The Buddhist Tradition - Table of Contents

THE GOSPEL OF THE BUDDHA 
Section Three (n)
THE THREE CHARACTERISTICS AND THE UNCREATE 

  WHEN the Buddha was staying at the Veluvana, the bamboo grove at
Rajagaha, he addressed the brethren thus: "Whether Buddhas arise, O
priests, or whether Buddhas do not arise, it remains a fact and the
fixed and necessary constitution of being that all conformations are
transitory. This fact a Buddha discovers and masters, and when he
has discovered and mastered it, he announces, publishes, proclaims,
discloses, minutely explains and makes it clear that all conformations
are transitory.

  "Whether Buddhas arise, O priests, or whether Buddhas do not
arise, it remains a fact and a fixed and necessary constitution of
being, that all conformations are suffering. This fact a Buddha
discovers and masters, and when he has discovered and mastered it,
he announces, publishes, proclaims, discloses, minutely explains and
makes it clear that all conformations are suffering.

  "Whether Buddhas arise, O priests, or whether Buddhas do not
arise, it remains a fact and a fixed and necessary constitution of
being, that all conformations are lacking a self. This fact a Buddha
discovers and masters, and when he has discovered and mastered it,
he announces, teaches, publishes, proclaims, discloses, minutely
explains and makes it clear that all conformations are lacking a
self."

  And on another occasion the Blessed One dwelt at Savatthi in the
Jetavana, the garden of Anathapindika. At that time the Blessed One
edified, aroused, quickened and gladdened the monks with a religious
discourse on the subject of Nirvana. And these monks grasping the
meaning, thinking it out, and accepting with their hearts the whole
doctrine, listened attentively. But there was one brother who had some
doubt left in his heart. He arose and clasping his hands made the
request: "May I be permitted to ask a question?" When permission was
granted he spoke as follows:

  "The Buddha teaches that all conformations are transient, that all
conformations are subject to sorrow, that all conformations are
lacking a self. How then can there be Nirvana, a state of eternal
bliss?"'

  And the Blessed One, this connection, on that occasion, breathed
forth this solemn utterance: "There is, O monks, a state where there
is neither earth, nor water, nor heat, nor air; neither infinity of
space nor infinity of consciousness, nor nothingness, nor perception
nor non-perception; neither this world nor that world, neither sun nor
moon. It is the uncreate. That O monks, I term neither coming nor
going nor standing; neither death nor birth. It is without
stability, without change; it is the eternal which never originates
and never passes away. There is the end of sorrow.

  "It is hard to realize the essential, the truth is not easily
perceived; desire is mastered by him who knows, and to him who sees
aright all things are naught. There is, O monks, an unborn,
unoriginated, uncreated, unformed. Were there not, O monks, this
unborn, unoriginated, uncreated, unformed, there would be no escape
from the world of the born, originated, created, formed. Since, O
monks, there is an unborn, unoriginated, uncreated and unformed,
therefore is there an escape from the born, originated, created,
formed."