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NIRVANA 
 
 STORY OF BUDDHIST PSYCHOLOGY 
 
 BY 
 
 / 
 
 PAUL CARUS 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS BY KWASONG SUZUKI 
 
 LEARNEST THOU THAT COMPOUND THINGS ARE FLEETING, 
 BRAHMAN, THOU SHALT KNOW THE UNCREATE. 
 
 DHAMMAPADA, 383. 
 
 CHICAGO 
 THE OPEN COURT PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 
 LONDON AGENTS 
 Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., Ltd. 
 
 1902 
 
copyright by 
 
 The Open Court Publishing Co. 
 
 1896. 
 
PREAMBLE/ 
 
 WHEN Buddha, the Blessed One, the 
 Tathagata, the great sage of the 
 Sakya tribe, was yet walking on earth, the 
 news thereof spread over all the valley of the 
 holy Ganga, and every man greeted his friend 
 joyfully and said: "Hast thou heard the good 
 tidings? The Enlightened One, the Perfect 
 One, the holy teacher of gods and men, has 
 appeared in the flesh and is bodily walking 
 among us! I have seen him and have taken 
 refuge in his doctrine ; go thou also and see 
 him in his glory. His countenance is beautiful 
 like the rising sun ; he is tall and strong like 
 the young lion that has left his den ; and when 
 the Blessed One opens his mouth to preach, 
 his words are like music, and all those who 
 listen to his sermons believe in him. The kings 
 of Magadha, of Kosala, and of many other 
 countries have heard his voice, have received 
 
2 NIRVANA. 
 
 him, and confess themselves his disciples. 
 The Blessed Buddha has solved the riddle of 
 the world and understands the problem of ex- 
 istence. He teaches that life is suffering, but 
 he knows both the origin of suffering and the 
 escape from it, and assures his disciples that 
 Nirvana can be obtained b}^ walking in the 
 noble path of righteousness. 
 
 ) ) 
 
SUDATTA, THE BRAHMAN YOUTH, 
 
 AT THE PLOW. 
 
 I 
 
 N the fields of Kuduraghara,^ a small town- 
 
 ship of Avanti, there was a tall Brahman 
 yonth, by name Sudatta, plowing the grounds 
 of Snbhfiti, who was called by the people 
 Maha-Subhuti because he was wealthy, and 
 whom the king had appointed chief of the vil- 
 lage, to be a judge in all cases of law, both for 
 the decision of litigations and the punishment 
 of crimes. 
 
 Sudatta, Mdiile driving the draught-oxen, 
 was merrily singing. He had good reason to 
 be full of joy, for Maha-Subhuti, the chief, 
 had chosen him for his son-in-law, and when, 
 according to an old custom, the youth offered 
 four clods to the maiden, one containing seeds, 
 one ingredients from a cow-stable, one dust 
 from an altar, and one earth taken from a 
 cemetery, she had not touched the clod taken 
 
4 NIRVANA. 
 
 from tlie cemeter}^, wliicli would have been an 
 evil omen, but cbose the clod containing dust 
 from the altar, indicating thereby that her de- 
 scendants would be distinguished priests and 
 sacrificers. This was in Sudatta's opinion the 
 noblest and most desirable fate. Rich harvests 
 and prosperity in the raising of cattle were 
 great blessings, but what are all worldl}^ ]dos- 
 sessions in comparison to the bliss of religion ! 
 It was this idea that made Sudatta sing, and 
 he was happy, even as Indra, the strong god, 
 when intoxicated with the sweet juices of soma. 
 Suddenly the plow struck the lair of a hare, 
 and the hare jumped up to flee, but turned 
 anxiousl}' back to look after her brood. Su- 
 datta raised the stick with which he goaded 
 his oxen, chased the hare and sought to kill 
 her, and would have accomplished his purpose 
 had he not been interrupted b}^ the voice of a 
 man passing on the highroad, who called out : 
 "Stay, friend! What wrong has that poor 
 creature done? " Sudatta stopped in his pur- 
 suit and said : " The hare has done no wrong, 
 except that she lives in the fields of ni}^ mas- 
 ter." 
 
SUDATTA, THE BRAHMAN YOUTH. 5 
 
 The stranger was a man of serene appear- 
 ance, and his shaven head indicated that he 
 
 was a samana, a monk, who had gone into 
 homelessness for the sake of salvation. It was 
 Annrnddha, a disciple of the Blessed One. 
 
6 NIRVANA. 
 
 Seeing the plowman's noble frankness and the 
 beant}^ of his appearance, he sainted him, and, 
 as if tr3dng to excuse the lad's conduct, the 
 samana suggested: ''You probabl}' need the 
 hare's flesh for meat." 
 
 "O, no! " replied the 3'OUth, "the flesh is 
 not fit to eat in the breeding season. I chased 
 the hare for sheer sport. Hares are quick, and 
 there are but few bo3^s who can outrun them." 
 
 "My dear friend," continued Anuruddha, 
 " imagine 3'ourself a parent whom some fierce 
 giant deprived of his children and whom he 
 hunted to death, as 3^ou intended to do unto 
 this poor hare ! " 
 
 "I would fight him," replied Sudatta 
 eagerl3^ "I would fight him, though he 
 might kill me." 
 
 "You are a brave boy," rejoined the sa- 
 mana, "but suppose the giant killed all 3^our 
 loved ones, 3'our father and mother, your wife 
 and children, and left you alive, mocking at 
 your misery." 
 
 The youth stood abashed. He had never 
 troubled his mind with such thoughts. He had 
 never cared for creatures weaker than himself, 
 
SUDATTA, THE BRAHMAN YOUTH. 7 
 
 and, for tlie sake of mere amusement, would 
 not have hesitated to inflict pain on others. 
 He was noble-minded and ambitious, eager to 
 dare and to do, 3^et in one thing he was want- 
 ing. 
 
 Anuruddha thought to himself: "This 
 youth is of a noble nature, but ill-advised. 
 Should he remain uninstructed, his uncon- 
 trolled energy would do great harm. Would 
 that he understood the religion of the Tatha- 
 gata, which is glorious in the letter and glori- 
 ous in the spirit, true in its foundations, ra- 
 diant as sunlight in its doctrines, and lofty in 
 its practical applications. His manliness and 
 courage, which would otherwise go to waste, 
 might be turned to accomplish great things." 
 And he addressed Sudatta saying : ' ' Do you 
 not know, friend, the words of the Tathagata 
 on behavior toward animals? The Blessed One 
 said : 
 
 '' 'Suffuse the world with friendliness. 
 Let creatures all, both mild and stern, 
 See nothing that will bode them harm. 
 And they the ways of peace will learn. '^ 
 
 a 
 
 This hare, like all other ci'eatures in the 
 
8 NIRVANA. 
 
 world, is possessed of sentiments sncli as 3^ou 
 experience. Slie is, as niucli as 3'ou, subject 
 to pain, old age, and death. You were not 
 always strong and llealtll3^ Years ago 3^ou 
 were a tiny and helpless bab}^, and would not 
 have lived but for the tender care of your lov- 
 ing mother and the protection of 3^our dear 
 father. You think of the present, forgetting 
 your past and reckoning not on 3'our future. 
 As you no longer remember 3^our suckling 
 da3\s, and know nothing of 3'our state when 
 3^ou were safel3^ sheltered in the womb of 
 3^our mother, so 3'ou do not remember former 
 existences in which 3'Our character developed 
 in a gradual evolution to its present condition . ' ' 
 
 ''Venerable man," said the 3^outh, ''3'ou 
 are a good teacher and I am willing to learn." 
 
 The samana continued: ''Even the Tatha- 
 gata, our Lord, passed through all the stages 
 of life in regular succession. B3^ thoughts of 
 truth, b3^ self-control, and deeds of kindness 
 he so fashioned his heart that he rose in the 
 scale of beings until he became the Enlight- 
 ened One, the perfect and Hol3^ Buddha, and 
 attained to Nirvana, ^ons ago he started on 
 
SUDATTA, THE BRAHMAN YOUTH. 9 
 
 his eartlil}^ career in liumble destitution and 
 weakness. As a fisli lie swam in the ocean, 
 as a bird he lived in the branches of trees and 
 according to his deeds he passed from one form 
 of existence to another. It is said, too, that 
 he was a hare eking out a precarious exist- 
 ence in the fields. Did 3^ou never hear the 
 tale?" 
 
 "No, never!" replied the youth, "tell me 
 the stor}^." 
 
A 
 
 THE STORY OF THE HARE/ 
 
 NURUDDHA began: 
 
 " So I have heard : Bodhisatta^ once 
 lived as a hare in the fields of a fertile conntr}^, 
 and the hares waxed so numerous that food 
 became scarce and the3^ became a plague to 
 the countr3^ 
 
 ''Then the thought occurred to Bodhisatta 
 while he was a hare : the times are hard and 
 the people suffer for want of rice and wheat. 
 Thc}^ will rise in anger and slay all the hares 
 that live in this country, and I, too, will have 
 to die. Can I not do a noble deed lest in 
 this present incarnation I live in vain? I 
 am a weak creature and my life is useless 
 unless I can contribute something, be it ever 
 so little, toward the advance of enlightenment, 
 for through enlightenment alone the bliss of 
 deathless Nirvana is attained. Let me seek 
 Nirvana. There is in this world such a thing 
 
the: story of the hare. 11 
 
 as efficacy of virtue ; there is efficacy of truth. 
 Buddhahood is possible, and those who have 
 attained Buddhahood by the wisdom of earnest 
 thought and good deeds will show to others 
 the path of salvation. The Buddhas' hearts 
 are full of truth and compassion, of mercy and 
 long suffering. Their hearts reach out in equal 
 love to all beings that live. I will imitate 
 them, and I will become more and more like 
 them. The truth is one and there is but one 
 eternal and true faith. It behooves me, there- 
 fore, in my meditation on the Buddhas, and 
 relying on the faith that is in me, to perform 
 an act of truth that will advance goodness and 
 alleviate suffering. 
 
 ''Having meditated on the path of salva- 
 tion, Bodhisatta decided to warn his brother 
 hares of the coming danger, to point out to 
 them the instability of life, and to teach them 
 the blessings of frugality and abstinence. 
 
 ' And Bodhisatta approached his brother 
 hares and preached to them ; but they would 
 not listen to his words. They said : ' Go, thou. 
 Brother Bodhisatta, and perform a noble deed ; 
 go thou, and sacrifice thyself for the truth; 
 
12 NIRVANA. 
 
 die that others may live, and take 3'our chance 
 of being reborn in a higher and better incarna- 
 tion. Bnt do not inconvenience ns with 3'our 
 sermons. We love life and prefer the happi- 
 ness ^vhich we enjo}', and which is real, to the 
 spread of trnth, the bliss of which is a mere 
 assumption. There is plent3^ of maize and 
 wheat and rice and all kinds of sweet fruits in 
 the fields for us to eat. You need not worry 
 about us. Ever3dDod3^ must look out for him- 
 self.' 
 
