So said the Excellent One, and when he had finished this discourse he made the connection and summed up, saying: “My parents at that time were my present parents, and the Quail was I myself.” And they marvelled and were instructed. And one day two monks approached him, having travelled far, and according to his manner he said in welcoming them: “Is it well with you, monks? Are you able to live? Have you passed the rains in peace and unity, and have you experienced any lack of support?” And they replied: “It is not well with us, Blessed One, for there is great anger between us, and we devour our hearts with bitterness and know no peace.” And they laid their case before him in mutual hatred, and he said: “He abused me! He beat me! In those who harbour such thoughts how can hatred die? By oneself evil is done. By oneself one suffers. The swans go on the path of sun, they go through the air by means of their miraculous power. In a man’s power is his salvation from evil. There is no fire like passion: there is no losing throw like hatred. Let a man leave anger, let him forsake pride. Let him overcome anger by love and conquer the liar by truth. For hatred ceases not at any time by hatred, but only by love. This is an old rule.” An old rule. Yet when the Lord spoke it from his heart of bliss it became a new commandment and wisdom. So these two saluted one another in love before the face of the Perfect One, and, hand clasped in hand, they left him. And again when a young monk was led away by the transient smile of a woman to his undoing, the Perfected One said this: “Rise above the five senses which see things as they are not, and open the sight which see things as they are. Even the Divine Beings may well envy him whose desires like horses well broken are utterly subdued. Him whom no false desires can lead captive any more, by what temptation can he be felled—he the Awakened, the all-seeing, the desireless? And make thought pure, for all that we are is the result of what we have thought. It is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts from an evil thought pain follows him as the wheel follows the ox that draws the carriage. Earnest among the thoughtless, awake among the drowsy, the wise man presses steadily onward to joy.” And they said, “Even so, Lord,” and seeing their faces glad about him, he added: “As on a heap of refuse cast forth by the highway a lily may grow filling the air with sweetness, thus the disciples of the true Buddha shine forth among the people who walk in darkness.” And on another day when they talked of the lures of desire, the Lord said this: “As long as the evil deed does not bear fruit the fool thinks it sweet as honey, but later comes the bitterness. “And when the evil deed is thrown upward in recklessness, like a stone it falls back on the fool and breaks his head.