And the Blessed One having dwelt some time in Uruvelā went forth
to Rājagaha, accompanied by a great number of bhikkhus, many of
whom had been Jatilas before; and the great Kassapa, chief of the
Jatilas and formerly a fireworshipper, went with him. 1
When the Magadha king, Seniya Bimbisāra, heard of the arrival of
Gotama Sakyamuni, of whom the people said, "He is the Holy One,
the blessed Buddha, guiding men as a driver curbs bullocks, the
teacher of high and low," he went out surrounded with his
counsellors and generals and came to the grove where the Blessed
One was. 2
There they saw the Blessed One in the company of Kassapa, the
great religious teacher of the Jatilas, and they were astonished
and thought: "Has the great Sakyamuni placed himself under the
spiritual direction of Kassapa, or has Kassapa become a disciple
of Gotama?" 3
And the Tathāgata, reading the thoughts of the people, said to
Kassapa: "What knowledge hast thou gained, O Kassapa, and what
has induced thee to renounce the sacred fire and give up thine
austere penances?" 4
Kassapa said: "The profit I derived from adoring the fire was
continuance in the wheel of individuality with all its sorrows
and vanities. This service I have cast away, and instead of
continuing penances and sacrifices I have gone in quest of the
highest Nirvāna. Since I have seen the light of truth, I have
abandoned worshipping the fire." 5
The Buddha, perceiving that the whole assembly was ready as a
vessel to receive the doctrine, spoke thus to Bimbisāra the king: 6
"He who knows the nature of self and understands how the senses
act, finds no room for selfishness, and thus he will attain
peace unending. The world holds the thought of self, and from
this arises false apprehension. 7
"Some say that the self endures after death, some say it
perishes. Both are wrong and their error is most grievous. 8
"For if they say the self is perishable, the fruit they strive
for will perish too, and at some time there will be no hereafter.
Good and evil would be indifferent. This salvation from
selfishness is without merit. 9
"When some, on the other hand, say the self will not perish, then
in the midst of all life and death there is but one identity
unborn and undying. If such is their self, then it is perfect and
cannot be perfected by deeds. The lasting, imperishable self
could never be changed. The self would be lord and master, and
there would be no use in perfecting the perfect; moral aims and
salvation would be unnecessary. 10
"But now we see the marks of joy and sorrow. Where is any
constancy? If there is no permanent self that does our deeds,
then there is no self; there is no actor behind our actions, no
perceiver behind our perception, no lord behind our deeds. 11
"Now attend and listen: The senses meet the object and from their
contact sensation is born. Thence results recollection. Thus, as
the sun's power through a burning-glass causes fire to appear, so
through the cognizance born of sense and object, the mind
originates and with it the ego, the thought of self, whom some
Brahman teachers call the lord. The shoot springs from the seed;
the seed is not the shoot; both are not one and the same, but
successive phases in a continuous growth. Such is the birth of
animated life. 12
"Ye that are slaves of the self and toil in its service from morn
until night, ye that live in constant fear of birth, old age,
sickness, and death, receive the good tidings that your cruel
master exists not. 13
"Self is an error, an illusion, a dream. Open your eyes and
awaken. See things as they are and ye will be comforted. 14
"He who is awake will no longer be afraid of nightmares. He who
has recognized the nature of the rope that seemed to be a serpent
will cease to tremble. 15
"He who has found there is no self will let go all the lusts and
desires of egotism. 16
"The cleaving to things, covetousness, and sensuality inherited
from former existences, are the causes of the misery and vanity
in the world. 17
"Surrender the grasping disposition of selfishness, and you will
attain to that calm state of mind which conveys perfect peace,
goodness, and wisdom." 18