On hearing all this, the Bodhisatta exclaimed: "'Tis good for me, in sooth, truly 'tis very good for me, that I came here, and heard by how very small a merit great glory has been attained. Henceforward, when I return to the world of men, I will give all manner of gifts, and perform good deeds." And he uttered this aspiration

"O happy dawn! O happy must I be!
O happy pilgrimage, whereby I see
These daughters of the gods, divinely fair, [257]
And hear their sweet discourse! Henceforth I swear
Full of sweet peace, and generosity,
Of temperance, and truth my life shall be,
Till I come there where no more sorrows are."

Then after seven days had passed, the king of heaven laid his commands upon Matali the charioteer, and he seated Guttila in the chariot and sent him to Benares. And when he came to Benares, he told the people what he had seen with his own eyes in heaven. From that time the people resolved to do good deeds with all their might.

_____________________________

When this discourse was ended, the Master identified the Birth: "In those days Devadatta was Musila, Anuruddha was Sakka, Amanda was the king, and I was Guttila the Musician."

Footnotes

^172:1 Guttila is one of the four men who "even in their earthly bodies attained to glory in the city of the gods." Milinda, iv. 8. 25 (trans. in S. B. E., ii. 145).

^174:1 Reading antevasike.

^175:1 These stanzas, together with those which follow on page 255, and others, occur in the Vimana-vatthu, no. 33 (p. 28 in the P. T. S. ed.), Guttila-vimana.

^175:2 A title of Indra; the word means an Owl (Skr. Kaucika): it is one of the many Indian clan names that are also names of animals.

^177:1 These two lines occur in the Comm. to the Dhammapada, p. 99. See also note on the First Stanza, above.

^178:1 Vimana-vatthu p. 31.

[j244]