 ''Now, there was a Brahman who had re- 
 tired into the woods for the sake of meditating 
 on the attainment of Nirvana. And the Brah- 
 man suffered severel3^ from hunger and cold. 
 He had lit a fire to keep himself warm after a 
 chill3' shower ; and stretching his hands over 
 the fire he bewailed his lot, sa3ung : 'I shall 
 die before I have finished ni3^ meditation, fori 
 must starve for lack of food.' 
 
 " Bodhisatta, seeing the worth3^ man in 
 need, said to himself: 'This Brahman shall 
 not die, for his wisdom ma3' still be as a lamp 
 to man 3^ others who grope in darkness. I will 
 offer m3^self as food to him.' "With these 
 
the: story oi^ the hare. 
 
 13 
 
 thoughts in his heart, Bodhisatta jumped into 
 
 
 
 ^rmvivii 
 
 mm 
 
 the fire offering himself as meat for him and 
 thus rescued the Brahman from starvation. 
 
14 
 
 NIRVANA. 
 
 ( i 
 
 Soon afterwards tlie people of tlie coun- 
 try, in fear of a famine, prepared a great liunt. 
 Tlie}^ set out all of tliem, on one and the same 
 da}^, and drove the hares into a narrow en- 
 closure, and in one day more than a hundred 
 thousand died under the clubs of the hunters." 
 
 
 
WHAT IS NIRVANA? 
 
 WHEN Anuruddha liad finished tlie story 
 of the hare he said to Sudatta: ''To 
 live means to die. No creature that breathes 
 the breath of life can escape death. All com- 
 posite things will be dissolved again. Noth- 
 ing can escape dissolution. But good deeds 
 do not die. They abide forever. This is the 
 gist of the Abhidharma. He who dares to sur- 
 render to death that which belongs to death, 
 will live on and will finally attain to the 
 blessed state of Nirvana." 
 
 "What is Nirvana? " asked the 3^outh. 
 
 Anuruddha replied by quoting the words 
 of the Great Master, saying : 
 
 "When the fire of lust is gone out then 
 Nirvana is gained. 
 
 "When the flames of hatred and illusion 
 have become extinct then Nirvana is gained. 
 When the troubles of mind, arising from 
 
 ( r 
 
16 NIRVANA. 
 
 pride, credulit}^, and all other sins, liave 
 ceased, then Nirvana is gained." 
 
 The countenance of the 3^outh betra3'ed his 
 dissatisfaction with the new doctrines, and the 
 Buddhist continued : ' ' No one who still clings 
 to the illusion of Self can understand, let alone 
 taste, the sweetness of Nirvana. All temporal 
 existence is transient ; all composite things 
 have originated and will be dissolved again ; 
 and there is nothing abiding in bodil}^ exist- 
 ence. Ever}' concrete object has been moulded 
 b}^ its causes, and ever}^ individual organism 
 has originated in the natural course of evolu- 
 tion, according to the conditions which deter- 
 mine its histor3^ The constituents of being 
 are in a constant flux, and there is nothing 
 that could be regarded as a permanent Self, as 
 an immortal being, as an entit}' of au}^ kind 
 that would remain identical with itself. Know, 
 then, that which remains identical with itself, 
 that which is eternal, that which is absolutel}^ 
 immutable and permanent, is not a concrete be- 
 ing, not a material bod}^ of au}^ description, 
 not a particular and individual existence ; not 
 a Self of any kind. And yet it exists! The 
 
WHAT IS NIRVANA? 17 
 
 deathless, the immortal and immutable, is 
 an actuality ; it is the most significant and im- 
 portant actuality in the world, but this actu- 
 ality is spiritual, not substantial. And what is 
 it? The deathless, which in its omnipresence 
 is immutable and eternal, is the Bodhi ; it is 
 the harmony of all those verities that remain 
 the same forever and aye. The truths on which 
 the wise rely when they argue are not par- 
 ticular things, not single facts, not concrete 
 entities, not Selfs of any kind, neither gods 
 nor animate beings ; they are nothing — if 
 nothing means the absence of any concrete 
 thingishness or special selfhood ; and 3^ et their 
 nothingness is not a non-existence. If the 
 deathless, the immortal, the immutable, did 
 not exist, there would be no escape from the 
 sufferings of the world. If the Bodhi were an 
 illusion there would be no enlightenment ; 
 Nirvana could not be attained and no Buddha 
 could ever appear to point out the way of sal- 
 vation. But the Buddha hath appeared; he 
 hath understood the utter groundlessness of the 
 belief in an immutable Self ; he hath discovered 
 that all misery consists in the clinging to Self ; 
 
18 NIRVANA. 
 
 and lie pointetli out the way of salvation, 
 througli tlie attainment of the Bodhi, leading" 
 all those who honestly- seek the light, on the 
 eightfold noble path of righteousness, to the 
 glorious and deathless Nirvana." 
 
 ^'Venerable man," saidSudatta, ''the noble 
 Sakyamuni of whom you learned the doc- 
 trine that 3'ou proclaim seems to be a great 
 master ; ^^et he will not be honored in Ku- 
 duraghara, for we are all good orthodox Brah- 
 mans, and there is not one follower of the Bud- 
 dha among us. Nevertheless, I must not con- 
 ceal from 3^ou that there is one man in our 
 village who speaks highly of Sak3'amuni. It 
 is Maha-Subhuti, a friend of king Bimbisara, 
 the judge and chief of the township. If 3^ou 
 enter the village go to him and he will receive 
 3^ou. Not that he is a follower of the Buddha, 
 but a friend of his by personal attachment, for 
 he has met Gautama^ at the king's court and he 
 says: 'Should Brahma, the god, ever descend 
 upon earth he would appear like Gautama ; for 
 surely Brahma could not look more majestic 
 nor more divine than the noble Sak3'amuni.' 
 When you meet Subhuti, the chief, greet him 
 
WHAT IS NIRVANA? 19 
 
 in my name, in the name of Sudatta, tlie son 
 of Roja, and lie will invite you to witness the 
 marriage of his daughter, which shall take 
 place to-morrow. Go then to the house of 
 Maha-Subhuti, and there I shall meet you, 
 for I am the man to whom his daughter is be- 
 trothed." 
 
BEGGING FOR ALMS. 
 
 WHEN Anuruddha entered Kuduragliara, 
 the Braliman village on the precipice 
 near Kuduraghara, he hesitated a moment and 
 thought to himself : ''What shall I do? Shall 
 I go to ]\Iaha-Subhuti, or vshall I go from 
 house to house according to the rules of the 
 order of samanas? " And he decided: ''The 
 rule must be followed. I will not go to Malia- 
 Subhuti, but will go from house to house.'' 
 
 With form erect and e3'es cast down, hold- 
 ing his bowl in his left hand, the samana 
 placed himself in front of the first house, pa- 
 tiently waiting for alms. As no one appeared 
 at the door, the slender figure moved on. Many 
 refused to give him an3^thing, sending him 
 away with angry words. Even those who 
 offered him a small portion of rice called him a 
 heretic ; but as he was free from desire as to 
 his personal concerns, he blessed the donors; 
 
BEGGING I^OR ALMS. 
 
 21 
 
 and, wlien lie saw that lie liad enougli to satisfy 
 the needs of tlie body, lie turned back to eat 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 bis modest meal under tbe green trees of tbe 
 forest. While crossing tbe square of tbe vil- 
 lage, tbere appeared in tbe door of tbe town 
 
21 NIRVANA. 
 
 hall a dignified Braliman, wlio, after a searcli- 
 ing glance at the stranger, stopped him and 
 asked: ''Art thou a disciple of the Blessed 
 One, the Hol}^ Buddha?" 
 
 " I am Anuruddha, a disciple of the Blessed 
 One," replied the samana. 
 
 "Well, well," said the Brahman, "I should 
 know 3'ou, for I have met the Blessed One at 
 Rajagaha, and he spoke with admiration of 
 Anuruddha" as a master in metaphysics and a 
 philosopher who has grasped the doctrine of 
 the Tathagata. If you are indeed Anurud- 
 dha, I welcome 3'OU to m^^ house. Do me the 
 honor, O venerable samama, of staying with 
 me at m}^ house ; deign to take 3^our meal at 
 my residence. And I shall be glad if you will 
 grace with A'our presence the marriage of my 
 daughter, which will take place to-morrow." 
 
 "Allow me, O chief of Kuduraghara," re- 
 plied Anuruddha ' ' to eat my meal in the 
 forest, and to-morrow I shall come and wit- 
 ness the marriage of 3^our daughter." 
 
 "Be it so!" said Subhuti. "You will be 
 welcome whenever 3'ou come." 
 
THE WEDDING. 
 
 SUBHUTl'S mansion was decorated witli 
 flags and garlands, and a bridal reception- 
 hut was built of bamboo in the courtyard over 
 the fireplace. The inhabitants of Kudura- 
 ghara were waiting at the door to watch the 
 procession. 
 
 Sudatta, the groom, appeared in festive 
 attire with his friends and approached rever- 
 ently the father of the bride. The venerable 
 Brahman chief received the 3'oung man cor- 
 dially and led him to the family altar in the 
 presence of his wife, the bride's mother, and 
 his only son Kaccha3^ana. There he offered 
 to the groom the hone3^ drink, and presented 
 to his daughter the bridal gown with a costly 
 head ornament and a necklace of jewels. 
 
 Addressing the groom he said: "It be- 
 hooves a Brahman father to select as husband 
 for his daughter, a Brahman maiden of pure 
 
24 
 
 NIRVANA. 
 
 caste, a Braliman 3^outli, the legitimate son of 
 Braliman parents, and to marry the couple ac- 
 cording to the Brahma-rite. I have chosen 
 thee, O Sudatta, for thou art worth}^ of the 
 bride. Thou art of Brahman caste, thy bones, 
 thy knees, thy neck, thy shoulders are strong. 
 The hair of thy head is full, thy skin is white, 
 thy gait is erect, and thy voice is clear. Thou 
 art well versed in the Veda and of good con- 
 duct. Thy parents are respected in the vil- 
 lage, and I am confident that 3^ou will fulfil all 
 the duties of a good husband. My daughter 
 
 ^'•^. 
 
 i^- 
 
 
 /■- y 
 
 -'J 
 
 shall be thy lawful wife, lo3'al in adversit}^ as 
 well as in good fortune, and may the children 
 
THE WEDDING. 
 
 25 
 
 tliat sliall be born to thee, and thy children's 
 children, be worthy of their ancestors in the 
 line of either 
 parent. The 
 bride is ready 
 
 in her bridal garments. Receive her and per- 
 form the duties of life in unison.'' 
 
