I THE LIFE OF THE BUDDHA ~Continuation~ 5. The methods of his practice were unbelievably intense. He spurred himself on with the thought that “no ascetic in the past, none in the present, and none in the future, ever has practised or ever will practice more earnestly than I do.” Still, the Prince could not realize his goal. After six years in the forest he gave up the practice of asceticism. He bathed in the river and accepted a bowl of milk from the hand of Sujata, a maiden, who lived in the neighboring village. The five companions who had lived with the Prince during the six years of his ascetic practice looked on with amazement that he should receive milk from the hand of a maiden; they thought him degraded thereby and left him. The Prince, thus, was left alone. He was still weak but at the risk of losing his life he attempted yet another period of meditation, saying to himself, “Blood may become exhausted, flesh may decay, bones may fall apart, but I will never leave this place until I find the way to Enlightenment.” It was an intense and incomparable struggle! His mind was desperate and filled with confusing thoughts, dark shadows overhung his spirit, he was beleaguered by all the lures of the devils. But carefully and patiently hr exhausted them one by one and rejected them all. It, indeed, was a hard struggle, that made his blood run thin, his flesh fall away, and his bones cracked. But when the morning star appeared in the eastern the struggle was over and the Prince’s mind was as clear and bright as the breaking day. He had, at last, found the path to Enlightenment. It was December eight, which he was thirty-five years of age that the Prince became Buddha. ~To be continued~(5)
Posted on: Thu, 02 Oct 2014 09:25:30 +0000
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