ss of heart and mind, he dwells illumined, recollected, self-mastered. Putting away confusion of mind and perturbation, he dwells serene, free from all vexation of spirit. Putting away perplexity and doubt, he dwells in certainty of intelligence.”
In each point, therefore, there are the ideals, not of the conventional adherent of religion, the conventionally religious man, though it would be well if every adherent of religion fully followed them out; these are the working ideals, the items of discipline, of the disciple, of the Chela.
The Buddha then goes on with keenly practical eloquence to say that the disciple who thus establishes himself through wise discipline is as one who, having been plunged in debt, works his way up to solvency and a competence; as one who, having been beset by sickness and disease, completely regains his health and strength; as one who, having been a slave, subjected to the will of another, attains the happiness of freedom; as one who, after long wandering in the desert, comes safely to his home,—so the disciple, established in discipline, is full of serenity and joy.
The Buddha then describes the attainment, by this well-trained disciple, of the successive stages of Dhyana, of illumination and power, which are the successive degrees of Chelaship.
It is significant that, for these stages of discipleship, the Buddha uses illustrative symbols, with which we are all familiar in another context, though they are there rarely interpreted in terms of discipleship. In the first stage, the disciple is “washed and made clean.” In the second stage, there is within him “a well of water, springing up to everlasting life.” In the third stage his heart and soul have the serene beauty of “the lilies of the field.” In the fourth stage, he is “clothed in white raiment”, for he is worthy.
Then is expounded the more concrete side of discipleship. The disciple “applies his heart and mind to the formation, within this body, of another body, having form, of the substance of mind, possessed of all the organs of perception and of action.” He draws it forth, in the words of Katha Upanishad, which the Buddha quotes, as the reed is drawn forth from its sheath; or as the serpent, sloughing off his old skin, comes forth renewed; as a sword is drawn from its scabbard.
Thus renewed and reborn, the disciple enters the path of Iddhi: “being one, he becomes many; he becomes visible or invisible, he passes through a mountain as though passing through the air; he walks on water, as on solid ground; he travels through the sky like a bird on the wing; he reaches up to the realm of Brahma; with heart serene, purified, illumined, he hears with heavenly ear, surpassing the hearing of mortals, sounds both human and celestial, far or near; with heart serene, purified, illumined, he discerns the hearts of other men, beholding their thoughts as one beholds his face in a mirror; with heart serene, purified, illumined, he attains to knowledge of his former births, and understands clearly the rebirths of others; his vision is as lucent as that of one who, standing beside a limpid mountain pool, discerns the shells and pebbles on the bottom, the fish passing through the water.”
It should hardly be necessary to insist that the whole substance of this, the most characteristic and oftenest repeated discourse of the Buddha, embodied in every one of these Suttas, is concerned, not with conventional and formal religion, nor with canons of general morality, but with something far more definite and concrete, namely, with discipleship, with Chelaship, with the spiritual pathway to the attainment of the Adept, the Master.
We return now to Sonadanda, the Brahman, to whom, in answer to his question concerning the true character of wisdom and righteousness, this eloquent teaching is addressed. How did this appeal, embodying the ancient Wisdom of the Upanishads, affect the worthy Sonadanda?
The answer is of immense historical significance, in that it symbolizes the result of the Buddha’s effort to reform, purify and spiritualize the whole body of the Brahm