus come
has gained the enlightenment of the middle path,
which produces insight and knowledge,
and leads to peace, wisdom, enlightenment, and nirvana.
And what, monks, is the middle path, by which
the one who has thus come has gained enlightenment,
which produces knowledge and insight,
and leads to peace, wisdom, enlightenment, and nirvana?
This is the noble eightfold way, namely,
correct understanding, correct intention,
correct speech, correct action, correct livelihood,
correct attention, correct concentration,
and correct meditation.
This, monks, is the middle path, by which
the one who has thus come has gained enlightenment,
which produces insight and knowledge,
and leads to peace, wisdom, enlightenment, and nirvana.
Now this, monks, is the noble truth of pain:
birth is painful; old age is painful;
sickness is painful; death is painful;
sorrow, lamentation, dejection, and despair are painful.
Contact with unpleasant things is painful;
not getting what one wishes is painful.
In short the five groups of grasping are painful.
Now this, monks, is the noble truth of the cause of pain:
the craving, which leads to rebirth,
combined with pleasure and lust,
finding pleasure here and there,
namely the craving for passion,
the craving for existence,
and the craving for non-existence.
Now this, monks, is the noble truth
of the cessation of pain:
the cessation without a remainder of craving,
the abandonment, forsaking, release, and non-attachment.
Now this, monks, is the noble truth
of the way that leads to the cessation of pain:
this is the noble eightfold way, namely,
correct understanding, correct intention,
correct speech, correct action, correct livelihood,
correct attention, correct concentration,
and correct meditation.
"This is the noble truth of pain":
Thus, monks, among doctrines unheard before,
in me insight, wisdom, knowledge, and light arose.
"This noble truth of pain must be comprehended."
Thus, monks, among doctrines unheard before,
in me insight, wisdom, knowledge, and light arose.
"It has been comprehended."
Thus, monks, among doctrines unheard before,
in me insight, wisdom, knowledge, and light arose.
"This is the noble truth of the cause of pain":
Thus, monks, among doctrines unheard before,
in me insight, wisdom, knowledge, and light arose.
"The cause of pain must be abandoned."
Thus, monks, among doctrines unheard before,
in me insight, wisdom, knowledge, and light arose.
"It has been abandoned."
Thus, monks, among doctrines unheard before,
in me insight, wisdom, knowledge, and light arose.
"This is the noble truth of the cessation of pain":
Thus, monks, among doctrines unheard before,
in me insight, wisdom, knowledge, and light arose.
"The cessation of pain must be realized."
Thus, monks, among doctrines unheard before,
in me insight, wisdom, knowledge, and light arose.
"It has been realized."
Thus, monks, among doctrines unheard before,
in me insight, wisdom, knowledge, and light arose.
"This is the noble truth
of the way that leads to the cessation of pain":
Thus, monks, among doctrines unheard before,
in me insight, wisdom, knowledge, and light arose.
"The way must be practiced."
Thus, monks, among doctrines unheard before,
in me insight, wisdom, knowledge, and light arose.
"It has been practiced."
Thus, monks, among doctrines unheard before,
in me insight, wisdom, knowledge, and light arose.
As long as in these four noble truths
my due knowledge and insight
with the three sections and twelve divisions
was not well purified, even so long, monks,
in the world with its gods, Mara, Brahma,
its beings with ascetics, priests, gods, and men,
I had not attained the highest complete enlightenment.
This I recognized.
And when, monks, in these four noble truths
my due knowledge and insight
with its three sections and twelve divisions
was well purified, then monks,
in the world with its gods, Mara, Brahma,
its beings with ascetics, priests, gods, and men,
I had attained the highest complete enlightenment.
This I recognized.
Knowledge arose in me;
insight arose that the release of my mind is unshakable:
this is my last existence;
now there is no rebirth.
And the Blessed one thus addressed the five Bhikkhus [monks]. ' "There are two extremes, O Bhikkhus, which he who has given up the world, ought to avoid. What are these two extremes'? A life given to pleasures, devoted to pleasures and lusts: this is degrading, sensual, vulgar, ignoble, and profitless; and a life given to rnortifications: this is painful, ignoble, and profitless. By avoiding these two extremes, O Bhikkhus, the Tathagata [a title of Buddha meaning perhaps "he who has arrived at the truth"] has gained the knowledge of the Middle Path which leads to insight, which leads to wisdom which conduces to calm, to knowledge, to the Sambodhi [total enlightenment], to Nirvana [state of release from samsara, the cycle of existence and rebirth].
The Eightfold Path
"Which, O Bhikkhus, is this Middle Path the knowledge of which the Tathagata has gained, which leads to insight, which leads to wisdom, which conduces to calm, to knowledge, to the Sambodhi, to Nirvana? It is the Holy Eightfold Path, namely,
Right Belief [understanding the truth about the universality of suffering and knowing the path to its extinction],
Right Aspiration [a mind free of ill will, sensuous desire and cruelty],
Right Speech [abstaining from lying, harsh language and gossip],
Right Conduct [avoiding killing, stealing and unlawful sexual intercourse],
Right Means of Livelihood [avoiding any occupation that brings harm directly or indirectly to any other living being],
Right Endeavor [avoiding unwholesome and evil things],
Right Memory [awareness in contemplation],
Right Meditation. [concentration that ultimately reaches the level of a trance],
This, O Bhikkhus, is the Middle Path the knowledge of which the Tathagata has gained, which leads to insight, which leads to wisdom, which conduces to calm, co knowledge, to the Sambodhi, to Nirvana.
The Four Noble Truths
"This, O Bhikkhus, is the Noble Truth of Suffering: Birch is suffering; decay is suffering; illness is suffering; death is suffering. Presence of objects we hate, is suffering; Separation from objects we love, is suffering; not to obtain what we desire, is suffering. Briefly,... clinging to existence is suffering.
"This, O Bhikkhus, is the Noble Truth of the Cause of suffering Thirst, which leads to rebirth, accompanied by pleasure and lust, finding its delight here and there. This thirst is threefold, namely, thirst for pleasure, thirst for existence, thirst for prosperity.
"This, O Bhikkhus, is the Noble Truth of the Cessation of suffering: it ceases with the complete cessation of this thirst, -- a cessation which consists in the absence of every passion with the abandoning of this thirst, with doing away with it, with the deliverance from it, with the destruction of desire.
"This, O Bhikkhus, is the Noble Truth of the Path which leads to the cessation of suffering: that Holy Eightfold Path, that is to say, Right Belief, Right Aspiration, Right Speech, Right Conduct, Right Means of Livelihood, Right Endeavor, Right Memory, Right Meditation....
"As long, O Bhikkhus, as I did not possess with perfect purity this true knowledge and insight into these four Noble Truths... so long, O Bhikkhus, I knew that I had not yet obtained the highest, absolute Sambodhi in the world of men and gods....
"But since I possessed, O Bhikkhus, with perfect purity this true knowledge and insight into these four Noble Truths... then I knew, O Bhikkhus, that I had obtained the highest, universal Sambodhi....
"And this knowledge and insight arose in my mind: "The emancipation of my mind cannot be lost; this is my last birth; hence I shall not be born again!"
The message of the Awakened Ones, so stated as it is in the Dhammapada in the plain terms of good and evil, upholds the same values that every great compassionate religion shares. But the seed of good has to grow in the soil of truth; and how the tree grows depends upon the nature of the soil in which it is planted, and whence it draws nourishment. With men as the custodians of the true, the fulfillment of the good depends upon how truth is conceived by men to be. By their acts they verify it.
— MN 41
So it was said of him at the time. But what, then, was the fundamental ground of that teaching? Of the many ways that such a question might be answered, perhaps the simplest and best is this: "He expounded the teaching that is peculiar to Buddhas: suffering, origination, cessation and a path" (MN 56). These four are known as the Four Noble Truths. This, with the cognate teaching of No Self, may be said to constitute the fundamental ground of the teaching of Buddhas; this is what marks them, sets them apart and entitles them to the unique epithet "Buddha."
The three discourses here presented display precisely, in all its incomparably serene simplicity, without assumptions, that special fundamental teaching, from which all Buddhism branches, and to which it all points back. The first discourse displays this fourfold Truth as something to be realized and verified for oneself here and now; the second discloses the contradictions which infect all "self" conceits; the third echoes the second from another angle.
The circumstances that lead up to the discovery of these four Truths, and to the delivery of these discourses, were briefly as follows. The Bodhisatta — as he then was, before his awakening — was twenty nine when he left the house life, where he enjoyed the extreme of luxury. He went into "exile" in order to find not a palliative but the true and incontrovertible way out of suffering.
— SN 12.65
He studied and practiced under two of the foremost teachers of Samadhi (concentration, or quiet), and reached the highest meditative attainments possible thereby. But that was not enough ("I was not satisfied with that as a True Idea; I left it and went away." — MN 36) He then spent the best part of the next six years in the practice of asceticism, trying every sort of extreme self-mortification. During this time he was waited on by five ascetics, who hoped that if he discovered the "deathless state" he would be able to communicate his discovery to them. This too failed.
— MN 36
He decided to try once more the path of concentration, attained through mindfulness of breathing, though this time not pushed to the extremity of quiet, but guided instead by ordered consideration.
