108 Buddhist Parables and Stories. Olga Gutsol
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and you will be able to do good works.”
The prince responded, “O Evil one, for what purpose did you come? Let the flesh waste away if that leads to the mind becoming more tranquil. What is life in this world? Death in battle is better to me than that I should live defeated.”
And Mara withdrew.
The prince was shrunken and attenuated, and his body was like a withered branch. The fame of his holiness spread in the surrounding countries, and people came from great distances to see him and receive his blessing.
However, the Blessed One was not satisfied. Seeking true wisdom he did not find it, and he came to the conclusion that mortification would not extinguish desire nor afford enlightenment in ecstatic contemplation.
Seated beneath a jambu tree, he considered the state of his mind and the fruits of his mortification. His body had become weaker, but his fasts had not advanced him in his search for salvation. Therefore, he saw that it was not the right path and decided to abandon it. He went to bathe in the Neranjara river, but when he strove to leave the water he could not rise on account of his weakness. Then espying the branch of a tree and taking hold of it, he raised himself and left the stream. But while returning to his abode, he staggered and fell to the ground, and the five hermits thought he was dead.
There was a chief herdsman living near the grove whose eldest daughter was called Nanda; and Nanda happened to pass by the spot where the Blessed One had swooned, and bowing down before him she offered him rice-milk and he accepted the gift. When he had partaken of the rice-milk all his limbs were refreshed, his mind became clear again.
After this happened, the Blessed One again took some food. His disciples, having witnessed the scene of Nanda and observing the change in his mode of living, were filled with suspicion. They were convinced that Siddhattha’s religious zeal was flagging and that he had become oblivious of his high purpose.
When the Blessed One saw the hermits turning away from him, he felt sorry for their lack of confidence. Suppressing his grief he wandered on alone.
9. MARA, THE EVIL ONE
Siddhartha directed his steps to that Bodhi tree beneath whose shade he was to accomplish his search. When he sat down the heavens resounded with joy and all living beings were filled with good cheer. Mara alone, lord of the five desires, bringer of death and enemy of truth, was grieved and rejoiced not. With his three daughters, Tanha, Raga and Arati, the tempters, and with his host of evil demons, he went to the place where the prince sat.
But Siddhartha heeded him not. Mara uttered fear-inspiring threats and raised a whirlwind so that the skies were darkened and the ocean roared and trembled. The prince under the Bodhi tree remained calm and feared not. Siddhartha knew that no harm could befall him.
The three daughters of Mara tempted the princee, but he paid no attention to them. When Mara saw that he could not inflate any desire in the heart of the victorious monk, he ordered all the evil spirits at his command to attack him. Again Siddhartha watched them as one would watch the harmless games of children. All the fierce hatred of the evil spirits was of no avail. The flames of hell became wholesome breezes of perfume, and the angry thunderbolts were changed into lotus-blossoms.
When Mara saw this, he fled away with his army from the Bodhi tree.
10. ENLIGHTENMENT
Siddhartha, having put Mara to flight, gave himself up to meditation. All the miseries of the world, the evils produced by evil deeds and the sufferings arising therefrom, passed before his eye, and he uttered, “Surely if living creatures saw the results of all their evil deeds, they would turn away from them in disgust. But selfhood blinds them, and they cling to their desires. They crave pleasure for themselves and they cause pain to others; when death destroys their individuality, they find no peace; their thirst for existence abides and their selfhood reappears in new births. Thus they continue to move in the coil and can find no escape from the hell of their own making. And how empty are their pleasures, how vain are their endeavors! The world is full of evil and sorrow, because it is full of lust. Men go astray because they think that delusion is better than truth.”
And he began to expound the Dharma, the universal law of nature. Pondering on the origin of birth and death, the prince recognized that ignorance was the root of all evil; and these are the links in the development of life, called the twelve nidanas: In the beginning there is existence blind and without knowledge; and in this sea of ignorance there are stirrings formative and organizing. From stirrings, formative and organizing, rises awareness or feelings. Feelings beget organisms that live as individual beings. These organisms develop the six fields, that is, the five senses and the mind. The six fields come in contact with things. Contact begets sensation. Sensation creates the thirst of individualized being. The thirst of being creates a cleaving to things. The cleaving produces the growth and continuation of selfhood. Selfhood continues in renewed birth. The renewed births of selfhood are the causes of sufferings, old age, sickness, and death. They produce lamentation, anxiety, and despair.
Remove ignorance, the cause of sorrows, and you will destroy the wrong desires that rise from ignorance; destroy these desires and you will wipe out the wrong perception that rises from them. Destroy wrong perception and there is an end of errors in individualized beings. Destroy the errors in individualized beings and the illusions of the six fields will disappear. Destroy illusions and the contact with things will cease to beget misconception. Destroy misconception and you do away with thirst. Destroy thirst and you will be free of all morbid cleaving. Remove the cleaving and you destroy the selfishness of selfhood. If the selfishness of selfhood is destroyed you will be above birth, old age, disease, and death, and you will escape all suffering.
Siddhartha saw the four noble truths which point out the path to liberation and uttered this verse:
Through many births I sought in vain
The Builder of this House of Pain.
Now, Builder, You are plain to see,
And from this House at last I’m free;
I burst the rafters, roof and wall,
And dwell in the Peace beyond them all.
Blessed is he who understood the Dharma. Blessed is he who does no harm to his fellow-beings and conquered all selfishness and vanity.
Thus Siddhartha has become the Buddha, the Enlightened One, the Blessed One and uttered, “I have recognized the deepest truth, which is sublime and peace-giving, but difficult to understand; as most men move in a sphere of worldly interests and find their delight in worldly desires. There is self and there is truth. Where self is, truth is not. Where truth is, self is not. The attainment of truth is possible only when self is recognized as an illusion. Righteousness can be practiced only when the mind is freed from passions. Perfect peace can dwell only where all vanity has disappeared.The task is impossible for the ones who search happiness in selfhood only. The bliss that lies in a complete surrender to truth. The truth remains hidden from the ones who are blinded by craving and aversion. Liberation remains incomprehensible and mysterious to the vulgar whose minds are clouded with worldly interests. Should I preach the doctrine of Dharma and mankind not comprehend it, it would bring me trouble.”
On hearing these words of the Blessed One, Mara, the Evil One, approached and said, “Be greeted, the Enlightened One. You have attained the highest bliss and it is time for you to enter into the final stage of liberation.”
Suddenly, Brahma Sahampati descended from the heavens and said, “Alas! The world must perish, should the Blessed One decide not to teach the Dharma. Be merciful to those that struggle; have compassion upon the sufferers; pity the creatures who are hopelessly entangled in the snares of sorrow. There are some beings that are almost free from the dust of worldliness.