The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha - Bhikkhu Nanamoli [325]
For the second time…For the third time his parents said to him: “Dear Raṭṭhapāla…how could we give you our permission to go forth from the home life into homelessness while you are still living?” For the third time the clansman Raṭṭhapāla was silent.
9. Then the clansman Raṭṭhapāla’s parents went to his friends and said to them: “Dears, the clansman Raṭṭhapāla has lain down on the bare floor, having said: ‘Right here I shall either die or receive the going forth.’ Come, dears, go to the clansman Raṭṭhapāla and say to him: ‘Friend Raṭṭhapāla, you are your parents’ only son…Get up, friend Raṭṭhapāla, eat, drink, and amuse yourself…[59] how could your parents give you their permission to go forth from the home life into homelessness while you are still living?’”
10. Then the clansman Raṭṭhapāla’s friends went to him and said: “Friend Raṭṭhapāla, you are your parents’ only son, dear and beloved. You have been raised in comfort, brought up in comfort; you know nothing of suffering, friend Raṭṭhapāla. Get up, friend Raṭṭhapāla, eat, drink, and amuse yourself. While eating, drinking, and amusing yourself, you can be happy enjoying sensual pleasures and making merit. Your parents do not permit you to go forth from the home life into homelessness. Even in case of your death they would lose you unwillingly, so how could they give you their permission to go forth from the home life into homelessness while you are still living?” When this was said, the clansman Raṭṭhapāla was silent.
For the second time…For the third time his friends said to him: “Friend Raṭṭhapāla…how could they give you their permission to go forth from the home life into homelessness while you are still living?” For the third time the clansman Raṭṭhapāla was silent.
11. Then the clansman Raṭṭhapāla’s friends went to his parents and said to them: “Mother and father, the clansman Raṭṭhapāla is lying down there on the bare floor, having said: ‘Right here I shall either die or [60] receive the going forth.’ Now if you do not give him your permission to go forth from the home life into homelessness, he will die there. But if you give him your permission, you will see him after he has gone forth. And if he does not enjoy the going forth, what else can he do then but return here? So give him your permission to go forth from the home life into homelessness.”
“Then, dears, we give the clansman Raṭṭhapāla permission to go forth from the home life into homelessness. But when he has gone forth, he must visit his parents.”
Then the clansman Raṭṭhapāla’s friends went to him and told him: “Get up, friend Raṭṭhapāla. Your parents permit you to go forth from the home life into homelessness. But when you have gone forth, you must visit your parents.”
12. The clansman Raṭṭhapāla then got up, and when he had regained his strength, he went to the Blessed One, and after paying homage to him, he sat down at one side and told him: “Venerable sir, I have my parents’ permission to go forth from the home life into homelessness. Let the Blessed One give me the going forth.” Then the clansman Raṭṭhapāla received the going forth under the Blessed One, and he received the full admission.
13. Then not long after the venerable Raṭṭhapāla had received the full admission, a half-month after he had received the full admission, the Blessed One, having stayed at Thullakoṭṭhita as long as he chose, set out to wander towards Sāvatthī. Wandering by stages, he eventually arrived at Sāvatthī, and there [61] he lived at Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s Park.
14. Before long, dwelling alone, withdrawn, diligent, ardent, and resolute, the venerable Raṭṭhapāla, by realising for himself with direct knowledge, here and now entered upon and abided in that supreme goal of the holy life for the sake of which clansmen rightly go forth from the home life into homelessness.798 He directly knew: “Birth is destroyed, the