 The sacrifices were properly performed ac- 
 cording to the traditions of the country, and 
 
26 
 
 NIRVANA. 
 
 while the highest priest of the village recited 
 the Mantra, the father of the bride poured out 
 
 ■ T 
 
 the water libation. The groom clasped the 
 maiden's hand, and she stepped upon the 
 stone of firmness. Then the young couple 
 
THE WEDDING. 27 
 
 performed the ceremony of circumambulat- 
 ing tlie altar in seven steps, indicating that 
 they would henceforth be partners in life and 
 meet all changes of fate, whether good or evil, 
 in unison. 
 
 Thereupon the married couple, preceded 
 by the groomsman Kacchayana, the bride's 
 brother, the bridesmaids, and all the guests, 
 started for the groom's house, the future home 
 of the bride. Fire from the altar on which 
 the burnt offerings had been consumed was 
 carried in an iron pan by a priest who followed 
 the bridal carriage. 
 
 While the bridal procession was passirg 
 through the street, the people hailed the bride 
 and threw handfuls of rice over her with in- 
 vocations and blessings. At Sudatta's re- 
 sidence, the groom carried the bride over the 
 threshold. The new hearth fire was lit with 
 the flames of the bridal altar, and when the 
 prescribed sacrifice was made, the young couple 
 circumambulated the holy fire of Agni three 
 times. Then they sat down on the red cow- 
 hide spread out before them, and a little boy, 
 a relative of the family, was placed in the 
 
2S NIRVANA. 
 
 bride's lap, while the brother of the groom's 
 deceased father, a venerable old priest, prayed 
 over her: '' Ma}^ Agni, who blazes forth with 
 hallowed flame upon the hearth of the house, 
 protect thee ! ]Ma3^ thy children prosper and 
 see the fulness of their da3^s ! Be thou blessed, 
 O worthy maiden, in thy bridal beauty as a 
 mother of healthy children, and ma3^est thou 
 behold the happy faces of vigorous sons! " 
 
 Then the groom gave a handful of roasted 
 barley to the bride and said: '' Alay Agni be- 
 stow blessings upon the union of our hands 
 and hearts ! " ^ 
 
A 
 
 A SERMON ON HAPPINESS. 
 
 FTER the completion of the wedding 
 ceremonies, Subhuti invited his guests 
 to partake of a meal, and seeing among the 
 people Anuruddha, the philosopher, he called 
 him to sit at his side. The guests were merry 
 and enjoyed the feast, and when the evening 
 grew cooler and the moon rose in mild radi- 
 ance, the company sat down under the branches 
 of a large ban3^an tree and began to speak of 
 the blessings of the gods and the glory of their 
 country. Then Subbuti, the judge, addressed 
 Anuruddha and said : 
 
 '' Venerable Anuruddha, I cherish a high 
 regard for the Blessed One, the sage of the 
 Sakyas, whom the people call the Tathagata, 
 the Holy Buddha. But it seems to me that 
 his doctrine will not suit our people. It is a 
 philosophy for those Avho are oppressed by the 
 evils of life; it affords a refuge to the weary, 
 
30 NIRVANA. 
 
 the sick, the sorrowing; but with the happy, 
 the powerful, the health}^, it must be a failure. 
 It may be a balm for those that are wounded 
 in the battle, but it is distasteful and like unto 
 poison to the victor." 
 
 Said Anuruddha: ''The doctrine of the 
 Blessed One is indeed for those who are op- 
 pressed by the evils of life. It affords a refuge 
 to the wear3^, for it secures to them health and 
 happiness. The happy, the powerful, the hale, 
 need no comfort, no assistance, no medicine. 
 But who are hale, happy, and healthy? Is there 
 an3^ one among 3'ou free from the liability to 
 sorrow, disease, old age, and death? If so, he 
 might trul}^ be called a victor, and he would 
 not be in need of salvation. 
 
 ''Now, indeed, I see here much happi- 
 ness around me. But is your happiness well 
 grounded? Will 3^our minds remain serene and 
 calm in the time of affliction and in the hour 
 of death? He onl^^has attained genuine happi- 
 ness who has entered the deathless Nirvana, 
 that state of heart which lifts above the petty 
 temptations of the world and liberates from 
 the illusion of Self. Happiness on account of 
 
A SERMON ON HAPPINESS. 31 
 
 worldly prosperity is a dangerous condition ; 
 for all tilings change, and he only is truly 
 happy who has surrendered his attachment to 
 things changeable. There is no genuine hap- 
 piness except it be grounded upon religion, 
 the religion of the Tathagata. 
 
 ' ' The Tathagata opens the eyes of those 
 who deem themselves happy that they may 
 see the dangers of life and its snares. When 
 the fish perceives the bait he believes he is 
 happy, but he feels his misery as soon as the 
 sharp hook pierces his jaws. 
 
 ''He who is anxious about his personal 
 happiness must always be full of fear. He may 
 be indifferent to the misery of his fellow-be- 
 ings, but he cannot be blind to the fact that 
 the same end awaits us all. Happy he who 
 resigns to death that which belongs to death. 
 He has conquered death ; whatever be his fate, 
 he will be calm and self-possessed ; he has 
 surrendered the illusion of Self and has en- 
 tered the realm of the immortal. He has at- 
 tained to Nirvana." 
 
 Sudatta looked at the bride and said: "I 
 shall never embrace Gautama's doctrine, for it 
 
32 NIRVANA. 
 
 would not behoove a groom to leave liis bride 
 for the sake of the attainment of Nirvana." 
 
 Anuruddha overheard Sudatta's remark 
 and continued : ' ' M3^ 3' oung friend fears that 
 the doctrine of the Tathagata would tear him 
 away from the bride to whom to-day he has 
 pledged his troth. That is not the case. The 
 Blessed One left his Avife and child and went 
 into homelessness because error prevails and 
 the world lies in darkness. Having reached 
 the deathless Nirvana, he is now bent alone on 
 the one aim of pointing out the path to others, 
 and we, his disciples, who like him have left 
 the world, devote ourselves to a religious life, 
 not for our own sake, for we have released all 
 attachment to Self, but for the sake of the 
 salvation of the world. Our maxim is ex- 
 pressed in the one word ana I lav ado ^"^ the non- 
 assertion of self. 
 
 ''It is not the severing of the ties of life 
 that constitutes liberation, but the utter sur- 
 render of Self. The hermit who has cut him- 
 self off from the world but still cherishes in 
 his heart the least inkling of desire, lust- 
 ing for happiness in this life or in a life to 
 
A SERMON ON HAPPINESS. 33 
 
 come, is not yet free, wliile a humble house- 
 holder, if he has surrendered all craving, may 
 attain that glorious condition of soul, the frui- 
 tion of which is Nirvana. 
 
 ''He who longs for a religious life should 
 leave worldly considerations behind, and apply 
 himself with all his energy to obtain en- 
 lightenment. But he who has duties to per- 
 form at home should not shirk his responsi- 
 bility. The Tathagata says : 
 
 *' 'Cherish father and mother, 
 And wife and children : this 
 And love of a peaceful calling, 
 Truly, is greatest bliss. 
 
 < ( < 
 
 Practising lovingkindness, 
 Befriending one's kindred : this 
 And to lead a life that is blamelesSj 
 Truly, is greatest bliss. 
 
 '''Self-control and v^isdom. 
 
 The four noble truths,— all this, 
 And attainment of Nirvana, 
 Truly, is greatest bliss. "^^ 
 
A' 
 
 THE CONTROVERSY. 
 
 NURUDDH A saw that Sudatta was filled 
 with indignation. So he ceased to speak 
 and looked expectantl3^ at the 3^oung man. 
 Sndatta rose to his feet and said : 
 
 '' Utter surrender of Self?" Is that the libera- 
 tion which Gautama preaches ? ^ly father called 
 him a heretic and an infidel, and truly he was 
 not mistaken, for Gautama's liberation is a de- 
 struction : it annihilates man's Self. Gautama 
 rejects the authorit}' of the sacred Scriptures. 
 He does not believe in Ishvara,'" the Lord of 
 Creation, and he holds that there is no soul. 
 Yea, he is so irreligious that he condemns 
 sacrifices as impious, ridicules pra3^er as use- 
 less, and would fain destroy our sacred institu- 
 tion of castes on which the social order of our 
 civilisation rests. His religion is the negation 
 of all religion, it is not divine but purel}^ hu- 
 man, for it rejects belief in the divinity of the 
 
THE CONTROVERSY. 35 
 
 Vedas and claims that enlightenment is suffi- 
 cient to illumine tlie patli of life." 
 
 Anuruddlia listened to Sudatta's vehement 
 denunciations, and observing the heightened 
 color in his cheeks, thought to himself : '^How 
 beautiful is this lad and how noble does he ap- 
 pear in his pious zeal for the religion of his 
 father ! ' ' Then he said : ^ ' The Tathagata does 
 not oppose Brahmanism. He who has grasped 
 his doctrines will understand that he is a re- 
 former. He revealed to us a higher interpreta- 
 tion of religion." 
 
 Replied Sudatta : "A denial of the exist- 
 ence of the Self '^ will destroy all religion." 
 
 Anuruddha asked : ' ' What do 3^ou mean by 
 Self?" 
 
 Sudatta, who was well trained in the Ve- 
 danta philosophy, said: ''My Self is the im- 
 mutable eternal Ego that directs my thoughts. 
 It is that which sa3'S ' I.' " 
 
 ' ' What is the Ego or that which says ' I ' ? " 
 exclaimed Anuruddha : ' ' There is unquestion- 
 ably something which says 'I' in me, and in 
 you, and in everybody present. But when 
 we say 'I,' it is a mode of speech, as much 
 
36 
 
 NIRVANA. 
 
 as are all the other words and ideas that 
 people our minds. The word 'I,' it is true; 
 
 remains the same throughout life, but its 
 significance changes. It originates in the child 
 
THE CONTROVERSY. 37 
 
 with tlie development of self -consciousness, 
 and denotes first a boy, tlien a youth, after 
 that a man, and at last a dotard. The word 
 may remain the same, l3Ut the substance of its 
 meaning" changes. Accordingly, that some- 
 thing which says 'I,' is neither eternal, nor 
 immutable, nor divine, nor what Yoga philo- 
 sophers call ' the real Self.' It is a word which 
 signifies the whole personality of the speaker 
 with all his sensations, sentiments, thoughts, 
 and purposes." 
 
 The Brahman replied : ' ' Gautama is an in- 
 fidel who denies the existence of the soul, and 
 yet is so inconsistent as to talk about rebirth 
 in future incarnations, and of immortality." 
 
