Prologue Book I

RENUNCIATION FOR EVER

I § 1. From Kapilavatsu to Rajagraha

1. Leaving Kapilavatsu, Siddharth Gautama thought of going to Rajagraha, the capital of the kingdom of Magadha.

2. The reigning king was Bimbisara. It was a place which great philosophers and leaders of thought had made their headquarters.

3. With this thought in mind he crossed the Ganges, fearing not her rapid flow.

4. On his way he halted at the hermitage of a Brahmin woman Saki, then at the hermitage of another Brahmin woman by name Padma and then at the hermitage of the Brahmin sage Raivata. All of them entertained him.

5. Having seen his personality and dignity and his splendid beauty, surpassing all other men, the people of that region were all astonished at him wearing the clothes of a sanyasi.

6. On seeing him, he who was going elsewhere stood still, and he who was standing there followed him on the way ; he who was walking gently and gravely ran quickly, and he who was sitting at once sprang up.

7. Some people reverenced him with their hands, others in worship saluted him with their heads, some addressed him with affectionate words ; not one went on without paying him homage.

8. Those who were wearing gay-coloured dresses were ashamed when they saw him, those who were talking on random subjects fell to silence ; no one indulged in an improper thought.

9. His eyebrows, his forehead, his mouth,—his body, his hand, his feet, or his gait,—whatever part of him anyone beheld, that at once rivetted his gaze.

10. After a long and arduous journey Gautama reached Rajagraha surrounded by five hills, well guarded and adorned with mountains, and supported and hallowed by auspicious and sacred places.

11. On reaching Rajagraha he selected a spot

I at the foot of the Pandava hill and put up a small hut made of the leaves of trees for his sojourn.

12. Kapilavatsu by foot is nearly 400 miles distant from Rajagraha.

13. This long journey Siddharth Gautama did all on foot.

§ 2. King Bimbisara and his Advice

1. Next day he got up and started to go into the city with a begging bowl asking for alms. A vast crowd gathered round him.

2. Then Sreniya Bimbisara, the lord of the kingdom of the Magadhas, beheld from the outside of his palace the immense concourse of people, and asked the reason of it; and thus did a courtier recount it to him :

3. “He who was thus foretold by the Brahmins, ‘He will either attain supreme wisdom or be the emperor of the earth’—it is he, the son of the king of the Sakyas, who is now an ascetic. It is he at whom the people are gazing at.”

4. The king, having heard this and perceiving its meaning in his mind, thus at once spoke to that courtier : “Let it be known whither he is going” ; and the courtier, receiving the command, followed the prince.

5. With fixed eyes, seeing only a yoke’s length before him, with his voice hushed, and his walk slow and measured, he, the noblest of mendicants, went begging for alms, keeping his limbs and his wandering thoughts under control.

6. Having received such alms as were offered, he retired to a lonely corner of the mountain ; and having eaten it there, he ascended the Pandava hill.

7. In that wood, thickly filled with lodhra trees, having its thickness resonant with the notes of the peacocks, he, the sun of mankind, shone, wearing his red dress, like the morning sun above the eastern mountains.

8. That royal courtier having thus watched him there, related it all to the king : and the king when he

RENUNCIATION FOR EVER

I heard it, in his deep veneration, started himself to go thither with a modest retinue.

9. Like a mountain in stature, the king ascended the hill.

10. There he beheld Gautama, resplendent as he sat on his hams, with subdued senses, as if the mountain was moving, and he himself was a peak thereof.

11. Him, distinguished by his beauty of form and perfect tranquillity, filled with astonishment and affectionate regard, the king of men approached.

12. Bimbisara having courteously drawn nigh to him, inquired as to the condition of his bodily humours ; and Gautama with equal gentleness assured the king of his health of mind and freedom from all ailments.

13. Then the king sat down on the clean surface of the rock, and being seated, he thus spoke, desiring to convey his state of mind :

14. “I have a strong friendship with thy family, come down by inheritance and well proved ; since from this, a desire to speak to thee, my son, has arisen in me, therefore, listen to my words of affection.

15. “When I consider thy race, beginning with the sun, thy fresh youth, and thy conspicuous beauty, I wonder whence comes this resolve of thine, so out of all harmony with the rest, set wholly on a mendicant’s life, not on a kingdom?

