The Light of Asia - Book the First

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The Scripture of the Saviour of the World,

Lord Buddha—Prince Siddārtha styled on earth—

In Earth and Heavens and Hells Incomparable,

All-honoured, Wisest, Best, most Pitiful; Most Compassionate, poetic⁰¹

The Teacher of Nirvāna and the Law.

Thus came he to be born again for men. v.l. Then came he. In the Mahāyāna texts which form the source for this poem, the Buddha is seen as eternally existent, being born again and again in order to teach the Dharma⁰²
Below the highest sphere four Regents Pāḷi: Catummahārājā⁰³ sit
Who rule our world; and under them are zones
Nearer, but high, where saintliest spirits dead
Wait thrice ten thousand years, then live again; Paraphrase: then live in human form again⁰⁴
And on Lord Buddha, waiting in that sky, This seems to imply that he was residing in a world lower than the Catummahārājā, whereas he was in Tusita Heaven, which in the normal cosmology is considered to be three planes above⁰⁵
Came for our sakes the five sure signs of birth He was living as a deva at the time. The signs that a deva is about to die are: the flowers he is wearing fade; the clothes become dirty; the body starts to smell bad; there is sweating in the armpits; and he becomes unhappy⁰⁶
So that the Devas Lit.: bright-ones, gods⁰⁷ knew the signs, and said:
“Buddha will go again to help the World.”
“Yea!” spake He, “now I go to help the World.
This last of many times; for birth and death
End hence for me and those who learn my Law.
I will go down among the Sākyas,
Under the southward snows of Himalay,
Where pious people live and a just King.”
That night the wife of King Suddhōdana,
Maya the Queen, asleep beside her Lord,
Dreamed a strange dream; dreamed that a star from heaven—
Splendid, six-rayed, in colour rosy-pearl,
Whereof the token was an Elephant
Six-tusked, and white as milk of Kamadhuk The wish-fulfilling cow. v.l.: whiter than Vahuka's milk⁰⁸—
Shot through the void; and, shining into her,
Entered her womb upon the right. Awaked,
Bliss beyond mortal mother's filled her breast,
And over half the earth a lovely light
Forewent Went before⁰⁹ the morn. The strong hills shook; the waves
Sank lulled; all flowers that blow by day came forth
As 'twere As if it were¹⁰ high noon; down to the farthest hells
Passed the Queen's joy, as when warm sunshine thrills
Wood-glooms The gloomy (dark) woods¹¹ to gold, and into all the deeps
A tender whisper pierced. “Oh ye,” it said,
“The dead that are to live, the live who die,
Uprise, and hear, and hope! Buddha is come!”
Whereat in Limbos Limbos here means the lower and transient states of being¹² numberless much peace
Spread, and the world's heart throbbed, and a wind blew
With unknown freshness over lands and seas.
And when the morning dawned, and this was told,
The grey old, venerable¹³ dream-readers said “The dream is good!
The Crab the constellation Cancer¹⁴ is in conjunction with the Sun;
The Queen shall bear a boy, a holy child
Of wondrous wisdom, profiting all flesh,
Who shall deliver men from ignorance,
Or rule the world, if he will deign to rule.” i.e. he will either become a Buddha or an Universal Monarch¹⁵
In this wise was the holy Buddha born.
Queen Maya stood at noon, her days fulfilled,
Under a Palsa in the Palace-grounds, According to the Pāḷi sources the birth took place, not in the palace, but midway between Kapilavatthu and her hometown at Devadaha, at Lumbini, and under a Sāl tree¹⁶
