The Sanskrit Epics, page 948
38. The small remains of the great foe, passion, whose bow is greed and arrows imaginations, he overwhelmed by the missiles of the weapon of Yoga, the arrows of meditation on impurity, which are acquired by considering the very nature of the body.
39. Malevolence, the foe who is pregnant (of evil), whose weapon is hate and who discharges the arrows of wrath, he struck down by the arrows of benevolence which are placed in the quiver of firmness and fitted to the bowstring of patience.
40. Then the hero cut away the three roots of evil with the three bases of liberation, as an enemy cuts down with three steel-tipped arrow? three enemies standing at the head of the hostile array and holding bows.
41. Having overcome those foes who attack from the rear, in order to pass out of the Kâmadhàtu sphere, and having reached by Yoga the fruit of not being subject to rebirth on earth, he stood as it were at the gate of the city of Nirvana.
42. Then he reached the first trance which is dissociated from (the various forms of) love and the impure elements of existence, has initial and sustained reflection, is born of discrimination and is endowed with ecstasy and bliss.
43. Released from the burning fire of love, he experienced supreme joy from the bliss of the trance, entering into bliss, like one oppressed by heat on entering the water or like a poor man on obtaining great wealth.
“. — At that point too, understanding the initial reflections on those elements and the sustained reflections on their merit and demerit to be disturbing to the mind and not to lead to tranquillity, he determined to rid himself of them.
45. For as waves disturb a stream running with calm clear water, so thoughts are the waves of the water of the mind and disturb it when it is in a state of concentration.
46. As noises harass a man who is tired and soundly asleep, so thoughts harass the man who has attained internal concentration.
47. Then in due course he produced the second trance in which initial and sustained reflections are absent, which is calm from the intentness of the mind, is born of concentration and has ecstasy, bliss and inward happiness.
48. And reaching that trance in which the mind is stilled he experienced supreme unprecedented ecstasy, but, just as previously in the reflections, so now in that ecstasy he saw there were defects.
49. For by the law of opposites suffering is present in any matter in which the highest ecstasy is experienced by man; therefore seeing the defects ensuing at this stage from ecstasy, he entered on Yoga for its abolition.
50. Then experiencing with his body through freedom from ecstasy that bliss which the Saints feel, and fully aware of all things, he remained indifferent and attentive and gained the third trance.
51. Since the bliss reached at that point is the highest of all blisses, there is no continuance of bliss beyond it; therefore the Knower of the higher and lower stages called it the Subhakrtsna stage as being supreme through benevolence.
52. Then he saw a defect in that trance and deemed that the highest stage is tranquil and not subject to alteration; but his mind kept altering continuously through inflections because of the activity of bliss.
53. Seeing that where there is alteration there is motion and where there is motion there is suffering, ascetics who long for tranquillity give up that bliss because it brings about alteration.
54. Then previously abandoning bliss and suffering and all alteration of mind he entered the fourth trance, which is pure and possesses the qualities of indifference and attentiveness and is devoid of bliss and suffering.
55. And since in it there is neither bliss nor suffering and knowledge there fulfils its aim, therefore in the process of the fourth trance there is explained to be purification through indifference and attentiveness.
56. Then relying on the fourth trance, he set his mind on attaining Arhatship, like a king, wishing to conquer hitherto unconquered provinces, who unites himself with a strong noble ally.
57. Then he cut entirely through the five upper fetters, the hindrances of the supreme good, the final bonds, with the sword of intuitive wisdom which he wielded through meditation.
58. And with the seven elephants of the constituents of enlightenment he crushed the seven evil latent tendencies of the mind, as Time with the seven planets crushes the seven continents when the time of their destruction has arrived.
59. For Nanda applied to the faults, by extinguishing, uprooting, burning and drying up, the same action that clouds, wind, fire, and the sun exert on fire, trees, ghee and water respectively.
