འཕགས་པ་སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱ་རྟགས་པ་བརྗད་པ་ཤས་ལྡན་གྱ་མད 3

3

The Blessed One then delivered a discourse on the Dharma to the god and ensured that the god retained it. Having inspired the god and filled him with delight, the Blessed One rose from his seat and departed.

Not long thereafter, the god passed away. He was immediately reborn in the womb of a noble merchant’s wife in Vaiśālī. After nine months had come to pass, an adorable child with a charming appearance and the most exquisite complexion was born. The moment he was born he exclaimed, “Homage to the Buddha! Homage to the Dharma! Homage to the Saṅgha!”

At that moment, his parents thought, “This child knows of the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha. He possesses knowledge.”³

Once, when this child Jñānaka was around eight years old, he and a group of Licchavi youths, who were in his company, arrived at a crossroads in a park. At that time the Blessed One was staying at a mansion in the great grove of Vaiśālī. At dawn, the Blessed One donned his lower garment, dressed in his robes, picked up his alms bowl, and went to Vaiśālī on an alms round. The child Jñānaka caught sight of the Blessed One, who was handsome, and so forth, up until shining.⁴ Filled with joy at seeing the Blessed One, he happily went before the Blessed One and bowed his head to his feet, circled him three times, and sat to one side. Seated to one side, the child Jñānaka spoke to the Blessed One in verse:

“I have recollected a past life
In which the Lord of the World
Saved me from suffering
And delivered me from falling to the lower realms.

“Foremost of humans, would you be so kind