THE LIFE OF THE BUDDHA

Final Part


It was an intense and incomparable struggle ! His mind was desperate and filled with confusing thoughts, dark shadows overhung his spirit, he was beleaguered by all the lures of devils. But carefully and patiently he examined them one by one and rejected them all. It, indeed, was a hard struggle, that made his blood run thin, his flesh fall away, and his bones crack.


But when the morning star appeared in the eastern sky, the struggle was over and the Prince's mind was as clear and bright as the breaking day. He had, at last, found the path to Enlightenment. It was December eighth, when he was thirty-five years of age that the Prince became a Buddha. From this time on the Prince was known by different names: some spoke of him as Buddha, the Perfectly Enlightened One, Tathagata; some spoke of him as Shakyamuni, the Sage of the Shakya clan; others called him the World-honored One.


He want first to Mrigadava in Varanasi where the five mendicants who had lived with him during the six years of his ascetic life were staying. At first they shunned him, but after they had talked with him, they believed in him and became his first followers. Then he went to the Rajagriha Castle and won over King Bimbisara who had always been his friend. From there he went about the country living on alms and teaching men to accept his way of life. Men responded to him as the thirsty seek water and the hungry food. Two great disciples, Sariputra and Maudgalyayana, and their two thousand disciples, came to him.


At first the Buddha's father, King Shuddhodana, still inwardly suffering because of his son's decision to leave the palace, held himself aloof, but afterward became his faithful disciple. Mahaprajapati, the Buddha's stepmother, and Princess Yashodhara, his wife, and all the members of the Shakya clan believed in him and followed him. And multitudes of others became his devotees and faithful followers.


For forty-five years the Buddha went about the country preaching and persuading men to follow his way of life; but at last when he was eighty, at Vaisali, on his way from Rajagriha to Shravasti, he became ill and predicted that after three months he would enter Nirvana. Still he journeyed on until he reached Pava where he was made critically ill by some food offered by Chunda, a blacksmith. Then, by easy stages, in spite of great pain and weakness, he reached the forest that bordered Kusinagara.


There, lying between two large sala trees, he continued his teachings to his disciples until his last moment. Thus he entered into perfect tranquility after he had completed his work as the greatest of the world's teachers and the most kindest of men. Under the guidance of Ananda, the Buddha's favorite disciple, the body was cremated by his friends in Kusinagara.


Seven neighboring rulers as well as King Ajatasatru demanded that the ashes be divided among them. The King of Kusinagara at first refused and the dispute even threatened to end in war; but by the advice of a wise man named Drona, the cirsis passed and the ashes were divided among eight great countries. The ashes of the funeral pyre and the earthen jar that contained the remains were also given to two other rulers to be likewise honored. Great towers commemorating the Buddha had been built to enshrine his remains and ashes.

ဓမၼဒါန burmaborn