:: 8. Conversion of Ratthapala. ::
1. Once when the Lord was on an alms pilgrimage in the Kuru country with a great company of almsmen, he stayed at Thullakotthita, which was a township of the Kurus.
2. They came to know of it and went to him to pay their respects.
3. When they were seated, the Lord instructed them with a discourse on the Doctrine. Having received their instruction from the Lord, the Brahmin heads of houses of Thullakotthita gratefully thanked him, rose up and departed with deep obeisance.
4. Seated among them was a young man named Ratthapala, a scion of a leading family of the place, to whom this thought came : "So far as I understand, the Doctrine which the Lord has preached is no easy matter for one who lives in a home to lead the higher life in all its fullness, purity, and perfection.
5. " What if I were to cut off hair and beard, don the yellow robes and go forth from home to homelessness as a pilgrim!"
6. When the Brahmins had not been gone long, then Ratthapala came up and, after salutations, told the Lord the thought which had come to him, and asked to be admitted to, and confirmed in, the confraternity under him.
7. " Have you your parents' consent to this step, Ratthapala?' asked the Lord.
8. "No, Sir."
9. "I do not admit those who have not their parents' consent." 10. "That consent. Sir, I will take steps to obtain," said the young man, who rising up and taking a reverential leave of the Lord, went off to his parents, told them his thoughts and asked their consent to his becoming a Bhikku.
11. The parents made answer as follows : " Dear Ratthapala, you are our only son, very dear to us and beloved ; you live in comfort and have been brought up in comfort, with no experience at all of discomfort. Go away ; eat, drink, enjoy yourself, and do good works in all happiness. We refuse our consent.
12. " Your death would leave us desolate, with no pleasure left in life ; why, while we have you still, should we consent to your going forth from home to homelessness as a Bhikku".
13. A second and yet a third time did Ratthapala repeat his request, only to be met by the same refusal from his parents.
14. Failing thus to get his parents' consent, the young man flung himself down on the bare ground, declaring that he would either die there or become a Bhikku.
15. His parents entreated him to get up while repeating their objections to his becoming a Bhikku, but the young man said not a word. A second and a third time they entreated him but still he said not a word.
16. So the parents sought out Ratthapala's companions to whom they told all this and besought them to urge, as from themselves, what his parents had said to him.
17. Thrice his companions appealed to him, but still he said not a word. So his companions came to the parents with this report : " There on the bare ground he lies, declaring that he will either die there or become a Bhikku. If you refuse your consent, he will never get up alive. But, if you give your consent, you will see him when he has become a Bhikku. Should he not like being a Bhikku, what alternative will he have! Why, only to come back here. Do give your consent ! " they urged.
18. " Yes, we consent ; but when he is a Bhikku, he must come and see us."
19. Off now went his companions to Ratthapala, and they told him that his parents had given their consent, but that when he was a Bhikku he was to come and see them. 20. Thereupon the young man arose and, when he had regained his strength, betook himself to the Lord, and after salutations seated himself on one side, saying: " I have got my parents' consent to my becoming a Bhikku ; I ask the Lord to admit me."
21. Admission and confirmation were granted him under the Lord; and a fortnight afterwards the Lord, having stayed at Thullakotthita as long as he wanted, proceeded on his alms pilgrimage towards Sravasti, where he took up his abode in Jeta's grove in Anathapindika's pleasance.
22. Dwelling alone and aloof, strenuous, ardent and purged of self, the reverend Ratthapala was not long before he won the prize in quest of which young men go forth from home to homelessness as Bhikkus, that prize of prizes which crowns the highest life.
23. Then, he went to the Lord and, seated on one side after salutations, said that with the Lord's permission, he wished to go and see his parents.
24. Scanning with his own heart the thoughts of Ratthapala's heart, and recognizing thereby that he was incapable of abandoning his training and reverting to the lower life of a layman, the Lord bade him go when he would.
25. Hereupon, rising up and taking his leave of the Lord with deep reverence, Ratthapala, after duly putting away his bedding, set out, with his robe and bowl, on an alms pilgrimage to Thullakotthita where he took up his abode in the deer-park of the Kuru king.
26. Early next morning, duly robed and bowl in hand, he went into the town for alms, and there as he passed from house to house on his undiscriminating round, he came to his father's house.
