Preface

The essay that forms the first part of this booklet, bears in its German original the title Pabbajja which, in Pali, the language of the Buddhist texts, means Going forth, namely from the household life to the homelessness of a Buddhist monk. The Pali word Pabbajja is also the term for the first ordination bestowed for entry into the Buddhist monastic Order (Sangha) by which the candidate becomes a Novice or Samanera like the author of the writings presented here, whose illness and premature death deprived him of taking higher ordination.

Fritze Stange, the lay name of our author, was a German by birth, and received his novice ordination in 1906 at Matara (Ceylon), under the nestor of the German Buddhist monks the Venerable Nyanatiloka Thera (d 1957). Together with Sumano, a Dutchman, called Bergendahl, was ordained as the Samanera Suñño. They were the first two pupils of the Venerable Nyanatiloka who, on his part, had received novice ordination in 1903 and higher ordination in 1904, both in Burma. As related in the Appendix of this booklet, illness obliged Sumano to go back to Germany, but in the same year he returned again to Ceylon, together with the Venerable Nyanatiloka who had paid a short visit to Germany. He took ordination again and then lived in the undulating, grassy hillocks of Bandarawela, in Ceylon's up-country — a landscape of ascetical bareness, breathing seclusion and quietude. There he died and was cremated in January 1910. A spout just by the spot where he lived, still bears in the Sinhala language the name "German Phihilla" (German spout).1

Sumano was held in great reverence by the people for his deep piety. He was of an unassuming nature; but his bearing emanated an atmosphere of saintliness and detachment, of maturity and gentle firmness which obviously must have set him apart from the multitude.

The same atmosphere of the true ascetic's sincere and forceful simplicity radiates from the pages of his little book Pabbajja. It's first publication in Germany, in the year 1910, deeply impressed and inspired the members of the small circles of German Buddhists. An English version by Bhikkhu Silacara appeared in Ceylon the same year. This has been fully revised for the present edition, after comparison with the German original.

Sumano's letters appeared in print in a German Buddhist magazine, "Die Buddhistische Warte," and are published here for the first time in an English version prepared by the Venerable Nyanaponika Thera.

Both, essays and letters, served first to justify and explain Sumano's unusual step of entering Buddhist monkhood in the East. There is, however, nothing apologetic in his words, no diffident defense; they are rather a stirring call to kindred minds for proceeding on that hard but incomparably rewarding road towards the "unshakable deliverance of mind." In the same spirit they are offered here to the reader, as a companion to another booklet in this series of Buddhist publications, The Ascetic Ideal by Ronald Fussell (The Wheel Publication No 23).

Buddhist Publication Society
Forest Hermitage
Kandy, Ceylon
February, 1961

Pabbajja

"He is beside himself"

The more frequently a man thus dwells all the more perceptibly does the alienation increase, does the world die away from him, for ever more clearly does the true nature of the world reveal itself to the mind through the persistent contemplation of this truth founded in experience:

Thus is form; thus it arises; thus it passes away.
Thus is feeling; thus it arises; thus it passes away.
Thus is perception; thus it arises, thus it passes away.
Thus are the mental formations, thus they arise, thus they pass away.
Thus is consciousness; thus it arises, thus it passes away.

Always the same law, always the same song:

Anicca vata sankhara uppada-vaya-dhammino;
Uppajjitva nirujjhanti, tesam vupasamo sukho'ti:

"Transient are all compounded things;
To rise to fall, their nature is.
Having become, they pass away;
Their final rest is highest bliss."

"I know not, Ananda, even of a single form whereby pleasure and satisfaction in form does not pass into sorrow and lamentation, pain, grief, despair, since it is transient and changeable" — and so with feeling, and so with perception, and so with the mental formations, and so with consciousness. "This world, however, seeks pleasure, loves pleasure, prizes pleasure. Only a few beings are stirred by things that are truly stirring, in comparison with the greater number who remain unstirred by truly stirring things. And again, there are only a few who, being stirred, earnestly strive, in comparison with the greater number who, being stirred, yet do not earnestly strive."

