Dear Members,
Kamanita And Vasitthi
[By KARL GJELLERUP]
THE SETTING SUN SHOT its sheaf of golden rays
through the spaces between the trunks, seeming to
consecrate the silent and expectant company assembled
in the depths of the forest with a heavenly benediction.
Between the tree‐tops roseate evening clouds looked
down in ever‐growing luminosity as though, floating
out from the blue ether, a second assembly were gath‐
ering, recruited now from the hosts of heaven.
I think of Angulimāla, the most savage of the savage,
who only yesterday had wished to destroy the Buddha,
and had not only been tamed but had also awakened to
the Dharma by the irresistible might of the Buddhaʹs virtue
and wisdom, so that I now saw him quietly sitting oppo‐
site me in the ranks of the monks — transformed, even in
his outward appearance, into another being.
And now the Buddha went on to speak of how,
according to the beliefs of our forefathers, Lord Krishna —
although he himself was the Supreme God, the Upholder
— had caused a portion of his own divine being to descend
from high heaven and to be born as a man in the
human world. Passing to himself, the Master said that
when, after ardent effort, he had realised perfect enlightenment
— the blessèd and abiding certainty of liberation
— his first inclination was to remain in the enjoyment of
this transcendent serenity and not to try to declare his
understanding to others.
"I reasoned thus: 'This Truth that I have realised is
profound and hard to see, hard to discover; it is the most
peaceful and superior goal of all, not attainable by mere
conceptualisation, subtle, for the wise to experience. But
this pleasure‐loving generation relies on attachment,
relishes attachment, delights in attachment. It is hard
for such a generation to see this Truth — that is to say, the
laws of causality and Dependent Origination. And hard it
will also be for them to realise the implications of these
laws — that is to say, the freeing of oneself from all the
forms assumed by existence, the quenching of all craving,
the relinquishment of all delusions, the realisation of
Nirvāna. If I tried to explain this abstruse insight, others
would not understand and that would be wearying and
troublesome for me.'
"Considering thus, my nature inclined towards
inaction and not to the teaching of the Dharma. Then I
looked yet once again with far‐seeing eyes upon the
world. And, as in a lotus pond one sees some lotus flowers
which develop in the waters and remain under the surface,
others which force their way to the surface and float there,
and, finally, others which rise above the waters and stand
free from all contact with them; so also in this world I saw
that some beings were of a coarse nature, some were of a
noble nature, and some were of the noblest of all. And I
reasoned thus — 'There are a few beings with but a little dust
in their eyes, if they do not hear the Dharma there are some
who will lose their way on account of that; perhaps some of
these will understand the Truth.' And, out of compassion for
such beings, I decided to expound the Dharma to the world.
"Thus does the Tathāgata take up Krishnaʹs coming
down from heaven and becoming man, give it inward
force, illumine and complete it."
As he said this, there came to me a feeling of un‐
speakable joy for I knew that the Buddha numbered me
with the lotus flowers that had risen to the surface of the
water, and that I, by his help, would one day rise above it,
and would stand free, unsullied by material things.
Further, the Master told us of those heroic deeds of
Krishna, by which he had freed the world from monsters
and wicked rulers, and had added to the happiness of all
living beings. How he had vanquished the water serpent
Koliyā, slain the bull‐shaped demon Aristha, destroyed the
ravaging monsters Dhenuka and Kishī, and the demon
prince Nāraka, had overcome and killed the villainous
kings Kamsa and Paundraka, and other bloody tyrants
who were the terror of helpless human beings, and had
thus ameliorated in many a way the distressful fate of
humanity.
But he, the Master, did not combat the foes that
assailed people from outside, but the monsters that were
within their own hearts — greed, hatred, delusion, love of
self, the craving for pleasure, the thirst for things that pass
away — and he freed humanity not from this or that evil
person, but from the experience of suffering — the tyranny
of the unawakened heart.
**************to be continued****************
Edited by yawares
Kamanita 15 : THE BUDDHA AND KRISHNA
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