Page:Buddhist Birth Stories, or, Jātaka Tales.djvu/224

108 "But we are women,"" was the reply; "this moment we will bring him bound by the allurements of passion. Do not you be so grieved."

So they approached the Blessed One, and said, "O, holy man, upon thee we humbly wait!"

But the Blessed One neither paid any attention to their words, nor raised his eyes to look at them. He sat plunged in the joy of Nirvāna, with a mind made free by the complete extinction of sin.

Then the daughters of Māra considered with themselves: "Various are men's tastes. Some fall in love with virgins, some with young women, some with mature women, some with older women. We will tempt him in various forms." So each of them assumed the appearance of a hundred women, — virgins, women who had never had a child, or only once, or only twice, middle-aged women, older women, — and six times they went up to the Blessed One, and professed themselves his humble handmaidens; and to that even the Blessed One paid no attention, since he was made free by the complete extinction of sin.

Now, some teachers say that when the Blessed One saw them approaching in the form of elderly women, he commanded, saying, "Let these women remain just as they are, with broken teeth and bald heads." This should not be believed, for the Master issues not such commands.

But the Blessed One said, "Depart ye! Why strive ye thus? Such things might be done in the presence of men who linger in the paths of sin; but I have put away lust, have put away ill-will, have put away folly." And he admonished them in those two verses from the Chapter on the Buddha in the Scripture Verses:

280. No one can e'er disturb his self-control Whose inward victories, once gained, are never lost.