"'Sir,' replied the coachman, 'this man is one of those who are called bhikshus or mendicants. He has renounced all pleasures, all desires, and leads a life of austerity. He tries to conquer himself. He has become a devotee. Without passion, without envy, he walks about asking for alms.'

"'This is good and well said,' replied the prince. The life of a devotee has always been praised by the wise. It will be my refuge, and the refuge of all other creatures. It will lead us to a real life, to happiness and immortality.' With these words, the young prince turned his chariot and returned to the city.

"After having declared to his father and his wife his intention of retiring from the world, Buddha left his palace one night when all the guards that were to have watched him were asleep. After travelling the whole night, he gave his horse and his ornaments to his groom, and sent him back to Kapilavastu. 'A monument,' remarks the author of the 'Lalita-Vistara,' 'is still to be seen on the spot where the coachman turned back.' Hiouen Thsang saw the same monument at the edge of a large forest; on his road to Kusinagara, a city now in ruins, and situated about fifty miles E.S.E. from Gorakpore.

"Buddha first went to Vaisali, and became the pupil of a famous Brahman, who had gathered round him 300 disciples. Having learnt all that the Brahman could teach him, Buddha went away disappointed. He had not found the road to salvation. He then tried another Brahman at Rajagriha, the capital of Magadha or Behar, who had 700 disciples, and there, too, he looked in vain