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31 
Q. 0. Das— Note on the Buddhist Golden Booh. 
‘ Is this your alms-bowl ’ ? ‘ Yes, Venerable S ir.’ 
‘Is this your Samghatl (wrapper for the body)? ‘Yes, Venerable 
Sir.’ ? 
‘ Is this your Uttarasagga (upper robe) ’ ? ‘ Yes, Venerable Sir.’ 
‘ Is this your Antaravasaha (under robe) ’ ? ‘ Yes, Venerable Sir.’ 
‘ Go to that place and wait (standing).’ 
‘ Let the Samgha (Chapter), Reverend Sirs, hear me. This person, 
Naga, desires to receive the Up isampadd ordination with the Venerable 
Tisya as his Upadhgdya. If the Samgha is ready, let me instruct Naga 
accordingly. Do you hear, Naga ? This is the time for you to speak 
the truth, and to say that which has been. When I ask you before the 
Assembly about that which is, you ought, if it is so, to answer: “ It is; ” 
if it is not so, you ought to answer: “ It is not.” Be not disconcerted, 
be not perplexed. I shall ask you thus (in the presence of the Samgha ) : 
‘ Are you afflicted with the following diseases — 1 leprosy, boils, dry leprosy, 
consumption, and fits ? ’ ‘ No, Venerable Sir,’ 
‘ Are you a man 2 ’ ? ‘Yes, Venerable Sir.’ 
’0 Bhikkhus, Ananda is an able man, he can make the cross seams, and the inter¬ 
mediate cross seams, and the greater circles, and the lesser circles, and the turning 
in, and the lining of the turning in, and the collar-piece, and the knee piece, and 
the elbow-piece. And it shall be of torn pieces, roughly sewn together suitable 
for a Qramana (monk), a thing which his enemies cannot court. I enjoin upon you 
O Bhikkhus, the use of an under robe of torn pieces, and of an upper robe of torn 
pieces, and of a waist cloth of torn pieces.’ ” 
1 At that time the five diseases—Leprosy, boils, dry leprosy, consumption and 
fits prevailed among the people of Magadha. The people who were affected with 
them went to the physicians Jivaka and said, ‘Pray, doctor, cure us.’ ‘I have too many 
duties, Sir, and am too occupied. I have to treat the Magadha King Bimbisara, and 
the royal seraglio, and the fraternity of Bhikkhus, with the Buddha at their head. I 
cannot cure you.’ Now these people thought, ‘ Indeed, the precepts which these 
monks keep and the life they live are commodious ; they have good meals and lie 
down on beds protected from the wind. What if we were to embrace the religious 
life among them, then the Bhikkhus will nurse us and Jivaka will cure us.’ Thus 
these persons went to the Bhikkhus who conferred on them the Pravrajyd (Buddhist) 
ordination. Some of them becoming free from the sickness returned to the 
world leaving off their monkish life. Now Jivaka saw them and said ‘ Had you not 
embraced the religious, life, Sirs, among the Bhikkhus P ’ ‘ Yes, doctor.’ ‘And why 
have you adopted such a course, Sirs P ’ Then they told him the whole matter. And 
Jivaka went to the place where the Blessed One was, and representing to him all 
about the sick men, said. ‘ Pray, Lord, let their Reverences not confer the Pravrajyd 
ordination on persons afflicted with the five diseases.’ In consequence of that the 
Blessed One addressed the Bhikkhus : ‘ Let no one, O Bhikkhus, who is affected with 
the five diseases, receive the Pravrajyd ordination.’ 
2 At that time there was a serpent who was ashamed of and conceived aversion 
for his having been born as a serpent. Now this serpent thought, ‘ What am I to 
