34 
[No. 1, 
C. Diis— Note on the Buddhist Golden Boole. 
‘ Are you full twenty years 1 old ’ ? ‘ Yes, Venerable Sir.’ 
‘ Are your alms-bowl and your robes 2 in due state ? ’ ‘ Yes, Vener¬ 
able Sir.’ 
‘ What is your name ’ ? ‘ My name is Nfiga, Venerable Sir.’ 
‘What is your (spiritual) teacher’s name?’ ‘The name of my 
tutor is Tisya, Venerable Sir.’ 
‘Let the Samgha (Chapter), Reverend Sirs, hear me. This person, 
Nfiga, desires to receive the Upasampadd (ordination) from the Venerable 
Tisya (as his JJpddhyaya). 
‘ If the Samgha is ready, let Naga come here (in the presence of the 
Samgha) 
when Nanda did the same : my pain was excessive when my grandson Rfthula too, 
did so. The love for a son cuts the heart. Pray, let their reverences not confer the 
Pravrajya ordination on a son without his father’s and mother’s permission.’ The 
Blessed One then said to the Chapter. ‘Let no son, O Bhikkhus, receive the 
Pravrajyd ordination without his father’s and mother’s permission.’ 
1 There was at Riijagrha a company of seventeen boys, friends of each other. 
Thinking that they could live a life of ease and without pain, they went to the Bhik- 
khus and asked them for the Pravrajyd ordination. The Bhikkhus admitted them 
into the holy order. 
In the night, at dawn, these boys rose and began to cry, ‘ Give us rice, and milk. 
Give us soft food, give us hard food ! ’ The Bhikkhus said, ‘ Wait, friends, till day 
time. If there is rice and milk you will drink ; if there is food, soft and hard, you 
shall eat.’ When they were thus spoken to the young Bhikkhus threw their bedding 
about and made it wet, calling out, ‘ Give us rice, milk, and food, &c.’ 
Then the Blessed One, having arisen in the night, heard the noise which those 
boys made, and said to Ananda. ‘ Now, what noise of boys is that ? ’ The Venerable 
Ananda told the thing to the Blessed One. ‘ It is true, that the Bhikkhus knowingly 
confer the Upasampadd ordination on persons under twenty years of age.’ 
Then the Blessed One rebuked those Bhikkhus, and said, ‘ Let no one, O 
Bhikkhus, knowingly confer the Upasampadd ordination on a person under twenty 
years of age.’ 
2 At that time the Bhikkhus conferrred Upasampadd ordination on persons 
that had no alms-bowl, or they went out for robes and alms naked, and received alms 
with their hands. People were annoyed, murmured, and became angry, saying 
that they behaved shamelessly like the Tirthika Sannyasis The Bhikkhus told this 
thing to the Blessed One. ‘ Let no one, O Bhikkhus, receive the Upasampadd ordi¬ 
nation without having an alms-bowl or the proper robes.’ 
