Dīgha Nikāya

The Long Dialogues of the Buddha

Translated from the Pali by
T.W. and C.A.F. Rhys Davids

Originally published under the patronage of His Majesty King Chulālankarana, King of Siam by The Pali Text Society, Oxford

e-Book Version 2.0 — 2025 Dec 25

In the Public Domain
Reproduced with the agreement of The Pali Text Society

Namo tassa Bhagavato arahato Sammā-sambuddhassa

Homage to the Blessed One, the Perfected One, the Completely Self-awakened One

Credits

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— Bhante Bhikkhu Subhūti

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1. The Perfect Net

The Brahma-Jāla Suttantaṃ

[xxv]

Introduction

The phase of beliefs which this Suttanta is intended to meet, into which its argument fits, has been set out in some detail in the opening chapter of my 'American Lectures.' As there pointed out¹, the discussion which thus opens this series of dialogues forms also the first question in the Kathā Vatthu, and the first question in the Milinda. We cannot be far wrong if, in our endeavours to understand the real meaning of the original Buddhism, we attach as much weight to this question as did the author or authors of these ancient and authoritative Buddhist books.

The Suttanta sets out in sixty-two divisions² various speculations or theories in which the theorisers, going out always from various forms of the ancient view of a 'soul' - a sort of subtle manikin inside the body but separate from it, and continuing, after it leaves the body, as a separate entity - attempt to reconstruct the past, or to arrange the future. All such speculation is condemned. And necessarily so, since the Buddhist philosophy is put together without this ancient idea of 'soul.'

The Buddhist scheme endeavours, in other words, to include all the truth which previous thinkers had grafted on to the old savage theories of a semi-material, subtle, permanent entity inside the body, while rejecting those theories themselves; it endeavours to retain all the philosophic truth which previous thinkers had grafted on to the theosophies - the corollaries of the soul theories - while rejecting those theosophies themselves. The reasons given for this position are threefold: firstly, that such speculators about ultimate things, [xxvi] either in the past or the future, have insufficient evidence, see only one side of the shield;³ secondly, that such speculations do not lead to emancipation, to Arahatship;⁴ and thirdly, that such theories are really derived from the hopes, the feelings, and the sensations arising from evanescent phenomena⁵ - they belong, in other words, to the realm of hastily formed, empirical opinion (diṭṭhi), not to that of the higher wisdom (paññā). So that Buddhism, in the first place, holds a position somewhat similar to the modern Agnostic position. Secondly, while acknowledging the importance of feeling and of intellect, it lays special stress upon the regulation, the cultivation, of the will⁶. And thirdly, it distinguishes between a lower and a higher wisdom,⁷.

Several scholars, and especially — with more knowledge and detail — Dr. Karl Neumann, have maintained that the position of Buddhism in the history of Indian philosophy is analogous to that of Schopenhauer in European philosophy. On the other hand, it is maintained by Professor Deussen that Schopenhauer's position is analogous to that of the Upanishads. The reconciliation will probably be found to be that what Buddhism took over, with more or less of modification, from the Upanishads, is about the same as that part of the Upanishad doctrine which is found, in European phraseology, in Schopenhauer; and what Buddhism rejected altogether is not to be found in Schopenhauer. He himself, who however knew both systems only from second-hand and inaccurate authorities, says, 'If I am to take the results of my own Philosophy as the standard of truth, I should be obliged to concede to Buddhism the pre-eminence over other (systems of philosophy).'

However this question may be decided - and its discussion, at the necessary length, by a competent student of philosophy, is a very pressing want - it is certain from the details given in our Suttanta that there were then current in Northern India many other philosophic and theosophic speculations besides those the priests found it expedient to adopt, and have preserved for us in the Upanishads. And who can doubt but that some, if not all of them, may also have had their influence on the new doctrine? There was always much philosophising in India outside the narrow and inexact [xxvii] limits of the so-called six Darsanas; and we have to thank Buddhist scholars for preserving, in their Pāli and Sanskrit works, the evidences of such philosophy as the priests wished to exclude from notice⁸.

[1]

I. Brahma-Gāla Sutta⁹

The Perfect Net

I. THUS HAVE I HEARD.

The Blessed One was once going along the high road between Rājagaha and Nālandā¹⁰
with a great company of the brethren,
with about five hundred brethren.

And Suppiya the mendicant¹¹ too
was going along the high road between Rājagaha and Nālandā
with his disciple the youth Brahmadatta.

Now just then Suppiya the mendicant
was speaking in many ways in dispraise of the Buddha,
in dispraise of the Doctrine,
in dispraise of the Order.

But young Brahmadatta, his pupil,
gave utterance, in many ways,
to praise of the Buddha,
to praise of the Doctrine,
to praise of the Order.

Thus they two, teacher and pupil,
holding opinions in direct contradiction one to the other,
were following,
step by [2] step,
after the Blessed One
and the company of the brethren.

■

Now the Blessed One put up at the royal rest-house
in the Ambalaṭṭhikā pleasance¹²
to pass the night,
and with him
the company of the brethren.

And so also did Suppiya the mendicant,
and with him
his young disciple Brahmadatta.

And there, at the rest-house,
these two carried on the same discussion as before.

■

[2] And in the early dawn
a number of the brethren assembled,
as they rose up,
in the pavilion;
and this was the trend of the talk
that sprang up among them,
as they were seated there.

"How wonderful a thing is it, brethren,
and how strange
that the Blessed One,
he who knows and sees,
the Arahat,
the Buddha Supreme,
should so clearly have perceived
how various are the inclinations of men!

For see how
while Suppiya the mendicant speaks
in many ways in dispraise of the Buddha,
the Doctrine,
and the Order,
his own disciple
young Brahmadatta,
speaks, in as many ways,
in praise of them.

So do these two,
teacher and pupil,
follow step by step
after the Blessed One
and the company of the brethren,
giving utterance to views
in direct contradiction one to the other."

■

Now the Blessed One,
on realising what was the drift of their talk,
went to the pavilion,
and took his seat
on the mat spread out for him.

And when he had sat down he said:

"What is the talk on which you are engaged sitting here,
and what is the subject of the conversation between you?"

And they told him all.

■

And he said:

[3] "Brethren, if outsiders should speak against me,
or against the Doctrine,
[3] or against the Order,
you should not on that account
either bear malice,
or suffer heart-burning,
or feel ill will.

If you,
on that account,
should be angry and hurt,
that would stand in the way
of your own self-conquest.

If, when others speak against us,
you feel angry at that,
and displeased,
would you then be able
to judge how far that speech of theirs
is well said or ill?"

"That would not be so, Sir."

"But when outsiders speak in dispraise of me,
or of the Doctrine,
or of the Order,
you should unravel what is false
and point it out as wrong,
saying:

'For this or that reason
this is not the fact,
that is not so,
such a thing is not found among us,
is not in us.'

—

But also, brethren,
if outsiders should speak in praise of me,
in praise of the Doctrine,
in praise of the Order,
you should not, on that account,
be filled with pleasure or gladness,
or be lifted up in heart.

Were you to be so
that also would stand in the way
of your self-conquest.

When outsiders speak in praise of me,
or of the Doctrine,
or of the Order,
you should acknowledge what is right to be the fact,
saying:

'For this or that reason
this is the fact,
that is so,
such a thing is found among us,
is in us.'

§

It is in respect only of trifling things,
of matters of little value,
of mere morality,
that an unconverted man,
when praising the Tathāgata,
would speak.

And what are such trifling,
minor details of mere morality
that he would praise?

[4]

The Moralities¹³

I. The Short Paragraphs on Conduct

'Putting away the killing of living things,
Gotama the recluse holds aloof
from the destruction [4] of life.

He has laid the cudgel and the sword aside,
and ashamed of roughness,
and full of mercy,
he dwells compassionate and kind
to all creatures that have life.'

It is thus that the unconverted man,
when-speaking in praise of the Tathāgata,
might speak.¹⁴

■

Or he might say:

'Putting away the taking of what has not been given,
Gotama the recluse lived aloof
from grasping what is not his own.

He takes only what is given,
and expecting that gifts will come,¹⁵
he passes his life in honesty
and purity of heart.'

■

Or he might say:

'Putting away unchastity,
Gotama the recluse is chaste.

He holds himself aloof,
far off,
from the vulgar practice,
from the sexual act.'¹⁶

■

Or he might say:

'Putting away lying words,
Gotama the recluse holds himself aloof
from falsehood.

He speaks truth,
from the truth he never swerves;
faithful and trustworthy,
he breaks not his word to the world.'

■

Or he might say:

'Putting away slander,
Gotama the recluse holds himself aloof
from calumny.

What he hears here
he repeats not elsewhere
to raise a quarrel [5] against the people here;
what he hears elsewhere
he repeats not here
to raise a quarrel against the people there.

Thus does he live as a binder together
of those who are divided,
an encourager of those who are friends,
a peacemaker,
a lover of peace,
impassioned for peace,
a speaker of words that make for peace.'

■

Or he might say:

'Putting away rudeness of speech,
Gotama the recluse holds himself aloof
from harsh language.

Whatsoever word is blameless,
pleasant to the ear,
lovely,
reaching to the heart,
urbane,¹⁷
pleasing to the people,
beloved of the people -
such are words he speaks.'

■

Or he might say:

'Putting away frivolous talk,¹⁸
Gotama the recluse holds himself aloof
from vain conversation.

In season he speaks,
in accordance with the facts,
words full of meaning,
on religion,
on the discipline of the Order.

He speaks,
and at the right time,
words worthy to be laid up in one's heart,
[5] fitly illustrated,
clearly divided,
to the point.'

■

Or he might say:

'Gotama the recluse holds himself aloof
from causing injury
to seeds or plants.¹⁹

—

He takes but one meal a day,
not eating at night,
refraining from food after hours (after midday).

—

He refrains from being a spectator
at shows at fairs,
with nautch dances,
singing,
and music.

—

He abstains from wearing,
adorning,
or ornamenting himself
with garlands,
scents,
and unguents.

—

He abstains from the use
of large and lofty beds.

—

He abstains from accepting
silver or gold.

—

He abstains from accepting
uncooked grain.

—

He abstains from accepting
raw meat.

—

He abstains from accepting
women or girls.

—

He abstains from accepting
bondmen or bondwomen.

—

[6] He abstains from accepting
sheep or goats.

—

He abstains from accepting
fowls or swine.

—

He abstains from accepting
elephants,
cattle,
horses,
and mares.

—

He abstains from accepting
cultivated fields
or waste.

—

He abstains from
the acting as a go-between
or messenger.

—

He abstains
from buying and selling.

—

He abstains
from cheating with scales
or bronzes²⁰
or measures.

—

He abstains
from the crooked ways
of bribery,
cheating,
and fraud.

—

He abstains
from maiming,
murder,
putting in bonds,
highway robbery,
dacoity,
and violence.'

—

Such are the things, brethren,
which an unconverted man,
when speaking in praise of the Tathāgata,
might say.

§

II. The Middle Length Paragraphs on Conduct

Or he might say:

'Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the injury
of seedlings and growing plants
whether propagated from roots
or cuttings
or joints
or buddings
or seeds²¹ -
Gotama the [7] recluse holds aloof
from such injury to seedlings
and growing plants.'

■

[6] Or he might say:

'Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use
of things stored up;
stores, to wit,
of foods,
drinks,
clothing,
equipages,
bedding,
perfumes,
and curry-stuffs²² —
Gotama the recluse holds aloof
from such use of things stored up.'

■

Or he might say:

'Whereas some recluses and Brahmans
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to visiting shows;²³
that is to say:

(1) Nautch dances (naccaṃ).²⁴

—

(2) Singing of songs (gītaṃ).

—

(3) Instrumental music (vāditaṃ).

(4) Shows at fairs (pekkhaṃ).²⁵

—

[8] (5) Ballad recitations (akkhānaṃ).²⁶

—

(6) Hand music (pāṇissaraṃ).²⁷

—

(7) The chanting of bards (vetālaṃ).²⁸

—

(8) Tam-tam playing (kumbhathūnaṃ).²⁹

—

[9] (9) Fairy scenes (Sobhanagarakaṃ).³⁰

—

(10) Acrobatic feats by Kaṇḍālas (Kaṇḍāla-vaṃsa-dhopanaṃ).³¹

—

(11) Combats of elephants,
horses,
buffaloes,
bulls,
goats,
rams,
cocks,
and quails.

—

(12) Bouts at quarter-staff,³²
boxing,
wrestling.³³

—

(13-16) Sham-fights,
roll-calls,
manoeuvres,
reviews³⁴ —

Gotama the recluse holds aloof
from visiting such shows'

■

Or he might say:

'Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to games and recreations;³⁵
that is to say:

—

(1) Games on boards with eight,
or with ten,
rows of squares.³⁶

—

(2) The same games
[10] played by imagining such boards in the air.³⁷

—

(3) Keeping going over diagrams
drawn on the ground
so that one steps
only where one ought to go.³⁸

—

(4) Either removing the pieces or men
from a heap with one's nail,
or putting them into a heap,
in each case without shaking it.

He who shakes the heap, loses.³⁹

—

(5) Throwing dice.⁴⁰

—

(6) Hitting a short stick
with a long one.⁴¹

—

(7) Dipping the hand
with the fingers stretched out
in lac,
or red dye,
or flower-water,
and striking the wet hand
on the ground
or on a wall,
calling out:
"What shell it be?"
and showing the form required -
elephants,
horses, etc.⁴²

—

(8) Games with balls.⁴³

—

(9) Blowing through toy pipes made of leaves.⁴⁴

—

(10) Ploughing with toy ploughs.⁴⁵

—

(11) Turning summersaults.⁴⁶

—

(12) Playing with toy windmills
made of palm-leaves.⁴⁷

—

[11] (13) Playing with toy measures
made of palm-leaves.

—

(14, 15) Playing with toy carts
or toy bows.⁴⁸

—

(16) Guessing at letters
traced in the air,
or on a playfellow's back.⁴⁹

—

(17) Guessing the play fellow's thoughts.

—

(18) Mimicry of deformities.

[7] Gotama the recluse holds aloof
from such games and recreations.'

■

Or he might say:

'Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use
of high and large couches;
that is to say:⁵⁰

—

(1) Moveable settees,
high, and six feet long. (Āsandi).⁵¹

—

(2) Divans with animal figures carved on the supports (Pallanko).⁵²

—

[12] (3) Goats' hair coverlets
with very long fleece (Gonako).⁵³

—

(4) Patchwork counterpanes
of many colours (Kittakā).

—

(5) White blankets (Paṭikā).

—

(6) Woollen coverlets
embroidered with flowers (Paṭalikā).

—

(7) Quilts stuffed with cotton wool (Tūlikā).

—

(8) Coverlets embroidered with figures
of lions, tigers, etc. (Vikatikā).

—

(9) Rugs with fur on both sides (Uddalomī).

—

(10) Rugs with fur on one side (Ekantalomī).

—

(11) Coverlets embroidered with gems (Kaṭṭhissaṃ).

—

(12) Silk coverlets (Koseyyaṃ).

—

(13) Carpets large enough for sixteen dancers (Kuttakaṃ).

—

(14-16) Elephant, horse, and chariot rugs.

—

(17) Rugs of antelope skins sewn together (Agina-paveṇi).

—

(18) Rugs of skins of the plantain antelope.

—

(19) Carpets with awn- [13] ings above them (Sauttara-cchadaṃ).

—

(20) Sofas with red pillows
for the head and feet.'

■

Or he might say:

'Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use
of means for adorning and beautifying themselves;
that is to say:

Rubbing in scented powders
on one's body,
shampooing it,
and bathing it.

—

Patting the limbs with clubs
after the manner of wrestlers⁵⁴.

—

The use of mirrors,
eye-ointments,
garlands,
rouge,
cosmetics,
bracelets,
necklaces,
walking-sticks,
reed cases for drugs,
rapiers,
sunshades,
embroidered slippers,
turbans,
diadems,
whisks of the yak's tail,
and long-fringed white robes

Gotama the recluse holds aloof
from such means of adorning and beautifying the person.'⁵⁵

■

Or he might say:

'Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to such low conversation as these:

Tales of kings,
of robbers,
of ministers of state
tales of war,
of terrors,
of battles;
talk about foods and drinks,
clothes,
beds,
garlands,
perfumes;
talks about relationships,
equipages,
villages,
town,
cities,
and countries;
tales about women,
[8] and about heroes;
gossip at street corners,⁵⁶
or places whence [14] water is fetched;
ghost stories;⁵⁷
desultory talk;⁵⁸
speculations about the creation
of the land or sea,⁵⁹
or about existence and non-existence.⁶⁰

Gotama the recluse holds aloof
from such low conversation.'

■

Or he might say:

'Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use of wrangling phrases⁶¹
such as -

"You don't understand
this doctrine and discipline,
I do.

—

How should you know about
this doctrine and discipline?

—

You have fallen into wrong views.

It is I who am in the right.

—

I am speaking to the point,
you are not.⁶²

—

You are putting last
what ought to come first,
first what ought to come last.⁶³

—

What you've excogitated so long,
that's all quite upset.

—

[15] Your challenge has been taken up.⁶⁴

—

You are proved to be wrong.⁶⁵

—

Set to work to clear your views.⁶⁶

—

Disentangle yourself if you can."'⁶⁷

Gotama the recluse holds aloof
from such wrangling phrases.

■

Or he might say:

'Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to taking messages,
going on errands,
and acting as go-betweens;
to wit,
on kings,
ministers of state,
Kshatriyas,
Brahmans,
or young men, saying:

"Go there,
come hither,
take this with you,
bring that from thence"'

Gotama the recluse abstains from such servile duties.

■

Or he might say:

'Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
are tricksters,⁶⁸
droners out (of holy words for pay),⁶⁹
[16] diviners,⁷⁰
and exorcists,⁷¹
ever hungering to add gain to gain⁷² —
Gotama the recluse holds aloof
from such deception and patter.'

§

III. The Long Paragraphs on Conduct

[9] Or he might say:

'Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

(1) Palmistry —
prophesying long life,
prosperity, etc.
(or the reverse),
from marks on child's hands,
feet. etc.⁷³

—

(2) Divining
by means of omens and signs.⁷⁴

—

(3) Auguries
drawn from thunderbolts
and other celestial portents.⁷⁵

—

[17] (4) Prognostication
by interpreting dreams.⁷⁶

—

(5) Fortune-telling
from marks on the body.⁷⁷

—

(6) Auguries
from the marks on cloth gnawed by mice.⁷⁸

—

(7) Sacrificing to Agni.⁷⁹

—

(8) Offering oblations from a spoon.⁸⁰

—

(9-13) Making offerings to gods
of husks
of the red powder between the grain and the husk,
of husked grain ready for boiling,
of ghee,
and of oil.⁸¹

—

(14) Sacrificing
by spewing mustard seeds, etc.,
into the fire
out of one's mouth.⁸²

—

(15) Drawing blood from one's right knee
as a sacrifice to the gods.⁸³

—

[18] (16) Looking at the knuckles, etc.,
and, after muttering a charm,
divining whether a man
is well born
or lucky
or not.⁸⁴

—

(17) Determining whether the site
for a proposed house or pleasance,
is lucky
or not.⁸⁵

—

(18) Advising on customary law.⁸⁶

—

(19) Laying demons in a cemetery.⁸⁷

—

(20) Laying ghosts.⁸⁸

—

(21) Knowledge of the charms to be used
when lodging in an earth house.⁸⁹

—

(22) Snake charming.⁹⁰

—

[19] (23) The poison craft.⁹¹

—

(24) The scorpion craft.⁹²

—

(25) The mouse craft.⁹³

—

(26) The bird craft.⁹⁴

—

(27) The crow craft.⁹⁵

—

(28) Foretelling the number of years
that a man has yet to live.

—

(29) Giving charms to ward off arrows.⁹⁶

—

(30) The animal wheel.⁹⁷

Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such low arts.'

■

Or he might say:

'Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these -

Knowledge of the signs
of good and bad qualities
in the following things
and of the marks in them
denoting the health
or luck
of their owners: —
to wit,
gems,⁹⁸ staves,
garments,
swords,
arrows,
bows,
other weapons,
women,⁹⁹ men,¹⁰⁰
boys,¹⁰¹
girls,¹⁰² slaves,
slave-girls,
elephants,
horses,
buffaloes,
bulls,
oxen,
goats,¹⁰³
sheep,¹⁰⁴
fowls,¹⁰⁵
quails,¹⁰⁶
iguanas,¹⁰⁷
earrings,¹⁰⁸
tortoises,
and other animals

Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such low arts.'

■

Or he might say:

'Whereas some recluses [20] and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as soothsaying,
to the effect that -

[10] The chiefs will march out.

—

The chiefs will march back.

—

The home chiefs will attack,
and the enemies' retreat.

—

The enemies' chiefs will attack,
and ours will retreat.

—

The home chiefs will gain the victory,
and the foreign chiefs suffer defeat.

—

The foreign chiefs will gain the victory,
and ours will suffer defeat.¹⁰⁹

—

Thus will there be victory on this side,
defeat on that.

Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such low arts.'

■

Or he might say:

'Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by such low arts
as foretelling -

(1) There will be an eclipse of the moon.

—

(2) There will be en eclipse of the sun.

—

(3) There will be en eclipse of a star (Nakshatra).¹¹⁰

—

(4) There will be aberration
of the sun or the moon.

—

(5) The sun or the moon
will return to its usual path.

—

(6) There will be aberrations of the stars.

—

(7) The stars will return to their usual course.¹¹¹

—

[21] (8) There will be a fall of meteors.¹¹²

—

(9) There will be a jungle fire.¹¹³

—

(10) There will be an earthquake.

—

(11) The god will thunder.

—

(12-15) There will be rising and setting,
clearness and dimness,
of the sun or the moon or the stars,¹¹⁴

or foretelling
of each of these fifteen phenomena
that they will betoken
such and such a result.'

■

[11] Or he might say:

'Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:-

Foretelling an abundant rainfall.

—

Foretelling a deficient rainfall.

—

Foretelling a good harvest.

—

Foretelling scarcity of food.

—

Foretelling tranquillity.

—

Foretelling disturbances.

—

Foretelling a pestilence.

—

Foretelling a healthy season.

—

Counting on the fingers.¹¹⁵

—

[22] Counting without using the fingers.¹¹⁶

—

Summing up large totals.¹¹⁷

—

Composing ballads, poetising.¹¹⁸

—

Casuistry, sophistry.¹¹⁹

Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such low arts.'

■

Or he might say:

'Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as-

[23] (1) Arranging a lucky day
for marriages in which the bride or bridegroom
is brought home.¹²⁰

—

(2) Arranging a lucky day
for marriages in which the bride or bridegroom
is sent forth.¹²¹

—

(3) Fixing a lucky time
for the conclusion of treaties of peace
[or using charms to procure harmony.¹²²

—

(4) Fixing a lucky time
for the outbreak of hostilities
[or using charms to make discord].¹²³

—

(5) Fixing-a lucky time
for the calling in of debts
[or charms for success in throwing dice].¹²⁴

—

(6) Fixing a lucky time
for the expenditure of money
[or charms to bring ill luck
to an opponent throwing dice].¹²⁵.

—

(7) Using charms to make people lucky.¹²⁶

—

(8) Using charms to make people unlucky.

—

(9) Using charms to procure abortion.

—

(10) Incantations to bring on dumbness.

—

(11) Incantations to keep a man's jaws fixed.

—

(12) Incantations to make a man throw up his hands.

—

(13) Incantations to bring on deafness,¹²⁷.

—

[24] (14) Obtaining oracular answers
by means of the magic mirror.¹²⁸

—

(15) Obtaining oracular answers
through a girl possessed.¹²⁹

—

(16) Obtaining oracular answers
from a god.¹³⁰.

—

(17) The worship of the Sun.¹³¹

—

(18) The worship of the Great One.¹³²

—

(19) Bringing forth flames
from one's mouth.

—

(20) Invoking Siri,
the goddess of Luck¹³³ —

Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such low arts.'

■

[12] [25] Or he might say:

'Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:-

(1) Vowing gifts to a god
if a certain benefit be granted.

—

(2) Paying such vows.

—

(3) Repeating charms
while lodging in an earth house.¹³⁴

—

(4) Causing virility.¹³⁵

—

(5) Making a man impotent.¹³⁶

—

(6) Fixing on lucky sites for dwelling.¹³⁷

—

(7) Consecrating sites.¹³⁸

—

(8) Ceremonial rinsings of the month.

—

(9) Ceremonial bathings.¹³⁹

—

(10) Offering sacrifices.

—

(11-14) Administering emetics and purgatives.

—

(15) Purging people
to relieve the head
(that is by giving drugs
to make people sneeze).

—

(16) Oiling people's ears
(either to make them grow
or to heal sores on them).

—

(17) Satisfying people's eyes
(soothing them by dropping medicinal oils into them).

—

(18) Administering drugs through the nose.¹⁴⁰

—

(19) Applying collyrium to the eyes.

—

(20) Giving medical ointment for the eyes.

—

(21) Practising as an oculist.

—

(22) Practising as a surgeon.

—

(23) Practising as a doctor for children.

—

[26] (24) Administering roots and drugs.

—

(25) Administering medicines in rotation.¹⁴¹

Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such low arts.'

These, brethren, are the trifling matters,
the minor details of mere morality,
of which the unconverted man
when praising the Tathāgata,
might speak.

§

On Views

There are, brethren,
other things profound,
difficult to realize,
hard to understand,
tranquillising,
sweet,
not to be grasped by mere logic,
subtle,
comprehensible only by the wise.¹⁴²

These things the Tathāgata,
having himself realized them
and seen them face-to-face,
hath set forth;
and it is of them that they
who would rightly praise the Tathāgata
in accordance with the truth,
should speak.

And what are they?

§

I. Reconstructors of the Ultimate Beginning

There are recluses and Brahmans, brethren,
who reconstruct the ultimate beginnings of things,
whose speculations are concerned
with the ultimate past,¹⁴³
and who on eighteen grounds
put forward various [27] assertions regarding it.

And about what,
with reference to what,
do those venerable ones do so?

■

[13]

The Eternalists

There are, brethren,
some recluses and Brahmans
who are Eternalists,¹⁴⁴
and who, on four grounds,
proclaim that both the soul and the world are eternal.

And about what,
with reference to what,
do those venerable ones do so?

—

In the first place, brethren,
some recluse or Brahman
by means of ardour,
of exertion,
of application,
of earnestness,
of careful thought,
reaches up to such rapture of heart that,
rapt in heart,
he calls to mind
his various dwelling-places in times gone by -
in one birth,
or in two,
or three,
or four,
or five,
or ten,
or twenty,
or thirty,
or forty,
or fifty,
or a hundred,
or a thousand,
or in several hundreds or thousands
or laks of births -
to the effect that

'There I had such and such a name,
was of such and such a lineage¹⁴⁵ and caste,¹⁴⁶
lived on such and such food,
experienced such and such pains and pleasures,
had such and such a span of years.

And when I fell from thence
I was reborn in such and such a place
under such and such a name,
in such and such a lineage and caste,
living on such and such food,
experiencing such and such pains and pleasures,
with such and such a span of years.

And when I fell from thence
I was reborn here.'

Thus does he recollect,
in full detail
both of condition and of custom,
his various dwelling- [28] places
in times gone by.

[14] And he says to himself:

'Eternal is the soul;
and the world,
giving birth to nothing new,
is stedfast as a mountain peak,
as a pillar firmly fixed;
and though these living creatures
transmigrate and pass away,
fall from one state of existence
and spring up in another,
yet they are for ever and ever.

And why must that be so?

Because I, by means of ardour
of exertion
of application
of earnestness
of careful thought,
can reach up to such rapture of heart that,
rapt in heart,
I can call to mind,
and in full detail
both of condition and of custom,
my various dwelling-places in times gone by -
by that is it that I know this -
that the soul is eternal;
and that the world,
giving birth to nothing new,
is stedfast as a mountain peak,
as a pillar firmly fixed;
and that though these living creatures
transmigrate and pass away,
fall from one state of existence
and spring up in another,
yet they are for ever and ever.'

'This, brethren, is the first state of things
on account of which,
starting from which,
some recluses and Brahmans
are Eternalists,
and maintain that both the soul and the world are eternal.

—

In the second place, brethren,
some recluse or Brahman
by means of ardour,
of exertion,
of application,
of earnestness,
of careful thought,
reaches up to such rapture of heart that,
rapt in heart,
he calls to mind his various dwelling-places in times gone by -
in one birth,
or in two,
or three,
or four,
or five,
or ten,
or twenty,
or thirty,
or forty,
or fifty,
or a hundred,
or a thousand,
or in several hundreds or thousands
or laks of births,
or up to ten world aeons¹⁴⁷ -
to the effect that

"There I had such and such a name,
was of such and such a lineage and caste,
lived on such and such food,
experienced such and such pains and pleasures,
had such and such a span of years.

And when I fell from thence
I was reborn in such and such a place
under such and such a name,
in such and such a lineage and caste,
living on such and such food,
experiencing such and such pains and pleasures,
with such and such a span of years.

And when I fell from thence I was reborn here.'

Thus does he recollect,
in full detail
both of condition and of custom,
his various dwelling-places
in times gone by.

And he says to himself:

'Eternal is the soul
and that the world,
giving birth to nothing new,
is stedfast as a mountain peak,
as a pillar firmly fixed;
and though these living creatures
transmigrate and pass away,
fall from one state of existence
and spring up in another,
yet they are for ever and ever.

And why must that be so?

Because I,
by means of ardour of exertion
of application
of earnestness
of careful thought,
can reach up to such rapture of heart that,
rapt in heart,
I can call to mind,
and in full detail
both of condition and of custom,
my various dwelling-places in times gone by -
by that is it that I know this -
that the soul is eternal;
and that the world,
giving birth to nothing new,
is stedfast as a mountain peak,
as a pillar firmly fixed;
and that though these living creatures
transmigrate and pass away,
fall from one state of existence
and spring up in another,
yet they are for ever and ever.'

This, brethren, is the second state of things
on account of which,
starting from which,
some recluses and Brahmans are Eternalists,
and maintain that both the soul and the world are eternal.

—

[15] In the third place, brethren,
some recluse or Brahman
by means of ardour,
of exertion,
of application,
of earnestness,
of careful thought,
reaches up to such rapture of heart that,
rapt in heart,
he calls to mind his various dwelling-places
in times gone by -
in one birth,
or in two,
or three,
or four,
or five,
or ten,
or twenty,
or thirty,
or forty,
or fifty,
or a hundred,
or a thousand,
or in several hundreds
or thousands
or laks of births,
or up to forty world aeons -
to the effect that

'There I had such and such a name,
was of such and such a lineage and caste,
lived on such and such food,
experienced such and such pains and pleasures,
had such and such a span of years.

And when I fell from thence
I was reborn in such and such a place
under such and such a name,
in such and such a lineage and caste,
living on such and such food,
experiencing such and such pains and pleasures,
with such and such a span of years.

And when I fell from thence
I was reborn here.'

Thus does he recollect,
in full detail both of condition and of custom,
his various dwelling-places
in times gone by.

And he says to himself:

'Eternal is the soul;
and the world,
giving birth to nothing new,
is stedfast as a mountain peak,
as a pillar firmly fixed;
and though these living creatures
transmigrate and pass away,
fall from one state of existence
and spring up in another,
yet they are for ever and ever.

And why must that be so?

Because I, by means of ardour
of exertion
of application
of earnestness
of careful thought,
can reach up to such rapture of heart that,
rapt in heart,
I can call to mind,
and in full detail
both of condition and of custom,
my various dwelling-places
in times gone by -
by that is it that I know this -
that the soul is eternal;
and that the world,
giving birth to nothing new,
is stedfast as a mountain peak,
as a pillar firmly fixed;
and that though these living creatures
transmigrate and pass away,
fall from one state of existence
and spring up in another,
yet they are for ever and ever.'

This, brethren, is the third state of things
on account of which,
starting from which,
some recluses and Brahmans
are Eternalists,
and maintain that both the soul and the world are eternal.

—

[16] And in the fourth place, brethren,
on what ground is it,
starting from what,
that those venerable ones are Eternalists,
and maintain that the soul and the world are eternal?

In this case, brethren,
some recluse or Brahman
[29] is addicted to logic and reasoning.

He gives utterance
to the following conclusion of his own,
beaten out by his argumentations
and based on his sophistry;¹⁴⁸

'Eternal is the soul;
and the world, giving birth to nothing new
is steadfast as a mountain peak,
as a pillar firmly fixed;
and these living creatures,
though they transmigrate and pass away,
fall from one state of existence
and spring up in another,
yet they are for ever and ever.'

This, brethren, is the fourth state of things
on the ground of which,
starting from which,
some recluses and Brahmans are Eternalists,
and maintain that the soul and the world are eternal.

These, brethren, are those recluses and Brahmans
who are Eternalists,
and in four ways maintain
that both the soul and the world are eternal.

For whosoever of the recluses and Brahmans
are such and maintain this,
they do so in these four ways,
or in one or other of the same,
and outside these
there is no way in which this opinion is arrived at.

Now of these, brethren,
the Tathāgata knows
that these speculations
thus arrived at,
thus insisted on,
will have such and such a result,
such and such an effect
on the future condition
of those who trust in them.

[17] That does he know,
and he knows also other things far beyond
(far better than those speculations);¹⁴⁹
and having that knowledge
he is not puffed up,
and thus untarnished
he has, in his own heart,¹⁵⁰
realized the way of escape from them,¹⁵¹
has understood, as they really are,
the rising up and passing away of sensations,
their sweet taste,
their danger,
how they cannot be relied on;
and not grasping after any
(of [30] those things men are eager for)
he, the Tathāgata,
is quite set free.¹⁵²

These,¹⁵³ brethren, are those other things,
profound,
difficult to realize,
hard to understand,
tranquillising,
sweet,
not to be grasped by mere logic,
subtle,
comprehensible only by the wise,
which the Tathāgata,
having himself realized and seen face-to-face,
hath set forth;
and it is concerning these
that they who would rightly praise the Tathāgata
in accordance with the truth,
should speak.

■

Semi-Eternalists

There are, brethren,
some recluses and Brahmans
who are Eternalists with regard to some things,
and in regard to others Non-Eternalists;
who on four grounds
maintain that the soul and the world
are partly eternal and partly not.

And what is it that these venerable ones depend upon,
what is it that they start from,
in arriving at this conclusion?

Now there comes a time, brethren,
when, sooner or later,
after the lapse of a long long period,
this world-system passes away.

And when this happens
beings have mostly been reborn in the World of Radiance,
and there they dwell
made of mind,
feeding on joy,
radiating light from themselves,
traversing the air,
continuing in glory;
and thus they remain
for a long long period of time.

Now there comes also a time, brethren,
when, [31] sooner or later,
this world-system begins to re-evolve.

When this happens
the Palace of Brahmā appears,
but it is empty.

And some being or other,
either because his span of years has passed
or his merit is exhausted,
falls from that World of Radiance,
and comes to life in the Palace of Brahmā.

And there also he lives
made of mind,
feeding on joy,
radiating light from himself,
traversing the air,
continuing in glory;
and thus does he remain
for a long long period of time.

Now there arises in him,
from his dwelling there so long alone,
a dissatisfaction
and a longing:

'O! would that other beings
might come to join me
in this place!'

And just then,
either because their span of years had passed
or their merit was exhausted,
other beings fall from the World of Radiance,
and appear in the Palace of Brahma
as companions to him,
and in all respects like him.

[18] On this, brethren,
the one who was first reborn
thinks thus to himself:

'I am Brahmā,
the Great Brahmā,
the Supreme One,
the Mighty,
the All-seeing,
the Ruler,
the Lord of all,
the Maker,
the Creator,
the Chief of all,
appointing to each his place,
the Ancient of days
the Father of all that are
and are to be.¹⁵⁴

These other beings are of my creation.

And why is that so?

A while ago I thought,
"Would that they might come!"

And on my mental aspiration,
behold the beings came.'

And those beings themselves, too, think thus:

'This must be Brahmā,
the Great Brahmā,
the Supreme,
the Mighty,
the All-seeing,
the Ruler,
the Lord of all,
the Maker,
the Creator,
the Chief of all,
appointing to each his place,
the Ancient of days,
the Father of all that are
[32] and are to be.

And we must have been created by him.

And why?

Because, as we see,
it was he who was here first,
and we came after that.'

On this, brethren,
the one who first came into existence there
is of longer life,
and more glorious,
and more powerful
than those who appeared after him.

And it might well be, brethren,
that some being
on his falling from that state,
should come hither.

And having come hither
he might go forth from the household life
into the homeless state.

And having thus become a recluse
he, by reason of ardour of exertion
of application
of earnestness
of careful thought,
reaches up to such rapture of heart that,
rapt in heart,
he calls to mind his last dwelling-place,
but not the previous ones.

He says to himself:

'That illustrious Brahmā,
the Great Brahmā,
the Supreme One,
the Mighty,
the All-seeing,
the Ruler,
the Lord of all,
the Maker,
the Creator,
the Chief of all,
appointing to each his place,
the Ancient of days,
the Father of all that are
and are to be,
he by whom we were created,
he is stedfast
immutable
eternal,
of a nature that knows no change,
and he will remain so
for ever and ever.

But we who were created by him
have come hither
as being impermanent
mutable
limited in duration of life.'

[19] This, brethren, is the first state of things
on account of which,
starting out from which,
some recluses and Brahmans,
being Eternalists as to some things,
and Non-eternalists as to others,
maintain that the soul and the world
are partly eternal
and partly not.

—

And what is the second?

There are, brethren, certain gods called
the "Debauched by Pleasure.¹⁵⁵

For ages they pass their time
in the pursuit of the laughter and sport
of sensual lusts.

In consequence thereof
their self-possession is corrupted,
and through the loss of their self-control
they fall from that state.¹⁵⁶

[33] Now it might well be, brethren,
that some being,
on his falling from that state,
should come hither.

And having come hither
he might go forth from the household life
into the homeless state.

And having thus become a recluse
he, by reason of ardour of exertion
of application
of earnestness
of careful thought,
reaches up to such rapture of heart that,
rapt in heart,
he calls to mind his last dwelling-place,
but not the previous ones.

And he would say to himself:

'Those gods who are not debauched by pleasure
are stedfast,
immutable,
eternal,
of a nature that knows no change,
and they will remain so
for ever and ever.

[20] But we -
who fell from that state,
having lost our self-control
through being debauched by pleasure -
we have come hither
as being impermanent,
mutable,
limited in duration of life.'

—

And what is the third?

There are, brethren, certain gods called
"the Debauched in Mind."¹⁵⁷

They burn continually with envy¹⁵⁸
one against another,
and being thus irritated,
their hearts become ill-disposed towards each other,
and being thus debauched,
their bodies become feeble,
and their minds imbecile.

And those gods fall from that state.

Now it might well be, brethren,
that some [34] being, on his falling from that state,
should come hither
he might go forth from the household life
into the homeless state.

And having thus become a recluse
he, by reason of ardour of exertion
of application
of earnestness
of careful thought,
reaches up to such rapture of heart that,
rapt in heart,
he calls to mind his last dwelling-place,
but not the previous ones.

And he would say to himself:

'Those gods who are not debauched in mind
do not continually burn
with envy against each other,
so their hearts do not become evil disposed
one towards another,
nor their bodies feeble
and their minds imbecile.

Therefore they fall not from that state;
they are stedfast,
immutable,
eternal,
of a nature that knows no change,
and they will remain so
for ever and ever.

[21] But we were corrupted in mind,
being constantly excited
by envy against one another.

And being thus envious and corrupt
our bodies became feeble,
and our minds imbecile,
and we fell from that state,
and have come hither as being impermanent,
mutable,
limited in duration of life.'

This, brethren, is the third case.

—

And what is the fourth?

In this case, brethren,
some recluse or Brahman
is addicted to logic and reasoning.

He gives utterance to the following conclusion of his own,
beaten out by his argumentations
and based on his sophistry:

'This which is called
eye and ear and nose and tongue and body
is a self which is impermanent,
unstable,
not eternal,
subject to change.

But this which is called
heart, or mind, or consciousness
is a self which is permanent,
stedfast,
eternal,
and knows no change,
and it will remain for ever and ever.'¹⁵⁹

This, brethren, is the fourth state of things,
on the ground of which,
starting from which,
some recluses [35] and Brahmans are Semi-eternalists,
and in four ways maintain
that the soul and the world
are in some respects eternal,
and in some not.

These, brethren, are those recluses and Brahmans
who are Semi-eternalists,
and in four ways maintain
that the soul and the world
are eternal in some cases
and not in others.

For whosoever of the recluses and Brahmans
are such and maintain this,
they do so in these four ways
or in one or other of the same;
and outside these
there is no way in which this opinion is arrived at.

[22] Now of these, brethren,
the Tathāgata knows that these speculations,
thus arrived at,
thus insisted on,
will have such and such a result,
such and such an effect
on the future condition
of those who trust in them.

That does he know,
and he knows also other things far beyond
(far better than those speculations);
and having that knowledge,
he is not puffed up,
and thus untarnished
he has, in his own heart,
realized the way of escape from them,
has understood, as they really are,
the rising up and passing away of sensations,
their sweet taste,
their danger,
how they cannot be relied on,
and not grasping after any
(of those things men are eager for)
he, the Tathāgata, is quite set free.

These, brethren, are those other things,
profound,
difficult to realize,
hard to understand,
tranquillising,
sweet,
not to be grasped by mere logic,
subtle,
comprehensible only by the wise,
which the Tathāgata,
having himself realized and seen face-to-face,
hath set forth;
and it is concerning these
that they who would rightly praise the Tathāgata
in accordance with the truth,
should speak.

■

The Extensionists

There are, brethren,
certain recluses and Brahmans
who are Extensionists,¹⁶⁰
and who in four ways
set forth the infinity
or finiteness of the world.

And [36] on what ground,
starting out from what,
do these venerable ones maintain this?

—

In the first case, brethren,
some recluse or Brahman,
by means of ardour of exertion
of application
of earnestness
of careful thought,
reaches up to such rapture of heart
that he, rapt in heart,
dwells in the world
imagining it finite.

And he says thus to himself:

'Finite is the world,
so that a path could be traced round it.¹⁶¹

And why is this so?

Since I,
by means of ardour of exertion
of application
of earnestness
of careful thought,
can reach up to such rapture of heart
that, rapt in heart,
I dwell in the world
perceiving it to be finite -
by that I know this.'

This, brethren, is the first case.

—

In the second case, brethren,
some recluse or Brahman,
by means of ardour of exertion
of application
of earnestness
of careful thought,
reaches up to such rapture of heart
that he, rapt in heart,
dwells in the world
imagining it infinite.

And he says thus to himself:

[23] 'Infinite is the world
without a limit.

Those recluses and Brahmans who say it is finite,
so that a path could be traced round it,
are wrong.'¹⁶²

—

In the second case, brethren,
some recluse or Brahman,
by means of ardour of exertion
of application
of earnestness
of careful thought,
reaches up to such rapture of heart
that he, rapt in heart,
dwells in the world
imagining it limited in the upward and downward directions,
but infinite across.

And he says thus to himself:

'Limited is the world in the upward and downward directions,
but infinite across.

Those recluses and Brahmans who say it is finite,
so that a path could be traced round it,
are wrong.

Those recluses and Brahmans who say it is infinite,
without a limit,
are wrong.'

In the fourth case, brethren,
some recluse or Brahman
is addicted to logic and reasoning.

He gives utterance to the following conclusion of his own,
beaten out by his argumentations
and based on his sophistry:

'This world is neither finite nor yet infinite.

Those recluses and Brahmans who say it is finite,
so that a path could be traced round it,
are wrong.

Those recluses and Brahmans who say it is infinite,
without a limit,
are wrong.'

Those recluses and Brahmans who say it limited in the upward and downward directions,
but infinite across
are wrong.'

[24] Neither is the world finite,
nor is it infinite.'

This, brethren, is the fourth case.

[37] These, brethren, are those recluses and Brahmans
who are Extensionists,
and in four ways maintain
that the world is finite or infinite.

For whosoever of the recluses and Brahmans are such,
and maintain this,
they do so in these four ways
or in one or other of the same;
and outside these
there is no way in which this opinion is arrived at.

Now of these, brethren,
the Tathāgata knows that these speculations
thus arrived at,
thus insisted on,
will have such and such a result,
such and such an effect
on the future condition
of those who trust in them.

That does he know,
and he knows also other things far beyond
(far better than those speculations);
and having that knowledge
he is not puffed up,
and thus untarnished
he has, in his own heart,
realized the way of escape from them,
has understood,
as they really are,
the rising up
and passing away of sensations,
their sweet taste,
their danger,
how they cannot be relied on,
and not grasping after any
(of those things men are eager for)
he, the Tathāgata, is quite set free.

These, brethren, are those other things,
profound,
difficult to realize,
hard to understand,
tranquillising,
sweet,
not to be grasped by mere logic,
subtle,
comprehensible only by the wise,
which the Tathāgata,
having himself realized
and seen face-to-face,
hath set forth;
and it is concerning these
that they who would rightly praise the Tathāgata
in accordance with the truth,
should speak.

■

The Eel-Wrigglers

There are, brethren,
some recluses and Brahmans
who wriggle like eels;
and when a question is put to them
on this or that
they resort to equivocation,
to eel-wriggling,
and this in four ways.

Now on what ground
starting out from what,
do those venerable ones do so?

—

In the first place, brethren,
some recluse or Brahman
does not understand the good
in its real nature,
nor the evil.

And he thinks:-

'I neither know [38] the good,
as it really is,
nor the evil.

[25] That being so,
were I to pronounce this to be good
or that to be evil,
I might be influenced therein
by my feelings or desires,
by illwill or resentment.

And under these circumstances
I might be wrong;
and my having been wrong
might cause me the pain of remorse;
and the sense of remorse
might become a hindrance to me.'¹⁶³

Thus fearing and abhorring
the being wrong in an expressed opinion,
he will neither declare anything to be good,
nor to be bad;
but on a question being put to him
on this or that,
he resorts to eel-wriggling,
to equivocation,
and says:

'I don't take it thus.

I don't take it the other way.

But I advance no different opinion.

And I don't deny your position.

And I don't say
it is neither the one,
nor the other.'¹⁶⁴

This is the first case.

—

'And what is the second?

In the second place, brethren,
some recluse or Brahman
does not understand the good
in its real nature,
nor the evil.

And he thinks:-

'I neither know the good,
as it really is,
nor the evil.

That being so,
were I to pronounce this to be good
or that to be evil,
I might be influenced therein
by my feelings or desires,
by illwill or resentment.

Under these circumstances
I might fall into
that grasping condition of heart
which causes rebirth;
and my so falling
might cause me the pain of remorse;
and the sense of remorse
might become a hindrance to me."

[26] Thus fearing and abhorring
the falling into that state,¹⁶⁵
he will neither declare anything to be good,
nor to be bad;
but on a question being put to him
on this or that,
he resorts to eel-wriggling,
to equivocation,
and says:

'I don't take it thus.

I don't take it the other way.

But I advance no different opinion.

And I don't deny your position.

And I don't say it is neither the one, nor the other.'

This is the second case.

—

And what is the third?

In the third place, brethren,
some recluse or Brahman
does not understand the good in its real nature,
nor the evil.

And he thinks:

'I neither know the good,
as it really is,
nor the evil.

Now there are recluses and Brahmans
who are clever,
subtle,
experienced in controversy,
hair-splitters,
who go about, methinks,
breaking to pieces by their wisdom
[39] the speculations of others.

Were I to pronounce this to be good,
or that to be evil,
these men might join issue with me,
call upon me for my reasons,
point out my errors.

And on their doing so,
I might be unable to explain.¹⁶⁶

And that might cause me
the pain of remorse;
and the sense of remorse
might become a hindrance to me.'

Thus fearing and abhorring the joinder of issue,
he will neither declare anything to be good,
nor to be bad;
but on a question being put to him on this or that,
he resorts to eel-wriggling,
to equivocation, and says:

'I don't take it thus.

I don't take it the other way.

But I advance no different opinion.

And I don't deny your position.

And I don't say it is neither the one, nor the other.'

This is the third case.

—

[27] And what is the fourth?

In this case, brethren,
some recluse or Brahman is dull,
stupid.

And it is by reason of his dullness,
his stupidity,
that when a question on this or that is put to him,
he resorts to equivocation,
to wriggling like an eel -

'If you ask me whether there is another world, -
well, if I thought there were,
I would say so.

But I don't say so.

And I don't think it is thus or thus.

And I don't think it is otherwise.

And I don't deny it.

And I don't say
there neither is, nor is not,
another world.'

Thus does he equivocate,
and in like manner
about each of such propositions
as the following:¹⁶⁷

a

(2) There is not another world.

◦

(3) There both is, and is not, another world.

◦

(4) There neither is, nor is not, another world.

b

(1) There are Chance Beings
(so called because they spring into existence,
either here or in another world,
without the intervention of parents,
and seem therefore to come without a cause).

◦

(2) There are no such beings.

◦

(3) There both are, and are not, such beings.

◦

(4) There neither are, nor are not, such beings.

c

(1) There is fruit, result, of good and bad actions.

◦

[40] (2) There is not.

◦

(3) There both is, and is not.

◦

(4) There neither is, nor is not.

d

(1) A man who has penetrated to the truth¹⁶⁸
continues to exist after death.

◦

(2) He does not.

◦

(3) He both does, and does not.

◦

(4) He neither does, nor does not.

This, brethren, is the fourth case.¹⁶⁹

[28] These, brethren, are those recluses and Brahmans
who wriggle like eels;
and who, when a question is put to them on this or that,
resort to equivocation,
to eel-wriggling;
and that in four ways.

For whosoever do so,
they do so in these four ways,
or in one or other of the same;
there is no other way in which they do so.

Now of these, brethren,
the Tathāgata knows that these speculations
thus arrived at,
thus insisted on,
will have such and such a result,
such and such an effect
on the future condition
of those who trust in them.

That does he know,
and he knows also other things far beyond
(far better than those speculations);
and having that knowledge
he is not puffed up,
and thus untarnished
he has, in his own heart,
realized the way of escape from them,
has understood,
as they really are,
the rising up and passing away of sensations,
their sweet taste,
their danger,
how they cannot be relied on,
and not grasping after any
(of those things men are eager for)
he, the Tathāgata, is quite set free.

These brethren, are those other things,
profound,
difficult to realize,
hard to understand,
tranquillising,
[41] sweet,
not to be grasped by mere logic,
subtle,
comprehensible only by the wise,
which the Tathāgata,
having himself realized
and seen face-to-face,
hath set forth;
and it is concerning these
that they who would rightly praise the Tathāgata
in accordance with the truth,
should speak.

■

The Fortuitous-Originists

'There are, brethren, some recluses and Brahmans who are Fortuitous-Originists¹⁷⁰, and who in two ways maintain that the soul and the world arise without a cause.

And on what ground, starting out from what, do they do so?

—

There are, brethren,
certain gods called Unconscious Beings.¹⁷¹

As soon as an idea occurs to them
they fall from that state.

Now it may well be, brethren,
that a being,
on falling from that state,
should come hither;
and having come hither
he might go forth from the household life
into the homeless state.

And having thus become a recluse he,
by reason of ardour of exertion
of application
of earnestness
of careful thought,
can reach up to such rapture of heart that,
rapt in heart,
he calls to mind
how that idea occurred to him,
but not more than that.

He says to himself:

'Fortuitous [42] in origin
are the soul and the world.

And why so?

Because formerly I was not,
but now am.

Having not been,
I have come to be.'

[29] This, brethren, is the first state of things
on account of which,
starting out from which
some recluses and Brahmans
become Fortuitous-Originists,
and maintain that the soul and the world
arise without a cause.

—

And what is the second?

In this case, brethren,
some recluse or Brahman
is addicted to logic and reasoning.

He gives utterance
to the following conclusion of his own,
beaten out by his argumentations,
and based on his sophistry:

'The soul and the world arose without a cause.'

This, brethren, is the second case.

—

Now of these, brethren,
the Tathāgata knows that these speculations
thus arrived at,
thus insisted on,
will have such and such a result,
such and such an effect
on the future condition
of those who trust in them.

That does he know,
and he knows also other things far beyond
(far better than those speculations);
and having that knowledge
he is not puffed up,
and thus untarnished he has,
in his own heart,
realized the way of escape from them,
has understood,
as they really are,
the rising up and passing away of sensations,
their sweet taste,
their danger,
how they cannot be relied on,
and not grasping after any
(of those things men are eager for)
he, the Tathāgata, is quite set free.

These, brethren, are those other things,
profound,
difficult to realize,
hard to understand,
tranquillising,
sweet,
not to be grasped by mere logic,
subtle,
comprehensible only by the wise,
which the Tathāgata,
having himself realized and seen face-to-face,
hath set forth;
and it is concerning these
that they who would rightly praise the Tathāgata
in accordance with the truth,
should speak.

[30] These, brethren, are the recluses and Brahmans
who reconstruct the ultimate beginnings of things,
whose speculations are concerned with the [43] ultimate past,
and who on eighteen grounds
put forward various assertions regarding the past.¹⁷²

And those who do so,
all of them,
do so in one or other of these eighteen ways.

There is none beside.

Now of these, brethren,
the Tathāgata knows
that these speculations thus arrived at,
thus insisted on,
will have such and such a result,
such and such an effect
on the future condition
of those who trust in them.

That does he know,
and he knows also other things far beyond
(far better than those speculations);
and having that knowledge
he is not puffed up,
and thus untarnished
he has, in his own heart,
realized the way of escape from them,
has understood, as they really are,
the rising up and passing away of sensations,
their sweet taste,
their danger,
how they cannot be relied on,
and not grasping after any
(of those things men are eager for)
he, the Tathāgata, is quite set free.

These, brethren, are those other things,
profound,
difficult to realize,
hard to understand,
tranquillising,
sweet,
not to be grasped by mere logic,
subtle,
comprehensible only by the wise,
which the Tathāgata,
having himself realized and seen face-to-face,
hath set forth;
and it is concerning these
that they who would rightly praise the Tathāgata
in accordance with the truth,
should speak.

§

Arrangers of the Future

There are, brethren,
recluses and Brahmans
who arrange the future,
whose speculations are concerned with the future,
and who on forty-four grounds
put forward various assertions
regarding the future.

And on account of what,
starting out from what,
do they do so?

■

The soul is conscious

There are, brethren, recluses and Brahmans
who [31] hold the doctrine of a conscious existence after death,¹⁷³
and who maintain in sixteen ways
that [44] the soul after death is conscious.

And how do they do so?

They say of the soul:

'The soul after death,
not subject to decay,
and conscious,

(1) has form,¹⁷⁴

—

(2) is formless,¹⁷⁵

—

(3) has, and has not, form,

—

(4) neither has, nor has not, form,

—

(5) is finite,

—

(6) is infinite,

—

(7) is both,

—

(8) is neither,

—

(9) has one mode of consciousness,

—

(10) has various modes of consciousness,

—

(11) has limited consciousness,

—

(12) has infinite consciousness,

—

(13) is altogether happy,

—

(14) is altogether miserable,

—

(15) is both,

—

(16) is neither.'

These, brethren, are those recluses and Brahmans
who hold the doctrine
of a conscious existence after death,
and who maintain in sixteen ways
that the soul after death is conscious.

And those who do so,
all of them,
do so in one or other of these sixteen ways.

There is none beside.

Now of these, brethren,
the Tathāgata knows
that these speculations thus arrived at,
thus insisted on,
will have such and such a result,
such and such an effect
on the future condition
of those who trust in them.

That does he know,
and he knows also other things far beyond
(far better than those speculations);
and having that knowledge
he is not puffed up,
and thus untarnished
he has, in his own heart,
realized the way of escape from them,
has understood, as they really are,
the rising up and passing away of sensations,
their sweet taste,
their danger,
how they cannot be relied on,
and not grasping after any
(of those things men are eager for)
he, the Tathāgata, is quite set free.

[45] These, brethren, are those other things,
profound,
difficult to realize,
hard to understand,
tranquillising,
sweet,
not to be grasped by mere logic,
subtle,
comprehensible only by the wise,
which the Tathāgata,
having himself realized and seen face-to-face,
hath set forth;
and it is concerning these
that they who would rightly praise the Tathāgata
in accordance with the truth,
should speak.

[32]

■

The Soul is Unconscious

There are, brethren, recluses and Brahmans
who hold the doctrine
of an unconscious existence after death,
and who maintain in eight ways
that the soul after death is unconscious.

And how do they do so?

They say of the soul:

'The soul after death,
not subject to decay,
and unconscious,

(1) has form,

—

(2) is formless,

—

(3) has, and has not, form,

—

(4) neither has, nor has not form,

—

(5) is finite,

—

(6) is infinite,

—

(7) is both,

—

(8) is neither.'

These, brethren, are those recluses and Brahmans
who hold the doctrine
of an unconscious existence after death,
and who maintain in eight ways
that the soul after death is unconscious.

And those who do so,
all of them,
do so in one or other of those eight ways.

There is none beside.

Now of these, brethren,
the Tathāgata knows
that these speculations thus arrived at,
thus insisted on,
will have such and such a result,
such and such an effect
on the future condition
of those who trust in them.

That does he know,
and he knows also other things far beyond
(far better than those speculations);
and having that knowledge
he is not puffed up,
and thus untarnished
he has, in his own heart,
realized the [46] way of escape from them,
has understood, as they really are,
the rising up and passing away of sensations,
their sweet taste,
their danger,
how they cannot be relied on,
and not grasping after any
(of those things men are eager for)
he, the Tathāgata, is quite set free.

These, brethren, are those other things,
profound,
difficult to realize,
hard to understand,
tranquillising,
sweet,
not to be grasped by mere logic,
subtle,
comprehensible only by the wise,
which the Tathāgata,
having himself realized and seen face-to-face,
hath set forth;
and it is concerning these
that they who would rightly praise the Tathāgata
in accordance with the truth,
should speak.

■

[33] Neither Conscious nor Unconscious

There are, brethren, recluses and Brahmans
who hold the doctrine
of a neither conscious nor unconscious existence after death,
and who maintain in eight ways
that the soul after death is neither conscious nor unconscious.

And how do they do so?

They say of the soul:

'The soul after death,
not subject to decay,
and neither conscious nor unconscious,

(1) has form,

—

(2) is formless,

—

(3) has, and has not, form,

—

(4) neither has, nor has not form,

—

(5) is finite,

—

(6) is infinite,

—

(7) is both,

—

(8) is neither.'

'These, brethren, are those recluses and Brahmans
who hold the doctrine
of a neither conscious nor unconscious existence after death,
and who maintain in eight ways
that the soul after death
is neither conscious nor unconscious.

And those who do so,
all of them,
do so in one or other of those eight ways.

There is none beside.

Now of these, brethren,
the Tathāgata knows
that these speculations thus arrived at,
thus insisted on,
will have such and such a result,
such and such an effect
on the future condition
of those who trust in them.

That does he know,
and he knows also other things far beyond
(far better than those speculations);
and having that knowledge
he is not puffed up,
and thus untarnished
he has, in his own heart,
realized the way of escape from them,
has understood, as they really are,
the rising up and passing away of sensations,
their sweet taste,
their danger,
how they cannot be relied on,
and not grasping after any
(of those things men are eager for)
he, the Tathāgata, is quite set free.

These, brethren, are those other things,
profound,
difficult to realize,
hard to understand,
tranquillising,
sweet,
not to be grasped by mere logic,
subtle,
comprehensible only by the wise,
which the Tathāgata,
having himself realized and seen face-to-face,
hath set forth;
and it is concerning these
that they who would rightly praise the Tathāgata
in accordance with the truth,
should speak.

■

[34]

The Annihilationists

¹⁷⁶ [3.9] There are, brethren, recluses and Brahmans
who are Annihilationists,
who in seven ways
maintain the cutting off,
the destruction,
the annihilation of a living being.¹⁷⁷

And on account of what,
starting out from what,
do they do so?

In the first place, brethren,
some recluse or Brahman puts forth the following opinion,
the following view:

'Since, Sir, this soul has form,
is built up of the four elements,
and is the offspring of father and mother,
it is cut off,
destroyed,
on the dissolution of the body;
and does not continue after death;
and then, Sir, the soul is completely annihilated.'

Thus is it that some maintain the cutting off,
the destruction,
the annihilation of a living, being.

—

To him another says:

'There is, Sir, such a soul as you describe.

That I do not deny.

But the whole soul, Sir,
is not then completely annihilated.

For there is a further soul -
divine,
having form,
belonging to the sensuous plane,
feeding on solid food.

That you neither know of nor perceive.

But I know [47] and have experienced it.

And since this soul,
on the dissolution of the body,
is cut off and destroyed,
does not continue after death,
then is it, Sir, that the soul is completely annihilated.'

Thus is it that some maintain the cutting off,
the destruction,
the annihilation of a living being.

—

To him another says:

'There is, Sir, such a soul as you describe.

That I do not deny.

But the whole soul, Sir,
is not then completely annihilated.

For there is a further soul,
divine,
having form,
made of mind,
with all its major and minor parts complete,
not deficient in any organ.

This you neither know of nor perceive.

But I know and have experienced it.

And since this soul,
on the dissolution of the body,
is cut off and destroyed,
does not continue after death,
then is it, Sir, that the soul is completely annihilated.'

Thus is it that some maintain the cutting off,
the destruction,
the annihilation of a living being.

—

To him another says:

'There is, Sir, such a soul as you describe.

That I do not deny.

But the whole soul, Sir,
is not then completely annihilated.

For there is a further soul,
which by passing beyond ideas of form,
by the dying out of ideas of resistance,
by paying no heed to ideas of difference,
conscious that space is infinite,
reaches up to the plane of the infinity of space.¹⁷⁸

This you neither know of nor perceive.

[35] But I know and have experienced it.

And since this soul,
on the dissolution of the body,
is cut off and destroyed,
does not continue after death,
then is it, Sir, that the soul is completely annihilated.'

Thus is it that some maintain the cutting off,
the destruction,
the annihilation of a living being.

—

To him another says:

'There is, Sir, such a soul as you describe.

That I do not deny.

But the whole soul, Sir,
is not then completely annihilated.

[48] For there is a further soul,
which having passed beyond the plane of the infinity of space,
knowing that consciousness is infinite,
reaches up to the plane of the infinity of consciousness.¹⁷⁹

This you neither know of nor perceive.

But I know and have experienced it.

And since this soul,
on the dissolution of the body,
is cut off and destroyed,
does not continue after death,
then is it, Sir, that the soul is completely annihilated.'

Thus is it that some maintain the cutting off,
the destruction,
the annihilation of a living being.

—

To him another says:

'There is, Sir, such a soul as you describe.

That I do not deny.

But the whole soul, Sir,
is not then completely annihilated.

For there is a further soul,
which by passing quite beyond
the plane of the infinity of consciousness,
knowing that there is nothing,
reaches up to the plane of no obstruction.¹⁸⁰

This you neither know of nor perceive.

But I know and have experienced it.

And since this soul,
on the dissolution of the body,
is cut off and destroyed,
does not continue after death,
then is it, Sir, that the soul is completely annihilated.'

Thus is it that some maintain the cutting off,
the destruction,
the annihilation of a living, being.

—

To him another says:

'There is, Sir, such a soul as you describe.

That I do not deny.

But the whole soul, Sir,
is not then completely annihilated.

For there is a further soul,
which by passing quite beyond
the plane of no obstruction,
realizes
"This is good, this is excellent,"
and reaches up to the plane
of neither ideas nor the absence of ideas.¹⁸¹

This you [49] neither know of,
nor perceive.

But I know and have experienced it.

And since this soul,
on the dissolution of the body,
is cut off,
destroyed,
does not continue after death,
then is it, Sir, that the soul is completely annihilated.'

Thus is it that some maintain the cutting off,
the destruction,
the annihilation of a living being.

These, brethren, are the recluses and Brahmans
who are Annihilationists
and in seven ways
maintain the cutting off,
the destruction,
the annihilation of a living being.

[36] And whosoever do so
they, all of them,
do so in one or other of these seven ways.

There is none beside.

Now of these, brethren,
the Tathāgata knows
that these speculations thus arrived at,
thus insisted on,
will have such and such a result,
such and such an effect
on the future condition
of those who trust in them.

That does he know,
and he knows also other things far beyond
(far better than those speculations);
and having that knowledge
he is not puffed up,
and thus untarnished
he has, in his own heart,
realized the way of escape from them,
has understood, as they really are,
the rising up and passing away of sensations,
their sweet taste,
their danger,
how they cannot be relied on,
and not grasping after any
(of those things men are eager for)
he, the Tathāgata, is quite set free.

These, brethren, are those other things,
profound,
difficult to realize,
hard to understand,
tranquillising,
sweet,
not to be grasped by mere logic,
subtle,
comprehensible only by the wise,
which the Tathāgata,
having himself realized and seen face-to-face,
hath set forth;
and it is concerning these
that they who would rightly praise the Tathāgata
in accordance with the truth,
should speak.

■

Happiness in This Life Believers

There are, brethren, recluses and Brahmans
who hold the doctrine of happiness in this life,
who in five ways
maintain the complete salvation,
in this visible world,
of a living being.

And relying on what,
starting out from what,
do they do so?

Hereon, brethren, some recluse or Brahman
may have the following opinion,
the following view:

'Whensoever the soul,
in full enjoyment and posses- [50] sion of the five pleasures of sense,
indulges all its functions,
then, Sir, the soul has attained,
in this visible world,
to the highest Nirvāṇa.'¹⁸²

Thus do some maintain
the complete happiness,
in the visible world,
of a living being.

—

To him another says:

'There is, Sir, such a soul as you describe.

That I do not deny.

But the soul does not by that alone
attain to the highest Nirvāṇa.

And why not?

Sensuous delights, Sir,
are transitory,
they involve pain,
their very nature is to fluctuate.

And grief, lamentation,
pain,
sorrow,
and loathing
arise out of their inconstancy and change.

[37] But whensoever the soul,
putting away sensuous delights
and evil dispositions,
enters into and abides in the First Jhāna,
the state of joy and ease,
born of seclusion,
accompanied by reflection,
accompanied by investigation,
then, Sir, has the soul attained,
in this visible world,
to the highest Nirvāṇa.'

Thus do some maintain
the complete happiness,
in the visible world,
of a living being.

—

To him another says:

'There is, Sir, such a soul as you describe.

That I do not deny.

But the soul does not by that alone
attain to the highest Nirvāṇa.

And why not?

Because inasmuch as that state
involves reasoning and investigation
it is stamped as being gross.

But whensoever, Sir, the soul,
suppressing both reasoning and investigation,
enters into and abides in the Second Jhāna,
the state of joy and case,
born of serenity,
without reflection or investigation,
a state of elevation of mind,
internal calm of heart,
then, Sir, has the soul attained,
in this visible world,
to the highest Nirvāṇa.'

Thus do some maintain
the complete happiness,
in the visible world,
of a living being.

—

[51] To him another says:

'There is, Sir, such a soul as you describe.

That I do not deny.

But the soul does not by that alone
attain to the highest Nirvāṇa.

And why not?

Because inasmuch as that state
involves the sense of joy,
of exhilaration of heart,
it is stamped as being gross.

But whensoever, Sir, the soul,
by absence of the longing after joy
remains in equanimity,
mindful and self-possessed,
and experiences in the body
that ease of which the Arahats speak
(when they say)
'the man serene and thoughtful
dwells at case,'
and so enters into and abides in the Third Jhāna -
then, Sir, has the soul attained,
in this visible world,
to the highest Nirvāṇa.'

Thus do some maintain the complete happiness,
in the visible world,
of a living being.

—

To him another says:

'There is. Sir, such a soul as you describe.

That I do not deny.

But the soul does not by that alone
attain to the highest Nirvāṇa.

And why not?

Because inasmuch as that state
involves a constant dwelling of the mind
on the ease it has enjoyed
it is stamped as gross.

[38] But whensoever, Sir, the soul,
by putting away ease,
by putting away pain,
by the previous dying away
both of joys and griefs
has entered into and abides in the Fourth Jhāna¹⁸³ -
a state made pure
by self-possession and equanimity,
without pain and without ease -
then, Sir, has the soul attained,
in this visible world,
to the highest Nirvāṇa.'

Thus do some maintain the complete happiness,
in the visible world,
of a living, being.

These, brethren, are the recluses and Brahmans
who hold the doctrine
of happiness in this life,
who in five ways
maintain the complete salvation,
in this visible world,
of a living being.

And those who do [52] so,
all of them,
do so in one or other of these five ways.

There is none beside.

Now of these, brethren,
the Tathāgata knows
that these speculations thus arrived at,
thus insisted on,
will have such and such a result,
such and such an effect
on the future condition
of those who trust in them.

That does he know,
and he knows also other things far beyond
(far better than those speculations);
and having that knowledge
he is not puffed up,
and thus untarnished
he has, in his own heart,
realized the way of escape from them,
has understood, as they really are,
the rising up and passing away of sensations,
their sweet taste,
their danger,
how they cannot be relied on,
and not grasping after any
(of those things men are eager for)
he, the Tathāgata, is quite set free.

These, brethren, are those other things,
profound,
difficult to realize,
hard to understand,
tranquillising,
sweet,
not to be grasped by mere logic,
subtle,
comprehensible only by the wise,
which the Tathāgata,
having himself realized and seen face-to-face,
hath set forth;
and it is concerning these
that they who would rightly praise the Tathāgata
in accordance with the truth,
should speak.

—

These, brethren, are the recluses and Brahmans
who arrange the future,
whose speculations are concerned with the future,
and who on forty-four grounds
put forward various assertions regarding the future.

And those who do so,
all of them,
do so in one or other of these forty-four ways.

There is none beside.

Now of these, brethren,
the Tathāgata knows
that these speculations thus arrived at,
thus insisted on,
will have such and such a result,
such and such an effect
on the future condition
of those who trust in them.

That does he know,
and he knows also other things far beyond
(far better than those speculations);
and having that knowledge
he is not puffed up,
and thus untarnished
he has, in his own heart,
realized the way of escape from them,
has understood, as they really are,
the rising up and passing away of sensations,
their sweet taste,
their danger,
how they cannot be relied on,
and not grasping after any
(of those things men are eager for)
he, the Tathāgata, is quite set free.

These, brethren, are those other things,
profound,
difficult to realize,
hard to understand,
tranquillising,
sweet,
not to be grasped by mere logic,
subtle,
comprehensible only by the wise,
which the Tathāgata,
having himself realized and seen face-to-face,
hath set forth;
and it is concerning these
that they who would rightly praise the Tathāgata
in accordance with the truth,
should speak.

—

[39] These, brethren, are the recluses and Brahmans
who reconstruct the past,
and arrange the future,
or who do both,
whose speculations are concerned with both,
and who in sixty-two ways
put forward propositions
with regard to the past
and to the future,
and those who do so,
all of them,
do so in one or other of these sixty-two ways.

There is none beside.

Now of these, brethren,
the Tathāgata knows
that these speculations thus arrived at,
thus insisted on,
will have such and such a result,
such and such an effect
on the future condition
of those who trust in them.

That does he know,
and he knows also other things far beyond
(far better than those speculations);
and having that knowledge
he is not puffed up,
and thus untarnished
he has, in his own heart,
realized the way of escape from them,
has understood, as they really are,
the rising up and passing away of sensations,
their sweet taste,
their danger,
how they cannot be relied on,
and not grasping after any
(of those things men are eager for)
he, the Tathāgata, is quite set free.

These, brethren, are those other things,
profound,
difficult to realize,
hard to understand,
tranquillising,
sweet,
not to be grasped by mere logic,
subtle,
comprehensible only by the wise,
which the Tathāgata,
having himself realized and seen face-to-face,
hath set forth;
and it is concerning these
that they who would rightly praise the Tathāgata
in accordance with the truth,
should speak.

§

Conclusion

[40] Of these, brethren,
those recluses and Brahmans
who are Eternalists,
who in four ways maintain
that the soul and the world are eternal:

■

(2) those who are Semi-eternalists,
who in four ways maintain
that the soul and the world
are partly eternal and partly not:

■

(3) those who are Extensionists,
who in four ways maintain
the infinity or the finiteness of the world:

■

(4) those who are Eel-wrigglers,
who when a question is put to them
on this or that
resort, in four ways,
to equivocation,
to wriggling like eels:

■

(5) those who are Fortuitous-Originists,
who in two ways maintain
that the soul and the world
arose without a cause:

■

[53] (6) those who in any of these eighteen ways
reconstruct the past:

■

(7) those who hold the doctrine
of a conscious existence after death,
who maintain in sixteen ways
that the soul after death is conscious:

■

(8) those who hold the doctrine
of an unconscious existence after death,
who maintain in eight ways
that the soul after death is unconscious:

■

(9) those who maintain in eight ways
that the soul after death
is neither conscious nor unconscious:

■

(10) those who are Annihilationists,
who maintain ill seven ways
the cutting off,
the destruction,
the annihilation of a living being:

■

(11) those who hold the doctrine of happiness in this life,
who in five ways maintain
the complete salvation,
in this visible world,
of a living being:

That opinion of theirs
is based only on the personal sensations,
on the worry and writhing
consequent thereon,¹⁸⁴
of those venerable recluses and Brahmans,
who know not,
neither perceive,
and are subject to all kinds of craving:

—

[41][42] Those opinions of theirs
are therefore based upon contact
(through the senses).

—

[43] That they should experience those sensations
without such contact,
such a condition of things could not be.

—

[44] They all of them,
receive those sensations
through continual contact
in the spheres of touch.

—

To them
on account of the sensations
arises craving,
on account of the craving
arises the fuel
(that is, the necessary condition,
the food,
the basis,
of future lives),
from the fuel
results becoming,
from the tendency to become
arises rebirth,
and from rebirth
comes death,
and grief,
lamentation,
pain,
sorrow,
and despair.

■

It is, brethren,
when a brother understands, [54] as they really are,
the origin and the end,
the attraction,
the danger,
and the way of escape from
the six realms of contact,
that he gets to know
what is above,
beyond them all.¹⁸⁵

[45] For whosoever, brethren,
whether recluses or Brahmans,
are thus reconstructors of the past
or arrangers of the future,
or who are both,
whose speculations are concerned with both,
who put forward various propositions
with regard to the past
and to the future,
they, all of them,
are entrapped in the net
of these sixty-two modes;
this way and that they plunge about,
but they are in it;
this way and that they may flounder,
but they are included in it,
caught in it.

■

Just, brethren, as when a skilful fisherman
or fisher lad
should drag a tiny pool of water
with a fine-meshed net
he might fairly think:

'Whatever fish of size may be in this pond,
every one will be in this net;
flounder about as they may,
they will be included in it,
and caught.'

- just so is it
with these speculators about the past
and the future,
in this net,
flounder as they may,
they are included and caught.

■

[46] The outward form, brethren,
of him who has won the truth,¹⁸⁶
stands before you,
but that which binds it to rebirth
is cut in twain.

So long as his body shall last,
so long do gods and men behold him.

On the dissolution of the body,
beyond the end of his life,
neither gods nor men shall see him.

■

Just, brethren, as when the stalk of a bunch of mangoes has been cut,
all the mangoes that were hanging on that stalk go with it;
just so, brethren, though the outward form
of him who has won the truth
stands before you,
that which binds it to rebirth
has been cut in twain.

So long as his body shall last,
so long do gods and men behold him.

On the dissolution of the body,
beyond the end of his life,
neither gods nor men shall see him."

■

[55] When he had thus spoken,
the venerable Ānanda said to the Blessed One:

"Strange, Lord, is this, and wonderful!

And what name has this exposition of the truth?"

"Ānanda, you may remember this exposition as
the Net of Advantage,
and as
the Net of Truth,
and as
the Supreme Net,
and as
the Net of Theories;
remember it even as
the Glorious Victory in the day of battle!"

Thus spake the Blessed One,
and glad at heart the brethren exalted his word.

And on the delivery of this discourse
the thousandfold world-system shook.

HERE ENDS THE BRAHMAJALA SUTTA.

¹ 'American Lectures on Buddhism.' London, 1896, pp. 38-43.

² Summed up below, pp. 52, 53; and set out more fully in the list in the 'American Lectures,' pp. 31-33.

³ See the fable quoted below, pp. 187, 188.

⁴ See below, pp. 44, 188.

⁵ See for instance below, pp. 53, 54.

⁶ See the paper on 'The Will in Buddhism,' J.R.A.S., 1898.

⁷ See below, p. 42, etc., of this Suttanta.

⁸ Professor Cowell has been good enough to inform me that, in his opinion, the attempted restriction of all philosophy to the six Darsanas, and the very use of the term, is late mediaeval. The six are of course not mutually exclusive; and this, and the omissions in the classification of philosophy under these six heads, render it rather like a classification of animals into men, horses, birds, ghosts, beetles, and sparrows.

⁹ The whole of this Sutta was translated into English by the Rev. Daniel Gogerly, Wesleyan missionary in Ceylon, in the journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society for 1846 (reprinted by P. Grimblot in his 'Sept Suttas Palis,' Paris, 1876).

¹⁰ Nālandā, afterwards the seat of the famous Buddhist university, was about seven miles north of Rājagaha, the capital of Magadha, the modern Raj-gir (Sum. p. 35).

¹¹ Suppiya was a follower of the celebrated teacher Sañjaya, whose views are set out and controverted in the next Sutta.

¹² Ambalaṭṭhikā, 'the mango sapling.' It was, says Buddhaghosa (pp. 41, 42), a well-watered and shady park so called from a mango sapling by the gateway. It was surrounded with a rampart, and had in it a rest-house adorned with paintings for the king's amusement.

There was another garden so named at Anurādhapura in Ceylon, to the east of the Brazen Palace (Sum. 1, 13 1). This was so named, no doubt, after the other which was famous as the scene of the 'Exhortation to Rāhula starting with falsehood,' mentioned in Asoka's Bhabra Edict (see my 'Buddhism,' pp. 224, 225).

¹³ These titles occur, in the MSS., at the end of the sections of the tract that now follows. It forms a part of each of the Suttas in the first division, the first third, of this collection of Suttas. The division is called therefore the Sīla Vagga or Section containing the Sīlas. The tract itself must almost certainly have existed as a separate work before the time when the discourses, in each of which it recurs, were first put together.

Certain paragraphs from this tract occur also elsewhere. So in Majjhima I, 179 we have the whole of the short paragraphs; in Majjhima, Nos. 76 and 77, and in Mahāvagga V, 8, 3, we have § 17; in Majjhima II, 3 we have most of § 18; and so on. The whole of this tract has been translated into English by Gogerly (in Grimblot, see page 1, note), into French by Burnouf (also in Grimblot, pp. 212 foll.), and into German by Dr. Neumann (in his Buddhistische Anthologie, pp. 67 foll.).

¹⁴ This refrain is repeated at the end of each clause. When the Sīlas recur below, in each Sutta, the only difference is in the refrain. See, for instance, the translation of p. 100 in the text.

¹⁵ Neumann has 'waiting for a gift' which is a possible rendering: but pātikankhati has not yet been found elsewhere in the sense of 'waiting for.' The usual meaning of the word expresses just such a trifling matter as we have been led, from the context, to expect.

¹⁶ Gāma-dhammā, 'from the village habit, the practice of country folk the "pagan"' way.' One might render the phrase by 'pagan' if that word had not acquired, in English, a slightly different connotation. It is the opposite of porī, urbane (applied to speech, below, §9). Neumann misses the point here, but has 'höflich' below.

¹⁷ Porī. See note above on § 8.

¹⁸ Sampha-ppalāpa. Sampha occurs alone in the Hemavata Sutta, and at Jāt. VI, 295; A. 11, 23.

¹⁹ Samārambhā cannot mean 'planting' as Dr. Neumann renders it.

²⁰ Kaṃsa-kūṭa. The context suggests that kaṃsa (bronze) may here refer to coins, just as we say in English 'a copper,' and the word is actually so used in the 11th and 12th Bhikkhunī Nissaggiya Rules — the oldest reference in Indian books to coins. The most ancient coins, which were of private (not state) coinage, were either of bronze or gold. Buddhaghosa (p.79) explains the expression here used as meaning the passing off of bronze vessels as gold. Gogerly translates 'weights,' Childers sub voce has 'counterfeit metal,' and Neumann has 'Māss.' Buddhaghosa is obliged to take kaṃsa in the meaning of 'gold pot,' which seems very forced; and there is no authority for kaṃsa meaning either weight or mass. On the whole the coin explanation seems to me to be the simplest.

²¹ Buddhaghosa gives examples of each of these five classes of the vegetable. kingdom without explaining the terms. But it is only the fourth which is doubtful. It may mean 'graftings,' if the art of grafting was then known in the Ganges valley.

²² Āmisa. Buddhaghosa (p. 83) gives a long list of curry-stuffs included under this term. If he is right then Gogerly's 'raw grain' is too limited a translation, and Neumann's 'all sorts of articles to use' too extensive. In its secondary meaning the word means something. nice, a relish, a dainty.'

²³ Visūka-dassanaṃ. This word has only been found elsewhere in the phrase diṭṭhi-visūkaṃ, 'the puppet shows of heresy' (Majjhima I, pp. 8, 486; and Serissaka Vimāna LXXXIV, 26). The Sinhalese renders it wiparīta-darsaṇa.

²⁴ Dancing. cannot mean here a dancing in which the persons referred to took part. It must be ballet or nautch dancing.

²⁵ Literally 'shows.' This word, only found here, has always been rendered 'theatrical representations.' Clough first translated it so in his Sinhalese Dictionary, p. 665, and he was followed by Gogerly, Burnouf, myself (in 'Buddhist Suttas,' p. 192), and Dr. Neumann (p. 69), - and Weber (Indian Literature, pp. 199, 319) seems to approve this. But it is most unlikely that the theatre was already known in the fifth century B. C. And Buddhaghosa (p. 84) explains it, quite simply, as naṭa-samajjā. Now samajjo is a very interesting old word (at least in its Pāli form). The Sanskrit, according to the Petersburg Dictionary, has only been found in modern dictionaries. The Pāli occurs in other old texts such as Vinaya 11, 107; IV, 267 (both times in the very same context as it does here); ibid. II, 150; 1V, 85; Sigālovāda Sutta, p.300; first of the fourteen Edicts of Asoka. In the Sigālovāda there are said to be six dangers at such a samajjo; to wit, dancing, singing, music, recitations, conjuring tricks, and acrobatic shows. And in the Vinaya passages we learn that at a samajjo not only amusements but also food was provided; that high officials were invited, and had special seats; and that it took place at the top of a bill. This last detail of 'high places' (that is sacred places) points to a religious motive as underlying the whole procedure. The root ag (Gr. αγω, ago, whence our 'act') belongs to the stock of common Aryan roots, and means carrying on. What was the meaning of this 'carrying on together'? Who were the people who took part? Were they confined to one village? or have we here a survival from old exogamic communistic dancings together? Later the word means simply fair,' as at Jātaka III, 541:

'Many the bout I have played with quarterstaves at the fair,' with which Jātaka I, 394 may be compared. And it is no doubt this side of the festival which is here in the mind of the author; but 'fair' is nevertheless a very inadequate rendering. The Sinhalese has rapid movement in dance-figures' (ranga-maṇḍalu).

²⁶ These ballad recitations in prose and verse combined were the source from which epic poetry was afterwards gradually developed. Buddhaghosa has no explanation of the word, but gives as examples the Bhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa. The negative anakkhānaṃ occurs Majjhima I, 503.

²⁷ Buddhaghosa explains this as 'playing on cymbals'; and adds that it is also called pāṇitā'aṃ. The word is only found here and at Jātaka V, 506, and means literally 'hand-sounds.'

²⁸ Buddhaghosa says 'deep music, but some say raising dead bodies to life by spells.' His own explanation is, I think, meant to be etymological; and to show that he derives the word from vi + tāḷa. This would bring the word into connection with the Sanskrit vaitāḷika, 'royal bard.' The other explanation connects the word with Vetāla, 'a demon,' supposed to play pranks (as in the stories of the Vetāla-pañca-viṃsati) by reanimating corpses. Dr. Neumann adopts it. But it does not agree so well with the context; and it seems scarcely justifiable to see, in this ancient list, a reference to beliefs which can only be traced in literature more than a thousand years later. Gogerly's rendering funeral ceremonies,' which I previously followed, seems to me now quite out of the question.

²⁹ It is clear from Jātaka V, 506 that this word means a sort of music. And at Vinaya IV, 285 kumbhathūnikā are mentioned in connection with dancers, acrobats, and hired mourners. Buddhaghosa is here obscure and probably corrupt, and the derivation is quite uncertain. Gogerly's guess seems better than Burnouf's or Neumann's. The Sinhalese has 'striking a drum big enough to hold sixteen gallons.'

³⁰ Buddhaghosa seems to understand by this term (literally 'of Sobha city') the adornments or scenery used for a ballet-dance. (Paṭibhāṇa-cittam at Vinaya 11, 151; IV, 61, 298, 358; Sum. 1, 42 is the nude in art.) Weber has pointed out (Indische Studien, II, 38; III, 153) that Sobha is a city of the fairies much given to music and love-making. It is quite likely that the name of a frequently used scene for a ballet because a proverbial phrase for all such scenery. But the Sinhalese has 'pouring water over the heads of dancers, or nude paintings.'

³¹ Buddhaghosa takes these three words separately, and so do all the MSS. of the text, and the Sinhalese version. But 1 now think that the passage at Jātaka IV, 390 is really decisive, and that we have here one of the rare cases where we can correct our MSS. against the authority of the old commentator. But I follow him in the general meaning he assigns to the strange expression 'Kaṇḍāla-bamboo washings.'

³² See Jātaka III, 541.

³³ Nibbuddhaṃ. The verbal form nibbujjhati occurs in the list at Vinaya III, 180 (repeated at 11, 10); and our word at Milinda 232.

³⁴ All these recur in the introductory story to the 50th Pācittiya (Vinaya IV, 107). On the last compare Buddhaghosa on Mahāvagga V, I, 2 9.

³⁵ All these terms recur at Vinaya III, 180 (repeated at II, 10).

³⁶ Chess played originally on a board of eight times ten squares was afterwards played on one of eight times eight squares. Our text cannot be taken as evidence of real chess in the fifth century B. C., but it certainly refers to games from which it and draughts must have been developed. The Sinhalese Sanna says that each of these games was played with dice and pieces such as kings and so on. The word for pieces is poru (from purisa) - just our 'men'.

³⁷ Ākāsaṃ. How very like blindfold chess !

³⁸ Parihāra-pathaṃ. A kind of primitive 'hop-scotch.' The Sinhalese says the steps must be made hopping.

³⁹ Santikā. Spellicans, pure and simple.

⁴⁰ Khalikā. Unfortunately the method of playing is not stated. Compare Eggeling's note as in his Satapatha-Brāhmaṇa 11I, 106, 7. In the gambling-scene on the Bharhut 'Tope (Cunningham, PI. XLV, No. 9) there is a board marked out on the stone of six times five squares (not six by six), and six little cubes with marks on the sides visible lie on the stone outside the board.

⁴¹ Jhaṭikaṃ Something like 'tip-cat.' Siṃ-kelīmaya in Sinhalese.

⁴² Sa1āka-hatthaṃ. On flour-water as colouring matter, see Jātaka I, 220.

⁴³ Akkhaṃ. The usual meaning is 'a die.' But the Sinhalese translator agrees with Buddhaghosa. Neither gives any details.

⁴⁴ Pangacīram. The Sinhalese for this toy is pat-kulal. Morris in J.P.T.S., 1889, p. 205, compares the Marathīpungi.

⁴⁵ Vankakaṃ. From Sanskrit vrika. See Journal of the Pāli Text Society, 1889, p. 206.

⁴⁶ Mokkhacikā. So the Sinhalese. Buddhaghosa has an alternative explanation of turning over on a trapeze, but gives this also. See Vinaya I, 275, and J.P.T.S., 1885, p. 49.

⁴⁷ Kingulikaṃ. See Morris in the J.P.T.S., 1885, p. 5o, who compares cingulāyitvā at Aṇguttara III, 15, 2.

⁴⁸ All these six, from No. 10 inclusive, are mentioned in the Majjhima, vol. 1, p. 266, as children's games.

⁴⁹ Akkharikā. it is important evidence for the date at which writing was known in India that such a game should be known in the fifth century B.C.

⁵⁰ The following list recurs Vinaya I, 192 = 11, 163 = Aṇguttara 1, 181, etc.

⁵¹ Āsandī. Buddhaghosa merely says 'a seat beyond the allowed measure,' but that must refer to height, as the only rule as to measure in seats is the 87th Pācittiya in which the height of beds or chairs is limited to eight 'great' inches (probably about eighteen inches). The Sinhalese Sanna adds 'a long chair for supporting the whole body.' At Jāt. I, 208 a man lies down on an āsandī so as to be able to-look up and watch the stars. At Dīgha I, 55 = Majjhima 1,515 = Saṃyutta III, 307 [Ed.?] (where the reading must be corrected), the āsandī is used as a bier. The āsandī is selected as the right sort of seat for the king in both the Vājapeya and Inauguration ceremonies because of its height (Eggeling, Sat.-Brāh. III, 35, 105). It is there said to be made of common sorts of wood, and perforated; which probably means that the frame was of wood and the seat was of interlaced cane or wickerwork. The diminutive āsandiko, with short legs and made square (for sitting, not lying on), is allowed in the Buddhist Order by Vinaya 11, 149. And even the āsandī is allowed, if the tall legs be cut down, by Vinaya II, 169, 170 (where the reading chinditvā seems preferable, and is read in the quotation at Sum. 1, 88). The renderings 'large cushion' at 'Vinaya Texts,' II, 27 and 'stuffed couch' at 111, 209 must be accordingly corrected. Gogerly translates 'large couch,' Burnouf 'une chaise longue,' and Neumann 'bequeme Lehnstuhl.'

⁵² Pallanko. It is noteworthy that, in spite of the use of a divan with animals carved on its supports being here objected to, it is precisely the sort of seat on which the Buddha himself, or Buddhist personages of distinction, are often, in later sculptures, represented as sitting (Grunwedel, 'Buddhistische kunst,' pp. III, 124, 137; Mitra, 'Budh Gayā,' Plates XI, XX, etc. etc.). At Mahāvaṃsa 25 sīhāsana and pallanko are used of the same seat (Asoka's throne), and sīhāsana is used of Duṭṭha Gamini's throne, ibid. 157. But the Lion throne of Nissanka Malla, found at Pollonnaruwa, is not a pallanko, but an actual stone lion, larger than life size ('Indian Antiquary,' vol. 1, p. 135. Compare the similar seat in Grunwedel, p. 95).

By Vinaya 11, 170 the possession of a pallanka was allowed to the Order if the animal figures were broken off (the translation in 'Vinaya Texts,' III, 209, must be altered accordingly, reading vāle for vale, as at Vinaya IV, 312). By Vinaya II, 163 it is laid down that members of the Order were not to use a complete pallanko even in laymen's houses, so that Nigrodha's action in the passage just quoted (Mahāvaṃsa 25) was really a breach of the regulations.

⁵³ The words from gonako down to kaṭṭhissaṃ inclusive, and also kuttakaṃ, are found only in this list, and Buddhaghosa seems to be uncertain as to the exact meaning of some of them. All except No. 7 might be used in laymen's houses ('Vinaya Texts,' III, 197), and all might be possessed by the Order if used only as floor coverings (ibid. 111, 209); except again No. 7, the cotton wool of which might be utilised for pillows. As there is a doubt about the spelling it may be noticed that the Sanna reads goṇakaṃ and udda-lomiṃ: and the MS. in the R.A.S. (which repeats each sentence) has -gonakaṃ and udda-lomiṃ both times.

⁵⁴ Sambāhanaṃ. Perhaps rubbing the limbs with flat pieces of wood. See Buddhaghosa here and at 'Vinaya Texts,' III, 60.

⁵⁵ This is not quite accurate. Out of the twenty items here objected to, three (shampooing, bathing, and the use of sunshades) were allowed in the Order, and practised by Gotama himself. Bathrooms, and halls attached to them, are permitted by 'Vinaya Texts,' III, 189; shampooing by ibid. III, 68, 297. There are elaborate regulations for the provision of hot steam baths and the etiquette to be observed in them; and instances of the use of the ordinary bath in streams or rivers are frequent. The use of sunshades is permitted by 'Vinaya Texts,' 111, 13 2-3, and is referred to ibid. 111, 88, 274.

⁵⁶ Visikhā-kathā. Buddhaghosa (p.90) takes this word (literally street-talk') in the sense of talk about streets, whether ill or well situate, and whether the inhabitants are bold or poor, etc.

⁵⁷ Pubba-peta-kathā. The commentator confines this to boasting talk about deceased relatives or ancestors.

⁵⁸ Nānatta-kathaṃ, literally 'difference-talk.' The expression seems somewhat forced, if taken as meaning 'desultory'; but I see no better explanation.

⁵⁹ Lokakkhāyikā. Buddhaghosa refers this specially to such speculations as are put forth according to the Lokātyata system by the Vitaṇḍas (also called Lokāyatikas). These are materialistic theorisers, of whose system very little is, so far, known. See the note at 'Vinaya Texts, vol. iii, p. 151. 1 have collected other references to them in my 'Milinda,' vol. i, p.7; and to these Dīgha I, 11, 114, 120, and Attha Sālinī, p.3, may now be added. They are probably referred to below in chap. iii of this Sutta, §§ 10, 20.

⁶⁰ 'This list of foolish talks recurs in Suttas 76-78 in the Majjhima, and at Vinaya I,188.

⁶¹ These expressions all recur at Majjhima II, 3.

⁶² Sahitaṃ me, literally 'the put together is to me,' etc. The idiom is only found here, and may mean either as rendered above, or 'the context is on my side,' or 'the text (of the Scriptures) is on my side,' or merely 'that which is of use is on my side.' This last, given by the Sanna, amounts to the same as the version adopted above.

⁶³ Putting the cart before the horse.

⁶⁴ Āropito te vādo. On the use of this idiom compare the Commentary on the Therī Gāthā, p. 101. There is a misprint here in the text, aropito for āropito. 'Issue has been joined against you would be a possible rendering. It is the phrase used, when some one has offered to hold debate (maintain a thesis) against all corners, by an opponent who takes up the challenge.

⁶⁵ Niggahīto si. On this idiom compare the opening paragraphs of the Kathā Vatthu and the Commentary on them (especially pp. 9,10). It is literally 'you are censured.'

⁶⁶ 3 Cara vāda-pamokkhāya. So Buddhaghosa. But Gogerly renders, 'Depart, that you may be freed from this disputation and the only parallel passage seems to support this view. It is Majjhima 1, 133, where it is said to be wrong to learn the Scriptures for the sake of the advantage of being freed from discussion or debate where texts are quoted against one. Pamokkha occurs besides at Saṃyutta I, 2, Jātaka V, 30, 31, and Mahāvaṃsa 158, but not in this connection.

⁶⁷ So the author of Milinda in making his hero Nāgasena use just such a phrase (Mil. P. 27) is making him commit a breach of propriety.

⁶⁸ Kuhakā. 'Astonish the world with the three sorts of trickery,' says Buddhaghosa. These are also referred to without explanation at Jātaka IV, 297 (where we should, 1 think, read kuhana).

⁶⁹ Lapakā. Compare Itivuttaka, No. 99 = Aṇguttara I, 165, 168; and also Milinda 228, Jātaka III, 349.

⁷⁰ Nemittakā, 'interpreters of signs and omens.' See the note on nimittaṃ in the next paragraph. Compare Milinda 299; Jāt. IV, 124.

⁷¹ Nippesikā, 'scarers away' (? of ghosts, or bad omens). But the Commentary and Sanna give no help, and the word has only been found in this list.

⁷² All the five words in this list recur at A. III, iii but the context there is as undecisive as it is here, and the Commentary (fol. di of the 'Turnour MS. at the India Office), though slightly different, gives no better help.

⁷³ Aṇgaṃ, literally 'limbs.' Buddhaghosa distinguishes this from lakkhaṇaṃ (No. 5 in this list), and from anga-vijjā (No. 16). It is not found, in this sense, anywhere in the texts.

⁷⁴ Nimittaṃ, literally 'marks,' or signs.' Buddhaghosa tells a story in illustration. King Paṇḍu, they say (Pāṇḍi in the Sanna), took three pearls in his closed hand, and asked a diviner what he had in it. The latter looked this way and that for a sign; and seeing a fly which had been caught by a house-lizard (the Sanna says 'by a dog,' perhaps the meaning is simply 'in sugar') getting free (muttā), said at once 'pearls' (also muttā in Pāli). 'How many?" says the king. The diviner, hearing a dog bark thrice, answered 'three.' Compare Mil. 178, and the note to the last section on nemittikā, and the story at Mahāvaṃsa 82.

⁷⁵ Uppādo, 'the portents of the great ones, thunderbolts falling, and so on,' says Buddhaghosa. The Great Ones here mean, I think, the spirits or gods presiding over the sun, moon, and planets (see the note on § 26). The word corresponds to the Sanskrit Utpāta, though the d is vouched for by overwhelming authority. But this is only another instance of a change not infrequent (as Ed. Müller has shown, Pāli Grammar, p. 37); and the one or two cases where Burmese scribes have (wrongly) corrected to uppāta is another instance to be added to those referred to in the Introduction to Sum. 1 of their habit of putting an easier reading where the more difficult one is really right. Childers should therefore have kept this word separate from the other uppādo. Comp. Jāt. I, 374.

⁷⁶ Supinaṃ. On the theory of dreams compare Mil., pp. 297-301. At Jāt. I, 374 the word is masculine. Perhaps charms to avert bad dreams (Ath.-veda VI, 46; XVI, 5 and 6) are included in this low art.' Jāt. No. 77 mocks at the dream interpreters.

⁷⁷ Lakkhaṇaṃ. The commentator on this word as used in the very same connection at Jāt. I, 374 adds that it means also the knowledge of good and bad marks on such persons and things as are mentioned here in our next paragraph. Buddhaghosa confines its meaning to that given above. This contradiction is another confirmation of the opinion expressed by me in 1880 in 'Buddhist Birth Stories,' pp. lxiii foll., that Childers was wrong in ascribing the Jātaka Commentary to Buddhaghosa. The word occurs in Buddhaghosa's sense at D. I, 114, 120 = A. I, 163, etc.; Jāt. I, 56.

⁷⁸ Musikācchinnaṃ. The allied superstition of thinking it unlucky to wear clothes gnawed by mice is laughed out of court in the Maṃgala Jātaka, No. 87.

⁷⁹ Aggi-homaṃ. Telling people that a sacrifice, if offered in a fire of such and such a wood, will have such and such a result.

⁸⁰ Dabbi-homaṃ. Telling people that an oblation of such and such grains, butter, or so on, poured into the fire from such and such a sort of spoon, will have such and such a result.

⁸¹ See Hillebrandt, 'Neu und Vollmondsopfer,' pp. 31, 171, and Ritual-literatur' in Bühler's 'Grundriss,' pp. 71, 72, 114, 176. The nine homas here objected to may also be compared with the seven at Ath.-veda VIII, 9, 18.

⁸² No instance of this can be traced in the books of the Brahmans.

⁸³ Compare the passage in Hillebrandt, in Bühler's Grundriss,' p. 176, on the use of blood for sorcery. In one passage, Rig-vidh. III, 18, 3, it is one's own blood that is to be used. But the specific interpretation given here by Buddhaghosa cannot be paralleled from the Brahmanical books.

⁸⁴ Anga-vijja. Buddhaghosa thus separates this from the aṇgaṃ of No. 1. In both the passages Jāt. II, 200, 250 the knowledge is simply that of judging from a man's appearance that he is rough or bad, and it is the good man in the story (in the second case the Bodisat himself) who is the anga-vijjā-pāṭhako. So at Jāt. V, 458 it is by anga-vijjā that the Bodisat prophesies that a man will be cruel.

⁸⁵ Vatthu-vijjā. Childers (Dict., p. 559) has 'pool' instead of 'house,' having misread sara for ghara (s and gh are nearly alike in Sinhalese). The craft is further explained by Buddhaghosa in his comment on the Mahā-Parinibbāna Sutta I, 26. Its success depended on the belief that the sites were haunted by spirits. See further below, § 27.

⁸⁶ Khatta-vijjā. The Burmese MSS. correct the rare khatta into the familiar khetta. Khetta-vijjā indeed occurs at Ud. III, 9, and may just possibly there (in connection with writing, arithmetic, tables, etc.) be correct in the meaning of 'land-surveying, mensuration.' Buddhaghosa, though his explanation is corrupt, evidently understands the phrase in a sense similar to that of khatta-dhamma at Jāt. V, 489, 490; Mil. 164 (see also 178); and his gloss nītisatthaṃ is probably nearer the mark than Saṇkara's (on Chānd. Up. VII, 1, 2), which is dhanur-veda. It is the craft of government, then lying in great part in adhering to custom.

The Sutta only follows the Upanishad in looking at all these crafts as minor matters, but it goes beyond it in looking upon them as a 'low' way, for a Brahman, of gaining a livelihood.

⁸⁷ Siva-vijjā. It is clear that siva is used euphemistically, and we may here have an early reference to what afterwards developed into the cult of the god Siva. Buddhaghosa gives an alternative explanation as knowledge of the cries of jackals.

⁸⁸ Bhūta-vijjā. Also in the Chāndogya list (loc. cit.)

⁸⁹ Bhūri-vijjā. It is the same as bhūri-kammaṃ, explained in the same way by Buddhaghosa on § 27 below.

⁹⁰ Ahi-vijjā. One method is described at Jāt. IV, 457, 8, Perhaps such charms against snake-bite as Ath.-v. V,13 ; VI, 12, 56; VII, 88, are included.

⁹¹ Buddhaghosa says curing or giving poison, or poison spells (compare Ath.-v. VI, 90, 93, 100).

⁹² These are explained to mean simply curing the bites of these creatures.

⁹³ These are explained to mean simply curing the bites of these creatures.

⁹⁴ Understanding their language.

⁹⁵ Divining by the appearance and the cawings of crows.

⁹⁶ Compare the Ambaṭṭha-vijjā at Sum. 255 and below, p. 96 of the text, § 23.

⁹⁷ Miga-cakkaṃ. Understanding the language of all creatures.

⁹⁸ The whole of this 'low art' as applied to gems has been collected in a series of manuals now edited by L. Finot in his 'Lapiddires Indiens,' Paris, 1896.

⁹⁹ The art in these four cases is to determine whether the marks on them show they will bring good (or bad) luck to the houses in which they dwell.

¹⁰⁰ The art in these four cases is to determine whether the marks on them show they will bring good (or bad) luck to the houses in which they dwell.

¹⁰¹ The art in these four cases is to determine whether the marks on them show they will bring good (or bad) luck to the houses in which they dwell.

¹⁰² The art in these four cases is to determine whether the marks on them show they will bring good (or bad) luck to the houses in which they dwell.

¹⁰³ The art in these four cases is to determine whether the marks on them show they will bring good (or bad) luck to the houses in which they dwell.

¹⁰⁴ The art in these five cases is to determine whether it is unclean or not to eat them.

¹⁰⁵ The art in these five cases is to determine whether it is unclean or not to eat them.

¹⁰⁶ The art in these five cases is to determine whether it is unclean or not to eat them.

¹⁰⁷ The art in these five cases is to determine whether it is unclean or not to eat them.

¹⁰⁸ 'This comes in here very oddly. But the old commentator had the same reading, and takes the word in its ordinary senses, not even as amulet.

¹⁰⁹ Throughout these paragraphs the plural is used. This cannot be honorific, as the few great kings of that time are always spoken of in the singular. Yet all the previous translators, except Burnouf, translate by the singular - 'the king will march out,' etc. It is evident that we have to understand 'chiefs,' and not the 'king': and that not absolute monarchies, but republican institutions of a more or less aristocratic type, were in the mind of the composer of the paragraph.

¹¹⁰ Nakkhatta, translated by Gogerly and Neumann a 'planet.' Buddhaghosa explains it by 'Mars and so on.' This may apply to planets, but also to stars in general, and I know no other passage where the meaning of the word is confined to planets. Burnouf has ('constellation,' but what can the eclipse of a constellation mean?

¹¹¹ Patha-gamana and uppatha-gamana. Prof. Kielhorn says (in a note he has been kind enough to send me on this section): What the author means by these words I do not know. But uppatha-gamana would be literally "aberration, the going away from one's proper path"; and patha-gamana therefore should be "following one's proper course." I am sure the two words could not mean conjunction and opposition; nor, I think, ascension and declension. It is curious that Buddhaghosa has not explained them.'

¹¹² Ukkā-pāto. See Jāt. 1, 374; Mil. 178.

¹¹³ Disā-dāho. Thunder and lightning,' according to Neumann; fiery corruscations in the atmosphere,' according to Gogerly, whom Burnouf follows. But Buddhaghosa's words are only explicable of a jungle fire. Compare Jāt. 1, 212, 213, 374.

¹¹⁴ Burnouf takes these four words to refer to four occurrences. Gogerly and Neumann take them as only two. Buddhaghosa seems to imply four.

¹¹⁵ Muddā. There has been great diversity in the various guesses made at the meaning in this connection of muddā, which usually means 'seal' or 'seal-ring.' Gogerly has 'conveyancing,' and so also Childers; Burnouf takes this word and the next as one compound in the sense of foretelling the future by calculating diagrams'; and Neumann has 'Verwaltungsdienste,' administrative services. Buddhaghosa is very curt. He says only hattha-muddāgaṇanā Hatthamuddā is found elsewhere only at Jāt. III, 528, where hattha-muddaṃ karoti means 'to beckon,' and at Vin. V, 163, where it is said of the polite member of the Order that he makes, no sign with his hand, nor beckons. (On hattha-vikāra compare Mil. 1, 207, 547 = Vin. I,157 = Vin. II, 216.) Both these passages are much later than our text, and the sense of beckoning is here impossible. But muddā is mentioned as a craft at Vin. IV, 7 (where it is called honourable), at M. I, 85, and several times in the Milinda (pp. 3, 59, 78, 178 of the Pāli text), and muddiko as the person who practises that craft at D. I, 51 and Vin. IV, 8. The Sinhalese comment on this (quoted in my translation of the Milinda, 1, 91) shows that the art there was simply arithmetic, using the joints or knuckles of the fingers as an aid to memory. And this is no doubt the meaning in our paragraph.

¹¹⁶ Gaṇanā. Buddhaghosa's comment on this is acchiddakā-gaṇanā, in contradistinction to the last. It is evidently calculation not broken up by using, the fingers, mental arithmetic pure and simple. The accountant who uses this method is called gaṇako (D. I, 51; Vin. IV, 8). Buddhaghosa's comment on the latter passage is given by Minayeff at Pat. 84, but with a wrong reading, akkhiṃṭaka.

¹¹⁷ Saṃkhānaṃ, literally 'counting up.' He who has the faculty of doing this can, on looking at a tree, say how many leaves it has, says Buddhaghosa. But the first words of his comment are doubtful. He may perhaps mean calculating masses by means of the rosary. Burnouf skips this word, and Neumann has simply 'counting.'

¹¹⁸ Kāveyyaṃ. The word recurs, in a bad sense, at A. I, 72 = III, 107, and also at S. I, 110 in the phrase kāveyya-matto, 'drunk with prophecy, inspired.' Buddhaghosa enumerates, in the words of A. II, 230, four kinds of poetry, and explains them in nearly the same words as found in the Manoratha Pūranī on that passage. None of the four refer to sacrificial hymns. Impromptu rhyming, ballad singing, and the composition of poems are meant.

¹¹⁹ Lokāhyataṃ. Usually rendered 'materialism.' But it is quite clear that this meaning is impossible in this connection. See Milinda 174.

¹²⁰ Compare the Sinhalese bīna (binna) marriage in which the bridegroom is brought into the house of the bride's family.

¹²¹ Compare the Sinhalese dīga marriage in which the bride is sent out to live in the bridegroom's family. We have no words now in English to express this difference between marrying and giving in marriage.

122 - 123 - 124 - 125 Saṃvadanaṃ. Childers calls this a magic art, following Burnouf who calls it sorcery. Buddhaghosa explains it as astrology. The fact is all these expressions are technical terms for acts of astrology or sorcery, they none of them occur elsewhere either in Pāli or Sanskrit, and the tradition preserved by Buddhaghosa may be at fault in those cases in which the use of the word had not survived to later times. The general sense may be sufficiently clear, but for absolute certainty of interpretation we must wait till examples are found in Indian books of the actual use of the words, not in mere lists, but in a connection which shows the meaning. Ath-v III, 30 is a charm to secure concord in a family, compare VII, 52 ; and there are several charms in the Athara-veda for success in gambling.

¹²⁶ Subhaga-karanaṃ. Many such charms are preserved in the Atharva-veda (for instance, X, 3:; 5; XVI, 4; 9)

¹²⁷ It would be useless to seek in the Atharva-veda, which (with the one exception mentioned in the notes to the next section) gives only the charms which are supposed to bring benefits, for instances of these malevolent practices. But we have here direct evidence that black magic, as was indeed inevitable was as fully trusted in the sixth century B. C. in the valley of the Ganges as white. We need not be surprised that the malevolent charms are not recorded.

¹²⁸ Adāsa-pañho. Buddhaghosa says they made a god appear in the mirror and answer questions put. It is a later conception to discard the god, and make the mirror itself give pictures of the hidden events. The mirror is of metal (Par. Dip. 235).

¹²⁹ Kumāri-pañho. Through a girl of good family and repute.

¹³⁰ Deva-pañho. Also obtained through a girl, but this time a deva-dāsī or temple prostitute. It is instructive to find, even under the patriarchal regime of the sixth century B. C., that men thought they could best have communications from the gods through the medium of a woman.

¹³¹ Ādiccupaṭṭhānam. Such sun-worship is ridiculed in the Jātaka of the same name, No. 173.

¹³² Buddhaghosa explains the Great One as Mahā Brahma. This seems to me very doubtful. It is at least odd to find Brahma introduced in this connection. We may grant that the Buddhists might have put sun-worship into a list of sorceries, but there was no ceremonial cult of Brahma and little or none of Brahmā. And however much the new gospel might hold the speculations of the dominant theosophy in contempt, that would scarcely explain their being ranked as privates in this regiment. Burnouf avoids this by rendering the phrase generally 'serving the great,' and Neumann has 'practising sorcery.' Neither of these guesses seems happy. Mahat in composition is elsewhere always mahā in Pāli, and we possibly have here a sandhi for mahatī-upaṭṭhānam, in the sense of worship of the Great Mother, the Earth, with covert allusion to Mahī. This would give excellent sense, as the worship of the Mother Earth was closely associated in the popular mind with witchcraft. A god or goddess is certainly meant, and one so associated would be best in place here. It is perhaps worthy of note that in the oldest portion of the Taittirīya Upanishad, Sun, Moon, Earth, and Srī occur together in a set of mystic groups, and Sun, Moon, Brahma, and food are all identified by a word-play with Mahas (Sīkrā-vallī 4-7).

¹³³ See Milinda 191, and Jāt. II, 410.

¹³⁴ Bhūri-kammaṃ. Is this a place sacred to Mother Earth? The ceremony referred to is the carrying out of the vijjā or craft mentioned in the list at § 2 I.

135 - 136 Vassa- and vossa-kammaṃ. Morris discusses the etymology of these words, only found in this list, in the J.P.T.S., 1889, p. 208. The idea of the second is not, of course, castration, but making a man's desire to fail by a spell. Several such are preserved in the Atharva (IV, 4 ; VI, 1 0 1 to give virility ; VI, I 3 8 ; VII, 1 I 3 to cause impotence).

137 - 138 Vatthu-kammaṃ and -parikiraṇaṃ. These constitute the vatthu-vijjā of § 21.

¹³⁹ Bathings, that is, of other people.

¹⁴⁰ See Mil. I, 511 and the rules laid down in 'Vinaya Texts, II 53-55.

¹⁴¹ The Buddhist view of Nos. 11-25 must not be mistaken. It is sufficiently clear from the numerous examples in the Vinaya (see especially 'Vinaya Texts,' II, pp. 4I-I44), and from the high praise accorded to Jīvaka and other physicians, that the objection was to recluses and Brahmans practising medicine as a means of livelihood. They might do so gratis for themselves or for their coreligionists, and laymen might do so for gain.

The use of paṭimokkha in No. 25 is curious. It is when, for instance, a purgative is first given and then a tonic to counteract the other, to set free from its effect. Compare Jāt. V, 25.

¹⁴² The corresponding Sanskrit terms occur at Divyāvadāna, p. 492. No doubt the reading there ought to be nipuṇo.

¹⁴³ These phrases recur S. III, 45. On anuddiṭṭhi see also Gogerly in the, Ceylon Friend, 1875, p. 133, and Morris in the J.P.T.S., 1886, p. 113; and compare , attānuddiṭṭhi at Mil. 146, 160, 352 S. N. 1119. As in our colloquial expression a 'viewy man,' diṭṭhi almost always, and anudiṭṭhi in all the seven passages where it occurs, have a connotation of contempt-a mere view, an offhand ill-considered opinion, a delusion. The Greek greak δόξα has had a similar history, and dogma or speculation is a better rendering than view or belief.

¹⁴⁴ Sassata-vādā.

¹⁴⁵ Gotra, literally 'cow-stall.' The history of this word has yet to be written. It probably meant at the time this Sutta was written a family or lineage traced through the father. On the meaning of gotraja (the gentiles of Roman Law) in the later law-books see West and Bühler, 'Hindu Law of Inheritance,' p.17 I.

¹⁴⁶ Vaṇṇa, literally 'colour.' Gogerly renders it 'appearance,' and Neumann 'Beruf.' I have chosen caste (though it is not caste in its strictest sense) because it no doubt refers to the cattāro vaṇṇā mentioned so often in the Suttas. It is true that these-Khattiyas, Brahmans, Vessas, and Suddas-were not castes, but four divisions of the people, each consisting of many subdivisions (by customs as to connubium and commensality) which afterwards hardened into castes. See J.R.A.S., 1897, PP. 180-190.

¹⁴⁷ Saṃvaṭṭa-vivaṭṭaṃ (rolling up and evolution, from vaṭṭ, to turn). It is the period of the gradual disintegration and conformation of a world. Needless to add that the length of this period cannot be expressed in figures.

Neither the idea nor the word occurs in books known to be before the Buddha. But both are Indian rather than Buddhist. Saṃvarta is found in the Mahā Bhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa; and the later Sāṇkhya notion of pralaya is closely allied.

¹⁴⁸ This phrase recurs below, chap. iii §§ 14, 20.

¹⁴⁹ Sīla, for instance, and samādhi, and all the other things known to a Buddha, says Buddhaghosa, p. 108.

¹⁵⁰ Paccattaṃ. See the common phrases A. II, 198 = S. I, 9, 10, 117; M. I, 188 = 422; M. I, 251, 252 = S. III, 54, etc.; and S.N. 611, 906; Mil. 96, 347; Sum. 182. 'Without depending on anyone else, himself by himself,' says Buddhaghosa.

¹⁵¹ Nirvana, says Buddhaghosa.

¹⁵² Gogerly (PP. 77, 78 in Grimblot) has made a sad mess of this paragraph misunderstanding the grammatical construction of the first clause, and misinterpreting parāmasati in the second, and nissaranaṃ in the third.

¹⁵³ Not of course the four speculations, but the higher knowledge which has led him to reject them.

¹⁵⁴ This string of epithets recurs at M. I, 327 in the course of the story of the Brahmā, named Baka, who is represented as coming to the very conclusion set out in our section. The story was a favourite one, and three recessions of it have been preserved (M. I, 326-331; S. I, 142-144, and Jāt. No. 405). Mr. Crow evidently considered himself the Mahā Brahmā of the period.

The omission in the Dialogue of all reference to the Kesava Birth Story may be a sign of greater age or it may be due simply to the fact that it is not required for the argument there.

¹⁵⁵ Khiḍḍa-padosikā. They are not mentioned elsewhere except in the list of gods in the Mahā Samaya (p. 287).

¹⁵⁶ Buddhaghosa on this has a curious note. The gods, though of great glory, are delicate in body. A man, having gone without food for seven days even, may restore his strength by the use of clear broth and so on. But the gods can't play tricks with themselves; and if they lose their heads and forget their meal-times, they die - pass away from that state. The poor gods! Whether this be really implied in the text or not, it is at least in harmony with the irony of the Buddha's talk.

¹⁵⁷ Mano-padosikā. Only found here and in the list in the Samaya Sutta. Even there it is almost certainly merely taken from this passage, so that it looks very much as if both these classes or titles of gods were simply invented, in irony, for the sake of the argument. Buddhaghosa identifies this class with the retinue of the four Great Kings - that is the regents of the four quarters.

¹⁵⁸ Upanijjhāyanti, from jhāyati, to burn. Elsewhere found only at Vin. 1, 193; II, 269; 111, 118, in all which passages it has the connotation of 'covet, lust after.' Buddhaghosa takes it here in the sense of envy, and tells a tale, too long to quote, to show the quarrelsome nature of these gods. In the sense of 'consider' (from jhāyati, to think) the word has only been found at S.N., p. 143. There may have been confusion between the two homonyms, so that ours got to mean to consider in such a way as to be excited, to burn.'

¹⁵⁹ Buddhaghosa explains that these speculators perceive how the organs of sense break up (and sense impressions pass away); but they fail to see that the same thing holds even more strongly in the case of thoughts, since no sooner has each mental impression given rise to the succeeding one than it passes away. Not perceiving that, and depending on the analogy of birds, who fly away from one tree only to alight on another, they conclude that the mind, when this individuality is broken up, goes (as a unity) elsewhere.

¹⁶⁰ Antānantikā.

¹⁶¹ Parivaṭumo. Only found here. Buddhaghosa says nothing.

¹⁶² According to Buddhaghosa (Ats. 160) there are four things that are infinite - space, the number of world-systems, the number of living creatures, and the wisdom of a Buddha. Had this doctrine formed part of the original Buddhism we should expect to find these cattāri-anantāni in the chapter on the 'Fours' in the Aṇguttara, but I do not find them there.

