ing and sceptical thoughts.
or
of an eternal life
f sup
es
hā‐
e w
~ 20 ~
T
HE UNREASONABLE CHILD
A
FTER THE BUDDHA HAD ended his discourse,
Kāmanīta remained sitting for a long time, silent and
motionless, a prey to conflict
Finally he said: “You have told me much of how the
monk should make an end of suffering in his lifetime,
but nothing whatever of what becomes of him when his
body disintegrates in death and returns to its elements,
except that from that time on neither people nor gods, n
even Nature Herself, sees him again. But
o
reme happiness and heavenly bliss — of that I have
heard nothing. Has the Master revealed nothing
concerning it?”
*
*
*
“Even so, brother, thus it is: the Tathāgata has
revealed nothing concerning it.”
“That is as much as to say that the Lord Buddha
knows no more of this most important of all questions
than I myself,” replied Kāmanīta discontentedly.
“Do you think it to be so...? In that same Simsapā
wood in the neighbourhood of Kosambī, where you and
your Vāsitthī swore eternal fidelity and pledged yourselv
to meet again in the Paradise of the West, there the Tat
gata at one time took up his abode. As he walked through
th
ood he picked up a bundle of Simsapā leaves in his
159
hand and said to the monks with him — ‘’What do you
think, bhikkhus, which are more numerous, these Simsapā
r all the other leaves in
e fo
Sir,
is
ich I have revealed to you.
nd w
not
to the turning
way
ct to
age
you
ave
five
t have been denied and rejected as
ff‐
leaves which I have in my hand, o
th
rest?’ Immediately they answered — ‘The leaves
which you have in your hand are very few, Venerable
whereas the leaves in the Simsapā forest are far more
numerous.’
“‘In the same way, bhikkhus,’ said the Tathāgata,
‘that which I have discerned and yet not revealed to you
far greater in sum than that wh
A
hy have I not revealed everything? Because it is
helpful spiritually, it is not in keeping with the path of
simplicity and renunciation, it does not lead
a
from all worldly things, nor to the letting go of
passions, nor to the final disowning of all that is subje
change, nor to perfect knowledge and enlightenment — it
does not aid the realisation of Nirvāna.’”
“If the Master spoke thus in the Simsapā grove at
Kosambī,” answered Kāmanīta, “then the matter is pro‐
bably even more serious still. For in that case, he has
certainly been silent on the point in order not to discour
or, as might well happen, even terrify his disciples; as
he certainly would, if he should reveal to them his version
of the Final Truth — namely, annihilation. This seems to
me to result as a necessary consequence from what
h
so plainly stated. For, after all the objects of the
senses and of though
fleeting, as without any real existence and as full of su
ering, there remain no powers by means of which we could
grasp anything whatsoever.
“So I understand, Venerable Sir, from the doctrine
you have just expounded to me, that those who have
freed themselves from all delusion fall victim to annihil‐
ation when the body dies, that they vanish and have no
existence beyond death.”
160
“Did you not say to me,” asked the Buddha, “that
you would see the Tathāgata as
eing
of the body with all its qualities of
m
within a month you would sit at the feet of the Master in
the Grove of Jetavana near Sāvatthi?”
“I assuredly hope to do so, Venerable Sir; why do
you ask me?”
“When you sit at the feet of the Tathāgata, what do
you think, my friend — is the physical form which you
will see then, which you will be able to touch with your
hand — along with the mind that then reveals itself, with
its sensations, perceptions and ideas — do you see that as
being the Tathāgata, the Perfect One, do you look upon it
as such?”
“I do not, Venerable Sir.”
“Perhaps then,
b
in the body and mind — do you look upon it like
that?”
“I do not, Venerable Sir.”
“Then may it be, my friend, that you see the
Tathāgata as apart from the body and the mind?”
“I do not look upon it in that light, Venerable Sir.”
“Do you think, then, that the Tathāgata is the
owner of that body and that mind? Is that your view, my
friend?”
“That is not the way I see it, Venerable Sir.”
“Do you see the Tathāgata then, as having no body
and no mind?”
“He is apart from them insofar as his being is not
fully comprehended within those elements.”
“What elements or powers have you then, my
friend, apart from those
which we are aware through the senses, and apart fro
those of the mind with all its sensations, perceptions and
ideas — what powers have you beyond these, by means
of which you can fully apprehend what you have not yet
apprehended in the being of the Tathāgata?”
161