Page:Henry Mulford Tichenor - The Buddhist Philosophy of Life.djvu/51

 Rh "She has lost her senses; the child is dead."

But Kisa Gotami continued asking for medicine, until at length she met a man who said to her, "I cannot give what thou askest, but I know a physician who can."

And the girl said, "Pray tell me, sir, who he is."

And the man replied, "Go to Sakyamuni (the Sakya sage), the Buddha."

Then Kisa Gotami went to the Buddha, and beseeched him, saying: "Gentle Lord Buddha, pray give me medicine, that I may heal my boy."

And the Buddha said to her: "Bring me a handful of mustard seed.

But when in her joy Kisa Gotami promised to bring it, the Buddha said: "The mustard seed must be found at a house where no one has lost a child, or husband, or parent, or friend."

Kisa Gotami now went from house to house,, and the people, pitying her, gladly offered the mustard seed; but when she asked, "Did a son, or daughter, or a father, or mother die in this house?" They answered her, "Alas! the living are few, but the dead are many." And she found no house wherein none had died.

Weary and hopeless, she sat down by the wayside. At last the darkness of night came upon her, and she thought of the darkness of death that comes to all; and she said to herself, "How selfish am I in my grief! Death is everywhere among the living." Then, put-