Chapter three Gautama. In the town as Savathi, every child knew the name of the Exalted Buddha, and every house was prepared to fill the arms dish of Gautama's disciples. The silently begging ones near the town was Gatama's favorite place to stay, the grove of Jetavana, which the rich merchant Anatha Pindika, an obedient worshiper of the Exalted One, had given him and his people for
a gift. All tales and answers which the two young ascetics had received in their search for Gatama's abode, had pointed them towards this area, and arriving at Savathi. In the very first house, before the door of which they stopped to beg food has been offered to them, and they accepted the food, and Saddhartha asked the woman who handed them the food, We would like to know, charitable one, where the Buddha dwells, the most venerable one.
For we are two Samanas from the forest and have come to see him, the perfected One, and to hear the teachings from his mouth. Quoth the woman here, you have truly come to the right place, You samanas from the forest. You should know in Jetavana, in the garden of Anatha Pindika is where the Exalted One dwells. There, you pilgrim, shall spend the night, for there is enough space for the innumerable who flock here to hear the teachings from his mouth. This made Govinda happy and full of joy.
He exclaimed, Well, so thus we have reached our destination and our path has come to an end. But tell us, o, mother of the pilgrims, do you know him, the Buddha? Have you seen him with your own eyes? Quoth the woman. Many times I have seen him, the Exalted One. On many days I have seen him walking through the alleys in silence, wearing his yellow cloak, presenting his arms dish in silence
at the doors of the houses, leaving with a filled dish. Delightedly, Govinda listened and wanted to ask and hear much more, but Siddartha urged him to walk on. They thanked and left and hardly had to ask for directions, for rather many pilgrims and monks as well from Gautama's community were on their way to the Jetavana, and since they reached it at night, there were constant arrivals, shouts and talk of those who sought shelter and got it.
The two Samanas, accustomed to life in the forest, found quickly and without making any noise, a place to stay, and rested there until the morning. At sunrise, they saw with astonishment what a large crowd of believers and curious people had spent the night here on all paths of the marvelous grove. Monks walked in yellow robes under the trees. They sat here and there in deep contemplation or in a conversation about spiritual matters. The shady gardens looked like
a city full of people, bustling like bees. The majority of the monks went out with their arms dish to collect food in town for their lunch, the only meal of the day. The buddher himself, the enlightened One, was also in the habit of taking his walk to beg in the morning. Siddartha saw him, and he instantly recognized him, as if a god had pointed him out to him. He saw him, a simple man in a yellow robe, bearing the arms dish in his hand, walked silently. Look
here, said Arthur, said quietly to Govinda. This one is the Buddha. Attentively, Govinda looked at the monk in the yellow robe, who seemed to be in no way different from the hundreds of other monks, and soon Govinda also realized this is the one, and they followed him and observed him. The Buddha went on his way, modestly and deep in his thoughts. His calm face was neither happy nor sad. It seemed to smile gently and inwardly, with a hidden smile, quiet calm, somewhat resembling a healthy child.
The Buddha walked, wore the robe, and placed his feet, just as all of his monks did according to a precise rule. But his face and his walk, his quietly lowered glance, his quietly dangling hand, and even every finger of his quietly dangling hand expressed peace, expressed perfection, did not search, did not imitate, breathed softly in an unwithering calm, in
an unwithering light, an untouchable peace. Thus Gautama walked toward the town to collect arms, and the two Samanas recognized him solely by the perfection of his calm, by the quietness of his appearance, in which there was no searching, no desire, no imitation, no effort to be seen, only light and peace. To day, we'll hear the teachings from his mouth, said Govinda. Sir Arthur did not answer. He felt little curiosity for the teachings.
