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IV, 1, 32.
DEVADATTA.
167
'He would have saved his life, Sir. And having done that, what would he not have done ?'
' But would he have done no wrong on account of the pain the man suffered (111) when his hand or foot was cut off ?'
*The pain the thief suffered, Sir, was his own fault. But the man who saved his life did him no harm.
Just so, great king, was it in his mercy that the Blessed One admitted Devadatta, with the knowledge that by that his sorrow would be mitigated.'
32. 'And Devadatta's sorrow, O king, was mitigated. For Devadatta at the moment of his death took refuge in Him for the rest of his existences when he said: "In him, who of the best is far the best ,
The god of gods, the guide of gods and men, Who see'th all, and bears the hundred marks Of goodness,—'tis in him I refuge take
Through all the lives that I may have to live.” 2. If you divide this Kalpa, O king, into six parts, it was at the end of the first part that Devadatta created schism in the Order. After he has suffered the other five in purgatory he will be released, and will become a Pakkeka-Buddha S under the name of Atthissara.'
'Great is the gift bestowed, Nagasena, by the Blessed One on Devadatta. In that the Tathâgata
1 Literally, is the best of these eight'- the eight being those walking in the Excellent Way, the four magga-samangino and the four phala-samangino. See Puggala Paññatti VIII, 1.
· The Simhalese inserts a paragraph here not found in Mr. Trenckner's text.
See above, p. 158..
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