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

' Therefore, O brethren — ye to whom the truths I have perceived have been made known by me — having thoroughly made yourselves masters of them, practise them, meditate upon them, and spread them abroad ; in order that pure religion may last long and be perpetuated, in order that it may continue to be for the good and happiness of the great multitudes, out of pity for the world, to the good and the gain and the weal of gods and men !

'Which then, O brethren, are the truths which, when I had perceived, I made known to you, which when you have mastered it behoves you to practise, meditate upon, and spread abroad, in order that pure religion may last long and be perpetuated, in order that it may continue to be for the good and the happiness of the great multitudes, out of pity for the world, to the good and the gain and the weal of gods and men?

128 XVI. MAHA PARINIBBANA SUTTAKTA. D. ii. 120.

[120] ' They are these : —

The four earnest meditations,

The fourfold great struggle against evil,

The four roads to saintship,

The five' moral powers,

The five organs of spiritual sense.

The seven kinds of wisdom, and

The Aryan eightfold path.

These, O brethren, are the truths which, when I had perceived, I made known to you, which when you have mastered it behoves you to practise, meditate upon, and spread abroad, in order that pure religion may last long and be perpetuated, in order that it may continue to be for the good and the happiness of the great multitudes, out of pity for the world, to the good and the gain and the weal of gods and men ! '

51. And the Exalted One exhorted the brethren, and said : —

' Behold now, O brethren, I exhort you, saying : — " All component things must grow old. Work out your salvation with diligence. The final extinction of the Tathagata will take place before long. At the end of three months from this time the Tathagata will die ! "

' My age is now full ripe, my life draws to its close :
I leave you, I depart, relying on myself alone !
Be earnest then, O brethren, holy, full of thought !
Be steadfast in resolve ! Keep watch o'er your own
hearts !

. Who wearies not, but holds fast to this truth and aw

Shall cross this sea of life, shall make an end of grief.'

End of the Third Portion for Recitation2.

1 Dhamraa and vinaya. The Buddhist religion, as just summarized, and the regulations of the Order.

2 It is of great interest to notice what are the points upon which
Gotama, in this last address to his disciples, and at the solemn time,

D. ii. 120. THE BOOK OF THE GREAT DECEASE. 1 29

when death was so near at hand, is reported to have lain such emphatic stress. Unfortunately we have only a fragment of the address, and, as it would seem from its commencement, only the closing fragment. This, however, is in the form of a summary, consisting of an enumeration of certain aggregates, the details of which must have been as familiar to the early Buddhists as the details of similar numerical terms — such as the ten commandments, the twelve tribes, the seven deadly sins, the four gospels, and so on — afterwards were to the Christians. This summary of the Buddha's last address may fairly be taken as a summary of Buddhism, which thus appears to be simply a system of earnest self-culture and self-control.

The following are the details of the aggregate technical terms used in the above summary, but it will be understood that the English equivalents used give rather a general than an exact representation of the ideas expressed by the Pali ones. To attempt more would demand a treatise rather than a note.

The four Earnest Meditations are : —

1. Meditation on the body.

2. Meditation on the sensations.

3. Meditation on the ideas.

4. Meditation on reason and character.

The fourfold Great Struggle against evil is divided into : —

1. The struggle to prevent evil arising.

2. The struggle to put away evil states which have arisen.

3. The struggle to produce goodness not previously existing.

4. The struggle to increase goodness when it does exist.