Long ago, we are told, he had been a king, who, as he was once going round the city, and the sweat trickled down from his forehead, wiped the top of his forehead with his pure white robe. When the robe became dirty, he thought, “By this body the pure white robe has lost its former condition, and has become soiled. Changeable indeed are all component things!” And so he realized the doctrine of impermanency. It was on this account that the incident of the transfer of impurity brought about his conversion.
But to return to our story. Jīvaka, the nobleman, brought to the Buddha the so-called water of presentation. The Teacher covered the vessel with his hand, and said, “Are there no monks in the monastery, Jīvaka?”
“Nay, my Lord, there are no monks there,” said Great Roadling.
“But there are, Jīvaka,” said the Master.
Jīvaka then sent a man, saying, “Do you go, then, and find out whether there are any monks or not at the monastery.”
At that moment Little Roadling thought, “My brother says there are no monks here; I will show him there are.” And he filled the Mango-grove with priests—a thousand monks, each unlike the other—some making robes, some repairing them, and some repeating the Scriptures.
The man, seeing all these monks at the monastery, went back, and told Jīvaka, “Sir, the whole Mango-grove is alive with monks.”
It was with reference to this that it is said of him, that
“Roadling, multiplying himself a thousand fold,
Sate in the pleasant Mango-grove till he was bidden to the feast.”