"A thousand crowns,"--This is a story told by the Master, while dwelling at Jetavana, concerning the Perfection of Renunciation. On this occasion the Bodhisattva sitting in the Hall of Truth in the midst of the Brethren, as they were singing the praises of the Perfection of Renunciation, said, "Brethren, not now only, but of old also the Tathagata verily left the world and made the Great Renunciation," and so saying he related a story of the past.
"Once upon a time, the Magadha king reigned in Rajagaha. The Bodhisattva was born to his chief queen and on his naming-day they called him prince Arindama. On the very day of his birth a son was also born to the royal chaplain, and to him they gave the name of young Sonaka. The two lads grew up together and when they were of age they were exceedingly handsome, in appearance not to be distinguished one from another, and they went to Takkasila and, after being trained in all sciences, they left that place with the intention of learning the practical uses of arts and local observances, and gradually in the course of their wanderings found their way to Benares. There they took up their abode in the royal park and next day entered the city. That very day certain men being minded to make an offering of food to Brahmins provided some rice-porridge and arranged seats, and on seeing these youths approach they brought them into the house and made them sit upon the seats they had prepared. On the seat allotted to the Bodhisattva a white cloth was spread, on that assigned to Sonaka a red woollen rug. On seeing this omen Sonaka at once understood that this day his dear friend Arindama would become king in Benares, and that he would offer him the post of commander-in-chief. After they had finished their meal they returned together to the park. Now it was the seventh day since the king of Benares had died and the royal house was without an heir. So the councillors and the rest after washing themselves, head and all, assembled together and saying, 'Thou art to go to the house of the man that is worthy to be king,' they started the festal car. On leaving the city it gradually approached the park and stopping at the park gate it stood there, ready for any one to mount upon it. The Bodhisattva lay, with his outer robe wrapped about his head, on the royal slab of stone, while the lad Sonaka sat near him. On hearing the sound of musical instruments Sonaka thought, 'Here comes the festal car for Arindama. To-day he will be made king and he will offer me the post of commander. But verily I have no desire for rule: when he is gone away, I will leave the world and become an ascetic,' and he stood on one side in concealment. The chaplain on entering the park saw the Great Being lying there and ordered his trumpets to be sounded. The Great Being woke up and after turning over and lying for a while he rose up and sat cross-legged on the stone seat. Then the chaplain spreading out his arms in a suppliant attitude cried, 'The kingdom, Sire, comes to you.' 'Why, is there no heir to the throne?' 'Even so, Sire.' 'Then it is well,' he said. So they sprinkled him to be king then and there. And mounting him on the car they brought him with a vast escort into the city. After a solemn procession round the city he ascended to his palace and in the greatness of his glory he forgot all about young Sonaka. But when the king was gone, Sonaka returned and sat on the stone seat, and so it was that a withered leaf of a sal tree fell from its stalk in front of him, and on seeing it he cried, 'Even as this leaf, so will my body fall into decay,' and acquiring supernatural insight by reflecting on the impermanence of all things he attained to the state of a Pacceka Buddha, and at this very instant his characteristic as a layman vanished, and the marks of an ascetic became visible, and saying, 'There is no more re-birth for me,' in the utterance of this aspiration he set out for the cave of Nandamula. And the Great Being after the lapse of forty years remembered Sonaka and said, 'Where in the world can Sonaka be?' And time after time calling him to mind he found no one to tell him saying, 'I have heard of him or I have seen him.' And sitting cross-legged on a royal throne upon a magnificent dais, surrounded by a company of minstrels and mime dancers, in the enjoyment of his glory, he said, 'Whosoever shall hear from some one that Sonaka dwells in such and such a place and shall repeat it to me, to him I promise a hundred pieces of money, but whosoever shall see him with his own eyes and shall tell me, to him I promise a thousand pieces of money,' and giving expression to this inspired utterance, in the form of a song, he repeated the first stanza:
"'A thousand crowns for one that sees my friend and playmate dear.
