Wake Up (8 page)

 

In him, thus freed, arose knowledge and freedom, and he knew that rebirth was at an end, and that the goal had been reached.

And for the benefit of the world he now devised the way, based on the Four Noble Truths.

 

THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS

And the Noble Eightfold Path is as follows:

 

THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH

 

“When this knowledge had arisen within me, my heart and mind were freed from the drug of lust, from the drug of rebirth, from the drug of ignorance.”

Thus did he complete the end of “self,” as fire goes out for want of grass; thus he had done what he would have men do; he had found the way of perfect knowledge. And he knew as he sat there lustrous with all wisdom, perfect in gifts, that the way of perfect knowledge had been handed down to him from Buddhas Innumerable of Old that had come before in all ten directions of all ten quarters of the universe where he now saw them in a mighty vision assembled in brightness and power sitting on their intrinsic thrones in the Glorious Lotus Blossoms everywhere throughout phenomena and space and forever giving response to the needs of all sentient life in all the kingdoms of existence, past, present, and future.

With the discernment of the grand truths and their realization in life the Rishi became enlightened; he thus attained
Sambodhi
(Perfect Wisdom) and became a Buddha. Rightly has Sambodhi been called, it can be accomplished only by self help without the extraneous aid of a teacher or a god. As the poet says,

 

The morning sunbeams brightened with the dawn, the dustlike mist dispersing, disappeared. The moon and stars paled their faint light, the barriers of the night were all removed. He had finished this the first great lesson and the final lesson and the lesson of old; entering the great Rishi’s house of Dreamless Sleep, fixed in holy trance, he had reached the source of exhaustless truth, the happiness that never ends and that had no beginning but was always already there within the True Mind.

Not by anxious use of outward means, had Buddha unveiled the True Mind and ended suffering, but by resting quietly in thoughtful silence. This is the supreme fact of blessed rest.

He was
sihibhuto
, cooled.

Now arrived the most critical moment in the life of the Blessed One. After many struggles he had found the most profound truths, truths teeming with meaning but comprehensible only by the wise, truths full of blessing but difficult to make out by ordinary minds. Mankind were worldly and hankering for pleasure. Though they possessed the capacity for religious knowledge and virtue and could perceive the true nature of things, they rushed to do other things and got entangled in deceptive thoughts in the net of ignorance, like puppet dolls that were made to jiggle according to some ignorant opposing arbitrary ideas that had nothing to do with their own essential and enlightened stillness. Could they comprehend the law of Karma-retribution automatically left over from previous deed-dreams, or the law of continuous connection of cause and effect in the moral world? Could they rid themselves of the animistic idea of a soul and grasp the true nature of man? Could they overcome the propensity to seek salvation through a mediatorial caste of priests and brahmins? Could they understand the final state of peace, that quenching of all worldly cravings which leads to the blissful haven of Nirvana? Would it be advisable for him in these circumstances to preach to all mankind the truths he had discovered? Might not failure result in anguish and pain? Such were the doubts and questions which arose in his mind, but only to be smothered and quenched by thoughts of universal compassion. He who had abandoned all selfishness could not but live for others. What could be a better way of living for others than to show them the path of attaining perfect bliss? What could be greater service to mankind than to rescue the struggling creatures engulfed in the mournful sea of this Sangsaric world of pain and debris? Is not the gift of Dharma, the “Established Law,” the transparent crystal clearness of the world, the greatest of all gifts? The Perfect One looked up at that king of trees with an unwavering gaze. “This law is wonderful and lofty,” he considered in his heart, “whereas creatures are blind with dulness and ignorance. What shall I do? At the very time that I am uttering syllables, beings are oppressed with evils. In their ignorance they will not heed the law I announce, and in consequence of it they will incur some penalty. It would be better were I never to speak. May my quiet extinction take place this very day.”

But on remembering the former Buddhas and their skillfulness in all kinds of worlds, in instructing various beings to realize the perfect simple truth: “Nay, I also will manifest the Buddha-enlightenment.”

To Sariputra and a vast and reverent assembly of saints, Gotama thus recalled his hours under the Bo-Tree: “When I was thus meditating on the law the other Buddhas in all directions of space appeared to me in their own body and raised their voice, crying ‘Om! Amen, Solitary, first leader of the world! Now that thou hast come to unsurpassed knowledge, and art meditating on the skillfulness of the leaders of the world, thou repeatest their teaching. We also, being Buddhas, will make clear the highest word, divided into three bodies (Appearance-body, Bliss-body, and Law-body): for men have low inclinations, and might perchance from ignorance not believe, ‘Ye shall become Buddhas.’

“‘Hence we will arouse many Wise Beings (Bodhisattva-Manasattvas) by the display of skillfulness and the encouraging of the wish of obtaining fruits.’

“And I was delighted to hear the sweet voice of the leaders of men: in the exultation of my heart I said to the blessed saints, ‘The words of the eminent sages are not spoken in vain.’

“‘I, too, will act according to the indications of the wise leaders of the world; having myself been born in the midst of the degradation of creatures, I have known agitation in this dreadful world.’

“Then I conceived the idea that the time had come for me to announce the excellent law and to reveal supreme enlightenment, for which task I had been born in the world.

“At certain times, at certain places, somehow do the leaders appear in the world, and after their appearance will they, whose view is boundless, at one time or another preach a similar law.

