Page:Gospel of Buddha.djvu/243

, will inherit one of the ten great calamities. But he who has learned to suffer with patience will be purified and will be the chosen instrument for the alleviation of suffering." The diseased bhikkhu on hearing these words turned to the Buddha, confessed his ill-natured temper and repented, and with a heart cleansed from error did reverence unto the Lord.

LXXXVII.

THE PATIENT ELEPHANT. While the Blessed One was residing in the Jetavana, there was a householder living in Sāvatthi known to all his neighbors as patient and land, but his relatives were wicked and contrived a plot to rob him. One day they came to the householder and often worrying him with all kinds of threats took away a goodly portion of his property. He did not go to court, nor did he complain, but tolerated with great forbearance the wrongs he suffered.

The neighbors wondered and began to talk about it, and rumors of the affair reached the ears of the brethren in Jetavana. While the brethren discussed the. occurrence in the assembly hall, the Blessed One entered and asked "What was the topic of your conversation?" And they told him.

Said the Blessed One: "The time will come when the wicked relatives will find their punishment O brethren, this is not the first time that this occurrence took place; it has happened before", and he told them a world-old tale.

Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisatta was born in the Himalaya region as 215