THE Blessed One having attained Buddhahood while resting under the
shepherd's Nigrodha tree on the banks of the river Neranjara,
pronounced this solemn utterance:

          "How sure his pathway in this wood,
          Who follows truth's unchanging call!
          How blessed, to be kind and good,
          And practice self-restraint in all!
          How light, from passion to be free,
          And sensual joys to let go by!
          And yet his greatest bliss will be
          When he has quelled the pride of 'I'.

  "I have recognized the deepest truth, which is sublime and
peace-giving' but difficult to understand; for most men move in a
sphere of worldly interests and find their delight in worldly desires.
The worldling will not understand the doctrine, for to him there is
happiness in selfhood only, and the bliss that lies in a complete
surrender to truth is unintelligible to him. He will call
resignation what to the enlightened mind is the purest joy. He will
see annihilation where the perfected one finds immortality. He will
regard as death what the conqueror of self knows to be life
everlasting. The truth remains hidden from him who is in the bondage
of hate and desire. Nirvana remains incomprehensible and mysterious to
the vulgar whose minds are beclouded with worldly interests. Should
I preach the doctrine and mankind not comprehend it, it would bring me
only fatigue and trouble."

  Mara, the Evil One, on hearing the words of the Blessed Buddha,
approached and said: "Be greeted, thou Holy One. Thou hast attained
the highest bliss and it is time for thee to enter into the final
Nirvana."

  Then Brahma Sahampati descended from the heavens and, having
worshiped the Blessed One, said: "Alas! the world must perish,
should the Holy One, the Tathagata, decide not to teach the Dharma. Be
merciful to those that struggle; have compassion upon the sufferers;
pity the creatures who are hopelessly entangled in the snares of
sorrow. There are some beings that are almost free from the dust of
worldliness. If they hear not the doctrine preached, they will be
lost. But if they hear it, they will believe and be saved."

  The Blessed One, full of compassion, looked with the eye of a Buddha
upon all sentient creatures, and he saw among them beings whose
minds were but scarcely covered by the dust of worldliness, who were
of good disposition and easy to instruct. He saw some who were
conscious of the dangers of lust and wrong doing. And the Blessed
One said to Brahma Sahampati: "Wide open be the door of immortality to
all who have ears to hear. May they receive the Dharma with faith."

  Then the Blessed One turned to Mara, saying: "I shall not pass
into the final Nirvana, O Evil One, until there be not only brethren
and sisters of an Order, but also lay disciples of both sexes, who
shall have become true hearers, wise, well trained, ready and learned,
versed in the scriptures, fulfilling all the greater and lesser
duties, correct in life, walking according to the precepts-until they,
having thus themselves learned the doctrine, shall be able to give
information to others concerning it, preach it, make it known,
establish it, open it, minutely explain it, and make it clear-until
they, when others start vain doctrines, shall be able to vanquish
and refute them, and so to spread the wonderworking truth abroad. I
shall not die until the pure religion of truth shall have become
successful, prosperous, widespread, and popular in all its full
extent-until, in a word, it shall have been well proclaimed among
men!"

  Then Brahma Sahampati understood that the Blessed One had granted
his request and would preach the doctrine.