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CONVERSION OF THE FALLEN AND THE CRIMINALS
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after salutations seated himself to the one side, saying; “It is wonderful, sir, it is marvellous, what a tamer of the untamed the Lord is, how he quells the unquelled, and how he calms the uncalmed ! Here is one whom I could not subdue with cudgel and sword; but without either cudgel or sword the Lord has subdued him! And now, sir, I must be going, for I have much to do and attend to.”
“When Your Majesty pleases.” Then, rising from his seat, the king saluted the Lord with deep reverence and withdrew.
One day when, duly robed and bowl in hand, Angulimala had gone into Shravasti for alms, he was hit by a clod flung by one man, by a club flung by a second and by a potsherd flung by a third, so that it was with a broken head streaming with blood, with his bowl smashed, and with his cloak in tatters, that he presented himself before the Lord. Seeing him drawing near, the Lord said to Angulimala: “Endure it all, endure it all.”
Thus did Angulimala the robber become a righteous man by accepting the teachings of the Buddha.
Expressing the joy of the bliss of deliverance he said: “Who shows zeal, where zeal was none, who with virtue clokes his past, who in youth to Buddha cleaves, he, like the moon, floods earth with light.
“Let my foes hear this gospel, embrace this creed and follow wisdom’s sons who cleave to it. Let my foes hear in season, love’s message which is meek forbearance—and conform their lives to it.
“As ‘ Finger Necklace,’ I, bandit, lived and whirled downstream, till He brought me to land. As ‘Finger Necklace,’ I was steeped in blood; saved now am I.”
§ 3. Conversion of Other Criminals
There was to the south of Rajagraha a great mountain, distant from the city about 200 li.
Through this mountain there was a pass,
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