 ^'Let us not haggle about words, friend 
 Sudatta," said the samana, "but understand 
 the doctrine aright. The Tathagata looks upon 
 that assumedly immutable ego-self of which 
 3^ou speak as an error, an illusion, a dream; 
 and attachment to it will produce egotism 
 which is a craving for happiness either here on 
 earth or beyond in heaven. But while that 
 illusory Self is an error of your philosophy, 
 your personality is real. There is not a person 
 
38 NIRVANA. 
 
 wlio is in possession of character, tliouglits, 
 and deeds ; but character, thoughts, and deeds 
 themselves are the person. There is not an ego 
 in 3'ou, O Sudatta, that thinks 3^our thoughts 
 and shapes 3'our character, but your thoughts 
 themselves are thinking, and your character 
 itself is the nature of ^'our very self. Your 
 character, 3'our thoughts, 3^our volitions are 
 3' on 3^ourself. You have not ideas, but 3'ou 
 are ideas." 
 
 ^'But who is the lord of these ideas of 
 mine?" asked Sudatta. '' Here 3^our theory 
 is wanting. Blessed is he who knows that the 
 lord of his ideas is his ego, his Self." 
 
 Anuruddha continued: "The ego-idea is 
 not a lord who owns 3^our bod3^ and mind, 
 directing the emotions and impulses of 3^our 
 character ; but those of 3^our emotions which 
 are the strongest, the3^ are the Lord, they 
 govern you. If evil passions grow in 3^our 
 heart, 3'ou will be like a ship which is at the 
 mercy of the winds and the currents of the 
 sea ; but if the aspiration for enlightenment 
 takes possession of 3'ou, it will steer you to the 
 haven of Nirvana where all illusions cease and 
 
THE CONTROVERSY. 39 
 
 the heart will be tranquil like a still, smooth 
 lake. Deeds are done ; and the doing of deeds 
 passes away ; but that which is accomplished 
 by deeds abides ; just as a man who writes a 
 letter ceases writing, but the letter remains. 
 Considering the permanence that is in deeds, 
 what can be better than shaping our future 
 existence wisely? Lay up a treasure of charit}^, 
 purity, and sober thoughts. He who lives in 
 noble thoughts and good deeds will live for- 
 ever, though the bod3^ i^iay die. He will be 
 reborn in a higher existence and will at last 
 attain the bliss of Nirvana. There is no trans- 
 migration of a self -substance, but there is a 
 re-incarnation of thought-forms which takes 
 place according to the deeds that are done." 
 ''The Buddha teaches that good deeds 
 should be done vigorously, and only the bad 
 volitions which are done from vanit}^, or lust, 
 or sloth, or greed, should be eradicated." 
 
 Sudatta's belief in the doctrine of the Self 
 was not shaken. No, he felt more assured than 
 ever of its truth, for his whole religion hung on 
 it, and he exclaimed: "What are my deeds 
 
40 NIRVANA. 
 
 without 1113' Self? What is enjo^mient if I am 
 not the enjoyer? " 
 
 Anuruddha's pensive countenance grew 
 more serious than ever : " Dismiss the craving 
 for enjo^anent and all thought of Self and live 
 in your deeds for they are the realit3^ of life. 
 All creatures are such as they are through 
 their deeds in former existences. The thought- 
 forms are the realities of our spiritual life. 
 The^^ are transferred from one individual to 
 another. Individuals die, but their thought- 
 forms will be reincarnated according to their 
 deeds. Deeds shape in the slow process of 
 growth the thought-structures which build up 
 our personalit}^, and that which 3^ou call the 
 person, the enjoyer, the Self, is the totalit}^ 
 of your thought-forms, the living memory of 
 past deeds. Deeds done in past existences are 
 stamped upon each creature in the character 
 of his present existence. Thus the past has 
 borne the present, and the present is the womb 
 of the future. This is the law of Karma, the 
 law of deeds, the law of cause and effect." 
 
 ^' You take away the unity of the soul," re- 
 plied Kacchayana. 
 
THE CONTROVERSY. 41 
 
 ( ( 
 
 Sa3^ rather," rejoined Anuruddha, "I in- 
 sist upon the complexity and wealth of man's 
 spiritual nature. So long as the illusion of 
 self is upon you, you cannot reach Nirvana." 
 
 The sam ana's words were weighty and 
 serious. Nevertheless, his auditor remained 
 unconvinced, and Kacchayana murmured to 
 himself: " Gautama's doctrine cannot be the 
 truth. It would be a sad truth, indeed, if it 
 were true after all. I shall hold fast to the 
 dearest hope of the religion of my father." 
 
 The samana replied: ''Choose not the 
 dearest but the truest ; for the truest is the 
 best." 
 
THE KATHA-UPANISHAD/^ 
 
 SUDATTA was too liappy to give himself 
 trouble about the doctrines of a heretical 
 teacher. He would have dismissed all thought 
 of his controversy with Anuruddha, had he not 
 been reminded of it from time to time by his 
 father-in-law and by Kaccha3^ana, his brother- 
 in-law, who continued to discuss the religious 
 innovations of the Tathagata. They granted 
 that caste distinctions were hard on the lower 
 castes, but declared that the}^ could not be re- 
 laxed without injury to the communit3^, and 
 there was no question about its being a divine 
 institution. Yet it was right to extend our 
 S3anpathy to all sentient beings that suffer, 
 and the lowest creatures should not be ex- 
 cepted. Certainl3^ we must not b3^ negligence 
 of worship provoke the wrath of the gods ; but 
 were the gods truly in need of the blood3^ sac- 
 rifices offered at their altars? 
 
THE KATHA-UPANISHAD. 
 
 43 
 
 Sucli were the questions tliat moved tlie 
 minds of Subliuti and Kaccliayana ; and tliey 
 
 . ->f- - 
 
 ..M'^Zk 
 
 •r,.> 
 
 
 '^- 
 
 
 
 #.-sJ 
 
 began to doubt while they investigated ; yet 
 they remained good Brahmans. 
 
 One day Subhuti, the chief of Kuduraghara, 
 
44 
 
 NIRVANA. 
 
 came to liis son with a jo3'ful countenance and 
 said: '^ KaccHayana, m3^ ^03^, I trust that I 
 have found the solution of the problem. It 
 
 came to me while I was preparing myself for 
 a performance of the Nachiketas fire-sacrifice, 
 after the manner of the Katha school. While 
 reading the Yajur-Veda, I understood the dif- 
 
THE KATHA-UPANISHAD. 45 
 
 faculties and all doubts were resolved. Take 
 leaves from the big palm-tree in our garden, 
 and bleacli tliem, cut off their pointed ends 
 and prepare them for writing. I am eager to 
 give a definite shape to my thoughts before I 
 forget them." 
 
 Said Kacchayana with ardent expectation : 
 ''And what in brief is the solution 3^ou have 
 arrived at? " 
 
 The Brahman chief replied : '' Listen, I will 
 tell you. Death is the great teacher of the 
 deepest problems of life. He who wants to 
 know the immortal must enter the house of 
 Death and learn from death the secret of life. 
 There is no child born in this world but is 
 destined to be an offering to Death. Yet Death 
 is not Brahma, he is not the ruler and lord ; 
 he portends dissolution but cannot annihilate 
 the soul, and the man who fears him not is 
 granted three boons. Death allows those who 
 enter his house to return and be reborn ; he 
 further concedes that the deeds of men shall 
 be imperishable ; and lastly he reveals to the 
 courageous inquirer the m3^stery of life." 
 
 Said Kacchayana : '' Profound, O father, are 
 
46 NIRVANA. 
 
 these tliouglits ; but the main thing" is, What 
 is the lesson Death teaches? " 
 
 Subhuti collected his thoughts, and after a 
 pause said : '' The doctrine of the Blessed One 
 has deepl}' affected my mind, but I am not as 
 yet convinced that the fundamental notions of 
 our sacred religion are baseless. Is the great 
 fire sacrifice indeed an empt}' ceremony- that 
 bears no fruit? If it were, our sages would 
 truly be, as sa3^s the Sakyamuni, blind leaders 
 of the blind. Sacrifices are without fruit to him 
 only who has not conquered the desires of 
 his heart and has not severed the ties which 
 bind him to that which is transient." 
 
 After a brief pause Subhuti continued : 
 "And the idea of an immutable Self cannot 
 be mere fiction. I understand now that the 
 Self is the uncreated and the sole ruler within 
 all things, yet it cannot be seen by the eye, 
 reached by the speech or apprehended b3^ the 
 mind ; the Self must be imagined b}^ the heart. 
 The Self is briefl3^ expressed in the exclama- 
 tion ' Om,' and is the absolute being which is 
 neither born nor dies." 
 
 ''Your solution, then," continued Kaccha- 
 
THE KATHA-UPANISHAD. 47 
 
 yana, ''though a new Brahmanism is a justifi- 
 cation of the old? " 
 
 "Indeed it is," enjoined Subhuti, ''but my 
 attitude is considerably modified by the sug- 
 gestions of our friend Anuruddha. I grant that 
 that which is good is one thing and that which 
 is dear to our hearts is another thing ; and it 
 is well to cling to the good and abandon, for 
 the sake of the better, that which is dear to our 
 hearts. I cannot den3^ the truth which the Ta- 
 thagata impresses upon the minds of his fol- 
 lowers, that all compounded things will be dis- 
 solved, but I feel in my inmost heart that 
 there is something which death cannot de- 
 stroy ; and it is that which our sages call the 
 Self. I am anxious .to know what it is, for 
 only he who knows it will find peace of soul. 
 Let Anuruddha explain to me the problem of 
 the Self, but he must not say that there is 
 nothing that I can call my own, that life is 
 empty, and that the eternal has no existence." 
 
 During the rainy season Subhuti could be 
 seen writing in the shelter of his veranda, and 
 
48 NIRVANA. 
 
 when the sun broke through the clouds and 
 the blue sk}^ reappeared in its former beauty 
 he had his treatise finished, which he called 
 the Katha-Upanishad. 
 
THE IMMORTALITY OF DEEDS. 
 
 IT was in these days of the return of good 
 weather that the disciples of the Blessed 
 Bnddha were wont to start out on their pil- 
 grimages through the country preaching the 
 glorious doctrine of salvation, and Anuruddha 
 passed again through the village of Avanti 
 while Subhuti sat before his house in the 
 shade of a sala tree reading and reconsidering 
 what he had written. The two men exchanged 
 greetings, and when Anuruddha saw the manu- 
 script, they at once began to discuss the great 
 problem of the Hereafter. 
 
