17. 'If thou givest me some boon, thou Vâsava, abode of excellent qualities, then I ask thee another boon, and no mean one, Lord of the Devas.
18. 'May that fire of hatred, subdued by which the creatures come to[1] loss of wealth, loss of caste and of good reputation, as if they were vanquished by a hostile attack—may that fire be far from me!'
On hearing this, Sakra, the chief of the Devas, highly admiring him, praised him: 'Excellent, excellent!' and again he said:
19. 'Justly Fame, like a loving woman, attends upon those who have renounced the world. Well, accept some other boon from me for this well-said sentence.'
Then the Bodhisattva, induced by his hostility to innate evil passions to blame the intercourse with such creatures as are not free from those passions, under the guise of accepting the boon[2], said this:
20. 'May I never hear a fool, nor get the sight of such a one, nor speak to such a one, nor endure the annoyance and the pain of staying with such a one! This is the boon I ask thee for.'
Sakra spoke:
21, 22. 'What dost thou say? Anybody being in distress is most deserving of the commiseration of the pious. Now, foolishness being the root of calamities, is held to be the vilest condition. How is this that thou, though compassionate, abhorrest the sight of a fool, a person especially fit for commiseration?'
The Bodhisattva answered: 'Because there is no help for him, sir. Do but consider this:
23. 'If a fool were at any rate curable by treatment, how would anybody like me be wanting in effort to bring about his good?
'But such a one, thou must understand, can derive no profit at all from medical treatment.
