So Near the Shore
The story
This comes near the end of a sermon Mahavira gives to his chief disciple, Gautama. Every verse holds up a picture of how short life is, a falling leaf or a dewdrop on grass, and tells him not to waste a moment. Here he tells Gautama he has already done the hard part and asks why he is stopping now. Tradition says what held Gautama back was his love for his own teacher.
Uttarādhyayana Sūtra, Lecture 10 ("The Leaf of the Tree"), verse 34; tr. Hermann Jacobi, Sacred Books of the East 45 (1895), p. 45
The same moment, today
Someone spends four hours assembling a tall bookshelf from flat cardboard boxes. Every shelf is in place, and the screws are tight. Only the thin cardboard back is left on the carpet, along with a small plastic bag of tiny nails. Instead of finishing it, they put the hammer away in a drawer. It isn't hard work, but that back panel leans against the wall for months. The job just doesn't get finished.
People often freeze up right when a long project is almost done. The hard part is behind them, but taking the last step means the work is over, and finishing forces a change. As the story shows, Mahavira urges Gautama not to stop when he is right by the bank. What held Gautama back wasn't laziness. It was his deep attachment to Mahavira himself. Even love for a good teacher can hold you back when it's time to stand on your own feet. Śvetāmbara Jains chant this verse during Paryuṣaṇa, their late-summer festival of fasting and self-study, to shake off that kind of hesitation.
The lesson
Look at the project you put down right before the end. Check if you're avoiding that last step because you're comfortable staying where you are.
Where this comes from
Hermann Jacobi, 1895
Hermann Jacobi published his English translation of the Uttarādhyayana Sūtra in 1895 in the Sacred Books of the East series. The work belongs to the Śvetāmbara canon. Digambara Jains don't accept it as scripture, though they hold the exact same teaching. Tradition says Mahavira spoke these lines in the town of Pāvā. Gautama was his top pupil, but his affection for his master kept him from full enlightenment. He reached it on the night Mahavira died, when he finally let go of that bond.
A small reminder, on your notebook or your laptop lid, that finishing what you started means letting go of what brought you here.
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