be an end, then, of the 'doer.' What Arada has
declared cannot satisfy my heart. This clear knowledge is not universal
wisdom, I must go on and seek a better explanation."

Going on then to the place of Udra Rishi, he also expatiated on this
question of "I." But although he refined the matter to the utmost,
laying down a term of "thought" and "no thought" taking the position of
removing "thought" and "no thought," yet even so he came not out of the
mire; for supposing creatures attained that state, still (he said) there
is a possibility of returning to the coil, whilst Bodhisattva sought a
method of getting out of it. So once more leaving Udra Rishi, he went on
in search of a better system, and came at last to Mount Kia-ke (the
forest of mortification), where was a town called Pain-suffering forest.
Here the five Bhikshus had gone before. When then he beheld these five,
virtuously keeping in check their senses, holding to the rules of moral
conduct, practising mortification, dwelling in that grove of
mortification; occupying a spot beside the Nairangana river, perfectly
composed and filled with contentment, Bodhisattva forthwith by them
selecting one spot, quietly gave himself to thought. The five Bhikshus
knowing him with earnest heart to be seeking escape, offered him their
services with devotion, as if reverencing Isvara Deva.

Having finished their attentions and dutiful services, then going on he
took his seat not far off, as one about to enter on a course of
religious practice, composing all his members as he desired. Bodhisattva
diligently applied himself to "means," as one about to cross over old
age, disease, and death. With full purpose of heart he set himself to
endure mortification, to restrain every bodily passion, and give up
thought about sustenance, with purity of heart to observe the
fast-rules, which no worldly man can bear; silent and still, lost in
thoughtful meditation; and so for six years he continued, each day
eating one hemp grain, his bodily form shrunken and attenuated, seeking
how to cross the sea of birth and death, exercising himself still deeper
and advancing further; making his way perfect by the disentanglements of
true wisdom, not eating, and yet not looking to that as a cause of
emancipation, his four members although exceedingly weak, his heart of
wisdom increasing yet more and more in light; his spirit free, his body
light and refined, his name spreading far and wide, as "highly gif