DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45392#0049
The Search for the Way of Escape
maintain that the absolute attainment of our end is only
to be found in the abandonment of everything.” 1
And now leaving the hermitages of Rajagaha the Bodhi-
satta, seeking something beyond, repaired to a forest near
to the village of Uruvela and there abode on the pure bank
of the Nairanjana. There five wanderers, begging hermits,
came to him, for they were persuaded that ere long he would
attain enlightenment: and the leader of these was Kondanna,
the erstwhile Brahman soothsayer who had prophesied at
the festival of the Bodhisatta’s name day. And now
thinking: “ This may be the means to conquer birth and
death,” Gautama for six years practised there an austere
rule of fasting and of mortification, so that his glorious
body wasted away to skin and bone. He brought himself
to feed on a single sesamum seed or a grain of rice,
until one day, as he paced to and fro, he was overcome by
a severe pain, and fainted and fell. Then certain of the
Devas exclaimed “ Gautama is dead ! ” and some reported
it to Suddhodana the king at Kapilavatthu. But he
replied: “ I may not believe it. Never would my son die
without attaining enlightenment.” For he did not forget
the miracle at the foot of the Jambu-tree, nor the day when
the great sage Kala Devala had been compelled to offer
homage to the child. And the Bodhisatta recovered,
and stood up; and again the gods reported it to the king.
Now the fame of the Bodhisatta’s exceeding penances
became spread abroad, as the sound of a great bell is
1 We recognize here the critical moment where Buddhist and Brahman
thought part company on the question of the Atman. Whether Alara
failed to emphasize the negative aspect of the doctrine of the Brahman, or
Gautama (who is represented as so far entirely innocent of Brahmanical
philosophy) failed to distinguish the neuter Brahman from the god
Brahma, we cannot tell. The question is discussed at greater length
in Part III, Chapter IV. (p. 198 f.)
29
maintain that the absolute attainment of our end is only
to be found in the abandonment of everything.” 1
And now leaving the hermitages of Rajagaha the Bodhi-
satta, seeking something beyond, repaired to a forest near
to the village of Uruvela and there abode on the pure bank
of the Nairanjana. There five wanderers, begging hermits,
came to him, for they were persuaded that ere long he would
attain enlightenment: and the leader of these was Kondanna,
the erstwhile Brahman soothsayer who had prophesied at
the festival of the Bodhisatta’s name day. And now
thinking: “ This may be the means to conquer birth and
death,” Gautama for six years practised there an austere
rule of fasting and of mortification, so that his glorious
body wasted away to skin and bone. He brought himself
to feed on a single sesamum seed or a grain of rice,
until one day, as he paced to and fro, he was overcome by
a severe pain, and fainted and fell. Then certain of the
Devas exclaimed “ Gautama is dead ! ” and some reported
it to Suddhodana the king at Kapilavatthu. But he
replied: “ I may not believe it. Never would my son die
without attaining enlightenment.” For he did not forget
the miracle at the foot of the Jambu-tree, nor the day when
the great sage Kala Devala had been compelled to offer
homage to the child. And the Bodhisatta recovered,
and stood up; and again the gods reported it to the king.
Now the fame of the Bodhisatta’s exceeding penances
became spread abroad, as the sound of a great bell is
1 We recognize here the critical moment where Buddhist and Brahman
thought part company on the question of the Atman. Whether Alara
failed to emphasize the negative aspect of the doctrine of the Brahman, or
Gautama (who is represented as so far entirely innocent of Brahmanical
philosophy) failed to distinguish the neuter Brahman from the god
Brahma, we cannot tell. The question is discussed at greater length
in Part III, Chapter IV. (p. 198 f.)
29