¹⁶³ Either in self-training or in the attainment of bliss in heaven' says Buddhaghosa (p.115).

¹⁶⁴ Buddhaghosa gives examples of these five equivocations.

¹⁶⁵ Buddhaghosa explains that if, in his ignorance, he should, by chance, declare the good to be good, he will be puffed up by the approval of the wise. But if he should blunder, he will be filled with vexation and illwill when his error is pointed out. Either of these states of mind will be the fuel to keep the fire burning, the state technically called Upādāna, 'grasping.'

¹⁶⁶ Sampāyati. See the note at 'Vinaya Texts,' III, 317, and compare M. I, 85, 96, 472.

¹⁶⁷ Such questions are called elsewhere the common basis of discussions among Brahmans.

¹⁶⁸ The word here used is Tathāgata, 'he who has gone, or perhaps come, to the truth.' See Chalmers in the J.R.A.S. Jan., 1898, and compare S. III, 111, 116-118; M. I, 140, 171, 486; S.N. 467. The use of sammaggato (D. I, 55, etc.) and of gatatto (D. I, 57, etc.) shows that gata was used elliptically in the sense of 'gone to the furthest point aimed at' among the followers of the other sects that arose at the same time as Buddhism. The exact derivation and history of the word Tathāgata may be doubtful, but its meaning is, on the whole, clear enough.

¹⁶⁹ This is the identical answer put below (p. 57 [sic. pg 58] of the text) into the mouth of Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta.

¹⁷⁰ Adhicca-samuppannikā. This adhicca (which must be distinguished from the other adhicca, derived from adhīyati, occurring at Jāt. III, 218 = IV, 301) recurs at M. 1, 443, where it is opposed in the sense of 'occasional' to abhiṇha at M. I, 442 in the sense of 'habitual.' Udāna VI, 5 throws light on its use here. It is there associated with words meaning neither self-originated, nor created by others.' It is explained by Buddhaghosa on our passage (Sum. I, 118) as 'springing up without a cause.' The derivation is doubtful.

¹⁷¹ Asañña-sattā. They spring into being in this wise. Some one of the Brahman ascetics having practised continual meditation and arrived at the Fourth Jhāna, sees the disadvantage attached to thinking, and says to himself: 'It is by dwelling on it in thought that physical pain and all sorts of mental terrors arise. Have done with this thinking. An existence without it were better.' And dying in this belief he is reborn among the Unconscious Ones, who have form only, and neither sensations nor ideas nor predispositions nor consciousness. So long as the power of the Jhāna lasts, so long do they last. Then an idea occurs to them - the idea of rebirth in this world - and they straightway die.

¹⁷² See 1, 1, 29 (p. 12 of the text).

¹⁷³ Literally 'who are After-deathers, Conscious-maintainers.' These summary epithets are meant to be contemptuous, and the word chosen for death adds to the force of the phrase. It is not the usual word, but āghātana (so read in the text), meaning literally 'shambles, place of execution.' The ordinary phrase would have been parammaraṇikā.

¹⁷⁴ So the Ajīvakas, says Buddhaghosa.

¹⁷⁵ So the Nigaṇṭhas, says Buddhaghosa.

¹⁷⁶ §§ 9-18 are discussed by James D'Alwis in 'Buddhist Nirvana,' p. 47. Comp. Jacobi, 'Jaina Sūtras,' II, 236, 339.

¹⁷⁷ Sato sattassa. Insert the word sato in the text (as in §§ 17, 19, 41, 42). The Kaṭha Upanishad I, 20 alludes to such belief.

¹⁷⁸ Compare the 4th Vimokha. See Rh. D. 'Buddhist Suttas,' pp. 52, 213. The idea of resistance, paṭigha, is here not ethical, but refers to the senses. Having no sense of reaction to touch, of opposition to muscular effort. It appears from M. I, 164 that this was pretty much the view put forth by Gotama's first teacher Ālāra Kālāma.

¹⁷⁹ Compare the 5th Vimokha. This seems from M. I 165 to have been much the same as the view held by Rāma, whose son and pupil, Uddaka, was Gotama's second teacher.

¹⁸⁰ Compare the 6th Vimokha.

¹⁸¹ Though it is not explicitly so stated, this last of these seven theorisers is no doubt to be considered as believing in all the sorts of soul held by the others, so that he believes in seven. One may compare the five souls each more subtle than the last, made respectively of anna, prāṇa, manas, vijñāṇa, and ānanda (food, breadth, mind, consciousness, and joy), described in the Taittirīya Upanishad II, 1-5. The Buddhist modification of these 'theories omits the souls, and treats instead of various states of mind (produced by stages of meditation), the attainment of which, during this life, leads to rebirth in corresponding worlds, or planes of existence, named after those stages. of meditations. But the oldest Piṭaka texts say very little about it, and the history of Buddhist speculation on the matter has yet to be formulated.

Centuries afterwards we find a somewhat analogous conception in the gradually ascending series of seven, each more subtle than the last (Sthūla-sarīra, 'iṇga-sarīra, indriya, manas, ahaṇkara, buddhi, and ātman), set out in the Sāṇkhya texts, and the later Vedanta has a similar series. There is sufficient truth in the idea of the series of seven set out in our text to explain the persistence of the general idea in all the Indian systems, but the details and the application are strikingly different.

The text shows that the four Arūpa Vimokhas of the Buddhist theory were regarded by the early Buddhists as derived from closely allied speculations, older than Buddhism, and expressed in almost identical phraseology.

¹⁸² Buddhaghosa here (Sum. 1, 121) explains Nirvāṇa. as the suppression of pain; pain, dukkha, being bodily, as opposed to domanassa, mental. 'In this visible world' means in whatever world the particular soul happens to be at the time. On parikāreti compare V. II, 290 rājā uyyāne paricāresi, 'the king indulged himself, enjoyed himself, in the garden. 'All its functions' is added from the Commentary.

¹⁸³ The text shows that the four Jhānas were regarded by the early Buddhists as older than Buddhism. The very words used are identical; the only modification introduced in Buddhism being the omission of the 'souls.' These four, together with the four Arūpa Vimokhas (see note on § 19), make up the Eight Attainments (Samāpattiyo), often mentioned in the Jātaka commentary as practised by pre Buddhistic recluses.

¹⁸⁴ On paritasita compare M. 1, 36 na asati paritassati, 'is not worried at what is not': paritasita, 'fidgetiness' or 'worry,' at M. 1, 136; S. III, 15-19; and Mil. 253, 400. On vipphandita, M. I, 8, 486; Dh. S. 381 (Asl. 253); Jāt. IV, 495.

¹⁸⁵ In the text the first three of these four propositions are repeated of each of the eleven classes of theorisers. 'The fourth is put in the form which, to avoid repetition, I have adopted for all the four.

¹⁸⁶ Tathāgata, that is the speaker himself, the Buddha.

2. The Fruits of the Life of a Recluse

Sāmañña-Phala Suttantaṃ

[56]

Introduction

The first Dialogue deals with the most fundamental conceptions that lay at the root of the Buddha's doctrine, his Dharma, his ethical and philosophical view of life - the second puts forth his justification for the foundation of the Order, for the enunciation of the Vinaya, the practical rules of canon law by which life in the Order is regulated. The Rules themselves are not discussed. It is only certain ethical precepts that are referred to in so many words. The question is a larger and wider one than the desirability of any particular injunction. It is as to the advantage, as to the use, of having any Order at all.

King Ajātasattu of Magadha, after pointing out the advantages derived from their occupations by a long list of ordinary people in the world, asks whether the members of the Order, who have given up the world, derive any corresponding advantage, visible in this life, from theirs. The answer is a list of such advantages, arranged in an ascending scale of importance, each one mentioned being said to be better and sweeter than the one just before described.

The list of ordinary occupations given in the question is interesting evidence, especially as compared with the later lists of a similar kind referred to in the notes, of social conditions in the Ganges valley at the time when this Dialogue was composed. And the introductory story, in which the king explains how he had put a similar question to the founders of six other orders, and gives the six replies he received, is interesting evidence of the views held by the authors of the Dialogue as to beliefs current at the time.

The replies are no less interesting from the fact, pointed out by the king, that they are not to the point. Each of the six teachers goes off into a general statement of his theory instead of answering the question put. But as the works, if any, of all these teachers save one — Nigaṇṭha Nāta-putta have been irretrievably lost, the summary here given of their doctrines is of great importance as evidence of the sort of [57] speculation they favoured. The six paragraphs are short and obscure, and this is just what we should expect. As is the case with the accounts given by early Catholic writers of opinions they held to be heretical, the versions of these six sets of belief are neither adequate nor clear. But a number of other references to these six theories are found, as pointed out in the notes, both in the Buddhist and in the Jain records. And it would be premature to discuss our six paragraphs until the whole of the available evidence is made accessible to scholars. It is noteworthy that in at least two of these answers some of the expressions used seem to be in a Prākrit differing in dialect from the Pāli of the Piṭakas. And these are not the only instances of the preservation in the Piṭakas of ancient dialectical varieties.

The answer which the Buddha is represented to have given, in his turn, to the question raised by the king, takes (as is so often the case) the form of a counter-question. 'The very man whom, under ordinary circumstances, you would treat as slave or servant — what treatment would you mete out to him after he had joined an Order?' The king confesses that he would treat him as a person worthy of honour and respect. And neither in question nor answer is there any reference specially to the Buddhist Order. It is taken for granted, alike by the Buddha and the king, that any one who had devoted himself to the religious life, whatever the views or opinions he held, or the association he had joined, would, in accordance with the remarkable tolerance of that age and country, be treated with equal respect and courtesy. And the same note runs all through the Dialogue. The Buddha shows the advantages of the 'life of a recluse,' not necessarily of a follower of his own. And most of what he says would apply as much to his strongest opponents as to the members of his own Order.

The following, in a constantly ascending order of merit, are the advantages, visible in this life, which he claims for such a recluse: —

1. The honour and respect shown to a member of a religious order.

2. The training in all those lower kinds of mere morality set out in the very ancient document called 'The Sīlas.' The importance of this document has been discussed above, in the Introduction to the Brahmajāla. The details of it may be summarised here as follows: -

a. Mercy and kindness to all living things; § 43¹

[58] b. Honesty.

c. Chastity.

d. Truthfulness, peacefulness, courtesy, and good sense in speech; §44.

e. Abstinence from luxury of twelve different kinds, and freedom from trickery and violence; § 45.

f. Not injuring plants; § 46.

g. Not laying up treasure, of seven kinds; § 47.

h. Not frequenting shows, of twenty-six specified kinds; §48.

i. Not playing games, eighteen being mentioned by name; § 49.

j. Not using luxurious rugs, etc., of twenty different kinds; § 50.

k. Not using toilet luxuries, of which twenty-two are specified; § 51.

l. Not talking vain things, of which twenty-seven instances are given; § 52.

m. Not using sophistical and rude phrases when talking of higher things; § 53.

n. Not acting as go-between; § 54.

o. Not practising trickery and mystery under the guise of religion ; § 55

p. Not gaining a living by low arts, such as auguries (§ 56);
advising as to the best sorts of various things (§ 57);
prophesying as to war and its results (§ 58); astrology (§ 59);
foretelling famine or plague or the reverse (§ 6o);
arranging marriages, using spells, or worshipping gods (§ 61);
various sorts of medical trickery (§ 62).

3. The confidence of heart, absence of fear, resulting from the consciousness of right doing; § 63.

4. The habit of keeping guarded the door of his senses; § 64.

5. The constant self-possession he thus gains; § 65.

6. The power of being content with little, with simplicity of life; § 66.

7. The emancipation of heart from the Five Hindrances to self-mastery — covetousness, ill-temper, laziness, worry and flurry, and perplexity; §§ 68-74.

8. The joy and peace that, as a result of the sense of this emancipation, fills his whole being; § 75.

[59] 9. The practice of the Four Jhānas; §§ 75-82.²

10. The Insight arising from knowledge (ñāṇa-dassana); §§ 83, 84.

11. The power of projecting mental images; §§ 85, 86.

12. The five modes of mystic Insight (abhiññā); §§ 87-96

a. The practice of Iddhi.

b. The Heavenly Ear — hearing heavenly sounds.

c. Knowledge of others' thoughts.

d. Memory of his own previous births.

e. Knowledge of other people's previous births (the Heavenly Eye).

13. The realisation of the Four Truths, the destruction of the āsavas, and attainment of Arahatship; §§ 97, 98.

Now it is perfectly true that of these thirteen consecutive propositions, or groups of propositions, it is only the last, No. 13, which is exclusively Buddhist. But the things omitted, the union of the whole of those included into one system, the order in which the ideas are arranged, the way in which they are treated as so many steps of a ladder whose chief value depends on the fact that it leads up to the culminating point of Nirvāṇa in Arahatship — all this is also distinctively Buddhist. And further, the whole statement, the details of it, the order of it, must have soaked very thoroughly into the minds of the early Buddhists. For we find the whole, or nearly the whole, of it repeated (with direct reference by name to our Sutta as the oldest and most complete enumeration of it) not only in all the subsequent dialogues translated in this volume, but also in many others.

In these repetitions the order is always the same, and the details (so far as they occur) are the same. But one or other of the thirteen groups is often omitted, and the application of those of them that remain is always different — that is to say, they are enumerated in support, or in illustration, of a different proposition.

A comparison of some of these other applications of the list is full of suggestion as to its real meaning here.

In the Ambaṭṭha the point is as to caste. The Kshatriya caste is the most honourable, but wisdom and conduct are higher still. What then is the right conduct, what the right [60] wisdom? The conduct (caraṇa) is all the above paragraphs from 2-9 inclusive; the wisdom (vijjā) is the rest, 10-13.³

In the Soṇadaṇḍa the question is : What is the true Brahman?' After, by his usual Socratic method, leading Soṇadaṇḍa to acknowledge that the only two essential requisites are goodness and intelligence, these last are explained as above (2-9 and 10-13).

In the Kūṭadanta the question is as to the right sort of sacrifice. After rejecting animal sacrifice we have generosity (of various kinds, each better than the last), faith, training in the precepts, and 2-13, set forth as each of them a better sacrifice than the last.

In the Gāliya the question is whether the soul is the same as, or is other than, the body. The answer is a counter question. Repeating our sections 2-13 (omitting 11 and 12) the Buddha asks, at the end of each subdivision, whether men who do that would be likely to trouble themselves as to speculations about the soul? And the answer being, of course, 'No,' rejoins that neither does he.

In the Poṭṭhapāda the question is as to the way in which various recluses attain to mystic trance. The Buddha's answer is that it is by training; and the training should be first in morals (our groups 2 and 3) then in the things mentioned in our groups 4-9, and then in the Four Arūpa Vimokkhas. The Dialogue then takes up other questions, omitting our groups 10-13.

In the Kevaḍḍha the talk is on miracles, mystic powers. And the Buddha, disparaging all others, calls attention to our groups 2-13.

In the Lohikka the question is as to who is the right sort of teacher; and the answer is that it is the one whose pupil carries out our groups 2-13.

In the Tevijja the question is as to the way by which one can attain to union with God (Brahmā-sahavyatā). The answer gives our groups 1-8, and then adds the Four Brahma-vihāras.

In the shorter of the two Hatthipadopama Suttas [61] (No. 27 in the Majjhima), the question discussed between a Brahman and an ascetic is as to the ascendancy of the Buddha over the other teachers of the time. The Buddha himself giving afterwards the full reason, repeats our group 2 (omitting however clauses f to p inclusive ⁴), then repeats our groups 6, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9) then omitting groups 10 and 11, quotes two only, the last two (omitting the first three) ⁵ of the five Abhiññās in group 12, and concludes with group 13 in full.

In the Mahā Taṇhā-saṇkhaya Sutta (No. 38 in the Majjhima), we have the same sequence — our group 2 (omitting f to p), then 6, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 9. The rest is omitted.

In the next Sutta, the longer of the Assapuras, after a summary in different words of most of the contents of our group 2, we have our group 45 then two paragraphs not in our Sutta, then our groups 5, 7, 8, 9, and the last two only out of group 12, and then (as a climax) our group 13 - all enumerated to show what is the true Brahman, the true samaṇa.

Then again in the Sakuludāyi, No. 79 of the Majjhima, it is declared to be not for the sake of realising happiness that recluses take up the celibate life in the Order under the Buddha, but for the sake of those matters set forth in our groups 2-9 inclusive ⁶, of the two last of the Abhiññās, and above all for the sake of the attainment of Arahatship.

Besides the differences pointed out above between the Suttas preserved in the Dīgha, and in the Majjhima, respectively — differences due, I think, solely to the difference in the subjects under discussion — there are also a few verbal differences, amounting to scarcely more than 'various readings,' due, perhaps, to the divergent traditions of the Dīgha bhāṇakā and the Majjhima-bhāṇakā (the students and repeaters of the two collections in which the Dialogues are handed down to us).

However this may be, it is clear that the sum and the sequence of the paragraphs in our Sutta is regarded as of [62] great importance, not as a statement of Buddhist ethics, or of Buddhist philosophy, or of the Buddhist religion, but as a statement of the advantages that may be looked for as the result of life in an Order. And further that the statement has to be slightly modified and shortened when the question is the narrower one of life in the particular community which we call the Buddhist Order.

The difference is interesting — in the scheme for the Buddhist Order the ñāṇa-dassana, the power of projecting a mental image (apparently of oneself, which seems like the earliest germ of the modern Yoga ideas about, the astral body), the powers of Iddhi, the power of hearing heavenly sounds (something like hearing the music of the spheres), and the power of knowing the thoughts of others, are all omitted.

In the abstract given above, I have called these last three, together with the power of calling to mind one's own, and other peoples', previous births, the Five Abhiññās, or Intuitions. And this is in accord with the passages on which Childers's article sub voce is based. But these powers are not so called either in our text, or in any other Dialogue yet published. The use of the word abhiññā in this technical sense would seem therefore (to judge from the published texts) to be a sign of the later date of the book in which it occurs.⁷ In the oldest portions of the Piṭakas the word is always used in the general sense of insight, and if any special limitation is hinted at, it is simply the insight of Arahatship that is emphasised (as in Dhammapada 423, which is a quotation from Itivuttaka, No. 99, and is quoted also at Aṇguttara I, 165 )⁸

The Eightfold Path is not mentioned in our Sutta. This is not merely because it is not possible always to mention [63] everything. The Path does not come within the special advantages of life in the Order. To enter upon the Path to Arahatship, to walk along it, is not peculiar to members of the Order. A bhikshu might reach the goal either along that path, open also to laymen⁹, or by the process set out in our Sutta. They are two quite distinct methods of training, of which our Sutta deals only with one.

It is essential, in order to understand Buddhist ethics. to bear in mind that there are (and must be in such a system) several different lines along which both speculation and edifying teaching run. These are:

1. The course of conduct laid down for the ordinary Buddhist layman, contained in the Gahapati — vaggas found in the various nikāyas¹⁰

2. The rules as to the outward conduct of the members of the Order, laid down in the Pāṭimokkha and in the Khandhakas¹¹

3. The system of self-training in higher things prescribed for members of the Order. Of this our present Sutta is a striking example.

4. The method of self-training laid down for those who have entered upon the Path to Arahatship. (The Four Truths, the Eightfold Path, and the āsavas.)

In the first of these Buddhism goes very little beyond the current ethics of the day. In the second a very great deal has been simply incorporated from the rules found expedient by previous recluses, both Brahman and non-Brahman, though there are numerous differences, both of the positive regulations included, and also of things deliberately omitted. Even the third, as we have seen, cannot be considered, except in a very limited sense, as exclusively Buddhist. It is in the fourth that the essential doctrines of Buddhism are to be found. All four have, no doubt, become welded together into a more or less consistent whole. But to understand the whole, the relation of its various parts has to be kept constantly in view.

This will explain an apparent contradiction. The last Sutta quoted, the Sakuludāyi, states that the aim of the religious or celibate life as led in the Buddha's Order, is the attainment, in order, of the various things set out in our Sutta (groups 2-9, 12 and 13).

[64] Now in other passages other things are stated to be the aim.

Thus in the Saṃyutta (IV, 51) the Buddha himself is represented as explaining that the celibate life (the brahmacariyā)¹² is led by his followers for the sake of the complete understanding of pain(dukkha-pariññā). Further on in the same book (VI, 253 = V, 6, 27) this is three times repeated, with the suggestive addition that there is one way to this, to wit, the Noble Eightfold Path.

Again, in the Aṇguttara (IV, 7) the higher life is said to be for the sake of getting rid of, of cutting, through, seven Bonds which prevent one from attaining Arahatship. The argument on pp. 88, 99 (though the word brahma-carinyā does not occur) comes to much the same thing. And further on in the same book (IV, 272) the object is stated to be for the sake of getting rid of five particular sorts of envy.

Nāgasena is therefore quite right when he says that the object of renouncing the world to live in the Order is for the sake of righteousness and peace¹³; and in another place that it is to the end that sorrow may pass away¹⁴. All these explanations belong to the Path, not to the rules of the Order. They are not really inconsistent with the other aim that our Sutta sets out. And they are only additional proof, if such were needed, that it is no more possible to sum up in a single phrase (as some writers have tried to do) the aim of Buddhism, or the object of life in the Order, than it would be to sum up in a similar way the aim of Christianity, or the object for which men enter a Christian Order. The aims are necessarily as various as the character and circumstances of the various individuals who take them up. And Nāgasena does not hesitate to add — and to add in speaking to a king — that some had joined the Order in terror at the tyranny of kings, some in fear of robbers, some because they were harassed by debt, and some perhaps merely to gain a livelihood.

This also would apply to other Orders both in India and elsewhere, and is quite consistent with our Sutta, which only purports to set forth the advantages the early Buddhists held to be the likely results of joining, from whatever motive, such an Order as their own.

[65]

II. Sāmañña-Phala Sutta

The Fruits of the Life of a Recluse¹⁵

THUS HAVE I HEARD:

The Blessed One was once dwelling at Rājagaha in the Mango Grove of Jīvaka the children's physician,¹⁶
with a great company of the brethren,
with twelve hundred and fifty of the brethren.

Now at that time the king of Magadha,
Ajātasattu, the son of the Videha princess,¹⁷
on the Uposatha day,
held on the fifteenth,
on Komudi (white [66] water-lily),
the full moon day of the fourth month,¹⁸
at night,
when the moon was full,
was seated on the upper terrace roof of his palace
surrounded by his ministers.

And the king, on that sacred day,
gave utterance to a hymn of joy, saying:

"How pleasant, friends, is the moonlight night!
How beautiful, friends, is the moonlight night!
How lovely, friends, is the moonlight night!
How soothing, friends, is the moonlight night!
How grand a sign, friends, is the moonlight night!

Who is the recluse or Brahman
whom we may call upon tonight,
who, when we call upon him,
shall be able to satisfy our hearts?"¹⁹

When he had thus spoken,
a certain minister said to the king:

"There is, Sire, Pūraṇa Kassapa,
the head of an order, of a following,
the teacher of a school,
well known and of repute as a sophist,
revered by the people,
a man of experience,
who has long been a recluse,
old and well stricken in years.

Let your Majesty pay a visit to him.

It may well be²⁰ that,
on calling upon him,
your heart, Sire, shall find peace."

But when he had thus spoken
Ajātasattu the king, kept silence.

■

[3] Then another minister said to the king:

"There is, Sire, Makkhali of the cow-pen,
the head of an order, of a following,
the teacher of a school,
well known and of repute as a sophist,
revered by the people,
a man of experience,
who has long been a recluse,
old and well stricken in years.

Let your Majesty pay a visit to him.

It may well be that,
on calling upon him,
your heart, Sire, shall find peace."

But when he had thus spoken
Ajātasattu the king, kept silence.

■

[4] Then another minister said to the king:

"There is, Sire, Ajita of the garment of hair,
the head of an order, of a following,
the teacher of a school,
well known and of repute as a sophist,
revered by the people,
a man of experience,
who has long been a recluse,
old and well stricken in years.

Let your Majesty pay a visit to him.

It may well be that,
on calling upon him,
your heart, Sire, shall find peace."

But when he had thus spoken
Ajātasattu the king, kept silence.

■

[5] Then another minister said to the king:

"There is, Sire, Pakudha Kaccāyana,
the head of an order, of a following,
the teacher of a school,
well known and of repute as a sophist,
revered by the people,
a man of experience,
who has long been a recluse,
old and well stricken in years.

Let your Majesty pay a visit to him.

It may well be that,
on calling upon him,
your heart, Sire, shall find peace."

But when he had thus spoken
Ajātasattu the king, kept silence.

■

[6] Then another minister said to the king:

"There is, Sire, Saṇjaya of the Belaṭṭha clan,
the head of an order, of a following,
the teacher of a school,
well known and of repute as a sophist,
revered by the people,
a man of experience,
who has long been a recluse,
old and well stricken in years.

Let your Majesty pay a visit to him.

It may well be that,
on calling upon him,
your heart, Sire, shall find peace."

But when he had thus spoken
Ajātasattu the king, kept silence.

■

[7] Then another minister said to the king:

"There is, Sire, Nigaṇṭha of the Nāta clan,
the head of an order, of a following,
the teacher of a school,
well known and of repute as a sophist,
revered by the people,
a man of experience,
who has long been a recluse,
old and well stricken in years.

Let your Majesty pay a visit to him.

It may well be that,
on calling upon him,
your heart, Sire, shall find peace."

But when he had thus spoken
Ajātasattu the king, kept silence.

■

[67] [8] Now at that time Jīvaka the physician
was seated, in silence, not far from Ajātasattu the king.

And the king said to him:

"But you, friend Jīvaka,
why do you say nothing?"

"The Blessed One, Sire, the Arahat,
the all-awakened one,
is now lodging in our Mango Grove,
with a great company of the brethren,
with twelve hundred and fifty brethren.

And this is the good report
that has been noised abroad as to Gotama the Blessed One:

'An Arahat, fully awakened, is the exalted One,
abounding in wisdom and goodness,
happy, with knowledge of the worlds,
unsurpassed as a guide to mortals willing to be led,
the teacher of gods and men,
a blessed Buddha.'

Let your Majesty pay a visit to him.

It may well be that,
on calling upon him,
your heart, Sire, shall find peace."

"Then, friend Jīvaka,
have the riding-elephants made ready."

"Very good, Sire!"
said Jīvaka the physician
in assent to the words of the king.

And he had five hundred she-elephants made ready,
and the state elephant the king was wont to ride,
and had word brought to the king:

"The elephants, Sire, are caparisoned.

Do now what seemeth to you meet."

Then the king had five hundred of his women
mounted on the she-elephants,
one on each;
and himself mounted the state elephant;
and he went forth,
the attendants bearing torches,
in royal pomp, from Rājagaha
to Jīvaka the physician's Mango Grove.

And the king,
when close upon the Mango Grove,
was seized with a sudden fear and consternation,
and the hairs on his body stood erect.

And anxious and excited,
he said to Jīvaka:

"You are playing me no tricks, Jīvaka?

You are not deceiving me?

You are not betraying me to my foes?

How can it be
that there should be no sound at all,
not a sneeze nor a cough,
in so large an assembly of the brethren,
among twelve hundred and fifty of the brethren?"

"Fear not, O king,
I play no trick, neither deceive you;
nor would I betray you to the foe.

Go on, O king, [68] go straight on!

There, in the pavilion hall,
the lamps are burning."

Then the king went on,
on his elephant as far as the path was passable for elephants,
and then on foot,
to the door of the pavilion;
and then said to Jīvaka:

"But where, Jīvaka, is the Blessed One?"

"That is he, O king, sitting against the middle pillar,
and facing the East,
with the brethren around him."

Then the king went up,
and stood respectfully on one side.

And as he stood there
and looked on the assembly,
seated in perfect silence,
calm as a clear lake,
he broke out:

"Would that my son, Udāyi Bhadda,
might have such calm
as this assembly of the brethren now has!"

"Do your thoughts then go where love guides them?"

"I love the boy,
and wish that he, Udāyi Bhadda,
might enjoy such calm
as this assembly has."

Then the king bowed to the Blessed One,
and stretching forth his joined palms in salutation to the Order
took his seat aside,
and said to the Blessed One:

"I would fain question the Blessed One on a certain matter,
if he give me opportunity to set forth the question."

"Ask, O king, whatsoever you desire."

"There are, Sir, a number of ordinary crafts:
mahouts, horsemen, charioteers,
archers, standard bearers,
camp marshals, camp followers,
high military officers of royal birth,
military scouts,²¹
men brave as elephants,
champions, heroes, warriors in buckskin,
home-born slaves, cooks, barbers, bath attendants,
confectioners, garland-makers, washermen,
weavers, basket-makers, potters,
arithmeticians, accountants,
and whatsoever others of like kind there may be.

All [69] these enjoy,
in this very world,
the visible fruits of their craft.

They maintain themselves,
and their parents and children and friends,
in happiness and comfort.

They keep up gift,
the object of which is gain on high,
to recluses and Brahmans,
— gifts that lead to rebirth in heaven,
that redound to happiness,
and have bliss as their result.

Can you, Sir, declare to me
any such immediate fruit,
visible in this very world,
of the life of a recluse?"²²

"Do you admit to us, O king,
that you have put the same question
to other recluses or to Brahmans?"

"I do, Lord."

"Then tell us how they answered it,
if you do not mind."

"I have no objection where the Blessed One,
or others like him, are."

"Then speak, O king."

§

"Once I went to Pūraṇa Kassapa.²³

And after exchanging with him
the greetings and compliments of friendship and courtesy,
I seated myself beside him,
and put to him the same question
as I have now put, Lord, to you.

Then Pūraṇa Kassapa said to me:

'To him who acts, O king,
or causes another to act,
to him who mutilates
or causes another to mutilate,
to him who punishes
or causes another to punish,
to him who causes grief or torment,
to him who trembles
or causes others to tremble,
to him who kills a living creature,
who takes what is not given,
who breaks into houses,
who commits dacoity,
or robbery,
or highway robbery,
or adultery,
or who speaks lies,
to him thus acting there is no guilt.

If with a discus with an edge sharp as [70] a razor
he should make all the living creatures on the earth
one heap, one mass of flesh,
there would be no guilt thence resulting,
no increase of guilt would ensue.

Were he to go along the south bank of the Ganges
striking and slaying,
mutilating and having men mutilated,
oppressing and having men oppressed,
there would be no guilt thence resulting,
no increase of guilt would ensue.

Were he to go along the north bank of the Ganges
giving alms,
and ordering gifts to be given,
offering sacrifices
or causing them to be offered,
there would be no merit thence resulting
no increase of merit.

In generosity,
in self-mastery,
in control of the senses,
in speaking truth
there is neither merit,
nor increase of merit.'

[18] Thus, Lord, did Pūraṇa Kassapa,
when asked what was the immediate advantage in the life of a recluse,
expound his theory of non-action.²⁴

Just, Lord, as if a man,
when asked what a mango was,
should explain what a bread fruit is,
just so did Pūraṇa Kassapa,
when asked what was the fruit,
in this present state of being,
of the life of a recluse,
expound his theory of non-action.

Then, Lord, it occurred to me:

'How should such a one as I
think of giving dissatisfaction
to any recluse or Brahman in my realm?'

So I neither applauded nor blamed what he said,
and though dissatisfied
I gave utterance to no expression of dissatisfaction,
and neither accepting nor rejecting that answer of his,
I arose from my seat,
and departed thence.²⁵

■

[71] "Once I went to Makkhali of the cow-pen.²⁶

And after exchanging with him
the greetings and compliments of friendship and courtesy,
I seated myself beside him,
and put to him the same question
as I have now put, Lord, to you.

Then Makkhali of the cow-pen said to me:

'There is, O king, no cause,
either ultimate or remote,
for the depravity of beings;
they become depraved without reason and without cause.

There is no cause, either proximate or remote,
for the rectitude of beings;
they become pure without reason and without cause.

The attainment of any given condition,
of any character,
does not depend either on one's own acts,
or on the acts of another,
or on human effort.

There is no such thing as power or energy,
or human strength or human vigour.

All animals, all creatures (with one, two, or more senses),
all beings (produced from eggs or in a womb),
all souls (in plants)²⁷
are without force and power and energy of their own.

They are bent this way and that by their fate,
by the necessary conditions
of the class to which they belong,
by their individual nature:
and it is according to their position
in one or other of the six classes
that they experience ease or pain.

[72] There are fourteen hundred thousands of the principal sorts of birth,
and again six thousand others,
and again six hundred.

There are five hundred sorts of Karma,
and again five (according to the five senses),
and again three (according to act, word, and thought);
and there is a whole Karma
and a half Karma (the whole being a Karma of act or word, the half a Karma of thought).

There are sixty-two paths (or modes of conduct),
sixty-two periods,
six classes (or distinctions among men)²⁸,
eight stages of a prophet's existence²⁹,
forty-nine hundred sorts of occupation³⁰,
forty-nine hundred sorts of wandering mendicants,
forty-nine hundred regions dwelt in by Nāgas,
two thousand faculties,
three thousand purgatories,
thirty-six places where dust accumulates,
seven sorts of animate and seven of inanimate production,
and seven of production by grafting,
seven sorts of gods,
and of men,
and of devils,
and of great lakes,
and seven principal and again seven hundred minor sorts of Pakuṭas³¹
of precipices,
and of dreams.

There are eighty-four hundred thousand periods
during which both fools and wise alike,
wandering in transmigration,
shall at last make an end of pain.

Though the wise should hope:

"By this virtue
or this performance of duty,
or this penance,
or this righteousness
will I make the Karma (I have inherited),
that is not yet mature, mature"

— though the fool should hope,
by the same means,
to get gradually rid of Karma that has matured —
neither of them can do it.

The ease and pain, measured out,
as it were, with a measure,
cannot be altered in the course of transmigration.

There [73] can be neither increase nor decrease thereof,
neither excess nor deficiency.

Just as when a ball of string is cast forth
it will spread out just as far,
and no farther,
than it can unwind,
just so both fools and wise alike,
wandering in transmigration
exactly for the allotted term,
shall then, and only then,
make an end of pain."

Just, Lord, as if a man,
when asked what a mango was,
should explain what a bread fruit is,
just so did Makkhali of the cow-pen,
when asked what was the fruit,
in this present state of being,
of the life of a recluse,
expound his theory of purification through transmigration.

Then, Lord, it occurred to me:

'How should such a one as I
think of giving dissatisfaction
to any recluse or Brahman in my realm?'

So I neither applauded nor blamed what he said,
and though dissatisfied
I gave utterance to no expression of dissatisfaction,
and neither accepting nor rejecting that answer of his,
I arose from my seat,
and departed thence.

■

"Once I went to Ajita of the garment of hair.

And after exchanging with him
the greetings and compliments of friendship and courtesy,
I seated myself beside him,
and put to him the same question
as I have now put, Lord, to you.

Then Ajita of the garment of hair said to me:³²

'There is no such thing, O king,
as alms or sacrifice or offering.

There is neither fruit
nor result of good or evil deeds.

There is no such thing as this world or the next.

There is neither father nor mother,
nor beings springing into life without them.

There are in the world no recluses or Brahmans
who have reached the highest point³³,
who walk perfectly,
and who having understood and realized,
by themselves alone,
both this world and the next,
make their wisdom known to others.

A human being is built up of the four elements.

When he dies the earthy in him returns and relapses to the earth,
the fluid to the water,
the heat to the fire,
the windy to the air,
and his faculties³⁴ pass into space.

The four bearers, on the bier as a fifth,
take his dead body away;
till they reach the burning-ground
men utter forth eulogies,
but there his bones are bleached,
[74] and his offerings³⁵ end in ashes.

It is a doctrine of fools, this talk of gifts.

It is an empty lie,
mere idle talk,
when men say there is profit therein.

Fools and wise alike,
on the dissolution of the body,
are cut off, annihilated,
and after death they are not.'

Thus, Lord, did Ajita of the garment of hair,
when asked what was the immediate advantage in the life of a recluse,
expound his theory of annihilation.

Just, Lord, as if a man,
when asked what a mango was,
should explain what a bread fruit is,
just so did Ajita of the garment of hair,
when asked what was the fruit,
in this present state of being,
of the life of a recluse,
expound his theory of annihilation.

Then, Lord, it occurred to me:

'How should such a one as I
think of giving dissatisfaction
to any recluse or Brahman in my realm?'

So I neither applauded nor blamed what he said,
and though dissatisfied
I gave utterance to no expression of dissatisfaction,
and neither accepting nor rejecting that answer of his,
I arose from my seat,
and departed thence.

■

[26] "Once I went to Pakudha Kakkāyana.

And after exchanging with him
the greetings and compliments of friendship and courtesy,
I seated myself beside him,
and put to him the same question
as I have now put, Lord, to you.

Then Pakudha Kakkāyana said to me:

'The following seven things, O king,
are neither made nor commanded to be made,
neither created nor caused to be created,
they are barren (so that nothing is produced out of them),
stedfast as a mountain peak,
as a pillar firmly fixed.

They move not, neither do they vary,
they trench not one upon another,
nor avail aught as to ease or pain or both.

And what are the seven?

The four elements
— earth, water, fire, and air —
and ease, and pain,
and the soul as a seventh.

So there is neither slayer
nor causer of slaying,
hearer or speaker,
knower or explainer.

When one with a sharp sword
cleaves a head in twain,
no one thereby deprives any one of life,
a sword has only penetrated into the interval
between seven elementary substances.'

Thus, Lord, did Pakudha Kakkāyana,
when asked what was the immediate advantage in the life of a recluse,
expound the matter by expounding something else.

Just, Lord, as if a man,
when asked what a mango was,
should explain what a bread fruit is,
just so did Ajita of the garment of hair,
when asked what was the fruit,
in this present state of being,
of the life of a recluse,
expound the matter by expounding something else.

Then, Lord, it occurred to me:

'How should such a one as I
think of giving dissatisfaction
to any recluse or Brahman in my realm?'

So I neither applauded nor blamed what he said,
and though dissatisfied
I gave utterance to no expression of dissatisfaction,
and neither accepting nor rejecting that answer of his,
I arose from my seat,
and departed thence.

■

"Once I went to Nigaṇṭha of the Nāta clan.

And after exchanging with him
the greetings and compliments of friendship and courtesy,
I seated myself beside him,
and put to him the same question
as I have now put, Lord, to you.

Then Nigaṇṭha of the Nāta clan said to me:

'A Nigaṇṭha, O king (a man free from bonds),
is restrained with a fourfold self-restraint.

He lives restrained as regards all water;
restrained as regards all evil;
all evil has he washed away;
and he lives suffused with the sense
of evil held at bay.

Such is his fourfold self-restraint.

And since he is thus tied
with this fourfold [75] bond,
therefore is he, the Nigaṇṭha
(free from bonds),
called Gatatto
(whose heart has gone;
that is, to the summit,
to the attainment of his aim)
Yatatto
(whose heart is kept down;
that is, is under command),
and Ṭhitatto
(whose heart is fixed).'³⁶

Thus, Lord, did Nigaṇṭha of the Nāta clan,
when asked what was the immediate advantage in the life of a recluse,
expound his theory of the fourfold bond.

Just, Lord, as if a man,
when asked what a mango was,
should explain what a bread fruit is,
just so did Ajita of the garment of hair,
when asked what was the fruit,
in this present state of being,
of the life of a recluse,
expound his theory of the fourfold bond.

Then, Lord, it occurred to me:

'How should such a one as I
think of giving dissatisfaction
to any recluse or Brahman in my realm?'

So I neither applauded nor blamed what he said,
and though dissatisfied
I gave utterance to no expression of dissatisfaction,
and neither accepting nor rejecting that answer of his,
I arose from my seat,
and departed thence.

■

[31] "Once I went to Saṇjaya of the Belaṭṭha clan.

And after exchanging with him
the greetings and compliments of friendship and courtesy,
I seated myself beside him,
and put to him the same question
as I have now put, Lord, to you.

Then Saṇjaya of the Belaṭṭha clan said to me:

'If you ask me whether there is another world
— well, if I thought there were,
I would say so.

But I don't say so.

And I don't think it is thus or thus.

And I don't think it is otherwise.

And I don't deny it.

And I don't say there neither is nor is not another world.

And if you ask me about the beings produced by chance;
or whether there is any fruit,
any result, of good or bad actions;
or whether a man who has won the truth
continues, or not, after death —
to each or any of these questions do I give the same reply.'³⁷

[33] Thus, Lord, did Saṇjaya of the Belaṭṭha clan,
when asked what was the immediate advantage in the life of a recluse,
show his manner of prevarication.

Just, Lord, as if a man,
when asked what a mango was,
should explain what a bread fruit is,
just so did Ajita of the garment of hair,
when asked what was the fruit,
in this present state of being,
of the life of a recluse,
show his manner of prevarication.

Then, Lord, it occurred to me:

'How should such a one as I
think of giving dissatisfaction
to any recluse or Brahman in my realm?'

So I neither applauded nor blamed what he said,
and though dissatisfied
I gave utterance to no expression of dissatisfaction,
and neither accepting [76] nor rejecting that answer of his,
I arose from my seat,
and departed thence.³⁸

■

And now, Lord, I put the same question to the Blessed One.

Can you show me any immediate fruit,
in this world,
of the life of a recluse,
such as those who follow each of the occupations I have mentioned
are, each of them, able to show?"

"I can, O king.

And to that end I would fain put a question to you.

Answer it as you may think most fit.

Now what do you think, O king?

Suppose among the people of your household
there were a slave who does work for you,
rises up in the morning before you do
and retires later to rest,
who is keen to carry out your pleasure,
anxious to make himself agreeable
in what he does and says,
a man who watches your every look.

Suppose he should think:

'Strange is it and wonderful,
this issue of meritorious deeds,
this result of merit!

Here is this king of Magadha, Ajātasattu,
the son of the Videha princess
— he is a man, and so am I.

But the king lives in the full enjoyment and possession
of the five pleasures of sense
— a very god, methinks —
and here am I a slave,
working for him,
rising before him
and retiring later to rest,
keen to carry out his pleasure,
anxious to make myself agreeable
in deed and word,
watching his every look.

Would that I were like him,
that I too might earn merit.

Why should not I have my hair and beard shaved off,
[77] and don the yellow robes,
and going forth from the household state,
renounce the world?'

And suppose, after a time,
he should do so.

And having been admitted into an Order,
should dwell restrained in act and word and thought.

Content with mere food and shelter,
delighting in solitude.

And suppose your people should tell you of this, saying:

'If it please your majesty,
do you know that such a one,
formerly your slave,
who worked for you,
rising before you
and retiring later to rest,
keen to carry out your pleasure,
anxious to make himself agreeable
in deed and word,
watching your every look
has now donned the yellow robes,
and has been admitted into an Order,
and dwells restrained,
content with mere food and shelter,
delighting in solitude?'

Would you then say:

'Let the man come back;
let him become a slave again,
and work for me'?"

"Nay, Lord, rather should we greet him with reverence,
and rise up from our seat
out of deference towards him,
and press him to be seated.

And we should have robes and a bowl,
and a lodging place,
and medicine for the sick
— all the requisites of a recluse —
made ready, and beg him to accept of them.

And we should order watch and ward
and guard to be kept for him
according to the law."

"But what do you think, O king.

That being so,
is there, or is there not, some fruit,
visible in this world,
of the life of a recluse?"

"Certainly, Lord, that is so."

"This then, O king,
is the first kind of the fruit,
visible in this world,
which I maintain to arise from the life of a recluse."

■

"Can you, Lord, show me any other fruit,
visible in this world,
of the life of a recluse?"

"I can, O king.

And to that end I would fain put a question to you.

Answer it as you may think most fit.

Now what do you think, O king?

Suppose among the people of your kingdom
there was free man who cultivates his land.

Suppose he should think:

'Strange is it and wonderful,
this issue of meritorious deeds,
this result of merit!

Here is this king of Magadha, Ajātasattu,
the son of the Videha princess
— he is a man, and so am I.

But the king lives in the full enjoyment and possession
of the five pleasures of sense
— a very god, methinks —
and here am I a free man who cultivates his land.

Would that I were like him,
that I too might earn merit.

Why should not I have my hair and beard shaved off,
and don the yellow robes,
and going forth from the household state,
renounce the world?'

And suppose, after a time,
he should do so.

And having been admitted into an Order,
should dwell restrained in act and word and thought.

Content with mere food and shelter,
delighting in solitude.

And suppose your people should tell you of this, saying:

'If it please your majesty,
do you know that such a one,
formerly a free man who cultivated his land
has now donned the yellow robes,
and has been admitted into an Order,
and dwells restrained,
content with mere food and shelter,
delighting in solitude?'

Would you then say:

'Let the man come back;
let him become a free man who cultivates his land'?"

"Nay, Lord, rather should we greet him with reverence,
and rise up from our seat
out of deference towards him,
and press him to be seated.

And we should have robes and a bowl,
and a lodging place,
and medicine for the sick
— all the requisites of a recluse —
made ready, and beg him to accept of them.

And we should order watch and ward
and guard to be kept for him
according to the law."

"But what do you think, O king.

That being so,
is there, or is there not, some fruit,
visible in this world,
of the life of a recluse?"

"Certainly, Lord, that is so."

"This too then, O king,
is a kind of fruit,
visible in this world,
which I maintain to arise from the life of a recluse."

■

"Can you, Lord, show me any other fruit,
visible in this world,
of the life of a recluse?"

"I can, O king.

And to that end I would fain put a question to you.

Answer it as you may think most fit.

Now what do you think, O king?

Suppose among the people of your kingdom
there was a householder,
who pays taxes
and thus increases your wealth.

Suppose he should think:

'Strange is it and wonderful,
this issue of meritorious deeds,
this result of merit!

Here is this king of Magadha, Ajātasattu,
the son of the Videha princess
— he is a man, and so am I.

But the king lives in the full enjoyment and possession
of the five pleasures of sense
— a very god, methinks —
and here am I a householder,
who pays taxes
and thus increases the king's wealth.

Would that I were like him,
that I too might earn merit.

Why should not I have my hair and beard shaved off,
and don the yellow robes,
and going forth from the household state,
renounce the world?'

And suppose, after a time,
giving up his little property
and his position in his clan
he should do so.

And having been admitted into an Order,
should dwell restrained in act and word and thought.

Content with mere food and shelter,
delighting in solitude.

And suppose your people should tell you of this, saying:

'If it please your majesty,
do you know that such a one,
formerly a householder,
who payed taxes
and thus increased your wealth
has now donned the yellow robes,
and has been admitted into an Order,
and dwells restrained,
content with mere food and shelter,
delighting in solitude?'

Would you then say:

'Let the man come back;
let him become a householder,
who pays taxes
and thus increas my wealth again'?"

"Nay, Lord, rather should we greet him with reverence,
and rise up from our seat
out of deference towards him,
and press him to be seated.

And we should have robes and a bowl,
and a lodging place,
and medicine for the sick
— all the requisites of a recluse —
made ready, and beg him to accept of them.

And we should order watch and ward
and guard to be kept for him
according to the law."

"But what do you think, O king.

That being so,
is there, or is there not, some fruit,
visible in this world,
of the life of a recluse?"

"Certainly, Lord, that is so."

"This then, O king,
is the first kind of the fruit,
visible in this world,
which I maintain to arise from the life of a recluse."

■

[39] "Can you, Lord, show me any other fruit,
visible in this world,
of the life of a recluse,
a fruit higher and sweeter than these?"

[78] "I can, O king.

Give ear therefore, O king,
and give good heed,
and I will speak.

Suppose, O king, there appears in the world
one who has won the truth, an Arahat,
a fully awakened one,
abounding in wisdom and goodness, happy,
who knows all worlds,
unsurpassed as a guide
to mortals willing to be led,
a teacher for gods and men,
a Blessed One, a Buddha.

He, by himself, thoroughly knows and sees,
as it were, face-to-face this universe,
— including the worlds above of the gods,
the Brahmas, and the Māras,
and the world below with its recluses and Brahmans,
its princes and peoples, —
and having known it,
he makes his knowledge known to others.

The truth, lovely in its origin,
lovely in its progress,
lovely in its consummation,
doth he proclaim,
both in the spirit and in the letter,
the higher life doth he make known,
in all its fullness and in all its purity.³⁹

A householder⁴⁰ or one of his children,
or a man of inferior birth in any class
listens to that truth;
and on hearing it he has faith in the Tathāgata
(the one who has found the truth);
and when he is possessed of that faith,
he considers thus within himself:

'Full of hindrances is household life,
a path for the dust of passion.

Free as the air is the life
of him who has renounced all worldly things.

How difficult is it for the man who dwells at home
to live the higher life in all its fullness,
in all its purity,
in all its bright perfection!

Let me then cut off my hair and beard,
let me clothe myself in the orange-coloured robes,
and let me go forth
from the household life
into the homeless state.'

Then, before long,
forsaking his portion of wealth,
be it great or small,
forsaking his circle of relatives,
be they many or be they few,
he cuts off his hair and beard,
he clothes himself in the orange-coloured robes,
[79] and he goes forth from the household life
into the homeless state.

When he has thus become a recluse
he lives self-restrained
by that restraint
that should be binding on a recluse.⁴¹

Uprightness is his delight,
and he sees danger
in the least of those things he should avoid.

He adopts, and trains himself in, the precepts.

He encompasses himself with good deeds in act and word.

Pure are his means of livelihood,
good is his conduct,
guarded the doors of his senses.

Mindful and self-possessed
he is altogether happy.

And how, O king, is his conduct good?

In this, O king, that the Bhikshu,
putting away the killing of living things,
holds aloof from the destruction of life.

The cudgel and the sword he has laid aside,
and ashamed of roughness,
and full of mercy,
he dwells compassionate and kind
to all creatures that have life.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

■

Putting away the taking of what has not been given,
the Bhikshu lives aloof
from grasping what is not his own.

He takes only what is given,
and expecting that gifts will come,
he passes his life in honesty
and purity of heart.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

■

Putting away unchastity,
the Bhikshu is chaste.

He holds himself aloof,
far off,
from the vulgar practice,
from the sexual act.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

■

Putting away lying words,
the Bhikshu holds himself aloof from falsehood.

He speaks truth,
from the truth he never swerves;
faithful and trustworthy,
he breaks not his word to the world.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

■

Putting away slander,
the Bhikshu holds himself aloof from calumny.

What he hears here
he repeats not elsewhere
to raise a quarrel against the people here;
what he hears elsewhere
he repeats not here
to raise a quarrel against the people there.

Thus does he live as a binder together
of those who are divided,
an encourager of those who are friends,
a peacemaker,
a lover of peace,
impassioned for peace,
a speaker of words that make for peace.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

■

Putting away rudeness of speech,
the Bhikshu holds himself aloof from harsh language.

Whatsoever word is blameless,
pleasant to the car,
lovely,
reaching to the heart,
pleasing to the people,
beloved of the people —
such are words he speaks.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

■

Putting away frivolous talk,
the Bhikshu holds himself aloof
from vain conversation.

In season he speaks,
in accordance with the facts,
words full of meaning,
on religion,
on the discipline of the Order.

He speaks,
and at the right time,
words worthy to be laid up in one's heart,
fitly illustrated,
clearly divided,
to the point.

The Bhikshu holds himself aloof
from causing injury to seeds or plants.

He takes but one meal a day,
not eating at night,
refraining from food after hours
(after midday).

He refrains from being a spectator
at shows at fairs,
with nautch dances,
singing, and music.

He abstains from wearing,
adorning,
or ornamenting himself
with garlands, scents, and unguents.

He abstains from the use
of large and lofty beds.

He abstains from accepting silver or gold.

He abstains from accepting uncooked grain.

He abstains from accepting raw meat.

He abstains from accepting women or girls.

He abstains from accepting bondmen or bondwomen.

He abstains from accepting sheep or goats.

He abstains from accepting fowls or swine.

He abstains from accepting elephants, cattle. horses, and mares.

He abstains from accepting cultivated fields or waste.

He abstains from acting as a go-between or messenger.

He abstains from buying and selling.

He abstains from cheating
with scales or bronzes or measures.

He abstains from the crooked ways
of bribery, cheating, and fraud.

He abstains from maiming,
murder,
putting in bonds,
highway robbery,
dacoity,
and violence.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the injury of seedlings
and growing plants
whether propagated from roots
or cuttings
or joints
or buddings
or seeds
the Bhikshu holds aloof from such injury
to seedlings and growing plants.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use
of things stored up;
stores, to wit,
of foods, drinks, clothing,
equipages, bedding, perfumes,
and curry-stuffs —
the Bhikshu holds aloof from such use
of things stored up.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to visiting shows;
that is to say:

(1) Nautch dances (naccaṃ);

(2) Singing of songs (gītaṃ);

(3) Instrumental music (vāditaṃ);

(4) Shows at fairs (pekkhaṃ);

(5) Ballad recitations (akkhānaṃ);

(6) Hand music (pāṇissaraṃ);

(7) The chanting of bards (vetālaṃ);

(8) Tam - tam playing (kumbhathūnaṃ);

(9) Fairy scenes (Sobhanagarakaṃ);

(10) Acrobatic feats by Kaṇḍālas (Kaṇḍāla-vaṃsa-dhopanaṃ);

(11) Combats of elephants, horses, buffaloes,
bulls, goats, rams,
cocks, and quails;

(12) Bouts at quarter-staff, boxing, wrestling;

(13) Sham-fights.

(14) roll-calls.

(15) manoeuvres.

(16) reviews —

the Bhikshu holds aloof from visiting such shows.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to games and recreations;
that is to say:

(1) Games on boards with eight,
or with ten,
rows of squares;

(2) The same games
played by imagining such boards in the air;

(3) Keeping going over diagrams drawn on the ground
so that one steps only where one ought to go;

(4) Either removing the pieces or men from a heap
with one's nail,
or putting them into a heap,
in each case without shaking it,
he who shakes the heap, loses;

(5) Throwing dice;

(6) Hitting a short stick with a long one;

(7) Dipping the hand with the fingers stretched out
in lac,
or red dye,
or flower-water,
and striking the wet hand
on the ground
or on a wall,
calling out
'What shell it be?'
and showing the form required —
elephants, horses, etc.;

(8) Games with balls;

(9) Blowing through toy pipes made of leaves;

(10) Ploughing with toy ploughs;

(11) Turning summersaults;

(12) Playing with toy windmills made of palm-leaves;

(13) Playing with toy measures made of palm-leaves;

(14, 15) Playing with toy carts or toy bows;

(16) Guessing at letters traced in the air, or on a. playfellow's back;

(17) Guessing the play fellow's thoughts;

(18) Mimicry of deformities;

The Bhikshu holds aloof from such games and recreations.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use of high and large couches;
that is to say:

(1) Moveable settees,
high, and six feet long;

(2) Divans with animal figures carved on the supports (Pallanko);

(3) Goats' hair coverlets
with very long fleece (Gonako);

(4) Patchwork counterpanes of many colours (Cittakā);

(5) White blankets (Paṭikā);

(6) Woollen coverlets embroidered with flowers (Paṭalikā);

(7) Quilts stuffed with cotton wool (Tūlikā);

(8) Coverlets embroidered with figures of lions, tigers, etc. (Vikatikā);

(9) Rugs with fur on both sides (Uddalomī);

(10) Rugs with fur on one side (Ekantalomī);

(11) Coverlets embroidered with gems (Kaṭṭhissaṃ);

(12) Silk coverlets (Koseyyaṃ);

(13) Carpets large enough for sixteen dancers (Kuttakaṃ);

(14) Elephant rugs;

(15) horse rugs;

(16) chariot rugs;

(17) Rugs of antelope skins sewn together (Ajina-paveṇi);

(18) Rugs of skins of the plantain antelope;

(19) Carpets with awnings above them (Sauttara-cchadaṃ);

(20) Sofas with red pillows
for the head and feet.

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such things.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use
of means for adorning
and beautifying themselves;
that is to say:

Rubbing in scented powders on one's body,
shampooing it,
and bathing it;

Patting the limbs with clubs
after the manner of wrestlers;

The use of mirrors, eye-ointments, garlands,
rouge, cosmetics, bracelets, necklaces, walking-sticks,
reed cases for drugs,
rapiers,
sunshades,
embroidered slippers,
turbans, diadems, whisks of the yak's tail,
and long-fringed white robes;

The Bhikshu holds aloof
from such means of adorning and beautifying the person.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to such low conversation as these:

Tales of kings, of robbers, of ministers of state
tales of war, of terrors, of battles;
talk about foods and drinks, clothes, beds, garlands, perfumes;
talks about relationships, equipages, villages, town, cities, and countries;
tales about women, and about heroes;
gossip at street corners, or places whence water is fetched;
ghost stories;
desultory talk;
speculations about the creation of the land or sea,
or about existence and non-existence;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low conversation.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use of wrangling phrases such as

'You don't understand this doctrine and discipline, I do.';

'How should you know about this doctrine and discipline?';

'You have fallen into wrong views. It is I who am in the right.';

'I am speaking to the point, you are not.';

'You are putting last
what ought to come first,
first what ought to come last.';

'What you've excogitated so long, that's all quite upset.';

'Your challenge has been taken up.';

'You are proved to be wrong.';

'Set to work to clear your views.';

'Disentangle yourself if you can.';

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such wrangling phrases.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to taking messages,
going on errands,
and acting as go-betweens;
to wit,
on kings,
ministers of state,
Kshatriyas,
Brahmans,
or young men,
saying:

'Go there,
come hither,
take this with you,
bring that from thence';

the Bhikshu abstains from such servile duties.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
are tricksters,
droners out (of holy words for pay),
diviners, and exorcists,
ever hungering to add gain to gain —
the Bhikshu holds aloof from such deception and patter.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

(1) Palmistry —
prophesying long life, prosperity, etc.
from marks on child's hands, feet. etc.;

(2) Divining by means of omens and signs;

(3) Auguries drawn from thunderbolts
and other celestial portents;

(4) Prognostication by interpreting dreams;

(5) Fortune-telling from marks on the body;

(6) Auguries from the marks on cloth gnawed by mice;

(7) Sacrificing to Agni;

(8) Offering oblations from a spoon;

(9-13) Making offerings to gods
of husks,
of the red powder between the grain and the husk,
of husked grain ready for boiling,
of ghee,
and of oil;

(14) Sacrificing by spewing mustard seeds, etc.,
into the fire out of one's mouth;

(15) Drawing blood from one's right knee
as a sacrifice to the gods;

(16) Looking at the knuckles, etc., and,
after muttering a charm,
divining whether a man is well born
or lucky or not;

(17) Determining whether the site
for a proposed house or pleasance,
is lucky or not;

(18) Advising on customary law;

(19) Laying demons in a cemetery;

(20) Laying ghosts;

(21) Knowledge of the charms to be used
when lodging in an earth house;

(22) Snake charming;

(23) The poison craft;

(24) The scorpion craft;

(25) The mouse craft;

(26) The bird craft;

(27) The crow craft;

(28) Foretelling the number of years
that a man has yet to live.

(29) Giving charms to ward off arrows;

(30) The animal wheel;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

Knowledge of the signs
of good and bad qualities
in the following things
and of the marks in them
denoting the health or luck of their owners: —
to wit,
gems,
staves,
garments,
swords,
arrows,
bows,
other weapons,
women,
men,
boys,
girls,
slaves,
slave-girls,
elephants,
horses,
buffaloes,
bulls,
oxen,
goats,
sheep,
fowls,
quails,
iguanas,
earrings,
tortoises,
and other animals;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as soothsaying,
to the effect that:

'The chiefs will march out';

'The chiefs will march back';

'The home chiefs will attack,
and the enemies' retreat';

'The enemies' chiefs will attack,
and ours will retreat';

'The home chiefs will gain the victory,
and the foreign chiefs suffer defeat';

'The foreign chiefs will gain the victory,
and ours will suffer defeat';

'Thus will there be victory on this side,
defeat on that'

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by such low arts as foretelling:

(1) 'There will be an eclipse of the moon';

(2) 'There will be en eclipse of the sun';

(3) 'There will be en eclipse of a star'
(Nakshatra);

(4) 'There will be aberration of the sun or the moon';

(5) 'The sun or the moon will return to its usual path';

(6) 'There will be aberrations of the stars';

(7) 'The stars will return to their usual course';

(8) 'There will be a fall of meteors';

(9) 'There will be a jungle fire';

(10) 'There will be an earthquake';

(11) 'The god will thunder';

(12-15) 'There will be rising and setting,
clearness and dimness,
of the sun or the moon or the stars',|| ||

or foretelling of each of these fifteen phenomena
that they will betoken such and such a result;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

Foretelling an abundant rainfall;

Foretelling a deficient rainfall;

Foretelling a good harvest;

Foretelling scarcity of food;

Foretelling tranquillity;

Foretelling disturbances;

Foretelling a pestilence;

Foretelling a healthy season;

Counting on the fingers;

Counting without using the fingers;

Summing up large totals;

Composing ballads, poetising;

Casuistry, sophistry;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as:

(1) Arranging a lucky day for marriages
in which the bride or bridegroom is brought home;

(2) Arranging a lucky day for marriages
in which the bride or bridegroom is sent forth;

(3) Fixing a lucky time for the conclusion of treaties of peace
[or using charms to procure harmony;

(4) Fixing a lucky time
for the outbreak of hostilities
[or using charms to make discord];

(5) Fixing-a lucky time
for the calling in of debts
[or charms for success in throwing dice];

(6) Fixing a lucky time
for the expenditure of money
[or charms to bring ill luck to an opponent throwing dice];

(7) Using charms to make people lucky;

(8) Using charms to make people unlucky;

(9) Using charms to procure abortion;

(10) Incantations to bring on dumbness;

(11) Incantations to keep a man's jaws fixed;

(12) Incantations to make a man throw up his hands;

(13) Incantations to bring on deafness;

(14) Obtaining oracular answers by means of the magic mirror;

(15) Obtaining oracular answers through a girl possessed;

(16) Obtaining oracular answers from a god;

(17) The worship of the Sun;

(18) The worship of the Great One;

(19) Bringing forth flames from one's mouth;

(20) Invoking Siri, the goddess of Luck —

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

(1) Vowing gifts to a god if a certain benefit be granted;

(2) Paying such vows;

(3) Repeating charms while lodging in an earth house;

(4) Causing virility;

(5) Making a man impotent;

(6) Fixing on lucky sites for dwelling;

(7) Consecrating sites;

(8) Ceremonial rinsings of the month;

(9) Ceremonial bathings;

(10) Offering sacrifices;

(11-14) Administering emetics and purgatives;

(15) Purging people to relieve the head
(that is by giving drugs to make people sneeze);

(16) Oiling people's ears
(either to make them grow or to heal sores on them);

(17) Satisfying people's eyes
(soothing them by dropping medicinal oils into them);

(18) Administering drugs through the nose;

(19) Applying collyrium to the eyes;

(20) Giving medical ointment for the eyes;

(21) Practising as an oculist;

(22) Practising as a surgeon;

(23) Practising as a doctor for children;

(24) Administering roots and drugs;

(25) Administering medicines in rotation;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

■

[63] And then that Bhikshu, O king,
being thus master of the minor moralities,
sees no danger from any side,
that is, so far as concerns
his self-restraint in conduct.

Just, O king, as a sovereign,
duly crowned,
whose enemies have been beaten down,
sees no danger from any side;
that is, so far as enemies are concerned,
so is the Bhikshu confident.

■

And endowed with this body of morals,
so worthy of honour,
he experiences, within himself,
a sense of ease without alloy.

Thus is it, O king,
that the Bhikshu becomes righteous.

And how, O king,
is the Bhikshu guarded
as to the doors of his senses?⁴²

[80] When, O king, he sees an object with his eye
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.⁴³

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of sight.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of sight,
and he attains to mastery over it.

■

When, O king, he hears a sound with his ear
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of hearing.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of hearing,
and he attains to mastery over it.

■

When, O king, he smells an odour with his nose
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of smell.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of smell,
and he attains to mastery over it.

■

When, O king, he tastes a flavour with his tongue
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of taste.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of taste,
and he attains to mastery over it.

■

When, O king, he feels a touch with his body
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of touch.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of touch,
and he attains to mastery over it.

■

When, O king, he cognises a phenomenon with his mind
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his mental (representative) faculty.

He keeps watch upon his representative faculty,
and he attains to mastery over it.

■

And endowed with this self-restraint,
so worthy of honour,
as regards the senses,
he experiences, within himself, a sense of ease
into which no evil state can enter.⁴⁴

Thus is it, O king,
that the Bhikshu becomes guarded
as to the doors of his senses.

And how, O king, is the Bhikshu
mindful and self-possessed?

In this matter, O king,
the Bhikshu
in going forth or in coming back
[81] whether looking forward,
or in looking round;
in stretching forth his arm,
or in drawing it in again;
in eating or drinking,
in masticating or swallowing,
in obeying the calls of nature,
in going or standing or sitting,
in sleeping or waking,
in speaking or in being still,
he keeps himself aware
of all it really means.⁴⁵ed1

Thus is it, O king,
that the Bhikshu
becomes mindful and self-possessed.

[66] And how, O king, is the Bhikshu content?

'In this matter, O king,
the Bhikshu is satisfied with sufficient robes
to cherish his body,
with sufficient food
to keep his stomach going.

Whithersoever he may go forth,
these he takes with him as he goes
- just as a bird with his wings, O king,
whithersoever he may fly,
carries his wings with him as he flies.

Thus is it, O king,
that the Bhikshu becomes content.⁴⁶

[82] Then, master of this so excellent body of moral precepts,
gifted with this so excellent self-restraint as to the senses,
endowed with this so excellent mindfulness and self-possession,
filled with this so excellent content,
he chooses some lonely spot
to rest at on his way
— in the woods,
at the foot of a tree,
on a hill side,
in a mountain glen,
in a rocky cave,
in a charnel place,
or on a heap of straw in the open field.

And returning thither
after his round for alms
he seats himself, when his meal is done,
cross-legged,
keeping his body erect,
and his intelligence alert, intent.

Putting away the hankering after the world,⁴⁷
he remains with a heart that hankers not,
and purifies his mind of lusts.

Putting away the corruption
of the wish to injure,
he remains with a heart free from ill temper,
and purifies his mind of malevolence.

Putting away torpor of heart and mind,⁴⁸
keeping his ideas alight,⁴⁹
mindful and self-possessed,
he purifies his mind of weakness and of sloth.

Putting away flurry and worry,
he remains free from fretfulness,
and with heart serene within,
he purifies himself of irritability
and vexation of spirit.

Putting away wavering,
he remains as one passed beyond perplexity;
and no longer in suspense as to what is good,
he purifies his mind of doubt.

'Then just, O king,
as when a man, after contracting a loan⁵⁰,
should set a business on foot,
and his [83] business should succeed,
and he should not only be able
to pay off the old debt he had incurred,
but there should be a surplus over
to maintain a wife.

Then would he realize:

'I used to have to carry on my business
by getting into debt,
but it has gone so well with me
that I have paid off what I owed,
and have a surplus over
to maintain a wife.'

And he would be of good cheer at that,
would be glad of heart at that: —

Then just, O king,
as if a man were a prey to disease,
in pain, and very ill,
and his food would not digest,
and there were no strength left in him;
and after a time
he were to recover from that disease,
and his food should digest,
and his strength come back to him;
then, when he realized his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

Then just, O king,
as if a man were bound in a prison house,
and after a time
he should be set free from his bonds,
safe and sound,
and without any confiscation of his goods;
when he realized his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

Then just, O king,
as if a man were a slave,
not his own master,
subject to another,
unable to go whither he would;
and after a time
he should be emancipated from that slavery,
become his own master,
not subject to others,
a free man,
free to go whither he would;
then, on realising his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

[73] Then just, O king,
as if a man, rich and prosperous,
were to find himself on a long road,
in a desert, where no food was,
but much danger;
and after a time
were to find himself out of the desert,
arrived safe,
on the borders of his village,
in security and peace;
then, on realising his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

Just so, O king, the Bhikshu,
so long as these [84] five hindrances
are not put away within him
looks upon himself as in debt,
diseased,
in prison,
in slavery,
lost on a desert road.

But when these five hindrances
have been put away within him,
he looks upon himself as freed from debt,
rid of disease,
out of jail,
a free man,
and secure.

And gladness springs up within him
on his realising that,
and joy arises to him thus gladdened,
and so rejoicing
all his frame becomes at ease,
and being thus at ease
he is filled with a sense of peace,
and in that peace his heart is stayed.⁵¹

[75a] Then estranged from lusts,
aloof from evil dispositions,
he enters into and remains in the First Rapture
— a state of joy and ease born of detachment,⁵²
reasoning and investigation going on the while.

His very body does he so pervade,
drench,
permeate,
and suffuse
with the joy and ease born of detachment,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

Just, O king, as a skilful bathman
or his apprentice
will scatter perfumed soap powder
in a metal basin,
and then besprinkling it with water,
drop by drop,
will so knead it together
that the ball of lather,
taking up the unctuous moisture,
is drenched with it,
pervaded by it,
permeated by it within and without,
and there is no leakage possible.

[85] This, O king, is an immediate fruit
of the life of a recluse,
visible in this world,
higher and sweeter than the last.

Then further, O king,
the Bhikshu suppressing all reasoning and investigation
enters into and abides in the Second Jhāna,
a state of joy and ease,
born of the serenity of concentration,
when no reasoning or investigation goes on,
— a state of elevation⁵³ of mind,
a tranquillisation of the heart within.

And his very body does he so pervade,
drench,
permeate,
and suffuse with the joy and ease born of concentration,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

Just, O king,
as if there were a deep pool,
with water welling up into it
from a spring beneath,
and with no inlet from the east or west,
from the north or south,
and the god should not
from time to time
send down showers of rain upon it.
Still the current of cool waters
rising up from that spring
would pervade,
fill,
permeate,
and suffuse the pool
with cool waters,
and there would be no part or portion of the pool
unsuffused therewith.

This, O king, is an immediate fruit
of the life of a recluse,
visible in this world,
and higher and sweeter than the last.

Then further, O king, the Bhikshu,
holding aloof from joy,
becomes equable⁵⁴;
and mindful and self-possessed
he experiences in his body
that ease which the Arahats talk of when they say:
'The man serene and self-possessed
is well at ease,'
and so he enters into
and abides in the Third Jhāna.

And his very body
does he so pervade,
drench,
[86] permeate,
and suffuse with that ease
that has no joy with it,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

Just, O king,
as when in a lotus tank
the several lotus flowers,
red or white or blue,
born in the water,
grown up in the water,
not rising up above the surface of the water,
drawing up nourishment from the depths of the water,
are so pervaded,
drenched,
permeated,
and suffused
from their very tips
down to their roots
with the cool moisture thereof,
that there is no spot in the whole plant,
whether of the red lotus,
or of the white,
or of the blue,
not suffused therewith.

This, O king,
is an immediate fruit of the life of a recluse,
visible in this world,
and higher and sweeter than the last.

Then further, O king, the Bhikshu,
by the putting away alike of ease and of pain,
by the passing away alike of any elation,
any dejection,
he had previously felt,
enters into and abides in the Fourth Jhāna,
a state of pure self-possession and equanimity,
without pain and without ease.

And he sits there
so suffusing even his body
with that sense of purification,
of translucence of heart,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

Just, O king,
as if a man were sitting
so wrapt from head to foot in a clean white robe,
that there were no spot in his whole frame
not in contact with the clean white robe
— just so, O king, does the Bhikshu sit there,
so suffusing even his body
with that sense of purification,
of translucence of heart,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

This, O king, is an immediate fruit
of the life of a recluse,
and higher and sweeter than the last.

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he applies and bends down his mind
to that insight that comes from knowledge.

He grasps the fact:

'This body of mine has form,
it is built up of the four elements,
it springs from father [87] and mother,
it is continually renewed
by so much boiled rice and juicy foods,
its very nature is impermanence,
it is subject to erasion,
abrasion,
dissolution,
and disintegration⁵⁵;
and therein is this consciousness⁵⁶ of mine, too, bound up,
on that does it depend.'

Just, O king,
as if there were a veluriya gem,
bright, of the purest water,
with eight facets,
excellently cut,
clear, translucent,
without a flaw,
excellent in every way.
And through it a string,
blue, or orange-coloured,
or red, or white, or yellow
should be threaded.
If a man, who had eyes to see,
were to take it into his hand,
he would clearly perceive
how the one is bound up with the other.⁵⁷

This, O king, is an immediate fruit
of the life of a recluse,
visible in this world,
and higher and sweeter than the last.

■

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he applies and bends down his mind
to the calling up of a mental image.

He calls up from this body
another body,
having form,
[88] made of mind,
having all (his own body's) limbs and parts,
not deprived of any organ.⁵⁸

Just, O king,
as if a man were to pull out a reed from its sheath.

He would know:

'This is the reed,
this the sheath.

The reed is one thing,
the sheath another.

It is from the sheath
that the reed has been drawn forth."⁵⁹

And similarly were he to take a snake out of its slough,
or draw a sword from its scabbard.⁶⁰

This, O king, is an immediate fruit
of the life of a recluse,
visible in this life,
and higher and sweeter than the last.

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he applies and bends down his mind
to the modes of the Wondrous Gift.⁶¹

He enjoys the Wondrous Gift in its various modes
— being one he becomes many,
or having become many becomes one again;
he becomes visible or invisible;
he goes, feeling no obstruction,
to the further side of a wall or rampart or hill,
as if through air;
he penetrates up and down through solid ground,
as if through water;
he walks on water without breaking [89] through,
as if on solid ground;
he travels cross-legged in the sky,
like the birds on wing;
even the Moon and the Sun,
so potent, so mighty though they be,
does he touch and feel with his hand;
he reaches in the body
even up to the heaven of Brahmā.

Just, O king,
as a clever potter or his apprentice
could make,
could succeed in getting out of properly prepared clay
any shape of vessel he wanted to have
— or an ivory carver out of ivory,
or a goldsmith out of gold.

This, O king, is an immediate fruit
of the life of a recluse,
and higher and sweeter than the last.

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he applies and bends down his mind
to the Heavenly Ear.

With that clear Heavenly Ear
surpassing the ear of men
he hears sounds both human and celestial,
whether far or near.

Just, O king,
as if a man were on the high road
and were to hear the sound of a kettledrum
or a tabor or the sound of chank horns and small drums
he would know:

'This is the sound of a kettledrum,
this is the sound of a tabor,
this of chank horns,
and of drums."⁶²

This, O king, is an immediate fruit
of the life of a recluse,
visible in this life,
and higher and sweeter than the last.

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he directs and bends down his mind
to the knowledge which penetrates the heart.

Penetrating with his own heart
the hearts of other beings, of other men,
he knows them.

He discerns —

The passionate mind to be passionate,
and the calm mind calm;
the angry mind to be angry,
and the peaceful mind peaceful;
the dull mind to be dull,
and the alert mind alert;
[90] the attentive mind to be attentive,
and the wandering mind wandering;
the broad mind to be broad,
and the narrow mind narrow;
the mean mind to be mean,
and the lofty mind lofty⁶³;
the stedfast mind to be stedfast,
and the wavering mind to be wavering;
the free mind to be free,
and the enslaved mind enslaved.

Just, O king,
as a woman or a man or a lad,
young and smart,
on considering attentively
the image of his own face
in a bright and brilliant mirror
or in a vessel of clear water
would, if it had a mole on it,
know that it had,
and if not,
would know it had not.

This, O king, is an immediate fruit
of the life of a recluse,
visible in this world,
and higher and sweeter than the last.

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he directs and bends down his mind
to the knowledge of the memory
of his previous temporary states.

He recalls to mind
his various temporary states in days gone by
— one birth,
or two or three or four or five births,
or ten or twenty or thirty or forty or fifty
or a hundred or a thousand
or a hundred thousand births,
through many an aeon of dissolution,
many an aeon of evolution,
many an aeon of both dissolution and evolution⁶⁴.

'In such a place such was my name,
such my family,
such my caste⁶⁵,
such my food,
such my experience of discomfort or of ease,
and such the limits of my life.

When I passed away from that state,
I took form again in such a place.
There I had [91] such and such a name
and family
and caste
and food
and experience of discomfort or of ease,
such was the limit of my life.

When I passed away from that state
I took form again here.'

— thus does he call to mind
his temporary states in days gone by
in all their details,
and in all their modes.

Just, O king,
as if a man were to go from his own to another village,
and from that one to another,
and from that one should return home.

Then he would know:

'From my own village I came to that other one.

There I stood in such and such a way,
sat thus, spake thus, and held my peace thus.

Thence I came to that other village;
and there I stood in such and such a way,
sat thus, spake thus, and held my peace thus.

And now, from that other village,
I have returned back again home."⁶⁶

This, O king, is an immediate fruit
of the life of a recluse.
Visible in this world,
and higher and sweeter than the last.

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he directs and bends down his mind
to the knowledge of the fall and rise of beings.

With the pure Heavenly Eye⁶⁷,
surpassing that of men,
he sees beings as they pass away
from one form of existence
and take shape in another;
he recognises the mean and the noble,
the well favoured and the ill favoured,
the happy and the wretched,
passing away according to their deeds:

'Such and such beings, my brethren,
evil-doers in act and word and thought,
revilers of the noble ones,
holding to wrong views,
acquiring for themselves that Karma
which results from wrong views,
they, on the dissolution of the body, after death,
are reborn in some unhappy state of suffering or woe.

But such and such beings, my brethren,
well-doers in act and word and thought,
not revilers of the noble ones,
holding to right views,
[92] acquiring for themselves that Karma
that results from right views,
they, on the dissolution of the body, after death,
are reborn in some happy state in heaven.'

Thus with the pure Heavenly Eye,
surpassing that of men,
he sees beings as they pass away from one state of existence,
and take form in another;
he recognises the mean and the noble,
the well favoured and the ill favoured,
the happy and the wretched,
passing away according to their deeds.⁶⁸

Just, O king,
as if there were a house with an upper terrace on it
in the midst of a place where four roads meet,
and a man standing thereon,
and with eyes to see,
should watch men entering a house,
and coming forth out of it,
and walking hither and thither along the street,⁶⁹
and seated in the square in the midst.

Then he would know:

'Those men are entering a house,
and those are leaving it,
and those are walking to and fro in the street,
and those are seated in the square in the midst.'

This, O king, is an immediate fruit
of the life of a recluse,
visible in this world,
and higher and sweeter than the last.

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he directs and bends down his mind
to the knowledge of the destruction of the Deadly Floods.⁷⁰

He knows [93] as it really is:

'This is pain.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the origin of pain.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the cessation of pain.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the Path that leads to the cessation of pain.'

He knows as they really are:

'These are the Deadly Floods.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the origin of the Deadly Floods.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the cessation of the Deadly Floods.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the Path that leads to the cessation of the Deadly Floods.'

To him, thus knowing, thus seeing,
the heart is set free
from the Deadly Taint of Lusts,⁷¹
is set free from the Deadly Taint of Becomings⁷²
is set free from the Deadly Taint of Ignorance.⁷³

In him, thus set free,
there arises the knowledge of his emancipation,
and he knows:

'Rebirth has been destroyed.

The higher life has been fulfilled.

What had to be done has been accomplished.

After this present life
there will be no beyond!

Just, O king,
as if in a mountain fastness
there were a pool of water,
clear, translucent, and serene;
and a man, standing on the bank,
and with eyes to see,
should perceive the oysters and the shells,
the gravel and the pebbles
and the shoals of fish
as they move about or lie within it.

He would know:

'This [94] pool is clear, transparent, and serene,
and there within it
are the oysters and the shells,
and the sand and gravel,
and the shoals of fish are moving about or lying still."⁷⁴

This, O king, is an immediate fruit
of the life of a recluse,
visible in this world,
and higher and sweeter than the last.

And there is no fruit of the life of a recluse,
visible in this world,
that is higher and sweeter than this."⁷⁵

And when he had thus spoken,
Ajātasattu the king said to the Blessed One:

"Most excellent, Lord, most excellent!

Just as if a man were to set up
that which has been thrown down,
or were to reveal that which is hidden away,
or were to point out the right road
to him who has gone astray,
or were to bring a lamp into the darkness
so that those who have eyes could see external forms
— just even so, Lord, has the truth been made known to me,
in many a figure,
by the Blessed One.

And now I betake myself, Lord,
to the Blessed One as my refuge,
to the Truth,
and to the Order.

May the Blessed One accept me as a disciple,
as one who, from this day forth,
as long as life endures,
has taken his refuge in them.

Sin has overcome me, Lord,
weak and foolish and wrong that I am,
in that, for the sake of sovranty,
I put to death my father,
that righteous man,
that righteous king!

May the Blessed One accept it of me, Lord,
that do so acknowledge it as a sin,
to the end
that in future I may restrain myself."

"Verily, O king,
it was sin that overcame you in acting thus.

But in as much as you look upon it as sin,
and confess it according to what is right,
we accept your confession as to that.

For that, O King,
is custom in the discipline of the noble ones,⁷⁶
that whosoever [95] looks upon his fault as a fault,
and rightfully confesses it,
shall attain to self-restraint in future."

When he had thus spoken,
Ajātasattu the king said to the Blessed One:

"Now, Lord, we would fain go.
We are busy, and there is much to do."

"Do, O king, whatever seemeth to thee fit."

Then Ajātasattu the king,
pleased and delighted with the words of the Blessed One,
arose from his seat,
and bowed to the Blessed One,
and keeping him on the right hand as he passed him,
departed thence.

Now the Blessed One,
not long after Ajātasattu the king had gone,
addressed the brethren, and said:

"This king, brethren, was deeply affected,
he was touched in heart.

If, brethren, the king had not put his father to death,
that righteous man,
and righteous king,
then would the clear and spotless eye for the truth
have arisen in him,
even as he sat there.'⁷⁷

Thus spake the Blessed One.

The brethren were pleased and delighted at his words.

Here ends the Discourse on the Fruits of the Life of a Recluse.

SĀMNAÑÑA-PHALA SUTTA IS ENDED

¹ Details a-d (though the fact is not referred to here) are the opposites of 'the three bad acts of the body, and the four bad acts of speech, kāya- and vacī- duccaritāni, so often referred to in the Suttas, and in the Abhidhamma. The three others (of the mind), making up the ten given in my manual, p. 142, are omitted here because they belong to the higher morality.

² Buddhaghosa (p. 219) says that though the Four Arūpa Vimokkhas are not explicitly mentioned they are to be understood (thus making up the Eight Samāpattis). This may be so: but it looks like a later writer reading his own opinion into the older text. They are put into the text at Poṭṭhapāda, pp. 183, 184, and it is difficult to see why they should not have been also inserted here, if they were really implied.

³ Possibly Nos. 11 and 12 are meant, both here and in all the other Suttas, to be omitted. The wording is ambiguous. Buddhaghosa, who talks here (see p. 268) of Nos. 10-13 as the Eightfold paññā, apparently means to include them (he could not otherwise get eight). But the argument of the Mahāli seems to exclude them. The texts always jump from the last words of 10 to the last words of 13. Now as in the Mahāli No. 12 is excluded, it is clear that at least there only Nos. 10 and 13 are meant. And there is no difference between the phraseology in the Mahāli and that used in the other Suttas.

⁴ From which we may infer that, as respects those matters, he saw no difference between himself and the other teachers.

⁵ So that the power of Iddhi, of hearing heavenly sounds and of knowing other people's thoughts, are apparently supposed to be in common ground between the buddhists and the other sects, they are included in our sutta because they are supposed to be part of the advantage of life in an Order — in any Order, that is, not only the Buddhist.

⁶ Majjhima II, 37, 38. Perhaps the pe is meant to be supplied from the twenty-seventh Sutta just quoted — the difference, however, as we have seen, is not of great importance.

⁷ The oldest case of the technical use of the word, so far as I know, is in the introductory story of the Mahā Vibhaṇga on the fourth Pārājika (Vin. III, 87). This is later than the Old Commentary on the Pāṭimokkha, from which it incorporates many passages, and this again is later, of course, than the Pāṭimokkha itself.

Neither the Five nor the Six Abhiññās are given as groups among the groups of Fives and Sixes in the Aṇguttara. The word Abhiññā is used in the divisions containing the Fives and Sixes exclusively in its ordinary sense (III, 277, 451; comp. IV, 348). And this is the more instructive as what were afterwards called the Six Abhiññās are actually given in full (IV, 17-19, §§ 6-11) in the same words as in the Ākaṇkheyya Sutta (No. 6 of the Majjhima, translated in my 'Buddhist Suttas' [MN 6]), and very nearly as in our Sutta, here under discussion. But they are not called Abhiññās.

⁸ Compare also A. I, 100; II, 249; III, 3, 9, 277.

⁹ For a list of twenty-one laymen Arahats see A. III, 451; and there are other instances recorded.

¹⁰ A good summary of this is in the Sigālovāda Sutta, an abstract of which is given in my Manual, pp. 143 foll.

¹¹ Translated in 'Vinaya Texts' (S. B. E.).

¹² That is, of course, 'the best course of life' with the connotation of celibacy. The German 'Wandel' is a good rendering of Cariyā. We have no expression so good. See Saṃyutta V, 16, 17.

¹³ Milinnda I, 31 (Of my translation).

¹⁴ Ibid. I, 51; compare I, 101.

¹⁵ Gogerly's translation of the first part of this Sutta, and Burnouf's translation of the whole of it, have been reprinted in Grimblot's 'Sept Suttas Palis.' These versions, of remarkable merit for the time when they were made, are full of mistakes which the since published editions of the Commentary, and of numerous allied texts, enable us now to avoid. I have not thought it necessary to point out the numerous passages, occurring indeed in nearly every sentence, in which the present translation differs from theirs. It should be mentioned here, however, that Burnouf has missed the whole point of the dialogue by misunderstanding the constantly repeated phrase sandiṭṭhikaṃ sāmañña-phalaṃ. from which this title is taken. He renders it throughout as meaning 'foreseen and general fruit' which is grammatically impossible as regards sandiṭṭhikaṃ, and rests on a false derivation as regards sāmañña. This last word means, of course, 'samaṇaship, being a samaṇa, living as a samaṇa, a recluse, a religieux.'

¹⁶ Jīvakassa komārabhaccassa. Buddhaghosa (Sum. I, 133) naturally follows the compilers of the Khandakas (V. 1, 269) in interpreting the adjective as 'brought up by the Prince.' But see the note at Vinaya Texts', II, 174 ; which shows that the more likely meaning is 'the bringer-up of children' (child-doctor). Several cures, however, wrought by him are recorded; and the patients are always adults. There is no other reference at all to his being a child-doctor, and the Khandaka which gives the other interpretation is a very ancient document.

¹⁷ See the note in my 'Buddhist Suttas,' p. i. Buddhaghosa (P. 139) says she was the daughter of the king of Kosala.

¹⁸ This is interesting, as it shows that the year, for the compilers of our Sutta, began in Sāvana (middle of July to middle of August), that is, with the rainy season. There were three Uposatha days in each month, on the 7th, 14th, and 15th day of the month. The full moon night of Kattika (middle of October to middle of November) is called Komudi (from Kumuda, a white water-lily), because that flower is supposed to bloom then. Burnouf is wrong in translating Komudi as the name of the month.

¹⁹ The same lines recur, but in a different order, at Jāt. 1, 105. Dosinā, the etymology of which puzzled Childers and also Buddhaghosa (p. 141), is jyotsnā.

²⁰ Appeva nāma. Both Gogerly and Burnouf take this to mean 'to a certainty,' but compare D. I, 179, 205; V. II, 85, 262.

²¹ Pakkhandino, 'rushers forth.' The exact meaning of some of these military terms is still uncertain, and was apparently uncertain to Buddhaghosa. They all recur, with some differences of reading, in the Milinnda (P. 331, in a later and much longer list), and also in the Aṇguttara (IV, 107), as the names of the constituent elements of a standing army.

²² Burnouf has made a sad mess of this important and constantly repeated clause. He has 'Is it then possible, Sir, that one should declare to them (that is, to the craftsmen just mentioned) in this world, such a result (of their actions) as foreseen and as the general fruit of their conduct?' But the king asks the Buddha to tell him (the king himself) whether the members of the Order derive from their life any benefit corresponding to that which the craftsmen derive from theirs.

²³ According to Buddhaghosa (p. 142) he was one of the teachers who went about naked.

²⁴ Akiriyaṃ vyākāsi. Gogerly interprets this 'he replied by affirming that there are no future rewards and punishment.' Burnouf has simply 'm'a donné une réponse vaine.' But the corresponding word in the subsequent sections summarises the theory of the teacher questioned. On this theory compare A. I, 62; V. 1, 235.

²⁵ In the text the framework of the interview is repeated each time in the same words as above. Only the answers differ. The answers all recur in the Majjhima I, 513 foll.

²⁶ There is a good deal in both the Buddhist and the Jain texts about this Makkhali Gosāla, whose followers were called ājīvakas, and who was regarded, from the Buddhist point of view, as the worst of the sophists. Some of the Jaina passages, and also Buddhaghosa here, are referred to by Hoernle, Uvāsaka dasāo,' pp. 108 foll.: and in the Appendixes. The principal Piṭaka passages are M. I, 31, 198, 238, 250, 483, 516, 524. S. I, 66, 68; III, 69, 211; IV, 398. A. 1, 33, 286; III, 276,384. V. 1, 8,291; II, III, 130, 165, 284; IV, 74. See also Jāt. I, 493 and G. V, 68. As the sect is thrice mentioned in the Asoka Edicts as receiving royal gifts it is certain that it retained an important position for several centuries at least. See Senart, 'Inscriptions de Piyadasi,' II, 82, 209.

From the beginning of the answer down to the end of p. 53 recurs at S. III, 211, and the rest of it at ibid. 212, and the first part of the answer is ascribed at ibid. p. 69 to Pūraṇa Kassapa.

²⁷ Sabbe sattā, sabbe pānā, sabbe bhūtā, sabbe jīvā. Buddhaghosa gives details of these four classes of living beings, showing how they are meant to include all that has life, on this earth, from men down to plants. The explanation is very confused, and makes the terms by no means mutually exclusive. They are frequently used in the same order in the Jaina-Sūtras, and Professor Jacobi renders them accordingly 'Every sentient being, every insect, every living thing, whether animal or vegetable.' 'Jaina-Sutras,' II, xxv. This is much better; but we have, in our version, to give the sense in which the Buddhists supposed Gosāla to have taken the words.

²⁸ Compare the corresponding theory of the Jains as given in the Uttarādhyāyana Sūtra in Jacobi's Jaina-Sūtras, vol, ii, P. 213 : and that of Pūraṇa Kassapa quoted in Aṇguttara III, 383.

²⁹ Buddhaghosa gives the details 'babyhood, playtime, trial time, erect time, learning time, ascetic time, prophet time, and prostrate time' with (very necessary) comments on each. One may compare Shakespeare's 'Seven Ages of Man.'

³⁰ ājīva. The Siamese edition reads ājīvaka.

³¹ I think this is the right reading, but don't know what it means.

³² This answer recurs S. III, 307, M. I, 515 (compare Dh.S. 1215, 1362, 1364), as the view of a typical sophist.

³³ Samma-g-gato. Buddhaghosa gives here no explanation of this word, but the Jātaka Commentary on Jāt. III, 305 says it means the man who has attained the highest fruit; that is, Arahatship. Gato is used here in the same sense as it has in Tathāgato, in gatatto (in the Nigaṇṭha paragraph below), and in vijjā-gato (S.N. 730, 733, 743), that is, who has not only attempted to go to, but has actually reached, the aim (common alike to the orthodox Vedāntist Brahmans and to each of the various schools of independent, dissenting, thinkers and recluses) of the conquest over ignorance, of the grasp of truth.

³⁴ Indriyāni, the five senses, and the mind as a sixth.

³⁵Ahutiyo. See Buddhavaṃsa XXVII, 10; Kathā Vatthu 550. The phrase is omitted in the parallel passage in the Jaina 'Sūtrakritānga' pointed out by Jacobi, 'Jaina-Sūtras,' II, xxiv.

³⁶ The series of riddles in this difficult passage is probably intended to be an ironical imitation of the Nigaṇṭha's way of talking. Gogerly has caught the general sense fairly enough, but his version is very free, and wrong as to two of the words, and it gives no idea of the oracular form in which the original is couched. Burnouf's rendering is quite wide of the mark.

The first of the 'Four Restraints' is the well-known rule of the Jains not to drink cold water, on the ground that there are 'souls' in it. See the discussion in the Milinnda (11, 91 of my translation).

Professor Jacobi ('Jaina-Sūtras,' II, xxiii) thinks the 'Four Restraints' are intended to represent the four vows kept by the followers of Parsva. But this surely cannot be so, for these vows were quite different.

³⁷ The text repeats the whole paragraph put above (p. 27 of the text) into the mouth of the Eel-wriggler.

³⁸ Of these six teachers Pūraṇa denies the evil Karma in a bad act and vice versa; Ajita, in preaching annihilation at death, shuts out the possibility of any effect to be worked by Karma; and Makkhali rejects both Karma and its effect. The theory of Pakudha seems to exclude responsibility; the Nigaṇṭha simply begs the question, by asserting that a Nigaṇṭha has attained the end; and Saṇjaya gives no answer at all.

The only one of these six theories of life on which independent evidence is at present accessible is that of the Nigaṇṭha (the Jain theory). But no attempt has yet been made to summarise it, or set it out in a manner intelligible to Western readers. It is very much to be hoped that this want may soon be supplied by one or other of the excellent scholars familiar, with the texts.

³⁹ Buddhaghosa applies these last two adjectives to the truth, not to the life. But it seems more in accord with the next paragraph to refer them to the life.

⁴⁰ Gahapati, which Buddhaghosa takes here in the sense of peasant ryot.

⁴¹ Pāṭimokkha-saṇvara-saṇvuto. Buddhaghosa, I think, takes this to mean 'restrained according to the rules of the Pāṭimokkha.'

⁴² On the following important and constantly repeated paragraph compare M. I, 180, 268; K.V. 424-6, 463-4; Mil. 367; Asl. 400, etc.

⁴³ Na nimittaggāhī hoti nānuvyaāganaggāhī. The phrase nimittaṃ gaṇhāti means either to seize upon anything as the object of one's thought to the exclusion of everything else (see, for instance, Vin. I, 183, and Buddhaghosa's note on it given in the (Vinaya Texts,' II, 9), or to seize upon the outward sign of anything so keenly as to recognise what it is the mark of (Vin. III, 17). And when the object is a person of the other sex this phrase is the idiom used for our 'falling in love with.' Buddhaghosa gives, as an instance of the nimitta, the general conclusion that the object seen, heard, etc., is a man or woman; of the anuvyaājana, the perception of the detail that he or she is smiling, talking, etc.

⁴⁴ Avyāseka, literally 'with no besprinkling' (of evil, says Buddhaghosa).

⁴⁵ A small volume might be written on the various expansions of this text in the Piṭakas. Several whole Dialogues are devoted to it, and various Suttas in others of the oldest texts. Buddhaghosa has many pages upon it here, and deals with it also at length in the Visuddhi Magga and elsewhere. What is above added in brackets [removed to note edn1] explains the principal points of what is implied, according to the Piṭakas, in this famous passage, — the Buddhist analogue to St. Paul's: 'Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God' (I Cor. x. 31).

By the real fact underlying any action is meant that, in the Buddhist theory, behind the action (going, seeing, etc.) there is no ego, no actor (goer, seer, etc.), that can be called a 'soul' (Abbhantare attā nāma āloketā vā viloketā vā n' atthi), but that there is a psychological explanation sufficient, of itself, without the soul-theory.

⁴⁶ 'Consider the fowls of the air,' etc. (Matt. vi. 26).
    No man can call me servant, and I wander —
    So said the Exalted One —
    At will, o'er all the earth, on what I find
    I feel no need of wages, or of gain,
    So let the rain pour down now, if it likes, tonight.

(Dhaniya Sutta 8.) and see the context in my 'American Lectures,' p. 168.

⁴⁷ Abhijjhaṃ loke pahāya. Gogerly renders 'banishes desire from him,' leaving out loke altogether, and rendering abhijjhā in defiance both of the derivation and of the traditional explanation of the word. Even Burnouf (who frequently uses 'desire' for words in the Pāli meaning 'lusts' or 'excitement') has here 'cupidity'

⁴⁸ So Buddhaghosa here (p.211). But the Dhamma Sangaṇi II 56, II 57 explains it as torpor of mind and body.

⁴⁹ āloka-saññī, literally 'whose ideas are light.' Neumann (Reden des Gotamo,' 1, 434, etc.) translates 'loving the light,' which may be the right connotation. Burnouf has 'being aware of his visual sensation' (de son regard), which is certainly wrong.

⁵⁰ Iṇaṃ ādāya. Neumann has 'oppressed by debt,' but Buddhaghosa (p. 212) says 'taking goods on interest'; and this is confirmed by Jāt. IV, 256, V, 436.

⁵¹ From the beginning of § 68 the text, though here split up into paragraphs for the convenience of the reader, is really one long sentence or paragraph of much eloquence and force in the Pāli; and the peroration, leading on to the Jhānas, is a favourite passage recurring M. I, 71; Vin. I, 294; Mil. 84. The five similes are to be taken, in order, as referring to the Five Hindrances (Nīvaraṇā) given in § 68. The Dhamma Sangaṇi 1152 gives six hindrances, and M. 1, 360-3 gives eight.

⁵² Viveka, 'separation' — physically of the body, 'seclusion'; intellectually, of the objects of thought, 'discrimination'; ethically, of the heart, 'being separate from the world.' We have no word in English suggesting these three. all of which are implied. The stress is upon separation from the world, taking 'world' in the sense of all the hindrances to spiritual progress, and especially of the five chief hindrances (Nīvaraṇā) just above set out. Buddhaghosa has nothing here, but compare Asl. 166.

⁵³ Ekodibhāva. Compare Asl. 169, Senart in Mahāvastu I, 554, and the notes in J.P.T.S., 1884, P. 32 foll.

⁵⁴ Upekhako, literally 'looking on,' that is, looking on rival mental states with equal mind. Imperturbable, impartial, tolerant, unsusceptible, stoical, composed, are all possible renderings, and all unsatisfactory. The ten kinds of Upekkhā, 'equanimity,' translated into English from Sinhalese by Spence Hardy (Manual, p. 505), can now be corrected from the Pāli at Asl. 172.

⁵⁵ This is a favourite description of the body. (See M. I, 500; II, 17; S. IV, 83; Jāt. I, 146, etc.) The words for erasion, abrasion, are cunningly chosen (ucchādana, parimaddana). They are also familiar technical terms of the Indian shampooer, and are so used above (P. 7, § 16 of the text). The double meaning must have been clearly present to the Indian hearer, and the words are, therefore, really untranslatable.

⁵⁶ Viññāṇa. 'The five senses, sensations arising from objects, and all emotions and intellectual processes,' says Buddhaghosa (P. 221).

⁵⁷ In spite of this and similar passages the adherents of the soul theory (having nothing else to fasten on) were apt to fasten on to the Buddhist Viññāṇa as a possible point of reconciliation with their own theory. Even an admirer of the Buddha (one Sāti, a member of the Order) went so far as to tell the Buddha himself that he must, as he admitted transmigration, have meant that the Viññāṇa did not really depend upon, was not really bound, up with, the body, but that it formed the link in transmigration. In perhaps the most earnest and emphatic of all the Dialogues (M. I, 256 foll.), the Buddha meets and refutes at length this erroneous representation of his view. But it still survives. I know two living writers on Buddhism who (in blissful ignorance of the Dialogue in question) still fasten upon Buddha the opinion he so expressly refused to accept.

⁵⁸ Buddhaghosa explains that, if the Bhikshu have his ears unpierced, so will the image, and so on.

⁵⁹ This old smile occurs already in the Satapatha-Brāhmaṇa IV, 3, 3, 16

⁶⁰ The point is the similarity. Buddhaghosa explains that the Karaṇḍa is not a basket (as Burnouf renders it), but the skin which the snake sloughs off; and that the scabbard is like the sword, whatever the sword's shape. He adds that of course a man could not take a snake out of its slough with his hand. He is supposed in the simile to do so in imagination.

⁶¹ Iddhi, literally 'well-being, prosperity.' The four Iddhis of a king are personal beauty, length of life, strong health, and popularity (M. Sud. Sutta in my 'Buddhist Suttas,' pp. 259 - 261). The Iddhis of Gotama when at home, as a boy, were the possession of a beautiful garden, soft clothing, comfortable lodging, pleasant music, and good food (A. 1, 145). Worldly Iddhi is distinguished from spiritual at A. I, 93. Buddhaghosa gives nine sorts of Iddhi, mostly intellectual, at Asl. 91, and compare 237. There are no examples in the Piṭakas of concrete instances of any of these except the last; but see S. IV, 289, 290; A. III, 340, 341; M.P.S. 43.

⁶² The point of the comparison, says Buddhaghosa (223), is that if he is in trouble and has lost his way he might be in doubt. But if calm and secure he can tell the difference.

⁶³ Sa-uttara and anuttara. Unless the interpretation given in the Dhamma Sangaṇi 1292, 1293, 1596, 1597 ('occupied with rebirth in heaven, and occupied with Arahatship') reveals a change in the use of terms, the evil disposition, in this case only, is put first.

⁶⁴ This is based on the Indian theory of the periodic destruction and renovation of the universe, each of which takes countless years to accomplish.

⁶⁵ Vaṇṇa, 'colour.'

⁶⁶ The three villages correspond to the three stages of being, the three Bhūmis, - the world of lust, the world of form, and the formless worlds (the Kāma, Rūpa, and Arūpa Lokas).

⁶⁷ Dibba-cakkhu. See the note below on § 102 at the end of this Sutta.

⁶⁸ This paragraph forms the subject of the discussion in the Kathā Vatthu III, 9 (p. 250). The mere knowledge of the general fact of the action of Karma is there distinguished from the Dibba-cakkhu, the Heavenly Eye; and the instance of Sāriputta is quoted, who had that knowledge, but not the Heavenly Eye. As he was an Arahat it follows that the possession of the Heavenly Eye was not a necessary consequence of Arahatship. Buddhaghosa adds (p. 224) that the sphere of vision of the Heavenly Eye did not extend to the Formless Worlds. On the Dhamma-cakkhu, 'the Eye for the Truth.,' see below, p. 110, § 21 of the text.

⁶⁹ Vītisañkarante is Buddhaghosa's reading. The Siamese has Vithiṃ. Compare M. I, 279.

⁷⁰ āsavas, Deadly Floods, another untranslatable term. Neumann has Illusion (Wahn); Burnouf has defilement (souillures). They are sometimes the three here mentioned (M. I, 23, 155; A. I, 167; S. IV, 256, etc.); but speculation, theorising (Diṭṭhi) is added as a fourth in the M.P.S. and elsewhere. Unfortunately, the word has not been yet found in its concrete, primary, sense; unless indeed Buddhaghosa's statement (at Asl. 48) that well-seasoned spirituous liquors were called āsavā be taken literally. It is therefore impossible to be sure what is the simile that underlies the use of the word in its secondary, ethical sense. Perhaps after all it is the idea of overwhelming intoxication, and not of flood or taint or ooze, that we ought to consider.

Subhūti in quoting the above passage from Buddhaghosa (in the Abhidhāna Padīpikā Sūci, P. 43) reads pārivās throughout for pārivās.

⁷¹ Kamāsavā, with special reference to the taint of hankering after a future life in the sensuous plane (Kāma Loka); that is, in the world.

⁷² Bhavāsavā, with special reference to the taint of hankering after a future life in the plane of form and the formless plane (the Rūpa and Arūpa Lokas); that is, in heaven.

⁷³ Avijjāsavā, with special reference to ignorance of the Four Great Truths, just above summarised.

⁷⁴ The simile recurs M. I, 279; A. I, 9. Compare for the words sippi-sambuka Jāt. V, 197; A. III, 395; Trenckner, 'Pali Miscellany,' p. 6o.

⁷⁵ Because, as Buddhaghosa points out, this is really Arahatship, Nirvāṇa; and it was to this, to Arahatship, that all the rest led up.

⁷⁶ Ariyānaṃ. That is, either of previous Buddhas, or perhaps of the Arahats.

⁷⁷ The Dhamma-cakkhu (Eye for the Truth) is a technical term for conversion, for entering on the Path that ends in Arahatship. It is higher than the Heavenly Eye (dibba-cakkhu, above, p.82 of the text, § 95) which sees other people's previous births, and below the Eye of Wisdom (paññā-cakkhu) which is the wisdom of the Arahat (Itivuttaka, p. 52, § 6i).

ed1 Rice-Davids inserts the following here: (all that is wrapt up therein — the immediate object of the act itself, its ethical significance, whether or not it is conducive
to the high aim set before him, and the real facts underlying the mere phenomenon of the outward act).

3. A Young Brahman Rudeness
And An Old One's Faith

Ambaṭṭha Suttantaṃ

[96]

Introduction

This is one of several Suttas (mentioned in the notes to the celebrated verse quoted at the end of Chapter I) which deal with the subject of caste.

It is sufficiently evident from the comparative frequency of the discussions on the matter of Brahman pretensions that this was a burning question at the time when the Dialogues were composed. No other social problem is referred to so often; and Brahman would not be so often represented as expressing astonishment or indignation at the position taken up regarding it by the early Buddhists unless there had really been a serious difference on the subject between the two schools. But the difference, though real, has been gravely misunderstood.

Some writers on Buddhism do not hesitate to ascribe to Gotama the role of a successful political reformer, by representing him as having fought for the poor and despised against the rich and privileged classes, and as having gone far to abolish caste. Other writers gird at the Buddha because most of the leaders of this Order were drawn from the ranks of the respectable and the well-to-do, with an education in keeping with their social position; and disparage him for neglecting the humble and the wretched, for not using his influence to abolish, or to mitigate, the harshness of caste rules.

Both views are equally unhistorical. It is well known that the population of India is now divided into a number of sections (we call them 'castes'), the members of which are debarred from the right of intermarriage (from the connubium) with those outside their caste, and also, but in constantly varying degrees, from the right of eating together (of commensality) with the members of other sections. Each such 'caste' has also a council or committee by which it is governed, and which settles all disputes regarding the caste.

The disastrous effects, from the ethical, social, and political points of view, of these restrictions, and of caste as a whole, have been often grossly exaggerated, and the benefits of the [97] system ignored. And we are entirely unwarranted in supposing the system, as it now exists, to have been in existence also at the time when Buddhism arose in the valley of the Ganges. Our knowledge of the actual facts of caste, even as it now exists, is still confused and inaccurate. The theories put forward to explain the facts are loose and irreconcilable. And an accurate statement of the corresponding facts, if any, at the time of Gotama, has yet to be drawn up.

We have long known that the connubium was the cause of a long and determined struggle between the patricians and the plebeians in Rome. Evidence has been yearly accumulating on the existence of restrictions as to intermarriage, and as to the right of eating together, among other Aryan tribes - Greeks, Germans, Russians, and so on. Even without the fact of the existence, now, of such restrictions among the modern successors of the ancient Aryans in India, it would have been almost certain that they also were addicted to similar customs. It is certain that the notion of such usages was familiar enough to some at least of the tribes that preceded the Aryans in India. It is quite a mistake to look upon all these tribes as far below the Aryans in culture. Both the Kolarians and the Dravidians were probably quite the equals of the Aryans in social organisation. And the Aryans probably adopted much from them, especially in matters relating to land tenure, village community, government, taxation, and so on. Their custom of endogamy and exogamy, their ideas as to purity and the reverse, may have differed from those of the Aryans, but were similar in kind. Rules of endogamy and exogamy; privileges, restricted to certain classes, of eating together, are not only Indian or Aryan, but worldwide phenomena. Both the spirit, and to a large degree the actual details, of modern Indian caste usages, are identical with these ancient, and no doubt universal, customs. It is in them that we have the key to the origin of caste.

At any moment in the history of a nation such customs seem, to a superficial observer, to be fixed and immutable. As a matter of fact they are never quite the same in successive centuries, or even generations. A man's visible frame, though no change is at any moment perceptible, is really never the same for two consecutive moments, and the result of constant minute variations becomes clear after the lapse of time. The numerous and complicated details which we sum up under the convenient (but often misleading) single name of caste are solely dependent for their sanction on public opinion. That opinion seems stable. But it is always tending to vary as to the degree of importance attached to some particular one of [98] the details, as to the size and complexity of the particular groups in which each detail ought to be observed.

This last statement may be illustrated by the case of the Chaliyas. When the Dutch started cinnamon cultivation in Ceylon on a large scale, they wanted labourers. 'The peasantry, who belonged almost exclusively to one caste, the Goigamas, regarded it as unworthy of a free man to work for hire. Some of them, however, in the struggle of motives, found the pressure of poverty too strong for them, and accepted service as coolies. The others, thinking this bad form, became averse to giving their daughters in marriage to such coolies. These feelings were naturally stronger at first among the Goigamas of good social position, and it became a mark of superiority not to have a relative married to a worker in the cinnamon gardens. And such workers were called Chaliyas. By the time that the families of Chaliyas were numerous enough to afford mates for the male or female coolies, the Chaliyas found it impossible to find wives elsewhere. And thus, under the very eyes of Europeans, the size of one group had been diminished by the very considerable number of persons engaged in a new and despised trade. In other words, what we call a new caste had arisen, the caste of the Chaliyas. When the English took Ceylon they gave up the government cultivation of cinnamon. The gardens were carried on, in ever lessening numbers, by private individuals. The number of the Chaliyas consequently declined. Numbers of them, as they gradually returned to ordinary peasant work, became reabsorbed among the Goigamas. This was an instance of a change precisely contrary to that which happened when the caste gradually arose. But all did not succeed in returning; and there are, therefore, still some Chaliyas left. And the caste survives though the members of it are now no longer exclusively, or even largely, employed in cinnamon gardens; and many of them have become wealthy and honoured.

What had happened in this case was, not two separate and striking revolutions, but a long series of slight changes in public opinion, no doubt quite imperceptible at the time to the very people among whom the changes were taking place. And after all the changes were not so very slow. Three or four generations were enough to cover the whole series with the consequent results. Who can doubt but that the history of ancient India, if we had only access to the necessary evidence, would be found to cover, in its two thousand five hundred years, and through its wide territory, a constant succession of similar variations; and that similar variations are recurring still to-day.

[99] Owing to the fact that the particular set of people who worked their way to the top based its claims on religious grounds, not on political power or wealth, the system has, no doubt, lasted longer in India than in Europe. But public opinion still insists in considerable circles, even in Europe, on restrictions of a more or less defined kind, both as to marriage and as to eating together. And in India the problem still remains to trace in the literature the gradual growth of the system — the gradual formation of new sections among the people, the gradual extension of the institution to the families of people engaged in certain trades, belonging to the same sect or tribe', tracing their ancestry (whether rightly or wrongly) to the same source. All these factors, and others besides, are real factors. But they are phases of the extension and growth, not explanations of the origin, of the system.

There is no evidence to show that at the time when the conversations recorded in the Dialogues took place (that is to say, in the sixth century B. C.) there was any substantial difference, as regards the barriers in question, between the peoples dwelling in the valley of the Ganges and their contemporaries dwelling on the shores of the Mediterranean. The point of greatest weight in the establishment of the great difference in the subsequent development - the supremacy, in India, of the priests - was still being hotly debated. And all our evidence tends to show that at least in the wide extent of territory covered by the Piṭakas — countries close upon a hundred thousand square miles in area — the struggle was being decided rather against the Brahman than for them. There were distinctions as to marriage; endogamous and exogamous groups. In a few instances, all among the lower classes of the people, these amounted, probably, to what would now be called caste-divisions. But of castes, in the modern sense, among the preponderating majority there is little or no conclusive evidence.

There was a common phrase current among the people, which divided all the world into four vaṇṇā (colours or complexions) — the nobles, the priests, the other Aryan people, and the non-Aryan Sūdras (Khattiyā, Brāhmaṇā, Vessā, and Suddā). The priests put themselves first, and had a theological legend in support of their contention. But it is clear from the Piṭakas that this was not admitted by the nobles. And it is also clear that no one of these divisions was a caste. There was neither connubium nor commensality between all the members of one vaṇṇa, nor was there a governing council for each. The fourth was distinguished from the others by race. The remaining three were distinguished from each other [100] by social position. And though in a general rough way the classification corresponded to the actual facts of life, there were insensible gradations within the four classes, and the boundary between them was both variable and undefined.

And this enumeration of the populace was not complete. Outside these classes there were others, resembling in many points the modern low castes, and always when mentioned in the Piṭakas following after the above four. Thus in Aṇguttara I, 162¹ the argument is that just as there is no real difference in oxen, in spite of the fact that they can be arranged in classes by difference of colour (vaṇṇa), and the strong, active, well-trained ox is selected by preference, without regard to his colour (vaṇṇa); so also, when presenting gifts, the man of strong, active, well-trained mind should be selected as donee — without reference to the fact of his belonging to any one of the four classes of society (vaṇṇā), or of his being a Kaṇḍāla or a Pukkusa. It is plain that this passage distinguishes the last two from the four vaṇṇā and therefore from the Sūdras

Other old texts² insert between these two three further names — the Veṇas, the Nesādas, and the Rathakāras, that is to say, the workers in rushes³, bird-catchers, and cart makers. By these are meant aboriginal tribesmen who were hereditary craftsmen in these three crafts; for they are called hīna-jātiyo, low tribes. They no doubt formed castes in the modern sense, though we have no information as to their marriage customs. They are represented in the Jātaka book as living in villages of their own, outside the towns in which ordinary people dwelt, and formed evidently a numerically insignificant portion of the populace.

In the last passage quoted in the previous note there are mentioned, as distinct from these low tribes (the hīna-jātiyo), certain low occupations (hīna-sippāni) — mat-makers, potters, weavers, leather-workers, and barbers. As they are excluded from the list of those distinguished by birth (jāti), it is implied that there was no hard and fast line, determined by birth, for those who gained their living by these trades. There would be a natural tendency for the son to follow the father's craft;⁴ [101] centuries afterwards they had become castes, and they were then on the borderline. But they were not castes as yet.

Besides the above, who were all freemen, there were also slaves. We only hear of them quite occasionally, as domestic servants, in the houses of the very rich. Individuals had been captured in predatory raids, and reduced to slavery (Jāt. IV, 220); or had been deprived of their freedom as a judicial punishment (Jāt. I, 200); or had submitted to slavery of their own accord ('Vinaya Texts,' I, 191; Sum. I, 168). Children born to such slaves were also slaves, and the emancipation of slaves is often referred to. But we hear nothing of such later developments of slavery as rendered the Roman latifundia, or the plantations of some Christian slave-owners, scenes of misery and oppression. For the most part the slaves were household servants, and not badly treated, and their numbers seem to have been insignificant⁵

What we find then, in the Buddha's time, is caste in the making. The great mass of the people were distinguished quite roughly into four classes — social strata — of which the boundary lines were vague and uncertain. At the one end of the scale certain outlying tribes, and certain hereditary crafts of a dirty or despised kind, were already, probably, castes. At the other end of the scale Brahman by birth (not necessarily sacrificial priests, for they followed all sorts of occupations) were putting forward caste claims that were not yet universally admitted. There were social customs about the details of which we know very little (and dependent probably, more exactly upon the gotta rather than upon the jāti), which raised barriers, not seldom broken through, as to intermarriage of people admittedly belonging to the same vaṇṇa, and a fortiori of others. And there was a social code, based on the idea of impurity, which prevented familiar intercourse (such as commensality) between people of different rank; and rendered disgraceful the use of certain foods. We find, however, no usages which cannot be amply paralleled in the history of other peoples throughout the world in similar stages of social evolution. The key-stone of the arch of the peculiarly Indian caste organisation — the absolute supremacy of the Brahmans — had not yet been put in position, had not, in fact, been yet made ready. The caste-system, in any proper or exact use of the term, did not exist.

In the face of this set of circumstances Gotama took up [102] a distinct position. It meets us, it is true, in two phases; but it forms one consistent and logical whole.

In the first place, as regards his own Order, over which alone he had complete control, he ignores completely and absolutely all advantages or disadvantages arising from birth, occupation, and social status, and sweeps away all barriers and disabilities arising from the arbitrary rules of mere ceremonial or social impurity.

One of the most distinguished members of his Order the very one of them who was referred to as the chief authority, after Gotama himself, on the rules of the Order, was Upāli, who had formerly been a barber, one of the despised occupations. So Sunīta, one of the brethren whose verses are chosen for insertion in the Thera Jāthā, was a Pukkusa, one of the low tribes. Sāti, the propounder of a deadly heresy, was of the sons of the fisherfolk, afterwards a low caste, and even then an occupation, on account of its cruelty, particularly abhorred. Nanda was a cowherd. The two Paṇṭhakas were born out of wedlock, to a girl of good family through intercourse with a slave (so that by the rule laid down in Manu 31, they were actually outcasts). Kāpā was the daughter of a deer-stalker, Puṇṇā and Puṇṇikā had been slave girls. Sumangalamātā was daughter and wife to workers in rushes, and Subhā was the daughter of a smith. More instances could doubtless be quoted already, and others will become known when more texts are published.

It does not show much historical insight to sneer at the numbers as small, and to suggest that the supposed enlightenment or liberality was mere pretence. The facts speak for themselves; and the percentage of low-born members of the Order was probably in fair proportion to the percentage of persons belonging to the despised gātis and sippas as compared with the rest of the population. Thus of the Therīs mentioned in the Therī Gāthā we know the social position of sixty, of whom five are mentioned above — that is 8½ per cent. of the whole number were base-born. It is most likely that this is just about the proportion which persons in similar social rank bore to the rest of the population.