“It is most difficult to meet with this superior law, even in the myriads of ten millions of Aeons; very rare are the creatures that will adhere to the superior law which they have heard from the Buddhas.

“Just as the blossom of the glomerous fig-tree is rare, albeit sometimes, at some places, and somehow it is met with, as something pleasant to see for everybody, as a wonder to the world including the gods.

“And far more wonderful is the law I proclaim. Anyone who, on hearing a good exposition of it, shall cheerfully accept it and recite but one word of it, will have done honor to all the Buddhas.

“Give up all doubt and uncertainty in this respect: I declare that I am Dharma-Raja, the King of the Law.

“You shall become Buddhas; rejoice!”

Thus Tathagata, He-Who-Has-Attained-to-Suchness-of-Mind and sees no more differentiation of various creatures and phenomena, who entertains no more definite conceptions of self, other selves, many divided selves, or one undivided universal self, to whom the world is no longer noticeable, except as a pitiful apparition, yet without arbitrary conception either of its existence or non-existence, as one thinks not to measure the substantiality of a dream but only to wake from it; thus Tathagata, piously composed and silent, radiant with glory, shedding light around, rose from under his Tree of Enlightenment, and with unmatched dignity advanced alone over the dreamlike earth as if surrounded by a crowd of followers, thinking, “To fulfill my ancient oath, to rescue all not yet delivered, I will follow out my ancient vow. Let those that have ears to hear master the noble path of salvation.”

He headed for Benares, the capital of the world.

On the road he ran into a former acquaintance, Upaka, a naked Jain monk, who, struck by the majestical and joyful appearance of the human being who had just singlehandedly remembered the origin of the world and by striking down the forgotten path had renewed the ancient vow that had been a long time already hidden in the world like the jewel in the lotus, inquired: “Who is the teacher under whose guidance you have renounced the world?”

“I have no master,” replied the Enlightened One, “no honor-able tribe; no point of excellence; self-taught in this profoundest doctrine, I have arrived at superhuman wisdom.

“Through all Benares soon will sound the drum of life, no stay is possible—I have no name—nor do I seek profit or pleasure.

“That which behooves the world to learn, but throughout the world no learner found, I now myself and by myself have learned completely; ’tis rightly called Perfect Wisdom.

“That hateful family of griefs the sword of wisdom has destroyed, this then is what the world has named and rightly named, the ‘Chiefest Victory.’”

And he said: “I have no master. To me there is no equal. I am the perfect one, the Buddha. I have attained peace. I have obtained Nirvana. To found the Kingdom of righteousness I am going to Benares. There I shall light the Bright Lamp for the benefit of those who are shrouded in the gloomy darkness of life and death.”

“Do you profess to be the conqueror of the world?” demanded the monk.

The Awakened One replied: “Conquerors of the world are those who have conquered self, those alone are victors who control their passions and abstain from sin. I have conquered self and overcome all sin. Therefore am I the conqueror of the world.

“Like as the lamp shines in the dark, without a purpose of its own, self-radiant, so burns the lamp of the Tathagata, without the shadow of a personal feeling.”

And he moved on to Benares.

There, in the deer park Isipatana, sat the five mendicant ascetics with whom he’d spent those futile six years in the Forest of Mortification. They saw him coming, slowly, his eyes cast down with circumspection and modesty a plough’s length along the ground as if he was ploughing and planting the Ambrosial crop of the law as he went. They scoffed.

“There comes Gotama who broke his first vow by giving up ascetic practices and mortification. Don’t rise in salutation, give him an offhand greeting, don’t offer him the customary refreshments when he comes.”

However, when the Buddha approached them in a dignified manner, they involuntarily arose from their seats, and in spite of their resolution greeted him and offered to wash his feet and do all that he might require. It struck awe in their hearts. But they addressed him as Gotama after his family. Then their Lord said to them: “Call me not after my private name, for it is a rude and careless way of addressing one who has obtained Saintship (Arhatship). My mind is undisturbed whether people treat me with respect or disrespect. But it is not courteous for others to call one who looks equally with a kind heart upon all living beings by his familiar name. Buddhas bring salvation to the world, and therefore they ought to be treated with respect as children treat their fathers.”

Then he preached to them his first great sermon.

It is known as the “Sermon at Benares,” the Dharmachakra-pravartana Sutra, in which he explained the Four Great Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, and made converts of them. Thoroughly versed in highest truth, full of all-embracing intelligence, the Buddha on their account briefly declared to them the one true Way, the Middle Way.

“These are the two extremes, O bhikshus (Religious Wanderers) which the man who has given up the world ought not to follow—the habitual practice, on the one hand, of self-indulgence which is unworthy, vain and fit only for the worldly-minded—and the habitual practice, on the other hand, of self-mortification which is painful, useless and unprofitable.

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

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

“A middle path, O bhikshus, avoiding these two extremes, has been discovered by the Buddha—a path which opens the eyes, and bestows understanding, which leads to peace of mind, to the higher wisdom, to full enlightenment, to Nirvana.

“Scatter the fire amid the desert grass, dried by the sun, fanned by the wind—the raging flames who shall extinguish? Such is the fire of greediness and lust, I, then, reject both these extremes: my heart keeps in the middle way.