Unrestrained by the perception of the hollowness of things, flows on the hot stream of foolish desire: "O, that no birth lay before us, no old age, no death, no sorrow, no lamentation, no pain, no grief, no despair! — but this is not to be obtained by mere desiring; and not to get what one desires is suffering." Ah! if only our parents would remain alive; Ah! if only our loved one would not die,... Ah! the misery of this law of nature! How many millions daily sob and weep over graves! The misery of this law of nature! "What dear to one brings sorrow and lamentation, pain, grief, and despair: attachment is the root of suffering." Hence the uprooting of suffering is non-attachment, the way of escape from all this wretchedness is non-attachment, denial, renunciation. "Whoso cleaves to woe, follows after woe, is bound up with woe, and thus considers: 'That belongs to me, that I am, that is my self (atta, self, soul) — can such one really comprehend woe, can such a one avoid the woe that encompasses him?' But he who withdraws himself from attachment and learns to renounce, to deny, and to turn away, deprives the heart's pain of its nourishment, and by degrees brings about its extinction. "The turning away of the will vanquishes all woe."

This turning away comes into operation where there is an understanding of suffering, of the arising of suffering, of the cessation of suffering, and of the path that leads to the cessation of suffering. Before understanding these truths, man hastens from birth to death in the sea of existence (samsara), without deriving therefrom any true gain for his deliverance — worn out for naught, the body perishes." "It is through lack of understanding and insight into the Four Holy Truths, ye disciples, that we had travel so long the weary round of Samsara — both you and I. What think ye: which is greater — the floods of tears which, weeping and wailing, ye have shed on this long journey, ever and again hastening towards new birth and new death, united to the undesired, sundered from the desired — this or the waters of the four great seas? For long have ye experienced the death of a mother, for long the death of a father, for long the death of a son, for long the death of a daughter, for long the death of brothers and sisters; for long ye were harassed by disease; and whilst experiencing the death of mother, of father, of son, of daughter, of brothers and sisters, the loss of property, the torment of disease, whilst being united with the undesired and sundered from the desired, thus hastening from birth to death and from death to birth ye have verily shed more tears on this long journey, than all the waters that are held in the four great seas! But how is that possible? Without beginning and without end is this Samsara, unknowable is the beginning of beings sunk in ignorance (avijja) who, seized by craving (tanha), ever and again are brought to renewed birth, and so hastened through the endless round of rebirths. Thus, for long have ye experienced suffering, experienced torment, experienced misery, and filled the graveyards — long enough truly to have become dissatisfied with all existence, long enough to turn away from all being, long enough to seek release from it all."

Who take this exhortation to themselves? Those whose minds are stirred by these thoughts. And being stirred they will learn to understand, and will earnestly strive. "For them delight and pleasure in the world gradually passes away, they perceive the coarse as well as the subtle lures of Mara; wearied are they of intoxication, of self-deception; no longer do they shrink from the inevitable struggle for the overcoming of the world; yea, to this or that one, the widespread misery in the world reveals itself to his mind so nakedly, so powerfully, that the cry for the end of it drowns every other voice: "Forth, forth, forth to the other shore!" "Sunk am I in birth, in old age and death, in sorrow, lamentation and pain, in grief and despair, sunk in suffering, lost in suffering! O that it were possible to make an end of all this mass of suffering!" To such a comprehension, to such a longing, the meaning of asceticism becomes evident as that manner of living which really makes possible single-minded devotion to that most difficult of all tasks — the task of becoming perfectly good or pure or holy, and thereby, free from suffering and rebirth!

"If I truly understand the doctrine declared by the Exalted One, it is not easy for one who remains in household life to fulfill point by point the wholly stainless, wholly purified ascetic life." "Whoso lives in the house is busy over-much, is much occupied, anxious about many things, disturbed about many things; he is not always entirely devoted to truthfulness; not always and entirely zealous in self control, chaste, recollected, given to renunciation."

"Man falls as falls the fruit from the tree,
Unripe or mayhap ripe, with sudden crash:
and so, O king, a beggar I become,
For, the sure pilgrim-life me seems the best."

"There has never been a householder, Vaccha, who without forsaking household-ties, has, at the dissolution of the body, made an end to suffering."

Therefore, whoso resolutely seeks the end, "After a time will leave behind a small property, or leave behind a large property; he forsakes a small circle of acquaintances, or he forsakes a large circle of acquaintances, and goes forth from home to homelessness" — pabbajja.

But father and mother, wife and children, love and duty? The sense of duty depends on understanding. Once a duty has been understood as the higher one, it sets aside the lower conception of duty held formerly.

For years a man may have devoted himself to the care of wife and child, prizing nothing higher than his family's welfare. Then war comes to his country. The course of events stirs him profoundly; he is affected by new ideas, another view of things gain strength within him. "Sweet it is to die for the fatherland!" The feeling overpowers him: "What care I for wife, what care I for child!" Of his own free will he goes forth to meet the foes of the fatherland. The duty to his country now seems to him higher than the duty to his wife and children.

