The Light of Asia - Book the Seventh

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Sorrowful dwelt the King Suddhōdana
All those long years among the Sākya Lords
Lacking the speech and presence of his Son;
Sorrowful sate the sweet Yasōdhara
All those long years, knowing no joy of life,
Widowed of him her living Liege Lord⁰¹ and Prince.
And ever, on the news of some recluse
Seen far away by pasturing camel-men
Or traders threading devious paths for gain,
Messengers from the King had gone and come,
Bringing account of many a holy sage
Lonely and lost to home; but nought of him
The crown of white Kapilavastu's line,
The glory of her monarch and his hope,
The heart's content of sweet Yasōdhara,
Far-wandered now, forgetful, changed, or dead.
But on a day in the Wasanta-time, Spring-time⁰²
When silver sprays swing on the mango-trees
And all the earth is clad with garb covered with the clothes⁰³ of spring,
The Princess sate by that bright garden-stream
Whose gliding glass, bordered with lotus-cups,
Mirrored so often in the bliss gone by
Their clinging hands and meeting lips. Her lids
Were wan pale⁰⁴ with tears, her tender cheeks had thinned,
Her lips’ delicious curves were drawn with grief;
The lustrous glory of her hair was hid—
Close-bound as widows use; no ornament
She wore, nor any jewel clasped the cloth—
Coarse, and of mourning white—crossed on her breast.
Slow moved and painfully those small fine feet
Which had the roe's gait and the rose-leaf's fall
In old years at the loving voice of him.
Her eyes, those lamps of love,—which were as if
Sunlight should shine from out the deepest dark,
Illumining Night's peace with Daytime's glow—
Unlighted now, and roving aimlessly,
Scarce marked the clustering signs of coming Spring,
So the silk lashes drooped over their orbs. eyes, poetic⁰⁵
In one hand was a girdle thick with pearls,
Siddārtha's—treasured since that night he fled—
(Ah, bitter Night! mother of weeping days!
When was fond Love so pitiless to love,
Save that this scorned to limit love by life?)
The other led her little son, a boy
Divinely fair, the pledge Siddārtha left—
Named Rahula—now seven years old, who tripped
Gladsome beside his mother, light of heart
To see the spring-blooms burgeon grow, flourish⁰⁶ o'er the world.
So, while they lingered by the lotus-pools,
And, lightly laughing, Rahula flung rice
To feed the blue and purple fish; and she
With sad eyes watched the swiftly-flying cranes,
Sighing, “Oh! creatures of the wandering wing,
If ye shall light where my dear Lord is hid,
Say that Yasōdhara lives nigh near⁰⁷ to death
For one word of his mouth, one touch of him!”
Thus, v.l. So⁰⁸ as they played and sighed—mother and child—
Came some among the damsels of the Court
Saying, “Great Princess! there have entered in
At the south gate merchants of Hastinpūr,
Tripusha called and Bhalluk, Pāḷi: Tapussa and Bhalluka⁰⁹ men of worth,
Long travelled from the loud sea's edge, who bring
Marvellous lovely webs tapestries¹⁰ pictured with gold,
Waved blades of gilded steel, wrought bowls in brass,
Cut ivories, spice, simples, medicinal herbs, archaic¹¹ and unknown birds,
Treasures of far-off peoples; but they bring
That which doth beggar is beyond¹² these, for He is seen!
Thy Lord,—our Lord,—the hope of all the land—
Siddārtha! they have seen him face to face,
Yea, and have worshipped him with knees and brows,
And offered offerings; for he is become
All which was shown, a Teacher of the wise,
World-honoured, holy, wonderful; a Buddh
Who doth deliver men and save all flesh
By sweetest speech and pity vast as Heaven:
