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CONVERSION OF THE HIGH AND THE HOLY
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Jeevaka was appointed physician to the king and the king’s women.
But Jeevaka was greatly attached to the Blessed Lord. Consequently he also acted as a physician to him and the Sangh.
He became a disciple of the Lord. The Blessed Lord did not make him a Bhikku as he wanted him to remain free to tend to the sick and the wounded.
When Bimbisara died Jeevaka continued to serve his son Ajatsatru and was mainly instrumental in bringing him to the Lord after his crime of parricide.
§ 8. The Conversion of Ratthapala
Once when the Lord was on an alms pilgrimage in the Kuru country with a great company of almsmen, he stayed at Thullakotthita, which was a township of the Kurus.
They came to know of it and went to him to pay their respects.
When they were seated, the Lord instructed them with a discourse on the Doctrine. Having received their instruction from the Lord, the Brahmin heads of houses of Thullakotthita gratefully thanked him, rose up and departed with deep obeisance.
Seated among them was a young man named Ratthapala, a scion of a leading family of the place, to whom this thought came : “So far as I understand, the Doctrine which the Lord has preached is no easy matter for one who lives in a home to lead the higher life in all its fullness, purity, and perfection.
“What if I were to cut off hair and beard, don the yellow robes and go forth from home to homelessness as a pilgrim !”
When the Brahmins had not been gone long, then Ratthapala came up and, after salutations, told the Lord the thought which had come to him, and asked to be admitted to, and confirmed in, the confraternity under him.
“Have you your parents’ consent to this step, Ratthapala ? ’ asked the Lord.
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