“The worthy Gotama is the eldest! The worthy Gotama is the best! Excellent, worthy Gotama! Excellent! As if he were righting the overturned, or revealing the hidden, or pointing out the path to the lost, or lighting a lamp in the dark so people with clear eyes can see what’s there, worthy Gotama has made the teaching clear in many ways. I go for refuge to the worthy Gotama, to the teaching, and to the mendicant Saṅgha. From this day forth, may the worthy Gotama remember me as a lay follower who has gone for refuge for life.”
Numbered Discourses 8.12 2. The Great Chapter With Sīha
At one time the Buddha was staying near Vesālī, at the Great Wood, in the hall with the peaked roof. Now at that time several very prominent Licchavis were sitting together at the town hall, praising the Buddha, his teaching, and the Saṅgha in many ways.
Now at that time General Sīha, a disciple of the Jains, was sitting in that assembly. He thought, “That Blessed One must without a doubt be a perfected one, a fully awakened Buddha. For several very prominent Licchavis are praising the Buddha, his teaching, and the Saṅgha in many ways. Why don’t I go to see that Blessed One, the perfected one, the fully awakened Buddha!”
Then General Sīha went to the Jain ascetic of the Ñātika clan and said to him, “Sir, I’d like to go to see the ascetic Gotama.”
“But Sīha, you believe in the doctrine of action. Why should you go to see the ascetic Gotama, who teaches a doctrine of inaction? For the ascetic Gotama believes in a doctrine of inaction, he teaches inaction, and he guides his disciples in that way.”