DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45392#0059
The Supreme Enlightenment
And when they could not shake the Bodhisatta’s calm,
they were filled with shame, and abashed: and they made
a prayer to the Bodhisatta, wishing him the fruition of
his labour:
That which your heart desires, may you attain,
Andfinding for yourself deliverance, deliver all! 1
And now the hosts of heaven, seeing the army of Mara
defeated, and the wiles of the daughters of Mara vain,
assembled to honour the Conqueror, they came to the foot
of the Tree of Wisdom and cried for joy:
The Blessed Buddha—he hath prevailed!
And the Tempter is overthrown!
The victory was achieved while the sun was yet above
the horizon. The Bodhisatta sank into ever deeper and
deeper thought. In the first watch of the night he reached
the Knowledge of Former States of being, in the middle
watch he obtained the heavenly eye of Omniscient Vision,
and in the third watch he grasped the perfect under-
standing of the Chain of Causation which is the Origin of
Evil, and thus at break of day he attained to Perfect
Enlightenment. Therewith there broke from his lips the
song of triumph:
Through many divers births I passed
Seeking in vain the builder of the housed
1 According to other books the temptation by the daughters of Mara
!s subsequent to the Supreme Enlightenment. In Plate A the Temp-
tation by the Daughters of Mara takes place in the fifth week of the
Forty-nine Days.
2 The house is, of course, the house—or rather the prison—of indi-
vidual existence : the builder of the house is desire (tanha)—the will to
enjoy and possess. See p. 97.
35
And when they could not shake the Bodhisatta’s calm,
they were filled with shame, and abashed: and they made
a prayer to the Bodhisatta, wishing him the fruition of
his labour:
That which your heart desires, may you attain,
Andfinding for yourself deliverance, deliver all! 1
And now the hosts of heaven, seeing the army of Mara
defeated, and the wiles of the daughters of Mara vain,
assembled to honour the Conqueror, they came to the foot
of the Tree of Wisdom and cried for joy:
The Blessed Buddha—he hath prevailed!
And the Tempter is overthrown!
The victory was achieved while the sun was yet above
the horizon. The Bodhisatta sank into ever deeper and
deeper thought. In the first watch of the night he reached
the Knowledge of Former States of being, in the middle
watch he obtained the heavenly eye of Omniscient Vision,
and in the third watch he grasped the perfect under-
standing of the Chain of Causation which is the Origin of
Evil, and thus at break of day he attained to Perfect
Enlightenment. Therewith there broke from his lips the
song of triumph:
Through many divers births I passed
Seeking in vain the builder of the housed
1 According to other books the temptation by the daughters of Mara
!s subsequent to the Supreme Enlightenment. In Plate A the Temp-
tation by the Daughters of Mara takes place in the fifth week of the
Forty-nine Days.
2 The house is, of course, the house—or rather the prison—of indi-
vidual existence : the builder of the house is desire (tanha)—the will to
enjoy and possess. See p. 97.
35