English
Thus, in every way, the description of the Second Council is finished. The story of the Second Council is finished. The Story of the Third Council Indeed, the Great Brahmā Tissa, having fallen from the Brahmā-world, took rebirth in the house of the Moggali Brahmin. And the Elder Siggava, from the time of his rebirth, for seven years entered the Brahmin's house for alms. Not even for a single day did he receive a ladleful of gruel or a spoonful of rice. But after the passing of seven years, one day he received merely the words, "Please come in, Venerable Sir." On that very day, the Brahmin, having done some business outside and returning, saw the Elder on the way and said, "Hey ascetic, did you go to our house?" "Yes, Brahmin, we went." "Did you receive anything?" "Yes, Brahmin, we received something." He went home and asked, "Did you give anything to that ascetic?" "We gave nothing." The Brahmin sat right at the house door on the second day, thinking, "Today I will refute the ascetic for lying." The Elder arrived at the Brahmin's house door on the second day. As soon as the Brahmin saw the Elder, he said, "Yesterday, you said 'we received something' even though you received nothing at our house. Is it proper for you to lie?" The Elder said, "Brahmin, for seven years at your house, we did not receive even the mere words 'please come in,' but yesterday we received merely the words 'please come in'; and taking this hospitality into account, we spoke thus." The Brahmin thought, "These people praise by saying 'we received' even when they receive mere hospitality; why would they not praise when they receive something to eat or drink?" Being pleased, he had a spoonful of alms-food and suitable curry given from the meal prepared for himself, saying, "This alms-food..." you will obtain happiness at all times,” he said. From the next day onwards, seeing the serenity of the elder who came to him, he was even more pleased and asked the elder to always accept alms-food at his house. The elder consented, and day by day, after partaking of the meal, as he left, he would speak a little of the Buddha’s teaching. That young man, though only sixteen years old, was a master of the three Vedas. For a pure being come from the Brahma-world, no one else had ever sat or lain on his seat or couch. When he went to his teacher’s house, his couch and stool would be covered with white cloth and kept ready. The elder thought: “Now is the time to ordain the young man. I have been coming here for a long time, and no conversation has arisen with the young man. Well then, now, by this means, it will arise by way of the couch.” He went to the house and willed that no other seat should be visible in that house except the young man’s couch. The household people of the brahmin, seeing the elder and finding no other seat, spread the young man’s couch and offered it to the elder. The elder sat on the couch. The young man, at that very moment, returned from his teacher’s house and, seeing the elder seated on his couch, became angry and displeased, saying, “Who prepared my couch for the ascetic?” After the elder had eaten and the young man’s anger had subsided, he said, “Do you, young man, know any mantras?” The young man said, “Sir ascetic, if I do not know mantras, who else would know them?” Then he asked the elder, “Do you know mantras?” “Ask, young man, by asking, one can know.” Then the young man asked about all the difficult passages in the three Vedas, with their glossaries and etymologies, their divisions of letters, and the fifth part, the Itihāsas, whose meaning he did not he himself saw, and his teacher did not see. He asked the Elder about these things. The Elder said, "He is naturally a master of the three Vedas, and now he has attained the Analytical Knowledges, so he has no difficulty in answering these questions." Having answered those questions immediately, he said to the young man, "Young man, I have been asked many things by you; now I too will ask you one question, will you answer me?" "Yes, good recluse, ask, I will answer." The Elder asked this question from the "Pairing of Consciousness" (Cittayamaka): "For whom consciousness arises and does not cease, for him consciousness will cease and not arise; or for whom consciousness will cease and not arise, for him consciousness arises and does not cease?" The young man, unable to move it up or down, said, "What is this, good recluse?" "This is the Buddha-mantra, young man." "Can this be given to me too, good sir?" "It can, young man, to one who takes the ordination that we have taken." Then the young man went to his parents and said, "This recluse knows a Buddha-mantra, and he does not give it to an unordained person who is with him. I will ordain with him and learn the mantra." Then his parents, thinking, "Let our son learn the mantras even after ordaining, he will return after learning them," allowed him, saying, "Learn it, son." The Elder ordained the boy and