 Subhuti read to Anuruddha the Katha-Upa- 
 nishad, and the venerable monk was greatly 
 pleased with its literary beauty and thought- 
 fulness, but he shook his head and said: 
 ^' Truly there is the immortal, but the im- 
 mortal is not a Self, the immortal is not a be- 
 ing, it is not an entity, nor is it the ego that 
 
50 NIRVANA. 
 
 appears in our perception of consciousness. 
 All tilings, all beings, all entities, all shapes 
 of substances are compounds, and compounds 
 are subject to dissolution. The immortal is 
 not as 3^ou have it smaller than small and 
 greater than great ; it is neither small nor 
 great ; it is unsubstantial and without bodih^ 
 shape. The immortal consists in the eternal 
 verities b}^ which existence is swa^^ed ; it is 
 the immutable law of life the cognition of 
 which constitutes enlightenment. The highest 
 verities are the four noble truths, of miser}^, 
 the origin of miser}-, the escape from miser}-, 
 and the eightfold path of righteousness, which 
 leads to the escape from miser}-." 
 
 Said Subhiiti^ '' I grant that the eternal can- 
 not be a material thing ; the eternal cannot be 
 a compound ; it must be immaterial ; it is 
 spiritual. The self is not the bod}-, not the 
 senses, not the mind, not the intellect; it is 
 that by which man perceives all objects in 
 sleep or in waking. The consciousness ' I am ' 
 is the great omnipresent Self, which is bodi- 
 less within the body, as agni, the fire, lies 
 hidden in the two fire sticks," 
 
THE IMMORTALITY OF DEEDS. 
 
 51 
 
 \ 
 
 Anuruddha paid close attention toSubliuti's 
 expositions, and replied in quick repartee: 
 ^'Agni, the fire, does not lie hidden in the two 
 fire sticks. The two fire 
 sticks are wood, nothing 
 but wood ; and there is no 
 fire hidden in either stick. 
 The fire originates through 
 the friction produced by 
 your hands. In the same 
 way consciousness origi- 
 nates as a product of condi- 
 tions and disappears when 
 the conditions cease. When 
 the wood is burnt, whither 
 does the fire go? And when 
 the conditions of conscious- 
 ness cease, where does con- 
 sciousness abide? " 
 
 ''My friend," said 
 Subhuti, "we must 
 distinguish between the thing and its phenom- 
 enon ; between Agni and the flame ; between 
 consciousness and its manifestations ; between 
 the person and the properties of a person, his 
 
52 NIRVANA. 
 
 faculties or activities ; between the wind and 
 the commotion w^hich the wind creates." 
 
 '' Must we? " asked musingly the Brahman 
 chief's guest. "It is true, we are in the habit 
 of sa^dng ' the wind blows,' as if there were 
 the wind performing the action of blowing ; 
 but there are not two things : first the wind, 
 and then the act of blowing ; there is only one 
 thing, which is the motion of the air, called 
 wind, or, by a license of speech, we speak of 
 the blowing of the Avind. In the same way 
 there is not a person that remembers deeds, 
 but the memories of the deeds are themselves 
 the person." 
 
 When a man is dead," enjoined Subhuti, 
 
 some sa3^ he exists, and others he exists not. 
 I understand that the Blessed One teaches that 
 he no longer exists, which means, to put it 
 squarely, that there is no hereafter." 
 
 ''No, sir," Anuruddha answered almost 
 sharpl3^ : "No, sir. Your dilemma rests upon 
 a wrong premise. That Self of 3^ours does not 
 now exist, how then can it continue to exist 
 after you have gone? That, however, which 
 you are now, will persist after the termination 
 
 
THE IMMORTALITY OF DEEDS. 53 
 
 of your bodily existence. Truly you are riglit 
 when you compare man in your Katlia-Upa- 
 nisliad to that ancient tree whose roots grow 
 upward and whose branches grow downward. 
 As the tree reappears with all the character- 
 istics of its kind, so man is reincarnated, and 
 his peculiar karma is reborn in new individ- 
 uals. There is no Self in the fig-tree that mi- 
 grates from the parent stem to the new shoots, 
 but the type in all its individual features is 
 preserved in the further growth and in the 
 evolution of new trees." '^ 
 
 ''There is one eternal thinker," said Su- 
 bhuti, "thinking non-eternal thoughts, and 
 the eternal thinker is the Self." 
 
 "Would not your statement be truer," 
 interrupted Anuruddha, " if reversed : there 
 are eternal thoughts which are thought by 
 non-eternal thinkers? In other words, what we 
 call a thinker is but the thinking of the thought ; 
 and the thinking of true thoughts is the attain- 
 ment of the eternal. The Truth is the Im- 
 mortal, the truth is Nirvana." 
 
 There was a lull in the conversation and 
 after a pause the Buddhist monk continued : 
 
54 NIRVANA. 
 
 " Your Katlia-Upanisliad is a discourse on the 
 problem ; it is a formulation of the How'^ as 
 to the hereafter, but instead of giving an an- 
 swer, it merely builds up a beautiful air-castle. 
 The true solution is only given in the doc- 
 trine of the Tathagata." 
 
 The Brahman chief felt that his most sacred 
 convictions were omitted in this statement, 
 and he asked, not without a tremor of uneasi- 
 ness in his voice: ''Is there nothing in me 
 that is immutable, nothing that is eternal and 
 immortal? " 
 
 "Whether or not there is an3'thing im-^ 
 mortal in 3^ou," was Anuruddha's repl}^, "de- 
 pends solely upon 3^ourself. If you consist of 
 thoughts that are pure and hol^^, 3^ou are pure 
 and hol^^ ; if you consist of thoughts that are 
 sinful, 3^ou are sinful; and if 3'ou consist of 
 immortal truth, 3^ou are immortal. The attain- 
 ment of truth is immortalit3^, and to do the 
 work of truth is Nirvana." 
 
 Subhiiti shook his head. " I want to possess 
 the truth, but I do not want to lose my own 
 identit3^" 
 
 "And I," enjoined Anuruddha, "want the 
 
THE IMMORTALITY OF DEEDS. 55 
 
 truth to possess me so as to lose myself in tlie 
 cause of the Truth. What a blessing it is to 
 have a higher purpose in life than self! " 
 
 Subhuti gazed at his friend in amazement : 
 "What shall I be after the dissolution of my 
 body in death? I shrink from losing my Self. 
 Should there be nothing that I can call my 
 own?" 
 
 ''Let my reply," rejoined Anuruddha, "be 
 in the words of the Blessed One, who said : 
 
 " 'Naught follows him who leaves this life ; 
 For all things must be left behind : 
 Wife, daughters, sons, one's kin, and friends, 
 Gold, grain, and wealth of every kind. 
 But every deed a man performs. 
 With bod}^ or with voice, or mind, 
 'Tis this that he can call his own, 
 This will he never leave behind. 
 
 ** 'Deeds, like a shadow, ne'er depart: 
 Bad deeds can never be concealed ; 
 Good deeds cannot be lost and will 
 In all their glory be revealed. 
 Let all, then, noble deeds perform, 
 As seeds sown in life's fertile field ; 
 For merit gained this life within. 
 Rich blessings in the next will yield. '"^^ 
 
56 NIRVANA. 
 
 Having quoted tlie words of the Blessed 
 One, Anuruddlia continued : '' Your deeds are 
 your own and will remain 3'our own forever 
 and aye. Your thoughts, your words, your 
 actions are not gone when they are past ; 
 they stay with 3^ou. They are the living stones 
 of which the structure of 3^our being is built 
 up. And there is no power in heaven nor 
 upon earth, nor even in hell, by which you 
 can get rid of them. Your life-history is your 
 Self, 3^our actual self, and as your life-history 
 continues after your death, so 3^our identical 
 self will remain. When we pass away we shall 
 continue to live according to our deeds." 
 
THE EPIDEMIC. 
 
 THREE cHildren were born to the 3'Oung 
 couple, and all three were boys full of 
 promise. Sudatta's prospects were brighter 
 than he had ever dared to hope. But times 
 change and misfortunes overcome men some- 
 times wdien least expected. A drought set in, 
 w^hich dried up all the wells of the country, 
 spreading famine and contagious disease. The 
 people prayed to the gods, they fasted and ex- 
 piated their sins, the priests offered sacrifices 
 and recited incantations, but the rain did not 
 fall. More sacrifices were offered, and the 
 blood of slaughtered animals reeked to heaven ; 
 yet the drought continued ; the gods remained 
 deaf to the prayers of the priests ; the famine 
 became worse, and the disease caused more 
 ravage than before. 
 
 Subhuti, the chief, did all he could to alle- 
 viate the sorry lot of his afEicted people. He 
 
58 
 
 NIRVANA. 
 
 was a rich man, but liis wealth proved insuffi- 
 cient to feed the poor. 
 
 Sudatta did his best in ministering unto 
 the sick. Having learned from his father, the 
 village priest whose office it was to gather the 
 sacred herbs for sacrifices, the virtues of vari- 
 ous plants, he brewed medicinal drinks for as- 
 suaging the sufferings of the patients and he 
 was aided in his work by Subhuti his noble 
 father-in-law andKaccha3'ana, 
 his brother-in-law. 
 
 When at 
 last the epi - 
 
 
 ?W -r^'lri>»->-i^ 
 
 demic began to abate, it came to pass that 
 Subhuti the chief himself fell sick. At first it 
 
THE EPIDEMIC. 
 
 59 
 
 seemed that lie was merely exhausted tlirougli 
 
 
 
 ','. 
 
 .^ ,^.' 
 
 - y.. 
 
 
 
 'i ', :' 
 
 
 
 • . -;' 
 
 •, V. 
 
 
 
 
 ' //■ 
 
 
 '■\ i. 
 
 ■*.; 
 
 r' 
 
 
 : ~i ■/ 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 ~^-^M 
 
 i 
 
 niglit-watclies and grief, but soon it became 
 apparent that he was affected by the disease 
 
60 NIRVANA. 
 
 and liis condition grew very critical. His 
 relatives gathered at liis bedside and were in- 
 consolable. 
 
 He had been so faithful in his kindness to 
 every one that the}^ thought they could not 
 live without him ; but he himself remained 
 serene and self-possessed. Having blessed 
 his sons, his daughter, and grand-children, 
 he comforted them, sa3dng : ^' Cease sorrow- 
 ing ; there is no loss in this body of flesh ; 
 it is outworn by old age and disease like a 
 garment. If 3'ou cherish with faithful hearts 
 the example that I set 3^ou, death can never 
 separate us." 
 
 When the evening came, Subhuti sent away 
 his daughter and grand-children, keeping only 
 Kaccha3^ana and Sudatta with him. And when 
 the pain of the disease for a while abated, 
 he said: ''The sufferings which I witnessed 
 opened mine e3^es and I have understood the 
 four noble truths proclaimed b3^ the Tatha- 
 gata. I feel that m3^ life is ebbing away, 
 but I am not troubled in m3^ mind, for death 
 has lost its terrors. Wherever I shall be re- 
 born, I am confident that it Viill be on a 
 
THE EPIDEMIC. 61 
 
 higlier plane and I sliall be a step nearer 
 the lioly goal Nirvana." 
 
