Buddha: His Life, his Doctrine, his Order c8.170

c8.170

“But the merchants, Tapussa and Bhallika, when they saw that the Exalted One, when his repast was over, had washed his bowl and his hands, bowed their heads to the feet of the Exalted One, and spake to the Exalted One, saying: ‘we who are here, O sire, take refuge in the Exalted One and in his Doctrine: may the Exalted One accept us as his adherents* from this day forward throughout our life, we who have taken our refuge in him.’ These were the first persons in the world who made their profession of the faith with the two words”—namely, the faith in the Buddha and his Doctrine, for as yet, the third member of the Buddhist triad, the Order, had not come into existence.