16. “Thy limbs are worthy of red sandalwood perfumes,—they do not deserve the rough contact of red cloth, this hand of thine is fit to protect subjects, it deserves not to hold food given by another

17. “If, therefore, gentle youth, thou desirest not thy paternal kingdom, then in thy generosity, accept forthwith one half of my kingdom.

18. “If thou actest thus, there will be no sorrow caused to thine own people, and by the mere lapse of time imperial power at last flies for refuge to the tranquil mind, therefore, be pleased to do me this kindness. The prosperity of the good becomes very powerful, when aided by the good.

19. “But if from thy pride of race thou dost

I not now feel confidence in me, then plunge with thy arrows into countless armies, and with me as thy ally seek to conquer thy foes.

20. “Choose thou, therefore, one of these ends. Pursue according to the rules of religious merit, wealth, and pleasure; pursue love and the rest, in reverse order. These are the three objects in life ; when men die they pass into dissolution as far as regards this world.

21. “Do thou, therefore, by pursuing the three objects of life, cause this personality of thine to bear its fruit ; they say that when the attainment of religion, wealth and pleasure is complete in all its parts, then the end of man is complete.

22. “Do not thou let these two brawny arms lie useless which are worthy to draw the bow ; they are well fitted to conquer the three worlds, much more the earth.

23. “I speak this to you out of affection,—not through love of dominion or through arrogance beholding this mendicant-dress of thine, I am filled with compassion and I shed tears.

24. “O, thou who desirest the mendicant’s stage of life, enjoy pleasures now, in due time—ere old age comes on and overcomes this thy beauty, well worthy of thy illustrious race.

25. “The old man can obtain merit by religion ; old age is helpless for the enjoyment of pleasures ; therefore, they say that pleasures belong to the young man, wealth to the middle-aged, and religion to the old.

26. “Youth in this present world is the enemy of religion and wealth—since pleasures, however much we guard against them, are hard to hold, therefore, wherever pleasures are to be found, there thy youth seize them.

27. “Old age is prone to reflection, it is grave and intent on remaining quiet ; it attains unimpassionedness with but little effort, unavoidably, and for very shame.

28. “Therefore, having passed through the deceptive period of youth, fickle, intent on external objects, heedless, impatient, not looking at the dis-

RENUNCIATION FOR EVER

I tance,—they take breath like men who have escaped safe through a forest.

29. “Let, therefore, this fickle time of youth first pass by, reckless and giddy,—our early years are earmarked for pleasure, they cannot be kept from the power of the senses.

30. “Or, if religion is really thy one aim, then offer sacrifices,—this is thy family’s immemorial custom, climbing to highest heaven by sacrifices.

31. “With their arms pressed by golden bracelets, and their variegated diadems resplendent with the light of gems, royal sages have reached the same goal by sacrifice which great sages reached by selfmortification.” § 3. Gautama Answers Bimbisara

1. Thus spoke the monarch of the Magadhas, who spoke well and strongly like Indra ; but having heard it, the prince did not falter. He was firm like a mountain.

2. Being thus addressed by the monarch of the Magadhas, Gautama, in a strong speech with a friendly face,—self-possessed, unchanged, thus made answer :

3. “What you have said is not to be called a strange thing for thee. O King ! born as thou art in the great family whose ensign is the lion, and lover as thou art of thy friends, that ye should adopt this line of approach towards him who stands as one of thy friends is only natural.

4. “Amongst the evil-minded, a friendship worthy of their family, ceases to continue and fades; it is only the good who keep increasing the old friendship of their ancestors by a new succession of friendly acts.

5. “But those men who act unchangingly towards their friends in reverses of fortune, I esteem in my heart as true friends. Who is not the friend of the prosperous man, in his times of abundance ?

6. “So those who, having obtained riches in the world, employ them for the sake of their friends

I and religions,—their wealth has real solidity, and when it perishes it produces no pain at the end.

7. “This thy suggestion concerning me, O King, is prompted by pure generosity and friendship; I will meet thee courteously with simple friendship, I would not utter aught else in my reply.

8. “I am not so afraid even of serpents nor of thunderbolts falling from heaven, nor of flames blown together by the wind, as I am afraid of these worldly objects.

9. “These transient pleasures,—the robbers of our happiness and our wealth, and which float empty and like illusions through the world,—infatuate man’s minds even when they are only hoped for,—still more when they take up their abode in the soul.