27. Indoors, in the hall within the middle door, his father was having his hair combed and, seeing Ratthapala coming in the distance, he said : " It was these shavelings of reduces who made Bhikku of my only dear and beloved son."
28. So at his own father's house Ratthapala was given nothing, not even a refusal; all he got was abuse.
29. At this moment a slave-girl of the family was about to throw away the previous day's stale rice; and to her Ratthapala said: " If, sister, that is to be thrown away, put it in my bowl here."
30. As the girl was doing so, she recognised his hands and feet and voice, and going straight to her mistress, cried out: " Do you know, madam, the young master is back."
31. " If what you say is true, you are a slave no longer," said the mother, who hurried off to tell her husband that she heard their son was back.
32. Ratthapala was eating that stale rice under the hedge when his father arrived, exclaiming; " Can it be, my dear son, that you are eating stale rice? Should you not have come to your own house ?"
33. Said Ratthapala, ' 'What house of our own, householder, can we have who are homeless, having gone forth from home to homelessness ? I did come to your house, where I was given nothing not even a refusal ; all I got was abuse."
34. ' Come, my son; let us go indoors.' ' Not so, householder; I have finished my eating for today.' said Ratthapala. 35. ' Well then, my son promise to take your meal here tomorrow.'
36. By his silence the reverend Ratthapala gave consent.
37. Then the father went indoors,—where first he ordered great heaps of gold and bullion to be piled up under a covering of mats and then he told his daughters-in-law, who had been the reverend Ratthapala's wives aforetime, to deck themselves out in all the finery their husband liked to see them in.
38. When night had passed, the father, having ordered an excellent meal to be got ready in his house, told his son when it was ready. Early that forenoon, the reverend Ratthapala, duly robed and bowl in hand, came and took the seat set for him.
39. Hereupon, ordering the heap of treasure to be unveiled, the father said: ' This is your mother's fortune, that is your father's and that came from your grand-father. You have the wherewithal both to enjoy yourself and to do good works.
40. 'Come, my son; abandon your training; revert to the lower life of the layman; enjoy your substance and do good works.'
41. ' If you will take my advice, householder, you will cart away all this heaped-up treasure and sink it in the middle of the Ganges. And why ? Because thence you will only derive sorrow and lamentation, ills, pain of mind, pain of body and tribulation.'
42. Clinging to his feet, the reverend Ratthapala's whilom wives asked like what were the nymphs divine for whose sake he was leading the higher life.
43. " For the sake of no nymphs at all, sisters," said he.
44. At hearing themselves called sisters, the ladies all fainted and fell to the ground.
45. Said Ratthapala to his father: " If food is to be given, householder, give it; trouble me not."
46. " The food is ready, my son ; begin," said the father as he served that excellent meal without stint till his son had his fill. 47. After taking food he departed to the deer-park of the Kuru king, where he sat down under a tree during the noontide heat.
48. Now the king had given directions to his huntsman to tidy up the park against his coming to see it; and the obedient huntsman was engaged on his task when he saw Ratthapala seated under a tree during the noontide heat, and reported to the king that the park was in. order but that under a tree there was seated Ratthapala, the young gentleman of whom His Majesty had often heard tell.
49. " Never mind about the park today," said the king; " I will pay a call on His Reverence." Ordering, therefore, all the repast which had been prepared to be made ready, he mounted a chariot and drove forth in procession in royal state out of the city to see Ratthapala.
50. Riding as far as the ground was passable for his chariot and proceeding thence on foot with his princely train, the king came at last upon the reverend Ratthapala, whom, after exchange of courteous greetings, the king—still standing—invited to be seated on a clump of flowers. 51. " Nay, sire; sit you there, I have got a seat."
52. Seating himself on the seat indicated to him, the king said: " There are four kinds of losses, Ratthapala, which impel men to cut off hair and beard, don the yellow robes, and go forth from home to homelessness—namely, (i) old age, (ii) failing health, (iii) impoverishment, and (iv) death of kinsfolk.
53. " Take a man who, being aged and old, far advanced in life, stricken in years, and at the close of life, recognises his position, and realises the difficulty either of acquiring new wealth or of doing well with what he has got; so he decides to take to homelessness. This is known as the loss which old age entails. But here are you in the prime of youth and early manhood, with a wealth of coal-black hair untouched by grey, and in all the beauty of your prime;—not yours is the loss old age entails. What have you known or seen or heard to make you take to homelessness ?
