The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha - Bhikkhu Nanamoli [327]
“Householder, if you would follow my advice, then have this pile of gold coins and bullion loaded on carts and carried away to be dumped midstream in the river Ganges. Why is that? Because, householder, on account of this there will arise for you sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair.”
23. Then the venerable Raṭṭhapāla’s former wives clasped his feet and said to him: “What are they like, my lord’s son, the nymphs for whose sake you lead the holy life?”
“We do not lead the holy life for the sake of nymphs, sisters.”
“Our lord’s son Raṭṭhapāla calls us ‘sisters,’” they cried and right there they fainted.
24. Then the venerable Raṭṭhapāla told his father: “Householder, if there is a meal to be given, then give it. Do not harass us.”
“Eat then, dear Raṭṭhapāla, the meal is ready.”
Then, with his own hands, the venerable Raṭṭhapāla’s father served and satisfied him with the various kinds of good food. When the venerable Raṭṭhapāla had eaten and had put his bowl aside, he stood up and uttered these stanzas:
25. “Behold a puppet here pranked out,800
A body built up out of sores,
Sick, an object for concern,
Where no stability abides.
Behold a figure here pranked out
With jewellery and earrings too,
A skeleton wrapped up in skin,
Made attractive by its clothes.
Its feet adorned with henna dye
And powder smeared upon its face:
It may beguile a fool, but not
A seeker of the further shore. [65]
Its hair is dressed in eightfold plaits
And unguent smeared upon its eyes:
It may beguile a fool, but not
A seeker of the further shore.
A filthy body well adorned
Like a new-painted unguent pot:
It may beguile a fool, but not
A seeker of the further shore.
The deer-hunter set out the snare
But the deer did not spring the trap;
We ate the bait and now depart
Leaving the hunters to lament.”
26. After the venerable Raṭṭhapāla had stood up and uttered these stanzas, he went to King Koravya’s Migācīra garden and sat down at the root of a tree for the day’s abiding.
27. Then King Koravya addressed his gamekeeper thus: “Good gamekeeper, tidy up the Migācīra Garden so that we may go to the pleasure garden to see a pleasing spot.”—“Yes, sire,” he replied. Now while he was tidying up the Migācīra Garden, the gamekeeper saw the venerable Raṭṭhapāla seated at the root of a tree for the day’s abiding. When he saw him, he went to King Koravya and told him: “Sire, the Migācīra Garden has been tidied up. The clansman Raṭṭhapāla is there, the son of the leading clan in this same Thullakoṭṭhita, of whom you have always spoken highly;801 he is seated at the root of a tree for the day’s abiding.”
“Then, good gamekeeper, enough of the pleasure garden for today. Now we shall go to pay respects to that Master Raṭṭhapāla.”
28. Then, saying: “Give away all the food that has been prepared there,” King Koravya had a number of state carriages prepared, and mounting one of them, accompanied by the other carriages, he drove out from Thullakoṭṭhita with the full pomp of royalty to see the venerable Raṭṭhapāla. He drove thus as far as the road was passable for carriages, and then he dismounted from his carriage and went forward on foot with a following of the most eminent officials to where the venerable Raṭṭhapāla was. [66] He exchanged greetings with the venerable Raṭṭhapāla, and when this courteous and amiable talk was finished, he stood at one side and said: “Here is an elephant rug. Let Master Raṭṭhapāla be seated on it.”
“There is no need, great king. Sit down. I am sitting on my own mat.”
King Koravya sat down on a seat made ready and said:
29. “Master Raṭṭhapāla, there are four kinds of loss. Because they have undergone these four kinds of loss, some people here shave off their hair and beard, put on the yellow robe, and go forth from