Neither capable of
increase or diminution, how can there be deliverance? I held aforetime
that birth and death resulted thus, from their own innate nature; but
now I see that such a belief excludes deliverance; for what is born by
nature must endure so, what end can such things have? Just as a burning
lamp cannot but give its light; the way of Buddha is the only true one,
that lust, as the root-cause, brings forth the things that live; destroy
this lust then there is Nirvana; the cause destroyed then the fruit is
not produced. I formerly maintained that "I" was a distinct entity, not
seeing that it has no maker. But now I hear the right doctrine preached
by Buddha, there is no "self" in all the world, for all things are
produced by cause, and therefore there is no creator. If then sorrow is
produced by cause, the cause may likewise be destroyed; for if the world
is cause-produced, then is the view correct, that by destruction of the
cause, there is an end. The cause destroyed, the world brought to an
end, there is no room for such a thought as permanence, and therefore
all my former views are "done away," and so he deeply "saw" the true
doctrine taught by Buddha.
Because of seeds well sown in former times, he was enabled thus to
understand the law on hearing it; thus he reached the good and perfect
state of quietness, the peaceful, never-ending place of rest.
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