first taught him the meditation on the thirty-two parts of the body. Practicing there, he soon became established in the fruit of stream-entry. Then the Elder thought, "The novice is established in the fruit of stream-entry, he is now incapable of turning away from the Dispensation. If I were to expand the meditation for him, he would attain arahantship, he would be free from worry about learning the Buddha's word. Now is the time to send him to Elder Caṇḍavajjī." Then he said, "Come, novice, go to the Elder and learn the Buddha's word." a. Ask him about his health in my name; and say this: 'Venerable sir, my preceptor sent me to you.' And when asked, 'What is your preceptor's name?' you should say, 'Venerable sir, his name is Siggava Thera.' When asked, 'What is my name?' you should say, 'Venerable sir, my preceptor knows your name.'" "Yes, Venerable sir," Tissa the novice, having saluted the elder, circumambulated him, and in due course went to the Elder Caṇḍavajjī, saluted him, and stood to one side. The elder asked the novice, "Where have you come from?" "Venerable sir, my preceptor sent me to you." "What is your preceptor's name?" "Venerable sir, his name is Siggava Thera." "What is my name?" "Venerable sir, my preceptor knows your name." "Now, arrange your bowl and robe." "Very good, Venerable sir," the novice arranged his bowl and robe, and the next day swept the monastery and prepared water and a tooth-stick. The elder swept again the place he had swept. He threw away that water and brought other water. And he removed that tooth-stick and took another tooth-stick. Having done this for seven days, on the seventh day he asked again. The novice again spoke just as he had said before. The elder, realizing, "Indeed, this is a brahmin," said, "Why have you come?" "To learn the Buddha's teaching, Venerable sir." The elder, saying, "Now learn, novice," from the next day onwards began teaching the Buddha's teaching. Tissa, while still a novice, learned all the Buddha's teaching, except for the Vinaya Piṭaka, together with the commentaries. When he was ordained, he became a master of the Three Piṭakas without fail. His teachers and preceptors, having established all the Buddha's teaching in the hands of Moggaliputtatissa Thera, lived out their lives and attained final Nibbāna. Moggaliputtatissa Thera, too, at a later time, went for meditation... having attained Arahantship, taught the Dhamma and Vinaya to many. At that time, King Bindusāra had one hundred and one sons. Asoka killed all of them, except for Prince Tissa, who was of the same mother as himself. While killing, he ruled the kingdom for four years without being consecrated. After the lapse of four years, in the eighteenth year after two hundred years from the Parinibbāna of the Tathāgata, he attained sole sovereignty over the entire Jambudīpa. By the power of his consecration, these royal powers came to him: his command extended one yojana below the great earth; likewise, in the sky above, deities brought sixteen pitchers of water daily from Lake Anotatta with eight spouts. When he became faithful to the Sāsana, he gave eight pitchers to the Saṅgha of bhikkhus, two pitchers to sixty bhikkhus who were bearers of the Tipiṭaka, two pitchers to the chief queen Asandhimittā, and four pitchers he used himself. Deities themselves brought daily a soft, smooth, and flavorful tooth-stick called Nāgalatādantakaṭṭha from the Himalayas, by which the daily tooth-cleaning of the king, the queen, sixteen thousand dancing women, and sixty thousand bhikkhus was accomplished. Daily, deities brought him Agadamalaka (a medicinal emblic myrobalan), Agadaharītaka (a medicinal chebulic myrobalan), and golden-colored mango fruits full of fragrance and flavor. Likewise, from Lake Chaddanta, they brought five-colored robes and cloaks, a yellow-colored elephant-tail fan, and divine drinks. Daily, Nāga kings from the Nāga realm brought him bathing perfume, anointing perfume, a silk-free Sumanā flower cloth for wearing, and precious collyrium. Nine thousand measures of rice from Lake Chaddanta, when it had risen, were brought daily by parrots. Mice removed the husks; there was not a single broken grain. This very rice was consumed in all places by the king. Honeybees They make honey. In blacksmiths' shops, they strike the anvil loudly. Karavīka birds come, and singing sweetly, they perform the king's tribute. Endowed with these powers, one day the king sent a golden chain, and brought the Nāga king named Kāḷa, who had attained the vision of the four Buddhas' forms, and was of a lifespan of a kappa. He seated him on a very precious couch under a white parasol. Having made offerings with hundreds of varieties of water-born and land-born flowers, and golden flowers, and surrounded him on all sides with sixteen thousand adorned dancing women, he said, "Make the form of the Fully Enlightened One, the Supreme Wheel-Turning Monarch of the True Dhamma, of infinite knowledge,