that person doing what should be done with that raft?” He then points
out that it would be the wiser thing to do to haul the raft onto dry land,
or to set it adrift, and then go about one’s business; adding, most
importantly: “So I have shown you how the Dhamma is similar to a raft,
being for the purpose of crossing over, not for the purpose of grasping.”
11. Page 360, Thus there is perfect understanding at last…
There is another instance of this abstruse way of referring to the
realisation of the Truth, which occurs when a bhikkhu called
Sona Kolivisa goes to inform the Buddha of his attainment of
enlightenment; it is found in the books of monastic discipline at
MV 5.28. The Buddha congratulates him on the way he speaks
of his experience, explaining that he praises him because —
“The Goal is spoken of, yet no sense of self is implied.”
12. Page 360, Then Vāsitthī flung her own corporeal
substance into the astral mass of the vision… According
to the Buddhist understanding of things, the only instance where
suicide would be an entirely wholesome act is when the person
is an Arahant — a completely enlightened being. There are a
few instances mentioned in the Theravāda texts where Arahants
took their own lives; almost invariably they were terminally ill
and acted to lessen the burden of pain and difficulty on those
around them. One such incident, describing the last days of the
bhikkhu Vakkali, is found at §87 in the ‘Collection of Sayings
on Elements,‘ S 22.87.
CHAPTER 45: NIGHT AND MORNING IN THE SPHERES
1. Page 363, Kāmanīta was left behind — alone, in
universal night… In the
Maitri Upanishad, at verse 6.17, it
says — “At the end of the worlds, all things sleep; He alone is
awake in Eternity.” Here the text is referring to Brahman, the
Spirit Supreme of the Hindu scriptures.
2. Page 364, But what can life be to me without Vāsitthī…
On a similar theme, here is Richard Wagner, a European voice
of the author’s vintage and also a great devotee of Schopenhauer.
This is his original draft for the ending of ‘The Twilight of the
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Gods,’ (apparently it was never used because his wife, Cosima,
did not approve of it so a new version was written):
Were I no longer to fare to Valhalla’s fortress,
do you know whither I would fare?
I depart from the home of desire,
I flee forever from the home of delusion;
the open gates of eternal becoming
I close behind me.
To the holiest chosen land,
free from desire and delusion,
the goal of world‐wandering,
redeemed from rebirth,
the enlightened one now goes.
The blessèd end of all things eternal:
do you know how I attained it?
Grieving love’s deepest suffering
opened my eyes:
I saw the world end.
3. Page 364, ‘There is an Eternal and a way to the
Eternal…’ The entire ‘Collection of Sayings on the
Unconditioned’ (S 43) begins with statements phrased in this
way; e.g. “I will teach you the Unconditioned/ Unfading/
Deathless/Release etc. and the path that leads to it.” In this
Collection there are numerous synonyms used by the Buddha
for the goal of the spiritual life.
4. Page 364, round about the heart are spun a hundred
fine arteries… This principle — which was mentioned before on p. 95,
para. 1 — comes from the Hindu scriptures. It is mentioned, for example,
in the Chāndogya Upanishad 8.6, in the Katha Upanishad at 1.6.16 and
in the Brihadāranyaka Upanishad at 4.4.8 — these are on pp. 195‐6, 299
and 497 of Deussen’s ‘Sixty Upanishads of the Veda.’
5. Page 365, “Sandhyas! Sandhyas! Sandhyas!”… This is
a Sanskrit word meaning ‘twilight,’ ‘the period between æons,’
473
‘a period of junction.’ The daily prayers recited at dawn, noon,
sunset and midnight are called ‘Sandhyas.’
6. Page 365, “Wake up, all you beings!… There are some
interesting parallels and interrelationships depicted here: both
Hindu and Buddhist cosmologies are structured around the idea
of an endless cycle of universes coming into being, expanding
to a limit and then collapsing into a spaceless, timeless cosmic
night; only to burst forth again into being. The image that the
author presents here, from the brahmās’ point of view, is very
close to the traditional Hindu scriptures. The pattern of the same
events, from Kāmanīta’s perspective, represents the Buddhist
take on things.
There are a couple of very notable passages that outline
the Buddha’s understanding of this: in the
Brahmajāla Sutta
(‘The All‐embracing Net of Views’) at D 1.2.2‐6, and in the
Aggañña Sutta (‘On the Knowledge of Beginnings’) at D 27.10.
This quotation is from the former: “There comes a time,
bhikkhus, sooner or later after a long period, when this universe
contracts. At a time of contraction, beings are mostly born in the
Ābhassarā brahmā world. And there they dwell, mind‐made,
feeding on delight, self‐luminous, moving through the air,
glorious — and they stay like that for a very long time.
“But the time comes, sooner or later after a long period,
when this universe begins to expand. In this expanding world
an empty palace of Brahmā appears. And then one being, from
the exhaustion of his lifespan or his merits, falls from the
Ābhassarā world and arises in the empty brahmā palace. And
there he dwells, mind‐made, feeding on delight, self‐luminous,
moving through the air, glorious — and he stays like that for a
very long time.
“Then in this being who has been alone for so long there
arises unrest, discontent and worry, and he thinks — ‘Oh, if
only some other beings would come here!’ And other beings,
from the exhaustion of their lifespan or their merits, fall from
the Ābhassarā world and arise in the brahmā palace as
companions for this being. And there they dwell, mind‐made,
feeding on delight, self‐luminous, moving through the air,
glorious — and they stay like that for a very long time.
“And then, bhikkhus, that being who first arose there
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