The trips through the four gates symbolize the state of mind about which Shakyamuni later spoke in the following way:
“Though I was young and was living a life of luxury, I was often obsessed with the thought that many people pay no heed to the aging, illness, and death of others. They consider the affairs of outsiders none of their business and, failing to apply the experiences of others to themselves, refuse to realize that they too must grow old, fall ill, and die. But I did relate the aging, illness, and death of others to myself, and this caused me to suffer and be ashamed and to abandon pride in vigorous youth, health, and life.”
Nothing can be known of the life of disembodied spirits or of life after the death of the physical body. Even if such life exists, it is unrelated to man in this world. Whatever ideal realm may exist after this life, it can probably do nothing to ease present sufferings and anxieties.
Seeking earnestly for the attainment of the ideal under the actual conditions of the real world, Shakyamuni, who had already learned that meditation did not lead to his goal, decided to try ascetic austerities. He adopted the standpoint that it is impossible to know whether a thing can or cannot be done until one tries. (Page 25)
Postscript: I want to add this to my stored quotations not because I celebrate the failure of ascetic austerities to ease present sufferings and anxieties. Instead, I celebrate the opportunity each of us has to try – to act – and thus reach for something better.
In the eighteen chapters of this book, I give an account of basic Buddhism, centered on the life of Śākyamuni, the historical Buddha, and the primitive teachings of his time. The book is not an ordered, doctrinal presentation but a blend of what I have to say about the teachings and of material concerning the life of Śākyamuni taken from the oldest and most reliable sources. Though I did not intend to write a detailed biography, I have made use of the historical evidence considered most correct.
The oldest extant Buddhist classics – the Agama sutras and the Vinaya-pitaka – were not written as biographies of Śākyamuni and contain only a fragmentary exposition of his words, actions, teachings, and discussion. These works, which cover a period of more than forty years, deal less with the life of Śākyamuni than with correct revelations of his teachings and, although not compiled with the intention of producing scholarly, historically factual records, contain fairly detailed accounts of the first two or three years of activity after Śākyamuni attained enlightenment and of the events of the period of about a year surrounding his entrance into nirvana.
The writing of biographies of Śākyamuni did not begin until several centuries after his death. There are about ten kinds of such biographies, all of which show him as a superhuman being for whom nothing was impossible. They reveal his greatness but fail to give a picture of his true humanity and go too far in the effort to create a powerful impression.
Attempts on the part of later writers to make Śākyamuni seem supernatural led Western scholars to assume that he had never existed as an actual human being but was a fiction invented on the basis of ancient Indian sun myths. In order to obtain an impression of Śākyamuni as a living human being and to understand his true greatness, it is essential to rely on the unembellished accounts found in the oldest historical sources. Though fragmentary and incomplete, this material gives a clearer, more vital picture than accounts compiled in later periods.
A true picture of Śākyamuni and the religion he founded is of maximum importance today for the following reasons. Śākyamuni is ranked as one of the four great sages of the world, together with Socrates, Jesus Christ, and Confucius. Buddhism itself ranks with Islam and Christianity as one of the world’s three great religions. People of learning and culture in both the East and the West who attempt to interpret the issue impartially agree that, of the four great sages, Śākyamuni had the most harmonious and outstanding personality. Furthermore, cultural leaders throughout the world insist that, in terms of rationality and of inspiring peace and a spirit of generosity, either Buddhism or something similar to it is the ideal kind of religion for the future of all mankind.
Because he had proved that neither meditation nor ascetic austerities enabled one to attain the ideal, Śākyamuni saw that no other method that existed at the time could lead to his goal. In reflecting on this, the prince developed three comparisons: transferring light ignited with a fire stick to waterlogged fresh wood, transferring light ignited with a fire stick to ordinary fresh wood, and igniting fire with a fire stick on dry wood. Waterlogged and fresh wood symbolize the heart saturated with desires and worldly attachments. Dry wood symbolizes a heart in which there is no longer desire or attachment to worldly things. The act of igniting fire by means of a fire stick represents diligent effort. The most assiduous effort in ascetic austerities cannot bring enlightenment to a heart saturated with desires and attachments, just as fire struck by means of the fire stick at the cost of great effort cannot be transferred to waterlogged or fresh wood. But since fire can be struck readily by diligent effort with the fire stick on dry wood, so a heart that has already been drained of desires and attachments by equally diligent spiritual effort can attain the ideal goal.
When he understood this, Śākyamuni saw that both meditation practice and ascetic austerities were mistaken. After recovering his physical strength, he prepared a seat with soft grass under an assattha, or bo, tree not far from the town of Gaya and, making a vow not to rise until he attained enlightenment, even if it meant death, sat in meditation.
In the first hours of the night of his enlightenment (the hours from six till ten), he attained wisdom about all past things. In the middle hours (from ten until two in the morning), he attained wisdom about all future things. Then in the final hours (from two until six in the morning), he was freed of all bondage and attained wisdom without illusion. He became a Buddha. And this was the starting point of Buddhism. (Page 26-27)
