The Legend Maggavago; or, "The Way"--which is in the
marvelous book of the "Dhammapada."... A story of the Buddha
at whose birth the stars stopped in their courses....
The Brahman's son was dead--dead in the blossoming of his beautiful
youth, as the rose in whose heart a worm is born, as the lotus bud when
the waters of the pool are cut off. For comeliness there was none like
him, even among the children of the holiest caste; nor were there any
so deeply learned in the books of religion, in just reasoning regarding
the Scriptures, in the recitation of the slokas of singers divinely
inspired. Thrice the aged priest fainted away upon the body of his
son; and as often as they would have led him to his home, he shrieked
and fainted again, so that, at last, even while he lay as dead, they
took the body from his arms, and, having washed it with the waters of
purification, wrapped it in perfumed linen, and laid it upon a bier
decked with Indian flowers, and bore it away to the place of interment.
Thus, when the unhappy father came to himself, all was accomplished;
and the stern elders of his caste, gathering about him, so harshly
reproved him for his grief that he was perforce compelled to reason
with himself regarding the vanity of lamentation and the folly of human
tears.
But not ceasing to meditate upon his great loss, a wild hope at last
shaped itself within his heart. "Lo!" he thought, "I have heard it said
that certain mighty Brahmans, having acquired the Five Virtues, the
Five Faculties, the Ten Forces, were enabled to converse face to face
with Yamaraja, the Lord of Death! To me it hath not indeed been given,
by reason perchance of my feeble will, to obtain the supreme wisdom;
yet my love and faith are of the heart, and I will seek out Yamaraja,
King of Death, and pray him to give me back my son." Therefore the
Brahman, investing himself with sacerdotal vestments, performed the
holy ceremonies ordained in the law; and having offered the sacrifice
of flowers and of incense, he departed to seek the Lord of Death, the
Maharajah of vanished kingdoms, Yama. And he questioned all whom he met
as to where Yama might be found.
Some, opening astounded eyes, answered him not at all, deeming him to
be mad; some there were that mocked him; some counseled that he should
return home, lest he find Yama too speedily! Kshattrya princes with
jewel-hilted sabres answered him as they rode by in glittering steel
and glimmering gold: "Yama may be found in the tempest of battles,
beneath the bursting of arrow-clouds, amidst the lightning of swords,
before the armored ranks of the fighting elephants." Swarthy mariners
replied, with rough laughter as of sea winds: "Thou mayst seek Yama
in the roaring of waters and raving of typhoons; let the spirit of
storms answer thee!" ...And dancing girls, singing the burning hymn of
Ourvasi, paused to answer with their witchery: "Seek Yama rather in
our arms, upon our lips, upon our hearts; exhale thy soul in a kiss."
...And they laughed shrilly as the bells of the temple eaves laugh when
the wind lips their silver tongues.
So he wandered on, by the banks of many rivers, under the shadowing of
many city walls, still seeking, until he came to the great wilderness
below the mountains of the east, where dwelt the most holy, who had
obtained supreme wisdom. Serpents hooded like mendicants protruded
their forked tongues; the leopard thrust aside the jungle grasses to
gaze at him with eyes of green flame; the boa moved before him, making
a waving in the deep weeds as the wake of a boat upon water. But
inasmuch as he sought Yama, he could not fear.
Thus he came at last to where the most holy of Brahmans dwelt, who
had obtained supreme wisdom, nourishing themselves upon the perfumes
of flowers only. The shadow of the rocks, the shadows of the primeval
trees, lengthened and shortened and circled with the circling of the
sun; but the shadows of the trees beneath which they sat circled not,
nor did they change with the changing of the universal light. The eyes
of the hermits gazed unwinking upon the face of the sun; the birds of
heaven nestled in the immobility of their vast beards. All tremblingly
he asked of them where Yamaraja might be found.
Long he awaited in silence their answer, hearing only the waters
chanting their eternal slokas, the trees whispering with all their
flickering leaf-tongues, the humming of innumerable golden flies, the
heavy movement of great beasts in the jungle. At last the Brahmans
moved their lips, and answered, "Wherefore seekest thou Yama?" And at
their utterance the voices of the waters and the woods were hushed; the
golden flies ceased the music of their wings.
Then answered the pilgrim, tremblingly: "Lo! I also am a Brahman, ye
holy ones; but to me it hath not been given to obtain the supreme
wisdom, seeing that I am unworthy to know the Absolute. Yet I sought
diligently for the space of sixty years to obtain holiness; and our law
teaches that if one have not reached wisdom at sixty, it is his duty,
returning home, to take a wife, that he may have holy children. This
I did; and one son was born unto me, beautiful as the Vasika flower,
learned even in his childhood. And I did all I could to instill into
him the love of uttermost wisdom, teaching him myself until it came to
pass that he knew more than I, wherefore I sought him teachers from
Elephanta. And in the beauty of his youth he was taken from me--borne
away with the silk of manhood already shadowing his lip. Wherefore I
pray ye, holy men, tell me in what place Yamaraja dwells, that I may
pray him to give me back my boy!"
