Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisatta was born a brahmin in the kingdom of Kasi. He grew up, and mastered his passions; and embracing the religious life, he lived in the Himalayas.

He down from the highlands, and took up his abode near a town, in a hut of leaves built beside a bend of the river Ganges.

A certain pilgrim, who found no one that could answer his questions throughout all India, came to that town. He asked, “Is there anyone who can argue with me?”

Yes, they said, and told him the power of the Bodhisatta. So, followed by a great multitude, he made his way to the place where the Bodhisatta lived, and after greeting him, took a seat.

The Pilgrim asked, “Will you drink?”

The Bodhisatta said, “The Ganges water, infused with wild wood odours?”

The pilgrim tried to catch him in his words. The Pilgrim asked, “What is Ganges? Ganges may be sand, Ganges may be water, Ganges may be the near bank, Ganges may be the far bank!”

The Bodhisatta asked the pilgrim, “Besides the sand, the water, here and the further bank, what other Ganges can you have?”

The pilgrim had no answer for this; he rose up, and went away. When he had gone the Bodhisatta spoke:

“What he sees, he will not have;

What he sees not he will crave.

He may go a long way yet

What he wants he will not get.

“He contemns what he has got;

Once it is gained, he wants it not.

He craves everything always;

Who craves nothing earns our praise.”