[201] Nāgas, Yakkhas and Supaṇṇas. The Yakkhas are characterized throughout the Jātaka stories by their cannibalism; the female Yakkhas as sirens luring men on to destruction. They are invisible till they assume human shape; but even then can be recognized by their red eyes. That the Ceylon aborigines are called Yakkhas in the Mahāvaŋsa probably results from a tradition of their cannibalism. On the others, see above, p. 88.
[202] His acquisition of the Ten Perfections, or Cardinal Virtues, is described above, pp. 54-58.
[203] Pubbe-nivāsa-ñāna, Dibba-cakkhu, and Paticca-samuppāda.
[204] Compare the Thirty-two Good Omens at the Buddha’s Birth, above, p. 64.
[205] The train of thought is explained at length in my “Buddhism,” pp. 100-112. Shortly, it amounts to this. The Unconscious has no pain: without Consciousness, Individuality, there would be no pain. What gives men Consciousness? It is due to a grasping, craving, sinful condition of heart. The absence of these cravings is Nirvāna. Having reached Nirvāna, Consciousness endures but for a time (until the body dies), and it will then no longer be renewed. The beams of sin, the ridge-pole of care, give to the house of individuality its seeming strength: but in the peace of Nirvāna they have passed away. The Bodisat is now Buddha: he has reached Nirvāna: he has solved the great mystery; the jewel of salvation sought through so many ages has been found at last; and the long, long struggle is over.
The following is Spence Hardy’s literal translation given in his “Manual of Buddhism,” p. 180, where similar versions by Gogerly and Turnour will be found: but they scarcely seem to me to express the inner meaning of these difficult and beautiful verses:—
Through many different births
I have run (to me not having found),
Seeking the architect of the desire resembling house,
Painful are repeated births!