The Nidānakathā

or

The Three Epochs

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Inasmuch as this comment on the Jātaka, if it be expounded after setting forth the three Epochs, the distant, the middle, and proximate, will be clearly understood by those who hear it by being understood from the beginning, therefore I will expound it after setting forth the three Epochs. Accordingly from the very outset it will be well to determine the limits of these Epochs. Now the narrative of the Bodhisatta’s existence, from the time that, at the feet of Dīpaṅkara, he formed a resolution to become a Buddha to his rebirth in the Tusita heaven after leaving the Vessantara existence, is called the Distant Epoch. From his leaving the Tusita heaven to his attainment of omniscience on the throne of Knowledge, the narrative is called the Intermediate Epoch. And the Proximate Epoch is to be found in the various places in which he sojourned {during his ministry on earth}.

The Distant Epoch

Tradition tells us that four asankheyyas and a hundred thousand cycles ago there was a city called Amaravatī. In this city there dwelt a brahmin named Sumedha, of good family on both sides, on the father’s and the mother’s side, of pure conception for seven generations back, by birth unreproached and respected, a man comely, well-favoured and amiable, and endowed with remarkable beauty. He followed his brahminical studies without engaging in any other pursuit. His parents died while he was still young. A minister of state, who acted as steward of his property, bringing forth the roll-book of his estate, threw open the stores filled with gold and silver, gems and pearls, and other valuables, and said, “So much, young man, belonged to your mother, so much to your father, so much to your grandparents and great-grandparents,” and pointing out to him the property inherited through seven generations, he bade him guard it carefully. The wise Sumedha thought to himself, “After amassing all this wealth my parents and ancestors when they went to another world took not a farthing with them, can it be right that I should make it an object to take my wealth with me when I go?” And informing the king of his intention, he caused proclamation to be made in the city, gave largess to the people, and embraced the ascetic life of a hermit.

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The Distant Epoch

Now one day the wise Sumedha, having retired to the splendid upper apartmentof his house, seated himself cross-legged, and fell a thinking. “Oh! wise man, grievous is rebirth in a new existence, and the dissolution of the body in each successive place where we are reborn. I am subject to birth, to decay, to disease, to death, – it is right, being such, that I should strive to attain the great deathless Nirvāṇa, which is tranquil, and free from birth, and decay, and sickness, and grief and joy; surely there must be a road that leads to Nirvāṇa and releases man from existence.”

Accordingly it is said,

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17. Seated in seclusion, I then thought as follows:

Grievous is rebirth and the breaking up of the body.

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18. I am subject to birth, to decay, to disease,

Therefore will I seek Nirvāṇa, free from decay and death, and secure.

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19. Let me leave this perishable body, this pestilent congregation of vapours,

And depart without desires and without wants.

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20. There is, there must be a road, it cannot but be:

I will seek this road, that I may obtain release from existence.

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Further he reasoned thus, “For as in this world there is pleasure as the correlative of pain, so where there is existence there must be its opposite the cessation of existence; and as where there is heat there is also cold which neutralizes it, so there must be a Nirvāṇa that extinguishes (the fires of) lust and the other passions; and as in opposition to a bad and evil condition there is a good and blameless one, so where there is evil Birth there must also be Nirvāṇa, called the Birthless, because it puts an end to all rebirth.”

Therefore it is said,

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21. As where there is suffering there is also bliss,

So where there is existence we must look for non-existence.

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22. And as where there is heat there is also cold,

So where there is the threefold fire of passion extinction must be sought.

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23. And as coexistent with evil there is also good,

Even so where there is birth the cessation of birth should be sought.

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Again he reasoned thus, “Just as a man who has fallen into a heap of filth, if he beholds afar off a great pond covered with lotuses of five colours, ought to seek that pond, saying, ‘By what way shall I arrive there?’ but if he does not seek it the fault is not that of the pond; even so where there is the lake of the great deathless Nirvāṇa for the washing of the defilement of sin, if it is not sought it is not the fault of the lake. And just as a man who is surrounded by robbers, if when there is a way of escape he does not fly it is not the fault of the way but of the man; even so when there is a blessed road loading to Nirvāṇa for the man who is encompassed and held fast by sin, its not being sought is not the fault of the road but of the person. And as a man who is oppressed with sickness, there being a physician who can heal his disease, if he does not get cured by going to the physician that is no fault of the physician; even so if a man who is oppressed by the disease of sin seeks not a spiritual guide who is at hand and knows the road which puts an end to sin, the fault lies with him and not with the sin-destroying teacher.”

Therefore it is said,

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24. As a man fallen among filth, beholding a brimming lake,

If he seek not that lake, the fault is not in the lake;

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25. So when there exists a lake of Nirvāṇa that washes the stains of sin,

If a man seek not that lake, the fault is not in the lake of Nirvāṇa.

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26. As a man beset with foes, there being a way of escape,

If he flee not away, the fault is not with the road;

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27. So when there is a way of bliss, if a man beset with sin

Seek not that road, the fault is not in the way of bliss.

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28. And as one who is diseased, there being a physician at hand,

If he bid him not heal the disease, the fault is not in the healer:

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29. So if a man who is sick and oppressed with the disease of sin

Seek not the spiritual teacher, the fault is not in the teacher.

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