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Pase-Buddhas

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Paschasius Radbertus

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Paseah

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a name for the Buddhas who arise in the period in which there is no supreme Buddha, and discover instinctively the way to Nirwana, but are unable to teach it to others. If alms be given to a Pase-Buddha, it produces merit greater by one hundred times than when given to a rahat. The peculiarities of the Pase-Buddha are thus detailed by Mr. Spence Hardy in his Eastern Monachism: "He has attained the high state of privilege that he enjoys by his own unaided exertions, as he has had no one to instruct him. He is called pratyeka, severed or separated, and is solitary, alone, like the unicorn; thus his mind is light, pure, free, towards the Pase-Buddhaship, but heavy, dull, bound, towards the state of the supreme Buddhas. He has learned that which belongs to his order, but he understands not the five kinds of knowledge that are perceived by the supreme Buddhas and by no other beings; he knows not the thoughts of others; he has not the power to see all things, nor to know all things; in these respects his mind is heavy. Thus a man, whether by day or night, arrives at the brink of a small stream, into which he descends without fear that he may cross over to the other side. But another time he comes to a river that is deep and broad; there are no steppingstones by which he can cross; he cannot see the opposite bank. It is like the ocean. In consequence of these obstacles he is afraid to venture into the water; he cannot cross the stream. In the same way the PaseBuddha is free as to that which is connected with his own order, but bound as to all that is peculiar to the supreme Buddhas."