— MN 36
He now gave up self-mortification and took normal food again in order to restore to his emaciated body strength sufficient for his purpose. Then the five ascetics left him in disgust, judging that he had failed, and was merely reverting to what he had forsaken. But now in solitude, his new balanced effort in the harmony of virtue, unified in concentration, and guided by the ordered consideration of insight with mindfulness, at length brought success in discovery of the way to the goal he had sought for so long. ("So I too found the ancient path, the ancient trail, traveled by the Awakened Ones of old." — SN 12.65) Five faculties in perfect balance had brought him to his goal: they were the four, namely energy, mindfulness, concentration, and understanding, with faith in the efficacy of the other four — the five that "merge into the Deathless" (SN 48.57). According to tradition, the "Awakening" took place on the night of Vesakha full moon in the fruitful month of May.
It was upon invitation that he resolved to communicate his discovery to others. For his first audience to whom to divulge it he chose the five ascetics who had shared his self-mortification, but had later left him. They were now at Benares — India's "eternal city" — and so in due course he went there to rejoin them. Just two months after his awakening he preached his first sermon — the "Setting Rolling of the Wheel of Truth" or "Bringing into Existence the Blessing of the True Ideal" — with the five ascetics for his hearers. The tradition says it was the evening of the Asalha full moon in July, the day before the rainy season begins, and he began to speak at the moment when the sun was dipping, and the full moon simultaneously rising.
This, his first sermon, made one of his listeners, the ascetic Kondañña, a "stream-enterer," with his attainment of the first of the four progressive stages of realization. The other four soon followed in his footsteps. The second sermon, on the characteristic of Not-Self, was preached to the same five, and it brought them to the fourth and final stage, that of arahatship: "and then" as it is said, "there were six arahats in the world" (Vinaya Mahavagga 1).
These are the first two discourses presented here, and they were the first two sermons ever uttered by the Buddha. The third, the "Fire Sermon," was delivered some months later to an audience of a thousand ascetics converted from the heaven-bent practice of fire-worship.
All three discourses deal only with understanding (pañña), among the faculties mentioned above as required to be balanced. But understanding, in order to reach perfection, has indeed to be aided by the others, or in other words to be founded upon virtue ("habit without conflict"), and to be fortified by concentration (though not necessarily developed to the fullness of quietism). Thus and no otherwise can it reach its goal of unshakable liberation. Now the hearers of all these three discourses were, like the Buddha himself, all ascetics already expert in the techniques and refinements of both virtue (sila) and concentration (samadhi). So the Buddha had thus no need to tell them about what they already knew very well. Similarly he had no need to expound the doctrine of action (kamma) and its ripening (vipaka), with which they were thoroughly acquainted through the ancient teachings. What he had to do was first to show how it is possible to go astray towards the opposite extremes of sensual indulgence and self-torment; and second to describe the facts, to show how things are, clearly and succinctly enough to stir his hearers to the additional spontaneous movement of understanding essential and indispensable for the final discovery of deliverance, each for himself. ("A 'Perfect One' is one who shows the way." — MN 70)
Now let the discourses speak for themselves. Their incalculable strength lies in their simplicity, and in their actuality. The profound truth is there, discoverable even through the misty medium of translation!
Setting Rolling the Wheel of Truth (Dhamma-cakka-ppavattana-sutta)
Thus I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was living at Benares in the Deer Park at Isipatana (the Resort of Seers). There he addressed the bhikkhus of the group of five.
"Bhikkhus, these two extremes ought not to be cultivated by one gone forth from the house-life. What are the two? There is devotion to indulgence of pleasure in the objects of sensual desire, which is inferior, low, vulgar, ignoble, and leads to no good; and there is devotion to self-torment, which is painful, ignoble and leads to no good.
"The middle way discovered by a Perfect One avoids both these extremes; it gives vision, it gives knowledge, and it leads to peace, to direct acquaintance, to discovery, to nibbana. And what is that middle way? It is simply the noble eightfold path, that is to say, right view, right intention; right speech, right action, right livelihood; right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. That is the middle way discovered by a Perfect One, which gives vision, which gives knowledge, and which leads to peace, to direct acquaintance, to discovery, to nibbana.
"Suffering, as a noble truth, is this: Birth is suffering, aging is suffering, sickness is suffering, death is suffering, sorrow and lamentation, pain, grief and despair are suffering; association with the loathed is suffering, dissociation from the loved is suffering, not to get what one wants is suffering — in short, suffering is the five categories of clinging objects.
"The origin of suffering, as a noble truth, is this: It is the craving that produces renewal of being accompanied by enjoyment and lust, and enjoying this and that; in other words, craving for sensual desires, craving for being, craving for non-being.
"Cessation of suffering, as a noble truth, is this: It is remainderless fading and ceasing, giving up, relinquishing, letting go and rejecting, of that same craving.
"The way leading to cessation of suffering, as a noble truth, is this: It is simply the noble eightfold path, that is to say, right view, right intention; right speech, right action, right livelihood; right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration.
"'Suffering, as a noble truth, is this.' Such was the vision, the knowledge, the understanding, the finding, the light, that arose in regard to ideas not heard by me before. 'This suffering, as a noble truth, can be diagnosed.' Such was the vision, the knowledge, the understanding, the finding, the light, that arose in regard to ideas not heard by me before. 'This suffering, as a noble truth, has been diagnosed.' Such was the vision, the knowledge, the understanding, the finding, the light, that arose in regard to ideas not heard by me before.
"'The origin of suffering, as a noble truth, is this.' Such was the vision... 'This origin of suffering, as a noble truth, can be abandoned.' Such was the vision... 'This origin of suffering, as a noble truth, has been abandoned.' Such was the vision... in regard to ideas not heard by me before.
"'Cessation of suffering, as a noble truth, is this.' Such was the vision... 'This cessation of suffering, as a noble truth, can be verified.' Such was the vision... 'This cessation of suffering, as a noble truth, has been verified.' Such was the vision... in regard to ideas not heard by me before.
"'The way leading to cessation of suffering, as a noble truth, is this.' Such was the vision... 'This way leading to cessation of suffering, as a noble truth, can be developed.' Such was the vision... 'This way leading to the cessation of suffering, as a noble truth, has been developed.' Such was the vision... in regard to ideas not heard by me before.
"As long as my knowing and seeing how things are, was not quite purified in these twelve aspects, in these three phases of each of the four noble truths, I did not claim in the world with its gods, its Maras and high divinities, in this generation with its monks and brahmans, with its princes and men to have discovered the full awakening that is supreme. But as soon as my knowing and seeing how things are, was quite purified in these twelve aspects, in these three phases of each of the four noble truths, then I claimed in the world with its gods, its Maras and high divinities, in this generation with its monks and brahmans, its princes and men to have discovered the full awakening that is supreme. Knowing and seeing arose in me thus: 'My heart's deliverance is unassailable. This is the last birth. Now there is no renewal of being.'"
That is what the Blessed One said. The bhikkhus of the group of five were glad, and they approved his words.
Now during this utterance, there arose in the venerable Kondañña the spotless, immaculate vision of the True Idea: "Whatever is subject to arising is all subject to cessation."
When the Wheel of Truth had thus been set rolling by the Blessed One the earthgods raised the cry: "At Benares, in the Deer Park at Isipatana, the matchless Wheel of truth has been set rolling by the Blessed One, not to be stopped by monk or divine or god or death-angel or high divinity or anyone in the world."
On hearing the earth-gods' cry, all the gods in turn in the six paradises of the sensual sphere took up the cry till it reached beyond the Retinue of High Divinity in the sphere of pure form. And so indeed in that hour, at that moment, the cry soared up to the World of High Divinity, and this ten-thousandfold world-element shook and rocked and quaked, and a great measureless radiance surpassing the very nature of the gods was displayed in the world.
Then the Blessed One uttered the exclamation: "Kondañña knows! Kondañña knows!" and that is how that venerable one acquired the name, Añña-Kondañña — Kondañña who knows.
— SN 56.11
The Not-self Characteristic (Anatta-lakkhana-sutta)
Thus I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was living at Benares, in the Deer Park at Isipatana (the Resort of Seers). There he addressed the bhikkhus of the group of five: "Bhikkhus." — "Venerable sir," they replied. The Blessed One said this.
"Bhikkhus, form is not-self. Were form self, then this form would not lead to affliction, and one could have it of form: 'Let my form be thus, let my form be not thus.' And since form is not-self, so it leads to affliction, and none can have it of form: 'Let my form be thus, let my form be not thus.'
"Bhikkhus, feeling is not-self...
"Bhikkhus, perception is not-self...
"Bhikkhus, determinations are not-self...
"Bhikkhus, consciousness is not self. Were consciousness self, then this consciousness would not lead to affliction, and one could have it of consciousness: 'Let my consciousness be thus, let my consciousness be not thus.' And since consciousness is not-self, so it leads to affliction, and none can have it of consciousness: 'Let my consciousness be thus, let my consciousness be not thus.'
"Bhikkhus, how do you conceive it: is form permanent or impermanent?" — "Impermanent, venerable Sir." — "Now is what is impermanent painful or pleasant?" — "Painful, venerable Sir." — "Now is what is impermanent, what is painful since subject to change, fit to be regarded thus: 'This is mine, this is I, this is my self'"? — "No, venerable sir."
"Is feeling permanent or impermanent?...
"Is perception permanent or impermanent?...
