Visit by Asita Muni when Siddhartha Gautam was born ( Buddha and His Dhamma )

Visit of Asita

• At the moment when the child was born there dwelt on the Himalayas a great sage named Asita.
• Asita heard that the gods over the space of the sky were shouting the word " Buddha " and making it resound. He beheld them waving their garments and coursing hither and thither in delight. He thought, what if I were to go and find out the land in which he was born ?
• Surveying with his divine eyes the whole of the Jambudvipa, Asita saw that a boy was born in the house of Suddhodana shining with all brilliance and that it was over his birth that the gods were excited.
• So the great sage Asita with his nephew Nardatta rose up and came to the abode of Raja Suddhodana and stood at the door of his palace.
• Now Asita, the sage, saw that at the door of Suddhodana's palace many hundred thousand beings had assembled. So he approached the door-keeper and said, " Go, man, inform the Raja that a sage is standing at the door."
• Then the door-keeper approached Suddhodana and with clasped hands said, "Know, 0 Raja, that an aged sage, old and advanced in years, stands at the door, and says that he desires to see you."
• The king prepared a seat for Asita and said to the door-keeper, " Let the sage enter." So coming out of the palace the door-keeper said to Asita : " Please go in."
• Now Asita approached King Suddhodana and, standing in front of him, said, " Victory, Victory, 0 Raja, may you live long, and rule thy kingdom righteously."
• Then Suddhodana in reverence to Asita fell at his feet and offered him the seat ; and seeing him seated in comfort, Suddhodana said, " I do not remember to have seen thee before this, 0 Sage! With what purpose has thou come hither ? What is the cause? "
• Thereupon Asita said to Suddhodana, "A son is born to thee, 0 Raja! Desiring to see him, have I come."
• Suddhodana said, "The boy is asleep, 0 Sage ! Will you wait for a while ? " The sage said, " Not long, 0 King, do such great beings sleep Such good beings are by nature wakeful." 
• Then did the child out of compassion for Asita, the great sage, make a sign of awaking. 
• Seeing that the child had become awake, Suddhodana took the boy firmly in both hands and brought him into the presence of the sage.
• Asita observing the child, beheld that it was endowed with the thirty-two marks of a great man and adomed with the eighty minor marks, his body surpassing that of Sakra, Brahma, and his aura surpassing them a hundred thousand-fold, breathed forth this solemn utterance, " Marvellous, verily, is this person that has appeared in the world," and rising from his seat clasped his hands, fell at his feet, made a rightwise circuit round and taking the child in his own hand stood in contemplation.
• Asita knew the old well-known prophecy that anyone endowed with the thirty-two marks of a great man, as Gautama was, has two careers open to him, and no third. " If he becomes a householder, he will become a universal monarch. But if he goes forth from the home to a homeless life, he will become a fully enlightened Buddha." 
• Asita was sure that the child would not remain a householder.  
• And looking at the child he wept, and shedding tears, sighed deeply.
• Suddhodana beheld Asita shedding tears, and sighing deeply.
• Beholding him thus weeping, the hair of his body rose, and in distress Suddhodana said to Asita, " Why, O Sage, dost thou weep and shed tears, and sigh so deeply ? Surely, there is no misfortune in store for the child."
• At this Asita said to the Raja, "O King, I weep not for the sake of the child. There will be no misfortune for him. But I weep for myself."
• "And why?" asked Suddhodana. Asita replied, " I am old, aged, advanced in years, and this boy will without doubt become a Buddha and attain supreme and complete enlightenment and having done so, will turn the supreme wheel of the Doctrine that has not been turned before him by any other being in the world ; for the weal and happiness of the world will he teach his Doctrine."
• "The religious life, the Doctrine, that he will proclaim will be good in the beginning, good in the middle, good in the end, complete in the letter and the spirit, whole and pure."
• " Just as an Oudumbara flower at some time and place arises in the world, even so at some time and place, after countless cycles, revered Buddhas arise in the world. So also, O Raja! this boy will without doubt obtain supreme, complete enlightenment, and having done so will take countless beings across the ocean of sorrow and misery to a state of happiness."
• " But I shall not see that Buddha. Hence, 0 Raja, I weep and in sadness I sigh deeply, for I shall not be able to reverence him."
• The king thereafter offered to the great sage Asita and Nardatta, his nephew, suitable food, and having given him robes made a rightwise circuit round him.
• Thereupon Asita said to Nardatta, his nephew, " When thou shalt hear, Nardatta, that the child has become a Buddha, then go and take refuge in his teachings. This shall be for thy weal and welfare and happiness." So saying Asita took leave of the Raja and departed for his hermitage.