Whether the Buddhist Order differed in this respect from the other similar communities which are mentioned in the Buddhist books as having already existed when the Buddhist Order was founded, is still matter of controversy. The Buddhist books are mostly silent on the matter. But that very silence is valuable evidence. It is scarcely likely that, if there had been much difference, there should be no allusion to it in the Piṭakas. And the few passages in print confirm this. We [103] have seen how in the Sāmañña-phala Sutta (above, § 35) it is taken for granted that a slave would join an Order (that is any order, not the Buddhist). And in the Aggañña Sutta of the Dīgha, and the Madhura Sutta of the Majjhima, there is express mention of Sūdras becoming Samaṇas, as if it were a recognised and common occurrence, long before the time of the rise of Buddhism. So in the Jātaka (III, 381) we hear of a potter, and at IV, 392 of a Kaṇḍāla, who become Samaṇas (not Buddhist Samaṇas).⁶

On the other hand, it is just possible that in these passages the custom afterwards followed in the Buddhist Order is simply put back to earlier times, and is an anachronism. The low-born, however earnest in their search after truth, were no doubt excluded from any community of hermits or religious recluses in which Brahmans had the upper hand. But all the twice-born (the Dvijas, that is the Khattiyas, Brāhmaṇas, and Vessas) were certainly justified, by public opinion, in becoming Samaṇas. To what extent the Sūdras, and the tribes below the Sūdras, were accorded, in communities other than the Buddhist, a similar privilege, is at present doubtful. But the Buddha certainly adopted, and probably extended, the most rational view current at the time.

There is one point, however, in which he seems to have restricted (and for a valid reason) the existing custom. It is impossible to avoid the inference from the passage just referred to (in the Sāmañña-phala, above, P. 77), that the existing orders, or most of them, admitted slaves to their ranks. Now among a number of rules laid down to regulate admission to the Buddhist Order, in such wise that the existing rights of third parties should not be encroached upon, there is a rule (translated in 'Vinaya Texts,' S.B.E., I, 199) that no runaway slave, shall be admitted. And in the form of words to be used at the chapter held for admitting new members, one of the questions asked of the candidate is: 'Are you a freeman?'⁷ Whenever slaves were admitted to the Order, they must have previously obtained the consent of their masters, and also, I think, have been emancipated.

Secondly, as regards all such matters as we may now fairly call 'questions of caste' outside the Order, the Buddha adopted the only course then open to any man of sense; that is to say, he strove to influence that public opinion, on which the observances depend, by a constant inculcation of reasonable views. Thus in the Āmagandha Sutta⁸ of the Sutta [104] Nipāta (certainly one of the very oldest of our documents) it is laid down, in eloquent words, that defilement does not come from eating this or that, prepared or given by this or that person, but from evil deeds and words and thoughts.

This is a particularly interesting passage, being one of the few in which sayings of previous Buddhas are recorded. In other words the Buddhists put forward this view as having been enunciated long ago — with the intended implication that it was a self-evident proposition which was common ground to the wise. No originality, no special insight, is claimed on account of a view that would have put an end to so many foolish prejudices based on superstition. The Buddha's position is again to adopt, in this matter, the sensible position already put forward by others.

As to other details also, which it would take too long to set out here, Gotama followed the same plan. On the general question, however, he had opinions, presumably his own. For they are not found elsewhere. And in the early Buddhist texts (always ready to give credit to others, and even anxious wherever possible to support their views by showing that others, especially in ancient times, had held them) these views are not referred to as part of the doctrine of either earlier or contemporary teachers.

We may class the utterances on this point under three heads — biological, ethical, and historical.

In the Vāseṭṭha Sutta of the Sutta Nipāta (several verses of which have been inserted also in the Dhammapada) the question, as in the Soṇadaṇḍa Sutta, translated below, is as to what makes a man a Brahman. As his answer the Buddha reminds his questioners of the fact that whereas, in the case of plants (large or small), insects, quadrupeds, serpents, fish, and birds, there are many species and marks (due to the species) by which they can be distinguished — in the case of man there are no such species, and no such marks. 'Herein,' as pointed out by Mr. Chalmers,⁹ 'Gotama was in accord with the conclusion of modern biologists, that "the Anthropidae are represented by the single genus and species, Man" — a conclusion the more remarkable as the accident of colour did not mislead Gotama' as it did so many of his contemporaries then; and even, within living memory, so many in the West. He goes on to draw the conclusion that distinctions made between different men are mere matters of prejudice and custom; that it is wisdom and goodness that make the only valid distinction, that make a man a Brahman; that the [105] Arahat is therefore the true Brahman; and that it is only the ignorant who had, for so long, maintained that it was birth that made a man a Brahman.

Similar arguments frequently recur. In the Madhura Sutta, a dialogue, shortly after the Buddha's death, between the king of Madhura and Kaccāna, the point raised is whether the Brahmans are right in their exclusive claims. 'The Brahmans say thus, Kaccāna: — "The Brahmans are the most distinguished of the four divisions into which the people is classified¹⁰; every other division is inferior. The Brahmans are the white division; all the rest are black. The Brahmans alone are accounted pure, not those who are not Brahmans. The Brahmans are the legitimate sons of God (of Brahmā), born from His mouth, specially made by Him, heirs of Brahmā! What do you, Sir, say to this?"'

The Buddhist answer is first to remind the king of the actual facts of life — how a prosperous member of any one of the four vaṇṇas would find members of each of the other three to wait upon him and serve him. There was no difference between them in this respect. Then, secondly, he points out how a wicked man (whatever his vaṇṇa), in accordance with the doctrine of Karma acknowledged by all good men (not only by Buddhists), will be reborn in some state of woe; and a good man in some state of bliss. Thirdly, a criminal, whatever his vaṇṇa, would be equally subject to punishment for his crime. And lastly, a man, whatever his vaṇṇa, would, on joining an order, on becoming a religieux, receive equal respect and honour from the people.¹¹

A Brahman might object that all this ignores the important point that the Brahman were, originally, born of Brahma, and are his legitimate heirs. It was this claim to especial connection with the mysterious powers of a supernatural kind, so widely believed in, that formed their chief weapon in the struggle. We find the Buddhist reply to that in the Aggañña Sutta of the Dīgha, in many respects one of the most interesting and instructive of all the Dialogues.¹² It is a kind [106] of Buddhist book of Genesis. In it the pretensions of the Brahman are put forward in the same terms as those just quoted above from the Madhura Sutta.

Gotama replies that they make these claims in forgetfulness of the past. The claims have no basis in fact. It is righteousness (dhamma) and not class distinction (vaṇṇa) that makes the real difference between man and man.¹³ Do we not daily see Brahman women with child and bearing sons just like other folk? How can they then say that they are born of God? And as to their origin, when the evolution of the world began, beings were at first immaterial, feeding on joy, giving light from themselves, passing through the air. There was thick darkness round about them, and neither sun nor moon, nor stars, nor sex, nor measures of time. Then the earth rose in the midst of the waters, beautiful as honey in taste and colour and smell, and the beings, eating thereof, lost their brightness, and then sun and moon and stars appeared, and time began to run. And then also their bodies became more coarse and material, and differences of complexion (vaṇṇa) became manifest among them. Then some prided themselves, and despised others, on the ground of their finer complexion. And thereupon the fine-tasting earth ceased to be so.

Then successively fine moss, and sweet creepers, and delicate rice appeared, and each time the beings ate thereof with a similar result. Then differences of sex appeared; and households were formed; and the lazy stored up the rice, instead of gathering it each evening and morning; and the rights of property arose, and were infringed. And when lusts were felt, and thefts committed, the beings, now become men, met together, and chose certain men, differing from the others in no wise except in virtue (dhamma), to restrain the evil doers by blame or fines or banishment. These were the first Kshatriyas. And others they chose to restrain the evil dispositions which led to the evil doing. And these were the first Brahman, differing from the others in no wise, except only in virtue (dhamma).

Then certain others, to keep their households going, and maintain their wives, started occupations of various kinds. And these were the first vessas. And some abandoned their homes and became the first recluses (samaṇas). But all were alike in origin, and the only distinction between them was in virtue. And the highest of them all was acknowledged [107] to be the Arahat, who had made himself so by the destruction of the Four Mental Intoxications (the āsavas) and by breaking the bonds that tied him to rebirths; the man who had laid aside every burden, who had lived the life, had accomplished a11 that had to be done, had gained his end, and by the highest knowledge was set free!

We may not accept the historical accuracy of this legend. Indeed a continual note of good-humoured irony runs through the whole story, with its fanciful etymologies of the names of the four vaṇṇā; and the aroma of it would be lost on the hearer who took it au grand szeezrieux. But it reveals a sound and healthy insight, and is much nearer to the actual facts than the Brahman legend it was intended to replace.

Had the Buddha's views on the whole question won the day — and widely shared, as they were, by others, they very nearly prevailed — the evolution of social grades and distinctions would have gone on in India on lines similar to those it followed in the West, and the caste system of India would never have been built up.¹⁴

[108]

III. Ambaṭṭha Sutta.

A Young Brahman Rudeness
and an Old One's Faith

THUS HAVE I HEARD:

The Blessed One, when once on a tour through the Kosala country
with a great company of the brethren,
with about five hundred brethren,
arrived at a Brahman village in Kosala named Icchānankala;
and while there he stayed in the Icchānankala Wood.

Now at that time the Brahman Pokkharasādi
was dwelling at Ukkaṭṭha,
a spot teeming with life,
with much grassland and woodland and corn,
on a royal domain,
granted him by King Pasenadi of Kosala as a royal gift,
with power over it as if he were the king¹⁵.

[2] Now the Brahman Pokkharasādi¹⁶ heard the news:

[109] "They say that the Samaṇa Gotama,
of the Sākya clan,
who went out from a Sākya family
to adopt the religious life,
has now arrived,
with a great company of the brethren of his Order,
at Icchānankala,
and is staying there
in the Icchānankala Wood.

Now regarding that venerable Gotama,
such is the high reputation
that has been noised abroad:

— 'That Blessed One is an Arahat,
a fully awakened one,
abounding in wisdom and goodness,
happy,
with knowledge of the worlds,
unsurpassed as a guide
to mortals willing to be led,
a teacher for gods and men,
a Blessed One,
a Buddha.

He, by himself,
thoroughly knows and sees,
as it were, face-to-face
this universe —
including the worlds above of the gods,
the Brahmas,
and the Māras,
and the world below
with its recluses and Brahman,
its princes and peoples —
and having known it,
he makes his knowledge known to others.

The truth,
lovely in its origin,
lovely in its progress,
lovely in its consummation,
doth he proclaim,
both in the spirit and in the letter,
the higher life doth he make known,
in all its fullness
and in all its purity.

And good is it
to pay visits to Arahats like that.'

■

[3] Now at that time
a young Brahman, an Ambaṭṭha,¹⁷
was a pupil under Pokkharasādi the Brahman.

And he was a repeater
(of the sacred words)
knowing the mystic verses by heart,
one who had mastered the Three Vedas,
with the indices, the ritual, the phonology,
and the exegesis (as a fourth),¹⁸
and the legends [110] as a fifth,
learned in the idioms and the grammar,
versed in Lokāyata sophistry,
and in the theory of the signs
on the body of a great man,¹⁹ —
so recognised an authority
in the system of the threefold Vedic knowledge
as expounded by his master,
that he could say of him:

"What I know that you know,
and what you know that I know."

[4] And Pokkharasādi told Ambaṭṭha the news, and said:

"Come now, dear Ambaṭṭha,
go to the Samaṇa Gotama,
and find out whether the reputation
so noised abroad regarding him
is in accord with the facts or not,
whether the Samaṇa Gotama
is such as they say or not."

[5] "But how, Sir, shall I know
whether that is so or not?"

'There have been handed down, Ambaṭṭha,
in our mystic verses
thirty-two bodily signs of a great man, —
signs which, if a man has,
he will become one of two things,
and no other.²⁰

If he dwells at home
he will become a sovran of the world,
a righteous king,
bearing rule even to the shores
of the four great oceans,
a conqueror,
the protector of his people,
possessor of the seven royal treasures.

And these are the seven treasures that he has —
the Wheel,
the Elephant,
the Horse,
the Gem,
the Woman,
the Treasurer,
and the [111] Adviser as a seventh.²¹

And he has more than a thousand sons,
heroes,
mighty in frame,
beating down the armies of the foe.

And he dwells in complete ascendancy
over the wide earth
from sea to sea,
ruling it in righteousness
without the need of baton
or of sword.

But if he go forth from the household life
into the houseless state,
then he will become a Buddha
who removes the veil
from the eyes of the world.

Now I, Ambaṭṭha, am a giver
of the mystic verses;
you have received them from me."

[6] "Very good, Sir,"
said Ambaṭṭha in reply;
and rising from his seat
and paying reverence to Pokkharasādi,
he mounted a chariot drawn by mares,
and proceeded,
with a retinue of young Brahman,
to the Icchānankala Wood.

And when he had gone on in the chariot
as far as the road was practicable for vehicles,
he got down,
and went on,
into the park,
on foot.

[7] Now at that time
a number of the brethren
were walking up and down
in the open air.

And Ambaṭṭha went up to them, and said:

"Where may the venerable Gotama be lodging now?

We have come hither to call upon him."

[8] Then the brethren thought:

"This young Brahman Ambaṭṭha
is of distinguished family,
and a pupil of the distinguished Brahman Pokkharasādi.

The Blessed One will not find it difficult
to hold conversation with such."

And they said to Ambaṭṭha:

"There, Ambaṭṭha, is his lodging,²²
where the door is shut,
go quietly up and enter the porch gently,
and give a cough,
and knock on the cross-bar.

The Blessed One will open the door for you."

[9] Then Ambaṭṭha did so.

And the Blessed One opened the door,
and Ambaṭṭha entered in.

And the other young Brahman also went in;
and they exchanged with the Blessed One
the greetings and [112] compliments of politeness and courtesy,
and took their seats.

But Ambaṭṭha,
walking about,
said something or other of a civil kind
in an off-hand way,
fidgeting about the while,
or standing up,
to the Blessed One sitting there.

[10] And the Blessed One said to him:

"Is that the way, Ambaṭṭha,
that you would hold converse
with aged teachers,
and teachers of your teachers
well stricken in years,
as you now do,
moving about the while
or standing,
with me thus seated?"

"Certainly not, Gotama.

It is proper to speak with a Brahman
as one goes along
only when the Brahman himself is walking,
and standing to a Brahman who stands,
and seated to a Brahman who has taken his seat,
or reclining to a Brahman who reclines.

But with shavelings,
sham friars,
menial black fellows,
the offscouring of our kinsman's heels²³ —
with them I would talk
as I now do to you!"

"But you must have been wanting something, Ambaṭṭha,
when you came here.

Turn your thoughts rather
to the object you had in view
when you came.

This young Brahman Ambaṭṭha
is ill bred,
though he prides himself on his culture;
what can this come from
except from want of training?"²⁴

[12] Then Ambaṭṭha was displeased
and angry with the Blessed One
at being called rude;
and at the thought
that the Blessed One was vexed with him,
he said,
scoffing, jeering, and sneering at the Blessed One:

"Rough is this Sākya breed of yours, Gotama,
and rude;
touchy is this Sākya breed of yours
and [113] violent.

Menials,
mere menials,²⁵
they neither venerate,
nor value,
nor esteem,
nor give gifts to,
nor pay honour to Brahman.

That, Gotama, is neither fitting,
nor is it seemly!"

Thus did the young Brahman Ambaṭṭha
for the first time
charge the Sākyas with being menials.

[13] "But in what then, Ambaṭṭha,
have the Sākyas given you offence?"

"Once, Gotama, I had to go to Kapilavatthu
on some business or other of Pokkharasādi's,
and went into the Sākyas' Congress Hall.²⁶

Now at that time
there were a number of Sākyas,
old and young,
seated in the hall on grand seats,
making merry and joking together,
nudging one another with their fingers;²⁷
and for a truth, methinks,
it was I myself that was the subject of their jokes;
and not one of them even offered me a seat.

That, Gotama, is neither fitting,
nor is it seemly,
that the Sākyas,
menials as they are,
mere menials,
should neither venerate,
nor value,
nor esteem,
nor give gifts to,
nor pay honour to Brahman."

Thus did the young Brahman Ambaṭṭha
for the second time
charge the Sākyas with being menials.

[114] [14] "Why a quail, Ambaṭṭha,
little hen bird though she be,
can say what she likes
in her own nest.

And there the Sākyas
are at their own home,
in Kapilavatthu.

It is not fitting for you to take offence
at so trifling a thing."

[15] "There are these four grades²⁸ Gotama, —
the nobles,
the Brahman,
the tradesfolk,
and the workpeople.

And of these four, three —
the nobles, the tradesfolk, and the work-people —
are, verily, but attendants on the Brahman.

So, Gotama, that is neither fitting,
nor is it seemly,
that the, Sākyas,
menials as they are,
mere menials,
should neither venerate,
nor value,
nor esteem,
nor give gifts to,
nor pay honour to the Brahman."

Thus did the young Brahman Ambaṭṭha
for the third time
charge the Sākyas with being menials.

[16] Then the Blessed One thought thus:

"This Ambaṭṭha is very set
on humbling the Sākyas
with his charge of servile origin.

What if I were to ask him
as to his own lineage."

And he said to him:

"And what family do you then, Ambaṭṭha, belong to?"

"I am a Kaṇhāyana."

"Yes, but if one were to follow up your ancient name and lineage, Ambaṭṭha,
on the father's and the mother's side,
it would appear that the Sākyas
were once your masters,
and that you are the offspring
of one of their slave girls.

But the Sākyas trace their line
back to Okkāka the king.²⁹

Long ago, Ambaṭṭha,
King Okkāka,
wanting to divert the succession
in favour of the son of his favourite queen,
banished his elder children —
Okkāmukha, Karaṇḍa Hatthinika, and Sinipura —
from the land.

And being thus banished
they took up their dwelling
on the slopes of the Himālaya,
on the borders of a lake
where a mighty oak tree grew.

[115] And through fear of injuring the purity of their line
they intermarried with their sisters.

Now Okkāka the king
asked the ministers at his court:

'Where, Sirs, are the children now?'³⁰

'There is a spot, Sire,
on the slopes of the Himālaya,
on the borders of a lake,
where there grows a mighty oak (sako).

There do they dwell.

And lest they should injure
the purity of their line
they have married their own (sakāhi) sisters.'

Then did Okkāka the king
burst forth in admiration:

'Hearts of oak (Sakkā)
are those young fellows!

Right well they hold their own (parama-sakkā)!'³¹

That is the reason, Ambaṭṭha,
why they are known as Sākyas.

Now Okkāka had a slave girl called Disā.

She gave birth to a black baby.

And no sooner was it born
than the little black thing said:

'Wash me, mother.

Bathe me, mother.

Set me free, mother, of this dirt.

So shall I be of use to you.'

Now just as now, Ambaṭṭha,
people call devils 'devils,'
so then they called devils 'black fellows' (kaṇhe).

And they said:

'This fellow spoke as soon as he was born.

'Tis a black thing (kaṇha) that is born,
a devil has been born!'

And that is the origin, Ambaṭṭha,
of the Kaṇhāyanas.³²

He was the ancestor of the Kaṇhāyanas.³³

And thus is it, Ambaṭṭha,
that if one were to follow up
your ancient name and lineage,
on the father's and on the mother's side,
it would appear that the Sākyas
were once your masters,
and that you are the offspring
of one of their slave girls."

[17] When he had thus spoken
the young Brahman said to the Blessed One:

"Let not the venerable [116] Gotama
humble Ambaṭṭha too sternly
with this reproach
of being descended from a slave girl.

He is well born, Gotama,
and of good family;
he is versed in the sacred hymns,
an able reciter,
a learned man.

And he is able to give answer
to the venerable Gotama in these matters."

[18] Then the Blessed One said to them:

"Quite so.

If you thought otherwise,
then it would be for you
to carry on our discussion further.

But as you think so,
let Ambaṭṭha himself speak."³⁴

[19] "We do think so;
and we will hold our peace.

Ambaṭṭha is able to give answer
to the venerable Gotama
in these matters."

[20] Then the Blessed One said to Ambaṭṭha the Brahman:

"Then this further question arises, Ambaṭṭha,
a very reasonable one
which, even though unwillingly,
you should answer.

If you do not give a clear reply,
or go off upon another issue,³⁵
or remain silent,
or go away,
then your head will split in pieces on the spot.³⁶

What have you heard,
when Brahman old and well stricken in years,
teachers of yours or their teachers,
were talking together,
as to whence the Kaṇhāyanas draw their origin,
and who the ancestor was
to whom they trace themselves back?"

And when he had thus spoken Ambaṭṭha remained silent.

And the Blessed One asked the same question again.

And still Ambaṭṭha remained silent.

Then the Blessed One said to him:

"You [117] had better answer, now, Ambaṭṭha.

This is no time for you to hold your peace.

For whosoever, Ambaṭṭha, does not,
even up to the third time of asking,
answer a reasonable question
put by a Tathāgata
(by one who has won the truth),
his head splits into pieces
'on the spot.'"

[21] Now at that time
the spirit who bears the thunderbolt³⁷
stood over above Ambaṭṭha in the sky
with a mighty mass of iron,
all fiery,
dazzling,
and aglow,
with the intention,
if he did not answer,
there and then to split his head in pieces.

And the Blessed One perceived
the spirit bearing the thunderbolt,
and so did Ambaṭṭha the Brahman.

And Ambaṭṭha on becoming aware of it,
terrified, startled, and agitated,
seeking safety and protection
and help from the Blessed One,
crouched down beside him in awe,³⁸
and said:

"What was it the Blessed One said?

Say it once again!"

"What do you think, Ambaṭṭha?

What have you heard,
when Brahman old and well stricken in years,
teachers of yours
or their teachers,
were talking together,
as to whence the Kaṇhāyanas draw their origin,
and who the ancestor was
to whom they trace themselves back?"

"Just so, Gotama, did I hear,
even as the venerable Gotama hath said.

That is the origin of the Kaṇhāyanas,
and that the ancestor
to whom they trace themselves back."

[22] And when he had thus spoken
the young Brahman fell into tumult,
and uproar,
and turmoil;
and said:

"Low born, they say,
is Ambaṭṭha the Brahman;
his family, they say,
is not of good standing;
they say he is descended from a slave girl;
and the Sākyas were his masters.

We did not suppose that the Samaṇa Gotama,
whose words are righteousness itself,
was not a man to be trusted!"

[23] And the Blessed One thought:

"They [118] go too far, these Brahman,
in their depreciation of Ambaṭṭha
as the offspring of a slave girl.

Let me set him free from their reproach."

And he said to them:

"Be not too severe in disparaging Ambaṭṭha the Brahman
on the ground of his descent.

That Kaṇha became a mighty seer.³⁹

He went into the Dekkan,
there he learnt mystic verses,
and returning to Okkāka the king,
he demanded his daughter
Maddarūpī in marriage.

To him the king in answer said:

'Who forsooth is this fellow, who —
son of my slave girl as he is —
asks for my daughter in marriage;'

and, angry and displeased,
he fitted an arrow to his bow.

But neither could he let the arrow fly,
nor could he take it off the string again.⁴⁰

Then the ministers and courtiers went to Kaṇha the seer,
and said

'Let the king go safe, Sir;
let the king go safe.'⁴¹

'The king shall suffer no harm.

But should he shoot the arrow downwards,
then would the earth dry up
as far as his realm extends.'⁴²

'Let the king, Sir, go safe,
and the country too.'

'The king shall suffer no harm,
nor his land.

But should he shoot the arrow upwards,
the god would not rain for seven years
as far as his realm extends.'

'Let the king, Sir, go safe, and the country too; and let the god rain.'

'The king shall suffer no harm,
nor the land either,
and the god shall rain.

But let the king aim the arrow at his eldest son.

The prince shall suffer no harm,
not a hair of him shall be touched.'

Then, O Brahmans, the ministers told this to Okkāka, [119] and said:

'Let the king aim at his eldest son⁴³.

He will suffer neither harm nor terror.'

And the king did so,
and no harm was done.

But the king,
terrified at the lesson given him,
gave the man his daughter
Maddarūpī to wife.

You should not, O Brahmans,
be too severe to disparage Ambaṭṭha
in the matter of his slave-girl ancestress.

That Kaṇha was a mighty seer."

[24] Then the Blessed One said to Ambaṭṭha:

"What think you, Ambaṭṭha?

Suppose a young Kshatriya
should have connection with a Brahman maiden,
and from their intercourse
a son should be born.

Now would the son
thus come to the Brahman maiden
through the Kshatriya youth
receive a seat and water
(as tokens of respect)
from the Brahmans?"

"Yes, he would, Gotama."

"But would the Brahman
allow him to partake of the feast offered to the dead,
or of the food boiled in milk,[⁴⁴]
or of the offerings to the gods,
or of food sent as a present?"

"Yes, they would, Gotama."

"But would the Brahman teach him their verses or not?"

"They would, Gotama."

"But would he be shut off, or not,
from their women?"

"He would not be shut off."

"But would the Kshatriyas allow him
to receive the consecration ceremony of a Kshatriya?"

"Certainly not, Gotama."

"Why not that?"

"Because he is not of pure descent on the mother's side."

[25] "Then what think you, Ambaṭṭha?

Suppose a Brahman youth
should have connection with a Kshatriya maiden,
and from their intercourse
a son should be born.

Now would the son
thus come to the Kshatriya maiden through the Brahman youth
receive [120] a seat and water
(as tokens of respect)
from the Brahmans?"

"Yes, he would, Gotama."

"But would the Brahman
allow him to partake of the feast offered to the dead,
or of food boiled in milk,
or of an offering to the gods,
or of food sent as a present?"

"Yes, they would, Gotama."

"But would the Brahman teach him their verses or not?"

"They would, Gotama."

"But would he be shut off, or not,
from their women?"

"He would not, Gotama."

"But would the Kshatriyas
allow him to receive the consecration ceremony of a Kshatriya?"

"Certainly not, Gotama."

"Why not that?"

"Because he is not of pure descent on the father's side."

[26] "Then, Ambaṭṭha, whether one compares
women with women,
or men with men,
the Kshatriyas are higher
and the Brahmans inferior.

And what think you, Ambaṭṭha?

Suppose the Brahman,
for some offence⁴⁵ or other,
were to outlaw a Brahman
by shaving him
and pouring ashes over his head,⁴⁶
were to banish him from the land
or from the township.

Would he be offered a seat or water
among the Brahmans?"

"Certainly not, Gotama."

"Or would the Brahman
allow him to partake of the food offered to the dead,
or of the food boiled in milk,
or of the offerings to the gods,
or of food sent as a present?"

"Certainly not, Gotama."

[121] "Or would the Brahmans teach him their verses or not?"

"Certainly not, Gotama."

"And would he be shut off, or not,
from their women?"

"He would be 'shut off."

[27] "But what think you, Ambaṭṭha?

If the Kshatriyas had
in the same way
outlawed a Kshatriya,
and banished him from the land
or the township,
would he, among the Brahmans,
be offered water and a seat?"

"Yes, he would, Gotama."

"And would he be allowed to partake
of the food offered to the dead,
or of the food boiled in milk,
or of the offerings to the gods,
or of food sent as a present?"

"He would, Gotama."

"And would the Brahman teach him their verses?"

"They would, Gotama?"

"And would he be shut off, or not,
from their women?"

"He would not, Gotama."

"But thereby, Ambaṭṭha,
the Kshatriya would have fallen
into the deepest degradation,
shaven as to his head,
cut dead with the ash-basket,
banished from land and township.

So that, even when a Kshatriya
has fallen into the deepest degradation,
still it holds good
that the Kshatriyas are higher,
and the Brahman inferior.

[28] Moreover it was one of the Brahmā gods,
Sanaṃ-kumāra,⁴⁷
who uttered this stanza:⁴⁸

[122] 'The Kshatriya is the best of those among
this folk who put their trust in lineage.
But he who is perfect in wisdom and righteousness,
he is the best among gods and men.'

Now this stanza, Ambaṭṭha,
was well sung
and not ill sung
by the Brahmā Sanaṃ-kumāra,
well said
and not ill said,
full of meaning
and not void thereof.

And I too approve it;
I also, Ambaṭṭha, say:

'The Kshatriya is the best of those among this folk
who put their trust in lineage.⁴⁹
But he who is perfect in wisdom and righteousness
he is the best among gods and men.'"

§

[123]

Morality (Sīla)⁵¹

[29] "But what, Gotama,
is the righteousness,
and what the wisdom
spoken of in that verse?"

"In the supreme perfection in wisdom and righteousness, Ambaṭṭha,
there is no reference to the question
either of birth,
or of lineage,
or of the pride which says:

'You are held as worthy as I,'
or
'You are not held as worthy as I.'

It is where the talk is of marrying,
or of giving in marriage,
that reference is made
to such things as that.

For whosoever, Ambaṭṭha,
are in bondage to the notions of birth or of lineage,
or to the pride of social position,
or of connection by marriage,
they are far
from the best wisdom and righteousness.

It is only by having got rid of all such bondage
that one can realize for himself
that supreme perfection in wisdom and in conduct."⁵⁰

[30] "But what, Gotama, is that conduct,
and what that wisdom?"

§

"Suppose, Ambaṭṭha, there appears in the world
one who has won the truth, an Arahat,
a fully awakened one,
abounding in wisdom and goodness, happy,
who knows all worlds,
unsurpassed as a guide
to mortals willing to be led,
a teacher for gods and men,
a Blessed One, a Buddha.

He, by himself, thoroughly knows and sees,
as it were, face-to-face this universe,
— including the worlds above of the gods,
the Brahmas, and the Māras,
and the world below with its recluses and Brahmans,
its princes and peoples, —
and having known it,
he makes his knowledge known to others.

The truth, lovely in its origin,
lovely in its progress,
lovely in its consummation,
doth he proclaim,
both in the spirit and in the letter,
the higher life doth he make known,
in all its fullness and in all its purity.

A householder or one of his children,
or a man of inferior birth in any class
listens to that truth;
and on hearing it he has faith in the Tathāgata
(the one who has found the truth);
and when he is possessed of that faith,
he considers thus within himself:

'Full of hindrances is household life,
a path for the dust of passion.

Free as the air is the life
of him who has renounced all worldly things.

How difficult is it for the man who dwells at home
to live the higher life in all its fullness,
in all its purity,
in all its bright perfection!

Let me then cut off my hair and beard,
let me clothe myself in the orange-coloured robes,
and let me go forth
from the household life
into the homeless state.'

Then, before long,
forsaking his portion of wealth,
be it great or small,
forsaking his circle of relatives,
be they many or be they few,
he cuts off his hair and beard,
he clothes himself in the orange-coloured robes,
and he goes forth from the household life
into the homeless state.

When he has thus become a recluse
he lives self-restrained
by that restraint
that should be binding on a recluse.

Uprightness is his delight,
and he sees danger
in the least of those things he should avoid.

He adopts, and trains himself in, the precepts.

He encompasses himself with good deeds in act and word.

Pure are his means of livelihood,
good is his conduct,
guarded the doors of his senses.

Mindful and self-possessed
he is altogether happy.

And how, Ambaṭṭha, is his conduct good?

In this, Ambaṭṭha, that the Bhikshu,
putting away the killing of living things,
holds aloof from the destruction of life.

The cudgel and the sword he has laid aside,
and ashamed of roughness,
and full of mercy,
he dwells compassionate and kind
to all creatures that have life.

This is reckoned in him as morality.

■

Putting away the taking of what has not been given,
the Bhikshu lives aloof
from grasping what is not his own.

He takes only what is given,
and expecting that gifts will come,
he passes his life in honesty
and purity of heart.

This is reckoned in him as morality.

■

Putting away unchastity,
the Bhikshu is chaste.

He holds himself aloof,
far off,
from the vulgar practice,
from the sexual act.

This is reckoned in him as morality.

■

Putting away lying words,
the Bhikshu holds himself aloof from falsehood.

He speaks truth,
from the truth he never swerves;
faithful and trustworthy,
he breaks not his word to the world.

This is reckoned in him as morality.

■

Putting away slander,
the Bhikshu holds himself aloof from calumny.

What he hears here
he repeats not elsewhere
to raise a quarrel against the people here;
what he hears elsewhere
he repeats not here
to raise a quarrel against the people there.

Thus does he live as a binder together
of those who are divided,
an encourager of those who are friends,
a peacemaker,
a lover of peace,
impassioned for peace,
a speaker of words that make for peace.

This is reckoned in him as morality.

■

Putting away rudeness of speech,
the Bhikshu holds himself aloof from harsh language.

Whatsoever word is blameless,
pleasant to the car,
lovely,
reaching to the heart,
pleasing to the people,
beloved of the people —
such are words he speaks.

This is reckoned in him as morality.

■

Putting away frivolous talk,
the Bhikshu holds himself aloof
from vain conversation.

In season he speaks,
in accordance with the facts,
words full of meaning,
on religion,
on the discipline of the Order.

He speaks,
and at the right time,
words worthy to be laid up in one's heart,
fitly illustrated,
clearly divided,
to the point.

The Bhikshu holds himself aloof
from causing injury to seeds or plants.

He takes but one meal a day,
not eating at night,
refraining from food after hours
(after midday).

He refrains from being a spectator
at shows at fairs,
with nautch dances,
singing, and music.

He abstains from wearing,
adorning,
or ornamenting himself
with garlands, scents, and unguents.

He abstains from the use
of large and lofty beds.

He abstains from accepting silver or gold.

He abstains from accepting uncooked grain.

He abstains from accepting raw meat.

He abstains from accepting women or girls.

He abstains from accepting bondmen or bondwomen.

He abstains from accepting sheep or goats.

He abstains from accepting fowls or swine.

He abstains from accepting elephants, cattle. horses, and mares.

He abstains from accepting cultivated fields or waste.

He abstains from acting as a go-between or messenger.

He abstains from buying and selling.

He abstains from cheating
with scales or bronzes or measures.

He abstains from the crooked ways
of bribery, cheating, and fraud.

He abstains from maiming,
murder,
putting in bonds,
highway robbery,
dacoity,
and violence.

This is reckoned in him as morality.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the injury of seedlings
and growing plants
whether propagated from roots
or cuttings
or joints
or buddings
or seeds
the Bhikshu holds aloof from such injury
to seedlings and growing plants.

This is reckoned in him as morality.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use
of things stored up;
stores, to wit,
of foods, drinks, clothing,
equipages, bedding, perfumes,
and curry-stuffs —
the Bhikshu holds aloof from such use
of things stored up.

This is reckoned in him as morality.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to visiting shows;
that is to say:

(1) Nautch dances (naccaṃ);

(2) Singing of songs (gītaṃ);

(3) Instrumental music (vāditaṃ);

(4) Shows at fairs (pekkhaṃ);

(5) Ballad recitations (akkhānaṃ);

(6) Hand music (pāṇissaraṃ);

(7) The chanting of bards (vetālaṃ);

(8) Tam - tam playing (kumbhathūnaṃ);

(9) Fairy scenes (Sobhanagarakaṃ);

(10) Acrobatic feats by Kaṇḍālas (Kaṇḍāla-vaṃsa-dhopanaṃ);

(11) Combats of elephants, horses, buffaloes,
bulls, goats, rams,
cocks, and quails;

(12) Bouts at quarter-staff, boxing, wrestling;

(13) Sham-fights.

(14) roll-calls.

(15) manoeuvres.

(16) reviews —

the Bhikshu holds aloof from visiting such shows.

This is reckoned in him as morality.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to games and recreations;
that is to say:

(1) Games on boards with eight,
or with ten,
rows of squares;

(2) The same games
played by imagining such boards in the air;

(3) Keeping going over diagrams drawn on the ground
so that one steps only where one ought to go;

(4) Either removing the pieces or men from a heap
with one's nail,
or putting them into a heap,
in each case without shaking it,
he who shakes the heap, loses;

(5) Throwing dice;

(6) Hitting a short stick with a long one;

(7) Dipping the hand with the fingers stretched out
in lac,
or red dye,
or flower-water,
and striking the wet hand
on the ground
or on a wall,
calling out
'What shell it be?'
and showing the form required —
elephants, horses, etc.;

(8) Games with balls;

(9) Blowing through toy pipes made of leaves;

(10) Ploughing with toy ploughs;

(11) Turning summersaults;

(12) Playing with toy windmills made of palm-leaves;

(13) Playing with toy measures made of palm-leaves;

(14, 15) Playing with toy carts or toy bows;

(16) Guessing at letters traced in the air, or on a. playfellow's back;

(17) Guessing the play fellow's thoughts;

(18) Mimicry of deformities;

The Bhikshu holds aloof from such games and recreations.

This is reckoned in him as morality.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use of high and large couches;
that is to say:

(1) Moveable settees,
high, and six feet long;

(2) Divans with animal figures carved on the supports (Pallanko);

(3) Goats' hair coverlets
with very long fleece (Gonako);

(4) Patchwork counterpanes of many colours (Cittakā);

(5) White blankets (Paṭikā);

(6) Woollen coverlets embroidered with flowers (Paṭalikā);

(7) Quilts stuffed with cotton wool (Tūlikā);

(8) Coverlets embroidered with figures of lions, tigers, etc. (Vikatikā);

(9) Rugs with fur on both sides (Uddalomī);

(10) Rugs with fur on one side (Ekantalomī);

(11) Coverlets embroidered with gems (Kaṭṭhissaṃ);

(12) Silk coverlets (Koseyyaṃ);

(13) Carpets large enough for sixteen dancers (Kuttakaṃ);

(14) Elephant rugs;

(15) horse rugs;

(16) chariot rugs;

(17) Rugs of antelope skins sewn together (Ajina-paveṇi);

(18) Rugs of skins of the plantain antelope;

(19) Carpets with awnings above them (Sauttara-cchadaṃ);

(20) Sofas with red pillows
for the head and feet.

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such things.

This is reckoned in him as morality.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use
of means for adorning
and beautifying themselves;
that is to say:

Rubbing in scented powders on one's body,
shampooing it,
and bathing it;

Patting the limbs with clubs
after the manner of wrestlers;

The use of mirrors, eye-ointments, garlands,
rouge, cosmetics, bracelets, necklaces, walking-sticks,
reed cases for drugs,
rapiers,
sunshades,
embroidered slippers,
turbans, diadems, whisks of the yak's tail,
and long-fringed white robes;

The Bhikshu holds aloof
from such means of adorning and beautifying the person.

This is reckoned in him as morality.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to such low conversation as these:

Tales of kings, of robbers, of ministers of state
tales of war, of terrors, of battles;
talk about foods and drinks, clothes, beds, garlands, perfumes;
talks about relationships, equipages, villages, town, cities, and countries;
tales about women, and about heroes;
gossip at street corners, or places whence water is fetched;
ghost stories;
desultory talk;
speculations about the creation of the land or sea,
or about existence and non-existence;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low conversation.

This is reckoned in him as morality.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use of wrangling phrases such as

'You don't understand this doctrine and discipline, I do.';

'How should you know about this doctrine and discipline?';

'You have fallen into wrong views. It is I who am in the right.';

'I am speaking to the point, you are not.';

'You are putting last
what ought to come first,
first what ought to come last.';

'What you've excogitated so long, that's all quite upset.';

'Your challenge has been taken up.';

'You are proved to be wrong.';

'Set to work to clear your views.';

'Disentangle yourself if you can.';

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such wrangling phrases.

This is reckoned in him as morality.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to taking messages,
going on errands,
and acting as go-betweens;
to wit,
on kings,
ministers of state,
Kshatriyas,
Brahmans,
or young men,
saying:

'Go there,
come hither,
take this with you,
bring that from thence';

the Bhikshu abstains from such servile duties.

This is reckoned in him as morality.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
are tricksters,
droners out (of holy words for pay),
diviners, and exorcists,
ever hungering to add gain to gain —
the Bhikshu holds aloof from such deception and patter.

This is reckoned in him as morality.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

(1) Palmistry —
prophesying long life, prosperity, etc.
from marks on child's hands, feet. etc.;

(2) Divining by means of omens and signs;

(3) Auguries drawn from thunderbolts
and other celestial portents;

(4) Prognostication by interpreting dreams;

(5) Fortune-telling from marks on the body;

(6) Auguries from the marks on cloth gnawed by mice;

(7) Sacrificing to Agni;

(8) Offering oblations from a spoon;

(9-13) Making offerings to gods
of husks,
of the red powder between the grain and the husk,
of husked grain ready for boiling,
of ghee,
and of oil;

(14) Sacrificing by spewing mustard seeds, etc.,
into the fire out of one's mouth;

(15) Drawing blood from one's right knee
as a sacrifice to the gods;

(16) Looking at the knuckles, etc., and,
after muttering a charm,
divining whether a man is well born
or lucky or not;

(17) Determining whether the site
for a proposed house or pleasance,
is lucky or not;

(18) Advising on customary law;

(19) Laying demons in a cemetery;

(20) Laying ghosts;

(21) Knowledge of the charms to be used
when lodging in an earth house;

(22) Snake charming;

(23) The poison craft;

(24) The scorpion craft;

(25) The mouse craft;

(26) The bird craft;

(27) The crow craft;

(28) Foretelling the number of years
that a man has yet to live.

(29) Giving charms to ward off arrows;

(30) The animal wheel;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This is reckoned in him as morality.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

Knowledge of the signs
of good and bad qualities
in the following things
and of the marks in them
denoting the health or luck of their owners: —
to wit,
gems,
staves,
garments,
swords,
arrows,
bows,
other weapons,
women,
men,
boys,
girls,
slaves,
slave-girls,
elephants,
horses,
buffaloes,
bulls,
oxen,
goats,
sheep,
fowls,
quails,
iguanas,
earrings,
tortoises,
and other animals;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This is reckoned in him as morality.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as soothsaying,
to the effect that:

'The chiefs will march out';

'The chiefs will march back';

'The home chiefs will attack,
and the enemies' retreat';

'The enemies' chiefs will attack,
and ours will retreat';

'The home chiefs will gain the victory,
and the foreign chiefs suffer defeat';

'The foreign chiefs will gain the victory,
and ours will suffer defeat';

'Thus will there be victory on this side,
defeat on that'

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This is reckoned in him as morality.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by such low arts as foretelling:

(1) 'There will be an eclipse of the moon';

(2) 'There will be en eclipse of the sun';

(3) 'There will be en eclipse of a star'
(Nakshatra);

(4) 'There will be aberration of the sun or the moon';

(5) 'The sun or the moon will return to its usual path';

(6) 'There will be aberrations of the stars';

(7) 'The stars will return to their usual course';

(8) 'There will be a fall of meteors';

(9) 'There will be a jungle fire';

(10) 'There will be an earthquake';

(11) 'The god will thunder';

(12-15) 'There will be rising and setting,
clearness and dimness,
of the sun or the moon or the stars',|| ||

or foretelling of each of these fifteen phenomena
that they will betoken such and such a result;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This is reckoned in him as morality.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

Foretelling an abundant rainfall;

Foretelling a deficient rainfall;

Foretelling a good harvest;

Foretelling scarcity of food;

Foretelling tranquillity;

Foretelling disturbances;

Foretelling a pestilence;

Foretelling a healthy season;

Counting on the fingers;

Counting without using the fingers;

Summing up large totals;

Composing ballads, poetising;

Casuistry, sophistry;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This is reckoned in him as morality.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as:

(1) Arranging a lucky day for marriages
in which the bride or bridegroom is brought home;

(2) Arranging a lucky day for marriages
in which the bride or bridegroom is sent forth;

(3) Fixing a lucky time for the conclusion of treaties of peace
[or using charms to procure harmony;

(4) Fixing a lucky time
for the outbreak of hostilities
[or using charms to make discord];

(5) Fixing-a lucky time
for the calling in of debts
[or charms for success in throwing dice];

(6) Fixing a lucky time
for the expenditure of money
[or charms to bring ill luck to an opponent throwing dice];

(7) Using charms to make people lucky;

(8) Using charms to make people unlucky;

(9) Using charms to procure abortion;

(10) Incantations to bring on dumbness;

(11) Incantations to keep a man's jaws fixed;

(12) Incantations to make a man throw up his hands;

(13) Incantations to bring on deafness;

(14) Obtaining oracular answers by means of the magic mirror;

(15) Obtaining oracular answers through a girl possessed;

(16) Obtaining oracular answers from a god;

(17) The worship of the Sun;

(18) The worship of the Great One;

(19) Bringing forth flames from one's mouth;

(20) Invoking Siri, the goddess of Luck —

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This is reckoned in him as morality.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

(1) Vowing gifts to a god if a certain benefit be granted;

(2) Paying such vows;

(3) Repeating charms while lodging in an earth house;

(4) Causing virility;

(5) Making a man impotent;

(6) Fixing on lucky sites for dwelling;

(7) Consecrating sites;

(8) Ceremonial rinsings of the month;

(9) Ceremonial bathings;

(10) Offering sacrifices;

(11-14) Administering emetics and purgatives;

(15) Purging people to relieve the head
(that is by giving drugs to make people sneeze);

(16) Oiling people's ears
(either to make them grow or to heal sores on them);

(17) Satisfying people's eyes
(soothing them by dropping medicinal oils into them);

(18) Administering drugs through the nose;

(19) Applying collyrium to the eyes;

(20) Giving medical ointment for the eyes;

(21) Practising as an oculist;

(22) Practising as a surgeon;

(23) Practising as a doctor for children;

(24) Administering roots and drugs;

(25) Administering medicines in rotation;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This is reckoned in him as morality.

■

And then that Bhikshu, Ambaṭṭha,
being thus master of the minor moralities,
sees no danger from any side,
that is, so far as concerns
his self-restraint in conduct.

Just, Ambaṭṭha, as a sovereign,
duly crowned,
whose enemies have been beaten down,
sees no danger from any side;
that is, so far as enemies are concerned,
so is the Bhikshu confident.

■

And endowed with this body of morals,
so worthy of honour,
he experiences, within himself,
a sense of ease without alloy.

Thus is it, Ambaṭṭha,
that the Bhikshu becomes righteous.

[124]

Conduct (Karaṇa)

And how, Ambaṭṭha,
is the Bhikshu guarded
as to the doors of his senses?

When, Ambaṭṭha, he sees an object with his eye
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of sight.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of sight,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This is reckoned to him as conduct.

■

When, Ambaṭṭha, he hears a sound with his ear
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of hearing.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of hearing,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This is reckoned to him as conduct.

■

When, Ambaṭṭha, he smells an odour with his nose
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of smell.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of smell,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This is reckoned to him as conduct.

■

When, Ambaṭṭha, he tastes a flavour with his tongue
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of taste.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of taste,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This is reckoned to him as conduct.

■

When, Ambaṭṭha, he feels a touch with his body
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of touch.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of touch,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This is reckoned to him as conduct.

■

When, Ambaṭṭha, he cognises a phenomenon with his mind
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his mental (representative) faculty.

He keeps watch upon his representative faculty,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This is reckoned to him as conduct.

■

And endowed with this self-restraint,
so worthy of honour,
as regards the senses,
he experiences, within himself, a sense of ease
into which no evil state can enter.

Thus is it, Ambaṭṭha,
that the Bhikshu becomes guarded
as to the doors of his senses.

This is reckoned to him as conduct.

■

And how, Ambaṭṭha, is the Bhikshu
mindful and self-possessed?

In this matter, Ambaṭṭha,
the Bhikshu
in going forth or in coming back
whether looking forward,
or in looking round;
in stretching forth his arm,
or in drawing it in again;
in eating or drinking,
in masticating or swallowing,
in obeying the calls of nature,
in going or standing or sitting,
in sleeping or waking,
in speaking or in being still,
he keeps himself aware
of all it really means.

Thus is it, Ambaṭṭha,
that the Bhikshu
becomes mindful and self-possessed.

This is reckoned to him as conduct.

■

And how, Ambaṭṭha, is the Bhikshu content?

'In this matter, Ambaṭṭha,
the Bhikshu is satisfied with sufficient robes
to cherish his body,
with sufficient food
to keep his stomach going.

Whithersoever he may go forth,
these he takes with him as he goes
- just as a bird with his wings, Ambaṭṭha,
whithersoever he may fly,
carries his wings with him as he flies.

Thus is it, Ambaṭṭha,
that the Bhikshu becomes content.

This is reckoned to him as conduct.

■

Then, master of this so excellent body of moral precepts,
gifted with this so excellent self-restraint as to the senses,
endowed with this so excellent mindfulness and self-possession,
filled with this so excellent content,
he chooses some lonely spot
to rest at on his way
— in the woods,
at the foot of a tree,
on a hill side,
in a mountain glen,
in a rocky cave,
in a charnel place,
or on a heap of straw in the open field.

And returning thither
after his round for alms
he seats himself, when his meal is done,
cross-legged,
keeping his body erect,
and his intelligence alert, intent.

Putting away the hankering after the world,
he remains with a heart that hankers not,
and purifies his mind of lusts.

Putting away the corruption
of the wish to injure,
he remains with a heart free from ill temper,
and purifies his mind of malevolence.

Putting away torpor of heart and mind,
keeping his ideas alight,
mindful and self-possessed,
he purifies his mind of weakness and of sloth.

Putting away flurry and worry,
he remains free from fretfulness,
and with heart serene within,
he purifies himself of irritability
and vexation of spirit.

Putting away wavering,
he remains as one passed beyond perplexity;
and no longer in suspense as to what is good,
he purifies his mind of doubt.

'Then just, Ambaṭṭha,
as when a man, after contracting a loan,
should set a business on foot,
and his business should succeed,
and he should not only be able
to pay off the old debt he had incurred,
but there should be a surplus over
to maintain a wife.

Then would he realize:

'I used to have to carry on my business
by getting into debt,
but it has gone so well with me
that I have paid off what I owed,
and have a surplus over
to maintain a wife.'

And he would be of good cheer at that,
would be glad of heart at that: —

Then just, Ambaṭṭha,
as if a man were a prey to disease,
in pain, and very ill,
and his food would not digest,
and there were no strength left in him;
and after a time
he were to recover from that disease,
and his food should digest,
and his strength come back to him;
then, when he realized his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

Then just, Ambaṭṭha,
as if a man were bound in a prison house,
and after a time
he should be set free from his bonds,
safe and sound,
and without any confiscation of his goods;
when he realized his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

Then just, Ambaṭṭha,
as if a man were a slave,
not his own master,
subject to another,
unable to go whither he would;
and after a time
he should be emancipated from that slavery,
become his own master,
not subject to others,
a free man,
free to go whither he would;
then, on realising his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

Then just, Ambaṭṭha,
as if a man, rich and prosperous,
were to find himself on a long road,
in a desert, where no food was,
but much danger;
and after a time
were to find himself out of the desert,
arrived safe,
on the borders of his village,
in security and peace;
then, on realising his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

Just so, Ambaṭṭha, the Bhikshu,
so long as these five hindrances
are not put away within him
looks upon himself as in debt,
diseased,
in prison,
in slavery,
lost on a desert road.

But when these five hindrances
have been put away within him,
he looks upon himself as freed from debt,
rid of disease,
out of jail,
a free man,
and secure.

And gladness springs up within him
on his realising that,
and joy arises to him thus gladdened,
and so rejoicing
all his frame becomes at ease,
and being thus at ease
he is filled with a sense of peace,
and in that peace his heart is stayed.

This is reckoned to him as conduct.

■

Higher Conduct⁵²

Then estranged from lusts,
aloof from evil dispositions,
he enters into and remains in the First Rapture
— a state of joy and ease born of detachment,
reasoning and investigation going on the while.

His very body does he so pervade,
drench,
permeate,
and suffuse
with the joy and ease born of detachment,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

Just, Ambaṭṭha, as a skilful bathman
or his apprentice
will scatter perfumed soap powder
in a metal basin,
and then besprinkling it with water,
drop by drop,
will so knead it together
that the ball of lather,
taking up the unctuous moisture,
is drenched with it,
pervaded by it,
permeated by it within and without,
and there is no leakage possible.

This, Ambaṭṭha, is reckond his higher conduct.

■

Then further, Ambaṭṭha,
the Bhikshu suppressing all reasoning and investigation
enters into and abides in the Second Jhāna,
a state of joy and ease,
born of the serenity of concentration,
when no reasoning or investigation goes on,
— a state of elevation of mind,
a tranquillisation of the heart within.

And his very body does he so pervade,
drench,
permeate,
and suffuse with the joy and ease born of concentration,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

Just, Ambaṭṭha,
as if there were a deep pool,
with water welling up into it
from a spring beneath,
and with no inlet from the east or west,
from the north or south,
and the god should not
from time to time
send down showers of rain upon it.
Still the current of cool waters
rising up from that spring
would pervade,
fill,
permeate,
and suffuse the pool
with cool waters,
and there would be no part or portion of the pool
unsuffused therewith.

This, Ambaṭṭha, is reckond his higher conduct.

■

Then further, Ambaṭṭha, the Bhikshu,
holding aloof from joy,
becomes equable;
and mindful and self-possessed
he experiences in his body
that ease which the Arahats talk of when they say:
'The man serene and self-possessed
is well at ease,'
and so he enters into
and abides in the Third Jhāna.

And his very body
does he so pervade,
drench,
permeate,
and suffuse with that ease
that has no joy with it,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

Just, Ambaṭṭha,
as when in a lotus tank
the several lotus flowers,
red or white or blue,
born in the water,
grown up in the water,
not rising up above the surface of the water,
drawing up nourishment from the depths of the water,
are so pervaded,
drenched,
permeated,
and suffused
from their very tips
down to their roots
with the cool moisture thereof,
that there is no spot in the whole plant,
whether of the red lotus,
or of the white,
or of the blue,
not suffused therewith.

This, Ambaṭṭha, is reckond his higher conduct.

■

Then further, Ambaṭṭha, the Bhikshu,
by the putting away alike of ease and of pain,
by the passing away alike of any elation,
any dejection,
he had previously felt,
enters into and abides in the Fourth Jhāna,
a state of pure self-possession and equanimity,
without pain and without ease.

And he sits there
so suffusing even his body
with that sense of purification,
of translucence of heart,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

Just, Ambaṭṭha,
as if a man were sitting
so wrapt from head to foot in a clean white robe,
that there were no spot in his whole frame
not in contact with the clean white robe
— just so, Ambaṭṭha, does the Bhikshu sit there,
so suffusing even his body
with that sense of purification,
of translucence of heart,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

This, Ambaṭṭha, is reckond his higher conduct.

■

Wisdom (Vijjā)

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he applies and bends down his mind
to that insight that comes from knowledge.

He grasps the fact:

'This body of mine has form,
it is built up of the four elements,
it springs from father and mother,
it is continually renewed
by so much boiled rice and juicy foods,
its very nature is impermanence,
it is subject to erasion,
abrasion,
dissolution,
and disintegration;
and therein is this consciousness of mine, too, bound up,
on that does it depend.'

Just, Ambaṭṭha,
as if there were a veluriya gem,
bright, of the purest water,
with eight facets,
excellently cut,
clear, translucent,
without a flaw,
excellent in every way.
And through it a string,
blue, or orange-coloured,
or red, or white, or yellow
should be threaded.
If a man, who had eyes to see,
were to take it into his hand,
he would clearly perceive
how the one is bound up with the other.

This is reckond in him as wisdom,
and it is higher and sweeter than the last.

■

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he applies and bends down his mind
to the calling up of a mental image.

He calls up from this body
another body,
having form,
made of mind,
having all (his own body's) limbs and parts,
not deprived of any organ.

Just, Ambaṭṭha,
as if a man were to pull out a reed from its sheath.

He would know:

'This is the reed,
this the sheath.

The reed is one thing,
the sheath another.

It is from the sheath
that the reed has been drawn forth."

And similarly were he to take a snake out of its slough,
or draw a sword from its scabbard.

This is reckond in him as wisdom,
and it is higher and sweeter than the last.

■

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he applies and bends down his mind
to the modes of the Wondrous Gift.

He enjoys the Wondrous Gift in its various modes
— being one he becomes many,
or having become many becomes one again;
he becomes visible or invisible;
he goes, feeling no obstruction,
to the further side of a wall or rampart or hill,
as if through air;
he penetrates up and down through solid ground,
as if through water;
he walks on water without breaking through,
as if on solid ground;
he travels cross-legged in the sky,
like the birds on wing;
even the Moon and the Sun,
so potent, so mighty though they be,
does he touch and feel with his hand;
he reaches in the body
even up to the heaven of Brahmā.

Just, Ambaṭṭha,
as a clever potter or his apprentice
could make,
could succeed in getting out of properly prepared clay
any shape of vessel he wanted to have
— or an ivory carver out of ivory,
or a goldsmith out of gold.

This is reckond in him as wisdom,
and it is higher and sweeter than the last.

■

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he applies and bends down his mind
to the Heavenly Ear.

With that clear Heavenly Ear
surpassing the ear of men
he hears sounds both human and celestial,
whether far or near.

Just, Ambaṭṭha,
as if a man were on the high road
and were to hear the sound of a kettledrum
or a tabor or the sound of chank horns and small drums
he would know:

'This is the sound of a kettledrum,
this is the sound of a tabor,
this of chank horns,
and of drums."

This is reckond in him as wisdom,
and it is higher and sweeter than the last.

■

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he directs and bends down his mind
to the knowledge which penetrates the heart.

Penetrating with his own heart
the hearts of other beings, of other men,
he knows them.

He discerns —

The passionate mind to be passionate,
and the calm mind calm;
the angry mind to be angry,
and the peaceful mind peaceful;
the dull mind to be dull,
and the alert mind alert;
the attentive mind to be attentive,
and the wandering mind wandering;
the broad mind to be broad,
and the narrow mind narrow;
the mean mind to be mean,
and the lofty mind lofty;
the stedfast mind to be stedfast,
and the wavering mind to be wavering;
the free mind to be free,
and the enslaved mind enslaved.

Just, Ambaṭṭha,
as a woman or a man or a lad,
young and smart,
on considering attentively
the image of his own face
in a bright and brilliant mirror
or in a vessel of clear water
would, if it had a mole on it,
know that it had,
and if not,
would know it had not.

This is reckond in him as wisdom,
and it is higher and sweeter than the last.

■

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he directs and bends down his mind
to the knowledge of the memory
of his previous temporary states.

He recalls to mind
his various temporary states in days gone by
— one birth,
or two or three or four or five births,
or ten or twenty or thirty or forty or fifty
or a hundred or a thousand
or a hundred thousand births,
through many an aeon of dissolution,
many an aeon of evolution,
many an aeon of both dissolution and evolution.

'In such a place such was my name,
such my family,
such my caste,
such my food,
such my experience of discomfort or of ease,
and such the limits of my life.

When I passed away from that state,
I took form again in such a place.
There I had such and such a name
and family
and caste
and food
and experience of discomfort or of ease,
such was the limit of my life.

When I passed away from that state
I took form again here.'

— thus does he call to mind
his temporary states in days gone by
in all their details,
and in all their modes.

Just, Ambaṭṭha,
as if a man were to go from his own to another village,
and from that one to another,
and from that one should return home.

Then he would know:

'From my own village I came to that other one.

There I stood in such and such a way,
sat thus, spake thus, and held my peace thus.

Thence I came to that other village;
and there I stood in such and such a way,
sat thus, spake thus, and held my peace thus.

And now, from that other village,
I have returned back again home."

This is reckond in him as wisdom,
and it is higher and sweeter than the last.

[125]

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he directs and bends down his mind
to the knowledge of the fall and rise of beings.

With the pure Heavenly Eye,
surpassing that of men,
he sees beings as they pass away
from one form of existence
and take shape in another;
he recognises the mean and the noble,
the well favoured and the ill favoured,
the happy and the wretched,
passing away according to their deeds:

'Such and such beings, my brethren,
evil-doers in act and word and thought,
revilers of the noble ones,
holding to wrong views,
acquiring for themselves that Karma
which results from wrong views,
they, on the dissolution of the body, after death,
are reborn in some unhappy state of suffering or woe.

But such and such beings, my brethren,
well-doers in act and word and thought,
not revilers of the noble ones,
holding to right views,
acquiring for themselves that Karma
that results from right views,
they, on the dissolution of the body, after death,
are reborn in some happy state in heaven.'

Thus with the pure Heavenly Eye,
surpassing that of men,
he sees beings as they pass away from one state of existence,
and take form in another;
he recognises the mean and the noble,
the well favoured and the ill favoured,
the happy and the wretched,
passing away according to their deeds.

Just, Ambaṭṭha,
as if there were a house with an upper terrace on it
in the midst of a place where four roads meet,
and a man standing thereon,
and with eyes to see,
should watch men entering a house,
and coming forth out of it,
and walking hither and thither along the street,
and seated in the square in the midst.

Then he would know:

'Those men are entering a house,
and those are leaving it,
and those are walking to and fro in the street,
and those are seated in the square in the midst.'

This is reckond in him as wisdom,
and it is higher and sweeter than the last.

■

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he directs and bends down his mind
to the knowledge of the destruction of the Deadly Floods.

He knows as it really is:

'This is pain.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the origin of pain.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the cessation of pain.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the Path that leads to the cessation of pain.'

He knows as they really are:

'These are the Deadly Floods.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the origin of the Deadly Floods.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the cessation of the Deadly Floods.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the Path that leads to the cessation of the Deadly Floods.'

To him, thus knowing, thus seeing,
the heart is set free
from the Deadly Taint of Lusts,
is set free from the Deadly Taint of Becomings
is set free from the Deadly Taint of Ignorance.

In him, thus set free,
there arises the knowledge of his emancipation,
and he knows:

'Rebirth has been destroyed.

The higher life has been fulfilled.

What had to be done has been accomplished.

After this present life
there will be no beyond!

Just, Ambaṭṭha,
as if in a mountain fastness
there were a pool of water,
clear, translucent, and serene;
and a man, standing on the bank,
and with eyes to see,
should perceive the oysters and the shells,
the gravel and the pebbles
and the shoals of fish
as they move about or lie within it.

He would know:

'This pool is clear, transparent, and serene,
and there within it
are the oysters and the shells,
and the sand and gravel,
and the shoals of fish are moving about or lying still."

This is reckond in him as wisdom,
and it is higher and sweeter than the last.

■

And there is no fruit of the life of a recluse,
visible in this world,
that is higher and sweeter than this."⁵³

'Such a man, Ambaṭṭha,
is said to be perfect in wisdom,
perfect in conduct,
perfect in wisdom and conduct.

And there is no other perfection
in wisdom and conduct
higher and sweeter than this.

§

[31] 'Now, Ambaṭṭha,
to this supreme perfection in wisdom and goodness
there are Four Leakages.⁵⁴
And what are the four?'

'In case, Ambaṭṭha,
any recluse or Brahman,
without having thoroughly attained
unto this supreme perfection in wisdom and conduct,
with his yoke on his shoulder
(to carry fire-sticks, a water-pot, needles, and the rest of a mendicant friar's outfit),
should plunge into the depths of the forest,
vowing to himself:

"I will henceforth be one of those
who live only on fruits that have fallen of themselves" —

then, verily, he turns out
worthy only to be a servant
unto him that hath attained
to wisdom and righteousness.

[126] 'And again, Ambaṭṭha,
in case any recluse or Brahman,
without having thoroughly attained
unto this supreme perfection in wisdom and conduct,
and without having attained
to living only on fruits fallen of themselves,
taking a hoe and a basket with him,
should plunge into the depths of the forest,
vowing to himself:

"I will henceforth be one of those
who live only on bulbs and roots and fruits" —

then, verily, he turns out
worthy only to be a servant
unto him who hath attained
to wisdom and righteousness.

'And again, Ambaṭṭha,
in case any recluse or Brahman,
without having thoroughly attained
unto this supreme perfection in wisdom and conduct,
and without having attained
to living only on fruits fallen of themselves,
and without having attained
to living only on bulbs and roots and fruits,
should build himself a fire-shrine
near the boundaries of some village
or some town,
and there dwell serving the fire-god⁵⁵ —
then, verily, he turns out
worthy only to be a servant
unto him that hath attained
to wisdom and righteousness.

'And again, Ambaṭṭha,
in case any recluse or Brahman,
without having thoroughly attained
unto this supreme perfection in wisdom and conduct,
and without having attained
to living only on fruits fallen of themselves,
and without having attained
to living only on bulbs and roots and fruits,
and without having attained
to serving the fire-god,
should build himself a four-doored almshouse
at a crossing where four high roads meet,
and dwell there,
saying to himself:

"Whosoever, whether recluse or Brahman,
shall pass here,
from either of these four directions,
him will I entertain
according to my ability
and according to my power" —

then, verily, he turns out
worthy only to be a servant
unto him who hath attained to wisdom and righteousness.

These are the Four Leakages, Ambaṭṭha,
to supreme perfection
in righteousness and conduct.⁵⁶

[34] 'Now what think you, Ambaṭṭha?

Have you,
as one of a class of pupils under the same teacher,
been instructed in this supreme perfection of wisdom and conduct?"⁵⁷

"Not that, Gotama.

How little is it that I can pro- [127] fess to have learnt!

How supreme this Perfection of wisdom and conduct!

Far is it from me to have been trained therein?"

"Then what think you, Ambaṭṭha?

Although you have not thoroughly attained
unto this supreme perfection of wisdom and goodness,
have you been trained
to take the yoke upon your shoulders,
and plunge into the depths of the forest
as one who would fain observe the vow
of living only on fruits fallen of themselves?"

"Not even that, Gotama."

"Then what think you, Ambaṭṭha?

Although you have not attained
unto this supreme perfection of wisdom and goodness,
nor have attained
to living on fruits fallen of themselves,
have you been trained
to take hoe and basket,
and plunge into the depths of the forest
as one who would fain observe the vow
of living only on bulbs and roots and fruits?"

"Not even that, Gotama."

"Then what think you, Ambaṭṭha?

Although you have not attained
unto this supreme perfection of wisdom and goodness,
and have not attained
to living on fruits fallen of themselves,
and have not attained
to living on bulbs and roots and fruits,
have you been taught
to build yourself a fire-shrine
on the borders of some village or some town,
and dwell there
as one who would fain serve the fire-god?"

"Not even that, Gotama."

"Then what think you, Ambaṭṭha?

Although you have not attained
unto this supreme perfection of wisdom and goodness,
and have not attained
to living on fruits fallen of themselves,
and have not attained
to living on bulbs and roots and fruits,
and have not attained
to serving the fire-god,
have you been taught
to build yourself a four-doored almshouse
at a spot where four high roads cross,
and dwell there
as one who would fain observe the vow
to entertain whosoever might pass that way,
from any of the four directions,
according to your ability
and according to your power?"

"Not even that, Gotama."

[128] [35] "So then you, Ambaṭṭha, as a pupil,
have fallen short⁵⁸ of due training,
not only in the supreme wisdom and conduct,
but even in any one of the Four Leakages
by which the complete attainment thereof is debarred.

And your teacher too,
the Brahman Pokkharasādi,
has told you this saying:

'Who are these shavelings,
sham friars,
menial black fellows,
the off-scouring of our kinsman's heels,
that they should claim converse
with Brahmans versed in the threefold Vedic lore!' —

he himself not having even fulfilled
any one even of these lesser duties
(which lead men to neglect the higher ones).

See, Ambaṭṭha, how deeply your teacher,
the Brahman Pokkharasādi,
has herein done you wrong.⁵⁹

[36] And the Brahman Pokkharasādi, Ambaṭṭha,
is in the enjoyment of a grant from Pasenadi,
the king of Kosala.

But the king does not allow him
to come into his presence.

When he consults with him
he speaks to him only from behind a curtain.

How is it, Ambaṭṭha, that the very king,
from whom he accepts this pure and lawful maintenance,
King Pasenadi of Kosala,
does not admit him to his presence?

See, Ambaṭṭha, how deeply your teacher,
the Brahman Pokkharasādi,
has herein done you wrong.

[37] Now what think you, Ambaṭṭha?

Suppose a king,
either seated on the neck of his elephant
or on the back of his horse,
or standing on the foot rug of his chariot,
should discuss some resolution of state
with his chiefs or princes.

And suppose as he left the spot
and stepped on one side,
a workman (Sūdra)
or the slave of a workman
should come up and, standing there,
should discuss [129] the matter, saying:

'Thus and thus said Pasenadi the king.'

Although he should speak as the king might have spoken,
or discuss as the king might have done,
would he thereby be the king,
or even as one of his officers?"

"Certainly not, Gotama."

[38] "But just so, Ambaṭṭha,
those ancient poets (Rishis) of the Brahmans,
the authors of the verses,
the utterers of the verses,
whose ancient form of words
so chanted, uttered, or composed,
the Brahmans of to-day chant over again and rehearse,
intoning or reciting
exactly as has been intoned or recited —
to wit, Aṭṭhaka, Vāmaka, Vāmadeva, Vessāmitta, Yamataggi, Angirasa, Bhāradvaja, Vāseṭṭha, Kassapa, and Bhagu⁶⁰ —
though you can say:

'I, as a pupil,
know by heart their verses,'

that you should on that account
be a Rishi,
or have attained to the state of a Rishi —
such a condition of things has no existence!

[39] Now what think you, Ambaṭṭha?

What have you heard
when Brahmans, old and well stricken in years,
teachers of yours
or their teachers,
were talking together —
did those ancient Rishis,
whose verses you so chant over and repeat,
parade about well groomed,
perfumed,
trimmed as to their hair and beard,
adorned with garlands and gems,
clad in white garments,
in the full possession and enjoyment
of the five pleasures of sense,
as you, and your teacher too, do now?"

"Not that, Gotama."

"Or did they live,
as their food,
on boiled rice of the best sorts,
from which all the black specks
had been sought out and removed,
and flavoured with sauces
and curries of various kinds,
as you, and your teacher too, do now?"

"Not that, Gotama."

"Or were they waited upon
by women with fringes [130] and furbelows,⁶¹
round their loins,
as you, and your teacher too, do now?"

"Not that, Gotama."

"Or did they go about driving chariots,
drawn by mares with plaited manes and tails,⁶²
using long wands and goads the while,
as you, and your teacher too, do now?'

"Not that, Gotama."

"Or did they have themselves guarded
in fortified towns,
with moats dug out round them⁶³
and crossbars let down before the gates,⁶⁴
by men girt with long swords,
as you, and your teacher too, do now?"

"Not that, Gotama."

[40] "So then, Ambaṭṭha,
neither are you a Rishi,
nor your teacher,
nor do you live under the conditions
under which the Rishis lived.

But whatever it may be, Ambaṭṭha,
concerning which you are in doubt or perplexity about me,
ask me as to that.

I will make it clear by explanation."

[41] Then the Blessed One went, forth from his chamber,
and began to walk up and down.

And Ambaṭṭha did the same.

And as he thus walked [131] up and down,
following the Blessed One,
he took stock of the thirty-two signs of a great man,
whether they appeared on the body of the Blessed One or not.

And he perceived them all save only two.

With respect to those two —
the concealed member
and the extent of tongue⁶⁵ —
he was in doubt and perplexity,
not satisfied,
not sure.

[42] And the Blessed One knew that he was so in doubt.

And he so arranged matters
by his Wondrous Gift
that Ambaṭṭha the Brahman saw
how that part of the Blessed One
that ought to be hidden by clothes
was enclosed in a sheath.

And the Blessed One so bent round his tongue
that he touched and stroked both his ears,
touched and stroked both his nostrils,
and the whole circumference of his forehead
he covered with his tongue.⁶⁶

[132] And Ambaṭṭha, the young Brahman, thought:

'The Samaṇa Gotama is endowed
with the thirty two signs of a great man,
with them all,
not only with some of them.'

And he said to the Blessed One:

"And now, Gotama, we would fain depart.

We are busy, and have much to do."

"Do, Ambaṭṭha, what seemeth to you fit."

And Ambaṭṭha mounted his chariot drawn by mares,
and departed thence.

[43] Now at that time
the Brahman Pokkharasādi had gone forth from Ukkaṭṭha
with a great retinue of Brahmans,
and was seated in his own pleasaunce
waiting there for Ambaṭṭha.

And Ambaṭṭha came on to the pleasaunce.

And when he had come in his chariot
as far as the path was practicable for chariots,
he descended from it,
and came on foot
to where Pokkharasādi was,
and saluted him,
and took his seat respectfully on one side.

And when he was so seated,
Pokkharasādi said to him:

[44] "Well, Ambaṭṭha!

Did you see the Blessed One?"

"Yes, Sir, we saw him."

"Well! is the venerable Gotama
so as the reputation about him I told you of declares;
and not otherwise?

Is he such a one, or is he not?"

"He is so, Sir, as his reputation declares,
and not otherwise.

Such is he, not different.

And he is endowed with the thirty-two signs of a great man,
with all of them,
not only with some."

"And did you have any talk, Ambaṭṭha,
with the Samaṇa Gotama?"

"Yes, Sir, I had."

"And how did the talk go?"

Then Ambaṭṭha told the Brahman Pokkharasādi
all the talk that he had had
with the Blessed One.

[45] When he had thus spoken,
Pokkharasādi said to him:

"Oh! you wiseacre!

Oh! you dullard!

Oh! you [133] expert, forsooth,
in our threefold Vedic lore!

A man, they say,
who should carry out his business thus,
must, on the dissolution of the body, after death,
be reborn into some dismal state
of misery and woe.

What could the very points you pressed
in your insolent words
lead up to,
if not to the very disclosures the venerable Gotama made?⁶⁷

What a wiseacre;
what a dullard;
what an expert, forsooth,
in our threefold Vedic lore."

And angry and displeased,
he struck out with his foot,
and rolled Ambaṭṭha over.

And he wanted, there and then, himself,
to go and call on the Blessed One.

[46] But the Brahman there spake thus to Pokkharasādi:

"It is much too late, Sir, to-day
to go to call on the Samaṇa Gotama.

The venerable Pokkharasādi can do so to-morrow."

So Pokkharasādi had sweet food,
both hard and soft,
made ready at his own house,
and taken on wagons,
by the light of blazing torches,
out to Ukkaṭṭha.

And he himself went on to the Icchānankala Wood,
driving in his chariot
as far as the road was practicable for vehicles,
and then going on, on foot,
to where the Blessed One was.

And when he had exchanged with the Blessed One
the greetings and compliments of politeness and courtesy,
he took his seat on one side,
and said to the Blessed One:

[47] "Has our pupil, Gotama,
the young Brahman Ambaṭṭha,
been here?"

"Yes, Brahman, he has."

"And did you, Gotama,
have any talk with him?"

"Yes, Brahman, I had."

"And on what wise was the talk that you had with him."

[48] Then the Blessed One told the Brahman Pokkharasādi all the talk that had taken place.

And when [134] he had thus spoken
Pokkharasādi said to the Blessed One:

"He is young and foolish, Gotama,
that young Brahman Ambaṭṭha.

Forgive him, Gotama."

"Let him be quite happy, Brahman,
that young Brahman Ambaṭṭha."

[49] And the Brahman Pokkharasādi took stock,
on the body of the Blessed One,
of the thirty-two marks of a Great Being.

And he saw them all plainly,
save only two.

As to two of them —
the sheath-concealed member
and the extensive tongue —
he was still in doubt and undecided.

But the Blessed One showed them to Pokkharasādi,
even as he had shown them to Ambaṭṭha.⁶⁸

And Pokkharasādi perceived
that the Blessed One was endowed with the thirty-two marks of a Great Being,
with all of them,
not only with some.

And he said to the Blessed One:

"May the venerable Gotama
grant me the favour of taking his to-morrow's meal with me,
and also the members of the Order with him.'

And the Blessed One accepted, by silence,
his request.

[50] Then the Brahman Pokkharasādi,
seeing that the Blessed One had accepted,
had (on the morrow) the time announced to him:

"It is time, oh Gotama,
the meal is ready."

And the Blessed One,
who had dressed in the early morning,
put on his outer robe,
and taking his bowl with him,
went, with the brethren,
to Pokkharasādi's house,
and sat down on the seat prepared for him.

And Pokkharasādi, the Brahman,
satisfied the Blessed One, with his own hand,
with sweet food,
both hard and soft,
until he refused any more,
and the young Brahmans
the members of the Order.

And when the Blessed One had finished his meal,
and cleansed the bowl and his⁶⁹ hands,
Pokkharasādi took a low seat,
and sat down beside him.

[51] Then to him thus seated
the Blessed One [135] discoursed in due order;
that is to say,
he spake to him of generosity,
of right conduct,
of heaven,
of the danger the vanity, and the defilement of lusts,
of the advantages of renunciation.

And when the Blessed, One saw that Pokkharasādi, the Brahman,
had become prepared,
softened,
unprejudiced,
upraised,
and believing in heart,
then he proclaimed the doctrine
the Buddhas alone have won;
that is to say,
the doctrine of sorrow,
of its origin,
of its cessation,
and of the Path.

And just as a clean cloth
from which all stain has been washed away
will readily take the dye,
just even so did Pokkharasādi, the Brahman, obtain,
even while sitting there,
the pure and spotless Eye for the Truth,
and he knew:

"Whatsoever has a beginning
in that is inherent also
the necessity of dissolution."

[52] And then the Brahman Pokkharasādi,
as one who had seen the Truth,
had mastered it,
understood it,
dived deep down into it,
who had passed beyond doubt
and put away perplexity
and gained full confidence,
who had become dependent on no other man
for his knowledge of the teaching of the Master,
addressed the Blessed One,
and said:

"Most excellent, oh Gotama
(are the words of thy mouth),
most excellent!

Just as if a man were to set up
that which has been thrown down,
or were to reveal
that which has been hidden away,
or were to point out the right road
to him who has gone astray,
or were to bring a light into the darkness
so that those who had eyes
could see external forms, -
just even so, Lord,
has the truth been made known to me,
in many a figure,
by the venerable Gotama.

And I, oh Gotama,
with my sons,
and my wife,
and my people,
and my companions,
betake myself to the venerable Gotama as my guide,
to the truth,
and to the Order.

May the venerable Gotama accept me as a disciple,
as one who, from this day forth,
as long as life endures,
has taken him as his guide.

And just as the venerable Gotama visits the families of others,
his disciples,
at Ukkaṭṭha,
so let him visit [136] mine.

Whosoever there may be there,
of Brahman or their wives,
who shall pay reverence to the venerable Gotama,
or stand up in his presence,
or offer him a seat
or water,
or take delight in him,
to him that will be,
for long,
a cause of weal and bliss."

"It is well, Brahman, what you say."

HERE ENDS THE AMBṬṬHA SUTTA

¹ Compare Petavatthu II, 6, 12.

² Assalāyana (No. 93 in the Majjhima); Aṇguttara II, 85 = P.P. IV, 19 ; Saṃyutta I, 93; Vinaya IV, 6-10, etc.

³ Sometimes explained as carpenters, sometimes as basket-makers, sometimes as makers of sunshades.

⁴ Further exemplified by the number of people described as kevañña-putto, assāroha-putto, naña-putto, sūda-putto, etc.

⁵ See also A. I, 145, 206; II, 67; III, 36, 132, 217; Vin. IV, 224; D. I, 5, 60, 72, 93, 141 (translated above); Jat. I, 226, 385; III, 343,437; Dhp. Cy. 238, etc.

⁶ See Fick, 'Sociale Gliederung im nordöstlichen Indien,' pp. 50, 51.

⁷ 'Vinaya Texts,' I, 230.

⁸ Translated by Fausböll, S.B.E., pp. 40-42

⁹ J.R.A.S., 1894, p. 396

¹⁰ Literally 'are the best colour' (vaṇṇa, with reference to the well-known classification into four vaṇṇas, neither of which was a caste, referred to above).

¹¹ This Madhura Sutta has now been edited and translated, with valuable introduction and notes, by Mr. Robert Chalmers, in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1894.

¹² The larger portion of this Sutta (from the beginning of the genesis part down to the election of the first king) is also preserved in the Mahāvastu. See Senart's edition, vol. i, pp. 338-348. The reading agninyaṃ (p. 340, 17, etc.) represents the Pāli aggaññaṃ

¹³ The words here are quoted in the Milinda, vol. I, p. 229 of my translation.

¹⁴ There is an admirable little book by M. Senart on the origin of caste, on the Brahman views about it, and on the present actual facts of caste in India, entitled 'Les Castes dans l'Inde.' Dr. Fick also in his 'Sociale Gliedrung im nord stlichen Indien zu Buddha's Zeit' has collected the evidence found in the Jātaka book, and analysed it with great skill. Similar monographs on the Piṭakas, and on the Epics, are much to be desired.

¹⁵So Buddhaghosa; but he gives no further details as to the terms of the grant, or of the tenancy. The whole string of adjectives recurs below, pp. 111, 114, 127, 131 of the text, and rāja-bhoggaṃ at Vin. III, 222. Compare Divyāvadāna, p. 620.

The land revenue payable, of course in kind, would be a tithe. If the king had full proprietary (zemindary) rights as well, which is the probable meaning of rāja-bhoggaṃ, his share would be, either with or without the land tax, one half. The grant would be of his own rights only. The rights of the peasants to the other half, and the use of the common and waste and woods, would remain to them. If Buddhaghosa's interpretation of brahmadeyyaṃ is correct, then the grantee would also be the king's representative for all purposes judicial and executive. Elsewhere the word has only been found as applied to marriage; and the first part of the compound (brahma) has always been interpreted by Brahmans as referring to themselves. But brahma as the first part of a compound never has that meaning in Pāli; and the word in our passage means literally 'a full gift.'

¹⁶His full name was Pokkharasādi Opamañño SuBhagavaniko (M. II, 200); where the second is the gotta (gens) name and the third a local name. See the introduction to the Mahāli Sutta.

¹⁷ According to Jāt. IV, 363 (compare Jāt. IV, 366) there were also Ambaṭṭhas who were not Brahmans by birth but farmers.

¹⁸ The fourth is not expressly mentioned. Buddhaghosa (p. 247) say we have to supply the fourth Veda, the Atharva. But the older Pāli texts do not accept the Atharva as a Veda. It only occurs as the Athabbaṇa Veda, in the Aṭṭhakathās and Ṭīkās. And it is quite unnecessary to suppose a silent reference to it here. The fourth place is quite sufficiently filled as suggested in the translation. The āthabbaṇa, given (in S.N. 927) as the name of a mystic art (together with astrology, the interpretation of dreams and of lucky signs, and so forth), is probably not the Veda, but witchcraft or sorcery. The Piṭakas always take three Vedas, and three only, for granted. And the whole point of the Tevijja Sutta (translated in full in my 'Buddhist Suttas') is this three-, not four-, fold division. Four Vedas are referred to in the Milinda, at p. 3, and the Atharva-veda, at p. 117.

¹⁹ This is the standing description of the Suttas of a learned Brahman. See below, pp. 114, 120 (of the text); A. I, 163; Mil. 10; Divyāvadāna 620, etc. One or two of the details are not quite certain, as yet.

²⁰ The knowledge of these thirty-two marks of a Great Being (Mahā-purusha) is one of the details in the often-recurring paragraph giving the points of Brahman wisdom, which we have just had a, § 3. No such list has been found, so far as I know, in those portions of the pre-Buddhistic priestly literature that have survived. And the inference from both our passages is that the knowledge is scattered through the Brahman texts. Many of the details of the Buddhist list (see the note below on p. 106 of the text) are very obscure; and a collection of the older Brahman passages would probably throw light upon them, and upon a curious chapter in mythological superstition. Who will write us a monograph (historical of course) on the Mahā-purusha theory as held in early times among the Aryans in India?

²¹ For the details of these seven see further my 'Buddhist Suttas,' PP. 251-259.

²² Vihāra; often rendered 'monastery,' a meaning the word never has in the older texts.

²³ Bandhupādāpakkā. Neumann, l loc. cit. p. 521, says 'treading on one another's heels.' Buddhaghosa refers the expression to the Brahman theory that the Sūdras were born from Brahmā's heels. And this may well have been the meaning. For though Gotama and the majority of his order were well born, still others, of low caste, were admitted to it, and Ambaṭṭha is certainly represented as giving vent to caste prejudice when he calls the brethren 'black fellows.' Compare M. I, 334; S. IV, 117, and below, D. I, 103.

²⁴ And is therefore, after all, not so much his fault as that of his teacher. That this is the implication is clear from the text, pp. 90, 91 (§§ 10-13) below.

²⁵ Ibbhā. Chalmers (J.R.A.S., 1894, p. 343) renders this 'ought but men of substance,' and he has been followed by Frazer, 'Literature of India,' p. 118. But Buddhaghosa's interpretation is confirmed both by the context and by the derivation.

²⁶ Santhāgāra. Childers is quite wrong about this word. It is the hall where a clan mote was held, and is used exclusively of places for the assemblies of the householders in the free republics of Northern Kosala. It never means a royal rest house, which is rājāgāraka, as we had above (p. 1, § 2 of the Pāli text). Thus at M. I, 353-4 and Jāt. IV, 147 we have this identical hall of the Sākyas at Kapilavatthu, and at M. I, 457 a similar one of the Sākyas at Cātumāya; at M.P.V., 56 (VI, 23 of the translation) in my 'Buddhist Suttas' we have the congress hall of the Mullas of Kusinārā, and at M. 1, 228 and Vin. I, 233 that of the Licchavis of Vesālī — all of them called Santhāgāra, and all referred to in connection with a public meeting of the clan.

²⁷ Anguli-patodakena. The Introductory Story to the 52nd Pācittiya (Vin. IV, 110 = III, 84) tells how a Bhikshu was inadvertently done to death by being made to laugh immoderately in this way. It must there mean 'tickling.' Here, and at A. IV, 343, it seems to have the meaning given above.

²⁸ Vaṇṇā

²⁹ On this famous old king see the legends preserved in the M.B.V, 13; Mahāvastu I, 348; Jāt. II, 311; Sum. I, 258.

³⁰ Sammanti, 'dwell,' not in Childers in this sense. But see S. I, 226 = Sum. I, 125 and Jāt. V, 396.

³¹ The oak (which doesn't grow in the text, and could not grow in the Terai) has been introduced to enable the word play to be adequately rendered. The Pāli Saka means a herb.

³² Kaṇhāyana is the regular form of patronymic from Kaṇha.

³³ Buddhaghosa gives further details as to his subsequent life.

³⁴ Buddhaghosa (p. 263) says that Gotama's object was to confine the discussion to a single opponent, since if all spoke at once, it could not well be brought to a conclusion. In the text Gotama repeats the whole speech of the Brahmans.

³⁵ Aññena aññaṃ paṭikarasi. For this idiom, not in Childers, see M. 1, 250; Vin. I, 85; A. I, 187, 198; Mil. 94; Sum. I, 264. It is answering one thing by alleging another.

³⁶ This curious threat — which never comes to anything, among the Buddhists, and is apparently never meant to — is a frequent form of expression in Indian books, and is pre-Buddhistic. Comp. Brihad ār. Up. III, 6. 2 and 9. 26. Buddhist passages are M. I, 231; Dhp. 72 Dhp.A. 87, 140; Jāt. I, 54; V, 21, 33, 87, 92, 493, etc.

³⁷ Vajira-pāṇī: to wit, Indra, says Buddhaghosa.

³⁸ Upanisīdati; whence Upanishad, a mystery, secret, listened to in awe.

³⁹ Rishi, mystic sage, magician being no doubt implied, as in B.V. II, 81 = Jāt. I, 17 (verse 90). Compare Merlin.

⁴⁰ The effect of course of the charm which, Buddhaghosa tells us (p.265), was known as the Ambaṭṭha charm.

⁴¹ Sotthi hotu. This is the old mystic word swasti. We have lost the use of such expressions Fausium fac regem.

⁴² All this, says Buddhaghosa, was brutum fulmen. The Ambaṭṭha charm had only power to stop the arrow going off; not to work such results as these.

⁴³ Literally 'place the arrow (which had a barb shaped like a horseshoe) on his son.'

⁴⁴ Thālipāka. See Jāt. I, 186; Mil. 249. It is used in sacrifices and also on special occasions.

⁴⁵ Pakarane. Perhaps 'in consequence of some regulation or other.' Buddhaghosa (p. 267) says 'offence,' but compare Mil. 189.

⁴⁶ Assa-puṭena vadhitvā, literally 'killing him with (the proceeding called) the Ash-basket.' Compare the idiom 'cut him dead.' It is also mentioned at A. II, 242.

⁴⁷ Sanaṃ-kumāra means 'ever virgin.' According to the legend common ground to Brahmans and Buddhists — there were five 'mind born' sons of Brahma, who remained always pure and innocent, and this Brahmā was one of the five. See the passages quoted by Chalmers in the J.R.A.S., 1894, P. 344.

Hofrath Bühler has pointed out that in the Mahābhārata III, 185 (Bombay edition) there is an interesting passage where Sanat-kumāra (the Sanskrit form of the name Sanaṃ-kumāra) is actually represented by the Brahmans themselves as having uttered, as referee in a dispute on a point similar to the one here discussed, not indeed the actual words here imputed to him, but others of a very similar import. See the whole article in the J.R.A.S., 1897, pp. 585-588. We either have in our text a quotation from an older recession of the same legend, or one of the two — either the Brahman editors of the Mahābhārata, or the composers of our Sutta — have twisted the legend a little in their own favour.

⁴⁸ The verse is a favourite one. It occurs also at M. I, 358; S. I, 153; II, 284; and below in the Aggañña Sutta.

⁴⁹ Gotta-patisārino. Either 'tracing back their gotras' or 'referring back to their gotras' according as we derive the word with Childers from (root) sar, or with Bühler from (root) smar. It occurs also in the description (Mahā Sudassana Sutta) of the ideal woman as kiṃkāra-paṭisārinī. Bühler, loc. cit., renders it 'record their gotras.'

The next line might also be rendered 'when perfect,' etc., referring to the Kshatriya.

⁵⁰ 'This question of caste, besides being often referred to in isolated passages, is described at length also in the Assalāyana, Kaṇṇakathāla, and Madhura Suttas, all in the Majjhima. The first has been translated into German by Professor Pischel and the last into English by Mr. Chalmers, J.R.A.S., 1894, p. 341 and foll. On the facts of caste as disclosed in the Jātaka book see Fick's 'Sociale Gliederung in Indien zu Buddha's Zeit,' Kiel, 1897 ; and on the general history of caste in India see Senart's 'Les Castes dans l'Inde,' Paris, 1896.

⁵¹ Buddhaghosa, p. 268, seems to have had a different reading idam p'assa, hoti sīlasmiṃ — from that preserved in our text. It comes to much the same result, but is better, as omitting the word bhikkhu.

⁵² It is important to notice that these are put, not under wisdom, but under conduct.

⁵³ There are therefore eight divisions of conduct, and eight of the higher wisdom.

⁵⁴ Apāya-mukhāni, outlets, leakages, so that it cannot fill up.' The word aya-mukhaṃ, inlet, is used in its concrete sense at D. I, 74, and both words at A. II, 166; and 'outlet' occurs figuratively, in a secondary sense, as in this passage, in the Sigālovāda Sutta, p. 299.

⁵⁵ For instances of this see Jāt I, 285, 494; II, 43. Such service paid to a god has already been condemned in the tract on the Sīlas, the minor details of mere morality (above, pp. 24, 25).

⁵⁶ Buddhaghosa here (p. 270) says that all sorts of Brahman ascetics are here intended to be included, and he gives further details of eight different sorts (discussed in the Journal of the P.T.S. for 1891, pp; 34 foll.).

⁵⁷ Sandissasi sācariyako. Compare M.P.S. 6, 7, 8, 9, 24, 25.'

⁵⁸ Parihīnako sācariyako. 'Have been done out of, neglected in the matter of, defrauded of, this wisdom,' etc.

⁵⁹ By concealing this suggestive fact, and thereby leaving you ignorant that the king, a Kshatriya, looked down on a Brahman, even one whom he considered, as a Brahman, of great merit. So at Jāt. V, 257 a king calls a Brahman 'low born' (hīna-gacco) compared with himself.

⁶⁰ On these names see Tevijja Sutta I, 13 (p. 172 of my 'Buddhist Stuttas') and Vinaya Texts,' II, 130.

⁶¹ Veṭhaka-nata-passāhi. We have here probably the ancient name of the very elaborate girdles which all the fashionable women and goddesses wear on the old bas reliefs. Cunningham, 'Stūpa of Bharhut,' Pl. LI, gives figures and details of them. To judge from the bas reliefs — and I cannot call to mind any Piṭaka passage contradicting them — the women (lay women of course, the Sisterhood wore robes from the shoulders downwards) have only very elaborate headdresses and necklaces, a skirt from the waist to the ankles, and a very broad and handsome girdle worn over the top of the skirt. They were unclothed from the neck to the waist.

⁶² Kutta-vālehi. The chariot of the time, as represented on the bas reliefs, had standing room for four passengers, the steeds wore plumes on their heads, and had their manes and tails elaborately plaited. 'Stūpa of Bharhut,' Pl. XII, shows us the chariot of Pasenadi, king of Kosala (see ibid. pp. 124, 125). Kutta is not in Childers. But it occurs frequently. See Jāt I, 296, 433; II, 127, 128; IV, 219; Asl. 321.

⁶³ Compare Jāt IV, 106; Mil. 330.

⁶⁴ Okkhitta-palighāsu. Childers says (following the Sanskrit dictionaries) bars 'of iron.' But where does the iron come in? This is surely a modern improvement. Unfortunately the word is found elsewhere (M. I, 139; A. III, 84; Dhp. 398) only in an ethical sense.

⁶⁵ Neither text nor commentary make it clear what these two marks really quite meant. The first, says Buddhaghosa, is 'like an elephant's,' and the second seems, from what follows, to be the power of extending the tongue, like a snake's, to a great length. This last is possibly derived from poetical descriptions of the tongues of flame or light playing round the disk of the sun.

As to the means by which the Buddha made the first visible to Ambaṭṭha, Buddhaghosa simply quotes Nāgasena (at Mil. 169) to show that he made a visible image of himself fully dressed in his robes. And the difficulty is to see how that would have helped matters. Only an historical explanation of the meaning of the marks can here guide us to what is inferred.

⁶⁶ These are two of the thirty-two bodily marks of a Great Being (Mahā-purisa), as handed down among the Brahmans (see note above, p. 88 of the text, § 5) and adopted by the Buddhists. They are in part adaptations to a man of poetical epithets applied to the sun, or to the personification of the mystic human sacrifice; partly characteristics of personal beauty such as any man might have; and one or two of them — the little wart, for instance, between the eyes with white hair on it, and the protuberance at the top of the head - may possibly be added in reminiscence of personal bodily peculiarities which Gotama actually had.

One of the Dialogues in the Dīgha, the Lakhaṇa Sutta, is devoted to these thirty-two marks. They are also enumerated, with slight differences, in the Mahāpadhāna Sutta; and later books give other lists differing from each other, and from the old lists, in many small points.

The story told here in §§ 11, 12 recurs in identical words in the Sela Sutta (S.N. No. 33 = M. No. 92) and forms the subject of one of the dilemmas put by King Milinda to Nāgasena (Mil. 167).

⁶⁷ āsagga āsagga ... upanīyya upanīyya. Buddhaghosa is somewhat ambiguous in his interpretation of this idiomatic phrase, on which compare M. I, 250, 251; A. I, 172

⁶⁸ Above, p. 106 of the text, § I 2 repeated.

⁶⁹ Onīta-patta-pāṇiṃ. See the note at Vinaya Texts,' I, 83.

Appendix

Names in
Āṭānāṭiya Suttantaṁ

[Note.—In the list of names, p. 195, § 10, those who in the Canon are elsewhere met with as specifically Yakkhas, or as Gandhabbas only are marked *. Those who are also met with as Vedic gods are marked †.]

† Inda, Dial. I, 310, cf. II, 299, called Indra, II, 308 (in Saṃyutta I, 206, Petavatthu II, 9, 65, 66, we meet with an Inda-ka Yakkha).

† Soma, Dial. I, 310; II, 290.

† Varuua, Dial. I, 310; II, 290; S. I, 219.

Bhāradvāja (?); in Dial. I, 304 an ancient brahmin Rishi. Cf. Vin. Texts II, 130. *

† Pajāpati, Dial. I, 310; II, 308; S. I, 219.

Candana, Dial. II, 288; M. Ill, 199; S. I, 53; IV, 280.

* Kāmaseṭṭha, Dial. II, 288 (misprinted in Dial. II, 288 as Rāmaº).

* Kinnughaṇḍu, Dial. II, 288.

* Nighaṇḍu, Dial. II, 288.

Panāda, Dial. II, 288, cf. above, p. 76; Psalms of the Brethren, 130; other references ibid., n. 1.

Opamañña, Dial. II, 288.

Devasūta.

Mātali, Dial. II, 288; S. I, 221 f.; Jāt. I, 202; V, 383, 397.

* Cittasena, Dial. II, 288.

* Naḷa, Dial. II, 288.

* Suro Rājā (? Suro and Rājā).

* Janesabha, Dial. II, 288.

* Sātāgira, Sn., ver. 153 f.

* Hemavata, Sn.. ver. 154 f.

* Puṇṇaka, Jāt. VI, 255 f.

Karatiya.

Gula.

* Sīvaka, S. I, 211; Vin. Texts III, 181 f.

Mucalinda, in Vin. Texts I, 80 a nāga king.

Vessāmitta, Dial. II, 287; in I, 304 an ancient brahmin Rishi.

Yugandhara.

Gopāla.

Suppagedha.

Hirī.

Nettī.

Mandiya.

Pañcālacaṇḍa in Jāt. V, 430, 437, brahmin, in ibid. VI, 433, a prince.

* Āḷavaka, S. I, 213 ; Sn. I, 10.

† Pajunna, S. I, 29 f.; Jāt. I, 331; IV, 253.

Sumana.

Sumukha.

Dadhimukha.

Maṇi.

Mānicara.

Dīgha, M. I, 210.

Serissaka, Vim. 84, 21.

4. Characteristics of the True Brahman

Soṇadaṇḍa Suttantaṃ

[137]

Introduction

This Dialogue comes very appropriately immediately after the Brahman. That dealt with the general question of pride of birth, or social position. This deals with the special question of what is the essential quality which makes a man a Brahman. The conclusion is, no doubt, substantially the same. But there is a difference, and the difference is instructive.

In trying to gain over Brahman to his (the Buddha's) view of the essential distinction — rather than birth or social position — between man and man, Gotama includes the whole list as set out above in the thirteen divisions of the Sāmaññaphala¹. In trying to gain over Soṇadaṇḍa to his (the Buddha's) view of what is the essential quality that makes a man a Brahman, he gives the same details, but puts the Jhānas (the states of Ecstasy) not under Conduct, but under Paññā (intelligence).

The reason seems to be simply that the verse, on which the exposition in the Brahman turns, mentions only Wisdom and Conduct (containing no word for Intelligence), and that it is not thought accurate to put the states of Ecstasy (which are Indian, not specially Buddhist) under Wisdom. It is true that the Buddhist position is that 'goodness is a function of intelligence, as beauty is of health' (to quote the words of Matthew Bassendine). But under Intelligence they always distinguish two phases — the enquiring, and necessarily therefore doubting, activity, of the mind; and the final stage of emancipation and peace when the laws of the universe are clearly seen, and firmly grasped, and cheerfully acquiesced in.

[138] It is this latter phase which they call Wisdom (Vijjā)² - the contrary of the Avijjā, which is ignorance of the action of Karma, of the Four Noble Truths, and of the doctrine of the āsavas or Intoxications. The man who knows these; who, finally and permanently out of the jungle and in the open, quite beyond the stage of 'wasting his wonder on the fabulous soul,' has attained to, and remains in this state of Nirvāṇa in Arahatship, is not only, in Buddhist terminology, called a Brahman, but is, in fact, declared to be the only true Brahman.

It is amazing that Soṇadaṇḍa, as learned as he is wealthy, does not see that this, the logical outcome of the Buddha's argument, and carefully led upto in the final paragraph of the exposition,³ is really incompatible with the supremacy of the Brahmans in the ordinary sense of that word. He is baffled by the skill with which he is gradually led on, by the usual Socratic method adopted in so many of the Dialogues, to accept one self-evident truth after another. There is indeed nothing, till we come to that last paragraph, which any intelligent Brahman could not, with safety, and with due regard to his own doctrine, fully accept. In other words, the doctrine of Brahman supremacy was intellectually indefensible. It was really quite inconsistent with the ethical standard of the times, which the Brahmans, in common with the rest of the people, fully accepted.

Our Sutta is by no means the only one in which the same, or a similar, argument leads up to the same, or a similar, conclusion. It will aid us in understanding the real gist of our Sutta to mention one or two of these.

In the Tikaṇṇa and Jāṇussoṇi Suttas of the Aṇguttara⁴ the question put by the Buddha is: 'What sort of person do you Brahmans acknowledge to be a Ṭevijja Brahman (a Brahman with threefold lore)?'

The answer of each of the Brahmans is, in the words of our Sutta, § 4: 'A Brahman well born on both sides, of pure descent, through the father and through the mother, back through seven generations, with no slur put upon him, and no reproach, in respect of birth — a repeater (of the sacred words) knowing the mystic verses by heart, one who has mastered the Three Vedas, with the indices, the ritual, the phonology, and the exegesis (as a fourth), and with the [139] legends as a fifth — a man learned in the (etymologies of the) words and in the grammar, versed in Lokāyata (Nature-lore)⁵ and in the theory of the signs on the body of a great man.'

Whereupon the Buddha rejoins that in the teaching of the Arahats the 'threefold lore' is different; and on being asked what it is, answers in the words of sections 93, 95, and 97 of the Sāmañña-phala Sutta, which are quoted as the last three paragraphs of his exposition in our Sutta, that is to say,

a. The knowledge of one's own previous births.
b. The knowledge of other people's previous births.
c. The knowledge of the Four Truths, and of the Four Intoxications (āsavas), leading on to the emancipation of Arahatship.

The only difference is that at the end of each section, and after the words setting forth the emancipation, the following sentence is added:

'This first (or second, or third) lore hath he required. Ignorance is dispelled within him, and wisdom has been born. The darkness has been dissipated, the light has appeared. (And all this) inasmuch as he has continued in earnestness, in zeal, in mastery of himself.'

And at the end of the whole the following verses are also added:

'Him do they honour whose heart, — unswerving in goodness, and wise,
Given to earnest thought, — rests in his own control,
Pacified, stedfast. And him resolute, able in method,
Threefold in knowledge, dispelling the darkness, the conqueror of Death, who
Lived for the weal of gods and of men delivered from folly,
Him of the threefold lore, mindful and self-possessed,
Him do they honour, the Buddha, our Gotama, wearing now,
Conqueror, too, of Birth, the last of his mortal frames!'

'Tis he who is a Brāhmaṇa indeed
Who knows the births that he has lived before;
And sees (with Heavenly Eye) the states of bliss,
And states of woe, that other men pass through;
Has reached the end of all rebirths, become
A sage, perfect in insight, Arahat,
In these three modes of knowledge threefold wise.
[140] Him do I call a Brahman, threefold wise,
And not the man who mutters o'er again
  The mystic verse so often muttered through before.'

How important a place this doctrine occupied in early Buddhism is made evident by the fact that this latter stanza, with variations at the close, is so constantly repeated. We find it in the 99th Sutta of the Itivuttaka (p. 100) and in the 91st Sutta of the Majjhima (the Brahmāya Sutta). And it is quoted also, not only in this Sutta in the Aṇguttara, and in another Sutta in the Saṃyutta (I, 167), but also in the collection of verses from the Piṭakas called the Dhammapada (verse 423); and also in the other collection of such verses (probably belonging to some other school of Buddhists), now preserved in the oldest MS. yet discovered in India, the so-called Kharoshṭhi MS., portions of which have simultaneously found their way, last year, to both St. Petersburg and Paris.

The whole section of the Dhammapada, which contains this quotation, consists of no less than forty verses, each of which, from one point of view or another, emphasise this point of the identification, by the Buddhists, of the Arahat with the Brahman. Twenty-seven of them are taken from the Vāseṭṭha Sutta of the Sutta Nipāta in which the question raised is precisely the same as that raised in our Sutta, and in which the reply, though different in details, amounts to much the same as the reply given here.

Two conclusions force themselves upon us. It is, in the first place, a striking proof of the high social esteem in which the Brahmans, as such, and quite irrespective of character, were held by the masses of the people. We have hitherto only had the views which the Brahmans held about themselves. And very absurd they seem to readers whose own vivid sense of superiority rests on a self-complacency quite as inexpugnable as that of the Brahmans. Here we have evidence from an independent source, — evidence all the stronger because it is found in Suttas in which the exclusive claims of the Brahmans by birth are vigorously contested. When the Buddhists, in selecting a title of honour for those they valued so highly, for the best of men, for the Arahats, selected the name of Brahman, it is clear that that word, in the opinion of the early Buddhists, conveyed to the minds of the people an exalted meaning, a connotation of real veneration and respect. And it is not likely that this would have been the case unless the Brahmans had, at least as [141] a general rule, deserved it — and on other grounds than the mere prerogative of birth.

In the second place, if the contention of the Buddhists had been universally accepted — if the word Brahman had come to mean, not only a man of a certain descent, but exclusively a man of a certain character and insight then the present caste system of India could never have grown up. But it was obviously impossible that the contention should succeed.

The method, adopted by all reformers, of pouring new wine into old bottles, putting new meanings into ancient words, can only succeed under conditions, that, in this case, were non-existent. And it is always open to the danger that, with the old and hallowed word, the old superstition associated with it will also survive. It was a method largely adopted by the Buddhists; and in numerous other cases, to which I have elsewhere called attention, adopted with success. The subsequent language of India is full of phrases and words which bear, not the meaning which they previously bore, but the new and higher meaning put into them by Buddhists. But in this case the two ideas were too widely apart, too contradictory. A physical meaning cannot be replaced by an ethical one. The actual facts of life, which they could not alter, could not, indeed, attempt to alter, were a constant influence, against their view, too strong to be overcome. Brahmans by birth, many of them, perhaps most of them, engaged in various worldly trades and occupations, and therefore Brahmans only by birth, were so constant and so important a factor in the daily and hourly life of the people, that the idea of birth could not be dissociated from the word. The Buddhists failed. And they not only failed, their very choice of the word as a title of honour, must (through the wide influence they exercised for so many centuries throughout and beyond the valley of the Ganges) have actually afforded a fresh strength to the veneration which the word inspired. The very means they adopted to lend weight to their doctrine of emancipation became a weapon to be turned against themselves.

It is unlikely that this really mattered much. The point was only one detail in a broad scheme which was doomed from the outset to failure-that is if failure to attain immediate and lasting acceptance can rightly be called the failure of a theory of life.

A theory which placed the ideal in Self-conquest, regarded final salvation as obtainable in this world, and in this world [142] only, and only by self-conquest — a view of life that ignored the 'soul' and brought the very gods themselves under the domain of law — a religious movement which aimed its keenest shafts against all those forms of belief in the supernatural and mysterious, appealing most strongly alike to the hopes and to the fears of the people — a philosophy that confined itself to going back, step by step, from effect to cause, and poured scorn on speculations as to the ultimate origin and end of all things — might gain, by the powerful personality of its founder and the enthusiasm and zeal of his early followers, a certain measure of temporary success. But it fought against too many vested interests at once, it raised up too many enemies, it tried in 'pouring new wine into the old bottles' to retain too much of the ancient phraseology, for lasting victory — at least at that time, and in an advancing country then assimilating to itself surrounding peoples at a lower grade of culture. The end was inevitable. And it was actually brought about, not by persecution, but by the gradual weakening of the theory itself, the gradual creeping back, under new forms and new names, of the more popular beliefs.

The very event, which seemed, in the eyes of the world, to be the most striking proof of the success of the new movement, the conversion and strenuous support of Asoka, the most powerful ruler India had had — indeed the first real overlord over practically the whole of India — only hastened the decline. The adhesion of large numbers of nominal converts, more especially from the newly incorporated and less advanced provinces, produced weakness, rather than strength, in the movement for reform. The day of compromise had come. Every relaxation of the old thoroughgoing position was widely supported by converts only half converted. And the margin of difference between the Buddhists and their opponents gradually faded almost entirely away. The soul theory, step by step, gained again the upper hand. The caste system was gradually built up into a completely organised system. The social supremacy of the Brahmans by birth became accepted as an incontrovertible fact. And the inflood of popular superstition which overwhelmed the Buddhist movement, overwhelmed also the whole pantheon of the Vedic gods. Buddhism and Brahmanism alike passed practically away, and modern Hinduism arose on the ruins of both.

The struggle is now being renewed under conditions perhaps, on the whole, more favourable. The tone of worldliness and love of material comfort, the eager restless- [143] ness of modern social, and economic competition, the degradation of learning to a mere means of getting on and making money, are no doubt all unfavourable to any movement for the social and religious elevation of a people. But history shows, notably in the case of the Reformation in Europe, how powerfully the contact of two diverse views of life tends to widen the thoughts of men. Both India and Europe in the twentieth century may be fairly expected to afford fresh examples of the same influence. And in India the powerful aid of the new methods of science and of historical criticism will lend their invaluable aid to the party endeavouring, now once again, to place the ideal, not in birth, but in character and wisdom.

[111] [144]

IV. Soṇa-Daṇḍa Sutta

Characteristics of the True Brahman

THUS HAVE I HEARD.

The Blessed One once, when going on a tour through the Aṇga country
with a great multitude of the brethren,
with about five hundred brethren,
arrived at Campā.⁶

And there at Campā
he lodged on the bank of the Gaggarā Lake.⁷

Now at that time the Brahman Soṇadaṇḍa
was dwelling at Campā,
a place teeming with life,⁸
with much grassland and woodland
and water and corn,
on a royal domain
granted him by Seniya Bimbisāra, the king of Magadhā,⁹
as a royal fief,
with power over it
as if he were the king.

[2] Now the Brahmans and householders of Campā
heard the news:

"They say that the Samaṇa Gotama of the Sākya clan,
who went out from a Sākya family
to adopt the religious life,
has now arrived,
with a great [145] company of the brethren
at Campā,
and is staying there
on the shore of the Gaggarā Lake.

Now regarding that venerable Gotama,
such is the high reputation
that has been noised abroad:

— 'That Blessed One is an Arahat,
a fully awakened one,
abounding in wisdom and goodness,
happy,
with knowledge of the worlds,
unsurpassed as a guide
to mortals willing to be led,
a teacher for gods and men,
a Blessed One,
a Buddha.

He, by himself,
thoroughly knows and sees,
as it were, face-to-face
this universe —
including the worlds above of the gods,
the Brahmas,
and the Māras,
and the world below
with its recluses and Brahmans,
its princes and peoples,
and having known it,
he makes his knowledge known to others.

The truth,
lovely in its origin,
lovely in its progress,
lovely in its consummation,
doth he proclaim,
both in the spirit and in the letter,
the higher life doth he make known,
in all its fullness,
and in all its purity.

And good is it
to pay visits to Arahats like that.'"

[112] And the Brahmans and householders of Campā
began to leave Campā in companies
and in bands
from each district,¹⁰
so that they could be counted,
to go to the Gaggarā Lake.

[3] Now at that time Soṇadaṇḍa the Brahman had gone apart
to the upper terrace of his house
for his siesta,
and seeing the people thus go by,
he said to his doorkeeper:

"Why are the people of Campā, going forth like this
towards the Gaggarā Lake?"

Then the doorkeeper told him the news.

And he said:

"Then, good doorkeeper,
go to the Brahmans and householders of Campā,
and say to them:

'Soṇadaṇḍa the Brahman
desires them to wait.

He will himself come to see the Samaṇa Gotama.'"

"Very well, Sir,"
said the doorkeeper,
and he did so.

[113] [4] Now at that time
there were about five hundred Brahmans
from different kingdoms
lodging at Campā
for some business or other.

And when they heard
that Soṇadaṇḍa was intending to visit [146] the Samaṇa Gotama,
they went to Soṇadaṇḍa,
and asked whether that was so.

"That is my intention, Sirs.

I propose to call on the Samaṇa Gotama."

"Let not the venerable Soṇadaṇḍa do that.

It is not fitting for him to do so.

If it were the venerable Soṇadaṇḍa
who went to call upon him,
then the venerable Soṇadaṇḍa's reputation
would decrease
and the Samaṇa Gotama's would increase.

This is the first reason
why you, Sir,
should not call upon him,
but he upon you."

[5] And they laid before Soṇadaṇḍa the Brahman
in like manner
also other considerations,
to wit:

That he was well born on both sides,
of pure descent
through the mother and through the father
back through seven generations,
with no slur put upon him,
and no reproach in respect of birth -

That he was prosperous,
well to do,
and rich —

[114] That he was a repeater
(of the sacred words),
knowing the mystic verses by heart,
one who had mastered the Three Vedas,
with the indices,
the ritual,
the phonology,
and the exegesis
(as a fourth),
and the legends as a fifth,
learned in the words
and in the grammar,
versed in Lokāyata
(Nature-lore),
and in the theory of the signs
on the body of a great man —

That he was handsome,
pleasant to look upon,
inspiring trust,
gifted with great beauty of complexion,
fair in colour,
fine in presence,¹¹
stately¹² to behold —

That he was virtuous,
increased in virtue,
gifted with virtue
that had waxed great —

That he had a pleasant voice
and pleasing delivery,
and was gifted with polite address,
distinct,
not husky,¹³
suitable for making clear
the matter in hand —

That he was the teacher
of the teachers of many,
[147] instructing three hundred Brahmans
in the repetition of the mystic verses,
and that many young Brahmans,
from various directions
and various counties,
all craving for the verses,
came to learn them by heart under him —

That he was aged,
old, and well stricken in years,
long-lived and full of days —

That he was honoured,
held of weight,
esteemed worthy,
venerated and revered by Seniya Bimbisāra,
the king of Magadhā —

That he was honoured,
held of weight,
esteemed worthy,
venerated and revered
by Pokkharasādi, the Brahman —

That he dwelt at Campā,
a place teeming with life,
with much grassland and woodland and corn,
on a royal fief
granted him by Seniya Bimbisāra,
the king of Magadhā,
as a royal gift,
with power over it
as if he were the king —

For each of these reasons
it was not fitting that he, Soṇadaṇḍa the Brahman,
should call upon the Samaṇa Gotama,
but rather that the Samaṇa Gotama
should call upon him.

[6] And when they had thus spoken,
Soṇadaṇḍa said to them:

[115] "Then, Sirs, listen,
and hear why it is fitting
that I should call upon the venerable Gotama,
and not he should call upon me —

'Truly, Sirs,
the venerable Gotama is well born on both sides,
of pure descent through the mother and the father
back through seven generations,
with no slur put upon him,
and no reproach in respect of birth —

Truly, Sirs, the Samaṇa Gotama
has gone forth (into the religious life),
giving up the great clan of his relations¹⁴ —

Truly, Sirs, the Samaṇa Gotama
has gone forth (into the religious life),
giving up much money and gold,
treasure both buried and above the ground —

[148] Truly, Sirs, the Samaṇa Gotama,
while he was still a young man,
without a grey hair on his head,
in the beauty of his early manhood,
has gone forth from the household life
into the homeless state —

Truly, Sirs, the Samaṇa Gotama,
though his father and mother were unwilling,
and wept,
their cheeks being wet with tears,
nevertheless cut off his hair and beard,
and donned the yellow robes,
and went out from the household life
into the homeless state —

Truly, Sirs, the Samaṇa Gotama is handsome,
pleasant to look upon,
inspiring trust,
gifted with great beauty of complexion,
fair in colour,
fine in presence,
stately to behold —

Truly, Sirs, the Samaṇa Gotama
is virtuous
with the virtue of the Arahats,
good and virtuous,
gifted with goodness and virtue —

Truly, Sirs, the Samaṇa Gotama
hath a pleasant voice,
and a pleasing delivery,
he is gifted with polite address,
distinct,
not husky,
suitable for making clear
the matter in hand —

Truly, Sirs, the Samaṇa Gotama
is the teacher of the teachers of many —

Truly, Sirs the Samaṇa Gotama
has no passion of lust left in him,
and has put away all fickleness of mind —

Truly, Sirs, the Samaṇa Gotama
believes in Karma,
and in action,¹⁵
he is one who puts righteousness
in the forefront (of his exhortations)
to the Brahman race —

Truly, Sirs, the Samaṇa Gotama
went forth from a distinguished family
primeval¹⁶ among the Kshatriya clans —

[149] Truly, Sirs, the Samaṇa Gotama
went forth from a family
prosperous,
well to do,
and rich —

[116] Truly, Sirs, people come right across the country
from distant lands
to ask questions of the Samaṇa Gotama —

Truly, Sirs, multitudes of heavenly beings
put their trust in the Samaṇa Gotama —

Truly, Sirs, such is the high reputation
noised abroad concerning the Samaṇa Gotama,
that he is said to be an Arahat,
exalted,
fully awakened,
abounding in wisdom and righteousness,
happy,
with knowledge of the worlds,
a Blessed One,
a Buddha —

Truly, Sirs, the Samaṇa Gotama
has all the thirty two bodily marks of a Great Being —

Truly, Sirs, the Samaṇa Gotama bids all men welcome, is congenial, conciliatory, not supercilious, accessible to all, not backward in conversation —

Truly, Sirs, the Samaṇa Gotama
is honoured,
held of weight,
esteemed and venerated and revered
by the four classes
(of his followers —
the brethren and sisters of the Order,
laymen and lay women) —

Truly, Sirs, many gods and men
believe in the Samaṇa Gotama —

Truly, Sirs, in whatsoever village or town
the Samaṇa Gotama stays,
there the non-humans
do the humans no harm —

Truly, Sirs, the Samaṇa Gotama
as the head of an Order,
of a school,
as the teacher of a school,
is the acknowledged chief
of all the founders of sects.

Whereas some Samaṇas and Brahmans
have gained a reputation
by all sorts of insignificant matters,¹⁷
not [150] so the Samaṇa Gotama.

His reputation comes
from perfection in conduct
and righteousness —

Truly, Sirs, the king of Magadhā, Seniya Bimbisāra,
with his children and his wives,
with his people,
and his courtiers,
has put his trust in the Samaṇa Gotama —

Truly, Sirs, King Pasenadi of Kosala,
with his children and his wives,
with his people and his courtiers,
has put his trust in the Samaṇa Gotama —

Truly, Sirs, Pokkharasādi the Brahman,
with his children and his wives,
with his people and his intimates,
has put his trust in the Samaṇa Gotama —

Truly, Sirs, the Samaṇa Gotama
is honoured,
held of weight,
esteemed,
and venerated and revered alike
by Seniya Bimbisāra, the king of Magadhā,
by Pasenadi the king of Kosala,
and by Pokkharasādi the Brahman —

[117] Truly, Sirs, the Samaṇa Gotama
has now arrived at Campā,
and is staying on the shores of the Gaggarā Lake.

