Page:Buddhist Birth Stories, or, Jātaka Tales.djvu/273

Rh It was when the Buddha had finished this discourse, that he, as Buddha, uttered the following verse —

3. If in this present time of Grace, You fail to reach the Happy State; Long will you suffer deep Remorse Like this trading man of Seriva.

So the Teacher, discoursing in such a manner as to lead up to the subject of Arahatship, dwelt on the Four Truths. And at the end of the discourse the monk who had given up in despondency was established in the highest Fruit — that is, in Nirvāna.

And when the Teacher had told the double story, he made the connexion, and summed up the Jātaka by concluding, "The then foolish dealer was Devadatta, but the wise dealer was I myself."

END OF THE STORY OF THE MERCHANT OF SĒRI.

1 What the Happy State is will perhaps best be understood from the enumeration of its six divisions: 1. Faith. 2. Modesty. 3. Fear of sinning. 4. Learning. 5. Energy. 6. Presence of Mind. This Happy State can only be reached in a birth as a man. If being born as a man, one neglects the salvation then within one's reach, one may pass many ages in other births before a "time of grace" comes round again. It is folly to expect salvation in some other and future world; it can only be gained here, and now.