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Again, Buddha let fly another ray, which fixed itself to the left of Ananda, on which he turned ' This is probably the same discourse as is given in M. B., p. 180. '■^ Cudwortli, vol. i, 9. SCRIPTURES FROM THE CHINESE, 309 liis head and looked to the left. Buddha then addressed Ananda and said: Why did you just now turn your head? Ananda said: Because I saw light issuing from the precious hand of Buddha, and fix itself to the right and left of me, therefore I turned my head in those directions to see the light. Buddha said : Was it your head which moved, or your sight which moved ? Ananda rephed : It was my head which tm-ned ; my power of sight is fixed. What, then, can move it ? Buddha replied : Just so.i 72. "Then Buddha continued: In this way men should regard all that is changeable as dust; and all that is unsettled as a travel- ling passenger. ♦' (KlODEN II.) 1. "At this time Ananda and all the great congregation, listen- ing to the explanations of Buddha, with rapt attention, began to recognise the fact that from the earliest moment till now, they had utterly overlooked and lost the true Heart, and mistaken for it the false connections of external things, and the distinctions of mere shadowy appearances. But now they began to under- stand, just as a lost child who suddenly meets with its tender mother ; and so with closed hands they adored Buddha, desiring above all things to hear Tathagata open out and explain the dif- ferences between that which is body and that which is mind, the true and false, the empty and the real, and contrasting that which is visible and perishing with that which is invisible and eternal, to cause them to attain to a clear comprehension of the true nature (which is the basis of all which is called Mind). 2. "At this time Prasenadjit Rajah, rising from his seat, ad- dressed Buddha : In former days, before I was brought to listen to the doctrinal teaching of all the Buddhas, I saw Katyayana^ Vairattiputra, who always said that this body of ours after death, was completely destroyed, and this he called Nirvana. And now, although I have met with Buddha, yet am not I altogether free from mistrusting doubts. Tell me, then, how I may obtain de- liverance (from these doubts) and attain to the knowledge of this ^ Tlav awfua, ev roiroi, ovSei' Se raiv KO0' eavrov aaaifiaTov ev TOTttf. Cud. ii, 775, and the whole context. 2 Vide JuUeu, Melhode^ 1813 and 1870; but compare also Fo-koue-ki^ 310 A CATENA OF BUDDHIST imperishable principle which you call the Mind. We pray you in the name of this great assembly, many of whom are ignorant of this great truth, to enter on some further explanation of it. 3. " Buddha said : Maharajah ! with respect to your present body, I would ask you, Is this body of yours like the diamond, unchangeable in its appearance, and ever fixed, and imperishable ; or is it, on the other hand, changeable and perishable ? The Kajah replied : World-honoured one ! this body of mine, without doubt, in the end, after various changes, will perish. "Buddha said: "Maharajah! you have not yet experienced this destruction of the body; how, then, do you know anything about it? " World-honoured one ! replied the King, with respect to this transient, changeable, and perishable body ; although I have not yet experienced the destruction of which I speak, yet I observe the case of things around me and ever reflect that all these things are changing — old things die, and new things succeed ; there is nothing that changes not ! thus the wood that now burns, will be soon converted into ashes ; all things gradually exhaust them- selves and die away ; there is no cessation of this dying out and perishing. I may certainly know, then, that this body of mine will finally perish. Buddha replied : Just so !