"He whom others guard not"--This the Teacher told while at the Anupiya Mango-grove, near the town of that name, about the Elder named Bhaddiya the Happy-minded. Bhaddiya the Happy-minded took the vows when the six young noblemen did so together with Upali. Of these, Bhaddiya and Kimbila and Bhagu and Upali became Arhats, Ananda entered the First Stage of the Road to Nirvana, Anuruddha attained to the Knowledge of the Past and the Present and the Future, and Devadatta acquired the power of Deep Meditation. The story of the six young noblemen, up to the events at Anupiya, will be related in the Khandahala Jataka.
Now one day the venerable Bhaddiya called to mind how full of anxiety he had been when, as a king, caring for himself like a guardian angel, and surrounding himself with every protection, he had lolled in his upper chamber on his royal couch: and now how free from anxiety he was, when, as an Arhat, he was wandering, here and there, in forests and waste places. And realizing this change, he uttered an exclamation of joy, "Oh, Happiness! Happiness!"
This the monks told the Blessed One, saying, "Bhaddiya is prophesying about Arhatship!"
The Blessed One replied, "Mendicants! not now only is Bhaddiya full of joy; he was so also in a former birth."
The monks requested the Blessed One to explain how that was. Then the Blessed One made manifest an event hidden through change of birth.
"Long ago, when Brahmadatta was reigning in Benares, the Bodhisattva became a wealthy Brahman of the north-west country. And perceiving the evils of worldly lusts, and the advantages of the religious life, he abandoned the world, and went to the Himalaya region, and adopted the life of a hermit, and practiced the Eight Attainments. And the number of his disciples increased greatly, until he was attended by five hundred ascetics.
"In the rainy season he left the Himalayas, and attended by the body of ascetics, journeyed through the towns and villages till he came to Benares, and there took up his dwelling-place under the patronage of the king in the royal park. When he had there passed the four rainy months, he took leave of the king. But the king asked him to stop, saying, 'You are old, Sir. Why go to the Himalayas? Send your disciples there, but dwell here yourself!'
"So the Bodhisattva gave the five hundred ascetics in charge to his senior pupil, and sent him away, saying, 'You shall go and live with these men in the Himalayas. I will stay here.'
"Now the senior pupil was a royal devotee who had abandoned a mighty kingdom for the religious life; and having gone through the course of meditation preparatory thereto, had acquired the eight kinds of spiritual insight.
"As he was living in the Himalaya region with the ascetics, he one day conceived a desire to see his teacher, and said to the ascetics, 'Do you live on quietly here; I am just going to pay my respects to our teacher, and shall be back soon.'
"Then he went to the place where his teacher was, saluted him, and offered him friendly greeting; and spreading a mat on the floor, lay down by his side.
"Just then the king also went to the park to see the teacher, and saluting him, took his seat respectfully on one side. Though the disciple saw the king, he did not get up, but lying there just as he was broke forth into a chant of joy, 'Oh, Happiness! Oh, Happiness!'
"The king, displeased that the ascetic, on seeing him, had not arisen, said to the Bodhisattva, 'Sir, this ascetic must have enjoyed himself to his heart's content. He lies there, quite at his ease, singing a song!'
"'Great king! This ascetic was once a king like you. He is thinking, "Formerly, as a layman, even when enjoying royal splendor, and guarded by many men with arms in their hands, I had no such joy as this," and he utters this exclamation of joy in reference to the joys of meditation, and to the happiness of the religious life.'
"And having thus spoken, the Bodhisattva further uttered this verse in order to instruct the king in righteousness--
"'He who needs no others to defend him,
"When the king had listened to this discourse, he was satisfied again; and taking leave, he returned to the palace. And the disciple, too, took his leave, and returned to the Himalaya region. But the Bodhisattva dwelt there in continued meditation till he died, and he was then reborn in the Brahma heaven."
When the Teacher had preached this discourse, and told the two stories, he established the connection, and summed up the Jataka as follows: "The pupil of that time was Bhaddiya the Elder, but the Master of the company of disciples was I myself."