Another man has in former days, with full conviction, solemnly vowed faithfully to stand by his country even to death. Later on, in consequence of higher comprehension he gains a higher standpoint, a wider outlook; envisages politics as a citizen of the world, thinks in universal terms: "This Frenchman is a fellow human being, is a fellow sufferer. This Russian is a fellow human being, is a fellow sufferer. Life is a sacred thing, frightful, barbaric is this wholesale killing, called war — the visible aggravation of suffering." No longer can he slay his fellow-men. In case of a call to arms he willingly allows himself to be shot by his own countrymen. The duty "Thou shalt not kill!" stands higher in his eyes than any duty towards his fatherland.

Yet another, as pastor, for many a year enjoyed a secure living with his family. By degrees his views undergo a change. He finds himself unable any longer to give his assent to dogmas, to the doctrines of Revelation, of Grace, or of Forgiveness of Sins, or Vicarious Atonement; he can no longer believe in that deplorable and absurd doctrine of "eternal damnation for the deeds of a brief spell of thirty years." A higher knowledge has come to fruition within him. Clear and evident to him has become the universally ruling law, the unchangeable, equable relation of cause and effect, the unfailingly just recompensations of right or wrong action (kamma). He burdens his mind neither with thoughts about the unfathomable, nor with useless discussions: he go on preaching as before? He will follow his altered convictions, give up his position as pastor — come what may!

Whoso acts according to his deepest understanding is always straight and candid, ever acts in accordance with truth — at least relatively so: for a man's truth is his degree of understanding.

"This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow as the night the day;
Thou canst not then be false to any man:
Be true to the highest within you!"

To a man now, who has clearly perceived the pitiable condition of all beings that share a common existence, what higher, holier, or more urgent task can there be than to become perfectly kind, perfectly good or holy and thereby to get himself cured of this being born, growing old and dying, of this sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair? Hence if he has truly recognized the significance and value of asceticism for the fulfillment of this highest duty, and experienced the impossibility of its perfect realization in household life, there follows the going forth into homelessness (Pabbajja) as necessarily as the fall of the drop that is full. "No man can serve two masters" — fully well. The man who devotedly strives for the fulfillment of the Doctrine experiences intensely the unsatisfactoriness of divided allegiance. Hence after a time, he gives it up, for the blessing of himself as well as of his family; an inward law of development that is beyond dispute. Only a mother knows the pangs of childbirth, and only a mother knows the succeeding joys of motherhood. Only he who has left home knows the relief of relinquishing accustomed bonds; only he who has left home, knows the happiness of being free: an inward experience — indisputable! "The joys of the family life and the joys of the homeless life — these are two different joys: and the nobler of the two is the joy the homeless life."

If millions of honest men in worldly life find Pabbajja, the Going Forth, obnoxious; if they condemn the incomprehensible act as wrong, as unnatural, or deplore it as a mental aberration, they are quite right from their own standpoint; no intelligent man will contradict them. They act in accordance with their conception of duty, and are "great, great in their place" if, before all things they care for beloved parents, for wife and children, and strive to fulfill the manifold important duties laid upon them by their life in the world. Also the few who have a bent for the ascetic life and honestly long for it, but feel themselves bound one way or another to their wanted way of life and therefore remain in its bondage — they also are right from their own standpoint. So also are those individuals right who go forth, being no longer bound inwardly. It is not the outward circumstances that bind a man; by himself is man really bound, by himself is he really free.

Having left parents, son and wife,
Relations, wealth and land,
And all desires of sense,
Let him wander alone like the rhinoceros.

By logic, by reasoning or by eloquent words alone that act of going forth into homelessness can certainly not be argued or explained. But whoso sees this law, whoso sees this truth, no longer asks for proof. Quietly and with confidence he acts. What the world says about it, leaves him unconcerned.

Whoso well in time sees the holy goal with penetrating clearness, he can no longer tie matrimonial bonds.

Who dwells alone and seeks not any mate,
Though young in years yet bides not anywhere,
Averted, turned away from contract's transports:
Him the wise well and truly call a sage.

