On a certain occasion king Pasenadi Kosala, after deciding litigations in the Hall of Justice, came hastily to pay his respects to the Teacher. Said the Teacher: “Great king, to decide litigations righteously and justly is a good thing. It is the Path to Heaven. But this is no remarkable thing, that you, receiving admonition from an Omniscient Buddha like me, should decide litigations righteously and justly. This alone is remarkable, that kings of old, listening to the words of men who were wise but not omniscient, decided litigations righteously and justly, avoided the Four Evil Courses, kept inviolate the Ten Royal Virtues, ruled justly, and departed fulfilling the Path to Heaven.” Then, in response to a request of the king, he related the following Story of the Past: In times past, when Brahmadatta ruled at Benāres, the Future Buddha received a new existence as the child of his chief consort. On his name-day he was given the name Prince Brahmadatta. In due time he grew up. When he was sixteen years old, he went to Takkasilā, acquired proficiency in all the arts and crafts, and on the death of his father, became established in the kingdom. He ruled righteously and justly. He avoided the Four Evil Courses in rendering judgments. Since he himself ruled so righteously, the ministers of justice also transacted their affairs with an eye to righteousness alone. Since the ministers of justice transacted their affairs righteously, there were no men who brought dishonest litigations. For lack of them, hubbub over litigations in the king’s courtyard ceased. Every day ministers of justice took their seats in the place of litigation, but seeing no one come for litigation, departed. The place of litigation became abandoned. The Future Buddha thought: “Since I have been ruling righteously, no men at all have come for litigation, the hubbub has ceased, the place of litigation has become abandoned. The time has come for me to find out whether I have any fault. If I know, ‘This, for example, is a fault in me,’ I will get rid of it and have to do with good qualities only.” From that time on he mingled with indoor-folk and tested them with the question, “Is there anybody who says I have a fault?” He met with no one who said he had a fault, but heard mentioned only his own good qualities. “It may be because these people are afraid of me that they refrain from mentioning faults in me and speak only of my good qualities.”