10. “The victims of pleasure attain not to happiness even in the heaven of the gods, still less in the world of mortals ; he who is athirst is never satisfied with pleasures, as the fire, the friend of the wind, with fuel.

11. “There is no calamity in the world like pleasures, people are devoted to them through delusion; when he once knows the truth and so fears evil, what wise man would of his own choice desire evil ?

12. “When they have obtained all the earth girdled by the sea, kings, wish to conquer the other side of the great ocean ; mankind is never satiated with pleasures, as the ocean with the waters that fall into it.

13. “When it had rained a golden shower from heaven, and when he had conquered the continents and had even obtained the half of Sakra’s throne, Mandhatri was still full of craving for worldly objects.

14. “Though he enjoyed the kingdom of the gods in heaven, when Indra had concealed himself through fear of Vritra, and though in his pride he had made the great Rishis bear his litter, Nahusha was not satisfied.

15. “Who would seek these enemies bearing the name of pleasures, by whom even those sages have been overcome, who were devoted to other pursuits, whose only clothes were rags, whose food roots, fruits,

RENUNCIATION FOR EVER

I and water and who wear their twisted locks as long as snakes ?

16. “When they hear of the miseries of those who are intent on pleasure and are devoted to worldly pursuits it well befits the self-controlled to fling it away.

17. “Success in pleasure is to be considered a misery in the man of pleasure, for he becomes intoxicated when the pleasures of his desire are attained; through intoxication he does what should not be done, not what should be done ; and being wounded thereby he falls into a miserable end.

18. “These pleasures which are gained and kept by toil, which after deceiving leave you and return whence they came,—these pleasures which are but borrowed for a time,—what man of self-control, if he is wise, would delight in them ?

19. “What man of self-control could find satisfaction in these pleasures which are like a torch of hay,—which excite thirst when you seek them and when you grasp them ?

20. “What man of self-control could find satisfaction in these pleasures which are like flesh that has been flung away, and which produces misery by their being held in common with kings ?

21. “What man of self-control could find satis faction in these pleasures, which, like the senses, are destructive, which bring calamity on every hand to those who abide in them ?

22. “Those men of self-control who are bitten by them in their hearts, fall into ruin and attain not bliss—what man of self-control could find satisfaction in these pleasures, which are like an angry, cruel serpent ?

23. “Even if they enjoy them men are not satisfied,— like dogs famishing with hunger over a bone,—what man of self-control could find satisfaction in these pleasures, which are like a skeleton composed of dry bones ?

24. “He whose intellect is blinded with pleasures, the wretch, who is the miserable slave of hope for the

I sake of pleasures, well deserves the pain of death even in the world of living.

25. “Deer are lured to their destruction by songs, insects for the sake of the brightness fly into the fire, the fish greedy for the flesh swallows the iron hook,— therefore, worldly pleasures produce misery as their end.

26. “As for the common opinion, ‘pleasures are enjoyment,’ none of them when examined are worthy of being enjoyed; fine garments and the rest are only the accessories of things,—they are to be regarded as merely the remedies for pain.

27. “Water is desired for allaying thirst; food in the same way for removing hunger; a house for keeping off the wind, the heat of the sun, and the rain; and dress for keeping off the cold and to cover one’s nakedness.

28. “So too a bed is for removing drowsiness a carriage for remedying the fatigue of a journey; a seat for alleviating the pain of standing; so bathing as a means for washing, health, and strength.

29. “External objects therefore are to human beings means for remedying pain—not in themselves sources of enjoyment ; what wise man would allow that he enjoys those delights which are only used as remedial ?

30. “He who, when burned with the heat of bilious fever, maintains that cold appliances are an enjoyment, when he is only engaged in alleviating pain,—he indeed might give the name of enjoyment to pleasures.

31. “Since variableness is found in all pleasures, I cannot apply to them the name of enjoyment; the very conditions which mark pleasure, bring also in their turn pain.

32. “Heavy garments and fragrant aloe-wood are pleasant in the cold, but an annoyance in the heat ; and the moonbeams and sandalwood are pleasant in the heat, but a pain in the cold.

33. “Since the well-known opposite pairs, such as gain and loss and the rest , are inseparably connected

RENUNCIATION FOR EVER

I with everything in this world,—therefore, no man is invariably happy on the earth nor invariably wretched.

34. “When I see how the nature of pleasure and pain are mixed, I consider royalty and slavery as the same; a king does not always smile, nor is a slave always in pain.