But all Samaṇas and Brahmans
who come into our village borders
are our guests.

And guests we ought to esteem and honour,
to venerate
and revere.

And as he is now so come,
he ought to be so treated,
as a guest —

For each and all of these considerations
it is not fitting
that the Samaṇa Gotama should call upon us,
but rather does it behove us to call upon him.

And so far only
do I know the excellencies of the Samaṇa Gotama,
but these are not all of them,
for his excellence is beyond measure."

[7] And when he had thus spoken,
those Brahmans said to him:

"The venerable Soṇadaṇḍa
declares the praises of the Samaṇa Gotama on such wise
that were he to be dwelling
even a hundred leagues from here,
it would be enough to make a believing man
go thither to call upon him,
even had he to carry a bag
(for the provisions for the journey)
on his back.¹⁸

Let us then all go
to call on the Samaṇa Gotama together!"

[151] So Soṇadaṇḍa the Brahman
went out to the Gaggarā Lake
with a great company of Brahmans.

[8] Now the following hesitation
arose in Soṇadaṇḍa's mind
as he passed through the wood:

"Were I to ask the Samaṇa Gotama a question,
if he were to say:

'The question ought not to be asked so,
thus ought the question to be framed';

the company might thereupon
speak of me with disrespect,
saying:

'Foolish is this Soṇadaṇḍa the Brahman,
and inexpert.

[118] He is not even able to ask a question rightly.'

But if they did so
my reputation would decrease;
and with my reputation
my incomings would grow less,
for what we have to enjoy,
that depends on our reputation.

But if the Samaṇa Gotama
were to put a question to me,
I might not be able to gain his approval¹⁹
by my explanation of the problem.

And if they were then to say to me:

'The question ought not to be answered so;
thus ought the problem to be explained;

the company might thereupon
speak of me with disrespect,
saying:

'Foolish is this Soṇadaṇḍa the Brahman,
and inexpert.

He is not even able to satisfy the Samaṇa Gotama
by his explanation of the problem put.'

But if they did so,
my reputation would decrease;
and with my reputation
my incomings would grow less,
for what we have to enjoy,
that depends upon our reputation.

But on the other hand
if, having come so far,
I should turn back
without calling upon the Samaṇa Gotama,
then might the company speak disrespectfully of me,
saying:

"Foolish is this Soṇadaṇḍa the Brahman,
and inexpert,
though obstinate with pride,
he is so afraid
that he dare not call on the Samaṇa Gotama.

How can he turn back
after having come so far?'

But if they did so,
my reputation would decrease;
and with my reputation
my incomings would grow less
for what we have to enjoy,
that depends upon our reputation."

[9] So Soṇadaṇḍa the Brahman
went up to where [152] the Blessed One was.

And when he had come there
he exchanged with the Blessed One
the greetings and compliments
of politeness and courtesy,
and took his seat on one side.

And as to the Brahmans and householders of Campā,
some of them bowed to the Blessed One
and took their seats on one side;
some of them exchanged with him
the greetings and compliments
of politeness and courtesy,
and then took their seats on one side;
some of them called out their name and family,
and then took their seats on one side;
and some of them took their seats on one side in silence.

[119] [10] Now as Soṇadaṇḍa was seated there
he was still filled with hesitation,
thinking as before set out;
and he added to himself:

"Oh! would that the Samaṇa Gotama
would but ask me some question
on my own subject,
on the threefold Vedic lore.

Verily, I should then be able to gain his approval
by my exposition of the problem put!"

[11] Now the Blessed One became aware in his own mind
of the hesitation in the mind of Soṇadaṇḍa,
and he thought:

"This Soṇadaṇḍa is afflicted in his heart.

I had better question him
on his own doctrine."

And he said to him:

"What are the things, Brahman,
which the Brahmans say a man ought to have
in order to be a Brahman,
so that if he says:

'I am a Brahman,'
he speaks accurately
and does not become guilty of falsehood?'

[12] Then Soṇadaṇḍa thought:

[120] "What I wished and desired
and had in my mind
and hoped for —
that the Samaṇa Gotama should put to me
some question on my own subject,
on the threefold Vedic lore —
that he now does.

Oh! that I may be able to satisfy his heart
with my exposition thereof!"

[13] And drawing his body up erect,
and looking round on the assembly,
he said to the Blessed One:

"The Brahmans, Gotama, declare him to be a Brahman
who can accurately say
'I am a Brahman'
without being guilty of falsehood,
who has five things.

And what are the five?

In the first place, Sir,
a Brahman is well born on both sides,
on the mother's side
and on [153] the father's side,
of pure descent
back through seven generations,
with no slur put upon him,
and no reproach,
in respect of birth —

Then he is a repeater
(of the sacred words),
knowing the mystic verses by heart,
one who has mastered the Three Vedas,
with the indices,
the ritual,
the phonology,
and the exegesis (as a fourth),
and the legends as a fifth,
learned in the phrases
and in the grammar,
versed in Lokāyata sophistry,
and in the theory of the signs
on the body of a great man —

Then he is handsome,
pleasant to look upon,
inspiring trust,
gifted with great beauty of complexion,
fair in colour,
fine in presence,
stately to behold —

Then he is virtuous,
increased in virtue,
gifted with virtue
that has grown great —

Then he is learned and wise,
the first, or it may be the second,
among those who hold out the ladle."²⁰

[14] "But of these five things, oh Brahman,
is it possible to leave one out,
and to declare the man who has the other four
to be a Brahman,
to be one who can accurately,
and without falling into falsehood,
claim to be a Brahman?"

"Yes, Gotama, that can be, done.

We could leave out colour.²¹

For what does colour matter?

[121] If he have the other four —
good birth,
technical training,
virtue,
and wisdom,
as just set forth²² —
Brahmans would still declare him to be a Brahman;
and he could rightly,
without danger of falsehood,
claim to be one."

[15] "But of these four things, oh Brahman,
is it possible to leave one out,
and to declare the man who has the other three
to be a Brahman,
to be one who can rightly,
and without falling into falsehood,
claim to be a Brahman?"

"Yes, Gotama, that could be done.

We could leave out the verses.

For what do the verses matter?

If [154] he have the other three —
good birth,
virtue,
and wisdom —
Brahmans would still declare him to be a Brahman;
and he could rightly,
without danger of falsehood,
claim to be one."

[16] "But of these three things, Brahman,
is it possible to leave one out,
and to declare the man who has the other two
to be a Brahman,
to be one who can accurately,
and without falling into falsehood,
claim to be a Brahman?"

"Yes, Gotama, that could be done.

We could leave out birth.

For what does birth matter?

If he have the other two —
virtue
and wisdom —
Brahmans would still declare him to be a Brahman;
and he could rightly,
without danger of falsehood,
claim to be one."

[122] [17] And when he had thus spoken
the other Brahmans said to Soṇadaṇḍa:

"Say not so venerable Soṇadaṇḍa,
say not so!

He depreciates not only our colour,
but he depreciates our verses
and our birth.

Verily the venerable Soṇadaṇḍa
is going over to the doctrine of the Samaṇa Gotama."

[18] Then the Blessed One said to those Brahmans:

"If you, oh Brahmans,
think that Soṇadaṇḍa is unlearned,
that he speaks unfittingly,
that he is unwise,
that he is unable to hold his own with me in this matter,
let him keep silence,
and do you discuss with me.

But if you think him learned,
able in speech,
wise,
able to hold his own,
then do you keep silence,
and let him discuss with me."

[19] And when he had thus spoken,
Soṇadaṇḍa the Brahman said to those Brahmans:

"Let not the venerable ones say so.

Say not so, Sirs.

[123] I do not depreciate
either our colour,
nor our verses,
nor our birth."

[20] Now at that time a young Brahman named Angaka,²³
sister's son to Soṇadaṇḍa the Brahman,
was seated in that company.

And Soṇadaṇḍa said to those [155] Brahmans:

"Do the venerable ones see this Angaka,
our nephew?"

"Yes, Sir, we see him."

"Well! Angaka, Sirs, is handsome,
pleasant to look upon,
inspiring trust,
gifted with great beauty of complexion,
fair in colour,
fine in presence,
stately to behold —
none in this assembly
is like unto him in colour,
save only the Samaṇa Gotama.

And Angaka, Sirs, is a repeater
(of the sacred words),
knowing the mystic verses by heart,
one who has mastered the Three Vedas,
with the indices,
the ritual,
the phonology,
and the exegesis (as a fourth),
and the legends as a fifth,
learned in the phrases
and the grammar,
versed in Lokāyata (Nature-lore),
and in the theory of the signs
on the body of a great man —
I myself have taught him the verses.

And Angaka, Sirs,
is well born on both sides,
on the mother's side
and on the father's side,
of pure descent
back through seven generations,
with no slur put upon him,
and no reproach in respect of birth —
I myself know his forebears,
on the mother's side
and on the father's.

If Angaka, Sirs, should kill living things,
and take what has not been given,
and go the way of the adulterer,
and speak lies,
and drink strong drink,
what then, Sirs,
would his colour avail him?
what the verses?
what his birth?

It is in so far, Sirs,
as a Brahman is virtuous,
increased in virtue,
gifted with virtue that has grown great;
in so far as he is learned and wise,
the first, or it may be the second,
among those who hold out the ladle,
that Brahmans would declare him,
as endowed with these two qualities,
to be a Brahman,
to be one who could rightly say
'I am a Brahman'
without falling into falsehood."

[21] "But of these two things, oh Brahman,
is it possible to leave one out,
and to declare the man who has the other
to be a Brahman,
to be one who can rightly,
and without falling into falsehood,
claim to be a, Brahman?"

[156] [124] "Not that, Gotama!

For wisdom, oh Gotama,
is purified by uprightness,
and uprightness is purified by wisdom.

Where there is uprightness,
wisdom is there,
and where there is wisdom,
uprightness is there.

To the upright
there is wisdom,
to the wise
there is uprightness,
and wisdom and goodness
are declared to be
the best thing in the world.²⁴

Just, oh Gotama,
as one might wash hand with hand,
or foot with foot,
just even so, oh Gotama,
is wisdom purified by uprightness,
and uprightness is purified by wisdom.

Where there is uprightness,
wisdom is there,
and where there is wisdom,
uprightness is there.

To the upright,
there is wisdom,
to the wise
there is uprightness,
and wisdom and goodness
are declared to be
the best thing in the world."

[22] "That is just so, oh Brahman.

And I, too, say the same.

But what, then, is that uprightness
and what that wisdom?"

"We only know, oh Gotama,
the general statement in this matter.

May the venerable Gotama be pleased to explain the meaning of the phrase."

"Well then, oh Brahman
give ear,
and pay earnest attention,
and I will speak."

[23] "Very well, Sir,"
said Soṇadaṇḍa in assent to the Blessed One.

§

And the Blessed One said:

"Suppose, oh Brahman, there appears in the world
one who has won the truth, an Arahat,
a fully awakened one,
abounding in wisdom and goodness, happy,
who knows all worlds,
unsurpassed as a guide
to mortals willing to be led,
a teacher for gods and men,
a Blessed One, a Buddha.

He, by himself, thoroughly knows and sees,
as it were, face-to-face this universe,
— including the worlds above of the gods,
the Brahmas, and the Māras,
and the world below with its recluses and Brahmans,
its princes and peoples, —
and having known it,
he makes his knowledge known to others.

The truth, lovely in its origin,
lovely in its progress,
lovely in its consummation,
doth he proclaim,
both in the spirit and in the letter,
the higher life doth he make known,
in all its fullness and in all its purity.

A householder or one of his children,
or a man of inferior birth in any class
listens to that truth;
and on hearing it he has faith in the Tathāgata
(the one who has found the truth);
and when he is possessed of that faith,
he considers thus within himself:

'Full of hindrances is household life,
a path for the dust of passion.

Free as the air is the life
of him who has renounced all worldly things.

How difficult is it for the man who dwells at home
to live the higher life in all its fullness,
in all its purity,
in all its bright perfection!

Let me then cut off my hair and beard,
let me clothe myself in the orange-coloured robes,
and let me go forth
from the household life
into the homeless state.'

Then, before long,
forsaking his portion of wealth,
be it great or small,
forsaking his circle of relatives,
be they many or be they few,
he cuts off his hair and beard,
he clothes himself in the orange-coloured robes,
and he goes forth from the household life
into the homeless state.

When he has thus become a recluse
he lives self-restrained
by that restraint
that should be binding on a recluse.

Uprightness is his delight,
and he sees danger
in the least of those things he should avoid.

He adopts, and trains himself in, the precepts.

He encompasses himself with good deeds in act and word.

Pure are his means of livelihood,
good is his conduct,
guarded the doors of his senses.

Mindful and self-possessed
he is altogether happy.

And how, oh Brahman, is his conduct good?

In this, oh Brahman, that the Bhikshu,
putting away the killing of living things,
holds aloof from the destruction of life.

The cudgel and the sword he has laid aside,
and ashamed of roughness,
and full of mercy,
he dwells compassionate and kind
to all creatures that have life.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Putting away the taking of what has not been given,
the Bhikshu lives aloof
from grasping what is not his own.

He takes only what is given,
and expecting that gifts will come,
he passes his life in honesty
and purity of heart.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Putting away unchastity,
the Bhikshu is chaste.

He holds himself aloof,
far off,
from the vulgar practice,
from the sexual act.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Putting away lying words,
the Bhikshu holds himself aloof from falsehood.

He speaks truth,
from the truth he never swerves;
faithful and trustworthy,
he breaks not his word to the world.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Putting away slander,
the Bhikshu holds himself aloof from calumny.

What he hears here
he repeats not elsewhere
to raise a quarrel against the people here;
what he hears elsewhere
he repeats not here
to raise a quarrel against the people there.

Thus does he live as a binder together
of those who are divided,
an encourager of those who are friends,
a peacemaker,
a lover of peace,
impassioned for peace,
a speaker of words that make for peace.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Putting away rudeness of speech,
the Bhikshu holds himself aloof from harsh language.

Whatsoever word is blameless,
pleasant to the car,
lovely,
reaching to the heart,
pleasing to the people,
beloved of the people —
such are words he speaks.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Putting away frivolous talk,
the Bhikshu holds himself aloof
from vain conversation.

In season he speaks,
in accordance with the facts,
words full of meaning,
on religion,
on the discipline of the Order.

He speaks,
and at the right time,
words worthy to be laid up in one's heart,
fitly illustrated,
clearly divided,
to the point.

The Bhikshu holds himself aloof
from causing injury to seeds or plants.

He takes but one meal a day,
not eating at night,
refraining from food after hours
(after midday).

He refrains from being a spectator
at shows at fairs,
with nautch dances,
singing, and music.

He abstains from wearing,
adorning,
or ornamenting himself
with garlands, scents, and unguents.

He abstains from the use
of large and lofty beds.

He abstains from accepting silver or gold.

He abstains from accepting uncooked grain.

He abstains from accepting raw meat.

He abstains from accepting women or girls.

He abstains from accepting bondmen or bondwomen.

He abstains from accepting sheep or goats.

He abstains from accepting fowls or swine.

He abstains from accepting elephants, cattle. horses, and mares.

He abstains from accepting cultivated fields or waste.

He abstains from acting as a go-between or messenger.

He abstains from buying and selling.

He abstains from cheating
with scales or bronzes or measures.

He abstains from the crooked ways
of bribery, cheating, and fraud.

He abstains from maiming,
murder,
putting in bonds,
highway robbery,
dacoity,
and violence.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the injury of seedlings
and growing plants
whether propagated from roots
or cuttings
or joints
or buddings
or seeds
the Bhikshu holds aloof from such injury
to seedlings and growing plants.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use
of things stored up;
stores, to wit,
of foods, drinks, clothing,
equipages, bedding, perfumes,
and curry-stuffs —
the Bhikshu holds aloof from such use
of things stored up.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to visiting shows;
that is to say:

(1) Nautch dances (naccaṃ);

(2) Singing of songs (gītaṃ);

(3) Instrumental music (vāditaṃ);

(4) Shows at fairs (pekkhaṃ);

(5) Ballad recitations (akkhānaṃ);

(6) Hand music (pāṇissaraṃ);

(7) The chanting of bards (vetālaṃ);

(8) Tam - tam playing (kumbhathūnaṃ);

(9) Fairy scenes (Sobhanagarakaṃ);

(10) Acrobatic feats by Kaṇḍālas (Kaṇḍāla-vaṃsa-dhopanaṃ);

(11) Combats of elephants, horses, buffaloes,
bulls, goats, rams,
cocks, and quails;

(12) Bouts at quarter-staff, boxing, wrestling;

(13) Sham-fights.

(14) roll-calls.

(15) manoeuvres.

(16) reviews —

the Bhikshu holds aloof from visiting such shows.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to games and recreations;
that is to say:

(1) Games on boards with eight,
or with ten,
rows of squares;

(2) The same games
played by imagining such boards in the air;

(3) Keeping going over diagrams drawn on the ground
so that one steps only where one ought to go;

(4) Either removing the pieces or men from a heap
with one's nail,
or putting them into a heap,
in each case without shaking it,
he who shakes the heap, loses;

(5) Throwing dice;

(6) Hitting a short stick with a long one;

(7) Dipping the hand with the fingers stretched out
in lac,
or red dye,
or flower-water,
and striking the wet hand
on the ground
or on a wall,
calling out
'What shell it be?'
and showing the form required —
elephants, horses, etc.;

(8) Games with balls;

(9) Blowing through toy pipes made of leaves;

(10) Ploughing with toy ploughs;

(11) Turning summersaults;

(12) Playing with toy windmills made of palm-leaves;

(13) Playing with toy measures made of palm-leaves;

(14, 15) Playing with toy carts or toy bows;

(16) Guessing at letters traced in the air, or on a. playfellow's back;

(17) Guessing the play fellow's thoughts;

(18) Mimicry of deformities;

The Bhikshu holds aloof from such games and recreations.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use of high and large couches;
that is to say:

(1) Moveable settees,
high, and six feet long;

(2) Divans with animal figures carved on the supports (Pallanko);

(3) Goats' hair coverlets
with very long fleece (Gonako);

(4) Patchwork counterpanes of many colours (Cittakā);

(5) White blankets (Paṭikā);

(6) Woollen coverlets embroidered with flowers (Paṭalikā);

(7) Quilts stuffed with cotton wool (Tūlikā);

(8) Coverlets embroidered with figures of lions, tigers, etc. (Vikatikā);

(9) Rugs with fur on both sides (Uddalomī);

(10) Rugs with fur on one side (Ekantalomī);

(11) Coverlets embroidered with gems (Kaṭṭhissaṃ);

(12) Silk coverlets (Koseyyaṃ);

(13) Carpets large enough for sixteen dancers (Kuttakaṃ);

(14) Elephant rugs;

(15) horse rugs;

(16) chariot rugs;

(17) Rugs of antelope skins sewn together (Ajina-paveṇi);

(18) Rugs of skins of the plantain antelope;

(19) Carpets with awnings above them (Sauttara-cchadaṃ);

(20) Sofas with red pillows
for the head and feet.

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such things.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use
of means for adorning
and beautifying themselves;
that is to say:

Rubbing in scented powders on one's body,
shampooing it,
and bathing it;

Patting the limbs with clubs
after the manner of wrestlers;

The use of mirrors, eye-ointments, garlands,
rouge, cosmetics, bracelets, necklaces, walking-sticks,
reed cases for drugs,
rapiers,
sunshades,
embroidered slippers,
turbans, diadems, whisks of the yak's tail,
and long-fringed white robes;

The Bhikshu holds aloof
from such means of adorning and beautifying the person.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to such low conversation as these:

Tales of kings, of robbers, of ministers of state
tales of war, of terrors, of battles;
talk about foods and drinks, clothes, beds, garlands, perfumes;
talks about relationships, equipages, villages, town, cities, and countries;
tales about women, and about heroes;
gossip at street corners, or places whence water is fetched;
ghost stories;
desultory talk;
speculations about the creation of the land or sea,
or about existence and non-existence;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low conversation.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use of wrangling phrases such as

'You don't understand this doctrine and discipline, I do.';

'How should you know about this doctrine and discipline?';

'You have fallen into wrong views. It is I who am in the right.';

'I am speaking to the point, you are not.';

'You are putting last
what ought to come first,
first what ought to come last.';

'What you've excogitated so long, that's all quite upset.';

'Your challenge has been taken up.';

'You are proved to be wrong.';

'Set to work to clear your views.';

'Disentangle yourself if you can.';

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such wrangling phrases.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to taking messages,
going on errands,
and acting as go-betweens;
to wit,
on kings,
ministers of state,
Kshatriyas,
Brahmans,
or young men,
saying:

'Go there,
come hither,
take this with you,
bring that from thence';

the Bhikshu abstains from such servile duties.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
are tricksters,
droners out (of holy words for pay),
diviners, and exorcists,
ever hungering to add gain to gain —
the Bhikshu holds aloof from such deception and patter.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

(1) Palmistry —
prophesying long life, prosperity, etc.
from marks on child's hands, feet. etc.;

(2) Divining by means of omens and signs;

(3) Auguries drawn from thunderbolts
and other celestial portents;

(4) Prognostication by interpreting dreams;

(5) Fortune-telling from marks on the body;

(6) Auguries from the marks on cloth gnawed by mice;

(7) Sacrificing to Agni;

(8) Offering oblations from a spoon;

(9-13) Making offerings to gods
of husks,
of the red powder between the grain and the husk,
of husked grain ready for boiling,
of ghee,
and of oil;

(14) Sacrificing by spewing mustard seeds, etc.,
into the fire out of one's mouth;

(15) Drawing blood from one's right knee
as a sacrifice to the gods;

(16) Looking at the knuckles, etc., and,
after muttering a charm,
divining whether a man is well born
or lucky or not;

(17) Determining whether the site
for a proposed house or pleasance,
is lucky or not;

(18) Advising on customary law;

(19) Laying demons in a cemetery;

(20) Laying ghosts;

(21) Knowledge of the charms to be used
when lodging in an earth house;

(22) Snake charming;

(23) The poison craft;

(24) The scorpion craft;

(25) The mouse craft;

(26) The bird craft;

(27) The crow craft;

(28) Foretelling the number of years
that a man has yet to live.

(29) Giving charms to ward off arrows;

(30) The animal wheel;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

Knowledge of the signs
of good and bad qualities
in the following things
and of the marks in them
denoting the health or luck of their owners: —
to wit,
gems,
staves,
garments,
swords,
arrows,
bows,
other weapons,
women,
men,
boys,
girls,
slaves,
slave-girls,
elephants,
horses,
buffaloes,
bulls,
oxen,
goats,
sheep,
fowls,
quails,
iguanas,
earrings,
tortoises,
and other animals;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as soothsaying,
to the effect that:

'The chiefs will march out';

'The chiefs will march back';

'The home chiefs will attack,
and the enemies' retreat';

'The enemies' chiefs will attack,
and ours will retreat';

'The home chiefs will gain the victory,
and the foreign chiefs suffer defeat';

'The foreign chiefs will gain the victory,
and ours will suffer defeat';

'Thus will there be victory on this side,
defeat on that'

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by such low arts as foretelling:

(1) 'There will be an eclipse of the moon';

(2) 'There will be en eclipse of the sun';

(3) 'There will be en eclipse of a star'
(Nakshatra);

(4) 'There will be aberration of the sun or the moon';

(5) 'The sun or the moon will return to its usual path';

(6) 'There will be aberrations of the stars';

(7) 'The stars will return to their usual course';

(8) 'There will be a fall of meteors';

(9) 'There will be a jungle fire';

(10) 'There will be an earthquake';

(11) 'The god will thunder';

(12-15) 'There will be rising and setting,
clearness and dimness,
of the sun or the moon or the stars',|| ||

or foretelling of each of these fifteen phenomena
that they will betoken such and such a result;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

Foretelling an abundant rainfall;

Foretelling a deficient rainfall;

Foretelling a good harvest;

Foretelling scarcity of food;

Foretelling tranquillity;

Foretelling disturbances;

Foretelling a pestilence;

Foretelling a healthy season;

Counting on the fingers;

Counting without using the fingers;

Summing up large totals;

Composing ballads, poetising;

Casuistry, sophistry;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as:

(1) Arranging a lucky day for marriages
in which the bride or bridegroom is brought home;

(2) Arranging a lucky day for marriages
in which the bride or bridegroom is sent forth;

(3) Fixing a lucky time for the conclusion of treaties of peace
[or using charms to procure harmony;

(4) Fixing a lucky time
for the outbreak of hostilities
[or using charms to make discord];

(5) Fixing-a lucky time
for the calling in of debts
[or charms for success in throwing dice];

(6) Fixing a lucky time
for the expenditure of money
[or charms to bring ill luck to an opponent throwing dice];

(7) Using charms to make people lucky;

(8) Using charms to make people unlucky;

(9) Using charms to procure abortion;

(10) Incantations to bring on dumbness;

(11) Incantations to keep a man's jaws fixed;

(12) Incantations to make a man throw up his hands;

(13) Incantations to bring on deafness;

(14) Obtaining oracular answers by means of the magic mirror;

(15) Obtaining oracular answers through a girl possessed;

(16) Obtaining oracular answers from a god;

(17) The worship of the Sun;

(18) The worship of the Great One;

(19) Bringing forth flames from one's mouth;

(20) Invoking Siri, the goddess of Luck —

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

(1) Vowing gifts to a god if a certain benefit be granted;

(2) Paying such vows;

(3) Repeating charms while lodging in an earth house;

(4) Causing virility;

(5) Making a man impotent;

(6) Fixing on lucky sites for dwelling;

(7) Consecrating sites;

(8) Ceremonial rinsings of the month;

(9) Ceremonial bathings;

(10) Offering sacrifices;

(11-14) Administering emetics and purgatives;

(15) Purging people to relieve the head
(that is by giving drugs to make people sneeze);

(16) Oiling people's ears
(either to make them grow or to heal sores on them);

(17) Satisfying people's eyes
(soothing them by dropping medicinal oils into them);

(18) Administering drugs through the nose;

(19) Applying collyrium to the eyes;

(20) Giving medical ointment for the eyes;

(21) Practising as an oculist;

(22) Practising as a surgeon;

(23) Practising as a doctor for children;

(24) Administering roots and drugs;

(25) Administering medicines in rotation;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

And then that Bhikshu, oh Brahman,
being thus master of the minor moralities,
sees no danger from any side,
that is, so far as concerns
his self-restraint in conduct.

Just, oh Brahman, as a sovereign,
duly crowned,
whose enemies have been beaten down,
sees no danger from any side;
that is, so far as enemies are concerned,
so is the Bhikshu confident.

■

And endowed with this body of morals,
so worthy of honour,
he experiences, within himself,
a sense of ease without alloy.

Thus is it, oh Brahman,
that the Bhikshu becomes righteous.

Conduct (Karaṇa)

And how, oh Brahman,
is the Bhikshu guarded
as to the doors of his senses?

When, oh Brahman, he sees an object with his eye
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of sight.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of sight,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

When, oh Brahman, he hears a sound with his ear
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of hearing.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of hearing,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

When, oh Brahman, he smells an odour with his nose
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of smell.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of smell,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

When, oh Brahman, he tastes a flavour with his tongue
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of taste.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of taste,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

When, oh Brahman, he feels a touch with his body
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of touch.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of touch,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

When, oh Brahman, he cognises a phenomenon with his mind
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his mental (representative) faculty.

He keeps watch upon his representative faculty,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

And endowed with this self-restraint,
so worthy of honour,
as regards the senses,
he experiences, within himself, a sense of ease
into which no evil state can enter.

Thus is it, oh Brahman,
that the Bhikshu becomes guarded
as to the doors of his senses.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

And how, oh Brahman, is the Bhikshu
mindful and self-possessed?

In this matter, oh Brahman,
the Bhikshu
in going forth or in coming back
whether looking forward,
or in looking round;
in stretching forth his arm,
or in drawing it in again;
in eating or drinking,
in masticating or swallowing,
in obeying the calls of nature,
in going or standing or sitting,
in sleeping or waking,
in speaking or in being still,
he keeps himself aware
of all it really means.

Thus is it, oh Brahman,
that the Bhikshu
becomes mindful and self-possessed.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

And how, oh Brahman, is the Bhikshu content?

'In this matter, oh Brahman,
the Bhikshu is satisfied with sufficient robes
to cherish his body,
with sufficient food
to keep his stomach going.

Whithersoever he may go forth,
these he takes with him as he goes
- just as a bird with his wings, oh Brahman,
whithersoever he may fly,
carries his wings with him as he flies.

Thus is it, oh Brahman,
that the Bhikshu becomes content.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Then, master of this so excellent body of moral precepts,
gifted with this so excellent self-restraint as to the senses,
endowed with this so excellent mindfulness and self-possession,
filled with this so excellent content,
he chooses some lonely spot
to rest at on his way
— in the woods,
at the foot of a tree,
on a hill side,
in a mountain glen,
in a rocky cave,
in a charnel place,
or on a heap of straw in the open field.

And returning thither
after his round for alms
he seats himself, when his meal is done,
cross-legged,
keeping his body erect,
and his intelligence alert, intent.

Putting away the hankering after the world,
he remains with a heart that hankers not,
and purifies his mind of lusts.

Putting away the corruption
of the wish to injure,
he remains with a heart free from ill temper,
and purifies his mind of malevolence.

Putting away torpor of heart and mind,
keeping his ideas alight,
mindful and self-possessed,
he purifies his mind of weakness and of sloth.

Putting away flurry and worry,
he remains free from fretfulness,
and with heart serene within,
he purifies himself of irritability
and vexation of spirit.

Putting away wavering,
he remains as one passed beyond perplexity;
and no longer in suspense as to what is good,
he purifies his mind of doubt.

'Then just, oh Brahman,
as when a man, after contracting a loan,
should set a business on foot,
and his business should succeed,
and he should not only be able
to pay off the old debt he had incurred,
but there should be a surplus over
to maintain a wife.

Then would he realize:

'I used to have to carry on my business
by getting into debt,
but it has gone so well with me
that I have paid off what I owed,
and have a surplus over
to maintain a wife.'

And he would be of good cheer at that,
would be glad of heart at that: —

Then just, oh Brahman,
as if a man were a prey to disease,
in pain, and very ill,
and his food would not digest,
and there were no strength left in him;
and after a time
he were to recover from that disease,
and his food should digest,
and his strength come back to him;
then, when he realized his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

Then just, oh Brahman,
as if a man were bound in a prison house,
and after a time
he should be set free from his bonds,
safe and sound,
and without any confiscation of his goods;
when he realized his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

Then just, oh Brahman,
as if a man were a slave,
not his own master,
subject to another,
unable to go whither he would;
and after a time
he should be emancipated from that slavery,
become his own master,
not subject to others,
a free man,
free to go whither he would;
then, on realising his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

Then just, oh Brahman,
as if a man, rich and prosperous,
were to find himself on a long road,
in a desert, where no food was,
but much danger;
and after a time
were to find himself out of the desert,
arrived safe,
on the borders of his village,
in security and peace;
then, on realising his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

Just so, oh Brahman, the Bhikshu,
so long as these five hindrances
are not put away within him
looks upon himself as in debt,
diseased,
in prison,
in slavery,
lost on a desert road.

But when these five hindrances
have been put away within him,
he looks upon himself as freed from debt,
rid of disease,
out of jail,
a free man,
and secure.

And gladness springs up within him
on his realising that,
and joy arises to him thus gladdened,
and so rejoicing
all his frame becomes at ease,
and being thus at ease
he is filled with a sense of peace,
and in that peace his heart is stayed.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

nbsp;

Then estranged from lusts,
aloof from evil dispositions,
he enters into and remains in the First Rapture
— a state of joy and ease born of detachment,
reasoning and investigation going on the while.

His very body does he so pervade,
drench,
permeate,
and suffuse
with the joy and ease born of detachment,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

Just, oh Brahman, as a skilful bathman
or his apprentice
will scatter perfumed soap powder
in a metal basin,
and then besprinkling it with water,
drop by drop,
will so knead it together
that the ball of lather,
taking up the unctuous moisture,
is drenched with it,
pervaded by it,
permeated by it within and without,
and there is no leakage possible.

This, oh Brahman, is that wisdom.

■

Then further, oh Brahman,
the Bhikshu suppressing all reasoning and investigation
enters into and abides in the Second Jhāna,
a state of joy and ease,
born of the serenity of concentration,
when no reasoning or investigation goes on,
— a state of elevation of mind,
a tranquillisation of the heart within.

And his very body does he so pervade,
drench,
permeate,
and suffuse with the joy and ease born of concentration,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

Just, oh Brahman,
as if there were a deep pool,
with water welling up into it
from a spring beneath,
and with no inlet from the east or west,
from the north or south,
and the god should not
from time to time
send down showers of rain upon it.
Still the current of cool waters
rising up from that spring
would pervade,
fill,
permeate,
and suffuse the pool
with cool waters,
and there would be no part or portion of the pool
unsuffused therewith.

This, oh Brahman, is that wisdom.

■

Then further, oh Brahman, the Bhikshu,
holding aloof from joy,
becomes equable;
and mindful and self-possessed
he experiences in his body
that ease which the Arahats talk of when they say:
'The man serene and self-possessed
is well at ease,'
and so he enters into
and abides in the Third Jhāna.

And his very body
does he so pervade,
drench,
permeate,
and suffuse with that ease
that has no joy with it,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

Just, oh Brahman,
as when in a lotus tank
the several lotus flowers,
red or white or blue,
born in the water,
grown up in the water,
not rising up above the surface of the water,
drawing up nourishment from the depths of the water,
are so pervaded,
drenched,
permeated,
and suffused
from their very tips
down to their roots
with the cool moisture thereof,
that there is no spot in the whole plant,
whether of the red lotus,
or of the white,
or of the blue,
not suffused therewith.

This, oh Brahman, is that wisdom.

■

Then further, oh Brahman, the Bhikshu,
by the putting away alike of ease and of pain,
by the passing away alike of any elation,
any dejection,
he had previously felt,
enters into and abides in the Fourth Jhāna,
a state of pure self-possession and equanimity,
without pain and without ease.

And he sits there
so suffusing even his body
with that sense of purification,
of translucence of heart,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

Just, oh Brahman,
as if a man were sitting
so wrapt from head to foot in a clean white robe,
that there were no spot in his whole frame
not in contact with the clean white robe
— just so, oh Brahman, does the Bhikshu sit there,
so suffusing even his body
with that sense of purification,
of translucence of heart,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

This, oh Brahman, is that wisdom.

■

Wisdom (Vijjā)

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he applies and bends down his mind
to that insight that comes from knowledge.

He grasps the fact:

'This body of mine has form,
it is built up of the four elements,
it springs from father and mother,
it is continually renewed
by so much boiled rice and juicy foods,
its very nature is impermanence,
it is subject to erasion,
abrasion,
dissolution,
and disintegration;
and therein is this consciousness of mine, too, bound up,
on that does it depend.'

Just, oh Brahman,
as if there were a veluriya gem,
bright, of the purest water,
with eight facets,
excellently cut,
clear, translucent,
without a flaw,
excellent in every way.
And through it a string,
blue, or orange-coloured,
or red, or white, or yellow
should be threaded.
If a man, who had eyes to see,
were to take it into his hand,
he would clearly perceive
how the one is bound up with the other.

This is reckond in him as wisdom,
and it is higher and sweeter than the last.

■

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he applies and bends down his mind
to the calling up of a mental image.

He calls up from this body
another body,
having form,
made of mind,
having all (his own body's) limbs and parts,
not deprived of any organ.

Just, oh Brahman,
as if a man were to pull out a reed from its sheath.

He would know:

'This is the reed,
this the sheath.

The reed is one thing,
the sheath another.

It is from the sheath
that the reed has been drawn forth."

And similarly were he to take a snake out of its slough,
or draw a sword from its scabbard.

This is reckond in him as wisdom,
and it is higher and sweeter than the last.

■

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he applies and bends down his mind
to the modes of the Wondrous Gift.

He enjoys the Wondrous Gift in its various modes
— being one he becomes many,
or having become many becomes one again;
he becomes visible or invisible;
he goes, feeling no obstruction,
to the further side of a wall or rampart or hill,
as if through air;
he penetrates up and down through solid ground,
as if through water;
he walks on water without breaking through,
as if on solid ground;
he travels cross-legged in the sky,
like the birds on wing;
even the Moon and the Sun,
so potent, so mighty though they be,
does he touch and feel with his hand;
he reaches in the body
even up to the heaven of Brahmā.

Just, oh Brahman,
as a clever potter or his apprentice
could make,
could succeed in getting out of properly prepared clay
any shape of vessel he wanted to have
— or an ivory carver out of ivory,
or a goldsmith out of gold.

This is reckond in him as wisdom,
and it is higher and sweeter than the last.

■

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he applies and bends down his mind
to the Heavenly Ear.

With that clear Heavenly Ear
surpassing the ear of men
he hears sounds both human and celestial,
whether far or near.

Just, oh Brahman,
as if a man were on the high road
and were to hear the sound of a kettledrum
or a tabor or the sound of chank horns and small drums
he would know:

'This is the sound of a kettledrum,
this is the sound of a tabor,
this of chank horns,
and of drums."

This is reckond in him as wisdom,
and it is higher and sweeter than the last.

■

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he directs and bends down his mind
to the knowledge which penetrates the heart.

Penetrating with his own heart
the hearts of other beings, of other men,
he knows them.

He discerns —

The passionate mind to be passionate,
and the calm mind calm;
the angry mind to be angry,
and the peaceful mind peaceful;
the dull mind to be dull,
and the alert mind alert;
the attentive mind to be attentive,
and the wandering mind wandering;
the broad mind to be broad,
and the narrow mind narrow;
the mean mind to be mean,
and the lofty mind lofty;
the stedfast mind to be stedfast,
and the wavering mind to be wavering;
the free mind to be free,
and the enslaved mind enslaved.

Just, oh Brahman,
as a woman or a man or a lad,
young and smart,
on considering attentively
the image of his own face
in a bright and brilliant mirror
or in a vessel of clear water
would, if it had a mole on it,
know that it had,
and if not,
would know it had not.

This is reckond in him as wisdom,
and it is higher and sweeter than the last.

■

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he directs and bends down his mind
to the knowledge of the memory
of his previous temporary states.

He recalls to mind
his various temporary states in days gone by
— one birth,
or two or three or four or five births,
or ten or twenty or thirty or forty or fifty
or a hundred or a thousand
or a hundred thousand births,
through many an aeon of dissolution,
many an aeon of evolution,
many an aeon of both dissolution and evolution.

'In such a place such was my name,
such my family,
such my caste,
such my food,
such my experience of discomfort or of ease,
and such the limits of my life.

When I passed away from that state,
I took form again in such a place.
There I had such and such a name
and family
and caste
and food
and experience of discomfort or of ease,
such was the limit of my life.

When I passed away from that state
I took form again here.'

— thus does he call to mind
his temporary states in days gone by
in all their details,
and in all their modes.

Just, oh Brahman,
as if a man were to go from his own to another village,
and from that one to another,
and from that one should return home.

Then he would know:

'From my own village I came to that other one.

There I stood in such and such a way,
sat thus, spake thus, and held my peace thus.

Thence I came to that other village;
and there I stood in such and such a way,
sat thus, spake thus, and held my peace thus.

And now, from that other village,
I have returned back again home."

This is reckond in him as wisdom,
and it is higher and sweeter than the last.

[125]

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he directs and bends down his mind
to the knowledge of the fall and rise of beings.

With the pure Heavenly Eye,
surpassing that of men,
he sees beings as they pass away
from one form of existence
and take shape in another;
he recognises the mean and the noble,
the well favoured and the ill favoured,
the happy and the wretched,
passing away according to their deeds:

'Such and such beings, my brethren,
evil-doers in act and word and thought,
revilers of the noble ones,
holding to wrong views,
acquiring for themselves that Karma
which results from wrong views,
they, on the dissolution of the body, after death,
are reborn in some unhappy state of suffering or woe.

But such and such beings, my brethren,
well-doers in act and word and thought,
not revilers of the noble ones,
holding to right views,
acquiring for themselves that Karma
that results from right views,
they, on the dissolution of the body, after death,
are reborn in some happy state in heaven.'

Thus with the pure Heavenly Eye,
surpassing that of men,
he sees beings as they pass away from one state of existence,
and take form in another;
he recognises the mean and the noble,
the well favoured and the ill favoured,
the happy and the wretched,
passing away according to their deeds.

Just, oh Brahman,
as if there were a house with an upper terrace on it
in the midst of a place where four roads meet,
and a man standing thereon,
and with eyes to see,
should watch men entering a house,
and coming forth out of it,
and walking hither and thither along the street,
and seated in the square in the midst.

Then he would know:

'Those men are entering a house,
and those are leaving it,
and those are walking to and fro in the street,
and those are seated in the square in the midst.'

This is reckond in him as wisdom,
and it is higher and sweeter than the last.

■

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he directs and bends down his mind
to the knowledge of the destruction of the Deadly Floods.

He knows as it really is:

'This is pain.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the origin of pain.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the cessation of pain.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the Path that leads to the cessation of pain.'

He knows as they really are:

'These are the Deadly Floods.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the origin of the Deadly Floods.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the cessation of the Deadly Floods.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the Path that leads to the cessation of the Deadly Floods.'

To him, thus knowing, thus seeing,
the heart is set free
from the Deadly Taint of Lusts,
is set free from the Deadly Taint of Becomings
is set free from the Deadly Taint of Ignorance.

In him, thus set free,
there arises the knowledge of his emancipation,
and he knows:

'Rebirth has been destroyed.

The higher life has been fulfilled.

What had to be done has been accomplished.

After this present life
there will be no beyond!

Just, oh Brahman,
as if in a mountain fastness
there were a pool of water,
clear, translucent, and serene;
and a man, standing on the bank,
and with eyes to see,
should perceive the oysters and the shells,
the gravel and the pebbles
and the shoals of fish
as they move about or lie within it.

He would know:

'This pool is clear, transparent, and serene,
and there within it
are the oysters and the shells,
and the sand and gravel,
and the shoals of fish are moving about
or lying still.

This, oh Brahman, is that wisdom."²⁵

[24] When he had thus spoken,
Soṇadaṇḍa the Brahman, said to the Blessed One:

[125] "Most excellent, oh Gotama
(are the words of thy mouth),
most excellent!

Just as if a man were to set up
that which has been thrown down,
or were to reveal
that which has been hidden away,
or were to point out the right road
to him who has gone astray,
or were to bring a light into the darkness
so that those who had eyes
could see external forms —
just even so
has the truth been made known to me,
in many a figure,
by the venerable Gotama.

I, even I,
betake myself to the venerable Gotama
as my guide,
to the truth,
and to the Order.

And may the venerable Gotama
accept me as a disciple,
as one who,
from this day forth,
as long as life endures,
has taken him as his guide.

And may the venerable Gotama
grant me the favour
of taking his tomorrow's meal with me,
and also the members of the Order with him.'

Then the Blessed One signified,
by silence,
his consent.

And Soṇadaṇḍa,
on seeing that he had done so,
arose from his seat
and bowed down before the Blessed [158] One,
and walking round him with his right hand towards him,
departed thence.

And at early dawn
he made ready at his house
sweet food,
both hard and soft,
and had the time announced to the Blessed One:

"It is time, oh Gotama,
and the meal is ready."

[25] Then the Blessed One,
who had dressed in the early morning,
put on his outer robe,
and taking his bowl with him,
went with the brethren
to Soṇadaṇḍa's house,
and sat down on the seat prepared for him.

And Soṇadaṇḍa the Brahman
satisfied the Blessed One,
and the brethren,
with his own hand,
with sweet food,
both hard and soft,
until they refused any more.

And when the Blessed One had finished his meal,
and cleansed the bowl and his hands,
Soṇadaṇḍa took a low seat,
and sat down beside him,
and said:

[26] "If, oh Gotama, after I have entered the assembly,
I should rise from my seat
to bow down before the venerable Gotama,
then the assembly would find fault with me.²⁶

Now he with whom the assembly should find fault,
his reputation would grow less;
and he who should lose his reputation,
his income would grow less
for that which we have to enjoy,
that depends upon our reputation.

If then, when I am seated in the assembly,
I stretch forth my joined palms in salutation,
let the venerable Gotama accept that from me
as a rising up from my seat.

[126] And if when I am seated in the assembly
I take off my turban,
let the venerable Gotama accept that from me
as a salutation with my head.

So if, when I am in my chariot,
I were to get down from the chariot
to salute the venerable Gotama,
the surrounders would find fault with me.

If, then, when mounted on my chariot,
I bend down low the staff of my goad,
let the venerable Gotama accept that from me
as if I had got down.

And if, when mounted on my chariot,
I should wave [159] my hand,
let the venerable Gotama accept that from me
as if I had bowed low in salutation!"²⁷

[27] Then the Blessed One instructed
and roused
and incited
and gladdened Soṇadaṇḍa the Brahman
with religious discourse,
and then rose from his seat
and departed thence.

HERE ENDS THE SOṆADAṆḌA SUTTA

¹ See the summary above, pp. 57-59, in the Introduction to the Sāmañña-phala.

² The English equivalents do not exactly cover the corresponding Pāli terms, which are not, in the texts, used always with scrupulous distinctiveness.

³ § 23 of the text, and of the translation below.

⁴ Vol. i, pp. 163-168.

⁵ See below in the Introduction to the next Sutta.

⁶ Campā, the capital of Angā, was on the East bank of the river of the same name (Jāt. IV, 454), which formed the Eastern boundary of Magadhā. It was close to the modern Bagulpur, about Lat. 24' 10' by Long. 87'. Like other names of famous places in India, it was used over again by colonists in the Far East, and there means what we now call Cochin China and Annam (I-Tsing, p. 58).

⁷ So called after Queen Gaggarā, who had had it excavated, says Buddhaghosa (Sum. I, 279). He adds that on its banks was a grove of champaka trees, so well known for the fragrance of their beautiful white flowers. It was under those trees that the wandering mendicants put up.

⁸ Sattussada. The meaning is really quite settled, though Fausböll wrongly translates ussada 'desire,' and Oldenberg and myself 'uneven,' at SN 783 = Vin. I, 3. See No. 15 in the list of the thirty-two marks. Also Jāt. IV, 188 = Dhp. A. 339; Jāt. IV, 6o = Dhp.A. 95; Jāt. IV, 4; P.G.D. 22-44; Asl. 307.

⁹ In the Buddha's time Angā was subject to Magadhā.

¹⁰ Perhaps in 'companies and separately'; but I follow Buddhaghosa. Comp. M. I, 231; A. II, 55.

¹¹ Brahma-vaccasī. With a body like that of Mahā Brahmā,' says Buddhaghosa (p. 282). The Burmese and Siamese MSS. read vacchasī.

¹² Akkhuddāvakāso, for which Buddhaghosa (pp. 282, 284) gives three contradictory explanations.

¹³ Ane'agalāya. 'Not slobbering,' says Buddhaghosa.

¹⁴ 'Eighty thousand families on the mother's, and eighty thousand on the father's side,' says Buddhaghosa — making a total for the Sākya clan of 800,000, reckoning five to a family.

¹⁵ Kamma-vādī kiriya-vādī. Compare 'Vinaya Texts,' II, 109,112.

¹⁶ ādīna-khattiya-kulā. The reading is doubtful, and the Burmese MSS., after their constant habit, have replaced it by an easy reading, abhinna-khattiya-kulā, 'unbroken Kshatriya family.' But all the Sinhalese MSS. agree in reading either ādina or ādīna; and if the reading had once been abhinna, it is difficult to see how the alteration to the more difficult reading should have occurred. Buddhaghosa skips the clause, which (if it was in the text before him) is suggestive. He would scarcely have done so unless the matter were really very simple. 'Autonomous' would make a good sense in the context; but I have taken the word, in the sense of 'primordial, aboriginal,' as being a derivative from ādi, in the same way as adhīna is from adhi. This is simple enough; the only difficulty being, that the word occurs nowhere else.

¹⁷ Literally 'anyhow'; 'such as by wearing no clothes' explains Buddhaghosa (p. 288).

¹⁸ Puṭaṃsenāpi. Compare A. II, 183, where a precisely similar phrase occurs.

¹⁹ Cittaṃ na ārādheyyaṃ, 'win over his mind.' Comp. M. I, 85, 341; II, 10; Mil. 25.

²⁰ That is, 'officiate at a sacrifice by pouring out of a spoon a libation of butter, or of spirituous Soma, to the fire god.'

²¹ Vaṇṇa, much the same as 'caste,' though that rendering is not strictly accurate. (See the Introduction to the Brahman.)

²² The full text is repeated, both here and in the following sections.

²³ This name looks suspiciously like a kind of personification of the five Aṇgas (the five characteristics) of the true Brahman as just above, §13, set out.

²⁴ Oldenberg renders this ('Buddha,' P. 283) as follows: 'The wisdom of the upright and the uprightness of the wise have, of all uprightness and wisdom in the world, the highest value.' I cannot see how this can be grammatically justified; though the sentiment is admirable enough, and would have somewhat relieved the monotony of the paragraph. On paññāna as nominative, not genitive, see, for instance, S. I, 41, 42; Sum. 1, 171, 290; A. IV, 342.

²⁵ The repetition here is nearly the same as that in the Brahman Sutta, summarised above at the translation of p. 100 of the text. The only difference is that the paragraphs 64-74 of the Sāmañña-phala there included as coming under Caraṇa (Conduct) are here included under Sīla (Uprightness). The Jhānas, there put, not under Vijjā, (Wisdom), but under Caraṇa, are here put, not under Sīla, but under Paññā (Intelligence). In other words Paññā includes all that was there included under Vijjā, and the Four Jhānas besides. But Sīla includes all that is put in the Brahman under Sīla — all indeed of the eight divisions of Sīla as summarised above, pp. 57-59. See Buddhaghosa's notes at pp. 219, 268, 292.

²⁶ On the ground, says Buddhaghosa (p. 292), that he would be saluting a much younger man, one young enough to be his grandson. If this tradition be correct, it would follow that this Sutta must be describing events very early in the public ministry of the Buddha.

²⁷ It will be seen from this section that Soṇadaṇḍa is represented as being a convert only to a limited extent. He still keeps on his school of Vedic studies, and is keenly anxious to retain the good opinion of his students, and of other Brahmans. And if that part of the Buddha's doctrine put before him in this Sutta be examined, it will be found to be, with perhaps one or two exceptions, quite compatible with the best Brahman views. No doubt if every detail were carried to its strict logical conclusion there would be no further need for Vedic studies, except from the historical standpoint. But those details are, on the face of them ethical. They belong to a plane not touched on in the then Vedic studies. They could be accepted by an adherent of the soul theory of life. And the essential doctrines of Buddhism — the Path, the Truths, and Arahatship — are barely even referred to.

5. The Wrong Sacrifice and the Right

Kūṭa-Danta Suttantaṃ

[160]

Introduction

Whoever put this Sutta together must have been deeply imbued with the spirit of subtle irony that plays no less a part in the Suttas than it does in so many of the Jātakas. I have already called attention to the great importance for the right understanding of early Buddhist teaching of a constant appreciation of this sort of subtle humour¹. It has been hitherto, so far as I am aware, entirely overlooked that is, in the Suttas; every one recognises it in the Jātaka tales. The humour is not at all intended to raise a laugh, scarcely even a smile. And the aroma of it, pervading the whole of an exposition — none the less delightful because of the very serious earnestness of the narrator, all the while, as regards the ethical point at issue — is apt to be lost sight of precisely because of that earnestness. And just as a joke may be explained, but the point of it spoilt in the process, so in the attempt to write about this irony, much more delicate than any joke, one runs great danger of smothering it under the explanatory words.

The attempt, nevertheless, must be made. And it is most easy, perhaps, to do so by an example which no one will dispute. In the Rājovāda Jātaka² we are told of the two kings, reigning over the famous lands of Benares and Kosala, who simultaneously determined to examine into their own faults! No courtier would tell them of any. So they each went, and went in vain, to the people in the city, outside the palace on a similar quest. Finding no fault-finders there, they each went on to the city gate, and then to the surrounding suburbs, all in vain. So they each made over the kingdom to their respective ministers, and with a single attendant as charioteer, sallied forth into the world, [161] to find some one to tell them of their faults. Bent on this, so serious, quest, the two came face-to-face in a low cart-track with precipitous sides. Each calls on the other to make way for a king. Both are kings! How to settle the point? 'I have it,' says one charioteer: 'Let the younger give way. The kings turn out to be exactly of an age. 'Then let the lord of the lesser realm go back.' Their kingdoms are exactly equal in size. And so on, in succession, are found to be the strength of their two armies, the amount of their treasure, the glory of their renown, the fame of their realms, the distinction of their caste, and tribe, and family. Then at last comes the solution. The king of Kosala overcomes evil by evil. Of the other, the king of Benares, it is said:

Anger he conquers by calmness,
And by goodness the wicked,
The stingy he conquers by gifts.
And by truth the speaker of lies.³

And on this being proclaimed, the king of Kosala and his charioteer alighted from their chariot. And they took out the horses, and removed their chariot, and made way for the king of Benares.

There is not a word in the whole story, here told in abstract⁴ to suggest that it is not all sober history. But of course the whole story is invented. The two kings are brought on to the stage merely to carry on their broad shoulders, the moral of the tale, and the dry humour of the predicament in which they find themselves is there to attract attention to, to add emphasis to, the lesson taught.

What is the especial point in this fun — a kind of fun quite unknown in the West? It is the piquancy of the contrast between the mock seriousness of the extravagant, even impossible details, and the real serious earnestness of the ethical tone. The fun of the extravagance can be matched, easily enough, in European, and especially in American humour. The piquancy of this contrast is Indian, and especially Buddhist. Even the theosophic myth-makers of the Vedas had a sense of the humour in the incongruities, the half realities of their myths. One feels it occasionally even in the Brāhmaṇas. In the Upanishads it is very marked. The Liturgy of the Dogs, the Fable of the Senses, the War of the Devas and Asuras, and several other such episodes [162] have this mixture of unreality and earnestness, and it finds its perhaps most touching expression in the legend of Naciketas. And the Buddhists, in their Jātaka stories, often adopted and developed old Indian tales of a similar sort.

But why should we think that this sort of humour is confined to the Jātakas? We have a Jātaka story of the Great King of Glory, certainly based on the Sutta of the same name, for it expressly quotes it, and embodies the numerous details which lead up to the sublime lesson at the end of it⁵. And those details are at least as extravagant as the details in the Rājovāda Jātaka. Allowing for all the earnestness undeniably animating both the story-teller and the hearers, it is clear that they enjoyed, all the time, the dry humour of the exaggeration and grotesqueness of the details of the story as it went along. Now the details are given only in the Sutta; and omitted, as well known, in the Jātaka. They build up a gorgeous fairy tale in which the ancient mythology of the sun-myth is brought into play in order to show how the greatest possible majesty and glory of the greatest and best of all possible kings is, after all, but vanity. And the details, here also, in the Sutta, are enlivened by an intentional exaggeration, a designed dry humour, similar to that in the Rājovāda Jātaka, above referred to.

A similar state of things is found in the Aggañña Sutta, as pointed out above in the Introduction to the Ambaṭṭha; in the Kevaḍḍha Sutta, translated below; and in many other Suttas. In all of them there is the same exaggeration, the same dry humour, the same restrained art of the storyteller. It is impossible not to see that to the early tellers and hearers of these legends, always striking, often with a special beauty of their own, the unreality of the whole thing was just as evident, and was meant to be as evident, as it is now to us. They knew quite well that the lesson taught was the principal matter, the main point compared with which all others were quite subservient. And it made no difference that, for instance, the Great King of Glory was expressly identified with the Buddha in a former birth. They accepted it all; and entered none the less into the spirit of the legend as legend, because they enjoyed both the lesson and the manner of the telling of it.

And so, I would submit, stands the case also with our present Sutta. The whole legend is obviously invented ad hoc. Its details are not meant to be taken seriously as [163] historical fact. The forced twist given to the meaning of the words vidhā and parikkhāro is not serious. The words could not be used in the new sense assigned. What we have is a sort of pun, a play upon the words, a piece of dialectic smartness, delightful to the hearers then, and unfortunately quite impossible to be rendered adequately, in English prose, for readers now.

And it is quite open to question whether this does not apply as much to the whole Sutta as to the legend of King Wide-realm. The Brahman Kūṭadanta (pointed-tooth) is mentioned nowhere else, and is very likely meant to be rather the hero of a tale than an historical character. In that case we should have before us a novelette, an historical romance, in which the Very Reverend Sir Goldstick Sharp-tooth, lord of the manor of Khānumata, — cruel enough, no doubt, and very keen on being sure that his 'soul' should be as comfortable in the next world as he was, now, in this, makes up his mind to secure that most desirable end by the murder of a number of his fellow creatures, in honour of a god, or as he would put it, by celebrating a sacrifice.

In order to make certain that not one of the technical details — for to the accurate performance of all these the god was supposed to attach great weight — should be done wrong, the intending sacrificer is ironically represented as doing the very last thing any Brahman of position, under similar circumstances, would think of doing. He goes to the Samaṇa Gotama for advice about the modes of the ritual to be performed at the sacrifice; and about the requisite utensils, the altar-furniture, to be used in making it.

The Buddha's answer is to tell him a wonderful legend of a King Wide-realm, and of the sacrifice he offered — truly the most extraordinary sacrifice imaginable. All its marvellous details, each one settled, be it noted, on the advice of a Brahman, are described with a deliberate extravagance none the less delicious because of the evident earnestness of the moral to be inferred.

The Brahman of our Sutta wants to know the three modes in which the ritual is to be performed. The three 'modes' are declared in the legend (§ 15) to be simply three conditions of mind, or rather one condition of mind at three different times, the harbouring of no regret, either before or during or after the sacrifice, at the expenditure involved. And the material accessories required, the altar-furniture, the priest's outfit, what is that? It is the hearty co-operation with the king of four divisions of his people, the nobles, the officials, the Brahmans, and the householders. That [164] makes four articles of furniture. And eight personal qualifications of the king himself. That makes other eight. And four personal qualifications of his advising Brahman make up the total of the sixteen articles required. No living thing, either animal or vegetable, is injured. All the labour is voluntary. And all the world co-operates in adding its share to the largesse of food, on strict vegetarian principles, in which, alone, the sacrifice consists. It is offered on behalf, not only of the king himself, but of all the good. And the king desires to propitiate, not any god, but living men. And the muttering of mystic verses over each article used and over mangled and bleeding bodies of unhappy victims, verses on which all the magic efficacy of a sacrifice had been supposed to depend, is quietly ignored.

It is all ironical, of course — just the very contrary, in every respect, of a typical Vedic sacrifice. And the evident unreality of the legend may be one explanation of the curious fact that the authors of the Jātaka book (notwithstanding that King Wide-realm's Chaplain is actually identified in the Sutta with the Buddha himself in a previous birth) have not included this professedly Jātaka story in their collection. This is the only case, so far discovered, in which a similar omission has been made.

Having thus laughed the Brahman ideal of sacrifice out of court with the gentle irony of a sarcastic travesty, the author or authors of the Sutta go on to say what they think a sacrifice ought to be. Far from exalting King Wide-realm's procedure, they put his sacrifice at the very bottom of a long list of sacrifices each better than the other, and leading up to the sweetest and highest of all, which is the attainment of Arahatship.

Here again, except in the last paragraph, there is nothing exclusively Buddhistic. That a sacrifice of the heart is better than a sacrifice of bullocks, the ethical more worthy than any physical sacrifice, is simply the sensible, rational, human view of the matter. The whole long history of the development of Indian thought, as carried on chiefly by Brahmans (however much it may have owed in the earliest period to the nobles and others), shows that they, the more enlightened and cultured of the Brahmans, were not only as fully alive to this truth as any Buddhist, but that they took it all along for granted.

Even in the Vedas themselves there is already the germ of this view in the mental attitude as regards Aditi and Varuṇa. And in the pre-Buddhistic Chāndogya, in the mystic identification of the sacrifice with man⁶ we find [165] certain moral states placed on an equality with certain parts of the sacrificial procedure. And among these moral states, ahiṃsā, the habit of causing no injury to any living thing, is especially mentioned. This comes very near to the Hebrew prophet's: 'I will have mercy, and not sacrifice.'⁷ The more characteristically Indian point of view is, no doubt, in the words of the old saying long afterwards taken up into the Mahābhārata, that it is truth (not mercy) that outweighs a thousand sacrifices.⁸ But there is a very great probability that the ahiṃsā doctrine, foreshadowed in the Upanishad, and afterwards so extravagantly taken up by the Nigaṇṭhas, the Gains of the Buddha's time, was also a part of the earlier Gain doctrine, and therefore not only in germ, but as a developed teaching, pre-Buddhistic. Though the Buddhists did not accept this extreme position, there would seem therefore to be no valid reason for doubting the accuracy of the Buddhist tradition that their view of sacrifice was based on a very ancient belief which was, in fact, common ground to the wise, whether inside or outside, the ranks of the Brahmans.

Our Sutta is, then, merely the oldest extant expression, in so thorough and uncompromising a way, of an ancient and widely held trend of opinion. On this question, as on the question of caste or social privileges, the early Buddhists took up, and pushed to its logical conclusions, a rational view held also by others. And on this question of sacrifice their party won. The Vedic sacrifices, of animals, had practically been given up when the long struggle between Brahmanism and Buddhism reached its close. Isolated instances of such sacrifices are known even down to the Muhammadan invasion. But the battle was really won by the Buddhists and their allies. And the combined ridicule and earnestness of our Sutta will have had its share in bringing about the victory.

That they did win is a suggestive fact. How could they have done so if the Indians of that time had been, as is so often asserted of them by European writers, more deeply addicted to all manner of ritual than any other nation under heaven, more superstitious, more averse to change in religious ceremonial? There seems to me no reason to believe that they were very different, in these respects, from [166] Greeks or Romans of the same period. On the contrary there was a well marked lay feeling, a wide-spread antagonism to the priests, a real sense of humour, a strong fund of common sense. Above all there was then the most complete and unquestioned freedom of thought and expression in religious matters that the world had yet witnessed. To regard the Indian peoples through Brahman spectacles, to judge them from the tone prevalent in the Srauta and Gṛihya Sūtras, it would seem impossible that this victory could have been won. But it was won. And our views of Indian history must be modified accordingly.

There is a curious expression in the stock phrase describing the learned Brahman, so often found in the Piṭakas, which I have left untranslated in this Sutta, being uncertain as to the meaning in which it was used at the time when our Sutta was composed. It will be instructive, in more ways than one, to collect and consider the other passages in which the word occurs.

Lokāyata is explained by Wilson as 'the system of atheistical philosophy taught by Kārvāka,⁹ and by the Petersburg Dictionary as 'Materialism'. Now the description of the good Brahman as put, in the Buddhist Suttas, into the mouth of Brahmans themselves,¹⁰ mentions Lokāyata as one branch of his learning. The whole paragraph is complimentary. And though the exact connotation of one or two of the other terms is doubtful, they are all descriptive of just those things which a Brahman would have been rightly proud to be judged a master of. It is evident, therefore, that the Dictionary interpretations of the word are quite out of place in this connection.

Yet they are each of them, at least for a later period, well authenticated. Kumārila Bhaṭṭa, in his Vārttika (verse 10), charges the Mīmāṃsā system with having been, for the most part, converted into a Lokāyata system, and claims for his own book the merit of bringing it back to theistic lines.¹¹ Now of course the Mīmāṃsists would indignantly deny this. Kumārila, who seems to have been a good deal of a bigot, is here merely hurling at adversaries, who claimed to be as orthodox as himself, a term of abuse. But it is clear that he uses that term in the sense of 'atheistic.' The exact phrase [167] would be nāstika, as opposed to his own āstika-patha: that is, the system or the man who says 'there is not,' an infidel. This is somewhat wider than atheist; it comes however, in Kumārila's mouth, to much the same thing.

Saṇkarācārya uses the word Lokāyata several times,¹² and always in the same specific sense as the view of those who look upon the soul as identical with the body, as existing only so long as the body exists, not continuing, after death, in a new condition and separate from the body. A very similar, if not indeed the very same view is also controverted in the Brahmajāla Sutta (above, P. 46); and is constantly referred to throughout the Piṭakas under the stock phrase taṃ jīvaṃ taṃ sarīraṃ.¹³ But it is never called Lokāyata in the Piṭakas. It seems to be the view that there is a soul; but that it is diffused through the body, and dies with it; and is not a separate unity, within the body but not of it, which flies away from the body after death. It is not necessary to suppose that either. Saṇkara or the Buddhists had in their minds any book setting forth a philosophy based on this single proposition, or any actual school using such a book as a manual. It may have been so. But the expressions used point rather to an opinion held by certain thinkers, in union with other opinions, and not expounded in any special treatise. Nor do either the Buddhists or Saṇkara pretend to set out that opinion in full. They are dealing with it only so far as is necessary to enforce their own contrary positions. And though 'materialist,' as a rough and ready translation of. Saṇkara's Lokāyatika, gives a good idea, to a European reader, of the sort of feeling conveyed to Saṇkara's Indian readers, yet it is not quite exact. European 'materialists' (and one or two may be discovered by careful search) do not hold the view which Saṇkara describes to his Lokāyatikas.

Buddhaghosa in our passage has: Lokāyataṃ vuccati vitaṇḍa-vāda-satthaṃ, 'the Lokāyata is a text-book of the Vitaṇḍas (Sophists)¹⁴ This does not help us much; but previously, p. 91, he explains Lokakkhāyikā as follows: 'Foolish talk according to the Lokāyata, that is the Vitaṇḍa, such as: "By whom was this world created? By [168] such a one. A crow is white from the whiteness of its bones; cranes are red from the redness of their blood."'

Other Pāli comments on the word are the Abhidhāna Padīpikā (verse 112), which says simply, probably following Buddhaghosa: Vitaṇḍa-satthaṃ viññeyyaṃ yaṃ taṃ lokāyataṃ. The date of this work is, the middle of the twelfth century A.D. Much clearer is Aggavaṃsa in the Sadda-nīti, which is a generation older. He says:¹⁵

Loko ti bāla-loko; ettha āyatanti ussāhanti vāyamanti vādassādenāti lokāyataṃ. Ayatati vā tena loko, na yatati na īhati vā, lokāyataṃ. Taṃ hi gandhaṃ nissāya sattā puñña-kiriyāya. kittaṃ na uppadenti. Lokāyataṃ. nāma: sabbaṃ Ucchiṭṭhaṃ sabbaṃ anucchiṭṭhaṃ seto kāko kāḷo bako iminā va iminā va kāranenāti evam-ādi-niratthaka-karaṃa-paṭisaṃyuttaṃ titthiya-satthaṃ, yaṃ loke Vitaṇḍasatthaṃ vuccati, yaṃ sandhāya Bodhisatto asamadhuro Vidhūra-paṇḍito:

Na seve Lokāyatikaṃ, n'etaṃ puññāya vaḍḍhanaṃ" ti āha.

'Loko means the common world. Lokāyata means: "on that they āyatanti;" that is, they exert themselves about it, strive about it, through the pleasure they take in discussion. Or perhaps it means: "the world does not yatati by it;" that is, does not depend on it, move on by it. For living beings do not stir up their hearts to right-doing by reason of that book.¹⁶ Now the Lokāyata is the book of the unbelievers (of the Titthiyas) full of such useless disputations as the following: "All is impure; all is not impure; the crow is white, the crane is black; and for this reason or for that" — the book known in the world as the Vitaṇḍa-sattha, of which the Bodisat, the incomparable leader, Vidhūra the pandit, said:

"Follow not the Lokāyata, that works not for progress in merit."

[169] The verse quoted-certainly a very old one-is in the Vidhūra Jātaka,¹⁷ and the commentator there says: 'This means: Follow not Lokāyata disputation, Vitaṇḍa chatter, concerned with useless matters which neither give paradise nor lead men on into the Path.'

Saṇkara says: 'There is thus, according to them, no soul, separate from the body, and capable of going to the heavenly world or obtaining release.'¹⁸ The unknown author of the Jātaka commentary, who certainly wrote however in the fifth century, gives the allied proposition as his own conclusion from the uselessness of their discussions, not as the opinion of the Lokāyatikas themselves. It would be an easy transition from the one expression to the other. And the difference is suggestive, especially in the light of other passages in both Sanskrit and Pāli books.

For while the Mahābhārata has precisely the same use of the word as the Piṭakas, later works use it in a manner approximating more and more nearly to that of Saṇkara. The passage in the Mahābhārata is at I, 2889 (= Hari Vaṃsa 14068), where, at the end of a list of the accomplishments of learned Brahmans, they are said to be masters of the Lokāyata. Being mentioned, as in our passage, at the end of the list, it is plain that this branch of learning is meant to be taken as of minor importance. But it is not yet considered unfavourably, much less opprobiously. And the Petersburg Dictionary, from which I take most of these references, points out that the word may possibly, in this passage, have some other meaning than 'Materialism.'

The Rāmāyaṇa goes further. There the word is also in a list, but the Laukāyatikā are blamed as 'clever in useless things.'¹⁹ So in the Saddharma Puṇḍarīka, the good Mahāyānist does not serve or court or wait upon (among other low people) 'the Lokāyatikas who know by heart the Lokāyata mantras (mystic verses).'²⁰ The date of [170] this may be a century or two after Christ. And in the Gain book, entitled the Bhagavatī, which Weber puts at about the same time, the Lokāyatikas occur in a similar list of blameworthy persons.²¹

In the Milinda, which is probably somewhat earlier, the word is mentioned twice. One passage ascribes a knowledge of the Lokāyata (in a sentence expanded from the very clause in our Sutta) to the hero of the story, Nāgasena.²² Here the Milinda is quite at the old standpoint. The other passage is in a parenthesis,²³ in which the sub-hero, the king, is described as 'fond of wordy disputations, and in the habit of wrangling against the quibbles of Lokāyatas and Vitaṇḍas.' This may possibly be a gloss which has crept into the text. But in any case it is evidence that, at the time when it was written, the later view of the meaning of the word had become prevalent.

In the long list of various sorts of hermits given in the Harsha Carita the Lokāyatikas come among others who would be classed by Vedāntists as heretics²⁴. We cannot, unfortunately, draw any certain conclusion as to whether or not there were actually any Lokāyatikas living in Bāṇa's time. In expanding previous descriptions of the concourse of hermits in the forest, he may be merely including in his list all the sorts of such people he had ever heard or read of.

Lastly, the Lokāyata system is, in various works of the fourteenth century and later, appropriately fathered on Cārvāka, a mythical character in the Mahābhārata, an ogre, who appears in the garb of a Brahman.²⁵ It is not certain whether this is due to the ingenuity of a friend or a foe. In either case, like the fathering of the later Sāṇkhya on the ancient sage Kapila; or the fathering of the collection of fables, made by Planudes in the fourteenth century A.D., upon Aesop the story-teller of the — fifth century B.C., it has been eminently successful, has deceived many, and is still widely accepted.

Pending the discovery of other texts, and especially of [171] such as are not only the testimony of opponents, the best working hypothesis to explain the above facts seems to be that about 500 B. C. the word Lokāyata was used in a complimentary way as the name of a branch of Brahman learning, and probably meant Nature-lore-wise sayings, riddles, rhymes, and theories handed down by tradition as to cosmogony, the elements, the stars, the weather, scraps of astronomy, of elementary physics, even of anatomy, and knowledge of the nature of precious stones, and of birds and beasts and plants. To be a master of such lore was then considered by no means unbecoming to a learned Brahman, though it ranked, of course, below his other studies. At that time there was no school so called, and no special handbook of such knowledge. But portions of it trenched so closely upon, were so often useful as metaphor in discussing the higher and more especially priestly wisdom, that we find sayings that may well have belonged to it preserved in the pre-Buddhistic literature. Such passages, for instance, as B.r.i. ār. Up. III, 8, 3, Chānd. Up. IV, 17, 1, and VI, 2-7, on the worlds and on cosmogony; Chānd. III. on the colour of the rays of the sun; .B.r.i. ār. Up. II, 1, 5-7, and III, 7, 3-7, on the elements; Ait. ār. III, 2, 1, 4, and others, on the parts of the body; and many others of a similar kind on these and other subjects might be cited as examples.

The amount then existing of such lore was too small to make a fair proficiency in it incompatible with other knowledge. As the amount of it grew larger, and several branches of natural science were regularly studied, a too exclusive acquaintance with Lokāyata became looked upon with disfavour. Even before the Christian era masters of the dark sayings, the mysteries, of such mundane lore were marked with sophists and casuists. This feeling is increasingly vouched for in the early centuries of our era. In the fifth century we hear of a book, presumably on the 'riddles and mysteries of the craft, as it is called 'a book of quibbles.' Various branches of mundane science had been by that time fairly well worked out. Lokāyata was still the name for the old Nature-lore, on the same level as folk-lore, and in contradistinction, not only to theosophy on the one hand, but to such science as there was on the other.

In the first half of the eighth century Kumārila uses the word as a mere term of abuse, and in the sense of infidel of his equally orthodox opponents, the Mīmāṃsists. And shortly afterwards Saṇkara, in setting forth his theory of the soul, controverts a curious opinion which he ascribes to Lokāyatikas, — possibly wrongly, as the very same opinion [172] was controverted ages before in the Piṭakas, and not there called Lokāyata, though the word was in use in Piṭaka times.

Finally in the fourteenth century the great theologian Sāyaṇa-Mādhava has a longish chapter in which he ascribes to the Lokāyatikas the most extreme forms of the let-us-eat-and-drink-for-to-morrow-we-die view of life; of Pyrrhonism in philosophy, and of atheism in theology. The Lokāyata had no doubt, at that time, long ceased to exist. His very able description has all the appearance of being drawn from his own imagination; and is chiefly based on certain infidel doggerel verses which cannot possibly have formed a part of the Lokāyata studied by the Brahmans of old²⁶. It is the ideal of what will happen to the man of some intellect, but morally so depraved that he will not accept the theosophist position.

Throughout the whole story we have no evidence of any one who called himself a Lokāyatika, or his own knowledge Lokāyata. After the early use of the word in some such sense as Nature-lore, folk-lore, there is a tone of unreality over all the statements we have. And of the real existence of a school of thought, or of a system of philosophy that called itself by the name there is no trace. In the middle period the riddles and quibbles of the Nature-lorists are despised. In the last period the words Lokāyata, Lokāyatika, become mere hobby horses, pegs on which certain writers can hang the views that they impute to their adversaries, and give them, in doing so, an odious name.

[173]

V. Kūṭa-Danta Suttantaṃ

The Wrong Sacrifice and the Right

THUS HAVE I HEARD.

The Blessed One once, when going on a tour through Magadhā,
with a great multitude of the brethren,
with about five hundred brethren,
came to a Brahman village in Magadhā called Khānumata.

And there at Khānumata he lodged in the Ambalaṭṭhikā pleasaunce.²⁷

Now at that time the Brahman Kūṭadanta was dwelling at Kānumata,
a place teeming with life,
with much grassland and woodland and water and corn,
on a royal domain presented him
by Seniya Bimbisāra the king of Magadhā,
as a royal gift,
with power over it as if he were the king.

And just then a great sacrifice was being got ready
on behalf of Kūṭadanta the Brahman.

And a hundred bulls,
and a hundred steers,
and a hundred heifers,
and a hundred goats,
and a hundred rams had been brought to the post for the sacrifice.

2. Now the Brahmans and householders of Khānumata
heard the news of the arrival of the Samaṇa Gotama²⁸.

[128] And they began to leave Khānumata
in companies and in bands
to go to the Ambalaṭṭhikā pleasaunce.

3. And just then Kūṭadanta the Brahman
had gone apart to the upper terrace of his house
for his siesta;
and seeing the people thus go by,
he asked his doorkeeper the reason.

And the doorkeeper told him.²⁹

[174] 4. Then Kūṭadanta thought:

"I have heard that the Samaṇa Gotama understands
about the successful performance of a sacrifice
with its threefold method
and its sixteen accessory instruments.

Now I don't know all this,
and yet I want to carry out a sacrifice.

It would be well for me
to go to the Samaṇa Gotama,
and ask him about it."

So he sent his doorkeeper to the Brahmans and householders of Khānumata,
to ask them to wait till he could go with them
to call upon the Blessed One.

5. But there were at that time
a number of Brahmans staying at Khānumata
to take part in the great sacrifice.

And when they heard
that Kūṭadanta was intending to visit the Samaṇa Gotama,
they went to Kūṭadanta,
and asked whether that was so.

"That is my intention, Sirs.

I propose to call on the Samaṇa Gotama."

"Let not the venerable Kūṭadanta do that.

It is not fitting for him to do so.

If it were the venerable Kūṭadanta
who went to call upon him,
then the venerable Kūṭadanta's reputation
would decrease
and the Samaṇa Gotama's would increase.

This is the first reason
why you, Sir,
should not call upon him,
but he upon you."

And they laid before Kūṭadanta the Brahman
in like manner
also other considerations,
to wit:

That he was well born on both sides,
of pure descent
through the mother and through the father
back through seven generations,
with no slur put upon him,
and no reproach in respect of birth -

That he was prosperous,
well to do,
and rich —

That he was a repeater
(of the sacred words),
knowing the mystic verses by heart,
one who had mastered the Three Vedas,
with the indices,
the ritual,
the phonology,
and the exegesis
(as a fourth),
and the legends as a fifth,
learned in the words
and in the grammar,
versed in Lokāyata
(Nature-lore),
and in the theory of the signs
on the body of a great man —

That he was handsome,
pleasant to look upon,
inspiring trust,
gifted with great beauty of complexion,
fair in colour,
fine in presence,
stately to behold —

That he was virtuous,
increased in virtue,
gifted with virtue
that had waxed great —

That he had a pleasant voice
and pleasing delivery,
and was gifted with polite address,
distinct,
not husky,
suitable for making clear
the matter in hand —

That he was the teacher
of the teachers of many,
instructing three hundred Brahmans
in the repetition of the mystic verses,
and that many young Brahmans,
from various directions
and various counties,
all craving for the verses,
came to learn them by heart under him —

That he was aged,
old, and well stricken in years,
long-lived and full of days —

That he was honoured,
held of weight,
esteemed worthy,
venerated and revered by Seniya Bimbisāra,
the king of Magadhā —

That he was honoured,
held of weight,
esteemed worthy,
venerated and revered
by Pokkharasādi, the Brahman —

That he dwelt at Khānumata,
a place teeming with life,
with much grassland and woodland and corn,
on a royal fief
granted him by Seniya Bimbisāra,
the king of Magadhā,
as a royal gift,
with power over it
as if he were the king —

For each of these reasons
it was not fitting that he, Kūṭadanta the Brahman,
should call upon the Samaṇa Gotama,
but rather that the Samaṇa Gotama
should call upon him.

And when they had thus spoken,
Kūṭadanta said to them:

"Then, Sirs, listen,
and hear why it is fitting
that I should call upon the venerable Gotama,
and not he should call upon me —

'Truly, Sirs,
the venerable Gotama is well born on both sides,
of pure descent through the mother and the father
back through seven generations,
with no slur put upon him,
and no reproach in respect of birth —

Truly, Sirs, the Samaṇa Gotama
has gone forth (into the religious life),
giving up the great clan of his relations —

Truly, Sirs, the Samaṇa Gotama
has gone forth (into the religious life),
giving up much money and gold,
treasure both buried and above the ground —

Truly, Sirs, the Samaṇa Gotama,
while he was still a young man,
without a grey hair on his head,
in the beauty of his early manhood,
has gone forth from the household life
into the homeless state —

Truly, Sirs, the Samaṇa Gotama,
though his father and mother were unwilling,
and wept,
their cheeks being wet with tears,
nevertheless cut off his hair and beard,
and donned the yellow robes,
and went out from the household life
into the homeless state —

Truly, Sirs, the Samaṇa Gotama is handsome,
pleasant to look upon,
inspiring trust,
gifted with great beauty of complexion,
fair in colour,
fine in presence,
stately to behold —

Truly, Sirs, the Samaṇa Gotama
is virtuous
with the virtue of the Arahats,
good and virtuous,
gifted with goodness and virtue —

Truly, Sirs, the Samaṇa Gotama
hath a pleasant voice,
and a pleasing delivery,
he is gifted with polite address,
distinct,
not husky,
suitable for making clear
the matter in hand —

Truly, Sirs, the Samaṇa Gotama
is the teacher of the teachers of many —

Truly, Sirs the Samaṇa Gotama
has no passion of lust left in him,
and has put away all fickleness of mind —

Truly, Sirs, the Samaṇa Gotama
believes in Karma,
and in action,
he is one who puts righteousness
in the forefront (of his exhortations)
to the Brahman race —

Truly, Sirs, the Samaṇa Gotama
went forth from a distinguished family
primeval among the Kshatriya clans —

Truly, Sirs, the Samaṇa Gotama
went forth from a family
prosperous,
well to do,
and rich —

Truly, Sirs, people come right across the country
from distant lands
to ask questions of the Samaṇa Gotama —

Truly, Sirs, multitudes of heavenly beings
put their trust in the Samaṇa Gotama —

Truly, Sirs, such is the high reputation
noised abroad concerning the Samaṇa Gotama,
that he is said to be an Arahat,
exalted,
fully awakened,
abounding in wisdom and righteousness,
happy,
with knowledge of the worlds,
a Blessed One,
a Buddha —

Truly, Sirs, the Samaṇa Gotama
has all the thirty two bodily marks of a Great Being —

Truly, Sirs, the Samaṇa Gotama bids all men welcome, is congenial, conciliatory, not supercilious, accessible to all, not backward in conversation —

Truly, Sirs, the Samaṇa Gotama
is honoured,
held of weight,
esteemed and venerated and revered
by the four classes
(of his followers —
the brethren and sisters of the Order,
laymen and lay women) —

Truly, Sirs, many gods and men
believe in the Samaṇa Gotama —

Truly, Sirs, in whatsoever village or town
the Samaṇa Gotama stays,
there the non-humans
do the humans no harm —

Truly, Sirs, the Samaṇa Gotama
as the head of an Order,
of a school,
as the teacher of a school,
is the acknowledged chief
of all the founders of sects.

Whereas some Samaṇas and Brahmans
have gained a reputation
by all sorts of insignificant matters,
not so the Samaṇa Gotama.

His reputation comes
from perfection in conduct
and righteousness —

Truly, Sirs, the king of Magadhā, Seniya Bimbisāra,
with his children and his wives,
with his people,
and his courtiers,
has put his trust in the Samaṇa Gotama —

Truly, Sirs, King Pasenadi of Kosala,
with his children and his wives,
with his people and his courtiers,
has put his trust in the Samaṇa Gotama —

Truly, Sirs, Pokkharasādi the Brahman,
with his children and his wives,
with his people and his intimates,
has put his trust in the Samaṇa Gotama —

Truly, Sirs, the Samaṇa Gotama
is honoured,
held of weight,
esteemed,
and venerated and revered alike
by Seniya Bimbisāra, the king of Magadhā,
by Pasenadi the king of Kosala,
and by Pokkharasādi the Brahman —

Truly, Sirs, the Samaṇa Gotama
has now arrived at Khānumata.

But all Samaṇas and Brahmans
who come into our village borders
are our guests.

And guests we ought to esteem and honour,
to venerate
and revere.

And as he is now so come,
he ought to be so treated,
as a guest —

For each and all of these considerations
it is not fitting
that the Samaṇa Gotama should call upon us,
but rather does it behove us to call upon him.

And so far only
do I know the excellencies of the Samaṇa Gotama,
but these are not all of them,
for his excellence is beyond measure."

[134] Then they were satisfied,
and went with him
to call upon the Blessed One.³⁰

So Kūṭadanta the Brahman
went up to where the Blessed One was.

And when he had come there
he exchanged with the Blessed One
the greetings and compliments
of politeness and courtesy,
and took his seat on one side.

9. And when he was seated there
Kūṭadanta the Brahman told the Blessed One
what he had heard,³¹
and requested him to tell him
about success in performing a sacrifice
in its three modes³²
and with its accessory articles of furniture
of sixteen kinds.³³

[175] "Well then, O Brahman,
give ear
and listen attentively
and I will speak."

"Very well, Sir," said Kūṭadanta in reply;
and the Blessed One-spake as follows: —

10. "Long ago, O Brahman,
there was a king by name Wide-realm (Mahā Vijita),³⁴
mighty,
with great wealth and large property,
with stores of silver and gold,
of aids to enjoyment,³⁵
of goods and corn;
with his treasure-houses
and his garners full.

Now when King Wide-realm
was once sitting alone in meditation
he became anxious at the thought:

'I have in abundance all the good things
a mortal can enjoy.

The whole wide circle of the earth
is mine by conquest to possess.

'Twere well if I were to offer a great sacrifice
that should ensure me weal
and welfare for many days.'

And he had the Brahman, his chaplain, called;
and telling him all that he had thought,
[135] he said:

'So I would fain, O Brahman,
offer a great sacrifice
— let the venerable one instruct me how —
for my weal and my welfare
for many days.'

11. Thereupon the Brahman who was chaplain
said to the king:

'The king's country, Sire,
is harassed and harried.

There are dacoits abroad
who pillage the villages and townships,
and who make the roads unsafe.

Were the king,
so long as that is so,
to levy a fresh tax,
verily his majesty would be acting wrongly.

But perchance his majesty might think:

"I'll soon put a stop to these scoundrels' game
by degradation and banishment,
and fines and bonds and death!"

But their licence
cannot be satisfactorily
put a stop to so.

The remnant left unpunished
would still go on harassing the realm.

Now there is one method to adopt
[176] to put a thorough end
to this disorder.

Whosoever there be in the king's realm
who devote themselves
to keeping cattle and the farm,
to them let his majesty the king
give food and seed-corn.

Whosoever there be in the king's realm
who devote themselves to trade,
to them let his majesty the king
give capital.

Whosoever there be in the king's realm
who devote themselves to government service,³⁶
to them let his majesty the king
give wages and food.

Then those men,
following each his own business,
will no longer harass the realm,
the king's revenue will go up;
the country will be quiet

and at peace;
and the populace,
pleased one with another and happy,
dancing their children in their arms,
will dwell with open doors.'"

Then King Wide-realm, O Brahman,
accepted the word of his chaplain,
[138] and did as he had said.

And those men,
following each his business,
harassed the realm no more.

And the king's revenue went up.

And the country became quiet and at peace.

And the populace,
pleased one with another and happy,
dancing their children in their arms,
dwelt with open doors.

12. So King Wide-realm had his chaplain called,
and said:

'The disorder is at an end.

The country is at peace.

I want to offer that great sacrifice —
let the venerable one instruct me how —
for my weal and my welfare
for many days.'

'Then let his majesty the king send invitations
to whomsoever there may be in his realm
who are Kshatriyas,
vassals of his,
either in the country or the towns;
or who are ministers and officials of his,
either in the country or the towns;
or who are Brahmans of position,
either in the country or the towns;
or who are householders of substance,
either in the country or the towns,
saying:

"I intend to offer a great sacrifice.

Let the venerable ones
give their sanction
to what will be to me
for weal and welfare
for many days."'

Then King Wide-realm, O Brahman,
accepted the [177] word of his chaplain,
[137] and did as he had said.

And they each —
Kshatriyas and Ministers
and Brahmans and householders —
made alike reply:

'Let his majesty the king celebrate the sacrifice.

The time is suitable, O king!'³⁷

Thus did these four,
as colleagues by consent,
become wherewithal
to furnish forth that sacrifice.³⁸

13. King Wide-realm was gifted in the following eight ways: —

He was well born on both sides,
on the mother's side and on the father's,
of pure descent back through seven generations,
and no slur was cast upon him,
and no reproach,
in respect of birth —

He was handsome,
pleasant in appearance,
inspiring trust,
gifted with great beauty of complexion,
fair in colour,
fine in presence,
stately to behold —

He was mighty, with great wealth,
and large property,
with stores of silver and gold,
of aids to enjoyment,
of goods and corn,
with his treasure-houses and his garners full —

He was powerful,
in command of an army,
loyal and disciplined,
in four divisions
(of elephants, cavalry, chariots, and bowmen),
burning up, methinks,
his enemies by his very glory —

He was a believer,
and generous,
a noble giver,
keeping open house,
a welling spring³⁹ whence Samaṇas and Brahmans,
the poor and the wayfarers,
beggars,
and petitioners might draw,
a doer of good deeds —

He was learned in all kinds of knowledge —

He knew the meaning of what had been said,
and could explain:

'This saying has such and such a meaning,
and that such and such' —

[178] He was intelligent,
expert and wise,
and able to think out things present or past or future —⁴⁰

And these eight gifts of his, too,
became wherewithal
to furnish forth that sacrifice.

14. The Brahman his chaplain
was gifted in the following four ways: —

He was well born on both sides,
on the mother's and on the father's,
of pure descent back through seven generations,
with no slur cast upon him,
and no reproach in respect of birth —

He was a student repeater
who knew the mystic verses by heart,
master of the Three Vedas,
with the indices,
the ritual,
the phonology,
and the exegesis (as a fourth),
and the legends as a fifth,
learned in the idioms and the grammar,
versed in Lokāyata (Nature-lore) and in the thirty marks on the body of a great man —

He was virtuous,
established in virtue,
gifted with virtue that had grown great —

He was intelligent,
expert,
and wise;
foremost,
or at most the second,
among those who hold out the ladle.

Thus these four gifts of his, too,
became wherewithal to furnish forth that sacrifice.

15. And further, O Brahman,
the chaplain,
before the sacrifice had begun,
explained to King Wide-realm the three modes:

Should his majesty the king,
before starting on the great sacrifice,
feel any such regret as:

'Great, alas, will be
the portion of my wealth used up herein,'
let not the king harbour such regret.

Should his majesty the king,
whilst he is offering the great sacrifice,
feel any such regret as:

'Great, alas, will be
the portion of my wealth used up herein,'
let not the king harbour such regret.

Should his majesty the king,
when the great sacrifice has been offered,
feel any such regret as:

'Great, alas, has been
the portion of my wealth used up herein,'
let not the king harbour such regret.'

[179] Thus did the chaplain, O Brahman,
before the sacrifice had begun,
explain to King Wide-realm the three modes.

16. And further, O Brahman,
the chaplain,
before the sacrifice had begun,
in order to prevent any compunction
that might afterwards,
in ten ways,
arise as regards those who had taken part therein,
said:

'Now there will come to your sacrifice, Sire,
men who destroy the life of living things,
and men who refrain therefrom
— men who take what has not been given,
and men who refrain therefrom
— men who act evilly in respect of lusts,
and men who refrain therefrom
— men who speak lies,
and men who do not
— men who slander,
and men who do not
— men who speak rudely,
and men who do not
— men who chatter vain things,
and men who refrain therefrom
— [139, 140] men who covet,
and men who covet not
— men who harbour illwill,
and men who harbour it not
— men whose views are wrong,
and men whose views are right.

Of each of these let them,
who do evil,
alone with their evil.

For them who do well
let your majesty offer,
for them, Sire,
arrange the rites,
them let the king gratify,
in them shall your heart within find peace.'

17. And further, O Brahman,
the chaplain,
whilst the king was carrying out the sacrifice,
instructed
and aroused
and incited
and gladdened his heart
in sixteen ways:

'Should there be people
who should say of the king,
as he is offering the sacrifice:

"King Wide-realm is celebrating sacrifice
without having invited
the four classes of his subjects,
without himself having
the eight personal gifts,
without the assistance of a Brahman
who has the four personal gifts;"
then would they speak
not according to the fact.

For the consent of the four classes
has been obtained,
the king has the eight,
and his Brahman has the four,
personal gifts.

With regard to each and every one
of these sixteen conditions
the king may rest assured
that it has been fulfilled.

He can sacrifice,
and be glad,
and possess his heart in peace.'⁴¹

[180] [141] 18. And further, O Brahman,
at that sacrifice
neither were any oxen slain,
neither goats,
nor fowls,
nor fatted pigs,
nor were any kinds of living creatures put to death.

No trees were cut down
to be used as posts,
no Dabbha grasses mown
to strew around the sacrificial spot.

And the staves and messengers and workmen there employed
were driven neither by rods nor fear,
nor carried on their work
weeping with tears upon their faces.

Whoso chose to help, he worked;
whoso chose not to help, worked not.

What each chose to do, he did,
what they chose not to do,
that was left undone.

With ghee,
and oil,
and butter,
and milk,
and honey,
and sugar only
was that sacrifice accomplished.

[142]19. And further, O Brahman,
the Kshatriya vassals,
and the ministers and officials,
and the Brahmans of position,
and the householders of substance,
whether of the country or of the towns,
went to King Wide-realm,
taking with them much wealth,
and said:

'This abundant wealth, Sire,
have we brought hither for the king's use.

Let his majesty accept it at our hands!'

'Sufficient wealth have I, my friends,
laid up,
the produce of taxation that is just.

Do you keep yours,
and take away more with you!'

When they had thus been refused by the king,
they went aside,
and considered thus one with the other:

'It would not beseem us now,
were we to take this wealth away again
to our own homes.

King Wide-realm is offering a great sacrifice.

Let us too make an after-sacrifice!'

20. So the Kshatriyas established a continual largesse
to the east of the king's sacrificial pit,
and the officials
to the south thereof,
and the Brahmans
to the west thereof,
and the householders
to the north thereof.

And the things given,
and the manner of their gift,
was in all respects
like unto the great sacrifice
of King Wide-realm himself.

[143] Thus, O Brahman, there was a fourfold co-operation,
and King Wide-realm was gifted with [181] eight personal gifts,
and his officiating Brahman with four.

And there were three modes
of the giving of that sacrifice.

This, O Brahman,
is what is called
the due celebration of a sacrifice
in its threefold mode
and with its furniture of sixteen kinds!"

21. And when he had thus spoken,
those Brahmans lifted up their voices in tumult,
and said:

"How glorious the sacrifice,
how pure its accomplishment!"

But Kūṭadanta the Brahman
sat there in silence.

Then those Brahmans said to Kūṭadanta:

"Why do you not approve
the good words of the Samaṇa Gotama
as well-said?"

"I do not fail to approve:
for he who approves not as well-said
that which has been well spoken by the Samaṇa Gotama,
verily his head would split in twain.

But I was considering
that the Samaṇa Gotama does not say:

'Thus have I heard,'
nor 'Thus behoves it to be,'
but says only 'Thus it was then,'
or 'It was like that then.'

So I thought:

'For a certainty
the Samaṇa Gotama himself
must at that time
have been King Wide-realm,
or the Brahman who officiated for him
at that sacrifice.

Does the venerable Gotama
admit that he who celebrates such a sacrifice,
or causes it to be celebrated,
is reborn
at the dissolution of the body,
after death,
into some state of happiness in heaven?"

"Yes, O Brahman, that I admit.

And at that time
I was the Brahman who,
as chaplain,
had that sacrifice performed."

22. "Is there, O Gotama,
any other sacrifice
less difficult
and less troublesome,
with more fruit
and more advantage still
than this?"

[144] "Yes, O Brahman, there is."

"And what, O Gotama, may that be?"

"The perpetual gifts
kept up in a family
where they are given specifically
to virtuous recluses."

23. "But what is the reason, O Gotama,
and what the cause,
why such perpetual givings
specifically to virtuous recluses,
and kept up in a family,
are less difficult and troublesome,
of greater fruit
and greater [182] advantage
than that other sacrifice
with its three modes
and its accessories of sixteen kinds?"

"To the latter sort of sacrifice,
O Brahman,
neither will the Arahats go,
nor such as have entered on the Arahat way.

And why not?

Because at it
beating with sticks takes place,
and seizing by the throat.⁴²

But they will go to the former,
where such things are not.

And therefore are such perpetual gifts
above the other sort of sacrifice."

24. "And is there, O Gotama,
any other sacrifice
less difficult and less troublesome,
of greater fruit
and of greater advantage
than either of these?"

[145] "Yes, O Brahman, there is."

"And what, O Gotama, may that be?"

"The putting up of a dwelling place (Vihāra)
on behalf of the Order
in all the four directions."

25. "And is there, O Gotama,
any other sacrifice
less difficult
and less troublesome,
of greater fruit
and of greater advantage
than each and all of these three?"

"Yes, O Brahman, there is."

"And what, O Gotama, may that be?"

"He who with trusting heart
takes a Buddha as his guide,
and the Truth,
and the Order —
that is a sacrifice
better than open largesse,
better than perpetual alms,
better than the gift of a dwelling place."

[146]26. "And is there, O Gotama, any other sacrifice
less difficult
and less troublesome,
of greater fruit
and of greater advantage
than all these four?"

"When a man with trusting heart
takes upon himself the precepts —
abstinence from destroying life;
abstinence from taking what has not been given
abstinence from evil;
conduct in respect of lusts;
abstinence from lying words;
abstinence from strong,
intoxicating,
maddening drinks,
the root of carelessness —
that is a sacrifice
better than open largesse,
better than perpetual alms,
better than the gift of dwelling places,
better than accepting guidance."

[183] 27. "And is there, O Gotama,
any other sacrifice
less difficult
and less troublesome,
of greater fruit
and of greater advantage
than all these five?"

"Yes, O Brahman, there is."

"And what, O Gotama, may that be?"

§

And the Blessed One said:

"Suppose, oh Brahman, there appears in the world
one who has won the truth, an Arahat,
a fully awakened one,
abounding in wisdom and goodness, happy,
who knows all worlds,
unsurpassed as a guide
to mortals willing to be led,
a teacher for gods and men,
a Blessed One, a Buddha.

He, by himself, thoroughly knows and sees,
as it were, face-to-face this universe,
— including the worlds above of the gods,
the Brahmas, and the Māras,
and the world below with its recluses and Brahmans,
its princes and peoples, —
and having known it,
he makes his knowledge known to others.

The truth, lovely in its origin,
lovely in its progress,
lovely in its consummation,
doth he proclaim,
both in the spirit and in the letter,
the higher life doth he make known,
in all its fullness and in all its purity.

A householder or one of his children,
or a man of inferior birth in any class
listens to that truth;
and on hearing it he has faith in the Tathāgata
(the one who has found the truth);
and when he is possessed of that faith,
he considers thus within himself:

'Full of hindrances is household life,
a path for the dust of passion.

Free as the air is the life
of him who has renounced all worldly things.

How difficult is it for the man who dwells at home
to live the higher life in all its fullness,
in all its purity,
in all its bright perfection!

Let me then cut off my hair and beard,
let me clothe myself in the orange-coloured robes,
and let me go forth
from the household life
into the homeless state.'

Then, before long,
forsaking his portion of wealth,
be it great or small,
forsaking his circle of relatives,
be they many or be they few,
he cuts off his hair and beard,
he clothes himself in the orange-coloured robes,
and he goes forth from the household life
into the homeless state.

When he has thus become a recluse
he lives self-restrained
by that restraint
that should be binding on a recluse.

Uprightness is his delight,
and he sees danger
in the least of those things he should avoid.

He adopts, and trains himself in, the precepts.

He encompasses himself with good deeds in act and word.

Pure are his means of livelihood,
good is his conduct,
guarded the doors of his senses.

Mindful and self-possessed
he is altogether happy.

And how, oh Brahman, is his conduct good?

In this, oh Brahman, that the Bhikshu,
putting away the killing of living things,
holds aloof from the destruction of life.

The cudgel and the sword he has laid aside,
and ashamed of roughness,
and full of mercy,
he dwells compassionate and kind
to all creatures that have life.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Putting away the taking of what has not been given,
the Bhikshu lives aloof
from grasping what is not his own.

He takes only what is given,
and expecting that gifts will come,
he passes his life in honesty
and purity of heart.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Putting away unchastity,
the Bhikshu is chaste.

He holds himself aloof,
far off,
from the vulgar practice,
from the sexual act.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Putting away lying words,
the Bhikshu holds himself aloof from falsehood.

He speaks truth,
from the truth he never swerves;
faithful and trustworthy,
he breaks not his word to the world.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Putting away slander,
the Bhikshu holds himself aloof from calumny.

What he hears here
he repeats not elsewhere
to raise a quarrel against the people here;
what he hears elsewhere
he repeats not here
to raise a quarrel against the people there.

Thus does he live as a binder together
of those who are divided,
an encourager of those who are friends,
a peacemaker,
a lover of peace,
impassioned for peace,
a speaker of words that make for peace.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Putting away rudeness of speech,
the Bhikshu holds himself aloof from harsh language.

Whatsoever word is blameless,
pleasant to the car,
lovely,
reaching to the heart,
pleasing to the people,
beloved of the people —
such are words he speaks.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Putting away frivolous talk,
the Bhikshu holds himself aloof
from vain conversation.

In season he speaks,
in accordance with the facts,
words full of meaning,
on religion,
on the discipline of the Order.

He speaks,
and at the right time,
words worthy to be laid up in one's heart,
fitly illustrated,
clearly divided,
to the point.

The Bhikshu holds himself aloof
from causing injury to seeds or plants.

He takes but one meal a day,
not eating at night,
refraining from food after hours
(after midday).

He refrains from being a spectator
at shows at fairs,
with nautch dances,
singing, and music.

He abstains from wearing,
adorning,
or ornamenting himself
with garlands, scents, and unguents.

He abstains from the use
of large and lofty beds.

He abstains from accepting silver or gold.

He abstains from accepting uncooked grain.

He abstains from accepting raw meat.

He abstains from accepting women or girls.

He abstains from accepting bondmen or bondwomen.

He abstains from accepting sheep or goats.

He abstains from accepting fowls or swine.

He abstains from accepting elephants, cattle. horses, and mares.

He abstains from accepting cultivated fields or waste.

He abstains from acting as a go-between or messenger.

He abstains from buying and selling.

He abstains from cheating
with scales or bronzes or measures.

He abstains from the crooked ways
of bribery, cheating, and fraud.

He abstains from maiming,
murder,
putting in bonds,
highway robbery,
dacoity,
and violence.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the injury of seedlings
and growing plants
whether propagated from roots
or cuttings
or joints
or buddings
or seeds
the Bhikshu holds aloof from such injury
to seedlings and growing plants.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use
of things stored up;
stores, to wit,
of foods, drinks, clothing,
equipages, bedding, perfumes,
and curry-stuffs —
the Bhikshu holds aloof from such use
of things stored up.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to visiting shows;
that is to say:

(1) Nautch dances (naccaṃ);

(2) Singing of songs (gītaṃ);

(3) Instrumental music (vāditaṃ);

(4) Shows at fairs (pekkhaṃ);

(5) Ballad recitations (akkhānaṃ);

(6) Hand music (pāṇissaraṃ);

(7) The chanting of bards (vetālaṃ);

(8) Tam - tam playing (kumbhathūnaṃ);

(9) Fairy scenes (Sobhanagarakaṃ);

(10) Acrobatic feats by Kaṇḍālas (Kaṇḍāla-vaṃsa-dhopanaṃ);

(11) Combats of elephants, horses, buffaloes,
bulls, goats, rams,
cocks, and quails;

(12) Bouts at quarter-staff, boxing, wrestling;

(13) Sham-fights.

(14) roll-calls.

(15) manoeuvres.

(16) reviews —

the Bhikshu holds aloof from visiting such shows.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to games and recreations;
that is to say:

(1) Games on boards with eight,
or with ten,
rows of squares;

(2) The same games
played by imagining such boards in the air;

(3) Keeping going over diagrams drawn on the ground
so that one steps only where one ought to go;

(4) Either removing the pieces or men from a heap
with one's nail,
or putting them into a heap,
in each case without shaking it,
he who shakes the heap, loses;

(5) Throwing dice;

(6) Hitting a short stick with a long one;

(7) Dipping the hand with the fingers stretched out
in lac,
or red dye,
or flower-water,
and striking the wet hand
on the ground
or on a wall,
calling out
'What shell it be?'
and showing the form required —
elephants, horses, etc.;

(8) Games with balls;

(9) Blowing through toy pipes made of leaves;

(10) Ploughing with toy ploughs;

(11) Turning summersaults;

(12) Playing with toy windmills made of palm-leaves;

(13) Playing with toy measures made of palm-leaves;

(14, 15) Playing with toy carts or toy bows;

(16) Guessing at letters traced in the air, or on a. playfellow's back;

(17) Guessing the play fellow's thoughts;

(18) Mimicry of deformities;

The Bhikshu holds aloof from such games and recreations.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use of high and large couches;
that is to say:

(1) Moveable settees,
high, and six feet long;

(2) Divans with animal figures carved on the supports (Pallanko);

(3) Goats' hair coverlets
with very long fleece (Gonako);

(4) Patchwork counterpanes of many colours (Cittakā);

(5) White blankets (Paṭikā);

(6) Woollen coverlets embroidered with flowers (Paṭalikā);

(7) Quilts stuffed with cotton wool (Tūlikā);

(8) Coverlets embroidered with figures of lions, tigers, etc. (Vikatikā);

(9) Rugs with fur on both sides (Uddalomī);

(10) Rugs with fur on one side (Ekantalomī);

(11) Coverlets embroidered with gems (Kaṭṭhissaṃ);

(12) Silk coverlets (Koseyyaṃ);

(13) Carpets large enough for sixteen dancers (Kuttakaṃ);

(14) Elephant rugs;

(15) horse rugs;

(16) chariot rugs;

(17) Rugs of antelope skins sewn together (Ajina-paveṇi);

(18) Rugs of skins of the plantain antelope;

(19) Carpets with awnings above them (Sauttara-cchadaṃ);

(20) Sofas with red pillows
for the head and feet.

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such things.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use
of means for adorning
and beautifying themselves;
that is to say:

Rubbing in scented powders on one's body,
shampooing it,
and bathing it;

Patting the limbs with clubs
after the manner of wrestlers;

The use of mirrors, eye-ointments, garlands,
rouge, cosmetics, bracelets, necklaces, walking-sticks,
reed cases for drugs,
rapiers,
sunshades,
embroidered slippers,
turbans, diadems, whisks of the yak's tail,
and long-fringed white robes;

The Bhikshu holds aloof
from such means of adorning and beautifying the person.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to such low conversation as these:

Tales of kings, of robbers, of ministers of state
tales of war, of terrors, of battles;
talk about foods and drinks, clothes, beds, garlands, perfumes;
talks about relationships, equipages, villages, town, cities, and countries;
tales about women, and about heroes;
gossip at street corners, or places whence water is fetched;
ghost stories;
desultory talk;
speculations about the creation of the land or sea,
or about existence and non-existence;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low conversation.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use of wrangling phrases such as

'You don't understand this doctrine and discipline, I do.';

'How should you know about this doctrine and discipline?';

'You have fallen into wrong views. It is I who am in the right.';

'I am speaking to the point, you are not.';

'You are putting last
what ought to come first,
first what ought to come last.';

'What you've excogitated so long, that's all quite upset.';

'Your challenge has been taken up.';

'You are proved to be wrong.';

'Set to work to clear your views.';

'Disentangle yourself if you can.';

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such wrangling phrases.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to taking messages,
going on errands,
and acting as go-betweens;
to wit,
on kings,
ministers of state,
Kshatriyas,
Brahmans,
or young men,
saying:

'Go there,
come hither,
take this with you,
bring that from thence';

the Bhikshu abstains from such servile duties.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
are tricksters,
droners out (of holy words for pay),
diviners, and exorcists,
ever hungering to add gain to gain —
the Bhikshu holds aloof from such deception and patter.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

(1) Palmistry —
prophesying long life, prosperity, etc.
from marks on child's hands, feet. etc.;

(2) Divining by means of omens and signs;

(3) Auguries drawn from thunderbolts
and other celestial portents;

(4) Prognostication by interpreting dreams;

(5) Fortune-telling from marks on the body;

(6) Auguries from the marks on cloth gnawed by mice;

(7) Sacrificing to Agni;

(8) Offering oblations from a spoon;

(9-13) Making offerings to gods
of husks,
of the red powder between the grain and the husk,
of husked grain ready for boiling,
of ghee,
and of oil;

(14) Sacrificing by spewing mustard seeds, etc.,
into the fire out of one's mouth;

(15) Drawing blood from one's right knee
as a sacrifice to the gods;

(16) Looking at the knuckles, etc., and,
after muttering a charm,
divining whether a man is well born
or lucky or not;

(17) Determining whether the site
for a proposed house or pleasance,
is lucky or not;

(18) Advising on customary law;

(19) Laying demons in a cemetery;

(20) Laying ghosts;

(21) Knowledge of the charms to be used
when lodging in an earth house;

(22) Snake charming;

(23) The poison craft;

(24) The scorpion craft;

(25) The mouse craft;

(26) The bird craft;

(27) The crow craft;

(28) Foretelling the number of years
that a man has yet to live.

(29) Giving charms to ward off arrows;

(30) The animal wheel;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

Knowledge of the signs
of good and bad qualities
in the following things
and of the marks in them
denoting the health or luck of their owners: —
to wit,
gems,
staves,
garments,
swords,
arrows,
bows,
other weapons,
women,
men,
boys,
girls,
slaves,
slave-girls,
elephants,
horses,
buffaloes,
bulls,
oxen,
goats,
sheep,
fowls,
quails,
iguanas,
earrings,
tortoises,
and other animals;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as soothsaying,
to the effect that:

'The chiefs will march out';

'The chiefs will march back';

'The home chiefs will attack,
and the enemies' retreat';

'The enemies' chiefs will attack,
and ours will retreat';

'The home chiefs will gain the victory,
and the foreign chiefs suffer defeat';

'The foreign chiefs will gain the victory,
and ours will suffer defeat';

'Thus will there be victory on this side,
defeat on that'

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by such low arts as foretelling:

(1) 'There will be an eclipse of the moon';

(2) 'There will be en eclipse of the sun';

(3) 'There will be en eclipse of a star'
(Nakshatra);

(4) 'There will be aberration of the sun or the moon';

(5) 'The sun or the moon will return to its usual path';

(6) 'There will be aberrations of the stars';

(7) 'The stars will return to their usual course';

(8) 'There will be a fall of meteors';

(9) 'There will be a jungle fire';

(10) 'There will be an earthquake';

(11) 'The god will thunder';

(12-15) 'There will be rising and setting,
clearness and dimness,
of the sun or the moon or the stars',|| ||

or foretelling of each of these fifteen phenomena
that they will betoken such and such a result;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

Foretelling an abundant rainfall;

Foretelling a deficient rainfall;

Foretelling a good harvest;

Foretelling scarcity of food;

Foretelling tranquillity;

Foretelling disturbances;

Foretelling a pestilence;

Foretelling a healthy season;

Counting on the fingers;

Counting without using the fingers;

Summing up large totals;

Composing ballads, poetising;

Casuistry, sophistry;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as:

(1) Arranging a lucky day for marriages
in which the bride or bridegroom is brought home;

(2) Arranging a lucky day for marriages
in which the bride or bridegroom is sent forth;

(3) Fixing a lucky time for the conclusion of treaties of peace
[or using charms to procure harmony;

(4) Fixing a lucky time
for the outbreak of hostilities
[or using charms to make discord];

(5) Fixing-a lucky time
for the calling in of debts
[or charms for success in throwing dice];

(6) Fixing a lucky time
for the expenditure of money
[or charms to bring ill luck to an opponent throwing dice];

(7) Using charms to make people lucky;

(8) Using charms to make people unlucky;

(9) Using charms to procure abortion;

(10) Incantations to bring on dumbness;

(11) Incantations to keep a man's jaws fixed;

(12) Incantations to make a man throw up his hands;

(13) Incantations to bring on deafness;

(14) Obtaining oracular answers by means of the magic mirror;

(15) Obtaining oracular answers through a girl possessed;

(16) Obtaining oracular answers from a god;

(17) The worship of the Sun;

(18) The worship of the Great One;

(19) Bringing forth flames from one's mouth;

(20) Invoking Siri, the goddess of Luck —

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

(1) Vowing gifts to a god if a certain benefit be granted;

(2) Paying such vows;

(3) Repeating charms while lodging in an earth house;

(4) Causing virility;

(5) Making a man impotent;

(6) Fixing on lucky sites for dwelling;

(7) Consecrating sites;

(8) Ceremonial rinsings of the month;

(9) Ceremonial bathings;

(10) Offering sacrifices;

(11-14) Administering emetics and purgatives;

(15) Purging people to relieve the head
(that is by giving drugs to make people sneeze);

(16) Oiling people's ears
(either to make them grow or to heal sores on them);

(17) Satisfying people's eyes
(soothing them by dropping medicinal oils into them);

(18) Administering drugs through the nose;

(19) Applying collyrium to the eyes;

(20) Giving medical ointment for the eyes;

(21) Practising as an oculist;

(22) Practising as a surgeon;

(23) Practising as a doctor for children;

(24) Administering roots and drugs;

(25) Administering medicines in rotation;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

And then that Bhikshu, oh Brahman,
being thus master of the minor moralities,
sees no danger from any side,
that is, so far as concerns
his self-restraint in conduct.

Just, oh Brahman, as a sovereign,
duly crowned,
whose enemies have been beaten down,
sees no danger from any side;
that is, so far as enemies are concerned,
so is the Bhikshu confident.

■

And endowed with this body of morals,
so worthy of honour,
he experiences, within himself,
a sense of ease without alloy.

Thus is it, oh Brahman,
that the Bhikshu becomes righteous.

Conduct (Karaṇa)

And how, oh Brahman,
is the Bhikshu guarded
as to the doors of his senses?

When, oh Brahman, he sees an object with his eye
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of sight.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of sight,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

When, oh Brahman, he hears a sound with his ear
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of hearing.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of hearing,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

When, oh Brahman, he smells an odour with his nose
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of smell.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of smell,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

When, oh Brahman, he tastes a flavour with his tongue
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of taste.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of taste,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

When, oh Brahman, he feels a touch with his body
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of touch.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of touch,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

When, oh Brahman, he cognises a phenomenon with his mind
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his mental (representative) faculty.

He keeps watch upon his representative faculty,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

And endowed with this self-restraint,
so worthy of honour,
as regards the senses,
he experiences, within himself, a sense of ease
into which no evil state can enter.

Thus is it, oh Brahman,
that the Bhikshu becomes guarded
as to the doors of his senses.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

And how, oh Brahman, is the Bhikshu
mindful and self-possessed?

In this matter, oh Brahman,
the Bhikshu
in going forth or in coming back
whether looking forward,
or in looking round;
in stretching forth his arm,
or in drawing it in again;
in eating or drinking,
in masticating or swallowing,
in obeying the calls of nature,
in going or standing or sitting,
in sleeping or waking,
in speaking or in being still,
he keeps himself aware
of all it really means.

Thus is it, oh Brahman,
that the Bhikshu
becomes mindful and self-possessed.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

And how, oh Brahman, is the Bhikshu content?

'In this matter, oh Brahman,
the Bhikshu is satisfied with sufficient robes
to cherish his body,
with sufficient food
to keep his stomach going.

Whithersoever he may go forth,
these he takes with him as he goes
- just as a bird with his wings, oh Brahman,
whithersoever he may fly,
carries his wings with him as he flies.

Thus is it, oh Brahman,
that the Bhikshu becomes content.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

Then, master of this so excellent body of moral precepts,
gifted with this so excellent self-restraint as to the senses,
endowed with this so excellent mindfulness and self-possession,
filled with this so excellent content,
he chooses some lonely spot
to rest at on his way
— in the woods,
at the foot of a tree,
on a hill side,
in a mountain glen,
in a rocky cave,
in a charnel place,
or on a heap of straw in the open field.

And returning thither
after his round for alms
he seats himself, when his meal is done,
cross-legged,
keeping his body erect,
and his intelligence alert, intent.

Putting away the hankering after the world,
he remains with a heart that hankers not,
and purifies his mind of lusts.

Putting away the corruption
of the wish to injure,
he remains with a heart free from ill temper,
and purifies his mind of malevolence.

Putting away torpor of heart and mind,
keeping his ideas alight,
mindful and self-possessed,
he purifies his mind of weakness and of sloth.

Putting away flurry and worry,
he remains free from fretfulness,
and with heart serene within,
he purifies himself of irritability
and vexation of spirit.

Putting away wavering,
he remains as one passed beyond perplexity;
and no longer in suspense as to what is good,
he purifies his mind of doubt.

Then just, oh Brahman,
as when a man, after contracting a loan,
should set a business on foot,
and his business should succeed,
and he should not only be able
to pay off the old debt he had incurred,
but there should be a surplus over
to maintain a wife.

Then would he realize:

'I used to have to carry on my business
by getting into debt,
but it has gone so well with me
that I have paid off what I owed,
and have a surplus over
to maintain a wife.'

And he would be of good cheer at that,
would be glad of heart at that: —

Then just, oh Brahman,
as if a man were a prey to disease,
in pain, and very ill,
and his food would not digest,
and there were no strength left in him;
and after a time
he were to recover from that disease,
and his food should digest,
and his strength come back to him;
then, when he realized his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

Then just, oh Brahman,
as if a man were bound in a prison house,
and after a time
he should be set free from his bonds,
safe and sound,
and without any confiscation of his goods;
when he realized his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

Then just, oh Brahman,
as if a man were a slave,
not his own master,
subject to another,
unable to go whither he would;
and after a time
he should be emancipated from that slavery,
become his own master,
not subject to others,
a free man,
free to go whither he would;
then, on realising his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

Then just, oh Brahman,
as if a man, rich and prosperous,
were to find himself on a long road,
in a desert, where no food was,
but much danger;
and after a time
were to find himself out of the desert,
arrived safe,
on the borders of his village,
in security and peace;
then, on realising his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

Just so, oh Brahman, the Bhikshu,
so long as these five hindrances
are not put away within him
looks upon himself as in debt,
diseased,
in prison,
in slavery,
lost on a desert road.

But when these five hindrances
have been put away within him,
he looks upon himself as freed from debt,
rid of disease,
out of jail,
a free man,
and secure.

And gladness springs up within him
on his realising that,
and joy arises to him thus gladdened,
and so rejoicing
all his frame becomes at ease,
and being thus at ease
he is filled with a sense of peace,
and in that peace his heart is stayed.

