Anatta

“ That evening, when the sun had set, there came a great company of good and evil spirits as the prince had foretold, and they strove together outside the cave, and the din of their fighting was terrible to hear. But Ananda heeded them not. With a mighty staff she beat upon the mother-of-pearl door, all that night and the next day and the next, never pausing a moment, though she grew so weary she could scarcely stand or see. For seven days and seven nights she hammered on the door, and in the very last hour it began to give way beneath her blows. ”

“ Who can describe his prowess who holds the entire earth like a garland of flowers tinged with purple dye by the brilliance of jems on his crests?
When this Ananta, with his eyes rolling with intoxication, yawns the entire earth with its oceans, rivers and forests trembles; the Gandharvas, the Apsaras, Siddhas, Kinnaras, serpents and Charanas have not been able to find out the end of the qualities of his Being without end and hence he is called Ananta. The sandal paste, which is ground by the wives of the Nagas, is spread around by his breath and scatters fragrance all over the quarters. ”

“ It is only when ceasing to attend to any outward thing he becomes plunged in devout meditation concerned with no material object,—it is only then that the body of the Tathagata is at ease.”
And there was a long pause, and the venerable Ananda remained steadfastly gazing at the Perfect One, absorbed in his words as foreseeing the end. And the Lord resumed:
“Therefore, Ananda, be lamps unto yourselves. Betake yourselves to no external Refuge. Hold fast to the truth as a lamp. Look not for refuge to anyone beside yourselves. ”

“ Who are you?’ exclaimed the sick man. ‘Who is here, Unnas?’
‘Annita,’ said she softly.
‘Annita!’ exclaimed the sick man. ‘Unnas,’ he shouted, [85] ‘where am I? am I dead or alive? and who is this who is speaking to me?’
‘Theodore,’ whispered Annita, while she knelt down by his bed and kissed his forehead, ‘I am Annita—your own Annita—the lost Annita; and God be for ever praised that you are alive, and that I have found you.’
The sick man lay perfectly still for a moment, altogether overcome by his feelings. ”

“ Ananda repaired to the kingdom of Magadha, and instructed the inhabitants diligently in the law of Buddha. His doctrine being acceptable, and his speech persuasive, the people hearkened to him willingly, and began to forsake the Brahmins whom they had previously revered as spiritual guides. Perceiving this, Ananda became elated in spirit, and one day he exclaimed:
“How blessed is the apostle who propagates truth by the efficacy of reason and virtuous example, combined with eloquence, rather than error by imposture and devil-mongering, like those miserable Brahmins!” ”

“ Slowly Ananda walked over to the divan and sat down. “If I go home without the goat,” she reasoned with herself, “my father will nigh kill me in his anger—and yet, to marry a white bird, truly that would be a very sorry adventure. But (looking around the brightly lighted room) life at home is poor and dull, and here would be much to amuse and interest me. And even a white bird might prove a good companion, if I had no other.” She arose and walked back to the cage with a decided step. ”

“ In Thariputra, Buddha extolled the transcendent mental attainments, the heroic achievements in the practice of virtue, the fervour and zeal for the propagation of religion, which had ever distinguished the illustrious friend of Maukalan. In Ananda, the searching and keen eye of Buddha discovered excellencies of a less shining and bright hue, but, in point of sterling worth, second to none. Ananda is a matchless pattern of gentleness, amiability, devotedness, and placid religious zeal. He loves all his brethren, and he is, in return, beloved by them all. ”

“ The one burning so brightly is Annetta’s, the one so dimly is his own. When he asks her to take some oil out of Annetta’s lamp and put it into his, she upbraids him, reveals herself as death, and tells him to make his last request, for he is about to die. ”

“ He prefers the dung-heap to the pearl mani. To teach such a man, Tathagata is obliged to employ inferior agents, the monk and the ascetic, and to wean him by degrees from the lower objects of desire. When he speaks himself, he is forced to veil much of his thought, as it would not be understood. His sons feel no joy on hearing spiritual things. Little by little must their minds be trained and disciplined for higher truths.
PARABLE OF THE WOMAN AT THE WELL.
Ananda, a favourite disciple of Buddha, was once athirst, having travelled far. ”