35. “Since to be a king involves a wider range of responsibility, therefore, the sorrows of a king are great; for a king is like a peg,—he endures trouble for the sake of the world.

36. “A king is unfortunate, if he places his trust in his royalty which is apt to desert and loves crooked turns ; and, on the other hand, if he does not trust in it, then what can be the happiness of a timid king ?

37. “And since after even conquering the whole earth, one city only can serve as a dwelling place and even there only one house can be inhabited, is not royalty mere labour for others ?

38. “And even in royalty nothing more than one pair of garments is all he needs, and just enough food to keep off hunger ; so only one bed, and only one seat is all that a king needs; other distinctions are only for pride.

39. “And if all these fruits are desired for the sake of satisfaction, I can be satisfied without a kingdom ; and if a man is once satisfied in this world, are not all distinctions unnecessary ?

40. “He then who has attained the auspicious road to happiness is not to be deceived in regard to pleasures. Remembering thy professed friendship, I ask, tell me again and again, are the pleasures worth anything ?

41. “I have not left home through anger, nor because my diadem has been dashed down by an enemy’s arrow ; nor have I set my desires on loftier objects, that I thus refuse thy proposal.

42. “Only he who, having once let go a malignant incensed serpent, or a blazing hay-torch all on fire, would strive again to seize it, would ever seek pleasures

I again after having once abandoned them.

43. “Only he who, though seeing would envy the blind, though free, the bound, though wealthy, the destitute, though sound in his reason, the maniac— only he, I say, would envy one who is devoted to wordly objects.

44. “He who lives on alms, my good friend, is not to be pitied. He has here the best happiness, perfect calm, and hereafter all sorrows are for him abolished.

45. “But he is to be pitied who is overpowered by craving though in the midst of great wealth,—who attains not the happiness of calm here, while pain has to be experienced hereafter.

46. “What thou hast spoken to me is well worthy of thy character, thy mode of life, and thy family; and to carry out my resolve is also befitting my character, my mode of life, and my family.”

§ 4. Reply by Gautama (concluded)

1. “I have been wounded by the strife of the world, and I have come out longing to obtain peace; I would not accept any empire in the third heaven, for saving me from all the ills of the earth how much less amongst men ?

2. “But as for what thou hast said to me, O King, that the universal pursuit of the three objects is the supreme end of man,—and thou saidst that what I regard as the desirable is misery,—thy three objects are perishable and also unsatisfying.

3. “And as for what thou saidst, ‘ wait till old age comes, for youth is ever subject to change’;— this want of decision is itself uncertain; for age too can be irresolute and youth can be firm.

4. “But since Fate is so well skilled in its art as to draw the world in all its various ages into its power,— how shall the wise man, who desires tranquillity, wait for old age, when he knows not when the time of death will be ?

5. “When death stands ready like a hunter,

RENUNCIATION FOR EVER

I with old age as his weapon, and diseases scattered about as his arrows, smiting down living creatures who fly like deer to the forest of destiny, what desire can there be in anyone for length of life ?

6. “It well befits the youthful son or the old man or the child so to act with all promptitude that they may choose the path of the religious man whose soul is all mercy.

7. “And as for what thou saidst, ‘ be diligent in sacrifices for religion, such as are worthy of thy race and bring a glorious fruit,’—honour to such sacrifices ! I desire not that fruit which is sought by causing pain to others !

8. “To kill a helpless victim through a wish for future reward,—it would be unseemly action for a merciful, good-hearted man, even if the reward of the sacrifice were eternal.

9. “And even if true religion did not consist in quite another rule of conduct, by self-restraint, moral practice and a total absence of passion,—still it would not be seemly to follow the rule of sacrifice, where the highest reward is described as attained only by slaughter.

10. “Even that happiness which comes to a man, while he stays in this world, through the injury of another, is hateful to the wise compassionate heart; how much more if it be something beyond our sight in another life ?

11. “I am not to be lured into a course of action for future reward,—my mind does not delight, O King, in future births; these actions are uncertain and wavering in their direction, like plants beaten by the rain from a cloud.”

12. The king himself, folding his hands, replied, “Thou art obtaining thy desire without hindrance; when thou hast at last accomplished all that thou hast to do, thou shalt show hereafter thy favour towards me.”

13. Having received a firm promise from Gautama to visit him again, the monarch, taking his courtiers with him, returned to the palace.

