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HIS ENEMIES
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The Brahmin householders of Thuna heard the news, “ The Samana Gautama, they say, has arrived in the field of our village.”
Now the Brahmin householders were non-believers, holding wrong views and avaricious by nature.
They said, “If the Samana Gautama should enter this village and stay two or three days, he would convert all these people. Then the Brahmin religion would have no support. We must, therefore, prevent his entry in our village.
To reach the village a river had to be crossed and the Brahmins, in order to prevent the Blessed One from entering the village, took the boats away from the landing places, and made the bridges and causeways unusable.
They filled all the wells except one with weeds and the like and concealed the watering-places, resthouses and sheds.
The Blessed One learned of their misdeeds and having compassion on them, crossed the river with his company of monks, went on, and in due course of time reached the Brahmin village of Thuna.
He left the road and sat down at the foot of a tree. At that moment many women were passing by near the Blessed One carrying water.
And in that village an agreement had been made, “ If the Samana Gautama comes there, there is to be no welcome or the like made for him and when he comes to a house, neither to him nor to his disciples is any food or water to be given.”
Then a certain Brahmin’s slave girl, going along with a jar of water, saw the Blessed One and the monks, realized that they were weary and thirsty, and being of devout heart, wanted to give them water,
“Even and though the people of this village have resolved that nothing at all is to be given to the Samana Gautama and not even a show of respect is to be made,” she said to herself, “ yet if after I have found these supreme fields of merit and worthy
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