“ Ananda expressed his gratification at becoming acquainted with such exalted functionaries.
“Thou must know, most holy man,” resumed the king, “that need has again arisen for the exercise of fortitude and self-denial on thy part. A powerful enemy has invaded my dominions, and has impiously presumed to discomfit my troops. Well might I feel dismayed, were it not for the consolations of religion; but my trust is in thee, O spiritual father! It is urgent that thou shouldst accumulate the largest amount of merit with the least delay possible. ”

“ Ananta paused for a dramatic moment; then spoke slowly and seriously.
"I propose that I send you and your fellow disciple Jitendra this morning to the near-by city of Brindaban. You must not take a single rupee; you must not beg, either for food or money; you must not reveal your predicament to anyone; you must not go without your meals; and you must not be stranded in Brindaban. If you return to my bungalow here before twelve o'clock tonight, without having broken any rule of the test, I shall be the most astonished man in Agra!" ”

“ Nothing more unearthly than a bat presented itself, and Ananda was beginning to think that he might as well desist when his reflections were diverted by the apparition of a tall and grave personage, wearing a sad-coloured robe, and carrying a long wand, who stood by his side as suddenly as though just risen from the earth. ”

“ His eyes sought the figure of his sister as she gathered some starry blue flowers growing among the rank grass.
"Even if the caste system were reformed," objected Ananda, "and the greatness of Hinduism established in the world, there are certain tenets of its faith that seem to me impossible for an educated and enlightened man to accept."
"Such as——?"
"Transmigration."
"Ah, yes; I remember. That was the rock you split on."
"I cannot accept the weary round of those cycles of rebirths."
"You accept a cycle of existence of some sort?"
"Existence; life; immortality of the soul; yes." ”

“ At the root of Pâtala, thirty thousand Yojanas beyond, is the Tamas aspect of Bhagavân called Ananta. Those that worship the Chaturvyûha aspect call him Sankarshana. He has a thousand heads. The earth held up on one of these heads looks but like a mustard seed. When the time for dissolution comes, Ananta assumes His Tamas form and becomes Rudra — other wise called Sankarshana, a host of eleven, with three eyes, three tufts of hair and with tridents on their heads. At other times, Ananta withdraws His Tamas and abides for the good of all Lokas. ”

“ His silence will leave them earnestly wishing to hear something else from him. Beloved Rahans, Ananda much resembles a Tsekiawaday king. Like him, he is exceedingly beautiful, amiable, and lovely; he can fly through the air; he can teach the people and justly administer the law.”
When Buddha had finished his discourse, Ananda said: “O illustrious Buddha, it is not becoming your dignity that you should go to Neibban near such a small city, and in a place almost surrounded by forests. We are in the neighbourhood of the great countries of Tsampa, Thawattie, Thakila, and Baranathee. ”

“ From the story of his conversion he passed on to the description of all that had followed since Ananda arrived in India.
"The man is being persecuted in all kinds of ways. They have supplied him with food, but they have employed an out-caste sweeper to carry it to him. The prejudice of fifty generations is not to be conquered all at once, and Ananda cannot bring himself to receive his food at the hands of a man whom he holds more unclean than we should consider an unwashed workman who had just emptied a sewer." ”

“ Ananda succeeds him, as Buddha. On Ananda’s death his relics are divided between [175] the Lichchavis, the republican inhabitants of Vaisali, and the King of Magadha, and two chaityas are built for their reception, one at Vaisali (in Tibetan Yangs-pa-chen, Allahabad) , and the other at Pataliputra (Patna) .
One hundred years after Shakya’s Nirvana, his religion is carried into Kashmir. After a further period of one hundred and ten years, in the reign of Asoka, a king of Pataliputra, a new compilation of the laws of Buddha was prepared by 700 monks at Yangs-pa-chen. ”

