Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c12.s8.7

c12.s8.7

‘The ancient Ṛṣis were ascetics (tapassino) and practised self-control and avoided the five pleasures of the sense. Their riches consisted not of cattle, gold or grains but of learning and purity. They lived on food left at the door by the faithful and used the bed and clothes offered to them reverentially by the rich people. They were never harmed nor dominated, protected as they were by the dhamma, and their access to any house was never barred. They spent 48 years of their life as brahmacārins in quest of knowledge and good conduct. Even after their marriage they lived a life of restraint. They held austerity, rectitude, tenderness, love and forbearance in high esteem. They performed sacrifices with rice, beds, clothes, ghee or oil, which they could collect by begging and never killed cows in sacrifices.