Page:Sacred Books of the Buddhists Vol 1.djvu/262

 and clubs and harsh words of menace. One time, roaming about in some forest, he was seen by a certain king who was hunting there. On perceiving his most horrible appearance—for he looked like a Preta, the dirty remains of his garments having at last dropped off, so that he had hardly enough to cover his shame—that king, affected with curiosity mingled with fear, asked him thus :

36, 37. “Thy body is disfigured by leprosy, thy skin spotted with ulcers; thou art pale, emaciated, miserable; thy hair is dirty with dust. Who art thou ? Art thou a Preta, or a goblin, or the embodied Devil, or a Pûtana ? Or if one out of the number of sicknesses, which art thou who displayest the assemblage of many diseases ?'

Upon which the other, bowing to the prince, answered in a faltering tone: I am a man, great king, not a spirit.' And being asked again by the king, how he had come into that state, he confessed to him his wicked deed, and added these words :

38. 'This suffering here is only the blossom of the tree sown by that treacherous deed against my friend. O, surely, its fruit will be still more miserable than this.

39. 'Therefore, you ought to consider a treacherous deed against a friend as your foe. With kindheartedness you must look upon friends, who are kindhearted towards you.

40. 'Those who adopt a hostile behaviour against their friends, come into such a wretched state already in this world. From hence you may infer what will be in the other world the fate of those who, sullied in their mind by covetousness and other vices, attempted the life of their friends.

41. 'He, on the other hand, whose mind is pervaded