[606] Now at that time the brahmin Sela was residing in Āpaṇa. He was a master of the Three Vedas together with their vocabularies (nighaṇḍu) and rituals (keṭubha), together with the analysis of syllables, and with the histories (itihāsa) as the fifth; skilled in the word-by-word text, a grammarian, fully versed in cosmology (lokāyata) and in the marks of a Great Man (mahāpurisalakkhaṇa); and he was teaching the hymns to three hundred brahmin students. Now at that time Keṇiya the matted-hair ascetic had full confidence in the brahmin Sela.
Then the brahmin Sela, surrounded by his three hundred brahmin students, walking and wandering about to stretch his legs, came to the hermitage of Keṇiya the matted-hair ascetic. There, at Keṇiya the matted-hair ascetic's hermitage, the brahmin Sela saw some digging fire-pits, some splitting firewood, some washing vessels, some setting out a water-jar, and some laying out seats, while Keṇiya the matted-hair ascetic was himself preparing a circular pavilion. When he had seen this, he said to Keṇiya the matted-hair ascetic: "Is there to be a taking in marriage for the worthy Keṇiya, or is there to be a giving in marriage? Or is a great sacrifice at hand? Or has Seniya Bimbisāra, the king of Magadha, been invited for tomorrow together with his army?"
"There will be no taking in marriage for me, worthy Sela, nor will there be a giving in marriage, nor has Seniya Bimbisāra, the king of Magadha, been invited for tomorrow together with his army; but a great sacrifice of mine is at hand. There is the ascetic Gotama, a son of the Sakyans, gone forth from a Sakyan family, who, wandering on tour among the Aṅguttarāpans together with a great Saṅgha of bhikkhus, with twelve hundred and fifty bhikkhus, has arrived at Āpaṇa. And of that Master Gotama this fair report of fame has spread abroad: 'Thus indeed is that Blessed One: an Arahant, a Perfectly Enlightened One, accomplished in true knowledge (vijjā) and conduct, a Sublime One, a knower of the world, an unsurpassed charioteer of persons to be tamed, a teacher of gods and humans, a Buddha, a Blessed One.' He has been invited by me for tomorrow together with the Saṅgha of bhikkhus."
"Worthy Keṇiya, do you say 'Buddha'?"
"I say 'Buddha,' worthy Sela."
"Worthy Keṇiya, do you say 'Buddha'?"
"I say 'Buddha,' worthy Sela."
Then it occurred to the brahmin Sela: "Even this sound is hard to come by in the world, namely, 'Buddha.' Now in our hymns there have come down the thirty-two marks of a Great Man, and for a Great Man endowed with them there are only two destinies, no other. If he dwells in a house, he becomes a king, a wheel-turning monarch (cakkavatti), a righteous king who rules by the Dhamma, lord over the four quarters, victorious, who has attained stability in his realm and is endowed with the seven treasures. These seven treasures are his, namely: the wheel-treasure, the elephant-treasure, the horse-treasure, the gem-treasure, the woman-treasure, the householder-treasure, and the counsellor-treasure as the seventh. His sons number more than a thousand, brave, of heroic mold, crushers of the armies of others. Having conquered this earth bounded by the ocean — without rod, without sword, but by the Dhamma — he dwells over it. But if he goes forth from home into homelessness, he becomes an Arahant, a Perfectly Enlightened One, one who draws back the veil in the world."
"But where, worthy Keṇiya, does that Master Gotama now dwell, the Arahant, the Perfectly Enlightened One?"
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.