ལས་བརྒྱ་ཐམ་པ་པ 2.6

2.6

“Come, join me, monk!” replied the Blessed One. “Practice the holy life.” As soon as the Blessed One had finished speaking there they stood, alms bowl and water pitcher in hand, with but a week’s worth of hair and beard, and with the deportment of a monk who had been ordained for one hundred years.³⁸ As it is said:

Garbed in robes, with shaven heads,
And senses stilled by Buddha’s will—
From the very moment the One Thus Gone
Spoke to them, saying, “Come, join me.”

Thereupon the Blessed One instructed him, and, casting away all afflictive emotions through diligence, practice, and effort, he manifested arhatship. As an arhat, free from the attachments of the three realms, his mind regarded gold no differently than filth, and the palms of his hands as like space itself. He became cool like wet sandalwood. His insight crushed ignorance like an eggshell. He achieved the insights, superknowledges, and discriminations. He had no regard for worldly profit, passion, or acclaim. He became an object of offering, veneration, and respectful address by Indra, Upendra, and the other gods.

The monks inquired of the Blessed One, “Lord, what action did he take that ripened into his birth into a family of great means, prosperity, and wealth? What action did he take that ripened into his spine becoming curved, that after he entrusted himself to the Blessed One his spine became straight like before, and that he pleased the Blessed One, did not displease him, went forth in the doctrine of the Blessed One, cast away all afflictive emotions, and manifested arhatship?”