gathered about it. One is that on the night when she conceived his mother dreamt that a white elephant entered her side. The account will be found at length in my ' Buddhist Birth Stories ' (pp. 62-64), an d the earthquake is there mentioned in terms identical with those in the text. The sacred event is also one of those represented on the ancient bas-reliefs round the Bharhut Thupa, a full description of which will be found in General Cunningham's most interesting work, ' The Stupa of Bharhut.' General Cunning- ham says of the description placed above this sculpture : * Above it in large characters is inscribed Bhagavatorukdanta, which may perhaps be translated, " Buddha as the sounding elephant," from ru, to sound, to make a particular sort of sound.' Now the first word of the inscription is in the genitive case, so that if the second word could mean an elephant, the whole would signify, ' The Buddha's elephant.' But the characters which General Cunningham reads rukdanta are, I venture to suggest, okkanti (? ukkanti) ; and the inscription simply says, ' The descent of the blessed One.' As I have pointed out in 'Buddhism' (p. 184), the white elephant legend is one of those hallowed sun stories by which half-con- verted Hindus have striven to embellish the life story of the Teacher whose followers they had become. In the Lalita Vistara (Calc. ed. p. 63) the entrance of the elephant into Maya* precedes the dream ; but though the ignorant may have therefore accepted it as a fact, it is of course only a figure of speech — and I venture to think from the Hindu standpoint, a beautiful figure of speech — to express the incarnation of divine mildness and majesty in a human form. The use of such a figure is not confined to India. In the earliest of the Apocryphal Gospels, the Gospel according to the Hebrews, the incarnation of the divine gentleness and love is expressed by saying that a dove from heaven 'entered into' the human form.
48 THE BOOK OF THE GREAT DECEASE. CH.
This is the fifth cause, proximate and remote, of the appearance of a mighty earthquake.
1 8. * Again, Ananda, when a Tath&gata founds the
sublime kingdom of righteousness, then this earth
quakes and trembles and is shaken violently. This
is the sixth cause, proximate and remote, of the
appearance of a mighty earthquake.
19. * Again, Ananda, when a Tath&gata consciously
and deliberately rejects the remainder of his life,
then this earth quakes and trembles and is shaken
violently. This is the seventh cause, proximate and
remote, of the appearance of a mighty earthquake.
20. * Again, Ananda, when a Tath&gata passes
entirely away with that utter passing away in
which nothing whatever is left behind, then this
earth quakes and trembles and is shaken violently.
This is the eighth cause, proximate and remote, of
the appearance of a mighty earthquake.
21. ' Now of eight kinds, Ananda, are these as-
semblies. Which are the eight 1 ? Assemblies of
nobles, Brahma/zas, householders, and Samaras, and
the angel hosts of the Guardian Angels, the Great
Thirty-Three, Mara, and Brahma.
22. ' Now I call to mind, Ananda, how when I
used to enter into an assembly of many hundred
nobles, before I had seated myself there or talked to
them or started a conversation with them, I used to
become in colour like unto their colour, and in voice
like unto their voice. Then with religious discourse
1 The connection, or rather want of connection, between this and the last paragraph seems to me to be very suggestive as to the way in which the Sutta was composed. The narrative is resumed at paragraph 111, 43. On vanishing away, comp. I, 33.
mahA-parinibbAna-sutta.
I used to instruct, incite, and quicken them, and fill
them with gladness. 1 But they knew me not when
I spoke, and would say, " Who may this be who thus
speaks ? a man or a god ? " Then having instructed,
incited, quickened, and gladdened them with reli-
gious discourse, I would vanish away. But they
knew me not even when I vanished away; and
would say, " Who may this be who has thus vanished
away ? a man or a god ? " '
23. [And in the same words the Blessed One
spake of how he had been used to enter into assem-
blies of each of the other of the eight kinds, and of
how he had not been made known to them either in
speaking or in vanishing away.] ' Now these, Ananda,
are the eight assemblies/
24. * Now these, Ananda, are the eight positions
of mastery [over the delusion arising from the
apparent permanence of external things *]. What
are the eight?
1 Abhibh&yatant ti abhibhavanakdra«&ni. Kim abhi-
bhavanti? Pa££anika-dharame pi &rammaw£ni pi: tani
hi pa/ipakkha-bhdvena pa££antka-dhamme abhibhavanti
puggalassa «anuttaritaya aramma«£ni, says Buddhaghosa.
(Sum. Vil. th\.)
This and the next paragraph are based upon the Buddhist belief as to the long- vexed question between the Indian schools who represented more or less closely the European Idealists and Realists. When cleared of the many repetitions inserted for r the benefit of the repeaters or reciters, the fundamental idea seems to be that the great necessity is to get rid of the delusion that what one sees and feels is real and permanent. Nothing is real and permanent but character.
The so-called eight Positions of Mastery are merely an expan- sion of the first two of the following eight Stages of Deliverance, and the whole argument is also expressed in another form in the
[Ii] E
50 THE BOOK OF THE GREAT DECEASE. CH.
25. 4 When a man having subjectively the idea of
form sees externally forms which are finite, and
pleasant or unpleasant to the sight, and having mas-
tered them, is conscious that he knows and sees —
this is the first position of mastery.
26. ' When a man having subjectively the idea of
form sees externally forms which are boundless, and
pleasant or unpleasant to the sight, and having mas-
tered them, is conscious that he knows and sees —
this is the second position of mastery.
27. 'When a man without the subjective idea of
form sees externally forms which are finite, and plea-
sant or unpleasant to the sight, and having mastered
them, is conscious that he knows and sees — this .is
the third position of mastery.