This, oh Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

nbsp;

Then estranged from lusts,
aloof from evil dispositions,
he enters into and remains in the First Rapture
— a state of joy and ease born of detachment,
reasoning and investigation going on the while.

His very body does he so pervade,
drench,
permeate,
and suffuse
with the joy and ease born of detachment,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

Just, oh Brahman, as a skilful bathman
or his apprentice
will scatter perfumed soap powder
in a metal basin,
and then besprinkling it with water,
drop by drop,
will so knead it together
that the ball of lather,
taking up the unctuous moisture,
is drenched with it,
pervaded by it,
permeated by it within and without,
and there is no leakage possible.

This, oh Brahman, is that wisdom.

■

Then further, oh Brahman,
the Bhikshu suppressing all reasoning and investigation
enters into and abides in the Second Jhāna,
a state of joy and ease,
born of the serenity of concentration,
when no reasoning or investigation goes on,
— a state of elevation of mind,
a tranquillisation of the heart within.

And his very body does he so pervade,
drench,
permeate,
and suffuse with the joy and ease born of concentration,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

Just, oh Brahman,
as if there were a deep pool,
with water welling up into it
from a spring beneath,
and with no inlet from the east or west,
from the north or south,
and the god should not
from time to time
send down showers of rain upon it.
Still the current of cool waters
rising up from that spring
would pervade,
fill,
permeate,
and suffuse the pool
with cool waters,
and there would be no part or portion of the pool
unsuffused therewith.

This, oh Brahman, is that wisdom.

■

Then further, oh Brahman, the Bhikshu,
holding aloof from joy,
becomes equable;
and mindful and self-possessed
he experiences in his body
that ease which the Arahats talk of when they say:
'The man serene and self-possessed
is well at ease,'
and so he enters into
and abides in the Third Jhāna.

And his very body
does he so pervade,
drench,
permeate,
and suffuse with that ease
that has no joy with it,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

Just, oh Brahman,
as when in a lotus tank
the several lotus flowers,
red or white or blue,
born in the water,
grown up in the water,
not rising up above the surface of the water,
drawing up nourishment from the depths of the water,
are so pervaded,
drenched,
permeated,
and suffused
from their very tips
down to their roots
with the cool moisture thereof,
that there is no spot in the whole plant,
whether of the red lotus,
or of the white,
or of the blue,
not suffused therewith.

This, oh Brahman, is that wisdom.

■

Then further, oh Brahman, the Bhikshu,
by the putting away alike of ease and of pain,
by the passing away alike of any elation,
any dejection,
he had previously felt,
enters into and abides in the Fourth Jhāna,
a state of pure self-possession and equanimity,
without pain and without ease.

And he sits there
so suffusing even his body
with that sense of purification,
of translucence of heart,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

Just, oh Brahman,
as if a man were sitting
so wrapt from head to foot in a clean white robe,
that there were no spot in his whole frame
not in contact with the clean white robe
— just so, oh Brahman, does the Bhikshu sit there,
so suffusing even his body
with that sense of purification,
of translucence of heart,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

This, oh Brahman, is that wisdom.

■

Wisdom (Vijjā)

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he applies and bends down his mind
to that insight that comes from knowledge.

He grasps the fact:

'This body of mine has form,
it is built up of the four elements,
it springs from father and mother,
it is continually renewed
by so much boiled rice and juicy foods,
its very nature is impermanence,
it is subject to erasion,
abrasion,
dissolution,
and disintegration;
and therein is this consciousness of mine, too, bound up,
on that does it depend.'

Just, oh Brahman,
as if there were a veluriya gem,
bright, of the purest water,
with eight facets,
excellently cut,
clear, translucent,
without a flaw,
excellent in every way.
And through it a string,
blue, or orange-coloured,
or red, or white, or yellow
should be threaded.
If a man, who had eyes to see,
were to take it into his hand,
he would clearly perceive
how the one is bound up with the other.

This is reckond in him as wisdom,
and it is higher and sweeter than the last.

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he directs and bends down his mind
to the knowledge of the destruction of the Deadly Floods.

He knows as it really is:

'This is pain.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the origin of pain.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the cessation of pain.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the Path that leads to the cessation of pain.'

He knows as they really are:

'These are the Deadly Floods.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the origin of the Deadly Floods.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the cessation of the Deadly Floods.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the Path that leads to the cessation of the Deadly Floods.'

To him, thus knowing, thus seeing,
the heart is set free
from the Deadly Taint of Lusts,
is set free from the Deadly Taint of Becomings
is set free from the Deadly Taint of Ignorance.

In him, thus set free,
there arises the knowledge of his emancipation,
and he knows:

'Rebirth has been destroyed.

The higher life has been fulfilled.

What had to be done has been accomplished.

After this present life
there will be no beyond!

Just, oh Brahman,
as if in a mountain fastness
there were a pool of water,
clear, translucent, and serene;
and a man, standing on the bank,
and with eyes to see,
should perceive the oysters and the shells,
the gravel and the pebbles
and the shoals of fish
as they move about or lie within it.

He would know:

'This pool is clear, transparent, and serene,
and there within it
are the oysters and the shells,
and the sand and gravel,
and the shoals of fish are moving about
or lying still.

This, O Brahman, is a sacrifice
less difficult
and less troublesome,
of greater fruit
and greater advantage
than the previous sacrifices.'

And there is no sacrifice man can celebrate,
O Brahman, higher and sweeter than this."

28. And when he had thus spoken,
Kūṭadanta the Brahman said to the Blessed One:

"Most excellent, O Gotama,
are the words of thy mouth,
most excellent!

Just as if a man were to set up
[184] what has been thrown down,
or were to reveal
that which has been hidden away,
or were to point out the right road
to him who has gone astray,
or were to bring a light into the darkness
so that those who had eyes could see external forms —
just even so has the truth
been made known to me
in many a figure
by the venerable Gotama.

I, even I,
betake myself to the venerable Gotama as my guide,
to the Doctrine
and the Order.

May the venerable One accept me as a disciple,
as one who, from this day forth,
as long as life endures,
has taken him as his guide.

And I myself, O Gotama,
will have the seven hundred bulls,
and the seven hundred steers,
and the seven hundred heifers,
and the seven hundred goats,
and the seven hundred rams set free.

To them I grant their life.

Let them eat green grass
and drink fresh water,
and may cool breezes waft around them."

29. Then the Blessed One discoursed
to Kūṭadanta the Brahman in due order;
that is to say,
he spake to him of generosity,
of right conduct,
of heaven,
of the danger,
the vanity,
and the defilement of lusts,
of the advantages of renunciation.

And when the Blessed One became aware
that Kūṭadanta the Brahman
had become prepared,
softened,
unprejudiced,
upraised,
and believing in heart,
then did he proclaim the doctrine
the Buddhas alone have won;
that is to say,
the doctrine of sorrow,
of its origin,
of its cessation,
and of the Path.

And just as a clean cloth,
with all stains in it washed away,
will readily take the dye,
just even so did Kūṭadanta the Brahman,
even while seated there,
obtain the pure and spotless Eye for the Truth,
and he knew:

"Whatsoever has a beginning,
in that is inherent also
the necessity of dissolution."

30. And then the Brahman Kūṭadanta,
as one who had seen the Truth,
had mastered it,
understood it,
dived deep down into it,
who had passed beyond doubt,
and put away perplexity
and gained full confidence,
who had become dependent on no other
for his knowledge of the teaching of the Master,
addressed the Blessed One and said:

[185] "May the venerable Gotama grant me the favour
of taking his to-morrow's meal with me,
and also the members of the Order with him."

And the Blessed One signified,
by silence,
his consent.

Then the Brahman Kūṭadanta,
seeing that the Blessed One had accepted,
rose from his seat,
and keeping his right towards him as he passed,
he departed thence.

And at daybreak he had sweet food,
both hard and soft,
made ready at the pit prepared for his sacrifice,
and had the time announced to the Blessed One:

"It is time, O Gotama;
and the meal is ready."

And the Blessed One,
who had dressed early in the morning,
put on his outer robe,
and taking his bowl with him,
went with the brethren to Kūṭadanta's sacrificial pit,
and sat down there on the seat prepared for him.

And Kūṭadanta the Brahman
satisfied the brethren
with the Buddha at their head,
with his own hand,
with sweet food,
both hard and soft,
till they refused any more.

And when the Blessed One had finished his meal,
and cleansed the bowl and his hands,
Kūṭadanta the Brahman took a low seat
and seated himself beside him.

And when he was thus seated
the Blessed One instructed
and aroused
and incited
and gladdened Kūṭadanta the Brahman
with religious discourse;
and then arose from his seat
and departed thence.

KŪṬADANTA SUTTA IS ENDED

¹See, for instance, the notes above on P. 33; and the remarks, in the Introduction to the Ambaṭṭha, on the Aggañña Sutta.

² No. 1 in vol. ii of the Pāli text in Prof. Fausböll's edition, and of the Cambridge translation edited by Prof. Cowell.

³ This verse is quoted in the Dhammapada (verse 223).

⁴ The full version can also be seen in my 'Buddhist Birth Stories,' pp. xxii-xxvi.

⁵ Both Jātaka and Sutta are translated in full in my 'Buddhist Suttas' (vol. xi of the S.B.E., pp. 238-289).

⁶ Chāndogya Upanishad III, 16 and 17.

⁷ Hosea vi. 6; quoted Matt. ix. 13, and xii. 7. See also Micah vi. 6-8. Prov. xv. 8, and xxi. I 3, are, of course, later.

⁸ Mahābhārata I, 3095 nearly = XIII, 1544. Compare XIII, 6073ṇ

⁹ He gives as his authority, the Amara Kora; but the Kora merely mentions the word, in a list, without any explanation.

¹⁰ Aṇguttara I, 163, and other passages.

¹¹ The passage is quoted in Muir's 'Sanskrit Texts,' III, 95.

¹² For instance in his commentary on the Brahma-Sūtra, I, 1, 2; II, 2, 2; III, 3, 53.

¹³ For instance in the Mahāli and Jāliya Suttas, both translated below.

¹⁴ Sum. I, 247. The Vitaṇḍas are quoted and refuted in the Attha Sālinī, pp. 3, 90, 92, 241 (where the word is wrongly spelt).

¹⁵ Quoted sub voce in Subhūti. 'Abbidhānappadīpikā Sūci' p. 310. According to the Sāsana Vaṃsa Dīpikā (Dr. Mabel Bode's edition, p. 74), he lived at Arimaddana in Burma in 1127 A.D. See also Sāsana Vaṃsa Dīpo, verse 1238; Gandha Vaṃsa, pp. 63, 67; Forchammer, 'Jardine Prize Essay,' p. 34 ; J.P.T.S. 1882, p. 103.

¹⁶ With this attempt at derivation may be compared Nīlakaṇṭha on the passage quoted below from the Mahābhārata (as given in B.R.), Loka evāyatante te lokayatikā. Also Prof. Cowell's suggestion (Sarvad. S., p. 2) that Lokāyata may be analysed etymologically as 'prevalent in the world.' The exact meaning of āyata is really very doubtful.

¹⁷ Fausböll's edition, VI, 286. No less than four bas reliefs, illustrating this Jātaka, have been found at the Bharhut Tope. See my 'Buddhist Birth Stories,' p. cii. On the greater age of the verses, as compared with the prose, of the Jātakas, see ibid. lxxviii.

¹⁸ Loc. cit. See Deussen, 'Vedānta-system,' 310; and Thibaut, 'Vedānta-Sutras,' II, 269.

¹⁹ Gorresio's edition, II, 109, 29. Both these passages from the epics are from later portions of them.

²⁰ Chapter XIII, at the beginning. Burnouf (p. 168) reads tantras (instead of mantras), no doubt wrongly, and has a curious blunder in his note on the passage (P. 409). He says Lokāyata means in Pāli 'fabulous history, romance'; and quotes, as his authority, the passage given above from the Abhidhāna Padīpikā, in which Lokāyataṃ is simply explained as vitaṇḍa-satthaṃ. This last expression cannot possibly mean anything of that sort.

²¹ Weber, Ueber ein fragment der Bhagavatī, II, 248.

²² My Milinda, I, 7.

²³ Ibid. I, 17.

²⁴ Cowell's Translation, p. 236.

²⁵ Madhusūdana Sarasvatī, Prabodhacandrodaya, Sarva-darùana saṇgraha.

²⁶ Sarva-darraana-saṃgraha, Chapter I, translated by Prof. Cowell in the version published in 1882.

²⁷ Not the same as the one with the same name half way between Rājagaha and Nālandā (above, p. 1 of the text). Buddhaghosa (p.294) says it was like it.

²⁸ The whole of § 2 of the Soṇadaṇḍa is here repeated. [Ed.: reproduced here.]

²⁹ All given in the text in full, as in the Soṇadaṇḍa Sutta. [Ed.: reproduced here.]

³⁰ §§3-7 inclusive of the Soṇadaṇḍa are here repeated in full in the text. [Ed.: reproduced here.]

³¹ As in §4.

³² Vidhā. Childers gives 'pride' as the only meaning of this word. But he has made a strange muddle between it and vidho. All that he has under both words should be struck out. All that he has under vidho should be entered under vidhā, which has always the one meaning 'mode, manner, way.' Used ethically of the Arahats it refers, no doubt, to divers 'modes' of pride or delusion (as for instance in vidhāsu na vikampanti at S. I, 84, and in the passage quoted in Childers). He makes vidhā a very rare word, and vidho a common one. It is just the contrary. Vidhā is frequent, especially at the end of adjectival compounds. Vidho is most rare. It is given doubtfully by Buddhaghosa, in discussing a doubtful reading at Sum. I, 269, in the sense of 'yoke'; and is a possible reading at Vin. II, 136, 319; IV, 168, 363 in the sense of 'brooch' or 'buckle.'
Here vidhā in Kūṭadanta's mouth means, of course, mode of rite or ritual. Gotama lays hold of the ambiguity of the word, and twists it round to his ethical teaching in the sense of mode of generosity.

³³ Parikkhārā, 'accessories, fillings, equipments, appurtenances,' — the furniture of a room, the smallest things one wears, the few objects a wondering mendicant carries about with him, and so on. Here again the word is turned into a riddle, the solution of which is the basis of the dialogue.

³⁴ Literally 'he who has a great realm' — just as we might say Lord Broadacres.

³⁵ 'Such as jewels and plate.' says Buddhaghosa (p. 295).

³⁶ Raja-porise. On this word, the locative singular of a neuter abstract form, compare M. I, 85.

³⁷ Because it was right and fit to do such deeds when one was young and rich. To spend one's days in selfishness, and then, in old age to give gifts would be no good,' says Buddhaghosa (P. 297).

³⁸ Yaññassa parikkhārā. The latter word is here twisted round to a new sense.

³⁹ Opāna = udapāna. Compare M. I, 379; Vin. I, 236; Mil. 411; Sum. I, 298; and the note at 'Vinaya Texts,' II, 115.

⁴⁰ Buddhaghosa explains this as meaning that he knew the result of Karma, he knew that his present prosperity was a gift to him by the good deeds done to others in the past, and that there would a similar result in future for his good deeds done now.

⁴¹ This whole closing sentence is repeated, in the text, of each of the sixteen.

⁴² The attendants, at such a general largesse, says Buddhaghosa (P.303), push the recipients about, make them stand in a queue, and use violence in doing so.

 [Contents ]   [Preface ]   [#1. Brahma-gāla Suttanta: ]   [#2. Sāmañña-phala Suttanta: ]   [#3. The Ambaṭṭha Suttanta: ]   [#4. The Soṇadaṇḍa Suttanta: ]   [#5. The Kūṭadanta Suttanta: ]   [#6. The Mahāli Suttanta: ]   [#7. Gāliva Suttanta: ]   [#8. Kassapa-Sīhanāda Suttanta: ]   [#9. The Poṭṭhapāda Suttanta: ]   [#10. Subha Suttanta: ]   [#11. Kevaddha Suttanta: ]   [#12. Lohikka Suttanta: ]   [#13. Tevigga Suttanta: ] 

6. The Aim of the Brethren

Mahāli Suttantaṃ

[186]

Introduction

.

The form of this Sutta is remarkable. We have two distinct subjects discussed. First the question of the ability to see heavenly sights and hear heavenly sounds being raised, the Buddha says that it is not for the sake of acquiring such powers that people join the Order under him. And being asked what their object then is, he gradually leads the questioner on to Arahatship, as the aim, along the Eightfold Path. There the Sutta might appropriately have ended. But the Buddha himself then raises a totally different question — whether the soul and the body are the same. And though, for the reason stated below, he gives no answer, he leads the discourse again up to Arahatship along the series of mental states set out in the Sāmañña-Phala.

This second part of our Dialogue might form a separate Sutta, and it is in fact added, as a Sutta by itself, to the present division of the Dialogues. Why then is it also included here? Buddhaghosa's answer is that the young noble Mahāli, who raises the first point, was known to harbour the heresy that there is a soul, and that it has form. (The words the commentator uses are very short, and the context must, I think, be supplied from the passage translated above, § 10 on p. 46.) It was to clear his mind of this notion that the Buddha specially raised the second point.

However this may be, the Sutta must have been already a double one, must have had its present form, before it received a place in that division of the Buddhist scriptures where it now stands. Each Sutta in that division incorporates the whole of the very ancient tract called the Sīlas. The division is therefore called the Sīla Vagga. And no Sutta not containing the Sīlas can belong to it. Our Sutta only contains the Sīlas in the second part. That part, therefore, must have belonged to it when the dialogues were arranged as they now stand.

The question raised in that second part is one of a group of questions on which primitive Buddhism expresses no [187] opinion. They are called the Ten Avyākatāni, the Indeterminates, points not determined. Besides being often mentioned in the Dialogues translated in the present work and elsewhere, they form the subject of the Avyākata Saṃyutta (No. 44 in vol. iv of the Saṃyutta Nikāya), and they are as follows¹: —

1,2. Whether the world is eternal or not.
3,4. Whether the world is infinite or not.
5,6. Whether the soul is the same as the body, or distinct from it².
7-10. Whether a man who has attained to the truth (a Tathāgata) exists, or
not, and in any way, after death.

There are others mentioned occasionally by themselves; but these form the usual group. Of them, those numbered 1-4 and 7-10 are speculations already condemned in the Brahma-jāla (above, pp. 27 foll., pp. 35 foll., and p. 40 respectively). The remaining two, those numbered 5 and 6, form the subject of the Jāliya, incorporated in our present Sutta.

The position taken by the primitive Buddhists as to these Indeterminates is so often referred to that it undoubtedly was an important item in the Buddha's actual belief. It is rendered very clear by the old legend put into the Buddha's mouth in the Udāna just quoted. There the various non-Buddhist teachers of the time are represented as expressing strong opinions one way or the other on these questions; and as getting so excited about them that they came to blows. Gotama thereupon tells a story how, in ancient days, a similar riot having taken place, the king had all the blind men in the city brought together, and had an elephant brought in. Each of the blind men touches a different part of the elephant. The king then asks them to explain what an elephant is like. He who had felt the head said it was like a water-pot. He who had felt the ear said it was like a winnowing basket. He who had felt the tusk said it was like a plough-share. He who had felt the trunk said it was like a plough-handle. He who had felt the body said it was like a granary. He who had felt its legs said it was like a pillar. He who had felt its back said it [188] was like a mortar. He who had felt its tail said it was like a pestle. He who had felt its bristles said it was like a broom. And each one was so sure he was right that they clamoured one against the other, and came to blows, to the amusement of the king. Then comes the moral:—

'In such points Brahmans and recluses stick
Wrangling on them, they violently discuss —
Poor folk! they see but one side of the shield!'

The inference is obvious. To discuss such questions is mere speculation, useless, because it is based on insufficient evidence. This is the philosophic position; and it resembles very closely the position taken up, in the West, many centuries afterwards, by Hume and his followers. And, as usual in primitive Buddhism, the ethical corollary is very emphatically insisted upon. It is several times pointed out in the Dialogues³ of these ten speculations that they — 'The jungle, the desert, the puppet show, the writhing, the entanglement, of speculation — are accompanied by sorrow, by wrangling, by resentment, by the fever of excitement; they conduce neither to detachment of heart, nor to freedom from lusts, nor to tranquillity, nor to peace, nor to wisdom, nor to the insight of the higher stages of the Path, nor to Arahatship.'

In other words the speculations, being based on insufficient evidence, are not only useless — they are also, therefore, wrong; that is, from the Buddhist point of view, a disadvantage in the struggle towards the only aim worth striving for — the perfection and emancipation of Arahatship.

As for the special point of our Sutta — the lesson that no wise man will condescend to discuss the question whether the soul is, or is not, the same as the body — it must be remembered that the negative is the view now known to be so widely, indeed universally prevalent among unthinking people throughout the world that it was almost certainly held also in India. The general opinion about the soul in the pre-Buddhistic Upanishads is somewhat different. There (to judge by the passages set out in my article in the J.R.A.S. for January 1899) it is looked upon as being, at least during life, smaller than the body, though after death, when it flies away from the body through an aperture in the top of the head, it was apparently regarded as a subtle and very impalpable, but still material, double of the body of the deceased.

It was the refusal to allow any place for this universal [189] belief in a semi-material soul in his own system that is the most striking, and perhaps the most original, feature in Gotama's teaching. No other religion of which we have sufficient records to enable us to form an opinion on the point has been constructed without the soul. Where the others said soul, Gotama said usually 'Action,' which comes to much the same as character.

In this respect he came very near to our modern use of the word in such expressions as 'a high-souled man' or 'a soul for music.' And it is worth calling attention to the fact that even in Shakespeare more than half the times the word is used it is in this secondary, ethical, emotional sense. Even in the old authorised translation of our Bible, in which the word occurs altogether 449 times, it is used 55 times merely in the sense of person,⁴ only 85 times in the animistic sense, and 306 times in the sense of emotional or intellectual qualities or disposition.⁵

This will make Gotama's position, which is really very simple, more clear. He rejected entirely the use of the word in the old animistic sense. He retained it in a personal sense, in the meaning of 'oneself, himself,' etc.⁶ And though, of course, he acknowledged the reality of the emotional and intellectual dispositions, he refused absolutely to look upon them as a unity.

The position is so absolute, so often insisted on, so fundamental to the right understanding of primitive Buddhism, that it is essential there should be no mistake about it. Yet the position is also so original, so fundamentally opposed to what is usually understood as religious belief, both in India and elsewhere, that there is great temptation to attempt to find a loophole through which at least a covert or esoteric belief in the soul, and in future life (that is of course of a soul), can be recognised. in some sort of way, as part of so widely accepted a religious system. There is no loophole, and the efforts to find one have always met with unswerving opposition, both in the Piṭakas themselves and in extra-canonical works.⁷

[190] Our available records are not at present sufficient to enable us to judge either of the numbers, or of the importance, of those Buddhists who made such attempts. But it is clear from the tone of the first chapter of the Kathā Vatthu, and from the express statements of the commentary on it, that there were such Buddhists as early as the time of Asoka. They belonged to two out of the eighteen schools of thought which had then arisen. The names of these schools are the Sammitiyā and the Vajji-puttakā'.⁸ We may yet hope to recover a work which will contain their arguments in their own words. But if the opinion condemned at pp. 14-19 of the Kathā Vatthu be really theirs, as the commentator declares it is, then it would seem that they held a view practically the same as that opinion of Mahāli, which the Buddha, in our Sutta, goes out of his way to raise in the form of a question, and to put aside as unworthy of discussion.

The expression sambodhi-parāyano used in this Sutta, § i.3, has been hitherto misunderstood.

The Buddhist ideal is a subjective state to be reached, in this world, by going along an eightfold path, so called because of the eight good qualities or characteristics which make up its eight parts. Progress along this path is divided into four stages in which certain evil dispositions, the ten so-called Bonds, are got rid of. The Sambodhi is the insight, wisdom, intelligence, awakening, which, is essential to the three higher stages of this state of Arahatship. And what is connoted by the term can best, perhaps, be understood by bearing in mind its seven constituent parts, the Sambojjhangā - self-possession, investigation into the truth, energy, calm, joy, concentration, and magnanimity.

In describing the first and lowest of the four stages of the Path, it is always stated (Dīgha I, 156; M.P.S. II , 27; A. II, 238, etc.) of the disciple — not that he has then attained the sambodhi, he has only attained abhisamaya but that he is sambodhi-parāyano. Childers (sub voice parāyano) explains this as "having the Four Truths as his support.' But Buddhaghosa (Sum. I, 31.3) says: 'He has the sambodhi — by which is meant that of the three higher stages — as his furthermost aim; in other words, he will attain to that.'

Buddhaghosa's explanation is the only one possible in [191] the context, and is confirmed by every other passage in the Pāli Piṭakas where the word sambodhi has been traced. It never means the wisdom of a Buddha, but always the insight of the higher stages of the path to Arahatship. But it is necessary to point this out because the distinction is of the first importance for the history of Buddhism; and also because the erroneous rendering of Burnouf has been followed by Childers in the Dictionary, sub voce sambodhi ('attainment of Buddhaship, Buddhahood'), and has not been corrected by any of the distinguished scholars who have discussed the meaning of Asoka's eighth edict in which the word occurs.⁹ The king there says that he 'set out for the sambodhi.' If this means that he had started, in his own opinion, along the line of the pārāmitās, towards the attainment, in some future birth, of Buddhahood, then it is most interesting and important as giving us the earliest mention of a doctrine not found in the Pāli Piṭakas, and entirely opposed to their view of Buddhism. But the word does not necessarily imply this, nor does the context require it. The doctrine spoken of with contempt, by the Mahāyānist doctors, as the 'Lesser Vehicle' is quite possible here, and more in accordance with all the rest of the Asoka expressions. There would seem to be no sufficient reason why we should not understand Asoka to mean that he had started, in his own opinion, along the Eightfold Path, towards the attainment, doubtless in some future birth, of Arahatship. Whether this be so or not, this is the only meaning of the word so far found in the Piṭakas.

And further, this entering on the Path — the Eightfold Path to the wisdom of the Arahat — is a quite different thing from becoming a Buddhist. There are numerous passages where the very nature of the discourse held not only to laymen (upāsakas), but even to members of the Order (bhikkhus), shows that they were not supposed to have attained as yet to the state of mind described as 'entering upon the Path.' Both the rules of the Order, and the precepts laid down for laymen, are, from the Piṭaka point of view, on a different plane altogether, lower than, apart from, that of the Path. Acting up to those rules, carrying out those precepts, can never even result in 'conversion' without the awakening of the new life. It is therefore very doubtful whether the word 'conversion' should be used, in English translations of Buddhist texts, to express a man's [192] becoming an upāsaka or a bhikkhu. For though the word 'conversion' is used in English in two senses — either that of joining the outward organisation of a new faith, or that of having one's eyes opened to the higher life — the second is the more accurate use of the word, and ought always to be implied in the first.

The word sambodhi-parāyano occurs in the passage first above quoted (Dīgha I, 156) in the answer to the question, 'What is the aim of the life of the recluse (that is, of the member of the Buddhist Order)?' Opponents and controversialists are fond of asking this question, and it is interesting to notice how it is answered. It is never the attainment of Buddhahood, but always (though the phraseology differs) the attainment of Arahatship. Thus, in the standing phrase used to state that so and so has become an Arahat (M.P.S., p. 6o, at the end of Chapter V, and often elsewhere), it is said he has realized the aim of the higher life (brahmacariya-pariyosānaṃ). The Ratha-vinīta and the Kulla Sakuludāyi Dialogues (Nos. 24 and 79 of the Majjhima Collection) lead up to the same conclusion. In the Saṃyutta IV, 51, the aim is said to be the complete understanding of sorrow (dukkhassa pariññā) and the same reply is expanded further on in the same book (IV, 233) by the explanation that the way of gaining this understanding is to follow out the whole of the Eightfold Path to Arahatship. And this is repeated further on (S. V, 6: compare Mil. 49, 101). In the Aṇguttara (IV, 7) the object is said to be the destruction of the seven bonds, the destruction of which is precisely Arahatship.

So sambodhi-patto is used in the Sutta Nipāta, 478, 503, to describe the Arahat, of whom it is said (Itivuttaka, No 47, p. 42: compare ibid. p. 117 = A. II, 14, and also A. II, 200, 202; S.N. 765) that even here, in this world, he will reach up to the sambodhi, the way to which is said to be the Eightfold Path (M. I, 431 and the Dhamma-cakka-ppavattana Sutta, etc.). And sambodhi-parāyano, with which we started, is only another way of stating what is expressed by amata-parāyano ('having the ambrosia of Arahatship as his aim') in a Sutta, not yet traced, but quoted by Moggallīputta Tissa at Kathā Vatthu XXII, 7¹⁰.

Of course the above is not intended to imply that the Buddha had not attained the sambodhi. He was an Arahat, and, as such, had all the graces an Arahat should have.¹¹

[193] On the same page of this Sutta we have two instances of a curious manner of address not infrequent in the Piṭakas, but as yet very imperfectly understood, After being told that Nāgita was the name of the Buddha's personal attendant, we find him suddenly, and without any explanation, addressed as Kassapa. And the young Licchavi, introduced to us at the beginning of the Sutta by the name 'Hare-lip' (Oṭṭhaddha), is addressed both by Nāgita and by the Buddha, neither by his name Oṭṭhaddha, nor as Licchavi, but (and again without any explanation) as Mahāli.

There are several points in this question of address which cannot yet be solved, but several others are already pretty clear. There are at least eight different modes of speaking of or to a person: —

1. A nickname arising out of some personal peculiarity. Such are Lambakaṇṇa (Hanging-eared), Kūṭadanta (with a protruding tooth), Oṭṭhaddha (Hare-lipped), Anāthapiṇḍika (the beggars' friend), Dārupattika (the man with the wooden bowl). All these are used in a quite friendly, but familiar way. And such names occur so often that it would seem as if nearly everybody was known by a nickname.

2. A personal name, called in Pāli the mūla-nāma. This, like our own so-called Christian names, is not connected with any personal peculiarity. Some of these names (like similar ones among ourselves) are of very obscure derivation, but others are clear enough as adjectives with a good or lucky meaning. Such are Tissa (after the lucky star of that name), Devadatta (our Theodore), Bhaddiya (nearly the same as our Frederick), Nanda or Ānanda (Joy), Abhaya (Fearless), and many others.

3. The name of the Gotta or gens, what we should call a surname or family name. These are usually patronymic in form; such as Opamañña, Kaṇhāyana, Moggallāna, Kassapa, Kaṇḍāyana, Kondañña, Vāseṭṭha, Vessāyana, Bhāradvāja, Vacchāyana.

4. The name of the clan, called in Pāli Kula-nāma, such as Sakka, Kālāma, Buli, Koliya, Licchavi, Vajji, Malla, etc.

5. The name of the mother, with putta (son) added to it; such as Sāri-putta (the more usual name by which the famous disciple Upatissa is called), Vedehi-putta (a name of Ajātasattu king of Magadhā), Maṇḍikā-putta (= Upaka),

As the former is only found as yet in one ambiguous phrase (M. I, 17; II, 211; S. IV, 6, 8, 97, 233, etc.), the discussion of its meaning would be premature.

[194] Mantāṇi-putta (= Puṇṇa), Godhi-putta (= Devadatta), Moggali-putta (= Tissa, author of the Kathā Vatthu). Less frequently the reverse is the case, and a mother or father, whose child has become famous, is simply referred to as the mother, or father, of so and so.

It is noteworthy that the name of the father is never used in this way, and that the mother's name is never a personal name; but always taken either from the clan, or from the family, to which she belonged. Occasionally the root-form of the name of the clan, or of the trade, has -putto added to it in a similar way (Vanganta-putto, Todeyya-putto,¹² Rathakāra-putto). But these cases, which are rare, should rather be classified under the next division.

6. The name of the position in society, or the occupation, of the person addressed. Such are brāhmaṇa, gahapati, mahārāja, thapati, etc.

7. A mere general term of courtesy or respect, not containing any special application to the person addressed-such as bhante, āvuso, ayye, etc.

8. Lastly there is the local name, never used in addressing a person, but prefixed or added to the mūla or gotta name, in narrative sentences, to distinguish between two or more people of the same name. Thus of the eighteen different Kassapas mentioned in the books, three are distinguished, in narrative, as Uruvela-Nadi- and Gayā-Kassapa respectively; of the eight different Kittas one is distinguished as Macchikāsandika; of the seventeen different Bhāradvājas one is distinguished as Kāpaṭhika. Other instances are probably Hatthako Ālavako, Bāhiyo Dārucīriyo, Pokkharasādi Subhagavaniko, etc.

On the rules regulating the choice as to which one of these various sorts of names should, under the circumstances, be used in any particular case, the following observations may be made.

It is not considered courteous among equals, except in the case of close familiarity, to use either of the two sorts of personal names, that is, either the nickname or the mūla-nāma.

The Buddha addresses Brahmansas Brāhmaṇa (for instance Soṇadaṇḍa and Kūñadanta, above in the Suttas so called; Jāṇussoṇi at M. I, 16,178; A. I, 56, 159, 166; II, 173; IV, 54; Sañjaya at M. II, 127, 132, though his gotta name is [195] given Ākāsa-gotta; Sikha at A. II, 232, though his gotta name is given, Moggallāna). But we have had one instance above where he addresses a young Brahman as Ambaṭṭha, apparently a clan name (his gotta was Kaṇhāyaṇa). This solitary exception may be because of his youth.

On the other hand the Buddha usually addresses ascetics, not as paribbājaka, but by their gotta name. Thus at M. I, 228-250 he calls Saccako, the Nigaṇṭha, by his gotta name Aggi-vessāyana. At M. I, 497-500 he calls Dīgha-nakho (so called, no doubt, because he kept his nails long) by his gotta name, which is again Aggi-vessāyana. And at M. II, 40 he calls Vekhaṇaso by his gotta name of Kaccāna. This is only in accord with the usage followed by others besides the Buddha. Thus Jāṇussoṇi, a Brahman, at M. I, 175, addresses the ascetic Pilotika by his gotta name of Vacchāyana, and Assaji, a member of the Buddhist order, also calls Saccako by his gotta name (loc. cit.), and everybody, not a Buddhist, addresses the Buddha by his gotta name, as Gotama. When therefore we find other ascetics addressed by the Buddha by the same name as has been used in the introductory narrative (as, for instance, in the case of Sarabha, A. I, 186; Potaliya, A. II, 100; Poṭṭhapāda, D. I, 178 foll.), one may conclude that these also are probably gotta names. This custom of addressing people by their gotta name, no doubt a common one in certain cases, was expressly forbidden to Nigaṇṭhas (Jacobi, 'Jaina-Sūtras,' II, 305). They called their own Order a gotra (ibid. 321, 327), and apparently thought it worldly to recognise the existence of any other.

The Buddha addresses members of his own clan, whether members of his Order or not, by their personal names (so of Vappa, A. II, 197; of Mahānāma, M. I, 91, 354; A. I, 220; III, 284). The same holds good of the junior members of the Order, but some at least of the more distinguished among them are always addressed by him either by their gotta, or by their mother's, name (compare Moggallāna, Kaccāna, Kassapa, Gotamī, Sāriputta). Nāgita, for instance, though he is addressed as Kassapa by his nephew, the novice Sīha, is addressed by the Buddha simply as Nāgita.

Probably every Brahman, and every member of each, of the free clans, had a gotta name. We have no certain instance of such a name in any other case. The gotta names used in the clans are the same as those given in Brahman books to Brahmans. It has been concluded that they are Brahman names, and that the clans must have adopted them from the Brahmans, each family or gens taking the gotta name of [196] their private chaplain, their purohita priest. But in that case we should surely expect to find some evidence that such priests were usually maintained in such clans. There is no evidence of the kind. All that we can fairly conclude is that the clans claimed, by the very use of these names, to be descended from the same ancestors as the Brahmans, who also bore the names: and that the claim was admitted to be well founded. As shown above, even Brahmans use these gotta names of non-Brahmans. It would seem that the nickname, when once generally known, tended, in speaking of a person, to drive the others out of use. But it is never used in speaking to the person referred to by it.

From the usage referred, to, as followed by the Buddha and others, it would seem that the gotta name was considered as more honourable than either of the personal names, and also than the descriptive general name or title of paribbājaka (wandering mendicant, recluse). Even the title Brāhmaṇa was dropped for the gotta name in the case of a recluse.

There are a number of problems, both as to general principles and as to details, that still remain, in this matter of names, unsolved. Is ālāra, for instance, a nickname or a mūla-nāma; is Kālāmo a gotta name or a clan name?¹³ To what classes of the people was the use of gotta names limited, and what is the historical explanation of this limitation? Were there as many as a dozen clan names in Magadhā and Kosalā combined? What was exactly implied by the clan-name, the Kula-nāma? The word gotta probably had the same meaning, when the Piṭakas were composed, as gotra has in the later law books written by the priests. How comes it then that the number of gottas referred to is so very small? Are there much more than a score altogether? What light does the meaning of the mūla and gotta names throw on the religious conceptions and social customs of the people?

I hope to return to these and similar questions when I can find time to publish my Pāli Onomasticon, of the names in the Piṭakas and in the older inscriptions. What has here been said is probably sufficient to make the use of the names in this Sutta clear¹⁴.

[197]

VI. Mahāli Sutta

The Aim of the Brethren

THUS HAVE I HEARD.

The Blessed One was once staying at Vesālī
at the Gabled Hall
in the Great Wood.¹⁵

Now at that time a number of Brahmans,
who had been sent on pressing business
of one kind or another
from Kosalā and Magadhā,
were lodging at Vesālī.

And they heard the news:

"They say that the Samaṇa Gotama of the Sākya clan,
who went out from a Sākya family
to adopt the religious life,
is now staying at Vesālī
at the Gabled Hall
in the Great Wood.

Now regarding that venerable Gotama,
such is the high reputation
that has been noised abroad:

'That Blessed One is an Arahat,
a fully awakened one,
abounding in wisdom and goodness,
happy,
who knows all worlds,
unsurpassed as a guide to mortals willing to be led,
a teacher for gods and men,
a Blessed One,
a Buddha.

He, by himself, thoroughly knows and sees,
as it were, face-to-face this universe,
— including the worlds above of the gods,
the Brahmās,
and the Māras,
and the world below
with its recluses and Brahmans,
its princes and peoples,
— and having known it,
he makes his knowledge known to others.

The truth,
lovely in its origin,
lovely in its progress,
lovely in its [198] consummation,
doth he proclaim,
both in the spirit and in the letter,
the higher life doth he make known,
in all its fullness and in all its purity.

And good is it to pay visits to Arahats like that.'"

So those Brahmans from Kosalā and Magadhā
went out to the Great Wood,
and to the Gabled-Hall.

Now at that time the venerable Nāgita
was acting as the personal attendant on the Blessed One.

And they went to him, and said:

"Where is it, Nāgita,
that that venerable Gotama is lodging now,
for we wish to see him."

[151] "It is not a fitting time, Sirs,
to call upon the Blessed One.

He has retired into solitude."

Then they sat down round about, saying:

"We will not go away
without seeing the venerable Gotama."

And Hare-lip the Licchavi, too,
came to the Great Wood,
and to the Gabled Hall,
with a retinue of his clan;
and going up to the venerable Nāgita,
he saluted him,
and reverently standing apart,
he said to him:

"Where, venerable Nāgita,
is the Blessed One now lodging,
the Arahat,
the Buddha;
for we wish to see him?"

And on receiving a similar reply
he, too, sat down apart, saying:

"I will not go
till I have seen the August One,
the Arahat,
the Buddha."

But Sīha, a novice,¹⁶
came up to the venerable Nāgita,
and saluted him,
and standing reverently apart,
he said to him:

"These envoys of the Brahmans
from Kosalā and Magadhā,
many of them,
have come, O Kassapa,¹⁷
to call upon the Blessed One;
and Harelip the Licchavi, too,
with a retinue of his clan,
has come to do the same.

'Twere best, O Kassapa,
that all this folk
should be allowed to see the Blessed One."

[199] "Very well, then, Sīha,
tell the Blessed One yourself."

"Very good, Sir,"
said Sīha the novice
in assent to the venerable Nāgita.

And he went where the Blessed One was,
and saluted him,
and standing reverently apart,
he said to him:

"These envoys of the Brahmans
from Kosalā and Magadhā,
many of them,
have come, bhante,
to call upon the Blessed One;
and Harelip the Licchavi, too,
with a retinue of his clan,
has come to do the same.

'Twere best, bhante,
that all this folk
should be allowed to see the Blessed One."

[152] "Very well, Sīha.

Spread out a mat for me
in the shade in front of the house."

And Sīha did so.

And the Blessed One came out from the house,
and sat down.

And the Brahmans from Kosalā and Magadhā,
exchanged with him
the greetings and compliments of politeness and courtesy,
and took their seats on one side.

And Hare-lip the Licchavi also,
with the retinue of his clan,
bowed down to the Blessed One,
and seated himself on one side.

And when he was thus seated
he addressed the Blessed One, and said:

"Some few days ago, Sir,
Sunakkhatta of the Licchavis¹⁸ came to me, and said:

'It is only three years, Mahāli,¹⁹
since I first came under the Blessed One,
and I can see heavenly forms,
pleasant to behold,
fitted to satisfy all one's desires,
exciting longing in one's heart.

But I cannot hear heavenly sounds like that.'

Now, Sir, are there such heavenly sounds,
which he could not hear,
or have they no existence?"

"They are real,
those heavenly sounds,
pleasant,
fitted to satisfy one's desires,
exciting longing in one's heart,
which he could not hear.

They are not things of nought."

[200] "But what then is the proximate,
and what the ultimate cause,
why he could not hear them,
they being thus real
and not things of nought?"

[153] "Suppose a recluse, Mahāli,
to have practised one-sided concentration of mind
with the object of seeing such heavenly forms
in any one direction,
— in the East,
or the South,
or the West,
or the North,
or above,
or below,
or across,
— and not with the object of hearing such heavenly sounds.

Then since he has practised one-sided concentration,
with the one object only in view,
he only sees the sights,
he hears not the sounds.

And why not?

Because of the nature of his self concentration [samādhi].

[154] And so also, Mahāli,
if he have practised one-sided concentration
with the object of hearing,
in any one direction,
the heavenly sounds,
then, and for the same reason,
he hears the sounds,
but he sees not the sights.

[155] But suppose, Mahāli,
he has practised self-concentration
with the double object in view
of seeing and hearing,
in any one direction,
those heavenly sights and those heavenly sounds.

Then since he has practised self-concentration
with the double object in view,
he both sees the sights and hears the sounds.

And why so?

Because of the nature of his self-concentration."

"Then, Sir, is it for the sake
of attaining to the practice
of such self-concentration
that the brethren lead the religious life
under the Blessed One?"

"No, Mahāli.

There are things, higher and sweeter than that,
for the sake of which they do so."

[156] "And what, Sir, may those other things be?"

"In the first place, Mahāli,
a brother by the complete destruction of the Three Bonds
(the Delusions of self, Doubt, and Trust in the efficacy of good works and ceremonies)²⁰
becomes a converted man,
one who cannot be reborn in any state of woe,
and is assured of [201] attaining
to the Insight (of the stages higher still).²¹

That, Mahāli, is a condition,
higher and sweeter,
for the sake of which
the brethren lead the religious life under me.

And then further, Mahāli,
a brother by the complete destruction of those Three Bonds,
and by reducing to a minimum
lust, illwill, and dullness,
becomes a Once-returner,
one who on his first return to this world
shall make an end of pain.

That, Mahāli, is a condition
higher still and sweeter,
for the sake of which
the brethren lead the religious life under me.

And then further, Mahāli,
a brother by the complete destruction of the Five Bonds
that bind people to this world²²
becomes an inheritor of the highest heavens,²³
there to pass away,
thence never to return.²⁴

That, Mahāli, is a condition
higher still and sweeter,
for the sake of which
the brethren lead the religious life under me.

And then further, Mahāli,
when a brother by the destruction of the Deadly Floods
(or Intoxications: Lusts, Becomings, Delusion, and Ignorance)
has, by himself, known and realized
and continues to abide here,
in this visible world,
in that emancipation of mind,
that emancipation of heart,
which is Arahatship
that, Mahāli, is a condition
higher still and sweeter still,
for the sake of which
the brethren lead the religious life under me.

'Such, Mahāli, are the conditions
higher and sweeter [202]
(than seeing heavenly sights
and hearing heavenly sounds),
for the sake of which
the brethren lead the religious life under me."

§

"But is there, Sir, a path,
is there a method,
for the realisation of these conditions?"

"Yes, Mahāli, there is."

[157] "And what, Sir, may be that path,
what that method?"

"Verily it is this Noble Eightfold Path,
that is to say:

Right views,
right aspirations,
right speech,
right action,
a right means of livelihood,
right effort,
right mindfulness,
and right ecstasy in self-concentration.²⁵

This, Mahāli, is the path,
and this the method,
for the realisation of these conditions.

§

One day, Mahāli,
I was staying at Kosambī,
in the Ghosita pleasaunce.

There two recluses,
Maṇḍissa the wandering mendicant,
and Jāliya the pupil of Dārupattika
(the man with the wooden bowl),
came to me,
and exchanged, with me
the greetings and compliments of politeness and courtesy,
and stood reverently apart.

And so standing they said to me:

'How is it then, O venerable Gotama,
is the soul the same thing as the body?

Or is the soul one thing
and the body, another?'

'Listen then, Sirs, and give heed attentively, and I will speak.'

'Very good, Sir,'
said those two mendicants in assent,
and I spake as follows: —

§

'Suppose, Sirs,
there appears in the world
one who has won the truth, an Arahat,
a fully awakened one,
abounding in wisdom and goodness, happy,
who knows all worlds,
unsurpassed as a guide
to mortals willing to be led,
a teacher for gods and men,
a Blessed One, a Buddha.

He, by himself, thoroughly knows and sees,
as it were, face-to-face this universe,
— including the worlds above of the gods,
the Brahmas, and the Māras,
and the world below with its recluses and Brahmans,
its princes and peoples, —
and having known it,
he makes his knowledge known to others.

The truth, lovely in its origin,
lovely in its progress,
lovely in its consummation,
doth he proclaim,
both in the spirit and in the letter,
the higher life doth he make known,
in all its fullness and in all its purity.

■

A householder or one of his children,
or a man of inferior birth in any class
listens to that truth;
and on hearing it he has faith in the Tathāgata (the one who has found the truth);
and when he is possessed of that faith,
he considers thus within himself:

"Full of hindrances is household life,
a path for the dust of passion.

Free as the air is the life
of him who has renounced all worldly things.

How difficult is it for the man who dwells at home
to live the higher life in all its fullness,
in all its purity,
in all its bright perfection!

Let me then cut off my hair and beard,
let me clothe myself in the orange-coloured robes,
and let me go forth
from the household life
into the homeless state."

Then, before long,
forsaking his portion of wealth,
be it great or small,
forsaking his circle of relatives,
be they many or be they few,
he cuts off his hair and beard,
he clothes himself in the orange-coloured robes,
and he goes forth from the household life
into the homeless state.

■

When he has thus become a recluse
he lives self-restrained by that restraint that should be binding on a recluse.

Uprightness is his delight,
and he sees danger
in the least of those things he should avoid.

He adopts, and trains himself in, the precepts.

He encompasses himself
with good deeds in act and word.

Pure are his means of livelihood,
good is his conduct,
guarded the doors of his senses.
Mindful and self-possessed
he is altogether happy.

■

And how, Sirs, is his conduct good?

In this, Sirs, that the Bhikshu,
putting away the killing of living things,
holds aloof from the destruction of life.

The cudgel and the sword he has laid aside,
and ashamed of roughness,
and full of mercy,
he dwells compassionate and kind
to all creatures that have life.

Putting away the taking
of what has not been given,
he lives aloof from grasping
what is not his own.

He takes only what is given,
and expecting that gifts will come,
he passes his life in honesty
and purity of heart.

Putting away unchastity,
he is chaste.

He holds himself aloof,
far off from the vulgar practice,
from the sexual act.

Putting away lying words,
he holds himself aloof from falsehood.

He speaks truth,
from the truth he never swerves;
faithful and trustworthy,
he breaks not his word to the world.

Putting away slander,
he holds himself aloof from calumny.

What he hears here
he repeats not elsewhere
to raise a quarrel
against the people here;
what he hears elsewhere
he repeats not here
to raise a quarrel
against the people there.

Thus does he live as a binder together
of those who are divided,
an encourager of those who are friends,
a peacemaker,
a lover of peace,
impassioned for peace,
a speaker of words that make for peace.

Putting away rudeness of speech,
he holds himself aloof from harsh language.

Whatsoever word is blameless,
pleasant to the car,
lovely,
reaching to the heart,
urbane,
pleasing to the people,
beloved of the people -
such are words he speaks.

Putting away frivolous talk,
he holds himself aloof from vain conversation.

In season he speaks,
in accordance with the facts,
words full of meaning,
on religion,
on the discipline of the Order.

He speaks, and at the right time,
words worthy to be laid up in one's heart,
fitly illustrated,
clearly divided,
to the point.

He holds himself aloof
from causing injury to seeds or plants.

He takes but one meal a day,
not eating at night,
refraining from food after hours
(after midday).

He refrains from being a spectator
at shows at fairs,
with nautch dances,
singing, and music.

He abstains from wearing,
adorning,
or ornamenting himself
with garlands, scents, and unguents.

He abstains from the use
of large and lofty beds.

He abstains from accepting silver or gold.

He abstains from accepting uncooked grain.

He abstains from accepting raw meat.

He abstains from accepting women or girls.

He abstains from accepting bondmen or bondwomen.

He abstains from accepting sheep or goats.

He abstains from accepting fowls or swine.

He abstains from accepting elephants, cattle. horses, and mares.

He abstains from accepting cultivated fields or waste.

He abstains from acting as a go-between or messenger.

He abstains from buying and selling.

He abstains from cheating
with scales or bronzes or measures.

He abstains from the crooked ways
of bribery, cheating, and fraud.

He abstains from maiming,
murder,
putting in bonds,
highway robbery,
dacoity,
and violence.

§

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the injury of seedlings
and growing plants
whether propagated from roots
or cuttings
or joints
or buddings
or seeds
the Bhikshu holds aloof from such injury
to seedlings and growing plants.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use
of things stored up;
stores,
to wit,
of foods,
drinks,
clothing,
equipages,
bedding,
perfumes,
and curry-stuffs —
the Bhikshu holds aloof from such use
of things stored up.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to visiting shows;
that is to say:

(1) Nautch dances (naccaṃ);

(2) Singing of songs (gītaṃ);

(3) Instrumental music (vāditaṃ);

(4) Shows at fairs (pekkhaṃ);

(5) Ballad recitations (akkhānaṃ);

(6) Hand music (pāṇissaraṃ);

(7) The chanting of bards (vetālaṃ);

(8) Tam - tam playing (kumbhathūnaṃ);

(9) Fairy scenes (Sobhanagarakaṃ);

(10) Acrobatic feats by Kaṇḍālas (Kaṇḍāla-vaṃsa-dhopanaṃ);

(11) Combats of elephants,
horses,
buffaloes,
bulls,
goats,
rams,
cocks,
and quails;

(12) Bouts at quarter-staff,
boxing,
wrestling;

(13) Sham-fights.

(14) roll-calls.

(15) manoeuvres.

(16) reviews —

the Bhikshu holds aloof from visiting such shows.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to games and recreations;
that is to say:

(1) Games on boards with eight,
or with ten,
rows of squares;

(2) The same games
played by imagining such boards in the air;

(3) Keeping going over diagrams drawn on the ground
so that one steps only where one ought to go;

(4) Either removing the pieces or men from a heap
with one's nail,
or putting them into a heap,
in each case without shaking it,
he who shakes the heap, loses;

(5) Throwing dice;

(6) Hitting a short stick with a long one;

(7) Dipping the hand with the fingers stretched out
in lac,
or red dye,
or flower-water,
and striking the wet hand
on the ground
or on a wall,
calling out
'What shell it be?'
and showing the form required —
elephants, horses, etc.;

(8) Games with balls;

(9) Blowing through toy pipes made of leaves;

(10) Ploughing with toy ploughs;

(11) Turning summersaults;

(12) Playing with toy windmills made of palm-leaves;

(13) Playing with toy measures made of palm-leaves;

(14, 15) Playing with toy carts or toy bows;

(16) Guessing at letters traced in the air, or on a. playfellow's back;

(17) Guessing the play fellow's thoughts;

(18) Mimicry of deformities;

The Bhikshu holds aloof from such games and recreations.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use of high and large couches;
that is to say:

(1) Moveable settees,
high, and six feet long;

(2) Divans with animal figures carved on the supports (Pallanko);

(3) Goats' hair coverlets
with very long fleece (Gonako);

(4) Patchwork counterpanes of many colours (Cittakā);

(5) White blankets (Paṭikā);

(6) Woollen coverlets embroidered with flowers (Paṭalikā);

(7) Quilts stuffed with cotton wool (Tūlikā);

(8) Coverlets embroidered with figures of lions, tigers, etc. (Vikatikā);

(9) Rugs with fur on both sides (Uddalomī);

(10) Rugs with fur on one side (Ekantalomī);

(11) Coverlets embroidered with gems (Kaṭṭhissaṃ);

(12) Silk coverlets (Koseyyaṃ);

(13) Carpets large enough for sixteen dancers (Kuttakaṃ);

(14) Elephant rugs;

(15) horse rugs;

(16) chariot rugs;

(17) Rugs of antelope skins sewn together (Ajina-paveṇi);

(18) Rugs of skins of the plantain antelope;

(19) Carpets with awnings above them (Sauttara-cchadaṃ);

(20) Sofas with red pillows
for the head and feet.

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such things.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use
of means for adorning
and beautifying themselves;
that is to say:

Rubbing in scented powders on one's body,
shampooing it,
and bathing it;

Patting the limbs with clubs
after the manner of wrestlers;

The use of mirrors,
eye-ointments,
garlands,
rouge,
cosmetics,
bracelets,
necklaces,
walking-sticks,
reed cases for drugs,
rapiers,
sunshades,
embroidered slippers,
turbans,
diadems,
whisks of the yak's tail,
and long-fringed white robes;

The Bhikshu holds aloof
from such means of adorning and beautifying the person.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to such low conversation as these:

Tales of kings,
of robbers,
of ministers of state
tales of war,
of terrors,
of battles;
talk about foods and drinks,
clothes,
beds,
garlands,
perfumes;
talks about relationships,
equipages,
villages,
town,
cities,
and countries;
tales about women,
and about heroes;
gossip at street corners,
or places whence water is fetched;
ghost stories;
desultory talk;
speculations about the creation of the land or sea,
or about existence and non-existence;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low conversation.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use of wrangling phrases such as

'You don't understand this doctrine and discipline,
I do.';

'How should you know about this doctrine and discipline?';

'You have fallen into wrong views.

It is I who am in the right.';

'I am speaking to the point,
you are not.';

'You are putting last
what ought to come first,
first what ought to come last.';

'What you've excogitated so long,
that's all quite upset.';

'Your challenge has been taken up.';

'You are proved to be wrong.';

'Set to work to clear your views.';

'Disentangle yourself if you can.';

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such wrangling phrases.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to taking messages,
going on errands,
and acting as go-betweens;
to wit,
on kings,
ministers of state,
Kshatriyas,
Brahmans,
or young men,
saying:

'Go there,
come hither,
take this with you,
bring that from thence';

the Bhikshu abstains from such servile duties.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
are tricksters,
droners out (of holy words for pay),
diviners, and exorcists,
ever hungering to add gain to gain —
the Bhikshu holds aloof from such deception and patter.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

(1) Palmistry —
prophesying long life, prosperity, etc.
from marks on child's hands, feet. etc.;

(2) Divining by means of omens and signs;

(3) Auguries drawn from thunderbolts
and other celestial portents;

(4) Prognostication by interpreting dreams;

(5) Fortune-telling from marks on the body;

(6) Auguries from the marks on cloth gnawed by mice;

(7) Sacrificing to Agni;

(8) Offering oblations from a spoon;

(9-13) Making offerings to gods
of husks,
of the red powder between the grain and the husk,
of husked grain ready for boiling,
of ghee,
and of oil;

(14) Sacrificing by spewing mustard seeds, etc.,
into the fire out of one's mouth;

(15) Drawing blood from one's right knee
as a sacrifice to the gods;

(16) Looking at the knuckles, etc., and,
after muttering a charm,
divining whether a man is well born
or lucky or not;

(17) Determining whether the site
for a proposed house or pleasance,
is lucky or not;

(18) Advising on customary law;

(19) Laying demons in a cemetery;

(20) Laying ghosts;

(21) Knowledge of the charms to be used
when lodging in an earth house;

(22) Snake charming;

(23) The poison craft;

(24) The scorpion craft;

(25) The mouse craft;

(26) The bird craft;

(27) The crow craft;

(28) Foretelling the number of years
that a man has yet to live.

(29) Giving charms to ward off arrows;

(30) The animal wheel;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

Knowledge of the signs
of good and bad qualities
in the following things
and of the marks in them
denoting the health or luck of their owners: —
to wit,
gems,
staves,
garments,
swords,
arrows,
bows,
other weapons,
women,
men,
boys,
girls,
slaves,
slave-girls,
elephants,
horses,
buffaloes,
bulls,
oxen,
goats,
sheep,
fowls,
quails,
iguanas,
earrings,
tortoises,
and other animals;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as soothsaying,
to the effect that:

'The chiefs will march out';

'The chiefs will march back';

'The home chiefs will attack,
and the enemies' retreat';

'The enemies' chiefs will attack,
and ours will retreat';

'The home chiefs will gain the victory,
and the foreign chiefs suffer defeat';

'The foreign chiefs will gain the victory,
and ours will suffer defeat';

'Thus will there be victory on this side,
defeat on that'

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by such low arts as foretelling:

(1) 'There will be an eclipse of the moon';

(2) 'There will be en eclipse of the sun';

(3) 'There will be en eclipse of a star'
(Nakshatra);

(4) 'There will be aberration of the sun or the moon';

(5) 'The sun or the moon will return to its usual path';

(6) 'There will be aberrations of the stars';

(7) 'The stars will return to their usual course';

(8) 'There will be a fall of meteors';

(9) 'There will be a jungle fire';

(10) 'There will be an earthquake';

(11) 'The god will thunder';

(12-15) 'There will be rising and setting,
clearness and dimness,
of the sun or the moon or the stars',|| ||

or foretelling of each of these fifteen phenomena
that they will betoken such and such a result;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

Foretelling an abundant rainfall;

Foretelling a deficient rainfall;

Foretelling a good harvest;

Foretelling scarcity of food;

Foretelling tranquillity;

Foretelling disturbances;

Foretelling a pestilence;

Foretelling a healthy season;

Counting on the fingers;

Counting without using the fingers;

Summing up large totals;

Composing ballads, poetising;

Casuistry, sophistry;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as:

(1) Arranging a lucky day for marriages
in which the bride or bridegroom is brought home;

(2) Arranging a lucky day for marriages
in which the bride or bridegroom is sent forth;

(3) Fixing a lucky time for the conclusion of treaties of peace
[or using charms to procure harmony;

(4) Fixing a lucky time
for the outbreak of hostilities
[or using charms to make discord];

(5) Fixing-a lucky time
for the calling in of debts
[or charms for success in throwing dice];

(6) Fixing a lucky time
for the expenditure of money
[or charms to bring ill luck to an opponent throwing dice];

(7) Using charms to make people lucky;

(8) Using charms to make people unlucky;

(9) Using charms to procure abortion;

(10) Incantations to bring on dumbness;

(11) Incantations to keep a man's jaws fixed;

(12) Incantations to make a man throw up his hands;

(13) Incantations to bring on deafness;

(14) Obtaining oracular answers by means of the magic mirror;

(15) Obtaining oracular answers through a girl possessed;

(16) Obtaining oracular answers from a god;

(17) The worship of the Sun;

(18) The worship of the Great One;

(19) Bringing forth flames from one's mouth;

(20) Invoking Siri, the goddess of Luck —

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

(1) Vowing gifts to a god if a certain benefit be granted;

(2) Paying such vows;

(3) Repeating charms while lodging in an earth house;

(4) Causing virility;

(5) Making a man impotent;

(6) Fixing on lucky sites for dwelling;

(7) Consecrating sites;

(8) Ceremonial rinsings of the month;

(9) Ceremonial bathings;

(10) Offering sacrifices;

(11-14) Administering emetics and purgatives;

(15) Purging people to relieve the head
(that is by giving drugs to make people sneeze);

(16) Oiling people's ears
(either to make them grow or to heal sores on them);

(17) Satisfying people's eyes
(soothing them by dropping medicinal oils into them);

(18) Administering drugs through the nose;

(19) Applying collyrium to the eyes;

(20) Giving medical ointment for the eyes;

(21) Practising as an oculist;

(22) Practising as a surgeon;

(23) Practising as a doctor for children;

(24) Administering roots and drugs;

(25) Administering medicines in rotation;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

§

And then that Bhikshu, Sirs,
being thus master of the minor moralities,
sees no danger from any side,
that is, so far as concerns his self-restraint in conduct.

Just, Sirs, as a sovereign, duly crowned,
whose enemies have been beaten down,
sees no danger from any side;
that is, so far as enemies are concerned,
so is the Bhikshu confident.

And endowed with this body of morals,
so worthy of honour,
he experiences, within himself,
a sense of ease without alloy.

Thus is it, Sirs, that the Bhikshu becomes righteous.

§

[203] And how, Sirs,
is the Bhikshu guarded
as to the doors of his senses?

'When, Sirs, he sees an object with his eye
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of sight.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of sight,
and he attains to mastery over it.

■

When, Sirs, he hears a sound with his ear
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of hearing.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of hearing,
and he attains to mastery over it.

■

When, Sirs, he smells an odour with his nose
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of smell.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of smell,
and he attains to mastery over it.

■

When, Sirs, he tastes a flavour with his tongue
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of taste.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of taste,
and he attains to mastery over it.

■

When, Sirs, he feels a touch with his body
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of touch.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of touch,
and he attains to mastery over it.

■

When, Sirs, he cognises a phenomenon with his mind
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his mental (representative) faculty.

He keeps watch upon his representative faculty,
and he attains to mastery over it.

■

And endowed with this self-restraint,
so worthy of honour,
as regards the senses,
he experiences, within himself, a sense of ease
into which no evil state can enter.

Thus is it, Sirs,
that the Bhikshu becomes guarded
as to the doors of his senses.

§

And how, Sirs, is the Bhikshu
mindful and self-possessed?

In this matter, Sirs,
the Bhikshu
in going forth or in coming back
whether looking forward,
or in looking round;
in stretching forth his arm,
or in drawing it in again;
in eating or drinking,
in masticating or swallowing,
in obeying the calls of nature,
in going or standing or sitting,
in sleeping or waking,
in speaking or in being still,
he keeps himself aware
of all it really means.

Thus is it, Sirs,
that the Bhikshu becomes mindful and self-possessed.

§

And how, Sirs, is the Bhikshu content?

'In this matter, Sirs,
the Bhikshu is satisfied with sufficient robes
to cherish his body,
with sufficient food
to keep his stomach going.

Whithersoever he may go forth,
these he takes with him as he goes
- just as a bird with his wings, Sirs,
whithersoever he may fly,
carries his wings with him as he flies.

Thus is it, Sirs,
that the Bhikshu becomes content.

§

Then, master of this so excellent body of moral precepts,
gifted with this so excellent self-restraint as to the senses,
endowed with this so excellent mindfulness and self-possession,
filled with this so excellent content,
he chooses some lonely spot
to rest at on his way
— in the woods,
at the foot of a tree,
on a hill side,
in a mountain glen,
in a rocky cave,
in a charnel place,
or on a heap of straw in the open field.

And returning thither
after his round for alms
he seats himself, when his meal is done,
cross-legged,
keeping his body erect,
and his intelligence alert, intent.

■

Putting away the hankering after the world,
he remains with a heart that hankers not,
and purifies his mind of lusts.

■

Putting away the corruption
of the wish to injure,
he remains with a heart free from ill temper,
and purifies his mind of malevolence.

■

Putting away torpor of heart and mind,
keeping his ideas alight,
mindful and self-possessed,
he purifies his mind of weakness and of sloth.

■

Putting away flurry and worry,
he remains free from fretfulness,
and with heart serene within,
he purifies himself of irritability
and vexation of spirit.

■

Putting away wavering,
he remains as one passed beyond perplexity;
and no longer in suspense as to what is good,
he purifies his mind of doubt.

■

Then just, Sirs,
as when a man, after contracting a loan,
should set a business on foot,
and his business should succeed,
and he should not only be able
to pay off the old debt he had incurred,
but there should be a surplus over
to maintain a wife.

Then would he realize:

'I used to have to carry on my business
by getting into debt,
but it has gone so well with me
that I have paid off what I owed,
and have a surplus over
to maintain a wife.'

And he would be of good cheer at that,
would be glad of heart at that: —

Then just, Sirs,
as if a man were a prey to disease,
in pain, and very ill,
and his food would not digest,
and there were no strength left in him;
and after a time
he were to recover from that disease,
and his food should digest,
and his strength come back to him;
then, when he realized his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

■

Then just, Sirs,
as if a man were bound in a prison house,
and after a time
he should be set free from his bonds,
safe and sound,
and without any confiscation of his goods;
when he realized his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

■

Then just, Sirs,
as if a man were a slave,
not his own master,
subject to another,
unable to go whither he would;
and after a time
he should be emancipated from that slavery,
become his own master,
not subject to others,
a free man,
free to go whither he would;
then, on realising his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

■

Then just, Sirs,
as if a man, rich and prosperous,
were to find himself on a long road,
in a desert, where no food was,
but much danger;
and after a time
were to find himself out of the desert,
arrived safe,
on the borders of his village,
in security and peace;
then, on realising his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

■

Just so, Sirs, the Bhikshu,
so long as these five hindrances
are not put away within him
looks upon himself as in debt,
diseased,
in prison,
in slavery,
lost on a desert road.

■

But when these five hindrances
have been put away within him,
he looks upon himself as freed from debt,
rid of disease,
out of jail,
a free man,
and secure.

And gladness springs up within him
on his realising that,
and joy arises to him thus gladdened,
and so rejoicing
all his frame becomes at ease,
and being thus at ease
he is filled with a sense of peace,
and in that peace his heart is stayed.

§

Then estranged from lusts,
aloof from evil dispositions,
he enters into and remains in the First Rapture
— a state of joy and ease born of detachment,
reasoning and investigation going on the while.

His very body does he so pervade,
drench,
permeate,
and suffuse
with the joy and ease born of detachment,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

Just, Sirs, as a skilful bathman
or his apprentice
will scatter perfumed soap powder
in a metal basin,
and then besprinkling it with water,
drop by drop,
will so knead it together
that the ball of lather,
taking up the unctuous moisture,
is drenched with it,
pervaded by it,
permeated by it within and without,
and there is no leakage possible.

Now, Sirs, when a Bhikshu knows thus and sees thus,
would that make him ready
to take up the subject:

'Is the soul the same thing as the body,
or is the soul one thing and the body another?'"

"Yes, it would, Sir."²⁶

"But I, Sirs, know thus and see thus.

And nevertheless I do not say either the one or the other.

■

Then further, Sirs,
the Bhikshu suppressing all reasoning and investigation
enters into and abides in the Second Jhāna,
a state of joy and ease,
born of the serenity of concentration,
when no reasoning or investigation goes on,
— a state of elevation of mind,
a tranquillisation of the heart within.

'And his very body does he so pervade,
drench,
permeate,
and suffuse with the joy and ease born of concentration,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

'Just, Sirs,
as if there were a deep pool,
with water welling up into it
from a spring beneath,
and with no inlet from the east or west,
from the north or south,
and the god should not
from time to time
send down showers of rain upon it.
Still the current of cool waters
rising up from that spring
would pervade,
fill,
permeate,
and suffuse the pool
with cool waters,
and there would be no part or portion of the pool
unsuffused therewith.

Now, Sirs, when a Bhikshu knows thus and sees thus,
would that make him ready to take up the subject:

'Is the soul the same thing as the body,
or is the soul one thing and the body another?'"

"Yes, it would, Sir."

"But I, Sirs, know thus and see thus.

And nevertheless I do not say either the one or the other.

■

Then further, Sirs, the Bhikshu,
holding aloof from joy,
becomes equable;
and mindful and self-possessed
he experiences in his body
that ease which the Arahats talk of when they say:
"The man serene and self-possessed
is well at ease,"
and so he enters into
and abides in the Third Jhāna.

And his very body
does he so pervade,
drench,
permeate,
and suffuse with that ease
that has no joy with it,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

Just, Sirs,
as when in a lotus tank
the several lotus flowers,
red or white or blue,
born in the water,
grown up in the water,
not rising up above the surface of the water,
drawing up nourishment from the depths of the water,
are so pervaded,
drenched,
permeated,
and suffused
from their very tips
down to their roots
with the cool moisture thereof,
that there is no spot in the whole plant,
whether of the red lotus,
or of the white,
or of the blue,
not suffused therewith.

Now, Sirs, when a Bhikshu knows thus and sees thus, would that make him ready to take up the subject:

'Is the soul the same thing as the body,
or is the soul one thing and the body another?'"

"Yes, it would, Sir."

"But I, Sirs, know thus and see thus.

And nevertheless I do not say either the one or the other.

■

Then further, Sirs, the Bhikshu,
by the putting away alike of ease and of pain,
by the passing away alike of any elation,
any dejection,
he had previously felt,
enters into and abides in the Fourth Jhāna,
a state of pure self-possession and equanimity,
without pain and without ease.

And he sits there
so suffusing even his body
with that sense of purification,
of translucence of heart,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

Just, Sirs,
as if a man were sitting
so wrapt from head to foot in a clean white robe,
that there were no spot in his whole frame
not in contact with the clean white robe
— just so, Sirs, does the Bhikshu sit there,
so suffusing even his body
with that sense of purification,
of translucence of heart,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

Now, Sirs, when a Bhikshu knows thus and sees thus, would that make him ready to take up the subject:

'Is the soul the same thing as the body,
or is the soul one thing and the body another?'"

"Yes, it would, Sir."

"But I, Sirs, know thus and see thus.

And nevertheless I do not say either the one or the other."

§

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he applies and bends down his mind
to that insight that comes from knowledge.

He grasps the fact:

'This body of mine has form,
it is built up of the four elements,
it springs from father and mother,
it is continually renewed
by so much boiled rice and juicy foods,
its very nature is impermanence,
it is subject to erasion,
abrasion,
dissolution,
and disintegration;
and therein is this consciousness of mine, too, bound up,
on that does it depend.'

Just, Sirs,
as if there were a veluriya gem,
bright, of the purest water,
with eight facets,
excellently cut,
clear, translucent,
without a flaw,
excellent in every way.
And through it a string,
blue, or orange-coloured,
or red, or white, or yellow
should be threaded.
If a man, who had eyes to see,
were to take it into his hand,
he would clearly perceive
how the one is bound up with the other.

Now, Sirs, when a Bhikshu knows thus and sees thus,
would that make him ready to take up the subject:

'Is the soul the same thing as the body,
or is the soul one thing and the body another?'"

"Yes, it would, Sir."

"But I, Sirs, know thus and see thus.

And nevertheless I do not say either the one or the other.

§

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he directs and bends down his mind
to the knowledge of the destruction of the Deadly Floods.

He knows as it really is:

'This is pain.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the origin of pain.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the cessation of pain.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the Path that leads to the cessation of pain.'

He knows as they really are:

'These are the Deadly Floods.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the origin of the Deadly Floods.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the cessation of the Deadly Floods.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the Path [204] that leads to the cessation of the Deadly Floods."

To him, thus knowing, thus seeing,
the heart is set free
from the Deadly Taint of Lusts,
is set free from the Deadly Taint of Becomings,
is set free from the Deadly Taint of Ignorance.

In him, thus set free,
there arises the knowledge of his emancipation,
and he knows:

'Rebirth has been destroyed.

The higher life has been fulfilled.

What had to be done has been accomplished.

After this present life
there will be no beyond!

'Just, Sirs,
as if in a mountain fastness
there were a pool of water,
clear, translucent, and serene;
and a man, standing on the bank,
and with eyes to see,
should perceive the oysters and the shells,
the gravel and the pebbles
and the shoals of fish
as they move about or lie within it:
he would know:

'This pool is clear, transparent, and serene,
and there within it
are the oysters and the shells,
and the sand and gravel,
and the shoals of fish are moving about
or lying still.

Now, Sirs, when a Bhikshu knows thus and sees thus,
would that make him ready to take up the subject:

'Is the soul the same thing as the body,
or is the soul one thing and the body another?'"

"No, Sir, it would not."²⁷

And I, Sirs, know thus and see thus.

And nevertheless I do not say either the one or the other."

■

Thus spake the Blessed One;
and Hare-lip the Licchavi,
pleased at heart,
exalted the word of the Blessed One.

HERE ENDS THE MAHĀLI SUTTA

¹ Poṭṭhapāda Sutta (translated below) Saṃyutta IV, 393; Udāna VI, 4; M. I 484, etc.

² Taṃ jīvaṃ tam sarīraṃ. Childers (sub voce pañho) renders this: 'Is this the life? Is this the body?' But that must be wrong See Sum I, 319.

³ For instance, M. I 455.

⁴ 'We were in the ship two hundred and seventy-six souls, 'Acts xxvii. 37.

⁵ There are about a score of ambiguous passages; but a different decision as to them would not change the proportion to any substantial extent.

⁶ Attano, attanā, etc., in all the oblique cases. But for the nominative attā, the use of which might have been misunderstood, sayaṃ is almost always, substituted.

⁷ See the quotations in my 'American Lectures' (London, 1896), pp 39-42, and the notes above, pp. 81, 87.

⁸ Kathā-vatthu-p-pakaraṇa-aṭṭhakathā, p. 8 (in the Journal of the Pāli Text Society for 1889).

⁹ See Senarat, 'Inscription de Piyadasi,' I, 186, and the other authorities referred to at I, 182 and, 223.

¹⁰ Compare brahma-parāyano at Mil. 234, brahmacariya-parāyano at A. III, 75, and daṇḍa-parāyano at M. I, 88.

¹¹ Childers thinks sambodho is merely another form of sambodhi.

¹² Todeyya-putto may be rendered either 'son of the man of Tudi' or 'of the son of the dwellers in Tudi' (a well-known village), or lastly 'of the Todeyya clan,' 'the Todeyyan.'

¹³ See my note at 'Buddhist Suttas,' p. 75, and compare contra A. I, 188, 278.

¹⁴ Evaṃ-namo evaṃ-gotto at M. II, 33; S. III, 25; D. I, 242 is followed at D. I, 13 by evaṃ-vaṇṇo; but evidence of any effect of social distinction on names is at present very slight.

¹⁵ The great wood stretched from Vesālī northwards to the Himālaya range. In it they had laid out a pleasaunce for the order, and made there a storied house, with a hall below surrounded by pillars only, and facing the west, and above it the gabled apartments in which the Buddha so often stayed.

¹⁶ He was the son of Nāgita's sister. He had joined the Order as a novice when only seven years old, and shown so much intelligence as learner that he was a favourite with the Buddha himself. He must therefore be different from the other Sīha, also a Licchavi, who is the hero of the story told at Vin. I, 233-238 = A. IV, 179-188, as the latter is not a member of the order at all. Professor Edward Müller (J.P.T.S., 1888, p.97) confounds the two.

¹⁷ This is the gotta, the gens, to which Nāgita belonged.

¹⁸ This young man became the Buddha's personal attendant; but afterwards, when the Buddha was in extreme old age (M. I, 82), he went over to the creed of Kora the Kshatriya and left the Buddhist order. Kora's doctrine was the efficacy of asceticism, of rigid self-mortification. And it was to show how wrong this doctrine, as put forth by Sunakkhatta, was, that the Buddha told the story (Jāt. I, 398) of the uselessness of the efforts he himself has made when

'Now scorched, now frozen, lone in fearsome woods,
Naked, without a fire, a fire within,
He as a hermit, sought the crown of faith.'

But we do not hear that Sunakkhatta ever came back to the fold.

¹⁹ This is again the name of the gotta, the gens. Buddhaghosa (p.316) calls him a rāja.

²⁰ See my 'American Lectures' (London, 1896, pp. 142-149) for the full meaning of these three, and of the following Bonds.

²¹ Sambodhi-parāyano. So Buddhaghosa on this (p. 313) and my Introduction to the Sutta.

²² The above three, and Sensuality and Ill-will.

²³ Opapātiko, literally 'accidental'; but the use of such a word would only mislead the reader, the real connotation of the world being that of the words I have chosen. Those who gain the highest heavens are so called because there is no birth there in the ordinary way. Each being, who is there, has appeared there suddenly, accidentally as it were, without generation, conception, gestation or any of the other means attending the birth of beings in the world.

²⁴ It is impossible to ignore a reference here to the view expressed in the Bṛīhad Âraṇyaka Upanishad (VI, 2, 15). 'There do they dwell far away, beyond, in the Brahmā-worlds. And for them there is no return.'

²⁵ See my 'American Lectures,' pp. 136-141; and Sum. I, 314-316.

²⁶ The Siamese edition reads: 'No, it would not, Sir.' On the idiom kallaṃ etaṃ vacanāya compare A. I, 144; M. II, 211

²⁷ So three Sinhalese and two Burmese MSS. And the Siamese edition. Two Sinhalese MSS. Read: 'Yes, Sir, it would.' But Buddhaghosa had clearly, both here and above, § 16, the reading we have followed. And he gives a characteristic explanation-that whereas the Arahat (in §190) would have too much wisdom to be led astray, following the false trail of the soul theory, the Bhikshu who had only reached up to the Jhānas might, being still a puthujjana, an unconverted man, have leanings that way.

To hold that the soul is the same as the body is the heresy referred to in the Brahma-jāla (above, p. 46). See also the Introduction to the Kūṭadanta (above, p.167).

7. Is the Soul Distinct from the Body?

Jāliya Suttantaṃ

[205]

Introduction

[This Sutta having been incorporated, word for word, as §§ 15-19, inclusive, in the last Sutta, the reader is referred to the translation given there. [Ed. reproduced here.]

The Mahāli Sutta must have already included, when the Dīgha was put together, this Jāliya episode. For there would otherwise be no reason for the Mahāli Sutta being put into the Sīlakkhanda Vagga, the Sīlas being contained only in that episode.

Why then should the episode appear also again, in full, as a separate Sutta? Is it merely because of the importance of the question? We have another instance of a similar kind, where the episode of Nigrodha's question, only referred to at § 23 of the Kassapa-Sīhanāda Sutta, is set out afterwards, in full, in the Udumbarīka Sīhanāda Sutta (No. 25 in the Dīgha). But there the whole episode is not given twice in full. Such cross-references are fairly frequent in the Piṭakas, and are of importance for the history of the literature. One of the most striking cases is where the Saṃyutta quotes a Sutta, now contained in the Dīgha, by name. (Sakkapañha Sutta, S. III, 13; compare Sum. I, 51; Mil. 350.)]

VII. Jāliya Suttantaṃ

Is the Soul Distinct from the Body?

THUS HAVE I HEARD.

The Blessed One was once staying at Kosambī,
in the Ghosita pleasaunce.

There two recluses,
Maṇḍissa the wandering mendicant,
and Jāliya the pupil of Dārupattika
(the man with the wooden bowl),
came to The Blessed One,
and exchanged, with him
the greetings and compliments of politeness and courtesy,
and stood reverently apart.

And so standing they said:

"How is it then, O venerable Gotama,
is the soul the same thing as the body?

Or is the soul one thing
and the body, another?"

"Listen then, Sirs,
and give heed attentively,
and I will speak."

"Very good, Sir,"
said those two mendicants in assent,
and The Blessed One spake as follows: —

§

"Suppose, Sirs,
there appears in the world
one who has won the truth, an Arahat,
a fully awakened one,
abounding in wisdom and goodness, happy,
who knows all worlds,
unsurpassed as a guide
to mortals willing to be led,
a teacher for gods and men,
a Blessed One,
a Buddha.

He, by himself, thoroughly knows and sees,
as it were, face-to-face this universe,
— including the worlds above of the gods,
the Brahmas, and the Māras,
and the world below with its recluses and Brahmans,
its princes and peoples, —
and having known it,
he makes his knowledge known to others.

The truth, lovely in its origin,
lovely in its progress,
lovely in its consummation,
doth he proclaim,
both in the spirit and in the letter,
the higher life doth he make known,
in all its fullness and in all its purity.

■

A householder or one of his children,
or a man of inferior birth in any class
listens to that truth;
and on hearing it he has faith in the Tathāgata (the one who has found the truth);
and when he is possessed of that faith,
he considers thus within himself:

'Full of hindrances is household life,
a path for the dust of passion.

Free as the air is the life
of him who has renounced all worldly things.

How difficult is it for the man who dwells at home
to live the higher life in all its fullness,
in all its purity,
in all its bright perfection!

Let me then cut off my hair and beard,
let me clothe myself in the orange-coloured robes,
and let me go forth
from the household life
into the homeless state.'

■

Then, before long,
forsaking his portion of wealth,
be it great or small,
forsaking his circle of relatives,
be they many or be they few,
he cuts off his hair and beard,
he clothes himself in the orange-coloured robes,
and he goes forth from the household life
into the homeless state.

When he has thus become a recluse
he lives self-restrained by that restraint that should be binding on a recluse.

Uprightness is his delight,
and he sees danger
in the least of those things he should avoid.

He adopts, and trains himself in, the precepts.

He encompasses himself with good deeds in act and word.

Pure are his means of livelihood,
good is his conduct,
guarded the doors of his senses.

Mindful and self-possessed
he is altogether happy.

§

And how, Sirs, is his conduct good?

In this, Sirs, that the Bhikshu,
putting away the killing of living things,
holds aloof from the destruction of life.

The cudgel and the sword he has laid aside,
and ashamed of roughness,
and full of mercy,
he dwells compassionate and kind
to all creatures that have life.

Putting away the taking
of what has not been given,
he lives aloof from grasping
what is not his own.

He takes only what is given,
and expecting that gifts will come,
he passes his life in honesty
and purity of heart.

Putting away unchastity,
he is chaste.

He holds himself aloof,
far off from the vulgar practice,
from the sexual act.

Putting away lying words,
he holds himself aloof from falsehood.

He speaks truth,
from the truth he never swerves;
faithful and trustworthy,
he breaks not his word to the world.

Putting away slander,
he holds himself aloof from calumny.

What he hears here
he repeats not elsewhere
to raise a quarrel
against the people here;
what he hears elsewhere
he repeats not here
to raise a quarrel
against the people there.

Thus does he live as a binder together
of those who are divided,
an encourager of those who are friends,
a peacemaker,
a lover of peace,
impassioned for peace,
a speaker of words that make for peace.

Putting away rudeness of speech,
he holds himself aloof from harsh language.

Whatsoever word is blameless,
pleasant to the car,
lovely,
reaching to the heart,
urbane,
pleasing to the people,
beloved of the people -
such are words he speaks.

Putting away frivolous talk,
he holds himself aloof from vain conversation.

In season he speaks,
in accordance with the facts,
words full of meaning,
on religion,
on the discipline of the Order.

He speaks, and at the right time,
words worthy to be laid up in one's heart,
fitly illustrated,
clearly divided,
to the point.

He holds himself aloof
from causing injury to seeds or plants.

He takes but one meal a day,
not eating at night,
refraining from food after hours
(after midday).

He refrains from being a spectator
at shows at fairs,
with nautch dances,
singing, and music.

He abstains from wearing,
adorning,
or ornamenting himself
with garlands, scents, and unguents.

He abstains from the use
of large and lofty beds.

He abstains from accepting silver or gold.

He abstains from accepting uncooked grain.

He abstains from accepting raw meat.

He abstains from accepting women or girls.

He abstains from accepting bondmen or bondwomen.

He abstains from accepting sheep or goats.

He abstains from accepting fowls or swine.

He abstains from accepting elephants, cattle. horses, and mares.

He abstains from accepting cultivated fields or waste.

He abstains from acting as a go-between or messenger.

He abstains from buying and selling.

He abstains from cheating
with scales or bronzes or measures.

He abstains from the crooked ways
of bribery, cheating, and fraud.

He abstains from maiming,
murder,
putting in bonds,
highway robbery,
dacoity,
and violence.

§

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the injury of seedlings
and growing plants
whether propagated from roots
or cuttings
or joints
or buddings
or seeds
the Bhikshu holds aloof from such injury
to seedlings and growing plants.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use
of things stored up;
stores, to wit,
of foods,
drinks,
clothing,
equipages,
bedding,
perfumes,
and curry-stuffs —
the Bhikshu holds aloof from such use
of things stored up.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to visiting shows;
that is to say:

(1) Nautch dances (naccaṃ);

(2) Singing of songs (gītaṃ);

(3) Instrumental music (vāditaṃ);

(4) Shows at fairs (pekkhaṃ);

(5) Ballad recitations (akkhānaṃ);

(6) Hand music (pāṇissaraṃ);

(7) The chanting of bards (vetālaṃ);

(8) Tam - tam playing (kumbhathūnaṃ);

(9) Fairy scenes (Sobhanagarakaṃ);

(10) Acrobatic feats by Kaṇḍālas (Kaṇḍāla-vaṃsa-dhopanaṃ);

(11) Combats of elephants,
horses,
buffaloes,
bulls,
goats,
rams,
cocks,
and quails;

(12) Bouts at quarter-staff,
boxing,
wrestling;

(13) Sham-fights.

(14) roll-calls.

(15) manoeuvres.

(16) reviews —

the Bhikshu holds aloof from visiting such shows.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to games and recreations;
that is to say:

(1) Games on boards with eight,
or with ten,
rows of squares;

(2) The same games
played by imagining such boards in the air;

(3) Keeping going over diagrams drawn on the ground
so that one steps only where one ought to go;

(4) Either removing the pieces or men from a heap
with one's nail,
or putting them into a heap,
in each case without shaking it,
he who shakes the heap, loses;

(5) Throwing dice;

(6) Hitting a short stick with a long one;

(7) Dipping the hand with the fingers stretched out
in lac,
or red dye,
or flower-water,
and striking the wet hand
on the ground
or on a wall,
calling out
'What shell it be?'
and showing the form required —
elephants, horses, etc.;

(8) Games with balls;

(9) Blowing through toy pipes made of leaves;

(10) Ploughing with toy ploughs;

(11) Turning summersaults;

(12) Playing with toy windmills made of palm-leaves;

(13) Playing with toy measures made of palm-leaves;

(14, 15) Playing with toy carts or toy bows;

(16) Guessing at letters traced in the air, or on a. playfellow's back;

(17) Guessing the play fellow's thoughts;

(18) Mimicry of deformities;

The Bhikshu holds aloof from such games and recreations.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use of high and large couches;
that is to say:

(1) Moveable settees,
high, and six feet long;

(2) Divans with animal figures carved on the supports (Pallanko);

(3) Goats' hair coverlets
with very long fleece (Gonako);

(4) Patchwork counterpanes of many colours (Cittakā);

(5) White blankets (Paṭikā);

(6) Woollen coverlets embroidered with flowers (Paṭalikā);

(7) Quilts stuffed with cotton wool (Tūlikā);

(8) Coverlets embroidered with figures of lions, tigers, etc. (Vikatikā);

(9) Rugs with fur on both sides (Uddalomī);

(10) Rugs with fur on one side (Ekantalomī);

(11) Coverlets embroidered with gems (Kaṭṭhissaṃ);

(12) Silk coverlets (Koseyyaṃ);

(13) Carpets large enough for sixteen dancers (Kuttakaṃ);

(14) Elephant rugs;

(15) horse rugs;

(16) chariot rugs;

(17) Rugs of antelope skins sewn together (Ajina-paveṇi);

(18) Rugs of skins of the plantain antelope;

(19) Carpets with awnings above them (Sauttara-cchadaṃ);

(20) Sofas with red pillows
for the head and feet.

The Bhikshu holds aloof from such things.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use
of means for adorning
and beautifying themselves;
that is to say:

Rubbing in scented powders on one's body,
shampooing it,
and bathing it;

Patting the limbs with clubs
after the manner of wrestlers;

The use of mirrors,
eye-ointments,
garlands,
rouge,
cosmetics,
bracelets,
necklaces,
walking-sticks,
reed cases for drugs,
rapiers,
sunshades,
embroidered slippers,
turbans,
diadems,
whisks of the yak's tail,
and long-fringed white robes;

The Bhikshu holds aloof
from such means of adorning and beautifying the person.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to such low conversation as these:

Tales of kings,
of robbers,
of ministers of state,
tales of war,
of terrors,
of battles;
talk about foods and drinks,
clothes,
beds,
garlands,
perfumes;
talks about relationships,
equipages,
villages,
town,
cities,
and countries;
tales about women,
and about heroes;
gossip at street corners,
or places whence water is fetched;
ghost stories;
desultory talk;
speculations about the creation of the land or sea,
or about existence and non-existence;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low conversation.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use of wrangling phrases such as:

'You don't understand this doctrine and discipline,
I do.';

'How should you know about this doctrine and discipline?';

'You have fallen into wrong views.

It is I who am in the right.';

'I am speaking to the point,
you are not.';

'You are putting last
what ought to come first,
first what ought to come last.';

'What you've excogitated so long,
that's all quite upset.';

'Your challenge has been taken up.';

'You are proved to be wrong.';

'Set to work to clear your views.';

'Disentangle yourself if you can.';

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such wrangling phrases.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to taking messages,
going on errands,
and acting as go-betweens;
to wit,
on kings,
ministers of state,
Kshatriyas,
Brahmans,
or young men,
saying:

'Go there,
come hither,
take this with you,
bring that from thence';

the Bhikshu abstains from such servile duties.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
are tricksters,
droners out (of holy words for pay),
diviners,
and exorcists,
ever hungering to add gain to gain —
the Bhikshu holds aloof from such deception and patter.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

(1) Palmistry —
prophesying long life,
prosperity, etc.
from marks on child's hands,
feet. etc.;

(2) Divining by means of omens and signs;

(3) Auguries drawn from thunderbolts
and other celestial portents;

(4) Prognostication by interpreting dreams;

(5) Fortune-telling from marks on the body;

(6) Auguries from the marks on cloth gnawed by mice;

(7) Sacrificing to Agni;

(8) Offering oblations from a spoon;

(9-13) Making offerings to gods
of husks,
of the red powder between the grain and the husk,
of husked grain ready for boiling,
of ghee,
and of oil;

(14) Sacrificing by spewing mustard seeds, etc.,
into the fire out of one's mouth;

(15) Drawing blood from one's right knee
as a sacrifice to the gods;

(16) Looking at the knuckles, etc.,
and, after muttering a charm,
divining whether a man is well born
or lucky or not;

(17) Determining whether the site
for a proposed house or pleasance,
is lucky or not;

(18) Advising on customary law;

(19) Laying demons in a cemetery;

(20) Laying ghosts;

(21) Knowledge of the charms to be used
when lodging in an earth house;

(22) Snake charming;

(23) The poison craft;

(24) The scorpion craft;

(25) The mouse craft;

(26) The bird craft;

(27) The crow craft;

(28) Foretelling the number of years
that a man has yet to live.

(29) Giving charms to ward off arrows;

(30) The animal wheel;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

Knowledge of the signs
of good and bad qualities
in the following things
and of the marks in them
denoting the health or luck of their owners: —
to wit,
gems,
staves,
garments,
swords,
arrows,
bows,
other weapons,
women,
men,
boys,
girls,
slaves,
slave-girls,
elephants,
horses,
buffaloes,
bulls,
oxen,
goats,
sheep,
fowls,
quails,
iguanas,
earrings,
tortoises,
and other animals;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as soothsaying,
to the effect that:

'The chiefs will march out';

'The chiefs will march back';

'The home chiefs will attack,
and the enemies' retreat';

'The enemies' chiefs will attack,
and ours will retreat';

'The home chiefs will gain the victory,
and the foreign chiefs suffer defeat';

'The foreign chiefs will gain the victory,
and ours will suffer defeat';

'Thus will there be victory on this side,
defeat on that'

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by such low arts as foretelling:

(1) 'There will be an eclipse of the moon';

(2) 'There will be en eclipse of the sun';

(3) 'There will be en eclipse of a star'
(Nakshatra);

(4) 'There will be aberration of the sun or the moon';

(5) 'The sun or the moon will return to its usual path';

(6) 'There will be aberrations of the stars';

(7) 'The stars will return to their usual course';

(8) 'There will be a fall of meteors';

(9) 'There will be a jungle fire';

(10) 'There will be an earthquake';

(11) 'The god will thunder';

(12-15) 'There will be rising and setting,
clearness and dimness,
of the sun or the moon or the stars',|| ||

or foretelling of each of these fifteen phenomena
that they will betoken such and such a result;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

Foretelling an abundant rainfall;

Foretelling a deficient rainfall;

Foretelling a good harvest;

Foretelling scarcity of food;

Foretelling tranquillity;

Foretelling disturbances;

Foretelling a pestilence;

Foretelling a healthy season;

Counting on the fingers;

Counting without using the fingers;

Summing up large totals;

Composing ballads, poetising;

Casuistry, sophistry;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as:

(1) Arranging a lucky day for marriages
in which the bride or bridegroom is brought home;

(2) Arranging a lucky day for marriages
in which the bride or bridegroom is sent forth;

(3) Fixing a lucky time for the conclusion of treaties of peace
[or using charms to procure harmony;

(4) Fixing a lucky time
for the outbreak of hostilities
[or using charms to make discord];

(5) Fixing-a lucky time
for the calling in of debts
[or charms for success in throwing dice];

(6) Fixing a lucky time
for the expenditure of money
[or charms to bring ill luck to an opponent throwing dice];

(7) Using charms to make people lucky;

(8) Using charms to make people unlucky;

(9) Using charms to procure abortion;

(10) Incantations to bring on dumbness;

(11) Incantations to keep a man's jaws fixed;

(12) Incantations to make a man throw up his hands;

(13) Incantations to bring on deafness;

(14) Obtaining oracular answers by means of the magic mirror;

(15) Obtaining oracular answers through a girl possessed;

(16) Obtaining oracular answers from a god;

(17) The worship of the Sun;

(18) The worship of the Great One;

(19) Bringing forth flames from one's mouth;

(20) Invoking Siri, the goddess of Luck —

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

(1) Vowing gifts to a god if a certain benefit be granted;

(2) Paying such vows;

(3) Repeating charms while lodging in an earth house;

(4) Causing virility;

(5) Making a man impotent;

(6) Fixing on lucky sites for dwelling;

(7) Consecrating sites;

(8) Ceremonial rinsings of the month;

(9) Ceremonial bathings;

(10) Offering sacrifices;

(11-14) Administering emetics and purgatives;

(15) Purging people to relieve the head
(that is by giving drugs to make people sneeze);

(16) Oiling people's ears
(either to make them grow or to heal sores on them);

(17) Satisfying people's eyes
(soothing them by dropping medicinal oils into them);

(18) Administering drugs through the nose;

(19) Applying collyrium to the eyes;

(20) Giving medical ointment for the eyes;

(21) Practising as an oculist;

(22) Practising as a surgeon;

(23) Practising as a doctor for children;

(24) Administering roots and drugs;

(25) Administering medicines in rotation;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

§

And then that Bhikshu, Sirs,
being thus master of the minor moralities,
sees no danger from any side,
that is, so far as concerns his self-restraint in conduct.

Just, Sirs, as a sovereign, duly crowned,
whose enemies have been beaten down,
sees no danger from any side;
that is, so far as enemies are concerned,
so is the Bhikshu confident.

And endowed with this body of morals,
so worthy of honour,
he experiences, within himself,
a sense of ease without alloy.

Thus is it, Sirs, that the Bhikshu becomes righteous.

§

And how, Sirs,
is the Bhikshu guarded
as to the doors of his senses?

When, Sirs, he sees an object with his eye
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of sight.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of sight,
and he attains to mastery over it.

■

When, Sirs, he hears a sound with his ear
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of hearing.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of hearing,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This, Sirs, is that uprightness.

■

When, Sirs, he smells an odour with his nose
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of smell.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of smell,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This, Sirs, is that uprightness.

■

When, Sirs, he tastes a flavour with his tongue
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of taste.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of taste,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This, Sirs, is that uprightness.

■

When, Sirs, he feels a touch with his body
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of touch.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of touch,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This, Sirs, is that uprightness.

■

When, Sirs, he cognises a phenomenon with his mind
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his mental (representative) faculty.

He keeps watch upon his representative faculty,
and he attains to mastery over it.

■

And endowed with this self-restraint,
so worthy of honour,
as regards the senses,
he experiences, within himself, a sense of ease
into which no evil state can enter.

Thus is it, Sirs,
that the Bhikshu becomes guarded
as to the doors of his senses.

§

And how, Sirs, is the Bhikshu
mindful and self-possessed?

In this matter, Sirs,
the Bhikshu
in going forth or in coming back
whether looking forward,
or in looking round;
in stretching forth his arm,
or in drawing it in again;
in eating or drinking,
in masticating or swallowing,
in obeying the calls of nature,
in going or standing or sitting,
in sleeping or waking,
in speaking or in being still,
he keeps himself aware
of all it really means.

Thus is it, Sirs,
that the Bhikshu becomes mindful and self-possessed.

§

And how, Sirs, is the Bhikshu content?

In this matter, Sirs,
the Bhikshu is satisfied with sufficient robes
to cherish his body,
with sufficient food
to keep his stomach going.

Whithersoever he may go forth,
these he takes with him as he goes
- just as a bird with his wings, Sirs,
whithersoever he may fly,
carries his wings with him as he flies.

Thus is it, Sirs,
that the Bhikshu becomes content.

§

Then, master of this so excellent body of moral precepts,
gifted with this so excellent self-restraint as to the senses,
endowed with this so excellent mindfulness and self-possession,
filled with this so excellent content,
he chooses some lonely spot
to rest at on his way
— in the woods,
at the foot of a tree,
on a hill side,
in a mountain glen,
in a rocky cave,
in a charnel place,
or on a heap of straw in the open field.

And returning thither
after his round for alms
he seats himself, when his meal is done,
cross-legged,
keeping his body erect,
and his intelligence alert, intent.

§

Putting away the hankering after the world,
he remains with a heart that hankers not,
and purifies his mind of lusts.

■

Putting away the corruption
of the wish to injure,
he remains with a heart free from ill temper,
and purifies his mind of malevolence.

■

Putting away torpor of heart and mind,
keeping his ideas alight,
mindful and self-possessed,
he purifies his mind of weakness and of sloth.

■

Putting away flurry and worry,
he remains free from fretfulness,
and with heart serene within,
he purifies himself of irritability
and vexation of spirit.

■

Putting away wavering,
he remains as one passed beyond perplexity;
and no longer in suspense as to what is good,
he purifies his mind of doubt.

■

Then just, Sirs,
as when a man, after contracting a loan,
should set a business on foot,
and his business should succeed,
and he should not only be able
to pay off the old debt he had incurred,
but there should be a surplus over
to maintain a wife.

Then would he realize:

'I used to have to carry on my business
by getting into debt,
but it has gone so well with me
that I have paid off what I owed,
and have a surplus over
to maintain a wife.'

And he would be of good cheer at that,
would be glad of heart at that: —

■

Then just, Sirs,
as if a man were a prey to disease,
in pain, and very ill,
and his food would not digest,
and there were no strength left in him;
and after a time
he were to recover from that disease,
and his food should digest,
and his strength come back to him;
then, when he realized his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

■

Then just, Sirs,
as if a man were bound in a prison house,
and after a time
he should be set free from his bonds,
safe and sound,
and without any confiscation of his goods;
when he realized his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

■

Then just, Sirs,
as if a man were a slave,
not his own master,
subject to another,
unable to go whither he would;
and after a time
he should be emancipated from that slavery,
become his own master,
not subject to others,
a free man,
free to go whither he would;
then, on realising his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

■

Then just, Sirs,
as if a man, rich and prosperous,
were to find himself on a long road,
in a desert, where no food was,
but much danger;
and after a time
were to find himself out of the desert,
arrived safe,
on the borders of his village,
in security and peace;
then, on realising his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

■

Just so, Sirs, the Bhikshu,
so long as these five hindrances
are not put away within him
looks upon himself as in debt,
diseased,
in prison,
in slavery,
lost on a desert road.

But when these five hindrances
have been put away within him,
he looks upon himself as freed from debt,
rid of disease,
out of jail,
a free man,
and secure.

And gladness springs up within him
on his realising that,
and joy arises to him thus gladdened,
and so rejoicing
all his frame becomes at ease,
and being thus at ease
he is filled with a sense of peace,
and in that peace his heart is stayed.

§

Then estranged from lusts,
aloof from evil dispositions,
he enters into and remains in the First Rapture
— a state of joy and ease born of detachment,
reasoning and investigation going on the while.

His very body does he so pervade,
drench,
permeate,
and suffuse
with the joy and ease born of detachment,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

Just, Sirs, as a skilful bathman
or his apprentice
will scatter perfumed soap powder
in a metal basin,
and then besprinkling it with water,
drop by drop,
will so knead it together
that the ball of lather,
taking up the unctuous moisture,
is drenched with it,
pervaded by it,
permeated by it within and without,
and there is no leakage possible.

Now, Sirs, when a Bhikshu knows thus and sees thus,
would that make him ready
to take up the subject:

'Is the soul the same thing as the body,
or is the soul one thing and the body another?'"

"Yes, it would, Sir."

"But I, Sirs, know thus and see thus.

And nevertheless I do not say either the one or the other.

■

Then further, Sirs,
the Bhikshu suppressing all reasoning and investigation
enters into and abides in the Second Jhāna,
a state of joy and ease,
born of the serenity of concentration,
when no reasoning or investigation goes on,
— a state of elevation of mind,
a tranquillisation of the heart within.

'And his very body does he so pervade,
drench,
permeate,
and suffuse with the joy and ease born of concentration,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

'Just, Sirs,
as if there were a deep pool,
with water welling up into it
from a spring beneath,
and with no inlet from the east or west,
from the north or south,
and the god should not
from time to time
send down showers of rain upon it.
Still the current of cool waters
rising up from that spring
would pervade,
fill,
permeate,
and suffuse the pool
with cool waters,
and there would be no part or portion of the pool
unsuffused therewith.

Now, Sirs, when a Bhikshu knows thus and sees thus,
would that make him ready to take up the subject:

'Is the soul the same thing as the body,
or is the soul one thing and the body another?'"

"Yes, it would, Sir."

"But I, Sirs, know thus and see thus.

And nevertheless I do not say either the one or the other.

■

Then further, Sirs, the Bhikshu,
holding aloof from joy,
becomes equable;
and mindful and self-possessed
he experiences in his body
that ease which the Arahats talk of when they say:
"The man serene and self-possessed
is well at ease,"
and so he enters into
and abides in the Third Jhāna.

And his very body
does he so pervade,
drench,
permeate,
and suffuse with that ease
that has no joy with it,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

Just, Sirs,
as when in a lotus tank
the several lotus flowers,
red or white or blue,
born in the water,
grown up in the water,
not rising up above the surface of the water,
drawing up nourishment from the depths of the water,
are so pervaded,
drenched,
permeated,
and suffused
from their very tips
down to their roots
with the cool moisture thereof,
that there is no spot in the whole plant,
whether of the red lotus,
or of the white,
or of the blue,
not suffused therewith.

Now, Sirs, when a Bhikshu knows thus and sees thus, would that make him ready to take up the subject:

'Is the soul the same thing as the body,
or is the soul one thing and the body another?'"

"Yes, it would, Sir."

"But I, Sirs, know thus and see thus.

And nevertheless I do not say either the one or the other.

■

Then further, Sirs, the Bhikshu,
by the putting away alike of ease and of pain,
by the passing away alike of any elation,
any dejection,
he had previously felt,
enters into and abides in the Fourth Jhāna,
a state of pure self-possession and equanimity,
without pain and without ease.

And he sits there
so suffusing even his body
with that sense of purification,
of translucence of heart,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

Just, Sirs,
as if a man were sitting
so wrapt from head to foot in a clean white robe,
that there were no spot in his whole frame
not in contact with the clean white robe
— just so, Sirs, does the Bhikshu sit there,
so suffusing even his body
with that sense of purification,
of translucence of heart,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

Now, Sirs, when a Bhikshu knows thus and sees thus, would that make him ready to take up the subject:

'Is the soul the same thing as the body,
or is the soul one thing and the body another?'"

"Yes, it would, Sir."

"But I, Sirs, know thus and see thus.

And nevertheless I do not say either the one or the other."

§

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he applies and bends down his mind
to that insight that comes from knowledge.

He grasps the fact:

'This body of mine has form,
it is built up of the four elements,
it springs from father and mother,
it is continually renewed
by so much boiled rice and juicy foods,
its very nature is impermanence,
it is subject to erasion,
abrasion,
dissolution,
and disintegration;
and therein is this consciousness of mine, too, bound up,
on that does it depend.'

Just, Sirs,
as if there were a veluriya gem,
bright, of the purest water,
with eight facets,
excellently cut,
clear, translucent,
without a flaw,
excellent in every way.
And through it a string,
blue, or orange-coloured,
or red, or white, or yellow
should be threaded.
If a man, who had eyes to see,
were to take it into his hand,
he would clearly perceive
how the one is bound up with the other.

Now, Sirs, when a Bhikshu knows thus and sees thus,
would that make him ready to take up the subject:

'Is the soul the same thing as the body,
or is the soul one thing and the body another?'"

"Yes, it would, Sir."

"But I, Sirs, know thus and see thus.

And nevertheless I do not say either the one or the other.

■

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he directs and bends down his mind
to the knowledge of the destruction of the Deadly Floods.

He knows as it really is:

'This is pain.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the origin of pain.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the cessation of pain.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the Path that leads to the cessation of pain.'

He knows as they really are:

'These are the Deadly Floods.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the origin of the Deadly Floods.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the cessation of the Deadly Floods.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the Path that leads to the cessation of the Deadly Floods.'

■

To him, thus knowing, thus seeing,
the heart is set free
from the Deadly Taint of Lusts,
is set free from the Deadly Taint of Becomings,
is set free from the Deadly Taint of Ignorance.

In him, thus set free,
there arises the knowledge of his emancipation,
and he knows:

'Rebirth has been destroyed.

The higher life has been fulfilled.

What had to be done has been accomplished.

After this present life
there will be no beyond!

Just, Sirs,
as if in a mountain fastness
there were a pool of water,
clear, translucent, and serene;
and a man, standing on the bank,
and with eyes to see,
should perceive the oysters and the shells,
the gravel and the pebbles
and the shoals of fish
as they move about or lie within it:
he would know:

'This pool is clear, transparent, and serene,
and there within it
are the oysters and the shells,
and the sand and gravel,
and the shoals of fish are moving about
or lying still.

Now, Sirs, when a Bhikshu knows thus and sees thus,
would that make him ready to take up the subject:

'Is the soul the same thing as the body,
or is the soul one thing and the body another?'"

"No, Sir, it would not."

And I, Sirs, know thus and see thus.

And nevertheless I do not say either the one or the other."

Thus spake the Blessed One.

And pleased at heart,
the two recluses,
Maṇḍissa the wandering mendicant,
and Jāliya the pupil of Dārupattika
exalted the word of the Blessed One.

 [Contents ]   [Preface ]   [#1. Brahma-gāla Suttanta: ]   [#2. Sāmañña-phala Suttanta: ]   [#3. The Ambaṭṭha Suttanta: ]   [#4. The Soṇadaṇḍa Suttanta: ]   [#5. The Kūṭadanta Suttanta: ]   [#6. The Mahāli Suttanta: ]   [#7. Gāliva Suttanta: ]   [#8. Kassapa-Sīhanāda Suttanta: ]   [#9. The Poṭṭhapāda Suttanta: ]   [#10. Subha Suttanta: ]   [#11. Kevaddha Suttanta: ]   [#12. Lohikka Suttanta: ]   [#13. Tevigga Suttanta: ] 

8. The Naked Ascetic

Kassapa-Sīhanāda Suttantaṃ

[206]

Introduction

IN this Sutta the Buddha, in conversation with a naked ascetic, explains his position as regards asceticism — so far, that is, as is compatible with his invariable method (as represented in the Dialogues) when discussing a point on which he differs from his interlocutor.

When speaking on sacrifice to a sacrificial priest, on union with God to an adherent of the current theology, on Brahman claims to superior social rank to a proud Brahman, on mystic insight to a man who trusts in it, on the soul to one who believes in the soul theory, the method followed is always the same. Gotama puts himself as far as possible in the mental position of the questioner. He attacks none of his cherished convictions. He accepts as the starting-point of his own exposition the desirability of the act or condition prized by his opponent-of the union with God (as in the Tevijja), or of sacrifice (as in the Kūṭadanta), or of social rank (as in the Ambaṭṭha), or of seeing heavenly sights, etc. (as in the Mahāli), or of the soul theory (as in the Poṭṭhapāda). He even adopts the very phraseology of his questioner. And then, partly by putting a new and (from the Buddhist point of view) a higher meaning into the words; partly by an appeal to such ethical conceptions as are common ground between them; he gradually leads his opponent up to his conclusion. This is, of course, always Arahatship — that is the sweetest fruit of the life of a recluse, that is the best sacrifice, that the highest social rank, that the best means of seeing heavenly sights, and a more worthy object; and so on. In our Sutta it is the path to Arahatship which is the best asceticism.

There is both courtesy and dignity in the method employed. But no little dialectic skill, and an easy mastery of the ethical points involved, are required to bring about the result. On the hypothesis that the Buddha is a sun myth, and his principal disciples personifications of the stars, [207] the facts seem difficult to explain. One would expect, then, something quite different. How is it that the other disciples who must, in that case, have concocted these Dialogues, refrain so entirely from astrological and mythological details? How is it they attribute to their hero qualities of courtesy and sympathy, and a grasp of ethical problems, all quite foreign, even antagonistic, to those usually ascribed to sun-heroes — mostly somewhat truculent and very unethical personages?

On the hypothesis, that he was an historical person, of that training and character he is represented in the Piṭakas to have had, the method is precisely that which it is most probable he would have actually followed.

Whoever put the Dialogues together may have had a sufficiently clear memory of the way he conversed, may well have even remembered particular occasions and persons. To the mental vision of the compiler, the doctrine taught loomed so much larger than anything else, that he was necessarily more concerned with that, than with any historical accuracy in the details of the story. He was, in this respect, in much the same position as Plato when recording the dialogues of Socrates. But he was not, like Plato, giving his own opinions. We ought, no doubt, to think of compilers, rather than of a compiler. The memory of co-disciples had to be respected, and kept in mind. And so far as the actual doctrine is concerned our Dialogues are probably a more exact reproduction of the thoughts of the teacher than the dialogues of Plato.

However this may be, the method followed in all these Dialogues has one disadvantage. In accepting the position of the adversary, and adopting his language, the authors compel us, in order to follow what they give us as Gotama's view, to read a good deal between the lines. The argumentum ad hominem can never be the same as a statement of opinion given without reference to any particular person. That is strikingly the case with our present Sutta.

When addressing his five hearers — the Pañcavaggiyā, the first five converts, and the first Arahats — in the Deer-park at Benares, on the occasion of his first discourse, the Buddha is represented to have spoken of asceticism in a very different way. He there calls it one of 'two extremes which are to be avoided'; and describes it as 'painful, unworthy, and unprofitable.'¹ So in the Puggala Paññatti (IV, 24) the very practices set out in our Sutta, by Kassapa the ascetic, [208] as desirable and praiseworthy, are set out as the actions by which a man injures himself. There is nothing of this sort in our Sutta. To judge from it alone one might fairly conclude that the Buddha approved of asceticism, only insisting that the self-mastery and self-control of the Path were the highest and best forms of it. There is really no inconsistency in these three Suttas. But while the first discourse and the Puggala passage were both addressed to disciples, our Sutta is addressed to an ascetic, and the language used is modified accordingly. The conclusion in all is exactly the same.

It is clear that at the time when our Sutta was put together the practice of self-mortification had already been carried out to a considerable extent in India. And further details, in some of which the self-imposed penances are even more extreme, are given in other Dialogues of the same date, notably in the twelfth Sutta of the Majjhima. This is oddly enough also called a Sīhanāda Sutta, and the reason is not far to seek.

The carrying out of such practices, in all countries, wins for the ascetic a very high reputation. Those who despise earthly comforts, and even submit themselves to voluntary torture, are looked upon, with a kind of fearsome wonder, as more holy than other men. And no doubt, in most cases, the ascetics laid claim to special virtue. In the Suttas dealing with the practices of the ascetics, Gotama, in laying stress on the more moderate view, takes occasion also to dispute this claim. He maintains, as in our Sutta, that the insight and self-control and self-mastery of the Path, or of the system of intellectual and moral self-training laid down for the Bhikkhu, are really harder than the merely physical practices so much more evident to the eye of the vulgar. It was a point that had to be made. And the Suttas in which it is made are designated as Sīhanādas, literally 'the lion's roars' — the proud claim by the Arahat to a dignity and veneration greater than that allowed by the people to the self-torturer or even to the man who

'Bescorched, be frozen, lone in fearsome woods,
Naked, without a fire, afire within,
Struggled, in awful silence, towards the goal!'²

And the boast goes really even further. Not only were the ascetics no better than the Arahats, they were even not so practical. The self-mortification was an actual hindrance. It turned men's minds from more essential matters. Diogenes was not only not superior to other men, no nearer to the [209] truth than they, by reason of his tub and of his physical renunciation; he was their ethical inferior, and was intellectually wrong. So hard, so very hard, was the struggle³ that the Arahat, or, the man striving towards Arahatship, should be always sufficiently clothed, and take regular baths, regular exercise, regular food. The line was to be drawn at another point. He was to avoid, not what was necessary to maintain himself in full bodily vigour and power, but all undue luxury, and all worry about personal comfort. It was his duty to keep himself in health.

It is open to question whether the earnest and unworldly would now draw the line at the precise point at which Gotama drew it; either as regards what they would think proper for themselves now, or what they would have thought most proper for those living in India then. Probably they would think rather that he erred on the side of austerity. His contemporaries the Nigaṇṭhas thought the other way. And the most serious schism in the Buddhist Order, that raised by Devadatta, was especially defended on the ground that Gotama would not, as regards various points, adopt ascetic practices which Devadatta held to be then necessary.

It is probable that Gotama was largely guided by the opinions and practice of previous recluses. For we have already seen that in other matters, important it is true but not essential, Gotama adopted and extended, so far as it agreed with the rest of his system, what had already been put forward by others. But we cannot, as yet, speak on this point with as much certainty as we could in the other cases of the ethical view of sacrifice, of the ethical connotation attached to the word Brahman,⁴ and of the reasonable view as to social distinctions and questions of impurity. Our available texts are only sufficient, at present, to suggest the probability.

The technical term tapas is already found in the Rig-veda, though only in the latest hymns included in the collection. It is literally 'glow, burning,' and very early acquired the secondary sense of retirement into solitude, and of the attempted conquest of one's lower nature by the burning heat of bodily austerity. And this must have been a common practice, for the time of the year most favourable to such [210] tapas came to be known as the month tapas. There was no association with the word of what we call 'penance,' a conception arising out of an entirely different order of religious ideas. There was no idea of atonement for, punishment of, making amends for sin. But just as the sacrificer was supposed, by a sort of charm that he worked by his sacrifice, to attain ends desirable for himself, so there was supposed to be a sort of charm in tapas producing mystic and marvellous results. The distinction seems to have been that it was rather power, worldly success, wealth, children, and heaven that were attained by sacrifice; and mystic, extraordinary, superhuman faculties that were attained by tapas.

By a natural anthropomorphism the gods too were supposed, for like ends, to offer sacrifice and to perform tapas. Thus it is sometimes by sacrifice, but more often by tapas, that in the different cosmological legends one god or the other is supposed to bring forth creation.⁵ In the latter case an expression often used on such occasions is tapas atapasyata, literally 'he glowed a glow,' and the exact meaning of this enigmatic phrase is by no means certain. It may have been meant to convey that he glowed with fierce resolve, or that he glowed with deep thought, or that he glowed with strong desire, or that he carried out each or some or all of the practices given in Kassapa's three lists of self-mortifications in our Sutta. All these various ideas may possibly be meant to be inferred together, and before they were ascribed to gods similar actions must have been well known among men.

There were some, as one would expect, who therefore placed austerity above sacrifice, or, held that it could take the place of sacrifice.⁶ The more conservative view of the learned Brahman — that it is repeating by heart to oneself, and teaching others, the Vedic verses, that is the chief thing (with which twelve other qualities or practices should always be associated) — is only given with the interesting note that one teacher thinks 'the true' only, another thinks austerity only to be necessary, and yet a third thinks that learning and teaching the Veda is enough by itself, 'for that is tapas, that is tapas'.⁷ There are several passages making similar comparisons. Thus one text says: 'There are three branches of duty - sacrifice study of the Veda and charity are the first, austerity (tapas) is the second, to dwell as a learner one's life [211] long in the house of one's teacher is the third. All these have as reward heavenly worlds. But he who stands firm in Brahman obtains deathlessness.'⁸

So in the passages which explain (by no means consistently) where the soul goes to after it leaves the body, we have a somewhat corresponding division.⁹ According to the Chāndogya, those who know a certain mystical doctrine about five fires, and those who in the forest follow faith and austerity (tapas), go along the path of the gods to the Brahma worlds. On the other hand, they who sacrifice, and give alms go to the moon, and thence return to earth, and are reborn in high or low positions according to their deeds. But the bad become insects.

According to the Bṛīhadāraṇyaka, those who know the mystic doctrine of the five fires, and those who in the woods practise faith and truth (not tapas) go to the Brahma worlds. On the other hand, those who practise sacrifice, charity, and austerity (tapas) go to the moon, and are thence reborn on earth. But those who follow neither of these two paths become insects.

