The Hundred Deeds
Part Five

As the Blessed One was traveling through the countryside in the land of Garga, he came to Mount Śiśumāri and stayed there in the deer park in The Terrifying Forest. On Mount Śiśumāri there lived a certain householder, prosperous and wealthy, a person of vast and magnificent means, endowed with the wealth of Vaiśravaṇa‍—with wealth to rival Vaiśravaṇa’s. He took a wife of the same caste, and as they enjoyed themselves and coupled, one day his wife conceived. After nine or ten months had passed, she gave birth to a child who was ugly in eighteen different ways. [F.205.a]

When his parents saw him they were wracked with suffering. “Though a son has finally been born to us,” they thought, “what good is he, with such singular flaws? He’d be better off dead‍—when night falls, we’ll toss him out and feed him to the dogs.”

Then the householder’s wife said, “Not only is murder disgraceful, but if we commit such an act we will take rebirth as hell beings, so this we cannot do. Even though the child is flawed, let us raise him in some remote place. Then when he’s grown, we’ll throw him out of the house to seek his pitiful livelihood.”

So the two of them raised the baby in a remote place. They named him Virūpa (Ugly), and as soon as he was grown, they threw him out of the house. Emaciated from hunger and thirst, he began to beg, carrying around a walking stick and a pot. Whenever he came to the door of a house, or to someplace where goods were kept, or to a shop, the people of the village would punch him, cuff him, pelt him with sticks and dirt clods, shout “Here comes a ghost!” and chase him away.

He suffered greatly and wondered, “What nonvirtuous act did I commit that has ripened into such suffering for me now? Let me give up living in the city and leave to go begging from garden to garden. I shall find something to fill my stomach there.” With this thought he set out from the city.

As he began making his way from garden to garden, the people there also thought he was a ghost. They punched him, cuffed him, pelted him with sticks and dirt clods, and chased him away. Finally, terrified of being beaten and terrified of people, he went into the thick of the forest and spent his days there, walking after sundown from garden to garden, [F.205.b] nourishing himself only with whatever food fell to the ground. Now it is impossible and out of the question for a being in their final existence to die an untimely death. Thus, he found just enough to stay alive there.

The blessed buddhas, teachers of the one path to be traversed, with mastery over wisdom and the two types of knowable objects, in command of the three kinds of sterling equanimity, fearless by means of the fourfold fearlessness, freed from migration through the five destinies, keen in the six sense bases, practiced in the seven limbs of enlightenment, focused on the eight liberations, absorbed in the nine successive meditative absorptions, possessing all ten of the ten powers, whose proclamations are the great roaring of a perfect lion, by nature regard the world with their buddha eyes six times throughout the day and night‍—three times by day and three times by night.

These are their thoughts as they look out in wisdom: “Who is in decline? Who will flourish? Who is destitute? Who is in a dreadful state? Who is being harmed? Who is destitute, in a dreadful state, and being harmed? Who is veering toward the lower realms? Who is descending through the lower realms? Who has descended to the lower realms? Whom shall I pull up from the lower realms, and establish in the resultant state of heaven and liberation? Whom, mired in misdeeds, shall I lift up by the hand? Whom, lacking the seven jewels of the noble ones, shall I lead to command of the seven jewels of the noble ones? Whom, not having produced roots of virtue, shall I lead to produce them? Whom, having already produced roots of virtue, shall I lead to ripen their roots of virtue? Whom, having already ripened their roots of virtue, shall I slice open with the blade of wisdom? For whom shall I cause this world, adorned with a buddha’s presence, to be fruitful?”

The Blessed One knew that the time had come to tame young Virūpa, and entered into meditative absorption in cessation.125 Then the Buddha rose from his meditative absorption in cessation just to tame young Virūpa, emanating a form with features even uglier than his. Then, after filling a vessel with food and drink, he set out to see young Virūpa.

When young Virūpa saw the Blessed One in the distance he fled, thinking, “This person is coming to beat me!” But the Blessed One performed a miracle of preventing the young man from fleeing. The Buddha’s miracle also caused Virūpa to wish to see the Blessed One.

“I would like to know who that is,” he thought, and came walking back. As soon as young Virūpa saw the emanation’s extraordinarily ugly features he began to wonder, “Who could this be?” so he went to where the Buddha’s emanation stood.

The Buddha’s emanation saw young Virūpa, and made as if to run away. Young Virūpa called to him, “You’ve already seen me, friend. Why are you running away?”

The Buddha’s emanation replied, “By the ripening of my past actions, my friend, my form has become like this. I was afraid you might beat me, thinking that I am a ghost, so I ran.”

“It was likewise by the ripening of actions of my past lives that I gained these unattractive features, my friend,” said young Virūpa. “Because of my unattractive features my parents threw me out of the house. As I went wherever I could for alms, I was punched, cuffed, and pelted with sticks and dirt clods, and chased away, until I lived in terror of being beaten and chased away. In terror of being beaten by people, I went into the thick of the forest, and there I have stayed‍—that is, until you came along. Let’s be friends and make our way together.”

“Let’s do that,” the emanation said, and he sat down there and divided his food with Virūpa. [F.206.b] After they had filled their bellies with food and drink until they were quite content, young Virūpa felt joy toward the emanation. Then the Blessed One made his own unattractive features disappear and assumed his natural form.

Young Virūpa beheld the Blessed One. His body, graced and resplendent with the thirty-two signs of a great person, looked like it was on fire, like flames stoked with ghee, like a lamp set in a golden vessel, and like a pillar adorned with all manner of jewels. He was immaculate, clear-minded, and pure of heart. When young Virūpa saw the Blessed Buddha the sight of him filled him with supreme joy, for beings who have gathered the roots of virtue to see a buddha for the first time experience such rapture as is not experienced even by those who practice calm abiding meditation for twelve years. Thus seeing the Blessed One, he felt a surge of joy toward him, touched his head to the Blessed One’s feet, and sat before him to listen to the Dharma.

The Blessed One directly apprehended his thoughts, habitual tendencies, temperament, capacity, and nature, and taught him the Dharma accordingly. Hearing it, the young man destroyed with the thunderbolt of wisdom the twenty high peaks of the mountain of views concerning the transitory collection, and manifested the resultant state of non-return right where he sat.

After seeing the truths he thought, “If my body weren’t like this, I too would go forth in the doctrine of the Blessed One, in order to ford the floodwaters and completely escape my fetters with diligence, practice, and effort.” No sooner did he wish to go forth than his unattractive features disappeared and he became well proportioned and handsome, endowed with the finest of complexions.

He felt another surge of joy toward the Blessed One, rose from his seat, [F.207.a] drew down the right shoulder of his upper garment, bowed toward the Blessed One with palms pressed together, and made this request of the Blessed One: “Lord, if permitted I wish to go forth in the Dharma and Vinaya monastic discipline of the Dharma so well spoken, complete my novitiate, and achieve full ordination. In the presence of the Blessed One, I too wish to practice the holy life.”

With the words “Come, join me, monk!” the Blessed One led him to go forth as a novice, conferred on him full ordination, and instructed him. Casting away all afflictive emotions through diligence, practice, and effort, he manifested arhatship. As an arhat, free from the attachments of the three realms, his mind regarded gold no differently than filth, and the palms of his hands as like space itself. He became cool like wet sandalwood. His insight crushed ignorance like an eggshell. He achieved the insights, superknowledges, and discriminations. He had no regard for worldly profit, passion, or acclaim. He became an object of offering, veneration, and respectful address by Indra, Upendra, and the other gods.

“Lord,” the monks asked the Blessed One, “what action did young Virūpa take that ripened into his birth into a family of great means, prosperity, and wealth; that his appearance had eighteen unattractive features, and that because of his unattractive features he was cast from the house by his parents; that as soon as he felt a sense of renunciation, the unattractive features went away and he had a fine face and form; and that he pleased the Blessed One, did not displease him, went forth in the doctrine of the Blessed One, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifested arhatship?”

“Monks,” the Blessed One explained, “such are the actions that Virūpa committed and accumulated: [F.207.b]

“Monks, in times gone by, in a certain mountain village there lived a miserly, avaricious householder who hoarded all his belongings. This was during a time when blessed buddhas were not in the world, and so solitary buddhas had arisen. One day when he was at home, a solitary buddha came to the householder’s home for alms. The householder gave alms to him and then regretted having given him alms.

“ ‘Better to eat the vegetables myself or to give them to someone who works than to give them to this monk who’s got only a shaved head to show for himself!’126 Now regretful, he stole back the food, and chased the sage away from the house, cruelly intending to physically and verbally abuse him.

“The solitary buddha thought, ‘It’s not right for this emotionally afflicted person, who has become so abased, to continue in this downward spiral. I have to help him.’ So he rose up into the sky, making a miraculous display of fire and light, rain and lightning.

“Ordinary people are quickly brought to faith through miracles, so when he saw all this, the householder bowed down at the sage’s feet like a tree felled by a saw and said, ‘O great fortunate one, please come down! I’m mired in misdeeds! Please reach down and lift me up!’ Solely out of compassion for him, the solitary buddha descended.

“The householder bowed down at his feet, asked his forgiveness, gave him alms, and prayed, ‘May no portion of the act of harming this person so worthy of offerings ripen to me. By the root of virtue of having thus venerated him again, wherever I am born, may it be into a family of great means, prosperity, and wealth. May I please and not displease a teacher even more exalted than this. [F.208.a] May I achieve such great virtues. Should it be the case that this nonvirtue must certainly bear fruit, then as soon as I feel a sense of renunciation, may my unattractive features disappear and may I become well proportioned and handsome.’

“O monks, what do you think? The one who was that householder then is none other than Virūpa. The acts of giving alms to the solitary buddha, then stealing them back and chasing him away from the house, cruelly intending to physically and verbally abuse him, ripened such that wherever he was born, he had unattractive features and was cast out of the house. The act of giving alms to the solitary buddha again and praying, ‘Wherever I am born, may it be into a family of great means, prosperity, and wealth. May I please and not displease a teacher even more exalted than this. May I achieve such great virtues,’ ripened such that wherever he was born it was into a family of great means, prosperity, and wealth.

“Monks, I am more exalted than even one hundred billion solitary buddhas, and now he has pleased me, not displeased me, gone forth in my very doctrine, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifested arhatship.

“He also went forth in the doctrine of the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa. Then, having practiced pure conduct all his life, at the time of his death he prayed, ‘While I may not have attained any great virtues, still I have gone forth like this in the doctrine of the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa and practiced pure conduct all my life. Therefore, may I please and not displease Uttara, the young brahmin [F.208.b] prophesied by the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa to be the next blessed buddha. Going forth in his doctrine alone may I cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifest arhatship.’

“So it is, monks, now that I myself have become the very equal of the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa‍—equal in strength, equal in deeds, and equal in skillful means‍—that he has pleased me, not displeased me, gone forth in my very doctrine, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifested arhatship.” [B18]

When the Blessed One was in Śrāvastī, King Prasenajit reigned in the city of Śrāvastī, and King Brahmadatta reigned in Vārāṇasī. The two did not agree with one another, and at various times a great many people were killed.

One day King Brahmadatta arrayed the four divisions of his army‍—the elephant division, the horse division, the chariot division, and the infantry division‍—and advanced on the kingdom of King Prasenajit to wage war. King Brahmadatta made camp and stayed on the banks of the Ajiravatī River. King Prasenajit heard that Brahmadatta, King of Kāśi, had arrayed the four divisions of his army to wage war, had made camp, and was staying on the banks of the Ajiravatī River, so he also arrayed the four divisions of his army and advanced toward King Brahmadatta to wage war and made camp, staying on the banks of the Ajiravatī River. Over time, many people were slaughtered as the two groups camped there. Both sides were powerful, and neither could defeat the other. [F.209.a]

Time passed, and one day while they were camped there King Brahmadatta’s queen conceived. After nine or ten months had passed, she gave birth to a child who was well proportioned, pleasing to the eye, and beautiful, and as soon as she was born, celebratory music resounded from the palace.

King Prasenajit heard that a daughter had been born to King Brahmadatta who was well proportioned, pleasing to the eye, and beautiful. As soon as he heard this, his spirits lifted, and he thought, “I’ve found a way to become King Brahmadatta’s kin. Because of this little child there will be no more resentment between us.”

King Prasenajit sent an envoy to King Brahmadatta with the following message: “Let there be no more resentment, my friend. Because of your daughter there will be no more resentment. Hand your daughter to me in marriage.”

As soon as King Brahmadatta heard this, his spirits lifted too and he thought, “Over time he and I have both slaughtered many people. But because of my daughter there will be no more resentment between us.”127 He sent an envoy with his response: “As you wish.”

The two kings met, embraced, and King Brahmadatta pledged his daughter and returned to his own country. Upon returning to his country, he held an elaborate feast celebrating her birth, and asked, “What name should we give this child?” And they named her, saying, “Since her birth brought happiness to the two kingdoms, her name will be Kṣemaṅkarā (She Who Brings Happiness).” They raised young Kṣemaṅkarā on milk, yogurt, butter, ghee, and milk solids.

Now desires are like salt water‍—the more you use to slake your thirst, the more you need. So one day, King Brahmadatta’s queen conceived again, and when nine or ten months had passed, [F.209.b] she gave birth to a child who was well proportioned, pleasing to the eye, and beautiful. They held another elaborate feast, celebrating his birth, and they asked, “What name should we give this child?” And they named him, saying, “Since this child was born after his sibling Kṣemaṅkarā, his name will be Kṣemaṅkara (He Who Brings Happiness).”

They raised young Kṣemaṅkara on milk, yogurt, butter, ghee, and milk solids, and he flourished like a lotus in a lake. When they grew up, young Kṣemaṅkarā and Kṣemaṅkara became close friends, and could not bear to be apart for even a moment.

Then one day King Prasenajit sent an envoy to King Brahmadatta with the message, “We will receive your daughter now.” As soon as King Brahmadatta heard this, he sent an envoy with the message, “There is nothing preventing this, so please come on such-and-such a date.”

King Prasenajit responded, “As you wish,” and with great opulence and a great display of royal power he traveled to Kāśi, where King Brahmadatta handed his daughter to him in accordance with the customs of householders. Afterward, King Prasenajit bore the girl back to his own country.

Young Kṣemaṅkara said to his parents, “I can’t bear to be without my elder sister, Kṣemaṅkarā.128 I shall be with her again.”

“My child,” King Brahmadatta replied, “you are my precious, beloved only son‍—my regent. After I pass away, you will have to become king. It wouldn’t be right for you to go to another country.” Many times the king tried to impede him from going, but he was not able to stop him.

Then King Prasenajit said, “Deva, I shall protect brother and sister both. If he comes it changes129 nothing,” and King Brahmadatta [F.210.a] replied, “As you wish.”

King Prasenajit took young Kṣemaṅkarā and Kṣemaṅkara both to Śrāvastī. King Prasenajit had the young man study letters, and trained him in all the different fields of craft and skill in which duly consecrated rulers of the royal caste train, such as how to ride an elephant, how to ride horseback, how to wield a weapon, and how to shoot an arrow, advance, retreat, wage war, grasp with an iron hook, wield a lasso, shoot a spear, throw a single-pointed vajra, throw other single-pointed weapons, throw a disk; how to cut, cleave, grapple and hold, employ footwork, guard one’s head, strike from a distance, strike at the noise of an unseen enemy; and how to target the vital points, take infallible aim, and maximize damage. By the time he had been educated in all of these, he was learned in the five fields of knowledge.