A stately trunk, straight as a temple-shaft,
With crown of glossy leaves and fragrant blooms;
And, knowing the time come—for all things knew—
The conscious tree bent down its boughs to make
A bower A private natural recess, or arbor¹⁷ about Queen Maya's majesty;
And Earth put forth a thousand sudden fresh¹⁸ flowers
To spread a couch; while, ready for the bath,
The rock hard by gave out a limpid clear¹⁹ stream
Of crystal flow. So brought she forth her child
Pangless Painless²⁰—he having on his perfect form
The marks, thirty and two, of blessed birth; See the Reference section for a list of these marks²¹
Of which the great news to the Palace came.
But when they brought the painted palanquin An enclosed carraige, normally carried by men²²
To fetch him home, the bearers of the poles
Were the four Regents of the Earth, Pāḷi: Catummahārājā²³ come down
From Mount Sumeru A mountain in the Himālayas, now identified with Mt. Kailash (see the Maps section for more information)²⁴—they who write men's deeds
On brazen bronze²⁵ plates—the Angel of the East Dhataraṭṭha, the king of the Gandhabbas²⁶
Whose hosts are clad in silver robes, and bear
Targets of pearl: the Angel of the South Virūḷhaka²⁷
Whose horsemen, the Kumbhandas, Kumbhandas, Nāgas, Yakshas and Gandhabbas are classes of Bhummādevā²⁸ ride blue steeds,
With sapphire shields: the Angel of the West, Virūpakkha²⁹
By Nāgas followed, riding steeds blood-red,
With coral shields: the Angel of the North, Vessavaṇa³⁰
Environed Surrounded³¹ by his Yakshas, all in gold,
On yellow horses, bearing shields of gold.
These, with their pomp glory³² invisible, came down
And took the poles, in cast and outward garb
Like bearers, yet most mighty gods; and gods
Walked free with men that day, though men knew not;
For Heaven was filled with gladness for Earth's sake,
Knowing Lord Buddha thus was come again.
But King Suddhōdana wist knew³³ not of this;
The portents troubled, till his dream-readers
Augured Predicted³⁴ a Prince of earthly dominance,
A Chakravartin, Universal monarch, Pāḷi: Cakkavatti³⁵ such as rise to rule
Once in each thousand years; seven gifts he has—
The Chakra-ratna, disc divine; the gem;
The horse, the Asva-ratna, that proud steed
Which tramps the clouds; a snow-white elephant,
The Hasti-ratna, born to bear his King;
The crafty Minister, the General
Unconquered; and the wife of peerless grace,
The Strī-ratna, lovelier than the Dawn.
For which gifts looking with this wondrous boy,
The King gave order that his town should keep
High festival; therefore the ways were swept,
Rose-odours sprinkled in the street, the trees
Were hung with lamps and flags, while merry crowds
Gaped on the sword-players and posturers,
The jugglers, charmers, swingers, rope-walkers,
The nautch-girls Nautch, a dancing-girl; the word is derived from Sanskrit/Pāḷi nāṭikā, with the same meaning³⁶ in their spangled glittering³⁷ skirts and bells
That chime ring³⁸ light laughter round their restless feet;
The masquers masqueraders, actors³⁹ wrapped in skins of bear and deer,
The tiger-tamers, wrestlers, quail-fighters,
Beaters of drum and twanglers of the wire, i.e. those who play stringed instruments⁴⁰
Who made the people happy by command.
Moreover, from afar came merchant-men,
Bringing, on tidings of this birth, rich gifts
In golden trays; goat-shawls, and nard, An ointment⁴¹ and jade,
