[354] So the Bodhisatta, even though given the choice of the kingdom, made no suit. When the king's wish had been so expressed, the Bodhisatta to show him the priests' way said, "O great king, these suits are preferred by men of worldly desires and householders, not by priests: from their ordination priests must have a pure life unlike a householder: " and so showing the priests' way, he spoke the sixth stanza:--

Sages never make petitions, worthy laymen ought to know:
Silent stands the noble suitor: sages make petition so.

[355] The king hearing the Bodhisatta's words said, "Sir, if a wise attendant of his own knowledge gives what ought to be given to his friend, so I give to you such and such a thing," and so he spoke the seventh stanza:--

Brahmin, I offer thee a thousand kine,
Red kine, and eke the leader of the herd:
Hearing but now those generous deeds of thine,
I too in turn to generous deeds am stirred.

When he said this, the Bodhisatta refused, saying, "Great king, I took the religious life free from defilement: I have no need of cows." The king abode by his admonition; doing alms and other good works he became destined for heaven, and not falling away from his meditation, was born in the Brahma world.

After the lesson, the Master declared the Truths and identified the Birth:--After the Truths many were established in the fruition of the First Path:--"At that time the king was Ananda, Atthisena was myself."

Footnotes

^216:1 See above, p. 52.

^216:2 No. 253, vol. ii.