Page:Buddhist Birth Stories, or, Jātaka Tales.djvu/307

Rh This the monks told the Blessed One, saying, "Bhaddiya is prophesying about Arahatship!" The Blessed One replied, "Mendicants! not now only is Bhaddiya full of joy; he was so also in a former birth."

The monks requested the Blessed One to explain how that was. Then the Blessed One made manifest an event hidden through change of birth.

Long ago, when Brahma-datta was reigning in Benares, the Bodisat became a wealthy Brāhman of the north-west country. And perceiving the evils of worldly lusts, and the advantages of the religious life, he abandoned the world, and went to the Himālaya region, and adopted the life of a hermit, and practised the Eight Attainments. And the number of his disciples increased greatly, until he was attended by five hundred ascetics.

In the rainy season he left the Himālayas, and attended by the body of ascetics, journeyed through the towns and villages till he came to Benares, and there took up his dwelling-place under the patronage of the king in the royal park. When he had there passed the four rainy months, he took leave of the king. But the king asked him to stop, saying, "You are old, Sir. Why go to the Himālayas? Send your disciples there, but dwell here yourself!"

So the Bodisat gave the five hundred ascetics in charge