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6. From this time on the Prince was known by different names; some
spoke of him as Buddha, the Perfectly Enlightened One; some spoke of
him as Shakyamuni, the Sage of the Shakya clan; and still others
spoke of him affectionately as the Blessed One. He went first to
Mrigadava in Varanasi where the five mendicants who had lived with
him during the six years of his ascetic life were staying. At first
they shunned him, but after he had talked with them, they believed in
him and became his first followers. Then he went to Rajagriha castle
and won over King Bimbisara who had always been his friend. From
there he went about the country living on alms and persuading men to
accept his way of life, and men responded to him as thirsty men seek
water and hungry men seek food. Two great teachers, Sariputra and
Maudgalyayana, and their two thousand disciples came to him. At first
the Buddha's Father, King Suddhodana, suffering inwardly from his
son's retirement, held aloof, but afterward became his faithful
disciple; and Maha-Prajapati, the Buddha's step-mother, and the
Princess Yasodhara, his wife, and all the members of the Shakya clan,
believed in him and followed him. And multitudes of others became his
devoted and faithful followers.
7. For forty-five years the Buddha went about the country preaching
and persuading men to follow his way of life, but at last, at Vaisali
on the way from Rajagriha to Sravasti, he became ill and predicted
that after three months he would enter Nirvana. Still he journeyed on
until he reached Pava where he was made critically ill by food
offered by Cunda, a blacksmith. Then by easy stages in spite of great
pain and weakness, he reached the forest on the border of Kuninagara
castle. Lying between two large sala trees, he continued his
teachings to his favorite disciples until the last moment. Thus
passed into the unknown the greatest of the world's teachers and the
kindest of men.
8. Under the oversight of Ananda, the Buddha's favorite disciple, the
body was cremated by his friends in Kusinagara castle. Seven of the
neighboring rulers under the lead of King Ajatasatru demanded that
the ashes be divided among them. The King of the Kunsinagara castle
at first refused and the dispute even threatened to end in war, but
by the advice of a wise man named Dona, the crises passed and the
ashes were divided and buried under eight great monuments. Even the
embers of the fire and the earthen jar that had held the ashes were
divided and given to two others to be likewise honored.
II. THE FINAL TEACHING OF THE BUDDHA
1. In his final words to his disciples under the sala trees, the
Buddha uttered these words: "Make my teaching your light! Rely
upon it; do not depend upon any other teaching. Make of yourself a
light. Rely upon yourself; do not depend upon anyone else."
"Consider your body; think of its impurity; how can you indulge
its cravings as you see that both its pain and delight are alike
causes of suffering? Consider your soul; think of its transiency; how
can you fall into delusion about it and cherish pride and
selfishness, knowing that they must all end in inevitable suffereing?
Consider all substances; can you find among them any enduring 'self'?
Are they not all aggregates that sooner or later will break apart and
be scattered? Do not be confused by the universality of suffering,
but follow my teaching and you will be rid of pain. Do this and you
will indeed be my discples."
2. "My disciples. The teachings that I have given you are never
to be forgotten nor abandoned. They are to be treasured, they are to
be thought about, they are to be practiced! If you follow these
teachings you will always be happy." "The point of the
teachings is to control your own mind. Restrain your mind from greed,
so shall you keep your body right, your mind pure, your words
faithful. Always thinking of the transiency of your life, you will be
able to desist from greed and anger and will be able to keep clear
from all evil. "If you find your mind entangled in greed and
tempted, you must suppress the greed and control the entangled mind;
be the master of your own mind. A man's mind may make of him a
Buddha, or it may make of him a beast. Being misled by error one
becomes a demon; being enlightened one becomes a Buddha. Therefore
keep your mind under control and do not let it deviate from the Noble Path."
3. "Under my teachings, brothers should respect each other and
refrain from disputes; they should not repel each other like water
and oil, but should mingle together like milk and water. Study
together, learn together, practice the teachings together. Do not
waste your mind and time in idleness and bickering. Enjoy the
blossoms of enlightenment in their season and harvest the fruit of
benevolence. "The teachings which I have given you, I gained by
following the path myself. You should follow the teachings and
conform to their spirit on every occasion. If you neglect them it
means that you have never really met me. It means that you are far
from me even though you are actually with me, but if you accept and
practice my teachings then you are very near to me, even though you
are far away."
4. "My disciples. The end is approaching, our parting is near,
but do not lament. Life is ever changing; none escape the dissolution
of the body. Now I am to manifest the Dharma by my own death, the
body falling apart like a decayed cart. Do not vainly lament, but
wonder at the rule of transiency and learn from it the emptiness of
human life. Do not cherish the unworthy desire that the changeable
might become unchanging. The demon of worldly desire is always
seeking chances to deceive the mind. If a viper lives in your room,
if you wish to have a peaceful sleep, you must chase it out. You must
break the bonds of worldly passions and get rid of them as you would
a viper."