60. So with the eightfold boat he crossed over the ocean of suffering, so difficult to pass over, which has three currents, three fishes, three waves, one water, five streams, two banks and two crocodiles.
61. By reaching Arhatship he became worthy of reverence, bereft of yearning, making demands on none, untroubled by hope, fear or grief, without conceit or passion, and so though the same he seemed to be another by his steadfastness.
6.2. Then Nanda, who had become tranquil in mind and had fulfilled his task under the teaching of his Brother and Master and through his own courage, spoke thus to himself: —
63. ‘Praise to the Blessed One through Whose benevolence and compassion so many sufferings have been turned away from me and such great bliss brought within my reach.
64. For I, who was full of wantonness and was being carried away by ignoble (desire) born of the body down the path whose nature is suffering, have been turned back from it by the goad of His words, like a must elephant by a goad.
65. For through the instruction of the compassionate Teacher Who extracted the dart of passion from my heart, such supreme ecstasy to-day is mine, not to speak of my reaching the peace of Nirvana in the annihilation of all phenomena.
66. For by extinguishing the blazing fire of the passions with the water of steadfastness as if I were extinguishing a fire with water, I have now come to the highest happiness, like a man descending into a cool pool in the hot weather.
67. No more is there anything agreeable or disagreeable to me; no more have I likings, still less dislikings. By their absence I am suddenly joyful, as if rid of the feelings of cold and heat.
68. Like one who has obtained safety after a great danger or deliverance from great oppression or light in a great darkness or, when without a boat, the further shore of the great ocean, 69. Or like one who has obtained good health after an unbearable illness or release from a debt of unimaginable amount or escape from the face of his adversaries or plenty after famine, 70. Even so by the magic power of the Teacher have I come to supreme tranquillity. Again and again I do repeated obeisance to the noble Tathàgata.
71. When I was given over to love and plunged in the sin of passion for young women, it was He Who took me to the golden-peaked mountain and to Paradise and rescued me by the example of the she-monkey and through the women who frequent heaven, 72. And dragged me up from out of that slough of calamity, the lowest of passions, like an exhausted elephant from a slough; now I am saved in the good Law, the ultimate beatitude, which is peaceful and free from passion, fret, grief and ignorance.
73. I bow the head to Him, the Supreme Seer, the Compassionate One, Who knows the natures, the qualities and the dispositions (of all beings), the Enlightened One, the Holder of the ten Powers, the Chief of physicians, the Saviour. Again I do Him obeisance.’
CANTO XVIII. THE DECLARATION OF INSIGHT
1. THEN HAVING reached his goal, like a young Brahman who has mastered the Vedas or a merchant who has quickly acquired gain or a Ksatriya who has conquered a hostile army, Nanda sought out the Guru.
2. Pleasant is it for the guru to see the pupil or the pupil the guru at the time knowledge has been acquired, each thinking, ‘Your toil has been fruitful through me’; so the Sage was desirous of seeing him too.
3. For when a religious man, though still full of passion, has attained any excellence through anyone else, he should render the latter the highest worship out of gratitude; how much more should the man do so whose conceit is abated and passion spent?
4. For devotion which originates in love or wealth exists with its roots growing from that source only, but when anyone’s passionate devotion arises from following the Law, faith is implanted in his heart.
5. Then clothed in the earth-coloured robe and pale like gold, he bowed his head to the Guru, like a karnikara tree stirred by the wind with the shining glory of its flowers and its copper-coloured shoots.
6. Then, not out of pride but to demonstrate the relationship of master and pupil between the great Sage and himself, he related his success in attaining his object: —
7.The very sharp splinter of false views, Lord, which was lodged in my heart and caused me grievous pain, has been pulled out by the jaws of the forceps of Thy voice, as a splinter is pulled out by a surgeon.
8. The doubt of mine, O Thou Who art free from doubt, which led me to vain questionings, has been destroyed; under Thy instruction I have reached the good Path, as a man who has lost his road is put on the right one by the directions of a good guide.