Now the young man was unruly and careless, and he had intercourse with a sex worker. He broke some one hundred of the country’s laws, and though his sister Kṣemaṅkarā and King Prasenajit tried, they were not able to stop him. Finally King Prasenajit sent an envoy to King Brahmadatta with the message, “Since your son has been here, he has done about a hundred vulgar things, and though we have tried, we have not been able to stop him.”

Immediately upon hearing this, King Brahmadatta sent a message to his son: “My child, come back here. Don’t stay there anymore. After my death it will be necessary for you to take on the dominion of the king. Don’t act in such a vulgar manner. Live here.”

Still, Kṣemaṅkara ignored his father’s message and did not return to his country. After he refused to give up his careless ways, King Brahmadatta, unable to stop him, finally disowned him. King Prasenajit [F.210.b] also gave up on him and no longer permitted him to enter the royal palace.

One day he wished to enter the royal palace, and though the doorkeeper physically restrained him, he forced his way inside. “I will see my sister!” he insisted, and took a seat at the queen’s door. King Prasenajit and Queen Kṣemaṅkarā were inside playing lutes, and young Kṣemaṅkara, bow in hand, overheard them. In anger he let loose an arrow, hoping to kill King Prasenajit. The arrow severed a string of the king’s lute and fell to the ground.

As soon as King Prasenajit saw this he fled in terror. Then, seething with anger, he thought, “If I kill him in some ordinary manner, King Brahmadatta too will come to shame. So I will convict him in a court of law and have him executed.”

It was King Prasenajit’s custom that when a trial was to be held, if the dispute was trivial, two intertwined conches were sounded, and if the dispute was grave, the two intertwined conches were sounded over the beating of a great drum. In this case King Prasenajit had them sound both. As soon as this was heard, every high functionary in Śrāvastī gathered in the royal palace. King Prasenajit convicted the young man in court, draped his neck with garlands of oleander flowers, and handed him over to the executioners.

Clad in black, the executioners unsheathed their swords, and with a thundering of drums they led him to the crossroads on the main highway. As they neared the place where he was to be executed, young Kṣemaṅkara cried for mercy, flailed all about, and thought, “Who can protect me from such desolation, distress, and suffering? Who can save my precious life?”

The blessed buddhas, teachers of the one path to be traversed, with mastery over wisdom and the two types of knowable objects, [F.211.a] in command of the three kinds of sterling equanimity, fearless by means of the fourfold fearlessness, freed from migration through the five destinies, keen in the six sense bases, practiced in the seven limbs of enlightenment, focused on the eight liberations, absorbed in the nine successive meditative absorptions, possessing all ten of the ten powers, whose proclamations are the great roaring of a perfect lion, by nature regard the world with their buddha eyes six times throughout the day and night‍—three times by day and three times by night.

These are their thoughts as they look out in wisdom: “Who is in decline? Who will flourish? Who is destitute? Who is in a dreadful state? Who is being harmed? Who is destitute, in a dreadful state, and being harmed? Who is veering toward the lower realms? Who is descending through the lower realms? Who has descended to the lower realms? Whom shall I pull up from the lower realms, and establish in the resultant state of heaven and liberation? Whom, mired in misdeeds, shall I lift up by the hand? Whom, lacking the seven jewels of the noble ones, shall I lead to command of the seven jewels of the noble ones? Whom, not having produced roots of virtue, shall I lead to produce them? Whom, having already produced roots of virtue, shall I lead to ripen their roots of virtue? Whom, having already ripened their roots of virtue, shall I slice open with the blade of wisdom? For whom shall I cause this world, adorned with a buddha’s presence, to be fruitful?”

The Blessed One knew that the time had come to tame young Kṣemaṅkara, so he donned his lower garment and Dharma robes, and, carrying his alms bowl, went for alms in Śrāvastī. Young Kṣemaṅkara saw the Blessed One in the distance. Upon seeing him, he approached the Blessed One, [F.211.b] bowed down at the Blessed One’s feet, and pleaded, “Blessed One, Blessed One, please take on the difficult task of saving my precious life!”

“Young man,” the Blessed One said, “don’t be afraid. Your life will not be lost.” Then the Blessed One spoke to the executioners, saying, “My friends, release this young man.”

“Do we look to you like we have spare heads?”130 the executioners replied. “How can we release him, Blessed One?”

“My friends,” the Blessed One requested, “hold him a little while, until I have met with the king.”

“As you wish, Blessed One,” they replied.

So the Blessed One went to see King Prasenajit. Upon arriving, the Blessed One addressed the king, saying, “Great King, release this young man.”

“Lord,” the king replied, “if he goes forth, I shall release him.”

At that, King Prasenajit countermanded his execution and offered him to the Blessed One. The Blessed One took the young man to the garden of Prince Jeta, led him to go forth as a novice, conferred on him full ordination, and instructed him. Casting away all afflictive emotions through diligence, practice, and effort, he manifested arhatship.

“Lord,” the monks requested the Blessed One, “please tell us why the unruly Prince Kṣemaṅkara had been sent to his death, and the Blessed One rescued him and established him in the unsurpassed, supreme welfare of nirvāṇa.”

“Not only now,” the Blessed One explained, “but in times past as well, and in the same way, he was unruly and committed sexual misconduct, Brahmadatta sent him to be executed, and I rescued him, placing him in the four meditative states and five superknowledges. [F.212.a] Listen well!

“Monks, in times past during King Brahmadatta’s131 reign in the city of Vārāṇasī, there lived a certain man in Vārāṇasī who was unruly and lascivious, and who had the whole city in turmoil. A crowd seized him and presented him to King Brahmadatta, and King Brahmadatta sent him to be executed. As the executioners were carrying him to the spot where he was to be executed, he became terrified of being executed and looked all about, thinking, ‘Who can take on the difficult task of saving my precious life?’

“At that time, there was a certain sage living in the Vārāṇasī area who had all the five superknowledges and was a person of great miracles and great power. The man saw him approaching the vicinity of Vārāṇasī, and as soon as he saw him, he bowed down at his feet and said, ‘Sage, please undertake the difficult task of saving my precious life.’

“ ‘My friends,’ the sage told the executioners, ‘do not kill him. Release him instead.’

“ ‘Do we look to you like we have spare heads?’ the executioners replied. ‘How can we release him, sage?’

“The sage said, ‘Hold him a little while, until I have met with the king.’ Then the sage went to see King Brahmadatta and implored him, ‘Great king, do not kill this man. Release him instead.’

“ ‘Sage,’ King Brahmadatta replied, ‘if he goes forth, I shall release him.’

At that, King Brahmadatta sent a message countermanding the execution order and offered him to the sage. The sage brought him to a hermitage, led him to go forth, and instructed him. While staying in that very hermitage, the man generated the four meditative states and the five superknowledges.

“O monks, what do you think? I am the one who was that sage then, and lived the life of a bodhisattva. The one who was that man then is none other than this young man. [F.212.b] The one who was the king then is now King Prasenajit himself. At that time he sent the man to be executed, and I rescued him, led him to go forth, and placed him in the four meditative states and the five superknowledges. Now as well he was sent to be killed by King Prasenajit, and I rescued him and established him in the unsurpassed, supreme welfare of nirvāṇa.”

“Lord,” the monks asked, “what action did Prince Kṣemaṅkara take that ripened into his birth into a family of great means, prosperity, and wealth, and that he pleased the Blessed One, did not displease him, went forth in the doctrine of the Blessed One, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifested arhatship?”

“It came about by the power of his prayers,” the Blessed One replied.

“Lord, where did he make these prayers?”

“Monks, in times past, in this fortunate eon, when people lived as long as twenty thousand years, and the totally and completely awakened buddha possessed of insight and perfect conduct, the sugata, the knower of the world, the tamer of persons, the charioteer, the unsurpassed one, the teacher of humans and gods, the blessed buddha known as Kāśyapa was in the world, he went forth in his doctrine and acted as steward for the monks.

“He acted as steward of the saṅgha in accord with the Dharma, and progressed in meditative stabilization on love. He practiced pure conduct all his life, and at the time of his death, he prayed, ‘May I please and not displease Uttara, the young brahmin prophesied by the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa to be the next blessed buddha. Going forth in his doctrine alone may I cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifest arhatship.’

“Monks, [F.213.a] what do you think? The monk who acted as steward then is now none other than Prince Kṣemaṅkara. At that time he acted as steward in accord with the Dharma, cultivated the meditative stabilization on love, and at the time of his death, he prayed, ‘May I please and not displease Uttara, the young brahmin prophesied by the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa to be the next blessed buddha. Going forth in his doctrine alone may I cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifest arhatship.’

“So it is, monks, now that I myself have become the very equal of the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa‍—equal in strength, equal in deeds, and equal in skillful means‍—that he has pleased me, not displeased me, gone forth in my very doctrine, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifested arhatship.

“By acting as steward in accord with the Dharma he was born into a family of great means, prosperity, and wealth. He cultivated the meditative stabilization on love, and so he was well proportioned, pleasing to the eye, and beautiful.”

When the Blessed One was dwelling near the city of Ujjayinī, in Śiṃśapā forest north of town, King Pradyota reigned in Ujjayinī, and King Udaya reigned in Suvīra. The two were dear friends, and from time to time they sent envoys to each other bearing gifts.

There were hardly any mangoes in King Pradyota’s country, so the king of Suvīra sent gifts of many mangoes to please King Pradyota. King Pradyota gave some to the queen, some to his sons, and some to his ministers. Then King Caṇḍapradyota himself ate some of the mangoes, [F.213.b] and the thought came to him, “Here in my country there are no mangoes, so I’ll plant these mango pits in the garden.” He took those mango pits and planted them in his own garden, and before long the trees grew big, and there was a large grove with mature branches. Later, the trees blossomed and bore fruit, and King Pradyota charged some untouchables with protecting the mangoes so they would not be eaten by others.

One day the untouchables ate the mangoes themselves. They shouted, “Thieves! Thieves!” and claimed, “Thieves ate them.”

King Caṇḍapradyota was suspicious, and thought, “Perhaps the untouchables have eaten the mangoes themselves.” He sent his servants to search the untouchables’ dwellings. After they went there and saw remnants of the mangoes, the royal servants informed King Pradyota. Then, in a fit of anger, King Caṇḍapradyota corralled all the untouchable families back into their dwellings, heaped up dry grass all around the dwellings, and set fire to it, burning them to the ground.

One of the young untouchables from the village who felt embarrassed about the way the untouchables had acted had already gone south. After he left he took on the guise of a brahmin and trained in the science of invisibility. Having mastered it he later returned to the city of Ujjayinī, where, on the way to his house, he saw that the entire village had burned to the ground.

When he saw this he asked, “Who destroyed our village?” and was told, “It was King Caṇḍapradyota.”

“Where did my family go?” he asked.

“In a fit of anger, King Caṇḍapradyota surrounded their houses with heaps of dry grass,” they said, “and he and his servants burned them up in the fire.” [F.214.a]

The young man was devastated when he heard all this. “In truth it was the men’s fault, and they have been dealt with according to the law,” he thought. “But the children and the women did him no harm at all, and they too were burned up in the fire. I will take revenge on the king of our wicked age.”

He made himself invisible, entered the royal palace, and struck the king on the head with a whip. “King of our wicked age!” he said. “What harm did the untouchables ever do to you?”

“They stole my mangoes!” replied King Caṇḍapradyota.

“The men were to blame,” said the young untouchable, “but what did their wives and children do wrong? Put your affairs in order, vile king. Your life is at its end, for in seven days you must die!”

Every day after that the young untouchable went to the royal palace to beat the king and to say, “On such-and-such a date you will be no more!”

King Caṇḍapradyota was terrified, and his ministers entreated him, “Deva, don’t be afraid. We will make supplications to Noble Kātyāyana.”

The ministers approached Venerable Kātyāyana and implored him, “Noble one, disembodied spirits are doing harm to the king. We ask you, please protect him!” As soon as Noble Kātyāyana heard this, he counteracted the young untouchable’s secret mantra so that he could never become invisible again.

The young man thought, “Who destroyed my mantra?” and he asked the ministers, “Tell me, who protected the king from fear of disembodied spirits?” [F.214.b]

“Kātyāyana did, noble one,” the ministers replied.

When he heard this, the young untouchable immediately went to see Venerable Kātyāyana and asked, “Lord, why did you neutralize my mantra?”

“Sit down child,” Kātyāyana replied, “and I shall tell you in detail.”

The young untouchable bowed down at Noble Kātyāyana’s feet and sat before him, and Venerable Kātyāyana taught him the Dharma in a gradual way, in a manner agreeable to him. When he heard it the young untouchable destroyed with the thunderbolt of wisdom the twenty high peaks of the mountain of views concerning the transitory collection, and manifested the resultant state of stream entry.

After seeing the truths, he rose from his seat, drew down the right shoulder of his upper garment, bowed toward Venerable Kātyāyana with palms pressed together, and requested, “Lord, if permitted I wish to go forth in the Dharma and Vinaya so well spoken, complete my novitiate, and achieve full ordination. In the presence of the Blessed One, I too wish to practice the holy life.”

Venerable Kātyāyana led him to go forth as a novice, conferred on him full ordination, and instructed him. Casting away all afflictive emotions through diligence, practice, and effort, he manifested arhatship. As an arhat, free from the attachments of the three realms, his mind regarded gold no differently than filth, and the palms of his hands as like space itself. He became cool like wet sandalwood. His insight crushed ignorance like an eggshell. He achieved the insights, superknowledges, and discriminations. He had no regard for worldly profit, passion, or acclaim. He became an object of offering, veneration, and respectful address by Indra, Upendra, and the other gods.

When the ministers heard this, [F.215.a] they told King Caṇḍapradyota, “Deva, Noble Kātyāyana has led the one who terrified you so to go forth.” As soon as he heard this, the king joyfully went to see Noble Kātyāyana, bowed down at his feet, and said, “Noble one, you undertook the difficult task of saving my precious life. Please permit me to invite you, together with the saṅgha of monks, to take your meals at my house for seven days.”

“Deva,” Kātyāyana said, “the Blessed One is staying right here in Ujjayinī. Therefore, you should invite the Blessed One instead.”

No sooner had he heard this than the king went to see the Blessed One, touched his head to the Blessed One’s feet, and sat before him to listen to the Dharma. The Blessed One instructed, encouraged, inspired, and delighted him with a discourse on the Dharma, and then sat in silence.

Knowing that the Blessed One had completed his discourse, King Caṇḍapradyota rose from his seat, drew down the right shoulder of his upper garment, bowed toward the Blessed One with palms pressed together, and asked the Blessed One, “Out of solicitude for Noble Kātyāyana, please permit me to invite you, together with the saṅgha of monks, to take your meals at my house for seven days.” The Blessed One assented to King Caṇḍapradyota by his silence.

Understanding that by his silence the Blessed One had given his assent, King Caṇḍapradyota then praised this assurance from the Blessed One, rejoiced, touched his head to the Blessed One’s feet, and took leave of him.

After [F.215.b] he had offered food to the Buddha and the rest of the saṅgha of monks for seven days inside the palace, on the last day he offered food of a hundred flavors to the Buddha and the rest of the saṅgha of monks and to the Blessed One he offered a very costly robe. He offered a set of robes fashioned from cotton to each of the other monks, and after the Blessed One had instructed, encouraged, inspired, and delighted him with a discourse on the Dharma, he rose from his seat and departed.

