How The Buddha Discriminates No One

In Savatthi of India, there was a scavenger named Sunita. As a road-sweeper he received a very small salary which was not enough for him to buy his daily needs. He did not have money enough for him to buy his clothes or medicine.  He slept on the road side, for he did not have a house to sleep in.  He saw other people enjoying themselves but he could not mix with them because people called him an outcaste. Whenever a high caste person went on the road, Sunita had to leave the road completely for them and stand very far off the road because if his shadow fell in the high caste person, he would be scolded and beaten until he bled very badly.  He could not learn anything because he was very poor and had no chance to attend the religious practices. So he lived a most miserable and unhappy poor life.

One day, he was sweeping a dirty, dusty and smelly road.  His body was covered with dirt and sweat.  He was wearing only one small piece of cloth.  Suddenly, he saw the Buddha coming along that road with thousands of monks behind him.  Sunita was collecting the swept dirt and rubbish, putting them into baskets, keeping them on his head and carrying them away to throw.  And when he saw the Buddha and thousands of monks coming towards him, his heart was filled with joy and fear.  Finding no place to hide on the road, he put his yoke in a bend of the wall and stood as if stuck to the wall, joining his palms in respect to the Buddha.  The Buddha came near him, stopped and spoke to him in a voice divinely sweet, saying “My dear friend, do you like to leave this job and become a monk?”

Nobody had ever spoken to Sunita like this before.  His heart was with such a great joy and happiness that his eyes were filled with tears.  He could not talk for a moment.  He did not believe his eyes and ears.  He never knew that the Buddha was so kind.  He always had received orders but never a kind word from anybody.  So he said, “O!  Most Venerable Sir, I always have received orders, but never a kind word.  If you accept a dirty, and most miserable scavenger like me, why should I not like to leave this dirty job, Sir?” Standing on the same spot, the Buddha ordained Sunita and took him along with other monks.  Afterwards, no one knew what his caste was and everybody – kings, ministers, commanders in chief all respected him.

The Life Of The Buddha (Part One & Two)   

Rev. Siridhamma   
Source : TheDailyEnlightenment.com