5. "My disciples. The last moment has come, but do not forget
that death is but the vanishing of a body. The body was born from
parents and was nourished by food, so sickness and death is
unavoidable. But the true Buddha is not a human body: it is
Enlightenment. A human body must vanish, but the wisdom of
Enlightenment will exist forever in the truths of the Dharma, and in
the practice of the Dharma. He who sees my body only, is not the one
who truly sees me. He who accepts my teachings, is the one who truly
sees me. After my death, Truth shall be your teacher. Follow Truth
and you will be true to me. "During the last forty-five years of
my life I have kept back nothing from my teaching. There is no secret
teaching, no hidden meaning, everything has been taught openly and
clearly. "My dear disciples; this is the end. In a moment I
shall be passing into Nirvana."
CHAPTER TWO - THE ETERNAL AND GLORIFIED BUDDHA
I. HIS COMPASSION AND VOWS
1. The spirit of Buddha is a great compassion and love to save all
people by any and all means. It is the spirit of a mother toward her
child nourishing and protecting it; it is the spirit that prompts it
it to be ill with the sickness of people, to suffer with their
suffering. "Your suffering is my suffering and your happiness is
my happiness," said Buddha, and he does not forget that spirit
for a single moment, for it is the self-nature of Buddhahood to be
compassionate. A mother realizes her motherhood by loving her child;
then the child reacting to its mothers's love feels safe and at ease.
The Buddha's spirit of compassion is stimulating according to the
need of a man; man's faith is the reaction to this spirit, and it
leads him to enlightenment. Yet the people do not understand this
spirit of Buddha and go on suffering from the illusions and desires
that spring from their ignorance; they suffer from the karma
accumulated by worldly passions, and wander about among the mountains
of delusion with a heavy burden of pain.
2. Do no think that the compassion of the earthly Buddha is only for
the present life; that was only a manifestation of the timeless
compassion of the eternal Buddha that has been operative since
mankind first went astray from ignorance. The eternal Buddha ever
appears before people in most friendly forms and brings to them the
wisest methods of relief. Shakyamuni Buddha was born a Prince among
his Shakya kinsmen, he left the comforts of his home to practice
asceticism, then by Dhyana he realized enlightenment, he preached it
among his kinsmen and finally manifested an earthly death. Yet this
was nothing but one of Buddha's manifestations of compassion. The
task of Buddhahood is as everlasting as human life is everlasting;
and as the depth of ignorance is bottomless, so Buddha's compassion
is boundless. When Buddha decided to break from the worldly life, he
made four great vows: To save all people; to renounce all worldly
desires; to learn all the teachings; and to attain perfect
enlightenment. These vows were not original with him, they were but a
manifestation of the love and compassion that is fundamental in the
self-nature of Buddhahood.
3. Buddha first trained himself to be kind to all animate life and to
avoid the sin of killing any living creature, and then he wished for
all people that they might have the blessedness of a long life. The
Buddha trained himself to avoid the sin of stealing, and then he
wished for all people that they might have everything they wanted.
Buddha trained himself to avoid impure thoughts, and then with its
virtuous deed he wished for all people that they might know the
blessedness of a pure spirit and not suffer from unsatisfied desires.
Buddha, aiming at his ideal, trained himself to keep free from all
deception, and then by its virtuous deed he wishes for all people
that they might know the tranquility of mind that follows speaking
the truth. He trained himself to avoid all duplicity, and then wished
for all people that they might know the joy of fellowship among those
who follow his teachings. He trained himself to avoid abusing others,
and then he wished for everybody that they might have the peaceful
mind that follows living at peace with others. He kept himself free
from idle talk, and then wished for everybody that they might know
the blessedness of understanding sympathy. The Buddha, aiming at his
ideal, trained himself to keep free from greed, and then by its
virtuous deed he wished for all people that they might know the
peacefulness that goes with freedom from all greed. He trained
himself to avoid anger, and then he wished for all people that they
might love one another. He trained himself to understand the true
significance of things and not to be stupid, and then he wished for
all people that they might understand Karma and not disregard it.
Thus Buddha's compassion embraces all people and his never lessening
desire is for their happiness. He loves people as parents love their
children and he wishes for them the highest blessedness, namely, that
they might be able to pass beyond this ocea n of life and death.
II. BUDDHA'S RELIEF AND HIS METHOD OF RELIEF
1. It is very difficult for the words of the Buddha spoken on the
hither bank of Enlightenment to reach the people struggling in the
sea of delusion, so Buddha crosses the sea himself and applies his
method of relief. "Now I will tell you a fable," Buddha
said. "Once there lived a wealthy man whose house was on fire.
The rich man found that the children absorbed in play, had not
noticed the fire but remained inside. "The father called to
them: 'Run children; come out of the house; hurry!' "But the
children did not heed him, so the anxious father shouted again:
'Children; I have some wonderful toys here, come out of the house and
get them!' Heeding his cry this time, the children escaped from the
burning house." This world is a burning house, but the people
unaware that the house is on fire, are in danger of being burned to
death. So Buddha in compassion devises ways of saving them.