Whether, however, a man be old or young, whether he be married or not — at whatever period of his life, the urge in him for the ascetic life asserts itself, then along with the other bonds binding to the worldly life, the bonds of blood- relationship also lose their force. The mother has become an elder sister; the father has become a brother; the wife has become a sister; the son has become a brother... fellow beings, fellow sufferers. Attachment, longing have died away, alienation has set in. Such a one has no longer a place and use in the family. "Another law works in the members," a wider love. In love the ascetic goes forth from the family, out of love he leaves it. Truly difficult to understand is the love in genuine ascetic mind, yet relatives also learn to understand it. "And if the families out of which those noble men have gone forth from home into homelessness, think of these noble men with love, for long will it make for their weal and happiness."

Just as a man, who out of true feelings gives alms at the same time makes richer his family, though to outward appearance that family may suffer some loss in goods or money: so truly bestows a householder a rich treasure to an understanding family, if in a right frame of mind, moved by the highest of duties, he renounces the worldly life, even though that family may lose its external support. This loss which not seldom is brought about by premature death, can be made good and is unessential; but essential is: awakening from the slumber, thoughtfulness, insight, the perspective of Anatta (not-self), turning away, detachment — that is what matters.

Apart from the differences existing between the teachings of the Buddha and of the Christ, all these sayings have these ideas in common:

Day after day, twenty-four hours older, a hundred thousand heart beats nearer to the grave inevitably! "O, put all wishes aside save the desire to know truth; recognize the truth and tell it, come what may!" Whoso does not act in that way, deceives himself and others. Whoso shrinks from the decision that truth demands, puts obstacles in the way of himself and others though it may not always be obvious.

From life departing man no refuge finds,
Nor friend, nor loved one, boon companions none.
The heirs, with strife, divide the heritage,
Himself fares forth according to his deeds.

None can do for another what is needed for deliverance. Here each has to rely on himself alone.

Self alone is the lord of self.
What higher master can there be?
By self alone is evil done, by self one is defiled;
By self is evil left undone; by self alone one is purified,
Pure and impure on self alone depend;
No one can make another pure.

Hence give not up thine own best weal
For others' weal however great.
Once thou hast seen thine own best weal,
Pursue it keenly for thyself.

Concern for oneself, in that sense, is far from being reprehensible egotism. It has nothing to do with the oppression or exploitation of others, with harshness towards others.

Not only is such true care for oneself unreprehensible, but it is the only way to become hale and holy oneself and to help others to become likewise. "A man may do ever so much good and take upon himself ever so many abnegations, and yet as long as he does not know himself he will not reach deliverance." — "The only limitations he imposes upon himself, are those arising from not knowing himself. In the degree, however, that he knows himself, he is able to do greatest service a man can render for another, namely: to help him to help himself; to bring him to a true knowledge of himself, of his own inner power." Hence, the more ardently a man devotes himself to the work of his own deliverance, all the sooner and more effectively can he become a blessing to others; for all the sooner can he learn and experience what will help himself and others to win true deliverance; the laws for it are the same for all. Any other helpful action, however meritorious it may be, is concerned with things external, not with the world within. "Can the blind lead the blind? Shall they not both fall into the ditch?" Whoso has ever offered to others "bread for stones," has first of all labored within himself, "lonely, apart, untiringly, ardent and resolute."

The inward worker who has lived the truth, speaks from experience, with the assurance of an "expert": "So it is," he says, and not, "So it may be." Therefore his words produce in susceptible minds an inner crisis never experienced before, a crisis severe but wholesome: "The word of the wise heals." As is the speech of the inwards worker, so is his outward behavior: true, straight and firm, serene, aloof, uncommon. Such venerable ones are the greatest benefactors of their fellow men, the best physicians; visible witnesses of the fact that detachment from the world is possible; by their very lives they point to the way by which that what continually produces and feeds new suffering can be eliminated. Therefore, whether householder or monk — above all, win to a true vision for thyself! "Know thyself!" — "Be ever mindful of thyself."

The wise upon the path of truth
He first establishes himself:
Then only can he others teach.

Who thus, as he to others tells,
Can conquer and subdue himself,
May haply turn them to the true;
But hard it is to rule oneself.

The most likely possibility of escape from the mire of ignorance (avijja) is offered by the life of a tree monk (bhikkhu). Though the Buddha's Teaching has been described as "running counter to the common current, profound, subtle and hard to realize," there are those in the world who, on hearing that Teaching, feel irresistibly attracted to the monk life. There are those who, once they become aware of the general misery of life and of the way of the speediest release from it, lay everything else aside and, without delay, go forth into the homeless life — "their insight needed only to be roused." Others again are able after a severe struggle, to break up all bridges behind them. Deep-rooted desires and ideas, coarse or subtle, so strongly ingrained in ordinary life, may obstruct for long an appreciation of the ascetic life; hence people are not in a hurry to turn to it, and the strength of character needed for renunciation, is lacking.

