Dialogues of the Buddha, Part II — trans. T. W. and C. A. F. Rhys Davids (1910)

9. Now at that time in the cave the rough passages were made smooth, the narrow spaces were made wide, and in the dark cavern it became bright, such was the potency of the celestials [270], Then said the Exalted One to Sakka : — ' Wonderful is this ! marvellous is this, that the venerable Kosiya, with so much to do, so much to perform, should come hither ! '

' For a long time, lord, have I been desirous of coming to see the Exalted One, but I was hindered by one task and another that I had to perform for the Three-and-Thirty gods, and was not able to come. On one occasion the Exalted One was staying at Savatthi, in the Sa/ala cottage. So I went to Savatthi to see the Exalted One.

10. ' Now at that time, lord, the Exalted One was seated, rapt in some stage of meditation, and Bhunjati, wife of Vessava^a l, was waiting on him, worshipping with clasped hands. Then I said to Bhunjati : — " Madam, do you salute the Exalted One for me, and say : — ' Sakka, lord, ruler of gods, with ministers and suite, does homage at the feet of the Exalted One.' And Bhunjati replied : — " 'Tis not the right time, sir, for seeing the Exalted One ; he is in retreat." [271] " Well then, madam, when the Exalted One rouses himself from his meditation, salute him for me and say what I have told you." Did the lady so salute the Exalted One, lord, for me ? And does the Exalted One remember what she said ? '

' She did salute me, ruler of gods. I remember her words. And this too — that it was the noise of your

1 That is, Kuvera, king of the North Quarter, ruler over Yakkhas.
See previous Suttanta, § 9.

III. Xp. 306 excellency's chariot wheels that aroused me from that meditation.'

11. 'Lord, I have heard and understood when in the presence of those gods who were reborn into the heaven of the Three-and-Thirty before Us, that when a Tathagata, an Arahant Buddha supreme, arises in the world, the celestial hosts wax in numbers, and the Asura hosts wane. And I myself, lord, have seen and can witness that this is so. Take, lord, this case. There was, at Kapilavatthu, a daughter of the Sakyans named Gopika, who trusted in the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Order, and who fulfilled the precepts. She, having abandoned a woman's thoughts and cultivated the thoughts of a man, was, at the dissolution of the body after her death, reborn to a pleasant life, into the communion of the Three-and-Thirty gods, into sonship with us. And there they knew her as " Gopaka of the sons of the gods, Gopaka of the sons of the gods." Moreover, lord, there were three bhikkhus who, having followed the religious life prescribed by the Exalted One, were reborn into a lower state among the Gandhabbas. Surrounded by and enjoying the pleasures of the five senses, they used to wait upon and minister to us. Things being so, Gopaka upbraided [272]them saying : — " Where were your ears, sirs, that ye hearkened not to the Dhamma of the Exalted One ? Here am I who being but a maiden, trusting in the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Order, and fulfilling the precepts, abandoned all my woman's thoughts and, cultivating a man's thoughts, was reborn after my death into a pleasant life, into communion with the Three-and- Thirty gods, into the sonship of Sakka, the lord of the gods, and am known as Gopaka, son of the gods. But ye, sirs, following the religious life of the Exalted One, have only been reborn into the lower state of Gandhabbas. A sad thing, indeed, is this to see, when we behold our co-religionists reborn into the inferior condition of Gandhabbas." Of those fairies, lord, thus rebuked by Gopaka, two acquired in that same lifetime