The Dawn and the Day by Henry T. Niles

Author:Henry T. Niles
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781620130780
Publisher: Duke Classics

Book V

*

Now mighty Mara, spirit of the air,

The prince of darkness, ruling worlds below,

Had watched for Buddha all these weary years,

Seeking to lead his steady steps astray

By many wiles his wicked wit devised,

Lest he at length should find the living light

And rescue millions from his dark domains.

Now, showing him the kingdoms of the world.

He offered him the Chakravartin's crown;

Now, opening seas of knowledge, shoreless, vast,

Knowledge of ages past and yet to come,

Knowledge of nature and the hidden laws

That guide her changes, guide the roiling spheres,

Sakwal on sakwal,[29] boundless, infinite,

Yet ever moving on in harmony,

He thought to puff his spirit up with pride

Till he should quite forget a suffering world,

In sin and sorrow groping blindly on.

But when he saw that lust of power moved not,

And thirst for knowledge turned him not aside

From earnest search after the living light,

From tender love for every living thing,

He sent the tempters Doubt and dark Despair.

And as he watched for final victory

He saw that light flash through the silent cave,

And heard the Buddha breathe that earnest prayer,

And fled amazed, nor dared to look behind.

For though to Buddha all his way seemed dark,

His wily enemy could see a Power,

A mighty Power, that ever hovered near,

A present help in every time of need,

When sinking souls seek earnestly for aid.

He fled, indeed, as flies the prowling wolf,

Alarmed at watch-dog's bark or shepherd's voice,

While seeking entrance to the slumbering fold,

But soon returns with soft and stealthy step,

With keenest scent snuffing the passing breeze,

With ears erect catching each slightest sound,

With glaring eyes watching each moving thing,

With hungry jaws, skulking about the fold

Till coming dawn drives him to seek his lair.

So Mara fled, and so he soon returned,

And thus he watched the Buddha's every step;

Saw him with gentleness quell haughty power;

Saw him with tenderness raise up the weak;

Heard him before the Brahmans and the king

Denounce those bloody rites ordained by him;

Heard him declare the deadly work of Sin,

His own prime minister and eldest-born;

Heard him proclaim the mighty power of Love

To cleanse the life and make the flinty heart

As soft as sinews of the new-born babe.

And when he saw whither he bent his steps,

He sent three wrinkled hags, deformed and foul,

The willing agents of his wicked will—

Life-wasting Idleness, the thief of time;

Lascivious Lust, whose very touch defiles,

Poisoning the blood, polluting all within;

And greedy Gluttony, most gross of all,

Whose ravening maw forever asks for more—

To that delightful garden near his way,

To tempt the Master, their true forms concealed—

For who so gross that such coarse hags could tempt?—

But clothed instead in youthful beauty's grace.

And now he saw him pass unmoved by lust,

Nor yet with cold, self-righteous pride puffed up,

But breathing pity from his inmost soul

E'en for the ministers of vice themselves.

Defeated, not discouraged, still he thought

To try one last device, for well he knew

That Buddha's steps approached the sacred tree

Where light would dawn and all his power would end.

Upon a seat beside the shaded path,

A seeming aged Brahman, Mara sat,

And when the prince approached, his tempter rose,

Saluting him with gentle stateliness,

Saluted in return with equal grace.

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