 " Surel3^, father," rejoined Sudatta, ''after 
 a long life spent in doing good, thou deservest 
 a high reward, which will be nothing less 
 than the bliss of Brahma's heaven." 
 
 Rallying all his strength once more, Su- 
 bhiiti replied: ''Speak not of rewards while 
 there are duties to be performed. Brahma's 
 heaven is made for those who cling to the 
 thought of Self. I am confident that this 
 present incarnation of mine shall have peace ; 
 but not m3^ love for mankind ; not my S}- m- 
 pathy with those who suffer ; not my truth- 
 seeking mind. So long as there is suffering 
 in the w^orld I shall never entertain any desire 
 to ascend into a heaven of bliss ; I want to be 
 reborn in the depths of hell. There the misery 
 is greatest and salvation most needed. That 
 is the best place to enlighten those in dark- 
 ness, to rescue what is lost, and to point out 
 the path to those who have gone astray." 
 
 With these words Subhiiti fell back ex- 
 hausted. He murmured with a broken voice 
 the refuge formula of the Buddhists, saying: 
 
62 
 
 NIRVANA. 
 
 **I take my refuge in the Buddha, 
 I take m\' refuge in the Dharma, 
 I take m}^ refuge in the Sargha." 
 
THE EPIDEMIC. 63 
 
 Having thus given expression to the faith 
 that was in him, his eyes, which had just 
 before been sparkling with noble enthusiasm, 
 grew dim, and he passed away peacefully. 
 
 A holy stillness pervaded the room. 
 
 And it happened that very evening that 
 Anuruddha passed through Kuduraghara and 
 when he came to the mansion of Subuhti he 
 found his friend the chief no longer among 
 the living. He saluted Kacchayana and Su- 
 datta and sat down with them in silence. 
 
 The sun sank down and Kacchayana lit a 
 candle, but no one spoke a word. 
 
 When the night advanced Anuruddha raised 
 his sonorous voice and sang : 
 
 "How transient are things mortal! 
 How restless is man's life ! 
 But Peace stands at the portal 
 Of Death, and ends all strife. 
 
 ''Life is a constant parting — 
 
 One more the stream has crossed ; 
 But think ye who stand smarting 
 Of that which ne'er is lost. 
 
64 NIRVANA. 
 
 **A11 rivers flowing, flowing, 
 
 Must reach the distant main ; 
 The seeds w^hich we are sewing 
 Will ripen into grain. "^^ 
 
COPYING THE MANUSCRIPT. 
 
 KACCHAYANA joined Anuruddlia on 
 his journey to Rajagalia, and when he 
 saw the Blessed One and heard him explain 
 the doctrine, he entered the order of samanas 
 and became a man of repute among them on 
 account of his wisdom. When he returned 
 home he retired into the forest near Kudurag- 
 hara to a place called the Precipice, and the 
 people of his village called him Maha-Kaccha- 
 yana,'^ for although they, being Brahmans, 
 looked upon him as a heretic, they respected 
 him and said : ' ' He is one of the great disciples 
 of the Blessed One, well versed in both, the 
 Brahman and Buddhist Scriptures, and we 
 know that he has attained the highest degree 
 of scholarship and sanctity." 
 
 Sudatta had lost his faith in the religion of 
 his fathers, without, however, adopting the new 
 faith of the Buddhists. One day, when walk- 
 
i i 
 
 66 NIRVANA. 
 
 ingwitli liis brother-in-law tHrough the village, 
 he said : ' ' Is it not sad to lose a father or any 
 one whom we dearly love? Trul}^ there is no 
 doctrine that can take awa3^ the pangs of grief 
 and afford gennine comfort." 
 
 My dear brother," replied Kaccha3'ana, 
 
 so long as your aim is to escape suffering 
 for your own person, you are not 3^et free. Let 
 the pain of 3^our grief have its wa}^, and do not 
 try to be exempt from the natural law to 
 which all mortals are subject alike." 
 
 ''But consider," objected the other one, 
 "the terrible fate of the dead. Is it not an 
 awful thought that their whole existence is 
 wiped out as if they had never been ? " 
 
 '' There you are mistaken," suggested Kac- 
 cha3^ana. Death is a dissolution, but man's 
 existence is not wiped out as though he had 
 never been, for ever^- deed of his continues in 
 its peculiar identit3^" 
 
 A sad smile appeared onSudatta's face when 
 he interrupted his brother-in-law : ' ' That is 
 nothing more than a mode of speech. If the 
 dead continue to live, please tell me where is 
 our father now? " 
 
COPYING THE MANUSCRIPT. 67 
 
 Kacclia3^ana replied : ''Is he not here witli 
 us? " And after a pause he continued : ''It is 
 with men as with books. You can write vile 
 things or good and noble thoughts upon palm 
 leaves. The book does not consist of leaves 
 but of ideas. The leaves are mere material 
 for the scribe, and there are thousands of 
 leaves on the palms that Avill never be turned 
 into books. When our father, the venerable 
 Subhuti, pondered over the problem of death, 
 he composed the Katha-Upanishad which ap- 
 peared to me more valuable than any one I 
 had ever heard or read. He wrote it upon the 
 leaves of the big palm-tree in our garden. 
 When the leaves were bleached and prepared 
 for writing, our venerable father scratched the 
 words of the Upanishad into the leaves, and 
 when he died left them to me as my most pre- 
 cious inheritance, for they are not treasures of 
 worldly goods, but a monument of his medita- 
 tions which contains his immortal soul. For- 
 merly I held them dear because I valued them 
 as a specimen of his hand-writing, but now I 
 deem his thoughts to be of higher worth. Dur- 
 ing the great drought the leaves became worm- 
 
68 NIRVANA. 
 
 eaten, and tlie3^ are now breaking to pieces. I 
 have the whole Upanishad in ni}^ memory, but 
 knowing that when I die the thoughts ex- 
 pressed in the book will be lost, I have begun 
 to transcribe them, line by line, carefully, from 
 the rotten leaves of the old manuscript. I shall 
 lend the new cop}^ to other scribes, and the 
 Katha-Upanishad will be preserved and become 
 known in other lands and to other generations. 
 The old cop3^ has become illegible and has 
 partly crumbled into dust, but the thoughts 
 will not die, for the3^ are re-embodied in the 
 new cop3^ It is in this same wa^^ that we, our 
 aspirations, our ideas, our mind, will be pre- 
 served. The character of the present genera- 
 tion is impressed upon the coming generation 
 by our acts, our words, and our sentiments, 
 and when we die we pass away but continue 
 according to our deeds. All that is com- 
 pounded must be dissolved again ; the palm- 
 leaves wither, but the Katha-Upanishad still 
 lives." 
 
 "Would it not be glorious," exclaimed Su- 
 datta, " if both could be preserved — the cop3^ 
 of the book and the thought contained in it? " 
 
COPYING THE MANUSCRIPT. 69 
 
 i i 
 
 
 I would hesitate to echo your sentiment," 
 rejoined Kacchayana : " Do 3^ou remember the 
 beautiful words of Anuruddha which found an 
 echo in that same Upanishad ? He said : ' Choose 
 not the dearer, choose the truer, for the truer 
 is the better.' At that time I chose the dearer, 
 but life has taught me a lesson ; I have now 
 chosen the truer, and the truer has become the 
 dearer to me." 
 
 '^ Has it, indeed? " queried Sudatta, without 
 concealing his surprise. 
 
 Indeed it has," was Kacchayana' s reply. 
 
 Death is not only necessary in life, as the 
 inevitable corollary of birth, but it is also a 
 most salutary arrangement. There is no more 
 reason to speak of the horrors of death than to 
 speak of the horrors of sleep. Indeed there is 
 a beauty in death ; and it is the beauty of 
 death that lends consecration to life. Think 
 only of what life would be without death ; a 
 monotonous and thoughtless sporting in pleas- 
 ures and nothing more. It is death that makes 
 time precious. Death sets us to thinking and 
 makes religion necessary. Death alone forces 
 us to give value to life. If there were no death, 
 
70 
 
 NIRVANA. 
 
 there would be no heroes, no sages, no Bud- 
 dhas. Therefore, death is inevitable; yet it 
 is not an evil. Fools shudder at the mere 
 thought of it; but the wise fear it not. For 
 death is our teacher, and also our benefactor." 
 
YOUNG SUBHUTI. 
 
 SUDATTA'S boys grew up and took 
 charge of the land that they had in- 
 herited from their grandfather. Their assist- 
 ance made it possible forSudatta to gain more 
 leisure for himself, and he began frequently 
 to retire to the Precipice, in the loneliness 
 of the forest, where Kacchayana lived, and 
 devoted himself to study and meditation. Al- 
 though only in the forties, his hair had turned 
 white and he might easily have passed for an 
 older man, who, however, in his old age, pre- 
 served unusual vigor and health. The people 
 of the village called him whenever there was 
 sickness in the family, and he was always 
 willing to help them in their troubles with 
 counsel and personal assistance. 
 
 In those days it came to pass that Bim- 
 bisara, the king, died, and his son Ajatasattu 
 ascended the throne. 
 
12 
 
 NIRVANA. 
 
 Ajatasattu sent envoys to all tlie cities and 
 villages of his kingdom and also to all the 
 neigHboring countries that were sulDject to his 
 sceptre, to test the allegiance of his people. 
 And the King's envo}^, surrounded hy a staff 
 of counsellors and accompanied by a military 
 
 escort, came also to Kuduraghara. When 
 they entered Kuduraghara they were toldj on 
 
YOUNG vSUBHUTI. 
 
 n 
 
 inquiring for the chief of the village, that 
 since the death of Maha-Subhuti the people 
 had been liv- 
 ing without a 
 chief. Then the 
 King's envoy 
 
 
 v^ 
 
 
 /, x 
 
 '■JkX' 
 
 
 had the people assembled, and requested them 
 to choose a new magistrate whom the King, 
 
74 NIRVANA. 
 
 Ajatasattu, should install in the place of 
 Alaha-Subhuti. Seeing that Kaccha3'ana had 
 retired from the world to live a religious life, 
 and that Sudatta appeared to be quite ad- 
 vanced in 3'ears, he presented as a candidate 
 Sudatta's oldest son who was called Subhuti 
 after his grandfather ; and when the people 
 saw him in his manliness they hailed him 
 and shouted, "Let 3^oung Subhuti be our 
 chief ; let the King appoint him successor to 
 Alaha-Subhuti. " 
 
 Some of the older men in the assembly were 
 greatly pleased with the new chief and said : 
 ' ' If Maha-Subhuti were to reappear bodily 
 among us in the vigor of his 3^outh, he could 
 not look different from this noble 3^outh. 
 Maha-Subhuti was exactly like him when 
 King Bimbisara installed him in ofhce." 
 
