Whose hoard was many tens of millions, blest with much wealth and store;
16. Studious, knowing the Mantras, versed in the three Vedas,
Master of the science of divination and of the traditions and observances of his caste.
Now one day the wise Sumedha, having retired to the splendid upper apartment of his house, seated himself cross-legged, and fell a thinking. “Oh! wise man,[124] grievous is rebirth in a new existence, and the dissolution of the body in each successive place where we are reborn. I am subject to birth, to decay, to disease, to death,—it is right, being such, that I should strive to attain the great deathless Nirvāna, which is tranquil, and free from birth, and decay, and sickness, and grief and joy; surely there must be a road that leads to Nirvāna and releases man from existence.” Accordingly it is said,
17. Seated in seclusion, I then thought as follows:
Grievous is rebirth and the breaking up of the body.
18. I am subject to birth, to decay, to disease,
Therefore will I seek Nirvāna, free from decay and death, and secure.
19. Let me leave this perishable body, this pestilent congregation of vapours,
And depart without desires and without wants.