"Are determinations permanent or impermanent?...
"Is consciousness permanent or impermanent?" — "Impermanent, venerable sir." — "Now is what is impermanent pleasant or painful?" — "Painful, venerable sir." — "Now is what is impermanent, what is painful since subject to change, fit to be regarded thus: 'This is mine, this is I, this is my self'"? — "No, venerable sir."
"So, bhikkhus any kind of form whatever, whether past, future or presently arisen, whether gross or subtle, whether in oneself or external, whether inferior or superior, whether far or near, must with right understanding how it is, be regarded thus: 'This is not mine, this is not I, this is not myself.'
"Any kind of feeling whatever...
"Any kind of perception whatever...
"Any kind of determination whatever...
"Any kind of consciousness whatever, whether past, future or presently arisen, whether gross or subtle, whether in oneself or external, whether inferior or superior, whether far or near must, with right understanding how it is, be regarded thus: 'This is not mine, this is not I, this is not my self.'
"Bhikkhus, when a noble follower who has heard (the truth) sees thus, he finds estrangement in form, he finds estrangement in feeling, he finds estrangement in perception, he finds estrangement in determinations, he finds estrangement in consciousness.
"When he finds estrangement, passion fades out. With the fading of passion, he is liberated. When liberated, there is knowledge that he is liberated. He understands: 'Birth is exhausted, the holy life has been lived out, what can be done is done, of this there is no more beyond.'"
That is what the Blessed One said. The bhikkhus were glad, and they approved his words.
Now during this utterance, the hearts of the bhikkhus of the group of five were liberated from taints through clinging no more.
— SN 22.59
The Fire Sermon (Aditta-pariyaya-sutta)
Thus I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was living at Gaya, at Gayasisa, together with a thousand bhikkhus. There he addressed the bhikkhus.
"Bhikkhus, all is burning. And what is the all that is burning?
"The eye is burning, forms are burning, eye-consciousness is burning, eye-contact is burning, also whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with eye-contact for its indispensable condition, that too is burning. Burning with what? Burning with the fire of lust, with the fire of hate, with the fire of delusion. I say it is burning with birth, aging and death, with sorrows, with lamentations, with pains, with griefs, with despairs.
"The ear is burning, sounds are burning...
"The nose is burning, odors are burning...
"The tongue is burning, flavors are burning...
"The body is burning, tangibles are burning...
"The mind is burning, ideas are burning, mind-consciousness is burning, mind-contact is burning, also whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with mind-contact for its indispensable condition, that too is burning. Burning with what? Burning with the fire of lust, with the fire of hate, with the fire of delusion. I say it is burning with birth, aging and death, with sorrows, with lamentations, with pains, with griefs, with despairs.
"Bhikkhus, when a noble follower who has heard (the truth) sees thus, he finds estrangement in the eye, finds estrangement in forms, finds estrangement in eye-consciousness, finds estrangement in eye-contact, and whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful- nor-pleasant that arises with eye-contact for its indispensable condition, in that too he finds estrangement.
"He finds estrangement in the ear... in sounds...
"He finds estrangement in the nose... in odors...
"He finds estrangement in the tongue... in flavors...
"He finds estrangement in the body... in tangibles...
"He finds estrangement in the mind, finds estrangement in ideas, finds estrangement in mind-consciousness, finds estrangement in mind-contact, and whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with mind-contact for its indispensable condition, in that too he finds estrangement.
"When he finds estrangement, passion fades out. With the fading of passion, he is liberated. When liberated, there is knowledge that he is liberated. He understands: 'Birth is exhausted, the holy life has been lived out, what can be done is done, of this there is no more beyond.'"
That is what the Blessed One said. The bhikkhus were glad, and they approved his words.
Now during his utterance, the hearts of those thousand bhikkhus were liberated from taints through clinging no more.
— SN 35.28
THUS I HEARD: Words spoken by Ananda Thera at the First Council when all the Discourses were recited, three months after the Buddha's Parinibbana.
PERFECT ONE: The Pali word Tathagata has several alternative explanations, including tatha agato ("thus come," i.e., by the way followed by all Buddhas) tatha gato ("thus gone," i.e., to the discovery of the Four Truths), and tathalakkhanam agato ("come to the characteristic of the 'real' or the 'such,' namely the undeceptive truth").
NIBBANA: Pali nibbana, Sanskrit nirvana. The meaning is "extinction," that is, of the "fires" of lust, hate, and delusion, or, more briefly, of craving and ignorance, and so nibbana is a name for the third Truth as liberation. The word is made up of the prefix nir (not) and vana (effort of blowing; figuratively, craving); probably the origin was a smith's fire, which goes out or becomes extinguished (nibbayati) if no longer blown on by the bellows; but the simile most used is that of a lamp's extinguishment (nibbana) through exhaustion of wick and oil.
NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH: The members of the path are defined in the Maha-satipatthana Sutta and elsewhere as follows:
Right View of the Four Truths;Right Intention governed by renunciation (non-sensuality), non-ill-will, and non-cruelty (harmlessness);
Right Speech in abstention from lying, slander, abuse and gossip;
Right Action in abstention from killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct;
Right Livelihood for bhikkhus as that allowed by the Rules of the Discipline, and for laymen as avoidance of trading in weapons, living beings, meat, intoxicants, and poisons (AN V);
Right Effort to avoid unarisen and to abandon arisen evil, and to arouse unarisen and to develop arisen good;
Right Mindfulness of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness as given in the Maha-satipatthana Sutta — that is, contemplation of the body as a body, of feelings as feelings, of states of consciousness as states of consciousness, and of ideas as ideas;
Right Concentration as (any of) the four jhana -meditations.
Collectively the first two members are called Understanding (pañña), the next three Virtue (sila), and the last three Concentration (samadhi). The Noble Eightfold Path is developed in four progressive stages, namely those of stream-entry (where wrong view ritualism and doubt are ended), once-return (where sensuality and ill will are weakened), non-return (where these two are ended) and Arahatship (where lust for form, lust for the formless, conceit, agitation and ignorance are ended), this being the end of craving which causes suffering.
SUFFERING: the Pali word dukkha, made up of dur (bad, unsatisfactory) and kha (state, "-ness") extends its meaning from the actual suffering present in physical pain or mental grief to any unwelcome state of insecurity, no matter how vague.
TRUTH: Pali sacca (compare Sanskrit satya), from the root sa (to be there to be existent, to have reality, etc.) and so literally a "there-is-ness" in the sense of a state that, unlike a mirage, does not deceive or disappoint. The common sense use of truth is by no means consistent, and the word and the notion must therefore be handled with some care, taking it here only as treated by the Buddha.
As to individual philosophers' and divines' individual factional truths — that is to say, "The world is eternal" or "The world is not eternal"; or "The world is finite or the world is infinite"; "The soul is what the body is" or "The soul is one, the body is another"; "After death a Perfect One is" or "After death a Perfect One is not" or "After death a Perfect One both is and is not" or "After death a Perfect One neither is nor is not" — when a bhikkhu has cast off all of these, has renounced and rejected, banished, abandoned, and relinquished them all, he thus becomes one who has cast off all factional truths.
— AN 4.38
But how is truth to be found which is not factional?
There are five ideas that ripen here and now in two ways. What five? Faith, preference, hearsay-learning, arguing upon evidence, and liking through pondering a view. Now something may have faith well placed in it and yet be hollow, empty, and false; and again something may have no faith placed in it and yet be factual, true, and no other than it seems; and so with preference and the rest. If a man has faith, then he guards truth when he says, "My faith is thus," but on that account draws no unreserved conclusion, "Only this is true, the other is wrong." In this way he guards the truth; but there is as yet no discovery of truth. And so with preference and the rest.
How is truth discovered? Here a bhikkhu lives near some village or town. Then a householder or his son goes to him in order to test him in three kinds of ideas, in ideas provocative of greed, of hate, and of delusion, wondering, "Are there in this venerable one any such ideas, whereby his mind being obsessed he might not knowing, say 'I know,' unseeing, say 'I see,' or to get others to do likewise, which would be long for their harm and suffering?" While thus testing him he comes to find that there are no such ideas in him, and he finds that, "The bodily and verbal behavior of that venerable one are not those of one affected by lust or hate or delusion. But the True Idea that this venerable one teaches is profound, hard to see and discover; yet it is the most peaceful and superior of all, out of reach of logical ratiocination, subtle, for the wise to experience; such a True Idea cannot be taught by one affected by lust or hate or delusion."
It is as soon as by testing him, he comes to see that he is purified from ideas provocative of lust, hate, and delusion, that he then plants his faith in him. When he visits him he respects him, when he respects him he gives ear, one who gives ear hears the True Idea, he remembers it, he investigates the meaning of the ideas remembered. When he does that he acquires a preference by pondering the ideas. That produces interest. One interested is actively committed. So committed he makes a judgment. According to his judgment he exerts himself. When he exerts himself he comes to realize with the body the ultimate truth, and he sees it by the penetrating of it with understanding. That is how there is discovery of truth. But there is as yet no final arrival at truth. How is truth finally arrived at? Final arrival at truth is the repetition, the keeping in being, the development, of those same ideas. That is how there is final arrival at truth."
— MN 95 (abbreviated)
This undeceptive truth so arrived at is the Four Noble Truths, of which it is said:
These four noble truths are what is real, not unreal, not other (than they seem), that is why they are called Noble Truths.