28. 'When a man without the subjective idea of
form sees externally forms which are boundless,
and pleasant or unpleasant to the sight, and having
mastered them, is conscious that he knows and sees
— this is the fourth position of mastery.
29. 'When a man without the subjective idea of
form sees externally forms that are blue in colour,
blue in appearance, and reflecting blue, — just, for
passage on the nine successive ' Cessations/ of which an abstract will be found in Childers, sub voce nirodha.
The two lists have been translated and commented upon by Burnouf (Lotus de la Bonne Loi, pp. 543, 824-832), who took the texts from the Mah£nid&na Sutta and the Sanglti Sutta respectively. The former has been reprinted in Grimblot's Sept Suttas Palis, where the passage will be found at pp. 261, 262. I regret that in my interpretation I have been compelled to differ so greatly from Burnouf. Though I have devoted much care and time to the subject, I do not suppose that I have understood it better than he did. We cannot hope to get to the bottom of what these old Buddhists thought about matter and mind from such curt lists as these.
mahA-parinibbana-sutta.
instance, as the Umm& flower is blue in colour, blue
in appearance, and reflecting blue ; or, again, as that
fine muslin of Benares which, on whichever side you
look at it, is blue in colour, blue in appearance, and
reflecting blue, — when a man without the subjective
idea of form sees externally forms which, just in
that way, are blue, blue in colour, blue in appearance,
and reflecting blue, and having mastered them, is
conscious that he knows and sees — that is the fifth
position of mastery/
30-32. [The sixth, seventh, and eighth positions
of mastery are explained in words identical with
those used to explain the fifth ; save that yellow, red,
and white are respectively substituted throughout for
blue ; and the Ka/zik&ra flower, the Bandhu-^lvaka
flower, and the morning star are respectively substi-
tuted for the Umm& flower, as the first of the two
objects given as examples.]
33. 'Now these stages of deliverance, Ananda
[from the hindrance to thought arising from the
sensations and ideas due to external forms 1 ], are
eight in number. Which are the eight ?
34. ' A man possessed with the idea of form sees forms — this is the first stage of deliverance.
35. 'Without the subjective idea of form, he sees
forms externally — this is the second stage of deli-
verance.
1 These are the A/Ma Vimokkhd. Buddhaghosa has no com- ment upon them ; merely saying, * The passage on the Vimokkhas is easy to understand' — which is tantalizing. The last five Vi- mokkhas occur again below, in Chap. VI, §§11-13, where it is clear that they are used to express the progress through deep meditation, into absent-mindedness, abstraction, and being sunk in thought, until finally the thinker falls into actual trance.
52 THE BOOK OF THE GREAT DECEASE. CH.
36. ' With the thought " it is well," he becomes
intent (upon what he sees) — this is the third stage
of deliverance.
37. * By passing quite beyond all idea of form, by
putting an end to all idea of resistance, by paying
no attention to the idea of distinction, he, thinking
" it is all infinite space," reaches (mentally) and re-
mains in the state of mind in which the idea of the
infinity of space is the only idea that is present —
this is the fourth stage of deliverance.
38. * By passing quite beyond all idea of space
being the infinite basis, he, thinking " it is all infinite
reason," reaches (mentally) and remains in the state
of mind to which the infinity of reason is alone
present — this is the fifth stage of deliverance.
39. ' By passing quite beyond the mere conscious-
ness of the infinity of reason, he, thinking " nothing
at all exists," reaches (mentally) and remains in the
state of mind to which nothing at all is specially
present — this is the sixth stage of deliverance.
40. * By passing quite beyond all idea of nothing-
ness he reaches (mentally) and remains in the state
of mind to which neither ideas nor the absence of
ideas are specially present — this is the seventh stage
of deliverance.
41. 'By passing quite beyond the state of " neither
ideas nor the absence of ideas" he reaches (men-
tally) and remains in the state of mind in which
both sensations and ideas have ceased to be — this
is the eighth stage of deliverance.
42. ' Now these, Ananda, are the eight stages of deliverance.
43. ' On one occasion, Ananda, I was resting under the shepherd's Nigrodha tree on the bank of the
maha-parinibbAna-sutta.
river Nera%ar£ immediately after having reached
the great enlightenment. Then M£ra, the Evil
One, came, Ananda, to the place where I was,
and standing beside me he addressed me in the
words : *' Pass away now, Lord, from existence ! Let
the Blessed One now die! Now is the time for
the Blessed One to pass away ! "
44. 'And when he had thus spoken, Ananda, I
addressed M4ra, the Evil One, and said : " I shall
not die, O Evil One! until not only the brethren
and sisters of the order, but also the lay-disciples
of either sex shall have become true hearers, wise
and well-trained, ready and learned, versed in the
Scriptures, fulfilling all the greater and the lesser
duties, correct in life, walking according to the pre-
cepts — until they, having thus themselves learned
the doctrine, shall be able to tell others of it, preach
it, make it known, establish it, open it, minutely ex-
plain it and make it clear— until they, when others
start vain doctrine, shall be able by the truth to
vanquish and refute it, and so to spread the wonder-
working truth abroad !
45. * " I shall not die until this pure religion of
mine shall have become successful, prosperous,
wide-spread, and popular in all its full extent —
until, in a word, it shall have been well proclaimed
among men ! "
46. ' And now again to-day, Ananda, at the -ATdpdla
A^etiya, M&ra, the Evil One, came to the place where
I was, and standing beside me addressed me [in the
same words].
47. ' And when he had thus spoken, Ananda,
I answered him and said : " Make thyself happy, the
final extinction of the Tathigata shall take place