The Second Treatise on the Perfections – 2867 

 

Accordingly, he wanted to renounce the world after abandoning his great 
wealth. “But because of the renown, my renunciation will make me famous,” he 
thought to himself. Since he disliked fame, gain and honour shown to him, he 
did not renounce the world. 

In order to test himself whether he could unshakably stand the vicissitudes of 
life, such as gaining and not gaining wealth, etc., wearing the usual clothes, he 
left the house. His special desire was to fulfil the highest form of the perfection 
of equanimity by enduring the ill-treatment of others. Leading a noble life of 
austerities, he was thought by people to be a feeble-minded eccentric, one who 
never showed anger to others. Regarded as a person to be treated not with 
respect but with impudence, he roamed about villages and towns, big and small, 
spending just one night at each place. But he stayed longer wherever he was 
shown the greatest insolence. When his clothes were worn out, he tried to cover 
himself with whatever remnant was left. And when that piece was torn away, he 
did not accept any garment from anybody but tried to cover himself with 
anything available and kept moving. 

After living such a life for a long time, he arrived at a village. The village 
children there were of an aggressive nature. Some children, belonging to 
widows and associates of the ruling class, were unsteady, conceited, fickle-
minded, garrulous, indulging in loose talk. They wandered around, always 
playing practical jokes on others. When they saw aged and poor people walking 
along, they followed them and threw ashes on their backs. They tried to place 
nettles under the old people’s arm-pits just to make them feel uncomfortable. 
When the old people turned round to look at them, they mimicked their 
movements and manners by bending their backs, curving their legs, pretending 
to be dumb, etc. and had great fun, 

[1666]

 laughing among themselves. 

When the Bodhisatta saw the unruly children, he thought: “Now I have found a 
good means of support for the fulfilment of the perfection of equanimity,” and 
he stayed in the village. Seeing him, the mischievous kids tried to make fun of 
him, who, pretending as though he could no longer endure them, and as though 
he was afraid of them, ran away. Still, the children followed him wherever he 
went. 

The Bodhisatta, on the run, reached a cemetery and thought to himself: “This is 
a place where no one will prevent these mischievous youngsters from doing 
harm. I have now a chance to fulfil the perfection of equanimity to a high