— Sacca-Samyutta
Besides this essential static unity of the four truths as undeceptiveness, the dynamic structure of the transfiguration which they operate in combination is expressed as follows:
Who sees suffering sees also the origin of suffering and the cessation of suffering and the way leading to cessation of suffering (and whichever of the four truths he sees, he sees the three therewith).
— Sacca Samyutta
Of these four noble truths, there is noble truth to be diagnosed, there is noble truth to be abandoned, there is noble truth to be verified, and there is noble truth to be developed (kept in being).
— Sacca Samyutta
CATEGORIES: this represents the Pali word khandha (Sanskrit skandha), which is often rendered by "aggregate." The five are as given in the second Discourse. They are headings that comprise all that can be said to arise and that form the object of clinging. "The clinging is neither the same of these five categories which are its objects, nor is it something apart from them; it is will and lust in regard to these five categories of clinging's objects that is the clinging there." (MN 109) The five are respectively compared to a lump of froth, a bubble, a mirage, a coreless plantain-stem, and a conjuring trick.
CLINGING: an unsatisfactory and inadequate, but accepted rendering for the Pali upadana. The word means literally "taking up" (upa plus adana; compare the Latin assumere from ad plus sumere.) By first metaphor it is used for the assumption and consumption that satisfies craving and produces existence. As such it is the condition sine qua non for being. What is consumed (or assumed) is the categories (q.v.). The word "clinging" has to represent this meaning. Clinging's ending is nibbana.
CRAVING: though the word tanha doubtless once meant "thirst" (compare Sanskrit trsna) it is never used in Pali in that sense. With ignorance it is regarded as a basic factor in the continuity of existence. Craving draws creatures on through greed, and drives them on through hate, while ignorance prevents their seeing the truth of how things are or where they are going. Denial is as much an activity of craving as assertion is. Denial maintains the denied.
CESSATION: nirodha, meaning the cessation of suffering through the cessation of craving, is regardable as the removal of a poison, the curing of a disease, not as the mere denial of it opposed to the assertion of it, or the obstruction (pativirodha) of it in conflict with the favoring (anurodha) of it (see under Craving), since both assertion and denial confirm and maintain alike the basic idea or state that is required to be cured. Cessation, therefore, is not to be confounded with mere negativism or nihilism. "Any pleasure and joy that arise in dependence on the world is gratification that the world is impermanent, pain-haunted and inseparable from the idea of change is the disappointment in the world; the removal of desire and lust is the cure (the escape) in the world." (AN III) The cure or escape is Cessation: the Buddha would not claim awakening till he had diagnosed how these three things came to be.
KNOWING AND SEEING HOW THINGS ARE: the force of the Pali word yathabhuta, (literally how (it has) come to be, how (it) is, how (things) exist lies in the direct allusion to the absolutely relative conditionedness of all being. It is given specially thus: "Seeing 'such is form, such its origin, such its going out,'" and so with the other four categories.
THE VENERABLE KONDAÑÑA: one of the five bhikkhus. See Introduction.
Second Sutta
FORM: Pali rupa (what appears, appearance). As the first of five categories (q.v.) it is defined in terms of the four Great entities, namely earth (hardness), water (cohesion), fire (temperature), and air (distension and motion), along with the negative aspect of space (what does not appear), from all of which are derived the secondary phenomena such as persons, features, shapes, etc.: these are regarded as secondary because while form can appear without any of them they cannot appear without form. It is also defined as "that which is being worn away" (ruppati), thus underlining its general characteristics of instability.
NOT-SELF: Together with the four truths, this is taught only by Buddhas. Anatta (not-self) is shown as a general characteristic without exception.
The characteristic of impermanence does not become apparent because, when rise and fall are not given attention, it is concealed by continuity; the characteristic of pain does not become apparent because, when continuous oppression is not given attention, it is concealed by the postures (changing from one posture to another, waking and sleeping); the characteristic of not-self does not become apparent because, when resolution into the various elements (that compose whatever is) is not given attention, it is concealed by compactness.
— Visuddhimagga Ch. XXI
Self-identification and hunger for permanence and bliss form the principal manifestations of craving, guided by view that is wrong because it is not in conformity with undeceptive truth. When confronted with the contradictions and the impossibility of self-identification with any of the five Categories of Clinging's objects (q.v.) craving seeks to satisfy this need by imagining a soul (individual or universal); but since no such soul, however conceived, can escape falling within the five Categories of Clinging's objects, this solution is always foredoomed to failure. Similarly any attempt to identify self with nibbana must always fail for the same reason. Nibbana conceived as identical (with self) or (self) as apart from it (emanence) or inside it (immanence), or nibbana conceived as "mine" is misconceived. (MN 1). This does not prevent a Perfect One from using the speech that is current in the world in order to communicate, though he does so without misapprehending it it, as is shown in the Dhammapada:
— Dhammapada Verses 160-1
Similarly with the expression "in oneself" (ajjhattam) in the Second Discourse, this is simply a convenient convention for the focus of the individual viewpoint, not to be misapprehended. A bhikkhu heard the Buddha saying, as in the Second Discourse here, that the five Categories are "not mine," etc., and he wondered; "So it seems form is not-self; feeling, perception, determinations, and consciousness are not-self. What self, then, will the action done by the not-self affect?" He was severely rebuked by the Buddha for forgetting the conditionedness of all arisen things. (MN 109) "It is impossible that anyone with right view should see any idea as self." (MN 115) and "Whatever philosophers and divines see self in its various forms, they see only the five Categories, or one or other of them." (SN 22.47)
FEELING: (vedana) this is always confined strictly to the affective feelings of (bodily or mental) pleasure and pain with the normally ignored neutral feeling of "neither-pain-nor pleasure." These can be subdivided in various ways.
PERCEPTION: (sañña) means simply recognition.
DETERMINATIONS: a great many different renderings of this term are current, the next best of which is certainly "formations." The Pali word sankhara (Sanskrit samskasa) means literally "a construction," and is derived from the prefix sam (con) plus the verb karoti (to do, to make); compare the Latin conficere from con plus facere (to do), which gives the French confection (a construction). The Sanskrit means ritual acts with the purpose of bringing about good rebirth. As used in Pali by the Buddha it covers any aspects having to do with action, willing, making, planning, using, choice, etc. (anything teleological); and contact (q.v.) is often placed at the head of lists defining it. Otherwise defined as bodily, verbal, and mental action.
CONSCIOUSNESS: (viññana) is here the bare "being conscious" left for consideration when the other four categories have been dealt with. It is only describable in individual plurality in terms of the other four Categories, as fire is individualized only by the fuel it burns (see MN 38 & 109). Otherwise it is regardable as an infiniteness (MN 111) dependent upon the contemplation of it as such. It is only impermanent, etc., because however it arises, it can only do so in dependence on the other Categories, that is, on conditions themselves impermanent, painful and not-self. It never arises unless accompanied by co-nascent perception (q.v.) and feeling (q.v.). It has six "doors" (see under Eye and Mind) for cognizing its objective fields, but no more.
ESTRANGEMENT: the Pali noun nibbida and its verb nibbindati are made up of the prefix nir in its negative sense of "out," and the root vid (to find, to feel, to know intimately). Nibbada is thus a finding out. What is thus found out is the intimate hidden contradictoriness in any kind of self-identification based in any way on these things (and there is no way of determining self-identification apart from them — see under NOT-SELF). Elsewhere the Buddha says:
Whatever there is there of form, feeling, perception, determinations, or consciousness, such ideas he sees as impermanent, as subject to pain, as a sickness, as a tumor, as a barb, as a calamity, as an affliction, as an alienation, as a disintegration, as a void, as not-self. He averts his heart from those ideas, and for the most peaceful, the supreme goal, he turns his heart to the deathless element, that is to say, the stilling of all determinations, the relinquishment of all substance, the exhaustion of craving, the fading of passion, cessation, extinction.
— MN 64
The "stuff" of life can also be seen thus. Normally the discovery of a contradiction is for the unliberated mind a disagreeable one. Several courses are then open. It can refuse to face it, pretending to itself to the point of full persuasion and belief that no contradiction is there; or one side of the contradiction may be unilaterally affirmed and the other repressed and forgotten; or a temporary compromise may be found (all of which expedients are haunted by insecurity); or else the contradiction may be faced in its truth and made the basis for a movement towards liberation. So too, on finding estrangement thus, two main courses are open: either the search, leaving "craving for self-identification" intact, can be continued for sops to allay the symptoms of the sickness; or else a movement can be started in the direction of a cure for the underlying sickness of craving, and liberation from the everlasting hunt for palliatives, whether for oneself or others. In this sense alone, "Self protection is the protection of others, and protection of others self-protection" (Satipatthana Samyutta).
Third Sutta
EYE, etc.: the six, beginning with the eye and ending with the mind (q.v.), are called the six "Bases for Contact (see Contact) in oneself," and are also known as the six "Doors" of perception. Their corresponding objects are called "external bases," ("sense-organ" is both too material and too objective), since the emphasis here is on the subjective faculty of seeing, etc., not the associated piece of flesh seen in someone else or in the looking-glass, which, in so far as it is visible, is not "seeing" but "form" as the "external" object of the seeing "eye in oneself," and insofar as it is tangible is the object of the body-base in oneself, and insofar as it is apprehended as a "bodily feature" is the object of the mind-base in oneself. Here the eye should be taken simply as the perspective-pointing-inward-to-a-center in the otherwise uncoordinated visual field consisting of colors, which makes them cognizable by eye-consciousness, and which is misconceivable as "I." The six Bases in Oneself are compared to an empty village, and the six External Bases to village-raiding robbers.
