Dialogues of the Buddha, Part II — trans. T. W. and C. A. F. Rhys Davids (1910)

1 Buddhaghosa says : — 'Tamatagge is for tamagge. The "t" in the middle is used for euphony. This word means, " These are the most pre-eminent, the very chief." Having, as above stated, broken every bond of darkness (tama), those bhikkhus of mine, Ananda, will be at the very top, in the highest condition. They will be at the very top of whom ? Those bhikkhus who are willing to learn, and those who exercise themselves in the four ways of being mindful and thoughtful, they shall be at the top of all (the rest). Thus does he make Arahantship the three-peaked height of his discourse ' (compare on this last phrase Nibbanena desana>£utam gawhati, Jataka I, 275, 393, 401 ; and see also I, 114). Uttama, the highest (scil. bhava, condition), is used absolutely of Arahantship or Nirvana at Jataka I, 96 ; Aggaphala occurs in the same sense at Jataka I, 114; and even Phalagga at Mahavarasa XV, 209. The last words, ' but they must be anxious to learn,' seem to me to be an afterthought. It is only those who are thoroughly determined to work out their own salvation, without looking for safety to any one else, even to the Buddha himself, who will, whilst in the world, enter into and experience Nirvana. But, of course, let there be no mistake, merely to reject the vain baubles of the current superstitious beliefs is not enough. There is plenty to learn and to acquire, of which enough discourse is elsewhere.

CHAPTER III.

i.1 [102] Now the Exalted One robed himself early in the morning, and taking his bowl in the robe, went into Vesali for alms. When, after he had returned from the round for alms, he had^ finished eating the rice, he addressed the venerable Ananda, and said : — ' Take up the mat, Ananda ; I will go and spend the day at the Chapala Shrine.'

' So be it, lord ! ' said the venerable Ananda, in assent, to the Exalted One. And taking up the mat he followed step for step behind the Exalted One.

2. So the Exalted One proceeded to the Chapala Shrine, and when he had come there he sat down on the mat spread out for him, and the venerable Ananda took his seat respectfully beside him. Then the Exalted One addressed the venerable Ananda, and said : — ' How delightful a spot, Ananda, is Vesali, and how charming the Udena Shrine, and the Gotamaka Shrine, and the Shrine of the Seven Mangoes, and the Shrine of Many Sons, and the Sarandada Shrine, and the Chapala Shrine 2 !

3. [103] ' Ananda, whosoever has developed, practised, dwelt on, expanded and ascended to the very heights of the four paths to Iddhi 3, and so mastered them as to be able to use them as a vehicle, and as a

1 1-20 recur in A. IV, 308 foil. ; 1-10 in Udana VI, 1. and S. V,
259 foil. Compare Divy., pp. 200-8.

• 2 Shrines of pre-Buddhistic worship. They were probably trees and barrows ; but as no excavations have yet been made at Vesali the point is uncertain. The Anglo-Indian use of the word Chetiya. as equivalent to our Temple, is quite wrong.

3 Iddhi. The four paths are : — (1) will, (2) effort, (3) thought, and (4) investigation, each united to earnest thought and the struggle against evil. On the Iddhi to be reached by them see above, Vol. I, pp. 272, 273; and the translator's 'Buddhism,' pp. 174-7. The whole set of participles is used elsewhere of other conditions of mind. So, for instance, of universal love (metta) at A. V, 342, quoted Jataka II, 61, Mil. 198. An ancient commentary on them is preserved at Pa/is. I, 172.

1). ii. 104. THE HOOK OF THE GREAT DECEASE. I I I basis, he, should he desire it, could remain in the same birth for an aeon or for that portion of the aeon which had yet to run. Now the Tathagata has thoroughly practised and developed them [in all respects as just more fully described], and he could, therefore, should he desire it, live on yet for an aeon, or for that portion of the aeon which has yet to run.'

4. But even though a suggestion so evident and a hint so clear were thus given by the Exalted One, the venerable Ananda was incapable of comprehending them ; [104] and he besought not the Exalted One, saying : — ' Vouchsafe, lord, to remain during the aeon ! Live on through the aeon, O Happy One ! for the good and the happiness of the great multitudes, out of pity for the world, for the good and the gain and the weal of gods and men ! ' So far was his heart possessed by the Evil One l.