“Lord,” the monks inquired of the Blessed One, “what action did the young untouchable take that ripened such that he pleased the Blessed One, did not displease him, went forth in the doctrine of the Buddha, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifested arhatship?”

“Monks,” the Blessed One explained, “such are the actions that he committed and accumulated:

“Monks, in times past, in the ninety-first eon, when people lived as long as eighty thousand years and the tathāgata, the arhat, the totally and completely awakened buddha possessed of insight and perfect conduct, the sugata, the knower of the world, the tamer of persons, the charioteer, the unsurpassed one, the teacher of humans and gods, the blessed buddha known as Vipaśyin was in the world, he performed all the activities of a buddha and passed beyond all sorrow into the realm of nirvāṇa without any remainder of the aggregates, like a fire when all the wood is gone.

“King Bandhumat132 used his great fortune to heap up fragrant wood in a wide open space and burned all of Buddha Vipaśyin’s remains in a fire. Then he interred the relics so that others would not remove them, [F.216.a] and charged a nearby group of untouchables with protecting them. One night, as the untouchables were sleeping there, a tiger in the area carried one of them off. One of the others cried out in terror, ‘I bow down to the Buddha!’ and by the power of the Buddha, the gods protected him.

“Then King Bandhumat built a stūpa for the relics of the totally and completely awakened Buddha Vipaśyin. When it was complete in every respect and the time came to celebrate its traditional festival, the thought occurred to that untouchable, ‘It is by the power of the Blessed Buddha that I am alive at all.’ Knowing this, he made a large offering to the stūpa and prayed, ‘By this root of virtue, may I please and not displease a teacher just like this one. Going forth in his doctrine alone may I cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifest arhatship.’

“O monks, what do you think? The one who was that young untouchable then is none other than this young untouchable. At that time he venerated the stūpa and made those prayers.

“So it is, monks, now that I myself have become the very equal of the totally and completely awakened Buddha Vipaśyin‍—equal in strength, equal in deeds, and equal in skillful means‍—that he has pleased me, not displeased me, gone forth in my very doctrine, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifested arhatship.

“Later, he also went forth in the doctrine of the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa. Quarrelsome as a monk, he became a scholar. At that time out of anger he called a group of monks untouchables. One day [F.216.b] he felt regret, asked forgiveness of the monks, and practiced the conduct leading to liberation all his life. While he may not have attained any great virtues, at the time of his death, he prayed, ‘May I please and not displease Uttara, the young brahmin prophesied by the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa to be the next blessed buddha. Going forth in his doctrine alone may I cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifest arhatship.’

“O monks, what do you think? The monk who went forth in the doctrine of the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa then is none other than this untouchable. At that time the act of calling a group of monks untouchables ripened such that for five hundred lifetimes he took rebirth as a untouchable. He also practiced pure conduct all his life, and at the time of his death, he prayed, ‘May I please and not displease Uttara, the young brahmin prophesied by the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa to be the next blessed buddha. Going forth in his doctrine alone may I cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifest arhatship.’

“So it is, monks, now that I myself have become the very equal of the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa‍—equal in strength, equal in deeds, and equal in skillful means‍—that he has pleased me, not displeased me, gone forth in my very doctrine, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifested arhatship.”

King Śuddhodana had a certain charioteer named Subhadra.133 When the time came for him to marry, [F.217.a] he took a wife. But even though they enjoyed themselves and coupled, they had no children. They desired a son, so the householder supplicated the deities. He prayed to Paśupati, Varuṇa, Kubera, Śakra, Brahmā, and the rest, and to the deities of the pleasure groves, the forest deities, the deities of the crossroads, the deities of forks in the road, the deities who receive strewn oblations, the deities of his inherited tradition, and the deities who are in constant attendance of righteous persons. Although he made every effort to pray to them, he still could not have a son or a daughter.

Then, when the Bodhisattva was born, the soothsayers prophesied, “If he remains here at home, he will become a universal monarch, but if he shaves his head and face and dons the colorful religious robes, and if with nothing short of perfect faith he goes forth from home to live as a mendicant, then he will be renowned throughout the world as a tathāgata, an arhat, a totally and completely awakened buddha.”

Upon hearing these words, the charioteer Subhadra was devastated. “If I have a son,” he thought, “he will become charioteer to the prince, and our lineage of charioteers will not be broken.” With that, he began making especially fervent prayers to all the deities.

The Bodhisattva, upon witnessing old age, sickness, and death, went to live in the forest, where he practiced austerities for six years. After practicing austerities there for six years, from the young women Nandā and Nandabalā134 of Serika village he accepted honeyed porridge prepared from milk that had been made into cream sixteen times over.

Then he accepted grass from Svastika the grass peddler. Then the nāga king Kāla praised him highly, and he proceeded to Bodhimaṇḍa. There he laid the grass out smooth, [F.217.b] sat down cross-legged, and made a firm commitment to himself: “Until such time as I attain the highest wisdom,” he thought, “I shall not give up this cross-legged posture.” On that spot, he conquered the thirty-six million beings of Māra’s retinue and achieved unexcelled, total, and complete wisdom.

Then, beseeched by Brahmā three times, he enumerated the four truths of the noble ones three times in Vārāṇasī, properly setting in motion the wheel of the Dharma in its twelve aspects, and led the group of five to go forth. After he had established another five in the truths, as well as a party of sixty fathers, the sons of fifty village chieftains, and the two siblings Nandā and Nandabalā, he led the brothers Uruvilvā Kāśyapa and Nadī Kāśyapa to go forth and traveled on to Gayā.

He tamed others with three types of miraculous displays, traveling to the Forest of Reeds, where he established in the truths King Bimbisāra, eight thousand gods, and the hundreds and hundreds of brahmins and householders of Magadha. Then he went to Rājagṛha, where he accepted the gift of Bamboo Grove, and led Śāriputra and Maudgalyāyana to go forth.

He proceeded to Śrāvastī, subjugated King Prasenajit through the discourse on “the similes of the young ones,”135 accepted the gift of the garden of Prince Jeta, and went to stay in Kapilavastu, where he was reunited with his father and son. With support from Kapilavastu he lived on to act for the benefit of those to be tamed.

Thereupon the thought occurred to Subhadra, “Seeing as I have no heir, after I die all I have will become the king’s property. I will bring it to bear on my next life.”136 So the next day he invited the Buddha and the rest of the saṅgha of monks for a meal and with his own hands contented them with many good, wholesome foods, proffering all that they wished. Once he knew that their bowls had been taken away and their hands washed, he brought in a very low seat [F.218.a] and sat before the Blessed One to listen to the Dharma. The Blessed One instructed, encouraged, inspired, and delighted him with a discourse on the Dharma. Once he had instructed, encouraged, inspired, and delighted him with a great variety of Dharma discourses, he sat there silently.

Knowing that the Blessed One had completed his discourse, the charioteer Subhadra said to the Blessed One, “Lord, you will be my teacher for a long time. If I’d had a son, he would have been charioteer to you, the prince, just as I have been charioteer to King Śuddhodana. Now the Blessed One has gone forth, but if I have a son, I shall offer him to the Blessed One as an attendant just the same.” The Blessed One saw the good it would bring and said, “The virtuous keep their promises.” Then he left the house, and returned whence he came.

One day, the charioteer Subhadra’s wife finally conceived, and after nine or ten months had passed, she gave birth to a child who was well proportioned, pleasing to the eye, and beautiful. At the elaborate feast celebrating his birth they asked, “What name should we give this child?” And they named him, saying, “Since he is Subhadra’s child, his name will be Bhadra.”

They reared him on milk, yogurt, butter, ghee, and milk solids, and he flourished like a lotus in a lake.

As he grew up he studied letters, tallying, and arithmetic; [F.218.b] the study of seals, lending, deposits, and commerce; and the examination of cloth, jewels, gems, incense, medicine, elephants, horses, and arms and armor. He became skilled in writing, skilled at reading, learned, decisive, and industrious, a master of the eight types of examination.

One day, the Blessed One saw that the time had come for the young man to go forth, so he reminded the charioteer Subhadra, “Subhadra, before this child was born you offered him to me. The virtuous keep their promises, do they not? Didn’t you yourself make such a promise?”

“Yes, Blessed One,” Subhadra replied, “I did make just such a promise.” As he said this, he took the child by his two hands, offered him to the Blessed One, and told him, “Child, before you were born, I offered you to the Blessed One. Therefore go, and be an attendant of the Blessed One.”

“This will be of benefit to me,” the child said, and with those words he followed the Blessed One away.

The Blessed One instructed, encouraged, inspired, and delighted him with a great variety of Dharma teachings. Then the Blessed One led the child away and traveled to the monastery. There, the Blessed One led him to go forth as a novice, conferred on him full ordination, and instructed him. Casting away all afflictive emotions through diligence, practice, and effort, he manifested arhatship.

After achieving arhatship he thought, “The Blessed One has dispelled so many kinds of suffering and anguish, brought me so many kinds of happiness and bliss, [F.219.a] cleared away so many of my sins and nonvirtues, and secured for me such virtues. How could I repay the kindness of the Blessed One?” Then he thought, “Anytime a buddha arises in the world, it is only to benefit beings. So undoubtedly I too should act for the benefit of beings!” Reflecting in this way, he wondered, “Whom might I tame?” When he looked out, right away he saw he could tame his own parents. So he disappeared from the monastery, and burst forth right in front of them from the floor of their house. Like a regal swan spreading its wings before them, he rose into the sky, making a miraculous display of fire and light, rain and lightning, and descended to the earth.

He directly apprehended their thoughts, habitual tendencies, temperaments, capacities, and natures, and taught them the Dharma accordingly. When they heard it they destroyed with the thunderbolt of wisdom the twenty high peaks of the mountain of views concerning the transitory collection, and manifested the resultant state of stream entry right where they sat.

After they saw the truths they said, “Child, we are also going to give up living at home and go forth just as you were.”

“As you wish,” Bhadra replied, and he left the house.

Thereupon his parents gave up household affairs, gave gifts, made merit, and went forth in the doctrine of the Blessed One. Casting away all afflictive emotions with diligence, practice, and effort, they manifested arhatship.

“Blessed One,” the monks asked, [F.219.b] “what action did Bhadra take that ripened into his birth into a family of great means, prosperity, and wealth, and that he pleased the Blessed One, did not displease him, went forth in the doctrine of the Blessed One, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifested arhatship?

“What actions did his parents take that ripened into their trusting him completely, and that they pleased the Blessed One, did not displease him, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifested arhatship?”

“It came about by the power of their prayers,” the Blessed One replied.

“Lord, where did they make these prayers?”

“Monks, in times past, in this fortunate eon, when people lived as long as forty thousand years, and the totally and completely awakened buddha possessed of insight and perfect conduct, the sugata, the knower of the world, the tamer of persons, the charioteer, the unsurpassed one, the teacher of humans and gods, the blessed buddha known as Krakucchanda was in the world, he performed all the activities of a buddha and passed beyond all sorrow into the realm of nirvāṇa without any remainder of the aggregates, like a fire when all the wood is gone.

“King Śobha performed a reliquary offering for the Blessed One’s relics and began to cover the stūpa and the entire surrounding area within one mile with four different kinds of jewels. The minister he had appointed to oversee this had no faith, and told his son, ‘My child, I must complete this task on behalf of the king in addition to executing the royal duties. [F.220.a] If I can’t handle both, I shall lose my position at the royal palace. Therefore, my child, please supervise work on the stūpa, and I shall serve the king.’

“ ‘As you wish, father,’ the young man said, and he remained there to supervise the work on the stūpa.

“He began to work on the stūpa, and as he was working there, he found faith in the doctrine of the Buddha Krakucchanda, so he went for refuge and took the fundamental precepts. Then he led his parents to live a life of perfect faith and to likewise take refuge and the fundamental precepts.

“King Śobha completed every aspect of the stūpa and made great offerings to it. At the beginning of the traditional stūpa festival, the minister, his wife, his servants,137 and his son were elated to see that every aspect of the stūpa had been completed in full, and they made a large offering to the stūpa. The minister’s son bowed down at the foot of the stūpa and prayed, ‘By this root of virtue, wherever I am born, may it be into a family of great means, prosperity, and wealth. May I be well proportioned, pleasing to the eye, and beautiful. May I please and not displease a teacher just like this one. Going forth in his doctrine alone may I cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifest arhatship.’

“When his parents saw this, they asked, ‘Child, what prayers are you making?’

“He told them everything in detail, and when they heard it, right away they both prayed, ‘By this root of virtue, wherever [F.220.b] we are born, may it be into families of great means, prosperity, and wealth. May he be our son. Entrusting ourselves to him completely, may we please and not displease a teacher just like this one. May we go forth in his doctrine, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifest arhatship.’

“O monks, what do you think? The one who was the minister’s son then is none other than Subhadra. Those who were his parents then are none other than his parents now. The act of venerating the stūpa and saying that prayer ripened such that wherever they were born, it was into a family of great means, prosperity, and wealth.

“So it is, monks, now that I myself have become the very equal of the totally and completely awakened Buddha Krakucchanda‍—equal in strength, equal in deeds, and equal in skillful means‍—that they have pleased me, not displeased me, gone forth in my very doctrine, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifested arhatship.

“His parents’ acts of venerating the stūpa and saying that prayer ripened such that wherever they were born, it was into a family of great means, prosperity, and wealth. By entrusting themselves to their son completely, they have pleased me, not displeased me, gone forth in my very doctrine, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifested arhatship.

“The three of them also went forth in the doctrine of Buddha Kāśyapa. After practicing pure conduct all their lives then, their faculties ripened, and now they have been liberated.” [B19] [F.221.a]

When King Siṃhahanu reigned in Kapilavastu, and King Suprabuddha reigned in Devaḍaha,138 the two were dear friends. One day King Siṃhahanu thought, “How wonderful it would be if a universal monarch was born in my lineage!” Subsequently he had four sons named Śuddhodana, Droṇodana, Amṛtodana, and Śuklodana, and four daughters named Śuddhā, Droṇā, Amṛtā, and Śuklā.

After that, King Suprabuddha prayed, “How wonderful it would be to become kin with King Siṃhahanu!” He and the queen enjoyed themselves and coupled, she gave birth to a child, and they named him Sahadeva.

As the young man grew up, they made him study letters, and trained him in all the different fields of craft and skill in which duly consecrated rulers of the royal caste train, such as how to ride an elephant, how to ride horseback, how to wield a weapon, and how to shoot an arrow, advance, retreat, wage war, grasp with an iron hook, wield a lasso, shoot a spear, throw a single-pointed vajra, throw other single-pointed weapons, and throw a disk; how to cut, cleave, grapple and hold, employ footwork, guard one’s head, strike from a distance, and strike at the noise of an unseen enemy; and how to target the vital points, take infallible aim, and maximize damage. By the time he had been educated in all of these, he was learned in the five fields of knowledge, and he was without peer.

Later, King Suprabuddha had two daughters, and he named one Māyā and the other Mahā­māyā. [F.221.b] The brahmin astrologers and augurs prophesied this about the two of them: “One will give birth to a universal monarch. The other will give birth to a youth graced with the signs.” When King Siṃhahanu heard this, he took them both to be Śuddhodana’s queens.

