[375] Now on that occasion the brahmin Sela was residing at Āpaṇa — a master of the three Vedas together with their vocabularies and ritual, together with their phonology and etymology, and with the histories as the fifth; skilled in philology, a grammarian, fully versed in cosmology (lokāyata) and in the marks of a Great Man (mahāpurisalakkhaṇa) — and he taught three hundred brahmin students to recite the hymns (manta). Now on that occasion Keṇiya the matted-hair ascetic (jaṭila) 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, approached the hermitage of Keṇiya the jaṭila. In the hermitage of Keṇiya the jaṭila the brahmin Sela saw some people digging out fireplaces … some laying out seats, while Keṇiya the jaṭila was himself preparing the round pavilion. Seeing this, he said to Keṇiya the jaṭila: "Is there to be a taking in marriage for Master Keṇiya, or is there to be a giving in marriage? Or has a great sacrifice (mahāyañña) been arranged? Or has Seniya Bimbisāra, the king of Magadha, been invited for tomorrow together with his army?"
"There is to be no taking in marriage for me, Master Sela, nor is there to 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 has been arranged. There is the ascetic Gotama, the son of the Sakyans, gone forth from a Sakyan family, who, wandering on tour in the Aṅguttarāpan country with a great Saṅgha of bhikkhus, with twelve hundred and fifty bhikkhus, has arrived at Āpaṇa. And about that Master Gotama such a fair report of fame has spread abroad: 'Thus indeed is that Blessed One … a Buddha, a Blessed One.' He has been invited by me, together with the Saṅgha of bhikkhus, for tomorrow's meal."
"Do you say 'Buddha,' Master Keṇiya?"
"I say 'Buddha,' Master Sela."
"Do you say 'Buddha,' Master Keṇiya?"
"I say 'Buddha,' Master Sela."
Then it occurred to the brahmin Sela: "Even this sound is hard to come by in the world, that is to say, '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 home, he becomes a wheel-turning monarch (cakkavatti), righteous, a king of the Dhamma, lord of the four quarters, victorious, who has attained stability in his country 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. And he has more than a thousand sons — heroes, of heroic mould, crushers of opposing armies. Having conquered this earth bounded by the ocean — without rod, without sword, by the Dhamma — he dwells over it. But if he goes forth from the home into homelessness, he becomes an Accomplished One (arahaṃ), a Fully Self-Enlightened One (sammāsambuddha), one who has drawn back the veil in the world."
"But where, Master Keṇiya, does that Master Gotama, the Accomplished One, the Fully Self-Enlightened One, now dwell?"
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.