English
If this is the case, sui'ely it is wrong to say that ' sight' is the same as ' 1/ or that 'touch' is the same as 'I.' Therefore, illustrious youth, my doctrine is this, that these various kinds of knowledge, and all things that exist in the phasnomenal world (ye damma) are as unreal as a phantom. And what do I mean by a phantom? Simply that which in itself has no substan- tial being, but only a present and momentary existence, which, in its turn, will vanish and cease to be. Illustrious youth, we may compare the case to that mixture of milk, wheat, honey, ginger, pepper, legume, peach juice, etc., which, when thoroughly amalgamated, results in the com- pound known as the agreeable or delightful food-pellet. But remove the intimate union, and where is the agreeable taste ? So, remove the external and internal union, in the formation of our several species of knowledge, and there will no longer remain any such entities as ' 1/ or ' men,' or 'teachers,' or 'doctors.' Sena rejoined: Gotama, if there is no such thing as ' I,' why do we use such expressions as ' I see,' ' I hear,' ' I am sorry,' ' I am glad,' etc. Buddha re- plied : Illustrious youth, when we say ' I see,' ' I hear,' etc., that which we call ' I' is a mere name or word ; and in this way, just as men say ' I will not see or hear the wicked thins: vou do or sav' where the ' I ' is plainly a mere word. SCRIPTURES FROM TIIR CHINESK. 179 We may compare the case^ illustrious youth, to the four species of troops which compose what is called an army (elephants, horses, chariots, infantry). These four species of troops cannot be called 'one,' and yet they say 'our army is strong,' ' our army is victorious'; so it is the union of the external and internal produces that which is called the ' I ': and so we say 'I love,' 'I hate,' 'I see,' '1 hear,' etc. Sena rejoined : According to your assertion, Gotama, that know- ledge results from the harmonious union of the external and internal, how do you account for the expression, ' I produce a sound by speaking,' and 'I apprehend the sound uttered'; for here there is a separate predication of the ' I.' Buddha said: Sena, from attachment (trishna) and ignorance (avidya), and from the several causes and effects (nidanas) is produced Karma. From Karma results Bhava or separate existence, and from this is produced every kind of mind (or dispo- sition) ; the mind or disposition produces intellectual per- ception ; this excites the wind (spirit ?) ; the wind, accord- ing to the direction of the mind, moves the lips and teeth, etc., and a sound is produced ; which all creatures thinking on and misunderstanding, speak of as words, which one says ' I produce,' and another ' I hear.' Illustrious youth, like the bells on the top of a flag send forth a sound as the wind moves them, and this sound is loud or otherwise according as the wind is strong or gentle ; or as the water in a pot, when heated by the fire, produces various sounds, so is the utterance of words ; but, because the various teachers are not able to discriminate thus, they say there is an ' I ' that speaks and an ' I ' that hears. Sena rejoined : According to Gotama's opinion, then, that there is no ' I,' let me ask what can be the meaning of that description he gives of Nirvana, that it is permanent, full of joy, personal, and pure. Buddha said : Illustrious youth, I do not say that the six external and internal organs, or the various species of knowledge, are permanent, etc. ; but what I say is that that is permanent, full of joy, personal, and pure, which is left after the six organs and the six objects of N 2 180 A CATENA OF BUDDHIST sense, and the various kinds of knowledge are all destroyed. Illustrious youth, when the world, weary of sorrow, turns away and separates itself from the cause of all this sorrow, then, by this voluntary rejection of it, there remains that which I call 'the true self; and it is of this I plainly declare the formula, that it is permanent, full of joy, personal, and pure. Sena replied : World-honour'd ! would that, of your infinite love, you would declare to me how I may arrive at this condition of permanence, etc. Then Buddha replied : Illustrious youth, because from the beginning men have indulged in proud and supercilious thoughts, this evil root has grown and produced every kind of evil fruit ; so that men cannot put away from them the succession of sorrows, nor obtain the condition of permanence, etc. Let them first, then, overcome' and destroy this root of pride. Sena replied: True! true! world-honour'd one! your teach- ino- is holy : I have, up to this time, been proud and super- cilious, and therefore have contemptuously called Tatha- gata by his familiar name of Gotama ; but now I have re- moved this pride, and desire earnestly to learn the way to the condition of which you speak. Buddha said: Illustrious youth, examine and listen ! examine and listen ! I will tell you the way, illustrious youth, if you are able to remove the ideas of self and not-self, and the idea of all sentient creatures, by removing all ideas of this kind. — Sena (interrupting) ex- claimed : Already I have found deliverance and received sio-ht ethe eyes of the True Law). Buddha said: Illustrious youth, what is this you say, that you have already obtained knowledge and dehverance, and i-eceived sight? World- honour'd one, that which is called rupa (form) is neither self, or not-self, nor all things ; that which we call sanjnya, and vedana, and sanscara, and vijnyana — all these are neither self or not self, or all things. So, I perceive that I have received sight, world-honour'd one. Now, with the great- est joy I leave my house and family, and apply myself to wisdom. Would that you would receive me as a disciple ! Buddha replied: "Well come! O Bikshu ! And so he ob- tained the fruit (condition) of an Arhat. SCEIHURES FROM THE CHINESE. 181 " Again, among the lieretics, there was a Brahmatchari whose family name was Kasyapa (belonging to Kasyapa), who once more addressed Buddha thus : Gotama, is the body the same as the Life, or different ? Tathagata re- mained silent. And so a second and third time. The Brahmatchari then continued : Gotama, if, in the interval after giving up the body, and not assuming another, tlie life be not extinct, then I contend the body and the life are different things. Gotama, why are you silent ? why do you not answer me ? Illustrious youth, what I say is this : that both body and life are the result of causal concatenation, and I deny that any phsenomenal existence is independent of the same connection. The Brahmatchari rejoined: Gotama, I see in the world phgenomena (laws) not resulting from cause. Buddha said : Brahmatchari, what are the pheno- mena you refer to ? The Brahmatchari replied : I see a great fire, consisting of burning brushwood and logs ; the wind blows the flame and extinguishes it, where the flame was before there is now nothing — why may not this be spoken of as '^ without cause'? Buddha said: Illusti-ious youth, I declare that this fire is produced by cause, I deny that it is uncaused. The Brahmatchari replied: Gotama, when the bright shining light goes out and is extinguished, it produces no effect, the wood is left uncharred ; what, then, mean you by saying that there was any cause here, operating in the way of the concatenation you name ? Buddha said : Illustrious youth, although there may be no chai-coal produced, because the wood extinguished the fire, this does not destroy my argument that there is a connec- tion of cause and result. Gotama, suppose a man cast ofl" his body, and has not yet resumed another, in the interven- ing years of existence where is the connexion of cause and effect ? Brahmatchari, said Buddha, the cause and eflect is found in ignorance (avidya) and desire (trishna?). Because of these two, life remains fixed ; illustrious youth, because of this connexion of cause and effect, the body and the life are one ; and because of this same connexion, the body and 182 A CATENA OF BUDDHIST the life are different. The wise man ought not to confine himself to one view of a case, and to say that the body and the Hfe are always different. The Brahmatchari said : World- honour'd one !