Note f73 — ENLIGHTENMENT AND IGNORANCE
Reading edition
Samyutta XII., 65, Nagara; cf. also one of the Prajñā-pāramitā sūtras which is known as one preached by Mañjuśrī (Nanjo Catalogue, No. 21). In the Sutra we find that the Buddha, after mentioning the simile of a gem-digger, makes reference to a man who feels overwhelmed with delight when people talk pleasantly about the old towns and villages once visited by himself. The same sort of a delightful feeling is expressed by one who will listen to the discourse on Prajñāpāramitā and understand it; for he was in his past lives present at the assembly which was gathered about the Buddha delivering sermons on the same subject. That the understanding of the doctrine of Prajñāpāramitā is a form of memory is highly illuminating when considered in relation to the theory of Enlightenment as advanced here.
That the ushering of Enlightenment is accompanied with the feeling of return or remembrance is also unmistakably noted by the writer of the Kena-Upanishad (VI., 50):
“Now in respect to the Atman: It is as though something forces its way into consciousness And consciousness suddenly remembers— Such a state of mind illustrates the awakening of knowledge of the Atman.”
Sonadanda the Brahman had the following to say when he grasped the meaning of the Buddha’s discourse on the characteristics of the true Brahman (Rhys David’s translation): “Most excellent, oh Gotama, most excellent! Just as if a man were to set up that which has been thrown down, or were to reveal that which has been hidden away, or were to point out the right road to him who has gone astray, or were to bring a light into the darkness so that those who had eyes could see external forms—just even so has the truth been made known to me, in many a figure, by the venerable Gotama.”