The Light of Asia

2 The Light of Asia or, the Great Renunciation (Mahābhinishkramana) Being THE LIFE AND TEACHING OF GAUTAMA PRINCE OF INDIA AND FOUNDER OF BUDDHISM (as told in verse by an Indian Buddhist) by SIR EDWIN ARNOLD M.A., K.C.I.E., C.S.I. 3 This volume is dutifully inscribed to The Sovereign Grand-Master, and Companions of The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India by THE AUTHOR A New Edition With a Gloss on Rare Words and Explanatory Notes by Ānandajoti Bhikkhu (This Edition, August 2008) 4 Table of Contents Editor’s Preface.....5 Preface.....7 Book the First.....11 Book the Second.....34 Book the Third.....59 Book the Fourth.....86 Book the Fifth.....111 Book the Sixth.....138 Book the Seventh.....175 Book the Eighth.....199 5 Editor’s Preface In preparing this work for publication I was faced with the problem of the original’s transliteration scheme. I thought at one time to update it to the standard scheme now adopted by ISO and Unicode, but the fact is the transliteration Arnold adopted is so non-standard and inconsistent it is hard to correct it without damaging the metre employed in the poem. After some thought therefore I decided to reproduce the poem as it was published, and beg the reader’s indulgence.1 The edition published here is based on the new edition that was first published by Arnold in 1892 (I believe) and reproduced by The Theosophical Publishing House at Adyar, Madrad, India in 1974. I have also compared the edition published by Ven. Sārada in Singapore (1996); and the Gutenburg e-text published at http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/8920, and noted whatever variants I saw, though this has been done less systematically than is usual on this website as none of the editions seem to be authoritative. As some of the language used by Arnold is poetic or archaic I have added glosses on difficult words, and explanatory notes to try and make it more accessible, especially to those who have English as a 1 Arnold was equally inconsistent in his use of punctuation and italic, so I have reproduced that also as I found it in my sources. 6 second language. However, poetry is normally more difficult to understand that prose, and it may not be an easy read, though it is certainly a rewarding one. I have read the poem in and I am making it available from the Audio page. This might help people who find the poem a little difficult to understand as in the audio files it is possible to show how the sentences are phrased, divided, and where the emphasis should be, etc. The source for the poem was never stated by Arnold, but it appears to be based on Mahāyāna sources, like the Chinese translation of the Sanskrit Abhiniṣkramaṇasutta (now lost), which was translated by Samuel Beal from the Chinese under the title The Romantic Legends Of Sakya Buddha; and also the Sanskrit Lalitavistara (The Extensive Play). A lot of it however agrees with the Pāḷi sources and with Mahāvastu, the outline of the story being, of course, a common inheritance. One major difference that does show through though is the idea that it is the Buddha who is born again on Earth. In the Mahāyāna texts referred to the Buddha is seen as eternally existent taking form only in order to teach the world once more; whereas in the early sources it is the Bodhisatta who is born after much struggle in saṁsāra, and he is only known as the Buddha after the Awakening. Occasionally it seems that Arnold did not quite undertsand the Teaching, which is perhaps not surprising given the time he wrote, so in this edition I have included corrective notes and pointed out these problems when they arise. They mainly appear in the last chapter where there is a section on the Teaching. Ānandajoti Bhikkhu July 2008 7 Preface In the following Poem I have sought, by the medium of an imaginary Buddhist votary, to depict the life and character and indicate the philosophy of that noble hero and reformer, Prince Gautama of India, the founder of Buddhism. A generation ago little or nothing was known in Europe of this great faith of Asia, which had nevertheless existed during twenty-four centuries, and at this day surpasses, in the number of its followers and the area of its prevalence, any other form of creed. Four hundred and seventy millions of our race live and die in the tenets of Gautama; and the spiritual dominions of this ancient teacher extend, at the present time, from Nepaul and Ceylon, over the whole Eastern Peninsula, to China, Japan, Thibet, Central Asia, Siberia, and even Swedish Lapland. India itself might fairly be included in this magnificent Empire of Belief; for though the profession of Buddhism has for the most part passed away from the land of its birth, the mark of Gautama’s