THE BLESSED ONE. 
 
 ONE day a stranger passed through Ku- 
 duraghara, and, meeting Sudatta in the 
 street, asked him the road to Rajagaha. The 
 old Brahman pointed out the way to the 
 capital of the country, and said: ^'I should 
 like to go to Rajagaha myself, for there the 
 Blessed One lives, the Holy Buddha, who is 
 the teacher of gods and men. He is the mas- 
 ter whose doctrine I profess." 
 
 ^'Why not join me?" said the stranger. 
 "I am Chandra, the gambler. Having heard 
 of the wisdom of the Blessed Buddha, I made 
 up my mind to go to Rajagaha and reap the 
 benefits of his instruction." 
 
 Sudatta took leave of his friends and joined 
 Chandra, the gambler, on his way to Raja- 
 gaha, and, remembering a wish once uttered 
 by his father-in-law, he took with him the 
 palm-leaf manuscript of the Katha-Upanishad. 
 
16 
 
 NIRVANA. 
 
 While they were travelling" together on the 
 highroad, Chandra said: ''Deep is the wis- 
 
 f 
 
 dom of the Perfect One. He teaches that ex- 
 istence is suffering, and my experience con- 
 
I'HH BLESSED ONE. 77 
 
 firms the doctrine. Pessimism is indeed the 
 true theory of life." 
 
 ''What do you mean by Pessimism?" in- 
 terrupted Sudatta. 
 
 '' Pessimism means that the world is bad," 
 replied Chandra ; and he continued : ' ' The 
 world is like a lottery in which there are few 
 prizes and innumerable blanks. We can see 
 at once how true it is that life is not worth 
 living by supposing a wealthy man buying 
 all the chances in a lottery in order to make 
 sure of winning all the prizes. He would 
 certainly be a loser. Life is bankrupt through- 
 out ; it is like a business enterprise which 
 does not pay its expenses." 
 
 ''My friend," said the Brahman, "I per- 
 ceive that you are a man of experience. Am 
 I right in assuming that, being a gambler, 
 you had for a time an easy life until you met 
 another gambler better versed in trickery than 
 yourself, who cheated you out of all your pos- 
 sessions? " 
 
 "Indeed, sir," said the gambler, "that is 
 my case exactly ; and now I travel to the 
 Blessed One, who has recognised the great 
 
78 NIRVANA. 
 
 truth that life is like a lost game in which the 
 prizes are only baits for the giddy. When- 
 ever I met a man unacquainted with gambling 
 I alwa3^s let him win in the beginning to make 
 him bold. I, too, was for a time success- 
 ful in the game of life, but now I know that 
 those who win at first are going to lose more 
 in the end than those who are frightened away 
 by losing their first stake. Life uses the same 
 tricks we use. I have been caught in the 
 snare wdiicli I thought I had invented." 
 
 Turning to the Brahman, bent with age 
 and care, he continued: "The whiteness of 
 3^our beard and the wrinkles in your face indi- 
 cate that 3^ou, too, have found the sweets of 
 life bitter. I suppose 3^ou are not less pessi- 
 mistic than m3^self." 
 
 A beam of sunshine appeared in the Brah- 
 man's e3^es and his gait became erect like that 
 of a king. '' No, sir," he replied, " I have no 
 experience like 3^ours. I tasted the sweets of 
 life when I was 3'Oung, man 3^, man3^ 3^ears 
 ago. I have sported in the fields with m3^ 
 pla3^mates. I have loved and was beloved, 
 but I loved with a pure heart and there was 
 
THE BLESSED ONE. 79 
 
 no bitterness in tlie sweets whicli I tasted. 
 My experience came when I saw tlie suffer- 
 ings of life. The world is full of sorrow and 
 the end of life is death. I have been sad at 
 heart ever since, but when I think of the Bud- 
 dha who has come into the world and teaches 
 us how to escape suffering I rejoice ; I know 
 now that the bitterness of life is sweet to him 
 whose soul has found rest in Nirvana." 
 
 "If life is full of bitterness, how can one 
 escape suffering?" asked Chandra. 
 
 And Sudatta replied : ' ' We cannot escape 
 pain, but we can avoid evil, and it is by avoid- 
 ing evil we enter Nirvana." 
 
 When the two men came to the Vihara at 
 Rajagaha they approached the Blessed Bud- 
 dha with clasped hands, saying: "Receive 
 us, O Lord, among thy disciples; permit us 
 to be hearers of thy doctrines ; and let us take 
 refuge in the Buddha, the truth, and the com- 
 munity of Buddha's followers." 
 • And the Holy One, who reads the secret 
 thoughts of men's minds, addressed Chandra, 
 the gambler, asking him : " Knowest thou, O 
 Chandra, the doctrine of the Blessed One?" 
 
80 
 
 NIRVANA. 
 
 Chandra said: '^I do. The Blessed One 
 teaches that life is misery." 
 
 And the Lord replied : ' ' Life is niiser3^ in- 
 deed, but the Tathagata hast come into the 
 world to point out the way 
 of salvation. His aim is to 
 
 teach men how to rescue themselves from mis- 
 ery. If thou art anxious for deliverance from 
 
THE BLESSED ONE. 
 
 81 
 
 evil, enter the patli with a resolute mind, sur- 
 
 r' 
 
 J , 
 
 fm\l¥ 
 
 ^a^mu 
 
 ¥?^ 
 
 
 u 
 
 y^\ 
 
 .y^y 
 
 render selfishness, practise self-discipline, and 
 work out thy salvation with diligence. 
 
 n 
 
82 NIRVANA. 
 
 " I came to the Blessed One to find peace," 
 said tlie gambler, "not to undertake work." 
 
 Said tlie Blessed One: ''Only b}^ ener- 
 getic work can peace be found ; deatli can be 
 conquered only by the resignation of self, and 
 only by strenuous effort is eternal bliss at- 
 tained. Thou regardest the world as evil 
 because he who deceives will eventuall}^ be 
 ruined b3^ his own devices. The happiness 
 that thou seekest is the pleasure of sin with- 
 out sin's evil consequences. Men who have 
 not observed proper discipline, and have not 
 gained treasure in their ^^outli, lie sighing for 
 the past. There is evil, indeed; but the evil 
 of which thou complainest is but the justice 
 of the law of karma. What a man has sown 
 that vshall he reap." 
 
 Then the Blessed One turned to the Brah- 
 man, and, recognising the sterling worth of 
 his character, addressed him: ''Veril}-, O 
 Brahman, thou understandest the doctrines of 
 the Tathagata better than th}- fellow-traveller. 
 He who makes the distress of others his own, 
 quickly understands the illusion of self. He 
 is like the lotus flower that growls in the wa- 
 
THE BLESSED ONE. 83 
 
 ter, yet does the water not wet its petals. The 
 pleasures of this world allure him not, and he 
 will have no cause for regret." 
 
 Searching with a friendl}^ e^^e the benevo- 
 lent features of his Brahman visitor, the Bud- 
 dha continued: "Thou art walking in the 
 noble path of righteousness and thou delight- 
 est in the purit}^ of thy work. If thou wishest 
 to cure the diseases of the heart, as thou un- 
 derstandest how to heal the sores of the body, 
 let people see the fruits that grow from the 
 seeds of loving kindness. When they but 
 know the bliss of a right mind they will soon 
 enter the path and reach that state of steadi- 
 ness and tranquillity in which they are above 
 pleasure and pain, above the petty petulance 
 of fretful desires, above sin and temptation. 
 Go, then, back to thy home and announce to 
 th}^ friends, who are subject to suffering, that 
 he whose mind is free from the illusions of 
 sinful desires will overcome the miseries of 
 life. Spread goodness in words and deeds 
 everywhere. In a spirit of universal kindness 
 be ready to serve others with help and instruc- 
 tion ; live happily, then, among the ailing; 
 
84 NIRVANA. 
 
 among men who are greedy, remain free from 
 greed ; among men who hate, dwell free from 
 hatred ; and those who Vv'itness the blessings 
 of a hol}^ life will follow thee in the path of 
 salvation." 
 
 Chandra listened with raptnre to the words 
 of the Blessed One and exclaimed: ''Happy 
 
 -i 
 
 is Sndatta ! Oh ! that I conld understand the 
 doctrine and practice it ! " 
 
 The Blessed One said : ''As the great ocean 
 has only one taste, the taste of salt, so the 
 doctrine of the Tathagata has only one taste, 
 the taste of salvation. 
 
 The eyes of the gambler were opened, and 
 
THE BLESSED ONE. 85 
 
 his pessimism melted away in the sun of Bud- 
 dha's doctrines. '' O Lord," said he, ^'I long 
 for that higher life to which the noble path of 
 righteousness leads." 
 
 Said the Blessed One : ' ' As sea-faring men 
 are bent on reaching the haven of their des- 
 tination, so all life presses forward to find the 
 
 
 
 bliss of enlightenment, and enlightenment 
 alone can point out the way of righteousness 
 that leads to Nirvana." 
 
 The gambler folded his hands and said to 
 the Buddha: ''Wilt thou persuade the Brah- 
 man, my fellow-traveller, to take me to his 
 home, where I am willing to enter his service 
 
86 NIRVANA. 
 
 that I may learn from him and attain to the 
 same bliss? " 
 
 The Blessed One replied : ' ' Let Sudatta 
 the Brahman, do as he sees fit." 
 
 Sudatta, the Brahman, expressed his will- 
 ingness to receive Chandra as a helpmate in 
 his work, and added: ^'Anurudha the phi- 
 losopher taught me the path of the Dharma, 
 Avhich proclaims : ' Let evil deeds be covered 
 by good deeds ; he v ho was reckless and be- 
 comes sober, will brighten up the world like 
 the moon when freed from clouds.' " 
 
 Seeing that the hearts of all present were 
 ready to receive the good tidings of salvation, 
 the Blessed One instructed them and roused 
 and gladdened them with religious discourse, 
 and having explained the doctrine, he con- 
 cluded his sermon saying: ''And this is the 
 sign that you have reached the goal which is 
 the glorious Nirvana : No accident will ever 
 be able to disturb your mind, for, in spite of 
 the world's unrest, your heart will be like a 
 still and smooth lake. All attachment to Self 
 has died out ; it has become like a withered 
 branch that no longer bears fruit. But your 
 
THE BLESSED ONE. 
 
