the king was passing near the nunnery, he heard the cry of a child, and asked his ministers the reason. They knew of the matter, and said, "O king! that young nun has had a son, and the cry comes from it."
"To take care of a child. Sirs, is said to be a hindrance to nuns in their religious life. Let us undertake the care of it," said he.
And he had the child given to the women of his harem, and brought it up as a prince. And on the naming-day they called him Kassapa; but as he was brought up in royal state, he became known as Kassapa the Prince.
When he was seven years old, he was entered in the noviciate under the Buddha; and when he attained the necessary age, received full orders; and, as time went on, he became the most eloquent among the preachers. And the Master gave him the pre-eminence, saying, "Mendicants! the chief of my disciples in eloquence is Kassapa the Prince." Afterwards, through the Vammīka Sutta, he attained to Arahatship. His mother, the nun, too, obtained spiritual insight, and reached Nirvāna.[1] And Kassapa the Prince became as distinguished in the religion of the Buddhas as the full moon in the midst of the vault of heaven.
Now one day the Successor of the Buddhas, when he had returned from his rounds and taken his meal, exhorted the brethren, and entered his apartment. The brethren, after hearing the exhortation, spent the day either in their day-rooms or night-rooms, and then met together at eventide for religious conversation. And, as they sat there, they exalted the character of the Buddha, saying, "Brethren, the Elder Prince Kassapa, and the
- ↑ Literally reached the chief Fruit; the benefit resulting from the completion of the last stage of the path leading to Nirvāna; that is, Nirvāna itself. It is a striking proof of the estimation in which women were held among the early Buddhists, that they are several times declared to have reached this highest result of intellectual activity and earnest zeal. Compare the Introductory Story to Jātaka No. 234.
