[63] (13)
[The Elder Mahākaccāyana:]
"You stand leaning upon a strong bow of heartwood:
are you a khattiya (noble warrior), one of royal blood (rājañña),
or a hunter who roams the forest?"
[Prince Sujāta:]
"Venerable sir, I am the son of the overlord of Assaka, ranging the forest.
Bhikkhu, I tell you my name: they know me as Sujāta.
Searching for deer, plunging into the vast forest,
though I went I saw no deer — and having seen you, I stood still."
[The Elder:]
"Welcome to you, one of great merit — and not unwelcome is your coming!
Take water from here and bathe your feet.
This drinking-water too is cool, brought from a mountain grotto:
drink of it, prince, and be seated upon the spread mat."
[The Prince:]
"Lovely indeed is your speech, worth the hearing, great sage —
faultless, meaningful, charming; with understanding you speak what is good.
What delight is yours, dwelling in the forest?
O bull among seers, being asked, declare it;
having heeded the course of your words,
we shall practice the way of the good and the Dhamma."
[The Elder:]
"Non-harming toward all living beings pleases us, prince,
and abstinence from theft, from transgression [with others' wives], and from drinking intoxicants;
such abstinence, righteous conduct, great learning, gratitude —
in this very life these bring praise: these dhammas are worthy of praise.
Death is near you — within five months.
Know it, prince: set yourself free."
[The Prince:]
"To what country then might I go — by what work, what manly deed,
or by what lore (vijjā) — that I might become free from aging and death?"
[The Elder:]
"There exists no region, no work, no lore, no manly deed,
where a mortal might go, prince, and be free from aging and death.
Khattiyas of great wealth, of great possessions, possessed of realms,
abounding in riches and grain — not even they are free from aging and death.
If you have heard of the sons of Andhakaveṇḍa —
heroes, valiant, striking with prowess —
they too came to the exhaustion of their lifespan
and were shattered, they who seemed the equals of the everlasting.
Khattiyas, brahmins, vessas, suddas, caṇḍālas and pukkusas —
these, and others by their birth: they too are not free from aging and death.
Those who recite the mantras with their six limbs, devised by Brahmā —
these, and others by their lore: they too are not free from aging and death.
And even those seers who are at peace, self-restrained, given to austerity —
those ascetics too abandon the body when the time comes.
Even arahants, self-developed, their task done, without taints (āsava),
lay down this body when merit and evil are exhausted."
[The Prince:]
"Well spoken and meaningful are your verses, great sage;
I am won over by your fine words: be you my refuge."
[The Elder:]
"Do not go to me for refuge: go for refuge to him alone,
the son of the Sakyans, the great hero, to whom I myself have gone for refuge."
[The Prince:]
"In what country, dear sir (mārisa), is he, this Teacher of yours?
I too shall go to see the Victor who has no counterpart."
[The Elder:]
"In the eastern country [arose] the Teacher, sprung from the line of Okkāka,
a thoroughbred among men — but he has attained final Nibbāna (parinibbuta)."
[The Prince:]
"If indeed the Buddha, your Teacher, were still living, dear sir,
I would go a thousand yojanas to wait upon him.
But since your Teacher has attained final Nibbāna, dear sir,
I go for refuge to the great hero finally quenched.
I go to the Buddha for refuge, and to the Dhamma unsurpassed,
and to the Saṅgha of the deva among men I go for refuge.
Straightway I abstain from the destruction of life (pāṇātipāta);
I shun what is not given in the world;
I am no drinker of intoxicants, nor do I speak falsehood;
and I am content with my own wife."
[The Elder:]
"Even as the thousand-rayed [sun], of great radiance,
shines in the heavens, lighting quarter upon quarter in its course,
of such a kind is this great chariot of yours,
extending a hundred yojanas all around.
Overspread on every side with plates of gold,
its breast inlaid with pearls and with gems,
lines of gold and of silver
and well-wrought work of beryl shine forth.
This head-piece is fashioned of beryl,
and this yoke is inlaid with ruby;
and these horses, swift as thought,
harnessed with gold and with silver, shine forth.
There you stand, mounted upon the golden chariot,
like the lord of the devas borne by a thousand.
I ask you, famed and skilled one:
how did you obtain this splendid thing?"
[The deva Sujāta:]
"Venerable sir, formerly I was a prince, Sujāta by name,
and you, out of compassion, established me in restraint;
and knowing my lifespan was spent,
you gave me a bodily relic of the Teacher, [saying:]
'Venerate this, Sujāta; it will be for your good.'
Having venerated it with perfumes and garlands, full of zeal,
on abandoning the human body I arose in Nandana;
and in Nandana, excellent, delightful, thronged with flocks of many kinds of birds,
I delight amid dance and song, attended by celestial nymphs (accharā)."
The Cūḷaratha Vimāna, the thirteenth.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.