Narada
Perfection of Equanimity

Angati, the King of Videha, summons his three ministers on a full moon night in spring and asks them to suggest ways to spend the pleasant evening hours. Their response ranges from the enjoyment of worldly pleasures to listening to the council of a wise man. Alata, one of the ministers, who latter is reborn as the Buddha’s evil cousin Devadatta, suggests they consult the ascetic Guna.

They meet Guna in the Deer Park and the King asks how one fulfils the laws toward parents, teachers, wife, children, the aged, ascetics, Brahmins, armies and peasants so as to get into heaven.

Guna, who knows nothing, answers that there are no other worlds, no consequences of sin and that it is useless to be charitable. Angati believes in this false doctrine, stops giving alms and embarks on a life of hedonism.

Rujaa, the King’s daughter and only child, tries to dissuade him saying “a fool who associates with fools plunges deep into folly” and tells him that man can cause his fate to improve by doing good deeds.

But the King will not listen. Rujaa prays to the gods to come and dissuade her father from his foolishness. The Bodhisatta appears in the guise of an ascetic, Narada, and finally converts the King.