BURLINGAME. — BUDBHAGHOSa's DHAMMAPADA COMMENTARY. 535 

 Book III. Story 6. How Five Hundred Monks Attained Insight. 



ILLUSTRATING STANZA 8=40. 



Five hundred monks once had the Teacher instruct them in the 

 ascetic practices that lead to Arahatship, and retired to a certain 

 forest. In this forest lived a great many powerful tree-spirits, who took 

 a dislike to the monks and determined to get rid of them. Accord- 

 ingly the spirits caused the monks to see bodiless heads and headless 

 trunks, to hear the voices of demons, and to catch all manner of 

 diseases. After a time the monks returned to the Teacher and related 

 their experiences. " I will provide you with a weapon," said he ; 

 whereupon he rehearsed the Sutta entitled Metta, and told them to 

 return to the forest and do the same. When they did so, the hearts 

 of the spirits were suffused with love, and the monks quickly attained 

 Insight. The Buddha, seated in his Perfumed Chamber, became aware 

 of what had happened in the forest, and sent forth an apparition of 

 himself, which went to the monks and pronounced Stanza 40. At the 

 conclusion of the Stanza the five hundred monks attained Arahatship, 

 and returned, praising the golden body of the Teacher. (313-318) 



Book III. Story 7. Tissa of the Diseased Body, Elder. 



ILLUSTRATING STANZA 9=41. 



A noble youth of Savatfhi once became a monk and was thereafter 

 known as Tissa. As time went on, he was attacked by boils, and his 

 condition grew steadily worse until finally his brethren, unable to do 

 anything for him, abandoned him and left him to his fate. Now the 

 Buddhas are wont, twice a day, to survey the world ; at early dawn, from 

 the Rim of the World to the Perfumed Chamber ; and in the evening, 

 from the Perfumed Chamber to the outer world. One evening, accord- 

 ingly, as the Tathagata surveyed the world, Tissa of the Diseased 

 Body appeared within the net of his knowledge. He immediately 

 went to him, and, assisted by the monks, bathed him with warm water, 

 alleviating his sufferings. Then the Teacher pronounced Stanza 41, at 

 the conclusion of which Tissa attained Arahatship and passed into 

 Nibbana, and many of the bystanders were established in the Three 

 Fruits. When the monks expressed, surprise that a noble youth 

 destined to attain Arahatship should have been visited with such an 

 affliction, the Teacher told them that it was no more than he deserved, 

 and related the following story of the past: (319-321) 



The Cruel Fowler. In the dispensation of the Buddha Kassapa, 

 Tissa was a fowler. In order that the birds he caught might not be 



