Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c7.118

c7.118

Then followed the period known as the satsatiya,* seven weeks. During the first he remained seated in the spot where the victory was won; during the second he remained in contemplation, with eyes fixed on the sacred tree beneath which he had been seated; then he walked to and fro between that spot and the throne for seven days; then for seven days he remained in a golden palace erected by the Dēvas, and as he sat here, the whole of the Dharma, or truth, revealed presented itself to his mind, from the first words spoken after enlightenment and quoted above to the last before his death. During the fifth week he rested beneath a tree named Ajapāla. In the sixth week he sat by the lake Mucalinda, and during a terrific storm was sheltered by the Nāga Mucalinda, who erected his hood as a canopy above him. During the last week he dwelt in a certain grove of Khīrapala trees. Throughout this time he ate no food. On the fiftieth day two Brahman merchants approached the place, and guided by a Devi who appeared in the sky, went towards the Buddha, desiring to make offerings of honey. The story goes on to relate that as it was not right for Buddha to receive anything in the hands, the Regent Gods of the Four Quarters appeared, having each an almsbowl of emerald; but he would not accept this. They then offered four bowls of stone, and when each entreated him to accept the one offered by himself, Buddha received them all, and formed them into one bowl, the fourfold origin of which appeared at the upper rim. In this bowl he received the offering. Subsequently Buddha proceeded to Benāres, and there began his mission, preaching to all men the Dharma, and founding the order of Buddhist monks.