colours, appeared before the Sage. And behind him Mahā-Subhaddā and Culā-Subhaddā, the two daughters of the merchant, went forth with five hundred damsels carrying water-pots full of water. And behind them, decked with all her ornaments, the merchant's wife went forth, with five hundred matrons carrying vessels full of food. And behind them all the great merchant himself, clad in new robes, with five hundred traders also dressed in new robes, went out to meet the Blessed One.
The Blessed One, sending this retinue of lay disciples in front, and attended by the great multitude of monks, entered the Jetavana monastery with the infinite grace and unequalled majesty of a Buddha, making the spaces of the grove bright with the halo from his person, as if they were sprinkled with gold-dust.
Then Anātha Piṇḍika asked him, "How, my Lord, shall I deal with this Wihāra?"
"O householder," was the reply, "give it then to the Order of Mendicants, whether now present or hereafter to arrive."
And the great merchant, saying, "So be it, my Lord," brought a golden vessel, and poured water over the hand of the Sage, and dedicated the Wihāra, saying, "I give this Jetavana Wihāra to the Order of Mendicants with the Buddha at their head, and to all from every direction now present or hereafter to come."[1]
And the Master accepted the Wihāra, and giving thanks, pointed out the advantages of monasteries, saying, —
294. Cold they ward off, and heat;
So also beasts of prey,
And creeping things, and gnats,
And rains in the cold season.
And when the dreaded heat and winds
Arise, they ward them off.
- ↑ This formula has been constantly found in rock inscriptions in India and Ceylon over the ancient cave-dwellings of Buddhist hermits.