One day the Bodhisattva passed away and transmigrated from the Tuṣita Heaven and entered his mother’s womb. After nine or ten months had passed, she gave birth to a son. As he grew up, they made him study letters, and he mastered them. He also learned all the fields of knowledge. He mastered as well all the performing arts of dance, singing, and music.

Then King Śuddhodana thought, “Now we must train him in archery.” So he asked the Śākyas, “Who here is the greatest teacher of archery from whom a young person can learn archery?”

“Deva, you can forget all other teachers of archery,” the Śākyas told him. “King Suprabuddha’s son Sahadeva is the greatest teacher of archery. None can rival him.”

As soon as he heard this, King Śuddhodana dispatched a messenger to Sahadeva, saying, “Sahadeva, please teach this prince archery.”

“As you wish, Deva,” Sahadeva replied, and he began teaching the prince archery. The Bodhisattva learned everything he taught him. The Bodhisattva demonstrated other techniques that were not known in Sahadeva’s country, and Sahadeva was amazed upon witnessing the Bodhisattva’s discipline and these techniques that he had not seen before. He devoted himself to studying those archery techniques and learned them himself from the Bodhisattva.

When the Bodhisattva witnessed old age, sickness, and death, [F.222.a] and went to live in the forest, Sahadeva traveled to Vaiśālī. While he was staying there, the people of Vaiśālī put five hundred youths in his care and said, “Train these youths in the five fields of knowledge.” By the time he had completed archery training for all five hundred youths, they had mastered the five fields of knowledge. After that they became arrogant and thought, “No one is our equal in form, strength, and knowledge‍—needless to speak of their being better!”

“Don’t be so arrogant, children,” Sahadeva said. “You can’t equal even the dust under the feet of the prince born into the Śākya clan‍—needless to speak of his fine form, strength, and knowledge.”

Now as soon as they heard this, the youths were eager to see him and said, “We should go see this young man.”

“That young man lives in the forest,” Sahadeva told them, “so you cannot see him now.”

In the meantime, while acting for the benefit of those to be tamed, the Blessed One eventually made his way to Vaiśālī. Sahadeva heard about this and informed the youths. As soon as they heard, the five hundred youths were very eager to see the Blessed One and they went with Sahadeva to meet him. All five hundred youths saw the Blessed One, resplendent and agreeable, in the distance. His senses were tamed and his mind was perfectly tame. He was graced with tranquility, shining and magnificent like a golden pillar.

When they saw him, whatever arrogance they had about their own forms disappeared. But still139 they thought, “In form he may be our superior, but not in strength.” Thinking this, they went to see the Blessed One, [F.222.b] and upon their arrival they touched their heads to the Blessed One’s feet, and sat before him.

The Blessed One thought, “I must destroy their arrogance.” Then the Blessed One had a thought about the world: “How good it would be for Śakra, King of the Gods, to take up his bow and arrow and come to see me!” Just as the Buddha thought this, Śakra, King of the Gods, immediately came to see the Blessed One with bow and arrow in hand. Then, to shatter the youths’ arrogance, the Blessed One made his natural form disappear and emanated in the form of a deity. He then emanated seven iron palm trees, seven wheels, seven great drums, and seven bricks140 close to where the youths stood and addressed them, saying, “Children, take up this bow and arrow, and fire arrows into these targets.”

The youths hurried to take up the bow, but when he said, “Now draw,” they could not so much as pull the bowstring. The Blessed One, however, drew the bowstring with ease, and his arrow not only punctured the targets as it pierced the seven iron palm trees, seven wheels, seven great drums, and seven bricks, it even burrowed into the ground below.

When they saw this, whatever arrogance the youths had about their own strength disappeared in an instant, and they gained admiration for the Blessed One. The Blessed One directly apprehended their admiration and taught them the Dharma accordingly. When they heard it, all five hundred youths destroyed with the thunderbolt of wisdom the twenty high peaks of the mountain of views concerning the transitory collection, and manifested the resultant state of stream entry right where they sat.

After seeing the truths, they rose from their seats, drew down the right shoulder of their upper garments, [F.223.a] bowed toward the Blessed One with palms pressed together, and requested of the Blessed One, “Lord, if permitted we wish to go forth in the Dharma and Vinaya so well spoken, complete our novitiates, and achieve full ordination. In the presence of the Blessed One, we too wish to practice the holy life.”

With the words “Come, join me, monks!” the Blessed One led them to go forth as novices, conferred on them full ordination, and instructed them. They cast away all afflictive emotions through diligence, practice, and effort, and manifested arhatship. As arhats, free from the attachments of the three realms, their minds regarded gold no differently than filth, and the palms of their hands as like space itself. They became cool like wet sandalwood. Their insight crushed ignorance like an eggshell. They achieved the insights, superknowledges, and discriminations. They had no regard for worldly profit, passion, or acclaim. They became objects of offering, veneration, and respectful address by Indra, Upendra, and the other gods.

“Lord,” the monks inquired of the Blessed One, “tell us why, after all five hundred of these youths were put in the care of Sahadeva, the Blessed One shattered their arrogance and established them in the unsurpassed, supreme welfare of nirvāṇa.”

“Not only now,” the Blessed One explained, “but in times past as well, and in the same way, they were put in Sahadeva’s care, and I destroyed their arrogance and placed them in the four meditative states and five superknowledges. Listen well!

“Monks, in times gone by, King Glacier Lake Deity141 reigned in the city of Campā. One day his wife conceived, and after nine or ten months [F.223.b] had passed, she gave birth to a child who was well proportioned, pleasing to the eye, beautiful, and endowed with tremendous strength. At the elaborate feast celebrating his birth they asked, ‘What name should we give this child?’ And they named him, saying, ‘Since this is Glacier Lake Deity’s child, his name will be Glacier Deity.’ They reared him on milk, yogurt, butter, ghee, and milk solids, and he flourished like a lotus in a lake.

“As the young man grew up, they made him study letters, and trained him in all the different fields of craft and skill in which duly consecrated rulers of the royal caste train, such as how to ride an elephant, how to ride horseback, how to wield a weapon, and how to shoot an arrow, advance, retreat, wage war, grasp with an iron hook, wield a lasso, shoot a spear, throw a single-pointed vajra, throw other single-pointed weapons, and throw a disk; how to cut, cleave, grapple and hold, employ footwork, guard one’s head, strike from a distance, and strike at the noise of an unseen enemy; and how to target the vital points, take infallible aim, and maximize damage. By the time he had been educated in all of these, he was learned in the five fields of knowledge.

“Then he came to see that his father administrated the affairs of the kingdom both righteously and unrighteously. Recognizing this he thought, ‘After the death of my father, I will have to assume the dominion of the king. I will give up living at home and go live in the forest.’ Reflecting in this way, he asked for his father’s permission and went to live in the forest. After he went there, he generated the four meditative states and the five superknowledges.

“After he had gone forth, the king’s ministers had five hundred sons. As they grew up, they were made to study letters and became educated in the five sciences. They thought [F.224.a], ‘No one is our equal in form, strength, and knowledge‍—needless to speak of their being better!’

“ ‘Children,’ their archery teacher told them, ‘don’t say such things. Your form, strength, and knowledge aren’t even a hundredth or a thousandth of that of the prince who went to live in the great forest.’

“As soon as they heard this, the youths were eager to meet the sage, so they went to see him along with the archery teacher. All five hundred youths saw the sage in the distance and he was resplendent, agreeable, and happy. His senses were tamed, and his mind was at peace.142 When they saw him, whatever arrogance they had about their own forms disappeared, and they thought, ‘Since his good qualities and the splendor of his form are as great as our teacher claimed, and we ourselves are certain it is so, let’s give up living at home and, in his presence, practice the conduct that leads to enlightenment.’ With this thought, they went forth in his presence. Having thus gone forth, they generated the four meditative states and five superknowledges.

“O monks, what do you think? I am the one who was that sage then, and lived the life of a bodhisattva. Those who were the five hundred youths then are none other than these youths. The one who was their archery teacher then is none other than Sahadeva. At that time, after they were put in Sahadeva’s care, I destroyed their arrogance and placed them in the four meditative states and five superknowledges. Now as well, they have been in the sole care of Sahadeva, and I have established them in the unsurpassed, supreme welfare of nirvāṇa.

“They also went forth in the doctrine of the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa [F.224.b] and practiced pure conduct all their lives. At the time of their deaths, they prayed, ‘May we please and not displease Uttara, the young brahmin prophesied by the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa to be the next blessed buddha. May we go forth in his doctrine, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifest arhatship.’

“What do you think monks? The five hundred monks who went forth in the doctrine of the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa then are now none other than these renunciants. Back then they practiced pure conduct all their lives, and at the time of their deaths, they prayed, ‘May we please and not displease Uttara, the young brahmin prophesied by the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa to be the next blessed buddha. May we go forth in his doctrine, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifest arhatship.’

“So it is, monks, now that I myself have become the very equal of the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa‍—equal in strength, equal in deeds, and equal in skillful means‍—that they have pleased me, not displeased me, gone forth in my very doctrine, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifested arhatship.”

When the Blessed One was in Śrāvastī, not far from the garden of Prince Jeta there lived a certain herd of cattle. There, the two bulls that led the herd were fighting and kicking one another until one of them had his stomach gored and his intestines spilled out onto the ground. Still feeling a surge of hatred for his opponent, [F.225.a] he collapsed to the ground.

The blessed buddhas, teachers of the one path to be traversed, with mastery over wisdom and the two types of knowable objects, in command of the three kinds of sterling equanimity, fearless by means of the fourfold fearlessness, freed from migration through the five destinies, keen in the six sense bases, practiced in the seven limbs of enlightenment, focused on the eight liberations, absorbed in the nine successive meditative absorptions, possessing all ten of the ten powers, whose proclamations are the great roaring of a perfect lion, by nature regard the world with their buddha eyes six times throughout the day and night‍—three times by day and three times by night.

These are their thoughts as they look out in wisdom: “Who is in decline? Who will flourish? Who is destitute? Who is in a dreadful state? Who is being harmed? Who is destitute, in a dreadful state, and being harmed? Who is veering toward the lower realms? Who is descending through the lower realms? Who has descended to the lower realms? Whom shall I pull up from the lower realms, and establish in the resultant state of heaven and liberation? Whom, mired in misdeeds, shall I lift up by the hand? Whom, lacking the seven jewels of the noble ones, shall I lead to command of the seven jewels of the noble ones? Whom, not having produced roots of virtue, shall I lead to produce them? Whom, having already produced roots of virtue, shall I lead to ripen their roots of virtue? Whom, having already ripened their roots of virtue, shall I slice open with the blade of wisdom? For whom shall I cause this world, adorned with a buddha’s presence, to be fruitful?”

The Blessed One thought, “If this bull dies in his present condition, he will take birth as a hell being. The time has come to lift him out of the lower realms.” [F.225.b] The Blessed One disappeared from the garden of Prince Jeta and traveled to near where the bulls were. He put the intestines back into the bull’s stomach, sewed the wound closed, gave him grass and water, and said to him, “And so it is, my friend: all conditioned things are impermanent. All phenomena are selfless. Nirvāṇa is peace. Let your mind be filled with joy at the thought of me, and you may even be released from rebirth in the animal realm.”

Filled with joy at the thought of the Blessed One, the bull died shortly thereafter, transmigrated, and took rebirth in the house of a merchant in Śrāvastī. After nine or ten months had passed the child was born, and he was well proportioned, pleasing to the eye, and beautiful. At the elaborate feast celebrating his birth they named him according to their clan.

They reared him on milk, yogurt, butter, ghee, and milk solids, and when he was seven years of age, he found faith in the doctrine of the Blessed One. He asked for his parents’ permission and went forth, and though he was just seven years old, he cast away all afflictive emotions through diligence, practice, and effort, and manifested arhatship. After he manifested arhatship, he used his miraculous powers as a means of travel and would scoop flowers and fruits onto large leaves, carry them from one place to another, and bring them as offerings to the saṅgha.

The monks were amazed when they saw this, so they requested the Blessed One, “Lord, tell us why this one, who went forth as a novice at just seven years of age, has achieved such great virtues.”

The Blessed One asked the monks, “Did you see the bull whose intestines I put back into his stomach, and to whom I taught three lines of the Dharma?”

“Yes, Lord, we saw him,” they replied.

The Blessed One said, [F.226.a] “Filled with joy at the thought of me, he died, transmigrated, and was reborn in the house of a merchant here in Śrāvastī. Then he went forth in my very doctrine, and at just seven years of age cast away all afflictive emotions and manifested arhatship.”

“Lord, what action did this novice take that ripened into his birth as a bull?” they inquired. “What action did he take that, after he died and transmigrated, ripened into his birth as a human being, and that he pleased the Blessed One, did not displease him, surpassed those whose lifespans were one hundred years, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifested arhatship?”

“Monks,” the Blessed One explained, “such are the actions that he committed and accumulated:

“Monks, in times past, in this fortunate eon, when people lived as long as twenty thousand years, and the totally and completely awakened buddha endowed with perfect knowledge and perfect conduct, the sugata, the knower of the world, the tamer of persons, the charioteer, the unsurpassed one, the teacher of humans and gods, the blessed buddha known as Kāśyapa was in the world, he went forth in Buddha Kāśyapa’s doctrine, acted as water server for the monks, and distributed water from a small vase.

“Another monk who was an arhat got distracted and bumped up against the serving monk, knocking the small vase from his hand and breaking it. In anger, the serving monk shouted at him, ‘This one’s like a thundering bull‍—huge and oblivious!’

“When he heard what he said, the arhat took him aside and asked, ‘Lord, do you know who I am?’

“ ‘I know that you have gone forth,’ he replied, ‘as have I.’

“ ‘Though we two are like brothers in having gone forth,’ he said, ‘you are an ordinary person, bound [F.226.b] by every fetter, and I have been liberated from every fetter. You must confess the mistake you’ve made by speaking harshly to me. Otherwise you are certain to roam in saṃsāra and meet with the results of your ugly act.’

“When he heard this the serving monk was seized with regret, bowed down at his feet, and asked his forgiveness. After that he practiced pure conduct all his life, and at the time of his death he prayed, ‘May I not meet with the results of the act of speaking harshly to this person, so supremely worthy of offerings. While I may not have attained any great virtues, still I have gone forth and practiced pure conduct all my life. Therefore, may I please and not displease Uttara, the young brahmin prophesied by the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa to be the next blessed buddha. Going forth in his doctrine alone may I cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifest arhatship.’

“O monks, what do you think? The one who was the water-serving monk then is none other than this novice. The act of becoming angry and speaking harshly to the arhat ripened such that for five hundred lifetimes he took rebirth as a bull. Yet at the time of his death he prayed, ‘May I please and not displease Uttara, the young brahmin prophesied by the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa to be the next blessed buddha. Going forth in his doctrine alone may I cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifest arhatship.’

“So it is, monks, now that I myself have become the very equal of the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa‍—equal in strength, equal in deeds, and equal in skillful means‍—that he has pleased me, [F.227.a] not displeased me, gone forth in my very doctrine, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifested arhatship.”

When the Blessed One was in Vaiśālī, there lived a certain army chief named Siṃha. One day his wife conceived, and after nine or ten months had passed she gave birth to a child who was well proportioned, pleasing to the eye, beautiful, and endowed with tremendous strength. At the elaborate feast celebrating his birth they named him Good Compassion.

