And the Buddha was re-born in a Brahmin family and was known as Dhamapala or Law Keeper.

When he came of age he was sent by his father to study with a world famed teacher at Takasila and became the chief pupil in a company of five hundred youths.

At that time the eldest son of the teacher died and the father, surrounded by his pupils, in the midst of his kith and kin, buried his son—and all the pupils wept and wailed, but Dhamapala was silent and shed no tear, but when the company returned from the cemetery Dhamapala asked, “Why did your son die? It is not right that children should die; only when people grow old can this happen.” And they asked him, “Is it the custom of your family that the young do not die?” And he said: “Yes, that is the custom in my family.” The lads told this conversation to their teacher.

Now when the teacher heard this, he said to them, “That is a most marvelous thing that he says. I will make a journey to his father and ask him about it, and if it be true I will live according to his rule of right.”

And he said to the young man: “I am going on a journey. Do thou, in my absence, instruct these youths.”

So saying, he procured the bones of a wild goat, washed and scented them, and put them into a bag. Then taking with him a little page boy he started for the village in which lived the father of his pupil.

When the house was reached, and the teacher had rested and taken food, and the host had washed the feet of his guest, the teacher said: “Brahmin, your son when full of wisdom has by an unhappy chance lost his life. ............