Then all the holy voices answered together as one voice, as the tone of
many waters flowing in one cadence: "Verily thou hast not been fitted
to seek the supreme wisdom, seeing that in the winter of thine age thou
dost still mourn by reason of a delusion. For the stars die in their
courses, the heavens wither as leaves, the worlds vanish as the smoke
of incense. Lives are as flower-petals opening to fade; the works of
man as verses written upon water. He who hath reached supreme wisdom
mourneth existence only.... Yet, that thou mayst be enlightened, we
will even advise thee. The kingdom of Yama thou mayst not visit, for
no man may tread the way with mortal feet. But many hundred leagues
toward the setting of the sun, there is a valley, with a city shining
in the midst thereof. There no man dwells, but the gods only, when
they incarnate themselves to live upon earth. And upon the eighth day
of each month Yamaraja visits them, and thou mayst see him. Yet beware
of failing a moment to practice the ceremonies, to recite the Mantras,
lest a strange evil befall thee! ...Depart now from us, that we may
reenter into contemplation!"
So, after journeying many moons, the good Brahman stood at last upon
the height above the valley, and saw the ivory-white city--a vision of
light, like the heaven Trayastrinshas. Not Hanoumat, the messenger
of Rama, beheld such splendor, when he haunted the courts of Lanka by
night, and beheld in Ravana's palace the loveliest of women interlaced
in the embrace of sleep, "the garland of women's bodies interwoven."
Terraces fretted by magical chisels rose heavenward, tier upon tier,
until their summit seemed but the fleeciness of summer clouds; arches
towered upon arches; pink marble gates yawned like the mouths of
slumbering bayaderes; crenellated walls edged with embroidery of
inlaid gold surrounded gardens deep as forests; domes white-rounded,
like breasts, made pearly curves against the blue; fountains,
silver-nippled, showered perfumed spray; and above the great gate of
the palace of the gods, where Devas folded their wings on guard, flamed
a vast carbuncle, upon whose face was graven the Word comprehended only
by those who have attained supreme wisdom. And standing before the
gate, the Brahman burnt the holy incense and recited the holy Mantras,
...until the Devas, pitying him, rolled back the doors of gold, and
bade him enter.
Lofty as heaven seemed that palace hall, whose vault of cerulean blue
hung, self-sustained, above the assembly of the gods; and the pavement
of sable marble glimmered like a fathomless lake. Yet, as the Brahman
prostrated himself, not daring to lift his eyes, he felt that it
quavered under the tread of mortal feet even as when earth trembles.
In its reflection he beheld the gods seated in assembly, not awful of
image as in earthly temples, but as beings of light, star-diademed,
rosy with immortality.... Only Yamaraja's brow bore no starry flame;
and there was in his gaze a profundity as of deep answering unto deep.
To the ears of the worshiper his voice came like the voice of waters
pouring over the verge of an echoless abyss, ...and in obedience to
that voice the Brahman uttered his prayer.
And the Lord of Death, replying in strange tones, said: "Pious and just
is this prayer, O child of Brahma! Thy son is now in the Garden of the
East. Take him by the hand and go thy way." ...
Joyfully the Brahman entered that garden of fountains that flow
forever; of fruits, eternally ripe, that never fall; of flowers
immortal, that never fade. And he discerned, among children innumerable
disporting, his own beloved son playing beside the fountains; so that
he cried out with a great cry, and ran to him and clasped him and wept
over him, exclaiming: "O sweet son! O my beloved first-born! dost thou
not know me, thy father who mourned thee so long--who hath even entered
the presence of Yamaraja, the Lord of Death, to seek thee?"...
But like a mist the child passed from his embrace, and answered, with a
wonder in his eyes: "_I know thee not!_"...
Then, kneeling in tears before the boy, the Brahman cried: "O sweetest
son, hast thou indeed forgotten the father who loved thee more than his
own life--who taught thy infant lips to utter the holy prayers--who
denied thee no wish of thy heart, bringing thee up as the son of
a rajah, teaching thee all the wisdom of the Brahmans? Hast thou
forgotten thy mother, also, who weeps for thee now all alone, seeing
that I have journeyed so long to find thee? Nay! Look at me with thy
eyes! Look at me again, that thou mayst know me! Or is it because my
grief hath so changed me that I am no longer the same in thy sight?"...