1. Now at that time the venerable Pilindavakkha had a mountain cave at Râgagaha
cleared out, with the object of making it into a cave dwelling-place. And the
Mâgadha king Seniya Bimbisâra went to the place where the venerable
Pilindavakkha was; and when he had come there, he saluted the venerable
Pilindavakkha, and took his seat on one side.
And when he was so seated the Mâgadha king Seniya Bimbisâra said to the
venerable Pilindavakkha, 'What is it that my Lord, the Thera, is having done?'
'I am having a cave cleared out, with the object of making it into a cave
dwelling-place.'
'Do you then, Sir, require an ârâmika (a park-keeper)?'
'Not so, great king! A park-keeper has not been prescribed by the Blessed One.'
'Then, Sir, enquire, of the Blessed One (concerning this matter), and let me
then know.'
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'Very well, O King!' said the venerable Pilindavakkha in assent to the Mâgadha
king Seniya Bimbisâra.
2. Then the venerable Pilindavakkha taught and incited and roused and gladdened
the Mâgadha king Seniya Bimbisâra with religious discourse. And the Mâgadha king
Seniya Bimbisâra, when he had been taught &c. by the religious discourse, rose
from his seat, and bowed down before the venerable Pilindavakkha, and passing
round him with his right side towards him, departed thence.
Then the venerable Pilindavakkha sent a message to the Blessed One, saying,
'Lord! the Mâgadha king Seniya Bimbisâra desires to present me with a
park-keeper. What am I, therefore, Lord, to do?'
Then the Blessed One, in that connection, after delivering a religious
discourse, said to the Bhikkhus:
'I allow you, O Bhikkhus, the accepting of a park-keeper.'
3. And a second time the Mâgadha king Seniya Bimbisâra went to the place where
the venerable Pilindavakkha was; and when he had come there he saluted the
venerable Pilindavakkha, and took his seat on one side.
And when he was so seated the Mâgadha king Seniya Bimbisâra said to the
venerable Pilindavakkha, 'Has the Blessed One allowed a park-keeper?'
'Yes, O King!'
Then, Sir, I will present a park-keeper to you.'
Now the Mâgadha king Seniya Bimbisâra, after he had (thus) promised a
park-keeper to the venerable Pilindavakkha, forgot it. And after a time he
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recovered recollection of it, and addressed a certain minister who had charge of
general affairs, and said: 'The park-keeper whom I promised to the venerable
one, has he been given to him?'
'No, your Majesty!'
'How long is it then, good Sir, since that was determined?'
4. Then that minister, counting up the nights, said to the Mâgadha king Seniya
Bimbisâra, 'Five hundred nights, your Majesty.'
'Give then, my good Sir, five hundred park-keepers to the venerable one!'
'As your Majesty commands,' said that minister in assent to the Mâgadha king
Seniya Bimbisâra; and he gave over to the venerable Pilindavakkha five hundred
park-keepers, and (for their use) a distinct village grew up. And they called it
Arâmika-gâma, and they called it also Pilinda-gâma. Thenceforward the venerable
Pilindavakkha depended upon the families living in that village (for alms, &c.).
And the venerable Pilindavakkha robed himself early in the morning, and entered
into Pilinda-gâma, duly bowled and robed for alms.
5. Now at that time there was a feast in that village, and the children were
celebrating it, with their ornaments on, and decked with garlands. And the
venerable Pilindavakkha, when he was going his rounds for alms, straight on from
house to house, came to the dwelling-place of a certain park-keeper; and when he
had come there he sat down on a seat prepared for him.
And at that time the daughter of that park-keeper's wife, seeing the other
children with their ornaments on, and decked with garlands, began to
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cry (saying), 'Give me too a garland, give me an ornament!'
And the venerable Pilindavakkha said to that park-keeper's wife: 'Why does that
girl cry?'
'This girl, venerable Sir, seeing the other children with their ornaments on,
and decked with garlands, is crying (and saying), "Give me too a garland, give
me too an ornament!" But whence should we, who have become so poor, get garlands
or ornaments?'
6. Then the venerable Pilindavakkha took a grass chumbat 1, and said to the
park-keeper's wife: 'Bind, I pray you, this grass chumbat round the child's
head.'