And, lo! he journeyeth hither, these do say.”
Then—while the glad blood bounded in her veins
As Gunga leaps when first the mountain snows
Melt at her springs—uprose Yasōdhara
And clapped her palms, and laughed, with brimming tears
Beading her lashes. “Oh! call quick,” she cried,
“These merchants to my purdah, for mine ears
Thirst like parched throats to drink their blessed news.
Go bring them in,—but, if their tale be true,
Say I will fill their girdles with much gold,
With gems that Kings shall envy: come ye too,
My girls, for ye shall have guerdon reward¹³ of this
If there be gifts to speak my grateful heart.”
So went those merchants to the Pleasure-house,
Full softly pacing through its golden ways
With naked feet, amid the peering maids,
Much wondering at the glories of the Court.
Whom, when they came without the purdah's folds,
A voice, tender and eager, filled and charmed
With trembling music, saying, “Ye are come
From far, fair Sirs! and ye have seen my Lord—
Yea, worshipped—for he is become a Buddh,
World-honoured, holy, and delivers men,
And journeyeth hither. Speak! for, if this be,
Friends are ye of my House, welcome and dear.”
Then answer made Tripusha, “We have seen
That sacred Master, Princess! we have bowed
Before his feet; for who was lost a Prince
Is found a greater than the King of kings.
Under the Bodhi-tree by Phalgū's bank
That which shall save the world hath late been wrought
By him—the Friend of all, the Prince of all—
Thine most, High Lady! from whose tears men win
The comfort of this Word the Master speaks.
Lo! he is well, as one beyond all ills,
Uplifted as a god from earthly woes,
Shining with risen Truth, golden and clear,
Moreover as he entereth town by town,
Preaching those noble ways which lead to peace,
The hearts of men follow his path as leaves
Troop to the wind or sheep draw after one
Who knows the pastures. We ourselves have heard,
By Gaya in the green Tchīrnika Sanskrit: kṣīrikā, a kind of date tree¹⁴ grove,
Those wondrous lips and done them reverence:
He cometh hither ere the first rains fall.”
Thus spake he, and Yasōdhara, for joy,
Scarce mastered breath to answer, “Be it well
Now and at all times with ye, worthy friends,
Who bring good tidings; but of this great thing
Wist ye how it befell?”
Then Bhalluk told
Such as the people of the valleys knew
Of that dread night of conflict, when the air
Darkened with fiendish shadows, and the earth
Quaked, and the waters swelled with Mara's wrath.
Also how gloriously that morning broke
Radiant with rising hopes for man, and how
The Lord was found rejoicing 'neath his Tree.
But many days the burden of release—
To be escaped beyond all storms of doubt,
Safe on Truth's shore—lay, spake he, on that heart
A golden load; for how shall men—Buddh mused—
Who love their sins and cleave to cheats of sense,
And drink of error from a thousand springs,
Having no mind to see, nor strength to break
The fleshly snare which binds them—how should such
Receive Learn and understand¹⁵ the Twelve Nidānas Conditions or sources; the factors of Conditional Origination (Paticcasamuppāda)¹⁶ and the Law
Redeeming all, yet strange to profit by,
As the caged bird oft shuns its opened door?
So had we missed the helpful victory
If, in this earth without a refuge, Buddh,
Winning the way, had deemed it all too hard
For mortal feet and passed, none following him.
Yet pondered the compassion of our Lord;
But in that hour there rang a voice as sharp
As cry of travail, birth-pangs¹⁷ so as if the earth
Moaned in birth throe, “Nasyami aham bhū