Turkises, Turquoise⁴² “evening-sky” tint, woven webs i.e. tapestries⁴³—
So fine twelve folds hide not a modest face—
Waist-cloths sewn thick with pearls, and sandal-wood
Homage from tribute cities; so they called
Their Prince Savārthasiddh, “All-Prospering,”
Briefer, Siddārtha.
'Mongst the strangers came
A grey-haired saint, Asita, one whose ears,
Long closed to earthly things, caught heavenly sounds,
And heard at prayer beneath his peepul-tree A peepul tree is also known as a Bodhi tree⁴⁴
The Devas Lit.: bright-ones, gods⁴⁵ singing songs at Buddha's birth.
Wondrous in lore learning⁴⁶ he was by age and fasts;
Him, drawing nigh, seeming so reverend,
The King saluted, and Queen Maya made
To lay her babe before such holy feet;
But when he saw the Prince the old man cried
“Ah, Queen, not so!” and thereupon he touched
Eight times the dust, laid his waste visage face⁴⁷ there,
Saying, “O Babe! I worship! Thou art He!
I see the rosy light, the foot-sole marks,
The soft curled tendril of the Swastika, An ancient Indian sign of auspiciousness⁴⁸
The sacred primal signs thirty and two,
The eighty lesser tokens. Thou art Buddh,
And thou wilt preach the Law and save all flesh
Who learn the Law, though I shall never hear,
Dying too soon, who lately longed to die;
Howbeit I have seen Thee. Know, O King!
This is that Blossom on our human tree
Which opens once in many myriad thousand⁴⁹ years—
But opened, fills the world with Wisdom's scent
And Love's dropped honey; from thy royal root
A Heavenly Lotus springs: Ah, happy House!
Yet not all-happy, for a sword must pierce
Thy bowels for this boy—whilst thou, sweet Queen!
Dear to all gods and men for this great birth,
Henceforth art grown too sacred for more woe,
And life is woe, therefore in seven days
Painless thou shalt attain the close of pain.” More correctly: the close of this life's pain; i.e. she will pass to her next life, which was as a Devaputta in the Tāvatiṁsa Heaven according to Pāḷi sources⁵⁰
Which fell: for on the seventh evening
Queen Maya smiling slept, and waked no more,
Passing content to Trāyastrinshas-Heaven,
Where countless Devas Lit.: bright-ones, gods⁵¹ worship her and wait
Attendant on that radiant Motherhead.
But for the Babe they found a foster-nurse,
Princess Mahāprajāpati—her breast
Nourished with noble milk the lips of Him
Whose lips comfort the Worlds.
When th' eighth year passed,
The careful King bethought to teach his son
All that a Prince should learn, for still he shunned
The too vast presage prediction⁵² of those miracles,
The glories and the sufferings of a Buddh.
So, in full council of his Ministers,
“Who is the wisest man, great sirs,” he asked,
“To teach my Prince that which a Prince should know?”
Whereto gave answer each with instant voice:
“King! Visvamitra Not named in Pāḷi sources, his name means: Universal Friend⁵³ is the wisest one,
The farthest-seen in Scriptures, and the best
In learning, and the manual arts, and all.”
Thus Visvamitra came and heard commands;
And, on a day found fortunate, the Prince
Took up his slate of ox-red sandal-wood
All beautified by gems around the rim,
And sprinkled smooth with dust of emery, A grey-black mineral⁵⁴
These took he, and his writing-stick, and stood
With eyes bent down before the Sage, who said
“Child, write this Scripture,” speaking slow the verse
“Gāyatrī” Also called Sāvitrī, a sacred Vedic verse in the Gāyatrī metre (R.V. III, 62.10)⁵⁵ named, which only High-born hear:—

