“The body, Sir, is but filled with its thirty-two constituent parts. What profit can there be in adorning it? For this body has no divine, no angelic attributes: it is not made of gold, or gems, or yellow sandal-wood; it springs not from the womb of lotus-flowers, white or red; it is not filled with the nectar-balm of holiness. But verily it is born in corruption: it springs from father and mother: its attributes are the decomposition, the wearing away, the dissolution, the destruction, of that which is impermanent! It is produced by excitement; it is the cause of pains, the subject of mournings, a lodging-place for all diseases. It is the receptacle for the action of Karma; foul within, without it is ever discharging: its end is death: and its goal is the charnel-house,--there, in the sight of all the world, to be the dwelling-place of worms and creeping things!”[283] “Dear Lord! what should I gain by adorning this body? Would not putting ornaments on it be like painting the outside of a sepulchre?” “My dear!” replied the young nobleman, “if you think this body so sinful, why don’t you become a nun?” “If you grant me leave, dear husband, I will take the vows this day!” “Very well, then; I will get you ordained,” said he. And giving a donation at a great cost, he took her, with a numerous retinue, to the nunnery, and had her admitted into the Order of Nuns--but among those who sided with Devadatta. And she was overjoyed that her wish had been fulfilled, and that she had become a nun. Now, as she became far gone with child, the nuns noticed the alteration in her person,--the swelling of her hands and feet and back, and the increase in her girth; and they asked her, “Lady, you seem to be with child. How is this?” “I don’t know how it is, ladies; but I have kept the vows.” Then the nuns led her to Devadatta, and asked him, “Sir! this young lady, after with difficulty gaining her husband’s consent, was received into the Order. But now it is evident that she is with child; and we know not whether she became so when she was a laywoman or when she was a nun. What shall we do now?” Devadatta, not being a Buddha, and having no forbearance, kindness, or compassion, thought thus: “If people can say, ‘A nun of Devadatta’s side is carrying about a child in her womb, and Devadatta condones it,’ I shall be disgraced. I must unfrock this woman!” And without any inquiry, he answered with eagerness, “Go and expel this woman from the Order!”--just as if he were rushing forwards to roll away a mere piece of stone! When they heard his decision, they arose, and bowed to him, and returned to the nunnery. But the young girl said to the nuns, “Ladies! the Elder, Devadatta, is not the Buddha. Not under him did I enter the religious life, but under the Buddha himself, who is supreme among men. What I obtained with such difficulty, O, deprive me not of that! Take me, I pray you, and go to the Master himself at Jetavana!”