L. Adams Beck

“ For like a bright shining went forth the words of the Lord unto the ends of the earth, and those countries that have not heard shall yet hear and rejoice, for in Him were all wisdom and all love. And Kings and Emperors have heard and adored, and peasants looked up in gladness to see the night of sorrow dawn into the sunrise of joy.
And for that man who desires no longer the illusions of earth, ended—ended is the passing from death to death, the illusion of that false self and ego being slain over whom alone death has dominion! For the All in whom we are One is life and not death. ”

“ O bliss inexplicable, not to be confounded with others, but singular, lovely, and alone! Not in the heavens, unattainable save by the strength of Gods, but within reach of all who set their faces to the heights in true and steadfast endeavour, proceeding step by step in love and patience. For the lowly, the little children of the Law, as for the wise and noble. For he who is ruler over a few things in this life shall in lives to come be ruler over many, so he be found faithful. And at the last—not the dewdrop lost in the ocean, but the ocean drawn into the dewdrop and eternal Unity. ”

“ And at last, having observed the delicate sweetness of her face and her grace and majesty, he said, sighing:
“Noble daughter, you have now been wedded to my son, Siddhartha, for six months. Is all well with you?”
And, stooping to touch his feet, she replied:
“Great father, all is well. And I did not know that in all the world there was such joy as I share night and day with my dear lord. For beyond all beauty he is beautiful and beyond all goodness, good, and his gentleness of speech is not like that of a woman, but with strength behind it like Himalaya when he smiles in sunshine. ”

“ In the rising of the moon was peace and her light shed tenderer dreams like the soft falling of snow, and the strong leap of the sun at dawn in the first of his three strides, was the outrush of hope—hope unfulfilled but ever on before. And the breeze was good to him, laying a cool hand on weary temples, and the singing of the river overflowed from the very heart of quiet.
And as the tapestry of life unrolled its pictures before his eyes he read its lesson. Happiness is a dream and sorrow a truth and individual life a misfortune from which impersonal contemplation is the only enfranchisement. ”

“ Then, hearing this voice in his ears, the Exalted One turned the gaze of perfect enlightenment upon the world, and he beheld this:
As on a lotus stem bearing the lotus blossom of ivory, some flowers do not rise out of the water but are below the surface, and others float on the calm surface, and others rise high, reflecting themselves in its mirror, so are men—some pure, and some impure, some noble and some ignoble, some strong in mind and intellect, others weak and dull,—but all needing what they are qualified to take of the light of wisdom. ”

“ On his knees he felt the warmth of her golden bosom, sun-kissed fruit for the tasting, on his hands the clasp of those little fingers that once clenched his heart.
“Put away your pale dreams of Heaven. O Prince beloved!” she pleaded. “Heaven is here and now by bright Rohini. Come, taking and giving joy. O sad and wearied, and utterly foredone, come back to us and be made whole and glad. Am I not yours? Rest in my arms. Forget the cold ascetic, and be again our Prince, our warrior. Come! Time goes swiftly and the sands of life are blown about the desert and man knows them no more.” ”

“ His son moved before him, beautiful exceedingly, perfect in duty not only to his father and his foster-mother, Prajapati the fair and noble, but also to all with whom he had to do, quick to smile and reply, glad in a boy’s sports and games, and yet—apart. As a man, looking down through the clear crystal of a lake, may behold beneath it groves of strange leafage where silver fish dart and disappear in a life unknown to him, so the Maharaja, looking through the translucence of his son’s eyes uplifted to his, knew that they revealed yet hid a world in which he had no part. ”

“ The kinships of this world are like a flock of birds that for a night settle on the same tree and when dawn comes disperse. Such are its ties, no more. Does any tie of relationship ensure the joy of permanent union? No. All is said. Say no more, faithful one. Return to the city and make known to all men these my words—‘When I have found the Way—that Way which puts an end to the sad endless chain of birth and death, then and not otherwise I will return.’ And if I do not obtain this victory my body shall perish in the jungle. ”

“ So when Siddhartha returned flushed and gay from riding and shooting by the parks of Rohini with the great bow in his hand and quiver at his shoulder, a glittering glorious young warrior, she clung about him shining with bliss so that it appeared that visible rays surrounded her as they do the Dawn Maiden when she, standing, flings her golden arrows about the world from the peaks of Himalaya. And with his arms about her in their chamber of marble he said:
“And is my dove content? And is life good?” and she replied:
“Most utterly content. If life is good to my lord it is delight to me. ”

“ Therefore are we warriors?”
“And for what do we make war, O Leader?”
“For perfect virtue, for high endeavour, for sublime wisdom. To see in a world of blindness, to be free in a world of slaves,—therefore, do we make war.”
And when is the victory gained?—When the dark night of I-ness is enlightened,—when the man is no longer a swimmer struggling for life in agony against the waves, but the grey gull borne on the winds in bliss or floating at peace on the billows of eternity. ”

“ Righteous and sincere, you speak the truth, and virtue is not confined to any one school of thought—the sun lights the whole world and the Way of a great and just king is blessed. But for me, I have heard a call. My way is onward and behind me lie the Five Desires. Would a hare rescued from a serpent’s jaws go back to be devoured? As little would I return to the dreams and illusions that have fallen from me. King, there are many quests and mine is to find deliverance for the world from the Wheel of Agony that turns and turns and will not cease through pitiless ages of rebirth and sorrow. ”

“ And from the heart of his calm the Exalted One replied:
“To put away all evil, to be pure in thought, word and deed, to transcend pride and desire,—this it is to be a true Brahman.”
And the answer astonished the proud young man, and turning suddenly he looked into the face of the Perfect One and said slowly:
“How comes it that your face is so beautiful, shining like the full moon reflected in water, your form so stately? And whence the peace that surrounds you? What is your noble tribe, and who your master? Here, in this country, where each man struggles to find the Way, what is your way?” ”