Om, tatsaviturvarenyam

Bhargo devasya dh¡mahi

Dhiyo yo na prachodayāt.

“Acharya, I write,” meekly replied
The Prince, and quickly on the dust he drew—
Not in one script, but many characters—
The sacred verse; Nagri and Dakshin, Nī,
Mangal, Parusha, Yava, Tirthi, Uk,
Darad, Sikhyani, Mana, Madhyachar,
The pictured writings and the speech of signs,
Tokens of cave men and the sea-peoples,
Of those who worship snakes beneath the earth,
And those who flame adore and the sun's orb,
The Magians and the dwellers on the mounds;
Of all the Nations all strange scripts he traced
One after other with his writing stick,
Reading the master's verse in every tongue;
And Visvamitra said, “It is enough,
Let us to numbers.
After me repeat
Your numeration till we reach the Lakh, A lakh is 100,000⁵⁶
One, two, three, four, to ten, and then by tens
To hundreds, thousands.” After him the child
Named digits, decads, centuries; nor paused,
The round Lakh reached, but softly murmured on,
“Then comes the kōti, nahut, ninnahut,
Khamba, viskhamba, abab, attata,
To kumuds, gundhikas, and utpalas,
By pundarīkas unto padumas,
Which last is how you count the utmost grains
Of Hastagiri Elephant mountain⁵⁷ ground to finest dust;
But beyond that a numeration is,
The Kātha, used to count the stars of night;
The Kōti-Kātha, for the ocean drops;
Ingga, the calculus of circulars;
Sarvanikchepa, by the which you deal
With all the sands of Gunga, Old spelling for Gaṅga⁵⁸ till we come
To Antah-Kalpas, Internal aeons⁵⁹ where the unit is
The sands of ten crore Gungas. If one seeks
More comprehensive scale, th' arithmic mounts
By the Asaṅkhya, which is the tale i.e. tally, amount⁶⁰
Of all the drops that in ten thousand years
Would fall on all the worlds by daily rain;
Thence unto Mahā-Kalpas, Great aeons⁶¹ by the which
The Gods compute their future and their past.”
“ 'Tis good,” the sage rejoined. “Most noble Prince,
If these thou know'st, needs it that I should teach
The mensuration of the lineal?”
Humbly the boy replied, “Acharya!
Be pleased to hear me. Paramānus Atoms⁶² ten
A parasukshma make; ten of those build
The trasarene, and seven trasarenes
One mote's-length floating in the beam, seven motes
The whisker-point of mouse, and ten of these
One likhya; likhyas ten a yuka, ten
Yukas a heart of barley, which is held
Seven times a wasp-waist; so unto the grain
Of mung and mustard and the barley-corn,
Whereof ten give the finger-joint, twelve joints
The span, wherefrom we reach the cubit, staff,
Bow-length, lance-length; while twenty lengths of lance
Mete measure, archaic⁶³ what is named a ‘breath’, which is to say
Such space as man may stride with lungs once filled,
Whereof a gow Pāḷi: gavuta; a quarter of a yojana⁶⁴ is forty, four times that
A yōjana; A distance of 7 to 12 kilometres, lit. as much as can be travelled with one yoke of oxen⁶⁵ and, Master! if it please,
I shall recite how many sun-motes lie
From end to end within a yōjana.
Thereat, with instant skill, the little Prince
Pronounced the total of the atoms true.
But Visvamitra heard it on his face
Prostrate before the boy; “For thou,” he cried,
“Art Teacher of thy teachers—thou, not I,
Art Guru. Oh, I worship thee, sweet prince!
That comest to my school only to show
Thou knowest all without the books, and know'st
Fair reverence besides.”
Which reverence
Lord Buddha kept paid⁶⁶ to all his schoolmasters
Albeit beyond their learning taught; in speech
Right gentle, yet so wise, princely of mien, appearance⁶⁷
Yet softly-mannered; modest, deferent,
And tender-hearted, though of fearless blood;
No bolder horseman in the youthful band
E'er rode in gay happy⁶⁸ chase of the shy gazelles;
No keener driver of the chariot
In mimic contest scoured the Palace-courts;
Yet in mid-play the boy would ofttimes pause,
Letting the deer pass free; would ofttimes yield
His half-won race because the labouring steeds
Fetched painful breath; or if his princely mates
Saddened to lose, or if some wistful sad⁶⁹ dream
Swept o'er his thoughts. And ever with the years
Waxed Grew⁷⁰ this compassionateness of our Lord,