Nasyati lōka!” Surely i am lost,
I and my creatures: then a pause, and next
A pleading sigh borne on the western wind,

“Sruyatām dharma, Bhagwat!” Oh, Supreme!
Let thy great Law be uttered! Whereupon
The Master cast his vision forth on flesh,
Saw who should hear and who must wait to hear,
As the keen Sun gilding the lotus-lakes
Seeth which buds will open to his beams
And which are not yet risen from their roots;
Then spake, divinely smiling, “Yea! I preach!
Whoso will listen let him learn the Law.”
Afterwards passed he, said they, by the hills
Unto Benares, where he taught the Five,
Showing how birth and death should be destroyed,
And how man hath no fate except past deeds,
No Hell but what he makes, no Heaven too high
For those to reach whose passions sleep subdued.
This was the fifteenth day of Vaishya This seems to be Vaiśākha (April-May), but that was the time of the Awakening, not the first sermon, which is traditionally placed two months later on the Full-Moon day of Āṣāḍha (June-July)¹⁸

Mid-afternoon, and that night was full moon.
But, of the Rishis, first Kaundinya
Owned the Four Truths and entered on the Paths;
And after him Bhadraka, Asvajit,
Basava, v.l. Bassav, which is one syllable short¹⁹ Mahanāma; Pāḷi: Koṇḍañña, Bhaddiya, Assajī, Vappa, Mahānāma (it seems from this that Basava is to be identified with Vappa); and below Yasa²⁰ also there
Within the Deer-park, at the feet of Buddh,
Yasad the Prince with nobles fifty-four.
Hearing the blessed word our Master spake,
Worshipped and followed; for there sprang up peace
And knowledge of a new time come for men
In all who heard, as spring the flowers and grass
When water sparkles through a sandy plain.
These sixty—said they—did our Lord send forth,
Made perfect in restraint and passion-free,
To teach the Way; but the World-honoured turned
South from the Deer-park and Isipatan
To Yashti and King Bimbisāra's realm, I am unable to identify Yashti; King Bimbisāra's realm is Magadha, which was East not South of Isipatana and Bārāṇasī²¹
Where many days he taught; and after these
King Bimbisāra and his folk believed,
Learning the law of love and ordered life.
Also he gave the Master, of free gift—
Pouring forth water on the hands of Buddh—
The Bamboo-Garden, named Wéluvana,
Wherein are streams and caves and lovely glades;
And the King set a stone there, carved with this:

Yé dharma hetuppabhawá

Yesan hétun Tathágat;

Aha yesan cha yo nirodh

Ewan wadi Maha samano. Pāḷi: Ye dhammā hetuppabhavā, tesaṁ hetuṁ Tathāgato āha, tesañ-ca yo nirodho, evaṁvādī Mahāsamaṇo; whatever things have a cause and origin, the Realised One has spoken about their cause; also about their cessation, the Great Ascetic is one who speaks thus²²

“What life's course and cause sustain

These Tathāgato made plain;

What delivers from life's woe

That our Lord hath made us know.”

And, in that Garden—said they—there was held
A high Assembly, where the Teacher spake
Wisdom and power, winning all souls which heard;
So that nine hundred took the yellow robe—
Such as the Master wears,—and spread his Law;
And this the gáthá was wherewith he closed:—

Sabba pápassa akaranan;

Kusalassa upasampadá

Sa chitta pariyodapanan;

Etan Buddánusásanan.

“Evil swells the debts to pay,

Good delivers and acquits;

Shun evil, follow good; hold sway

Over thyself. This is the Way.” The first two lines are Arnold's addition to the sense, the verse only says: Not doing any bad deeds, undertaking wholesome deeds, and purifying one's mind - this is the teaching of the Buddhas²³

