Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/475

Rh shadow always follows the body, so ho too from that day always followed the Blessed One, striving to throw every obstacle in his way towards the Buddhahood.&quot; Gautama rides a long distance that night, only stopping at the banks of the Anoma beyond the Koliyan territory. There, on the sandy bank of the river, at a spot where later piety erected a dagaba (a solid dome-shaped relic shrine), he cuts off with his sword his long flowing locks, and taking off his ornaments, sends them and the horse back in charge of the unwilling Channa to Kapilavastu. The next seven days were spent alone in a grove of mango trees near by, whence the ascetic walks on to Rajagriha, the capital of Magadha, and residence of Bimbisara, one of the then most powerful rulers in the valley of the Ganges. He was favourably received by the raja, a friend of his father s ; but though asked to do so, he would not as yet assume the responsibilities of a teacher. He attached himself first to a Brahman sophist named AlFira, and afterwards to another named Uclraka, from whom he learnt all that Hindu philosophy had then to teach. Still unsatisfied, he next retired to the jungle of Uruvela, on the most northerly spur of the Yindhya range of moun tains, and there for six years, attended by five faithful disciples, he gave himself up to the severest penance and self-torture, till his fame as an ascetic spread in all the country round about &quot; like the sound,&quot; says the Burmese chronicle &quot;of a great bell hung in the canopy of the skies.&quot; At last one day, when he was walking in a much enfeebled state, he felt on a sudden an extreme weakness, like that caused by dire starvation, and unable to stand any longer he fell to the ground. Some thought he was dead, but he recovered, and from that time took regular food and gave up his severe penance, so much so that his five disciples soon ceased to respect him, and leaving him went to Benares. There now ensued a second struggle in Gautama s mind, described in both southern and northern accounts with all the wealth of poetry and imagination of which the Indian mind is master. The crisis culminated on a day, each event of which is surrounded in the Buddhist accounts with the wildest legends, on which the very thoughts pass ing through the mind of Buddha appear in gorgeous descriptions ns angels of darkness or of light. To us, now taught by the experiences of centuries how weak such exaggerations are compared with the effect of a plain unvarnished tale, these legends may appear childish or absurd, but they have a depth of meaning to those who strive to read between the lines of such rude and inarticu late attempts to describe the indescribable. That which (the previous and subsequent career of the teacher being borne in mind) seems to be possible and even probable, appears to be somewhat as follows. Disenchanted and dissatisfied, Gautama had given up all that most men value, to seek peace in secluded study and self-denial. Failing to attain his object by learning the wisdom of others, and living the simple life of a student, he had devoted himself to that intense meditation and penance which all philosophers then said would raise men above the gods. Still unsatisfied, longing always for a certainty that seemed ever just beyond his grasp, he had added vigil to vigil, and penance to penance, until at last, when to the wondering view of others he had become more than a saint, his bodily strength and his indomitable resolution and faith had together suddenly and completely broken down. Then, when the sympathy of others would have been most welcome, he found his friends falling away from him, and his disciples leaving him for other teachers. Soon after, if not on the very day when his followers had left him, he wandered out towards the banks of the Nairanjara, receiving his morning meal from the hands of Sujata, the daughter of a neighbouring villager, and set himself down to eat it under the shade of a large tree (a Ficus religiosa], to be known from that time as the sacred Bo tree or tree of wisdom. There he remained through the long hours of that day debating with himself what next to do. All his old temptations came back upon him with renewed force. For years he had looked at all earthly good through the medium of a philosophy which taught him that it, without exception, contained within itself the seeds of bitterness, and was altogether worthless and impermanent ; but now to his wavering faith the sweet delights of home and love, the charms of wealth and power, began to show themselves in a different light, and glow again with attractive colours. He doubted, and agonized in his doubt ; but as the sun set, the religious side of his nature had won the victory, and seems to have come out even purified from the struggle. He had become clear in his mind, the Buddha, the Enlightened One, and had determined in the main to adhere to his belief; but from that night he not only did not claim any merit on account of his self- mortification, but took every opportunity of declaring that from such penances no advantage at all would be derived. All that night he is said to have remained in deep medita tion under the Bo tree ; and the orthodox Buddhists believe that for seven times seven nights and days he continued fasting near the spot, when the archangel Brahma came and ministered to him. As for himself, his heart was now fixed, his mind was made up, but he realized more than he had ever done before the power of temptation, and the difficulty, the almost impossibility, of understanding and holding to the truth. For others subject to the same temptations, but without that earnestness and insight which he felt himself to possess, faith might be quite impossible, and it would only be waste of time and trouble to try to show to them &quot; the only path of peace.&quot; To one in his position this thought would be so very natural, that we need not hesitate to accept the fact of its occurrence as related in the books. It is quite consistent with his whole career that it was love and pity for humanity otherwise, as it seemed to him, helplessly doomed and lost which at last overcame every other consideration, and made Gautama resolve to announce his doctrine to the world. Gautama had intended to proclaim his new gospel first to his old teachers Alara and Udraka, but finding that they were dead, he determined to address himself to his former five disciples, and accordingly went to the Deer- forest near Benares where they were then living. An old 