Discipline

 While Brahmadutta ruled Banaras, Bodhisattva was born as a Master Sculptor at Takshasila. Princes from far-off countries went to him to learn the art of sculpting from him.

The king received several reports of the Master and decided to send his own son to study the art under him. None of the ministers and other courtiers liked this idea. The prince was hardly sixteen.  How could he live alone at far-off Takshasila, serve the Master, and learn art? "O King," they said, "don't we have enough sculptors in our own kingdom? Why should the prince undergo an ordeal?"

But the king did not agree with them. In the kingdom, the boy was a prince and as such he would never learn anything properly. At Takshasila he would be an ordinary person; he would serve his teacher and learn things under discipline. 
The prince was given only a pair of thin slippers and an umbrella. He was asked to carry a bag of one thousand silver pieces. "Walk all the way to Takshasila," the king told his son, "pay the Master the thousand pieces of silver, obey him and learn the art from him, and come back after your education is complete."

The prince had a hard time carrying the bag, walking the long distance, resting under trees, sleeping on hard ground, eating whatever he could get, and having no one to look after him.  He finally reached Takshasila and went to the Master, told him the purpose of his coming, handed him the money, and joined as a pupil.  The boy was very sharp and quick in learning, and the Master was satisfied.

The Master and his pupil used to go to the river every morning for a bath. One day, as they were having their bath, an old woman came there with a basket of groundnuts. She washed them and spread them on a cloth. The prince saw this, finished his bath in a hurry and came out of the river. When he thought the old woman was not looking, he grabbed a handful of nuts and put them into his mouth. The old woman noticed everything but said nothing.

The next day the same thing happened. The old woman ignored it again. But, when the boy repeated the offence on the third day also, she got very angry. "Good sir," she told the Master, "your pupil has been stealing my groundnuts every day. I do not mind the loss much. But this boy is a thief and a real blot on your great reputation. Punish him so that he will stop thieving in future."

On reaching home, the Master ordered his other pupils to hold the prince by his hands and gave him three strokes on his back with a cane.  "I punished you," he told the prince, "because you did something bad. Don't you ever do it again!"

The prince was in a terrible rage, but he could do nothing. Though he was a prince in Banaras, he was a common man here. Also, the Master had the right to punish his pupils.