Buddhist birth stories; or, Jataka tales, Volume 1
Religion
Buddhist birth stories; or, Jataka tales, Volume 1
Jataka stories, English
And when the verse was finished the king attained to the Fruit of the
First, and then, on hearing the following verse, to the Fruit of the
Second Path--
293. Follow after a holy life!
Follow not after sin!
Who follows virtue rests in bliss,
Both in this world and in the next.
And when he heard the story of the Birth as the Keeper of
Righteousness,[232] he attained to the Fruit of the Third Path. And
just as he was dying, seated on the royal couch under the white canopy
of state, he attained to Arahatship. The king never practised in
solitude the Great Struggle.[233]
Now as soon as he had realized the Fruit of Conversion, he took the
Buddha’s bowl, and conducted the Blessed One and his retinue to the
palace, and served them with savoury food, both hard and soft. And
when the meal was over, all the women of the household came and did
obeisance to the Blessed One, except only the mother of Rāhula.
But she, though she told her attendants to go and salute their lord,
stayed behind, saying, “If I am of any value in his eyes, my lord will
himself come to me; and when he has come I will pay him reverence.”
And the Blessed One, giving his bowl to the king to carry, went with
his two chief disciples to the apartments of the daughter of the king,
saying, “The king’s daughter shall in no wise be rebuked, howsoever she
may be pleased to welcome me.” And he sat down on the seat prepared for
him.
And she came quickly and held him by his ankles, and laid her head on
his feet, and so did obeisance to him, even as she had intended. And
the king told of the fullness of her love for the Blessed One, and
of her goodness of heart, saying, “When my daughter heard, O Master,
that you had put on the yellow robes, from that time forth she dressed
only in yellow. When she heard of your taking but one meal a day, she
adopted the same custom. When she heard that you renounced the use of
elevated couches, she slept on a mat spread on the floor. When she
heard you had given up the use of garlands and unguents, she also used
them no more. And when her relatives sent a message, saying, ‘Let
us take care of you,’ she paid them no attention at all. Such is my
daughter’s goodness of heart, O Blessed One!”
“’Tis no wonder, O king!” was the reply, “that she should watch over
herself now that she has you for a protector, and that her wisdom is
mature; formerly, even when wandering among the mountains without
a protector, and when her wisdom was not mature, she watched over
herself.” And he told the story of his Birth as the Moonsprite;[234]
and rose from his seat, and went away.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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