The Pure Life

Once upon a time in India, in a prior life, the Buddha was born into the royal chaplain’s household on the same day as the king’s son. When the king asked his ministers if any child had been born on the same day as his son, they said, “Yes, Sire, a son of your family priest.” 

So the king decreed that both of them be given into the charge of royal nurses together. And they both wore the same clothes and had exactly the same things to eat and drink.

​When they became of age, they went together to the most reputed teacher to learn all the sciences before they returned home.

The king made his son viceroy and bestowed great honor upon him. From that time, the Buddha ate, drank, and lived with the prince-viceroy. There was a great friendship between them.

At the death of his father, the young prince ascended the throne and enjoyed great prosperity. The Buddha thought: “My friend now rules the kingdom. When he sees a fitting opportunity, he will certainly give me the office of his family priest. I have enough of a householder’s life. I will become an ascetic and devote myself to a life of purity.”

So he asked his parents’ permission, gave up his worldly fortune and, alone, he entered the Himalaya country. There on a charming spot he built himself a thatch hut, and adopting the religious life of an ascetic, he meditated, and lived happily in the mystic life.

At this time, the king remembered him and said, “What has become of my friend? He is nowhere to be seen.” His officials told him he had become an ascetic, and was living, they heard, in some delightful grove. The king asked the place of his abode, and said to a great official, “Go and bring my friend back with you. I will make him my chaplain.”

The official departed and eventually reached a frontier village. He rested and went with some local foresters to the place where the Buddha dwelt and found him sitting like a golden statue at the door of his hut. After saluting him with the usual compliments, he sat at a respectful distance and thus addressed him: “Reverend Sir, the king desires your return, being anxious to name you the royal chaplain.” The Buddha replied, “If I were to receive not merely the post of chaplain but all of India and the glory of a Wheel Turning King, I would refuse to go. The wise do not again take up the sins they have once abandoned any more than they would swallow the phlegm they have once raised.” The great official returned and thus informed the king of his friend’s refusal of power and influence.

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Modern day people seem to believe that left home people are parasites to society. Little do they know! It’s certainly a very different life style that is far removed from the lust of wealth and fame. They prefer to lead the simple life of a beggar rather than live as a king who cannot resist lust; who rules as a tyrant and oppresses the poor and less fortunate. There is a lot to be said about a life of purity and humility that is devoid of destructive egotistical behavior.