He did not believe that they would teach him anything new. But he had, just as Govinda had heard the contents of this Buddha's teachings again and again, though these reports only represented second or third hand information. But attentively he looked at Gautama's head, his shoulders, his feet, his quietly dangling hand, and it seemed to him as if every joint of every finger of this hand was of these teachings, spoke of, breathed, of inhaled,
the fragrance of glistened of the truth. This man, this Buddha, was truthful down to the gesture of his last finger. This man was holy. Never before Siddhartha had venerated a person so much, Never before he had loved a person as much as this one. They both followed the Buddha until they reached the town, and then returned in silence, for they themselves intended to
abstain from food on this day. They saw Gautama returning what he ate could not even have satisfied a bird's appetite, And they saw him retiring into the shade of the mango trees. But in the evening, when the heat cooled down and everyone in the camp started to bustle about and gathered around, they heard the Buddha teaching. They heard his voice, and it was also perfected,
was of perfect calmness, was full of peace. Gautama taught the teachings of suffering, of the origin of suffering, of the way to relieve suffering. Calmly and clearly. His quiet speech flowed on suffering. Was life full of suffering, was the world. But salvation from suffering had been found. Salvation was obtained by him who would walk the path of the Buddha. With a soft yet firm voice. The Exalted One spoke, taught the four main
doctrines, taught the eightfold path. Patiently, he went the usual path of the teachings, of the examples of the repetitions. Brightly and quietly, his voice hovered over the listeners like a light, like a starry night. When the Buddha Knight had already fallen ended his speech. Men near pilgrim stepped forward and asked to be accepted into the community, sought refuge in the teachings, and Gautama accepted them by saying, you have heard the teachings. Well it
has come to you. Well thust join us and walk in holiness to put an end to all suffering. Behold. Then Govinda, the shy one, also stepped forward and spoke, I also take my refuge in the Exalted One and his teachings, And he asked to be accepted into the community of the disciples, and was accepted. Right afterwards, when the Buddha had retired for the night, Govinda turned to Siddhartha and spoke eagerly, Siddhartha, it is not my place to scold you. We have both heard the Exalted One,
and we have both perceived the teachings. Govinda has heard the teachings, he has taken refuge in it. But you, my honored friend, don't you also want to walk the path of salvation? Would you want to hesitate? Do you want to wait any longer? Said Arthur, awakened as if he had been asleep when he heard Govinda's words for a long time. He looked into Govinda's face. Then he spoke quietly in a voice without mockery. Govinda, my friend, Now you have taken this step. Now you have chosen
this path always, Oh Govinda, you've been my friend. You've always walked one step behind me. Often I have thought, won't Govinda for once also take a step by himself without me out of his own soul. Behold, now you've turned into a man and are choosing your path for yourself. I wish that you would go it up to its end, oh, my friend, that you shall find salvation. Govinda, not completely understanding it yet,
repeated his question in an impatient tone. Speak up, I beg you, my dear, tell me, since it could not be any other way, that you, also, my learned friend, will take your refuse with the exalted Buddha said. Arthur placed his hand on Vinda's shoulder. You failed to hear my good wish for you, oh Govinda, I am repeating it. I wish that you would go this path up to its end, that you shall find salvation. In this moment, Govinda realized that his friend had left
him, and he started to weep. Siddhartha, he exclaimed, lamentingly, said Arthur kindly spoke to him, don't forget, Govinda, that you are now one of the Samanas of the Buddha. You have renounced your home and your parents, renounced your birth and possessions, renounced your free will, renounced all friendship. This is what the teachings require, This is what the Exalted One wants, This is what you wanted for yourself. Tomorrow, oh Govinda,
I'll leave you for a long time. The friends continued walking in the grove for a long time. They lay there and found no sleep, and over and over again. Govinda urged his friend he should tell him why he would not want to seek refuge in Gattama's teachings. What fault he would find in these teachings? But said Arthur turned him away every time and said, be content, Govinda, very good are the teachings of the Exalted One?
How could I find a fault in them? Very early in the morning, a follower of Buddha, one of his oldest monks, went through the garden and called all those to him who had, as novices taken their refuge in the teachings, to dress them up in the yellow robe, and to instruct them in the first teachings and duties of their position. Then Govinda broke loose, embraced once again his childhood friend, and left with the novices. But
sid Arthur walked through the grove lost in thought. Then he happened to meet Gautama, the Exalted One, And when he greeted him with respect, and the Buddha's glance was so full of kindness and calm, the young man summoned his courage and asked the Venerable One for the permission to talk to him. Silently, the Exalted One nodded his approval. Quoth said Arthur, yesterday, oh Exalted One, I had been privileged to hear your wondrous teachings together with
my friend. I had come from Afar to hear your teachings. And now my friend is going to stay with your people. He has taken his refuge with you. But I will again start on my pilgrimage as you please. The veneraal Woe spoke politely. Too bold is my speech, said Arthur, continued, but I do not want to leave the Exalted One without having honestly told him my thoughts. Does it please the Venerable One to listen to me
for one moment longer. Silently, the Buddha nodded his approval. Quoth said Arthur, One thing, oh most venerable one, I have admired in your teaching. Most of all, everything in your teachings is perfectly clear, is proven. You are presenting the world as a perfect chain, a chain which is never and nowhere broken, an eternal chain, the links of which are causes and effects. Never before this has been seen so clearly, Never before
this has been presented so irrefutably. Truly, the heart of every Brahman has to be stronger with love once he has seen the world through your teachings, perfectly connect, without gaps, clear as a crystal, not depending on chance, not depending on gods, whether it may be good or bad, whether living according to it would be suffering or joy. I do not wish to
discuss. Possibly this is not essential, but the uniformity of the world, That everything which happens is connected, That the great and the small things are all encompassed by the same forces of time, by the same law of causes, of coming into being and of dying. This is what shines brightly out of your exalted teachings, Oh perfected one, But according to your very own teachings, This unity and necessary sequence of all things is nevertheless broken in one
place through a small gap. This world of unity is invaded by some alien, something new, something which had not been there before, and which cannot be demonstrated and cannot be proven. These are your teachings of overcoming the world of salvation, that with this small gap, with this small breach, the entire eternal and uniform law of the world is breaking apart again and becomes void. Please forgive me for expressing the subjection quietly. Gautama had listened to him
unmoved. Now he spoke the perfected one with his kind, with his polite and clear voice. You've heard the teachings, oh son of a Brahman, and good for you that you've thought about it thus deeply. You've found a gap in it, an error. You should think about this further. But be warned, oh seeker of knowledge, of the thicket of opinions. Of arguing about words, there is nothing to opinions. They may be beautiful or
ugly, smart or foolish. Everyone can support them or discard them. But the teachings you've heard from me are no opinion, and their goal is not to explain the world to those who seek knowledge. They have a different goal. Their goal is salvation from suffering. This is what Gautama teaches nothing else. I wish that you, oh Exalted One, would not be angry with me, said the young man. I have not spoken to you like this to argue with you, to argue about words. You are truly right.
