Fifth Gospel(35)

But as the man spoke, before Jesus’ eyes the image of the Essene softened into the green foliage, and in its place came the image of another being.

The figure wore a smile that conveyed a likeness of all the love in the world, all that was valued as worthy and holy. He spoke even as the other man did, but his words were heard in the heart and not the ear.

‘I was born on the night of a full moon in far distant lands, long before this time, Jesus. I was the son of a wealthy king and queen. When I was your age, full of thirst to know the world, I too left my home, just as you have done, and what I saw was full with ills. Yes, I saw the pain of disease and the ravages of old age. I saw poverty and hunger and pain. I saw women crying for their lovers and mothers crying for their children and drunkards crying for their drink. I saw the cold, the weary, the beaten, the helpless and the hopeless. I saw these things as you have seen them and I too mourned for those I could not help. The truth is, Jesus, I would have returned home to the palace of my father feeling despondent, had Vishva Karman the artist of the gods, not appeared to me. After that, I sought enlightenment as you have done. I sat beneath the Bodhi tree where I was transfigured and it was through this illumination that a light was shed upon the ultimate truth:

‘Birth is suffering. Illness, thirst and hunger are suffering. Old age and death are suffering. Separation from loved ones and unification with those we do not like is suffering. Pain is suffering and the absence of pleasure is suffering. Attaining what is desired is suffering, and attaining what is not desired is suffering. Ignorance is suffering and knowledge is suffering, craving and grasping and consciousness is suffering. To end suffering, to release the soul from the eternal chain of incarnations, to find salvation, I realised that one had to extinguish the self, and blot out the thirst for existence.

‘And so this is what I, the Enlightened One, went on to teach men.

‘But now, Jesus, the time for such a teaching is ended. For just as there are those who follow the path willingly, relinquishing all earthly things, walking with their white robes carrying their bowls in their hands, not labouring for their meals but living only from the alms that others deign to give them, so there must also be those who cannot follow the path, those who cannot relinquish earthly things. The world needs labourers and street vendors and women who can bear children and cook meals. There must always be those who do not wish to escape the endless wheel, for without them who would support those who walk the path? The priests could not collect alms if all men were to relinquish the world for enlightenment!

‘The fulfilment of these doctrines would force all people to be like the elders of this order, but this is no longer lawful. Something new is entering into the world, Jesus, and I have prepared for it. The most excellent of spirits will soon come. He was known in ages past as Vishva Karman and Rama and Krishna and when he descends into the body of a man, He will be called Christ. He will bring with Him this understanding: that it is by way of death that man is born again; it is by way of suffering that compassion arises; and that it is by way of compassion that conscience can come into being. You see, conscience comes when we feel the pain of another. This voice of conscience now asks: how pure is enlightenment, if it is selfish and leads to the exaltation of a few through the suffering of many? He is near at hand, Jesus, and only conscience will recognise Him.’

Jesus felt the majestic truth of these words and asked, full of wonder, ‘Who are you?’

‘I am called, Buddha because I have sat under the Bodhi tree and I have been enlightened, and so I have escaped the endless round of incarnations. Long ago, it was I who made smooth the way for Christ! He will not escape the world but He will unite himself with it for all times not to save a few, but to save many.’

After that the vision melted away and the image of the Essene was returned to Jesus and he saw that he was sitting as before and that but a moment had passed.

The elder, he realised, was waiting patiently for a response, and he gave it: he could no longer remain with the Essenes.

Afterwards, he returned to the motherhouse with his mind crowded with thoughts and as he reached the gates, upon which no graven images were seen, his now enlightened spirit eyes were directed to the creatures that were sat upon them. Had he seen these creatures before? Were these the same as those creatures he had seen among the Temple priests and on the pagan altars?

As he entered the compound the spirits fled in haste, and on seeing this a question arose in his heart:

Where do you go, spirits, when you flee from here?

For a long time this thought plagued him. This thought and the words of the Enlightened One.