Chapter 36
(
sikkhÈ
) is beautiful in the beginning, beautiful in the middle and beautiful in the end. It is
the teaching that will also certainly lead to liberation from
saÑsÈra
; Friend Pukkusati, I
would like to urge you to renounce the world and become a monk if you can.‛
King BimbisÈra then rolled the gold sheet, wrapped it in a piece of very fine cloth and
put it in a sandalwood case; the sandalwood case was then placed in a gold case, the gold
case in a silver case, the silver case in a ruby case, the ruby case in a coral case, the coral
case in a carbuncle case, the carbuncle case in a spotted ruby (
masÈragalla
) case, the
spotted-ruby case in a crystal case, the crystal case in an ivory case, the ivory case in a ten-
jewelled case, the ten-jewelled case in a bamboo-strip case and the bamboo-strip case again
in a sandalwood box, then again the sandalwood box was placed in a gold box, silver box,
ruby box, coral box, carbuncle box, spotted-ruby box, crystal box, ivory box, the ten
jewelled box and a bamboo-strip box successively, one box in the other as before.
Then the bamboo-strip box was put in a sandalwood casket, the sandalwood casket in a
gold casket, then as before in a silver casket, ruby casket, coral casket, carbuncle casket,
spotted ruby casket, crystal casket, ivory casket, ten-jewelled casket and lacquer casket
successively. Then after having the lacquer casket wrapped up in a piece of fine cloth, and
the royal seal stamped, the King ordered his ministers: ‚Decorate the streets in my domain,
each street being eight
usabhas
in width, the two portions being two
usabhas
in width on
either side to be just patched up but the middle portion measuring four
usabhas
1
in width is
to be decorated with royal accessories.‛
Then the King had a seat placed on a fully ornamented royal elephant, had a white
umbrella over it, had the roads of the capital sprinkled with water and thoroughly swept.
Flags, banners, and streamers were to be hoisted. On either side of each roads was to be
decorated with plantain trees, water-filled pots, various performers and fragrant flowers.
Messengers were sent to provincial and city governors with instructions saying:
‚You should honour the royal present when it passed through places under your
rule.‛
Splendidly adorned with full regalia, and accompanied by his ministers, the King himself
set off, carrying the sacred present to the border with great pomp and ceremony amid the
boisterous playing of all kinds of music. He privately told his envoy who was in charge of
the scared present:
‚Men, I want my royal friend to receive it not in the presence of his queens but on
the upper terrace of the mansion.‛
The King worshipped the sacred present most respectfully, regarding its journey as the
visit of the Buddha Himself to the border country. Then he returned to RÈjagaha City.
The provincial and city governors also improved the road in the same way and passed on
the scared present from one place to another.
Reception by King PukkasÈti
King PukkasÈti, too, had the road from the border refurbished, had the capital beautifully
decorated and received the sacred present magnificently.
The sacred present reached TakkasilÈ surprisingly on an
uposatha
day. The minister, who
brought the present, transmitted to the King about the message that King BimbisÈra had
verbally given him.
Having heard the message, King PukkasÈti made the necessary arrangements for the
comfort of the visitors and took the present by himself and went up to the upper terrace of
the mansion. He posted guards at the door to prevent anyone from entering the mansion,
opened the window, placed the holy present on a high place and took a lower seat for
himself. Then he removed the royal seal and the outer covering of cloth and on opening the
1. 1 usabha = 20 yaÔÔhis, 1 yaÔÔhi = 7 ratanaÑ,
1 ratanaÑ = 2 vadatthi, 1 vadatthi = 12 ahgulaÑ
1 a~gulaÑ = 1 inch. Hence 1 usabha = 280 ft (Childers)