REFORMERS AND THEIR FATE 219
‘And on what wise was the talk that you had with him?
- Then the Blessed One told the Brahman Pokkharasadi all the talk that had taken place. And when he had thus spoken Pokkharasadi said to the Blessed One:
‘He is young and foolish, Gotama, that young Brahman Ambattha. Forgive him, Gotama.’
‘Let him be quite happy. Brahman, that young Brahman Ambattha’
And the Brahman Pokkharasadi took stock, on the body of the Blessed One, of the thirty two marks of a Great Being. And he saw them all plainly, save only two. As to two of them the sheath concealed member and the extensive tongue—he was still in doubt and undecided. But the Blessed One showed them to Pokkharasadi, even as he had shown them to Ambattha. And Pokkharasadi perceived that the Blessed One was endowed with the thirty two marks of a Great Being, with all of them, not only with some. And he said to the Blessed One: ‘May the venerable Gotama grant me the favour of taking his tomorrow’s meal with me, and also the members of the Order with him’ And the Blessed One accepted, by silence, his request.
Then the Brahman Pokkharasadi, seeing that the Blessed One had accepted, had (on the morrow) the time announced to him : ‘It is time. Oh Gotama, the meal is ready.’ And the Blessed One. who had dressed in the early morning, put on his outer robe, and taking his bowl with him, went, with the brethren to Pokkharasadi’s house, and sat down on the seat prepared for him. And Pokkharasadi the Brahman, satisfied the Blessed One, with his own hand, with sweet food, both hard and soft, until he refused any more, and the young Brahmans the members of the Order. And when the Blessed One had finished his meal, and cleansed the bowl and his hands, Pokkharasadi took a low seat, and sat down beside him.
Then to him thus seated the Blessed One discoursed in due order; that is to say, he spoke to him of generosity, of right conduct, of heaven, of the danger, the vanity, and the defilement of lusts, of the advantages of renunciation. And when the Blessed One saw that Pokkharasadi the Brahman, had become prepared, softened, unprejudiced, upraised, and believing in heart, then he proclaimed the doctrine the Buddhas alone have won; that is to say, the doctrine of sorrow, of its origin, of its cessation, and of the Path. And just as a clean cloth from which all stain has been washed away will readily take the dye, just even so did Pokkharasadi the Brahman, obtain, even while sitting there, the pure and spotless Eye for the Truth, and he knew: ‘Whatsoever has a beginning in that is inherent also the necessity of dissolution.’