They reared him on milk, yogurt, butter, ghee, and milk solids, and as the young man grew up, they made him study letters, and trained him in all the different fields of craft and skill in which duly consecrated rulers of the royal caste train, such as how to ride an elephant, how to ride horseback, how to wield a weapon, and how to shoot an arrow, advance, retreat, wage war, grasp with an iron hook, wield a lasso, shoot a spear, throw a single-pointed vajra, throw other single-pointed weapons, and throw a disk; how to cut, cleave, grapple and hold, employ footwork, guard one’s head, strike from a distance, and strike at the noise of an unseen enemy; and how to target the vital points, take infallible aim, and maximize damage. By the time he had been educated in all of these, he was learned in the five fields of knowledge.

But this was not enough to satisfy him,143 and he had intercourse with prostitutes. His father sent him off with a group of friends, and one day in the spring, when many trees were in flower, and the parrots, mountain birds, cuckoos, peacocks, and jīvaṃjīva birds began to call out, the men brought the foremost courtesan into the forest. As they sat there, they began to quarrel over the courtesan. In anger, young Good Compassion killed three men in the group of friends.

The group of friends [F.227.b] went and told the army chief Siṃha. When he heard about this, the army chief Siṃha declared, “That boy is no child of mine!” and threw him out of the house. The Licchavis of Vaiśālī sentenced him to death, draped his neck with garlands of oleander flowers, and handed him over to the executioners. Clad in black, the executioners unsheathed their swords, and with a thundering of drums they led him to the crossroads on the main highway. As they neared the place where he was to be executed, in terror for his life he cast all about, thinking, “Who can protect me from such desolation, distress, and suffering? Who can save my precious life?”

The blessed buddhas, teachers of the one path to be traversed, with mastery over wisdom and the two types of knowable objects, in command of the three kinds of sterling equanimity, fearless by means of the fourfold fearlessness, freed from migration through the five destinies, keen in the six sense bases, practiced in the seven limbs of enlightenment, focused on the eight liberations, absorbed in the nine successive meditative absorptions, possessing all ten of the ten powers, whose proclamations are the great roaring of a perfect lion, by nature regard the world with their buddha eyes six times throughout the day and night‍—three times by day and three times by night.

These are their thoughts as they look out in wisdom: “Who is in decline? Who will flourish? Who is destitute? Who is in a dreadful state? Who is being harmed? Who is destitute, in a dreadful state, and being harmed? Who is veering toward the lower realms? Who is descending through the lower realms? Who has descended to the lower realms? Whom shall I pull up from the lower realms, and establish in the resultant state of heaven and liberation? Whom, mired in misdeeds, shall I lift up by the hand? Whom, lacking the seven jewels of the noble ones, shall I lead to command of the seven jewels of the noble ones? Whom, not having produced roots of virtue, shall I lead to produce them? Whom, having already produced roots of virtue, [F.228.a] shall I lead to ripen their roots of virtue? Whom, having already ripened their roots of virtue, shall I slice open with the blade of wisdom? For whom shall I cause this world, adorned with a buddha’s presence, to be fruitful?”

The Blessed One thought, “The time has come to tame young Good Compassion.” He disappeared from the banks of Markaṭahrada and set out toward144 young Good Compassion. Young Good Compassion saw the Blessed One from a distance. Drawing close, he bowed down at the feet of the Blessed One and implored the Blessed One, “Please undertake the difficult task of saving my precious life!”

“Young man,” the Blessed One told him, “don’t be afraid. Your life will not be lost.” Then the Blessed One spoke to the people of Vaiśālī, saying, “My friends, what is the use of killing this young man? Release him.”

“Lord,” the people of Vaiśālī replied, “if he goes forth, we shall release him.”

So the Blessed One led him to go forth as a novice, conferred on him full ordination, and instructed him. Casting away all afflictive emotions through diligence, practice, and effort, he manifested arhatship.

“Lord,” the monks requested the Blessed One, “tell us why the people of Vaiśālī sentenced young Good Compassion to death because he could not be satisfied, prompting the Blessed One to rescue him and established him in the unsurpassed, supreme welfare of nirvāṇa.”

“Not only now,” the Blessed One explained, “but in times past as well, and in the same way, he could not be satisfied, [F.228.b] practiced sexual misconduct, and was sent by a crowd to be killed, whereupon I rescued him and placed him in the four meditative states and five superknowledges.

“Monks, in times gone by, in a mountain village there lived a certain villager who lacked in discernment, practiced sexual misconduct, and intended harm to many. But the villagers found a way to harm him instead, and they caught him in the act of adultery with another man’s wife. They presented him to the king, and the king sent him to be killed. The executioners led him away, and as they neared the place where he was to be executed, he spotted a sage who had been going about his business and living in a place on the mountain, devoted to austerities, not far from the villages. As soon as he saw him, he bowed down at his feet, and said, ‘O sage, please undertake the difficult task of saving my precious life!’ At this the sage led the king to release him, brought him to the place of his retreat, welcomed his renunciation, and there he generated the four meditative states and five superknowledges.

“O monks, what do you think? I am the one who was that sage then, and lived the life of a bodhisattva. The one who was that man then is none other than this young man. At that time a crowd sentenced him to death, and I rescued him and placed him in the four meditative states and five superknowledges. Now as well, because he could not be satisfied, a crowd sentenced him to death, and I have rescued him and established him in the unsurpassed, supreme welfare of nirvāṇa.

“He also went forth in the doctrine of the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa, and after practicing pure conduct all his life, at the time of his death he prayed, ‘May I please and not displease Uttara, the young brahmin prophesied by the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa to be the next blessed buddha. Going forth in his doctrine alone [F.229.a] may I cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifest arhatship.’

“O monks, what do you think? The one who was that monk then is none other than this Good Compassion himself. There he practiced pure conduct all his life, and at the time of his death, he prayed, ‘May I please and not displease Uttara, the young brahmin prophesied by the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa to be the next blessed buddha. Going forth in his doctrine alone may I cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifest arhatship.’

“So it is, monks, now that I myself have become the very equal of the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa‍—equal in strength, equal in deeds, and equal in skillful means‍—that he has pleased me, not displeased me, gone forth in my very doctrine, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifested arhatship.”

When the Blessed One was in Śrāvastī, a certain brahmin lived in Śrāvastī who had no children but desired a son. The householder made supplications to all the deities, and finally one day his wife conceived. After nine or ten months had passed, she gave birth to a child who was well proportioned, pleasing to the eye, and beautiful. He was already corpulent, full-fledged in skin, flesh, and blood. At the elaborate feast celebrating his birth they asked, “What name should we give this child?” And they named him, saying, “Since he is so corpulent, and full-fledged in skin, flesh, and blood, his name will be Fleshy.”

They reared young Fleshy on milk, yogurt, butter, ghee, and milk solids, and as he grew up, he studied letters, brahminical customs and conduct, the syllables oṃ and bho, ritual purity, ritual actions, the collection of ashes, holding the ritual vase, [F.229.b] the Ṛg Veda, the Yajur Veda, the Sāma Veda, the Atharva Veda, how to perform sacrificial rites, how to lead others in performing sacrificial rites, how to give and receive offerings, recitation, and recitation instruction. Trained in these procedures, he became a master of the six types of brahminical activities, and in time he mastered the eighteen sciences.

The brahmin’s house was not far from the house of Anāthapiṇḍada, and the young brahmin was an acquaintance of Anāthapiṇḍada, so he too was fond of the doctrine of the Blessed One.

Then one day both the young brahmin’s parents died. After their death, he had to go to the city of Śūrpāraka on an errand. He traveled and traveled until eventually he came to a certain dense forest in the mountainous region between Śrāvastī and Śūrpāraka. In that dense forest there lived a certain sage. The young brahmin knew him and went to him, bowed down at his feet, and sat before him to listen to the Dharma.

Thereupon the sage spoke in praise of renunciation, and when he heard him the young brahmin immediately made up his mind to go forth. He went forth in the presence of the sage and lived in the forest, but he did not achieve anything of significance. One day the sage died, but Fleshy still stayed on at the hermitage.

Then as the Blessed One was traveling to Śūrpāraka, young Fleshy saw the Blessed One approaching in the distance. As soon as he saw him, he thought, “That’s the ascetic of the Śākya clan‍—the omniscient, all-seeing one. Here he comes down the path! It wouldn’t be right for me not to show my respect and offer my help.” And he thought, “If I clamber down from this boulder on foot, the Blessed One will have passed by. I will leap from the boulder so that I can show my respect and offer my help.” [F.230.a] Having thought this, he leapt from the boulder.

Just then the Blessed One blessed the ground so that it became like a cotton cushion stuffed with wool, and so that when young Fleshy landed, he sprang right back up on his feet, delighted. He went to where the Blessed One was, touched his head to the Blessed One’s feet, and followed after him. Out of compassion for him, the Blessed One stepped off the path and sat down nearby. Again Fleshy touched his head to the Blessed One’s feet and then sat before him to listen to the Dharma.

The Blessed One taught him the Dharma particularly suited to him, and when he heard it he destroyed with the thunderbolt of wisdom the twenty high peaks of the mountain of views concerning the transitory collection, and manifested the resultant state of non-return right where he sat.

After seeing the truths, he rose from his seat, drew down the right shoulder of his upper garment, bowed toward the Blessed One with palms pressed together, and requested of the Blessed One, “Lord, if permitted I wish to go forth in the Dharma and Vinaya so well spoken, complete my novitiate, and achieve full ordination. In the presence of the Blessed One, I too wish to practice the holy life.”

With the words “Come, join me, monk! Practice the holy life,” the Blessed One led him to go forth as a novice, conferred on him full ordination, and instructed him. Casting away all afflictive emotions through diligence, practice, and effort, he manifested arhatship. As an arhat, free from the attachments of the three realms, his mind regarded gold no differently than filth, and the palms of his hands as like space itself. He became cool like wet sandalwood. His insight crushed ignorance like an eggshell. He achieved the insights, superknowledges, and discriminations. He had no regard for worldly profit, passion, or acclaim. His state was such that Indra, Upendra, and the other gods [F.230.b] worshiped and venerated him and addressed him with respect. The Blessed One also commended him as foremost among the faithful and devoted.

“Lord,” the monks requested the Blessed One, “tell us why Venerable Fleshy leapt from a boulder when he saw the Blessed One, and why he pleased the Blessed One, did not displease him, went forth in the doctrine of the Blessed One, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifested arhatship.”

“Not only now,” the Blessed One explained, “but in times past as well, and in the same way, upon seeing me he leapt from a boulder, went forth in my presence, and generated the four meditative states and five superknowledges. Listen well!

“Monks, in times gone by, a certain sage was traveling a path with five hundred of his disciples. Upon reaching the face of a boulder, they took a seat at one side. There was an ascetic living on top of that boulder, practicing his austerities. He saw the sage sitting at the foot of the boulder, felt a surge of joy at the sight of him, and thought, ‘I will show my respect to that sage and offer my help.’ Then he thought, ‘But if I clamber down on foot, the sage will have left.’

“So he leapt from the boulder, and as he did so the sage dispatched a deity who took him in his hands and placed him on the ground. Then the ascetic approached the sage, bowed down at his feet, and sat before him to listen to the Dharma.

“The sage spoke in praise of renunciation, and the ascetic went forth in his presence. After going forth, he generated the four meditative states and five superknowledges.

“O monks, what do you think? I am the one who was that sage then, and lived the life of a bodhisattva. The one who was that ascetic then is none other than Fleshy. [F.231.a] At that time when he saw me he leapt from a boulder, went forth in my presence, and generated the four meditative states and the five superknowledges. Now as well, upon seeing me he leapt from a boulder, and went forth in my very doctrine, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifested arhatship.”

Again the monks inquired of the Blessed One, “Lord, what action did Fleshy take that ripened such that he pleased the Blessed One, did not displease him, went forth in the doctrine of the Blessed One, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifested arhatship, and that the Blessed One commended him as foremost among the faithful and devoted?”

“It came about by the power of his prayers,” the Blessed One replied.

“Lord, where did he make these prayers?” they asked.

“Monks,” recounted the Blessed One, “in times past, in this fortunate eon, when people lived as long as twenty thousand years and the tathāgata, the arhat, the totally and completely awakened buddha possessed of insight and perfect conduct, the sugata, the knower of the world, the tamer of persons, the charioteer, the unsurpassed one, the teacher of humans and gods, the blessed buddha known as Kāśyapa was in the world.

“Traveling through the countryside with a retinue of twenty thousand attendants, he entered a certain dense forest where five hundred sages lived. The five hundred sages saw the Blessed One from a distance, and upon seeing him they experienced a surge of joy. In their joy they invited the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa and his retinue to their forest devoted to austerities and there offered them roots and fruit. After making this offering, they sat before him to listen to the Dharma.

“The totally and completely awakened Kāśyapa directly apprehended their thoughts, [F.231.b] habitual tendencies, temperament, capacity, and nature, and taught them the Dharma accordingly. When they heard it, they destroyed with the thunderbolt of wisdom the twenty high peaks of the mountain of views concerning the transitory collection, and manifested the resultant state of non-return right where they sat.

“Then all but one of the five hundred sages immediately realized the truths and manifested the resultant state of non-return. After they saw the truths, they rose from their seats, drew down the right shoulder of their upper garments, bowed toward the Blessed Buddha Kāśyapa with palms pressed together, and requested, ‘Lord, if permitted we wish to go forth in the Dharma and Vinaya so well spoken, complete our novitiates, and achieve full ordination. In the presence of the Blessed One, we too wish to practice the holy life.’

“Then the totally and completely awakened Kāśyapa presented the five hundred sages to the monks, and the monks led all five hundred sages to go forth as novices, conferred on them full ordination, and instructed them. Casting away all afflictive emotions through diligence, practice, and effort, they manifested arhatship. But one sage there did not attain a single good quality‍—he did not so much as generate heat.

“The totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa commended the preceptor who had led them to go forth as foremost among the faithful and devoted.

“After that, the one sage who did not attain anything practiced pure conduct all his life, and at the time of his death, he prayed, ‘While I may not have attained any great virtues, still I have gone forth like this in the doctrine of the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa and practiced pure conduct all my life. Therefore, may I please and not displease Uttara, the young brahmin prophesied by the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa to be the next blessed buddha. Going forth in his doctrine alone may I cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifest arhatship. Just as [F.232.a] the Buddha Kāśyapa commended my abbot as foremost among the faithful and devoted, so may I too be commended by Śākyamuni, the most excellent King of Śākyas, as foremost among the faithful and devoted.’

“O monks, what do you think? The one who went forth in the doctrine of the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa then is none other than Fleshy. At that time he practiced pure conduct all his life, and at the time of his death, he prayed, ‘May I please and not displease Uttara, the young brahmin prophesied by the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa to be the next blessed buddha. Going forth in his doctrine alone may I cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifest arhatship. Just as the Buddha Kāśyapa commended my abbot as foremost among the faithful and devoted, so may I too be commended by Śākyamuni, the most excellent King of Śākyas, as foremost among the faithful and devoted.

