Page:Buddhist Birth Stories, or, Jātaka Tales.djvu/250

 GLORY BE TO THE BLESSED, THE HOLY, THE ALL-WISE ONE.

BOOK I.

No. 1. — Holding to the Truth.

discourse on the True (Apaṇṇaka), the Blessed One delivered while at the Jetavana Wihāra, near Sāvatthi.

What was the circumstance concerning which this tale arose? About the five hundred heretics, friends of the Merchant.

For one day, we are told, Anātha Piṇḍika the merchant took five hundred heretics, friends of his, and had many garlands and perfumes and ointments and oil and honey and molasses and clothes and vestments brought, and went to Jetavana. And saluting the Blessed One, he offered him garlands and other things, and bestowed medicines and clothes on the Order of Mendicants, and sat down in a respectful and becoming manner on one side of the Teacher. And those followers of wrong belief also saluted the Blessed One, and sat down close to Anātha Piṇḍika. And they beheld the countenance of the Teacher like the full moon in glory; and his person

1 Apaṇṇaka Jātaka.