Page:Buddhist Birth Stories, or, Jātaka Tales.djvu/225

Rh That Sinless One, the Wise, whose mind embraces all — How — by what guile — what sin — can you allure him to his fall?

281. He who has no ensnaring, venomous desire; No craving wants to lead him aught astray: The Sinless One, the Wise, whose mind embraces all — How — by what guile — what sin — can you allure him to his fall?

And thus these women returned to their father, confessing that he had spoken truth when he had said that the Blessed One was not by any means to be led away by any unholy desire.

But the Blessed One, when he had spent a week at that spot, went on to the Mucalinda-tree. There he spent a week, Mucalinda, the snake-king, when a storm arose, shielding him with seven folds of his hood, so that the Blessed One enjoyed the bliss of salvation as if he had been resting in a pleasant chamber, remote from all disturbance. Thence he went away to a Rājāyatana-tree, and there also sat down enjoying the bliss of salvation. And so seven weeks passed away, during which he experienced no bodily wants, but fed on the joy of Meditation, the joy of the Paths, and the joy of the Fruit thereof (that is, of Nirvāna).

Now, as he sat there on the last day of the seven weeks — the forty-ninth day — he felt a desire to bathe his face. And Sakka, the king of the gods, brought a fruit of the Myrobolan-tree, and gave him to eat. And Sakka, too, provided a tooth-cleanser of the thorns of the snake-creeper, and water to bathe his face. And the Master

1 Dhammapada, verses 179, 180.