[245] The Buddhists had no prayer; their salvation consisting in a self-produced inward change. This could be brought about in various ways, one of which was the kind of meditation here referred to (Kammaṭṭhāna), leading to a firm conviction of the impermanence of all finite things. As every road leads to Rome, so any finite object may be taken as the starting-point from which thought may be taken, by gradually increasing steps, near to the infinite; and so acquire a sense of the proportion of things, and realize the insignificance of the individual. The unassisted mind of the ignorant would naturally find difficulty in doing this; and certain examples of the way in which it might be done were accordingly worked out; and a disciple would go to his teacher, and ask him to recommend which way he should adopt. But the disciple must work out his own enlightenment.
[246] A successful Kammaṭṭhāna, a complete realization of the relation of the individual to the great Sum of all things, will lead to that sense of brotherhood, of humility, of holy calm, which is the “utmost aim,” viz. Nirvāna, and involves, as its result, escape from transmigration.
[247] On this mode of politeness see above, p. 70.
[248] The reader will not take this too seriously. The old lady’s scorn turns as easily here to irony as her gratitude above finds expression in flattery.
[249] What the Happy State is will perhaps best be understood from the enumeration of its six divisions: 1. Faith. 2. Modesty. 3. Fear of sinning. 4. Learning. 5. Energy. 6. Presence of Mind. This Happy State can only be reached in a birth as a man. If being born as a man, one neglects the salvation then within one’s reach, one may pass many ages in other births before a “time of grace” comes round again. It is folly to expect salvation in some other and future world; it can only be gained here, and now.
[250] The introductory story to this Jātaka is used in Rogers’s Buddhagosha’s Parables, pp. 61-68, as the introduction to a different Birth Story. Verse 25 of the Dhammapada is said by the Commentator on that book (Fausböll, p. 181) to have been spoken of Little Roadling, and it would fit very aptly to the present story about him.
[251] Literally, “those subject to transmigration,” that is, those who are not Arahats, whose natural desires have not given way before intense religious conviction.
[252] Taca-pañcaka-kammaṭṭhānaŋ, a formula always repeated at the ordination of a novice. The words of it will be found in Dickson’s Upasampadā-Kammavācā, p. 7. Compare also the note above, p. 147.
[253] The Buddha is frequently represented in the later books as bringing the world before his mind’s eye in the morning, and thus perceiving whom he could benefit during the day.
[254] When the daily meal was to be served in the house of some layman, all the monks invited went there as soon as the time was announced by the “call of refection” being set up, and sat themselves down in the order of their seniority.