Black clouds on the mountains told them the monsoon rains were about to begin. Buddha's cousin, Ananda, grew restless: "Is it not time, Lord, for us to withdraw to the Vulture's Peak? The monks always spent the Rains in huts and caves on a peak high above the city.
Black clouds on the mountains told them the monsoon rains were about to begin. Buddha's cousin, Ananda, grew restless: "Is it not time, Lord, for us to withdraw to the Vulture's Peak? The monks always spent the Rains in huts and caves on a peak high above the city.
"In four days, or maybe three, it will be time," the Blessed One* replied. Then, one day, after gazing a long time in the west, he said, "Today it is time, Ananda; tomorrow the rains will fall." With great joy the monks gathered their few belongings and began the trek away from city dust and heat, the noise, their daily begging for food. As they left Rajagaha, the Blessed One was silent. Then he said to Ananda: "Did you notice that man working in the streets as we went out?" "I saw him, Lord --a sweeper, an outcast. He gathers withered garlands to burn. People have no regard for him, and if he comes close, they feel defiled." "I am such a person, Ananda," Buddha replied. "I gather up withered flowers which others despise. But you noticed nothing special about him?" "No Lord, a sweeper like many others; at your approach he properly shrank away." "You do not yet have the eye of insight, Ananda. You will have to be given further teaching. To me the man seemed one who is ready to accept the Buddha's doctrine." And Ananda said, "How can that be? A sweeper is one whose soul has no understanding." Now as they mounted the hill, Ananda, full of happiness, raised his voice in the chorus of the monks: "These are the glades in which my soul rejoices,
The glades of joy where forest brooks draw their bubbling stream down the wet rocks
Where with mind poised and calm I hear the Law and learn it!"
As they went up the mountain all the monks sang, each in his own way,
"These are the glades in which my soul rejoices."
But Lord Buddha had noticed in the sweeper Sunita the readiness for discipleship, shining like a lamp in a jar. And before the rains could descend upon them, taking with him a young disciple and descending before dawn to the city once again, he found the sweeper, Sunita, gathering sticks and sweeping in the road. When he saw the Blessed One draw near him, Sunita's heart stood still in awe and astonishment. Standing with his back to a wall, he folded his palms in salutation, for he had heard much about the Tathagata.
From Buddhism in Pictures, The Buddhist Information Center, Sri Lanka.
Buddha in loving tones said to him, "Sunita, what does this poor way of livelihood mean to you?" Sunita, trembling, replied that birth had put upon him this fate --to be a scavenger of others' leavings. "Is it in your heart to leave it and to leave the world? Have you the strength of mind to be one of my following? And Sunita, his heart struck with joy and wonder replied, "Is it possible, Lord, for one like me? Would you really permit me to be in your fold?" "Come!" said the Buddha, and without another word the three of them took the mountain path together to the Vulture's Peak. Some of the assembled brotherhood were shocked, and they frowned on Sunita, who was still in some fear and trembling. "Speak out your heart," urged the Blessed One, "Have no fear." So Sunita addressed the gathering: "All had tossed me aside. Scorn was my lot. Then came the Enlightened One, who lifted me. I take refuge in the Buddha; I take refuge in the Law; I take refuge in the Order." by Edward Thompson
(New York, EP Dutton & Co., Inc., 1938).