“So it is, monks, now that I myself have become the very equal of the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa‍—equal in strength, equal in deeds, and equal in skillful means‍—that he has pleased me, not displeased me, gone forth in my very doctrine, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifested arhatship, and I have commended him as foremost among the faithful and devoted.” [B20]

When the Blessed One was in Rājagṛha, there lived a brahmin named Bhūta. One day his wife conceived, and after nine or ten months had passed, she gave birth to a child who was well proportioned, pleasing to the eye, beautiful, and had a very dark complexion. At the elaborate feast celebrating his birth they asked, “What name should we give this child?” And they named him, saying, “Since this child has a very dark complexion, his name can only be Black.” [F.232.b]

Then they reared young Black on milk, yogurt, butter, ghee, and milk solids, and he flourished like a lotus in a lake. As he grew up, he studied letters, brahminical customs and conduct, the syllables oṃ and bho, ritual purity, ritual actions, the collection of ashes, holding the ritual vase, the Ṛg Veda, the Yajur Veda, the Sāma Veda, the Atharva Veda, how to perform sacrificial rites, how to lead others in performing sacrificial rites, how to give and receive offerings, recitation, and recitation instruction. Trained in these procedures, he became a master of the six types of brahminical activities, and in time he mastered the eighteen sciences.

Black’s father taught brahmin mantras to some five hundred young brahmins. One day, when he had become old, he thought, “Now that I am old, I shall not be able to teach mantras to these five hundred young brahmins, so I will put a leader in charge of the group.” So the father instructed his son, “Black, my child, now that I am old, I shall not be able to teach mantras to these five hundred young brahmins. Since you are a master of mantras, you must lead these young brahmins in the study of mantras.”

“As you wish, my preceptor,” the young man replied, and after that he began teaching mantras to the five hundred young brahmins.

Now, at that time there was another brahmin living in Rājagṛha who performed a sacrifice and offered many gifts to the brahmins. In the presence of the one who had performed the sacrifice, some of them said, “It is we who should collect these offerings. You others are not worthy to do so.”

Those of them who lived in town retorted, “We are pure, whereas you are servants of the king. Therefore it is we who should collect these offerings, and not you.”

The brahmin Black thought, “These brahmins are so quarrelsome that no one will be able to appease them. I’d better be careful.” [F.233.a]

He tried to get between them, but he could not keep the brahmins from quarreling. This made him very sad. “I shall give up my retinue and go to live in the forest alone,” he thought, and he left behind his disciples and went into the forest.

In that forest there lived a certain yakṣa, also named Black, who was fearsome and terrible. He drained the life out of others and caused suffering among thousands of beings. There lived a sage in that forest as well, and when the yakṣa saw him he felt a surge of joy.

The brahmin Black saw the sage from a distance, and when he saw him, he too was filled with joy. In his joy he went forth in his presence, received instructions to ponder, and generated the four meditative states and the five superknowledges.

Sometime later the elder sage died, and after his death, Sage Black went on living there. One day the people of Rājagṛha beseeched the Blessed One, “Lord, we feel no resentment toward Black the yakṣa, but he resents us so. We do not intend him harm, but he intends us harm, and he is harming thousands of beings. Lord, the Blessed One has tamed wicked nāgas like Nanda, Upananda, and others besides. You have tamed even the wicked yakṣa lord Aṭavika, and others besides. How wonderful it would be if, out of compassion, the Blessed One could tame Black the yakṣa as well.” The Blessed One assented to the people of Rājagṛha by his silence.

The Blessed One used his miraculous powers to summon the yakṣa before him and said, “You must no longer harm beings. Give up these evil acts.”

“I shall do as the Blessed One says,” [F.233.b] the yakṣa replied, and he went for refuge and took the fundamental precepts. Then he further promised, “Lord, from this day forth I shall guard and protect the people of Rājagṛha.” Then he touched his head to the Blessed One’s feet, took leave of the Blessed One, went back whence he came, and there he stayed.

The yakṣa then thought, “Sage Black’s austerities are futile.” For he saw that in seven days Sage Black would be dead. Out of love, he went to see him and said, “Sage, what is the use of all your severe austerities? For seven days from now you will be dead.”

The sage was devastated to hear this. Overcome by sadness, he lost his miraculous powers, and this caused him extraordinary sorrow. He sat there wailing until the yakṣa told him, “Don’t be so sad, sage. Don’t be troubled. The Blessed One is staying in Rājagṛha. He knows the course your death will take. Take refuge in the Blessed Buddha and all good things will be done for you.”

As soon as he heard this, Sage Black cast all else aside and went to Bamboo Grove, where the Blessed One sat teaching the Dharma amid a company of hundreds. Sage Black saw the Blessed Buddha in the distance. His body, graced and resplendent with the thirty-two signs of a great person, looked like it was on fire, like flames stoked with ghee, like a lamp set in a golden vessel, and like a pillar adorned with all manner of jewels. He was immaculate, clear-minded, and pure of heart. When he saw the Blessed Buddha the sight of him filled him with supreme joy, for beings who have gathered the roots of virtue [F.234.a] to see a buddha for the first time experience such rapture as is not to be had even by those who practice calm abiding meditation for twelve years.

Seeing the Blessed Buddha in this way, Sage Black was again filled with supreme joy. Full of such joy he went to see the Blessed One, touched his head to the Blessed One’s feet, and sat before him to listen to the Dharma. The Blessed One directly apprehended his thoughts, habitual tendencies, temperament, capacity, and nature, and taught him the Dharma accordingly.

When he heard it, the young man destroyed with the thunderbolt of wisdom the twenty high peaks of the mountain of views concerning the transitory collection, and manifested the resultant state of non-return right where he sat.

After seeing the truths, he rose from his seat, drew down the right shoulder of his upper garment, bowed toward the Blessed One with palms pressed together, and requested the Blessed One: “Lord, if permitted I wish to go forth in the Dharma and Vinaya so well spoken, complete my novitiate, and achieve full ordination. In the presence of the Blessed One, I too wish to practice the holy life.”

With the words “Come, join me, monk!” the Blessed One led him to go forth as a novice, conferred on him full ordination, and instructed him. Casting away all afflictive emotions through diligence, practice, and effort, he manifested arhatship. As an arhat, free from the attachments of the three realms, his mind regarded gold no differently than filth, and the palms of his hands as like space itself. He became cool like wet sandalwood. His insight crushed ignorance like an eggshell. He achieved the insights, superknowledges, and discriminations. He had no regard for worldly profit, passion, or acclaim. He became an object of offering, veneration, and respectful address by Indra, Upendra, and the other gods.

“Lord,” the monks requested the Blessed One, “tell us why this sage [F.234.b] who was terrified of dying approached the Blessed One, whereupon the Blessed One led him to go forth and established him in the unsurpassed, supreme welfare of nirvāṇa.”

“Not only now,” the Blessed One explained, “but in times past as well, and in the same way he was terrified of dying, and I led him to go forth and placed him in the four meditative states and five superknowledges.

“Monks, in times gone by, there lived a sage in a certain hermitage who had all the five superknowledges‍—a person of great miracles and great power. He had one disciple, a young brahmin who was lazy and whose life was short. Even when he was being instructed, because of his exceptional laziness he could not stay focused.

“One day the sage looked out and saw that in seven days the young brahmin would be dead. Knowing that he had not achieved anything at all, in order that the young brahmin might become disillusioned with saṃsāra, he said to him, ‘Don’t be lazy, young brahmin, for in seven days you will die.’

“When the young brahmin heard this, he was filled with deep sadness, and because of his deep sadness he generated the four meditative states and the five superknowledges.

“O monks, what do you think? I am the one who was that sage then, and lived the life of a bodhisattva. The one who was that young brahmin then is none other than Black himself. At that time he was terrified of dying, and I placed him in the four meditative states and the five superknowledges. Now as well he was terrified of dying, and I have led him to go forth and established him in the unsurpassed, supreme welfare of nirvāṇa.

“He also went forth in the doctrine of Buddha Kāśyapa. After practicing pure conduct all his life then, his faculties ripened, and now they have been liberated.”

In Kapilavastu there once lived a certain Śākya [F.235.a] called Daṇḍadhara. He was prosperous and wealthy, a person of vast and magnificent means, endowed with the wealth of Vaiśravaṇa‍—with wealth to rival Vaiśravaṇa’s. He took a wife of the same caste, and as they enjoyed themselves and coupled one day his wife conceived. After nine or ten months had passed, she gave birth to a child who was well proportioned, pleasing to the eye, and beautiful. At the elaborate feast celebrating his birth they asked, “What name should we give this child?” And they named him, saying, “Since this is Daṇḍadhara’s child, his name will be Iṣudhara.”

They reared him on milk, yogurt, butter, ghee, and milk solids, and he flourished like a lotus in a lake. As the young man grew up, they made him study letters, and trained him in all the different fields of craft and skill in which duly consecrated rulers of the royal caste train, such as how to ride an elephant, how to ride horseback, how to wield a weapon, and how to shoot an arrow, advance, retreat, wage war, grasp with an iron hook, wield a lasso, shoot a spear, throw a single-pointed vajra, throw other single-pointed weapons, and throw a disk; how to cut, cleave, grapple and hold, employ footwork, guard one’s head, strike from a distance, and strike at the noise of an unseen enemy; and how to target the vital points, take infallible aim, and maximize damage. By the time he had been educated in all of these, he was learned in the five fields of knowledge.

One day Śākya Daṇḍadhara’s wife conceived again, and after nine or ten months had passed, she gave birth to a child who was well proportioned, pleasing to the eye, and beautiful. When she was born, [F.235.b] it was immediately well known throughout Kapilavastu that Śākya Daṇḍadhara’s daughter was well proportioned, pleasing to the eye, and beautiful, with a most radiant complexion. At the elaborate feast celebrating her birth they asked, “What name should we give this child?” And they named her, saying, “Since she was renowned all over Kapilavastu at birth, her name will be Yaśodharā.”

They reared young Yaśodharā on milk, yogurt, butter, ghee, and milk solids, and she flourished like a lotus in a lake. Then when she had grown, she was given to the Bodhisattva in marriage. Through Yaśodharā, young Iṣudhara became good friends with the Bodhisattva, so when the Bodhisattva witnessed old age, sickness, and death, and went to live in the forest, young Iṣudhara was very upset. “What was it he saw,” he wondered, “that he went forth, giving up the kingdom of a universal monarch and my sister both?”

When the Bodhisattva achieved unexcelled wisdom and began to act for the benefit of those to be tamed, he traveled to Kapilavastu. There he was reunited with his father and son, and thousands upon thousands of Śākyas went to see the Blessed One, offering their service and respect. Since he had been so upset, Śākya Iṣudhara did not wish to see the Blessed One, but the Śākyas insisted on bringing him before the Blessed One. So as not to upset the Śākyas, the youth Iṣudhara went so far as to receive the five precepts from the Blessed One.

Since he had previously been so upset, one day he thought, “Though I did take the five fundamental precepts from him, it was a mistake, so there’s no reason I have to keep them.” Then, because he had previously been so upset, he broke the five fundamental precepts.

Now, when the Śākyas heard this, they reflected on how he had broken the five fundamental precepts and felt compassion for him. [F.236.a] “It isn’t right that he should be reborn among the hell beings because he broke the fundamental precepts,” they thought. So one day the Śākyas went to see the Blessed One. Upon their arrival they touched their heads to the Blessed One’s feet and took a seat at one side.

Once they had taken their seats to one side, the Śākyas beseeched the Blessed One, “Lord, Śākya Iṣudhara has broken the fundamental precepts. He’s started drinking. Blessed One, attend to him. We ask you, keep him from falling to lower realms.” The Blessed One assented to the Śākyas by his silence.

Understanding that by his silence the Blessed One had given his assent, all the Śākyas rejoiced, praising this assurance from the Blessed One. Then, after touching their heads to the Blessed One’s feet, they took leave of him.

The Blessed One thought, “I will ripen his faculties,” and for a while, the Blessed One did not speak to him at all. Observing that he had only seven days left to live, the Blessed One declared to the monks, “In seven days Śākya Iṣudhara will be dead.” Word spread like oil pressed from grain that it had been prophesied that Śākya Iṣudhara would be dead in seven days. But he had no faith in the Blessed One, so he stayed up on the roof of his palatial home, enjoying himself with women and coupling to the sound of music without interacting with other people.

The Blessed One thought, “First I shall send the greatest of my disciples to him, and then I shall go myself.” The Blessed One then spoke to Aniruddha, saying, “Aniruddha, attend to Śākya Iṣudhara.”

“As you wish, Lord,” Venerable Aniruddha replied, [F.236.b] and he went to Śākya Iṣudhara’s house with other monks trailing behind him.

Śākya Iṣudhara heard that the monk Aniruddha had come there to his house. When he heard this, out of love for his younger brother Aniruddha,145 he went to him, bowed down at his feet, and sat before him to listen to the Dharma. Venerable Aniruddha gave a discourse that would ripen him, and departed.

On the second day, the Blessed One sent Ānanda, and on the third day Venerable Mahā­maudgalyāyana. On the fourth day he sent Venerable Śāriputra, and Venerable Śāriputra taught him the Dharma in such a way as to inspire faith in the Blessed One. Then Śākya Iṣudhara became terrified of his death.

On the fifth day, the Blessed One directly apprehended his mind and went to Iṣudhara’s house in person. Śākya Iṣudhara saw the Blessed One from a distance, and, when he saw him, he felt a surge of joy toward the Blessed One. In his joy he set up a seat for the Blessed One and called out to the Blessed One, “This way, Blessed One‍—if you please! Welcome, Blessed One, very good! Blessed One, please have a seat on this cushion I have prepared for you!” Once the Blessed One had taken his place on the seat prepared for him, Śākya Iṣudhara touched his head to the Blessed One’s feet, and sat before him to listen to the Dharma.

“Iṣudhara,” the Blessed One taught, “among fears, the fear of death is but a minor one. Supreme among fears is the fear of birth among the hell beings, the animals, or the anguished spirits.”

“Lord,” he asked, “What is it like for the hell beings?” [F.237.a]

So that Iṣudhara might become disillusioned with saṃsāra, the Blessed One transported him with his miraculous powers and showed him the beings of the eight great hells.146 Śākya Iṣudhara asked, “Lord, what deeds cause one to take birth here?”

The Blessed One explained, “Those who inure themselves to the act of killing and commit it many times will take birth here. Thereafter, whenever they die and transmigrate, they will take birth here again into the same conditions, and their lives will be short.”

When the Blessed One showed him in detail the paths of the ten nonvirtuous actions in the same way, right away Iṣudhara became particularly afraid. “If you take the fundamental precepts from the Blessed One and don’t protect them,” he worried, “won’t you take birth as a hell being, an animal, or an anguished spirit?” So he confessed that he had broken all his precepts, and sat before the Blessed One to listen to the Dharma.

Then the Blessed One taught Śākya Iṣudhara the Dharma particularly suited to him. When he heard it he destroyed with the thunderbolt of wisdom the twenty high peaks of the mountain of views concerning the transitory collection, and manifested the resultant state of stream entry right where he sat. Having seen the truths, after his death he immediately took rebirth as a god.

Upon taking rebirth as a god, he wondered, “Whence did I die and transmigrate?” and he saw that he had died as a human being. “Where have I taken birth?” he wondered, and he saw he had taken birth as a god. “What action did I take?” he wondered, and he saw that at the time of his death he had maintained the fundamental precepts and felt joy toward the Blessed One as well. “Not a day should pass without my seeing the Blessed One and offering him my respect,” he thought.

