འཕགས་པ་མར་མ་མཛད་ཀྱས་ལང་བསྟན་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད intro.5

intro.5

Meanwhile, in the remote mountains, a young brahmin ascetic named Megha, who in a future life will be the Buddha Śākyamuni, is completing his training with the brahmin Ratna, whom he must provide with a fee of a bolt of fabric, a staff, a water flask, and five hundred coins. Lacking the five hundred coins, Megha descends from the mountain to seek the payment for his teacher, and in the city Gone to Bliss he encounters a large offering being made to brahmins by the wealthy Suviśākha. When Megha defeats the brahmin elder Giver of Pieces in a contest of knowledge of the Vedas, mantras, and treatises, Suviśākha offers Megha lavish gifts that include five hundred coins and his daughter Receiver of Goodness. Repulsed by the thought of marriage, Megha takes the gifts but refuses the girl, and he heads back toward the mountains while the girl, firmly considering him to be her husband, follows a few hours behind him.