ope we watch the dried-up field!
Deep darkness reigned for want of wisdom, the world of sentient
creatures groped for light, Tathagata lit up the lamp of wisdom, then
suddenly extinguished it--ere he had brought it out."

Buddha, hearing Ananda speaking thus, grieved at his words, and pitying
his distress, with soothing accents and with gentle presence spake with
purpose to declare the one true law:--

"If men but knew their own nature, they would not dwell in sorrow;
everything that lives, whate'er it be, all this is subject to
destruction's law; I have already told you plainly, the law of things
'joined' is to 'separate'; the principle of kindness and of love is not
abiding, 'tis better then to reject this pitiful and doting heart. All
things around us bear the stamp of instant change; born, they perish; no
self-sufficiency; those who would wish to keep them long, find in the
end no room for doing so. If things around us could be kept for aye, and
were not liable to change or separation, then this would be salvation!
where then can this be sought? You, and all that lives, can seek in me
this great deliverance! That which you may all attain I have already
told you, and tell you, to the end. Why then should I preserve this
body? The body of the excellent law shall long endure! I am resolved; I
look for rest! This is the one thing needful. So do I now instruct all
creatures, and as a guide, not seen before, I lead them; prepare
yourselves to cast off consciousness, fix yourselves well in your own
island. Those who are thus fixed mid-stream, with single aim and
earnestness striving in the use of means, preparing quietly a quiet
place, not moved by others' way of thinking, know well, such men are
safe on the law's island. Fixed in contemplation, lighted by the lamp of
wisdom, they have thus finally destroyed ignorance and gloom. Consider
well the world's four bounds, and dare to seek for true religion only;
forget 'yourself,' and every 'ground of self,' the bones, the nerves,
the skin, the flesh, the mucus, the blood that flows through every vein;
behold these things as constantly impure, what joy then can there be in
such a body? every sensation born from cause, like the bubble floating
on the water. The sorrow coming from the consciousness of birth and
death and inconstancy, removes all thought of joy--the mind acquainted
with the law of production, stability, and destruction, recognizes how
again and once again things