ལས་བརྒྱ་ཐམ་པ་པ 19.19

19.19

the Ṛg Veda, the Yajur Veda, the Sāma Veda, the Atharva Veda, how to perform sacrificial rites, how to lead others in performing sacrificial rites, how to give and receive offerings, recitation, and recitation instruction. Trained in these procedures, he became a master of the six types of brahminical activities, and in time he mastered the eighteen sciences.

The brahmin’s house was not far from the house of Anāthapiṇḍada, and the young brahmin was an acquaintance of Anāthapiṇḍada, so he too was fond of the doctrine of the Blessed One.

Then one day both the young brahmin’s parents died. After their death, he had to go to the city of Śūrpāraka on an errand. He traveled and traveled until eventually he came to a certain dense forest in the mountainous region between Śrāvastī and Śūrpāraka. In that dense forest there lived a certain sage. The young brahmin knew him and went to him, bowed down at his feet, and sat before him to listen to the Dharma.

Thereupon the sage spoke in praise of renunciation, and when he heard him the young brahmin immediately made up his mind to go forth. He went forth in the presence of the sage and lived in the forest, but he did not achieve anything of significance. One day the sage died, but Fleshy still stayed on at the hermitage.

Then as the Blessed One was traveling to Śūrpāraka, young Fleshy saw the Blessed One approaching in the distance. As soon as he saw him, he thought, “That’s the ascetic of the Śākya clan—the omniscient, all-seeing one. Here he comes down the path! It wouldn’t be right for me not to show my respect and offer my help.” And he thought, “If I clamber down from this boulder on foot, the Blessed One will have passed by. I will leap from the boulder so that I can show my respect and offer my help.”