Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 17.djvu/23

 mination to sloth, [i 7.] Do thou, therefore, O Sona, be steadfast in evenness of determination, press through to harmony of your mental powers. Let that be the object of your thought ^ !'

'Even so, Lord!' said the venerable Sona, and hearkened to the word of the Blessed One.

And when the Blessed One had exhorted the venerable Sona with this exhortation, then, as quickly as a strong man can stretch forth his arm, or can draw it back again when it has been stretched forth, he vanished from the presence of the venerable Sona in the Sltavana grove, and reappeared on the hill of the Vulture s Peak.

18. Thenceforward the venerable So«a was steadfast in evenness of determination, he pressed through to harmony of his mental powers, that did he take as the object of his thought. And the venerable Sona remaining alone and separate, earnest, zealous, and resolved, attained ere long to that supreme goal of the higher life for the sake of which noble youths go out from all and every household gain and comfort to become houseless wanderers—yea, that supreme goal did he, by himself, and while yet in this visible world, bring himself to the knowledge of, and continue to realise, and to see face to face 1 And he became conscious that rebirth was at an end, that the higher life had been fulfilled, that all that should be done had been accomplished, and that after this present life there would be no beyond!

Buddhaghosa says : Tattha ^a nimittaw ga;ihdh!ti : tasmiw samathe sati yena dddse mukhabimbeil' eva nimittena VLppsiggitabbam, tam samatha-nimitta^Ti vipassand-nimittam magga-nimitta/n phala-nimittafi ^a gznhihl nipattetiti (? nipphadehiti, nibbattehtti) attho.