DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45392#0096
Buddha & the Gospel of Buddhism
And this took place in the sixth year of the Enlighten-
ment.
The Sixth to the Fourteenth Years
The sixth rainy season was spent at Savatthi, and there-
after the Blessed One repaired to Rajagaha. Now the
name of king Bimbisara’s wife was Khema,1 and such was
her pride in her beauty that she had never deigned to
visit the Master: but on a certain occasion the king
brought about a meeting by means of a stratagem. Then
the Buddha performed a miracle for her; he produced
a likeness of one of the beautiful nymphs of Indra’s
heaven, and while she beheld it, he made it pass through
all the stages of youth, middle age, old age, and death.
And by this terrible sight the Queen was disposed to hear
the Master’s teaching, and she entered the First Path,
and afterwards attained to Arahatta.
During the Master’s residence in Rajagaha a wealthy
merchant of that place became possessed of a piece of
sandal wood, and he had a bowl made of it. This bowl
he fastened to the tip of a tall bamboo, and raising it
up in this way, he announced: “ If any Wanderer or
Brahman be possessed of miraculous powers, let him take
down the bowl.” Then Mogallana and other of the
Brethren egged each other to take it down, and that other
by name Pindola-Bharadvaja, rose up into the sky and
took the bowl, and moved three times round the city ere
he descended, to the astonishment of all the citizens.
When this was reported to the Buddha, he remarked:
“ This will not conduce to the conversion of the uncon-
verted, nor to the advantage of the converted.” And
1 For other mention of the BhikkunI Khema, see p. 223.
56
And this took place in the sixth year of the Enlighten-
ment.
The Sixth to the Fourteenth Years
The sixth rainy season was spent at Savatthi, and there-
after the Blessed One repaired to Rajagaha. Now the
name of king Bimbisara’s wife was Khema,1 and such was
her pride in her beauty that she had never deigned to
visit the Master: but on a certain occasion the king
brought about a meeting by means of a stratagem. Then
the Buddha performed a miracle for her; he produced
a likeness of one of the beautiful nymphs of Indra’s
heaven, and while she beheld it, he made it pass through
all the stages of youth, middle age, old age, and death.
And by this terrible sight the Queen was disposed to hear
the Master’s teaching, and she entered the First Path,
and afterwards attained to Arahatta.
During the Master’s residence in Rajagaha a wealthy
merchant of that place became possessed of a piece of
sandal wood, and he had a bowl made of it. This bowl
he fastened to the tip of a tall bamboo, and raising it
up in this way, he announced: “ If any Wanderer or
Brahman be possessed of miraculous powers, let him take
down the bowl.” Then Mogallana and other of the
Brethren egged each other to take it down, and that other
by name Pindola-Bharadvaja, rose up into the sky and
took the bowl, and moved three times round the city ere
he descended, to the astonishment of all the citizens.
When this was reported to the Buddha, he remarked:
“ This will not conduce to the conversion of the uncon-
verted, nor to the advantage of the converted.” And
1 For other mention of the BhikkunI Khema, see p. 223.
56