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"Is this the only dead man," he asked,
"or does the world contain other instances
" [15]
With a heavy heart the charioteer replied:
"All over the world it is the same.
He who begins life must end it.
There is no escape from death." [16]
With bated breath and stammering accents the prince exclaimed:
"O worldly men! How fatal is your delusion!
Inevitable your body will crumble to dust,
yet carelessly, unheedingly, ye live on." [17]
The charioteer observing the deep impression
these sad sights had made on the prince,
turned his horses and drove back to the city. [18]
When they passes by the palaces of the nobility,
Kisa Gotami, a young princess and niece of the king,
saw Siddhattha in his manliness and beauty, and,
observing the thoughtfulness of his countenance, said:
"Happy the father that begot thee,
happy the mother that nursed thee,
happy the wife that calls husband this lord so glorious." [19]
The prince hearing this greeting, said:
"Happy are they that have found deliverance.
Longing for peace of mind,
I shall seek the bliss of Nirvana." [20]
Then asked Kisa Gotami: "How is Nirvana attained
"
The prince paused,
and to him whose mind was estranged from wrong the answer came:
"When the fire of lust is gone out, then Nirvana is gained;
when the fires of hatred and delusion are gone out, then Nirvana is gained;
when the troubles of mind, arising from blind credulity,
and all other evils have ceased, then Nirvana is gained!"
Siddhattha handed her his precious pearl necklace
as a reward for the instruction she had given him,
and having returned home looked with disdain
upon the treasures of his palace. [21]
His wife welcomed him and entreated him to tell her the cause of his grief.
He said: "I see everywhere the impression of change;
therefore, my heart is heavy.
Men grow old, sicken, and die.
That is enough to take away the zest of life." [22]
The king, his father, hearing that the prince had become estranged from pleasure,
was greatly overcome with sorrow and like a sword it pierced his heart. [23]
The Bodhisatta”s Renunciation
It was night.
The prince found no rest on his soft pillow;
he arose and went out into the garden.
"Alas!" he cried, "all the world is full of darkness and ignorance;
there is no one who knows how to cure the ills of existence."
And he groaned with pain. [1]
Siddhattha sat down beneath the great jambu-tree and gave himself to thought,
pondering on life and death and the evils of decay.
Concentrating his mind he became free from confusion.
All low desires vanished from his heart and perfect tranquillity came over him. [2]
In this state of ecstacy he saw with his mental eye
all the misery and sorrow of the world;
he saw the pains of pleasure and the inevitable certainty of death
that hovers over every being;
yet men are not awakened to the truth.
And a deep compassion seized his heart. [3]
While the prince was pondering on the problem of evil,
he beheld with his mind”s eye under the jambu-tree
a lofty figure endowed with majesty, calm and dignified.
"Whence comest thou, and who mayest thou be
" asked the prince. [4]
In reply the vision said: "I am a samana.
Troubled at the thought of old age, disease, and death
I have left my home to seek the path of salvation.
All things hasten to decay;
only the truth abideth forever.
Everything changes, and there is no permanency;
yet the words of the Buddhas are immutable.
I long for the happiness that does not decay;
the treasure that will never perish;
the life that knows of no beginning and no end.
Therefore, I have destroyed all worldly thought.
I have retired into an unfrequented dell to live in solitude;
and, begging for food, I devote myself to the one thing needful." [5]
Si…
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