 87 
 
 sympathy goes out to every creature that suf- 
 fers, and you are untiring in good works. 
 Your heart beats higher ; it expands and is 
 roused to a nobler life ; for it is inspired by 
 the thoughts of the Buddha ; your mind is 
 clearer, for it now comprehends the length, 
 the breadth, and the depth of existence, recog- 
 nising the one goal that life must seek, — 
 Nirvana." 
 
 r^:**-. ' 
 
 Hl 
 

 r^,^ ' 
 
 (0 ^-^i^- 
 
 
 1 
 
 ^13^"^' 'v^ 
 
 
 '^^ 
 
 ^.('-.M 
 
 ^m< 
 
 
 X ,7 \\ < ■'-. 
 
 t.: ^^*<^ 
 
 '~^**~<;i^^ 
 
 >^. 
 
 
NOTES. 
 
 1, Page I 
 
 The names and terms which occur in this little tale are as a 
 rule transcriptions from the Pali, exceptions being made only in 
 the case of such words as have in their Sanskrit forms become 
 naturalised in the English language; for instance, Nirvana, 
 Dharma, Karma, etc.. which are better known than their anal- 
 ogous Pali forms : Nibbana, Dhamma, Kamma. 
 
 2, Page 3. 
 
 Kuduraghara is mentioned by Buddhaghosha and other 
 authors. In the Mahavagga (V, 13) it is spelt Kuraraghara. 
 Avanti is the present Malwa, the country north of the Vindhya 
 mountains and southwest of the middle course of the Ganges. 
 See e. g., the Map of Nobir Chandra Das in his " Note on the An- 
 cient Geography of Asia." 
 
 > Page 7. 
 See ChuIIa Vagga, V., 6; compare C. H. Warren, Biia- 
 dhis?7i in T7-a}islatwus, pp. 302 303. 
 
 4, Page 10. 
 
 From the Sai}ikhaf(Ua j'dtaka (Birih Story 316). See War- 
 ren. B. in ly., p. 274. 
 
 5, Page 10, 
 
 Bodhisatta (Sanskrit Bodiiisattva), i. e,, he whose essence 
 {sattva) is enlightenment [bodhi), is the title of Buddha before he 
 attained Buddhahood. 
 
 6, Page 18. 
 
 Gautama, the Sanskrit form of Buddha's family name (to be 
 pronounced " Goutama "), is here preferred to the Pali Gota?no be- 
 
90 NIRVANA. 
 
 cause we have become as much accustomed to it as to the form 
 Buddha. Buddha is called Gautama by unbelievers only, and 
 Buddhists deem it irreverent to call their master by his family 
 name simply. They call him Tathagata (which probably means 
 the Perfect One), or Sakya Muni, the Sage of the Sakya tribe, or 
 Bhagavat, the Blessed One, etc. 
 
 7, rage 19. 
 
 Anuruddha is one of the great disciples of the Buddha. 
 
 8, Page 28. 
 
 The marriage ceremonies of India are described by Dr. M 
 Winternitz in Das alliiidische Ilochzeitsritiicll 7iach dem Afa- 
 stamhiya-Grihyas^itra , Vienna, 1892. Concerning the Brahma- 
 rite see the Laws of Manu, III, 25. 
 
 9, Page 32. 
 
 Afiattavddo should by right have been the title of this story. 
 The word was suggested to me by the Pali scholar Mr. Albert J. 
 Edmunds, and it means non-assertion of self, from a7i, the nega- 
 tion, aitd = se\i, and zv?«'o = assertion. {See ChWders s Dictiojiary 
 of the Pali Language, s v. a//(^l = atman, attavddo and I'ddd). 
 The non-assertion of self is an entry into Nirvana in this life. 
 
 While anattavddo is an abrogation of all selfishness, an at- 
 tainment of enlightenment and peace of mind, it is by no means 
 quietism ; on the contrary, it implies extraordinary effort in behalf 
 of every worthy aim of life that might fall to one's lot to pursue. 
 No founder of any other religion insisted more earnestly upon 
 energetic and resolute exertion than the Buddha. 
 
 10, Page 33. 
 
 From the Mahamangala Sutta, the Buddhist Beatitudes, a 
 translation of which is contained in Rhys Davids's Buddhism, 
 pp. 125-126. Compare also Sir Monier Monier-Williams's trans- 
 lation. 
 
 11, Page 34. 
 
 The Vedanta philosophy in speculating on psychological prob- 
 lems hypostasised the soul under the name self or atman, and Prof. 
 F. Max Miiller proposed to translate atman by " Self," capitalised 
 
NOTKS. 91 
 
 with a plural form " Selfs," to distinguish the term from the pro- 
 nouns "myself" and "ourselves," etc. The peculiarity of the 
 Vedantic explanation is the fiction of a separate Self which is as- 
 sumed to be immutable and eternal. 
 
 12, Page 34. 
 
 Ishvara (literally "independent existence") is an appellative 
 of Shiva, but it is always used in Buddhist literature in the sense 
 of "personal god," i. e., an extra-mundane and anthropomorphic 
 deity endowed with an individual ego-consciousness. 
 
 13, Page 35. 
 
 Sudatta's attack of Buddhism is a condensed statement of 
 the criticism made in ancient times by Buddha's opponents, and 
 the same objections have been repeated ever since, down to the 
 present day. 
 
 14, Page 42. 
 
 We recommend the perusal of the Katha-upanishad, trans- 
 lated by F. M. Miiller in the Sacred Books of the East, XV., pp. 
 1-24, and by Deussen in his Seclizig Ufayiishads, pp. 266-287. 
 Among other translations Sir Edwin Arnold's and Charles Johns- 
 ton's versions are more readable because they excel in literary 
 beauty. 
 
 The Kathas constitute the school of the Black Yajurveda (a 
 book of sacrificial rituals), and the Katha-upanishad is a poetical 
 discourse based upon the fire ceremonial. Cf. Weber's ///.s/orj' 
 0/ Indian fAterature, p. 93 et passim. The Katha school is still 
 in the present day the prevailing one in Kashmir (Weber, ibid., p. 
 
 317)- 
 
 The Upanishads are an important branch of the philosoph- 
 ical literature of ancient India. They represent the transition 
 from Brahmanism to Buddhism, and the Katha-Upanishad is per- 
 haps the most beautiful of all. 
 
 The solution of the soul-problem offered in the Upanishads is 
 that of the Vedanta philosophy ; it is the belief in a Self or atman 
 which is supposed to be a separate entity, assumed to be no bigger 
 than the thumb, or even as small as a mustard-seed. While all 
 things change, this Self is supposed to remain immutable. Buddha 
 denies the existence of an atman, whence originated the accusation 
 that he teaches there is no soul. 
 
92 NIRVANA. 
 
 The Katha-Upanishad must have originated in some such way 
 as is related in our story. The argument in the text refers to an 
 ancient fire ritual and at the same time shows, as do some other 
 Upanishads, Buddhist influences. Yet the philosophical tenor of 
 the discussion is still Brahmanical, being pervaded by the same 
 spirit that finds its classical expression in Shankara's philosophy. 
 
 15, Page 53. 
 
 Here the keynote of Buddhist psychology is touched. The 
 Anguttara Nikayo (III, 134, i.) teaches as an essential doctrine, 
 taught by the Blessed One himself, that the constituents of being 
 (viz., the elements of concrete existence, such as build up all things 
 including our own personality) possess three characteristics : they 
 are (i) transitory, (2) subject to suffering, and (3) lacking an atman, 
 i.e., a Self or Ego. This means (i) that all compounds must finally 
 be dissolved again. Things (including organisms and the person- 
 ality of man) originate by composition and, be they ever so stable, 
 they will finally decay and die. (2) The life of organisms, in so far 
 as it is sentient, is capable of enjoying pleasure, but is necessarily 
 subject to pain. Thus suffering is not an accessory but an inevi- 
 table characteristic of life. (3) The thing consists of parts, and 
 there is r»o Self (no ego, no atman) in addition to these parts; or as 
 modern philosophers would say now, there is no thing in itself. 
 The Ganges consists of water and its banks. If we take the banks 
 away and the water, the Ganges is gone. There is no Ganges in 
 itself. 
 
 The truth that after all lies in the conception of things-in- 
 themselves, may be briefly expressed in the statement: "There 
 are no things-in themselves but forms-in themselves, viz., eternal 
 types such as are called by Plato the ideas," (cf. the author's article 
 in llie Monist, Vol. II., No. 2 pp. 225-265, "Are There Things- 
 in-Themselves ? "). 
 
 Judging from the doctrine of the three characteristics alone. 
 Buddhism seems to be pessimism. But this is not so. Buddha 
 has pointed out the way of salvation which consists in the attain- 
 ment of Nirvana; and Nirvana can be attained in this life by 
 abandoning all attachment to the transitory and finding a resting- 
 place in the eternal. We read in the Udana (VIII, 3) : 
 
 "There is, O disciples, something not-born, not-originated, 
 not-made, not-formed. If, O disciples, there were not this not- 
 
NOTES. 93 
 
 born, not-originated, not-made, not-formed, there would be no 
 escape for the born, the originated, the made, the formed." 
 
 Compare also Dhammafada, Chapter XXVI., verse 383, 
 quoted as a motto on the title page. 
 
 The nature of this "not-born, not-originated, not-made, not- 
 formed " is sufficiently explained in our tale by Anuruddha. 
 
 16, Page 54. 
 
 Here Anuruddha makes a play at words, of which the an- 
 cient Indians were very fond. There are three words which differ 
 slightly in pronunciation, (i) Ka^/m (with lingual tJi) the name of 
 the founder of the Ka///a school ; (2) Katha (with dental th and 
 long a), a discourse ; and (3) Katharn (with dental th and short a), 
 the interrogative ' ' How ? " 
 
 17, Page 55. 
 
 After the Samyutta-Nikayo. See Warren, Biiddh. in Tr , 
 p. 228. 
 
 18, Page 63. 
 
 After an old Buddhist song which is still used in Ceylon and 
 Siam, quoted by Rhys Davids in his introduction to the Maha- 
 Parinibbana Sutta {S. B. of the E., Vol. XL, pp. xlii-xliii) as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 "Ani/^r/ca vata sa?«khara uppadavaya-dhammino 
 Uppa^^,.5^itva niru^^/zanti tesa;;z vupasamo sukho. 
 
 Yatha varivaha pura paripurenti sagara^w 
 Evam eva ito dinnam petanam upakappati. 
 
 Ito dinnena yapenti peta kalakata tahi;«. 
 
 Unname udakaw va//a7?z yatha ninnaw pavattati 
 Evam eva ito dinna;« petana/w upakappati." 
 
 The rendering given in our story is fitted to the melody of 
 Goethe's poem "The King of Thule." See the author's Sacred 
 Tunes for the Consec7'alion of Life, pp. 36-37. 
 
 19, Page 65. 
 
 That Kacchayana of Kuduraghara (or Kuraraghara), who 
 lived on the Precipice was called Maha Kacchayana is mentioned 
 in the Mahavagga (V. 13). 
 

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