The Wealthy Rancher
“I’ve boiled my rice and drawn my milk,” [1]
said Dhaniya the rancher, [2]
“I stay with my family along the bank of the Mahī. [3]
My hut is roofed, my sacred fire kindled: [4]
so rain forth, heavens, if you wish.” [5]
“I boil not with anger <j>and have drawn out hard-heartedness,” [6]
said the Buddha,
“I stay for one night along the bank of the Mahī.
My hut is wide open, my fire is quenched: [7]
so rain forth, heavens, if you wish.”
“No gadflies or mosquitoes are found,”
said Dhaniya,
“cows graze on the lush meadow grass.
They get by even when the rain comes:
so rain forth, heavens, if you wish.”
“I bound a raft and prepared it well,” [8]
said the Buddha, [9]
“and with it I crossed over, went to the far shore, <j>and dispelled the flood.
Now I have no need for a raft:
so rain forth, heavens, if you wish.”
“My wife is obedient, not wanton,”
said Dhaniya,
“long have we lived together happily.
I hear nothing bad about her:
so rain forth, heavens, if you wish.”
“My mind is obedient and freed,”
said the Buddha,
“long nurtured and well-tamed.
Nothing bad is found in me:
so rain forth, heavens, if you wish.”
“I am self-employed,”
said Dhaniya,
“and my healthy children likewise. [10]
I hear nothing bad about them:
so rain forth, heavens, if you wish.”
“I am no-one’s lackey,”
said the Buddha,
“with what I have earned I wander the world.
I have no need for wages:
so rain forth, heavens, if you wish.”
“I have heifers and sucklings,”
said Dhaniya,
“cows in calf and breeding cows.
I’ve also got a bull, captain of the herd here:
so rain forth, heavens, if you wish.”
“I have no heifers or sucklings,”
said the Buddha,
“no cows in calf or breeding cows.
I haven’t got a bull, captain of the herd here:
so rain forth, heavens, if you wish.”
“The stakes are driven in, unshakable,”
said Dhaniya,
“The grass halters are new and well-woven,
not even the sucklings can break them:
so rain forth, heavens, if you wish.”
“Like a bull I broke the bonds,”
said the Buddha,
“like an elephant I snapped the vine.
I will never lie in a womb again:
so rain forth, heavens, if you wish.”
Right then a vast cloud rained forth, [11]
soaking the uplands and valleys.
Hearing the heavens rain down,
Dhaniya said this:
“It is no small gain for us
that we have seen the Buddha.
We come to you for refuge, Clear-eyed One.
O great sage, please be our Teacher.
My wife and I, obedient,
shall lead the spiritual life under the Holy One. [12]
Gone beyond birth and death,
we shall make an end of suffering.”
“Children bring you delight!”
said Māra the Wicked,
“Cattle also bring you delight!
For attachments are a man’s delight;
without attachments there’s no delight.”
“Your children bring you sorrow,”
said the Buddha,
“Your cattle also bring you sorrow.
For attachments are a man’s sorrow;
without attachments there are no sorrows.”
