The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha - Bhikkhu Nanamoli [361]
3. Then the matted-hair ascetic Keṇiya went to the Blessed One and exchanged greetings with him, and when this courteous and amiable talk was finished, he sat down at one side. The Blessed One instructed, urged, roused, and gladdened him with a talk on the Dhamma. Then, having been instructed, urged, roused, and gladdened by the Blessed One with a talk on the Dhamma, the matted-hair ascetic Keṇiya said to the Blessed One: “Let Master Gotama together with the Sangha of bhikkhus consent to accept tomorrow’s meal from me.”
When this was said, the Blessed One told him: “The Sangha of bhikkhus is large, Keṇiya, [104] consisting of twelve hundred and fifty bhikkhus, and you place full confidence in the brahmins.”
A second time the matted-hair ascetic Keṇiya said to the Blessed One: “Although the Sangha of bhikkhus is large, Master Gotama, consisting of twelve hundred and fifty bhikkhus, and although I place full confidence in the brahmins, still let Master Gotama, together with the Sangha of bhikkhus, consent to accept tomorrow’s meal from me.” A second time the Blessed One told him: “The Sangha of bhikkhus is large, Keṇiya…”
A third time the matted-hair ascetic Keṇiya said to the Blessed One: “Although the Sangha is large, Master Gotama…still let Master Gotama together with the Sangha of bhikkhus consent to accept tomorrow’s meal from me.” The Blessed One consented in silence.
4. Then, knowing that the Blessed One had consented, the matted-hair ascetic Keṇiya rose from his seat and went to his own hermitage where he addressed his friends and companions, his kinsmen and relatives thus: “Hear me, sirs, my friends and companions, my kinsmen and relatives. The recluse Gotama has been invited by me for tomorrow’s meal together with the Sangha of bhikkhus. Make the necessary purchases and preparations for me.”
“Yes, sir,” they replied, and some dug out ovens, some chopped wood, some washed dishes, some set out water jugs, some prepared seats, while the matted-hair ascetic Keṇiya himself set up a pavilion.
5. Now on that occasion the brahmin Sela was staying at Āpaṇa. [105] He was a master of the Three Vedas with their vocabularies, liturgy, phonology, and etymology, and the histories as a fifth; skilled in philology and grammar, he was fully versed in natural philosophy and in the marks of a Great Man, and was teaching the recitation of the hymns to three hundred brahmin students.
6. At the time the matted-hair ascetic Keṇiya had placed full confidence in the brahmin Sela. Then the brahmin Sela, while walking and wandering for exercise attended by his three hundred brahmin students, came to the matted-hair ascetic Keṇiya’s hermitage. There he saw some men digging out ovens, some chopping wood, some washing dishes, some setting up a water-pot, some preparing seats, while the matted-hair ascetic Keṇiya himself was preparing the pavilion.
7. When he saw this, he asked the matted-hair ascetic Keṇiya: “What, is Master Keṇiya to hold a marriage or a giving in marriage? Or is there some great sacrifice? Or has King Seniya Bimbisāra of Magadha been invited with a large retinue for tomorrow’s meal?”
8. “I will not be holding a marriage or a giving in marriage, Master Sela, nor has King Seniya Bimbisāra of Magadha been invited with a large retinue for tomorrow’s meal, but I am planning a great sacrifice. The recluse Gotama, the son of the Sakyans who went forth from a Sakyan clan, has been wandering in the country of the Anguttarāpans with a large Sangha of bhikkhus, with twelve hundred and fifty bhikkhus, and has come to Āpaṇa. [106] Now a good report of Master Gotama has been spread to this effect: ‘That Blessed One is accomplished, fully enlightened, perfect in true knowledge and conduct, sublime, knower of worlds, incomparable leader of persons to be tamed, teacher of gods and humans, enlightened [buddha], blessed.’ He has been invited by me for tomorrow