It is quite true that noble characters can be found everywhere in society, also in family life; it is true that not a few householders die more ennobled in mind than many a monk; it is true that an earnest, devoted disciple, by virtue of an unusually developed character, due to his good Kamma of the past, may, without abandoning household ties, attain to almost all stages of holiness, that is up to the stage of the non-returner (anagami). But no one who knows will maintain that he who is determined to make an end of suffering, may to the same effect remain in the household life as lead the life of a monk. On the contrary, "the wisest of all times" teach that such a man will choose a mode of life detached from all worldly bonds: he will go the road that offers the least resistance to his aspirations.

Even as the peacock, the blue-necked bird of the parks,
In its aerial flight never can rival the swan,
So the dweller in house can never equal the monk — 
Him the thinker withdrawn, in forest abiding.

Separation, isolation, again and again, is necessary for bringing suffering to an end. Just as the steam which is asleep in the water and awakened by fire, does not develop its giant strength, does not become a concentrated power, unless it is shut in, likewise man's inner potentialities for lack of seclusion, for lack of isolation, cannot develop, cannot be converted into higher powers. "Many live far below their possibilities because they continually surrender their individualities to others." In the worldly life, full self-recollectedness, full devotion to the goal, do not come easily. The chaotic mass of uncontrolled impressions will divert and distract again and again, and will lead astray. Sadly great is the sum of energy daily expended to no profit. In home life, too much nutriment gross or subtle is supplied by the world of the five senses, and this will ever and again disturb those thoughts that in the noble-minded are naturally directed towards higher things; hence there is only very slow progress in discarding and uprooting obstructing qualities and evil propensities of the mind.

Quite different is it in the homeless state, in a life of solitude. There man is, as it were, forsaken by all the world, and thrown back entirely upon himself, without palliatives and self-deceptions. There he learns to be profoundly ashamed of all that is base, and feels himself impelled to strive for progress; mindfully he breathes in, mindfully he breathes out, and he wins to the insight that frees from suffering. In secluded places — in the depth of the forest, in a lonely cottage, a mountain cave, a cemetery — the five senses, in the absence of their usual objects of craving, are, as it were, put out of action; and the sixth sense, the mind, alone, detached, undisturbed, effectively collected, can do its work, can understand the workings of greed, hatred and delusion, can reject them. "What are the characteristics of those venerable ones, what is so special to them that people should say of them, 'Truly, these venerable ones have lost greed and hatred and delusion, or are on the way to overcome them'? This question may be answered thus: 'Those venerable ones seek out lonely places in the depth of the forest: There are not to be found any forms entering the field of vision, that can be looked at and craved for; no sounds entering the field of hearing, to be listened to and craved for; no odors entering the field of smell, to be smelled and craved for; no flavors entering the field of taste, that can be tasted and craved for; no bodily contacts entering the field of touch, that can be felt and craved for."

Bodily isolation (kaya-viveka) in secluded places facilitates isolation (citta-viveka) from craving and other hindrances. At the start, this purification and concentration of mind comes only temporarily, during specific meditative exercises; but later on, strengthened by these very exercises, that pure and concentrated state of mind can be maintained for an increasingly longer time, and will make possible a deep and penetrative insight (pañña vipassana) into the true nature of things. And that vision, when completely cleansed of delusion will finally bring about ultimate isolation, the freedom of every kind of attachment (upadhi-viveka = nibbana). In other words: to a disciple tirelessly meditating in solitude, the transient, painful and unsubstantial nature of all constituents of existence will become apparent with an increasing clarity and certainty. To the degree, however, that ignorance and delusion (avijja, moha) about this world disappear, also desire (raga) for anything in it, and hate or anger (dosa) against anything in it, will die away: they will lose their objects, their foothold, their basis, their sanction. Thus, with the withdrawal of the fuel, this terrible conflagration of suffering is brought to extinction, sooner or later, according to previous action-force (kamma) and present effort.

True holiness is never born without solitude; never is it perfected without struggle with the passions within. Yet, the untiring activity of Gotama, the Buddha and of many of his disciples demonstrate that solitude and the happiness of seclusion are not, as many think, the aim and end of the ascetic life, but they are an essential means to the end, and are an incomparable mine of strength and inspiration to him who resolutely strives for the goal.