Even as a great tree grows from two soft leaves
To spread its shade afar; but hardly yet
Knew the young child of sorrow, pain, or tears,
Save as strange names for things not felt by kings,
Nor ever to be felt. But it befell
In the Royal garden on a day of spring,
A flock of wild swans passed, voyaging north
To their nest-places on Himāla's breast.
Calling in love-notes down their snowy line
The bright birds flew, by fond love piloted;
And Devadatta, cousin of the Prince,
Pointed his bow, and loosed a wilful shaft
Which found the wide wing of the foremost swan
Broad-spread to glide upon the free blue road,
So that it fell, the bitter arrow fixed,
Bright scarlet blood-gouts staining the pure plumes.
Which seeing, Prince Siddārtha took the bird
Tenderly up, rested it in his lap—
Sitting with knees crossed, as Lord Buddha sits—
And, soothing with a touch the wild thing's fright,
Composed its ruffled vans, calmed its quick heart,
Caressed it into peace with light kind palms
As soft as plantain-leaves an hour unrolled;
And while the left hand held, the right hand drew
The cruel steel forth from the wound, and laid
Cool leaves and healing honey on the smart. pain caused by a wound⁷¹
Yet all so little knew the boy of pain
That curiously into his wrist he pressed
The arrow's barb, and winced to feel it sting,
And turned with tears to soothe his bird again.
Then some one came who said, “My Prince hath shot
A swan, which fell among the roses here,
He bids me pray you send it. Will you send?”
“Nay,” quoth Siddārtha, “if the bird were dead
To send it to the slayer might be well,
But the swan lives; my cousin hath but killed
The god-like speed which throbbed in this white wing.”
And Devadatta answered, “The wild thing
Living or dead, is his who fetched it down;
'Twas no man's in the clouds, but fall'n 'tis mine.
Give me my prize, fair Cousin.” Then our Lord
Laid the swan's neck beside his own smooth cheek
And gravely spake, “Say no! the bird is mine,
The first of myriad things which shall be mine
By right of mercy and love's lordliness.
For now I know, by what within me stirs,
That I shall teach compassion unto men
And be a speechless world's interpreter,
Abating this accursed flood of woe,
Not man's alone; but, if the Prince disputes,
Let him submit his matter to the wise
And we will wait their word.” So was it done;
In full divan council of state⁷² the business had debate,
And many thought this thing and many that,
Till there arose an unknown priest who said,
“If life be aught, anything whatsoever⁷³ the saviour of a life
Owns more the living thing than he can own
Who sought to slay—the slayer spoils and wastes,
The cherisher sustains; give him the bird”:
Which judgment all found just; but when the King
Sought out the sage for honour, he was gone,
And some one saw a hooded snake glide forth,—
The gods come ofttimes thus! So our Lord Buddha
Began his works of mercy.
Yet not more
Knew he as yet of grief than that one bird's,
Which, being healed, went joyous to its kind.
But on another day the King said, “Come,
Sweet son! and see the pleasaunce garden⁷⁴ of the spring,
And how the fruitful earth is wooed persuaded⁷⁵ to yield
Its riches to the reaper; how my realm—
Which shall be thine when the pile funeral pyre, archaic⁷⁶ flames for me—
Feeds all its mouths and keeps the King's chest filled.
Fair is the season with new leaves, bright blooms,
Green grass, and cries of plough-time.” So they rode
Into a lane of wells and gardens, where,
All up and down the rich red loam, soil⁷⁷ the steers
Strained their strong shoulders in the creaking yoke
Dragging the ploughs; the fat soil rose and rolled
In smooth long v.l. dark⁷⁸ waves back from the plough; who drove
Planted both feet upon the leaping share plowshare⁷⁹
To make the furrow deep; among the palms
The tinkle of the rippling water rang,
And where it ran the glad earth 'broidered embroidered⁸⁰ it
With balsams and the spears of lemon-grass.
Elsewhere were sowers who went forth to sow;
And all the jungle laughed with nesting-songs, i.e. was alive with sound of young birds in their nests⁸¹
