Читать книгу 108 Buddhist Parables and Stories - Olga Gutsol - Страница 10

Siddhartha continued his search and came to a settlement of five hermits in the jungle of Uruvela. When the prince saw the life of those five men, virtuously keeping in check their senses, subduing their passions, and practising austere self-discipline, he admired their earnestness and joined their company.

With holy zeal and a strong heart, the prince gave himself up to meditative thought and rigorous mortification of the body. Whereas the five sages were severe, the prince was severer still, and they revered him, their junior, as their master.

So Siddhartha continued for six years patiently torturing himself and suppressing the worldly desires. He trained his body and exercised his mind in the modes of the most rigorous ascetic life. At last, he ate each day one hemp-grain only, seeking to cross the ocean of birth and death and to arrive at the shore of deliverance.

And when the prince was on the brink of starvation, Mara, the Evil One, approached him and said, “You are emaciated from fasts, and your death is near. What good is your exertion? Choose to live, and you will be able to do good works.”

The prince responded, “O Evil one, for what purpose did you come? Let the flesh waste away if that leads to the mind becoming more tranquil. What is life in this world? Death in battle is better to me than that I should live defeated.”

And Mara withdrew.

The prince was shrunken and attenuated, and his body was like a withered branch. The fame of his holiness spread in the surrounding countries, and people came from great distances to see him and receive his blessing.

However, the Blessed One was not satisfied. Seeking true wisdom he did not find it, and he came to the conclusion that mortification would not extinguish desire nor afford enlightenment in ecstatic contemplation.

Seated beneath a jambu tree, he considered the state of his mind and the fruits of his mortification. His body had become weaker, but his fasts had not advanced him in his search for salvation. Therefore, he saw that it was not the right path and decided to abandon it. He went to bathe in the Neranjara river, but when he strove to leave the water he could not rise on account of his weakness. Then espying the branch of a tree and taking hold of it, he raised himself and left the stream. But while returning to his abode, he staggered and fell to the ground, and the five hermits thought he was dead.

There was a chief herdsman living near the grove whose eldest daughter was called Nanda; and Nanda happened to pass by the spot where the Blessed One had swooned, and bowing down before him she offered him rice-milk and he accepted the gift. When he had partaken of the rice-milk all his limbs were refreshed, his mind became clear again.

After this happened, the Blessed One again took some food. His disciples, having witnessed the scene of Nanda and observing the change in his mode of living, were filled with suspicion. They were convinced that Siddhattha’s religious zeal was flagging and that he had become oblivious of his high purpose.

When the Blessed One saw the hermits turning away from him, he felt sorry for their lack of confidence. Suppressing his grief he wandered on alone.