ལས་བརྒྱ་ཐམ་པ་པ 30.8

30.8

When the Blessed One was in Śrāvastī, there lived a certain householder, prosperous and wealthy, a person of vast and magnificent means, endowed with the wealth of Vaiśravaṇa—with wealth to rival Vaiśravaṇa’s. When the time came for him to marry he took a wife, and as they enjoyed themselves and coupled, one day his wife conceived. 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 he flourished like a lotus in a lake.

The young man was lazier than lazy—once he lay down in bed and couldn’t get back up again. When his parents asked him, “Child, do you have a physical illness, or perhaps some kind of depression?” out of laziness he couldn’t even respond, so his parents took him to a healer.

The healer told them, “He’s not physically ill, nor does he have some kind of depression. He just can’t get up because he’s lazy.”

After that his parents told him over and over again, “Child, don’t be like this. You’ll never find happiness if you stay like this. Human life is sustained by the fruits of one’s abilities.” Though they urged him many times to do so, still they could not get him up.

One day the thought came to his parents, “Let us invite some persons over who are worthy of offerings. Perhaps he will stand when he sees them.” So they invited the six teachers¹⁸² and offered them food. Though the boy saw them, he did not stand.

Then the householder thought, “It’s well known that the ascetic Gautama is a person of merit, and very compelling. If our son sees him, maybe he will decide to stand.”