I § 5. News of Peace

1. While Gautama was staying in Rajagraha there came five other Parivrajakas who also put up a hut by the side of the hut which Gautama had erected for himself.

2. These five Parivrajakas were Kaundinya, Ashvajit, Kasyapa, Mahanam and Bhaduka.

3. They too were struck by Gautama’s appearance and wondered what could have led him to take Parivraja.

4. They questioned him over the issue in the same way as did King Bimbisara.

5. When he explained to them the circumstances which led him to take Parivraja, they said, “We have heard of it. But do you know what has happened since you left ?” they asked.

6. Siddharth said, “No.” Then they told him that after he left Kapilavatsu there was a great agitation among the Sakyas against going to war with the Koliyas.

7. There were demonstrations and processions by men and women, boys and girls, carrying flags with such slogans as, “Koliyas are our brothers,” “It is wrong for a brother to fight against brother. “Think of the exile of Siddharth Gautama,” etc.

8. The result of the agitation was that the Sakya Sangh had to call a meeting and reconsider the question. This time the majority was for compromise with the Koliyas.

9. The Sangh decided to select five Sakyas to act as their envoys and negotiate peace with the Koliyas.

10. When the Koliyas heard of this they were very glad. They too selected five Koliyas to deal with the envoys of the Sakyas.

11. The envoys on the two sides met and agreed to appoint a permanent Council of Arbitration with authority to settle every dispute regarding the sharing of the waters of the river Rohini and both sides to abide by its decision. Thus the threatened war had ended in peace.

RENUNCIATION FOR EVER

I

12. After informing Gautama of what had happened at Kapilavatsu, the Parivrajakas said, “There is now no need for you to continue to be a Parivrajaka. Why don’t you go home and join your family ?”

13. Siddharth said : “I am happy to have this good news. It is a triumph for me. But I will not go back to my home. I must not. I must continue to be a Parivrajaka.”

14. Gautama asked the five Parivrajakas, what their programme was. They replied, “We have decided to do tapasya. Why don’t you join us ?” Siddharth said, “By and by ; I must examine other ways first.”

15. The five Parivrajakas then left.

§ 6. The Problem in a New Perspective

1. The news brought by the five Parivrajakas that the Koliyas and Sakyas had made peace, made Gautama very uneasy.

2. Left alone, he began to reflect on his own position and to make sure if any reason was left for him to continue his Parivraja.

3. He had left his people for what?, he asked himself.

4. He had left his home because he was opposed to war. “Now that the war is over is there any problem left to me ? Does my problem end because war has ended ?”

5. On a deep reflection he thought not.

6. “The problem of war is essentially a problem of conflict. It is only a part of a larger problem.

7. “This conflict is going on not only between kings and nations but between nobles and Brahmins, between householders, between mother and son, between son and mother, between father and son, between sister and brother, between companion and companion.

8. “The conflict between nations is occasional. But the conflict between classes is constant and

I perpetual. It is this which is the root of all sorrow and suffering in the world.

9. “True, I left home on account of war. But I cannot go back home although the war between the Sakyas and Koliyas has ended. I see now that my problem has become wider. I have to find a solution for this problem of social conflict.

10. “How far do the old-established philosophies offer a solution of this problem ?”

11. Can he accept any one of the social philosophies ?

12. He was determined to examine everything for himself.

PART III In Search of New Light

1. Halt at Brighu’s Ashram. 2. Study of Sankhya. 3. Training in Samadhi Marga. 4. Trial of Asceticism. 5. Abandonment of Asceticism.

(This page has no text — it may be blank or an image.)

IN SEARCH OF NEW LIGHT

I § 1. Halt at Brighu’s Ashram

1. With the desire to pursue other ways, Gautama left Rajagraha to meet Arada Kalam.

2. On his way he beheld the hermitage of Brighu and entered it out of curiosity.

3. The Brahmin inmates of the Ashram who had gone outside for the sake of fuel, having just come back with their hands full of fuel, flowers, and kusa grass, pre-eminent as they were in penances, and proficient in wisdom, went just to see him, and went not to their cells.

4. Then he being duly honoured by those dwellers of the hermitage paid his homage to the Elders of the Ashram.

5. He, the wise one, longing for liberation, traversed that hermitage, filled with the holy company desirous of heaven,—gazing at their strange penances.

