Even so the wise man without violence,
Gathers king's dues in village and in town,
Increases wealth, and yet gives no offence:
He walks the way of right and of renown.

[320] The king taking counsel with the Bodhisatta went to a lotus-tank, and seeing a lotus in flower, with a hue like the new-risen sun, not defiled by the water, he said: "Friend, that lotus grown in the water stands undefiled by the water." Then the Bodhisatta said, "O king, so should a king be," and spoke these stanzas in admonition:--

Like the lotus in the pool,
White roots, waters pure, sustain it;
In the sun's face flowering full,
Dust nor mud nor wet can stain it.

So the man whom virtues rule,
Meek and pure and good we style him:
Like the lotus in the pool
Stain of sin cannot defile him.

[321] The king hearing the Bodhisatta's admonition afterwards ruled his kingdom righteously, and doing good actions, charity and the rest, became destined for heaven.

After the lesson, the Master declared the Truths and identified the Birth: "At that time the king was Ananda, the wise minister myself."

Footnotes

^197:1 No. 521, vol. v.