Here austerity is put into a lower grade than it occupies in the last extract. Other later passages are Muṇḍaka II, 7; III, 2, 4, 6 ; Praṣna I, 9; V, 4. Though the details differ there is a general consensus that above both sacrifice and austerity, which are themselves meritorious, there is a something higher, a certain kind of truth or faith or wisdom.

This is the exact analogue, from the Upanishad point of view, to the doctrine of the Buddhists that Arahatship is better than austerity. And though the Upanishad belief is not worked out with the same consistency, nor carried so far to its logical conclusion, as the Buddhist, that is simply to be explained by the facts that it is not only earlier, belonging to a time when thought was less matured, but is also not the work of one mind, but of several. There can be but little doubt that Gotama, during his years of study and austerity before he attained Nirvāṇa under the Tree of Wisdom, had come into contact with the very beliefs, or at least with beliefs similar to those, now preserved in the Upanishads; and that his general conclusion was based upon them. That he practically condemns physical tapas (austerity) altogether is no argument against his indebtedness, so far as the superiority of wisdom to austerity is concerned, to the older theory.

In the passages in which that older theory is set forth we [212] have the germs — indistinct statements, no doubt, and inconsistent, but still the first source — of the well-known theory of the āṣramas; the Efforts (or perhaps Trainings), four stages into which the life of each member of the ranks of the twice-born (the Dvijas) should be divided. In later times these are (1) the student, (2) the householder, (3) the hermit, and (4) the wandering ascetic; that is, the Brahmacārin, the Gṛihastha, the Vānaprastha, and the Yati.¹⁰ And stress was laid on the order in which the stages of effort were taken up, it being held improper for a man to enter the latter without having passed through the former.

The Upanishad passages know nothing of the curious technical term of Effort (āṣrama) applied to these stages. And they have really only two divisions (and these not regarded as consecutive stages), that of the sacrificer and of the hermit (not the Bhikshu). Of course studentship is understood as preliminary to both. But we are here at a standpoint really quite apart from the āsrama theory, and Saṇkara and other commentators are obliged to resort to curious and irreconcilable shifts when they try to read back into these old texts the later and more developed doctrine.¹¹

Even the names of the several āṣramas do not occur, as such, in the older Upanishads. Brahmacārin is frequently used for pupil, Yati in two or three passages means ascetic; but Gṛihastha, Vānaprastha, and Bhikshu do not even occur.¹² The earliest mention of the Four Efforts is in the old law books. Gautama (III, 2) gives them as Brahmacārin, Gṛihastha, Bhikshu, and Vaikhānasa (student, householder, wandering beggar, and hermit). Āpastamba (II, 9, 21, 1) has a different order, and different names for the four stages — Gārhasthyaṃ, ācāryakulaṃ, Maunaṃ, and Vānaprasthyaṃ¹³.

Hofrath Bühler dated these works (very hypothetically) in the fifth and third, or possibly in the sixth and fourth centuries B.C. ¹⁴ The theory of the Four Efforts was then [213] already current, but by no means settled as to detail. It must evidently have taken shape between the date of the Upanishads just quoted and that of the law books; that is to say, either just before or, some time after the rise of Buddhism. We can, I, think, go safely further, and say that it must have been, in all probability, after Buddha, and even after the time when the Piṭakas were put together. For neither the technical term āsrama, nor any of the four stages of it, are mentioned in the Piṭakas.

The theory has become finally formulated, in the order as to detail which has permanently survived, in the later law books from Vasishñha onwards. He gives the Four Efforts or stages in the life of an orthodox person, as (1) Student, (2) Householder, (3) Hermit, (4) Wandering Mendicant-Brahmacārin, Gṛihastha, Vānaprastha, and Parivrājaka.¹⁵

It will be noticed that this final arrangement differs in two respects — and both of them of importance — from the earliest. In the first place the wandering beggar is put in the last, that is in the highest, place. He is not subordinated, as he was at first, to the hermit. In the second place the expression Bhikshu, applied in Gautama to the wandering mendicant, is dropped in the later books.

The commentators are at great pains to harmonise the divergent order. And they do so by suggesting that the earlier arrangement (which, of course, is, in their eyes, the strange one) is meant to infer exactly the same as does the contrary later arrangement so familiar to them. To them the wandering mendicant had become the last, in order of time and importance, of the Four Efforts; and they try to put back their own view into the words of the ancient writer they are dealing with. But if the order they were familiar with implies one thing, the older order, which is exactly the reverse, can scarcely imply the same. Or if it does, then the question arises, why should it? In either case the explanation may be sought for in the history of the two ideas.

Now the distinction between the two is quite clear, though the ambiguity of the English word 'ascetic,' often applied to both, may tend to hide it from View.¹⁶ Gautama starts his [214] description of the hermit by saying that he is to feed on roots and fruits, and practise tapas. And all the later books lay stress on the same point; often giving, as instances of the tapas, one or other of the very practices detailed by Kassapa the tāpasa, in his three lists, in our Sutta.¹⁷ On the other hand, the wandering mendicant does not practise these severe physical self-mortifications. He is never called tāpasa, and though he has abandoned the world, and wanders without a home, simply clad, and begging his food, his self-restraint is mental rather than physical. Of the fifteen rules laid down for him by Gautama, who calls him the Bhikshu (in X, 11-25), four or five are precisely equivalent to rules the Buddhist Bhikshu has to observe. There is one significant rule in Baudhāyana, however, which is quite contrary to the corresponding Buddhist rule. According to it the twice-born mendicant of the priestly books is, in begging for food, to observe the rules of ceremonial purity, what we call now the rules of caste.¹⁸

Now while the belief in the special efficacy and holiness of austerity, self-torture, tapas; is a world-wide phenomenon, and the practice of it was, no doubt, very early in India too, the idea of the wandering mendicant is peculiar to India. And though the origin and early history of this institution are at present obscure, we have no reason to believe that it was of ancient date.

It was older than the Buddha's time. Both Buddhist and Jain records agree on this point. And they are confirmed by an isolated passage in an Upanishad which, as a whole, is pre-Buddhistic.¹⁹ There it is said that he who desires to see [215] the god Brahman cannot attain his end by speculation; he must put away learning and become childlike, put away childishness and become a muni (a silent one),²⁰ put away silence and become a Brāhmaṇa (that is, of course, not a Brahmaṇa by birth, but one in a sense nearly the same as Gotama attaches to the word in the Soṇadaṇḍa Sutta). This is to explain why it is that 'Brāhmaṇas' (in the ethical sense) give up cravings for children and wealth and the world and adopt begging as a regular habit (bhikshācaryaṃ caranti). Another recession of the same passage, also preserved in the same Upanishad,²¹ but in a connection which Deussen thinks is a later interpolation,²² ascribes this habit to 'men of old.' The statement is no doubt ambiguous. It might be taken to apply to the hermit (the tāpasa) who also begged. But I think on the whole that the wandering mendicant is more probably referred to, and referred to as belonging to a higher sphere than the muni, the ascetic. If that be so, this is the earliest passage in which any one of these three ideas (the wandering mendicant, his superiority to the ascetic, and the special ethical sense of the word Brāhmaṇa²³) have, as yet, been found.

The oldest reference in the priestly literature to unorthodox Bhikshus (not necessarily Buddhists) is probably the Maitri Upanishad VIII, 8, which is much later. There is a custom, often referred to in the law books, of students begging their food. This was doubtless of long standing. But it is a conception altogether different from that of the wandering mendicant. The word Bhikshu does not occur in any of these passages. And indeed of all the Upanishads indexed in Colonel Jacob's 'Concordance' the word only occurs in one — in the little tract called the Parama-haṃsa Upanishad.

Whenever it may have arisen, the peculiar institution of the Bhikshu is quite as likely, if not more likely, to have originated in Kshatriya circles than among the learned Brahmans. All our authorities-Brahman Upanishads, Buddhist Piṭakas, Jain Aṇgas-agree in ascribing to Kshatriyas a most important, not to say predominant, part in such religious activity as lay apart from sacrifice. To take for granted that [216] the Brahmans must have originated the idea, or the practice, is to ignore all these authorities. And it is only in the Kshatriya books — those of the Buddhists and Jains — that the details of the practice receive much weight, or are dealt with in full detail.

The oldest law book has barely a page on the rules for Bhikshus, whereas the regulations, of about the same age, preserved in the Buddhist texts, fill the three volumes translated, under the title 'Vinaya Texts,' in the 'sacred Books of the East.' And as time goes on the priestly literature continues to treat the life of a Bhikshu as entirely subordinate, and in the curtest manner. Even Manu has only three or four pages on the subject. The inconsistency, brevity, and incompleteness of the regulations in the priestly books lead one to suppose that, at the time when they were written, there were not enough Bhikshus, belonging to those circles, to make the regulations intended for them alone a matter of much practical importance. In other words, the development also of the Bhikshu idea was due rather to the Kshatriyas than to the sacrificing priests.

The latter were naturally half-hearted in the matter. Even after they had invented the āsrama theory, they did not seem to be very keen about it. On the contrary, there are several passages the other way. Āpastamba closes his exposition of them with a remark that upsets the whole theory: 'There is no reason to place one āsrama before another.'²⁴ And just before that he quotes a saying of Prajāpati from which it follows that those who become Bhikshus do not gain salvation at all, 'they become dust and perish.'

This was no doubt the real inmost opinion of the more narrow-minded of the priests. But the first maker of the phrase did not quite like to put this forward in his own name — the idea of the Bhikshu as a man worthy of special esteem had already become too strong for that. So he makes the god his stalking — horse; and tries, by using his name, to gain respectability and acceptance for his view. And it survives accordingly as late as the earlier portion of Manu (II, 230), where mention is made of 'the Three āsramas,' omitting the Bhikshu. We ought not to be surprised to find that, though the whole passage is reproduced, in other respects, in the Institutes of Vishṇu (XXXI, 7), this very curious and interesting phrase is replaced by another which avoids the difficulty.

[217] Baudhāyana also actually quotes with approval another old saying: 'There was forsooth an Asura, Kapila by name, the son of Prahlāda. Striving against the gods he made these divisions (the āṣramas). A wise man should not take heed of them.²⁵

If the priests, when the custom of 'going forth' as a Bhikshu was becoming prevalent, had wished to counteract it, to put obstacles in the way, and especially to prevent any one doing so without first having become thoroughly saturated with the priestly view of things, they could scarcely have taken a more efficacious step than the establishment of this theory. And so far as it served this purpose, and so far only, do they seem to have cared much for it. We have no evidence that the theory had, at any time, become a practical reality — that is, that any considerable number of the twice-born, or even of the Brahmans, did actually carry out all the four āsramas. Among the circles led by the opinion of learned and orthodox priests it was, no doubt, really held improper for any man to become a religieux until he was getting old, or without having first gone through a regular course of Vedic study. And whenever he did renounce the world he was expected to follow such of the ancient customs (now preserved in the priestly books under the three heads of Vānaprastha, Parivrājaka, and Vedasaṃnyāsin) as he chose to follow. But even then he need not observe a clear distinction between these various heads. The percentage of elderly Brahmans who followed any of the three at all must always have been very small indeed, and of these a good many probably became Veda-saṃnyāsins, a group which lies outside of the āṣramas. The rules are admitted to be obsolete now. Saṇkara says they were not observed in his time.²⁶ And the theory seems to be little more than a priestly protest against the doctrine, acted upon by Buddhists, Jains, and others, and laid down in the Madhura Sutta, that even youths might 'go forth' without any previous Vedic study.²⁷

There were, in other words, in the Indian community of that time, a number of people — very small, no doubt, compared with the total population, but still amounting to some thousands — who estimated the mystic power of tapas above that of sacrifice; who gave up the latter, and devoted themselves, in the woods, to those kinds of bodily austerity [218] and self-torture of which our Sutta gives the earliest detailed account. There were others who rejected both, and preferred the life of the wandering mendicant. In both classes there were unworthy men who used their religious professions for the 'low aims' set out in the tract on the Sīlas incorporated in our Sutta, whose very words, in not a few instances, recur in the old law books.

But there was also no little earnestness, no little 'plain living and high thinking' among these 'irregular friars.' And there was a great deal of sympathy, both with their aims and with their practice (provided always they keep to the priestly view of things), among the official class, the regular sacrificing priests. Instead of condemning them, the priests tried, therefore, rather to regulate them. One Vikhanas compiled a special book on Tapas, called either after the author the Vaikhānasa Sūtra, or after the subject the Srāmaṇaka Sūtra, which is several times referred to as an authority in the law books whose precepts are doubtless, in part, taken from it.²⁸ Tapas was then, in accordance with the general view in the circles in which the law books were composed, regarded as the higher, of the two, and put therefore at the end in the list of āṣramas.

But there was also another view which had already made itself felt in the Upanishads, which is the basis of our Sutta, and which no doubt became more widely spread in consequence of its having been the view taken up by the progressive party we now call Buddhists. According to this view the life of the Bhikshu, of the wandering mendicant, was the higher. This view, disliked by the more narrow-minded, but regarded with favour by the more spiritually-minded of the Brahmans, gradually attained so unquestionably the upper hand, that the order of the last two of the āṣramas had to be changed. Tapas became then a preliminary stage to, instead of the final crown of, the religious life.

But the other view continued to be held by a large and influential minority. The strong leaning of the human heart to impute a singular efficacy to physical self-mortifications [219] of all kinds could not be eradicated. Many of the laity still looked on those who carried out such practices with peculiar favour. The tendency made itself felt even in Buddhism, in spite of our present Sutta, and of many other passages to a similar effect. There is a special name for the 'extra vows,' the dhutangas, carried out by such of the brethren as were inclined that way. And these receive special glorification in a whole book at the end of the Milinda.²⁹ It is true that, even in these 'extra vows,' all the extreme forms of tapas are omitted. But this is only a matter of degree. In the priestly law books, also, though they go somewhat further than the dhutangas, the most extreme forms are omitted, especially in the rules for hermits and mendicants contained in the earlier books. This is another point in which the early Buddhists and the more advanced of the learned Brahmans of their time are found to be acting in sympathy. But the discussion of the details would take us too far from our subject.

The Nigaṇṭhas, ājīvakas, and others went to the other extreme, and like the Buddhists, they never admitted any theory like that of the distinction in time between the Four āṣramas.³⁰ It is even doubtful how far that distinction became a really valid and practical reality among the learned priests. They alone, as we have seen, always laid stress on the importance of not 'going forth,' either as ascetic or as wandering mendicant (tāpasa or bhikshu unless first the years of studentship, and then the life as a sacrificing householder, had been fulfilled. They spoke occasionally of Three Efforts only. And as we have seen the lawyers differed in the order in which they mention the two classes of religieux.³¹

[220] By the time that the later order was settled the word Bhikshu had come to mean so specially a Buddhist mendicant that the learned Brahmans no longer thought it fitting to apply the term to their own mendicants. This at least may be to the explanation of the fact that it is used in Gautama's law book, and not afterwards.

The history of the word is somewhat doubtful. It is not found as yet, as we have seen above, in any pre-Buddhistic text. Perhaps the Jains or the Buddhists first used it. But it was more probably a term common before their time, though not long before, to all mendicants. The form is sufficiently curious for Pāṇini to take special notice of it in the rule for the formation from desideratives of nouns in u.³² In another rule³³ he mentions two Bhikshu Sūtras — manuals for mendicants, as the Vaikhānasa Sūtra was for the hermits (tāpasas). These are used by the Pārāṣāriṇas and the Karmandinas, two groups or corporations, doubtless, of Brahmanical mendicants. Professor Weber refers to this in his History of Indian Literature, P. 305, and Professor Kielhorn has been kind enough to inform me that nothing more has been since discovered on the matter. These Sūtras are not mentioned elsewhere. And they can never have acquired so much importance as the Vaikhānasa Sūtra, or they would almost certainly have been referred to in the sections in the later law books on mendicants, just as the Vaikhānasa is in the sections on the tāpasas.

It is also very curious to find Brāhmaṇa Bhikshus with special class names as if they belonged to an Order like those of the Buddhists and the Jains. No such Brahmanical Orders of recluses (pabbajitā) are mentioned in the Piṭakas. When Brāhmaṇa Bhikshus are referred to, it is either as isolated recluses, or by a generic name not implying any separate Order. Thus in an important passage of the Aṇguttara we have the following list of religieux, contemporaries of the Buddha : -

1. Ājivikā.
2. Nigaṇṭhā.
3. Muṇḍa-sāvakā.
4. Jaṭilakā.
5. Paribbājakā.
6. Magaṇḍikā.
7. Tedaṇḍikā.
8. Aviruddhakā.
9. Gotamakā.
10. Devadhammikā.

No. I. The men of the livelihood, among whom Makkhali Gosāla was a recognised leader, were especially addicted to [221] tapas of all kinds, and went always quite naked. The name probably means: 'Those who claimed to be especially strict in their rules as to means of livelihood.' The Buddhists also laid special stress on this. The fifth of the eight divisions of the Eightfold Path is sammā ājīvo³⁴.

No. 2. The Unfettered are the sect we now call Jains, then under the leadership of the Nātaputta. They were also addicted, but to a somewhat less degree, to tapas; and Buddhaghosa here adds that they wore a loin cloth.

No. 3. The disciples of the Shaveling are stated by Buddhaghosa to be the same as No. 2. The reading is doubtful, and his explanation requires explanation. Perhaps some special subdivision of the Jains is intended.

No. 4. Those who wear their hair in braids. To do so was the rule for the orthodox hermits (the Vānaprasthas or Tāpasas, Gautama III, 34). The Brāhmaṇa Bhikshu, on the other hand, was either to be bald, or to have only a forelock (ibid. 22).

No. 5. The Wanderers. This is a generic term for wandering mendicants. They went, according to Buddhaghosa, fully clad.

Nos. 6-10 are said by Buddhaghosa to be followers of the Titthiyā, that is the leaders of all schools that were non-Buddhist. It is precisely here that the list becomes most interesting, the first five names being otherwise known. And it is much to be regretted that the tradition had not preserved any better explanation of the terms than the vague phrase repeated by Buddhaghosa.

No. 6 is quite unintelligible at present.

No. 7. The Bearers of the triple staff have not been found elsewhere, as yet, earlier than the latest part of Manu (XII, 10). It is very possibly the name given in the Buddhist community to the Brāhmaṇa Bhikshus (not Tāpasas). They carried three staves bound up as one, as a sign, it is supposed, of their self-restraint in thought, word, and deed. This explanation may possibly hold good for so early a date. But it may also be nothing more than an edifying gloss on an old word whose original meaning had been forgotten. In that case the gloss would be founded on such passages as Gaut. III, 17,³⁵ where the idea of this threefold division of conduct recurs in the law books. But the technical term tridaṇḍin is not mentioned in them.

[222] No. 8. The not opposing ones, the Friends, are not mentioned elsewhere.

No. 9. The followers of Gotama means, almost certainly, the followers of some other member of the Sākya clan, distinct from our Gotama. who also founded an Order. We only know of one who did so, Devadatta. The only alternative is that some Brāhmaṇa, belonging to the Gotama gotra, is here referred to as having had a community of Bhikshus named after him. But we know nothing of any such person.

No. 10. Those who follow the religion of the God are not mentioned elsewhere. Who is 'the God'? Is it Sakka (Indra) or Siva? The Deva of the names Devadatta, Devaseññhi, Devadaha, etc., is probably the same.

We find in this suggestive list several names, used technically as the designation of particular sects, but in meaning applicable quite as much to most of the others. They all claimed to be pure as regards means of livelihood, to be unfettered, to be friends; they all wandered from place to place, they were all mendicants. And the names can only gradually have come to have the special meaning of the member of one school, or order, only. We should not, therefore, be surprised if the name Bhikshu, also, has had a similar history.³⁶

[223]

VIII. Kassapa-Sīhanāda Sutta

The Naked Ascetic

THUS HAVE I HEARD.

The Blessed One was once dwelling at Ujuññā,
in the Kaṇṇakatthala Deer Park.³⁷

Now Kassapa, a naked ascetic,
came to where the Exalted One was,
and exchanged with him the greetings
and compliments of civility and courtesy,
and stood respectfully aside.

And, so standing, he said to the Exalted One:

2. "I have heard it said, O Gotama, thus:

'The Samaṇa Gotama disparages all penance;
verily he reviles and finds fault with every ascetic,
with everyone who lives a hard life.'

Now those, O Gotama, who said this,
were they therein repeating Gotama's words,
and not reporting him falsely?

Are they announcing,
as a minor tenet of his,
a matter really following from his Dhamma
(his system)?

Is there nothing in this opinion of his,
so put forward
as wrapt up with his system,
or as a corollary from it,
that could meet with objection?³⁸

For we would fain bring no false accusation
against the venerable Gotama."

3. "No, Kassapa.

Those who said so
were not [224] following my words.

On the contrary,
they were reporting me falsely,
and at variance with the fact.

Herein, O Kassapa, I am wont to be aware,
with vision bright and purified,
seeing beyond what men can see,
how some men given to asceticism,
living a hard life,
are reborn,
on the dissolution of the body,
after death,
into some unhappy, fallen state
of misery and woe;
while others, living just so,
are reborn into some happy state,
or into a heavenly world —
how some men given to asceticism,
but living a life less hard,
are equally reborn,
on the dissolution of the body,
after death
into some unhappy, fallen state
of misery and woe;
while others, living just so,
are reborn in some happy state,
or into a heavenly world.

How then could I, O Kassapa,
who am thus aware,
as they really are,
of the states whence men have come,
and whither they will go,
as they pass away from one form of existence,
and take shape in another, —
how could I disparage all penance;
or bluntly revile
and find fault
with every ascetic,
with everyone who lives a life that is hard?

4. Now there are, O Kassapa,
certain recluses and Brahmans
who are clever,
subtle,
experienced in controversy,
hair splitters,
who go about, one would think,
breaking into pieces by their wisdom
the speculations of their adversaries.

And as between them and me
there is, as to some points,
agreement,
and as to some points,
not.

As to some of those things they approve,
we also approve thereof.

As to some of those things they disapprove,
we also disapprove thereof.

As to some of the things they approve,
we disapprove thereof.

As to some of the things they disapprove,
we approve thereof.

And some things we approve of,
so do they.

And some things we disapprove of,
so do they.

And some things we approve,
they do not.

And some things we disapprove of,
they approve thereof.

5. And I went to them, and said:

'As for those things, my friends,
on which we do not agree,
let us leave them alone.

As to those things on which [225] we agree,
let the wise put questions about them,
ask for reasons as to them,
talk them over,
with or to their teacher,
with or to their fellow disciples,
saying:

"Those conditions of heart, my friends,
which are evil
or accounted as evil among you
which are blameworthy
or accounted as such among you,
which are insufficient
for the attainment of Arahatship,
or accounted as such among you,
depraved
or accounted as such among you -
who is it who conducts himself
as one who has more absolutely
put them away from him,
the Samaṇa Gotama,
or, the other venerable ones,
the teachers of schools?"'

6. Then it may well be, O Kassapa,
that the wise,
so putting questions one to the other,
asking for reasons,
talking the matter over,
should say:

'The Samaṇa Gotama conducts himself
as one who has absolutely
put those conditions away from him;
whereas the venerable ones,
the other teachers of schools,
have done so only partially.'

Thus is it, O Kassapa, that the wise,
so putting questions one to the other,
asking for reasons,
talking the matter over,
would, for the most part,
speak in praise of us therein.

7. And again, O Kassapa,
let the wise put questions one to another,
ask for reasons,
talk the matter over,
with or to their teacher,
with or to their fellow disciples,
saying:

'Those conditions of heart,
which are good
or accounted as such among you,
which are blameless
or accounted as such among you,
which suffice to lead a man to Arahatship
or are accounted as sufficient among you,
which are pure
or accounted as such among you -
who is it who conducts himself
as one who has more completely
taken them upon him,
the Samaṇa Gotama,
or the other venerable ones,
the teachers of schools?'

8. Then it may well be, O Kassapa,
that the wise,
so putting questions one to the other,
asking for reasons,
talking the matter over, should say:

'The Samaṇa Gotama conducts himself
as one who has completely
taken these conditions upon him,
whereas the venerable [226] ones,
the other teachers of schools,
have done so only partially.'

Thus it is, O Kassapa,
that the wise,
so putting questions one to the other,
asking for reasons,
talking the matter over,
would, for the most part,
speak in praise of us therein.

§

9.³⁹ And further, also, O Kassapa, I went to them, and said:

'As for those things, my friends,
on which we do not agree,
let us leave them alone.

As to those things on which we agree,
let the wise put questions about them,
ask for reasons as to them,
talk them over,
with or to their teacher,
with or to their fellow disciples,
saying:

"Those conditions of heart, my friends,
which are evil
or accounted as evil among you
which are blameworthy
or accounted as such among you,
which are insufficient
for the attainment of Arahatship,
or accounted as such among you,
depraved
or accounted as such among you -
whose body of disciples
are more addicted
to that which is generally acknowledged to be good,
refrain themselves more completely
from that which is generally acknowledged to be evil,
than the body of disciples of the Samaṇa Gotama
or, the disciples of the other venerable ones,
the teachers of schools?"'

10. Then it may well be, O Kassapa,,
that the wise,
so putting questions one to the other,
asking for reasons,
talking the matter over,
should say:

'The body of the disciples of Samaṇa Gotama conduct themselves
as those who have absolutely
put those conditions away from themselves;
whereas the the disciples of the other venerable ones,
the other teachers of schools,
have done so only partially.'

Thus is it, O Kassapa, that the wise,
so putting questions one to the other,
asking for reasons,
talking the matter over,
would, for the most part,
speak in praise of us therein.

11. And again, O Kassapa,
let the wise put questions one to another,
ask for reasons,
talk the matter over,
with or to their teacher,
with or to their fellow disciples,
saying:

'Those conditions of heart,
which are good
or accounted as such among you,
which are blameless
or accounted as such among you,
which suffice to lead a man to Arahatship
or are accounted as sufficient among you,
which are pure
or accounted as such among you -
whose body of disciples
are more addicted
to that which is generally acknowledged to be good,
refrain themselves more completely
from that which is generally acknowledged to be evil,
than the body of disciples of the Samaṇa Gotama
or, the disciples of the other venerable ones,
the teachers of schools?"'

12. Then it may well be, O Kassapa,,
that the wise,
so putting questions one to the other,
asking for reasons,
talking the matter over,
should say:

'The body of disciples of the Samaṇa Gotama conduct themselves
as those who have absolutely
put those conditions away from themselves;
whereas the the disciples of the other venerable ones,
the other teachers of schools,
have done so only partially.'

Thus it is, O Kassapa,
that the wise,
so putting questions one to the other,
asking for reasons,
talking the matter over,
would, for the most part,
speak in praise of us therein.

§

13. Now there is, O Kassapa, a way,
there is a method
which if a man follow
he will of himself,
both see and know that:

'The Samaṇa Gotama
is one who speaks in due season,
speaks that which is,
that which redounds to advantage,
that which is the Norm
(the Dhamma),
that which is the law of self-restraint
(the Vinaya).'

And what, Kassapa, is that way,
what that method,
which if a man follow,
he will, of himself,
know that,
and see that?

Verily it is this Noble Eightfold Path,
that is to say:

Right Views,
Right Aspirations,
Right Speech,
Right Action,
Right Mode of Livelihood,
Right Effort,
Right Mindfulness,
and Right Rapture.

This, Kassapa, is that way,
this that method,
which if a man follow,
he will of himself,
both know and see that:

'The Samaṇa Gotama
is one who speaks in due season,
speaks that which is,
that which redounds to profit,
that which is the Norm,
that which is the law of self-restraint.'"

14. And when he had spoken thus,
Kassapa, the naked ascetic, said to the Exalted One:

"And so also, Gotama,
are the following ascetic practices accounted,
in the opinion of some Samaṇas [227] and Brāhmaṇas,
as Samaṇa-ship and Brāhmaṇa-ship:⁴⁰

'He goes naked.'

'He is of loose habits
(performing his bodily functions, and eating food, in a standing posture, not crouching down or sitting down, as well-bred people do).'

'He licks his hands clean
(after eating, instead of washing them, as others do).'⁴¹

'(When on his rounds for alms, if politely requested to step nearer, or to wait a moment, in order that food may be put into his bowl), he passes stolidly on
(lest he should incur the guilt of following another person's word).'

'He refuses to accept food brought
(to him, before he has started on his daily round for alms).'

'He refuses to accept
(food, if told that it has been prepared)
especially for him.'

'He refuses to accept any invitation
(to call on his rounds at any particular house, or to pass along any particular street, or to go to any particular place).'

'He will not accept
(food taken direct) from the mouth of the pot
or pans⁴²
(in which it is cooked; lest [228] those vessels should be struck or scraped, on his account, with the spoon).'

'(He will)
not
(accept food placed)
within the threshould
(lest it should have been placed there specially for him).'

'(He will)
not
(accept food placed)
among the sticks⁴³
(lest it should have been placed there specially for him).'

'(He will)
not
(accept food placed)
among the pestles
(lest it should have been placed there specially for him).'

'When two persons are eating together
he will not accept
(food, taken from what they are eating, if offered to him by only one of the two).'

'He will not accept food
from a woman with child
(lest the child should suffer want).'

'He will not accept food
from a woman giving suck
(lest the milk should grow less).'

'He will not accept food
from a woman in intercourse with a man⁴⁴
(lest their intercourse be hindered).'

[229] 'He will not accept food
collected
(by the faithful in time of drought).'⁴⁵

'He will not accept food
where a dog is standing by
(lest the dog should lose a meal).'

'He will not accept food
where flies are swarming round
(lest the flies should suffer).'

'He will not accept fish,
nor meat,
nor strong drink,
nor intoxicants,
nor gruel.'⁴⁶

'He is a "One-houser",
(turning back from his round as soon as he has received an alms at any one house)
a "One-mouthful-man".'

'Or he is a 'Two-houser;
a "Two-mouthful-man"

'Or he is a 'Three-houser;
a "Three-mouthful-man"

'Or he is a 'Four-houser;
a "Four-mouthful-man"

'Or he is a 'Five-houser;
a "Five-mouthful-man"

'Or he is a 'Six-houser;
a "Six-mouthful-man"

'Or he is a "Seven-houser,"
a "Seven-mouthful-man".'

'He keeps himself going
on only one alms,⁴⁷
or only two,
or only three,
or only four,
or only five,
or only six,
or only seven.'

'He takes food
only once a day,
or once every two days,
or once every three days,
or once every four days,
or once every five days,
or once every six days,
or once every seven days.

Thus does he dwell
addicted to the practice
of taking food according to rule,
at regular intervals,
up to even half a month.'

And so also, Gotama,
are the following ascetic practices accounted,
in the opinion of some Samaṇas and Brāhmaṇas,
as Samaṇaship and Brāhmaṇaship:

[230] 'He feeds on potherbs,
on wild rice,⁴⁸
on Nivāra seeds,
on leather parings,⁴⁹
on the water-plant called Haṭa,
on the fine powder
which adheres to the grains of rice beneath the husk,
on the discarded scum of boiling rice,
on the flour of oil-seeds,⁵⁰
on grasses,
on cow-dung,
on fruits and roots from the woods,
on fruits that have fallen of themselves.'

And so also, Gotama,
are the following ascetic practices accounted,
in the opinion of some Samaṇas and Brāhmaṇas,
as Samaṇaship and Brāhmaṇaship:

'He wears coarse hempen cloth.'

'He wears coarse cloth
of interwoven hemp and other materials.'

'He wears cloths
taken from corpses
and thrown away.'⁵¹

'He wears clothing
made of rags picked up from a dust heap.'

'He wears clothing
made of the bark of the Tirītaka tree.'⁵²

'He wears the natural hide
of a black antelope.'

'He wears a dress
made of a network of strips
of a black antelope's hide.'⁵³

'He wears a dress
made of Kusa grass fibre.'

'He wears a garment of bark.'

[231] 'He wears a garment
made of small slips or slabs of wood
(shingle)
pieced together.'⁵⁴

'He wears, as a garment,
a blanket of human hair.'⁵⁵

'He wears, as a garment,
a blanket made of horses' tails.'⁵⁶

'He wears, as a garment,
a blanket made of the feathers of owls.'

'He is a "plucker-out-of-hair-and-beard,"
addicted to the practice
of plucking out both hair and beard.'

'He is a "stander-up,"
rejecting the use of a seat.'

'He is a "croucher-down-on-the-heels,"
addicted to exerting himself
when crouching down on his heels.'⁵⁷

'He is a "bed-of-thorns-man,"
putting iron spikes
or natural thorns
under the skin on which he sleeps.'⁵⁸

'He uses a plank bed.'

'He sleeps on the bare ground.'⁵⁹

'He sleeps always on one side.'

'He is a "dust-and-dirt-wearer,"
(smearing his body with oil he stands where dust clouds blow, and lets the dust adhere to his body).'

'He lives and sleeps
in the open air.'⁶⁰

'Whatsoever seat is offered to him,
that he accepts
[232] (without being offended at its being not dignified enough).'

'He is a "filth-eater,"
addicted to the practice of feeding
on the four kinds of filth
(cow-dung, cow's urine, ashes, and clay).'⁶¹

'He is a "non-drinker,"
addicted to the practice of never drinking cold water
(lest he should injure the souls in it).'⁶²

'He is an "evening-third-man,"
addicted to the practice
of going down into water
thrice a day
(to wash away his sins).'"

§

15. "If a man, O Kassapa, should go naked;
be of loose habits;
lick his hands clean;
pass stolidly on;
refuse to accept food brought;
refuse to accept food prepared especially for him;
refuse to accept any invitation;
will not accept food taken from the mouth of the pot or pan;
not accept food placed within the threshould;
not accept food placed among the sticks;
not accept food placed among the pestles;
not accept food when two persons are eating together;
not accept food from a woman with child;
not accept food from a woman giving suck;
not accept food from a woman in intercourse with a man;
not accept food collected where a dog is standing by;
not accept food where flies are swarming round;
not accept fish,
nor meat,
nor strong drink,
nor intoxicants,
nor gruel;

If a man, O Kassapa be a 'One-houser';
or a 'One-mouthful-man';
or a 'Two-houser;
or a "Two-mouthful-man";
or a 'Three-houser;
or a "Three-mouthful-man";
or a 'Four-houser;
or a "Four-mouthful-man";
or a 'Five-houser;
or a "Five-mouthful-man";
or a 'Six-houser;
or a "Six-mouthful-man";
or a "Seven-houser,"
a "Seven-mouthful-man";

Or he keeps himself going
on only one alms,
on only two alms,
on only three alms,
on only four alms,
on only five alms,
on only six alms,
on only seven alms;

Or he takes food
only once a day,
or once every two days,
or once every three days,
or once every four days,
or once every five days,
or once every six days,
or once every seven days;

Taking food according to rule,
at regular intervals,
up to even half a month;

■

[233] If a man, O Kassapa feed on potherbs,
on wild rice,
on Nivāra seeds,
on leather parings,
on the water-plant called Haṭa,
on the fine powder
which adheres to the grains of rice beneath the husk,
on the discarded scum of boiling rice,
on the flour of oil-seeds,
on grasses,
on cow-dung,
on fruits and roots from the woods,
on fruits that have fallen of themselves;

and the state of blissful attainment
in conduct,
in heart,
in intellect,
have not been practised by him,
realized by him,
then is he far from Samaṇaship,
far from Brāhmaṇaship.

But from the time, O Kassapa,
when a Bhikkhu has cultivated
the heart of love
that knows no anger,
that knows no ill-will —
from the time when,
by the destruction of the deadly intoxications
(the lusts of the flesh, the lust after future life, and the defilements of delusion and ignorance),
he dwells in that emancipation of heart,
that emancipation of mind,
that is free from those intoxications,
and that he, while yet in this visible world,
has come to realize and know —
from that time, O Kassapa,
is it that the Bhikkhu is called a Samaṇa,
is called a Brāhmaṇa!

■

If a man, O Kassapa is a "plucker-out-of-hair-and-beard,"
addicted to the practice
of plucking out both hair and beard;
if a man is a "stander-up,"
rejecting the use of a seat;
if a man is a "croucher-down-on-the-heels,"
addicted to exerting himself
when crouching down on his heels;
if a man is a "bed-of-thorns-man,"
putting iron spikes
or natural thorns
under the skin on which he sleeps;

If a man, O Kassapa uses a plank bed;
if a man sleeps on the bare ground;
if a man sleeps always on one side;
if a man is a "dust-and-dirt-wearer;
if a man lives and sleeps in the open air;
if a man accepts whatsoever seat is offered to him;
if a man is a "filth-eater,"
addicted to the practice of feeding
on the four kinds of filth;
if a man is a "non-drinker,"
addicted to the practice of never drinking cold water;
if a man is an "evening-third-man,"
addicted to the practice
of going down into water
thrice a day;

and the state of blissful attainment
in conduct,
in heart,
in intellect,
have not been practised by him,
realized by him,
then is he far from Samaṇaship,
far from Brāhmaṇaship.

But from the time, O Kassapa,
when a Bhikkhu has cultivated
the heart of love
that knows no anger,
that knows no ill-will —
from the time when,
by the destruction of the deadly intoxications
(the lusts of the flesh, the lust after future life, and the defilements of delusion and ignorance),
he dwells in that emancipation of heart,
that emancipation of mind,
that is free from those intoxications,
and that he, while yet in this visible world,
has come to realize and know —
from that time, O Kassapa,
is it that the Bhikkhu is called a Samaṇa,
is called a Brāhmaṇa!⁶³

■

[234] 16. And when he had thus spoken,
Kassapa, the naked ascetic, said to the Blessed One:

"How hard then, Gotama,
must Samaṇaship be to gain,
how hard must Brāhmaṇaship be to gain!"

"That, Kassapa, is a common saying in the world
that the life of a Samaṇa
and of a Brāhmaṇa
is hard to lead.

But if the hardness,
the very great hardness,
of that life
depended merely on this ascetism,
on the carrying out of any
or all of those practices you have detailed,
then it would not be fitting
to say that the life of the Samaṇa,
of the Brāhmaṇa,
was hard to lead.

It would be quite possible
for a householder,
or for the son of a householder,
or for any one,
down to the slave girl who carries the water-jar,
to say:

'Let me now go naked,
let me become of low habits,
of loose habits;
lick my hands clean;
pass stolidly on;
refuse to accept food brought;
refuse to accept food prepared especially for me;
refuse to accept any invitation;
not accept food taken from the mouth of the pot or pan;
not accept food placed within the threshould;
not accept food placed among the sticks;
not accept food placed among the pestles;
not accept food when two persons are eating together;
not accept food from a woman with child;
not accept food from a woman giving suck;
not accept food from a woman in intercourse with a man;
not accept food collected where a dog is standing by;
not accept food where flies are swarming round;
not accept fish,
nor meat,
nor strong drink,
nor intoxicants,
nor gruel;

Let me now be a 'One-houser';
or a 'One-mouthful-man';
or a 'Two-houser;
or a "Two-mouthful-man";
or a 'Three-houser;
or a "Three-mouthful-man";
or a 'Four-houser;
or a "Four-mouthful-man";
or a 'Five-houser;
or a "Five-mouthful-man";
or a 'Six-houser;
or a "Six-mouthful-man";
or a "Seven-houser,"
a "Seven-mouthful-man";

Let me now keep myself going
on only one alms,
on only two alms,
on only three alms,
on only four alms,
on only five alms,
on only six alms,
on only seven alms;

Let me now take food
only once a day,
or once every two days,
or once every three days,
or once every four days,
or once every five days,
or once every six days,
or once every seven days;

Taking food according to rule,
at regular intervals,
up to even half a month;

Let me now feed on potherbs,
on wild rice,
on Nivāra seeds,
on leather parings,
on the water-plant called Haṭa,
on the fine powder
which adheres to the grains of rice beneath the husk,
on the discarded scum of boiling rice,
on the flour of oil-seeds,
on grasses,
on cow-dung,
on fruits and roots from the woods,
on fruits that have fallen of themselves;

Let me now be a "plucker-out-of-hair-and-beard,"
addicted to the practice
of plucking out both hair and beard;
a "stander-up,"
rejecting the use of a seat;
a "croucher-down-on-the-heels,"
addicted to exerting himself
when crouching down on his heels;
a "bed-of-thorns-man,"
putting iron spikes
or natural thorns
under the skin on which I sleep;

Let me now use a plank bed;
sleep on the bare ground;
sleep always on one side;
let me now be a "dust-and-dirt-wearer;
live and sleep in the open air;
accept whatsoever seat is offered to me;
a "filth-eater,"
addicted to the practice of feeding
on the four kinds of filth;
a "non-drinker,"
addicted to the practice of never drinking cold water;
an "evening-third-man,"
addicted to the practice
of going down into water
thrice a day.'

■

But since, Kassapa,
quite apart from these matters,
quite apart from all kinds of penance,
the life is hard,
very hard to lead;
therefore is it that it is fitting to say:

'How hard must Samaṇaship be to gain,
how hard must Brāhmaṇaship be to gain!'

For from the time, O Kassapa,
when a Bhikkhu has cultivated
the heart of love that knows no anger,
that knows no ill-will —
from the time when,
by the destruction of the deadly intoxications
(the lusts of the flesh, the lust after future life, and the defilements of delusion and ignorance),
he dwells in that emancipation of heart,
in that emancipation of mind,
that is free from those intoxications,
and that he,
while yet in this visible world,
has come to realize and know -
from that time, O Kassapa,
is it that the Bhikkhu is called a Samaṇa,
is called a Brāhmaṇa!"⁶⁴

§

17. And when he had thus spoken,
Kassapa, the naked ascetic,
said to the Blessed One:

"Hard is it, Gotama,
to know when a man is a Samaṇa,
hard to know when a man is a Brāhmaṇa!"

"That, Kassapa, is a common saying in the world
[235] that it is hard to know a Samaṇa,
hard to know a Brāhmaṇa.

But if being a Samaṇa,
if being a Brāhmaṇa,
depended merely on this ascetism,
on the carrying out of any
or all of those practices you have detailed,
then it would not be fitting
to say that a Samaṇa is hard to recognize,
to say that a Brāhmaṇa is hard to recognize.

It would be quite possible
for a householder,
or for the son of a householder,
or for any one,
down to the slave girl who carries the water-jar,
to know:

'This man goes naked,
is of low habits,
of loose habits;
licks his hands clean;
passes stolidly on;
refuses to accept food brought;
refuses to accept food prepared especially for him;
refuses to accept any invitation;
does not accept food taken from the mouth of the pot or pan;
does not accept food placed within the threshould;
does not accept food placed among the sticks;
does not accept food placed among the pestles;
does not accept food when two persons are eating together;
does not accept food from a woman with child;
does not accept food from a woman giving suck;
does not accept food from a woman in intercourse with a man;
does not accept food collected where a dog is standing by;
does not accept food where flies are swarming round;
vnot accept fish,
does nor meat,
vnor strong drink,
does nor intoxicants,
does nor gruel;

This man is a 'One-houser';
a 'One-mouthful-man';
a 'Two-houser;
a "Two-mouthful-man";
a 'Three-houser;
a "Three-mouthful-man";
a 'Four-houser;
a "Four-mouthful-man";
a 'Five-houser;
a "Five-mouthful-man";
a 'Six-houser;
a "Six-mouthful-man";
a "Seven-houser,"
a "Seven-mouthful-man";

This man keeps himself going
on only one alms,
on only two alms,
on only three alms,
on only four alms,
on only five alms,
on only six alms,
on only seven alms;

This man takes food
only once a day,
or once every two days,
or once every three days,
or once every four days,
or once every five days,
or once every six days,
or once every seven days;

Taking food according to rule,
at regular intervals,
up to even half a month;

This man feeds on potherbs,
on wild rice,
on Nivāra seeds,
on leather parings,
on the water-plant called Haṭa,
on the fine powder
which adheres to the grains of rice beneath the husk,
on the discarded scum of boiling rice,
on the flour of oil-seeds,
on grasses,
on cow-dung,
on fruits and roots from the woods,
on fruits that have fallen of themselves;

This man is a "plucker-out-of-hair-and-beard,"
addicted to the practice
of plucking out both hair and beard;
a "stander-up,"
rejecting the use of a seat;
a "croucher-down-on-the-heels,"
addicted to exerting himself
when crouching down on his heels;
a "bed-of-thorns-man,"
putting iron spikes
or natural thorns
under the skin on which he sleeps;

This man uses a plank bed;
sleeps on the bare ground;
sleeps always on one side;
is a "dust-and-dirt-wearer;
lives and sleeps in the open air;
accepts whatsoever seat is offered to him;
is a "filth-eater,"
addicted to the practice of feeding
on the four kinds of filth;
a "non-drinker,"
addicted to the practice of never drinking cold water;
an "evening-third-man,"
addicted to the practice
of going down into water
thrice a day.'

■

But since, Kassapa,
quite apart from these matters,
quite apart from all kinds of penance,
it is hard to recognise a Samaṇa,
hard to recognise a Brāhmaṇa,
therefore is it that it is fitting to say:

'Hard it is
to know when a man is a Samaṇa,
hard to know
when a man is a Brāhmaṇa!"

For from the time, O Kassapa,
when a Bhikkhu has cultivated
the heart of love that knows no anger,
that knows no ill-will —
from the time when,
by the destruction of the deadly intoxications
(the lusts of the flesh, the lust after future life, and the defilements of delusion and ignorance),
he dwells in that emancipation of heart,
in that emancipation of mind,
that is free from those intoxications,
and that he,
while yet in this visible world,
has come to realize and know -
from that time, O Kassapa,
is it that the Bhikkhu is called a Samaṇa,
is called a Brāhmaṇa!"

18. And when he had thus spoken,
Kassapa, the naked ascetic, said to the Blessed One:

"What then, Gotama, is that blissful attainment in conduct,
in heart,
and in mind?"

§

[236]

"Suppose, Kassapa,
there appears in the world
one who has won the truth, an Arahat,
a fully awakened one,
abounding in wisdom and goodness, happy,
who knows all worlds,
unsurpassed as a guide
to mortals willing to be led,
a teacher for gods and men,
a Blessed One, a Buddha.

He, by himself, thoroughly knows and sees,
as it were, face-to-face this universe,
— including the worlds above of the gods,
the Brahmas, and the Māras,
and the world below with its recluses and Brahmans,
its princes and peoples, —
and having known it,
he makes his knowledge known to others.

The truth, lovely in its origin,
lovely in its progress,
lovely in its consummation,
doth he proclaim,
both in the spirit and in the letter,
the higher life doth he make known,
in all its fullness and in all its purity.

■

A householder or one of his children,
or a man of inferior birth in any class
listens to that truth;
and on hearing it he has faith in the Tathāgata (the one who has found the truth);
and when he is possessed of that faith,
he considers thus within himself:

'Full of hindrances is household life,
a path for the dust of passion.

Free as the air is the life
of him who has renounced all worldly things.

How difficult is it for the man who dwells at home
to live the higher life in all its fullness,
in all its purity,
in all its bright perfection!

Let me then cut off my hair and beard,
let me clothe myself in the orange-coloured robes,
and let me go forth
from the household life
into the homeless state.'

■

Then, before long,
forsaking his portion of wealth,
be it great or small,
forsaking his circle of relatives,
be they many or be they few,
he cuts off his hair and beard,
he clothes himself in the orange-coloured robes,
and he goes forth from the household life
into the homeless state.

When he has thus become a recluse
he lives self-restrained by that restraint that should be binding on a recluse.
Uprightness is his delight,
and he sees danger
in the least of those things he should avoid.

He adopts, and trains himself in, the precepts.

He encompasses himself with good deeds in act and word.
Pure are his means of livelihood,
good is his conduct,
guarded the doors of his senses.

Mindful and self-possessed
he is altogether happy.

§

And how, Kassapa, is his conduct good?

In this, Kassapa, that the Bhikshu,
putting away the killing of living things,
holds aloof from the destruction of life.

The cudgel and the sword he has laid aside,
and ashamed of roughness,
and full of mercy,
he dwells compassionate and kind
to all creatures that have life.

Putting away the taking
of what has not been given,
he lives aloof from grasping
what is not his own.

He takes only what is given,
and expecting that gifts will come,
he passes his life in honesty
and purity of heart.

Putting away unchastity,
he is chaste.

He holds himself aloof,
far off from the vulgar practice,
from the sexual act.

Putting away lying words,
he holds himself aloof from falsehood.

He speaks truth,
from the truth he never swerves;
faithful and trustworthy,
he breaks not his word to the world.

Putting away slander,
he holds himself aloof from calumny.

What he hears here
he repeats not elsewhere
to raise a quarrel
against the people here;
what he hears elsewhere
he repeats not here
to raise a quarrel
against the people there.

Thus does he live as a binder together
of those who are divided,
an encourager of those who are friends,
a peacemaker,
a lover of peace,
impassioned for peace,
a speaker of words that make for peace.

Putting away rudeness of speech,
he holds himself aloof from harsh language.

Whatsoever word is blameless,
pleasant to the car,
lovely,
reaching to the heart,
urbane,
pleasing to the people,
beloved of the people -
such are words he speaks.

Putting away frivolous talk,
he holds himself aloof from vain conversation.

In season he speaks,
in accordance with the facts,
words full of meaning,
on religion,
on the discipline of the Order.

He speaks, and at the right time,
words worthy to be laid up in one's heart,
fitly illustrated,
clearly divided,
to the point.

He holds himself aloof
from causing injury to seeds or plants.

He takes but one meal a day,
not eating at night,
refraining from food after hours
(after midday).

He refrains from being a spectator
at shows at fairs,
with nautch dances,
singing, and music.

He abstains from wearing,
adorning,
or ornamenting himself
with garlands, scents, and unguents.

He abstains from the use
of large and lofty beds.

He abstains from accepting silver or gold.

He abstains from accepting uncooked grain.

He abstains from accepting raw meat.

He abstains from accepting women or girls.

He abstains from accepting bondmen or bondwomen.

He abstains from accepting sheep or goats.

He abstains from accepting fowls or swine.

He abstains from accepting elephants, cattle. horses, and mares.

He abstains from accepting cultivated fields or waste.

He abstains from acting as a go-between or messenger.

He abstains from buying and selling.

He abstains from cheating
with scales or bronzes or measures.

He abstains from the crooked ways
of bribery, cheating, and fraud.

He abstains from maiming,
murder,
putting in bonds,
highway robbery,
dacoity,
and violence.

§

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the injury of seedlings
and growing plants
whether propagated from roots
or cuttings
or joints
or buddings
or seeds
the Bhikshu holds aloof from such injury
to seedlings and growing plants.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use
of things stored up;
stores, to wit,
of foods,
drinks,
clothing,
equipages,
bedding,
perfumes,
and curry-stuffs —
the Bhikshu holds aloof from such use
of things stored up.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to visiting shows;
that is to say:

(1) Nautch dances (naccaṃ);

(2) Singing of songs (gītaṃ);

(3) Instrumental music (vāditaṃ);

(4) Shows at fairs (pekkhaṃ);

(5) Ballad recitations (akkhānaṃ);

(6) Hand music (pāṇissaraṃ);

(7) The chanting of bards (vetālaṃ);

(8) Tam - tam playing (kumbhathūnaṃ);

(9) Fairy scenes (Sobhanagarakaṃ);

(10) Acrobatic feats by Kaṇḍālas (Kaṇḍāla-vaṃsa-dhopanaṃ);

(11) Combats of elephants,
horses,
buffaloes,
bulls,
goats,
rams,
cocks,
and quails;

(12) Bouts at quarter-staff,
boxing,
wrestling;

(13) Sham-fights.

(14) roll-calls.

(15) manoeuvres.

(16) reviews —

the Bhikshu holds aloof from visiting such shows.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to games and recreations;
that is to say:

(1) Games on boards with eight,
or with ten,
rows of squares;

(2) The same games
played by imagining such boards in the air;

(3) Keeping going over diagrams drawn on the ground
so that one steps only where one ought to go;

(4) Either removing the pieces or men from a heap
with one's nail,
or putting them into a heap,
in each case without shaking it,
he who shakes the heap, loses;

(5) Throwing dice;

(6) Hitting a short stick with a long one;

(7) Dipping the hand with the fingers stretched out
in lac,
or red dye,
or flower-water,
and striking the wet hand
on the ground
or on a wall,
calling out
'What shell it be?'
and showing the form required —
elephants, horses, etc.;

(8) Games with balls;

(9) Blowing through toy pipes made of leaves;

(10) Ploughing with toy ploughs;

(11) Turning summersaults;

(12) Playing with toy windmills made of palm-leaves;

(13) Playing with toy measures made of palm-leaves;

(14, 15) Playing with toy carts or toy bows;

(16) Guessing at letters traced in the air, or on a. playfellow's back;

(17) Guessing the play fellow's thoughts;

(18) Mimicry of deformities;

The Bhikshu holds aloof from such games and recreations.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use of high and large couches;
that is to say:

(1) Moveable settees,
high, and six feet long;

(2) Divans with animal figures carved on the supports (Pallanko);

(3) Goats' hair coverlets
with very long fleece (Gonako);

(4) Patchwork counterpanes of many colours (Cittakā);

(5) White blankets (Paṭikā);

(6) Woollen coverlets embroidered with flowers (Paṭalikā);

(7) Quilts stuffed with cotton wool (Tūlikā);

(8) Coverlets embroidered with figures of lions, tigers, etc. (Vikatikā);

(9) Rugs with fur on both sides (Uddalomī);

(10) Rugs with fur on one side (Ekantalomī);

(11) Coverlets embroidered with gems (Kaṭṭhissaṃ);

(12) Silk coverlets (Koseyyaṃ);

(13) Carpets large enough for sixteen dancers (Kuttakaṃ);

(14) Elephant rugs;

(15) horse rugs;

(16) chariot rugs;

(17) Rugs of antelope skins sewn together (Ajina-paveṇi);

(18) Rugs of skins of the plantain antelope;

(19) Carpets with awnings above them (Sauttara-cchadaṃ);

(20) Sofas with red pillows
for the head and feet.

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such things.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use
of means for adorning
and beautifying themselves;
that is to say:

Rubbing in scented powders on one's body,
shampooing it,
and bathing it;

Patting the limbs with clubs
after the manner of wrestlers;

The use of mirrors,
eye-ointments,
garlands,
rouge,
cosmetics,
bracelets,
necklaces,
walking-sticks,
reed cases for drugs,
rapiers,
sunshades,
embroidered slippers,
turbans,
diadems,
whisks of the yak's tail,
and long-fringed white robes;

The Bhikshu holds aloof
from such means of adorning and beautifying the person.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to such low conversation as these:

Tales of kings,
of robbers,
of ministers of state,
tales of war,
of terrors,
of battles;
talk about foods and drinks,
clothes,
beds,
garlands,
perfumes;
talks about relationships,
equipages,
villages,
town,
cities,
and countries;
tales about women,
and about heroes;
gossip at street corners,
or places whence water is fetched;
ghost stories;
desultory talk;
speculations about the creation of the land or sea,
or about existence and non-existence;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low conversation.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use of wrangling phrases such as:

'You don't understand this doctrine and discipline,
I do.';

'How should you know about this doctrine and discipline?';

'You have fallen into wrong views.

It is I who am in the right.';

'I am speaking to the point,
you are not.';

'You are putting last
what ought to come first,
first what ought to come last.';

'What you've excogitated so long,
that's all quite upset.';

'Your challenge has been taken up.';

'You are proved to be wrong.';

'Set to work to clear your views.';

'Disentangle yourself if you can.';

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such wrangling phrases.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to taking messages,
going on errands,
and acting as go-betweens;
to wit,
on kings,
ministers of state,
Kshatriyas,
Brahmans,
or young men,
saying:

'Go there,
come hither,
take this with you,
bring that from thence';

the Bhikshu abstains from such servile duties.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
are tricksters,
droners out (of holy words for pay),
diviners,
and exorcists,
ever hungering to add gain to gain —
the Bhikshu holds aloof from such deception and patter.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

(1) Palmistry —
prophesying long life,
prosperity, etc.
from marks on child's hands,
feet. etc.;

(2) Divining by means of omens and signs;

(3) Auguries drawn from thunderbolts
and other celestial portents;

(4) Prognostication by interpreting dreams;

(5) Fortune-telling from marks on the body;

(6) Auguries from the marks on cloth gnawed by mice;

(7) Sacrificing to Agni;

(8) Offering oblations from a spoon;

(9-13) Making offerings to gods
of husks,
of the red powder between the grain and the husk,
of husked grain ready for boiling,
of ghee,
and of oil;

(14) Sacrificing by spewing mustard seeds, etc.,
into the fire out of one's mouth;

(15) Drawing blood from one's right knee
as a sacrifice to the gods;

(16) Looking at the knuckles, etc.,
and, after muttering a charm,
divining whether a man is well born
or lucky or not;

(17) Determining whether the site
for a proposed house or pleasance,
is lucky or not;

(18) Advising on customary law;

(19) Laying demons in a cemetery;

(20) Laying ghosts;

(21) Knowledge of the charms to be used
when lodging in an earth house;

(22) Snake charming;

(23) The poison craft;

(24) The scorpion craft;

(25) The mouse craft;

(26) The bird craft;

(27) The crow craft;

(28) Foretelling the number of years
that a man has yet to live.

(29) Giving charms to ward off arrows;

(30) The animal wheel;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

Knowledge of the signs
of good and bad qualities
in the following things
and of the marks in them
denoting the health or luck of their owners: —
to wit,
gems,
staves,
garments,
swords,
arrows,
bows,
other weapons,
women,
men,
boys,
girls,
slaves,
slave-girls,
elephants,
horses,
buffaloes,
bulls,
oxen,
goats,
sheep,
fowls,
quails,
iguanas,
earrings,
tortoises,
and other animals;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as soothsaying,
to the effect that:

'The chiefs will march out';

'The chiefs will march back';

'The home chiefs will attack,
and the enemies' retreat';

'The enemies' chiefs will attack,
and ours will retreat';

'The home chiefs will gain the victory,
and the foreign chiefs suffer defeat';

'The foreign chiefs will gain the victory,
and ours will suffer defeat';

'Thus will there be victory on this side,
defeat on that'

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by such low arts as foretelling:

(1) 'There will be an eclipse of the moon';

(2) 'There will be en eclipse of the sun';

(3) 'There will be en eclipse of a star'
(Nakshatra);

(4) 'There will be aberration of the sun or the moon';

(5) 'The sun or the moon will return to its usual path';

(6) 'There will be aberrations of the stars';

(7) 'The stars will return to their usual course';

(8) 'There will be a fall of meteors';

(9) 'There will be a jungle fire';

(10) 'There will be an earthquake';

(11) 'The god will thunder';

(12-15) 'There will be rising and setting,
clearness and dimness,
of the sun or the moon or the stars',|| ||

or foretelling of each of these fifteen phenomena
that they will betoken such and such a result;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

Foretelling an abundant rainfall;

Foretelling a deficient rainfall;

Foretelling a good harvest;

Foretelling scarcity of food;

Foretelling tranquillity;

Foretelling disturbances;

Foretelling a pestilence;

Foretelling a healthy season;

Counting on the fingers;

Counting without using the fingers;

Summing up large totals;

Composing ballads, poetising;

Casuistry, sophistry;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as:

(1) Arranging a lucky day for marriages
in which the bride or bridegroom is brought home;

(2) Arranging a lucky day for marriages
in which the bride or bridegroom is sent forth;

(3) Fixing a lucky time for the conclusion of treaties of peace
[or using charms to procure harmony;

(4) Fixing a lucky time
for the outbreak of hostilities
[or using charms to make discord];

(5) Fixing-a lucky time
for the calling in of debts
[or charms for success in throwing dice];

(6) Fixing a lucky time
for the expenditure of money
[or charms to bring ill luck to an opponent throwing dice];

(7) Using charms to make people lucky;

(8) Using charms to make people unlucky;

(9) Using charms to procure abortion;

(10) Incantations to bring on dumbness;

(11) Incantations to keep a man's jaws fixed;

(12) Incantations to make a man throw up his hands;

(13) Incantations to bring on deafness;

(14) Obtaining oracular answers by means of the magic mirror;

(15) Obtaining oracular answers through a girl possessed;

(16) Obtaining oracular answers from a god;

(17) The worship of the Sun;

(18) The worship of the Great One;

(19) Bringing forth flames from one's mouth;

(20) Invoking Siri, the goddess of Luck —

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

(1) Vowing gifts to a god if a certain benefit be granted;

(2) Paying such vows;

(3) Repeating charms while lodging in an earth house;

(4) Causing virility;

(5) Making a man impotent;

(6) Fixing on lucky sites for dwelling;

(7) Consecrating sites;

(8) Ceremonial rinsings of the month;

(9) Ceremonial bathings;

(10) Offering sacrifices;

(11-14) Administering emetics and purgatives;

(15) Purging people to relieve the head
(that is by giving drugs to make people sneeze);

(16) Oiling people's ears
(either to make them grow or to heal sores on them);

(17) Satisfying people's eyes
(soothing them by dropping medicinal oils into them);

(18) Administering drugs through the nose;

(19) Applying collyrium to the eyes;

(20) Giving medical ointment for the eyes;

(21) Practising as an oculist;

(22) Practising as a surgeon;

(23) Practising as a doctor for children;

(24) Administering roots and drugs;

(25) Administering medicines in rotation;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

§

And then that Bhikshu, Kassapa,
being thus master of the minor moralities,
sees no danger from any side,
that is, so far as concerns his self-restraint in conduct.

Just, Kassapa, as a sovereign, duly crowned,
whose enemies have been beaten down,
sees no danger from any side;
that is, so far as enemies are concerned,
so is the Bhikshu confident.

And endowed with this body of morals,
so worthy of honour,
he experiences, within himself,
a sense of ease without alloy.

Thus is it, Kassapa, that the Bhikshu becomes righteous.

§

[203] And how, Kassapa,
is the Bhikshu guarded
as to the doors of his senses?

'When, Kassapa, he sees an object with his eye
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of sight.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of sight,
and he attains to mastery over it.

■

When, Kassapa, he hears a sound with his ear
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of hearing.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of hearing,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This, Kassapa, is that uprightness.

■

When, Kassapa, he smells an odour with his nose
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of smell.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of smell,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This, Kassapa, is that uprightness.

■

When, Kassapa, he tastes a flavour with his tongue
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of taste.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of taste,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This, Kassapa, is that uprightness.

■

When, Kassapa, he feels a touch with his body
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of touch.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of touch,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This, Kassapa, is that uprightness.

■

When, Kassapa, he cognises a phenomenon with his mind
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his mental (representative) faculty.

He keeps watch upon his representative faculty,
and he attains to mastery over it.

■

And endowed with this self-restraint,
so worthy of honour,
as regards the senses,
he experiences, within himself, a sense of ease
into which no evil state can enter.

Thus is it, Kassapa,
that the Bhikshu becomes guarded
as to the doors of his senses.

§

And how, Kassapa, is the Bhikshu
mindful and self-possessed?

In this matter, Kassapa,
the Bhikshu
in going forth or in coming back
whether looking forward,
or in looking round;
in stretching forth his arm,
or in drawing it in again;
in eating or drinking,
in masticating or swallowing,
in obeying the calls of nature,
in going or standing or sitting,
in sleeping or waking,
in speaking or in being still,
he keeps himself aware
of all it really means.

Thus is it, Kassapa,
that the Bhikshu becomes mindful and self-possessed.

§

And how, Kassapa, is the Bhikshu content?

'In this matter, Kassapa,
the Bhikshu is satisfied with sufficient robes
to cherish his body,
with sufficient food
to keep his stomach going.

Whithersoever he may go forth,
these he takes with him as he goes
- just as a bird with his wings, Kassapa,
whithersoever he may fly,
carries his wings with him as he flies.

Thus is it, Kassapa,
that the Bhikshu becomes content.

§

Then, master of this so excellent body of moral precepts,
gifted with this so excellent self-restraint as to the senses,
endowed with this so excellent mindfulness and self-possession,
filled with this so excellent content,
he chooses some lonely spot
to rest at on his way
— in the woods,
at the foot of a tree,
on a hill side,
in a mountain glen,
in a rocky cave,
in a charnel place,
or on a heap of straw in the open field.

And returning thither
after his round for alms
he seats himself, when his meal is done,
cross-legged,
keeping his body erect,
and his intelligence alert, intent.

§

Putting away the hankering after the world,
he remains with a heart that hankers not,
and purifies his mind of lusts.

■

Putting away the corruption
of the wish to injure,
he remains with a heart free from ill temper,
and purifies his mind of malevolence.

■

Putting away torpor of heart and mind,
keeping his ideas alight,
mindful and self-possessed,
he purifies his mind of weakness and of sloth.

■

Putting away flurry and worry,
he remains free from fretfulness,
and with heart serene within,
he purifies himself of irritability
and vexation of spirit.

■

Putting away wavering,
he remains as one passed beyond perplexity;
and no longer in suspense as to what is good,
he purifies his mind of doubt.

■

Then just, Kassapa,
as when a man, after contracting a loan,
should set a business on foot,
and his business should succeed,
and he should not only be able
to pay off the old debt he had incurred,
but there should be a surplus over
to maintain a wife.

Then would he realize:

'I used to have to carry on my business
by getting into debt,
but it has gone so well with me
that I have paid off what I owed,
and have a surplus over
to maintain a wife.'

And he would be of good cheer at that,
would be glad of heart at that: —

■

Then just, Kassapa,
as if a man were a prey to disease,
in pain, and very ill,
and his food would not digest,
and there were no strength left in him;
and after a time
he were to recover from that disease,
and his food should digest,
and his strength come back to him;
then, when he realized his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

■

Then just, Kassapa,
as if a man were bound in a prison house,
and after a time
he should be set free from his bonds,
safe and sound,
and without any confiscation of his goods;
when he realized his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

■

Then just, Kassapa,
as if a man were a slave,
not his own master,
subject to another,
unable to go whither he would;
and after a time
he should be emancipated from that slavery,
become his own master,
not subject to others,
a free man,
free to go whither he would;
then, on realising his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

■

Then just, Kassapa,
as if a man, rich and prosperous,
were to find himself on a long road,
in a desert, where no food was,
but much danger;
and after a time
were to find himself out of the desert,
arrived safe,
on the borders of his village,
in security and peace;
then, on realising his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

■

Just so, Kassapa, the Bhikshu,
so long as these five hindrances
are not put away within him
looks upon himself as in debt,
diseased,
in prison,
in slavery,
lost on a desert road.

But when these five hindrances
have been put away within him,
he looks upon himself as freed from debt,
rid of disease,
out of jail,
a free man,
and secure.

And gladness springs up within him
on his realising that,
and joy arises to him thus gladdened,
and so rejoicing
all his frame becomes at ease,
and being thus at ease
he is filled with a sense of peace,
and in that peace his heart is stayed.

§

Then estranged from lusts,
aloof from evil dispositions,
he enters into and remains in the First Rapture
— a state of joy and ease born of detachment,
reasoning and investigation going on the while.

His very body does he so pervade,
drench,
permeate,
and suffuse
with the joy and ease born of detachment,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

Just, Kassapa, as a skilful bathman
or his apprentice
will scatter perfumed soap powder
in a metal basin,
and then besprinkling it with water,
drop by drop,
will so knead it together
that the ball of lather,
taking up the unctuous moisture,
is drenched with it,
pervaded by it,
permeated by it within and without,
and there is no leakage possible.

■

Then further, Kassapa,
the Bhikshu suppressing all reasoning and investigation
enters into and abides in the Second Jhāna,
a state of joy and ease,
born of the serenity of concentration,
when no reasoning or investigation goes on,
— a state of elevation of mind,
a tranquillisation of the heart within.

'And his very body does he so pervade,
drench,
permeate,
and suffuse with the joy and ease born of concentration,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

'Just, Kassapa,
as if there were a deep pool,
with water welling up into it
from a spring beneath,
and with no inlet from the east or west,
from the north or south,
and the god should not
from time to time
send down showers of rain upon it.
Still the current of cool waters
rising up from that spring
would pervade,
fill,
permeate,
and suffuse the pool
with cool waters,
and there would be no part or portion of the pool
unsuffused therewith.

■

Then further, Kassapa, the Bhikshu,
holding aloof from joy,
becomes equable;
and mindful and self-possessed
he experiences in his body
that ease which the Arahats talk of when they say:
"The man serene and self-possessed
is well at ease,"
and so he enters into
and abides in the Third Jhāna.

And his very body
does he so pervade,
drench,
permeate,
and suffuse with that ease
that has no joy with it,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

Just, Kassapa,
as when in a lotus tank
the several lotus flowers,
red or white or blue,
born in the water,
grown up in the water,
not rising up above the surface of the water,
drawing up nourishment from the depths of the water,
are so pervaded,
drenched,
permeated,
and suffused
from their very tips
down to their roots
with the cool moisture thereof,
that there is no spot in the whole plant,
whether of the red lotus,
or of the white,
or of the blue,
not suffused therewith.

■

Then further, Kassapa, the Bhikshu,
by the putting away alike of ease and of pain,
by the passing away alike of any elation,
any dejection,
he had previously felt,
enters into and abides in the Fourth Jhāna,
a state of pure self-possession and equanimity,
without pain and without ease.

And he sits there
so suffusing even his body
with that sense of purification,
of translucence of heart,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

Just, Kassapa,
as if a man were sitting
so wrapt from head to foot in a clean white robe,
that there were no spot in his whole frame
not in contact with the clean white robe
— just so, Kassapa, does the Bhikshu sit there,
so suffusing even his body
with that sense of purification,
of translucence of heart,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

§

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he applies and bends down his mind
to that insight that comes from knowledge.

He grasps the fact:

'This body of mine has form,
it is built up of the four elements,
it springs from father and mother,
it is continually renewed
by so much boiled rice and juicy foods,
its very nature is impermanence,
it is subject to erasion,
abrasion,
dissolution,
and disintegration;
and therein is this consciousness of mine, too, bound up,
on that does it depend.'

Just, Kassapa,
as if there were a veluriya gem,
bright, of the purest water,
with eight facets,
excellently cut,
clear, translucent,
without a flaw,
excellent in every way.
And through it a string,
blue, or orange-coloured,
or red, or white, or yellow
should be threaded.
If a man, who had eyes to see,
were to take it into his hand,
he would clearly perceive
how the one is bound up with the other.

§

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he applies and bends down his mind
to the calling up of a mental image.

He calls up from this body
another body,
having form,
made of mind,
having all (his own body's) limbs and parts,
not deprived of any organ.

Just, Kassapa,
as if a man were to pull out a reed from its sheath.

He would know:

'This is the reed,
this the sheath.

The reed is one thing,
the sheath another.

It is from the sheath
that the reed has been drawn forth."

And similarly were he to take a snake out of its slough,
or draw a sword from its scabbard.

■

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he applies and bends down his mind
to the modes of the Wondrous Gift.

He enjoys the Wondrous Gift in its various modes
— being one he becomes many,
or having become many becomes one again;
he becomes visible or invisible;
he goes, feeling no obstruction,
to the further side of a wall or rampart or hill,
as if through air;
he penetrates up and down through solid ground,
as if through water;
he walks on water without breaking through,
as if on solid ground;
he travels cross-legged in the sky,
like the birds on wing;
even the Moon and the Sun,
so potent, so mighty though they be,
does he touch and feel with his hand;
he reaches in the body
even up to the heaven of Brahmā.

Just, Kassapa,
as a clever potter or his apprentice
could make,
could succeed in getting out of properly prepared clay
any shape of vessel he wanted to have
— or an ivory carver out of ivory,
or a goldsmith out of gold.

■

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he applies and bends down his mind
to the Heavenly Ear.

With that clear Heavenly Ear
surpassing the ear of men
he hears sounds both human and celestial,
whether far or near.

Just, Kassapa,
as if a man were on the high road
and were to hear the sound of a kettledrum
or a tabor or the sound of chank horns and small drums
he would know:

'This is the sound of a kettledrum,
this is the sound of a tabor,
this of chank horns,
and of drums."

■

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he directs and bends down his mind
to the knowledge which penetrates the heart.

Penetrating with his own heart
the hearts of other beings, of other men,
he knows them.

He discerns —

The passionate mind to be passionate,
and the calm mind calm;
the angry mind to be angry,
and the peaceful mind peaceful;
the dull mind to be dull,
and the alert mind alert;
the attentive mind to be attentive,
and the wandering mind wandering;
the broad mind to be broad,
and the narrow mind narrow;
the mean mind to be mean,
and the lofty mind lofty;
the stedfast mind to be stedfast,
and the wavering mind to be wavering;
the free mind to be free,
and the enslaved mind enslaved.

Just, Kassapa,
as a woman or a man or a lad,
young and smart,
on considering attentively
the image of his own face
in a bright and brilliant mirror
or in a vessel of clear water
would, if it had a mole on it,
know that it had,
and if not,
would know it had not.

■

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he directs and bends down his mind
to the knowledge of the memory
of his previous temporary states.

He recalls to mind
his various temporary states in days gone by
— one birth,
or two or three or four or five births,
or ten or twenty or thirty or forty or fifty
or a hundred or a thousand
or a hundred thousand births,
through many an aeon of dissolution,
many an aeon of evolution,
many an aeon of both dissolution and evolution.

'In such a place such was my name,
such my family,
such my caste,
such my food,
such my experience of discomfort or of ease,
and such the limits of my life.

When I passed away from that state,
I took form again in such a place.
There I had such and such a name
and family
and caste
and food
and experience of discomfort or of ease,
such was the limit of my life.

When I passed away from that state
I took form again here.'

— thus does he call to mind
his temporary states in days gone by
in all their details,
and in all their modes.

Just, Kassapa,
as if a man were to go from his own to another village,
and from that one to another,
and from that one should return home.

Then he would know:

'From my own village I came to that other one.

There I stood in such and such a way,
sat thus, spake thus, and held my peace thus.

Thence I came to that other village;
and there I stood in such and such a way,
sat thus, spake thus, and held my peace thus.

And now, from that other village,
I have returned back again home.'

■

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he directs and bends down his mind
to the knowledge of the fall and rise of beings.

With the pure Heavenly Eye,
surpassing that of men,
he sees beings as they pass away
from one form of existence
and take shape in another;
he recognises the mean and the noble,
the well favoured and the ill favoured,
the happy and the wretched,
passing away according to their deeds:

'Such and such beings, my brethren,
evil-doers in act and word and thought,
revilers of the noble ones,
holding to wrong views,
acquiring for themselves that Karma
which results from wrong views,
they, on the dissolution of the body, after death,
are reborn in some unhappy state of suffering or woe.

But such and such beings, my brethren,
well-doers in act and word and thought,
not revilers of the noble ones,
holding to right views,
acquiring for themselves that Karma
that results from right views,
they, on the dissolution of the body, after death,
are reborn in some happy state in heaven.'

Thus with the pure Heavenly Eye,
surpassing that of men,
he sees beings as they pass away from one state of existence,
and take form in another;
he recognises the mean and the noble,
the well favoured and the ill favoured,
the happy and the wretched,
passing away according to their deeds.

Just, Kassapa,
as if there were a house with an upper terrace on it
in the midst of a place where four roads meet,
and a man standing thereon,
and with eyes to see,
should watch men entering a house,
and coming forth out of it,
and walking hither and thither along the street,
and seated in the square in the midst.

Then he would know:

'Those men are entering a house,
and those are leaving it,
and those are walking to and fro in the street,
and those are seated in the square in the midst.'

■

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he directs and bends down his mind
to the knowledge of the destruction of the Deadly Floods.

He knows as it really is:

'This is pain.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the origin of pain.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the cessation of pain.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the Path that leads to the cessation of pain.'

He knows as they really are:

'These are the Deadly Floods.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the origin of the Deadly Floods.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the cessation of the Deadly Floods.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the Path that leads to the cessation of the Deadly Floods.'

■

To him, thus knowing, thus seeing,
the heart is set free
from the Deadly Taint of Lusts,
is set free from the Deadly Taint of Becomings,
is set free from the Deadly Taint of Ignorance.

In him, thus set free,
there arises the knowledge of his emancipation,
and he knows:

'Rebirth has been destroyed.

The higher life has been fulfilled.

What had to be done has been accomplished.

After this present life
there will be no beyond!'

Just, Kassapa,
as if in a mountain fastness
there were a pool of water,
clear, translucent, and serene;
and a man, standing on the bank,
and with eyes to see,
should perceive the oysters and the shells,
the gravel and the pebbles
and the shoals of fish
as they move about or lie within it:
he would know:

'This pool is clear, transparent, and serene,
and there within it
are the oysters and the shells,
and the sand and gravel,
and the shoals of fish are moving about
or lying still.

And there is no other state of blissful attainment
[237] in conduct
and heart
and mind
which is, Kassapa, higher and sweeter than this.⁶⁵

§

21. Now there are some recluses and Brahmans, Kassapa,
who lay emphasis on conduct.

They speak, in various ways,
in praise of morality.

But so far as regards the really noble,
the highest conduct,
I am aware of no one who is equal to myself,
much less superior.

And it is I
who have gone the furthest therein;
that is, in the highest conduct
(of the Path).

There are some recluses and Brahmans, Kassapa,
who lay emphasis on self-mortification,
and scrupulous care of others.

They speak in various ways
in praise of self-torture
and of austere scrupulousness.

But so far as regards the really noblest,
the highest sort of self-mortification
and scrupulous regard for others,
I am aware of no one else
who is equal to myself,
much less superior.

And it is I
who have gone the furthest therein;
that is, in the highest sort
of self-mortification
of scrupulous regard for others.⁶⁶

There are some recluses and Brahmans, Kassapa,
who lay emphasis on intelligence.

They speak, in various ways,
in praise of intelligence.

But so far as regards the really noblest,
the highest intelligence,
I am aware of no one else
who is equal to myself,
much less superior.

And it is I
who have gone the furthest therein;
that is, in the highest Wisdom⁶⁷
(of the Path).

[238] There are some recluses and Brahmans, Kassapa,
who lay emphasis on emancipation.

They speak, in various ways,
in praise of emancipation.

But so far as regards the really noblest,
the highest emancipation,
I am aware of no one else
who is equal to myself,
much less superior.

And it is I
who have gone the furthest therein;
that is, in the most complete emancipation
(of the Path).

22. Now it may well be, Kassapa,
that the recluses of adverse schools may say:

'The Samaṇa Gotama utters forth a lion's roar;
but it is in solitude that he roars,
not where men are assembled.'

Then should they be answered:

'Say not so.

The Samaṇa Gotama utters his lion's roar,
and that too
in the assemblies where men congregate.'

And it may well be, Kassapa,
that the recluses of adverse schools
should thus, in succession,
raise each of the following objections:

'But it is not in full confidence that he roars.'

'But men put no questions to him.'

'But even when questioned,
he cannot answer:

'But even when he answers,
he gives no satisfaction
by his exposition of the problem put.'

'But men do not hold his opinion
worthy to be listened to.'

'But even when men listen to his word,
they experience no conviction therefrom.'

'But even when convinced,
men give no outward sign of their faith.'

'But even when they give such outward sign,
they arrive not at the truth.'

'But even when they arrive at the truth
they cannot carry it out.'

Then in each such case, Kassapa,
they should be answered as before,
until the answer runs: —

"Say not so.

For the Samaṇa Gotama both utters forth his [239] lion's roar,
and that too in assemblies where men congregate,
and in full confidence in the justice of his claim,
and men put their questions to him on that,
and on being questioned
he expounds the problem put,
and by his exposition thereof
satisfaction arises in their hearts,
and they hold it worthy to listen to his word,
and in listening to it
they experience conviction,
and being convinced
they give outward signs thereof,
and they penetrate even to the truth,
and having grasped it
they are able also to carry the truth out!

23. I was staying once, Kassapa,
at Rājagaha,
on the hill called the Vulture's Peak.

And there a follower of the same mode of life as yours,
by name Nigrodha,
asked me a question about
the higher forms
of austere scrupulousness of life.

And having been thus questioned
I expounded the problem put.

And when I had thus answered what he asked,
he was well pleased,
as if with a 'great joy.'"⁶⁸

"And who, Sir,
on hearing the doctrine of the Exalted One,
would not be well pleased,
as if with a great joy?

I also, who have now heard
the doctrine of the Exalted One,
am thus well pleased,
even as if with a great joy.

Most excellent, Lord,
are the words of thy mouth,
most excellent,
just as if a man were to set up
what has been thrown down,
or were to reveal
that which has been hidden away,
or were to point out the right road
to him who has gone astray,
or were to bring a lamp into the darkness,
so that those who have eyes
could see external forms -
just even so, Lord,
has the truth been made known to me,
in many a figure,
by the Exalted One.

And I, even I,
betake myself as my guide
to the Exalted One,
and to the Doctrine
and to the Brotherhood.

I would fain, Lord,
renounce the world under the Exalted One;
I would fain be admitted to his Order."

24. "Whosoever, Kassapa, having formerly been a member of another school,
wishes to renounce the world
and receive initiation in this doctrine [240] and discipline,
he remains in probation for four months.⁶⁹

And at the end of the four months
the brethren, exalted in spirit,
give him initiation,
and receive him into the Order,
raising him up into
the state of a Bhikkhu.

But nevertheless
I recognise, in such cases,
the distinction there may be
between individuals."

"Since, Lord, the four months' probation
is the regular custom,
I too, then, will remain on probation for that time.

Then let the brethren,
exalted in spirit,
give me initiation
and raise me up into
the state of a Bhikkhu."

So Kassapa, the naked ascetic,
received initiation,
and was admitted to membership of the Order
under the Exalted One.

And from immediately after his initiation
the venerable Kassapa remained alone
and separate,
earnest,
zealous,
and master of himself.

And e'er long
he attained to that supreme goal⁷⁰
for the sake of which
clansmen go forth from the household life
into the homeless state:
yea, that supreme goal did he,
by himself,
and while yet in this visible world,
bring himself to the knowledge of,
and continue to realize,
and to see face-to-face.

And he became sure
that rebirth was at an end for him,
that the higher life had been fulfilled,
that everything that should be done
had been accomplished,
and that after this present life
there would be no beyond!

And so the venerable Kassapa
became yet another among the Arahats.

HERE ENDS THE KASSAPA-S§HANĀDA SUTTANTA⁷¹.

¹ 'Buddhist Suttas' (S.B.E.), p. 147.

² M. I, 79 = Jāt. I, 390.

³ So also Kāṭhaka Upanishad II, 7-13.

⁴ See Bṛihad. III, 5, 1; 8, 10; IV, 4, 2 1-23; Chānd. IV, 1, 7.

Compare Āpastamba I, 8, 23, 6; Vas. VI, 3, 23, 2 5; XXVI, 11 = Manu III 87 = Vishṇu LV, 21; the passages quoted from the Mahābhārata by Muir, 'Metrical Translations,' pp. 263-4, and Deussen, 'Vedānta-system,' p. 155.

⁵ Satapatha-Br. VI, 1, 1, 13, and several times in the early Upanishads.

⁶ So Chānd. Up. III, 17, 2 and 4.

⁷ Tait. I, 9. Compare, on the ethics, Manu VI, 92 and the Ten Pāramitās. The idea that Veda-learning is tapas is a common one.

⁸ Chānd. Up. II, 23, 1.

⁹ Chānd. Up. V, 10; Bṛihad.. VI, 2; Praṣna I, 9; V, 4, 5.

¹⁰ So Manu V, 137 ; VI, 87. Compare VIII, 390, and VI, 97

¹¹ See Max Müller's interesting note in his translation of the Upanishads (Part I, pp. 82-84).

¹² See Jacob's Concordance under the words.

¹³ Comp. Baudhāyana II, 10, 17, 6, and Āpastamba II, 4, 9, 13.

¹⁴ He ventures on a conjecture as to possible date in the case of Āpastamba only. Him he places on linguistic grounds not later than the third century B.C.; and, if the argument resting on the mention of Svetaketu hold good, then a century or two older. Burnell, whom Bühler (Baudh. p. xxx) calls 'the first authority on the literature of the Schools of the Taittirīya Veda,' to which Āpastamba belonged, was not convinced by the arguments leading up to the above conclusion. He only ventured, after reading them, to put Āpastamba 'at least B.C.'. (Manu, p. xxvii). Baudhāyana was some generations older than Āpastamba (see Bühler, āp. pp. xxi-xxii). And Gautama was older still.

¹⁵ Vas. VII, 2.

¹⁶ Thus Bühler uses the one term 'ascetic' to render a number of Sanskrit words-for saṇnyāsin at Baudh. II, 10, 17; for bhikshu at Gaut. III, 2, 11 ; for parivrājaka at Vās. X, 1; for yati at Manu VI, 54, 56, 69, 86; for tāpasa at Manu VI, 27; for muni at Manu VI, 11. Of these the last two refer to the hermit in the woods (the tāpasa), the others to the wandering mendicant (the bhikshu). Even for the old Brahman who remains at home under the protection of his son (the Veda-saṃnyāsin), he has 'become an ascetic' (saṃnyased in the Sanskrit, Manu VI, 94).

This rendering can, in each case, be easily justified. Each of the Sanskrit words means one or other form, one or other degree, of what may be called asceticism. But the differences might be made clear by variety of rendering.

¹⁷ Gautama has altogether ten rules for the hermit, none of which were applicable to the Buddhist Bhikshu (Gaut. III, 26-35).

¹⁸ Baudhāyana II, 10, 18, 4, 5. Manu VI, 27 (of the hermit). So also Vas. X, 31, according to the commentator. But Bühler thinks otherwise; and Manu VI, 94 confirms Bühler's view.

¹⁹ Bṛihad. Āraṇyaka Upanishad III, 5, 1.

²⁰ Afterwards an epithet often used, in the priestly literature of the hermit (the tāpasa), in the Buddhist books of the Arahat.

²¹ Bṛihad.. IV, 4, 22.

²² 'Sechzig Upanishads,' p. 465

²³ Perhaps, on this third notion, Chānd. IV, 1, 7 is another passage of about the same date. A wise Sūdra is apparently there called a Brāhmaṇa. But the application is by no means certain.

²⁴ Āp. II, 9, 24, 15.

²⁵ Baudh. II, 6, 11, 28.

²⁶ See the passage quoted by Deussen, 'Vedānta-system,' p.40.

²⁷ See the full text in Chalmers's paper in the J.R.A.S. for 1894

²⁸ See Bühler's 'Manu,' XXVII, and the commentators referred to in Bühler's notes, pp. 202 and 203. Also Vas. IX, 10; Gaut. III, 27 Baudh. II, 6, 11, I 4, I 5 (which proves the identity of the two) ; III, 3, 15-18. Haradatta on Āpastamba II, 9, 21, 21 (where he also says they are the same). Dr. Burnell had in his possession fragments of this work, or what, in his opinion, seemed to be so. He says it was used by followers of the Black Yajur-veda. Bühler also (Āp. p. 154, note) says the Sūtra is in existence, and procurable in Gujarāt.

²⁹ My 'Milinda,' II, 244 - 274.

³⁰ The Buddhists admitted a distinction in class as between tāpasas and bhikkhus. They often distinguish between the simple pabbajjā of the latter and the tāpasa-pabbajjā of the former. See for instance Jāt. III, 119 (of non-Buddhists).

³¹ When the warrior hero of the Rāmāyaṇa brutally murders a peaceful hermit, it is not necessary to call in the āsrama rules to justify the foul deed. The offence (in the view of the poet on the part of the hermit, in the view of most Westerns on the part of the hero) is simply social insolence. Would public opinion, in Kosala, have sanctioned such an act, or enjoyed such a story, in the time of the Piṭakas? The original Rāmāyaṇa probably arose, as Professor Jacobi has shown, in Kosala; but this episode (VII, 76) is not in the oldest part. The doctrine for which the poet claims the approval of the gods (and which, therefore, was not unquestioned among men, or he need not have done so) is that a Sūdra may not become a tāpasa.

³² II, 3, 54.

³³ IV, 3, 110.

³⁴ See on this Order the passages quoted above in the note at p.71; and Leumann in the 'Vienna Oriental Journal,' III, 128.

³⁵ Comp. Baudhāyana XI, 6, 11, 23; Manu V, 165; IX, 29.

³⁶ There is a similar list, also full of interesting puzzles, but applicable of course to a date later by some centuries than the above, in the Milinda p.191. Worshippers of Siva are there expressly mentioned.

³⁷ Miga-dāye. That is, a place set apart for deer to roam in, in safety, a public park in which no hunting was allowed.

³⁸ It would, perhaps, be more agreeable to the context if one could render this idiomatic phrase: 'Is there anything in this opinion of theirs as to his system, or as to this corollary they have drawn from it, which amounts to being a matter he would object to?' But I do not see how this could be reconciled with the syntax of the Pāli sentence. And Buddhaghosa takes it as rendered above, summarising it in the words: 'Is your opinion herein altogether free from blame?'

³⁹ The four paragraphs 5, 6, 7 and 8 are here repeated in full in the text with the change only of reading 'the body of the disciples of the Samaṇa Gotama' instead of the Samaṇa Gotama' and similarly for the other teachers. [Ed.: Here unabridged.]

⁴⁰ The following description of the naked ascetic recurs in the Majjhima I, 77, 238, 342, II, 161, and in the Puggala Paññatti IV, 24. It consists of a string of enigmatic phrases which are interpreted in my translation, according to Buddhaghosa here, and the unknown commentator on the Puggala. These two are very nearly word for word the same. The differences are just such as would arise when two authors are drawing upon one uniform tradition.

It would seem from M. I, 238, if compared with I, 524, that it was the ājīvakas (see note above on p. 71) who were more especially known for the practice of these forms of asceticism: and from M. I, 77 that it was these forms that had been followed by Gotama himself before his eyes were opened, before he attained to Nirvāṇa. (M. I, 167.)

⁴¹ Hatthāpalekhano. The tradition was in doubt about this word. Both commentators give an alternative rendering: 'He scratched himself clean with his hand after stooling.' And the Puggala Paññatti commentator adds a very curious piece of old folklore as his reason for this explanation.

⁴² Kaḷopi; not in Childers. It no doubt means some cooking vessel of a particular shape, but the exact signification, and the derivation of it are both unknown. It may possibly be a Kolarian or Dravidian word. Many centuries afterwards karoṭa and karoṭi were included in the Vyutpatti, and the Amara Kosa, as meaning 'vessel.' It is of course out of the question that a word of the fifth century B.C. can be derived from either of them; but they are evidently the descendants of allied forms. Childers gives another form khalopī on the authority of the Abhidhāna Padīpikā (twelfth century), verse 456, where it occurs in a list of names of pots. Another — khaḷopi — is put in his text by Trenckner at Milinda, p.107, from one MS., but the other two differ. Both commentators paraphrase it here by ukkhali pacchi vā.

⁴³ Na Daṇḍa-m-antaraṃ. That is, perhaps, among the firewood; but the expression is not clear. The Commentaries only give the reason. Dr. Neumann (on Majjhima I, 77) has, 'he does not spy beyond the lattice' or perhaps 'beyond the bars of the grate' (spake nicht uber das Gitter), but this seems putting a great deal of meaning into the sticks, and not sufficiently reproducing the force of antaraṃ. And how can paṭigaṇhāti mean 'spy'? We have, no doubt, to fill out an elliptical phrase. But it is just such cases as those in this paragraph where we are more likely to go right if we follow the ancient tradition.

⁴⁴ Na purisantara-gatāya. The commentators only give the reason. On the meaning of the word compare Jāt. I, 290.

⁴⁵ Na saṇkhittisu. Both meaning and derivation are uncertain. Dr. Neumann has not from the dirty.'

⁴⁶ Thusodaka It is not fermented. The traditional interpretation here is: 'a drink called Suvīrakaṃ (after the country Suvīra) made of the constituents, especially the husk, of all cereals.' The use of salt Sovīraka as a cure for wind in the stomach is mentioned at Mahā Vagga VI, 16. 3; and it was allowed, as a beverage, if mixed with water, to the Buddhist Bhikkhus. In Vimāna Vatthu XIX, 8 it is mentioned in a list of drinks given to them. Childers calls it 'sour gruel' following Subhūti in the first edition (1865) of the Abhidhāna Padīpikā (verse 460), but in the Abh. Pad. Sūci (published in 1893) Subhūti renders it 'kongey'; something of the same sort as barley water. Buddhaghosa adds: 'Every one agrees that it is wrong to drink intoxicants. These ascetics see sin even in this.' The corresponding Sanskrit word, tusodaka, is found only in Suṣruta.

⁴⁷ Datti. A small pot,' says Buddhaghosa,' in which special titbits are put aside, and kept.'

⁴⁸ Sāmāka, not in Childers. See M. I, 156. Jāt. II, 365, III, 144.

⁴⁹ Daddula, not in Childers. See M. I, 78, 156, 188.

⁵⁰ Piññaka, not in Childers. See Vin. IV, 341. The commentators here merely say: 'This is plain.'

⁵¹ Chava-dussāni pi dhāreti. The commentators give an alternative explanation: 'Clothing made of Eraka grass tied together.' Was such clothing then used to wrap dead bodies in?

⁵² Tirītāni pi dhāreti. This custom is referred to at Mahā Vagga VIII, 29, as having been there followed by ascetics. The use of such garments is there forbidden to the Bhikkhus.

⁵³ Ajinakkhipam pi dhāreti. Buddhaghosa gives here an explanation different from that given by him on Vin. III, 34 (quoted 'Vinaya Texts,' II, 247), where the word also occurs. The Puggala Paññatti gives both explanations as possible. Khipa at A. I, 33 means some sort of net. Ajinakkhipa is referred to at S. I, 117 as the characteristic dress of an old Brahman.

⁵⁴ Phalaka-cīram pi dhāreti. See Mahā Vagga VIII, 28. 2; Culla Vagga V, 29. 3.

⁵⁵ So of Ajita of the garment of hair, above, p. 73. Both commentators say the hair is human hair.

⁵⁶ Vāla-kambalam pi dhāreti. So the commentators here. The alternative rendering given by us at 'Vinaya Texts,' II, 247, 'skin of a wild beast,' should be corrected accordingly. That would be vāḷa, and all the passages where our word occurs read vāla. Comp. A. I, 240.

⁵⁷ Ukkuṭikappadhāna. Compare Dhp. 141-2 = Divy. 339. The commentator says he progressed in this posture by a series of hops. The posture is impossible to Europeans, who, if they crouch down on their heels, cannot keep their balance when the heels touch the ground. But natives of India will sit so for hours without fatigue.

⁵⁸ Both commentators add: 'or stands, or walks up and down.'

⁵⁹ Thaṇḍila-seyyam pi kappeti. The Burmese MSS. and Buddhaghosa, but not the Siamese edition, read taṇḍila. So does my MS. at Dhp. 141. The Puggala omits the word. S. IV, 118, and Mil. 351 have the Ñh.

⁶⁰ Abbhokāsiko ca hoti. There is no comment on this. But compare Jāt. IV, 8; Mil. 342

⁶¹ Vekaṭiko. So of an ājīvaka at Jāt. I, 390, and compare 'Vinaya Texts,' II, 59. My rendering of the word at Mil. 259 ought, I think, to be corrected accordingly. But why was not this entered among the foods above, where one of them was already mentioned? It looks like an afterthought, or a gloss.

⁶² Apānako. Compare my Milinda II, 85 foll. on this curious belief.

⁶³ That is, of course, a true recluse, an actual Arahat. Throughout these sections Gotama is purposely at cross purposes with his questioner. Kassapa uses the word Brāhmaṇa in his own sense; that is, not in the ordinary sense, but of the ideal religieux. Gotama, in his answer, keeps the word; but he means something quite different, he means an Arahat. On the persistent way in which the Piṭaka texts try to put this new meaning into the word, see above, in the Introduction to the Kūṭadanta.

⁶⁴ This paragraph, like the last and like the next, is, in the Pāli, broken up into three sections, one for each of the three lists of penances.

⁶⁵ 'And by this,' says Buddhaghosa, 'he means Arahatship. For the doctrine of the Exalted One has Arahatship as its end.'

⁶⁶ At Aṇguttara II, 200 (compare M. I, 240-242) it is said that those addicted to tapo-jigucchā are incapable of Arahatship. Gotama must either, therefore, be here referring to his years of penance before he attained Nirvāṇa under the Tree of Wisdom; or he must be putting a new meaning into the expression, and taking 'the higher scrupulousness' in the sense of the self-control of the Path. Probably both are implied.

Jigucchā is translated by Childers as 'disgust, loathing,' following the Sanskrit dictionaries. The example of it given at M. I, 78 is 'being so mindful, in going out or coming in, that pity is stirred up in one even towards a drop of water, to the effect that: "May I not bring injury on the minute creatures therein."' It comes therefore to very nearly the same thing as ahiṃsā.

⁶⁷ Adhipaññā. From Aṇguttara II, 93 it is clear that this is the wisdom of the higher stages only of the Path, not of Arahatship. For the man who has adhipaññā has then to strive on till he attains to Arahatship. Puggala Paññatti IV, 26 is not really inconsistent with this.

⁶⁸ The whole conversation will be translated below. It forms the subject of the Udumbarīka Sīhanāda Suttanta, No. 25 in the Dīgha.

⁶⁹ According to the rule laid down in Vinaya I, 69.

⁷⁰ That is, Arahatship, Nirvāṇa.

⁷¹ The Burmese MSS. call it the Mahā Sīhanāda Sutta, which is also the name given in the MSS. to the Twelfth Sutta in the Majjhima - called there in the text (p. 83) and in the Milinda (P.396), the Lomahaṃsana Pariyāya. We have had an instance above (p.55) of several different names being given, in the text itself, to the same Sutta. And I had already, in 1880, called attention in my 'Buddhist Birth Stories' (pp. lx, lxi) to the numerous instances in the Jātaka Book of the same Jātaka being known, in the collection itself, by different names. It is evident that the titles were considered a very secondary matter.

9. The Soul Theory

Poṭṭhapāda Suttantaṃ

[241]

Introduction

This Sutta, beginning with a discussion on the mystery of trance, passes over, by a natural transition, or association of ideas, to the question of soul. For trance (as is pointed out by Poṭṭhapāda in § 6) had been explained by adherents of the soul theory as produced by the supposed fact of a 'soul' having gone away out of the body.

As is well known, this hypothesis of a soul inside the body has been adopted, and no doubt quite independently, among so many different peoples in all parts of the world that it may fairly be described as almost universal. It is even by no means certain that it has not been quite universal; in which case its adoption is probably a necessary result of the methods of thought possible to men in early times. But it is, unfortunately, very easy for us, who now no longer use the word 'soul' exclusively in its original sense, to misunderstand the ancient view, and to import into it modern conceptions.¹ The oldest and simplest form of the hypothesis was frankly materialistic. The notion was that of a double — shadowy, no doubt, and impalpable — but still a physical double of the physical body; and made up, like the body, of the four elements.

When the 'soul' was away the body lay still, without moving, apparently without life, in trance. or disease, or sleep. When the 'soul' came back, motion began again, and life. Endless were the corollaries of a theory which, however devoid of the essential marks of a sound scientific hypothesis, underlies every variety of early speculation in India, as elsewhere.

Long before the date of the earliest records of Indian belief this theory, among the ancestors of the men to whom we owe those records, had gone through a whole course of development of which the Vedas show us only the results. They take the theory so completely for granted that the [242] details of it, as they held it, are nowhere set out in full, or in any detail. The hypothesis having been handed down from time immemorial, and being accepted by all, it was considered amply sufficient to refer to it in vague and indirect phraseology.² And the stage which the theory had reached before the time when our Sutta was composed can only be pieced together imperfectly from incidental references in the Upanishads.

I have collected these references together in the article already referred to (J.R.A.S., 1899), and need here only state the result. This is that the Upanishads show how the whole theory of the priests, as there set out, is throughout based on this old theory of a soul inside the body. The numerous details are full of inconsistencies, more especially on the point, so important to theologians, as to what happens to the soul after it flies away from the body. But not one of these inconsistent views leaves for a moment the basis of the soul theory. That is always taken for granted. And the different views set out in these priestly manuals by no means exhaust the list of speculations about the soul that must have been current in India when Buddhism arose, and when our Sutta was composed. There were almost certainly other views, allied to one or other of the thirty-two theories controverted above (pp. 44, 45), A careful search would no doubt reveal passages, even in the later priestly literature itself, acknowledging views which do not happen to be referred to in the Upanishads, but which bear the stamp of great antiquity — such passages as Mahābhārata XII, 11704, where we are told that if the soul, in departing from the body goes out by way of the knees, it will go to the Sādhyas.

However, that may be, it is certain that all the religions, and all the philosophies, the existing records show to have existed in India, in the time when Buddhism arose, are based on this belief in a subtle but material 'soul' inside the body, and in shape like the body. It would scarcely be going too far to say that all religions, and all philosophies, then existing in the world. were based upon it. Buddhism stands alone among the religions of India in ignoring the soul. The vigour and originality of this new departure are evident from the complete isolation in which Buddhism stands, in this respect, from all other religious systems then existing in the world. And the very great difficulty which those European writers, who are still steeped in animistic [243] preconceptions, find in appreciating, or even understanding the doctrine, may help us to realize how difficult it must have been for the originator of it to take so decisive and so far-reaching a step in religion and philosophy, at so early a period in the history of human thought.

Nearly a quarter of a century ago I put this in the forefront of my first exposition of Buddhism. The publication, since then, of numerous texts has shown how the early Buddhist writers had previously followed precisely the same method.³ They reserve, as is only natural, the enthusiasm of their poetry and eloquence for the positive side of their doctrine, for Arahatship. But the doctrine of the impermanence of each and every condition, physical or mental; the absence of any abiding principle, any entity, any substance, any 'soul' (aniccatā, nissattatā, nijjīvatā, anattalakkhaṇatā, na h'ettha sassato bhāvo attā vā upalabbhati) is treated, from the numerous points of view from which it can be approached, in as many different Suttas.

For the most part, one point only is dealt with in each text. In our Sutta it is, in the first place, the gradual change of mental conditions, of states of consciousness: and then, secondly, the point that personality, individuality (atta-paṭilābho) is only a convenient expression in common use in the world, and therefore made use of also by the Tathāgata, but only in such a manner that he is not led astray by its ambiguity, by its apparent implication of some permanent entity.

[244] [178]

Poṭṭhapāda Suttantaṃ

The Soul Theory

THUS HAVE I HEARD.

The Exalted One was once staying at Sāvatthi
in Anātha Piṇḍika's pleasaunce
in the Jeta Wood.

Now at that time Poṭṭhapāda,⁴
the wandering mendicant,
was dwelling at the hall
put up in Queen Mallikā's Park
for the discussion of systems of opinion -
the hall set round
with a row of Tinduka trees,
and known by the name of 'The Hall.'⁵

And there was with him
a great following of mendicants;
to wit, three hundred mendicants.

■

2⁶ Now the Exalted One,
who had put on his under garment
in the early morning,
proceeded in his robes,
and with his bowl in his hand,
into Sāvatthi for alms.

[245] And he thought:

"It is too early now
to enter Sāvatthi for alms.

Let me go to the Hall,
the debating hall in the Mallikā Park,
where Poṭṭhapāda is."

And he did so.

■

3. Now at that time
Poṭṭhapāda was seated
with the company of the mendicants
all talking with loud voices,
with shouts and tumult,
all sorts of worldly talk,
to wit:

Tales of kings,
of robbers,
of ministers of state;
tales of war,
of terrors,
of battles;
talks about foods and drinks,
about clothes
and beds
and garlands
and perfumes;
talks about relationships;
talks about equipages,
villages,
towns,
cities,
and countries;
tales about women and heroes;
gossip such as that at street corners,
and places whence water is fetched;
ghost stories;
desultory chatter;
legends about the creation of the land or sea;
and speculations about existence and non-existence.⁷

■

[179] 4. And Poṭṭhapāda, the mendicant,
caught sight of the Exalted One
approaching in the distance.

And at the sight of him
he called the assembly to order,
saying:

"Be still, venerable Sirs,
and make no noise.

Here is the Samaṇa Gotama coming.

Now that venerable one delights in quiet,
and speaks in praise of quietude.

How well it were
if, seeing how quiet the assembly is,
he should see fit to join us!"

And when he spake thus,
the mendicants kept silence.

■

5. Now the Exalted One came on
to where Poṭṭhapāda, the mendicant was.

And the latter said to him:

"May the Exalted One come near.

We bid him welcome.

It is long since the Exalted One
took the departure⁸
of coming our way.

Let him take a seat.

Here is a place spread ready."

And the Exalted One sat down.

And Poṭṭhapāda, the mendicant,
brought a low stool,
and sat down beside him.

And to him thus seated
the Exalted One said:

[246] "What was the subject, Poṭṭhapāda,
that you were seated here together to discuss;
and what was the talk among you
that has been interrupted?"

■

6. And when he had thus spoken, Poṭṭhapāda said:

"Never mind, Sir,
the subject we were seated together to discuss.

There will be no difficulty
in the Exalted One hearing afterwards about that.

But long ago, Sir,
on several occasions,
when various teachers,
Samaṇas and Brahmans,
had met together,
and were seated in the debating hall,
the talk fell on trance,⁹
and the question was:

[180] 'How then, Sirs,
is the cessation of consciousness
brought about?'

■

Now on that
some said thus:

'Ideas come to a man
without a reason
and without a cause,
and so also do they pass away.

At the time when they spring up within him,
then he becomes conscious;
when they pass away,
then he becomes unconscious.'

Thus did they explain
the cessation of consciousness.

-◦-

On that another said:

'That, Sirs, will never be so
as you say.

Consciousness, Sirs, is a man's soul.

It is the soul that comes and goes.

When the soul comes into a man
then he becomes conscious,
when the soul goes away out of a man
then he becomes unconscious.'

Thus do others explain
the cessation of consciousness.¹⁰

-◦-

On that another said:

'That, Sirs, will never be as you say.

But there are certain Samaṇas and Brahmans
of great power and influence.

It is they who infuse consciousness into a man,
and draw it away out of him.

When they infuse it into him
he becomes conscious,
when they draw it away
he becomes unconscious.'

Thus do others explain
the cessation of consciousness.¹¹

■

[247] Then, Sir, the memory of the Exalted One
arose in me,
and I thought:

'Would that the Exalted One,
would that the Happy One were here,
he who is so skilled in these psychical states.

For the Exalted One would know
how trance is brought about.¹²

How, then, Sir, is there
cessation of consciousness?"

■

7. "Well, as to that, Poṭṭhapāda,
those Samaṇas and Brahmans
who said that ideas come to a man
and pass away
without a reason,
and without a cause,
are wrong from the very commencement.

For it is precisely through a reason,
by means of a cause,
that ideas come and go.

[181] By training
some ideas arise.

By training
others pass away.

§

And what is that training?"
continued the Exalted One.

"Suppose, Poṭṭhapāda, there appears in the world
one who has won the truth, an Arahat,
a fully awakened one,
abounding in wisdom and goodness, happy,
who knows all worlds,
unsurpassed as a guide
to mortals willing to be led,
a teacher for gods and men,
a Blessed One,
a Buddha.

He, by himself, thoroughly knows and sees,
as it were, face-to-face this universe,
— including the worlds above of the gods,
the Brahmas, and the Māras,
and the world below with its recluses and Brahmans,
its princes and peoples, —
and having known it,
he makes his knowledge known to others.

The truth, lovely in its origin,
lovely in its progress,
lovely in its consummation,
doth he proclaim,
both in the spirit and in the letter,
the higher life doth he make known,
in all its fullness and in all its purity.

■

A householder, or one of his children,
or a man of inferior birth in any class
listens to that truth;
and on hearing it he has faith in the Tathāgata (the one who has found the truth);
and when he is possessed of that faith,
he considers thus within himself:

'Full of hindrances is household life,
a path for the dust of passion.

Free as the air is the life
of him who has renounced all worldly things.

How difficult is it for the man who dwells at home
to live the higher life in all its fullness,
in all its purity,
in all its bright perfection!

Let me then cut off my hair and beard,
let me clothe myself in the orange-coloured robes,
and let me go forth
from the household life
into the homeless state.'

■

Then, before long,
forsaking his portion of wealth,
be it great or small,
forsaking his circle of relatives,
be they many or be they few,
he cuts off his hair and beard,
he clothes himself in the orange-coloured robes,
and he goes forth from the household life
into the homeless state.

■

When he has thus become a recluse
he lives self-restrained by that restraint that should be binding on a recluse.

Uprightness is his delight,
and he sees danger
in the least of those things he should avoid.

-◦-

He adopts, and trains himself in, the precepts.

-◦-

He encompasses himself
with good deeds in act and word.

-◦-

Pure are his means of livelihood,
good is his conduct,
guarded the doors of his senses.

-◦-

Mindful and self-possessed
he is altogether happy.

§

'And how, Poṭṭhapāda, is his conduct good?

'In this, Poṭṭhapāda, that the Bhikshu,
putting away the killing of living things,
holds aloof from the destruction of life.

The cudgel and the sword he has laid aside,
and ashamed of roughness,
and full of mercy,
he dwells compassionate and kind
to all creatures that have life.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

-◦-

Putting away the taking
of what has not been given,
he lives aloof from grasping
what is not his own.

He takes only what is given,
and expecting that gifts will come,
he passes his life in honesty
and purity of heart.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

-◦-

Putting away unchastity,
he is chaste.

He holds himself aloof,
far off from the vulgar practice,
from the sexual act.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

-◦-

Putting away lying words,
he holds himself aloof from falsehood.

He speaks truth,
from the truth he never swerves;
faithful and trustworthy,
he breaks not his word to the world.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

-◦-

Putting away slander,
he holds himself aloof from calumny.

What he hears here
he repeats not elsewhere
to raise a quarrel
against the people here;
what he hears elsewhere
he repeats not here
to raise a quarrel
against the people there.

Thus does he live as a binder together
of those who are divided,
an encourager of those who are friends,
a peacemaker,
a lover of peace,
impassioned for peace,
a speaker of words that make for peace.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

-◦-

Putting away rudeness of speech,
he holds himself aloof from harsh language.

Whatsoever word is blameless,
pleasant to the car,
lovely,
reaching to the heart,
urbane,
pleasing to the people,
beloved of the people -
such are words he speaks.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

-◦-

Putting away frivolous talk,
he holds himself aloof from vain conversation.

In season he speaks,
in accordance with the facts,
words full of meaning,
on religion,
on the discipline of the Order.

He speaks, and at the right time,
words worthy to be laid up in one's heart,
fitly illustrated,
clearly divided,
to the point.

-◦-

He holds himself aloof
from causing injury to seeds or plants.

He takes but one meal a day,
not eating at night,
refraining from food after hours
(after midday).

He refrains from being a spectator
at shows at fairs,
with nautch dances,
singing, and music.

He abstains from wearing,
adorning,
or ornamenting himself
with garlands, scents, and unguents.

He abstains from the use
of large and lofty beds.

He abstains from accepting silver or gold.

He abstains from accepting uncooked grain.

He abstains from accepting raw meat.

He abstains from accepting women or girls.

He abstains from accepting bondmen or bondwomen.

He abstains from accepting sheep or goats.

He abstains from accepting fowls or swine.

He abstains from accepting elephants, cattle. horses, and mares.

He abstains from accepting cultivated fields or waste.

He abstains from acting as a go-between or messenger.

He abstains from buying and selling.

He abstains from cheating
with scales or bronzes or measures.

He abstains from the crooked ways
of bribery, cheating, and fraud.

He abstains from maiming,
murder,
putting in bonds,
highway robbery,
dacoity,
and violence.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

§

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the injury of seedlings
and growing plants
whether propagated from roots
or cuttings
or joints
or buddings
or seeds
the Bhikshu holds aloof from such injury
to seedlings and growing plants.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

-◦-

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use
of things stored up;
stores, to wit,
of foods,
drinks,
clothing,
equipages,
bedding,
perfumes,
and curry-stuffs —
the Bhikshu holds aloof from such use
of things stored up.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

-◦-

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to visiting shows;
that is to say:

(1) Nautch dances (naccaṃ);

(2) Singing of songs (gītaṃ);

(3) Instrumental music (vāditaṃ);

(4) Shows at fairs (pekkhaṃ);

(5) Ballad recitations (akkhānaṃ);

(6) Hand music (pāṇissaraṃ);

(7) The chanting of bards (vetālaṃ);

(8) Tam - tam playing (kumbhathūnaṃ);

(9) Fairy scenes (Sobhanagarakaṃ);

(10) Acrobatic feats by Kaṇḍālas (Kaṇḍāla-vaṃsa-dhopanaṃ);

(11) Combats of elephants,
horses,
buffaloes,
bulls,
goats,
rams,
cocks,
and quails;

(12) Bouts at quarter-staff,
boxing,
wrestling;

(13) Sham-fights.

(14) roll-calls.

(15) manoeuvres.

(16) reviews —

the Bhikshu holds aloof from visiting such shows.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

-◦-

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to games and recreations;
that is to say:

(1) Games on boards with eight,
or with ten,
rows of squares;

(2) The same games
played by imagining such boards in the air;

(3) Keeping going over diagrams drawn on the ground
so that one steps only where one ought to go;

(4) Either removing the pieces or men from a heap
with one's nail,
or putting them into a heap,
in each case without shaking it,
he who shakes the heap, loses;

(5) Throwing dice;

(6) Hitting a short stick with a long one;

(7) Dipping the hand with the fingers stretched out
in lac,
or red dye,
or flower-water,
and striking the wet hand
on the ground
or on a wall,
calling out
'What shell it be?'
and showing the form required —
elephants, horses, etc.;

(8) Games with balls;

(9) Blowing through toy pipes made of leaves;

(10) Ploughing with toy ploughs;

(11) Turning summersaults;

(12) Playing with toy windmills made of palm-leaves;

(13) Playing with toy measures made of palm-leaves;

(14, 15) Playing with toy carts or toy bows;

(16) Guessing at letters traced in the air, or on a. playfellow's back;

(17) Guessing the play fellow's thoughts;

(18) Mimicry of deformities;

The Bhikshu holds aloof from such games and recreations.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

-◦-

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use of high and large couches;
that is to say:

(1) Moveable settees,
high, and six feet long;

(2) Divans with animal figures carved on the supports (Pallanko);

(3) Goats' hair coverlets
with very long fleece (Gonako);

(4) Patchwork counterpanes of many colours (Cittakā);

(5) White blankets (Paṭikā);

(6) Woollen coverlets embroidered with flowers (Paṭalikā);

(7) Quilts stuffed with cotton wool (Tūlikā);

(8) Coverlets embroidered with figures of lions, tigers, etc. (Vikatikā);

(9) Rugs with fur on both sides (Uddalomī);

(10) Rugs with fur on one side (Ekantalomī);

(11) Coverlets embroidered with gems (Kaṭṭhissaṃ);

(12) Silk coverlets (Koseyyaṃ);

(13) Carpets large enough for sixteen dancers (Kuttakaṃ);

(14) Elephant rugs;

(15) horse rugs;

(16) chariot rugs;

(17) Rugs of antelope skins sewn together (Ajina-paveṇi);

(18) Rugs of skins of the plantain antelope;

(19) Carpets with awnings above them (Sauttara-cchadaṃ);

(20) Sofas with red pillows
for the head and feet.

The Bhikshu holds aloof from such things.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

-◦-

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use
of means for adorning
and beautifying themselves;
that is to say:

Rubbing in scented powders on one's body,
shampooing it,
and bathing it;

Patting the limbs with clubs
after the manner of wrestlers;

The use of mirrors,
eye-ointments,
garlands,
rouge,
cosmetics,
bracelets,
necklaces,
walking-sticks,
reed cases for drugs,
rapiers,
sunshades,
embroidered slippers,
turbans,
diadems,
whisks of the yak's tail,
and long-fringed white robes;

The Bhikshu holds aloof
from such means of adorning and beautifying the person.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

-◦-

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to such low conversation as these:

Tales of kings,
of robbers,
of ministers of state,
tales of war,
of terrors,
of battles;
talk about foods and drinks,
clothes,
beds,
garlands,
perfumes;
talks about relationships,
equipages,
villages,
town,
cities,
and countries;
tales about women,
and about heroes;
gossip at street corners,
or places whence water is fetched;
ghost stories;
desultory talk;
speculations about the creation of the land or sea,
or about existence and non-existence;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low conversation.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

-◦-

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use of wrangling phrases such as:

'You don't understand this doctrine and discipline,
I do.';

'How should you know about this doctrine and discipline?';

'You have fallen into wrong views.

It is I who am in the right.';

'I am speaking to the point,
you are not.';

'You are putting last
what ought to come first,
first what ought to come last.';

'What you've excogitated so long,
that's all quite upset.';

'Your challenge has been taken up.';

'You are proved to be wrong.';

'Set to work to clear your views.';

'Disentangle yourself if you can.';

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such wrangling phrases.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

-◦-

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to taking messages,
going on errands,
and acting as go-betweens;
to wit,
on kings,
ministers of state,
Kshatriyas,
Brahmans,
or young men,
saying:

'Go there,
come hither,
take this with you,
bring that from thence';

the Bhikshu abstains from such servile duties.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

-◦-

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
are tricksters,
droners out (of holy words for pay),
diviners,
and exorcists,
ever hungering to add gain to gain —
the Bhikshu holds aloof from such deception and patter.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

-◦-

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

(1) Palmistry —
prophesying long life,
prosperity, etc.
from marks on child's hands,
feet. etc.;

(2) Divining by means of omens and signs;

(3) Auguries drawn from thunderbolts
and other celestial portents;

(4) Prognostication by interpreting dreams;

(5) Fortune-telling from marks on the body;

(6) Auguries from the marks on cloth gnawed by mice;

(7) Sacrificing to Agni;

(8) Offering oblations from a spoon;

(9-13) Making offerings to gods
of husks,
of the red powder between the grain and the husk,
of husked grain ready for boiling,
of ghee,
and of oil;

(14) Sacrificing by spewing mustard seeds, etc.,
into the fire out of one's mouth;

(15) Drawing blood from one's right knee
as a sacrifice to the gods;

(16) Looking at the knuckles, etc.,
and, after muttering a charm,
divining whether a man is well born
or lucky or not;

(17) Determining whether the site
for a proposed house or pleasance,
is lucky or not;

(18) Advising on customary law;

(19) Laying demons in a cemetery;

(20) Laying ghosts;

(21) Knowledge of the charms to be used
when lodging in an earth house;

(22) Snake charming;

(23) The poison craft;

(24) The scorpion craft;

(25) The mouse craft;

(26) The bird craft;

(27) The crow craft;

(28) Foretelling the number of years
that a man has yet to live.

