[448] "'The world is without shelter (atāṇo), without a protector (anabhissaro),' so the worthy Raṭṭhapāla has said. But how, worthy Raṭṭhapāla, should the meaning of this statement be seen?"
"What do you think, great king? Do you have any chronic ailment?"
"I do have a chronic ailment, worthy Raṭṭhapāla. Sometimes, worthy Raṭṭhapāla, my friends and counsellors, relatives and kinsmen, stand surrounding me, thinking: 'Now King Koravya will die! Now King Koravya will die!'"
"What do you think, great king? Can you obtain from those friends and counsellors, relatives and kinsmen: 'Come, my good friends and counsellors, relatives and kinsmen—all of you who are present, share out this feeling (vedanā), so that I may feel a lighter feeling'? Or must you alone feel that feeling?"
"Worthy Raṭṭhapāla, I cannot obtain from those friends and counsellors, relatives and kinsmen: 'All of you who are present, share out this feeling, so that I may feel a lighter feeling.' Rather, I alone must feel that feeling."
"Great king, it was with reference to this that the Blessed One who knows, who sees, the Arahant, the Fully Self-Awakened One, said: 'The world is without shelter, without a protector.' Having known and seen and heard this, I went forth from the household life into homelessness."
"It is wonderful, worthy Raṭṭhapāla! It is marvellous, worthy Raṭṭhapāla, how well this was spoken by that Blessed One who knows, who sees, the Arahant, the Fully Self-Awakened One: 'The world is without shelter, without a protector.' For indeed, worthy Raṭṭhapāla, the world is without shelter, without a protector. Yet in this royal house, worthy Raṭṭhapāla, there is found abundant bullion and gold, stored both underground and above ground…"
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.