"Then a nautch girl, catching it up, as it were, from his very mouth, sang the words, and then another and another took it up till the whole harem, thinking it was a favorite air of the king's, all sang it. And gradually both towns-people and country-folk sang the same song and the king too constantly sang it. At the end of fifty years the king had many sons and daughters, and the eldest son was called prince Dighavu. At this time the Pacceka Buddha Sonaka thought, 'King Arindama is anxious to see me. I will go and explain to him the misery of evil desires and the blessing of Renunciation, and will show him the way to become an ascetic.' And by his supernatural power he conveyed himself thither and took a seat in the park. At that moment a boy seven years old, wearing his hair in five knots, was sent there by his mother, and as he was gathering sticks in the park garden he sang over and over again this song. Sonaka called the boy to him and asked him saying, 'Why, my lad, do you always sing the same song and never sing anything else? Do you not know any other song?' 'I know others, holy Sir, but this is the king's favorite song, and so I constantly sing it.' 'Has any one been found to sing a refrain to this song?' 'No, Sir.' 'I will teach you one and then you can go and sing the refrain before the king.' 'Yes, Sir.' So he taught him the refrain 'A thousand crowns' and the rest of it, and when the boy had mastered it, he sent him off, saying, 'Go, my lad, and sing this refrain before the king and he will grant you great power. What have you to do with gathering sticks? Be off with you as quick as you can.' 'It is well,' said the boy, and having mastered the refrain and saluted Sonaka he said, 'Holy Sir, until I bring the king, do you remain here.' With these words he went off as fast as he could to his mother and said to her, 'Dear mother, give me a bath and dress me in my best clothes: to-day will I free you from your poverty.' And when he had taken a bath and was smartly dressed, he went to the door of the palace and said, 'Porter, go and tell the king and say, "A certain lad has come and even now stands at the door, prepared to sing a song with you."' So the porter made haste and told the king. The king summoned him to his presence and said, 'Friend, would you sing a song with me?' 'Yes, Sire.' 'Then sing it.' 'My lord, I will not sing it here, but have a drum beaten through the city and bid the people assemble together. I will sing before the people.' The king ordered this to be done, and, taking his seat in the middle of a couch under a magnificent pavilion and assigning a suitable seat to the boy, he said, 'Now then sing your song.' 'Sire,' he said, 'you sing first and then I will sing a refrain to it.' Then the king sang first, repeating this stanza:
"'A thousand crowns for one that sees my friend and playmate dear,
Then the Master, to make it clear that the boy with his hair dressed in five knots sang a refrain to the song begun by the king, in his Perfect Wisdom repeated two lines:
"Then up and spake that little boy—five tangled locks he wore--
"The verses that follow are to be taken in their obvious connection.
"'Pray in what country, realm, or town hast thou a-wandering been,
"'Within this realm, in thine own park is many a big sal tree
"'Their branches densely interlaced, cloud-like, to heaven they rise,
"'The king then started in full force and leveling the road
"'There wandering midst an ample grove within his pleasure ground,
"Without saluting him he sat on one side and, by reason of his being himself given up to evil passion, he fancied he was some poor wretch and addressed him in this stanza:
"'His parents dead, with shaven head, clad in monk's robe I see
"'On hearing this said Sonaka, "He is no wretched wight
"'"Nay rather wretched those who right neglect and practice ill,
"Thus did he rebuke the Bodhisattva, and he pretending not to know he was being rebuked, talking in a friendly way with him, declared his name and family and spoke this stanza:
"'As king of Kasi I am known, Arindama my name,
"Then the Pacceka Buddha said, 'Not merely while dwelling here but nowhere else have I met with any discomfort,' and he began to tell in verse the blessings of the monk:
"''Mongst blessings of poor homeless monk I ever count it one,
"'The next of all his blessings this is one deserving praise,
"'Third blessing of the monk I hold is this, that all his days
"'The fourth of all his blessings is that wheresoever he goes,
"'Fifth blessing this that should the town, wherever he may be,
"'The sixth of all the blessings he may reckon to his lot
"'The seventh of the blessings that to poverty he owes,
"'Last blessing this that wheresoever our wanderer may fare,
"Thus did the Pacceka Buddha Sonaka tell of the eight blessings of the monk, and even beyond this he could have told of a hundred, nay a thousand immeasurable blessings, but the king being given up to sensual desires cut short his speech, saying, 'I have no need of monkish blessings,' and to make it clear how devoted he was to evil passions he said:
"'Thy many blessings thou mayst praise but what am I to do
"'Dear are all human joys to me and heavenly joys as well,
"Then the Pacceka Buddha answered him:
"'Who greedily on pleasure bent their worldly lusts would sate,
"'But they who leave desire behind through life all fearless go,
"'Here tell I thee a parable; Arindama, give heed,
"'See! borne along on Ganges' flooded tide a carcase vast,
"'"Oh what a carriage I have found and goodly store of food,
"'So eats he flesh of elephant and drinks from Ganges' stream,
"'Thus heedless and on carrion vile so all intent was he,
"'But when with food exhausted he, poor bird, essayed a flight,
"'Far out at sea, so weak was he, long ere he reached the shore,
"'For crocodiles and monster fish, where our poor flutterer lay,
"'So thou and all that greedily pleasures of sense pursue
"'My parable proclaims the Truth. To it, O king, give heed,
"Thus by means of this parable did he admonish the king and, in order to fix it firmly in his mind, he repeated this stanza:
"'In pity once, nay even twice, utter the warning word,
"Thus in his wisdom infinite did Sonaka the seer
"This stanza was inspired by Perfect Wisdom.