So he decorated himself with earrings, garlands, and strings of precious stones, put on a crown decorated with various types of precious jewels, and perfumed his body with saffron, tamala, spṛka, and other herbs. That night he filled the front of his long shirt with divine blue lotus, lotus, white water lily, white lotus, [F.237.b] and mandārava flowers, and went to see the Blessed One. Upon his arrival he scattered the divine blue flowers over the Blessed One and sat before the Blessed One to listen to the Dharma. The Blessed One taught him the Dharma particularly suited to him, and then sat there in silence. Understanding that the Blessed One had completed his discourse, Śākya Iṣudhara praised the Buddha’s words, rejoiced, circumambulated the Blessed One three times, and disappeared on the spot.

Now at the time of his death, the Śākyas had been filled with doubt and wondered, “Since Śākya Iṣudhara broke his precepts and started drinking alcohol, what will be his destination? When he takes rebirth, where will his next life be? We must put this question to the Blessed One! However the Blessed One describes it to us, so shall we consider it to be.”

The Śākyas went to see the Blessed One. Upon their arrival they bowed down at his feet and took their seats to one side. Once they had taken their seats to one side, the Śākyas inquired of the Blessed One, “Lord, Śākya Iṣudhara broke his precepts and started to drink. Lord, what will his destination be? When he takes rebirth, where will his next life be?”

“My friends, he took rebirth as a god!” the Blessed One replied.

“Lord, Śākya Iṣudhara broke his precepts and started to drink. How could he have taken birth as a god?” they asked.

“At the time of his death,” the Blessed One explained, “Śākya Iṣudhara confessed that he had broken his precepts, and having manifested the resultant state of stream entry, he took rebirth as a god.”

As soon as they heard this, the Śākyas were filled with wonder, and exclaimed, “O Buddha! O Dharma! O Saṅgha! Oh Dharma, so well spoken! You lift up beings, even those who have passed on to lower realms, [F.238.a] and send them to the god realms!” Having marveled so, they engaged in especially reverent service toward the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha.

“Lord,” the monks requested the Blessed Buddha, “tell us why Śākya Iṣudhara was terrified of dying and then the Blessed One rescued him from his fear of death and established him in the unsurpassed, supreme welfare of nirvāṇa.”

“Not only now,” the Blessed One explained, “but in times past as well, and in the same way, he was terrified of dying and then protected his precepts for seven days, because of which he took rebirth in a god realm. Listen well!

“Monks, in times past, in this fortunate eon, when people lived as long as twenty thousand years, and the totally and completely awakened buddha possessed of insight and perfect conduct, the sugata, the knower of the world, the tamer of persons, the charioteer, the unsurpassed one, the teacher of humans and gods, the blessed buddha known as Kāśyapa was in the world, a certain poor merchant lived in the city of Vārāṇasī.

“One day he found faith in the doctrine of the totally and completely awakened Kāśyapa. The merchant wished so deeply to give gifts and make merit, and he thought, ‘With what little I have here, I shall not be able to give gifts and make merit. So, I will complete a voyage on a great seafaring vessel. If I’m able to complete even a single voyage on a great seafaring vessel, my parents’ descendants will be prosperous for seven generations.’ With this thought he loaded up his wares and set sail upon the great ocean, and after completing his voyage across the great ocean on that great seafaring vessel, he began to give gifts and make merit.

“He also had a short lifespan. So that he might become disillusioned with saṃsāra, [F.238.b] the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa spoke about him saying, ‘That merchant is certain to die in seven days.’

“Word spread all over like oil pressed from grain, and when the merchant heard that the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa had prophesied that he would die in seven days, he became terrified of dying and immediately approached the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa. Upon his arrival he went for refuge, and took the fundamental precepts from Buddha Kāśyapa, and after he died, he transmigrated and took rebirth as a god.

“O monks, what do you think? The one who was that merchant then is none other than Śākya Iṣudhara. There, terrified of dying, he maintained the fundamental precepts and took rebirth in the god realms. Now as well, terrified of dying, he took refuge and maintained the fundamental precepts, because of which he was able to reach the god realms and liberation.”

When the Blessed One was in Śrāvastī, a certain brahmin lived there. He took a wife of the same caste, and as they enjoyed themselves and coupled, one day his wife conceived. After nine or ten months had passed, she gave birth to a child who was well proportioned, pleasing to the eye, and beautiful. At the elaborate feast celebrating his birth they named him according to their clan.

They reared him on milk, yogurt, butter, ghee, and milk solids, and as he grew up, he studied letters, brahminical customs and conduct, the syllables oṃ and bho, ritual purity, ritual actions, the collection of ashes, holding the ritual vase, the Ṛg Veda, the Yajur Veda, the Sāma Veda, the Atharva Veda, how to perform sacrificial rites, how to lead others in performing sacrificial rites, [F.239.a] how to give and receive offerings, recitation, and recitation instruction. Trained in these procedures, he became a master of the six types of brahminical activities, and in time he mastered the eighteen sciences.

By the time he was sixteen years old, he mastered all the scriptures and thus defeated the advocates of all the different philosophical schools. Then he made a commitment to scriptural debate, saying, “None will be my equal, much less my superior.” He became arrogant about scriptural debate, and disrespected all the other brahmins. One day the thought came to the other brahmins, “The ascetic Gautama tames those who are not tamed. Let us present this young man to the ascetic Gautama. Maybe he’ll even lead him to go forth! If that happens, we’ll be free of him.”

So that they could present the young man to the Blessed Buddha, the disrespected brahmins told him, “Child, you are like a son to us. What’s the use of saying, ‘None will be my equal, much less my superior,’ and becoming so arrogant about your wisdom? For the ascetic Gautama is both beautiful in body and beautiful in mind, omniscient and all-seeing. You don’t have even a fraction of his fine form, or his knowledge‍—not even a hundredth, not even a thousandth, not even a hundred thousandth.”

As soon as he heard this, the young brahmin was eager to meet the Blessed One. When he went to visit the Blessed One, the young brahmin saw the Blessed One from a distance. His body, graced and resplendent with the thirty-two signs of a great person, looked like it was on fire, like flames stoked with ghee, like a lamp set in a golden vessel, and like a pillar adorned with all manner of jewels. He was immaculate, clear-minded, and pure of heart.

Upon seeing the Blessed Buddha [F.239.b], he was filled with supreme joy, for beings who have gathered the roots of virtue to see a buddha for the first time experience such rapture as is not to be had even by those who practice calm abiding meditation for twelve years.

At such a sight, whatever arrogance he had about his own form disappeared. But still he thought, “While he may be very great, he is not equal to me in wisdom. Nevertheless, I will test whether he is in fact omniscient and all-seeing.” He thought up questions in advance and went to see the Blessed One. When he arrived, he immediately made all manner of entertaining and jovial conversation and then took a seat at one side.

Now the Blessed One directly apprehended what he was thinking, foresaw the questions he had prepared, and answered them directly. Then the young brahmin took great delight in the Blessed One, thinking, “I’m certain he is omniscient and all-seeing.” Then he rose from his seat, drew down the right shoulder of his upper garment, bowed toward the Blessed One with palms pressed together, and implored him, “Blessed One, please permit me to invite you, together with the saṅgha of monks, to take your meals at my house for seven days.” The Blessed One assented by his silence. Understanding that by his silence the Blessed One had given his assent, the young brahmin then touched his head to the Blessed One’s feet, and took leave of him.

After that, having offered food to the Buddha and the rest of the saṅgha of monks for seven days, on the last day he satisfied the Buddha and the rest of the saṅgha of monks with food of a hundred flavors and to the Blessed One he offered a very costly robe. [F.240.a] To each of the monks he also offered a set of robes fashioned from cotton and then sat before them to listen to the Dharma.

Then the Blessed One directly apprehended the thoughts, habitual tendencies, temperament, capacity, and nature of the young brahmin, and taught him the Dharma accordingly. When he heard it, the young brahmin destroyed with the thunderbolt of wisdom the twenty high peaks of the mountain of views concerning the transitory collection, and manifested the resultant state of stream entry right where he sat.

After seeing the truths, he asked for his parents’ permission, then drew down the right shoulder of his upper garment, bowed toward the Blessed One with palms pressed together, and requested the Blessed One, “Lord, if permitted I wish to go forth in the Dharma and Vinaya so well spoken, complete my novitiate, and achieve full ordination. In the presence of the Blessed One, I too wish to practice the holy life.”

With the words “Come, join me, monk! Practice the holy life,” the Blessed One led him to go forth as a novice, conferred on him full ordination, and instructed him. Casting away all afflictive emotions through diligence, practice, and effort, he manifested arhatship. As an arhat, free from the attachments of the three realms, his mind regarded gold no differently than filth, and the palms of his hands as like space itself. He became cool like wet sandalwood. His insight crushed ignorance like an eggshell. He achieved the insights, superknowledges, and discriminations. He had no regard for worldly profit, passion, or acclaim. He became an object of offering, veneration, and respectful address by Indra, Upendra, and the other gods.

“Lord,” the monks inquired of the Blessed Buddha, “what action did the young brahmin take that ripened into his birth into a family of great means, prosperity, and wealth; that he mastered all the scriptures [F.240.b] and defeated the advocates of all the different philosophical schools; and that he pleased the Blessed One, did not displease him, went forth in the doctrine of the Blessed One, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifested arhatship?”

“It came about by the power of his prayers,” replied the Blessed One.

“Lord, where did he make these prayers?” they asked.

“Monks,” the Blessed One recounted, “in times past, in this fortunate eon, when people lived as long as twenty thousand years and the tathāgata, the arhat, the totally and completely awakened buddha possessed of insight and perfect conduct, the sugata, the knower of the world, the tamer of persons, the charioteer, the unsurpassed one, the teacher of humans and gods, the blessed buddha known as Kāśyapa was in the world, he carried out all the activities of a buddha and passed beyond all sorrow into the realm of nirvāṇa without any remainder of the aggregates.

“King Kṛkī covered his reliquary stūpa and the entire surrounding area for the distance of one mile with four different kinds of jewels. When it was complete in every respect, he made great offerings to it and announced the opening of the traditional festival of the stūpa. Then the king proclaimed, ‘When the festival occurs, every single person living in Vārāṇasī must go to venerate the stūpa. Those who do not go will have all their possessions confiscated.’

“King Kṛkī’s magistrate was a faithless person, whose son had become an intimate of the prince. Out of anger, that faithless brahmin magistrate did not go to the stūpa. When King Kṛkī heard this, he thought, ‘My magistrate has disobeyed my command,’ and felt an upsurge of anger. ‘I shall confiscate all his possessions, and never return them!’ he shouted. The prince heard his words and told the magistrate’s son, ‘Hurry to the festival of the stūpa, [F.241.a] and tell your father that the king may confiscate all your possessions!’

“As soon as he heard this, the brahmin magistrate’s son fled to the monastery.147 There he saw a great crowd in earnest veneration of the stūpa. After the magistrate’s son saw this, he found faith in the stūpa, made a large offering to it, and prayed, ‘By this root of virtue, wherever I am born, may it be into a family of great means, prosperity, and wealth. May I be well proportioned, pleasing to the eye, and beautiful. May I master all the scriptures. May I defeat the advocates of all the different philosophical schools. May I please and not displease Uttara, the young brahmin prophesied by the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa to be the next blessed buddha. Going forth in his doctrine alone may I cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifest arhatship.’

“As it happened, the young man was trampled by the crowd, and died, but dying as he did‍—filled with joy at the thought of the stūpa‍—he transmigrated and took rebirth as a god.

“Now when young gods and goddesses are born they possess three different types of innate knowledge. They know (1) whence they have died and transmigrated, (2) where they have been born, and (3) why they have taken birth there.

He saw that when he died as a human being, filled with joy at the thought of the stūpa of the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa, he transmigrated and took rebirth as a god. As soon as he recognized this, he immediately recalled the buddha’s previous kindness. He began to decorate himself with earrings, garlands, and strings of precious stones, put on a crown decorated with various types of precious jewels, perfumed his body with saffron, tamala, spṛka, and other herbs, and that very night [F.241.b] he filled the front of his long shirt with divine blue lotus, lotus, white water lily, white lotus, and mandārava flowers, and traveled to the stūpa of the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa. When he arrived he scattered the divine blue lotus, lotus, white water lily, white lotus, and mandārava flowers over the stūpa of the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa, and after he scattered the divine blue lotus, lotus, white water lily, white lotus, and mandārava flowers, he sat filled with joy at the thought of the stūpa.

“While he was sitting there, his father heard the news that his son had been trampled by the crowd and died, and he hurried to the stūpa. The young god saw him there holding the child’s corpse on his lap, wailing in sorrow and lamenting, and said to him, ‘Oh Father, you needn’t mourn for me. Don’t mourn for me. Don’t sit and suffer so.’

“ ‘Who are you?’ the brahmin asked.

“ ‘I am your son,’ he replied.

“ ‘Where did you take rebirth?’ he asked.

“ ‘I took birth among the gods,’ he replied.

“ ‘What action did you take to be born there?’ he asked.

“ ‘I venerated the stūpa, and was filled with joy at the thought of it. If you give up your former attitude, venerate the stūpa, and become filled with joy at the thought of it, you too will become a source of goodness.’ Having said this, the young god disappeared on the spot.

“When he heard these words, the brahmin no longer mourned his son and felt great happiness toward the stūpa. In his happiness he made a large offering to the stūpa and prayed, ‘By this root of virtue, wherever I am born, may it be into a family of great means, prosperity, and wealth. Entrusting myself to my son, may I please and not displease Uttara, the young brahmin prophesied by the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa to be the next blessed buddha.’ [F.242.a]

“O monks, what do you think? The one who was the magistrate’s son then is none other than this young brahmin. The one who was his father then is none other than this brahmin. The young brahmin’s act of venerating the stūpa and saying that prayer ripened such that wherever he was born, it was into a family of great means, prosperity, and wealth; such that he was well proportioned, pleasing to the eye, and beautiful; and such that he mastered all the scriptures and defeated the advocates of all the different philosophical schools.

“So it is, monks, now that I myself have become the very equal of the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa‍—equal in strength, equal in deeds, and equal in skillful means‍—that he has pleased me, not displeased me, gone forth in my very doctrine, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifested arhatship.

“His father’s act of venerating the stūpa and saying that prayer ripened such that wherever he was born, it was into a family of great means, prosperity, and wealth. His son was the sole condition that caused him to please me, and not displease me.” [B21]

When the Blessed One was in Śrāvastī, there was a certain householder, prosperous and wealthy, a person of vast and magnificent means, endowed with the wealth of Vaiśravaṇa‍—with wealth to rival Vaiśravaṇa’s. When the time came for him to marry he took a wife, and they enjoyed themselves and coupled. As they enjoyed themselves and coupled, one day his wife conceived, whereupon her whole body began to smell of excrement. Then she had the impulse to eat excrement and drink urine,148 and she told her husband, “Lord, I’m having certain impulses.” [F.242.b] When he heard this, the householder was devastated, and he thought, “Has my wife been possessed by one of those rotting spirits?”

He took her to the soothsayers, and the soothsayers assured him, “Your wife has not been possessed by a rotting spirit. All this has taken place on account of the being in her womb. When the child is born, the smell of excrement will disappear from her body and such impulses will disappear from her mind.”

As soon as he heard this, the man began applying all manner of ointments to his wife’s body. He was also worried that she would eat excrement and drink urine, so he appointed attendants and guards for his wife. After nine or ten months had passed, she gave birth to a child caked in excrement and urine. Upon his birth the house was suffused by the smell of excrement. The women washed the child and laid him out on the bed, but still the smell of excrement did not clear from his body, so his mother began applying all manner of ointments to him and left him like that. After his birth the mother’s previous impulses disappeared.

