ལས་བརྒྱ་ཐམ་པ་པ 20.6

20.6

who was terrified of dying approached the Blessed One, whereupon the Blessed One led him to go forth and established him in the unsurpassed, supreme welfare of nirvāṇa.”

“Not only now,” the Blessed One explained, “but in times past as well, and in the same way he was terrified of dying, and I led him to go forth and placed him in the four meditative states and five superknowledges.

“Monks, in times gone by, there lived a sage in a certain hermitage who had all the five superknowledges—a person of great miracles and great power. He had one disciple, a young brahmin who was lazy and whose life was short. Even when he was being instructed, because of his exceptional laziness he could not stay focused.

“One day the sage looked out and saw that in seven days the young brahmin would be dead. Knowing that he had not achieved anything at all, in order that the young brahmin might become disillusioned with saṃsāra, he said to him, ‘Don’t be lazy, young brahmin, for in seven days you will die.’

“When the young brahmin heard this, he was filled with deep sadness, and because of his deep sadness he generated the four meditative states and the five superknowledges.

“O monks, what do you think? I am the one who was that sage then, and lived the life of a bodhisattva. The one who was that young brahmin then is none other than Black himself. At that time he was terrified of dying, and I placed him in the four meditative states and the five superknowledges. Now as well he was terrified of dying, and I have led him to go forth and established him in the unsurpassed, supreme welfare of nirvāṇa.

“He also went forth in the doctrine of Buddha Kāśyapa. After practicing pure conduct all his life then, his faculties ripened, and now they have been liberated.”

The Story of Iṣudhara

In Kapilavastu there once lived a certain Śākya