At that time a girl named Sujata Senani lived in Uruvela. When adult, she prayed before a certain Banyan tree, that she might get a husband equal to herself in caste and that her firstborn may be a son. Her prayer was successful, since so indeed did it happen. At the full moon day of the Vesak month, she rose at early dawn & milked the cows. As soon as new buckets were placed under the cows, their milk poured forth in streams spontaneously all by itself. Seeing this miracle, she knew something special was going on.
Now at that very night the Future Buddha had 5 specific dreams that made him conclude: Certainly, without doubt, today is the very day, I will reach Enlightenment! His 5 colored radiance illuminated the whole tree. Then Sujata came & offered the cooked milk rice in the hands of the Great Being. After that a grass-cutter came going with a bundle of grass just harvested from nearby. He offered the Great Being 8 handfuls of Kusa grass, when he saw that this Sage was a Holy Man. The Future Buddha accepted the grass and proceeded to the foot of the great Bodhi-Tree. Reaching the imperturbable Eastern side, where all Buddhas take their seat, he sat down determined & said to himself: This is indeed the immovable spot where all the Buddhas have planted themselves! This is the very place for destroying the net of desire! Then the Future Buddha turned his back to the trunk and faced East. Right there he then made this mighty decision:
Let just blood & flesh of this body dry up & let skin & sinews fall from the frame of bones. I will not leave this seat before having attained the absolute supreme Enlightenment!
So determined did he seat himself in this unconquerable seat, which not even a 100 strikes of lightning could make him waver from. At this very moment the rebel deity Mara -the Evil One- raised exclaiming: Prince Siddhattha will now pass beyond my power, but I will never allow it! and sounding the Mara's war shout, he prepared his army & went out for battle. Then Mara said to his militia: This Sakyamuni, son of Suddhodana, is far greater, than any other man, so we will never succeed to fight him up front. We will therefore attack him from behind. Frustrated, being unable even to touch this Wielder of Power even with 9 mighty hurricanes of wind, rain, rocks, weapons, red coals, hot ashes, sand, mud, & darkness Mara somewhat in panic commanded his army: Why do you stand still? Seize, kill & drive away this prince. And Mara yelled: Siddhattha, leave this seat. It is not yours but mine! Hearing this the Well-gone One replied: Mara, neither have you ever fulfilled the 10 perfections to the third degree, nor have you given the 5 great donations. Neither has you striven for insight, nor for the welfare of the world, nor for enlightenment! Therefore does this seat not belong to you, but indeed only and forever to me! Suddenly overpowered by fear Mara's followers fled helter-skelter in all directions. Not two went the same way, but leaving their weapons in a chaos all behind, they fled terrified by panic. Seeing them flee, the great assembly of deities triumphantly shouted: Mara is defeated. Prince Siddhattha has Won! Let us celebrate the Victory! The deities then sang:
The Victory has this illustrious Buddha Won. The Evil One, The End-maker is defeated & done. Thus they jubilantly circled the wisdom throne, the band of nagas singing their praises of the Seer, the flocks of birds singing their praises of the Sage, the assembly of Deities singing their praises of the Conqueror, the group of Brahmas singing their praises of the Worthy One.
It was before the sun had set that the Tathagata thus conquered Mara & defeated his army. Then at the same night, after having bathed, while the Bodhi-Tree rained red sprigs on his robe, the Consummate One acquired knowledge of previous existences in the first watch of the night: With the mind thus concentrated, purified, bright, fixed, unified, focused, tractable, compliant, steady & imperturbable, I directed it to remembrance of my past lives. I recollected numerous past lives, i.e., one birth, two...five, ten...fifty, a hundred, a thousand, a hundred thousand, many eons of cosmic contraction, many eons of cosmic expansion: There I had such a name, belonged to such a clan & species, had such a body. Such was my food, such my experience of pleasure & pain, such the end of my life. Passing away from that state, I re-arose there. There I had such name, belonged to such a sort & family, had such a form. Such was my food, such my experience of pleasure & pain, such the end of my life. Passing away from that state, I re-arose here. Thus I remembered my various past lives in all their various modes & details. This was the first knowledge I attained in the first watch of the night. Ignorance was destroyed; knowledge arose; darkness was destroyed; light arose as happens in one who is alert, aware, and determined. But the pleasant feeling that arose in this way did not invade my mind nor remain. With the mind thus still concentrated, purified, bright, intact, pliant, malleable, steady, & imperturbable, I directed it to the knowledge of the passing away & reappearance of beings. I saw by means of the divine eye, purified & surpassing the human eye I saw beings passing away & re-appearing, and I realized how & why they are high & low, beautiful & ugly, fortunate & unfortunate all in accordance with the intentions of their prior actions: 'These beings who were endowed with bad behavior of body, speech, & mind, who reviled the Noble Ones, held wrong views and acted under the influence of wrong views, with the break-up of the body, after death, have re-appeared in the plane of misery, the bad destinations, the lower realms, even in the hells. But these beings, who were gifted with good behavior of body, speech & mind, who did not revile the Noble Ones, who held right views and acted under the influence of right views, with the break-up of the body, after death, have re-appeared in happy destinations, even in a divine world.' Thus -- by means of the divine eye, purified & surpassing the human -- I saw beings passing away & re-appearing, all in accordance with their particular mixture of good & bad kamma. But the satisfaction that arose in this way did not invade my mind nor did it remain. With the mind thus concentrated, fully absorbed, I directed it towards understanding the stilling of all the mental fermentations. Then I realized how it actually comes to be, that:
When my mind saw that, realized that, it was freed of the fermentation of sense-desire, released from the fermentation of becoming, unobstructed by the fermentation of ignorance. Fully & Perfectly Enlightened - The Buddha - perceiving this immense glory, spoke these 2 solemn verses, which never has been omitted by any of countless thousands of prior Buddhas:
Through this round of countless existences have I searched yet failed to find 'the Creator', who framed this formation: What Misery! is such Endless Birth, Ageing, Decay & Death!!
Now I see that 'the Constructor' of this structure is Craving...!!! Never shall this construction be build again, as all the rafters are shattered and the main beam is busted & fully broken... At this stilling of all Craving, mind has finally found calm…
Then, friends, this vision of certainty then arose in me: This release is irreversible, this is the last rebirth, this endless reappearance has finally ended...
