[102] "But, venerable sir, is it possible to point out yet another fruit of the ascetic life, visible here and now, more excellent and more sublime than these fruits of the ascetic life visible here and now?"
"It is possible, great king. Well then, great king, listen and attend carefully; I will speak."
"Yes, venerable sir," King Ajātasattu of Magadha, son of the Videhan princess, replied to the Blessed One.
The Blessed One said this: "Great king, here a Tathāgata arises in the world—an Arahant, perfectly enlightened by himself, accomplished in true knowledge (vijjā) and conduct, well gone, knower of the world, unsurpassed trainer of persons fit to be tamed, teacher of gods and humans, awakened, blessed. Having realized it by his own direct knowledge (abhiññā), he makes known this world with its gods, with its Māras, with its Brahmās, this generation with its ascetics and brahmins, with its gods and humans. He teaches the Dhamma that is good in the beginning, good in the middle, and good in the end; he reveals the holy life (brahmacariya) with its meaning and its phrasing, entirely complete and pure.
A householder, or a householder's son, or one reborn into some family or other, hears that Dhamma. Having heard that Dhamma, he gains faith in the Tathāgata. Endowed with that faith he has gained, he reflects thus: 'The household life is confined, a path of dust; the going forth is the open air. It is not easy for one dwelling in a house to live the holy life utterly complete, utterly pure, polished like a conch shell. Suppose I were to shave off my hair and beard, put on the ochre robes, and go forth from the home life into homelessness.'
At a later time, abandoning a small mass of wealth or abandoning a great mass of wealth, abandoning a small circle of relatives or abandoning a great circle of relatives, he shaves off his hair and beard, puts on the ochre robes, and goes forth from the home life into homelessness.
Thus gone forth, he dwells restrained by the restraint of the Pātimokkha, accomplished in conduct and resort, seeing danger in the slightest faults; having undertaken them, he trains in the training rules; he is endowed with wholesome bodily action and verbal action, of purified livelihood, accomplished in virtue (sīla), with the doors guarded in respect of the sense faculties, endowed with mindfulness (sati) and clear comprehension (sampajañña), and content."
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.