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

21. ' Well now, Prince, I will give you a simile, for it is by way of a simile that some intelligent men discern the meaning of what is spoken. Once upon a time, Prince, a fire-worshipping Ja^ila was dwelling in a leafhut in a woodland spot. Now the people of a certain country-side migrated. And their leader, after spending one night near the Ja/ila's hermitage, went away. [340] Then the Ja/ila thought: — " If I were to go to that leader's camp, I might perhaps get something useful." And rising up betimes he came to the leader's camp, and there he saw, abandoned and lying on its back a little baby. And when he saw it he thought : — " It is not fit that I should let a human being die while I look on. What if I were to carry this baby to my hermitage, and foster, tend, and rear it ? ' So he carried the baby to his hermitage, and fostered, tended, and reared it. When the boy had attained the age of ten or twelve years, it happened that the Ja/ila had something or other to do in the country-side. So he said to the boy : — " I want to go to the country-side, my lad ; keep up the fire ; do not let it go out. If it should go out, here is a hatchet, here are sticks, here is the fire drill, so that if you do let the fire out, you can rekindle it again." And having thus instructed the boy, the Ja/ila went off to the country-side. Intent upon his play, the boy let the fire out. Then he thought : — " Father told me, ' Tend the fire, my lad ; let it not go out. If it should go out, here is a hatchet, here are sticks, here is the fire drill, so that if you do let the fire out, you can rekindle it again.' What if I were now to do so ? " [341] Then the boy chopped the fire drill with the hatchet, thinking :— " Perhaps that's how I shall get fire." No fire got he. He split the fire drill in twain, in three, four, five, ten, a hundred pieces, he made it into piecemeal, he then pounded it in a mortar, and winnowed it in the wind, thinking that so he might

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perhaps get fire. No fire got he. Then the Ja/ila, having accomplished his business, came back to his own hermitage and said to the boy : — " Why, child, you have let the fire out ! " " Father, the fire went out because I was busy at my game. Then I thought of what you had told me, and I set about rekindling it. And I chopped the fire drill with the hatchet to get fire, but no fire came. And I went on till I had smashed the fire drill into atoms, pounded it in a mortar and winnowed it in the wind, but I never got any fire ! " Then the Ja^ila thought : — " How silly, how unintelligent is the lad ! Why will he be seeking fire in this senseless manner ? " And while the boy looked on, he took a fire drill, and making fire said to him : — [342] " This is how to make fire, my lad. One doesn't try to get it as you, so silly and unintelligent, were trying." Even so, Prince, have you, silly and unintelligent, sought after another world. Renounce, Prince, this evil set of opinions. Let them not involve you for long in bale and sorrow ! '

22. ' Even though Master Kassapa says this, I still cannot bring myself to renounce this evil set of opinions. King Pasenadi the Kosalan knows me, and so do foreign kings, as holding to the creed and the opinion that there is neither another world nor rebirth other than of parents, nor fruit or result of deeds well and ill-done. If I, Master Kassapa, renounce these opinions, people will say of me : — " How silly is Prince Payasi, how unintelligent, how badly he grasps anything ! " In wrath thereat will I keep to it. In guile will I keep to it. In self-respect will I keep to it ! '

23. ' Well then, Prince, I will give you a simile ; for it is by way of a simile that some intelligent men discern the meaning of what has been said. Once upon a time, Prince, a great caravan of a thousand carts was going from the East country into the West country. Wherever it went, it consumed swiftly straw, wood, water and verdure. Now in that caravan were two caravan leaders, each commanding one half of the carts. [343] And this occurred to them : —

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' " This is a great caravan, one of a thousand carts. Wherever we go, we consume everything. What if we were to divide this caravan into two, five hundred carts in each."