(29) Giving charms to ward off arrows;

(30) The animal wheel;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

-◦-

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

Knowledge of the signs
of good and bad qualities
in the following things
and of the marks in them
denoting the health or luck of their owners: —
to wit,
gems,
staves,
garments,
swords,
arrows,
bows,
other weapons,
women,
men,
boys,
girls,
slaves,
slave-girls,
elephants,
horses,
buffaloes,
bulls,
oxen,
goats,
sheep,
fowls,
quails,
iguanas,
earrings,
tortoises,
and other animals;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

-◦-

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as soothsaying,
to the effect that:

'The chiefs will march out';

'The chiefs will march back';

'The home chiefs will attack,
and the enemies' retreat';

'The enemies' chiefs will attack,
and ours will retreat';

'The home chiefs will gain the victory,
and the foreign chiefs suffer defeat';

'The foreign chiefs will gain the victory,
and ours will suffer defeat';

'Thus will there be victory on this side,
defeat on that'

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

-◦-

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by such low arts as foretelling:

(1) 'There will be an eclipse of the moon';

(2) 'There will be en eclipse of the sun';

(3) 'There will be en eclipse of a star'
(Nakshatra);

(4) 'There will be aberration of the sun or the moon';

(5) 'The sun or the moon will return to its usual path';

(6) 'There will be aberrations of the stars';

(7) 'The stars will return to their usual course';

(8) 'There will be a fall of meteors';

(9) 'There will be a jungle fire';

(10) 'There will be an earthquake';

(11) 'The god will thunder';

(12-15) 'There will be rising and setting,
clearness and dimness,
of the sun or the moon or the stars',|| ||

or foretelling of each of these fifteen phenomena
that they will betoken such and such a result;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

-◦-

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

Foretelling an abundant rainfall;

Foretelling a deficient rainfall;

Foretelling a good harvest;

Foretelling scarcity of food;

Foretelling tranquillity;

Foretelling disturbances;

Foretelling a pestilence;

Foretelling a healthy season;

Counting on the fingers;

Counting without using the fingers;

Summing up large totals;

Composing ballads, poetising;

Casuistry, sophistry;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

-◦-

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as:

(1) Arranging a lucky day for marriages
in which the bride or bridegroom is brought home;

(2) Arranging a lucky day for marriages
in which the bride or bridegroom is sent forth;

(3) Fixing a lucky time for the conclusion of treaties of peace
[or using charms to procure harmony;

(4) Fixing a lucky time
for the outbreak of hostilities
[or using charms to make discord];

(5) Fixing-a lucky time
for the calling in of debts
[or charms for success in throwing dice];

(6) Fixing a lucky time
for the expenditure of money
[or charms to bring ill luck to an opponent throwing dice];

(7) Using charms to make people lucky;

(8) Using charms to make people unlucky;

(9) Using charms to procure abortion;

(10) Incantations to bring on dumbness;

(11) Incantations to keep a man's jaws fixed;

(12) Incantations to make a man throw up his hands;

(13) Incantations to bring on deafness;

(14) Obtaining oracular answers by means of the magic mirror;

(15) Obtaining oracular answers through a girl possessed;

(16) Obtaining oracular answers from a god;

(17) The worship of the Sun;

(18) The worship of the Great One;

(19) Bringing forth flames from one's mouth;

(20) Invoking Siri, the goddess of Luck —

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

-◦-

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

(1) Vowing gifts to a god if a certain benefit be granted;

(2) Paying such vows;

(3) Repeating charms while lodging in an earth house;

(4) Causing virility;

(5) Making a man impotent;

(6) Fixing on lucky sites for dwelling;

(7) Consecrating sites;

(8) Ceremonial rinsings of the month;

(9) Ceremonial bathings;

(10) Offering sacrifices;

(11-14) Administering emetics and purgatives;

(15) Purging people to relieve the head
(that is by giving drugs to make people sneeze);

(16) Oiling people's ears
(either to make them grow or to heal sores on them);

(17) Satisfying people's eyes
(soothing them by dropping medicinal oils into them);

(18) Administering drugs through the nose;

(19) Applying collyrium to the eyes;

(20) Giving medical ointment for the eyes;

(21) Practising as an oculist;

(22) Practising as a surgeon;

(23) Practising as a doctor for children;

(24) Administering roots and drugs;

(25) Administering medicines in rotation;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This is part of the goodness that he has.

■

'And then that Bhikshu, Poṭṭhapāda,
being thus master of the minor moralities,
sees no danger from any side,
that is, so far as concerns his self-restraint in conduct.

Just, Poṭṭhapāda, as a sovereign, duly crowned,
whose enemies have been beaten down,
sees no danger from any side;
that is, so far as enemies are concerned,
so is the Bhikshu confident.

And endowed with this body of morals,
so worthy of honour,
he experiences, within himself,
a sense of ease without alloy.

Thus is it, Poṭṭhapāda, that the Bhikshu becomes righteous.

§

'And how, Poṭṭhapāda,
is the Bhikshu guarded
as to the doors of his senses?

'When, Poṭṭhapāda, he sees an object with his eye
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of sight.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of sight,
and he attains to mastery over it.

■

When, Poṭṭhapāda, he hears a sound with his ear
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of hearing.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of hearing,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This, Sirs, is that uprightness.

■

When, Poṭṭhapāda, he smells an odour with his nose
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of smell.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of smell,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This, Sirs, is that uprightness.

■

When, Poṭṭhapāda, he tastes a flavour with his tongue
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of taste.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of taste,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This, Sirs, is that uprightness.

■

When, Poṭṭhapāda, he feels a touch with his body
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of touch.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of touch,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This, Poṭṭhapāda, is that uprightness.

■

When, Poṭṭhapāda, he cognises a phenomenon with his mind
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his mental (representative) faculty.

He keeps watch upon his representative faculty,
and he attains to mastery over it.

■

And endowed with this self-restraint,
so worthy of honour,
as regards the senses,
he experiences, within himself, a sense of ease
into which no evil state can enter.

Thus is it, Poṭṭhapāda,
that the Bhikshu becomes guarded
as to the doors of his senses.

§

And how, Poṭṭhapāda, is the Bhikshu
mindful and self-possessed?

In this matter, Poṭṭhapāda
the Bhikshu
in going forth or in coming back
whether looking forward,
or in looking round;
in stretching forth his arm,
or in drawing it in again;
in eating or drinking,
in masticating or swallowing,
in obeying the calls of nature,
in going or standing or sitting,
in sleeping or waking,
in speaking or in being still,
he keeps himself aware
of all it really means.

Thus is it, Poṭṭhapāda,
that the Bhikshu becomes mindful and self-possessed.

§

And how, Poṭṭhapāda, is the Bhikshu content?

In this matter, Poṭṭhapāda,
the Bhikshu is satisfied with sufficient robes
to cherish his body,
with sufficient food
to keep his stomach going.

Whithersoever he may go forth,
these he takes with him as he goes
- just as a bird with his wings, Poṭṭhapāda,
whithersoever he may fly,
carries his wings with him as he flies.

Thus is it, Poṭṭhapāda,
that the Bhikshu becomes content.

§

Then, master of this so excellent body of moral precepts,
gifted with this so excellent self-restraint as to the senses,
endowed with this so excellent mindfulness and self-possession,
filled with this so excellent content,
he chooses some lonely spot
to rest at on his way
— in the woods,
at the foot of a tree,
on a hill side,
in a mountain glen,
in a rocky cave,
in a charnel place,
or on a heap of straw in the open field.

And returning thither
after his round for alms
he seats himself, when his meal is done,
cross-legged,
keeping his body erect,
and his intelligence alert, intent.

§

Putting away the hankering after the world,
he remains with a heart that hankers not,
and purifies his mind of lusts.

■

Putting away the corruption
of the wish to injure,
he remains with a heart free from ill temper,
and purifies his mind of malevolence.

■

Putting away torpor of heart and mind,
keeping his ideas alight,
mindful and self-possessed,
he purifies his mind of weakness and of sloth.

■

Putting away flurry and worry,
he remains free from fretfulness,
and with heart serene within,
he purifies himself of irritability
and vexation of spirit.

■

Putting away wavering,
he remains as one passed beyond perplexity;
and no longer in suspense as to what is good,
he purifies his mind of doubt.

■

'Then just, Poṭṭhapāda,
as when a man, after contracting a loan,
should set a business on foot,
and his business should succeed,
and he should not only be able
to pay off the old debt he had incurred,
but there should be a surplus over
to maintain a wife.

Then would he realize:

'I used to have to carry on my business
by getting into debt,
but it has gone so well with me
that I have paid off what I owed,
and have a surplus over
to maintain a wife.'

And he would be of good cheer at that,
would be glad of heart at that: —

■

Then just, Poṭṭhapāda,
as if a man were a prey to disease,
in pain, and very ill,
and his food would not digest,
and there were no strength left in him;
and after a time
he were to recover from that disease,
and his food should digest,
and his strength come back to him;
then, when he realized his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

■

Then just, Poṭṭhapāda,
as if a man were bound in a prison house,
and after a time
he should be set free from his bonds,
safe and sound,
and without any confiscation of his goods;
when he realized his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

■

Then just, Poṭṭhapāda,
as if a man were a slave,
not his own master,
subject to another,
unable to go whither he would;
and after a time
he should be emancipated from that slavery,
become his own master,
not subject to others,
a free man,
free to go whither he would;
then, on realising his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

■

Then just, Poṭṭhapāda,
as if a man, rich and prosperous,
were to find himself on a long road,
in a desert, where no food was,
but much danger;
and after a time
were to find himself out of the desert,
arrived safe,
on the borders of his village,
in security and peace;
then, on realising his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

■

Just so, Poṭṭhapāda, the Bhikshu,
so long as these five hindrances
are not put away within him
looks upon himself as in debt,
diseased,
in prison,
in slavery,
lost on a desert road.

[182] But when these five hindrances
have been put away within him,
he looks upon himself as freed from debt,
rid of disease,
out of jail,
a free man,
and secure.

And gladness springs up within him
on his realising that,
and joy arises to him thus gladdened,
and so rejoicing
all his frame [248] becomes at ease,
and being thus at ease
he is filled with a sense of peace,
and in that peace his heart is stayed.

§

Then estranged from lusts,
aloof from evil dispositions,
he enters into and remains in the First Rapture
— a state of joy and ease born of detachment,
reasoning and investigation going on the while.

Then that idea,
(that consciousness),¹³ of lusts,
that he had before,
passes away.

And thereupon there arises within him
a subtle, but actual, consciousness
of the joy and peace
arising from detachment,
and he becomes a person
to whom that idea is consciously present.

Thus is it that through training
one idea, one sort of consciousness, arises;
and through training
another passes away.

This is the training I spoke of,"
said the, Exalted One.

■

11. "And again, Poṭṭhapāda, the Bhikkhu,
suppressing all reasoning and investigation,
enters into and abides in the Second Rapture
(the Second Jhāna) —
a state of joy and case,
born of the serenity of concentration,
when no reasoning or investigation goes on,
a state of elevation of mind,
a tranquillisation of the heart within.

Then that subtle, but actual, consciousness
of the joy and peace arising from detachment,
that he just had,
passes away.

And thereupon there arises
a subtle, but actual,
consciousness of the joy and peace
born of concentration.

And he becomes a person conscious of that.

[183] Thus also is it that through training,
one idea, one sort of consciousness, arises;
and through training
another passes away.

This is the training I spoke of," said the Exalted One.

■

12. "And again, Poṭṭhapāda, the Bhikkhu,
holding aloof from joy,
becomes equable;
and, mindful and self possessed,
he experiences in his body
that ease which the Arahats talk of
when they say:

'The man serene and self-possessed
is well at case.'

And so he enters [249] into
and abides in
the Third Rapture (the Third Jhāna).

Then that subtle, but yet actual, consciousness,
that he just had,
of the joy and peace born of concentration,
passes away.

And thereupon there arises
a subtle, but yet actual, consciousness
of the bliss of equanimity.

And he becomes a person conscious of that.

Thus also is it
that through training
one idea, one sort of consciousness, arises;
and through training
another passes away.

This is the training I spoke of,"
said the Exalted One.

■

13. "And again, Poṭṭhapāda, the Bhikkhu,
by the putting away alike
of ease and of pain,
by the passing away
of any joy,
any elation,
he had previously felt,
enters into and abides in
the Fourth Rapture
(the Fourth Jhāna) —
a state of pure self-possession
and equanimity,
without pain and without ease.

Then that subtle, but yet actual, consciousness,
that he just had,
of the bliss of equanimity,
passes away.

And thereupon
there arises to him
a subtle, but yet actual, consciousness
of the absence of pain,
and of the absence of ease.¹⁴

And he becomes a person conscious of that.

Thus also is it that through training
one idea, one sort of consciousness, arises;
and through training
another passes away.

This is the training I spoke of,"
said the Exalted One.

■

14. "And again, Poṭṭhapāda, the Bhikkhu,
by passing beyond the consciousness of form,
by putting an end to the sense of resistance,
by paying no heed to the idea of distinction,
thinking:

'The space is infinite,'

reaches up to and remains in the mental state
in which [250] the mind is concerned
only with the consciousness
of the infinity of space.

Then the consciousness,
that he previously had, of form
passes away,
and there arises in him
the blissful consciousness,
subtle but yet actual,
of his being concerned
only with the infinity of space.

And he becomes a person conscious of that.

Thus also is it
that through training
one idea, one sort of consciousness, arises;
and through training
another passes away.

This is the training I spoke of," said the Exalted One.

■

[184] 15. "And again, Poṭṭhapāda, the Bhikkhu,
by passing quite beyond
the consciousness of space as infinite,
thinking:

'Cognition¹⁵ is infinite,'

reaches up to
and remains in the mental state
in which the mind is concerned
only with the infinity of cognition.

Then the subtle,
but yet actual, consciousness,
that he just had,
of the infinity of space,
passes away.

And there arises in him
a consciousness,
subtle but yet actual,
of everything being within
the sphere of the infinity of cognition.

And he becomes a person conscious of that.

Thus also is
it that through training
one idea, one sort of consciousness, arises;
and through training
another passes away.

This is the training I spoke of," said the Exalted One.

■

16. "And again, Poṭṭhapāda, the Bhikkhu,
by passing quite beyond
the consciousness of the infinity of cognition,
thinking:

'There is nothing that really is,'

reaches up to and remains in
the mental state
in which the mind is concerned
only with the unreality of things.

Then that sense
of everything being within
the sphere of infinite cognition,
that he just had,
passes away.

And there arises in him a consciousness,
subtle but yet actual,
of unreality
as the object of his thought.¹⁶

And he becomes a person conscious of that.

[251] Thus also is it
that through training
one idea, one sort of consciousness, arises;
and through training
another passes away.

This is the training I spoke of,"
said the Exalted One.

§

17. 'So from the time, Poṭṭhapāda,
that the Bhikkhu is thus conscious
in a way brought about by himself
(from the time of the First Rapture),
he goes on from one stage to the next,
and from that to the next
until he reaches the summit of consciousness.

■

And when he is on the summit
it may occur to him:

'To be thinking at all
is the inferior state.

Twere better not to be thinking.

Were I to go on thinking and fancying,¹⁷
these ideas,
these states of consciousness,
I have reached to,
would pass away,
but others,
coarser ones,
might arise.

So I will neither think
nor fancy
any more.'

And he does not.

■

And to him
neither thinking any more,
nor fancying,
the ideas,
the states of consciousness, he had,
pass away;
and no others,
coarser than they,
arise.

So he falls into trance.

Thus is it, Poṭṭhapāda,
that the attainment of
the cessation of conscious ideas
takes place step by step.

§

18. Now what do you think, Poṭṭhapāda?

Have you ever heard, before this,
of this gradual attainment
of the cessation of conscious ideas?"

■

"No, Sir, I have not.

But I now understand what you say as follows:

From the time, Sir,
that the Bhikkhu is thus conscious
in a way brought about by himself
(from the time of the First Rapture),
he goes on from one stage to the next,
and from that to the next
until he reaches the summit of consciousness.

And when he is on the summit
it may occur to him:

'To be thinking at all is the inferior state.

'Twere better not to be thinking.

Were I to go on thinking and fancying,
these ideas,
these states of consciousness,
I have reached to,
would pass away,
but others,
coarser ones,
might arise.

So I will neither think
nor fancy any more.'

And he does not.

And to him
neither thinking any more, nor fancying,
the ideas,
the states of consciousness, he had,
pass away;
and no others,
coarser than they,
arise.

So he falls into trance.

Thus is it, Sir,
that the attainment of
the cessation of conscious ideas
takes place step by step."

"That is right, Poṭṭhapāda."¹⁸

§

[185] 19. "And does the Exalted One teach
that there is one summit of consciousness,
or that there are several?"

[252] "In my opinion, Poṭṭhapāda, there is one,
and there are also several."

■

"But how can the Exalted teach
that there both is one,
and that there are also several?"

■

"As he attains to the cessation
(of one idea, one state of consciousness)
after another,
so does he reach,
one after another,
to different summits
up to the last.

So is it, Poṭṭhapāda,
that I put forward
both one summit and several."

§

20. "Now is it, Sir, the idea,
the state of consciousness,
that arises first,
and then knowledge;
or does knowledge arise first,
and then the idea,
the state of consciousness;
or do both arise simultaneously,
neither of them before
or after the other?"

■

"It is the idea, Poṭṭhapāda,
the state of consciousness,
that arises first,
and after that knowledge.

And the springing up of knowledge
is dependent on the springing up of the idea,
of the state of consciousness.¹⁹

And this may be understood from the fact
that a man recognises:

'It is from this cause or that
that knowledge has arisen to me.'"

§

21. "Is then, Sir, the consciousness
identical with a man's soul,
or is consciousness one thing,
and the soul another?"²⁰

"But what then, Poṭṭhapāda?

Do you really fall back on the soul?"

■

[186] "I take for granted,²¹ Sir,
a material soul,
having [253] form,
built up of the four elements,
nourished by solid food."²²

■

"And if there were such a soul, Poṭṭhapāda,
then, even so,
your consciousness would be one thing,
and your soul another.

That, Poṭṭhapāda, you may know
by the following considerations:

Granting, Poṭṭhapāda, a material soul,
having form,
built up of the four elements,
nourished by solid food;
still some ideas,
some states of consciousness,
would arise to the man,
and others would pass away.

On this account also, Poṭṭhapāda,
you can see
how consciousness must be one thing,
and soul another."

■

22. "Then, Sir, I fall back on a soul
made of mind,
with all its major and minor parts complete,
not deficient in any organ."²³

■

"And granting, Poṭṭhapāda,
you had such a soul,
the same argument would apply."

■

[187] 23. "Then, Sir, I fall back on a soul without form,
and made of consciousness."

"And granting, Poṭṭhapāda, you had such a soul,
still the same argument would apply."²⁴

■

[254] 24. "But is it possible, Sir,
for me to understand
whether consciousness is the man's soul,
or the one is different from the other?"

■

"Hard is it for you, Poṭṭhapāda,
holding, as you do, different views,
other things approving themselves to you,
setting different aims before yourself,
striving, after a different perfection,
trained in a different system of doctrine,
to grasp this matter!"

■

25-27. "Then, Sir, if that be so,
tell me at least:

[1] Is the world eternal?

Is this alone the truth,
and any other view mere folly?"

"That, Poṭṭhapāda, is a matter
on which I have expressed no opinion."

■

"Then, Sir, if that be so,
tell me at least:

[2] Is the world not eternal?

Is this alone the truth,
and any other view mere folly?"

"That, Poṭṭhapāda, is a matter
on which I have expressed no opinion."

■

"Then, Sir, if that be so,
tell me at least:

[3] Is the world finite?

Is this alone the truth,
and any other view mere folly?"

"That, Poṭṭhapāda, is a matter
on which I have expressed no opinion."

■

"Then, Sir, if that be so,
tell me at least:

[4] Is the world infinite?

Is this alone the truth,
and any other view mere folly?"

"That, Poṭṭhapāda, is a matter
on which I have expressed no opinion."

■

'Then, Sir, if that be so,
tell me at least:

[188] [5] Is the soul the same as the body?

Is this alone the truth,
and any other view mere folly?"

"That, Poṭṭhapāda, is a matter
on which I have expressed no opinion."

■

"Then, Sir, if that be so,
tell me at least:

[6] Is the soul one thing,
and the body another?

Is this alone the truth,
and any other view mere folly?"

"That, Poṭṭhapāda, is a matter
on which I have expressed no opinion."

■

"Then, Sir, if that be so,
tell me at least:

[7] Does one who has gained the truth
live again after death?

Is this alone the truth,
and any other view mere folly?"

"That, Poṭṭhapāda, is a matter
on which I have expressed no opinion."

■

"Then, Sir, if that be so,
tell me at least:

[8] Does he not live again after death?

Is this alone the truth,
and any other view mere folly?"

"That, Poṭṭhapāda, is a matter
on which I have expressed no opinion."

■

"Then, Sir, if that be so,
tell me at least:

[9] Does he both live again,
and not live again,
after death?

Is this alone the truth,
and any other view mere folly?"

"That, Poṭṭhapāda, is a matter
on which I have expressed no opinion."

■

"Then, Sir, if that be so,
tell me at least:

[10] Does he neither live again,
nor not live again,
after death?

Is this alone the truth,
and any other view mere folly?"

"That too, Poṭṭhapāda, is a matter
on which I have expressed no opinion."²⁵

■

28. "But why has the Exalted One expressed no opinion on that?"

"This question is not calculated to profit,
it is not [255] concerned with the Norm
(the Dhamma),
it does not redound
even to the elements of right conduct,
nor to detachment,
nor to purification from lusts,
nor to quietude,
nor to tranquillisation of heart,
nor to real knowledge,
nor to the insight
(of the higher stages of the Path),
nor to Nirvāṇa.

Therefore is it
that I express no opinion upon it."

§

[189] 29. "Then what is it
that the Exalted One has determined?"

■

"I have expounded, Poṭṭhapāda,
what pain²⁶ is;
I have expounded what is the origin of pain;
I have expounded what is the cessation of pain;
I have expounded what is the method
by which one may reach the cessation of pain."²⁷

■

30. "And why has the Exalted One
put forth a statement as to that?"

"Because that question, Poṭṭhapāda,
is calculated to profit,
is concerned with the Norm,
redounds to the beginnings of right conduct,
to detachment,
to purification from lusts,
to quietude,
to tranquillisation of heart,
to real knowledge,
to the insight of the higher stages of the Path,
and to Nirvāṇa.

Therefore is it, Poṭṭhapāda,
that I have put forward a statement as to that."

■

"That is so, O Exalted One.

That is so, O Happy One.

And now let the Exalted One do what seemeth to him fit."

And the Exalted One rose from his seat,
and departed thence.

§

31. Now no sooner had the Exalted One gone away
than those mendicants
bore down upon Poṭṭhapāda, the mendicant,
from all sides
with a torrent of jeering
and biting words,²⁸
saying:

"Just so forsooth,
this Poṭṭhapāda gives vent
to approval of whatsoever the Samaṇa [256] Gotama says,
with his:

'That is so, O Exalted One.

That is so, O Happy One.'

Now we, on the other hand,
fail to see that the Samaṇa Gotama
has put forward any doctrine
that is distinct
with regard to any one of the ten points raised:

[1] Is the world eternal?

[2] Is the world not eternal?

[3] Is the world finite?

[4] Is the world infinite?

[5] Is the soul the same as the body?

[6] Is the soul one thing,
and the body another?

[7] Does one who has gained the truth
live again after death?

[8] Does he not live again after death?

[9] Does he both live again,
and not live again,
after death?

[10] Does he neither live again,
nor not live again,
after death?"

[190] But when they spake
thus Poṭṭhapāda, the mendicant, replied:

"Neither do I see
that he puts forward,
as certain,
any proposition with respect to those points.

But the Samaṇa Gotama propounds a method
in accordance with the nature of things,
true and fit,
based on the Norm,
and certain by reason of the Norm.

And how could I refuse to approve,
as well said,
what has been so well said
by the Samaṇa Gotama
as he propounded that?"

§

32. Now after the lapse of two or three days
Citta, the son of the elephant trainer,²⁹
and Poṭṭhapāda, the mendicant,
came to the place where the Exalted One was staying.

And on their arrival
Citta, the son of the elephant trainer,
bowed low to the Exalted One,
and took his scat on one side.

And Poṭṭhapāda, the mendicant,
exchanged with the Exalted One
the greetings and compliments of courtesy and friendship,
and took his seat on one side,
and when he was so seated
he told the Exalted One:

"When the Exalted One rose from his seat,
and departed those mendicants
bore down upon me,
from all sides
with a torrent of jeering
and biting words,
saying:

'Just so forsooth,
this Poṭṭhapāda gives vent
to approval of whatsoever the Samaṇa Gotama says,
with his:

"That is so, O Exalted One.

That is so, O Happy One."

Now we, on the other hand,
fail to see that the Samaṇa Gotama
has put forward any doctrine
that is distinct
with regard to any one of the ten points raised:

[1] Is the world eternal?

[2] Is the world not eternal?

[3] Is the world finite?

[4] Is the world infinite?

[5] Is the soul the same as the body?

[6] Is the soul one thing,
and the body another?

[7] Does one who has gained the truth
live again after death?

[8] Does he not live again after death?

[9] Does he both live again,
and not live again,
after death?

[10] Does he neither live again,
nor not live again,
after death?'

But when they spake
thus I replied:

'Neither do I see
that he puts forward,
as certain,
any proposition with respect to those points.

But the Samaṇa Gotama propounds a method
in accordance with the nature of things,
true and fit,
based on the Norm,
and certain by reason of the Norm.

And how could I refuse to approve,
as well said,
what has been so well said
by the Samaṇa Gotama
as he propounded that?'"

■

[191] 33. "All those mendicants, Poṭṭhapāda, are blind,
and see not.

You are the only one,
with eyes to see,
among them.

■

Some things, Poṭṭhapāda,
I have laid down as certain,
other things I have declared un- [257] certain.

The latter
are those ten questions:

[1] Is the world eternal?

[2] Is the world not eternal?

[3] Is the world finite?

[4] Is the world infinite?

[5] Is the soul the same as the body?

[6] Is the soul one thing,
and the body another?

[7] Does one who has gained the truth
live again after death?

[8] Does he not live again after death?

[9] Does he both live again,
and not live again,
after death?

[10] Does he neither live again,
nor not live again,
after death?'

And because these questions are not calculated to profit,
not concerned with the Norm
(the Dhamma),
do not redound
even to the elements of right conduct,
nor to detachment,
nor to purification from lusts,
nor to quietude,
nor to tranquillisation of heart,
nor to real knowledge,
nor to the insight
(of the higher stages of the Path),
nor to Nirvāṇa
I hold them matters of uncertainty.

Therefore is it
that I express no opinion upon them.

■

The former,
the Four Truths I expounded:
what pain is;
what the origin of pain is;
what the cessation of pain is;
what the method
by which one may reach the cessation of pain is.

And why?

Because that, Poṭṭhapāda,
is calculated to profit,
is concerned with the Norm,
redounds to the beginnings of right conduct,
to detachment,
to purification from lusts,
to quietude,
to tranquillisation of heart,
to real knowledge,
to the insight of the higher stages of the Path,
and to Nirvāṇa.

Therefore is it, Poṭṭhapāda,
that I have put forward a statement as to that
and I hold them to be matters of certainty.

§

[192] 34. There are some Samaṇas and Brahmans Poṭṭhapāda,
who hold the following opinion,
indulge in the following speculation:

'The soul is perfectly happy
and healthy after death.'

And I went to them, and asked them
whether that was their view or not.

And they acknowledged that it was.³⁰

And I asked them whether,
so far as they were in the habit
of knowing or perceiving it,³¹
the world
(that is, the people in the world)
was perfectly happy,
and they answered:

'No.'

■

Then I asked them:

'Or further, Sirs,
can you maintain that you yourselves
for a whole night,
or for a whole day,
or even for half a night or day,
have ever been perfectly happy?'

And they answered:

'No.'

■

Then I said to them:

'Or further, Sirs,
do you know a way,
or a method,
by which you can realize a state
that is altogether happy?'

And still to that question they answered:

'No.'

■

And then I said:

'Or have you, Sirs,
ever heard the voices of gods
who had realized rebirth
in a perfectly happy world,
saying:

"Be earnest, O men,
and direct in effort,
towards the realisation of
(rebirth in)
a world of perfect happiness.

For we, in consequence of similar effort,
have been reborn in such a world."'

And still they answered:

'No.'

■

Now what think you as to that, Poṭṭhapāda?

That being so,
does not the talk of those Samaṇas and Brahmans
turn out to be without good ground?³²

■

[193] [258] 35.³³ Just as if a man should say:

'How I long for,
how I love
the most beautiful woman in the land!'

And people should ask him:

'Well! good friend!

This most beautiful woman in the land,
whom you so love and long for,
do you know whether that beautiful woman
is a noble lady,
or of priestly rank,
or of the trader class,
or of menial birth?'

'And when so asked,
he should answer:

'No.'

-◦-

And people should ask him:

'Well! good friend!

This most beautiful woman in the land,
whom you so love and long for,
do you know what her name is,
or her family name,
or whether she be tall,
or short,
or of medium height;
whether she be dark
or brunette
or golden in colour;³⁴
or in what village,
or town,
or city she dwells?

And when so asked,
he should answer:

'No.'

-◦-

And people should say to him:

'So then, good friend,
whom you know not,
neither have seen,
her do you love
and long for?

And when so asked, he should answer:

'Yes.'

-◦-

Now what think you of that, Poṭṭhapāda?

Would it not turn out,
that being so,
that the talk of that man
was witless talk?

■

[194] [259] 36, 37. Then just so also, Poṭṭhapāda,
was it with the Samaṇas and Brahmans
who talk about the soul
being perfectly happy
and healthy after death:³⁵

I went to them,
and asked them
whether that was their view or not.

And they acknowledged that it was.

And I asked them whether,
so far as they were in the habit
of knowing or perceiving it,
the world
(that is, the people in the world)
was perfectly happy,
and they answered:

'No.'

-◦-

Then I asked them:

'Or further, Sirs,
can you maintain that you yourselves
for a whole night,
or for a whole day,
or even for half a night or day,
have ever been perfectly happy?'

And they answered:

'No.'

-◦-

Then I said to them:

'Or further, Sirs,
do you know a way,
or a method,
by which you can realize a state
that is altogether happy?'

And still to that question they answered:

'No.'

-◦-

And then I said:

'Or have you, Sirs,
ever heard the voices of gods
who had realized rebirth in a perfectly happy world,
saying:

"Be earnest, O men,
and direct in effort,
towards the realisation of
(rebirth in)
a world of perfect happiness.

For we, in consequence of similar effort,
have been reborn in such a world."'

And still they answered:

'No.'

-◦-

Now what think you as to that, Poṭṭhapāda?

That being so,
does not the talk of those Samaṇas and Brahmans
turn out to be without good ground?

■

It is just, Poṭṭhapāda,
as if a man were to put up a staircase
in a place where four cross roads meet,
to mount up thereby
on to the upper storey of a mansion.

And people should say to him:

'Well! good friend!

This mansion,
to mount up into which
you are making this staircase,
do you know whether it is in the East,
or in the West,
or in the South,
or in the North?
whether it is high,
or low,
or of medium size?'

And when so asked,
he should answer:

'No.'

-◦-

And people should say to him:

'But then, good friend,
you are making a staircase
to mount up into a mansion
you know not of,
neither have seen!

And when so asked,
he should answer:

'Yes.'

-◦-

Now what think you of that, Poṭṭhapāda?

Would it not turn out,
that being so,
that the talk of that man
was witless talk?"

"For a truth, Sir,
that being so,
his talk would turn out to be witless talk."

■

Then just so also, Poṭṭhapāda,
was it with the Samaṇas and Brahmans
who talk about the soul
being perfectly happy
and healthy after death:

I went to them,
and asked them
whether that was their view or not.

And they acknowledged that it was.

And I asked them whether,
so far as they were in the habit
of knowing or perceiving it,
the world
(that is, the people in the world)
was perfectly happy,
and they answered:

'No.'

-◦-

Then I asked them:

'Or further, Sirs,
can you maintain that you yourselves
for a whole night,
or for a whole day,
or even for half a night or day,
have ever been perfectly happy?'

And they answered:

'No.'

-◦-

Then I said to them:

'Or further, Sirs,
do you know a way,
or a method,
by which you can realize a state
that is altogether happy?'

And still to that question they answered:

'No.'

-◦-

And then I said:

'Or have you, Sirs,
ever heard the voices of gods
who had realized rebirth in a perfectly happy world,
saying:

"Be earnest, O men,
and direct in effort,
towards the realisation of
(rebirth in)
a world of perfect happiness.

For we, in consequence of similar effort,
have been reborn in such a world."'

And still they answered:

'No.'

-◦-

Now what think you as to that, Poṭṭhapāda?³⁶

That being so,
does not the talk of those Samaṇas and Brahmans
turn out to be without good ground?"

[195] "For a truth, Sir,
that being so,
their talk would turn out to be without good ground.

§

39. 'The following three modes of personality, Poṭṭhapāda,
(are commonly acknowledged in the world): —
[1] material,
[2] immaterial, and
[3] formless.³⁷

The [260] first has form,
is made up of the four elements,
and is nourished by solid food.

The second has no form,
is made up of mind,
has all its greater and lesser limbs complete,
and all the organs perfect.

The third is without form,
and is made up
of consciousness only.

■

40. 'Now I teach a doctrine, Poṭṭhapāda,
with respect to the material mode of personality,³⁸
that leads to the putting off
of that personality;
so that, if you walk according to that doctrine,
the evil dispositions one has acquired
may be put away;³⁹
the dispositions which tend to purification⁴⁰
may increase;
and one may continue to see
face-to-face,
and by himself come to realize,
the full perfection and grandeur
of wisdom.

-◦-

41. I teach a doctrine, Poṭṭhapāda,
with respect to the immaterial mode of personality,
that leads to the putting off
of that personality;
so that, if you walk according to that doctrine,
the evil dispositions one has acquired
may be put away;
the dispositions which tend to purification
may increase;
and one may continue to see
face-to-face,
and by himself come to realize,
the full perfection and grandeur
of wisdom.

-◦-

42. I teach a doctrine, Poṭṭhapāda,
with respect to the formless mode of personality,
that leads to the putting off of that personality;
so that, if you walk according to that doctrine,
the evil dispositions one has acquired
may be put away;
the dispositions which tend to purification
may increase;
and one may continue to see
face-to-face,
and by himself come to realize,
the full perfection and grandeur
of wisdom.

■

[196] Now it may well be, Poṭṭhapāda,
that you think Evil dispositions may be put away,
the dis- [261] positions that tend to purification
may increase,
one may continue to see
face-to-face,
and by himself come to realize,
the full perfection and grandeur
of wisdom,
but one may continue sad.

Now that, Poṭṭhapāda,
would not be accurate judgement.

When such conditions are fulfilled,
then there will be joy,
and happiness,
and peace,
and in continual mindfulness and self-mastery,
one will dwell at ease.

§

[197] 43-45. And outsiders, Poṭṭhapāda,
might question, us thus:

'What then, Sir,
is that material
(or that mental, or, that formless)
mode of personality
for the putting away of which
you preach such a doctrine
as will lead him who walks according to it
to get free from
the evil dispositions he has acquired,
to increase
in the dispositions that tend to purification,
so that he may continue to see
face-to-face,
and by himself come to realize,
the full perfection and grandeur
of wisdom?'

And to that I should reply:⁴¹

'The following three modes of personality,
are common,
(are commonly acknowledged in the world): —
[1] material,
[2] immaterial, and
[3] formless.

The first has form,
is made up of the four elements,
and is nourished by solid food.

The second has no form,
is made up of mind,
has all its greater and lesser limbs complete,
and all the organs perfect.

The third is without form,
and is made up of consciousness only.

■

Now I teach a doctrine,
with respect to each of these,
that leads to the putting off of that personality;
so that, if you walk according to that doctrine,
the evil dispositions one has acquired
may be put away;
the dispositions which tend to purification
may increase;
and one may continue to see
face-to-face,
and by himself come to realize,
the full perfection and grandeur
of wisdom.'

■

[198] Now what think you of that, Poṭṭhapāda.

That being so,
would not the talk
turn out to be well grounded?"

"For a truth, Sir, it would."

■

46. "Just, Poṭṭhapāda, as if a man
should construct a staircase
to mount up into
the upper storey of a palace,
at the foot of the very palace itself.

And men should say to him:⁴²

'Well! good friend! that palace,
to mount up into which
you are constructing this staircase,
do you know whether it is in the East,
or in the West,
or in the [262] South,
or in the North?
whether it is high
or low
or of medium size?'

And when so asked, he should answer:

'Why! here is the very palace itself!

It is at the very foot of it
I am constructing my staircase
with the object of mounting up into it.'

■

What would you think, Poṭṭhapāda, of that?

Would not his talk,
that being so,
turn out to be well grounded?"

"For a truth, Sir it would."

■

[199] 47. "Then just so, Poṭṭhapāda,⁴³ I teach a doctrine, Poṭṭhapāda,
with respect to the material mode of personality,
that leads to the putting off
of that personality;
so that, if you walk according to that doctrine,
the evil dispositions one has acquired
may be put away;
the dispositions which tend to purification
may increase;
and one may continue to see
face-to-face,
and by himself come to realize,
the full perfection and grandeur
of wisdom.

-◦-

I teach a doctrine, Poṭṭhapāda,
with respect to the immaterial mode of personality,
that leads to the putting off
of that personality;
so that, if you walk according to that doctrine,
the evil dispositions one has acquired
may be put away;
the dispositions which tend to purification
may increase;
and one may continue to see
face-to-face,
and by himself come to realize,
the full perfection and grandeur
of wisdom.

-◦-

I teach a doctrine, Poṭṭhapāda,
with respect to the formless mode of personality,
that leads to the putting off
of that personality;
so that, if you walk according to that doctrine,
the evil dispositions one has acquired
may be put away;
the dispositions which tend to purification
may increase;
and one may continue to see
face-to-face,
and by himself come to realize,
the full perfection and grandeur
of wisdom."

§

48. Now when he had thus spoken,
Citta, the son of the elephant trainer,
said to the Exalted One:

"At that time, Sir,
when a man is in possession
of the material mode of personality,
is the immaterial mode of personality unreal to him then,
is the formless mode of personality unreal to him then?

Is it only the one he has
that is real?⁴⁴

-◦-

At that time, Sir,
when a man is in possession
of the immaterial mode of personality,
is the material mode of personality unreal to him then,
is the formless mode of personality unreal to him then?

Is it only the one he has
that is real?

-◦-

At that time, Sir,
when a man is in possession
of the formless mode of personality,
is the material mode of personality unreal to him then,
is the immaterial mode of personality unreal to him then?

Is it only the one he has
that is real?"

■

49. At the time, Citta,
when a man is in possession
of the material mode of personality,
then it does not come under the immaterial category
it does not come under the formless category.

It is known only by the name of the mode going on.

At the time, Citta,
when a man is in possession
of the immaterial mode of personality,
then it does not come under the material category
it does not come under the formless category.

It is known only by the name of the mode going on.

At the time, Citta,
when a man is in possession
of the formless mode of personality,
then it does not come under the material category
it does not come under the immaterial category.

It is known only by the name of the mode going on.

■

[200] If people should ask you, Citta, thus:

'Were you in the past, or not?

Will you be in the future, or not?

Are you now, or not?'

How would you answer?"

■

"I should say that I was in the past,
and not not;
that I shall be in the future,
and not not;
that I am now,
and not not."

■

50. "Then if they rejoined:

'Well! that past personality that you had,
is that real to you;
and the future personality,
and the present,
unreal?'

The future personality that you will have,
is that real to you;
and the past personality,
and the present,
unreal?

The personality that you have now,
in the present,
is that real to you;
and the past personality,
and the future,
unreal?'

How would you answer?"

■

[263] "I should say that
the past personality that I had
was real to me
at the time when I had it;
and the future personality,
and the present personality
were unreal.

I should say that
the future personality that I would have
would be real to me
at the time when I had it;
and the past personality,
and the present personality
would then be unreal.

"I should say that
the present personality that I have
is real to me
at the time when I have it;
and the past personality,
and the future personality
were unreal."

■

51. "Well! Just so, Citta,
when any one of the three modes of personality is going on,
then it does not come under the category
of either of the other two.

■

52. Just, Citta, as from a cow comes milk,
and from the milk curds,
and from the curds butter,
and from the butter ghee,
and from the ghee junket;
but when it is milk
it is not called curds,
or butter,
or, or junket;
and when it is curds
it is not called milk,
or butter,
or ghee,
or junket;
and when it is butter,
it is not called milk,
or curds,
or ghee,
or junket;
and when it is ghee,
it is not called milk,
or curds,
or butter,
or junket;
and when it is junket,
it is not called milk,
or curds,
or butter,
or ghee.

■

[202] 53. Just so, Citta at the time
when a man is in possession
of the material mode of personality,
then it does not come under the immaterial category
it does not come under the formless category.

It is known only by the name of the mode going on.

At the time
when a man is in possession
of the immaterial mode of personality,
then it does not come under the material category
it does not come under the formless category.

It is known only by the name of the mode going on.

At the time
when a man is in possession
of the formless mode of personality,
then it does not come under the material category
it does not come under the immaterial category.

It is known only by the name of the mode going on.

For these, Citta, are merely names,
expressions turns of speech,
designations in common use in the world.

And of these
a Tathāgata
(one who has won the truth)
makes use indeed,
but is not led astray by them."⁴⁵

§

54. And when he had thus spoken,
Poṭṭhapāda, the mendicant,
said to the Exalted One:

"Most excellent, Sir,
are the words of thy mouth;
most excellent!

Just as if a man were to set up
that which has been thrown down,
or were to reveal
that which has been hidden away,
or were to point out the right road
to him who has gone astray,
or were to bring a light into the darkness
so that those who had eyes could see external forms, -
just even so has the truth [264] been made known,
in many a figure,
by the Exalted One.

And I, Sir,
betake myself to the Exalted One
as my guide,
to his Doctrine,
and to his Order.

May the Exalted One accept me
as an adherent;
as one who,
from this day forth
as long as life endures,
has taken him as his guide."

■

55. But Citta, the son of the elephant trainer
said this:

"Most excellent, Sir,
are the words of thy mouth;
most excellent!

Just as if a man were to set up
that which has been thrown down,
or were to reveal
that which has been hidden away,
or were to point out the right road
to him who has gone astray,
or were to bring a light into the darkness
so that those who had eyes could see external forms, -
just even so has the truth been made known,
in many a figure,
by the Exalted One.

And I, Sir,
betake myself to the Exalted One
as my guide,
to his Doctrine,
and to his Order.

May the Exalted One accept me
as an adherent;
as one who,
from this day forth
as long as life endures,
has taken him as his guide.

And may I be permitted
to go forth from the world
under the Exalted One;
may I receive admission into his Order."

[203] 56. And his request was granted,
and he was received into the Order.

And from immediately after his initiation
Citta, the son of the elephant trainer,
remained alone and separate,
earnest,
zealous,
and resolved.

And e'er long
he attained to that supreme goal of the higher life
for the sake of which the clansmen go forth utterly
from the household life
to become houseless wanderers —
yea! that supreme goal did he,
by himself,
and while yet in this visible world,
bring himself to the knowledge of,
and continue to realize,
and to see face-to-face!

And he became conscious
that rebirth was at an end;
that the higher life had been fulfilled;
that all that should be done
had been accomplished;
and that, after this present life,
there would be no beyond!

So the venerable Citta,
the son of the elephant trainer,
became yet another among the Arahats.

HERE ENDS THE POṬṬHAPĀDA SUTTANTA

¹ See above, p. 189.

² For souls inside animals, see Rig-veda I,163, 6; for souls inside plants, Atharva-veda V, 5, 7.

³ See the authorities quoted in my 'American Lectures,' pp. 64, 65.

⁴ This, for the reasons given above at p. 195, is probably a gotta name; and, as such, a patronymic from the personal name, also Poṭṭhapāda, meaning 'born under Poṭṭhapāda (the old name for the 25th lunar asterism, afterwards called Bhadrapadā). Buddhaghosa says that as a layman he had been a wealthy man of the Brahman Vaṇṇa. If so, it is noteworthy that he addresses the Buddha, not as Gotama, but as bhante.

⁵ The very fact of the erection of such a place is another proof of the freedom of thought prevalent in the Eastern valley of the Ganges in the sixth century B.C. Buddhaghosa tells us that after 'The Hall' had been established, others near it had been built in honour of various famous teachers; but the group of buildings continued to be known as 'The Hall.' There Brahmans, Nigaṇṭhas, Acelas, Paribbājakas, and other teachers met and expounded, or discussed, their views.

It is mentioned elsewhere. See M. II, 22; Sum. I, 32.

Mallikā was one of the queens of Pasenadi, king of Kosala. See Jāt. III, 405; IV, 437.

⁶ §§ 2-6 recur, nearly, at M. I, 513; II, 1, 2 S. IV, 398.

⁷ For notes on this list, see above, p. 14, § 17.

⁸ Idhāgamanāya pariyāyaṃ akāsi. So M. I, 252, 326, 481, 514, etc. Perhaps 'since you made this change in your regular habits.'

⁹ Abhisaññā-nirodho, 'the cessation of consciousness.'

¹⁰ Buddhaghosa explains that they came to this conclusion on the ground of such instances as that of the Rishi Migasingī, who, through love of the celestial nymph Alambusā, fell into a trance that lasted for three years. This must be a different tale from that of the Rishi Isisinga of Jātaka No. 523, whom Alambusā tries in vain to seduce. Compare Vimāna Vatthu XVIII, 11; L, 2 6.

¹¹ Buddhaghosa explains that the ground for this view is the way in which sorcerers work charms (Athabbanikā athabbanaṃ payogenti — perhaps 'Atharva priests work out an Atharva charm') which make a man appear as dead as if his head had been cut off; and then bring him back to his natural condition.

¹² Saññā-nirodhassa pakataññū. So Buddhaghosa. Compare Vin. II, 199.

¹³ Saññā which is used in a sense covering both 'idea' and 'consciousness.' Ekā'saññā is therefore rendered below, in the refrain, one idea, one sort of consciousness.'

¹⁴ Sukha and dukkha. Well-fare and ill-fare, well-being and ill-being, ease and dis-ease, uneasiness, discomfort. 'Pain' is both too strong a word, and has too frequently an exclusively physical sense, to be a good rendering of dukkha. It is unfortunate that dis-ease has acquired a special connotation which prevents the word being used here; and that we have no pair of correlative words corresponding to those in the Pāli. For pain we have vedanā often (M. I, 10; M.P.S., chapters 2 and 4; Mil. 134), and sometimes dukkha-vedanā (Mil. 112).

¹⁵ Viññāṇa; the exact translation of this word is still uncertain. Perhaps 'mind,' is meant.

¹⁶ On these last three sections, which set out the fourth, fifth, and sixth stages of Deliverance (the Vimokkhas), see my former translation at p. 52 of my 'Buddhist Suttas' (S.B.E.) and the notes on pp. 50, 51. These stages are almost exactly the same as the views controverted above at pp. 47, 48. And the doctrine of the sixth Vimokkha, as we see from M. I, 164, formed part of the teaching of Gotama's teacher, Ālāra Kālāma.

¹⁷ Abhisaṃkhareyyaṃ, perhaps 'perfecting' or 'planning out.'

¹⁸ The foregoing discussion on trance is the earliest one on that subject in Indian literature. Trance is not mentioned in the pre-Buddhistic Upanishads.

¹⁹ Ñāṇa depends on saññā; that is, I take it, that the mass of knowledge a man has, his insight, his power of judgement, depends on the ideas, the states of consciousness (here, in this connection, those that arise in the Jhānas, etc.) that are 'themselves due to the action on his sense organs of the outside world; but are in so far under his own control that he can shut out some, and give play to others.

²⁰ Buddhaghosa says that as a village pig, even if you bathe it in scented water, and anoint it with perfumes, and deck it with garlands, and lay it to rest on the best bed, will not feel happy there, but will go straight back to the dung-heap to take its ease; so Poṭṭhapāda, having tasted the sweet taste of the doctrine of the Three Signs (of the impermanence, the pain, and the absence of any abiding principle) found in everything, harks back to the superstition of the 'soul.'

²¹ Paccemi. This is another of the words the exact sense of which, in Piṭaka times, is still doubtful. It means primarily 'to go back towards, to revert,' and is so used in the Piṭakas. So in G. V, 196 and in SN. 662 (quoted as verse 125 in the Dhammapada, and recurring also G. III, 203; S. I, 13, 164). But somewhat in the same way as to go back home is to go to a place of security; so in a secondary sense, of opinions or reasons, it means apparently to revert to them, fall back on them, harp on them, with the connotation of regarding them as certain. At S.N. 803 it can be taken either way. At S.N. 788, 803, 840 = 908; M. I, 309, 445, and in the question and answer here, the latter seems to be the sense.

²² Buddhaghosa says this was not his real opinion. He held to that set out below in § 23. But he advances this, more elementary, proposition, just to see how the Buddha would meet it. It is nearly the same as the first of the seven propositions about the soul controverted in the Brahma-jāla (above, PP. 46-48).

²³ This sort of soul is nearly the same as the one referred to above, the Brahma-jāla (§ 12, p. 47); and in the Sāmañña-phala (§ 85, p.87). It is a soul the exact copy, in every respect, of the body, and material, but so subtle that it can be described as 'made of mind.'

²⁴ The text repeats the answer given in § 21, with the necessary alterations. The supposition in § 23 is quoted at Asl. 360. The argument is of course that, even if Poṭṭhapāda had any one of these three sorts of soul, then he would regard each of them, in the given case, as a permanent entity. But the consciousness is not an entity. It is a 'becoming' only; subject, as he must (and would) admit, to constant chance. On his own showing then, it is not 'soul.'

²⁵ On these Ten Indeterminates see above, in the Introduction to the Mahāli Sutta.

²⁶ Dukkha. See the note above on § 13.

²⁷ These are the Four Truths, set out more fully in my 'Buddhist Suttas' (S.B.E.), pp. 148-150.

²⁸ Vācāya sannitodakena sañjambhariṃ akaṃsu. So also at S. II, 282 and A. I, 187. Probably from the roots tud and jambh.

²⁹ There are seven or eight Cittas in the books, one of whom, a layman, was placed by the Buddha at the head of the expounders of the Norm. The Citta of our passage was famous for the fact that he joined the Buddha's Order, and then, on one pretext or another, left it again, no less than seven times. (The same thing is related by I-Tsing of Bhartṛihari) He prided himself on his keenness in distinguishing subtle differences in the meanings of words. And his last revolt was owing to a discussion of that sort he had had with Mahā Koṭṭhita. He took refuge with his friend Poṭṭhapāda, who, says Buddhaghosa, brought him along with him, on this occasion, with the express purpose of bringing. about a reconciliation.

³⁰ Compare above, pp. 44-47.

³¹ Buddhaghosa takes janaṃ passaṃ as plurals.

³² Appāṭihīrakataṃ. Buddhaghosa explains this as 'witless' (paṭibhāna-virahitaṃ). It is the contrary of sappāṭihīrakataṃ which he explains (on § 45 below) by sappaṭiviharaṇaṃ. Perhaps the meaning of the two words is 'apposite' and 'not apposite' (compare B.R. on pratiharaṇa).

There is a closely-allied expression at M.P. 8., pp. 26, 32, where the talk is of disciples who, when a discussion on a wrong opinion has arisen, know how to refute it according to the doctrine (Dharma), and to preach, on the other hand, a doctrine that is sappāṭihāriyaṃ; that is, a doctrine which, in contradistinction to the heresy advanced, is the apposite explanation from the Buddhist point of view. The Pāli word for miracle comes from the same root (prati-har); but to render here 'unmiraculous' would make nonsense of the passage, and both my own and Windisch's rendering of the word in the M.P.S. ('Buddhist Suttas,' p. 43. Māra und Buddha,' p.71) must be also modified accordingly.

On the form compare anuhīramāne, quoted at Sum. I, 61 from the Mahā-padhāna Suttanta (No. 14 in the Dīgha).

³³ This simile recurs. in the 'Tevijja Sutta' (translated in my, 'Buddhist Suttas,' S.B.E., XI, 175) and in the Majjhima II, 33.

³⁴ Mangura-c-chavī. Perhaps 'of sallow complexion.' Compare M. I, 246 where all these three words for complexion are used. Mangulī itthī at V. III, 107 = S. II, 260 is an allied form. In all these cases an unhealthy complexion is inferred. Here it must evidently be taken in a favourable sense.

³⁵ [picked up from § 34]

³⁶ [picked up from § 34]

³⁷ Oḷāriko, manomayo, and arūpo atta-paṭilābho. Buddhaghosa here explains atta-paṭilābho by attabhāva-paṭilābho; and on attabhāva he says (Asl. 308) that it is used for the body, or the five Skandhas, because the fool jumps to the conclusion: 'This is my soul.'

These three forms of personality correspond nearly to the planes, or divisions, into which the worlds are divided in the later Buddhist theory — (1) the eleven kāmā-vacara worlds, from purgatory below to the deva heavens above, both inclusive: (2) the rūpā-vacara worlds, which are the sixteen worlds of the Brahma gods, and are attained to by the practice of the Four Raptures (the Four Jhāna's): (3) the four arūpā-vacara worlds, attained to by the practice of four of the Vimokkhas (Nos. 4-7).

It will be noticed that the lowest of these three planes includes all the forms of existence known in the West, from hell beneath to heaven above. And that the others are connected with the pre-Buddhistic idea of ecstatic meditation leading to special forms of re-existence.

But it is clear from § 58 below that the opinion here put forward is intended to represent, not any Buddhist theory, but a view commonly entertained in the world, such as Poṭṭhapāda himself would admit, and indeed has admitted (above, §§ 21-23). In either case, of course, these modes of existence would be, from the Buddhist point of view, purely temporary. They are the fleeting union of qualities that make up, for a time only, an unstable individuality.

³⁸ The whole paragraph is repeated for each of the three modes of personality.

³⁹ These saṇkilesikā dhammā are identified by Buddhaghosa, with the twelve kāmā-vacara-akusala-citta-pādā of Dhamma Saṃgaṇi 365-430. But compare, contra, Dh.S. 1241 (where, of course, the word apariyāpannā must be struck out).

⁴⁰ Buddhaghosa explains these as 'tranquillity and insight.'

⁴¹ In the words of §§ 39, 40; that is, that whatever the mode of existence, of temporary individuality, there is happiness obtainable, but only in one way, by getting rid, namely, of certain evil dispositions, and by the increase of certain good dispositions. Buddhaghosa thinks this is said in protest against those who, seeking for happiness beyond the grave, do not admit that happiness can he reached here (as above in f 34).

The above rendering of the elliptical phrase Ayaṃ vā so is confirmed by the simile in § 46.

⁴² See above, § 37.

⁴³ [Picked up from §§ 42-45]

⁴⁴ Each of the three cases is given in full.

⁴⁵ The point is, of course, that just as there is no substratum in the products of the cow, so in man there is no ego, no constant unity, no 'soul' (in the animistic sense of the word, as used by savages). There are a number of qualities that, when united, make up a personality — always changing. When the change has reached a certain point, it is convenient to change the designation, the name, by which the personality is known — just as in the case of the products of the cow. But the abstract term is only a convenient form of expression. There never was any personality, as a separate entity, all the time.

The author of the Milinda (pp. 25, 27) has a precisely similar argument.

10. Conduct, Concentration, and Intellect

Subha Suttantaṃ

[265]

Introduction

As this Sutta is almost word for word the same as the Sāmañña-phala, the question arises why it was considered advisable to include it in our collection as a separate Sutta. The chief difference is that the states of mind enumerated in the Sāmañña-phala as fruits of the life of a recluse are here divided under the three heads of Sīla, Samādhi, and Paññā (Conduct, Concentration, and Intelligence).

Samādhi has not yet been found in any Indian book older than the Piṭakas. And, as in them, it is used exclusively of a mental state, never in a concrete sense, its meaning is not easy to fix exactly. It is not the same as Jhāna, which is a pre-Buddhistic term applied to four special forms of meditation, culminating in self-induced ecstasy. Samādhi on the other hand is a constant habit, or faculty, of mind. The oldest Sanskrit text in which it occurs is the Maitri Upanishad; and it probably has there the same meaning as it has in the Piṭakas.

In our present Sutta — and the principal reason for its existence as a separate Sutta is that it points out just this — it is pointed out that Samādhi includes, it is true, the Jhānas, but also other, and very different things. These are the habit of guarding the doors of one's senses; constant mindfulness and self-possession; and the faculty of being content with little. From the negative point of view it is said to include emancipation from ill-temper, inertness of mind and body, worry, and perplexity; from the positive point of view it is said to include a constant state of joy and peace.

Wilson's Sanskrit Dictionary (1819) gives the meaning 'devout meditation'; and the rendering 'meditation' has been used for it in subsequent works in English by Western scholars. It is quite clear that this would be a very inadequate and misleading rendering in our Sutta. But exigencies of space preclude the discussion here, either of the meaning, or of the very interesting and suggestive history of the word in India.

[266] How far was the word (literally 'allocation') invented or adopted by the Buddhists, or by their immediate spiritual forerunners, to express 'self-concentration' with implied co-ordination, harmonisation, of the mental faculties — an idea they wanted, in the statement of their most essential and ethical doctrines, to be used in preference to the more limited, more physical, notion of Jhāna? (It is Samādhi, and not Jhāna that we find in the Four Truths, in the Noble Path, and in the thirty-seven constituent parts of Arahatship.) How far, through the constant association of the two ideas, did the larger, as ethical feeling died away, become swallowed up by the smaller? At what date, in what circles, and under what reservations, did the word Samādhi come to mean nothing more than meditation? The history of the two ideas, Samādhi and Jhāna, has constant analogies with the history of the two similarly related ideas of Tāpasa and Bhikshu, and, like it, is of the first importance in following the evolution of philosophical and religious thought in India.

I have made some detailed contributions to the discussion of such questions in my 'Yogāvacara Manual' (Pāli Text Society, 1896, pp. xiv-xxviii); and must confine myself, here, to referring to those pages.

[267]

X. Subha Suttantaṃ

Conduct, Concentration, and Intellect

THUS HAVE I HEARD. The venerable Ānanda was once staying at Sāvatthi
in the Jeta Wood,
in Anātha Piṇḍika's pleasaunce,
shortly after the Exalted One had died away.¹

Now at that time the young Brahman Subha,
the son of the man of Tudi,²
was dwelling at Sāvatthi
on some business or other.

2. Now Subha, the young Brahman,
addressed a certain young man,
and said:

"Come now, young man.

Go to the Samaṇa Ānanda,
and ask in my name
as to whether his sickness and indisposition has abated,
as to his health and vigour
and condition of ease;
and say:

'Twere well if the venerable Ānanda
would be so kind as to pay a visit
to Subha, the young Brahman,
the son of the man of Tudi.'

3. "Very well, Sir,"
said that young man in reply.

And he went to the place
where the venerable Ānanda was staying,
and exchanged with him
the greetings and compliments
of politeness and courtesy,
and took his seat apart.

And, so seated,
he delivered to the venerable Ānanda
the message with which he had been charged.

[205] 4. On hearing that message,
the venerable Ānanda said to him:

"It is not just now, young man, convenient,
for I have just taken medicine.

But perhaps I may be able to go on the morrow,
if so be that conditions and opportunity seem fit."

Then that young man arose from his seat,
and went to Subha,
and told him all,
and added:

"So, Sir, the matter has been so far accomplished
that perhaps the venerable Ānanda
may be able to come on the morrow,
if so be that conditions and opportunity seem fit."

[268] 5. And the venerable Ānanda,
when the night had passed away,
dressed himself early in the morning,
and went, in his robes and carrying his bowl,
with a Bhikkhu from the Cetiya country as his attendant,
to Subha's house,
and took his seat on the mat spread out for him.

And Subha, the young Brahman,
the son of the man of Tudi,
came there where he sat,
and exchanged with the venerable Ānanda
the greetings and compliments
of politeness and courtesy,
and took his seat on one side.

And, so seated,
he said to the venerable Ānanda:

"You, Sir, have waited long
on the venerable Gotama,
constantly near him,
continually in his company.

You, Sir, will know
what were the things
the venerable Gotama was wont to praise;
to which he used to incite the folk,
in which he established them,
and made them firm.

What were they, Ānanda?"

6. "Three are the bodies of doctrine, young Brahman,
which the Exalted One was wont to praise;
to which he used to incite the folk,
in which he established them,
and made them firm.

And what are the three?

The so noble body of doctrine
regarding right conduct,
the so noble body of doctrine
regarding self-concentration,
the so noble body of doctrine
regarding intelligence."³

"And what, Ānanda,
is this so noble body of doctrine
regarding right conduct
(Sīla)
in praise of which
the venerable Gotama was wont to speak;
to which he used to incite the folk,
in which he established them,
and made them firm?"

§

"Suppose, young Brahman,
there appears in the world
one who has won the truth, an Arahat,
a fully awakened one,
abounding in wisdom and goodness, happy,
who knows all worlds,
unsurpassed as a guide
to mortals willing to be led,
a teacher for gods and men,
a Blessed One,
a Buddha.

He, by himself, thoroughly knows and sees,
as it were, face-to-face this universe,
— including the worlds above of the gods,
the Brahmas, and the Māras,
and the world below with its recluses and Brahmans,
its princes and peoples, —
and having known it,
he makes his knowledge known to others.

The truth, lovely in its origin,
lovely in its progress,
lovely in its consummation,
doth he proclaim,
both in the spirit and in the letter,
the higher life doth he make known,
in all its fullness and in all its purity.

■

A householder or one of his children,
or a man of inferior birth in any class
listens to that truth;
and on hearing it he has faith in the Tathāgata (the one who has found the truth);
and when he is possessed of that faith,
he considers thus within himself:

'Full of hindrances is household life,
a path for the dust of passion.

Free as the air is the life
of him who has renounced all worldly things.

How difficult is it for the man who dwells at home
to live the higher life in all its fullness,
in all its purity,
in all its bright perfection!

Let me then cut off my hair and beard,
let me clothe myself in the orange-coloured robes,
and let me go forth
from the household life
into the homeless state.'

■

Then, before long,
forsaking his portion of wealth,
be it great or small,
forsaking his circle of relatives,
be they many or be they few,
he cuts off his hair and beard,
he clothes himself in the orange-coloured robes,
and he goes forth from the household life
into the homeless state.

When he has thus become a recluse
he lives self-restrained by that restraint that should be binding on a recluse.

Uprightness is his delight,
and he sees danger
in the least of those things he should avoid.

He adopts, and trains himself in, the precepts.

He encompasses himself with good deeds in act and word.

Pure are his means of livelihood,
good is his conduct,
guarded the doors of his senses.

Mindful and self-possessed
he is altogether happy.

§

And how, young Brahman, is his conduct good?

In this, young Brahman, that the Bhikshu,
putting away the killing of living things,
holds aloof from the destruction of life.

The cudgel and the sword he has laid aside,
and ashamed of roughness,
and full of mercy,
he dwells compassionate and kind
to all creatures that have life.

Putting away the taking
of what has not been given,
he lives aloof from grasping
what is not his own.

He takes only what is given,
and expecting that gifts will come,
he passes his life in honesty
and purity of heart.

Putting away unchastity,
he is chaste.

He holds himself aloof,
far off from the vulgar practice,
from the sexual act.

Putting away lying words,
he holds himself aloof from falsehood.

He speaks truth,
from the truth he never swerves;
faithful and trustworthy,
he breaks not his word to the world.

Putting away slander,
he holds himself aloof from calumny.

What he hears here
he repeats not elsewhere
to raise a quarrel
against the people here;
what he hears elsewhere
he repeats not here
to raise a quarrel
against the people there.

Thus does he live as a binder together
of those who are divided,
an encourager of those who are friends,
a peacemaker,
a lover of peace,
impassioned for peace,
a speaker of words that make for peace.

Putting away rudeness of speech,
he holds himself aloof from harsh language.

Whatsoever word is blameless,
pleasant to the car,
lovely,
reaching to the heart,
urbane,
pleasing to the people,
beloved of the people -
such are words he speaks.

Putting away frivolous talk,
he holds himself aloof from vain conversation.

In season he speaks,
in accordance with the facts,
words full of meaning,
on religion,
on the discipline of the Order.

He speaks, and at the right time,
words worthy to be laid up in one's heart,
fitly illustrated,
clearly divided,
to the point.

He holds himself aloof
from causing injury to seeds or plants.

He takes but one meal a day,
not eating at night,
refraining from food after hours
(after midday).

He refrains from being a spectator
at shows at fairs,
with nautch dances,
singing, and music.

He abstains from wearing,
adorning,
or ornamenting himself
with garlands, scents, and unguents.

He abstains from the use
of large and lofty beds.

He abstains from accepting silver or gold.

He abstains from accepting uncooked grain.

He abstains from accepting raw meat.

He abstains from accepting women or girls.

He abstains from accepting bondmen or bondwomen.

He abstains from accepting sheep or goats.

He abstains from accepting fowls or swine.

He abstains from accepting elephants, cattle. horses, and mares.

He abstains from accepting cultivated fields or waste.

He abstains from acting as a go-between or messenger.

He abstains from buying and selling.

He abstains from cheating
with scales or bronzes or measures.

He abstains from the crooked ways
of bribery, cheating, and fraud.

He abstains from maiming,
murder,
putting in bonds,
highway robbery,
dacoity,
and violence.

§

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the injury of seedlings
and growing plants
whether propagated from roots
or cuttings
or joints
or buddings
or seeds
the Bhikshu holds aloof from such injury
to seedlings and growing plants.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use
of things stored up;
stores, to wit,
of foods,
drinks,
clothing,
equipages,
bedding,
perfumes,
and curry-stuffs —
the Bhikshu holds aloof from such use
of things stored up.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to visiting shows;
that is to say:

(1) Nautch dances (naccaṃ);

(2) Singing of songs (gītaṃ);

(3) Instrumental music (vāditaṃ);

(4) Shows at fairs (pekkhaṃ);

(5) Ballad recitations (akkhānaṃ);

(6) Hand music (pāṇissaraṃ);

(7) The chanting of bards (vetālaṃ);

(8) Tam - tam playing (kumbhathūnaṃ);

(9) Fairy scenes (Sobhanagarakaṃ);

(10) Acrobatic feats by Kaṇḍālas (Kaṇḍāla-vaṃsa-dhopanaṃ);

(11) Combats of elephants,
horses,
buffaloes,
bulls,
goats,
rams,
cocks,
and quails;

(12) Bouts at quarter-staff,
boxing,
wrestling;

(13) Sham-fights.

(14) roll-calls.

(15) manoeuvres.

(16) reviews —

the Bhikshu holds aloof from visiting such shows.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to games and recreations;
that is to say:

(1) Games on boards with eight,
or with ten,
rows of squares;

(2) The same games
played by imagining such boards in the air;

(3) Keeping going over diagrams drawn on the ground
so that one steps only where one ought to go;

(4) Either removing the pieces or men from a heap
with one's nail,
or putting them into a heap,
in each case without shaking it,
he who shakes the heap, loses;

(5) Throwing dice;

(6) Hitting a short stick with a long one;

(7) Dipping the hand with the fingers stretched out
in lac,
or red dye,
or flower-water,
and striking the wet hand
on the ground
or on a wall,
calling out
'What shell it be?'
and showing the form required —
elephants, horses, etc.;

(8) Games with balls;

(9) Blowing through toy pipes made of leaves;

(10) Ploughing with toy ploughs;

(11) Turning summersaults;

(12) Playing with toy windmills made of palm-leaves;

(13) Playing with toy measures made of palm-leaves;

(14, 15) Playing with toy carts or toy bows;

(16) Guessing at letters traced in the air, or on a. playfellow's back;

(17) Guessing the play fellow's thoughts;

(18) Mimicry of deformities;

The Bhikshu holds aloof from such games and recreations.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use of high and large couches;
that is to say:

(1) Moveable settees,
high, and six feet long;

(2) Divans with animal figures carved on the supports (Pallanko);

(3) Goats' hair coverlets
with very long fleece (Gonako);

(4) Patchwork counterpanes of many colours (Cittakā);

(5) White blankets (Paṭikā);

(6) Woollen coverlets embroidered with flowers (Paṭalikā);

(7) Quilts stuffed with cotton wool (Tūlikā);

(8) Coverlets embroidered with figures of lions, tigers, etc. (Vikatikā);

(9) Rugs with fur on both sides (Uddalomī);

(10) Rugs with fur on one side (Ekantalomī);

(11) Coverlets embroidered with gems (Kaṭṭhissaṃ);

(12) Silk coverlets (Koseyyaṃ);

(13) Carpets large enough for sixteen dancers (Kuttakaṃ);

(14) Elephant rugs;

(15) horse rugs;

(16) chariot rugs;

(17) Rugs of antelope skins sewn together (Ajina-paveṇi);

(18) Rugs of skins of the plantain antelope;

(19) Carpets with awnings above them (Sauttara-cchadaṃ);

(20) Sofas with red pillows
for the head and feet.

The Bhikshu holds aloof from such things.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use
of means for adorning
and beautifying themselves;
that is to say:

Rubbing in scented powders on one's body,
shampooing it,
and bathing it;

Patting the limbs with clubs
after the manner of wrestlers;

The use of mirrors,
eye-ointments,
garlands,
rouge,
cosmetics,
bracelets,
necklaces,
walking-sticks,
reed cases for drugs,
rapiers,
sunshades,
embroidered slippers,
turbans,
diadems,
whisks of the yak's tail,
and long-fringed white robes;

The Bhikshu holds aloof
from such means of adorning and beautifying the person.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to such low conversation as these:

Tales of kings,
of robbers,
of ministers of state,
tales of war,
of terrors,
of battles;
talk about foods and drinks,
clothes,
beds,
garlands,
perfumes;
talks about relationships,
equipages,
villages,
town,
cities,
and countries;
tales about women,
and about heroes;
gossip at street corners,
or places whence water is fetched;
ghost stories;
desultory talk;
speculations about the creation of the land or sea,
or about existence and non-existence;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low conversation.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use of wrangling phrases such as:

'You don't understand this doctrine and discipline,
I do.';

'How should you know about this doctrine and discipline?';

'You have fallen into wrong views.

It is I who am in the right.';

'I am speaking to the point,
you are not.';

'You are putting last
what ought to come first,
first what ought to come last.';

'What you've excogitated so long,
that's all quite upset.';

'Your challenge has been taken up.';

'You are proved to be wrong.';

'Set to work to clear your views.';

'Disentangle yourself if you can.';

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such wrangling phrases.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to taking messages,
going on errands,
and acting as go-betweens;
to wit,
on kings,
ministers of state,
Kshatriyas,
Brahmans,
or young men,
saying:

'Go there,
come hither,
take this with you,
bring that from thence';

the Bhikshu abstains from such servile duties.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
are tricksters,
droners out (of holy words for pay),
diviners,
and exorcists,
ever hungering to add gain to gain —
the Bhikshu holds aloof from such deception and patter.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

(1) Palmistry —
prophesying long life,
prosperity, etc.
from marks on child's hands,
feet. etc.;

(2) Divining by means of omens and signs;

(3) Auguries drawn from thunderbolts
and other celestial portents;

(4) Prognostication by interpreting dreams;

(5) Fortune-telling from marks on the body;

(6) Auguries from the marks on cloth gnawed by mice;

(7) Sacrificing to Agni;

(8) Offering oblations from a spoon;

(9-13) Making offerings to gods
of husks,
of the red powder between the grain and the husk,
of husked grain ready for boiling,
of ghee,
and of oil;

(14) Sacrificing by spewing mustard seeds, etc.,
into the fire out of one's mouth;

(15) Drawing blood from one's right knee
as a sacrifice to the gods;

(16) Looking at the knuckles, etc.,
and, after muttering a charm,
divining whether a man is well born
or lucky or not;

(17) Determining whether the site
for a proposed house or pleasance,
is lucky or not;

(18) Advising on customary law;

(19) Laying demons in a cemetery;

(20) Laying ghosts;

(21) Knowledge of the charms to be used
when lodging in an earth house;

(22) Snake charming;

(23) The poison craft;

(24) The scorpion craft;

(25) The mouse craft;

(26) The bird craft;

(27) The crow craft;

(28) Foretelling the number of years
that a man has yet to live.

(29) Giving charms to ward off arrows;

(30) The animal wheel;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

Knowledge of the signs
of good and bad qualities
in the following things
and of the marks in them
denoting the health or luck of their owners: —
to wit,
gems,
staves,
garments,
swords,
arrows,
bows,
other weapons,
women,
men,
boys,
girls,
slaves,
slave-girls,
elephants,
horses,
buffaloes,
bulls,
oxen,
goats,
sheep,
fowls,
quails,
iguanas,
earrings,
tortoises,
and other animals;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as soothsaying,
to the effect that:

'The chiefs will march out';

'The chiefs will march back';

'The home chiefs will attack,
and the enemies' retreat';

'The enemies' chiefs will attack,
and ours will retreat';

'The home chiefs will gain the victory,
and the foreign chiefs suffer defeat';

'The foreign chiefs will gain the victory,
and ours will suffer defeat';

'Thus will there be victory on this side,
defeat on that'

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by such low arts as foretelling:

(1) 'There will be an eclipse of the moon';

(2) 'There will be en eclipse of the sun';

(3) 'There will be en eclipse of a star'
(Nakshatra);

(4) 'There will be aberration of the sun or the moon';

(5) 'The sun or the moon will return to its usual path';

(6) 'There will be aberrations of the stars';

(7) 'The stars will return to their usual course';

(8) 'There will be a fall of meteors';

(9) 'There will be a jungle fire';

(10) 'There will be an earthquake';

(11) 'The god will thunder';

(12-15) 'There will be rising and setting,
clearness and dimness,
of the sun or the moon or the stars',|| ||

or foretelling of each of these fifteen phenomena
that they will betoken such and such a result;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

Foretelling an abundant rainfall;

Foretelling a deficient rainfall;

Foretelling a good harvest;

Foretelling scarcity of food;

Foretelling tranquillity;

Foretelling disturbances;

Foretelling a pestilence;

Foretelling a healthy season;

Counting on the fingers;

Counting without using the fingers;

Summing up large totals;

Composing ballads, poetising;

Casuistry, sophistry;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as:

(1) Arranging a lucky day for marriages
in which the bride or bridegroom is brought home;

(2) Arranging a lucky day for marriages
in which the bride or bridegroom is sent forth;

(3) Fixing a lucky time for the conclusion of treaties of peace
[or using charms to procure harmony;

(4) Fixing a lucky time
for the outbreak of hostilities
[or using charms to make discord];

(5) Fixing-a lucky time
for the calling in of debts
[or charms for success in throwing dice];

(6) Fixing a lucky time
for the expenditure of money
[or charms to bring ill luck to an opponent throwing dice];

(7) Using charms to make people lucky;

(8) Using charms to make people unlucky;

(9) Using charms to procure abortion;

(10) Incantations to bring on dumbness;

(11) Incantations to keep a man's jaws fixed;

(12) Incantations to make a man throw up his hands;

(13) Incantations to bring on deafness;

(14) Obtaining oracular answers by means of the magic mirror;

(15) Obtaining oracular answers through a girl possessed;

(16) Obtaining oracular answers from a god;

(17) The worship of the Sun;

(18) The worship of the Great One;

(19) Bringing forth flames from one's mouth;

(20) Invoking Siri, the goddess of Luck —

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

(1) Vowing gifts to a god if a certain benefit be granted;

(2) Paying such vows;

(3) Repeating charms while lodging in an earth house;

(4) Causing virility;

(5) Making a man impotent;

(6) Fixing on lucky sites for dwelling;

(7) Consecrating sites;

(8) Ceremonial rinsings of the month;

(9) Ceremonial bathings;

(10) Offering sacrifices;

(11-14) Administering emetics and purgatives;

(15) Purging people to relieve the head
(that is by giving drugs to make people sneeze);

(16) Oiling people's ears
(either to make them grow or to heal sores on them);

(17) Satisfying people's eyes
(soothing them by dropping medicinal oils into them);

(18) Administering drugs through the nose;

(19) Applying collyrium to the eyes;

(20) Giving medical ointment for the eyes;

(21) Practising as an oculist;

(22) Practising as a surgeon;

(23) Practising as a doctor for children;

(24) Administering roots and drugs;

(25) Administering medicines in rotation;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

§

And then that Bhikshu, young Brahman,
being thus master of the minor moralities,
sees no danger from any side,
that is, so far as concerns his self-restraint in conduct.

Just, young Brahman, as a sovereign, duly crowned,
whose enemies have been beaten down,
sees no danger from any side;
that is, so far as enemies are concerned,
so is the Bhikshu confident.

And endowed with this body of morals,
so worthy of honour,
he experiences, within himself,
a sense of ease without alloy.

Thus is it, young Brahman,
that the Bhikshu becomes righteous.

And there is yet something further,
according to this system,
still to be done."

"Wonderful is this, Ānanda, and mysterious -
both that this so noble group of conduct
is well-rounded,
not incomplete;
and that I perceive no other,
like unto it,
among the other Samaṇas and Brāhmaṇas
outside of this communion.

And were they also
to perceive such in themselves,
then would they be satisfied with thus much,
and would say:

'So far is enough.

We have done thus much.

The aim of our Samaṇaship has been reached.'

But you, Ānanda, on the other hand, say:

'There is yet something further',
according to your system,
'still to be done.'"

§

And what, Ānanda, is this
so noble body of doctrine
regarding self-concentration
(Samādhi)
in praise of which the venerable Gotama
was wont to speak;
to which he used to incite the folk,
in which he established them,
and made them firm?"

[Ed.: (Inserted to smooth the transition): "Here, young Brahman,
the Bhikkhu is guarded
as to the doors of his senses.]

"And how, young Brahman,
is the Bhikshu guarded
as to the doors of his senses?

When, young Brahman, he sees an object with his eye
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of sight.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of sight,
and he attains to mastery over it.

■

When, young Brahman, he hears a sound with his ear
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of hearing.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of hearing,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This, young Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

When, young Brahman, he smells an odour with his nose
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of smell.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of smell,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This, young Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

When, young Brahman, he tastes a flavour with his tongue
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of taste.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of taste,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This, young Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

When, young Brahman, he feels a touch with his body
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of touch.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of touch,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This, young Brahman, is that uprightness.

■

When, young Brahman, he cognises a phenomenon with his mind
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his mental (representative) faculty.

He keeps watch upon his representative faculty,
and he attains to mastery over it.

■

And endowed with this self-restraint,
so worthy of honour,
as regards the senses,
he experiences, within himself, a sense of ease
into which no evil state can enter.

Thus is it, young Brahman,
that the Bhikshu becomes guarded
as to the doors of his senses.

§

And how, young Brahman, is the Bhikshu
mindful and self-possessed?

In this matter, young Brahman,
the Bhikshu
in going forth or in coming back
whether looking forward,
or in looking round;
in stretching forth his arm,
or in drawing it in again;
in eating or drinking,
in masticating or swallowing,
in obeying the calls of nature,
in going or standing or sitting,
in sleeping or waking,
in speaking or in being still,
he keeps himself aware
of all it really means.

Thus is it, young Brahman,
that the Bhikshu becomes mindful and self-possessed.

§

And how, young Brahman, is the Bhikshu content?

In this matter, young Brahman,
the Bhikshu is satisfied with sufficient robes
to cherish his body,
with sufficient food
to keep his stomach going.

Whithersoever he may go forth,
these he takes with him as he goes
- just as a bird with his wings, young Brahman,
whithersoever he may fly,
carries his wings with him as he flies.

Thus is it, young Brahman,
that the Bhikshu becomes content.

§

Then, master of this so excellent body of moral precepts,
gifted with this so excellent self-restraint as to the senses,
endowed with this so excellent mindfulness and self-possession,
filled with this so excellent content,
he chooses some lonely spot
to rest at on his way
— in the woods,
at the foot of a tree,
on a hill side,
in a mountain glen,
in a rocky cave,
in a charnel place,
or on a heap of straw in the open field.

And returning thither
after his round for alms
he seats himself, when his meal is done,
cross-legged,
keeping his body erect,
and his intelligence alert, intent.

§

Putting away the hankering after the world,
he remains with a heart that hankers not,
and purifies his mind of lusts.

■

Putting away the corruption
of the wish to injure,
he remains with a heart free from ill temper,
and purifies his mind of malevolence.

■

Putting away torpor of heart and mind,
keeping his ideas alight,
mindful and self-possessed,
he purifies his mind of weakness and of sloth.

■

Putting away flurry and worry,
he remains free from fretfulness,
and with heart serene within,
he purifies himself of irritability
and vexation of spirit.

■

Putting away wavering,
he remains as one passed beyond perplexity;
and no longer in suspense as to what is good,
he purifies his mind of doubt.

■

Then just, young Brahman,
as when a man, after contracting a loan,
should set a business on foot,
and his business should succeed,
and he should not only be able
to pay off the old debt he had incurred,
but there should be a surplus over
to maintain a wife.

Then would he realize:

'I used to have to carry on my business
by getting into debt,
but it has gone so well with me
that I have paid off what I owed,
and have a surplus over
to maintain a wife.'

And he would be of good cheer at that,
would be glad of heart at that: —

■

Then just, young Brahman,
as if a man were a prey to disease,
in pain, and very ill,
and his food would not digest,
and there were no strength left in him;
and after a time
he were to recover from that disease,
and his food should digest,
and his strength come back to him;
then, when he realized his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

■

Then just, young Brahman,
as if a man were bound in a prison house,
and after a time
he should be set free from his bonds,
safe and sound,
and without any confiscation of his goods;
when he realized his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

■

Then just, young Brahman,
as if a man were a slave,
not his own master,
subject to another,
unable to go whither he would;
and after a time
he should be emancipated from that slavery,
become his own master,
not subject to others,
a free man,
free to go whither he would;
then, on realising his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

■

Then just, young Brahman,
as if a man, rich and prosperous,
were to find himself on a long road,
in a desert, where no food was,
but much danger;
and after a time
were to find himself out of the desert,
arrived safe,
on the borders of his village,
in security and peace;
then, on realising his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

■

Just so, young Brahman, the Bhikshu,
so long as these five hindrances
are not put away within him
looks upon himself as in debt,
diseased,
in prison,
in slavery,
lost on a desert road.

But when these five hindrances
have been put away within him,
he looks upon himself as freed from debt,
rid of disease,
out of jail,
a free man,
and secure.

And gladness springs up within him
on his realising that,
and joy arises to him thus gladdened,
and so rejoicing
all his frame becomes at ease,
and being thus at ease
he is filled with a sense of peace,
and in that peace his heart is stayed.

§

Then estranged from lusts,
aloof from evil dispositions,
he enters into and remains in the First Rapture
— a state of joy and ease born of detachment,
reasoning and investigation going on the while.

His very body does he so pervade,
drench,
permeate,
and suffuse
with the joy and ease born of detachment,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

Just, young Brahman, as a skilful bathman
or his apprentice
will scatter perfumed soap powder
in a metal basin,
and then besprinkling it with water,
drop by drop,
will so knead it together
that the ball of lather,
taking up the unctuous moisture,
is drenched with it,
pervaded by it,
permeated by it within and without,
and there is no leakage possible.

■

Then further, young Brahman,
the Bhikshu suppressing all reasoning and investigation
enters into and abides in the Second Jhāna,
a state of joy and ease,
born of the serenity of concentration,
when no reasoning or investigation goes on,
— a state of elevation of mind,
a tranquillisation of the heart within.

'And his very body does he so pervade,
drench,
permeate,
and suffuse with the joy and ease born of concentration,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

'Just, young Brahman,
as if there were a deep pool,
with water welling up into it
from a spring beneath,
and with no inlet from the east or west,
from the north or south,
and the god should not
from time to time
send down showers of rain upon it.
Still the current of cool waters
rising up from that spring
would pervade,
fill,
permeate,
and suffuse the pool
with cool waters,
and there would be no part or portion of the pool
unsuffused therewith.

■

Then further, young Brahman, the Bhikshu,
holding aloof from joy,
becomes equable;
and mindful and self-possessed
he experiences in his body
that ease which the Arahats talk of when they say:
"The man serene and self-possessed
is well at ease,"
and so he enters into
and abides in the Third Jhāna.

And his very body
does he so pervade,
drench,
permeate,
and suffuse with that ease
that has no joy with it,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

Just, young Brahman,
as when in a lotus tank
the several lotus flowers,
red or white or blue,
born in the water,
grown up in the water,
not rising up above the surface of the water,
drawing up nourishment from the depths of the water,
are so pervaded,
drenched,
permeated,
and suffused
from their very tips
down to their roots
with the cool moisture thereof,
that there is no spot in the whole plant,
whether of the red lotus,
or of the white,
or of the blue,
not suffused therewith.

■

Then further, young Brahman, the Bhikshu,
by the putting away alike of ease and of pain,
by the passing away alike of any elation,
any dejection,
he had previously felt,
enters into and abides in the Fourth Jhāna,
a state of pure self-possession and equanimity,
without pain and without ease.

And he sits there
so suffusing even his body
with that sense of purification,
of translucence of heart,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

Just, young Brahman,
as if a man were sitting
so wrapt from head to foot in a clean white robe,
that there were no spot in his whole frame
not in contact with the clean white robe
— just so, young Brahman, does the Bhikshu sit there,
so suffusing even his body
with that sense of purification,
of translucence of heart,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

■

Thus is it, young Brahman,
that the Bhikshu becomes self-concentrated.

And there is yet something further,
according to this system,
still to be done."

§

"Wonderful is this, Ānanda, and mysterious -
both that this so noble self-concentration
is well-rounded,
not incomplete;
and that I perceive no other,
like unto it,
among the other Samaṇas and Brāhmaṇas
outside of this communion.

And were they also
to perceive such in themselves,
then would they be satisfied with thus much,
and would say:

'So far is enough.

We have done thus much.

The aim of our Samaṇaship has been reached.'

But you, Ānanda, on the other hand, say:

'There is yet something further',
according to your system,
'still to be done.'

§

20. And what, Ānanda,
is this so noble body of doctrine
regarding intellect
(Paññā)
in praise of which
the venerable Gotama was wont to speak;
to which he used to incite the folk,
in which he established them,
and made them firm?"

§

"With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he applies and bends down his mind
to that insight that comes from knowledge.

He grasps the fact:

'This body of mine has form,
it is built up of the four elements,
it springs from father and mother,
it is continually renewed
by so much boiled rice and juicy foods,
its very nature is impermanence,
it is subject to erasion,
abrasion,
dissolution,
and disintegration;
and therein is this consciousness of mine, too, bound up,
on that does it depend.'

Just, Sirs,
as if there were a veluriya gem,
bright, of the purest water,
with eight facets,
excellently cut,
clear, translucent,
without a flaw,
excellent in every way.
And through it a string,
blue, or orange-coloured,
or red, or white, or yellow
should be threaded.
If a man, who had eyes to see,
were to take it into his hand,
he would clearly perceive
how the one is bound up with the other.

■

§

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he applies and bends down his mind
to the calling up of a mental image.

He calls up from this body
another body,
having form,
made of mind,
having all (his own body's) limbs and parts,
not deprived of any organ.

Just, young Brahman,
as if a man were to pull out a reed from its sheath.

He would know:

'This is the reed,
this the sheath.

The reed is one thing,
the sheath another.

It is from the sheath
that the reed has been drawn forth.'

And similarly were he to take a snake out of its slough,
or draw a sword from its scabbard.

§

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he applies and bends down his mind
to the modes of the Wondrous Gift.

He enjoys the Wondrous Gift in its various modes
— being one he becomes many,
or having become many becomes one again;
he becomes visible or invisible;
he goes, feeling no obstruction,
to the further side of a wall or rampart or hill,
as if through air;
he penetrates up and down through solid ground,
as if through water;
he walks on water without breaking through,
as if on solid ground;
he travels cross-legged in the sky,
like the birds on wing;
even the Moon and the Sun,
so potent, so mighty though they be,
does he touch and feel with his hand;
he reaches in the body
even up to the heaven of Brahmā.

Just, young Brahman,
as a clever potter or his apprentice
could make,
could succeed in getting out of properly prepared clay
any shape of vessel he wanted to have
— or an ivory carver out of ivory,
or a goldsmith out of gold.

§

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he applies and bends down his mind
to the Heavenly Ear.

With that clear Heavenly Ear
surpassing the ear of men
he hears sounds both human and celestial,
whether far or near.

Just, young Brahman,
as if a man were on the high road
and were to hear the sound of a kettledrum
or a tabor or the sound of chank horns and small drums
he would know:

'This is the sound of a kettledrum,
this is the sound of a tabor,
this of chank horns,
and of drums."

This, young Brahman, is an immediate fruit
of the life of a recluse,
visible in this life,
and higher and sweeter than the last.

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he directs and bends down his mind
to the knowledge which penetrates the heart.

Penetrating with his own heart
the hearts of other beings, of other men,
he knows them.

He discerns —

The passionate mind to be passionate,
and the calm mind calm;
the angry mind to be angry,
and the peaceful mind peaceful;
the dull mind to be dull,
and the alert mind alert;
the attentive mind to be attentive,
and the wandering mind wandering;
the broad mind to be broad,
and the narrow mind narrow;
the mean mind to be mean,
and the lofty mind lofty;
the stedfast mind to be stedfast,
and the wavering mind to be wavering;
the free mind to be free,
and the enslaved mind enslaved.

Just, young Brahman,
as a woman or a man or a lad,
young and smart,
on considering attentively
the image of his own face
in a bright and brilliant mirror
or in a vessel of clear water
would, if it had a mole on it,
know that it had,
and if not,
would know it had not.

§

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he directs and bends down his mind
to the knowledge of the memory
of his previous temporary states.

He recalls to mind
his various temporary states in days gone by
— one birth,
or two or three or four or five births,
or ten or twenty or thirty or forty or fifty
or a hundred or a thousand
or a hundred thousand births,
through many an aeon of dissolution,
many an aeon of evolution,
many an aeon of both dissolution and evolution.

'In such a place such was my name,
such my family,
such my caste,
such my food,
such my experience of discomfort or of ease,
and such the limits of my life.

When I passed away from that state,
I took form again in such a place.
There I had such and such a name
and family
and caste
and food
and experience of discomfort or of ease,
such was the limit of my life.

When I passed away from that state
I took form again here.'

— thus does he call to mind
his temporary states in days gone by
in all their details,
and in all their modes.

Just, young Brahman,
as if a man were to go from his own to another village,
and from that one to another,
and from that one should return home.

Then he would know:

'From my own village I came to that other one.

There I stood in such and such a way,
sat thus, spake thus, and held my peace thus.

Thence I came to that other village;
and there I stood in such and such a way,
sat thus, spake thus, and held my peace thus.

And now, from that other village,
I have returned back again home.'

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he directs and bends down his mind
to the knowledge of the fall and rise of beings.

With the pure Heavenly Eye,
surpassing that of men,
he sees beings as they pass away
from one form of existence
and take shape in another;
he recognises the mean and the noble,
the well favoured and the ill favoured,
the happy and the wretched,
passing away according to their deeds:

'Such and such beings, my brethren,
evil-doers in act and word and thought,
revilers of the noble ones,
holding to wrong views,
acquiring for themselves that Karma
which results from wrong views,
they, on the dissolution of the body, after death,
are reborn in some unhappy state of suffering or woe.

But such and such beings, my brethren,
well-doers in act and word and thought,
not revilers of the noble ones,
holding to right views,
acquiring for themselves that Karma
that results from right views,
they, on the dissolution of the body, after death,
are reborn in some happy state in heaven.'

Thus with the pure Heavenly Eye,
surpassing that of men,
he sees beings as they pass away from one state of existence,
and take form in another;
he recognises the mean and the noble,
the well favoured and the ill favoured,
the happy and the wretched,
passing away according to their deeds.

Just, young Brahman,
as if there were a house with an upper terrace on it
in the midst of a place where four roads meet,
and a man standing thereon,
and with eyes to see,
should watch men entering a house,
and coming forth out of it,
and walking hither and thither along the street,
and seated in the square in the midst.

Then he would know:

'Those men are entering a house,
and those are leaving it,
and those are walking to and fro in the street,
and those are seated in the square in the midst.'

§

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he directs and bends down his mind
to the knowledge of the destruction of the Deadly Floods.

He knows as it really is:

'This is pain.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the origin of pain.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the cessation of pain.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the Path that leads to the cessation of pain.'

He knows as they really are:

'These are the Deadly Floods.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the origin of the Deadly Floods.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the cessation of the Deadly Floods.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the Path that leads to the cessation of the Deadly Floods.'

To him, thus knowing, thus seeing,
the heart is set free
from the Deadly Taint of Lusts,
is set free from the Deadly Taint of Becomings
is set free from the Deadly Taint of Ignorance.

In him, thus set free,
there arises the knowledge of his emancipation,
and he knows:

'Rebirth has been destroyed.

The higher life has been fulfilled.

What had to be done has been accomplished.

After this present life
there will be no beyond!

Just, young Brahman,
as if in a mountain fastness
there were a pool of water,
clear, translucent, and serene;
and a man, standing on the bank,
and with eyes to see,
should perceive the oysters and the shells,
the gravel and the pebbles
and the shoals of fish
as they move about or lie within it.

He would know:

'This pool is clear, transparent, and serene,
and there within it
are the oysters and the shells,
and the sand and gravel,
and the shoals of fish are moving about or lying still.

■

27. This, young Brahman,
is that so noble body of doctrine regarding intellect,
of which that Exalted One was wont to speak in praise,
to which he used to incite the folk,
in which he established them,
and made them firm."

§

'Wonderful is this, Ānanda, and mysterious —
both that this so noble group of doctrine regarding intellect is well-rounded,
not incomplete;
and that I perceive no other,
like unto it,
among the other Samaṇas and Brāhmaṇas
outside of this communion.

And there is not, in this matter,
anything further to be accomplished.

Most excellent, Ānanda,
are the words of thy mouth,
most excellent!

Just as if a man were to set up
that which has been thrown down,
or were to reveal
that which has been hidden away,
or were to point out the right road
to him who has gone astray,
or were to bring a light into the darkness
so that those who have eyes
could see external forms -
just even so has the truth been made known to me,
in many a figure,
by the venerable Ānanda.

And I, even I, betake myself
to that venerable Gotama as my guide,
to the truth,
and to the Order.

May the venerable Ānanda receive me
as an adherent,
as one who, from this day forth,
as long as life endures,
has taken them as his guide."

HERE ENDS THE SUBHA SUTTANTA

¹ The full details are given in Sumangala Vilāsinī, p. 7.

² A village near Sāvatthi, now in Nepal territory.

³ On these three Skandhas of doctrine, see above, p.82, and A. I, 125, etc.

Contents of Dialogues of the Buddha Part I

 [Contents ]   [Preface ]   [#1. Brahma-gāla Suttanta: ]   [#2. Sāmañña-phala Suttanta: ]   [#3. The Ambaṭṭha Suttanta: ]   [#4. The Soṇadaṇḍa Suttanta: ]   [#5. The Kūṭadanta Suttanta: ]   [#6. The Mahāli Suttanta: ]   [#7. Gāliva Suttanta: ]   [#8. Kassapa-Sīhanāda Suttanta: ]   [#9. The Poṭṭhapāda Suttanta: ]   [#10. Subha Suttanta: ]   [#11. Kevaddha Suttanta: ]   [#12. Lohikka Suttanta: ]   [#13. Tevigga Suttanta: ] 

11. The Three Wonders, And The Gods

Kevaḍḍha Suttaṃ (Kevatta) Suttantaṃ

[272]

Introduction

In this Sutta we have the position taken up by the early Buddhists, and no doubt by Gotama himself, as to the practice of the wonders or miracles, in which there was then universal belief.

They were not, however, miracles in our Western sense. There was no interference by an outside power with the laws of nature. It was supposed that certain people, by reason of special (but quite natural) powers, could accomplish certain special acts beyond the power of ordinary men. These acts are eight in number: and as set forth in detail (above, (: pp. 88, 89) remind us of some (not of all) the powers now attributed to mediums. The belief is not Buddhist. It is pre-Buddhistic, and common to all schools of thought in India.

As usual¹ the Buddha is represented as not taking the trouble to doubt or dispute the fact of the existence of such powers. He simply says that he loathes the practice of them and that a greater and better wonder than any or all of them; is education in the system of self-training which culminates in Arahatship. There is no evidence of a similarly reasonable view of this question of wonders having been put forward by any Indian teacher before the Buddha.

It is very strange that Childers should have stated (Dict, P. 157) that 'Iddhī is the peculiar attribute of the Arahats.' He gives no authority for the statement. Devadatta, who was the very reverse of an Arahat, was noted for his power of Iddhī. And of the many Arahats mentioned in the books, only one or two, notably Moggallāna, were famed for this acquirement. They could have it, of course; just as they could have any craft or skill of the unconverted. But the eight powers referred to above are called the 'pothujjanikā' — or 'puthujjanikā-īddhī'² or āmisā-iddhī³; that is, pre- [273] cisely not an attribute of the Arahats, or even of men in the lower stages of the Path, but of the worldly, the unconverted, a practice carried out for worldly gain.

We have the Iddhī, the majestic movement, of animals⁴ the Iddhī, the glory and majesty and potency, of a king⁵ — the Iddhī, the prosperity and splendour, of a rich young man⁶ — the Iddhī, the craft and power, of a hunter⁷ — the Iddhī, in the technical sense just explained, of the unconverted wonder-worker. The Iddhī of the Arahats, as such, was the majesty and potency of their victory, of their emancipation.⁸

In illustration of his position Gotama is represented to have told a wonderful legend-how a Bhikshu, seeking the answer to a deep problem in religion and philosophy, goes up and up, by the power of his Iddhī, from world to world, appealing to the gods. In each heaven, as he mounts ever higher, the gods confess their ignorance, and send him on to the gods above, more potent and more glorious than they. And so he comes at last to the great god of gods, the Mahā Brahmā himself, only to be taken discreetly aside, and told in confidence, so that the gods may not hear it, that he too, the Mahā Brahmā, does not know the answer!

All the details of the story are worked out with persistent humour, characteristic of such legends in the Buddhist books, in order to bring out the two lessons — in the first place how, in all such matters, to trust to the gods is to lean on a broken reed; and secondly, how perfectly useless is the power of such Iddhī, which, even at its best, can give no better help than that to one in earnest about higher things.

The problem put is of great interest; and goes to the very core of the Buddhist Welt-anschauung, of Buddhist philosophy. The world, as we know it, is within each of us.

'Verily, I declare to you, my friend, that within this very body, mortal as it is and only a fathom high, but conscious and endowed with mind,⁹ is, the world, and the waxing thereof, and the waning thereof, and the way that leads to the passing away thereof!¹⁰

On this Dr. Karl, Neumann, whose illustrations of Buddhist [274] texts from passages in Western literature, old and new, are so happy, appropriately compares Schopenhauer's saying (W.W.V. I, 538),'One can also say that Kant's teaching leads to the view that the beginning and end of the world are not to be sought without, but within, us.'

The problem, as put by the Bhikshu to the gods, is: 'Where do the elements pass away?' The Buddha, in giving his solution, first says that that is not the right way to put the question. It ought to be: 'Where do the elements find no foothold; where does that union of qualities that make a person (nāma and rūpa) pass away?'

The alteration is suggestive. The person should be introduced; a thinking being. We only know of the elements and their derivatives, as reflected in, constructed by, human intelligence. To the question, as thus altered, the answer is: 'They find no foothold in the mind of the Arahat, and when intellection (with special reference to the representative faculty) ceases, then they, and the person with them, cease.'

So in the Bāhiya story (Ud. I, 10) we are told:

'There, where earth, water, fire, and wind no footing find,
There are the nights not bright, nor suns resplendent,
No moon shines there, there is no darkness seen.
And then, when he, the Arahat hath, in his wisdom, seen;
From well and ill, from form and formless, is he freed!'

This is a striking, and in all probability intentional, contrast to the Upanishad passages where the same kind of language is used of the Great Soul, the corollary of the human soul. It is one of many instances (as has been pointed out by Father Dahlmann) where the same expressions, used in the Piṭakas of the Arahat, are used in the older or later priestly speculation of God.

We have another reference to the view that the Four Elements find no foothold in the Arahat at Saṃyutta I, 15 And we see what is meant by this from verse 1111 in the Sutta Nipāta: 'To him who harbours no delight in feelings that arise, either from within or without, cognition (Viññāṇa) tends to wane.' That is, of course, not that his mental activity grows less — the mental alertness of the Arahat is laid stress upon throughout the books. The picture drawn of the Arahat par excellence, the Buddha himself, is a standing example of what the early Buddhists considered a man to be in whom the Viññāṇa had waned. Whatever else it is, it is the very reverse of a man intellectually asleep, unconscious of what is said to him dull to ideas. But it is the picture of [275] a man to whom the Four Elements, and all that follows from them, material things, and the ways in which they affect him, have ceased to have the paramount importance they have to the thoughtless.¹¹

[276]

XI. Kevaddha Sutta

The Three Wonders, and the Gods

THUS HAVE I HEARD.

The Exalted One was once staying at Nālandā
in the Pāvārika's mango grove.¹²

Now Kevaddha,¹³ a young householder,
came where the Exalted One was,
and bowed down in salutation to him,
and took a seat on one side.

And, so seated, he said to the Exalted One:

"This Nālandā, of ours, Sir,
is influential and prosperous,
full of folk,
crowded with people devoted to the Exalted One.

It were well if the Exalted One
were to give command to some brother
to perform, by power surpassing that of ordinary men,
a mystic wonder.

Thus would this Nālandā of ours
become even so much the more
devoted to the Exalted One."

On his speaking thus
the Exalted One said to him:

"But, Kevaddha, it is not thus
that I am wont to give instruction to the brethren:

'Come now, my brethren;
perform ye a mystic wonder,
by power surpassing that of ordinary men,
for the lay folk
clad in their garments of white!'"

■

2. And a second time Kevaddha said to the Exalted One:

"This Nālandā, of ours, Sir,
is influential and prosperous,
full of folk,
crowded with people devoted to the Exalted One.

It were well if the Exalted One
were to give command to some brother
to perform, by power surpassing that of ordinary men,
a mystic wonder.

Thus would this Nālandā of ours
become even so much the more
devoted to the Exalted One."

And a second time, on his speaking thus
the Exalted One said to him:

"But, Kevaddha, it is not thus
that I am wont to give instruction to the brethren:

'Come now, my brethren;
perform ye a mystic wonder,
by power surpassing that of ordinary men,
for the lay folk
clad in their garments of white!'"

■

[277] 3. And a third time Kevaddha, the young householder,
addressed the Exalted One, and said:

"I would fain do no injury to the Exalted One.

I only say
that this Nālandā, of ours
is influential and prosperous,
full of folk,
crowded with people devoted to the Exalted One.

It were well if the Exalted One
were to give command to some brother
to perform, by power surpassing that of ordinary men,
a mystic wonder.

Thus would this Nālandā of ours
become even so much the more
devoted to the Exalted One."

§

"There are three sorts of wonders, Kevaddha,
which I, having myself understood
and realized them,
have made known to others.

And what are the three?

[1] The mystic wonder,
[2] the wonder of manifestation, and
[3] the wonder of education.¹⁴

§

4. And what, Kevaddha,
is the mystic wonder?

In this case, Kevaddha,
suppose that a brother enjoys the possession,
in various ways,
of mystic power:

From being one he becomes multiform,
from being multiform he becomes one;

from being visible he becomes invisible:
he passes without hindrance
to the further side of a wall
or a battlement
or a mountain,
as if through air;

he penetrates up and down
through solid ground,
as if through water:
he walks on water without dividing it,
as if on solid ground;

he travels cross-legged through the sky,
like the birds on wing;

he touches and feels with the hand
even the Moon and the Sun,
beings of mystic power and potency though they be;

he reaches, even in the body,
up to the heaven of Brahmā.

And some believer,
of trusting heart,
should behold him doing so.

5. Then that believer
should announce the fact to an unbeliever,
saying:

'Wonderful, Sir,
and marvellous
is the mystic power and potency
of that recluse.

For verily I saw him
indulging himself, in various ways,
in mystic power:

From being one he becomes multiform,
from being multiform he becomes one;

from being visible he becomes invisible:
he passes without hindrance
to the further side of a wall
or a battlement
or a mountain,
as if through air;

he penetrates up and down
through solid ground,
as if through water:
he walks on water without dividing it,
as if on solid ground;

he travels cross-legged through the sky,
like the birds on wing;

he touches and feels with the hand
even the Moon and the Sun,
beings of mystic power and potency though they be;

he reaches, even in the body,
up to the heaven of Brahmā.'

[278] Then that unbeliever should say to him:

'Well, Sir! there is a certain charm
called the Gandhāra Charm.

It is by the efficacy thereof
that he performs all this.'¹⁵

Now what think you, Kevaddha?

Might not the unbeliever so say?"

"Yes, Sir; he might."

"Well, Kevaddha!

It is because I perceive danger
in the practice of mystic wonders,
that I loathe,
and abhor,
and am ashamed thereof.

§

6. And what, Kevaddha,
is the wonder of manifestation?

Suppose, in this case, Kevaddha,
that a brother can make manifest
the heart and
the feelings,
the reasonings and
the thoughts,
of other beings,
of other individuals,
saying:

'So and so is in your mind.

You are thinking of such and such a matter.

Thus and thus are your emotions.'

And some believer,
of trusting heart,
should see him doing so.¹⁶

7. Then that believer should announce the fact
to an unbeliever,
saying:

'Wonderful, Sir, and marvellous
is the mystic power and potency
of that recluse.

For verily I saw him
making manifest the heart and
the feelings,
the reasonings and
the thoughts,
of other beings,
of other individuals,
saying:

"So and so is in your mind.

You are thinking of such and such a matter.

Thus and thus are your emotions."

Then that unbeliever
should say to him:

'Well, Sir! there is a charm
called the Jewel Charm.¹⁷

It is by the efficacy thereof
that he performs all this.'

[279] Now what think you, Kevaddha?

Might not the unbeliever so say?"

"Yes, Sir; he might."

"Well, Kevaddha!

It is because I perceive danger
in the practice
of the wonder of manifestation,
that I loathe,
and abhor,
and am ashamed thereof.

§

8. And what, Kevaddha,
is the wonder of education?

Suppose, Kevaddha,
that a brother teaches thus:

'Reason in this way,
do not reason in that way.

Consider thus,
and not thus.

Get rid of this disposition,
train yourself,
and remain,
in that.'

This, Kevaddha, is what is called
'The wonder of education.'

■

And further, Kevaddha, suppose that a Tathāgata is born into the world,
one who has won the truth, an Arahat,
a fully awakened one,
abounding in wisdom and goodness, happy,
who knows all worlds,
unsurpassed as a guide
to mortals willing to be led,
a teacher for gods and men,
a Blessed One,
a Buddha.

He, by himself, thoroughly knows and sees,
as it were, face-to-face this universe,
— including the worlds above of the gods,
the Brahmas, and the Māras,
and the world below with its recluses and Brahmans,
its princes and peoples, —
and having known it,
he makes his knowledge known to others.

The truth, lovely in its origin,
lovely in its progress,
lovely in its consummation,
doth he proclaim,
both in the spirit and in the letter,
the higher life doth he make known,
in all its fullness and in all its purity.

■

A householder or one of his children,
or a man of inferior birth in any class
listens to that truth;
and on hearing it he has faith in the Tathāgata (the one who has found the truth);
and when he is possessed of that faith,
he considers thus within himself:

'Full of hindrances is household life,
a path for the dust of passion.

Free as the air is the life
of him who has renounced all worldly things.

How difficult is it for the man who dwells at home
to live the higher life in all its fullness,
in all its purity,
in all its bright perfection!

Let me then cut off my hair and beard,
let me clothe myself in the orange-coloured robes,
and let me go forth
from the household life
into the homeless state.'

■

Then, before long,
forsaking his portion of wealth,
be it great or small,
forsaking his circle of relatives,
be they many or be they few,
he cuts off his hair and beard,
he clothes himself in the orange-coloured robes,
and he goes forth from the household life
into the homeless state.

When he has thus become a recluse
he lives self-restrained by that restraint that should be binding on a recluse.

Uprightness is his delight,
and he sees danger
in the least of those things he should avoid.

He adopts, and trains himself in, the precepts.

He encompasses himself with good deeds in act and word.

Pure are his means of livelihood,
good is his conduct,
guarded the doors of his senses.

Mindful and self-possessed
he is altogether happy.

This, Kevaddha, is what is called
'The wonder of education.'

§

And how, Kevaddha, is his conduct good?

In this, Kevaddha, that the Bhikshu,
putting away the killing of living things,
holds aloof from the destruction of life.

The cudgel and the sword he has laid aside,
and ashamed of roughness,
and full of mercy,
he dwells compassionate and kind
to all creatures that have life.

Putting away the taking
of what has not been given,
he lives aloof from grasping
what is not his own.

He takes only what is given,
and expecting that gifts will come,
he passes his life in honesty
and purity of heart.

Putting away unchastity,
he is chaste.

He holds himself aloof,
far off from the vulgar practice,
from the sexual act.

Putting away lying words,
he holds himself aloof from falsehood.

He speaks truth,
from the truth he never swerves;
faithful and trustworthy,
he breaks not his word to the world.

Putting away slander,
he holds himself aloof from calumny.

What he hears here
he repeats not elsewhere
to raise a quarrel
against the people here;
what he hears elsewhere
he repeats not here
to raise a quarrel
against the people there.

Thus does he live as a binder together
of those who are divided,
an encourager of those who are friends,
a peacemaker,
a lover of peace,
impassioned for peace,
a speaker of words that make for peace.

Putting away rudeness of speech,
he holds himself aloof from harsh language.

Whatsoever word is blameless,
pleasant to the car,
lovely,
reaching to the heart,
urbane,
pleasing to the people,
beloved of the people -
such are words he speaks.

Putting away frivolous talk,
he holds himself aloof from vain conversation.

In season he speaks,
in accordance with the facts,
words full of meaning,
on religion,
on the discipline of the Order.

He speaks, and at the right time,
words worthy to be laid up in one's heart,
fitly illustrated,
clearly divided,
to the point.

He holds himself aloof
from causing injury to seeds or plants.

He takes but one meal a day,
not eating at night,
refraining from food after hours
(after midday).

He refrains from being a spectator
at shows at fairs,
with nautch dances,
singing, and music.

He abstains from wearing,
adorning,
or ornamenting himself
with garlands, scents, and unguents.

He abstains from the use
of large and lofty beds.

He abstains from accepting silver or gold.

He abstains from accepting uncooked grain.

He abstains from accepting raw meat.

He abstains from accepting women or girls.

He abstains from accepting bondmen or bondwomen.

He abstains from accepting sheep or goats.

He abstains from accepting fowls or swine.

He abstains from accepting elephants, cattle. horses, and mares.

He abstains from accepting cultivated fields or waste.

He abstains from acting as a go-between or messenger.

He abstains from buying and selling.

He abstains from cheating
with scales or bronzes or measures.

He abstains from the crooked ways
of bribery, cheating, and fraud.

He abstains from maiming,
murder,
putting in bonds,
highway robbery,
dacoity,
and violence.

This, Kevaddha, is what is called
'The wonder of education.'

§

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the injury of seedlings
and growing plants
whether propagated from roots
or cuttings
or joints
or buddings
or seeds
the Bhikshu holds aloof from such injury
to seedlings and growing plants.

This, Kevaddha, is what is called
'The wonder of education.'

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use
of things stored up;
stores, to wit,
of foods,
drinks,
clothing,
equipages,
bedding,
perfumes,
and curry-stuffs —
the Bhikshu holds aloof from such use
of things stored up.

This, Kevaddha, is what is called
'The wonder of education.'

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to visiting shows;
that is to say:

(1) Nautch dances (naccaṃ);

(2) Singing of songs (gītaṃ);

(3) Instrumental music (vāditaṃ);

(4) Shows at fairs (pekkhaṃ);

(5) Ballad recitations (akkhānaṃ);

(6) Hand music (pāṇissaraṃ);

(7) The chanting of bards (vetālaṃ);

(8) Tam - tam playing (kumbhathūnaṃ);

(9) Fairy scenes (Sobhanagarakaṃ);

(10) Acrobatic feats by Kaṇḍālas (Kaṇḍāla-vaṃsa-dhopanaṃ);

(11) Combats of elephants,
horses,
buffaloes,
bulls,
goats,
rams,
cocks,
and quails;

(12) Bouts at quarter-staff,
boxing,
wrestling;

(13) Sham-fights.

(14) roll-calls.

(15) manoeuvres.

(16) reviews —

the Bhikshu holds aloof from visiting such shows.

This, Kevaddha, is what is called
'The wonder of education.'

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to games and recreations;
that is to say:

(1) Games on boards with eight,
or with ten,
rows of squares;

(2) The same games
played by imagining such boards in the air;

(3) Keeping going over diagrams drawn on the ground
so that one steps only where one ought to go;

(4) Either removing the pieces or men from a heap
with one's nail,
or putting them into a heap,
in each case without shaking it,
he who shakes the heap, loses;

(5) Throwing dice;

(6) Hitting a short stick with a long one;

(7) Dipping the hand with the fingers stretched out
in lac,
or red dye,
or flower-water,
and striking the wet hand
on the ground
or on a wall,
calling out
'What shell it be?'
and showing the form required —
elephants, horses, etc.;

(8) Games with balls;

(9) Blowing through toy pipes made of leaves;

(10) Ploughing with toy ploughs;

(11) Turning summersaults;

(12) Playing with toy windmills made of palm-leaves;

(13) Playing with toy measures made of palm-leaves;

(14, 15) Playing with toy carts or toy bows;

(16) Guessing at letters traced in the air, or on a. playfellow's back;

(17) Guessing the play fellow's thoughts;

(18) Mimicry of deformities;

The Bhikshu holds aloof from such games and recreations.

This, Kevaddha, is what is called
'The wonder of education.'

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use of high and large couches;
that is to say:

(1) Moveable settees,
high, and six feet long;

(2) Divans with animal figures carved on the supports (Pallanko);

(3) Goats' hair coverlets
with very long fleece (Gonako);

(4) Patchwork counterpanes of many colours (Cittakā);

(5) White blankets (Paṭikā);

(6) Woollen coverlets embroidered with flowers (Paṭalikā);

(7) Quilts stuffed with cotton wool (Tūlikā);

(8) Coverlets embroidered with figures of lions, tigers, etc. (Vikatikā);

(9) Rugs with fur on both sides (Uddalomī);

(10) Rugs with fur on one side (Ekantalomī);

(11) Coverlets embroidered with gems (Kaṭṭhissaṃ);

(12) Silk coverlets (Koseyyaṃ);

(13) Carpets large enough for sixteen dancers (Kuttakaṃ);

(14) Elephant rugs;

(15) horse rugs;

(16) chariot rugs;

(17) Rugs of antelope skins sewn together (Ajina-paveṇi);

(18) Rugs of skins of the plantain antelope;

(19) Carpets with awnings above them (Sauttara-cchadaṃ);

(20) Sofas with red pillows
for the head and feet.

The Bhikshu holds aloof from such things.

This, Kevaddha, is what is called
'The wonder of education.'

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use
of means for adorning
and beautifying themselves;
that is to say:

Rubbing in scented powders on one's body,
shampooing it,
and bathing it;

Patting the limbs with clubs
after the manner of wrestlers;

The use of mirrors,
eye-ointments,
garlands,
rouge,
cosmetics,
bracelets,
necklaces,
walking-sticks,
reed cases for drugs,
rapiers,
sunshades,
embroidered slippers,
turbans,
diadems,
whisks of the yak's tail,
and long-fringed white robes;

The Bhikshu holds aloof
from such means of adorning and beautifying the person.

This, Kevaddha, is what is called
'The wonder of education.'

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to such low conversation as these:

Tales of kings,
of robbers,
of ministers of state,
tales of war,
of terrors,
of battles;
talk about foods and drinks,
clothes,
beds,
garlands,
perfumes;
talks about relationships,
equipages,
villages,
town,
cities,
and countries;
tales about women,
and about heroes;
gossip at street corners,
or places whence water is fetched;
ghost stories;
desultory talk;
speculations about the creation of the land or sea,
or about existence and non-existence;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low conversation.

This, Kevaddha, is what is called
'The wonder of education.'

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use of wrangling phrases such as:

'You don't understand this doctrine and discipline,
I do.';

'How should you know about this doctrine and discipline?';

'You have fallen into wrong views.

It is I who am in the right.';

'I am speaking to the point,
you are not.';

'You are putting last
what ought to come first,
first what ought to come last.';

'What you've excogitated so long,
that's all quite upset.';

'Your challenge has been taken up.';

'You are proved to be wrong.';

'Set to work to clear your views.';

'Disentangle yourself if you can.';

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such wrangling phrases.

This, Kevaddha, is what is called
'The wonder of education.'

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to taking messages,
going on errands,
and acting as go-betweens;
to wit,
on kings,
ministers of state,
Kshatriyas,
Brahmans,
or young men,
saying:

'Go there,
come hither,
take this with you,
bring that from thence';

the Bhikshu abstains from such servile duties.

This, Kevaddha, is what is called
'The wonder of education.'