By a wrong view of life all ascetic endeavor will naturally be considered as egotism pure and simple; but right understanding will never regard it like that. The true ascetic who has wholeheartedly taken up the training knows that, in the absolute sense, there is no ego nor anything belonging to it, neither I nor mine. Neither corporeality nor feeling, perception, formations and consciousness contain any abiding substance, because they are transient, painful, subject to change. Therefore, no longer can one who has entered the path where deliverance is assured (the sekha) bestir himself for the sake of the ego; his striving aims at the final cessation of the conditioned personality (kamma, khandha), by the gradual elimination of all its roots. But during his more or less protracted struggle for final emancipation the Sekha is not yet entirely cured of all self-affirmation, of all impulses connected with I and Mine; still the old Kamma clings to him. Only in the arahant, the Holy One, is the truth of Anatta fully realized, and therewith all and every form of self-affirmation is done away; "through the cessation, rejection, removal, denial and relinquishment of all notions of I and Mine, and all biases of self-conceit, he has won perfect deliverance." In other words:

It is this very truth that none in this world period has as perfectly penetrated, as perfectly taught as the Buddha. The entire hard struggle for deliverance was called by the Enlightened One briefly "The liberation from the fetter of ignorance" that is, from self-illusion. "Hence, Sariputta, thus should you train yourself: 'Concerning this body endowed with consciousness, there shall not arise any notions and biases shall not arise! And we shall abide in the attainment of this deliverance of the heart, this deliverance by wisdom through which all these notions and biases cease.' Thus, Sariputta, should you train yourself. And in so far, Sariputta, as a monk attains to this deliverance of the heart, this deliverance by wisdom, he is called one who has cut off craving, removed the fetters of existence, has made an end of suffering by the full elimination of self-conceit."

The more devotedly one strives towards this goal, the more selfless he becomes, and the earlier will he make an end of all egotism:

But, to be sure, mere outward asceticism is of no avail. "Whether one remains in the household life or whether one goes forth from it to the homeless state, if one lives wrongly I do not praise it. For, whosoever either remains at home or departs from home, if he lives wrongly, on account of that wrong way of life he can gain nothing on the good path of the Dhamma." — "I do not ascribe asceticism to a robe wearer just because he wears a monk's robe. I do not ascribe asceticism to a forest hermit just because he lives in the forest. I do not ascribe asceticism to a knower of text just because he knows many texts... Not because a man wears a robe, dwells in the forest, knows the texts, speaks much about the Doctrine, can he get rid of craving propensities, can he get rid of hating propensities, can he get rid of delusive propensities."

"There are people who, void of faith, go forth from home into homelessness, hypocrites, dissemblers, sham-ascetics, conceited men, busy talkers and chatterers, bad guardians of the doors of the senses, without moderation at meals, not devoted to wakefulness, indifferent to asceticism, without respect for the training, fond of luxury, importunate, preferring what is detrimental, shunning solitude as a heavy burden, lazy, without energy, heedless and uncomprehending; uncontrolled and distracted minds of small understanding, and stupid. Such a monk's asceticism appears to me, O monks, like a murderous weapon, meant for slaughter, doubled edged, well sharpened, covered band wrapped round with a robe. A knife taken up by the blade, wounds the hand: misused asceticism drags one the downward path."

"In error ye wander, O monks of Assaji, upon a false path ye wander, O monks of Assaji. How far apart have they strayed, the foolish, from this Doctrine and Discipline!" "Hard it is to serve the Exalted One, very hard it is to serve the Exalted One!" — meeting with this experience many a weak disciple, discouraged or displeased, has given up asceticism (see Majjhima Nikaya No. 67, 77).

Only to him who knows suffering, only to one who true to the Doctrine, earnestly works within, fighting purposefully and persistently against Mara — to such a one only, will the external circumstances of asceticism prove to be what actually they ought to be according to Buddha's declaration: The most suitable conditions which the world can offer for the complete overcoming of the world. Again and again did the Master place before his disciples the hollowness and futility of half-hearted asceticism, as well as the seriousness and difficulties of the true monk's life. Never did he attempt to persuade anyone to become his disciple or to lead the ascetic life under him. "He lays the Doctrine before the people, does not persuade them, does not dissuade them." "He shows the nature of this world after he himself has understood and penetrated it. The doctrine, excellent in the beginning, excellent in the middle, excellent in its consummation, does he proclaim, both in the spirit and in the letter; he sets forth the holy life in its fullness and purity." Now, if the nature and purpose of this ascetic life becomes overwhelmingly clear to a householder or a householder's son, he will become an ascetic of his own free will, following his inner urge. "Sunken I am in birth, in old age and death, in distress, lamentation and pain, in grief and despair; sunken in suffering, lost in suffering! Oh! that it might be possible to make an end of this whole mass of misery!" In such a state of mind, filled with confidence, he renounces the worldly life, and such a renunciation is called in the texts "right-minded renunciation" (nekkhammasankappa).2