6. He, the gentle one, saw for the first time the different kinds of penances practised by the ascetics in that sacred grove.

7. Then the Brahmin Brighu, well-versed in the technique of penance, told Gautama all the various kinds of penances and the fruits thereof.

8. “Uncooked food, growing out of water, and roots and fruits,—this is the fare of the saints according to the sacred texts ; but the different alternatives of penance vary.

9. “Some live like the birds on gleaned corn, others graze on grass like the deer, others live on air like the snakes, as if turned into ant-hills.

10. “Others win their nourishment with great effort from stones, others eat corn ground with their own teeth ; some, having boiled for others, keep for themselves what may chance to be left.

11. “Others, with their tufts of matted hair continually wet with water, twice offer oblations to Agni with hymns ; others, plunging like fishes into the water, dwell there with their bodies scratched by tortoises.

12. “By such penances endured for a time,—by

I the higher they attain heaven, by the lower the world of men, by the path of pain they eventually dwell in happiness,—pain, they say, is the root of merit.”

13. On hearing this Gautama said : “Today is my first sight of such a hermitage and I do not understand this rule of penance.

14. “This is all I would say at the moment. This devotion of yours is for the sake of heaven—while my desire is that the ills of life on earth be probed and a solution found. Will you allow me to take your leave. I wish to learn the Sankhya Philosophy and train myself in the Samadhi marga, and see what help it can give me for the solution of my problem.

15. “There is sorrow to me when I reflect that I shall have to depart, leaving you who are thus engaged, you who are such a refuge and who have shown such excessive kindness to me,—just as there was when I had to leave my kindred behind.

16. “It is not, therefore, any dislike on my part or the wrong conduct of another, which makes me go away from this wood ; for ye are like great sages, standing fast in the religious duties which are in accordance with former sages.

17. “I wish to go to Muni Arada Kalam who is known to be the master of the subject.”

18. Seeing his resolve Brighu, the chief of the hermitage, said : “Prince, brave indeed is thy purpose, who, young as thou art, having pondered thoroughly between heaven and liberation have made up your mind for liberation, ye are indeed brave !

19. “If what you have said is thy settled purpose go quickly to Vindhyakoshtha ; the Muni Arada lives there who has gained an insight into absolute bliss.

20. “From him thou wilt learn the path but as I foresee, this purpose of thine will go further, after having studied his theory.”

21. Gautama thanked him, and having saluted the company of sages he departed ; the hermits also, having duly performed to him all the rites of courtesy, entered again into the ascetic grove.

IN SEARCH OF NEW LIGHT

I § 2. Study of Sankhya

1. Leaving the Ashram of Brighu, Gautama started to find the abode of Arada Kalam.

2. Arada Kalam was staying at Vaishali. Gautama went thither. On reaching Vaishali he went to his Ashram.

3. Approaching Arada Kalam, he said : “I wish to be initiated into your doctrine and discipline.”

4. Thereupon Arada Kalam said : “You are welcome. Such is my doctrine that an intelligent man like you in no long time may of himself comprehend, realise and attain my teaching and abide by it.

5. “Verily thou art a worthy vessel to receive this highest training.”

6. The prince, having heard these words of Arada, was filled with great pleasure and thus made reply.

7. “This extreme kindliness which thou showest to me, makes me, imperfect as I am, seem even already to have attained perfection.

8. “Will you, therefore, deign to tell me what your doctrine is ?”

9. Said Arada, “I am so much impelled by your noble nature, by your sincerity of character and by your resolution that I need not put you to any preliminary examination to test your worthiness.

10. “Listen, best of listeners, to our tenets.”

11. He then expounded to Gautama the tenets of what was known as the Sankhya Philosophy.

12. At the conclusion of his discourse Arada Kalam said :

13. “These are, O Gautama, the tenets of our system. I have told them to you in a summary form.”

14. Gautama was greatly pleased with the clear exposition given by Arada Kalam.

§ 3. Training in Samadhi Marga

1. At the time when Gautama was examining the various ways of finding a solution to his problem

I he thought of getting himself acquainted with the Dhyana Marga (Concentration of the Mind).

2. There were three schools of the Dhyana Marga.

3. All of them had one thing in common, namely, that control of breathing was the means of achieving Dhyana.

4. One school followed a way of controlling breathing which is called Anapanasati.

5. Another school followed the way of control of breathing known as Pranayama. It divided the breathing process into three parts : (1) Breathing in (Puraka) ; (2) holding the breath (Kumbhaka) ; and (3) breathing out (Rechak). The third school was known as Samadhi School.