“ Could it be possible that a barren soul, a proud and complete selfishness and heedlessness of all other sufferers than himself, disdain of the crowd and indifference to all that the vulgar covet, represent the only escape for the wise man from the entanglements of Maya—Illusion? No—a thousand times no! Better to drop into the jaws of darkness and be extinguished than remain petrified and apart in a world where men must bleed and die.
Then is goodness itself a lie? Is man the eternal dupe of words and phrases contrived to make us docile to suffering as slaves to the whip? ”

“ And they saluted him, and returned slowly through the forest, pausing here and there as they went to speak with the calm and untroubled inhabitants who therein sought the treasure of wisdom, eager to understand from them if possible the teaching which as the nectar of flowers draws the bee, had drawn the Prince to the homeless life. Hard was it to comprehend, and at last, sad and bewildered, they emerged from the green ocean of leaves to the light of common day and mounting the chariot, plied lash and shout hastening homeward, and thus was the last tie with Kapila broken. ”

“ Look at the strong fathers holding up their little sweet children to see their Prince. Their hearts are full of love even as my own. Look at the lovely mothers with their babes in warm bosoms—only less fair than Yashodara, and full of love and gentleness. And the glorious young men straight and tall, and the antelope-eyed girls with silken hair braided with blossoms. The Gods know it is a happy world with all these noble creatures in it, and my sick dreams of I know not what are dispersed in this bliss and the great joy of my people. ”

“ Man moves in an earthly sphere, and there has he his place and delights, tapestried about with illusions real indeed to the dim feelers of his poor senses. For such it will be hard to grasp this matter, the chain of causes and effects, for man sees the effect but not the cause. And hard indeed to grasp are withdrawal from earthly illusions, extinction of desire, cessation of longing, and the deep mysterious Peace. Should I now preach the Law, it would gain nothing—grief and weariness would be the only fruit of labour. The truth remains hidden from men absorbed by hate and greed. ”

“ Thus, the Blessed One and they who with him attained, were in life delivered from the illusion of the world of forms and seeing all as it is were glad. For the true Nirvana is an extinction—not of the eternal—but of craving, the lust of the flesh, the lust of life, and the pride of life. And when the inward fires of lust, and hatred and pride are extinguished, then that man has entered into the Nirvana whether here or there. ”

“ And these happy people had a good Maharaja, named Suddhodana, or Pure Rice, because not only were his granaries and those of his fathers’ before him full to overflowing, but his heart was pure as the grains of living pearl; a man grave and kind, rich also in cattle and elephants, yet not arrogant with riches, charitable, alms-giving, reverencing the Brahman and the ascetic, walking in peace in the way of ancient pieties, with thoughts of his own to think as he raised his eyes to the mountains, awful in the heavens as intermediaries between men and Gods. ”

“ And if they say this greedy I is immortal, then in the midst of all life and death in this world of illusion there is but one identity that is not born and does not die—even this greedy I. And if the one immortal thing is this greedy I which arrogates all to itself then is it the one thing in the whole Universe that is self-perfect, and there is no need of high and noble deeds,—this greedy self is lord and master of all, and what need to strive for what is already done? ”

“ For hear the teaching of the Lord:
“As a mother, even at the risk of her own life, protects her son, her only son, so let the disciple cultivate love without measure toward all beings. Let him cultivate toward the whole world above, below, around, a heart of love unstinted, unmixed with differing or opposing interests. And let a man maintain this mindful love whether he stands, walks, sits or lies. For in all the world this state of heart is best.”
For the Lord, the Blessed One, taught that this love must increase until the wide Universe is suffused with its radiance. ”

“ And at such times the Bodhisattva felt the endless turning of the Wheel within his own soul, and a vertigo of perception seized him as the Infinities gazed over his head in untroubled calm, and only the Wheel turned and turned in merciless revolution.
Then were it not better to submit to passive ignorance and fight no more? To sink into wearied submission, accepting the lash and fetter for doom? For each life is built up of millions, and where is the redemption for its infinite littleness? Let all pass for all is nothing. ”

“ But since I dread this unspeakably and we are by no means certain of the end, what is your counsel that we may divert him and so fulfil his mind with beauty and bliss, that these cold visions may blow away like mists at sunrise and leave him glad?”
Then, smiling subtly, the old man answered:
“There is one way, and one only. For it is acknowledged throughout the three worlds that there is no charm of forgetfulness like the beauty of a woman. On her bosom the Gods are forgotten and the wisdom of the wise is vanity.” ”

“ Swept on and up in ecstasy, perception becoming ever clearer, he beheld the so-called soul-self of man unravelled into its component parts and laid before him like the unwoven threads of a garment, and behold in these was no durability nor immortality, for there is but one Immortal, one Infinite, and the man who claims his own, his separate immortality, is dying and reborn through the ages and but the fierce desire of life gives him its simulacrum and the long-linked chain of births and deaths and griefs immeasurable. ”

“ What reason is there in believing that pain and destruction of the body give wings to the soul? No—but far otherwise, for the soul dwindles with the tortured body as flame dies when it has consumed the fuel. And if your aim be to benefit mankind, are not just and powerful Kings needed, and was it not foretold at your auspicious birth that you would become an empire-ruling King? Here—living and dying in the jungle, how is your might wasted, and the people forsaken! ”

“ And, glad at heart, the Perfect One answered:
“Happy the solitude of him who is full of joy, who has seen the truth. Happy he who in all the wide world has no ill-will, self-restrained and guided, Happy—happiest is freedom from lusts and desires. And highest is the bliss of freedom from the pride of the thought I am I. No honourable tribe have I,—no Teacher. I go alone and content.” ”