With such a true renunciation, such a true Pabbajja (Going Forth), "has he arrived in a clearing (of life's jungle)" — but no further. "Whoso, as a noble son, has thus renounced, what has he to do? Whoso finds no detachment from desires, from evil states of mind, whoso finds no joy and happiness or other still better gain, his heart will be seized and bound by lust; will be seized and bound by ill-will; will be seized and bound by sloth and torpor; will be seized and bound by restlessness and worry; will be seized and bound by doubt, will be seized and bound by dissatisfaction, will be seized and bound by attachment. But whoso finds detachment from desires, from evil states of mind, and finds joy and happiness and other states of mind, and finds joy and happiness and other still better gain- his heart will not be seized and bound by lust, will not be seized and bound by ill-will, by sloth and torpor, restlessness and worry, by doubt, dissatisfaction and attachment." But this nobility of mind, how is it acquired? Only through meditation and again meditation (Satipatthana): "Here trees invite; there, lonely cottages. Go, meditate! Be not slothful, lest later ye repent!"

True asceticism is an obstinate, mute struggle. Mighty is Mara! Fearfully deep-embedded is delusion! "Dying and becoming! Dying and becoming!" No standing still should be permitted; no satisfaction with what has been attained! "Ever more strong must ye become to reach what is still unreached, to attain what is still unattained, to realize what is still unrealized!" "I declare unto you, O monks, I call upon you to give heed, ye that aspire to the goal of asceticism: see that the goal does not elude you while there is more to accomplish!"

Dying and becoming, again and again — until nothing can any more become, and hence there is nothing that can die! No rest, no stopping before Nibbana is reached! "Also to the world beyond I shall not cleave, nor shall my consciousness be bound to that world. All nutriment is misery, heavenly food as well. To be conscious is to be suffering." An ascetic thus minded "has found and finds ever greater and loftier results; he is well satisfied with the ascetic life, does not give up the noble effort." "It is called 'death' in the Order of the Holy One, when a person gives up asceticism and turns back to the common life of the world" — this he now appreciates, depending upon none in that experience. "As the moth that has caught sight of the light does not turn back to the darkness, and as the ant dies on the sugar heap, so he turns not back to the worldly way of life but devotes himself fully to the noble training, so that he may reach the highest state, Nibbana, the extinction of delusion."

If weak men only knew themselves! The hero, verily, slumbers in many a one!

Striving, have many won the deathless,
And still to-day by striving men can win
If they with wise endeavor persevere.
But none can do it who does shun the fight.

Appendix I

"Fritz Stange, student of natural sciences" — thus my late friend, then a newly registered freshman, was introduced to the academical association to which I belonged. A handsome young man, with smooth, blond hair, and an elegant mustache, with deeply blue and strikingly large eyes, a gentle voice and a mild glance, thus he stood before us. He was a gentle person and a keen student, who, in lonely hours, used to comfort his soul by playing the violin; he was an ardent admirer of Richard Wagner, and, if possible, he did not miss a single performance of Wagner's operas. If anyone had said that a person like he would ever become a Buddhist ascetic, he would have provoked general laughter.

We liked each other from the beginning. Strange became my personal freshman. My other freshman was a great artist in the field of music, and has now become an excellent, though little known, Sanskritist and Vedantist. The three of us, united by bonds of closest friendship, soon met regularly at the sessions of the Theosophical Society which everywhere has prepared the way for the Buddhist movement. Following the wish of his father, Stange had to give up his studies so dear to him and donned the uniform of an official of the Postal Department. For none of us had the student life any special attraction, and Stange himself saw in it only the karmic way by which we came together. As an official, Stange remained a keen Theosophist, lived as a vegetarian, and plunged deeply into the study of those teachings which then we called Buddhism.