“ Ananda, whose conversion is here mentioned, was the son of Amitaudana, a brother of King Thoodaudana, and, therefore, first cousin to Gaudama. He is one of the best known disciples of the celebrated philosopher of Kapilawot. He has gained his well-earned fame, less by the shining attainments of his intellect than by the amiable qualities of a loving heart. He bore to Buddha the most affectionate regard and the warmest attachment from the very beginning of his conversion. The master repaid the love of the disciple by tokens of a sincere esteem and tender affection. ”

“ The Nats can see through the bodies of the generality of men, but this [50] power falls short with persons much advanced in merits. I therefore desired her to remove a little far, that the Nats might not be angry at not seeing my person.”
Ananda put a great many questions to Buddha, which are related at full length in the Parinibana Thoots.
He asked him, among other topics, how the Rahans were to behave when women should resort to their monasteries. ”

“ Before seeing me at Hardwar, he had stopped in Benares to ask a certain scriptural authority to interview me later. Both the pundit and his son had promised to undertake my dissuasion from the path of a SANNYASI. {FN4-1}
Ananta took me to their home. The son, a young man of ebullient manner, greeted me in the courtyard. He engaged me in a lengthy philosophic discourse. Professing to have a clairvoyant knowledge of my future, he discountenanced my idea of being a monk.
"You will meet continual misfortune, and be unable to find God, if you insist on deserting your ordinary responsibilities! ”

“ When I have served my mood, played to the full with the caged bird, Jubal can let it go to attract some new mate. Holy virgin, but my triumph will be very sweet! Yea, Annette, to have you in one's own power is a sweet thing; nothing can be sweeter except the vengeance which shall feast itself at the same source as my passion."
He raised his arm in the direction of White Oaks, where lay the girl's cottage, and cried like a triumphant fiend.
"Bonsoir. Adieu, ma belle Annette. Sweet dreams about your lover to-night. To-morrow I shall bathe my face in the coils of your silken hair." ”

“ And when they heard the regulations sorrow passed from them as when the moon escaping from a cloud floats in pure radiance in pure air, and the Queen answered for Yashodara and for all those tender ones:
“Reverend Ananda, as a woman young, beautiful, and loving to beautify herself, having obtained a wreath of blue lotus-flowers, or of perfumed jasmin, takes it and wreathes her head with joy, so do we. O venerable Ananda, we take up those eight weighty regulations, not to be transgressed while life lasts.” ”

“ Her eyes were shining with a cold, hard reflection [131] of the ruddy firelight. Her cheeks were drawn by the set of her jaws. Her lips were pressed tight, so that her breathing dilated her delicate nostrils. Annette was never more the untamed half-breed than at that moment. The hot blood in her veins was as full of mad impulse as a freshet in springtime.
But Annette’s passionate mood was not all that the firelight revealed. There was something else. Deep in her soul something was striving for place, something which no resolve could altogether shut out. ”

“ A smile dispersed the frown of anger that had rested on Ananda's face.
"Ah, the clever Bopaul! It was well planned. He is a friend worth having!" he said warmly.
"I'm afraid he is—a—a perverter of the truth!" blurted out the missionary.
"A splendid liar!" agreed Ananda enthusiastically. "I know of no one better. It is a great accomplishment in a Hindu to lie usefully and successfully."
"But it is altogether wrong in a Christian." ”

“ By or in Samadhi he burns his body in the very middle of the river, and then he divides the relic of the burnt body into two parts (for so evidently Fâ-Hien intended his narration to be taken) , and leaves one half on each bank. The account of Ananda’s death in Nien-ch’ang’s “History of Buddha and the Patriarchs” is much more extravagant. Crowds of men and devas are brought together to witness it. The body is divided into four parts. One is conveyed to the Tushita heaven; a second, to the palace of a certain Naga king; a third is given to Ajatasatru ”

“ That the Tathagata for the sake of living should repent of that saying can in no wise be. Come, Ananda, let us rise and go to the Mahavana.”
And they went to the Mahavana, to the Service Hall, and he commanded Ananda to assemble there such of the brethren as dwelt in the neighbourhood of Vaisali. And when they were assembled the Blessed One sat down upon his mat and addressed them. And he said:
“The truths, monks, which I have made known to you and you have mastered, these practise, meditate, and spread abroad, that it may continue to be for the good and happiness of great multitudes. ”