SECOND SCENE
[The garden before the palace of King Suddhodana as in Act I]
Presents Yasodhara (Y) with her maid Gopa (G) and Rahula (R).
Y. Repeat that verse once more and then we will stop our lesson.
R.
With goodness meet an evil deed,
With loving kindness conquer wrath,
With generosity quench greed,
And lies by walking on truth's path.
Y. Now you can run about in the garden or play with the Captain's son.
R. Mother, I do not believe that goodness always works in this life.
Y. Why do you think so?
R. Because there are very bad boys, so bad that only a whipping will cure them.
Y. Rahula!
R. Truly, mother, truly. Even the gardener says so.
Y. You must set the bad boys a good example.
R. No use, mother; they remain bad. I have tried it.
Y. You must have patience.
R. No use, mother; and the gardener says, A viper remains a viper.
Y. Even poisonous reptiles can be tamed.
R. Yes, but the gardener first pulls their fangs. Would you like me to play with a viper?
Y. No, my boy.
Excitement at the gate. Kala enters and soldiers of the guard surround him.
R. What is going on?—O Mother! Kala Udayin is back!
Kala Udayin (K) appears among the guards. Rahula runs to the gate.
R. Kala! Welcome home! Shake hands!
K. Be heartily greeted, my boy.
R. Did you see father?
K. I did, Rahula.
R. Tell me all.
K. I will tell mother.
R. Come to mother. She has been expecting you for many days.
Kala kneels to the Princess.
Y. Gopa, take his bundle. [The maid takes his bundle and carries it into the house.] What news do you bring of Prince Siddhattha?
K. I followed the Prince from place to place and saw him last near Benares in the forest of Uruvela.
Y. How is his health, and will he come back?
K. His health is probably good, but he does not think of coming back—not yet. O my dear lady! If you could see him! he is as thin as a skeleton. I could count all his ribs.
R. What is the trouble with father.
K. He is fasting. He lives on a hempcorn a day; think of it, one little hempcorn a day!
Y. Oh, he will die! My poor husband. I must follow him and attend to his wants. He needs his wife's loving care. I will leave my home and follow him.
K. Could you help him, princess? He might not like it, and the monks abhor women. Moreover, I was told that he takes food again, every morning a cup of rice milk. The day I left he looked better. Still, he was pretty pale.
Y. Tell me all you know of him.
K. I went first to Rajagaha, and there I heard wondrous tales about the noble monk Gotama. All the people knew about him, they called him a "sage" or "muni" and the "Bodhisatta."
R. What does that mean, Kala?
K. Bodhisatta is the man who seeks the bodhi—and the bodhi is enlightenment or Buddhahood.
Y. What did the people of Rajagaha say?
K. When Prince Siddhattha came to Rajagaha, he created a great excitement in the city. Never had been seen a mendicant of such noble appearance, and crowds flocked to him. They thought he was a Buddha and greeted him as a Buddha; but he said to them "I am not a Buddha; I am a Bodhisatta, I seek Buddhahood, and I am determined to find it."
Y. Did you meet people who saw him?
K. Indeed, I did. They say he looked like a god. The news spread all over the capital, and King Bimbisara himself went out with his ministers to see the Bodhisatta. King Bimbisara came to the place where the stranger stayed—under a forest tree near a brook—and greeted him most respectfully saying, "Great monk, remain here with me in Rajagaha; I see that you are wise and worthy. Live with me at the royal palace. Be my adviser and counselor. You are not made for a mendicant. Your hands are fit to hold the reins of empire. Stay here, I beg you, and you shall not lack honor and rank." "Nay," replied Siddhattha, "let me go my way in quest of enlightenment. I am bent on solving the problem of existence, and I will become a Buddha." Said the King, "Hear then, great monk. Go in quest of enlightenment, and when you have found it come back to Rajagaha."
Y. Is King Bimbisara so religious?
K. King Bimbisara is ambitious. As is well known, he is a warrior and a conqueror; but that is not all. He wants to be the greatest monarch of all ages and he would have all the great events happen under his rule. This is what he said to the Bodhisatta: "When I was a youth I uttered five wishes, and they were these: I prayed, May I be crowned King. This wish has been fulfilled. Then I wished, May the holy Buddha, the Blessed One, appear on earth while I am King, and may he come to my kingdom. This was my second wish, and while I gaze upon you I know that it will be fulfilled. Further I wished, May I see the blessed Buddha and pay my respects to him. This was my third wish. My fourth wish was, May the Blessed One preach the doctrine to me, and my fifth and greatest wish was this, May I understand the doctrine. I beg you, therefore, great monk, when you have become a Buddha come back and preach the doctrine to me and accept me as your disciple."
Y. And whither did Siddhattha go from Rajagaha?
K. He visited the great philosophers Arada and Udraka, but he found no satisfaction in their theories. So he went on to Uruvela where the ascetics live. I followed the Bodhisatta and learned that he stayed with five disciples in the forest. I found shelter near by in the cottage of the chief shepherd, a good old man with a pretty daughter, Nanda. There I watched Siddhattha and his disciples from a distance. He was the youngest but the wisest of them, and they reverenced him as master. He outdid them all in fasting. One day Nanda, the shepherd's daughter, saw him faint, and he might have died from exhaustion right on the spot if Nanda had not given him rice milk to drink.