FORMS: the first of the six External Bases, respective objective fields or objects of the six Bases in Oneself (see EYE). The Pali word rupa is used for the eye's object as for the first of the five Categories, but here in the plural. Colors, the basis for the visual perspective of the eye (q.v), are intended, primarily (see also under FORM above.
CONTACT: the Pali word phassa comes from the verb phusati (to touch, sometimes used in the sense of to arrive at, or to realize), from which also comes the word photthabba (tangible, the object of the Fifth Base in oneself, namely, body-sensitivity). But here it is generalized to mean contact in the sense of presence of object to subject, or presence of cognized to consciousness, in all forms of consciousness. It is defined as follows: "Eye-consciousness arises dependent on eye and on forms; the coincidence of the three is contact (presence), and likewise in the cases of the ear, nose, tongue, body and mind. Failing it, no knowledge, no consciousness of any sort whatever, can arise at all." This fundamental idea is sometimes placed at the head of lists of things defining Determinations (q.v.).
BODY: the Pali word kaya is used both for the physical body and for any group, as the English word "body" is. In Pali it is also used in the sense (a) for the physical frame, namely "this body with its consciousness" in a general sense, sometimes called "old action," and then it forms the subject of body contemplation as set forth in the Satipatthana Sutta, the aim of which is to analyze this "conglomeration" into its motley constituents. Or else it is used in a strict sense, as here, namely (b) that "door" of the subjective body-sensitivity or tactile sense, the perspective-pointing-inwards-to-a-center in the otherwise uncoordinated tactile field of tangibles consisting of the hard, the hot-or-cold, and the distended-and-movable.
MIND: the Pali word mano belongs to the root meaning to measure, compare, coordinate. Here it is intended as that special "door" in which the five kinds of consciousness arising in the other five doors (see under EYE), combine themselves with their objective fields into a unitive perspective-pointing-inwards-to-a-center, together with certain objects apprehendable in this mind-door, such as infiniteness of space, etc. (and names, fictions, etc.). Whatever is cognized in this door (see under Consciousness) is cognized as an idea (q.v.). And in the presence (with the contact) of ignorance (of the four truths) it is misconceived as "I." It is thus the fusing of this heterogeneous stuff of experience into a coherent pattern, when it also has the function of giving temporal succession and flow to that pattern by its presenting all ideas for cognition as "preceded." In the Abhidhamma, but not in the Suttas, "the (material) form which is the support for the mind" is mentioned (implying perhaps the whole "body with its consciousness"), but not further specified. This would place mind on a somewhat similar basis to the eye-seeing, as meant here in its relation to the objective piece of flesh (see under EYE). Later notions coupled it with the heart. Now fashion identifies it with the brain; but such identifications are not easy to justify unilaterally; and if they in any way depend upon a prior and always philosophically questionable assumption of a separate body-substance and a mind-substance, they will find no footing in the Buddha's teaching where substances are not assumed.
MIND-CONSCIOUSNESS: if it is remarked that each of the six pairs of Bases, the five consisting of eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body, being coordinated by mind, are open to any one's self-inspection; and that consciousness is considered here as arising dependently upon each of these six pairs of Bases and in no other way whatsoever (since no other description rejecting all six is possible without self-contradiction); then this notion of mind-consciousness should present no special difficulty.
IDEA: the word dhamma is gerundive from the verb dharati (to carry, to remember), thus it means literally a "carryable, a rememberable." In this context of the six pairs of Bases it means the rememberables which form the mind's special object; as distinct from the forms seen only with the eye, the sounds heard with the ear, the odors smelt with the nose, the flavors tasted with the tongue, and the tangibles touched with the body, ideas are what are apprehended through the mind-door (see under Eye, Forms and Mind, and also Contact). These six cover all that can be known. But while the first (see FORMS) are uncoordinated between themselves and have no direct access to each other, in the mind-door the five find a common denominator and are given a coordinating perspective, together with the mind's own special objects. So the idea as a rememberable, is the aspect of the known apprehended by the mind, whether coordinating the five kinds of consciousness, or apprehending the ideas peculiar to it (see Mind), or whether apprehending its own special objects. This must include all the many other meanings of the word dhamma (Sanskrit dharma). Nibbana, in so far as it is knowable — describable — is an object of the mind, and is thus an idea. "All ideas are not-self." What is inherently unknowable has no place in the Teaching.
The Three Suttas and Their Relationship
The first of these three discourses sets out the vision of the truth peculiar to Buddhas, with its foundation of Suffering ("I teach only suffering, and the liberation from suffering"). The second then takes the five Categories given in the definition of Suffering in the first, and it shows how, in this comprehensive analysis every component can be diagnosed rightly, that is to say in conformity with truth. It is this treatment that elicits the characteristic of Not-self. The two characteristics of Impermanence and Suffering in the world were well recognized in ancient indian philosophies and have never been peculiar to Buddhism. This exposure of the inherent contradiction in the very nature of the idea of self-identity, to which craving cleaves with the would-be self-preserving stranglehold of a drowning man upon his rescuer, is here made the very basis for the movement to liberation. Craving is cured through coming to understand how things are while truth is being guarded (see under TRUTH above). The consequent fading of lust is brought about by this discovery of truth, and the understanding that there is no more of this beyond is the result of the final arrival at Truth by keeping it in being through development. In the third discourse the very same ground is gone over but described in different terms. The comprehensive analysis in terms of the five categories with their general rather than individual emphasis, is replaced by the equally comprehensive and complementary analysis in terms of the six pairs of Bases, which analyze the individual viewpoint, without which no consciousness can arise. And instead of the dispassionate term "Not-self," everything that could possibly be identified as self is, without mentioning the term, presented to the same effect in the colors of a conflagration of passion behind a mirage of deception. Only a Buddha "whose heart is cooled by compassion" can have the courage to venture so far in the search for truth and discover thereby the true state of peace.
Is not seeking one's own salvation a selfish aim?- If the aim prescribed were a heavenly personal existence forever with self-preservation (whether through selfishness as such, or disguised as altruism), then the answer could hardly but be, "Yes." But with the aim as the removal of self-insistence in every form (not excluding ultimately self-denial, which like any negation, is just another affirmation of the basic idea so strenuously denied) — the cure of the infectious sickness that leads to untold suffering — does the question arise at all? But even granting that it did, would not the arahant disciple display, after the Buddha, the highest altruism by showing how the aspiration to health is not a deception, since by his success he bears witness that it can be achieved and that no one is forever excluded from following his example?
- But this description in terms of suffering, is it not pessimistic?
- Is it not rather the very reverse? For true optimism is surely shown by having the courage and energy to see how things are, and where liberation lies; and would it not be true pessimism to be satisfied to try and make existence out to be pleasanter or safer, and liberation easier, than is in conformity with the truth? Must not true liberation lie beyond the dialectic of pessimism and optimism, beyond alternatives of selfishness and altruism, as Truth (not factional truths) lies beyond that of being and non-being?
- Does not the teaching of "Not-self" imply that there is in fact no action; that, for instance, there are no living beings to kill?
- The answer is certainly, "No." The reasons would be too lengthy to go into here in detail. But it is said by the Buddha:
The Buddhas in the past, accomplished and fully awakened, those the Blessed Ones maintained the efficacy of action and of certain action to be done, and so will those do in the future, and so do I now.
— AN 3.136
The Brahma Net Sutra
At that time, Vairocana Buddha began speaking in general about the Mind-Ground for the benefit of the Great Assembly. What he said represents but an infinitesimal part, the tip of a hair, of His innumerable teachings -- as numerous as the grains of sand in the river Ganges.
He concluded: "The Mind-Ground has been explained, is being explained and will be explained by all the Buddhas -- past, present, and future. It is also the Dharma Door (cultivation method) that all the Bodhisattvas of the past, present, and future have studied, are studying and will study."
"I have cultivated this Mind-Ground Dharma Door for hundreds of eons. My name is Vairocana. I request all Buddhas to transmit my words to all sentient beings, so as to open this path of cultivation to all."
At that time, from his Lion's Throne in the Lotus Treasury World, Vairocana Buddha emitted rays of light. A voice among the rays is heard telling the Buddhas seated on thousands of lotus petals, "You should practice and uphold the Mind-Ground Dharma Door and transmit it to the innumerable Sakyamuni Buddhas, one after another, as well as to all sentient beings. Everyone should uphold, read, recite, and singlemindedly put its teachings into practice."
After receiving the Dharma-door of the Mind-Ground, the Buddhas seated atop the thousands of lotus flowers along with the innumerable Sakyamuni Buddhas all arose from their Lion seats, their bodies emitting innumerable rays of light. In each of these rays appeared innumerable Buddhas who simultaneously made offerings of green, yellow, red and white celestial flowers to Vairocana Buddha. They then slowly took their leave.
