Buddha: His Life, his Doctrine, his Order c8.s1.t1.9

c8.s1.t1.9

We hear, for instance, of one of the faithful named Sona, in the land of Avanti (Malwa), far from the country in which Buddha lived, whom the fame of the new doctrine had reached, and there arose in him the desire to be received among its professors. Three long years he had to wait until he succeeded in bringing together in this distant land the ten monks, whose presence was indispensable to conferring the orders on a new member. Once, when he was in solitude, there occurred to him the thought: “I have, it is true, heard of the Exalted One, he is so and so, but I have not seen him face to face. I will go to behold him, the exalted, holy, highest Buddha, if my teacher allows me to go.” And his teacher, to whom he expressed his wish, answered him: “Good, Sona, good: go, Sona, to behold him, the exalted, holy, supreme Buddha. Thou shalt see him, Sona, the Exalted One, the bringer of joy, the dispenser of joy, whose organs of life are placid, whose spirit is at rest, the supreme self-subduer and peace-possessor, the hero who has conquered self and watches himself, who holds his desires in check.” And Sona prepares for the journey to Sâvatthi, where Buddha is tarrying in the Jetavana, the garden of Anâthapindika.