Day 31 covers Chapter 27, King Wonderful-Adornment as the Previous Life of a Bodhisattva.

Having last month witnessed the wonders displayed by the sons and the effect the sons have on their father, we hear the sons request permission to renounce the world and practice the Way under that Buddha.

“Thereupon the two sons descended from the sky, came to their mother, joined their hands together, and said to her, ‘Our father, the king, has now understood the Dharma by faith. He is now able to aspire for Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. We did the work of the Buddha for the sake of our father. Mother! Allow us to renounce the world and practice the Way under that Buddha!’

“Thereupon the two sons, wishing to repeat what they had said, said to their mother in gāthās:

Mother! Allow us to renounce the world
And become śramaṇas!
It is difficult to see a Buddha.
We will follow that Buddha and study.
To see a Buddha is as difficult
As to see an udumbara[-flower ]
To avert a misfortune is also difficult.
Allow us to renounce the world!

“The mother said, ‘I allow you to renounce the world because it is difficult to see a Buddha.’

Each time through this chapter I am awed at the outcome of the children’s efforts: ‘Our father, the king, has now understood the Dharma by faith.’ By faith alone.