T. W. Rhys Davids

“ So the phrases used to describe the mental crises in Gotama's career are invariably precisely the same as those used under similar circumstances of his disciples ; and this holds good both of his going forth, and of his victory and attainment of Nirvana under the Tree of Wisdom. Further than that, in long descriptions of Gotama — such for instance as that in Sutta Nipata, verses 153 to 167 — all the epithets used are found elsewhere applied to one or other of his disciples. The teacher never called himself a Buddha (as distinct from an Arahant) . ”

“ If a man who had eyes to see were to take it into his hand, he would clearly perceive how the one was strung on the other. Even so, brethren, when the Bodhisat is descending into a mother's womb, no ailment whatever befalls that
mother ; at ease is she and unaffected in body ; and within her womb she sees the Bodhisat complete in the endowment of all his organs and his limbs. ”

“ What now being present, is decay and dying also present ; what conditions decay and dying ?"
Then, brethren, from attention to the cause 1 arose the conviction through reason : — " Where birth is, there is decay and dying ; birth is the condition of decay and dying."
' Then to Vipassi the Bodhisat, brethren, this occurred : — " What now being present, is birth also present ; what conditions birth ? " Then, brethren, from attention to the cause arose the conviction through reason : — " When becoming is, birth also is present; becoming is the condition of birth." ”

“ These eighty-four thousand Wanderers went one way, and Vipassi the Bodhisat went another way.
18. 'Now there arose, brethren, in the mind of Vipassi the Bodhisat, when he had gone to his place 2 , and was meditating in seclusion, the following consideration: — "Verily this world has fallen upon trouble ; one is born, and grows old, and dies, and falls from one state, and springs up in another." ”

“ And again, brethren, several hundreds of them came up to me, and saluted, and stood on one side, and said : — " Friend ! in this fortunate aeon the Exalted One has now arisen in the world as an Arahant, Buddha Supreme. The Exalted One, friend, is of noble birth, born in a clan of nobles, in a family with Gotama for surname. Small, friend, is the span of life in the Exalted One's time, [52] brief and soon past ; he who is longlived lives a hundred years more, or less. The Exalted One, friend, became a Buddha under an aspen tree. ”

“ Now when Bandhuman the raja had seen the babe, he sent for the brahmin soothsayers 1 , saying: — " Let the reverend brahmin soothsayers see the child."
Then, brethren, when the brahmin soothsayers had seen the child, they said to Bandhuman the raja : — " Rejoice, lord, for one of the Mighty Ones is born thy son ! Fortune is thine, my lord, good fortune is thine, in that in thy family such a son has come to birth ! For this babe, my lord, is endowed with the thirty-two marks of the Great Man ; and to one so endowed two careers lie open, and none other. ”

“ And when he had sat down, he said to the brethren : — ' What is the talk on which you are engaged, brethren, as ye sit
here, and what was the subject of conversation between you ? ' [And they told him all.]
15. [10] 'It is through his clear discernment of a principle of the truth, brethren, that the Tathagata is able to remember [all those facts about the Buddhas of old 1] . And gods also have revealed these matters to him, enabling him to remember [all those things] . Do ye not wish, brethren, to hear yet further religious discourse bearing on former lives ? ”

“ To have gone forth, my lord, means being thorough in the religious life, thorough in the peaceful life, thorough in good actions, thorough in meritorious conduct, thorough in harmlessness, thorough in kind- ness to all creatures. ”

“ Precisely the same idea is emphasized in the doctrine of dependent origination, the Padcca-samuppada, placed here in the mouth of Vipassi, the most ancient of these six teachers of old. The fact that it is so placed shows that the early
Buddhists, when our Suttanta was composed, believed this doctrine to have been pre-Buddhistic.
It is probable that all the great religious teachers of antiquity appealed, in support of their views, to the wise men of still older times. It is so recorded of most of them ”

“ The carriages are ready, my lord ; do now what you deem to be fit." Then Vipassi mounted a state carriage, and drove out in state into the park.
2. ' Now the young lord Vipassi saw, brethren, as he was driving to the park, [22] an aged man as bent as a roof gable, decrepit, leaning on a staff, tottering as he walked, afflicted and long past his prime. And seeing him Vipassi said : — " That man, good charioteer, what has he done, that his hair is not like that of other men, nor his body ? "
' " He is what is called an aged man, my lord." ”

“ As in a pond of blue, or red, or white lotuses, some lotus-plants born in the water grow up in the water, do not emerge from the water, but thrive sunken beneath ; and other lotus-plants, born in the water and grown up in the water, reach to the level ; while other lotus-plants born in the water and grown up in the water, stand thrusting themselves above the water, undrenched by it ”

“ The text as we have it (translated in ' Vinaya Texts’ Vol. I) dates only from the times of early Buddhism, and it is not likely that this technical name used as the title was much older.
brethren, the Truth, lovely in its origin, lovely in its progress, lovely in its consummation, both in the spirit and in the letter ; proclaim ye the higher life in all its fullness and in all its purity. ”

“ If he live the life of the House, he becomes Lord of the Wheel 2 , a righteous Lord of the Right 3 , ruler of the four quarters, conqueror, guardian of the people's good, owner of the Seven Treasures. ”

“ But the lord Vipassi, there and then, cutting off his hair and donning the yellow robe, went forth from the House into the Homeless state.
16. 'Now at Bandhumati, brethren, the raja's seat, a great number of persons — some eighty-four thousand souls 1 — heard of what lord Vipassi had done, [30] and thought : — " Surely this is no ordinary religious rule, this is no common going forth, in that the lord Vipassi himself has had his head shaved and has donned the yellow robe and has gone forth from the House into the Homeless state. ”

“ And the Exalted One, with clear and Heavenly Ear surpassing the hearing of men, overheard this conversation among the bhikkhus 4 . And arising from
1 Kareri, according to Childers, is Capparis trifoliata. The Cy. states that this tree which stood by the entrance to the cottage was a Varuwa-tree, suggestive, if true, of the superseded tree-cult into which Varuwa-worship had declined. See Rhys Davids's 'Buddhist India,' p. 235; Jat. ”