THE EQUINOX
89. On Sowan’s Path, O Srotapatti, thou art secure.
Aye (), on that Marga, where nought but darkness meets
the weary pilgrim, where torn by thorns the hands drip
blood, the feet are cut by sharp, unyielding flints, and Mara
wields his strongest arms—there lies a great reward imme-
diately beyond.
It is not at all clear to what stage of the Path this refers.
In verse 91 it appears to refer to the Dhyana Path, but the
Dhyana Path has been described in entirely different terms
in verses 71 to 73, and it is certainly a quite bad description
of the condition of Srotapatti.
I think the tragic note is struck for effect. Damn all these
tortures and rewards! Has the Narjol no manhood at all?
90. Calm and unmoved the Pilgrim glideth up the stream
that to Nirvana leads. He knoweth that the more his feet
will bleed, the whiter will himself be washed. He knoweth
well that after seven short and fleeting births Nirvana will
be his.
Here is again a totally un-Buddhistic description.
It appears to me rather a paraphrase of the well-known
“Sweeping through the gates of the New Jerusalem,
Washed in the Blood of the Lamb.”
gt. Such is the Dhyana Path, the haven of the Yogi, the
blessed goal that Srotépattis crave.
Again the confusion of the attainment of the Student with
regard to spiritual experience, and his attainment with re-
gard to his grade. There is connection between these, but it
is not a close and invariable one. A man might get quite a
lot of Samadhi, and still be many lives away from Srotapatti.
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