Читать книгу 108 Buddhist Parables and Stories - Olga Gutsol - Страница 12

Siddhartha, having put Mara to flight, gave himself up to meditation. All the miseries of the world, the evils produced by evil deeds and the sufferings arising therefrom, passed before his eye, and he uttered, “Surely if living creatures saw the results of all their evil deeds, they would turn away from them in disgust. But selfhood blinds them, and they cling to their desires. They crave pleasure for themselves and they cause pain to others; when death destroys their individuality, they find no peace; their thirst for existence abides and their selfhood reappears in new births. Thus they continue to move in the coil and can find no escape from the hell of their own making. And how empty are their pleasures, how vain are their endeavors! The world is full of evil and sorrow, because it is full of lust. Men go astray because they think that delusion is better than truth.”

And he began to expound the Dharma, the universal law of nature. Pondering on the origin of birth and death, the prince recognized that ignorance was the root of all evil; and these are the links in the development of life, called the twelve nidanas: In the beginning there is existence blind and without knowledge; and in this sea of ignorance there are stirrings formative and organizing. From stirrings, formative and organizing, rises awareness or feelings. Feelings beget organisms that live as individual beings. These organisms develop the six fields, that is, the five senses and the mind. The six fields come in contact with things. Contact begets sensation. Sensation creates the thirst of individualized being. The thirst of being creates a cleaving to things. The cleaving produces the growth and continuation of selfhood. Selfhood continues in renewed birth. The renewed births of selfhood are the causes of sufferings, old age, sickness, and death. They produce lamentation, anxiety, and despair.

Remove ignorance, the cause of sorrows, and you will destroy the wrong desires that rise from ignorance; destroy these desires and you will wipe out the wrong perception that rises from them. Destroy wrong perception and there is an end of errors in individualized beings. Destroy the errors in individualized beings and the illusions of the six fields will disappear. Destroy illusions and the contact with things will cease to beget misconception. Destroy misconception and you do away with thirst. Destroy thirst and you will be free of all morbid cleaving. Remove the cleaving and you destroy the selfishness of selfhood. If the selfishness of selfhood is destroyed you will be above birth, old age, disease, and death, and you will escape all suffering.

Siddhartha saw the four noble truths which point out the path to liberation and uttered this verse:

Blessed is he who understood the Dharma. Blessed is he who does no harm to his fellow-beings and conquered all selfishness and vanity.

Thus Siddhartha has become the Buddha, the Enlightened One, the Blessed One and uttered, “I have recognized the deepest truth, which is sublime and peace-giving, but difficult to understand; as most men move in a sphere of worldly interests and find their delight in worldly desires. There is self and there is truth. Where self is, truth is not. Where truth is, self is not. The attainment of truth is possible only when self is recognized as an illusion. Righteousness can be practiced only when the mind is freed from passions. Perfect peace can dwell only where all vanity has disappeared.The task is impossible for the ones who search happiness in selfhood only. The bliss that lies in a complete surrender to truth. The truth remains hidden from the ones who are blinded by craving and aversion. Liberation remains incomprehensible and mysterious to the vulgar whose minds are clouded with worldly interests. Should I preach the doctrine of Dharma and mankind not comprehend it, it would bring me trouble.”

On hearing these words of the Blessed One, Mara, the Evil One, approached and said, “Be greeted, the Enlightened One. You have attained the highest bliss and it is time for you to enter into the final stage of liberation.”

Suddenly, Brahma Sahampati descended from the heavens and said, “Alas! The world must perish, should the Blessed One decide not to teach the Dharma. Be merciful to those that struggle; have compassion upon the sufferers; pity the creatures who are hopelessly entangled in the snares of sorrow. There are some beings that are almost free from the dust of worldliness. If they do not hear the doctrine preached, they will be lost.”

The Blessed One, full of compassion, looked upon all sentient creatures with his spiritual eye, and saw among them beings whose minds were but scarcely covered by the dust of worldliness. He saw some who were conscious of the dangers of lust and wrong doing, and replied to Brahma Sahampati, “Wide open be the door of immortality to all who have ears to hear. May they receive the Dharma.”

Then the Buddha turned to Mara, saying, “I shall not pass into the final stage of liberation, O Evil One, until the knowledge of truth shall have become successful, prosperous, widespread, and popular among men!”

Brahma Sahampati understood that the Blessed One had granted his request and would preach the doctrine.