‘Venerable Nāgasena, when the Bodisat was practising austerity, then there was found no other exertion the like of his, no such power, no such battling against evil, no such putting to rout of the armies of the Evil One, no such abstinence in food, no such austerity of life. But finding no satisfaction in strife like that, he abandoned that idea, saying:

“Not even by this cruel asceticism am I reaching the peculiar faculty, beyond the power of man, arising from insight into the knowledge of that which is fit and noble. May there not be now some other way to wisdom ?”

‘But then, when weary of that path he had by another way attained to omniscience, he, on the other hand, thus again exhorted and instructed his disciple in that path (he had left, saying):

“Exert yourselves, be strong, and to the faith
The Buddhas taught devote yourselves with zeal.
As a strong elephant a house of reeds,
Shake down the armies of the Evil One.

‘Now what, Nāgasena, is the reason that the Tathāgata exhorted and led his disciples to that path which he had himself abandoned, which he loathed?’

‘Both then also, O king, and now too, that is still the only path. And it is along that path that the Bodisat attained to Buddhahood. Although the Bodisat, O king, exerting himself strenuously, reduced the food he took till he had decreased it to nothing at all, and by that disuse of food he became weak in mind, yet when he returned little by little to the use of solid food, it was by that path that before long he attained to Buddhahood. And that only has been the path along which all the Tathāgatas reached to the attainment of the insight of omniscience. Just as food is the support of all beings, as it is in dependence on food that all beings live at ease, just so is that the path of all the Tathāgatas to the attainment of the insight of omniscience. The fault was not, O king, in the exertion, was not in the power, not in the battle waged against evil, that the Tathāgata did not then, at once, attain to Buddhahood. But the fault was in the disuse of food, and the path itself (of austerity) was always ready for use.

‘Suppose, O king, that a man should follow a path in great haste, and by that haste his sides should give way, or he should fall a cripple on the ground, unable to move, would there then be any fault, O king, in the broad earth that that man’s sides had given way?’

‘Certainly not, Sir! the great earth is always ready. How should it be in fault? the fault was in the man’s own zeal which made him fail.’

‘And just even so, O king, the fault was not in the exertion, not in the power, not in the battle waged against evil, that the Tathāgata did not then, at once, attain to Buddhahood. But the fault was in the disuse of food, and the path itself was always ready— just as if a man should wear a robe, and never have it washed, the fault would not be in the water, which would always be ready for use, but in the man himself. That is why the Tathāgata exhorted and led his disciples along that very path. For that path, O king, is always ready, always right.’

‘Very good, Nāgasena! That is so, and I accept it as you say.’

Here ends the dilemma as to the path.