And the park-keeper's wife took the grass chumbat, and bound it round the girl's
head. And that became a chaplet of gold, beautiful, lovely, and pleasing, such
that there was no chaplet of gold in the king's seraglio like it.
And people told the Mâgadha king Seniya Bimbisâra, 'There is a chaplet of gold,
your Majesty, in the house of such and such a park-keeper, such that there is no
chaplet of gold in the king's seraglio like it. How could he, poor as he is,
have got (such a thing)? For a certainty he must have procured it by theft.'
Then the Mâgadha king Seniya Bimbisâra had (the whole of) that park-keeper's
family thrown into bonds.
7. Now the venerable Pilindavakkha robed himself again early in the morning, and
went, duly bowled and robed, into Pilinda-gâma for alms. And going his round for
alms straight on from house to house he came to the dwelling-place of that
park-keeper; and
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when he had come there he asked the neighbours, 'Where is the family of this
park-keeper gone to?'
'The king, Sir, has had them thrown into bonds on account of that chaplet of
gold.'
Then the venerable Pilindavakkha went on to the residence of the Mâgadha king
Seniya Bimbisâra: and when he had come there he sat down on the seat prepared
for him. And the Mâgadha king Seniya Bimbisâra went to the place where the
venerable Pilindavakkha was; and when he had come there, he bowed down before
the venerable Pilindavakkha, and took his seat on one side. And when he was so
seated the venerable Pilindavakkha said to the Mâgadha king Seniya Bimbisâra:
8. 'Why, O King, has the park-keeper's family been thrown into bonds?'
'That park-keeper, Sir, has in his house a chaplet of gold, such that there is
no chaplet of gold in the king's seraglio like it. Whence should he, poor as he
is, have got (such a thing)? For a certainty he has procured it by theft.'
Then the venerable Pilindavakkha determined that the palace of the Mâgadha king
Seniya Bimbisâra should be gold. And it became all of gold.
'Now, your Majesty, whence have you this so great quantity of gold?'
'I understand, Lord. This is your miraculous power' (said the king. And so
saying) he set that park-keeper's family free.
9. When the people, glad at heart and full of satisfaction, saw that so great a
miracle had been shown by the venerable Pilindavakkha to the king and his royal
retinue, they brought to the venerable Pilindavakkha the five kinds of
medicine,--that is to
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say, ghee, butter, oil, honey, and molasses. Now (besides this) the venerable
Pilindavakkha was accustomed to receive the five kinds of medicine; and whatever
he received he distributed among his attendant (Bhikkhus). So the retinue became
abounding therein, and as they received it they laid it aside, filling vessels
and pots; and filling water-strainers and bags with it they laid them in the
windows, and they remained there clinging and adhering together, and the Vihâras
became sprinkled and scattered all over with them through the (gnawing of) rats.
People who saw this, when they went round the Vihâras, were annoyed, murmured,
and became indignant (saying), 'These Sakyaputtiya Samanas are becoming storers
up of goods like the Mâgadha king Seniya Bimbisâra.'
To. The Bhikkhus heard the people thus murmuring, &c. And those Bhikkhus who
were moderate were indignant, &c., saying,
'How can Bhikkhus think (of possessing) such abundance?'
And those Bhikkhus told the matter to the Blessed One.
'Is it true, Bhikkhus, as they say, that Bhikkhus think (of possessing) such
abundance?'
'It is true, Lord.'
The Blessed One rebuked them, and after delivering a religious discourse, he
addressed the Bhikkhus:
'Whatsoever kinds of medicine are meet for the use of sick Bhikkhus,--that is to
say, ghee, butter, oil, honey, and molasses,--when such are received they must
be used within a period of seven days during which they may be stored up.
Whosoever
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goes beyond that limit shall be dealt with according to law 1.'
End of the first Bhânavâra on the law of medicines.
Footnotes
64:1 A circular roll of grass, or cloth, to be placed on the head when a pot of
oil or water was being carried on the head. Compare kumbataka, and Rh. L.'s
'Buddhist Birth Stories,' p. 295.
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