natural and plain, his unadorned appearance; his circumspection as he looked upon the earth in walking!  “He who ought to have had held over him the feather-shade,” they said, “whose hands should grasp ‘the reins of the flying dragon,’ see how he walks in daylight on the dusty road! holding his alms-dish, going to beg!  Gifted enough to tread down every enemy, lovely enough to gladden woman’s heart, with glittering vesture and with godlike crown reverenced he might have been by servile crowds!  But now, his manly beauty hidden, with heart restrained, and outward form subdued, rejecting the much-coveted and glorious apparel, his shining body clad with garments gray, what aim, what object, now!  Hating the five delights that move the world, forsaking virtuous wife and tender child, loving the solitude, he wanders friendless; hard, indeed, for virtuous wife through the long night, cherishing her grief; and now to hear he is a hermit!  She inquires not now of the royal Suddhodana if he has seen his son or not!  But as she views his beauteous person, to think his altered form is now a hermit’s! hating his home, still full of love; his father, too, what rest for him!  And then his loving child Rahula, weeping with constant sorrowful desire!  And now to see no change, or heart-relenting; and this the end of such enlightenment!  All these attractive marks, the proofs of a religious calling, whereas, when born, all said, these are marks of a ‘great man,’ who ought to receive tribute from the four seas!  And now to see what he has come to! all these predictive words vain and illusive.”

Thus they talked together, the gossiping multitude, with confused accents.  Tathagata, his heart unaffected, felt no joy and no regret.  But he was moved by equal love to all the world, his one desire that men should escape the grief of lust; to cause the root of virtue to increase, and for the sake of coming ages, to leave the marks of self-denial behind him, to dissipate the clouds and mists of sensual desire.

He entered, thus intentioned, on the town to beg.  He accepted food both good or bad, whatever came, from rich or poor, without distinction; having filled his alms-dish, he then returned back to the solitude.

Receiving the Getavana Vihara

The lord of the world, having converted the people of Kapilavastu according to their several circumstances, his work being done, he went with the great body of his followers, and directed his way to the country of Kosala, where dwelt King Prasenagit.  The Getavana was now fully adorned, and its halls and courts carefully prepared.  The fountains and streams flowed through the garden which glittered with flowers and fruit; rare birds sat by the pools, and on the land they sang in sweet concord, according to their kind.