Y. O good Kala, what shall I do? What shall I do? Here I sit at home, a poor, helpless woman, unable to assist him or to take care of him! O Kala, advise me, what can I do?
King Suddhodana (S) and Visakha (V) come out of the palace. The Princess retires into the palace. Gopa hides behind the bushes.
S. I am glad to see you back. Have you seen my son?
K. I have sire.
S. Where did you find him?
K. At Uruvela, the place of mortification where saints try to see visions and reach a state of bliss.
V. And has Siddhattha succeeded?
K. It does not seem so; he is starving himself to death.
V. Is he dying?
K. Not exactly, but I do not see how he can live—on that diet.
S. Oh, Visakha, how have I been deprived of my son through a whim!
Both return into the palace. Visakha comes back.
V. It seems that Siddhattha is ruining himself.
K. At the rate he is going now, he won't stand it long. He may not live another month. It is pitiable. You should have seen him. That beautiful young man looks like a consumptive in his last stage. I did not dare to tell what I thought. The Princess would not have borne the sad news.
V. Too bad. It looks pretty hopeless.
K. I do not see how the Prince can survive.
V. What is the idea of these fasts?
K. These pious recluses believe that the self is imprisoned in the body and that the senses are the prison gates. They want to liberate the soul, and many of them behold visions, but Siddhattha seems to doubt whether the saints of Uruvela proceed on the right track. Indeed he denies the very existence of the self.
V. I know he does. His views should be branded as purely human wisdom. As the senses are finger touch, eye touch, ear touch, nose and tongue touch, so the mind is to him mere thought touch. He claimed that the mind originates through a co-operation of the senses.
K. His disciples begin to break away from him.
V. That is right. They ought to have done so long ago. I always said that Siddhattha is an unbeliever. He spurns faith and relies too much on his own observation and reasoning. He will never find enlightenment. He is too negative, too nihilistic, and his quest of Buddhahood will end in a lamentable failure.
K. It would be a pity, sir. He is certainly in earnest to find the truth—the real truth, not what the priests say nor the Vedas declare, but the truth, provable truth.
V. Yes that is his fault. When the king speaks with you tell him all, explain the hopelessness of his situation. The king ought to know the facts.
Visakha retires into the palace.
K. [Calls in a low voice] Gopa, Gopa!
[Gopa appears from behind the bush.]
K. [Aside] I knew she would not be far.
G. What do you want?
K. I want to have a talk with you.
G. Well?
K. Let us set our marriage day.
G. I do not care to marry you—just yet.
K. I want a kiss, Gopa.
G. You shan't have it!
K. I will leave Kapilavatthu and go back to the Bodhisatta.
G. He will tell you that a youth must not kiss a girl.
K. That rule holds only for monks.
G. Go and turn monk. Then it applies to you.
K. The world would die out if everybody turned monk.
G. First, you are not everybody, and secondly, would it not be a blessing if the whole world would try to be sanctified?
K. Pshaw! Mankind consists of different castes and professions, of soldiers and merchants, of peasants and artisans and teachers. Mankind is like a body with various limbs, a head and hands, feet and chest and neck. A man who were head only could not live, and if mankind consisted of Buddhas only we would starve. We need a Buddha, but there must also be householders. Now quick give me a kiss.
She pouts.
K. If you do not kiss me I shall go back to the forest of Uruvela. Nanda, the shepherd's daughter, is a very pretty girl. She is as pretty as you are. She is,—well, her cheeks are rosier than yours. She is a little taller, and she is so graceful when she milks the kine. The shepherd needs a helper. I am sure he would like to have a son-in-law.
Rahula enters.
R. Gopa! Mother wants you.
G. [Kisses K. quickly] Here is a kiss, but you must forget Nanda. [Runs away.]
K. Stay a moment longer!
G. I have no time. [Exit.]
K. I knew she would come around,—and she is much prettier than Nanda. Nanda is a buxom country lass, a pleasant girl, but Gopa is as proper as a princess. [He continues with unction.] Bodhisatta longs for the blessed state of Nirvana, and when he has found it, he will be calm and without passion. He will walk on earth as a god among men. No emotion will disturb the peace of his mind, and the happiness of the great Brahma will be as nothing in comparison to the infinite bliss of his Buddhahood. [With a lighter tone]: I adore him, but I do not envy him. I do not long for the happiness of a god. I am a man with human faults and human yearnings. I am satisfied with the happiness and the sufferings of a man. Since I am assured of Gopa's love, I care not for Nirvana. I think that this world is good enough for me.
V. [Looks around like a spy.]
How peaceful lies this palace, yet I see
The war clouds lour upon its roofs.
The storm will break with sudden vehemence upon
These harmless unsuspecting people. Woe to them,
Their doom is certain. Desperate resistance
Succumbs before the overwhelming forces
Of Bimbisara.—And what will become
Of poor Yasodhara?—I like her well.
I might still save her from her people's ruin.
A princess, sweet and noble, and herself
Descended from an ancient royal house. But
I hate that little youngster Rahula.
Whate'er betide, my deep-laid schemes will speed
And I shall profit by my master's doom.
[Music: Chopin's Nocturno. Opus 37, No. 2.]
[Curtain]