The Buddhas then disappeared from the Lotus Treasury World, entered the Essence-Nature Empty Space Floral Brilliance Samadhi and returned to their former places under the Bodhi-tree in this world of Jambudvipa. They then arose from their samadhi, sat on their Diamond Thrones in Jambudvipa and the Heaven of the Four Kings, and preached the Dharma of the "Ten Oceans of Worlds."
Thereupon, they ascended to Lord Shakya's palace and expounded the "Ten Dwellings," proceeded to the Suyama Heaven and taught the "Ten Practices," proceeded further to the Fourth Heaven and taught the "Ten Dedications," proceeded further to the Transformation of Bliss Heaven and taught the "Ten Dhyana Samadhi," proceeded further to the Heaven of Comfort From Others' Emanations and taught the "Ten Grounds," proceeded further to the First Dhyana Heaven and taught the "Ten Vajra Stages," proceeded further to the Second Dhyana Heaven and taught the "Ten Patiences," and proceeded further to the Third Dhyana Heaven and taught the "Ten Vows." Finally, in the Fourth Dhyana Heaven, at Lord Brahma's Palace, they taught the "Mind-Ground Dharma-Door" chapter, which Vairocana Buddha, in eons past, expounded in the Lotus Treasury World (the cosmos).
All the other innumerable transformation Sakyamuni Buddhas did likewise in their respective worlds as the chapter "Auspicious Kalpa" has explained.
II. Sakyamuni Buddha
At that time, Sakyamuni Buddha, after first appearing in the Lotus Treasury World, proceeded to the east and appeared in the Heavenly King's palace to teach the "Demon Transforming Sutra." He then descended to Jambudvipa to be born in Kapilavastu -- his name being Siddhartha and his father's name Suddhodana. His mother was Queen Maya. He achieved Enlightenment at the age of thirty, after seven years of cultivation, under the name of Sakyamuni Buddha
The Buddha spoke in ten assemblies from the Diamond Seat at Bodhgaya to the palace of Brahma.
At that time, he contemplated the wonderful Jewel Net hung in Lord Brahma's palace and preached the Brahma Net Sutra for the Great Assembly. He said:
"The innumerable worlds in the cosmos are like the eyes of the net. Each and every world is different, its variety infinite. So too are the Dharma Doors (methods of cultivation) taught by the Buddhas.
"I have come to this world eight thousand times. Based in this Saha World, seated upon the Jeweled Diamond Seat in Bodhgaya and all the way up to the palace of the Brahma King, I have spoken in general about the Mind-Ground Dharma Door for the benefit of the great multitude.
"Thereafter, I descended from the Brahma King's palace to Jambudvipa, the Human World. I have preached the Diamond Illuminated Jeweled Precepts (the Bodhisattva precepts) from beneath the Bodhi-tree for the sake of all sentient beings on earth, however dull and ignorant they may be. These precepts were customarily recited by Vairocana Buddha when he first developed the Bodhi Mind in the causal stages. They are precisely the original source of all Buddhas and all Bodhisattvas as well as the seed of the Buddha Nature.
"All sentient beings possess this Buddha Nature. All with consciousness, form, and mind are encompassed by the precepts of the Buddha Nature. Sentient beings possess the correct cause of the Buddha Nature and therefore they will assuredly attain the ever-present Dharma Body.
For this reason, the ten Pratimoksa (Bodhisattva) precepts came into being in this world. These precepts belong to the True Dharma. They are received and upheld in utmost reverence by all sentient beings of the Three Periods of Time -- past, present and future.
"Once again, I shall preach for the Great Assembly the chapter on the Inexhaustible Precept Treasury. These are the precepts of all sentient beings, the source of the pure Self-Nature."
THE SUTRA OF THE FORTY-TWO SECTIONS
"Favourably impressed by what he had seen, the Emperor inquired of his ministers what the meaning of the dream might be; on which Fou-i, who was connected with the Board of Astronomical Calculations, replied:--'Your minister has heard that India possesses one who has arrived at perfect wisdom, and who is called Fo (Buddha). It must have been his body flying through space, and having a divine splendour, that was the origin of your dream.' The Emperor on this hastily dispatched the high military officer Tsai-In and the civil officers Wang-Tsiing and Tsin-King,[3] with others, amounting in all to eighteen persons, directing them to proceed to the country of the Tai-yue-chi (Getæ) and to Central India, and diligently seek after the law of Buddha.
"After eleven years, In and the others returned from India, having obtained the picture of Buddha, which King Yau-Chan caused to be made, and also the classic of the Forty-two Sections. They were accompanied also, on their invitation, by the Shamans[5] Ma-Tang and Tchou-Fa-Lan, and so on the thirtieth day of the twelfth month they arrive at Lo-Yang.
"The Emperor believing this testimony, and approving it, at once ordered a temple to be founded outside the western gate of the city (of Lo-Yang), and called it the Temple of the White Horse, where they reverently placed the image of Buddha for worship; and also he ordered a likeness of Buddha to be set up at the Tsing-leung-toi,[4] or the Southern Palace, as well as over the chief gate of the city (of Lo-) Yang, that both the ministers and people might see and reverence it."
This is, indeed, no proof of the absolute age of the work itself, nor of its authenticity; yet, from internal evidence it would seem to be of an earlier date, and not the Sutras known as those of the "Great Vehicle" (Mahayana). Its style is simple, its object to enforce the moral precepts of the Buddhist religion, its method natural and uniform. Yet, as there is no evidence that this work is known in the
[1. Kapilavastu.
2. i.e., restless spirits.
3. Confer {Greek: oi eksw}. Col iv. {Greek: k.t.l}.
4. Called by Rémusat "Tour de la Pureté." Fo-Koue-Ki, p. 44.]
southern school of Buddhism, we cannot venture to place it among the earliest productions of that religion; and as in the first section there is a distinct mention of the Two Hundred and Fifty Rules (i.e., of the Pratimoksha), it must be later than that work at any rate. On the whole, considering that it was brought to China A.D. 64, and must have had considerable notoriety in order to have attracted the attention of the mission from the court, we may at any rate assume that it is as old as our era, if not of an earlier date.
The present version was made in the "Sin-chow" year of the Emperor Keën-lung, i.e., A.D. 1721, by a priest (Koue-sse) Chang-Ka, and is the one generally used in China.
THE SUTRA OF THE FORTY-TWO SECTIONS.
At this time, the world-honoured one having perfected reason, considered thus in his mind:--"The banishment of lust (or desire), resulting in a state of perfect rest and quietness, this is the very first and most excellent standing ground, the great means of subduing all the wiles of Mara (or of overcoming all the followers of Mara or the way of Mara)." So now he began to turn the wheel of the law for the purpose of giving deliverance to all men (or all sentient beings) in the midst of the garden of the park of deer (Mrigadava, Jul. sub voce); and (particularly) on account of Chin-ju and his four companions (viz. A.swajit, Bhadrika Mahanama, Da.sabala Kachyaha, and the one mentioned, i.e. Ajuata Kanudenya, vid. Jul. ii. 364, n.) did he turn the wheel of the law of the four great truths (arya satyani, vid. Jul. ii. 443), and so enabled them to arrive at the accomplishment of the paths. It was then that those Bikshus who had any doubts as to what had been spoken, requested Buddha to confirm their faith and confidence in his doctrine; on which the world-honoured one proceeded to instruct and answer them, opening their understanding on every point, as each one stood, with closed hands, in a reverent posture, attentively listening to, and receiving the instruction of their master. At this time the world-honoured one spoke this exact Sutra, containing forty-two sections.
1. "Buddha said: The man who leaves his family, quits his p. 340 house, enters on the study of supreme reason, searches out the deepest principle of his intelligent mind, (so as to) understand the law which adroits of no active exertion,--this man is called a Shamun {sic}. Such an one, ever practising the 250 rules (viz. those contained in the book of the "four divisions"), following in the four paths, aspiring to and attaining a state of perfect rest and purity, completes in himself the condition of a Rahat.
2. Buddha said: The Rahat is able to fly, change his appearance, fix the years of his life, shake heaven and earth. The successive steps (towards this condition) are: A-na-hom (Anagami), which is the condition that allows a man at the end of his life to mount in soul above the nineteen heavens, and in that region of bliss to attain the condition of Rahat; next (is the condition) of Sz'-to-hom (Sakradagami), in which after one birth and death more, a man becomes a Rahat: next (is the condition of) Sü-to-hun (i.e. Sowan), in which, after seven births and deaths more, a man may obtain the state of a Rahat. These are they who have entirely cut off their passions of love and desire, which like severed branches of the tree are now useless (and dead).
3. Buddha said: The Shaman, who has left his family, separated himself from lust, banished his sensual affections, examined the true source of his individual mind, searched out the hidden wisdom of Buddha, understood the unselfish nature of the Buddhist religion, who finds nothing within to obtain, or without to seek after, whose heart is not too much attached to the pursuit of reason (or the accomplishment of the paths), nor yet involved in the web of Karma (i.e.--the cause which is followed by an effect--as the life of a tree by the fruit), in whom there is all absence of all unquiet thought, an absence of all active exertion, an absence of an anxious preparation, an absence of an fixed direction of purpose, who without passing through the successive stages of advance has yet attained the highest personal (individual) dignity (of being)--to attain this state is (indeed well) named: "to accomplish reason."
