The Buddha Part 10

_Y._ He teaches the people how to avoid evil.

_R._ Has father found the cause of evil?

_Y._ Kala Udayin says he has.

_R._ What is the cause of evil?

_Y._ Father says that selfishness is the cause of evil and selfishness comes from the belief in self.

_R._ Self?

_Y._ Yes, self! Man, as a rule, believes that he is a self.

_R._ What? A self?

_Y._ Yes, a being by himself, who lives only for himself, and the thought of self makes him selfish; and selfishness begets all evils.

_R._ [_with a childlike serious conviction_] I believe it, mother.

_Y_. Father says there is no self, that self is an illusion.

_R._ What does that mean?

_Y._ It means that we are not separate beings. I think a thought and speak it out and you hear it. I believe in that thought and so do you.

Whose is it then, yours or mine?

_R._ It belongs to both.

_Y._ But where does the thought come from? If it is true it belongs to the truth, and it was true before I thought it.

_R._ Yes, mother.

_Y._ And if it was wrong, it is evil, and it was evil before we thought it.

_R._ Yes, mother.

_Y._ And so are all our thoughts, but almost everybody a.s.sumes that his self thinks these thoughts and invents them; and that is an illusion.

_R._ I see.

_Y._ [_to herself_] His eyes close. He is tired. [TO RAHULA] Now go to sleep again, Rahula, and dream of your father. I will sing you one of father's songs.

_YASODHARA lays RAHULA down in the high bed and sings:_

By ourselves is evil done, By ourselves we pain endure.

By ourselves we cease from wrong, By ourselves become we pure.

No one saves us but ourselves, No one can and no one may.

We ourselves must walk the path, Buddhas merely teach the way.

_The boy sleeps. Then YASODHARA herself lies down on the mat on the floor. Above her appears the vision of her dream.

Under the Bodhi tree in a forest landscape SIDDHATTHA sits.

He is surrounded by a halo of light. MARA approaches to tempt him._

_M._ Thou art ahungered, worthy Sakyamuni, Ahungered art thou from continued fasts, And thou wilt starve unless thou take and eat.

I bring delicious food, take, eat and live.

_B._ I shall not eat until my quest be done.

Much better 'tis to die in glorious battle Than flee and lead a coward's life, defeated.

I shall not eat, O Mara, take thee hence.

_M._ Wilt thou not listen to my good advice?

_B._ The tempter always calls his councils good, But pleasures which he promises are evil.

_M._ I will not suffer thee to stay, Siddhattha, And shall disturb thy daring quest of truth.

I'll split the Bodhi tree by lightning And frighten thee away with rumbling thunder.

_All is wrapped in darkness, except SIDDHATTHA and the Bohdi tree. Thunder and lightning. After a while the noise abates.

It grows light again. MARA'S daughters appear._

_M._ Go forth my daughters, tempt the holy man, And lure him from the seat of Buddahood.

_Three graceful women, MARA'S daughters, sing in a low enticing voice._

[Melody: The Mermaids' Song from Weber's Oberon.]

Sweetest on earth 'tis in pleasure to live, Love thou must ask for, and love thou must give.

Pain we can soothe and a.s.suage every smart, Yea, we will grant thee the wish of thy heart.

Power bestow we, enjoyment and mirth, Health and wealth also, and all that has worth.

Lo, of life's happiness naught shalt thou miss, Satisfied longings are greatest of bliss.

_While they sing they circle around the Bodhi tree and pose in graceful att.i.tudes._

[Siddhattha does not mind Mara's daughters. They withdraw, and grotesque monsters appear in threatening att.i.tudes, exhibiting a savage war dance, always approaching the tree and turning their weapons against the Sakyamuni, but as soon as they approach the halo they droop, unable to hurt him. Lotus flowers rain down. Sakyamuni raises his right hand. A flash of lightning and a sudden clap of thunder. The spook vanishes in darkness while the Buddha under the Bodhi tree alone remains visible in a halo of light. The forest landscape reappears in full light as before.]

_B._ The wheel of life turns round through birth and death, Its twelve-linked chain of causes takes its start In ignorance and ends in suffering.

The truth is found, the fourfold n.o.ble truth; All life is sorrow, sorrow's cause is l.u.s.t, But from our sorrow we can escape If we abandon l.u.s.t and thought of self.

The eightfold n.o.ble path of righteousness Delivers from all evil: it will bring Sweet peace of mind and leadeth to Nirvana.

[With music accompaniment]

Through many births I sought in vain The builder of this house of pain.

Now, builder, thee I plainly see!

This is the last abode for me.

Thy gable's yoke, thy rafters broke, My heart has peace; all l.u.s.t will cease.

[The following words fit exactly the music of Haydn's Chorus with Soli No. 13[B] in The Creation, and the spirit of the composition is very appropriate for this scene]