Leaving his kingly estate and
country, lost in meditation, he drank sweet dew. Practising his
religious duties in solitude, silent and contemplative he dwelt in his
palace, a royal Rishi. Tathagata following a peaceable life, recognized
fully by his tribe, repeating the joyful news of religion, gladdened the
hearts of all his kinsmen hearing him. And now, it being the right time
for begging food, he entered the Kapila country; in the city all the
lords and ladies, in admiration, raised this chant of praise:
"Siddhartha! fully enlightened! has come back again!" The news flying
quickly in and out of doors, the great and small came forth to see him;
every door and every window crowded, climbing on shoulders, bending down
the eyes, they gazed upon the marks of beauty on his person, shining and
glorious! Wearing his Kashaya garment outside, the glory of his person
from within shone forth, like the sun's perfect wheel; within, without,
he seemed one mass of splendor. Those who beheld were filled with
sympathizing joy; their hands conjoined, they wept for gladness; and so
they watched him as he paced with dignity the road, his form collected,
all his organs well-controlled! His lovely body exhibiting the
perfection of religious beauty, his dignified compassion adding to their
regretful joy; his shaven head, his personal beauty sacrificed! his body
clad in dark and sombre vestment, his manner natural and plain, his
unadorned appearance; his circumspection as he looked upon the earth in
walking! "He who ought to have had held over him the feather-shade,"
they said, "whose hands should grasp 'the reins of the flying dragon,'
see how he walks in daylight on the dusty road! holding his alms-dish,
going to beg! Gifted enough to tread down every enemy, lovely enough to
gladden woman's heart, with glittering vesture and with godlike crown
reverenced he might have been by servile crowds! But now, his manly
beauty hidden, with heart restrained, and outward form subdued,
rejecting the much-coveted and glorious apparel, his shining body clad
with garments gray, what aim, what object, now! Hating the five delights
that move the world, forsaking virtuous wife and tender child, loving
the solitude, he wanders friendless; hard, indeed, for virtuous wife
through the long night, cherishing her grief; and now to hear he is a
hermit! She inquires not now of the royal Suddhodana if he has seen his
son or not! But as she views his beauteous person, to think his altered
form is now a hermit's! hating his home, still full of love; his father,
too, what rest for him! And then his loving child Rahula, weeping with
constant sorrowful desire! And now to see no change, or heart-relenting;
and this the end of such enlightenment! All these attractive marks, the
proofs of a religious calling, whereas, when born, all said, these are
marks of a 'great man,' who ought to receive tribute from the four seas!
And now to see what he has come to! all these predictive words vain and
illusive.
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