“Master, does the World-Honoured live happily?”
And the Perfect One answered:
“It is so, young man. Of those who live happily in the world I also am one.”
“Cold, Master, is the winter night, the time of frost is coming: rough is the ground trodden by cattle: thin is the couch of leaves: light the monk’s yellow robe: sharp the cutting winter wind.”
For his heart pitied the aging of the Exalted One. But he replied, again smiling:
“It is so, young man. I live happily. Of those who live happily in the world I also am one.”
And so it was, and with his own also. For his mendicants rejoicing said to one another:
“We who call nothing our own, drenched with happiness, we in this world cast out light like the radiant Gods.”
And their song was—
“Abolished is the round of birth: Completed the ascetic life;