And all the thickets rustled with small life
Of lizard, bee, beetle, and creeping things
Pleased at the spring-time. In the mango-sprays branches⁸²
The sun-birds flashed; alone at his green forge
Toiled the loud coppersmith; bee-eaters hawked, hunted⁸³
Chasing the purple butterflies; beneath,
Striped squirrels raced, the mynas perked and picked,
The nine brown sisters The Jungle Babbler (Turdoides striatus); they congregate in groups of seven and are therefore normally known as the seven (not nine) sisters⁸⁴ chattered in the thorn,
The pied striped⁸⁵ fish-tiger hung above the pool.
The egrets stalked among the buffaloes,
The kites sailed circles in the golden air;
About the painted temple peacocks flew,
The blue doves cooed from every well, far off
The village drums beat for some marriage-feast;
All things spoke peace and plenty, and the Prince
Saw and rejoiced. But, looking deep, he saw
The thorns which grow upon this rose of life;
How the swart dark-skinned⁸⁶ peasant sweated for his wage,
Toiling for leave to live; and how he urged
The great-eyed oxen through the flaming hours,
Goading their velvet smooth⁸⁷ flanks; then marked he, too,
How lizard fed on ant, and snake on him,
And kite on both; and how the fish-hawk robbed
The fish-tiger of that which it had seized;
The shrike chasing the bulbul, which did chase
The jewelled butterflies; till everywhere
Each slew a slayer and in turn was slain,
Life living upon death. So the fair show
Veiled one vast, savage, grim conspiracy
Of mutual murder, from the worm to man,
Who himself kills his fellow; seeing which—
The hungry ploughman and his labouring kine, oxen, cows⁸⁸
Their dewlaps blistered with the bitter yoke,
The rage to live which makes all living strife—
The Prince Siddārtha sighed. “Is this,” he said,
“That happy earth they brought me forth to see?
How salt with sweat the peasant's bread! how hard
The oxen's service! in the brake overgrown fields⁸⁹ how fierce
The war of weak and strong! i' th' air what plots!
No refuge e'en in water. Go aside
A space, and let me muse meditate, think⁹⁰ on what ye show.”
So saying the good Lord Buddha seated him
Under a jambu-tree, Bot.: Syzygium samarangense; a tree which produces a small globular fruit, another name for is also called India is Jambu-dvipa, the Jambu Island or Continent⁹¹ with ankles crossed—
As holy statues sit—and first began
To meditate this deep disease of life,
What its far source and whence its remedy.
So vast a pity filled him, such wide love
For living things, such passion to heal pain,
That by their stress his princely spirit passed
To ecstasy, and, purged from mortal taint
Of sense and self, the boy attained thereat
Dhyāna, first step of “the path.” Pāḷi: jhāna; why Arnold names it as the first step of the path I do not know, but in the Noble Eightfold Path the eighth step, Sammāsamādhi, is defined in terms of jhāna⁹²
There flew
High overhead that hour five holy ones,
Whose free wings faltered as they passed the tree.
“What power superior draws us from our flight?”
They asked, for spirits feel all force divine,
And know the sacred presence of the pure.
Then, looking downward, they beheld the Buddh
Crowned with a rose-hued aureole, aura, halo⁹³ intent
On thoughts to save; while from the grove a voice
Cried, “Rishis! Seers, Sages⁹⁴ this is He shall help the world,
Descend and worship.” So the Bright Ones came
And sang a song of praise, folding their wings,
Then journeyed on, taking good news to Gods.
But certain from the King seeking the Prince
Found him still musing, meditating⁹⁵ though the noon was past,
And the sun hastened to the western hills;
Yet, while all shadows moved; the jambu-tree's Bot.: Syzygium samarangense; a tree which produces a small globular fruit⁹⁶
Stayed in one quarter, overspreading him,
Lest the sloped rays should strike that sacred head;
And he who saw this sight heard a voice say,
Amid the blossoms of the rose-apple,
“Let be the King's son! till the shadow goes
Forth from his heart my shadow will not shift.”

The Light of Asia Home Page Book the Second

last updated: August 2008