216 is its greatness as "fulfiller of desires" (CU 1. 1. 9). The "essence of essences," rasanam rasah^ a Vedic term, is applied to the Supreme, the udg^tha^ and to the "upper honey cells," i.e., the hidden teachings (upanisads) that produce nectar (amrtanam amrt^ni) from the Brahman (CU 3.5.4). There are two forms of Brahman, the formed and the formless, mortal and immortal, the actual (sat) and the yonder (tya). The essence, -rosa, of the formed, mortal, actual Brahman is the sun which gives forth heat^ the essence of the actual. The essence of the unformed, immortal, true Brahman is the pupusa in the right eye 3 the essence of the true (BU 2.3»1-5). The sun, again, is the honey of the gods distilled by the bees who are the Seers that brood over the flower of the Rgveda: its essence, rasdy issues forth as fame, splendor, the senses, virility, food and health—-a strange assortment, but all forms of manifestation (CU 3.1.3). The "moisture" of our text, then, is manifest being; in its relation to the cosmic tree it expresses both form and formlessness. For the tree is a power-bearer, ever defeating death, sustaining the life force of individual, community and cosmos -a world-tree. Whereas in the Vedic and Upanisadic texts rasa is connected with radiance and manifested being, in the Saddharmapundar'lka it is associated with darkness and deliverance from beinge The Tathagata is like a dark rain cloud that overshadows the earth and pours out its water without distinction, "equally" (5. 5-8), giving life to all beings (cf. A^vaghosa^ Buddhacarita 1. 76-78; 5o 9-14). This water which they drink (pibanti, in the Chdndogya texts: peplyamano) is of one essence, ekarasa (5.12). So does the Lord enter the world and preach his dharma to all without distinccion (5» 16, 29). It is ekapasa, of one essence^ one "taste," an absolute and basic unity (5. 15), the essence of deliverance (muktirasa^ in the prose only). Hasa is used in this text only as a compound with eka^ translated by Kern as "one essence": "Grasses and shrubs absorb the water of one essence o o" (12): "the water emitted (from the cloud) is of but one essence" (15), This term according to Monier-Williams, appears in the Ramayana meaning "the only pleasure, the only object of affection"; in the Uftarammacarita as "unchangeable/'" Jacob lists four possible occurrences In late Upa^isads. In the Suttampata^ ekawsa occurs in one passage (Paozvekarasam^p^' tva rasam upasamas sacca^ given by CI aimers as "Bat he who, in aloofness, tastes true peace," Suttanipata 2.3.5 HOS 37, 64)o Vimuttirasa^ taste of deliverance, is found in the Petakopadesa as one of ^-he ten ideas belonging to Arhantship and the path of the adept. Soothill and Rodeos"* give no Chinese character for the specific term, ekapasa, but give one for pasa, first taken as a general term for taste, flavor, sensation; "taste-dust," one of the six particles that form the medium or material of sensation, and finally, "taste of Buddha-truth," "tasting the doctrine." The other usage (ba u}ei) refers specifically to the eight rasas or characteristics of n? r^na: permanence, peace, no growing old, no death, purity, transcendence, imperturbability, joy. Eka in fact means not "one among many" but "one without a second." It is the Absolute pervading all things, yet wholly other. It is the "ground of Being."