There is little two opinions. But let me say this one more thing. I have not doubted in you for a single moment. I have not doubted for a single moment that you are Buddha, that you have reached the goal, the highest goal towards which so many thousands of Brahmans and the sons of Brahmans are on their way. You have found salvation from death. It has come to you in the course of your own search, on your own path,
through thoughts, through meditation, through realizations, through enlightenment. It has not come to you by means of teachings. And thus is my thought, Oh Exalted One, nobody will obtain salvation by means of teachings. You will not be able to convey and say to anybody, Oh venerable One, in words and through teachings, what has happened to you in the hour of enlightenment. The teachings of the Enlightened Buddha contain much. It teaches many to live
righteously, to avoid evil. But there is one thing that these so clear, these so venerable teachings do not contain. They do not contain the mystery of what the Exalted One has experienced for himself, he alone among hundreds of thousands. This is what I have thought and realized when I have heard the
teachings. This is why I am continuing my travels, not to seek other better teachings, for I know there are none, but to depart from all teachings and all teachers, and to reach my goal by myself, or to die. But often I'll think of this day, oh Exalted One, and of this hour when my eyes beheld a holy man. The Buddha's eyes quietly looked to the ground, quietly, in perfect equanimity. His inscrutable face was smiling. I wish the Venerable One spoke slowly, that your thoughts shall not
be in error, that you shall reach the goal. But tell me, have you seen the multitude of my samanas, my many brothers who have taken refuge in the teachings, And do you believe, oh stranger, oh Samana, do you believe that it would be better for them to abandon the teachings and to return into the life of the world and of desires. Far is such a thought from my mind, exclaimed said Arthur. I wish that they shall stay with the teachings, that they shall reach their goal. It is
not my place to judge another person's life. Only for myself. For myself alone, I must decide, I must choose. I must refuse. Salvation from the self is what we Samanas search for, Oh exalted One. If I merely were one of your disciples, Oh venerable One, I'd fear that it might happen to me that only seemingly, only deceptively, myself would be calmed and be redeemed, but that in truth it would live on and grow. For then I had replaced myself with the teachings, my duty to follow
you, my love for you and the community of the monks. With half of a smile, with an unwavering openness and kindness, Gautama looked into the stranger's eyes and bid him to leave with a hardly noticeable gesture. You are wise, oh Samana, the venerable one spoke, You know how to talk wisely, my friend, but be aware of too much wisdom. The Buddha turned away, and his glance and half of a smile remained forever etched in sad Arthur's memory. I have never before seen such a person glance and smile,
sit and walk this way, he thought. Truly, I wished to be able to lance and smile, sit and walk this way too, Thus free, thus venerable, thus concealed, thus open, thus childlike and mysterious. Truly, only a person who has succeeded in reaching the innermost part of his self would glance and walk this way. Well, So I also will seek to reach the innermost part of myself. I saw a man, said Arthur, thought, a single man before whom I would have to lower my
glance. I do not want to lower my glance before any other, not before any other. No teachings will entice me any more. Since this man's teachings have not enticed me. I am deprived by the Buddha, thought, said Arthur. I am deprived, and even more he has given to me. He has deprived me of my friend, the one who had believed in me and now believes in him, who had been my shadow and is now Gautama's shadow. But he has given me Saddhartha myself. End of chapter three,