54. " Or take a man who, being in ill-health or pain, or gravely ill, recognises his position and realises the difficulty either of acquiring new wealth or doing well with what he has already; so he decides to take to homelessness. This is known as the loss which failing health entails. But here are you neither ill nor ailing, with a good digestion maintained by humours neither too hot nor too cold ; not yours is the loss which failing health entails. What have known or seen or heard to make you take to homelessness ?
55. "Or take a man who, after being rich and wealthy and of great substance, and after gradually losing it, recognises his, position and realises the difficulty either of acquiring new wealth or of doing well with what he has got; so he decides to become a pilgrim. This is known as the loss which impoverishment entails. But the revered Ratthapala is the son of leading family in this very Thullakotthita, and there is none of this loss of wealth for the revered Ratthapala. What has the good Ratthapala known or seen or heard that he has gone forth from home into homelessness ? And what, good Ratthapala, is loss of relations ? As to this, good Ratthapala, someone has many friends and acquaintances, kith and kin, but gradually these relations of his diminish. He reflects thus: ' Formerly I had many friends and acquaintances, kith and kin, but gradually these relations of mine have diminished, so it is not easy for me to acquire wealth etc....' So he that is followed by this loss of relations, having cut off hair and beard, having donned saffron garments, goes forth from home into homelessness. This is known as the loss which kinsfolk's death entails. But here are you with a host of friends and relations; not yours is the loss which kinsfolk's death entails. What have you known or seen or heard to make you take to homelessness?"
56. " I have gone forth," replied Ratthapala, " sire, from home to homelessness because I have known, seen, and heard the following four propositions enunciated by the All-Englightened Lord who knows and sees : "(i) The world is in continual flux and change." (ii) The world has no protector or preserver. " (iii) We own nothing; we must leave everything behind. " (iv) The world lacks and bankers, being enslaved to craving." 57. "It is wonderful, it is marvellous," said the king, "how right in this the Lord was !"
1. Once when the Lord was on an alms pilgrimage in the Kuru country with a great company of almsmen, he stayed at Thullakotthita, which was a township of the Kurus.
2. They came to know of it and went to him to pay their respects.
3. When they were seated, the Lord instructed them with a discourse on the Doctrine. Having received their instruction from the Lord, the Brahmin heads of houses of Thullakotthita gratefully thanked him, rose up and departed with deep obeisance.
4. Seated among them was a young man named Ratthapala, a scion of a leading family of the place, to whom this thought came : "So far as I understand, the Doctrine which the Lord has preached is no easy matter for one who lives in a home to lead the higher life in all its fullness, purity, and perfection.
5. " What if I were to cut off hair and beard, don the yellow robes and go forth from home to homelessness as a pilgrim!"
6. When the Brahmins had not been gone long, then Ratthapala came up and, after salutations, told the Lord the thought which had come to him, and asked to be admitted to, and confirmed in, the confraternity under him.
7. " Have you your parents' consent to this step, Ratthapala?' asked the Lord.
8. "No, Sir."
9. "I do not admit those who have not their parents' consent." 10. "That consent. Sir, I will take steps to obtain," said the young man, who rising up and taking a reverential leave of the Lord, went off to his parents, told them his thoughts and asked their consent to his becoming a Bhikku.
11. The parents made answer as follows : " Dear Ratthapala, you are our only son, very dear to us and beloved ; you live in comfort and have been brought up in comfort, with no experience at all of discomfort. Go away ; eat, drink, enjoy yourself, and do good works in all happiness. We refuse our consent.
12. " Your death would leave us desolate, with no pleasure left in life ; why, while we have you still, should we consent to your going forth from home to homelessness as a Bhikku".
13. A second and yet a third time did Ratthapala repeat his request, only to be met by the same refusal from his parents.
14. Failing thus to get his parents' consent, the young man flung himself down on the bare ground, declaring that he would either die there or become a Bhikku.
15. His parents entreated him to get up while repeating their objections to his becoming a Bhikku, but the young man said not a word. A second and a third time they entreated him but still he said not a word.