"And the Bodhisattva stood gazing on him as he passed through the air, so long as he remained within the range of his vision, but when he had passed out of sight, he was greatly agitated and thought, 'This Brahmin, low-born fellow that he is, after scattering the dust from his feet upon my head, though I am sprung from an unbroken line of nobles, has disappeared in the sky: I must to-day renounce the world and become a religious. So in his desire to join the religious and give up his kingdom he repeated a couple of stanzas:
"'Where are my charioteers, despatched a worthy king to find?
"'Tomorrow one may die, who knows? I'll be ordained to-day;
"On hearing him thus abdicate his throne his councillors said:
"'Thou hast a son, Dighavu named, a goodly prince is he,
"Then, beginning with the stanza spoken by the king, the verses in due order are to be understood in their obvious connection:
"'Then quickly bring Dighavu here, a goodly prince is he,
"'When they had brought Dighavu there, their nursing king to be,
"'Full sixty thousand villages I once did claim as mine,
"'Tomorrow one may die, who knows? I'll be ordained to-day;
"'Lo! sixty thousand elephants with splendor all bedight,
"'Each ridden by his own mahout, with spiked hook in hand,
"'Tomorrow one may die, who knows? I'll be ordained to-day;
"'Lo! sixty thousand horses here, bedecked in bright array
"'Each ridden by a henchman bold, with sword and bow in hand,
"'Tomorrow one may die, who knows? I'll be ordained to-day;
"'Lo! sixty thousand cars all yoked, with banners flying free,
"'Each driven by mailed charioteers, all armed with bow in hand,
"'Tomorrow one may die, who knows? I'll be ordained to-day;
"'Lo! sixty thousand kine so red, with bulls on every hand,
"'Tomorrow one may die, who knows? I'll be ordained to-day;
"'Here twice eight thousand maidens fair in goodly vesture stand,
"'Tomorrow one may die, who knows? I'll be ordained to-day;
"'They say to me, "Thy mother dear, alas! poor boy, is dead,"
"'As close behind old elephant a young one oft is found
"'So bowl in hand I'll follow thee, wherever thou mayst lead,
"'As oft some ship of merchants seeking gain at any cost
"'So lest I find a stumbling-block in this accursed boy,
"'With maids whose hands caressing him with gleaming gold are bright,
"'Then brought they prince Dighavu to the palace, home of joy,
"'"Who art thou? Angel, minstrel-god, or Sakka known to fame,
"'No angel I nor minstrel-god nor Sakka known to fame,
"'Then thus unto Dighavu, their liege lord, these maidens said;
"'The king escaped from miry ways is safe upon dry ground,
"'But I am set upon a path that leads to woeful state,
"'Welcome to us, as lion is to cubs in mountain lair,
"And having so spoken they all sounded their musical instruments and all manner of song and dance took place, and so great was his glory that the prince intoxicated by it forgot all about his father, but exercising his rule with justice he fared according to his deeds. But the Bodhisattva developed the supernatural faculty resulting from Meditation and passed away to the Brahma world."
The Master here ended his lesson and said, "Not now only, Brethren, but also of old the Tathagata verily made the Great Renunciation," and he identified the Birth, saying, "At that time the Pacceka Buddha obtained Nirvana, the son was the young Rahula, and king Arindama was I myself."