At the elaborate feast celebrating his birth they named him according to their clan. They reared him on milk, yogurt, butter, ghee, and milk solids, but once he was able to walk, he would pick up excrement‍—some to eat, some to smear on his body‍—until the women put a stop to this. As he grew up they made him study letters, but when they sent him to a teacher, wherever there was some filthy excrement, he would go and eat it.

When his parents heard about this, they were devastated. “Oh sure, we had a son,” they thought, “but if he has problems like this‍—spoken ill of, all over the world‍—what use is he to us?” and they threw him out of the house. And so he went to live in filthy excrement, and [F.243.a] constantly ate excrement and drank urine. Many people saw him eating filth, and when they saw this, they remarked to one another, “This young man is like a jackal, eating excrement and drinking urine.” So instead of his old name they started calling him Jackal, since he ate excrement and drank urine like a jackal.

One day Pūraṇa Kāśyapa saw him, and thought, “We ascetics merely vow to eat only cow dung, and yet here is this child practicing even greater austerities than ours! If he went forth with us, his merit would multiply greatly.” So he asked the young man, “Child, did you take a vow to do this, or is it merely your custom to do so?”

“I don’t know that I’ve taken a vow, really,” the young man replied. “I just crave excrement. I don’t care for ordinary food and drink.”

“Child, become a renunciant like us,” urged Pūraṇa Kāśyapa. “Go forth with us and take a vow to do this. That will cause your merit to multiply greatly.”

“Sure, I’ll do whatever you like,” the young man said.

With those words the young man followed him to his dwelling place, and after they had plucked out all his hair, they gave him a cup and a broom of peacock feathers, and he made a vow to eat excrement. Then he went to where there was some excrement, and there he stayed.

Now at that time some five hundred anguished spirits had settled down in Śrāvastī. At night when all the people were sleeping, they would go from one pile of excrement to another, eating the excrement and drinking the urine. The young man could hear the sounds the anguished spirits made, but he could not see their forms.

One day Pūraṇa Kāśyapa checked up on him and asked, “Child, you took vows of yogic discipline. Have they brought you any special attainments?”

“What do you mean by ‘special’?” the young man asked in return.

Pūraṇa asked him, “Have you seen something like149 a divine form, or [F.243.b] have you heard the sounds of gods?”

“I have not seen anything like a divine form,” he said, “though I did hear the sounds of many people. But I couldn’t see them, exactly.”

“Those are the great souls whose yogic disciplines have been successful!” Pūraṇa exclaimed. “Renew your vow and stay on here. For if you do, it’s possible they will also show their bodies.”

One day the anguished spirits thought, “Just as we have committed misdeeds and taken birth here and now undergo such sufferings as these, so too this young man is undergoing these sufferings as a result of his previous misdeeds.” And then they said, “What reason do we have then for not showing our bodies to him?” So the anguished spirits showed their bodies to the young man, and he cavorted with them.

Soon after, Pūraṇa Kāśyapa checked up on him again and asked, “Child, have those whose yogic disciplines were successful shown their bodies to you at all?”

“They did show me their bodies,” he said, “but in a very ugly way.”

“Renew your vow yet again and stay on here,” Pūraṇa Kāśyapa suggested. “It’s possible they will show you their true forms.”

Around that time Venerable Śāriputra thought, “These anguished spirits have exhausted their previous deeds. They will die without delay. Thus I will tame them.”

Venerable Śāriputra went to see the five hundred anguished spirits and said, “So it is, my friends: All conditioned things are impermanent. All phenomena are selfless. Nirvāṇa is peace. Let your minds be filled with joy at the thought of me, and you may even be freed from taking birth as anguished spirits.” With that, he departed. The anguished spirits died, filled with joy at the thought of Venerable Śāriputra, and after they died, they took rebirth in the realm of the gods.

Now when young gods and goddesses are born they possess three different types of innate knowledge. [F.244.a] They know (1) whence they have died and transmigrated, (2) where they have been born, and (3) why they have taken birth there.

They saw that when they had died as anguished spirits, filled with joy at the thought of Śāriputra, they transmigrated and took rebirth as gods. The young gods who formerly were anguished spirits thought, “It’s been a whole day since we went to see the Blessed One. This isn’t proper of us. Not a day should pass without our seeing the Blessed One.”

Then the young gods who formerly were anguished spirits decorated themselves with earrings, garlands, and strings of precious stones, put on crowns decorated with various types of precious jewels, and perfumed their bodies with saffron, tamala, spṛka, and other herbs. That night they filled the front of their long shirts with divine blue lotus, lotus, white water lily, white lotus, and mandārava flowers. They approached the Blessed One and scattered the divine flowers over him. Then the Blessed One taught them the Dharma, and all of them saw the truths.

After seeing the truths, they took leave of the Blessed One. On their way back whence they came, they recalled young Jackal and thought, “By entrusting ourselves to Noble Śāriputra, we were freed from rebirth as anguished spirits, and took rebirth as gods. Let us go now and act for the benefit of Jackal. Then he too will go to see the Blessed One, and by entrusting himself to the Blessed One, perhaps he too will be freed from suffering.” With this thought, they disappeared from the garden of Prince Jeta and traveled to the area of Śrāvastī where Jackal was. They stayed in the sky above the region in an immense celestial mansion, and the entire region of Śrāvastī was filled with a bright light.

Young Jackal saw the five hundred gods and asked, “Who are you?”

“We’re your former friends,” they replied.

“I’ve never before seen you in this kind [F.244.b] of dress,” said the young man.

“We have died from this place and taken birth among the gods,” they explained.

“You took a vow of yogic discipline, and that was enough for you to take birth among the gods?” Jackal said.

“It was not because we took vows of yogic discipline,” they told him. “Due to our previous misdeeds we had taken birth as anguished spirits. But by entrusting ourselves to Noble Śāriputra, we were freed from rebirth as anguished spirits and took rebirth as gods. Take refuge in the Blessed Buddha, and perhaps you too will be freed from suffering.” After they said that, the gods all disappeared.

Pūraṇa Kāśyapa saw the five hundred gods go to see Jackal, and he told the others, “Just like that, the gods even showed him their bodies and then departed. This great soul has accomplished his vow!” No sooner had they heard this than many of those beings took vows to eat excrement.

After young Jackal heard the gods’ words he thought, “I should go see the Blessed Buddha and offer him my respect, but I can’t bear to see the Blessed One with my body covered in excrement like this.” So he went to the banks of the Ajiravatī River, scoured his whole body with earth, washed himself, and then went to see the Blessed One.

Young Jackal saw the Blessed One. His body, graced and resplendent with the thirty-two signs of a great person, looked like it was on fire, like flames stoked with ghee, like a lamp set in a golden vessel, and like a pillar adorned with all manner of jewels. He was immaculate, clear-minded, and pure of heart.

When he saw the Blessed Buddha the sight of him filled him with supreme joy, for beings who have gathered the roots of virtue to see a buddha for the first time experience such rapture [F.245.a] as is not to be had even by those who practice calm abiding meditation for twelve years.

Seeing the Blessed Buddha in this way filled him with supreme joy. Full of such joy he approached the Blessed One, touched his head to the Blessed One’s feet, and sat before him to listen to the Dharma.

The Blessed One directly apprehended his thoughts, habitual tendencies, temperament, capacity, and nature, and taught him the Dharma accordingly. When he heard it, young Jackal destroyed with the thunderbolt of wisdom the twenty high peaks of the mountain of views concerning the transitory collection, and manifested the resultant state of non-return right where he sat.

After seeing the truths, he rose from his seat, drew down the right shoulder of his upper garment, bowed toward the Blessed One with palms pressed together, and requested the Blessed One, “Lord, if permitted I wish to go forth in the Dharma and Vinaya so well spoken, complete my novitiate, and achieve full ordination. In the presence of the Blessed One, I too wish to practice the holy life.”

With the words “Come, join me, monk! Practice the holy life,” the Blessed One led him to go forth as a novice, conferred on him full ordination, and instructed him. Casting away all afflictive emotions through diligence, practice, and effort, he manifested arhatship. As an arhat, free from the attachments of the three realms, his mind regarded gold no differently than filth, and the palms of his hands as like space itself. He became cool like wet sandalwood. His insight crushed ignorance like an eggshell. He achieved the insights, superknowledges, and discriminations. He had no regard for worldly profit, passion, or acclaim. He became an object of offering, veneration, and respectful address by Indra, Upendra, and the other gods.

“Lord,” the monks asked the Blessed Buddha, “what action did Jackal take [F.245.b] that ripened into his birth into a family of great means, prosperity, and wealth, and that as soon as he was born, the smell of excrement arose from all over his body, he desired excrement, and he lived in excrement? What action did he take that ripened such that he pleased the Blessed One, did not displease him, went forth in the doctrine of the Blessed One, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifested arhatship?”

“Monks,” the Blessed One explained, “such are the actions that he committed and accumulated:

“Monks, in times past, in this fortunate eon, when people lived as long as twenty thousand years, and the totally and completely awakened buddha possessed of insight and perfect conduct, the sugata, the knower of the world, the tamer of persons, the charioteer, the unsurpassed one, the teacher of humans and gods, the blessed buddha known as Kāśyapa was in the world, there lived in Vārāṇasī a certain householder, prosperous and wealthy, a person of vast and magnificent means, endowed with the wealth of Vaiśravaṇa‍—with wealth to rival Vaiśravaṇa’s.

“In admiration for the Buddha, in admiration for the Dharma, and in admiration for the Saṅgha, he went for refuge and took the fundamental precepts. Manifesting the resultant state of non-return, he thought, ‘Seeing as I do not have a son or daughter, after I die all I have will become property of the king. I will show my respect to the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha.’ He built a monastery complete in every respect, provided the monks with everything they needed, and appointed a monk to act as steward.

“Then one day the steward had something to do out in the countryside, and after making a request of the householder, he departed. After he had gone, [F.246.a] an arhat, who had been traveling and traveling through the countryside, arrived at the monastery. The householder saw his elegance and the elegance of his attendants, and immediately admired him. In his admiration he thought, ‘If I extend an invitation to him alone, he will not assent, so I will invite the entire saṅgha of monks to my house for food.’ He bowed down at his feet and said, ‘Noble one, please permit me to request you and the saṅgha of monks to take your food at my house tomorrow.’

“Then the arhat thought, ‘If I don’t accept, it will not only be an obstacle to the benefit of these monks. It will also be an obstacle to this patron’s merit.’ With this in mind, he assented by his silence.

“The next day, the householder readied his house with ritual bathing implements, beds, and seats for the saṅgha of monks. He prepared the water pitchers and then extended an invitation to the monks that said, ‘Noble ones, noon is upon us and it is time for the baths. Know that the time has come, noble ones, and your presence is requested.’

“As the monks arrived at his house, the householder called for a barber, had him cut all the monks’ hair, offered them a bath, and by his own hand contented them with many good, wholesome foods.

“When the steward monk had completed his work in the valley, he returned to the monastery. Not seeing the other monks upon his return, he asked, ‘Where did they go?’ and the answer came, ‘The householder invited them to his home.’

“ ‘On whose behalf?’ he asked.

“ ‘He invited them on behalf of a new monk who just arrived,’ they replied.

“As soon as he heard this, he was very dismayed. ‘What is it he [F.246.b] did, that on his behalf the entire saṅgha of monks received such an invitation?’ he thought. This made him irate, and he went to the householder’s home. Upon his arrival he looked and saw the householder serving the arhat with devotion and respect, and his jealousy caused him to become even more irate.

“As the monks were all returning to the monastery after finishing their meals, he went to see the arhat and said, ‘Lord, do you even know who this householder is?’

“ ‘I know he is a non-returner,’ replied the arhat.

“ ‘Well if that’s the case,’ the steward monk said, ‘better that you would pluck out your own hair than for him to shave your head! Better that you would sink in excrement than make off with his bathing implements! Better that you would eat excrement and drink urine than take his food and drink!’

“Then the arhat thought, ‘It’s not right for this emotionally afflicted person, who has become so abased, to continue in this downward spiral. I have to help him.’ With this thought, he said, ‘Venerable One, do you know who I am? And do you know who you yourself are?’

“ ‘I know that you have gone forth,’ he replied, ‘as have I.’

“ ‘Though we two are like brothers in having gone forth,’ the arhat said, ‘you are an ordinary person, bound by every fetter, and I am an arhat, liberated from every fetter. You must confess the mistake you’ve made by speaking harshly to me. Otherwise you are certain to roam in saṃsāra and meet with great suffering.’

“Hearing him, the monk was flooded with regret and bowed down at the feet of the arhat and asked his forgiveness. After that he practiced pure conduct all his life, and at the time of his death, he prayed, ‘By this root of virtue, may I not meet with the results of the act [F.247.a] of speaking harsh words to an arhat. By the root of the virtue of later rendering service to the saṅgha in accord with the Dharma, and practicing pure conduct all my life, wherever I am born, may it be into a family of great means, prosperity, and wealth. May I please and not displease Uttara, the young brahmin prophesied by the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa to be the next blessed buddha. Going forth in his doctrine alone may I cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifest arhatship.’

“O monks, what do you think? The monk who was the steward then is none other than Jackal. The act of speaking harshly to an arhat and telling him, ‘Better that you would pluck out your own hair than for him to shave your head!’ ripened such that wherever he was born, his hair was plucked out. The act of telling him, ‘Better that you would sink in excrement than make off with his bathing implements!’ ripened such that wherever he was born, he lived in excrement. The act of telling him, ‘Better that you would eat excrement and drink urine than take his food and drink!’ ripened such that wherever he was born, he ate excrement and drank urine. The acts of serving as steward for the saṅgha in accord with the Dharma, practicing pure conduct all his life, and at the time of his death, praying, ‘Wherever I am born, may it be into a family of great means, prosperity, and wealth,’ ripened such that wherever he was born it was into a family of great means, prosperity, and wealth.

“So it is, monks, now that I myself have become the very equal [F.247.b] of the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa‍—equal in strength, equal in deeds, and equal in skillful means‍—that he has pleased me, not displeased me, gone forth in my very doctrine, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifested arhatship.”

“Lord,” the monks inquired, “what action did the five hundred anguished spirits take that ripened into their births as anguished spirits? What actions did they take that ripened such that, once they took rebirth as gods, they also pleased the Blessed One, and did not displease him?”

“Monks,” the Blessed One explained, “such are the actions that they committed and accumulated:

“Monks, in times past, in this fortunate eon, when people lived as long as twenty thousand years, and the totally and completely awakened buddha endowed with perfect knowledge and perfect conduct, the sugata, the knower of the world, the tamer of persons, the charioteer, the unsurpassed one, the teacher of humans and gods, the blessed buddha known as Kāśyapa was in the world, they all became lay vow holders. When the monks came asking them for provisions of clothing, food, bedding, seats, and medicines for the sick, overcome with stinginess they said, ‘Kāśyapa’s ascetics are just like anguished spirits, going around begging food from others!’ and called after them with other such harsh words.

“O monks, what do you think? Those who were the five hundred lay vow holders then are none other than these five hundred anguished spirits. The act of speaking harshly to the monks ripened into their taking birth as anguished spirits for five hundred lifetimes. At that time they went for refuge in the doctrine of the totally and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa. They maintained the fundamental precepts, their faculties ripened, and now they have been liberated.” [F.248.a]