4. Buddha said: He who shaves his head and beard in order to become a Shaman and receive the law of Buddha, (must) forego all worldly wealth, and beg a sufficiency of food for his support, eating one meal in the middle of the day, and occupying one abode beneath a tree, and desire nothing more! That which causes a man to become foolish and blind, is nothing more than lust and desire!
5. Buddha said: Living creatures by ten things attain virtue, p. 341 and by ten things become vile; what are these ten things? There are three pertaining to the body, four to the mouth, three to the thoughts; the three pertaining to the body are the slaughter of living creatures, theft, lust; the four belonging to the mouth are double-tongueness, slandering, lying, hypocrisy (or glozy conversation); the three evils of the thought are envy, anger, and wandering thoughts (chi). Disbelief in the three precious ones is the true source of all this evil. But the yan-po-sat (upasamandi) who observes the five rules untiringly, and advances to the ten, he must obtain reason.
6. Buddha said: A man guilty of many crimes, not repenting himself, does but confirm the sinful principle within his heart, and necessitate his return to the world in a bodily form, just as the water returns to the sea. But when he has personally fulfilled, as far as possible in his circumstances, the destruction and relinquishment of evil, understanding the character of sin, avoiding crime, doing what is right,--this man, the power of guilt destroyed, may obtain reason.
7. Buddha said: A man foolishly stating or considering that I do that which is not right, will obtain no other refutation from me but that which proceeds from the exercise of my four qualities of love (?), so the more evil he brings against me, the more good will proceed from me; the influence of this resting on me, the effect of that returning to him. A foolish man once hearing Buddha explaining this doctrine came and blamed him on account of it. Buddha was silent and answered not, pitying the folly of the man which caused him to act thus. At length, when he ceased, Buddha asked, saying, When one man (an inferior) visits another as a matter of politeness, and finds him away from home, what is the expression used to him who pays the visit? They say "chi kwai." [This passage is very difficult, perhaps a better translation would be this: "What is the polite expression to use to an inferior who, in paying a visit or making a present to another, has not observed the rules of propriety? They say 'keep--return' (i.e. do not trouble yourself, allow me to return you your own)."] So now this follower of mine abusing me, I decline also to receive his abuse, and so it will return to himself, a source of misery. For as sound belongs to the drum, and shadow to the substance, so does misery attach itself to the evil doer.
8. Buddha said: A wicked man who abuses the good one, is like one looking upwards and spitting against heaven; his spittle does not soil the heavens, but returns on himself. Or, when the p. 342 wind is contrary, like one who aims dust at another, the dust does but return against him who threw it. You cannot injure the good man, the misery will devolve on yourself.
9. Buddha said: A man who distributes alms from a principle of private affection or violent pity, has not much merit; but he who bestows alms with no private end, but from fealty to the principle of supreme reason, his merit is great indeed! So he who beholds another engaged in almsgiving, and from a principle of reason approves of what he does, and rejoices at it, this man shall also share in the merit of the action itself. It may be asked if the merit of the first is hereby decreased? Buddha (in answer to this) says, Like as many men lighting a fire for cooking rice from one torch, diminish not the light of that one, so is it in this case of merit.
10. Buddha said: To feed a hundred learned men is not equal in point of merit to feeding one virtuous man; feeding a thousand virtuous men is not equal in merit to feeding one man who keeps the five precepts; feeding ten thousand such is not equal in merit to feeding one Sz'-to-hom (Sakradagami); feeding ten million such is not equal to feeding one Oh-na-hom (anagami); the merit of feeding one hundred million such is not equal to the merit of feeding one Rahat; the merit of feeding ten thousand million such is not equal to the merit of feeding one Pi-chi [Pasé, (Pratyeka)] Buddha; and the merit of feeding one hundred thousand million such is not equal to the merit of feeding one Buddha, and learning to pray to Buddha, desiring him to save mankind. The merit of feeding virtuous men is much greater indeed than the matters which occupy the attention of mere worldly wise men; and the matters of heaven and earth, spirits and demons, are not equal in point of importance to the reverence due to parents; our parents are indeed the most divine of all the gods.
11. Buddha said: There are twenty difficult things in the world, viz.: being poor to be charitable; being rich and noble, to learn supreme wisdom; to risk one's life and yet escape death; to gain sight of the Buddhist scriptures; to be born in the age of a Buddha (or, in the world of a Buddha); to repress lust and banish desire; to see an agreeable object and not covet it; having power, not to be supercilious; not to be angry when insulted; to be passive amidst all worldly influences; to understand completely the end of learning; not to despise the ignorant; to eradicate selfishness; to unite virtuous conduct with learning; to observe one's nature, and at the same time pursue the study of supreme reason; having p. 343 attained one's end, not to be moved (by exultation); to explain satisfactorily the nature of final deliverance; to pass through various forms of being to deliver men; to have a heart enlightened and unmoved in action; to avoid positive and disputatious assertions.
12. There was a Shaman who asked Buddha "By what influences is supreme reason engendered, and what are its characteristics?" Buddha replied: "Supreme wisdom has no form or qualities; so that to seek a knowledge of it is profitless. If you desire to possess it, guard well your mind (or active powers of will) and conduct. It may be compared to the polishing of a mirror; the dust and dirt disappearing, the brightness of the mirror is at once produced; so it embraces in itself, as it were, the power of beholding that which has form; so separate (yourself) from lust, guard well the passionless (empty) nature of your mind, then you will perceive reason and understand its characteristics."
13. Buddha said: What is active virtue but to practise the dictates of reason? What is morality (or virtue), but the highest agreement of the will with the requirements of reason? What is magnanimity, but the untiring exercise of patience under injury? He who bravely bears injury undeserved is a man indeed! And what is a sage (or the wisdom of a sage) but a man whose heart is enlightened and free from stain, all evil conduct destroyed, calm and pure within, without blemish? To combine a complete knowledge of what was before either heaven or earth existed with what happens to-day, a knowledge of the universe when as yet nothing existed, so that there is nothing unknown, unseen, unheard,--to possess this transcendant knowledge is true enlightenment.
14. Buddha said: A man who cherishes his passions, unable to discern (the beauty of) supreme reason is like (a vase of) impure water in which objects of variegated colours are placed; (such a vase) being shaken up with violence, men coming and looking over the water can perceive none of the objects which ought to be reflected in it. So in the heart lust and passion cause obscurity, so that supreme reason is darkened and hid. But if a man gradually understands and repents of his sins, growing in knowledge, the foul water, losing its obscurity, will become pure, and calm, and clear, reflecting in itself the forms around. So fire placed under a pot, the water in it boiling and bubbling, nothing within it below the surface can be perceived;--so the three moral evils which naturally rage in the heart, causing the five chenk (skandha) to combine with that which is without, in the end p. 344 reason is obscured. It is by the banishment, therefore, of these influences that our spiritual nature is perceived; we leave the trammels of life and death, and ascend up to the land of all the Buddhas, where virtue and reason abide.
15. Buddha said: A man who cultivates supreme reason is like one who takes a burning torch and enters a dark house; the darkness which dwelt within is immediately dissipated, and lo! light ensues! He who still continues the pursuit of wisdom, and fathoms the systems of true philosophy,--his follies and mistakes all destroyed, there must be perfect illumination!
16. Buddha said: In religious exercises, in conduct, in language, even in philosophizing, I never forget (the necessity of founding all on the basis of) supreme reason.
17. Buddha said: To behold heaven and earth, and reflect on their impermanency, so also the mountains and rivers, and all created things, the changes and productions of nature, all fleeting and impermanent; but the heart, relying on this as constant, how quickly reason may be attained!
18. Buddha said: During an entire day to reflect and act according to the dictates of supreme reason, and in the end to obtain the root of firm faith,--this happiness is indeed immeasurable!
19. Buddha said: Never tire of reflecting on that which is yourself! Remember that the four elements composing your body, which are sometimes considered as real existences, are, in fact, all mere names, without personality, and that the so-called "I" is but a passing guest, a thing of a moment; all things around us are only illusions!
20. Buddha said: A man following the dictates of his passions, seeking those so-called sweets of indulgence (flowers), is just like the burning incense, the fragrance of which men may perceive, but the incense itself in those very fumes is self-consumed! So the foolish man, exalting the character of the vulgar enjoyments found in selfish pleasures, and not guarding the treasure of his reason,--the only true source of happiness,--endures both the misery of his past gratification (i.e., of its being passed) and also the bitterness of after repentance!
21. Buddha said: The man who rudely grasps after wealth or pleasure, is like a child seizing a knife (to cut honey),--the sweet delight of the first taste of the honey is scarcely lost before he perceives the pain of his tongue cut with the knife!
22. Buddha said: The man enthralled by the deceitful pleasures of concupiscence (marriage), suffers misery greater than the collars p. 345 and chains which bind the inmates of the infernal regions; for from these pains there is remittance, but the desire for the indulgence of sensual passion (wifeage), though it have the misery of the tiger's mouth, still, by its sweetness of appearance, fascinates the heart. The guilt of such indulgence, how can it be remitted?
23. Buddha said: Of all the passions (lit., lusts and desires) the greatest is love of women. Besides this,--so great is it,--there is no other. Were there two of the same sort, no mortal would be able to attain supreme reason.