Whom, when they ended, speaking so of him,
With gifts, and thanks which made the jewels dull,
The Princess recompensed. “But by what road
Wendeth Travels, comes²⁴ my Lord?” she asked: the merchants said,
“Yjans threescore stretch from the city-walls
To Rajagriha, whence the easy path
Passeth by Sona hither, and the hills.
Our oxen, treading eight slow koss a day,
Came in one moon.”
Then the King, hearing word,
Sent nobles of the Court—well-mounted lords—
Nine separate messengers, each embassy
Bidden to say: “The King Suddhdana—
Nearer the pyre by seven long years of lack,
Wherethrough he hath not ceased to seek for thee—
Prays of his son to come unto his own,
The Throne and people of this longing Realm,
Lest he shall die and see thy face no more.”
Also nine horsemen sent Yasōdhara
Bidden to say, “The Princess of thy House—
Rahula's mother—craves to see thy face
As the night-blowing moon flower's swelling heart
Pines for the moon, as pale asōka-buds
Wait for a woman's foot: if thou hast found
More than was lost, she prays her part in this,
Rahula's part, but most of all thyself.”
So sped the Sākya Lords, but it befell
That each one, with the message in his mouth,
Entered the Bamboo-Garden in that hour
When Buddha taught his Law; and—hearing—each
Forgot to speak, lost thought of King and quest,
Of the sad Princess even; only gazed
Eye-rapt upon the Master; only hung
Heart-caught upon the speech, compassionate,
Commanding, perfect, pure, enlightening all,
Poured from those sacred lips. Look! like a bee
Winged for the hive, who sees the mgras A kind of jasmine, Sanskrit mallikā²⁵ spread
And scents their utter sweetness on the air,
If he be honey-filled, it matters not;
If night be nigh, near²⁶ or rain, he will not heed;
Needs must he light on those delicious blooms
And drain their nectar; so these messengers
One with another, hearing Buddha's words,
Let go the purpose of their speed, and mixed,
Heedless of all, amid the Master's train.
Wherefore the King bade that Udayi go—
Chiefest in all the Court, and faithfullest,
Siddhārtha's playmate in the happier days—
Who, as he drew anear the garden, plucked
Blown tufts of tree-wool the kapok or silk-cotton tree²⁷ from the grove and sealed
The entrance of his hearing; thus he came
Safe through the lofty peril of the place,
And told the message of the King, and hers.
Then meekly bowed his head and spake our Lord
Before the people, “Surely I shall go!
It is my duty as it was my will;
Let no man miss to render reverence
To those who lend him life, whereby come means
To live and die no more, but safe attain
Blissful Nirvāna, if ye keep the Law,
Purging past wrongs and adding nought thereto,
Complete in love and lovely charities.
Let the King know and let the Princess hear
I take the way forewith.” This told, the folk
Of white Kapilavastu and its fields
Made ready for the entrance of their Prince.
At the south gate a bright pavilion rose
With flower-wreathed pillars and the walls of silk
Wrought on their red and green with woven gold.
Also the roads were laid with scented boughs
Of neem and mango, and full mussuks shed
Sandal and jasmine on the dust, and flags
Fluttered; and on the day when he should come
It was ordained how many elephants—
With silver howdahs platforms for sitting²⁸ and their tusks gold-tipped—
Should wait beyond the ford, and where the drums
Should boom “Siddārtha cometh!” where the lords
Should light and worship, and the dancing girls
Where they should strew their flowers with dance and song,
So that the steed he rode might tramp knee-deep
In rose and balsam, a fragrant ointment²⁹ and the ways be fair;
While the town rang with music and high joy.
This was ordained and all men's ears were pricked standing up, alert³⁰
Dawn after dawn to catch the first drum's beat
Announcing, “Now he cometh!”
But it fell—
Eager to be before—Yasdhara
Rode in her litter a chair or bed carried on poles by bearers³¹ to the city-walls
Where soared the bright pavilion. All around
A beauteous garden smiled—Nigrdha named—
Shaded with bel-trees and the green-plumed dates,
New-trimmed and gay with winding walks and banks
Of fruits and flowers; for the southern road
Skirted its lawns, on this hand leaf and bloom,
On that the suburb-huts where base-borns dwelt
Outside the gates, a patient folk and poor,
Whose touch for Kshatriya and priest of Brahm

Were sore defilement. Yet those, too, were quick alive³²
With expectation, rising ere before³³ the dawn
To peer along the road, to climb the trees
At far-off trumpet of some elephant,
Or stir of temple-drum; and when none came,
Busied with lowly chores to please the Prince;
Sweeping their door-stones, setting forth their flags,
Stringing the fluted v.l. fruited³⁴ fig-leaves into chains,
New furnishing the Lingam, decking new
Yesterday's faded arc of boughs, but aye
Questioning wayfarers if any noise news³⁵
Be on the road of great Siddārtha. These
The Princess marked with lovely languid drooping³⁶ eyes,
Watching, as they, the southward plain, and bent
Like them to listen if the passers gave
News of the path. So fell it she beheld
One slow approaching with his head close shorn,
A yellow cloth over his shoulder cast,
Girt Clothed³⁷ as the hermits are, and in his hand
An earthen bowl, shaped melonwise, the which
Meekly at each hut-door he held a space,
Taking the granted dole with gentle thanks
And all as gently passing where none gave.
Two followed him wearing the yellow robe,
But he who bore the bowl so lordly seemed,
So reverend, and with such a passage moved,
With so commanding presence filled the air,
With such sweet eyes of holiness smote all,
That as they reached gave³⁸ him alms the givers gazed
Awestruck upon his face, and some bent down
In worship, and some ran to fetch fresh gifts,
Grieved to be poor; till slowly, group by group,
Children and men and women drew behind
Into his steps, whispering with covered lips,
“Who is he? who? when looked a Rishi thus?”
But as he came with quiet footfall on
Nigh Near³⁹ the pavilion, lo! the silken door
Lifted, and, all unveiled, Yasōdhara
Stood in his path crying, “Siddārtha! Lord!”
With wide eyes streaming and with close-clasped hands,
Then sobbing fell upon his feet, and lay.
Afterwards, when this weeping lady passed
Into the Noble Paths, and one had prayed
Answer from Buddha wherefore—being vowed
Quit of all mortal passion and the touch,
Flower-soft and conquering, of a woman's hands—
He suffered such embrace, the Master said:
“The greater beareth with the lesser love
So it may raise it unto easier heights. This is the doctrine of upaya, (skilful) means, which plays such a large part in the Mahāyāna texts⁴⁰
Take heed that no man, being 'scaped from bonds,
Vexeth bound souls with boasts of liberty.
Free are ye rather that your freedom spread
By patient winning and sweet wisdom's skill.
Three eras of long toil bring Bodhisāts—

