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" At this time Ananda, sitting in the great assembly, rose and prostrated himself at the feet of Buddha, then rose up, and standing before him addressed him thus : The world-honoured one just now said with respect to the three evil works of murder, theft, adultery, that by sepai'ating or getting rid of the three in- fluences (iJn) that predispose to these evils, then there could be no cause of their birth ; and that by destroying the vagaries of thought, that true Bodhi would be acquired, and that this state of Bodhi or Wisdom was not acquired in the way men acquire learning or other possessions, but that it was an illumination of the mind consequent on the removal of evil; but how then, if this be so, how can Tathagata argue against the principle of 'connected causa- tion,' as he did just now when I suggested that my mind obtained instruction and light from stage to stage ? How is it that this theory should not hold good alone in our cases who are young and as yet imperfectly instructed, when there can be no doubt that SCRIPTURES FROM THE CHINESE. 357 in the case of the great Mogalan, Sariputra, Subhiiti, and others who were all * old Brahmans, that these, by hearinti- Bnddha • discourse on the subject of cause and effect, obtained enlighten- ment and perfection. But now Buddha says that this state of enlightenment does not result by way of cause and effect. It seems to me that the only alternative is to agree with Gosala and the other heretics of Radjagriha, who teach that the true ex- planation of all things is to be found in self-causation, " Oh ! would that in your great pity to me you would open out and explain this difficulty, 52. " Buddha addressed Ananda : Your difficulty is just the same as that concerning Yadjiiadatta of Sravasti, does his mad nature or illusion come from any connection of causes, and when he gets rid of it and becomes sensible, is this caused by itself? Your questions about causal connection and self-causation just resolve themselves into this. 53. "Ananda! With regard to YadSadatta ; his head, which he thought he had lost, was, as being his own (pen), dependent only on himself [or self-existing or self-resulting (tsz'-in)] ; but that which is himself must be the cause of his own thoughts about himself. If you remove this cause, there is no self; how, then, can you supply a sound base of argument in the way of cause and effect to account for this sudden fear of his that he had lost his head, and so running away ? 54. " If you say that the head, which was his own and self- caused, on account of some sequence of causes became deranged, you might as well say that the head, which was his own and self- caused, owing to some sequence of causes became lost (as he supposed it to be). But really there was no loss, and his mad idea was groundless, as there was then no change in his condi- tion, how can you trace any connecting idea of cause and effect for that which had no reality ? 55. " But if you say that the madness of Yadjiiadatta was his own and self-caused, then the fear which resulted from his mad- ness with respect to the loss of his head, must have been co-termin- ous with his madness ; if so, what proof or tentative example can you give of his madness ? But if you say that the natural mad- ness was not accompanied by feai*, why, then, did he run away ? 56. " If he understood that he had a head on his shoulders, and yet ran away like a madman, all the time knowing better, 358 A CATENA OF BUDDHIST then the argument about cause and effect and self-causation be- comes futile and vain. What I say, then, is this : remove the three influences and the heart is enlightened ; but to say that this heart of enlightenment is bom or produced, is to say that when there is no production then the heart perishes (or is not existent), and this is only to insist that birth and death are the only realities ; but hj removing altogether these ideas of death and production we arrive at a passionless exercise of reason. But if the idea of self-causation be accepted, then there is the necessity of supposing accession of enlightenment consequent on some power of self to cause itself, and this requires the idea of the production of a self-causing mind ; and, therefore, again, when this production ceases, the mind ceases to be, and so there is no reality again but birth and death. Altogether we con- clude that this term self-produced is a mere empty word. Just so in the world, when the various confused phsenomena are in harmony, we say that there is a substance or substantial unit produced, and we call this an 'harmonious N"ature'; but, in the absence of this harmony, we speak of primeval chaos and its Nature. Re- move, however, both these ideas, of harmony and confusion, and we arrive at the true and unconfused sense of Real Existence. 57. " I further anticipate your question with respect to Nir- vana following on the acquisition of Bodhi, the opinion that it is yet something far removed and distant I hold to be a confused and contradictory opinion. 58. "And so you, although you talk so much about causal connection and self-causation, do in reality by so doing deprive yourself of final rest, and hence you are spoken of as the chief of the Sravakas ; and so, notwithstanding your merit acquired through many Kalpas, as a Sravaka, you were just now unable to overcome the wiles of the Matailga women, and required the power of the charms which came from the head of the Buddhas to give you deliverance from their power. 59. " And so Ananda, although you have through countless ages heard the precious discourses of Buddha, yet this is not equal to one day's preparation of the perfect way, arrived at by remov- ing to a distance all preferences and hates common in the world, thus Matafigi,^ though at one time engaged in the basest occupa- ' Or the Matangi woman, vide Burn,, Introd., 20G. The history of SCRIPTURES PROM THE CHINESE. 359 tions of lust, by the power of the Divine charms which I used, came out of all those evil ways and became my disciple, and is now called the Bikshuni Sing ;^ and so Yasodara, the mother of Rahula (or Rahula and his mother Yasodara), understanding the sorrows of worldly affections (love and covetous desires), setting themselves to arrive at a complete state of virtue, obtained deliverance ; and, according to my express prediction, shall arrive at perfection. How is it, then, that you are content to remain as you are a ' listener' (sekha) still ? 60. " Ananda and all the great congregation, hearing this ex- hortation of Buddha, gradually losing their doubts and under- standing the Nature of the true mark (of Being), their mind and body fast gaining rest, arriving at the condition of perfect ac- quaintance with truth, the tears still coursing down their cheeks, performed sevei-al complete prostrations at the feet of Buddha. Ananda then addressed Buddha and said : Infinite is your com- passion ; pure and Holy, glorious King ! illustriously do you instruct my heart ! powerful by such influences as those you have used now, to give deliverance, to draw men out of the depths of sin and rescue them from the sea of Pain. 61. " World-honoured ! although I now hear and accept the sounds of the Law thus exj)lained to me, and acknowledge (or recognise) the universal diff'usion and all-embracing existence of the mysterious enlightened heart of the secret Being of Tatha- gata, the mysterious Intelligence that rules over the countless worlds ; yet, whilst Tathagata upbraids me as being in such a meritless (or unworthy) condition of a mere Sravaka (Sekha, i.e. Srotapanna), without any prospect of complete emancipation, I, on my part, feel like some poor wandering traveller, to whom suddenly the Heavenly King presents a gorgeous flowery abode, although he gratefully receives the spacious monsion, yet he waits anxiously till he causes the door to open, so I now long that Tathagata, still extending his pity on me, would show me and the other poor disciples in this assembly, how, by giving up the methods of Salvation adopted by the Little Vehicle, we may find this Matangi woman has been quoted by different authors as bearing some resemblance to that of the Samaritan woman in the Go.spel of St. John. ' Prakriti, vide Burn., Introd.^ 205.