24. Buddha said: Passion governing a man is like one seizing a torch and rushing with it alight against the wind. The foolish man who does not drop it must have the pain of a burnt hand. So the poisonous root of covetousness, lust, anger, envy, planted in the body of the foolish man, and not early overpowered by the exercise of reason, must necessarily bring calamity and woe, as the hand of this foolish man who desires to carry the torch is burnt.
25. On a certain occasion a Deva presented a woman of pleasure to Buddha, desiring to tempt him. Buddha thought, I will display the wisdom of Buddha (to this being.) So he said, "For weeds and filth there is a receptacle! What then would you do? Why talk to me of such foolish vulgar things (as sensual desires)? Surely it would be difficult to excite passion in one who has for ever banished the means (tung) by which these things are gratified." The Deva, overpowered with awe, reverently desired Buddha to explain the subject of supreme reason, which doing, he immediately became a Su-to-hun (Sowan).
26. Buddha said: Those who practise the acquirement of supreme reason are like a piece of wood which floats down with the tide of a stream, neither touching the left bank nor the right, not detained by any worldly scheme nor misled by spiritual theories (that which concerns spirits, i.e., hope of attaining the condition of a Deva), nor caught in the whirl of the tide to stop and rot;--I will secure that this man enters the sea! So the man who practises reason, not held by the hallucinations of passion, nor the false notions which distinguish the wicked,--this man progressing and banishing doubt, shall under my protection arrive at supreme wisdom.
27. Buddha said to a Shaman: Beware of placing trust in your thoughts, or they in the end will destroy the groundwork of all belief. Beware of mixing yourself up in worldly matters (? shik), for what are these but the cause of all misery? But the Rahat may trust his thoughts.
28. Buddha thus addressed all the Shamans: Beware of looking on a woman! if you see one, let it be as seeing her not! Beware of words with a woman; but if you speak with one, with pure heart and upright intention say, "I am a Shaman, necessarily in this impure world; but let me be as a lotus, which grows pure though in the mud." Is she old? Regard her as your mother. Is she honourable? Consider her as your elder sister. Is she of small account? Consider her as a younger sister. Is she a child? Treat her politely according to the usages of society. Above all, consider in your reasoning that what you see is only the external appearance, within that body what vileness and corruption! So, thinking thus, your evil thoughts will be all banished!
29. Buddha said: A man practising reason, and (wishful to) expel his lusts, ought to behold himself (or them ?) as stubble awaiting the fire which will come at the end of the world (Kalpa). He would then certainly be earnest in removing these desires and lusts.
30. Buddha said: There was a man (or there being a man) who, afflicted with sensual lusts which he could not repress, was sitting on sharp knives in order to destroy the members which ministered to his passion (or in order to eradicate his passions or senses); on which Buddha addressed him thus:--"If you should succeed in removing those lustful members, what is this in comparison with the removal of the (lustful) heart? It is the heart which is the workman (at the bottom of all); if you rightly compose this, then all these evil thoughts will be dissipated. But the heart not composed, what profit can arise from removing the member? What is this but mere bodily death?" Buddha said: So it is the world commonly mistakes on these matters.
31. There was a certain lewd woman who had made an engagement to meet a certain man. When she came not he began to repent himself (of his wickedness), and said: "Lust is but the offspring of my own thought. There being no thought, lust cannot be born." Buddha passing by and hearing this, said to the Shaman: "I recollect this as a saying of Kasyapa Buddha, and it now has become common in the world." Buddha said: "Man by lustful desires engenders sorrow; from sorrow springs apprehension (of evil); there being no lust, then there is no sorrow and no apprehension."
32. Buddha said: A man practising reason (aiming at the attainment of supreme reason) may be compared to a single warrior fighting against ten thousand. Whilst other soldiers, armed for the battle, rush from the gate, desirous to fight, he yet fears in p. 347 his exhausted state that victory would be difficult, and so retreats from the field. When half way he returns to the conflict resolved to fight and die. This man, having attained the victory, and returning to his country, will (deservedly) be raised to high rank. So the man who is able to hold to the same mind, and, persevering against all obstacles, advances in his work (or profession), uninfluenced by any worldly follies or enticements, his evil desires destroyed, his wicked acts at an end, he must attain perfect wisdom.
33. There was a Shaman who during a night kept reciting his prayers (the Sutra, or book containing the words of Buddha), the sound of his voice piteous, and worn with fatigue, desiring (by so doing) to bring himself to repent of his sinful thoughts (of returning to the world). Buddha addressing the Shaman, said: "When you were living in the world as a member of a household, what was your particular pursuit?" He replied: "I was constantly practising the lute." Buddha said: "The strings being slack, what then?" He replied: "There would be no musical sound." "And the strings too tight, what then?" He said: "The sound would be over-sharp." "But if they were tuned to a just medium between the slack and over-tight, what then?" He replied: "All the sounds would be concordant and harmonious." Buddha addressed the Shaman: "The way of supreme learning is even so. Only keep your heart in harmony and union, so you will attain perfect knowledge."
34. Buddha said: A man practising the attainment of reason is as the place where (or the mode in which) they found metals, gradually dropping down and separating from the dross; the vessel made from this will be good. The way of wisdom (in like manner, is) by gradually ridding away the corruption of the heart, with earnest perseverance to go on, and thus complete perfect knowledge. If any other way be tried, it is only the cause of weariness to the body, this causes vexation of mind, this transgression in life, and this is only to practise the way of the wicked (or, and this the accumulation of guilt).
35. Buddha said: A man who is aiming to attain supreme reason has many sorrows, like him that is not engaged in this pursuit; for, considering a man's experience from the time of his birth to his old age, from this period to the time of his sickness, and from this to his death,--what countless sorrows does he endure! But the heart laden with regrets, guilt stored up, endless life and death,--these sorrows how difficult to speak of!
36. Buddha said: For a man to avoid the three evil ways of birth (viz., beast, demon, or in hell), and to be born a human being, is difficult; being so, to be born a man and not a woman, is difficult; being so, to have the six passions all well arranged (? to have perfect mind and body, "mens sana in corpora sano"), is difficult; being so, to be born in the middle country (India ?) is difficult; being so, to attain to the knowledge of Buddha's doctrine is difficult; being so, to become eminent in the knowledge of Buddha is difficult; being so, to be born in the family of a Bosat is difficult; being so, to be born in the age of a Buddha, and heartily to believe in the three precious ones (Buddha, the Law, and the Community) is difficult.
37. Buddha asked all the Shamans, "What is the time of a man's life (or in what does a man's life consist)?" One replied, "(in) a few days (only)." Buddha said, "Son, you are not yet able to attain supreme wisdom." Again he asked a single Shaman the same question, who answered, "The time of a meal (or of taking a meal)." Buddha answered, "Son, you are not yet capable of attaining supreme reason." Again he asked the same question of another Shaman, who replied, "Man's life is but a breath, a sigh!" Buddha answered, "Well said, son! you are able to speak of attaining supreme wisdom."
38. Buddha said: A disciple removed from me by a distance of several thousand lis, yet thinking on me and keeping my commandments (nim = observing by recollection), must in the end obtain supreme wisdom. Whilst another who dwells with me, and yet allows rebellious thoughts and does wickedly, he shall in the end not attain supreme reason. Truth of profession resides (or is exhibited) in correct conduct. If a man consorting with me does still not conform to my commandments in his conduct, what benefit will ten thousand precepts be to him?
39. Buddha said: A man who is practising the attainment of reason, is like one eating honey, which is sweet throughout. So my Scriptures (Sutras) are likewise sweet: the system advocated in them is altogether a source of pleasure. Those who practise it shall attain supreme knowledge.
40. Buddha said: A man practising the attainment of supreme wisdom, and able to extirpate the root of his lusts and desires, is like one who strikes the suspended gem. (The allusion is either to striking a temple bell, for the assembly or dispersion of the congregation, or it may be to the act of striking or grinding a substance in a mortar, ex. gr.). At every stroke the collection of people, p. 349 (or the compact substance), is broken up (i.e., for the purpose of resorting to worship). So when all a man's wicked desires are broken up and dispersed, he will attain supreme wisdom.
41. Buddha said: All the Shamans who are engaged in the practice of religion ought to regard themselves as oxen carrying loads, and going through the mud; tired with their burdens, they dare not look (or wander) an inch (the least portion) to the right or the left; desiring above all things to get out of the mud, they go straight on, in order that they may obtain some ease and repose themselves. So a Shaman, regarding his lusts and passions as more troublesome than that mud, with a steadfast purpose bending his mind to (the attainment of) reason, will be able to avoid all sorrow.
42. Buddha said: I regard kings, princes, as to their dignities, only as patches of dust; gold, jewels, as to their value, only as clay fragments; dresses of silk and sarsnet, only as playthings (? pai-pak); the great chiliocosm as the letter 'a'; the four barren or weedy seas (? nan-shui) only as a miry road (?); the system of complete deliverance, only as a boat for carrying treasure; the highest vehicle (referring, probably, to the Mahayana), only as the gilt sheen of a dream; seeking the wisdom of Buddha only as a flower (which appears in fancy) before the eye; seeking any inferior standing ground, only as (su-ni-chiio ?); seeking Nirvana, as a dead sleep; arriving at rest, as the dancing of the six dragons (?); the state of perfect equanimity, as the one true standing point; the power of endless transformation, as the trees and flowers of the four seasons;--all these things are thus great in comparison only. To hear the law of Buddha is the chief source of joy.
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