Once upon a time the Bodhisatta was a teacher of world wide fame at Takkasila and five hundred young Brahmins learn the Vedas from his lips. One of these young men was named Base. And from continually hearing his fellows say, “Go, Base” and “Come, Base,” he longed to get rid of his name and to take a good name. So he went to his master and asked that a new name of a respectable character might be given to him. The master said, “Go! my son, and travel through the land till you have found a name you fancy. Then come back and I will change your name.”

The young man wandered from village to village till he came to a town. Here a man named Quick had died, seeing him carried to the cemetery, the young Brahmin asked what his name was.

“Quick,” was the reply.

“What, can quick be dead?”

“Yes, Quick is dead; both Quick and Dead die just the same. A name only serves to mark who’s who. You seem to be a fool.”

Hearing this he went on into the city, feeling neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with his own name.

Now a slave girl had been beaten and thrown out in street because she had not brought home her wages. And the girl’s name was Rich. The young Brahmin seeing the girl being beaten and thrown out, came to understand the name and reason for this. He asked others, “And cannot Rich make good a paltry day’s pay?”

Others said, “Be she called Rich or Poor, the money’s not forthcoming any the more. A name only serves to mark who’s who. You seem to be a fool.”

More reconciled to his own name, the young Brahmin left the city and on the road found a man who had lost his way. Having heard that he had lost his way, the young man asked what his name was. “Guide,” was the reply. “And has Guide lost his way?” “Guide or Misguide, you can lose your way just the same. A name only serves to mark who’s who. You seem to be a fool.”

Quite reconciled now to his name, the young Brahmin came back to his master.

The Bodhisatta asked, “Well, what name have you chosen?”

He said, “Master! I find that death comes to ‘Quick’ and ‘Dead’ alike, that ‘Rich’ and ‘Poor’ may be poor together, and that ‘Guide’ and ‘Misguide’ alike miss their way. I know now that a name serves only to tell who is who, and does not govern its owner’s destiny. So I am satisfied with my own name and do not want to change it for any other.”