Читать книгу Garland of the Buddha's Past Lives (Volume 2) - Aryashura - Страница 37

21.1

By conquering anger, enemies are quelled. By doing the opposite, enemies are increased.

Tradition has handed down the following story.

The Bodhi·sattva, that Great Being,* is said to have once taken his birth in an eminent brahmin family that was honored by the king and esteemed by the people as if it were a god. The family’s magnificent practice of virtue meant it enjoyed an extremely large fame and secure wealth.

In the course of time the Bodhi·sattva grew up and, after undergoing all the sacred rites, he quickly became renowned among learned assemblies for his dedication to knowledge and virtue.

21.5

The fame of the wise expands

among learned assemblies,

like the fame of gems among jewelers

or the reputation of heroes on battlefields.

The Great One* had become intimate with the ascetic path and had thoroughly developed his moral awareness in his previous lives. This, combined with the fact that his mind was cleansed by wisdom, meant he took no delight in the household life. Desires were full of strife, disagreement, hatred and repugnance. Associated with kings, thieves, floods, fires and hostile kinsmen, they produced discontent and were a source of multiple evils. Desiring spiritual matters instead, he abandoned sensual pleasures as if they were poisoned food. Shaving off his fine hair and beard, he cast aside the illusory graces of his house-hold clothes and put on some dreary-looking saffron robes, ________