Texts from the Buddhist canon : commonly known as Dhammapada

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io8 DHAMMAPADA.
the King bade Mm take three handfuls, and -welcome.
Having done so, and gone seven paces, again he returned
and replaced the jewels on the heap. Whereupon the
King once more inquired his reason for So doing, to which
he replied, " These might be enough to provide me with
house and wife, but then I shall have to buy slaves and
oxen and horses, and for this purpose the three handfuls
are not sufficient." On this the King said, " Take then
seven handfuls, and welcome." The Brahmacharin having
done so, and gone seven paces, again returned and did as
before, saying that these seven handfuls, though enough for
the purpose assigned, would yet not suffice for the maintenance
and welfare of his children. On this the. King
bade him take the whole heap of jewels, and use them for
the purposes named. Accordingly the Brahmach§,rin did
so, and departed. On this the King, astonished, cried
out to him in a loud voice what his reason for so acting
might be ? To which the man replied, that those who
legged sought only things for the present life; whilst
those who thought, found out the instability and imperma-
nence of all worldly things, and the ever-accumulating
mass of sorrow and pain that resulted from a worldly Ufe.
And on this, resuming his own glorious body as Buddha,
he added these stanzas :
"Though a man possessed a heap of jewels as
high as heaven, enough to fill the world, not so
happy he as one who apprehends the first principles
of truth ; he who makes vice resemble virtue, and
love resemble hate (or, confuses the one with the
other), he who confounds the true source of joy
with sorrow—that man surely, bereft of reason,
causes his own destruction."
Hearing these words, the King was filled with joy, and
both he and his ministers received the precepts, and
entered the Paths,