16. So the parents sought out Ratthapala's companions to whom they told all this and besought them to urge, as from themselves, what his parents had said to him.
17. Thrice his companions appealed to him, but still he said not a word. So his companions came to the parents with this report : " There on the bare ground he lies, declaring that he will either die there or become a Bhikku. If you refuse your consent, he will never get up alive. But, if you give your consent, you will see him when he has become a Bhikku. Should he not like being a Bhikku, what alternative will he have! Why, only to come back here. Do give your consent ! " they urged.
18. " Yes, we consent ; but when he is a Bhikku, he must come and see us."
19. Off now went his companions to Ratthapala, and they told him that his parents had given their consent, but that when he was a Bhikku he was to come and see them. 20. Thereupon the young man arose and, when he had regained his strength, betook himself to the Lord, and after salutations seated himself on one side, saying: " I have got my parents' consent to my becoming a Bhikku ; I ask the Lord to admit me."
21. Admission and confirmation were granted him under the Lord; and a fortnight afterwards the Lord, having stayed at Thullakotthita as long as he wanted, proceeded on his alms pilgrimage towards Sravasti, where he took up his abode in Jeta's grove in Anathapindika's pleasance.
22. Dwelling alone and aloof, strenuous, ardent and purged of self, the reverend Ratthapala was not long before he won the prize in quest of which young men go forth from home to homelessness as Bhikkus, that prize of prizes which crowns the highest life.
23. Then, he went to the Lord and, seated on one side after salutations, said that with the Lord's permission, he wished to go and see his parents.
24. Scanning with his own heart the thoughts of Ratthapala's heart, and recognizing thereby that he was incapable of abandoning his training and reverting to the lower life of a layman, the Lord bade him go when he would.
25. Hereupon, rising up and taking his leave of the Lord with deep reverence, Ratthapala, after duly putting away his bedding, set out, with his robe and bowl, on an alms pilgrimage to Thullakotthita where he took up his abode in the deer-park of the Kuru king.
26. Early next morning, duly robed and bowl in hand, he went into the town for alms, and there as he passed from house to house on his undiscriminating round, he came to his father's house.
27. Indoors, in the hall within the middle door, his father was having his hair combed and, seeing Ratthapala coming in the distance, he said : " It was these shavelings of reduces who made Bhikku of my only dear and beloved son."
28. So at his own father's house Ratthapala was given nothing, not even a refusal; all he got was abuse.
29. At this moment a slave-girl of the family was about to throw away the previous day's stale rice; and to her Ratthapala said: " If, sister, that is to be thrown away, put it in my bowl here."
30. As the girl was doing so, she recognised his hands and feet and voice, and going straight to her mistress, cried out: " Do you know, madam, the young master is back."
31. " If what you say is true, you are a slave no longer," said the mother, who hurried off to tell her husband that she heard their son was back.
32. Ratthapala was eating that stale rice under the hedge when his father arrived, exclaiming; " Can it be, my dear son, that you are eating stale rice? Should you not have come to your own house ?"
33. Said Ratthapala, ' 'What house of our own, householder, can we have who are homeless, having gone forth from home to homelessness ? I did come to your house, where I was given nothing not even a refusal ; all I got was abuse."
34. ' Come, my son; let us go indoors.' ' Not so, householder; I have finished my eating for today.' said Ratthapala. 35. ' Well then, my son promise to take your meal here tomorrow.'
36. By his silence the reverend Ratthapala gave consent.
37. Then the father went indoors,—where first he ordered great heaps of gold and bullion to be piled up under a covering of mats and then he told his daughters-in-law, who had been the reverend Ratthapala's wives aforetime, to deck themselves out in all the finery their husband liked to see them in.
38. When night had passed, the father, having ordered an excellent meal to be got ready in his house, told his son when it was ready. Early that forenoon, the reverend Ratthapala, duly robed and bowl in hand, came and took the seat set for him.
39. Hereupon, ordering the heap of treasure to be unveiled, the father said: ' This is your mother's fortune, that is your father's and that came from your grand-father. You have the wherewithal both to enjoy yourself and to do good works.
40. 'Come, my son; abandon your training; revert to the lower life of the layman; enjoy your substance and do good works.'
