Look there at Beauty coming back with all his troop of kindred,
Then look at this poor Brownie, deprived of all he had![281]
When he had thus welcomed his son, the Bodisat lived to a good old age, and passed away according to his deeds.
Thus the Master gave them this lesson in virtue in illustration of what he had said, “Not only now, O mendicants! has Sāriputta come in glory, surrounded by the assembly of his brethren; in a former birth, also, he did the same. And not now only has Devadatta been deprived of his following; in a former birth also he was the same.” And he united the two stories, and made the connexion, and summed up the Jātaka as follows: “Then ‘Brownie’ was Devadatta, and his attendants Devadatta’s attendants. ’Beauty’ was Sāriputta, and his attendants the followers of the Buddha. The mother was the mother of Rāhula, but the father was I myself.”
END OF THE STORY ABOUT ‘BEAUTY.’
No. 12.
NIGRODHA-MIGA JĀTAKA.
The Banyan Deer.
“Follow the Banyan deer,” etc.—This the Master told while at Jetavana, about the mother of the Elder named Kumāra Kassapa.[282] She, we are told, was the daughter of a rich merchant of the city of Rājagaha; she was deeply rooted in virtue, and despised all transient things; she had reached her last birth, and in her heart the destiny of future Arahatship shone like a lamp within a translucent pitcher. From the time when she knew her own mind she had no pleasure in a lay life, but was desirous to take the vows. And she said to her parents,—
“Mother, dear! my heart finds no pleasure in household life. I want to take the vows according to that teaching of the Buddha which leads to Nirvāna. Let me be ordained!”