Then the Teacher, knowing that the eyes of his mind were opened, sent forth a glorious vision of himself, which appeared as if sitting before him in visible form, and saying, "Little Roadling! be not troubled at the thought that this cloth has become so soiled and stained. Within thee, too, are the stains of lust and care and sin; but these thou must remove!" And the vision uttered these stanzas:
It is not dust, but lust, that really is the stain:
This — 'stain' — is the right word for lust.
'Tis the monks who have put away this stain.
Who live up to the Word of the Stainless One!
It is not dust, but anger, that really is the stain: This — 'stain' — is the right word for anger. 'Tis the monks who have put away this stain. Who live up to the Word of the Stainless One!
It is not dust, but delusion, that really is the stain: This — 'stain' — is the right word for delusion. 'Tis the monks who have put away this stain. Who live up to the Word of the Stainless One!
And as the stanzas were finished. Little Roadling attained to Arahatship, and with it to the intellectual gifts of an Arahat; and by them he understood all the Scriptures.
Long ago, we are told, he had been a king, who, as he was once going round the city, and the sweat trickled down from his forehead, wiped the top of his forehead with his pure white robe. When the robe became dirty, he thought, "By this body the pure white robe has lost its former condition, and has become soiled. Changeable indeed are all component things!" And so he realized the doctrine of impermanency. It was on this account that the incident of the transfer of impurity brought about his conversion.