sublime teaching is stamped ineffaceably upon modern Brahmanism, and the most characteristic habits and convictions of the Hindus are clearly due to the benign influence of Buddha’s precepts. More than a third of mankind therefore, owe their moral and religious ideas to this illustrious prince, whose personality, though imperfectly revealed in the existing sources of information, cannot but appear the highest, gentlest, holiest, and most beneficent, with one exception, in the history of Thought. Discordant in frequent particulars and sorely overlaid by corruptions, inventions, and misconceptions, the Buddhistical books yet agree in the one point of 8 recording nothing—no single act or word—which mars the perfect purity and tenderness of this Indian teacher, who united the truest princely qualities with the intellect of a sage and the passionate devotion of a martyr. Even M. Barthélemy St. Hilaire, totally misjudging as he does, many points of Buddhism, is well cited by Professor Max Muller as saying of Prince Siddārtha, “Sa vie n’a point de tache. Son constant héroïsme égale sa conviction; et si la théorie qu’il préconise est fausse, les exemples personnels qu’il donne sont irréprochables. Il est le modèle achevé de toutes les vertus qu’il pr•che; son abnégation, sa charité, son inaltérable douceur ne se démentent point un seul instant ....... Il prépare silencieusment sa doctrine par six années de retraite et de méditation; il la propage par la seule puissance de la parole et de la persuasion pendant plus d’un demi-siècle, et quand il meurt entre les bras de ses disciples, c’est avec la sérénité d’un sage qui a pratiqué le bien toute sa vie, et qui est assuré d’avoir trouvé le vrai.”2 To Gautama has consequently been granted this stupendous conquest of humanity; and—though he discountenanced ritual, and declared himself, even when on the threshold of Nirvāna, to be only what all other men might become— the love and gratitude of Asia, disobeying his mandate, have given 2 Translation: His life is flawless. His constant heroism is equal to his conviction; and if the theory he sets forth is false, the personal examples he gives are irreproachable. He is the living model of all the virtues he preaches; his abnegation, his charity, his unchanging gentleness never fail even for a moment. Silently he prepares his doctrine, in six years of retreat and meditation; he propagates it solely by the power of the word and of persuasion for more than half a century, and when he dies in the arms of his disciples it is with the serenity of a sage who has practised goodness all his life and is assured of having found the Truth. 9 him fervent worship. Forests of flowers are daily laid upon his stainless shrines, and countless millions of lips daily repeat the formula “I take refuge in Buddha!” The Buddha of this poem—if, as need not be doubted, he really existed—was born on the borders of Nepal about 62O B.C., and died about 543 B.C. at Kusinagara, in Oudh. In point of age, therefore, most other creeds are youthful compared with this venerable religion, which has in it the eternity of a universal hope, the immortality of a boundless love, an indestructible element of faith in final good, and the proudest assertion ever made of human freedom. The extravagances which disfigure the record and practice of Buddhism are to be referred to that inevitable degradation which priesthoods always inflict upon great ideas committed to their charge. The power and sublimity of Gautama’s original doctrines should be estimated by their influence, not by their interpreters; nor by that innocent but lazy and ceremonious church which has arisen on the foundations of the Buddhistic Brotherhood or “Sangha.” I have put my poem into a Buddhist’s mouth, because, to appreciate the spirit of Asiatic thoughts, they should be regarded from the Oriental point of view; and neither the miracles which consecrate this record, nor the philosophy which it embodies, could have been otherwise so naturally reproduced. The doctrine of Transmigration, for instance—startling to modern minds—was established and thoroughly accepted by the Hindus of Buddha’s time; that period when Jerusalem was being taken by Nebuchadnezzar, when Nineveh was falling to the Medes, and Marseilles was founded by the Phocæans. 10 The exposition here offered of so antique a system is of necessity incomplete, and—in obedience to the laws of poetic art—passes rapidly by many matters philosophically most important, as well as over the long ministry of Gautama. But my purpose has been obtained if any just conception be here conveyed of the lofty character of this noble prince, and of the general purport of his doctrines.

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