Besides he was unusually capable in his profession, and, personally, he was the favorite of all who knew him. When he was a probationer for the higher postal career ("Oberpostpraktikant") at Kassel, he began to study the Discourses of the Buddha in Neumann's translation, under the guidance of a friend who was an ardent Buddhist, and soon the resolution matured in him to seek deliverance from the grievous suffering that pervades the life of all beings. He had fully grasped the Truth of Suffering. But knowledge alone was not sufficient for his fervent, pure, and profound heart. Thus he left, as a true follower of the Blessed One, his home, his property and his relations, in order to enter the Sangha (Buddhist Monkhood) in distant Asia.

"Why does one go to the countries of Buddhism?" he wrote to me once. "Briefly spoken, because there, and particularly in Burma, all conditions are cut out for a life in the Sangha. One is relieved of all worldly cares, for eating, drinking, clothing, lodging, etc.; in contrast to Europe, one can live there the holy life, first externally. How one detaches oneself inwardly is everyone's most personal affair." Thus he came to Ceylon. "The reception," he wrote, "was so friendly, the helpful response so strikingly unexpected, that already a fortnight after my arrival in Ceylon, I followed an invitation of the Bhikkhu Jinavaravamsa to stay at Chulla Lanka.10 There I have spent the holiest time of my life, in meditation, study of Pali, and conversation about the teaching... But this body 'that sickly thing,' did not stand it." On medical advice, Stange decided to return to Europe to cure his lung disease. In summer 1906, he lived first at Wingendorf near Lauban; afterwards, following the invitation of a friendly physician with Buddhist leanings, at Birkfield in Syria (Austria).

On the 11th of October 1906, the ship took him out again, hardly recovered. This time he went soon to the healthy up- country of Ceylon, to Bandarawela. Until his complete recuperation, he took, as preliminary step towards the Sangha, the white dress of an Upasaka, but soon he donned again the yellow robe of a Samanera (novice). His intention was to return later to Europe, together with Nyanatiloka, for establishing the Sangha there. "The time will come," he wrote in his letter of 7- 7-1906, "when a Sangha will be established in Germany by thoroughly trained Bhikkhus, and thereby a firm basis will be formed for the dissemination of the Teaching that brings such unspeakable bliss."

"When illness visits thee, make mindfulness arise.
Illness has come. No time is now for negligence."

How earnest he was in his determination, is confirmed by the following words of his:

Now his striving within this present impermanent existence has come to an end. Just as his going forth from home was similar to that of his Lord and Master Gotama, so it was the same illness, dysentery, which had dissolved the body of the Perfect one, that also took away the dear heroic Samanera Sumano. Death is indeed the lot of everything born and originated.

When Sumano started on his way to Homelessness, he pointed out to his relatives the justification of that step in a beautifully lucid tract, quoting in it, especially, sayings of Jesus of Nazareth. To the public he gave the work published a few weeks ago, "Pabbajja, Going Forth into Homelessness." Only by absorbing its contents fully, we shall be able to measure the single-minded, pure, noble, and yet firmly rooted work for deliverance done by our friend who is now free from the world of appearance.

Appendix II

"What I have to say about Sumano's death is the following: In autumn last year, Bhikkhu Nyanatiloka, the Burmese monk Silavamsa and myself made a walking tour for a week through the South West of Ceylon, via Adam's Peak, and came also to Bandarawela. First the three of us went to the small mud-hut, hardly 3X4 meters in size, where Sumano had lived and died. The hut is situated in a very lonely place, outside of the village, in the midst of bare grassy hillocks, so that no sound can be heard from the village, and no human habitation can be seen right around. It is desolate and lonely there, as rarely anywhere else. The second hut which, when Sumano died, was inhabited by Suñño, had already fallen into decay, and the rain had washed away nearly every vestige of it. Afterwards we wanted also to go to the site of the cremation, but we missed the place. Hence I went, without Nyanatiloka, once more there, together with the Thera of the Bandarawela Monastery, and I found there, besides some pieces of molten glass, a few small unburned splinters of bone. I picked them up and handed them over to Nyanatiloka who still keeps them at Dodanduwa as a token.

The site of the cremation is on the top of one of those grassy hillocks, about 10 minutes distance from the hut. Boys planted a Bodhi tree at that spot. A great gathering is said to have been present at the cremation, amongst them hundreds of Christians and Mohammedans who secretly respected the ascetic way of life led by Sumano... After the cremation, the ashes were distributed among the lay people, and many a Christian, Mohammedan, and Hindu took them as gladly as a Buddhist..."