經律異相 19.32

19.32

In the city of Śrāvastī there were two mahallas (elderly converts). Both had abandoned their wives and children to leave home and practice the Way. After wandering among people for a long time, both returned to Śrāvastī and lived in the same room. Each thought to himself that he would like to return home temporarily to see his wife and children. They then arrived at their original homes. When his wife saw him, she was angry and said: "You man of meager virtue and no auspicious marks abandoned home to study the Way. Our daughter has grown up and cannot be married off. What have you come for now? I ought to break your legs!" Thereupon the junior mahalla returned to his room, sorrowful and unhappy. At that time, the senior mahalla was also driven away. Returning together to their room, he asked his junior companion: "Why are you so sorrowful and distressed?" He replied: "Why do you need to ask?" He asked again: "The two of us are together in one room; should good and bad matters not be known to each other? If you do not speak to me, to whom else should you tell it?" He then told him in full. The senior mahalla said: "Why should this be cause for sorrow? My household is also like this. Your son and my daughter can be paired as a match." He replied: "Very well." Then the junior mahalla returned and said to his wife: "I have obtained a husband for our daughter." The wife answered: "Excellent!" The senior one also returned and reported to his wife: "I have obtained a wife for our son." She asked: "Who is it?" He answered: "The daughter of so-and-so." The two mahallas then joined them in marriage, each rejoicing as if a pauper had found a jewel, loving and respecting one another even more. The Buddha told the monks: "Not only today did these two mahallas do such a thing. In the past, in the kingdom of Kāśi, there was a brāhmaṇa who stored māṣa beans for so long that when boiled they could not soften, and when offered for sale they would not sell. There was another family that raised a stubborn donkey, which also could not be sold off. The bean-owner thought: 'Now I will exchange these beans for that donkey.' He went and spoke to him. The donkey-owner also thought to exchange this stubborn donkey for those beans, and replied: 'Very well.' Both rejoiced. The bean-owner chanted a verse: