The Bodhisatta was once chaplain of the king of Bārāṇasī, later becoming an ascetic. One day be saw a hawk, attacked by other birds, drop a piece of meat he had stolen. On another day he saw a slave girl, Piṅgalā, waiting for her lover until late into the night, and, when he did not come, she fell asleep. On a third occasion he saw a hermit meditating. Drawing a moral from these incidents, he lived the hermit life and was reborn in the Brahma world.

The story was told in reference to a brahmin who was ever proving his virtue. J.iii.100-102.