Even what the world calls ‘self’ is in fact unsatisfactory;
For no matter upon what it conceives (its conceits of identity),
The fact is ever other than that (which it conceives).
The world, whose being is to become other,
Is committed to being, is exposed to being, relishes only being,
Yet what it relishes brings fear, and what it fears is pain.
Now this holy life is lived to abandon suffering.
Whatever monks or brahmins have described liberation
from being to come about through (love of) being, none, I say,
are liberated from being. And whatever monks or brahmins have
described escape from being to come about through (love of)
non‐being, none, I say, have escaped from being. Through the
essentials of existence, suffering is; with all clinging exhausted,
suffering is no more.
Whatever states of being there are,
of any kind, anywhere,
all are impermanent, pain‐haunted
and subject to change.
One who sees this as it is
thus abandons craving for existence,
without relishing non‐existence.
The remainderless fading, cessation, Nirvāna,
comes with the utter ending of all craving.
Another passage, from ‘The Sayings of the Buddha,’ Iti.
49, might also help to illuminate this subtle subject: “Bhikkhus,
held by two kinds of views, some devas and human beings
hold back and some overreach; only those with vision see.
“And how, bhikkhus, do some hold back? Devas and
humans enjoy being, delight in being, are satisfied with being.
When Dhamma is taught to them for the cessation of being,
their minds do not enter into it or acquire confidence in it or
settle upon it or become resolved upon it. Thus, bhikkhus, do
some hold back.
“How, bhikkhus, do some overreach? Now some are
troubled, ashamed and disgusted by this very same being and
they rejoice in (the idea of) non‐being, asserting: ‘In as much as
this self, good sirs, when the body perishes at death, is
annihilated and destroyed and does not exist after death — this
is peaceful, this is excellent, this is reality!’ Thus, bhlkkhus, do
some overreach.
442
“How, bhikkhus, do those with vision see? Herein a
bhikkhu sees what has come to be as having come to be.
Having seen it thus, he practises the course for turning away,
for dispassion, for the cessation of what has come to be. Thus,
bhikkhus, do those with vision see.’” (See also Chapter 20, note
§6.)
9. Page 292, like one who hears a new song utterly
unlike any other… Vāsitthī’s reference here, returning to the
counterpoint with the Christian tradition, sounds very
reminiscent of the words of Psalm 149, verse 1: “Praise ye the
Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song…”
10. Page 293, a shimmer of something infinitely higher
had shone in my eyes… Vāsitthī’s experience here is akin to
that expressed by the Buddha to Māgandiya, at M 75.12, (quoted
at Chapter 20, note §13).
CHAPTER 37: THE BLOSSOMS OF PARADISE WITHER
1. Page 298, if all this were lasting and did not pass
away, there could be nothing higher… This phrase
resonates one of the most important passages in the collection
of Inspired Utterances, Ud. 8.1: “There is an Ultimate Reality:
Unborn, Uncreated, Unconditioned and Unformed. If there were
not, there would be no escape possible here for one who is
born, created, conditioned and formed. But, since there is this
Ultimate Reality: Unborn, Uncreated, Unconditioned and
Unformed, escape is possible for one who is born, created,
conditioned and formed.”
It also is close in spirit to the teaching that the Buddha
gave to the deluded Brahmā god Baka, who was under the
impression that he was the Creator and in the highest state of
being — we will come across references to this incident a few
more times before our tale is done. The story is found at M 49.26
and at S 6.4
2. Page 298, beyond it there is that which knows neither
genesis nor decay… This passage also comes from the Inspired
443
Utterances, at Ud. 8.3: “There is that sphere of being where
there is no earth, no water, no fire nor wind; no experience of
infinity of space, of infinity of consciousness, of no‐thingness
or even of the state of neither‐perception‐nor‐non‐perception;
there is there neither this world nor another world, neither moon
nor sun; this sphere of being I call neither a coming nor a going
nor a staying still, neither a dying nor a reappearance; it has no
basis, no evolution and no support: it is the end of suffering.”
3. Page 298, what the Master calls ‘joy in the transient’…
This is a quote from the Salāyatana‐vibhanga Sutta, M 137.11:
“When, by knowing the impermanence, change, fading away
and cessation of forms, sounds, odours, flavours, tangibles and
mind‐objects, one sees as it actually is with proper wisdom that
forms etc. both formerly and now are all impermanent, unsatis‐
factory and subject to change, then joy arises. Such joy as this
is called joy based on renunciation.”
There is also a passage that bears some resemblance to
it in the Dhammapada, at Dhp. 277:
All is transient —
one who sees this
has transcended sorrow.
This awareness
is the clear and open Path.
4. Page 299, samanas who fixed heart and mind upon
returning to existence in the kingdom of the Hundred‐
thousandfold Brahmā… There is a passage in the Sankhārupapatti
Sutta (‘The Discourse on Reappearance by Aspiration’) at M 120.18,
which is particularly pertinent to our tale — K.G. definitely had
this as his source for the mise en scène of the latter part of his book;
because of this it is worth quoting at length here.
The Buddha describes the way leading to reappearance
in the world of the Hundred‐thousandfold Brahmā thus:
“Bhikkhus, I shall teach you reappearance in accordance with
one’s aspiration… Again, a bhikkhu possesses faith, virtue,
learning, generosity and wisdom. He hears that the Hundred‐
thousandfold Brahmā is long‐lived, beautiful and enjoys great
happiness. Now the Hundred‐thousandfold Brahmā abides
intent on pervading a world‐system of a hundred‐thousand
444
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