9. The poison of love, which I had drunk in the wantonness due to my senses being in thraldom to gratification, has been driven out by the antidote of Thy words, as a deadly poison is driven out by a great remedy.
10. O Conqueror of birth, birth for me is destroyed; I dwell rightly in the practice of the good Law. O Accomplisher of the task, I have done all that is required; I exist in the world and yet am free from its elements.
11. Most Excellent One, I have drunk like a calf from the cow of Thy speech, with the teats of benevolence, the beautiful dewlap of clear expression, the milk of the good Law and the horn of imagination, and I have all my desires appeased, just as the calf’s thirst is quenched.
12. O Sage, hear from me briefly what I perceived in order to enter into this possession; for though Thou art omniscient and already knowest it, I wish to tell Thee the manner of my cure.
13. For other holy men desirous of Salvation, hearing how another has come to Salvation, strive blissfully by the same path, as sick men strive for health by the treatment that has already cured another of disease.
14. I know that the elements, earth and the rest, are present in birth and that there is no self at all in them. Therefore I have no feeling of attachment to them and my mind makes no distinction between that which is my body and that which is outside it.
15. I have dissociated myself from the five unholy skandhas, matter etc., since I see them to be transitory, unsubstantial, unindividual and injurious.
16. And since I perceive the rise and disappearance in all states of the organs of sense, therefore I am not attached to them too, as they are impermanent, without personality and full of suffering.
17. And since I see that the world’s beginning and end are simultaneous and that all phenomena are without substance or reality of existence therefore my mind is unyoked from thoughts so that no change in it is caused by belief in my real existence as an individual.
18. Since I am not attached to the four kinds of nutriment with its manifold attachments and am not deluded by it or bound to it, therefore I am liberated from the three spheres of existence.
19. Since I am not dependent on nor bound in mind to seeing, hearing etc., in the ordinary affairs of life and since I use them with my mind in equipoise, therefore I am disjoined from them and emancipated.’
20. With these words he prostrated himself with his entire body on the ground out of respect for the Guru, appearing like a mighty fallen column of gold smeared with red sandalwood.
21. Then the Seer, listening to his declaration and hearing of the steadfastness of him who had previously emerged from heedlessness and of his faith in following the Law, spoke to him with a voice like a thundercloud: —
22. ‘Rise up, for you stand in the Law beloved of My followers. Do not lay your head at My feet; you do not do Me so much reverence by obeisance as by this acceptance of the Law.
23. To-day by conquest of yourself your abandonment of home life is successful, since you have obtained mastery over yourself. For it is fruitful for him who has conquered himself to take up the wandering life, but not for him whose senses are unsubdued and self unstable.
24. To-day you have reached the highest purity in that your voice, body and thoughts are pure, and in that henceforward, my friend, you will not experience again the impure and unholy abode of the womb.
25. To-day you have learnt that which is of good purport and full of learning and have followed the Law according to the learning. For he who is perfected in learning and acts contrary to it is worthy of blame, like a man who, having girded on his armour, shows cowardice.
26. I applaud your firmness in that, free from bondage to the objects of the senses, you set your mind on the means of salvation; for it is only the fool who feels terror in this world at the destruction of rebirth, thinking it means total extinction for him.
27. By good fortune this contact with the right moment, so difficult to obtain, has not been made fruitless through delusion; for when a man has gone below, he comes up again with difficulty, like the turtle in the ocean rising up so as to meet the hole in the yoke.
28. To-day you are the hero who leads the van in battle, having conquered Mara, whom it is so hard to meet in combat; for even a hero is not considered to be such if he is overwhelmed by the faults as by foes.
29. By good fortune you have extinguished to-day the raging fire of passion, and, free from its fever, you will lie down in comfort; for the man whose mind is alight with the fire of the vices finds suffering even on the lordliest couch.
30. Formerly exalted by the pride of wealth, you are rich to-day by the cessation of desire; for as long as a man in the world cherishes desire, so long is he always poor, however wealthy he be.