2. Buddha said: "I will tell you another parable. Once upon a
time the only son of a wealthy man left his home and fell into
extreme poverty. The father moving away from the old home, they lost
track of each other. The father did everything he could to find the
son but in vain. In the course of time the son, now reduced to
wretchedness, wandered near where the father was living. The father
recognized his son and sent his servants to bring the wanderer home,
but the son was suspicious and feared a trick and would not go with
them. Then the father sent his servants again and told them to offer
his son money to become a servant in the rich man's house. The son
accepted this offer and returned with the servants to the father's
house and became a servant. The father gradually advanced him until
he had charge of all the father's property and treasures, but still
the son did not recognize his own father. "The father was
pleased with his son's faithfulness, and as the end of his life drew
near, he called together his relatives and friends and said to them:
Friends, this is my only son, the son I have been seeking for many
years. From now on, all my property and treasures belong to him."
The son was surprised at his father's confession and said: "Not
only have I found my father but all this property and treasures are
mine." Buddha's compassion embraces all people with the love of
a father for an only son. In that love he conceives the wisest
methods to lead, teach and enrich them with all his treasures.
3. Just as rain falls on all vegetation, so Buddha's compassion
extends equally to all people; but just as different plants receive
particular benefits from the same rain, so people of different nature
and circumstances are blessed by different methods.
4. Parents love all their children, but their love is expressed with
particular tenderness toward a sick child. Buddha's compassion is
equal toward all people, but it is expressed with especial care
toward those who have a heavier load of evil and suffering to bear
because of their ignorance. The sun rises in the eastern sky and
clears away the darkness of the world without any prejudice toward
any substance or any favoritism. So Buddha's compassion encompasses
all people to encourage them in the right and to guide them against
evil; thus he clears away the darkness of ignorance and leads the
people to enlightenment. In their ignorance and bondage the worldly
desire they often act like crazy people, Buddha out of compassion for
them acts like a crazy man, too. They are helpless without Buddha's
compassion; they should receive his methods of relief with the
teachableness of children.
III. THE ETERNAL AND GLORIFIED BUDDHA
1. Common people believe that Buddha was born a prince and learned
the path of enlightenment as a mendicant, but in fact, there had been
a long, long preparation, for Buddha has always existed in a
beginningless world. As Eternal Buddha he has known all people and
applied all methods of relief. Though the teaching varies from age to
age, its aim is always the same: to lead all people to rid themselves
of delusions. There is no falsity in the Eternal Dharma, for Buddha
knows the world and all things as they truly are, and Buddha teaches
all people. Indeed it is very difficult to understand the world as it
truly is, for it is not real though it seems so and it is not false
though it seems so. Ignorant people can not know the truth concerning
the world. Buddha alone truly and fully understands it and he never
says that it is real or false, or good or evil, as it exists in
itself. He simply points out the world as it is. But what Buddha does
teach is this: that all people should cultivate roots of virtue
according to the nature, the deed and the belief of people. This
Dharma surpasses all affirmation and all negation as to the world in itself.
2. Buddha teaches not only in words, he demonstrates by his life. He
demonstates that life is endless, and then to teach people who are
greedy for eternal life, he uses the method of birth and death, to
awaken their attention. "While a physician was away from his
home his children tasted of a poison. When the physician returned, he
noticed their sickness and prepared an antidote. Some of the children
who were not seriously poisoned accepted the medicine and were cured,
but others were so seriously affected that they refused to take the
medicine, preferring the poison to the cure. The physician, prompted
by his father-love for his children, decided on an extreme method to
get them to take the cure. He said to the children: I must go away on
a distant journey. I am old and may pass away any day. If I am with
you I can care for you, but if I should pass away, you will become
worse and worse. If you hear of my death, I implore you to take the
antidote and be cured of this subtle poisoning. Then he went away on
the long journey. "After a time, he sent a messenger to his
children to inform them of his death. The children receiving the
message were deeply affected by the thought of their father's death
and that they would no longer have the benefit of his thoughtful
care. They recalled his parting request of them and because of their
sorrow and feeling of helplessness, they took the medicine and
recovered." People may condemn the deception of this
father-physician, but Buddha is like that father: he, too, employs
the fiction of life and death to persuade people, who are immersed in
the bondage of desire, to take this the only means to break the
bondage. And the Eternal Buddha is very wise and kind-hearted, and
has lived a very long time.
CHAPTER THREE - THE FORM OF BUDDHA AND HIS VIRTUES
I. BUDDHA'S THREE BODIES
1. Do not seek to know Buddha by his form and attributes; for neither
the form nor attributes are the real Buddha. The true Buddha is
Enlightenment itself. Therefore aspiration to realize Enlightenment
is the true way to know Buddha. If anyone after seeing an excellent
image of Buddha thinks that he knows Buddha, it is a mistake of dull
eyes, for the true Buddha can not be embodied in form or seen by
human eyes. Neither can one know Buddha by a faultless description of
his attributes. It has never been found possible to describe his
attributes in human words. Though we speak of his form, the Eternal
Buddha has no form, but he can manifest himself in any form. Though
we describe his attributes, yet the Eternal Buddha has no attributes,
but he can manifest himself in any and all attributes. So if any one
sees distinctly the form of Buddha, or visions his attributes
clearly, and yet does not become attached to the form or to the
attributes, he has the capacity to see and know Buddha.
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