Page:Gospel of Buddha.djvu/147

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"The man who walks in the noble path lives in the world, and yet his heart is not denied by worldly desires.'11

"He who does not see the four noble truths, he who does not understand the three characteristics and has not grounded himself in the uncreate, has still a long path to traverse by repeated births through the desert of ignorance with its mirages of illusion and through the morass of wrong.12

"But now that you have gained comprehension, the cause of further migrations and aberrations is removed. The goal is reached. The craving of selfishness is destroyed, and the truth is attained.13

"This is true deliverance; this is salvation; this is heaven and the bliss of a life immortal."14


XLII.

MIRACLES FORBIDDEN.

Jotikkha, the son of Subhadda, was a householder living in Rājagaha. Having received a precious bowl of sandalwood decorated with jewels, he erected a. long pole before his house and put the bowl on its top with this legend: "Should a samana take this bowl down without using a ladder or a stick with a hook, or without climbing the pole, but by magic power, he shall receive as reward whatever he desires."1

And the people came to the Blessed One, full of wonder and their mouths overflowing with praise, saying: "Great is the Tathāgata. His disciples perform miracles. Kassapa, the disciple of the Buddha, saw the bowl on Jotikkha's pole, and, stretching out his hand, he took it down, carrying it away in triumph to the vihāra."2

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