ལས་བརྒྱ་ཐམ་པ་པ 2.2

2.2

As they enjoyed themselves and coupled, one day his wife conceived, and after nine or ten months had passed, she gave birth to a child who was well proportioned, pleasing to the eye, and beautiful. At the elaborate feast celebrating his birth they named him according to their clan.

They reared him on milk, yogurt, butter, ghee, and milk solids, and as he grew up he studied letters, tallying, and arithmetic; the study of seals, lending, deposits, and commerce; and the examination of cloth, jewels, gems, incense, medicine, elephants, horses, and arms and armor. He became skilled in writing, skilled at reading, learned, decisive, and industrious, a master of the eight types of examination.

One day the child fell ill and his spine was made to curve by a disorder of his vital energies. As soon as they saw this condition his parents became very upset and though they brought healers and provided for all his needs, he could not be healed.

The thought came to the householder, “No healer has been able to heal this child. But the objects of my veneration are so miraculous and powerful that if I pray to them now, they might be able to make my child’s back straight like before.” With this in mind he invited six teachers—Pūraṇa Kāśyapa and the rest—and by his own hand he contented them with many different kinds of good, wholesome food. Then he bowed down at their feet and beseeched them, “What could there be, past, present, or future, that does not come under your purview? My child’s spine has been made to curve by a disorder of his vital energies. I ask you, please heal my child.” But though they gave him mantras and medicines, they were not able to heal him.