Now the ascetic had the power of calling to mind the events of forty ages (kalpas) in the past, and of forty ages in the future. Looking at the marks of future prosperity on the Bodisat's body, he considered with himself, "Will he become a Buddha or not?" And perceiving that he would most certainly become a Buddha, he smiled, saying, "This is a wonderful child." Then reflecting, "Will it be given to me to behold him when he has become a Buddha?" he perceived that it would not. "Dying before that time I shall be reborn in the Formless World; so that while a hundred or perhaps a thousand Buddhas appear among men, I shall not be able to go and be taught by them. And it will not be my good fortune to behold this so wonderful child when he has become a Buddha. Great, indeed, is my loss!" And he wept.
The people seeing this, asked, saying, "Our master just now smiled, and has now begun to weep! Will, sir, any misfortune befall our master's little one?"[1]
"There is no misfortune in him; assuredly he will become a Buddha," was the reply.
"Why then do you weep?"
"It will not be granted to me," he said, "to behold so great a man when he has become a Buddha. Great, indeed, is my loss! bewailing myself, I weep."
Then reflecting, "Will it be granted or not to any one of my relatives to see him as a Buddha?" he saw it would be granted to his nephew Nālaka. So he went to his sister's house, and said to her, "Where is your son Nālaka?"
"In the house, brother."
"Call him," said he. When he came he said to him, "In the family of Suddhodana the king, dear, a son is
- ↑ "Our master" is here, of course, the sage. It is a pretty piece of politeness, not unfrequent in the Jātakas, to address a stranger as a relation. See below, Jātaka No. 3.