Who will be guides and help this darkling world—
Unto deliverance, and the first is named
Of deep ‘Resolve,’ the second of ‘Attempt’
The third of ‘Nomination.’ I do not know of these names from anywhere else; presumably they correspond to the Pāḷi division into Dure (The Distant Past), Avidūre (The Not-so-Distant Past), and Santike (The Present Time)⁴¹ Lo! I lived
In era of Resolve, desiring good,
Searching for wisdom, but mine eyes were sealed.
Count the grey seeds on yonder castor-clump,
So many rains it is since I was Ram,
A merchant of the coast which looketh south
To Lanka and the hiding-place of pearls.
Also in that far time Yasōdhara
Dwelt with me in our village by the sea,
Tender as now, and Lukshmi was her name.
And I remember how I journeyed thence
Seeking our gain, for poor the household was
And lowly. Not the less with wistful sad, thoughtful⁴² tears
She prayed me that I should not part, nor tempt
Perils by land and water. ‘How could love
Leave what it loved?’ she wailed; yet, venturing, I
Passed to the Straits, and after storm and toil
And deadly strife with creatures of the deep,
And woes beneath the midnight and the noon,
Searching the wave I won therefrom a pearl
Moonlike and glorious, such as Kings might buy
Emptying their treasury. Then came I glad
Unto mine hills, but over all that land
Famine spread sore; ill was I stead to live Paraphrase: it was difficult to stay alive⁴³
In journey home, and hardly reached my door—
Aching for food—with that white wealth of the sea
Tied in my girdle. Yet no food was there;
And on the threshold she for whom I toiled—
More than myself—lay with her speechless lips
Nigh Near⁴⁴ unto death for one small gift of grain.
Then cried I, ‘If there be who hath of grain,
Here is a kingdom's ransom for one life;
Give Lukshmi bread and take my moonlight pearl.’
Whereat one brought the last of all his hoard,
Millet—three seers—and clutched took⁴⁵ the beauteous thing.
But Lukshmi lived and sighed with gathered life,
‘Lo! thou didst love indeed!’ I spent my pearl
Well in that life to comfort heart and mind
Else quite uncomforted; but these pure pearls,
My last great gain, won from a deeper wave—
The Twelve Nidānas Conditions or sources; the factors of Conditional Origination (Paticcasamuppāda)⁴⁶ and the Law of Good—
Cannot be spent, nor dimmed, and most fulfil
Their perfect beauty being freeliest given.
For like as is to Meru = Sumeru; a mountain in the Himālayas, now identified with Mt. Kailash (see the Maps section for more information)⁴⁷ yonder hill
Heaped by the little ants, and like as dew
Dropped in the footmark of a bounding roe a kind of deer⁴⁸
Unto the shoreless seas, so was that gift
Unto my present giving; and so love—
Vaster in being free from toils of sense—
Was wisest stooping to the weaker heart;
And so the feet of sweet Yasōdhara
Passed into peace and bliss, being softly led.”
But when the King heard how Siddārtha came
Shorn, (With head) shaved⁴⁹ with the mendicant's sad-coloured cloth,
And stretching out a bowl to gather orts left-overs from a meal, morsels⁵⁰
From base-borns’ leavings, wrathful sorrow drove
Love from his heart. Thrice on the ground he spat,
Plucked at his silvered beard, and strode straight forth
Lackeyed Accompanied⁵¹ by trembling lords. Frowning he clomb climbed⁵²
Upon his war-horse, drove the spurs, and dashed,
Angered, through wondering streets and lanes of folk
Scarce finding breath to say, “The King! bow down!”
Ere Before⁵³ the loud cavalcade had clattered by:
Which—at the turning by the Temple-wall,
