ལས་བརྒྱ་ཐམ་པ་པ 24.17

24.17

and the novice Cunda defeated the mendicant Subhadra, who, quite chagrined, went back to dwelling in the udumbara forest.

When the Blessed One had carried out all the activities of a buddha, he traveled to the city of Kuśinagarī, where he took to his final bed. The Blessed One thought, “Now there are two disciples that the Tathāgata should tame—the mendicant Subhadra, and the gandharva king Supriya.” The Blessed One also thought, “I can easily tame the mendicant Subhadra, but since the gandharva king Supriya is arrogant and aloof, he will not come to see me, so I will go to him.”

The Blessed One left behind an emanation, disappeared from the copse of two śāla trees, and traveled to the Heaven of the Thirty-Three where he arrived at the gates of the palace of the gandharva king Supriya. The Blessed One thought, “After I shatter his ego, he will become a vessel for the truths.” Then, to tame him, the Blessed One magically manifested himself as a gandharva king bearing a lute with a hundred thousand strings of blue beryl, went up to the gate of the gandharva king Supriya, and sent a message, saying, “A gandharva king stands at the gates. He wishes to play the lute with you.”

As soon as he heard this, the gandharva king Supriya thought, “What? There can’t be another gandharva king! I shall eliminate him.” With this thought, he said, “Call him inside! I will show him what I can do.”

Once he had been invited inside they began to play their lutes together. Then, to tame him, the Blessed One cut a single string from his own lute. The gandharva king Supriya, noticing this, cut one string from his lute as well. Then the Blessed One gradually cut all the strings from his lute, until only one remained, from which