Sakyas, and who from their well-watered rice-fields could see the giant Himalayas looming up against the clear blue of the Indian sky. Their supplies of water were drawn from the River Rohini, the modern Kohana ; and though the use of the river was in times of drought the cause of disputes between the Sakyas and the neighbouring Koliyans, the two clans were then at peace ; and two daughters of the raja of Koli, which was only 11 miles east of Kapila- vastu, were the principal wives of Suddhodana. Both were childless, and great was the rejoicing when, in about the forty-fifth year of her age, the elder sister, Mahamaya, promised her husband a son. In due time she started with the intention of being confined at her parent s home, but jthe party halting on the way under the shade of some lofty satin trees, in a pleasant garden called Lumbini on the river side, her son, the future Buddha, was there unexpectedly born. The marvellous stories which gathered round the belief in his voluntary incarnation and immacu late conception, the miracles at his birth, the prophecies of the aged saint at his formal presentation to his father, and how nature altered her course to keep a shadow over his cradle, whilst the sages from afar came and worshipped him, will be referred to hereafter under the head of later
Buddhism.He was in after years more generally known by his family name of Gautama, but his individual name was Siddhartha. When he was nineteen years old he was married to his cousin Yasodhara, daughter of the Koliyan rfija, and gave himself up to a life of Oriental luxury and delight. Soon after this, according to the southern account, his relations formally complained to the raja that his son lived entirely for pleasure without learning anything, and asked what they should do under such a leader if war arose. Gautama, hearing of this, is said to have appointed a day for a trial of his prowess, and by defeating all his competitors in manly exercises, and surpassing even his teachers in knowledge, to have won back the good opinion of the disaffected Sakyas. This is the solitary record of his youth ; we hear nothing more till, in his twenty-ninth year, it is related that, driving to his pleasure-grounds one day, he was struck by the sight of a man utterly broken down by age, on another occasion by the sight of a man suffering from a loathsome disease, and some months after by the horrible sight of a decomposing corpse. Each time his charioteer, whose name was Channa, told him that such was the fate of all living beings. Soon after he saw an ascetic walking in a calm and dignified manner, and asking who that was, was told by his charioteer the character and aims of the ascetics. The different accounts of this vary so much as to cast great doubts on their accuracy.[1] It is, however, clear from what follows, that about this time the mind of the young Rajput must, from some cause or other, have been deeply stirred. Many an earnest heart full of disappointment or enthusiasm has gone through a similar struggle, has learnt to look upon all earthly gains and hopes as worse than vanity, has envied the calm life of the cloister, troubled by none of these things, and has longed for an opportunity of entire self- surrender to abstinence and meditation.
Subjectively, though not objectively, these visions may be supposed to have appeared to Gautama. & After seeing the last of them, he is said to have spent the afternoon in his pleasure-grounds by the river side; and having bathed, to have entered his chariot in order to return home. Just then a messenger arrived with the news that his wife Yasodhara had given birth to a sou, his only child. "This," said Gautama quietly, "is a new and strong tie I shall have to break." But the people of Kapilavastu were greatly delighted at the birth of the young heir, the raja s only grandson. Gautama s return became au ova tion ; musicians preceded and followed his chariot, while shouts of joy and triumph fell on his ear. Among these sounds one especially attracted his attention". It was the voice of a young girl, his cousin, who sang a stanza, saying, " Happy the father, happy the mother, happy the wife of such a son and husband." In the word " happy " lay a double meaning ; it meant also freed from the chains of existence, delivered, saved.[2] Grateful to one who, at such a time, reminded him of his highest hopes, Gautama, to whom such things had no longer any value, took off his collar of pearls and sent it to her. She imagined this was the beginning of a courtship, and began to build day-dreams about becoming his principal wife, but he took no further notice of her and passed on. That evening the dancing-girls came to go through the Natch dances, then as now so common on festive occasions in many parts of India ; but he paid them no attention, and gradually fell into an uneasy slumber. At midnight he awoke ; the dancing-girls were lying in the ante-room ; au overpowering loathing filled his soul. He arose instantly with a mind fully made up, " roused into activity," says the Sinhalese chronicle, " like a man who is told that his house is on fire."[3] He called out to know who was on guard ; and finding it was his charioteer Channa, lie told him to saddle his horse. While Channa was gone Siddhartha gently opened the door of the room where Yasodhara was sleeping, surrounded by flowers, with one hand on the head of their child. He had hoped to take the babe in his arms, for the last time before he went, but now he stood for a few moments irresolute on the threshold looking at them. At last the fear of awakening Yasodhara, prevailed; he tore himself away, promising him self to return to them as soon as his mind had become clear, as soon as he had become a Buddha, i.e. Enlightened, and then he could return to them not only as husband and father, but as teacher and saviour. It is said to have been broad moonlight on the full moon of the month of July, when the young chief, with Channa as his sole companion, leaving his father s home, his wealth and power, his wife and child behind him went out into the wilderness to become a penniless and despised student, and a homeless wanderer. This is the circumstance which has given its name to the Sanskrit work, the fourth of those mentioned above, of which Mr Beal has given us a version through the Chinese, the Mahabhinishkramana Sutra, or Sutra of the Great Renunciation.
subjective experience given under the form of an objective reality. Mara, the great tempter, appears in the sky, and urges Gautama to stop, promising him, in seven days, a universal kingdom over the four great continents if he will but give up his enterprise. When his words fail to have any effect, the tempter consoles himself by the confident hope that he will still overcome his enemy, saying, " Sooner or later some lustful or malicious or angry thought must arise in his mind ; in that moment I shall be his master ; "
and from that hour, adds the Burmese chronicle, " as a- ↑ They all agree in making the four visions phantoms, saying that it was an angel who appeared under these forms, and was visible only to Buddha and his charioteer, who was specially inspired to say what he did. Some make all four visions appear on the same day, others on different days, and there are other discrepancies. Compare Jataka, p. 59, with Bigandet, P p. 34, 35 ; Hardv, M. B., pp. 153-155 ; Beal, pp. 107-111, and 115-123.
- ↑ The word used was nibbuta, the past participle passive of a verb, from the root of which is derived the word nirvana; in Pali, nibbana. Jataka, p. 60.
- ↑ Hardy, M. ., p. 157 ; but compare Bigandet, p. 3D, and Jalfika, p. 01, lines 28, 29. Beal, p. 131, gives a similar expression on a subsequent occasion, p. 165.
