Belaṭṭha Kaccāna was awestruck, with goose bumps all over. He approached the Buddha, bowed, and sat down.

The Buddha then gave him a progressive talk—on generosity, morality, and heaven; on the downside, degradation, and defilement of worldly pleasures; and he revealed the benefits of renunciation. When the Buddha knew that his mind was ready, supple, without hindrances, joyful, and confident, he revealed the teaching unique to the Buddhas: suffering, its origin, its end, and the path. And just as a clean and stainless cloth absorbs dye properly, so too, while he was sitting right there, Belaṭṭha Kaccāna experienced the stainless vision of the Truth: “Anything that has a beginning has an end.”

He had seen the Truth, had reached, understood, and penetrated it. He had gone beyond doubt and uncertainty, had attained to confidence, and had become independent of others in the Teacher’s instruction. He then said to the Buddha, “Wonderful, sir, wonderful! Just as one might set upright what’s overturned, or reveal what’s hidden, or show the way to one who’s lost, or bring a lamp into the dark so that one with eyes might see what’s there—just so has the Buddha made the Teaching clear in many ways. I go for refuge to the Buddha, the Teaching, and the Sangha of monks. Please accept me as a lay follower who’s gone for refuge for life.”

The Buddha then continued wandering toward Rājagaha. When he eventually arrived, he stayed in the Bamboo Grove, the squirrel sanctuary. At that time there was an abundance of sugar in Rājagaha. The monks thought, “The Buddha has only allowed sugar for the sick,” and being afraid of wrongdoing, they did not eat it. “I allow you to take sugar when you’re sick and sugar mixed in water when you’re not.”

14. Pāṭaligāma