words: craving for sensual pleasu e, the craving for exist‐
ence or the craving for annihilation. That is, brother, the
Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering.
“But what, brother, is the Noble Truth of the
Cessation of Suffering? It is the complete fading away and
cessation of that very craving; its bandonment and relin‐
quishment; the freedom from and
scarding of it. That is,
brother, the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering.
“But what, brother, is the Noble Truth of the Path
which leads to the Cessation of Suffering? It is the Noble
Eightfold Path consisting of Righ
Right Intention,
Right Speech, Right Action, Right
Right Effort,
Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration. That is, brother,
the Noble Truth of the Path which leads to the Cessation
of Suffering.”
After the Master had in this
set up the four
corner‐stones, he proceeded to raise the whole structure
of the Teaching in such a way as to make it a habitable
home for the thoughts and feelings of his pupil. He eluci‐
dated each separate sentence as a
mason hews and
polishes each individual stone, and just as one lays one
stone upon another so did he join sentence to sentence,
everywhere laying down the foundations carefully and
fitting each sentence into its own proper place, in its due
relation to every other. By the side of the pillar of the
Principle of Suffering he placed the pillar of the Principle
of the Transitoriness of All Things; and, as an entablature
joining the two, while supported by and overarching
them, he added the weighty Principle of the Selflessness
of Phenomena. Through this mighty portal he ascended,
leading his pupil circumspectly, step by step, several times
up and down the well‐built stair the fundamental law of
conditionality — Dependent Origination — everywhere
establishing and perfecting.
And just as an able builder,
hen erecting some
r
a
di
t View,
Livelihood,
way
skilled
of
w
154
magnificent structure, adds piece of statuary at suitable
points and in such a way that the serve not only as
ornaments but also as bearers of supports, so too the
Master at times introduced
ing or ingenious
analogy, conscious that by
thod the veiled mean‐
ing of ma
profound utterance can become clear.
Fin
at
me time, as it were, covered the structure over by
rds:
t‐
er‐
is
ne who
as found a freedom which stands true and
violable. For that which is deceptive and fleeting is false,
ha
n undeceptive nature is the
upreme Noble Truth — that is to say: Nirvāna.
e and to death, marking
ell t
ns
us
s
y
an amus
such me
ny a
ally, however, he summed the whole up and
the sa
placing upon it a resplendent, far‐seen dome in the wo
“By attachment to existence, friend, one comes into
existence; lacking such attachment one comes into exis
ence no more.
“And in the seeker who is nowhere held fast by
such attachments, there grows amid the unclouded che
fulness of inner peace this realisation — ‘My deliverance
unassailable, this is the last birth of all, now there will be
no more coming into any state of being.’
“The one who has come thus far awakens to the
highest wisdom. And this, friend, is the highest, holiest
wisdom:— To know that all suffering is ended. O
has found this h
in
my friend; and that which
s a
S
“And one, who from the very beginning was
subject to birth, the changes of ag
w
he remorselessness of the Law of Nature, now wi
the safety that knows no birth, no ageing and no death.
One who was subject to sickness and corruption th
reaches the assurance that knows no change, that is pure
and holy — such a one knows, with absolute certainty:
“‘Birth is destroyed, the knowledge of freedom is
clear; the holy life has been fulfilled, what had to be done
has been done, there is no more of this to come — the
world has been utterly transcended.’
155
“Such ones, my friend, are called ‘Finishers’ because
use
eded out the plant of life by the roots
o tha
py
and
they have finished and made an end of all suffering.
“Such ones, my friend, are called ‘Obliterators’
because they have obliterated the delusion of ‘I’ and
‘Mine.’
“Such ones, my friend, are called ‘Weeders’ beca
they have we
s
t no new life can ever germinate again.
“So long as they are in the body, such ones are
seen by gods and humans; but when the body is dissolved
in death they are no longer seen by anyone at all — and
neither even does Mother Nature — the All‐seeing — es
them any more. Such ones have also blinded the eye of
Māra, escaped from the Evil One, the Lord of Illusion
the Sensory World. Crossing the stream of existence they
have reached the Island — the only one — that lies
beyond ageing and death: Nirvāna.”
156