6. Arada Kalam was well known as the master of Dhyana Marga. Gautama felt that it might be well for him if he could get some training in the Dhyana Marga under Arada Kalam.

7. So he spoke to Arada Kalam and asked him if he would be so good as to give training in the Dhyana Marga.

8. Arada Kalam replied, “With great pleasure.”

9. Arada Kalam taught him his technique of the Dhyana Marga. It consisted of seven stages.

10. Gautama practised the technique every day.

11. After acquiring complete mastery over it Gautama asked Arada Kalam if there was anything further to be learned.

12. Arada Kalam replied : “No friend, that is all that I have to teach.” With this Gautama took leave of Arada Kalam.

13. Gautama had heard of another yogi, by name Uddaka Ramaputta, who was reputed to have devised a technique which enabled a Dhyani to go one stage higher than that devised by Arada Kalam.

14. Gautama thought of learning his technique and experiencing the highest stage of Samadhi. Accordingly he went to the Ashram of Uddaka Ramaputta and placed himself under his training.

15. Within a short time did Gautama master the technique of Uddaka’s eighth stage. After having

IN SEARCH OF NEW LIGHT

I perfected himself in the technique of Uddaka Ramaputta, Gautama asked him the same question which he had asked Arada Kalam : “Is there anything further to be learned ?”

16. And Uddaka Ramaputta gave the same reply. “No friend, there is nothing more that I can teach you.”

17. Arada Kalam and Uddaka Ramaputta were famous for their mastery of Dhyana Marga in the country of the Kosalas. But Gautama had heard that there were similar masters of Dhyana Marga in the country of the Magadhas. He thought he should have a training in their system also.

18. Gautama accordingly went to Magadha.

19. He found that their technique of Dhyana Marga, though based on control of breathing, was different from what was in vogue in the Kosala country.

20. The technique was not to breathe but to reach concentration by stopping breathing.

21. Gautama learned this technique. When he tried concentration by stopping breathing he found that piercing sounds used to come out of his ears, and his head appeared to him to be pierced as though by a sharp pointed knife.

22. It was a painful process. But Gautama did not fail to master it.

23. Such was his training in the Samadhi Marga. § 4. Trial of Asceticism

1. Gautama had given a trial to the Sankhya and Samadhi Marga. But he had left the Ashram of the Brighus without giving a trial to Asceticism.

2. He felt he should give it a trial and gain experience for himself so that he could speak authoritatively about it.

3. Accordingly Gautama went to the town of Gaya. From there he reconnoitred the surrounding country and fixed his habitation at Uruvela in the hermitage of Negari, the Royal Seer of Gaya, for practising asceticism. It was a lonely and solitary

I place on the banks of the river Nairanjana for practising asceticism.

4. At Uruvela he found the five Parivrajakas whom he had met at Rajagraha and who had brought news of peace. They too were practising asceticism.

5. The mendicants saw him there and approached him to take them with him. Gautama agreed.

6. Thereon they served him reverently, abiding as pupils under his orders, and were humble and compliant.

7. The austerities and self-mortification practised by Gautama were of the severest sort.

8. Sometimes he visited two but not more than seven houses a day and took at each only two but not more than seven morsels.

9. He lived on a single saucer of food a day, but not more than seven saucers.

10. Sometimes he had but one meal a day, or one every two days, and so on, upto once every seven days, or only once a fortnight, on a rigid scale of rationing.

11. As he advanced in the practice of asceticism his sole diet was herbs gathered green, or the grain of wild millets and paddy, or snippets hide, or waterplants, or the red powder round rice-grains within the husk or the discarded scum of rice on the boil, or the flour of oilseeds.

12. He lived on wild roots and fruit, or on windfalls only.

13. His raiment was of hemp or hempen mixture of cerements of rags from the dust-heap, of bark, of the black antelope’s pelt either whole or split down the middle, of grass, of strips of bark or wood, hair of men or animals woven into a blanket, or of owl’s wings.

14. He plucked out the hair of his head and the hair of his beard, never quitted the upright for the sitting posture, squatted and never rose up, moving only squatting.

15. After this wise, in diverse fashions, he lived to torment and to torture his body—to such a length in asceticism did he go.