^ 4. "Maharajah : Regarding yourself at your present age — now that you have begun to grow old — is your appearance the same as it was when you were a young child ? " World-honoared one ! when in former years I was a young child — my skin was soft and delicate — gradually, as my years advanced, my pulses became stronger, and fuller, and now I am become an old man of sixty, my appearance has become withered and dried ; my animal spirits low and sluggish ; my hair white ; my skin wrinkled — indicating that my future life will not be long. What, then, can be the comparison of my present appearance with that which I had when a child p 5. "Buddha said : Maharajah ! with respect to your appearance, was there ever a period when this change was not going on ? p. 149 (3), and Manual of Buddhism, 292 (6). We see from these accounts that this heretic was probably the same as Saujayabellauti. Notice also that R6musat restores pi-lo-tchi by Viiiraji iustead of Vairatti. ' Tathastu. Bauerjea, 218. On the Hindu Philosophi/. SCEIPTUEES FROM THE CHINESE. 311 The Rajah answered : World-honoured one ! this change is secret and mysterious, which I can never hope to explain. Just as winter gave way to summer, and we gradually have come to the present time, so is it with me. For the case is just this — When I was twenty years old, although I was still called bj my juvenile ap- pellative, yet my appearance had already become old compared with my first ten years ; when I was thirty, I was still changed from what I had been at twenty years ; and now, when I am sixty years and two, looking back at the time when I was fifty, I was then, compared with my present state, hale and strong. World-honoured one! I find myself unconsciously changing; and, although I have instanced this gradual approach to death, by the changes I have experienced each decade of my life, yet if you will have me use more minute divisions, this change has been a yearly one ; nay, each month and each day, the same decay has been going on ; and, if I consider the case still more closely, every miniite, every second (jana) there has been no fixity or continuance in one stay: I fully recognise the truth, therefore, that in the end my body must perish ! 6. "Buddha said : Maharajah ! you confess that from witness- ing these ceaseless changes, you arrive at the conviction that yovir body must perish ! Let me ask — When this time for your body to perish arrives, are you cognisant of anything connected with yourself that will not perish ? Prasenadjit Rajah, with his hands clasped before Buddha, replied : Indeed, I am cognisant of no such (imperishable thing). 7. " Buddha said : I will now explain to you the character of that 'Nature' which admits of neither birth nor death. Mahara- jah : When you were a little child, how old were you when you first saw the River Ganges ? The Rajah rephed : When I was three years old, my tender mother led me by the hand to pay my devotions to Jiva Deva,i by this stream (flowing here in our sight), then it was I knew that this was (an afiluent of) the Ganges. 8. " Buddha said : Maharajah, taking up your own illustration respecting your gradual alteration of appearance, through every decade of years, etc., of your life. Tou say that at three years of age you saw this river ; tell me then, when you were thirteen 1 Julien, Melhode.) 641. ;M2 a tatkna or MiiitDiirsT ytiii.i'M (lid, \vlm,i HofI ol' iijipciifiuicd li;i,il llils fiv<U' llicii? Tlio lirij;ili i-i|ili((l ■ .lii:;l, llir n;iiri(!iis il. Ii;iil wlicii I Wiis I liixio ycifirH old ; )uid MOW I ;irii Hixt,y-tw() llioro is no iilt()ra(,ii)ii In ils np- [KMU'lltUM). '.>. " Ihiddliii. Hiud : Yiiii now iifo Ixiconio docropil,, wliilc-luiinMl, iind vvi'inkli'd in I'ium^, iind no your fiuin liiiH f^rovvn diirinf^ hiiccish- Hiv(! yi'iM'H. 'IVII inc, Uicn, hiiH Uu) Hi^dil, \vlii(;li oiuLMod you io HO(i I.Im) (Jjui^oh in locnn-f yciirH hcconio iilso wrinlvlrd luid in- croiiHinj^ly ho vviUi yonr ydiU'H. 'I'Ik? Kin>.i; iniHwcrnd : No! VVoi-ld- Ikmk hi led ono. 1 1). " Kinldliii. Hiu<l : Mn.liAi';'i j;di ! idllniiijdi, llicn, yonr (nco luiH hccoino \viinkl!il, yol. yonr power ol' si;^id. Inis in il.s nut uro iil- iorod nol,. Hul. Iliiil, vvlii(di hoconn^s old and dneropiL iH in ils iiiiXuro t;liii,nj,f(i;d)lc, iind iJnil, wliicli docjs nol. l)c(!ojn(^ ho is nn- (!lili.nj^(Mi,l)lo. 'I'lialr wliicli cliajiL.'c^s ni^'iiin is capalilc ol' dcMlrMu;- llon, liul. I.lial. wliirli flia,n;^cH nol' nnisl he from ilsori;.(iii iih'M- pa,M(' ol' lilrlli en- dcalii. How i.s il, Un'n, lliai lo';cUn'r willi llns inipi^rislndilc power ol" ni^ld. yon poHH(!