The History of Buddhist Thought c19.26

c19.26

The last epoch, “the present occasion,” now begins. The next seven weeks were spent by the now Enlightened One (buddha) at or near the Bodhi tree. During the fifth week he sat under the goatherd’s banyan tree, where he was tempted by the three daughters of Māra, Craving, Hate, and Lust, but in vain. In the sixth week a storm arose, and a nāga (snake-king) protected him with his hood. On the forty-ninth day Sakka brought him a fruit and water, and two merchants, Tapassu and Bhalluka, who were passing, brought him food. But he had no bowl, so the four Great Kings brought four sapphire bowls, which he rejected, then four stone ones, which he accepted, and fitted them together so that they miraculously became one. And the two merchants took refuge in Buddha and the Doctrine.