41. ' If you will take my advice, householder, you will cart away all this heaped-up treasure and sink it in the middle of the Ganges. And why ? Because thence you will only derive sorrow and lamentation, ills, pain of mind, pain of body and tribulation.'
42. Clinging to his feet, the reverend Ratthapala's whilom wives asked like what were the nymphs divine for whose sake he was leading the higher life.
43. " For the sake of no nymphs at all, sisters," said he.
44. At hearing themselves called sisters, the ladies all fainted and fell to the ground.
45. Said Ratthapala to his father: " If food is to be given, householder, give it; trouble me not."
46. " The food is ready, my son ; begin," said the father as he served that excellent meal without stint till his son had his fill. 47. After taking food he departed to the deer-park of the Kuru king, where he sat down under a tree during the noontide heat.
48. Now the king had given directions to his huntsman to tidy up the park against his coming to see it; and the obedient huntsman was engaged on his task when he saw Ratthapala seated under a tree during the noontide heat, and reported to the king that the park was in. order but that under a tree there was seated Ratthapala, the young gentleman of whom His Majesty had often heard tell.
49. " Never mind about the park today," said the king; " I will pay a call on His Reverence." Ordering, therefore, all the repast which had been prepared to be made ready, he mounted a chariot and drove forth in procession in royal state out of the city to see Ratthapala.
50. Riding as far as the ground was passable for his chariot and proceeding thence on foot with his princely train, the king came at last upon the reverend Ratthapala, whom, after exchange of courteous greetings, the king—still standing—invited to be seated on a clump of flowers. 51. " Nay, sire; sit you there, I have got a seat."
52. Seating himself on the seat indicated to him, the king said: " There are four kinds of losses, Ratthapala, which impel men to cut off hair and beard, don the yellow robes, and go forth from home to homelessness—namely, (i) old age, (ii) failing health, (iii) impoverishment, and (iv) death of kinsfolk.
53. " Take a man who, being aged and old, far advanced in life, stricken in years, and at the close of life, recognises his position, and realises the difficulty either of acquiring new wealth or of doing well with what he has got; so he decides to take to homelessness. This is known as the loss which old age entails. But here are you in the prime of youth and early manhood, with a wealth of coal-black hair untouched by grey, and in all the beauty of your prime;—not yours is the loss old age entails. What have you known or seen or heard to make you take to homelessness ?
54. " Or take a man who, being in ill-health or pain, or gravely ill, recognises his position and realises the difficulty either of acquiring new wealth or doing well with what he has already; so he decides to take to homelessness. This is known as the loss which failing health entails. But here are you neither ill nor ailing, with a good digestion maintained by humours neither too hot nor too cold ; not yours is the loss which failing health entails. What have known or seen or heard to make you take to homelessness ?
55. "Or take a man who, after being rich and wealthy and of great substance, and after gradually losing it, recognises his, position and realises the difficulty either of acquiring new wealth or of doing well with what he has got; so he decides to become a pilgrim. This is known as the loss which impoverishment entails. But the revered Ratthapala is the son of leading family in this very Thullakotthita, and there is none of this loss of wealth for the revered Ratthapala. What has the good Ratthapala known or seen or heard that he has gone forth from home into homelessness ? And what, good Ratthapala, is loss of relations ? As to this, good Ratthapala, someone has many friends and acquaintances, kith and kin, but gradually these relations of his diminish. He reflects thus: ' Formerly I had many friends and acquaintances, kith and kin, but gradually these relations of mine have diminished, so it is not easy for me to acquire wealth etc....' So he that is followed by this loss of relations, having cut off hair and beard, having donned saffron garments, goes forth from home into homelessness. This is known as the loss which kinsfolk's death entails. But here are you with a host of friends and relations; not yours is the loss which kinsfolk's death entails. What have you known or seen or heard to make you take to homelessness?"
56. " I have gone forth," replied Ratthapala, " sire, from home to homelessness because I have known, seen, and heard the following four propositions enunciated by the All-Englightened Lord who knows and sees : "(i) The world is in continual flux and change." (ii) The world has no protector or preserver. " (iii) We own nothing; we must leave everything behind. " (iv) The world lacks and bankers, being enslaved to craving." 57. "It is wonderful, it is marvellous," said the king, "how right in this the Lord was !"
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