31. To-day you may fittingly proclaim that King Suddhodana is your father; for it is not praiseworthy for a man, who has abandoned the golden rule observed by his ancestors, to proclaim his lineage.
32. By good fortune you have reached the supreme tranquillity, like a man who has crossed the desert and obtained wealth; for everyone caught in the cycle of existence is harassed by the fear of danger, like a traveller in the desert.
33. I had before been desirous of seeing you, thinking to Myself, “When shall I see Nanda living the forest life, subsisting on alms, following the Rule and self-controlled?” Thus you are a blessed sight to Me.
34. For even an ugly man is beautiful to the sight when he is well adorned with his own pre-eminent virtues, but the man who is covered by the filth of the vices, however beautiful to the eyes he be, is in reality ugly.
35. To-day your intelligence is admirable since by it you have done all that there was for you to do; for however eminent a man may be in learning, he has not intelligence if it is not developed in the sphere of the highest good.
36. Similarly a man’s eyes may be closed and yet he alone have sight among people, though their eyes are open; for though a man have eyes, yet he has not sight, unless he have the eye of intuitive wisdom.
37. Mankind toils in wretchedness at agriculture and other work to find a remedy for suffering, and yet suffering, to which you have put an end to-day by knowledge, returns to them again without intermission.
38. For mankind is ever working to avoid suffering and obtain happiness, nor do they understand how the happiness, so hard to reach, of which you have come into possession to-day, may duly come about.’
39. Nanda, when addressed in this way by the Tathàgata for his good, kept his mind and thoughts fixed and was indifferent to praise and blame; and he spoke thus with folded hands: —
40. ‘Ah! Especially bast Thou, Lord, Who knowest the special characteristics, shown this compassion to me, that I who was sinking in the slough of love have been rescued from the dangers of the cycle of existence and am free of the feeling of love.
41. If Thou, my Brother, my Guide to the highest good, my Father who art stationed in fruition, my Mother, hadst not delivered me, I should have been overwhelmed, failing to reach my goal, like a traveller who has lost his caravan.
42. For discrimination is easy to the man of investigating mind who knows reality and is tranquil and contented; and freedom from passion is easy to the man who has abandoned pride and conceit and whose intelligence is devoid of attachment.
43. For through the right understanding of reality, through shaking off the faults and through obtaining possession of tranquillity, I have now no longings with respect to my body, my wife, the Apsarases or the gods.
“. — For now that I enjoy this pure happiness of tranquillity, my mind no longer hankers after the happiness that arises from love, just as the mind of the dweller in heaven who has fed on nectar does not hanker after the costliest even of earthly foods that is not eaten by the gods.
45. Alas! The world with its eyes closed by the blindness of its perceptions does not see that supreme happiness lies in a change of robe; for casting away the lasting happiness of interior peace it undergoes toil for the sake of the pleasures of love.
46. For the man, who would reject the most excellent bliss of enlightenment and undergo toil in order to experience sensory pleasure, is like the fool, who, proceeding to a jewel-mine, should pass by the jewels and take away worthless semi-precious stones.
47. For wonderful indeed is the favour shown to all beings by the Tathâgata in the exceeding benevolence of His mind that, throwing aside the supreme bliss of trance, the Sage should labour to put an end to the sufferings of others.
48. What can I do in return now to-day for Thee, my compassionate: Guru, Who hast been so kindly disposed to me and by Whom I have been rescued from the ocean of being, like a man, whose ship has been broken by the waves, from the great ocean?’
49. Then the Sage, the Best of Speakers, hearing his well-reasoned speech which showed that he had extirpated all the infections, spoke these words which were such as a Buddha Srlghana should speak: —
50. ‘It is right for you, O wise one, to say this, seeing that you have attained your goal, know the highest truth and are a saint, just as a great merchant who has crossed the desert and made great gains may praise the deeds of his excellent guide.