Where the south gate was seen—encountered full
A mighty crowd; to every edge of it
Poured fast more people, till the roads were lost,
Blotted by that huge company which thronged
And grew, close following him whose look serene
Met the old King's. Nor lived the father's wrath
Longer than while the gentle eyes of Buddh
Lingered in worship on his troubled brows,
Then downcast sank, with his true knee, to earth
In proud humility. So dear it seemed
To see the Prince, to know him whole, to mark
That glory greater than of earthly state
Crowning his head, that majesty which brought
All men, so awed and silent, in his steps.
Nathless, Nevertheless⁵⁴ the King broke forth, “Ends it in this
That great Siddārtha steals into his realm,
Wrapt in a clout, a rag, or poor piece of cloth⁵⁵ shorn, (with head) shaved⁵⁶ sandalled, craving food
Of low-borns, he whose life was a god's?
My son! heir of this spacious power, and heir
Of Kings who did but clap their palms to have
What earth could give or eager service bring?
Thou should'st have come apparelled dressed⁵⁷ in thy rank,
With shining spears, and tramp of horse and foot.
Lo! all my soldiers camped upon the road,
And all my city waited at the gates;
Where hast thou sojourned dwelt⁵⁸ through these evil years
Whilst thy crowned father mourned? and she, too, there
Lived as the widows use, according to the custom of widows⁵⁹ foregoing joys;
Never once hearing sound of song or string,
Nor wearing once the festal robe, till now
When in her cloth of gold she welcomes home
A beggar-spouse in yellow remnants clad.
Son! why is this?”
“My Father!” came reply,
“It is the custom of my race.”
“Thy race,”
Answered the King, “counteth a hundred thrones
From Maha Sammāt, but no deed like this.”
“Not of a mortal line,” the Master said,
“I spake, but of a descent invisible,
The Buddhas who have been and who shall be:
Of these am I, and what they did I do,
And this, which now befalls, so fell before
That at his gate a King in warrior-mail
Should meet his son, a Prince in hermit-weeds;
And that, by love and self-control, being more
Than mightiest Kings in all their puissance, power⁶⁰
The appointed helper of the Worlds should bow—
As now do I—and with all lowly love
Proffer, Offer, give⁶¹ where it is owed for tender debts,
The first-fruits of the treasure he hath brought:
Which now I proffer.”
Then the King amazed
Inquired “What treasure?” and the Teacher took
Meekly the royal palm, and while they paced
Through worshipping streets—the Princess and the King
On either side—he told the things which make
For peace and pureness, those Four noble Truths
Which hold all wisdom as shores shut the seas,
Those eight right Rules whereby who will may walk—
Monarch or slave—upon the perfect Path
That hath its Stages Four and Precepts Eight, I think he means here the four stages (sotāpanna, sakadāgāmī, anāgāmī, and arahatta) and the 8 Persons (not Precepts), those on the path and those who have the fruit of the four stages⁶²
Whereby whoso will live—mighty or mean,
Wise or unlearned, man, woman, young or old—
Shall soon or late break from the wheels of life,
Attaining blest Nirvāna. So they came
Into the Palace porch, Suddhōdana
With brows unknit drinking the mighty words,
And in his own hand carrying Buddha's bowl,
Whilst a new light brightened the lovely eyes
Of sweet Yasōdhara and sunned her tears;
And that night entered they the Way of Peace. Attained Path and Fruit⁶³

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last updated: August 2008