Pandita was a young son of a rich man of Sàvatthi. He became a novice monk at the age of seven. On the eighth day
after becoming a novice monk, as he was following Venerable Sàriputta on an alms-round, he saw some farmers channeling water into their fields and asked the Venerable, “Can water which has no consciousness be guided to wherever one wishes?” The Venerable replied, “Yes, it can be guided to wherever one wishes.” As they continued on their way, the novice monk next saw some fletchers heating their arrows with fire and straightening them. Further on, he came across some carpenters cutting, sawing and planing timber to make it into things like cart-wheels. Then he pondered, “If water which is without consciousness can be guided to wherever one desires, if a crooked bamboo which is without consciousness can be straightened, and if timber which is without consciousness can be made into useful things, why should I, having consciousness, be unable to tame my mind and practice tranquillity and insight meditation?”
Then and there he asked permission from the Venerable and returned to his own room in the monastery. There he
ardently and diligently practiced meditation, contemplating the body. Sakka and the devas also helped him in his meditation by keeping the monastery and its precincts very quiet and still. Before the noon meal novice monk Pandita attained anàgàmi fruition.
At that time Venerable Sàriputta was bringing food to the novice monk. The Buddha saw with his supernormal
power that novice monk Pandita had attained anàgàmi fruition and also that if he continued to practice meditation he
would soon attain arahatship. So the Buddha decided to stop Sàriputta from entering the room, where the novice monk
was. The Buddha went to the door and kept Sàriputta engaged by putting some questions to him. While the conversation was taking place, the novice monk attained arahatship. Thus, the novice monk attained arahatship on the eighth day after becoming a novice.
In this connection, the Buddha said to the monks of the monastery. “When one is earnestly practicing the Dhamma,
even Sakka and the devas give protection and keep guard; I myself have kept Venerable Sàriputta engaged at the door so that novice monk Pandita should not be disturbed. The novice monk, having seen the farmers irrigating their fields, the fletchers straightening their arrows, and carpenters making cart-wheels and other things, tames his mind and practises the Dhamma; he has now become an arahat.”