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
are tricksters,
droners out (of holy words for pay),
diviners,
and exorcists,
ever hungering to add gain to gain —
the Bhikshu holds aloof from such deception and patter.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

(1) Palmistry —
prophesying long life,
prosperity, etc.
from marks on child's hands,
feet. etc.;

(2) Divining by means of omens and signs;

(3) Auguries drawn from thunderbolts
and other celestial portents;

(4) Prognostication by interpreting dreams;

(5) Fortune-telling from marks on the body;

(6) Auguries from the marks on cloth gnawed by mice;

(7) Sacrificing to Agni;

(8) Offering oblations from a spoon;

(9-13) Making offerings to gods
of husks,
of the red powder between the grain and the husk,
of husked grain ready for boiling,
of ghee,
and of oil;

(14) Sacrificing by spewing mustard seeds, etc.,
into the fire out of one's mouth;

(15) Drawing blood from one's right knee
as a sacrifice to the gods;

(16) Looking at the knuckles, etc.,
and, after muttering a charm,
divining whether a man is well born
or lucky or not;

(17) Determining whether the site
for a proposed house or pleasance,
is lucky or not;

(18) Advising on customary law;

(19) Laying demons in a cemetery;

(20) Laying ghosts;

(21) Knowledge of the charms to be used
when lodging in an earth house;

(22) Snake charming;

(23) The poison craft;

(24) The scorpion craft;

(25) The mouse craft;

(26) The bird craft;

(27) The crow craft;

(28) Foretelling the number of years
that a man has yet to live.

(29) Giving charms to ward off arrows;

(30) The animal wheel;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This, Kevaddha, is what is called
'The wonder of education.'

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

Knowledge of the signs
of good and bad qualities
in the following things
and of the marks in them
denoting the health or luck of their owners: —
to wit,
gems,
staves,
garments,
swords,
arrows,
bows,
other weapons,
women,
men,
boys,
girls,
slaves,
slave-girls,
elephants,
horses,
buffaloes,
bulls,
oxen,
goats,
sheep,
fowls,
quails,
iguanas,
earrings,
tortoises,
and other animals;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This, Kevaddha, is what is called
'The wonder of education.'

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as soothsaying,
to the effect that:

'The chiefs will march out';

'The chiefs will march back';

'The home chiefs will attack,
and the enemies' retreat';

'The enemies' chiefs will attack,
and ours will retreat';

'The home chiefs will gain the victory,
and the foreign chiefs suffer defeat';

'The foreign chiefs will gain the victory,
and ours will suffer defeat';

'Thus will there be victory on this side,
defeat on that'

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This, Kevaddha, is what is called
'The wonder of education.'

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by such low arts as foretelling:

(1) 'There will be an eclipse of the moon';

(2) 'There will be en eclipse of the sun';

(3) 'There will be en eclipse of a star'
(Nakshatra);

(4) 'There will be aberration of the sun or the moon';

(5) 'The sun or the moon will return to its usual path';

(6) 'There will be aberrations of the stars';

(7) 'The stars will return to their usual course';

(8) 'There will be a fall of meteors';

(9) 'There will be a jungle fire';

(10) 'There will be an earthquake';

(11) 'The god will thunder';

(12-15) 'There will be rising and setting,
clearness and dimness,
of the sun or the moon or the stars',|| ||

or foretelling of each of these fifteen phenomena
that they will betoken such and such a result;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This, Kevaddha, is what is called
'The wonder of education.'

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

Foretelling an abundant rainfall;

Foretelling a deficient rainfall;

Foretelling a good harvest;

Foretelling scarcity of food;

Foretelling tranquillity;

Foretelling disturbances;

Foretelling a pestilence;

Foretelling a healthy season;

Counting on the fingers;

Counting without using the fingers;

Summing up large totals;

Composing ballads, poetising;

Casuistry, sophistry;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This, Kevaddha, is what is called
'The wonder of education.'

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as:

(1) Arranging a lucky day for marriages
in which the bride or bridegroom is brought home;

(2) Arranging a lucky day for marriages
in which the bride or bridegroom is sent forth;

(3) Fixing a lucky time for the conclusion of treaties of peace
[or using charms to procure harmony;

(4) Fixing a lucky time
for the outbreak of hostilities
[or using charms to make discord];

(5) Fixing-a lucky time
for the calling in of debts
[or charms for success in throwing dice];

(6) Fixing a lucky time
for the expenditure of money
[or charms to bring ill luck to an opponent throwing dice];

(7) Using charms to make people lucky;

(8) Using charms to make people unlucky;

(9) Using charms to procure abortion;

(10) Incantations to bring on dumbness;

(11) Incantations to keep a man's jaws fixed;

(12) Incantations to make a man throw up his hands;

(13) Incantations to bring on deafness;

(14) Obtaining oracular answers by means of the magic mirror;

(15) Obtaining oracular answers through a girl possessed;

(16) Obtaining oracular answers from a god;

(17) The worship of the Sun;

(18) The worship of the Great One;

(19) Bringing forth flames from one's mouth;

(20) Invoking Siri, the goddess of Luck —

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This, Kevaddha, is what is called
'The wonder of education.'

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

(1) Vowing gifts to a god if a certain benefit be granted;

(2) Paying such vows;

(3) Repeating charms while lodging in an earth house;

(4) Causing virility;

(5) Making a man impotent;

(6) Fixing on lucky sites for dwelling;

(7) Consecrating sites;

(8) Ceremonial rinsings of the month;

(9) Ceremonial bathings;

(10) Offering sacrifices;

(11-14) Administering emetics and purgatives;

(15) Purging people to relieve the head
(that is by giving drugs to make people sneeze);

(16) Oiling people's ears
(either to make them grow or to heal sores on them);

(17) Satisfying people's eyes
(soothing them by dropping medicinal oils into them);

(18) Administering drugs through the nose;

(19) Applying collyrium to the eyes;

(20) Giving medical ointment for the eyes;

(21) Practising as an oculist;

(22) Practising as a surgeon;

(23) Practising as a doctor for children;

(24) Administering roots and drugs;

(25) Administering medicines in rotation;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

This, Kevaddha, is what is called
'The wonder of education.'

§

And then that Bhikshu, Kevaddha,
being thus master of the minor moralities,
sees no danger from any side,
that is, so far as concerns his self-restraint in conduct.

Just, Kevaddha, as a sovereign, duly crowned,
whose enemies have been beaten down,
sees no danger from any side;
that is, so far as enemies are concerned,
so is the Bhikshu confident.

And endowed with this body of morals,
so worthy of honour,
he experiences, within himself,
a sense of ease without alloy.

This, Kevaddha, is what is called
'The wonder of education.'

§

And how, Kevaddha,
is the Bhikshu guarded
as to the doors of his senses?

When, Kevaddha, he sees an object with his eye
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of sight.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of sight,
and he attains to mastery over it.

■

When, Kevaddha, he hears a sound with his ear
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of hearing.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of hearing,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This, Kevaddha, is that uprightness.

■

When, Kevaddha, he smells an odour with his nose
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of smell.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of smell,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This, Kevaddha, is that uprightness.

■

When, Kevaddha, he tastes a flavour with his tongue
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of taste.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of taste,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This, Kevaddha, is that uprightness.

■

When, Kevaddha, he feels a touch with his body
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of touch.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of touch,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This, Kevaddha, is that uprightness.

■

When, Kevaddha, he cognises a phenomenon with his mind
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his mental (representative) faculty.

He keeps watch upon his representative faculty,
and he attains to mastery over it.

■

And endowed with this self-restraint,
so worthy of honour,
as regards the senses,
he experiences, within himself, a sense of ease
into which no evil state can enter.

Thus is it, Kevaddha,
that the Bhikshu becomes guarded
as to the doors of his senses.

This, Kevaddha, is what is called
'The wonder of education.'

§

And how, Kevaddha, is the Bhikshu
mindful and self-possessed?

In this matter, Kevaddha,
the Bhikshu
in going forth or in coming back
whether looking forward,
or in looking round;
in stretching forth his arm,
or in drawing it in again;
in eating or drinking,
in masticating or swallowing,
in obeying the calls of nature,
in going or standing or sitting,
in sleeping or waking,
in speaking or in being still,
he keeps himself aware
of all it really means.

Thus is it, Kevaddha,
that the Bhikshu becomes mindful and self-possessed.

This, Kevaddha, is what is called
'The wonder of education.'

§

And how, Kevaddha, is the Bhikshu content?

In this matter, Kevaddha,
the Bhikshu is satisfied with sufficient robes
to cherish his body,
with sufficient food
to keep his stomach going.

Whithersoever he may go forth,
these he takes with him as he goes
- just as a bird with his wings, Kevaddha,
whithersoever he may fly,
carries his wings with him as he flies.

Thus is it, Kevaddha,
that the Bhikshu becomes content.

This, Kevaddha, is what is called
'The wonder of education.'

§

Then, master of this so excellent body of moral precepts,
gifted with this so excellent self-restraint as to the senses,
endowed with this so excellent mindfulness and self-possession,
filled with this so excellent content,
he chooses some lonely spot
to rest at on his way
— in the woods,
at the foot of a tree,
on a hill side,
in a mountain glen,
in a rocky cave,
in a charnel place,
or on a heap of straw in the open field.

And returning thither
after his round for alms
he seats himself, when his meal is done,
cross-legged,
keeping his body erect,
and his intelligence alert, intent.

§

Putting away the hankering after the world,
he remains with a heart that hankers not,
and purifies his mind of lusts.

■

Putting away the corruption
of the wish to injure,
he remains with a heart free from ill temper,
and purifies his mind of malevolence.

■

Putting away torpor of heart and mind,
keeping his ideas alight,
mindful and self-possessed,
he purifies his mind of weakness and of sloth.

■

Putting away flurry and worry,
he remains free from fretfulness,
and with heart serene within,
he purifies himself of irritability
and vexation of spirit.

■

Putting away wavering,
he remains as one passed beyond perplexity;
and no longer in suspense as to what is good,
he purifies his mind of doubt.

■

Then just, Kevaddha,
as when a man, after contracting a loan,
should set a business on foot,
and his business should succeed,
and he should not only be able
to pay off the old debt he had incurred,
but there should be a surplus over
to maintain a wife.

Then would he realize:

'I used to have to carry on my business
by getting into debt,
but it has gone so well with me
that I have paid off what I owed,
and have a surplus over
to maintain a wife.'

And he would be of good cheer at that,
would be glad of heart at that: —

■

Then just, Kevaddha,
as if a man were a prey to disease,
in pain, and very ill,
and his food would not digest,
and there were no strength left in him;
and after a time
he were to recover from that disease,
and his food should digest,
and his strength come back to him;
then, when he realized his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

■

Then just, Kevaddha,
as if a man were bound in a prison house,
and after a time
he should be set free from his bonds,
safe and sound,
and without any confiscation of his goods;
when he realized his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

■

Then just, Kevaddha,
as if a man were a slave,
not his own master,
subject to another,
unable to go whither he would;
and after a time
he should be emancipated from that slavery,
become his own master,
not subject to others,
a free man,
free to go whither he would;
then, on realising his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

■

Then just, Kevaddha,
as if a man, rich and prosperous,
were to find himself on a long road,
in a desert, where no food was,
but much danger;
and after a time
were to find himself out of the desert,
arrived safe,
on the borders of his village,
in security and peace;
then, on realising his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

■

Just so, Kevaddha, the Bhikshu,
so long as these five hindrances
are not put away within him
looks upon himself as in debt,
diseased,
in prison,
in slavery,
lost on a desert road.

But when these five hindrances
have been put away within him,
he looks upon himself as freed from debt,
rid of disease,
out of jail,
a free man,
and secure.

And gladness springs up within him
on his realising that,
and joy arises to him thus gladdened,
and so rejoicing
all his frame becomes at ease,
and being thus at ease
he is filled with a sense of peace,
and in that peace his heart is stayed.

This, Kevaddha, is what is called
'The wonder of education.'

§

[280]

Then estranged from lusts,
aloof from evil dispositions,
he enters into and remains in the First Rapture
— a state of joy and ease born of detachment,
reasoning and investigation going on the while.

His very body does he so pervade,
drench,
permeate,
and suffuse
with the joy and ease born of detachment,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

Just, Kevaddha, as a skilful bathman
or his apprentice
will scatter perfumed soap powder
in a metal basin,
and then besprinkling it with water,
drop by drop,
will so knead it together
that the ball of lather,
taking up the unctuous moisture,
is drenched with it,
pervaded by it,
permeated by it within and without,
and there is no leakage possible.

This, Kevaddha, is what is called
'The wonder of education.'

■

Then further, Kevaddha,
the Bhikshu suppressing all reasoning and investigation
enters into and abides in the Second Jhāna,
a state of joy and ease,
born of the serenity of concentration,
when no reasoning or investigation goes on,
— a state of elevation of mind,
a tranquillisation of the heart within.

'And his very body does he so pervade,
drench,
permeate,
and suffuse with the joy and ease born of concentration,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

'Just, Kevaddha,
as if there were a deep pool,
with water welling up into it
from a spring beneath,
and with no inlet from the east or west,
from the north or south,
and the god should not
from time to time
send down showers of rain upon it.
Still the current of cool waters
rising up from that spring
would pervade,
fill,
permeate,
and suffuse the pool
with cool waters,
and there would be no part or portion of the pool
unsuffused therewith.

This, Kevaddha, is what is called
'The wonder of education.'

■

Then further, Kevaddha, the Bhikshu,
holding aloof from joy,
becomes equable;
and mindful and self-possessed
he experiences in his body
that ease which the Arahats talk of when they say:
"The man serene and self-possessed
is well at ease,"
and so he enters into
and abides in the Third Jhāna.

And his very body
does he so pervade,
drench,
permeate,
and suffuse with that ease
that has no joy with it,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

Just, Kevaddha,
as when in a lotus tank
the several lotus flowers,
red or white or blue,
born in the water,
grown up in the water,
not rising up above the surface of the water,
drawing up nourishment from the depths of the water,
are so pervaded,
drenched,
permeated,
and suffused
from their very tips
down to their roots
with the cool moisture thereof,
that there is no spot in the whole plant,
whether of the red lotus,
or of the white,
or of the blue,
not suffused therewith.

This, Kevaddha, is what is called
'The wonder of education.'

■

Then further, Kevaddha, the Bhikshu,
by the putting away alike of ease and of pain,
by the passing away alike of any elation,
any dejection,
he had previously felt,
enters into and abides in the Fourth Jhāna,
a state of pure self-possession and equanimity,
without pain and without ease.

And he sits there
so suffusing even his body
with that sense of purification,
of translucence of heart,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

Just, Kevaddha,
as if a man were sitting
so wrapt from head to foot in a clean white robe,
that there were no spot in his whole frame
not in contact with the clean white robe
— just so, Kevaddha, does the Bhikshu sit there,
so suffusing even his body
with that sense of purification,
of translucence of heart,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

This, Kevaddha, is what is called
'The wonder of education.'

§

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he applies and bends down his mind
to that insight that comes from knowledge.

He grasps the fact:

'This body of mine has form,
it is built up of the four elements,
it springs from father and mother,
it is continually renewed
by so much boiled rice and juicy foods,
its very nature is impermanence,
it is subject to erasion,
abrasion,
dissolution,
and disintegration;
and therein is this consciousness of mine, too, bound up,
on that does it depend.'

Just, Kevaddha,
as if there were a veluriya gem,
bright, of the purest water,
with eight facets,
excellently cut,
clear, translucent,
without a flaw,
excellent in every way.
And through it a string,
blue, or orange-coloured,
or red, or white, or yellow
should be threaded.
If a man, who had eyes to see,
were to take it into his hand,
he would clearly perceive
how the one is bound up with the other.

This, Kevaddha, is what is called
'The wonder of education.'

■

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he directs and bends down his mind
to the knowledge of the destruction of the Deadly Floods.

He knows as it really is:

'This is pain.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the origin of pain.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the cessation of pain.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the Path that leads to the cessation of pain.'

He knows as they really are:

'These are the Deadly Floods.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the origin of the Deadly Floods.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the cessation of the Deadly Floods.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the Path that leads to the cessation of the Deadly Floods.'

■

To him, thus knowing, thus seeing,
the heart is set free
from the Deadly Taint of Lusts,
is set free from the Deadly Taint of Becomings,
is set free from the Deadly Taint of Ignorance.

In him, thus set free,
there arises the knowledge of his emancipation,
and he knows:

'Rebirth has been destroyed.

The higher life has been fulfilled.

What had to be done has been accomplished.

After this present life
there will be no beyond!

Just, Kevaddha,
as if in a mountain fastness
there were a pool of water,
clear, translucent, and serene;
and a man, standing on the bank,
and with eyes to see,
should perceive the oysters and the shells,
the gravel and the pebbles
and the shoals of fish
as they move about or lie within it:
he would know:

'This pool is clear, transparent, and serene,
and there within it
are the oysters and the shells,
and the sand and gravel,
and the shoals of fish are moving about
or lying still.

This, Kevaddha, is what is called
'The wonder of education.'

§

67. So these, Kevaddha,
are the three wonders
I have understood and realized myself,
and made known to others.

¹⁸ Once upon a time, Kevaddha,
there occurred to a certain brother
in this very company of the brethren,
a doubt on the following point:

"Where now do these four great elements —
earth, water, fire, and wind —
pass away, leaving no trace behind?"

So that brother, Kevaddha,
worked himself up into such a state of ecstasy
that the way leading to the world of the Gods
became clear to his ecstatic vision.

68. Then that brother, Kevaddha,
went up to the realm of the Four Great Kings;
and said to the gods thereof:

'Where, my friends, do the four great elements —
earth, water, fire, and wind —
cease, leaving no trace behind?'

And when he had thus spoken
the gods in the heaven of the Four Great Kings
said to him:

'We, brother, do not know that.

But there are the Four Great Kings,
more potent and more glorious than we.

They will know it.'

■

69. Then that brother, Kevaddha,
went up to the Four Great Kings;
and said to them:

'Where, my friends, do the four great elements —
earth, water, fire, and wind —
cease, leaving no trace behind?'

And when he had thus spoken
the Four Great Kings
said to him:

'We, brother, do not know that.

But there are the gods of the Realm of the Thirty-three,
more potent and more glorious than we.

They will know it.'

■

70. Then that brother, Kevaddha,
went up to the gods of the Realm of the Thirty-three;
and said to them:

'Where, my friends, do the four great elements —
earth, water, fire, and wind —
cease, leaving no trace behind?'

And when he had thus spoken
the Thirty-three
said to him:

'We, brother, do not know that.

But there is our king, Sakka,
more potent and more glorious than we.

He will know it.'

■

71. Then that brother, Kevaddha,
went up to Sakka;
and said to him:

'Where, my friend, do the four great elements —
earth, water, fire, and wind —
cease, leaving no trace behind?'

And when he had thus spoken
Sakka said to him:

'We, brother, do not know that.

But there are the Yama gods,
more potent and more glorious than we.

They will know it.'

■

72. Then that brother, Kevaddha,
went up to the Realm of the Yama gods;
and said to them:

'Where, my friends, do the four great elements —
earth, water, fire, and wind —
cease, leaving no trace behind?'

And when he had thus spoken
they said to him:

'We, brother, do not know that.

But there is the king of the Yama gods, Suyāma
more potent and more glorious than we.

He will know it.'

■

73. Then that brother, Kevaddha,
went up to Suyāma;
and said to him:

'Where, my friend, do the four great elements —
earth, water, fire, and wind —
cease, leaving no trace behind?'

And when he had thus spoken
Suyāma said to him:

'We, brother, do not know that.

But there are the Tusita gods
more potent and more glorious than we.

They will know it.'

■

74. Then that brother, Kevaddha,
went up to the Realm of the Tusita gods;
and said to them:

'Where, my friends, do the four great elements —
earth, water, fire, and wind —
cease, leaving no trace behind?'

And when he had thus spoken
they said to him:

'We, brother, do not know that.

But there is our king, Santusita
more potent and more glorious than we.

He will know it.'

■

75. Then that brother, Kevaddha,
went up to Santusita;
and said to him:

'Where, my friend, do the four great elements —
earth, water, fire, and wind —
cease, leaving no trace behind?'

And when he had thus spoken
Santusita said to him:

'We, brother, do not know that.

But there are the Nimmāna-rati gods
more potent and more glorious than we.

They will know it.'

■

[281] 76. Then that brother, Kevaddha,
went up to the Realm of the Nimmāna-rati gods;
and said to them:

'Where, my friends, do the four great elements —
earth, water, fire, and wind —
cease, leaving no trace behind?'

And when he had thus spoken
they said to him:

'We, brother, do not know that.

But there is our king, Sunimmita
more potent and more glorious than we.

He will know it.'

■

77. Then that brother, Kevaddha,
went up to Sunimmita;
and said to him:

'Where, my friend, do the four great elements —
earth, water, fire, and wind —
cease, leaving no trace behind?'

And when he had thus spoken
Sunimmita said to him:

'We, brother, do not know that.

But there are the Para-nimmita Vasavatti gods
more potent and more glorious than we.

They will know it.'

■

78. Then that brother, Kevaddha,
went up to the Realm of the Para-nimmita Vasavatti gods;
and said to them:

'Where, my friends, do the four great elements —
earth, water, fire, and wind —
cease, leaving no trace behind?'

And when he had thus spoken
they said to him:

'We, brother, do not know that.

But there is our king, Vasavatti
more potent and more glorious than we.

He will know it.'

■

79. Then that brother, Kevaddha,
went up to Vasavatti;
and said to him:

'Where, my friend, do the four great elements —
earth, water, fire, and wind —
cease, leaving no trace behind?'

And when he had thus spoken
Vasavatti said to him:

'We, brother, do not know that.

But there are the gods of the Retinue of Brahmā¹⁹
more potent and more glorious than we.

They will know it.'

■

[220] 80. Then that brother, Kevaddha,
became so absorbed by self-concentration
that the way to the Brahmā-world
became clear to his mind thus pacified.

And he drew near to the gods of the retinue of Brahmā, and said:

'Where, my friend, do the four great elements —
earth, water, fire, and wind —
cease, leaving no trace behind?'

And when he had thus spoken
the gods of the retinue of Brahmā replied:

'We, brother, do not know that.

But there is Brahmā,
the Great Brahmā,
the Supreme One,
the Mighty One,
the All-seeing One,
the Ruler,
the Lord of all,
the Controller,
the Creator,
the Chief of all,
appointing to each his place,
the Ancient of days,
the Father of all that are
and are to be.²⁰

He is more potent and more glorious than we.

He will know it.'

'Where then is that Great Brahmā now?'

We, brother, know not where Brahmā is,
nor why Brahmā is,
nor whence.

But, brother,
when the signs of his coming appear,
when the light ariseth,
and the glory shineth,
then will He be manifest.

For that is the portent
of the manifestation of Brahmā
when the light ariseth,
and the glory shineth.'

[221] 81. And it was not long, Kevaddha,
before that Great Brahmā became manifest.

And that brother drew near to him,
and said:

'Where, my friend,
do the four great elements —
earth, water, fire, and wind —
cease,
leaving no trace behind?'

And when he had thus spoken
that Great Brahmā said to him:

'I, brother, am the Great Brahmā,
the Supreme,
the Mighty,
the All-seeing,
the Ruler,
the [282] Lord of all,
the Controller,
the Creator,
the Chief of all,
appointing to each his place,
the Ancient of days,
the Father of all that are
and are to be!'

82. Then that brother answered Brahmā,
and said:

'I did not ask you, friend,
as to whether you were indeed
all that you now say.

But I ask you
where the four great elements -
earth, water, fire, and wind -
cease,
leaving no trace behind?'

83. Then a second time, Kevaddha,
that Great Brahmā said to him:

'I, brother, am the Great Brahmā,
the Supreme,
the Mighty,
the All-seeing,
the Ruler,
the Lord of all,
the Controller,
the Creator,
the Chief of all,
appointing to each his place,
the Ancient of days,
the Father of all that are
and are to be!'

■

84. Then a second time that brother answered Brahmā,
and said:

'I did not ask you, friend,
as to whether you were indeed
all that you now say.

But I ask you
where the four great elements -
earth, water, fire, and wind -
cease,
leaving no trace behind?'

Then, Kevaddha, the Great Brahmā
took that brother by the arm
and led him aside,
and said:

'These gods,
the retinue of Brahmā,
hold me, brother,
to be such
that there is nothing I cannot see,
nothing I have not understood,
nothing I have not realized.

Therefore I gave no answer
in their presence.

I do not know, brother,
where those four great elements —
earth, water, fire, and wind —
cease,
leaving no trace behind.

Therefore you, brother, have done wrong,
have acted ill,
in that, ignoring²¹ the Exalted One,
you have undertaken this long search,
among others,
for an answer to this question.

Go you now,
return to the Exalted One,
ask him the question,
and accept the answer
according as he shall make reply.'

84. Then, Kevaddha, that Bhikkhu,
as quickly as one could stretch forth his bended arm,
or draw it in when stretched forth,
vanished from the Brahmā world,
and appeared before me.

And he bowed in salutation to me,
and took his seat on one side;
and, so seated,
he said to me:

'Where is it, Sir,
that these four great elements —
earth, water, fire, and wind —
cease,
leaving no trace behind?'

85. And when he had thus spoken, Kevaddha,
I answered him thus:

'Long, long ago, brother,
[283] sea-faring traders were wont,
when they were setting sail on an ocean voyage,
to take with them a land-sighting bird.

And when the ship got out of sight of the shore
they would let the land-sighting bird free.

Such a bird would fly to the East,
and to the South
and to the West,
and to the North,
to the zenith,
and to the intermediate points of the compass.

And if anywhere on the horizon
it caught sight of land,
thither would it fly.

But if no land,
all around about,
were visible,
it would come back even to the ship.

Just so, brother, do you,
having sought an answer to this question,
and sought it in vain,
even up to the Brahmā-world,
come back therefore to me.

[223] Now the question, brother,
should not be put as you have put it.

Instead of asking
where the four great elements cease,
leaving no trace behind,
you should have asked:

"Where do earth, water, fire, and wind,
And long and short, and fine and coarse,
Pure and impure, no footing find?
Where is it that both name and form²²
Die out, leaving no trace behind?"

On that, the answer is:

"The intellect of Arahatship,
the invisible,
the endless,
accessible from every side.²³

[284] There is it that earth, water, fire, and wind,
And long and short, and fine and coarse,
Pure and impure, no footing find.

There is it that both name and form
Die out, leaving, no trace behind.
When intellection ceases they all also cease."'

Thus spake the Exalted One.

And Kevaddha, the young householder,
pleased at heart,
rejoiced at the spoken word.

HERE ENDS THE KEVADDHA SUTTANTA

¹ See for other instances above, p. 206.

² Vin. II, 183; Jāt. I, 360

³ A. I, 93.

⁴ Dhp. 175

⁵ Above, p. 88, and Jāt. III, 454.

⁶ A. I, 145.

⁷ M. I, 152.

⁸ That is, in the Piṭakas. In some passages of the fifth century A.D. it seems to be implied that, in certain cases, Iddhī was then considered to be a consequence of the Arahatta.

⁹ Samanake, perhaps 'with the representative faculty.' Compare saviññāṇake kāye (A. I, 132). Morris here has, wrongly, samaṇaka.

¹⁰ Aṇguttara II, 48 - Saṃyutta I, 62.

¹¹ On Viññāṇssa nirodho, see further Ud. VIII, 9; S. III, 54-58; A. II, 45; and compare Asl. 350; A. IV, 39 and above, P. 87.

¹² Afterwards the site of the famous Buddhist University.

¹³ The MSS. differ as to the spelling of this name. It is improbable that a wealthy and distinguished man, of high social position, should have been called kevaṭṭa, 'fisherman.' However, Dr. Neumann, who has translated this Suttanta in his 'Buddhist Anthropologie,' pp. 62-100, has adopted this form; and it may turn out to be the better of the two.

¹⁴ These are explained at length in the Saṇgārava Sutta, A. I, 168-173.

¹⁵ The Gandhāra Charm is mentioned at Jāt. IV, 498, 499, as a well-known charm for the single purpose only of making oneself invisible.

¹⁶ The Saṇgārava Sutta (loc. cit.) tells us how — either by omens, or by interpreting exterior sounds, or by hearing the actual sound of the man's mental operations, or by knowing, in his own heart, the heart of the other.

¹⁷ Identified here, by Buddhaghosa, with the Cintāmaṇī Vijjā, which, according to Jāt. III, 504, is only for following up trails. Compare Sum. 265, 267, 271. It is most probable that the Jātaka is right in both cases as to the meaning of these charm-names, and that the objector is intentionally represented, like Kaṇha in the Ambaṭṭha Suttanta, to be 'drawing the long bow.'

¹⁸ From here to the end has been translated by the late Henry C. Warren in his 'Buddhism in Translations,' pp. 308 foll.

¹⁹ The question and answer in §68 is repeated, in the text, in each case.

²⁰ So also above, p. 31.

²¹ Atisitvā. The Siamese edition has abhisiṇsitvā. On atisitvā see Morris in the J.P.T.S., 1886, and Fausböll at S.N. II, 366

²² Nāmā ca rūpā ca; that is, the mental and the physical. Dr. Neumann puts this into nineteenth-century language by translating — 'subject and object.' And however un-Buddhistic the phrase may be — for no Buddhist would use an expression apparently implying a unity in the subject — it really, if by subject be understood an ever-changing group of impermanent faculties or qualities, comes very near to the Buddhist meaning.

²³ Pahaṃ. Buddhaghosa takes this in the sense of tittha; that is, ghat, flight of steps or shelving beach from which to step down into water. James d'Alwis, who usually gives the view of Baṭuwan Tuḍawa, took it as = pabhaṃ, shining — which Buddhaghosa, who gives it as an alternative explanation, had rejected ('Buddhist Nirvāṇa,' P. 39). Dr. Neumann, the only European writer who has discussed the point, thinks it is put by the poet, metri causā for pajahaṃ, 'rejecting.' But an English poet, if he wanted to save a syllable, would scarcely write 'reacting for rejecting.' And the Pāli poet, had he wished to give that meaning, could easily have found other means. He need have gone no further afield than adopting simply jahaṃ. That viññāṇa, when qualified by such adjectives as those here used, can be meant for the viññāna of a man who has attained to Nirvāṇa, could be supported by other passages from the Piṭakas.

 [Contents ]   [Preface ]   [#1. Brahma-gāla Suttanta: ]   [#2. Sāmañña-phala Suttanta: ]   [#3. The Ambaṭṭha Suttanta: ]   [#4. The Soṇadaṇḍa Suttanta: ]   [#5. The Kūṭadanta Suttanta: ]   [#6. The Mahāli Suttanta: ]   [#7. Gāliva Suttanta: ]   [#8. Kassapa-Sīhanāda Suttanta: ]   [#9. The Poṭṭhapāda Suttanta: ]   [#10. Subha Suttanta: ]   [#11. Kevaddha Suttanta: ]   [#12. Lohikka Suttanta: ]   [#13. Tevigga Suttanta: ] 

12. Some Points in the Ethics of Teaching

Lohicca Suttantaṃ

[285]

Introduction

It is not easy to put ourselves in the mental position suitable for appreciating the kind of idea that underlies the argument in this Suttanta. The social view against which it is directed lies too remote from the social views universally admitted now in the West. But in the sixth century B.C. in the Eastern valley of the Ganges, the question as to the ethics of teachers and teaching was one of wide interest and of great importance.

Saṇkara quotes with approval the rules of the priestly law books which lay down that the ears of a Sūdra who hears the Veda (including of course the theosophy of the Upanishads) are to be filled with molten lead and lac. His tongue is to be split if he recites it; his body is to be cut through if he preserves it in his memory.¹ God himself has bestowed the exclusive right of teaching upon the hereditary priests;² who indeed claim to be, each of them, great divinities,³ even to the gods.⁴ And it would be a danger to social order if they taught women, or any males not twice-born, or any twice-born males who would not share their views as to the ethics of teaching, and as to the privileges and prerogatives of the priest as teacher.

These passages are much later than the Piṭakas. But they, and the many others like them, give a fair idea of the spirit animating one section at least of the priests, and of a trend of opinion that doubtless had its supporters also in Piṭaka times. When Asoka thought he had brought about such a chance in public opinion that those who had been very gods upon the earth had come to be gods no longer, he was very far from thinking right. That is a battle that is not so easily won. But the expression of his belief is sufficient to show that the striking idea he thought he had killed was far older than our existing text of Manu.

On the other hand one may be permitted to doubt whether the gentle measures approved by Saṇkara for keeping people in that state of life into which their evil deeds in a previous birth had brought them, were ever actually, in practice, [286] carried out. The Piṭakas themselves give ample proof that, in spite of the priests, there were not a few base-born people who succeeded, in that time at least, not only in getting taught, but in becoming teachers. And this was not the case only among the despised Buddhists. The numerous passages collected by Dr. Muir in his article in the 'Indian Antiquary' for 1877 show that the priestly literature itself — the law books and the epics — has preserved evidence of the lax way in which the strict rules as to exclusion from teaching or being taught were really carried out. And that is especially the case, according to the priestly tradition, in ancient times, as old, or older, than the rise of Buddhism.

The fact doubtless is that, though there were bigots among the Brahmans, and though they were strong enough to establish, before the time to which our present Sutta refers, rules as to restriction of teaching which no one in priestly circles could venture formally to dispute — yet that there was also always a strong party in India, to which many of the more liberal minded of the Brahmans themselves belonged, who looked with sympathy on relaxations of these rules. The general practice must have been that, the hereditary priests kept the magic of the sacrifice, and the emoluments and privileges that went with the knowledge of it, in their own hands. Even the higher teaching of the mysteries of theosophy was to be handed down only from priest-father to son, or from priestly teacher to pupil. But there were many exceptions. The numerous Brahmans who were not priests were wont, of course, to emphasise the importance rather of birth than of knowledge. We have enough evidence, even in the pre-Buddhistic Upanishads, of others, besides the priests, being teachers of the higher wisdom. The four powerful kings, and the still important free clans, though they gave support to the Brahmans, gave also equal support to other teachers — just as, in later times, Hindu and Buddhist sovereigns are found supporting Buddhists and Hindus alike.

Our knowledge of Indian views of life having been hitherto derived almost exclusively from the priestly books, scholars have inevitably tended to attach too great a degree of importance to what the priests describe as the proper state of things. As a matter of fact it never really prevailed. Even now the Brahmans, or those who in the census returns claim to be such, form only about five per cent of the population. And of these the vast majority are not priests at all; they are engaged in all sorts of worldly occupations.⁵ We [287] must not judge India at any time, much less in the time of the Buddha, through the yellow spectacles of Saṇkara, or even of the priestly compilers of Manu. As M. Barth said, already in 1873, in protesting against Lassen for falling into this mistake:⁶ 'We must distinguish, more than Lassen does, between different epochs, as well as between the pretensions of a caste and the real state of things. The Brahmans had not yet monopolised the intellectual life. Certain testimonies of the epics, applicable to this very period, as also the very nature of the Vedic books, show for example that there existed alongside of them an entire profane literature of great extent ... .which was certainly, at first, in other hands. ... Their teaching (that of the Brahmans), it is true, appears to have been in a high degree esoteric and exclusive.'

The position taken up by the Buddha on this question, as appears from our present Sutta (and such other passages as M. I, 513-524; A. I, 277; III, 123-127; M.P.S. II, 32 = A. III, 69 = V, 56 = Mil. 144), is that every one should be allowed to learn; that every one, having certain abilities, should be allowed to teach; and that, if he does teach, he should teach all and to all; keeping nothing back, shutting no one out. But no man should take upon himself to teach others unless and until he have first taught himself, and have also acquired the faculty of imparting to others the truth he has gained himself.

There can, I think, be very little doubt but that the great teacher is here voicing the opinion of many others of liberal views, his contemporaries and predecessors. He lays no claim, either in our Sutta or elsewhere, to any special peculiarity in this respect. It is taken for granted that the arguments put into his mouth in our Sutta will appeal to the Brahman to whom they are addressed. And they are based not on any distinctively Buddhist doctrine but on general ethical principles accepted, or rather acceptable, by all.

[288] [224]

XII. Lohikka Sutta

Some Points in the Ethics of Teaching

THUS HAVE I HEARD.

The Exalted One,
when once passing on a tour
through the Kosala districts
with a great multitude of the members of the Order,
with about five hundred Bhikshus,
arrived at Sālavatikā
(a village surrounded by a row of Sāla trees).

Now at that time Lohikka⁷ the Brahman
was established at Sālavatikā,
a spot teeming with life,
with much grassland and woodland and corn,
on a royal domain
granted him by King Pasenadi of Kosala,
as a royal gift,
with power over it as if he were the king.⁸

2. Now at that time Lohikka the Brahman
was thinking of harbouring
the following wicked view:

"'Suppose that a Samaṇa or a Brāhmaṇa
have reached up to some good state
(of mind),
then he should tell no one else about it.

For what can one man do for another?

To tell others
would be like the man who,
having broken through an old bond,
should entangle himself in a new one.'

Like that, I say,
is this (desire to declare to others);
it is a form of lust.

For what can one man do for another?"⁹

[289] Now Lohikka the Brahman heard the news:

"They say that the Samaṇa Gotama,
of the sons of the Sākyas,
who went out from the Sākya clan
to adopt the religious life,
has now arrived,
with a great company of the brethren of his Order,
on his tour through the Kosala districts,
at Sālavatikā.

Now regarding that venerable Gotama,
such is the high reputation
that has been noised abroad: —

'That Exalted One is an Arahat,
fully awakened,
abounding in wisdom and goodness,
happy,
with knowledge of the worlds,
unsurpassed as a guide to mortals willing to be led,
a teacher for gods and men,
an exalted one,
a Buddha.

He, by himself,
thoroughly knows and sees
as it were face-to-face,
this universe —
including the worlds above of the gods,
the Brahmās,
and the Māras;
and the world below
with its Samaṇas and Brāhmaṇas,
its princes and peoples —
and having known it,
he makes his knowledge known to others.

The truth,
lovely in its origin,
lovely in its progress,
lovely in its consummation,
doth he proclaim
both in the spirit
and in the letter.

The higher life
doth he make known
in all its fullness,
and in all its purity.

And good is it
to pay visits to Arahats like that.'"

[225] 4. Then Lohikka the Brahman
said to Bhesikā the barber:

"Come now, good Bhesikā,
go where the Samaṇa Gotama is staying,
and, on your arrival,
ask in my name
as to whether his sickness and indisposition has abated,
as to his health and vigour
and condition of ease;
and speak thus:

'May the venerable Gotama,
and with him the brethren of the Order,
accept the to-morrow's meal
from Lohikka the Brahman.'"

5. "Very well, Sir," said Bhesikā the barber,
acquiescing in the word of Lohikka the Brahman,
and did so even as he had been enjoined.

And the Exalted One consented,
by silence,
to his request.

6. And when Bhesikā the barber
perceived that the Exalted One had consented,
he rose from his seat,
and passing the Exalted One
with his right hand towards him,
went to Lohikka the Brahman,
and on his arrival spake to him thus:

[290] "We addressed that Exalted One,¹⁰ Sir,
in your name,
even as you commanded.

And the Exalted One hath consented to come."

[226] 7. Then Lohikka the Brahman,
when the night had passed,
made ready at his, own dwelling place
sweet food, both hard and soft,
and said to Bhesikā the barber:

"Come now, good Bhesikā,
go where the Samaṇa Gotama is staying,
and on your arrival,
announce the time to him,
saying:

'It is time, O Gotama,
and the meal is ready.'"

"Very well, Sir," said Bhesikā the barber
in assent to the words of Lohikka the Brahman;
and did so even as he had been enjoined.

And the Exalted One,
who had robed himself early in the early morning,
went robed,
and carrying his bowl with him,
with the brethren of the Order,
towards Sālavatikā.

8. Now, as he went,
Bhesikā the barber walked,
step by step,
behind the Exalted One.

And he said to him:

"The following wicked opinion
has occurred to Lohikka the Brahman:

'Suppose that a Samaṇa or a Brahmaṇa
have reached up to some good state
(of mind),
then he should tell no one else about it.

For what can one man do for another?

To tell others
would be like the man who,
having broken through an old bond,
should entangle himself in a new one.

Like that, I say, is this
(desire to declare to others);
it is a form of lust.'

'Twere well, Sir,
if the Exalted One
would disabuse his mind thereof.

For what can one man do for another?"

"That may well be, Bhesikā,
that may well be."

[227]9. And the Exalted One went on
to the dwelling-place of Lohikka the Brahman,
and sat down on the seat prepared for him.

And Lohikka the Brahman
satisfied the Order,
with the Buddha at its head,
with his own hand,
with sweet food,
both hard [291] and soft,
until they refused any more.

And when the Exalted One had finished his meal,
and had cleansed the bowl and his hands,
Lohikka the Brahman brought a low seat
and sat down beside him.

And to him, thus seated,
the Exalted One spake as follows:

"Is it true, what they say, Lohikka,
that the following wicked opinion
has arisen in your mind:

'Suppose that a Samaṇa or a Brahmaṇa
have reached up to some good state
(of mind),
then he should tell no one else about it.

For what can one man do for another?

To tell others
would be like the man who,
having broken through an old bond,
should entangle himself in a new one.

Like that, I say, is this
(desire to declare to others);
it is a form of lust'"?

"That is so, Gotama."

10. "Now what think you, Lohikka?

Are you not established at Sālavatikā?"

"Yes, that is so, Gotama."

"Then suppose, Lohikka, one were to speak thus:

'Lohikka the Brahman has a domain at Sālavatikā.

Let him alone enjoy all the revenue
and all the produce of Sālavatikā,
allowing nothing to anybody else!'

Would the utterer of that speech
be a danger-maker
as touching the men
who live in dependence upon you,
or not?"

"He would be a danger-maker, Gotama."

"And making that danger,
would he be a person
who sympathised with their welfare,
or not?"

"He would not be considering their welfare, Gotama."

"And not considering their welfare,
would his heart stand fast
in love toward them,
or in enmity?"

"In enmity, Gotama."

"But when one's heart stands fast in enmity,
is that unsound doctrine,
or sound?"

"It is unsound doctrine, Gotama."

"Now if a man hold unsound doctrine, Lohikka,
I declare that one of two future births
will be his lot,
either purgatory or rebirth as an animal.

[228]11. Now what think you, Lohikka?

Is not King Pasenadi of Kosala
in possession of Kāsi and Kosala?"

"Yes, that is so, Gotama."

"Then suppose, Lohikka,
one were to speak thus:

'King Pasenadi of Kosala
is in possession of Kāsi and Kosala.

Let him enjoy all the revenue
and all the produce
of Kāsi and Kosala,
allowing nothing to [292] anybody else.'

Would the utterer of that speech
be a danger-maker
as touching the men
who live in dependence on King Pasenadi of Kosala —
both you yourself and others —
or not?"

"He would be a danger-maker, Gotama."

"And making that danger,
would he be a person
who sympathised with their welfare,
or not?"

"He would not be considering their welfare, Gotama."

"And not considering their welfare,
would his heart stand fast in love toward them,
or in enmity?"

"In enmity, Gotama."

"But when one's heart stands fast in enmity,
is that unsound doctrine,
or sound?"

"It is unsound doctrine, Gotama."

"Now if a man hold unsound doctrine, Lohikka,
I declare that one of two future births
will be his lot,
either purgatory
or rebirth as an animal.

12 and 14. So then, Lohikka, you admit
that he who should say that you,
being in occupation of Sālavatikā,
should therefore yourself
enjoy all the revenue and produce thereof,
bestowing nothing on any one else;
and he who should say
that King Pasenadi of Kosala,
being in power over Kāsi and Kosala,
should therefore himself
enjoy all the revenue and produce thereof,
bestowing nothing on any one else —
would be making danger
for those living in dependence on you;
or for those,
you and others,
living in dependence upon the King.

And that those who thus make danger for others,
must be wanting in sympathy for them.

And that the man wanting in sympathy
has his heart set fast in enmity.

And that to have one's heart set fast in enmity
is unsound doctrine.

13 and 15. Then just so, Lohikka,
he who should say:

'Suppose a Samaṇa or a Brāhmaṇa
to have reached up to some good state
(of mind),
then should he tell no one else about it.

For what can one man do for another?

To tell others
would be like the man who,
having broken through an old bond,
should entangle himself in a new one.

Like that, I say,
is this desire to declare to others,
it is a form of lust' —

[229] Just [293] so he who should say thus,
would be putting obstacles in the way
of those clansman who,
having taken upon themselves
the Doctrine and Discipline —
set forth by Him-who-has-won-the-Truth,
have attained to great distinction therein —
to the fruit of conversion, for instance,
or to the fruit of once returning,
or to the fruit of never returning,
or even to Arahatship —
he would be putting obstacles in the way
of those who are bringing to fruition
the course of conduct
that will lead to rebirth
in states of bliss in heaven.¹¹

But putting obstacles in their way
he would be out of sympathy for their welfare;
being out of sympathy for their welfare
his heart would become established in enmity;
and when one's heart is established in enmity,
that is unsound doctrine.

Now if a man hold unsound doctrine, Lohikka,
I declare that one of two future births will be his lot,
either purgatory
or rebirth as an animal.¹²

[230] 16. There are these three sorts of teachers in the world, Lohikka,
who are worthy of blame.

And whosoever should blame such a one,
his rebuke would be justified,
in accord with the facts and the truth,
not improper.

What are the three?

In the first place, Lohikka,
there is a sort of teacher
who has not himself attained
to that aim of Samaṇaship
for the sake of which he left his home
and adopted the homeless life.

Without having himself attained to it
he teaches a doctrine
(Dhamma)
to his hearers,
saying:

'This is good for you,
this will make you happy.

Then those hearers of his
neither listen to him,
nor give ear to his words,
nor become stedfast in heart
through their knowledge thereof;
they go their own way,
apart from the teaching of the master.

Such a teacher may be rebuked,
setting out these facts,
and [294] adding:

'You are like one
who should make advances
to her who keeps repulsing him,
or should embrace her
who turns her face away from him.

Like that, do I say,
is this lust of yours
(to go on posing as a teacher of men,
no one heeding,
since they trust you not).

For what, then,
can one man do for another?'

This, Lohikka, is the first sort of teacher in the world
worthy of blame.

And whosoever should blame such a one,
his rebuke would be justified,
in accord with the facts and the truth,
not improper.

17. In the second place, Lohikka,
there is a sort of teacher
who has not himself attained
to that aim of Samaṇaship
for the sake of which he left his home
and adopted the homeless life.

Without having himself attained to it
he teaches a doctrine to his hearers,
saying:

'This is good for you;
that will make you happy.'

And to him his disciples listen;
[231] they give ear to his words;
they become stedfast in heart
by their understanding what is said;
and they go not their own way,
apart from the teaching of the master.

Such a teacher may be rebuked,
setting out these facts and adding:

'You are like a man who,
neglecting his own field,
should take thought
to weed out his neighbour's field.

Like that, do I say,
is this lust of yours
(to go on teaching others
when you have not taught yourself).

For what, then,
can one man do for another?'

This, Lohikka,
is the second sort of teacher in the world
worthy of blame.

And whosoever should blame such a one,
his rebuke would be justified,
in accord with the facts and the truth,
not improper.

18. And again, Lohikka,
in the third place,
there is a sort of teacher
who has himself attained to that aim of Samaṇaship
for the sake of which he left his home
and adopted the homeless life.

Having himself attained it,
he teaches the doctrine to his hearers,
saying:

'This is good for you,
that will make you happy.'

But those hearers of his
neither listen to him,
nor give ear to his words,
nor become stedfast in heart
through understanding thereof;
they go their own way,
apart [295] from the teaching of the master.

Such a teacher may be rebuked,
setting out these facts,
and adding:

'You are like a man who,
having broken through an old bond,
should entangle himself in a new one.

Like that, do I say,
is this lust of yours
(to go on teaching
when you have not trained yourself to teach).

For what, then, can one man do for another?'

This, Lohikka, is the third sort of teacher in the world
worthy of blame.

And whosoever should blame such a one,
his rebuke would be justified,
in accord with the facts and the truth,
not improper.

And these, Lohikka,
are the three sorts of teachers
of which I spoke."

[[232], [233]] 19. And when he had thus spoken,
Lohikka the Brahman spake thus
to the Exalted One:

"But is there, Gotama,
any sort of teacher
not worthy of blame in the world?"

"Yes, Lohikka, there is a teacher
not worthy, in the world, of blame."

"And what sort of a teacher, Gotama, is so?"

"Suppose, Lohikka, there appears in the world
one who has won the truth, an Arahat,
a fully awakened one,
abounding in wisdom and goodness, happy,
who knows all worlds,
unsurpassed as a guide
to mortals willing to be led,
a teacher for gods and men,
a Blessed One, a Buddha.

He, by himself, thoroughly knows and sees,
as it were, face-to-face this universe,
— including the worlds above of the gods,
the Brahmas, and the Māras,
and the world below with its recluses and Brahmans,
its princes and peoples, —
and having known it,
he makes his knowledge known to others.

The truth, lovely in its origin,
lovely in its progress,
lovely in its consummation,
doth he proclaim,
both in the spirit and in the letter,
the higher life doth he make known,
in all its fullness and in all its purity.

A householder or one of his children,
or a man of inferior birth in any class
listens to that truth;
and on hearing it he has faith in the Tathāgata (the one who has found the truth);
and when he is possessed of that faith,
he considers thus within himself:

'Full of hindrances is household life,
a path for the dust of passion.

Free as the air is the life
of him who has renounced all worldly things.

How difficult is it for the man who dwells at home
to live the higher life in all its fullness,
in all its purity,
in all its bright perfection!

Let me then cut off my hair and beard,
let me clothe myself in the orange-coloured robes,
and let me go forth
from the household life
into the homeless state.'

Then, before long,
forsaking his portion of wealth,
be it great or small,
forsaking his circle of relatives,
be they many or be they few,
he cuts off his hair and beard,
he clothes himself in the orange-coloured robes, and he goes forth from the household life
into the homeless state.

Putting away the killing of living things,
he holds aloof
from the destruction of life.

He lays the cudgel and the sword aside,
and ashamed of roughness,
and full of mercy,
he dwells compassionate and kind
to all creatures that have life.

Putting away the taking of what has not been given,
he lives aloof
from grasping what is not his own.

He takes only what is given,
and expecting that gifts will come,
he passes his life in honesty
and purity of heart.'

Putting away unchastity,
he is chaste.

He holds himself aloof,
far off,
from the vulgar practice,
from the sexual act.

Putting away lying words,
he holds himself aloof
from falsehood.

He speaks truth,
from the truth he never swerves;
faithful and trustworthy,
he breaks not his word to the world.

Putting away slander,
he holds himself aloof
from calumny.

What he hears here
he repeats not elsewhere
to raise a quarrel against the people here;
what he hears elsewhere
he repeats not here
to raise a quarrel against the people there.

Thus does he live as a binder together
of those who are divided,
an encourager of those who are friends,
a peacemaker,
a lover of peace,
impassioned for peace,
a speaker of words that make for peace.

Putting away rudeness of speech,
he holds himself aloof
from harsh language.

Whatsoever word is blameless,
pleasant to the ear,
lovely,
reaching to the heart,
urbane,
pleasing to the people,
beloved of the people -
such are words he speaks.'

Putting away frivolous talk,
he holds himself aloof
from vain conversation.

In season he speaks,
in accordance with the facts,
words full of meaning,
on religion,
on the discipline of the Order.

He speaks,
and at the right time,
words worthy to be laid up in one's heart,
fitly illustrated,
clearly divided,
to the point.'

He holds himself aloof
from causing injury
to seeds or plants.

He takes but one meal a day,
not eating at night,
refraining from food after hours (after midday).

He refrains from being a spectator
at shows at fairs,
with nautch dances,
singing,
and music.

He abstains from wearing,
adorning,
or ornamenting himself
with garlands,
scents,
and unguents.

He abstains from the use
of large and lofty beds.

He abstains from accepting
silver or gold.

He abstains from accepting
uncooked grain.

He abstains from accepting
raw meat.

He abstains from accepting
women or girls.

He abstains from accepting
bondmen or bondwomen.

He abstains from accepting
sheep or goats.

He abstains from accepting
fowls or swine.

He abstains from accepting
elephants,
cattle,
horses,
and mares.

He abstains from accepting
cultivated fields
or waste.

He abstains from
the acting as a go-between
or messenger.

He abstains
from buying and selling.

He abstains
from cheating with scales
or bronzes
or measures.

He abstains
from the crooked ways
of bribery,
cheating,
and fraud.

He abstains
from maiming,
murder,
putting in bonds,
highway robbery,
dacoity,
and violence.

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the injury
of seedlings and growing plants
whether propagated from roots
or cuttings
or joints
or buddings
or seeds
he holds aloof
from such injury to seedlings
and growing plants.'

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use
of things stored up;
stores, to wit,
of foods,
drinks,
clothing,
equipages,
bedding,
perfumes,
and curry-stuffs
he holds aloof
from such use of things stored up.

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to visiting shows;
that is to say:

(1) Nautch dances.

(2) Singing of songs.

(3) Instrumental music.

(4) Shows at fairs.

(5) Ballad recitations.

(6) Hand music.

(7) The chanting of bards.

(8) Tam-tam playing.

(9) Fairy scenes.

(10) Acrobatic feats by Kaṇḍālas.

(11) Combats of elephants, horses, buffaloes, bulls, goats, rams, cocks, and quails.

(12) Bouts at quarter-staff,
boxing,
wrestling.

(13-16) Sham-fights, roll-calls, manoeuvres, re- views

he holds aloof
from visiting such shows

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to games and recreations;
that is to say:

(1) Games on boards with eight,
or with ten,
rows of squares.

(2) The same games
played by imagining such boards in the air.

(3) Keeping going over diagrams
drawn on the ground
so that one steps
only where one ought to go.

(4) Either removing the pieces or men
from a heap with one's nail,
or putting them into a heap,
in each case without shaking it.

He who shakes the heap, loses.

(5) Throwing dice.

(6) Hitting a short stick
with a long one.

(7) Dipping the hand
with the fingers stretched out
in lac,
or red dye,
or flower-water,
and striking the wet hand
on the ground
or on a wall,
calling out: 'What shell it be?'
and showing the form required -
elephants, horses, etc.

(8) Games with balls.

(9) Blowing through toy pipes made of leaves.

(10) Ploughing with toy ploughs.

(11) Turning summersaults.

(12) Playing with toy windmills
made of palm-leaves.

(13) Playing with toy measures
made of palm-leaves.

(14, 15) Playing with toy carts
or toy bows.

(16) Guessing at letters
traced in the air,
or on a playfellow's back.

(17) Guessing the play fellow's thoughts.

(18) Mimicry of deformities.

he holds aloof
from such games and recreations.

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use
of high and large couches;
that is to say:

(1) Moveable settees,
high, and six feet long.

(2) Divans with animal figures carved on the supports.

(3) Goats' hair coverlets
with very long fleece.

(4) Patchwork counterpanes
of many colours.

(5) White blankets.

(6) Woollen coverlets
embroidered with flowers.

(7) Quilts stuffed with cotton wool.

(8) Coverlets embroidered with figures
of lions, tigers, etc.

(9) Rugs with fur on both sides.

(10) Rugs with fur on one side.

(11) Coverlets embroidered with gems.

(12) Silk coverlets.

(13) Carpets large enough for sixteen dancers.

(14-16) Elephant, horse, and chariot rugs.

(17) Rugs of antelope skins sewn together.

(18) Rugs of skins of the plantain antelope.

(19) Carpets with awnings above them.

(20) Sofas with red pillows
for the head and feet.

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use
of means for adorning and beautifying themselves;
that is to say:

Rubbing in scented powders
on one's body,
shampooing it,
and bathing it.

Patting the limbs with clubs
after the manner of wrestlers.

The use of mirrors,
eye-ointments,
garlands,
rouge,
cosmetics,
bracelets,
necklaces,
walking-sticks,
reed cases for drugs,
rapiers,
sunshades,
embroidered slippers,
turbans,
diadems,
whisks of the yak's tail,
and long-fringed white robes,

he holds aloof
from such means of adorning and beautifying the person.

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to such low conversation as these:

Tales of kings,
of robbers,
of ministers of state
tales of war,
of terrors,
of battles;
talk about foods and drinks,
clothes,
beds,
garlands,
perfumes;
talks about relationships,
equipages,
villages,
town,
cities,
and countries;
tales about women,
about heroes;
gossip at street corners,
or places whence water is fetched;
ghost stories;
desultory talk;
speculations about the creation
of the land or sea,
or about existence and non-existence,

he holds aloof
from such low conversation.

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use of wrangling phrases
such as -

'You don't understand
this doctrine and discipline,
I do.'

'How should you know about
this doctrine and discipline?'

'You have fallen into wrong views.'

'It is I who am in the right.'

'I am speaking to the point,
you are not.'

'You are putting last
what ought to come first,
first what ought to come last.'

'What you've excogitated so long,
that's all quite upset.'

'Your challenge has been taken up.'

'You are proved to be wrong.'

'Set to work to clear your views.'

'Disentangle yourself if you can,'

he holds aloof
from such wrangling phrases.

'Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to taking messages,
going on errands,
and acting as go-betweens;
to wit,
on kings,
ministers of state,
Kshatriyas,
Brahmans,
or young men, saying:

'Go there,
come hither,
take this with you,
bring that from thence'

he abstains from such servile duties.

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
are tricksters,
droners out (of holy words for pay),
diviners,
and exorcists,
ever hungering to add gain to gain
he holds aloof
from such deception and patter.'

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

(1) Palmistry —
prophesying long life,
prosperity, etc. (or the reverse),
from marks on child's hands, feet. etc.

(2) Divining
by means of omens and signs.

(3) Auguries
drawn from thunderbolts
and other celestial portents.

(4) Prognostication
by interpreting dreams.

(5) Fortune-telling
from marks on the body.

(6) Auguries
from the marks on cloth gnawed by mice.

(7) Sacrificing to Agni.

(8) Offering oblations from a spoon.

(9-13) Making offerings to gods
of husks
of the red powder between the grain and the husk,
of husked grain ready for boiling,
of ghee,
and of oil.

(14) Sacrificing
by spewing mustard seeds, etc.,
into the fire
out of one's mouth.

(15) Drawing blood from one's right knee
as a sacrifice to the gods.

(16) Looking at the knuckles, etc.,
and, after muttering a charm,
divining whether a man
is well born
or lucky
or not.

(17) Determining whether the site
for a proposed house or pleasance,
is lucky
or not.

(18) Advising on customary law.

(19) Laying demons in a cemetery.

(20) Laying ghosts.

(21) Knowledge of the charms to be used
when lodging in an earth house.

(22) Snake charming.

23) The poison craft.

(24) The scorpion craft.

(25) The mouse craft.

(26) The bird craft.

(27) The crow craft.

(28) Foretelling the number of years
that a man has yet to live.

(29) Giving charms to ward off arrows.

(30) The animal wheel.

he holds aloof from such low arts.

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these -

Knowledge of the signs
of good and bad qualities
in the following things
and of the marks in them
denoting the health
or luck
of their owners: —
to wit,
gems,
staves,
garments,
swords,
arrows,
bows,
other weapons,
women,
men,
boys,
girls,
slaves,
slave-girls,
elephants,
horses,
buffaloes,
bulls,
oxen,
goats,
sheep,
fowls,
quails,
iguanas,
earrings,
tortoises,
and other animals

he holds aloof from such low arts.

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as soothsaying,
to the effect that -

The chiefs will march out.

The chiefs will march back.

The home chiefs will attack,
and the enemies' retreat.

The enemies' chiefs will attack,
and ours will retreat.

The home chiefs will gain the victory,
and the foreign chiefs suffer defeat.

The foreign chiefs will gain the victory,
and ours will suffer defeat.

Thus will there be victory on this side,
defeat on that,

he holds aloof from such low arts.

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by such low arts
as foretelling -

(1) There will be an eclipse of the moon.

(2) There will be en eclipse of the sun.

(3) There will be en eclipse of a star.

(4) There will be aberration
of the sun or the moon.

(5) The sun or the moon
will return to its usual path.

(6) There will be aberrations of the stars.

(7) The stars will return to their usual course.

(8) There will be a fall of meteors.

(9) There will be a jungle fire.

(10) There will be an earthquake.

(11) The god will thunder.

(12-15) There will be rising and setting,
clearness and dimness,
of the sun or the moon or the stars,

or foretelling
of each of these fifteen phenomena
that they will betoken
such and such a result.

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:-

Foretelling an abundant rainfall.

Foretelling a deficient rainfall.

Foretelling a good harvest.

Foretelling scarcity of food.

Foretelling tranquillity.

Foretelling disturbances.

Foretelling a pestilence.

Foretelling a healthy season.

Counting on the fingers.

Counting without using the fingers.

Summing up large totals.

Composing ballads, poetising.

Casuistry, sophistry,

he holds aloof from such low arts.

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as-

(1) Arranging a lucky day
for marriages in which the bride or bridegroom
is brought home.

(2) Arranging a lucky day
for marriages in which the bride or bridegroom
is sent forth.

(3) Fixing a lucky time
for the conclusion of treaties of peace
[or using charms to procure harmony.

(4) Fixing a lucky time
for the outbreak of hostilities
[or using charms to make discord].

(5) Fixing-a lucky time
for the calling in of debts
[or charms for success in throwing dice].

(6) Fixing a lucky time
for the expenditure of money
[or charms to bring ill luck
to an opponent throwing dice].

(7) Using charms to make people lucky.

(8) Using charms to make people unlucky.

(9) Using charms to procure abortion.

(10) Incantations to bring on dumbness.

(11) Incantations to keep a man's jaws fixed.

(12) Incantations to make a man throw up his hands.

(13) Incantations to bring on deafness.

(14) Obtaining oracular answers
by means of the magic mirror.

(15) Obtaining oracular answers
through a girl possessed.

(16) Obtaining oracular answers
from a god.

(17) The worship of the Sun.

(18) The worship of the Great One.

(19) Bringing forth flames
from one's mouth.

(20) Invoking Siri,
the goddess of Luck —

he holds aloof from such low arts.

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:-

(1) Vowing gifts to a god
if a certain benefit be granted.

(2) Paying such vows.

(3) Repeating charms
while lodging in an earth house.

(4) Causing virility.

(5) Making a man impotent.

(6) Fixing on lucky sites for dwelling.

(7) Consecrating sites.

(8) Ceremonial rinsings of the month.

(9) Ceremonial bathings.

(10) Offering sacrifices.

(11-14) Administering emetics and purgatives.

(15) Purging people
to relieve the head
(that is by giving drugs
to make people sneeze).

(16) Oiling people's ears
(either to make them grow
or to heal sores on them).

(17) Satisfying people's eyes
(soothing them by dropping medicinal oils into them).

(18) Administering drugs through the nose.

(19) Applying collyrium to the eyes.

(20) Giving medical ointment for the eyes.

(21) Practising as an oculist.

(22) Practising as a surgeon.

(23) Practising as a doctor for children.

(24) Administering roots and drugs.

(25) Administering medicines in rotation.

he holds aloof from such low arts.

And then he, Lohikka,
being thus master of the minor moralities,
sees no danger from any side,
that is, so far as concerns
his self-restraint in conduct.

Just, Lohikka, as a sovereign, duly crowned,
whose enemies have been beaten down,
sees no danger from any side;
that is, so far as enemies are concerned,
so is he confident.

And endowed with this body of morals,
so worthy of honour,
he experiences, within himself,
a sense of ease without alloy.

And whosoever the teacher be, Lohikka,
under whom the disciple attains
to distinction so excellent as that,
that, Lohikka, is a teacher
not open to blame in the world.

And whosoever should blame such a one,
his rebuke would be unjustifiable,
not in accord either with the facts
or with the truth,
without good ground.

§

And how, Lohikka, is he guarded as to the doors of his senses?

When, Lohikka, he sees an object with his eye
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of sight.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of sight,
and he attains to mastery over it.

■

When, Lohikka, he hears a sound with his ear
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of hearing.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of hearing,
and he attains to mastery over it.

■

When, Lohikka, he smells an odour with his nose
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of smell.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of smell,
and he attains to mastery over it.

■

When, Lohikka, he tastes a flavour with his tongue
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of taste.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of taste,
and he attains to mastery over it.

■

When, Lohikka, he feels a touch with his body
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of touch.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of touch,
and he attains to mastery over it.

■

When, Lohikka, he cognises a phenomenon with his mind
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his mental (representative) faculty.

He keeps watch upon his representative faculty,
and he attains to mastery over it.

■

And endowed with this self-restraint,
so worthy of honour,
as regards the senses,
he experiences, within himself, a sense of ease
into which no evil state can enter.

Thus is it, Lohikka,
that the Bhikshu becomes guarded
as to the doors of his senses.

And whosoever the teacher be, Lohikka,
under whom the disciple attains
to distinction so excellent as that,
that, Lohikka, is a teacher
not open to blame in the world.

And whosoever should blame such a one,
his rebuke would be unjustifiable,
not in accord either with the facts
or with the truth,
without good ground.

§

And how, Lohikka, is the Bhikshu
mindful and self-possessed?

In this matter, Lohikka,
the Bhikshu
in going forth or in coming back
whether looking forward,
or in looking round;
in stretching forth his arm,
or in drawing it in again;
in eating or drinking,
in masticating or swallowing,
in obeying the calls of nature,
in going or standing or sitting,
in sleeping or waking,
in speaking or in being still,
he keeps himself aware
of all it really means.

Thus is it, Lohikka,
that the Bhikshu becomes mindful and self-possessed.

And whosoever the teacher be, Lohikka,
under whom the disciple attains
to distinction so excellent as that,
that, Lohikka, is a teacher
not open to blame in the world.

And whosoever should blame such a one,
his rebuke would be unjustifiable,
not in accord either with the facts
or with the truth,
without good ground.

§

And how, Lohikka, is the Bhikshu content?

In this matter, Lohikka,
the Bhikshu is satisfied with sufficient robes
to cherish his body,
with sufficient food
to keep his stomach going.

Whithersoever he may go forth,
these he takes with him as he goes
- just as a bird with his wings, Lohikka,
whithersoever he may fly,
carries his wings with him as he flies.

Thus is it, Lohikka,
that the Bhikshu becomes content.

And whosoever the teacher be, Lohikka,
under whom the disciple attains
to distinction so excellent as that,
that, Lohikka, is a teacher
not open to blame in the world.

And whosoever should blame such a one,
his rebuke would be unjustifiable,
not in accord either with the facts
or with the truth,
without good ground.

§

Then, master of this so excellent body of moral precepts,
gifted with this so excellent self-restraint as to the senses,
endowed with this so excellent mindfulness and self-possession,
filled with this so excellent content,
he chooses some lonely spot
to rest at on his way
— in the woods,
at the foot of a tree,
on a hill side,
in a mountain glen,
in a rocky cave,
in a charnel place,
or on a heap of straw in the open field.

And returning thither
after his round for alms
he seats himself, when his meal is done,
cross-legged,
keeping his body erect,
and his intelligence alert, intent.

■

Putting away the hankering after the world,
he remains with a heart that hankers not,
and purifies his mind of lusts.

■

Putting away the corruption
of the wish to injure,
he remains with a heart free from ill temper,
and purifies his mind of malevolence.

■

Putting away torpor of heart and mind,
keeping his ideas alight,
mindful and self-possessed,
he purifies his mind of weakness and of sloth.

■

Putting away flurry and worry,
he remains free from fretfulness,
and with heart serene within,
he purifies himself of irritability
and vexation of spirit.

■

Putting away wavering,
he remains as one passed beyond perplexity;
and no longer in suspense as to what is good,
he purifies his mind of doubt.

■

Then just, Lohikka,
as when a man, after contracting a loan,
should set a business on foot,
and his business should succeed,
and he should not only be able
to pay off the old debt he had incurred,
but there should be a surplus over
to maintain a wife.

Then would he realize:

'I used to have to carry on my business
by getting into debt,
but it has gone so well with me
that I have paid off what I owed,
and have a surplus over
to maintain a wife.'

And he would be of good cheer at that,
would be glad of heart at that: —

■

Then just, Lohikka,
as if a man were a prey to disease,
in pain, and very ill,
and his food would not digest,
and there were no strength left in him;
and after a time
he were to recover from that disease,
and his food should digest,
and his strength come back to him;
then, when he realized his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

■

Then just, Lohikka,
as if a man were bound in a prison house,
and after a time
he should be set free from his bonds,
safe and sound,
and without any confiscation of his goods;
when he realized his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

■

Then just, Lohikka,
as if a man were a slave,
not his own master,
subject to another,
unable to go whither he would;
and after a time
he should be emancipated from that slavery,
become his own master,
not subject to others,
a free man,
free to go whither he would;
then, on realising his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

■

Then just, Lohikka,
as if a man, rich and prosperous,
were to find himself on a long road,
in a desert, where no food was,
but much danger;
and after a time
were to find himself out of the desert,
arrived safe,
on the borders of his village,
in security and peace;
then, on realising his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

■

Just so, Lohikka, the Bhikshu,
so long as these five hindrances
are not put away within him
looks upon himself as in debt,
diseased,
in prison,
in slavery,
lost on a desert road.

But when these five hindrances
have been put away within him,
he looks upon himself as freed from debt,
rid of disease,
out of jail,
a free man,
and secure.

And gladness springs up within him
on his realising that,
and joy arises to him thus gladdened,
and so rejoicing
all his frame becomes at ease,
and being thus at ease
he is filled with a sense of peace,
and in that peace his heart is stayed.

And whosoever the teacher be, Lohikka,
under whom the disciple attains
to distinction so excellent as that,
that, Lohikka, is a teacher
not open to blame in the world.

And whosoever should blame such a one,
his rebuke would be unjustifiable,
not in accord either with the facts
or with the truth,
without good ground.

§

Then estranged from lusts,
aloof from evil dispositions,
he enters into and remains in the First Rapture
— a state of joy and ease born of detachment,
reasoning and investigation going on the while.

His very body does he so pervade,
drench,
permeate,
and suffuse
with the joy and ease born of detachment,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

Just, Lohikka, as a skilful bathman
or his apprentice
will scatter perfumed soap powder
in a metal basin,
and then besprinkling it with water,
drop by drop,
will so knead it together
that the ball of lather,
taking up the unctuous moisture,
is drenched with it,
pervaded by it,
permeated by it within and without,
and there is no leakage possible.

■

Then further, Lohikka,
the Bhikshu suppressing all reasoning and investigation
enters into and abides in the Second Jhāna,
a state of joy and ease,
born of the serenity of concentration,
when no reasoning or investigation goes on,
— a state of elevation of mind,
a tranquillisation of the heart within.

'And his very body does he so pervade,
drench,
permeate,
and suffuse with the joy and ease born of concentration,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

'Just, Lohikka,
as if there were a deep pool,
with water welling up into it
from a spring beneath,
and with no inlet from the east or west,
from the north or south,
and the god should not
from time to time
send down showers of rain upon it.
Still the current of cool waters
rising up from that spring
would pervade,
fill,
permeate,
and suffuse the pool
with cool waters,
and there would be no part or portion of the pool
unsuffused therewith.

■

Then further, Lohikka, the Bhikshu,
holding aloof from joy,
becomes equable;
and mindful and self-possessed
he experiences in his body
that ease which the Arahats talk of when they say:
"The man serene and self-possessed
is well at ease,"
and so he enters into
and abides in the Third Jhāna.

And his very body
does he so pervade,
drench,
permeate,
and suffuse with that ease
that has no joy with it,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

Just, Lohikka,
as when in a lotus tank
the several lotus flowers,
red or white or blue,
born in the water,
grown up in the water,
not rising up above the surface of the water,
drawing up nourishment from the depths of the water,
are so pervaded,
drenched,
permeated,
and suffused
from their very tips
down to their roots
with the cool moisture thereof,
that there is no spot in the whole plant,
whether of the red lotus,
or of the white,
or of the blue,
not suffused therewith.

■

Then further, Lohikka, the Bhikshu,
by the putting away alike of ease and of pain,
by the passing away alike of any elation,
any dejection,
he had previously felt,
enters into and abides in the Fourth Jhāna,
a state of pure self-possession and equanimity,
without pain and without ease.

And he sits there
so suffusing even his body
with that sense of purification,
of translucence of heart,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

Just, Lohikka,
as if a man were sitting
so wrapt from head to foot in a clean white robe,
that there were no spot in his whole frame
not in contact with the clean white robe
— just so, Lohikka, does the Bhikshu sit there,
so suffusing even his body
with that sense of purification,
of translucence of heart,
that there is no spot in his whole frame
not suffused therewith.

And whosoever the teacher be, Lohikka,
under whom the disciple attains
to distinction so excellent as that,
that, Lohikka, is a teacher
not open to blame in the world.

And whosoever should blame such a one,
his rebuke would be unjustifiable,
not in accord either with the facts
or with the truth,
without good ground.

§

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he applies and bends down his mind
to that insight that comes from knowledge.

He grasps the fact:

'This body of mine has form,
it is built up of the four elements,
it springs from father and mother,
it is continually renewed
by so much boiled rice and juicy foods,
its very nature is impermanence,
it is subject to erasion,
abrasion,
dissolution,
and disintegration;
and therein is this consciousness of mine, too, bound up,
on that does it depend.'

Just, Lohikka,
as if there were a veluriya gem,
bright, of the purest water,
with eight facets,
excellently cut,
clear, translucent,
without a flaw,
excellent in every way.
And through it a string,
blue, or orange-coloured,
or red, or white, or yellow
should be threaded.
If a man, who had eyes to see,
were to take it into his hand,
he would clearly perceive
how the one is bound up with the other.

And whosoever the teacher be, Lohikka,
under whom the disciple attains
to distinction so excellent as that,
that, Lohikka, is a teacher
not open to blame in the world.

And whosoever should blame such a one,
his rebuke would be unjustifiable,
not in accord either with the facts
or with the truth,
without good ground.

§

With his heart thus serene,
made pure, translucent,
cultured, devoid of evil,
supple, ready to act,
firm, and imperturbable,
he directs and bends down his mind
to the knowledge of the destruction of the Deadly Floods.

He knows as it really is:

'This is pain.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the origin of pain.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the cessation of pain.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the Path that leads to the cessation of pain.'

He knows as they really are:

'These are the Deadly Floods.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the origin of the Deadly Floods.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the cessation of the Deadly Floods.'

He knows as it really is:

'This is the Path that leads to the cessation of the Deadly Floods.'

■

To him, thus knowing, thus seeing,
the heart is set free
from the Deadly Taint of Lusts,
is set free from the Deadly Taint of Becomings,
is set free from the Deadly Taint of Ignorance.

In him, thus set free,
there arises the knowledge of his emancipation,
and he knows:

'Rebirth has been destroyed.

The higher life has been fulfilled.

What had to be done has been accomplished.

After this present life
there will be no beyond!

Just, Lohikka,
as if in a mountain fastness
there were a pool of water,
clear, translucent, and serene;
and a man, standing on the bank,
and with eyes to see,
should perceive the oysters and the shells,
the gravel and the pebbles
and the shoals of fish
as they move about or lie within it:
he would know:

'This pool is clear, transparent, and serene,
and there within it
are the oysters and the shells,
and the sand and gravel,
and the shoals of fish are moving about
or lying still.

[296] And whosoever the teacher be, Lohikka,
under whom the disciple attains
to distinction so excellent as that,¹³
that, Lohikka, is a teacher
not open to blame in the world.

And whosoever should blame such a one,
his rebuke would be unjustifiable,
not in accord either with the facts
or with the truth,
without good ground."

§

[234] 78. And when he had thus spoken,
Lohikka the Brahman said to the Exalted One:

"Just, Gotama, as if a man
had caught hold of a man
falling over the precipitous edge of purgatory,
by the hair of his head,
and lifted him up safe back on the firm land —
just so have I,
on the point of falling into purgatory,
been lifted back on to the land
by the venerable Gotama.

Most excellent, O Gotama,
are the words of thy mouth,
most excellent!

Just as if a man were to set up
what has been thrown down,
or were to reveal
what has been hidden away,
or were to point out the right road
to him who has gone astray,
or were to bring a light into the darkness
so that those who had eyes
could see external forms —
just even so has the truth been made known to me,
in many a [297] figure,
by the venerable Gotama.

And I, even I, betake myself
to the venerable Gotama as my guide,
to the Doctrine,
and to the Order.

May the venerable Gotama
accept me as a disciple;
as one who,
from this day forth
as long as life endures,
has taken him as his guide!"

HERE ENDS THE LOHICCA SUTTANTA

¹ Commentary on the Vedānta-Sūtras I, 3, 38.

² Manu 1, 88.

³ Ibid. IX, 317, 319.

⁴ Ibid. XI, 85.

⁵ Baines, 'General Report on the Census of 1891, pp. 190, 202. The census shows that out of 261 millions only fifteen millions could read or write. On this striking fact Mr. Baines comments (p. 211) 'The second influence antagonistic to a more general spread of literacy is the long continued existence of a hereditary class whose object it has been to maintain their own monopoly of book learning as the chief buttress of their social supremacy. The opposition of the Brahmins to the rise of the writer class has been already mentioned; and the repugnance of both, in the present day, to the diffusion of learning amongst the masses, can only be appreciated after long experience.

⁶ 'Revue Critique,' June, 1873, translated by Dr. Muir in the Indian Antiquary,' 1874 .

⁷ This is, I think, a local name; the name of the place from which he had come. If that be so, the better rendering throughout would be 'the Lohikka Brahman.'

⁸ See above, pp. 108, 144.

⁹ This is open to two interpretations: 'What can the teacher gain from a disciple?' or 'What can a disciple gain from a teacher?' 'Why should you trouble about others? they cannot help you!' or 'Why should you trouble about others? you cannot help them!' But in either case the implied ground of the argument is the proposition that a man's rise or fall, progress or defeat, in intellectual and religious matters, lies in himself. He must work out his own salvation.

¹⁰ It is clear from this expression that Bhesikā was already a follower of the new teaching.

¹¹ Literally 'Who are making. heavenly embryos ripe for rebirth in heavenly states.'

¹² Paragraphs (12, 13 are repeated of the case put about Pasenadi, king of Kosala. In the translation both cases are included at the beginning of § 12.

¹³ Ulāraṃ visesaṃ adhigacchati. See for instance Saṃyutta V, 154, 5.

13. On Knowledge of the Vedas

Tevijja Suttantaṃ

[298]

Introduction

.

This is the only Suttanta, among the thirteen translated in this volume, in which the discourse does not lead up to Arahatship. It leads up only to the so-called Brahma Vihāras — the supreme conditions — four states of mind held to result, after death, in a rebirth in the heavenly worlds of Brahmā. Why is it — the Buddhist ideal being Arahatship, which leads to no rebirth at all — that this lower ideal is thus suddenly introduced?

It would seem that the particular point here discussed was regarded as so important that it could scarcely be left out. And when we recollect that the highest teaching current before the Buddha, and still preserved in the pre-Buddhistic Upanishads, was precisely about union with Brahmā; we may, without much danger of error, explain the position occupied in the series of dialogues by this Suttanta by the supposition that it was deliberately inserted here as the Buddhist answer to the Upanishad theory. In this respect it is noteworthy that the neuter Brahman is quietly ignored. That is quite in accordance with the method of the Suttantas. The Buddha is in them often represented as using, in his own sense, words familiar to his interlocutors in a different sense. The neuter Brahman is, so far as I am aware, entirely unknown in the Nikāyas, and of course the Buddha's idea of Brahmā, in the masculine, really differs widely from that of the Upanishads.

There is nothing original in the Buddhist belief that a man's habit of mind at the time of his death would determine, save only in the one case of the Arahat, the nature of his rebirth. It is an Indian — not an exclusively Buddhist theory. The Buddhist texts represent it as held by non-Buddhists, and already long before. the Buddha's time, and as accepted by all as a matter of course. And it is even not exclusively Indian. As I have pointed out elsewhere, it is [299] ascribed by Plato to Socrates.¹ The essentially Buddhist parts of the theory are three. In the first place, the choice of the particular details they held essential to such a habit of mind as would lead to rebirth in the Brahmā-worlds; secondly, their doctrine that there was not really any 'soul' to be reborn; and thirdly, that the highest ideal was not to be reborn at all (even only once, and into union with Brahmā).

The Jātaka commentary in numerous passages states that the four Brahma vihāras were practised, long before the time of the rise of Buddhism, by the sages of old. I have not found such a statement in the Nikāyas; and it is most probable therefore that the Jātaka commentator is ante-dating the particular meditations in question. However this may be, they remained, throughout the long history of Buddhism, an essential part of Buddhist practice. They are even mentioned in the Jātaka Mālā, a work usually supposed to be Mahāyānist, and dated about a thousand years later than the Buddha.² They are well known to-day in Burma, Siam, and Ceylon. And it would be interesting to know whether they still form a part of the regulated meditations which are known to be practised by Buddhists in Thibet, China, and Japan. But they have not been found in any Indian book not a Buddhist work, and are therefore almost certainly exclusively Buddhist. Even the most determined anti-Buddhist must admit the beauty of the language (in spite of its repetitions §§ 76-78), the subtle depth of the ideas, and the great value of the practice from the point of view of ethical self-training. He would probably rejoin, and with truth, that similar sentiments are met with in other (post-Buddhistic) Indian books. But it is one thing to give expression in isolated passages to such views, and quite another to have selected just these four as the four cornerstones of habitual endeavour.

It should be recollected that the argument here is only an argumetium ad hominem. If you want union with Brahmā — which you had much better not want — this is the way to attain to it.³

[300]

XIII. Tevijja Sutta

On Knowledge Of The Vedas⁴

THUS HAVE I HEARD.

When the Exalted One was once journeying through Kosala
with a great company of the brethren,
with about five hundred brethren,
he came to the Brahman village in Kosala
which is called Manasākaṭa.

And there at Manasākaṭa
the Exalted One stayed in the mango grove,
on the bank of the river Akiravatī,
to the north of Manasākaṭa.

2. Now at that time
many very distinguished and wealthy Brahmans
were staying at Manasākaṭa;
to wit, Kaṇkī the Brahman,
Tārukkha the Brahman,
Pokkharasādi the Brahman,
Jāṇussoṇi the Brahman,
Todeyya the Brahman,
and other very distinguished and wealthy Brahmans⁵.

[301] 3. Now a conversation sprung up between Vāseṭṭha and Bhāradvāja,
when they were taking exercise
(after their bath)
and walking up and down,
in thoughtful mood,
as to which was the true path,
and which the false⁶.

4. The young Brahman Vāseṭṭha spake thus:

"This is the straight path,
this the direct way
which makes for salvation,
and leads him who acts according to it,
into a state of union with Brahmā.

I mean that which has been announced
by the Brahman Pokkharasādi."

5. The young Brahman Bhāradvāja spake thus:

"This is the straight path,
this the direct way
which makes for salvation,
and leads him who acts according to it,
into a state of union with Brahmā.

I mean that which has been announced
by the Brahman Tārukkha."

6. But neither was the young Brahman Vāseṭṭha
able to convince the young Brahman Bhāradvāja,
nor was the young Brahman Bhāradvāja
able to convince the young Brahman Vāseṭṭha.

7. Then the young Brahman Vāseṭṭha
said to the young Brahman Bhāradvāja:

"That Samaṇa Gotama, Bhāradvāja,
of the sons of the Sākyas,
who went out from the Sākya clan
to adopt the religious life,
is now staying at Manasākaṭa,
in the mango grove,
on the bank of the river Aciravatī,
to the north of Manasākaṭa.

Now regarding that venerable Gotama,
such is the high reputation
that has been noised abroad:

'That Exalted One is an Arahat,
a fully enlightened one,
abounding in wisdom and goodness,
happy,
with knowledge of the worlds,
unsurpassed as a guide
to mortals willing to be led,
a teacher of gods and men,
an Exalted One,
a Buddha.'

[302] Come, then, Bhāradvāja,
let us go to the place
where the Samaṇa Gotama is;
and when we have come there,
let us ask the Samaṇa Gotama
touching this matter.

What the Samaṇa Gotama shall declare unto us,
that let us bear in mind."⁷

"Very well, my friend!"
said the young Brahman Bhāradvāja, in assent,
to the young Brahman Vāseṭṭha.

§

8. Then the young Brahman Vāseṭṭha
and the young Brahman Bhāradvāja
went on to the place
where the Exalted One was.

And when they had come there,
they exchanged with the Exalted One
the greetings and compliments
of politeness and courtesy,
and sat down beside him.

And while they were thus seated
the young Brahman Vāseṭṭha
said to the Exalted One:

"As we, Gotama, were taking exercise
and walking up and down,
there sprung up a conversation between us
on which was the true path,
and which the false.

I said thus:

'This is the straight path,
this the direct way
which makes for salvation,
and leads him who acts according to it,
into a state of union with Brahmā.

I mean that which has been announced
by the Brahman Pokkharasādi.'

Bhāradvāja said thus:

'This is the straight path,
this the direct way
which makes for salvation,
and leads him who acts according to it,
into a state of union with Brahmā.

I mean that which has been announced
by the Brahman Tārukkha.'

Regarding this matter, Gotama,
there is a strife,
a dispute,
a difference of opinion between us."

9. "So you say, Vāseṭṭha,
that you said thus:

'This is the straight path,
this the direct way
which makes for salvation,
and leads him who acts according to it,
into a state of union with Brahmā.

[303] I mean that which has been announced
by the Brahman Pokkharasādi.'

While Bhāradvāja said thus:

'This is the straight path,
this the direct way
which makes for salvation,
and leads him who acts according to it,
into a state of union with Brahmā.

I mean that which has been announced
by the Brahman Tārukkha.'

Wherein, then, O Vāseṭṭha,
is there a strife,
a dispute,
a difference of opinion between you?"⁸

10. "Concerning the true path
and the false, Gotama.

Various Brahmans, Gotama,
teach various paths.

The Addhariyā Brahmans,
the Tittiriyā Brahmans,
the Chandokā Brahmans
[the Chandavā Brahmans],
the Bavharijā Brahmans.⁹

Are all those saving paths?

Are they all paths
which will lead him who acts according to them,
into a state of union with Brahmā?

Just, Gotama, as
near a village or a town
there are many and various paths,¹⁰
yet they all meet together in the village —
just in that way
are all the various paths
taught by various Brahmans —
the Addhariyā Brahmans,
the Tittiriyā Brahmans,
the Chandokā Brahmans
[the Chandavā Brahmans],
the Bavharijā Brahmans.

Are all these saving paths?

Are they all paths
which will lead him who acts according to them,
into a state of union with Brahmā?"

11. "Do you say that they all lead aright, Vāseṭṭha?"

"I say so, Gotama."

[304] "Do you really say that they all lead aright, Vāseṭṭha?"

"So I say, Gotama."

12. "But yet, Vāseṭṭha,
is there a single one
of the Brahmans versed in the Three Vedas,
who has ever seen Brahmā face-to-face"?

"No, indeed, Gotama."

"Or is there then, Vāseṭṭha,
a single one of the teachers
of the Brahmans versed in the Three Vedas
who has seen Brahmā face-to-face"?

"No, indeed, Gotama!"

"Or is there then, Vāseṭṭha,
a single one of the pupils of the teachers
of the Brahmans versed in the Three Vedas
who has seen Brahmā face-to-face"?

"No, indeed, Gotama!"

"Or is there then, Vāseṭṭha,
a single one of the Brahmans
up to the seventh generation
who has seen Brahmā face-to-face?"

"No, indeed, Gotama!"

13. "Well then, Vāseṭṭha,
those ancient Rishis
of the Brahmans versed in the Three Vedas,
the authors of the verses,
the utterers of the verses,
whose ancient form of words
so chanted, uttered, or composed,
the Brahmans of to-day chant over again or repeat;
intoning or reciting
exactly as has been intoned or recited -
to wit, Aṭṭhaka,
Vāmaka,
Vāmadeva,
Vessāmitta,
Yamataggi,
Aṇgirasa,
Bhāradvāja,
Vāseṭṭha,
Kassapa,
and Bhagu¹¹ —
did even they speak thus, saying:

'We know it,
we have seen it,
where Brahmā is
whence Brahmā is,
whither Brahmā is'?"

"Not so, Gotama!"

14. "Then you say, Vāseṭṭha
that none of the Brahmans,
or of their teachers,
or of their pupils,
even up to the seventh generation,
has ever seen Brahmā face-to-face.

And that even the Rishis of old,
the authors and utterers of the verses,
of the ancient form of words
which the Brahmans of to-day so carefully intone
and recite precisely as they have [305] been handed down -
even they did not pretend to know
or to have seen
where
or whence
or whither Brahmā is.¹²

So that the Brahmans versed in the Three Vedas
have forsooth said thus:

'What we know not,
what we have not seen,
to a state of union with that
we can show the way,
and can say:

'This Is the straight path,
this is the direct way
which makes for salvation,
and leads him who acts according to it,
into a state of union with Brahmā!'

Now what think you, Vāseṭṭha?

Does it not follow,
this being so,
that the talk of the Brahmans,
versed though they be in the Three Vedas,
turns out to be foolish talk"?

"In sooth, Gotama,
that being, so,
it follows that the talk
of the Brahmans versed in the Three Vedas
is foolish talk!"

15. "Verily, Vāseṭṭha,
that Brahmans versed in the Three Vedas
should be able to show the way
to a state of union
with that which they do not know,
neither have seen -
such a condition of things
can in no wise be!

Just, Vāseṭṭha,
as when a string of blind men
are clinging one to the other,¹³
neither can the foremost see,
nor can the middle one see,
nor can the hindmost see —
just even so, methinks, Vāseṭṭha, is the talk
of the Brahmans versed in the Three Vedas
but blind talk:
the first sees not,
the middle one sees not,
nor can the latest see.

The talk then
of these [306] Brahmans versed in the Three Vedas
turns out to be ridiculous,
mere words,
a vain and empty thing!

16. Now what think you, Vāseṭṭha?

Can the Brahmans versed in the Three Vedas —
like other, ordinary, folk —
see the Moon and the Sun
as they pray to,
and praise,
and worship them,
turning round with clasped hands
towards the place whence they rise
and where they set?"

"Certainly, Gotama, they can".¹⁴

17. "Now what think you, Vāseṭṭha?

The Brahmans versed in the Three Vedas,
who can very well —
like other, ordinary, folk —
see the Moon and the Sun
as they pray to,
and praise,
and worship them,
turning round with clasped hands
to the place whence they rise
and where they set —
are those Brahmans,
versed in the Three Vedas,
able to point out the way
to a state of union
with the Moon or the Sun,
saying:

'This is the straight path,
this the direct way
which makes for salvation,
and leads him who acts according to it,
to a state of union with the Moon or the Sun'"?

"Certainly, not, Gotama"!

18. "So you say, Vāseṭṭha,
that the Brahmans are not able to point out
the way to union
with that which they have seen,
and you further say
that neither any one of them,
nor of their pupils,
nor of their predecessors
even to the seventh generation
has ever seen Brahmā.

And you further say
that even the Rishis of old,
whose words they hold in such deep respect,
did not pretend to know,
or to have seen
where, or whence, or whither Brahmā is.

Yet these Brahmans versed in the Three Vedas
say, forsooth,
that they can point out the way to union
with that which they know not,
neither have seen.¹⁵

Now what [307] think you, Vāseṭṭha?

Does it not follow that,
this being so,
the talk of the Brahmans,
versed though they be in the Three Vedas,
turns out to be foolish talk?"

"In sooth, Gotama,
that being so,
it follows that the talk of the Brahmans
versed in the Three Vedas
is foolish talk!"

19. "Very good, Vāseṭṭha.

Verily then, Vāseṭṭha,
that Brahmans versed in the Three Vedas
should be able to show the way
to a state of union
with that which they do not know,
neither have seen -
such a condition of things
can in no wise be!

§

Just, Vāseṭṭha, as if a man should say,

'How I long for,
how I love
the most beautiful woman in this land!'

And people should ask him,

'Well! good friend!
this most beautiful woman in the land,
whom you thus love and long for,
do you know whether that beautiful woman
is a noble lady
or a Brahman woman,
or of the trader class,
or a Sūdra?'

But when so asked,
he should answer:

'No.'

And when people should ask him,

'Well! good friend!
this most beautiful woman in all the land,
whom you so love and long for,
do you know what the name
of that most beautiful woman is,
or what is her family name,
whether she be tall
or short
or of medium height,
dark
or brunette
or golden in colour,
or in what village
or town
or city she dwells'?

But when so asked, he should answer:

'No.'

And then people should say to him:

'So then, good friend,
whom you know not,
neither have seen,
her do you love and long for'?

And then when so asked, he should answer:

'Yes.'

Now what think you, Vāseṭṭha?

Would it not turn out,
that being so,
that the talk of that man
was foolish talk"?

"In sooth, Gotama,
it would turn out,
that being so,
that the talk of that man
was foolish talk!"

[308] 20. "And just even so, Vāseṭṭha
though you say that the Brahmans
are not able to point out the way to union
with that which they have seen,
and you further say that
neither any one of them,
nor of their pupils,
nor of their predecessors
even to the seventh generation
has ever seen Brahmā.

And you further say
that even the Rishis of old,
whose words they hold in such deep respect,
did not pretend to know,
or to have seen
where, or whence, or whither Brahmā is.

Yet these Brahmans versed in the Three Vedas
say, forsooth,
that they can point out the way to union
with that which they know not,
neither have seen.

Now what think you, Vāseṭṭha?

Does it not follow that,
this being so,
the talk of the Brahmans,
versed though they be in the Three Vedas,
is foolish talk?"

"In sooth, Gotama,
that being so,
it follows that the talk
of the Brahmans versed in the Three Vedas
is foolish talk!"

"Very good, Vāseṭṭha.

Verily then, Vāseṭṭha,
that Brahmans versed in the Three Vedas
should be able to show the way
to a state of union
with that which they do not know,
neither have seen —
such a condition of things can in no wise be.

§

21. Just, Vāseṭṭha,
as if a man should make a staircase
in the place where four roads cross,
to mount up into a mansion.

And people should say to him,

'Well, good friend,
this mansion,
to mount up into which
you are making this staircase,
do you know whether it is in the east,
or in the south,
or in the west,
or in the north?
whether it is high
or low
or of medium size'?

And when so asked, he should answer:

'No.'

And people should say to him,

'But then, good friend,
you are making a staircase
to mount up into something —
taking it for a mansion —
which, all the while, you know not,
neither have seen!'

And when so asked, he should answer:

'Yes.'

Now what think you, Vāseṭṭha?

Would it not [309] turn out
that being so,
that the talk of that man was foolish talk?"

"In sooth, Gotama,
it would turn out,
that being so,
that the talk of that man
was foolish talk!"

22. "And just even so, Vāseṭṭha,
though you say that the Brahmans
are not able to point out the way
to union with that which they have seen,
and you further say
that neither any one of them,
nor of their pupils,
nor of their predecessors
even to the seventh generation
has ever seen Brahmā.

And you further say
that even the Rishis of old,
whose words they hold in such deep respect,
did not pretend to know,
or to have seen
where,
or whence,
or whither Brahmā is.

Yet these Brahmans versed in the Three Vedas
say, forsooth,
that they can point out the way
to union with that which they know not,
neither have seen!

Now what think you, Vāseṭṭha?

Does it not follow that,
this being so,
the talk of the Brahmans versed in the Three Vedas
is foolish talk?"

"In sooth, Gotama,
that being so,
it follows that the talk
of the Brahmans versed in the Three Vedas
is foolish talk!"

23. "Very good, Vāseṭṭha.

Verily then, Vāseṭṭha,
that Brahmans versed in the Three Vedas
should be able to show the way
to a state of union
with that which they do not know,
neither have seen -
such a condition of things
can in no wise be."

§

24. Again, Vāseṭṭha,
if this river Aciravatī were full of water
even to the brim,
and over-flowing.¹⁶

And a man with business on the other side,
bound for the other side,
making, for the other side,
should come up,
and want to cross over.

And he, standing on this bank,
should invoke the further bank,
and say,

'Come hither, O further bank!
come over to this side!'

Now what think you, Vāseṭṭha?

Would the further bank
of the river Aciravatī,
by reason of that man's [310] invoking
and praying
and hoping
and praising,
come over to this side?"

"Certainly not, Gotama!"

25. "In just the same way, Vāseṭṭha,
do the Brahmans versed in the Three Vedas, —
omitting the practice of those qualities
which really make a man a Brahman,
and adopting the practice of those qualities
which really make men non-Brahmans —
say thus:

'Indra we call upon,
Soma we call upon,
Varuṇa we call upon,
Īsāna we call upon,
Pajāpati we call upon,
Brahmā we call upon,
[Mahiddhi we call upon,
Yama we call upon!'¹⁷]

Verily, Vāseṭṭha,
that those Brahmans versed in the Three Vedas,
but omitting the practice
of those qualities which really make a man a Brahman,
and adopting the practice
of those qualities which really make men non-Brahmans —
that they, by reason of their invoking
and praying
and hoping
and praising,
should, after death
and when the body is dissolved,
become united with Brahmā
verily such a condition of things
can in no wise be!¹⁸

§

26. Just, Vāseṭṭha,
as if this river Aciravatī were full,
even to the brim,
and overflowing.

And a man with business on the other side,
making for the other side,
bound for the other side,
should come up,
and want to cross over.

And he,
on this bank,
were to be bound tightly,
with his arms behind his back,
by a strong chain.

Now what think you, Vāseṭṭha,
would that man be able to get over
from this bank of the river Aciravatī
to the further bank?"

"Certainly not, Gotama!"

27. "In the same way, Vāseṭṭha,
there are five things
[311] leading to lust,
which are called,
in the Discipline of the Arahats,
a 'chain' and a 'bond.'

What are the five?

Forms perceptible to the eye;
desirable,
agreeable,
pleasant,
attractive
forms, that are accompanied by lust
and cause delight.

Sounds perceptible to the ear;
desirable,
agreeable,
pleasant,
attractive
sounds, that are accompanied by lust
and cause delight.

Odours perceptible to the nose;
desirable,
agreeable,
pleasant,
attractive
odours, that are accompanied by lust
and cause delight.

Tastes perceptible to the tongue;
desirable,
agreeable,
pleasant,
attractive
tastes, that are accompanied by lust
and cause delight.

Substances perceptible to the body by touch;
desirable,
agreeable,
pleasant,
attractive
substances, that are accompanied by lust
and cause delight.

These five things
predisposing to passion
are called, in the Discipline of the Arahats,
a 'chain'
and a 'bond.'

And these five things
predisposing to lust, Vāseṭṭha,
do the Brahmans versed in the Three Vedas
cling to,
they are infatuated by them,
attached to them,
see not the danger of them,
know not how unreliable they are,
and so enjoy them.¹⁹

28. And verily, Vāseṭṭha,
that Brahmans versed in the Three Vedas,
but omitting the practice of those qualities
which really make a man a Brahman,
and adopting the practice of those qualities
which really make men non-Brahmans -
clinging to these five things predisposing to passion,
infatuated by them,
attached to them,
see not their danger,
knowing not their unreliability,
and so enjoying them —
that these Brahmans should
after death,
on the dissolution of the body,
become united to Brahmā, —
such a condition of things can in no wise be!

§

29. Again, Vāseṭṭha,
if this river Aciravatī
were full of water even to the brim,
and overflowing.

And a man with business on the other side,
making for the other side,
bound for the other side,
should come up,
and want to cross over.

And if he
covering himself up,
even to his head,
were to lie down,
on this bank,
to sleep.

Now what think you, Vāseṭṭha?

Would that man [312] be able to get over
from this bank of the river Aciravatī
to the further bank?"

"Certainly not, Gotama!"

30. "And in the same way, Vāseṭṭha,
there are these Five Hindrances,
in the Discipline of the Arahats,²⁰
which are called 'veils,'
and are called 'hindrances,'
and are called 'obstacles,'
and are called 'entanglements'.

Which are the five?

The hindrance of worldly lusts,
the hindrance of ill will,
the hindrance of torpor and sloth of heart and mind.
the hindrance of flurry and worry,
the hindrance of suspense.

These are the Five Hindrances, Vāseṭṭha,
which, in the Discipline of the Arahats,
are called 'veils,'
and are called 'hindrances,'
and are called 'obstacles'
and are called 'entanglements'.²¹

Now with these Five Hindrances, Vāseṭṭha,
the Brahmans versed in the Three Vedas
are veiled,
hindered,
obstructed,
and entangled.

And verily, Vāseṭṭha,
that Brahmans versed in the Three Vedas,
but omitting the practice
of those qualities which really make a man a Brahman,
and adopting the practice
of those qualities which really make men non-Brahmans —
veiled,
hindered,
obstructed,
and entangled by these Five Hindrances —
that these Brahmans should
after death,
on the dissolution of the body,
become united to Brahmā —
such a condition of things can in no wise be!

§

31. Now what think you, Vāseṭṭha,
and what have you heard
from the Brahmans aged
and well-stricken in years,
when the learners and teachers are talking [313] together?

Is Brahmā in possession
of wives and wealth,
or is he not?"²²

"He is not, Gotama."

"Is his mind full of anger,
or free from anger?"

"Free from anger, Gotama."

"Is his mind full of malice,
or free from malice?"

"Free from malice, Gotama."

"Is his mind tarnished,
or, is it pure?"²³

"It is pure, Gotama."

"Has he self-mastery,
or has he not?"²⁴

"He has, Gotama."

32. "Now what think you, Vāseṭṭha,
are the Brahmans versed in the Vedas
in the possession
of wives and wealth,
or are they not?"

"They are, Gotama."

"Have they anger in their hearts,
or have they not?"

"They have, Gotama."

"Do they bear malice,
or do they not?"

"They do, Gotama."

"Are they pure in heart,
or are they not?"

"They are not, Gotama."

"Have they self-mastery,
or have they not?"

"They have not, Gotama."

33. "Then you say, Vāseṭṭha,
that the Brahmans are in possession
of wives and wealth,
and that Brahmā is not.

Can there, then,
be agreement and likeness
between the Brahmans
with their wives and property,
and Brahmā,
who has none of these things?"

[314] "Certainly not, Gotama!"

34. "Very good, Vāseṭṭha.

But, verily,
that these Brahmans versed in the Vedas,
who live married and wealthy,
should after death,
when the body is dissolved,
become united with Brahmā,
who has none of these things —
such a condition of things can in no wise be!

35. Then you say, too, Vāseṭṭha,
that the Brahmans bear anger
and malice in their hearts,
and are tarnished in heart
and uncontrolled,
whilst Brahmā is free from anger and malice,
pure in heart,
and has self-mastery.

Now can there, then,
be concord and likeness
between the Brahmans
and Brahmā?"

"Certainly not, Gotama!"

36. "Very good, Vāseṭṭha.

That these Brahmans versed in the Vedas
and yet bearing anger and malice in their hearts,
sinful,
and uncontrolled,
should after death,
when the body is dissolved,
become united to Brahmā,
who is free from anger and malice,
pure in heart,
and has self-mastery —
such a condition of things can in no wise be!

So that thus then, Vāseṭṭha, the Brahmans,
versed though they be in the Three Vedas,
while they sit down
(in confidence),
are sinking down
(in the mire);²⁵
and so sinking
they are arriving only at despair,
thinking the while
that they are crossing over
into some happier land.

Therefore is it
that the threefold wisdom of the Brahmans,
wise in their Three Vedas,
is called a waterless desert,
their threefold wisdom is called
a pathless jungle,
their threefold wisdom is called
perdition!"

37. When he had thus spoken,
the young Brahman Vāseṭṭha
said to the Blessed One:

[315] "It has been told me, Gotama,
that the Samaṇa Gotama knows the way
to the state of union with Brahmā."

"What do you think, Vāseṭṭha,
is not Manasākaṭa near to this spot,
not distant from this spot?"

"Just so, Gotama.

Manasākaṭa is near to,
is not far from here."

"Now what think you, Vāseṭṭha,
suppose there were a man
born in Manasākaṭa,
and people should ask him,
who never till that time
had left Manasākaṭa,
which was the way to Manasākaṭa.

Would that man,
born and brought up in Manasākaṭa,
be in any doubt or difficulty?"

"Certainly not, Gotama!

And why?

If the man had been born
and brought up in Manasākaṭa,
every road that leads to Manasākaṭa
would be perfectly familiar to him."

38. "That man, Vāseṭṭha,
born and brought up at Manasākaṭa
might, if he were asked the way to Manasākaṭa,
fall into doubt and difficulty,
but to the Tathāgata,
when asked touching the path
which leads to the world of Brahmā,
there can be neither doubt nor difficulty.

For Brahmā, I know, Vāseṭṭha,
and the world of Brahmā,
and the path which leadeth unto it.

Yea, I know it
even as one who has entered the Brahmā-world,
and has been born within it!"

§

39. When he had thus spoken,
Vāseṭṭha, the young Brahman,
said to the Blessed One:

"Just so has it been told me, Gotama,
even that the Samaṇa Gotama knows
the way to a state of union with Brahmā.

It is well!

Let the venerable Gotama
be pleased to show us the way
to a state of union with Brahmā,
let the venerable Gotama
save the Brahman race!"²⁶!

"Listen then, Vāseṭṭha,
and give ear attentively,
and I will speak!"

[316] "So be it, Lord!"
said the young Brahman Vāseṭṭha,
in assent, to the Blessed One.

40. Then the Blessed One spake, and said:

"Know, Vāseṭṭha, that
(from time to time)
a Tathāgata is born into the world,
an Arahat,
a fully awakened one,
abounding in wisdom and goodness,
happy,
with knowledge of the worlds,
unsurpassed as a guide
to mortals willing to be led,
a teacher of gods and men,
a Blessed One,
a Buddha.

He, by himself,
thoroughly understands,
and sees,
as it were, face-to-face
this universe —
including the worlds above
with the gods,
the Māras,
and the Brahmās;
and the world below
with its Samaṇas and Brahmans,
its princes and peoples; —
and he then makes his knowledge
known to others.

The truth doth he proclaim
both in the letter
and in the spirit,
lovely in its origin,
lovely in its progress,
lovely in its consummation:
the higher life doth he make known,
in all its purity
and in all its perfectness.

■

A householder or one of his children,
or a man of inferior birth in any class
listens to that truth;
²⁷ and on hearing it he has faith in the Tathāgata (the one who has found the truth);
and when he is possessed of that faith,
he considers thus within himself:

'Full of hindrances is household life,
a path for the dust of passion.

Free as the air is the life
of him who has renounced all worldly things.

How difficult is it for the man who dwells at home
to live the higher life in all its fullness,
in all its purity,
in all its bright perfection!

Let me then cut off my hair and beard,
let me clothe myself in the orange- [317] coloured robes,
and let me go forth
from the household life
into the homeless state.'

■

Then, before long,
forsaking his portion of wealth,
be it great or small,
forsaking his circle of relatives,
be they many or be they few,
he cuts off his hair and beard,
he clothes himself in the orange-coloured robes,
and he goes forth from the household life
into the homeless state.

When he has thus become a recluse
he lives self-restrained by that restraint that should be binding on a recluse.

Uprightness is his delight,
and he sees danger
in the least of those things he should avoid.

He adopts, and trains himself in, the precepts.

He encompasses himself with good deeds in act and word.

Pure are his means of livelihood,
good is his conduct,
guarded the doors of his senses.

Mindful and self-possessed
he is altogether happy.

§

And how, Vāseṭṭha, is his conduct good?

In this, Vāseṭṭha, that the Bhikshu,
putting away the killing of living things,
holds aloof from the destruction of life.

The cudgel and the sword he has laid aside,
and ashamed of roughness,
and full of mercy,
he dwells compassionate and kind
to all creatures that have life.

Putting away the taking
of what has not been given,
he lives aloof from grasping
what is not his own.

He takes only what is given,
and expecting that gifts will come,
he passes his life in honesty
and purity of heart.

Putting away unchastity,
he is chaste.

He holds himself aloof,
far off from the vulgar practice,
from the sexual act.

Putting away lying words,
he holds himself aloof from falsehood.

He speaks truth,
from the truth he never swerves;
faithful and trustworthy,
he breaks not his word to the world.

Putting away slander,
he holds himself aloof from calumny.

What he hears here
he repeats not elsewhere
to raise a quarrel
against the people here;
what he hears elsewhere
he repeats not here
to raise a quarrel
against the people there.

Thus does he live as a binder together
of those who are divided,
an encourager of those who are friends,
a peacemaker,
a lover of peace,
impassioned for peace,
a speaker of words that make for peace.

Putting away rudeness of speech,
he holds himself aloof from harsh language.

Whatsoever word is blameless,
pleasant to the car,
lovely,
reaching to the heart,
urbane,
pleasing to the people,
beloved of the people -
such are words he speaks.

Putting away frivolous talk,
he holds himself aloof from vain conversation.

In season he speaks,
in accordance with the facts,
words full of meaning,
on religion,
on the discipline of the Order.

He speaks, and at the right time,
words worthy to be laid up in one's heart,
fitly illustrated,
clearly divided,
to the point.

He holds himself aloof
from causing injury to seeds or plants.

He takes but one meal a day,
not eating at night,
refraining from food after hours
(after midday).

He refrains from being a spectator
at shows at fairs,
with nautch dances,
singing, and music.

He abstains from wearing,
adorning,
or ornamenting himself
with garlands, scents, and unguents.

He abstains from the use
of large and lofty beds.

He abstains from accepting silver or gold.

He abstains from accepting uncooked grain.

He abstains from accepting raw meat.

He abstains from accepting women or girls.

He abstains from accepting bondmen or bondwomen.

He abstains from accepting sheep or goats.

He abstains from accepting fowls or swine.

He abstains from accepting elephants, cattle. horses, and mares.

He abstains from accepting cultivated fields or waste.

He abstains from acting as a go-between or messenger.

He abstains from buying and selling.

He abstains from cheating
with scales or bronzes or measures.

He abstains from the crooked ways
of bribery, cheating, and fraud.

He abstains from maiming,
murder,
putting in bonds,
highway robbery,
dacoity,
and violence.

§

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the injury of seedlings
and growing plants
whether propagated from roots
or cuttings
or joints
or buddings
or seeds
the Bhikshu holds aloof from such injury
to seedlings and growing plants.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use
of things stored up;
stores, to wit,
of foods,
drinks,
clothing,
equipages,
bedding,
perfumes,
and curry-stuffs —
the Bhikshu holds aloof from such use
of things stored up.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to visiting shows;
that is to say:

(1) Nautch dances (naccaṃ);

(2) Singing of songs (gītaṃ);

(3) Instrumental music (vāditaṃ);

(4) Shows at fairs (pekkhaṃ);

(5) Ballad recitations (akkhānaṃ);

(6) Hand music (pāṇissaraṃ);

(7) The chanting of bards (vetālaṃ);

(8) Tam - tam playing (kumbhathūnaṃ);

(9) Fairy scenes (Sobhanagarakaṃ);

(10) Acrobatic feats by Kaṇḍālas (Kaṇḍāla-vaṃsa-dhopanaṃ);

(11) Combats of elephants,
horses,
buffaloes,
bulls,
goats,
rams,
cocks,
and quails;

(12) Bouts at quarter-staff,
boxing,
wrestling;

(13) Sham-fights.

(14) roll-calls.

(15) manoeuvres.

(16) reviews —

the Bhikshu holds aloof from visiting such shows.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to games and recreations;
that is to say:

(1) Games on boards with eight,
or with ten,
rows of squares;

(2) The same games
played by imagining such boards in the air;

(3) Keeping going over diagrams drawn on the ground
so that one steps only where one ought to go;

(4) Either removing the pieces or men from a heap
with one's nail,
or putting them into a heap,
in each case without shaking it,
he who shakes the heap, loses;

(5) Throwing dice;

(6) Hitting a short stick with a long one;

(7) Dipping the hand with the fingers stretched out
in lac,
or red dye,
or flower-water,
and striking the wet hand
on the ground
or on a wall,
calling out
'What shell it be?'
and showing the form required —
elephants, horses, etc.;

(8) Games with balls;

(9) Blowing through toy pipes made of leaves;

(10) Ploughing with toy ploughs;

(11) Turning summersaults;

(12) Playing with toy windmills made of palm-leaves;

(13) Playing with toy measures made of palm-leaves;

(14, 15) Playing with toy carts or toy bows;

(16) Guessing at letters traced in the air, or on a. playfellow's back;

(17) Guessing the play fellow's thoughts;

(18) Mimicry of deformities;

The Bhikshu holds aloof from such games and recreations.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use of high and large couches;
that is to say:

(1) Moveable settees,
high, and six feet long;

(2) Divans with animal figures carved on the supports (Pallanko);

(3) Goats' hair coverlets
with very long fleece (Gonako);

(4) Patchwork counterpanes of many colours (Cittakā);

(5) White blankets (Paṭikā);

(6) Woollen coverlets embroidered with flowers (Paṭalikā);

(7) Quilts stuffed with cotton wool (Tūlikā);

(8) Coverlets embroidered with figures of lions, tigers, etc. (Vikatikā);

(9) Rugs with fur on both sides (Uddalomī);

(10) Rugs with fur on one side (Ekantalomī);

(11) Coverlets embroidered with gems (Kaṭṭhissaṃ);

(12) Silk coverlets (Koseyyaṃ);

(13) Carpets large enough for sixteen dancers (Kuttakaṃ);

(14) Elephant rugs;

(15) horse rugs;

(16) chariot rugs;

(17) Rugs of antelope skins sewn together (Ajina-paveṇi);

(18) Rugs of skins of the plantain antelope;

(19) Carpets with awnings above them (Sauttara-cchadaṃ);

(20) Sofas with red pillows
for the head and feet.

The Bhikshu holds aloof from such things.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use
of means for adorning
and beautifying themselves;
that is to say:

Rubbing in scented powders on one's body,
shampooing it,
and bathing it;

Patting the limbs with clubs
after the manner of wrestlers;

The use of mirrors,
eye-ointments,
garlands,
rouge,
cosmetics,
bracelets,
necklaces,
walking-sticks,
reed cases for drugs,
rapiers,
sunshades,
embroidered slippers,
turbans,
diadems,
whisks of the yak's tail,
and long-fringed white robes;

The Bhikshu holds aloof
from such means of adorning and beautifying the person.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to such low conversation as these:

Tales of kings,
of robbers,
of ministers of state,
tales of war,
of terrors,
of battles;
talk about foods and drinks,
clothes,
beds,
garlands,
perfumes;
talks about relationships,
equipages,
villages,
town,
cities,
and countries;
tales about women,
and about heroes;
gossip at street corners,
or places whence water is fetched;
ghost stories;
desultory talk;
speculations about the creation of the land or sea,
or about existence and non-existence;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low conversation.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to the use of wrangling phrases such as:

'You don't understand this doctrine and discipline,
I do.';

'How should you know about this doctrine and discipline?';

'You have fallen into wrong views.

It is I who am in the right.';

'I am speaking to the point,
you are not.';

'You are putting last
what ought to come first,
first what ought to come last.';

'What you've excogitated so long,
that's all quite upset.';

'Your challenge has been taken up.';

'You are proved to be wrong.';

'Set to work to clear your views.';

'Disentangle yourself if you can.';

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such wrangling phrases.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
continue addicted to taking messages,
going on errands,
and acting as go-betweens;
to wit,
on kings,
ministers of state,
Kshatriyas,
Brahmans,
or young men,
saying:

'Go there,
come hither,
take this with you,
bring that from thence';

the Bhikshu abstains from such servile duties.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
are tricksters,
droners out (of holy words for pay),
diviners,
and exorcists,
ever hungering to add gain to gain —
the Bhikshu holds aloof from such deception and patter.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

(1) Palmistry —
prophesying long life,
prosperity, etc.
from marks on child's hands,
feet. etc.;

(2) Divining by means of omens and signs;

(3) Auguries drawn from thunderbolts
and other celestial portents;

(4) Prognostication by interpreting dreams;

(5) Fortune-telling from marks on the body;

(6) Auguries from the marks on cloth gnawed by mice;

(7) Sacrificing to Agni;

(8) Offering oblations from a spoon;

(9-13) Making offerings to gods
of husks,
of the red powder between the grain and the husk,
of husked grain ready for boiling,
of ghee,
and of oil;

(14) Sacrificing by spewing mustard seeds, etc.,
into the fire out of one's mouth;

(15) Drawing blood from one's right knee
as a sacrifice to the gods;

(16) Looking at the knuckles, etc.,
and, after muttering a charm,
divining whether a man is well born
or lucky or not;

(17) Determining whether the site
for a proposed house or pleasance,
is lucky or not;

(18) Advising on customary law;

(19) Laying demons in a cemetery;

(20) Laying ghosts;

(21) Knowledge of the charms to be used
when lodging in an earth house;

(22) Snake charming;

(23) The poison craft;

(24) The scorpion craft;

(25) The mouse craft;

(26) The bird craft;

(27) The crow craft;

(28) Foretelling the number of years
that a man has yet to live.

(29) Giving charms to ward off arrows;

(30) The animal wheel;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

Knowledge of the signs
of good and bad qualities
in the following things
and of the marks in them
denoting the health or luck of their owners: —
to wit,
gems,
staves,
garments,
swords,
arrows,
bows,
other weapons,
women,
men,
boys,
girls,
slaves,
slave-girls,
elephants,
horses,
buffaloes,
bulls,
oxen,
goats,
sheep,
fowls,
quails,
iguanas,
earrings,
tortoises,
and other animals;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as soothsaying,
to the effect that:

'The chiefs will march out';

'The chiefs will march back';

'The home chiefs will attack,
and the enemies' retreat';

'The enemies' chiefs will attack,
and ours will retreat';

'The home chiefs will gain the victory,
and the foreign chiefs suffer defeat';

'The foreign chiefs will gain the victory,
and ours will suffer defeat';

'Thus will there be victory on this side,
defeat on that'

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by such low arts as foretelling:

(1) 'There will be an eclipse of the moon';

(2) 'There will be en eclipse of the sun';

(3) 'There will be en eclipse of a star'
(Nakshatra);

(4) 'There will be aberration of the sun or the moon';

(5) 'The sun or the moon will return to its usual path';

(6) 'There will be aberrations of the stars';

(7) 'The stars will return to their usual course';

(8) 'There will be a fall of meteors';

(9) 'There will be a jungle fire';

(10) 'There will be an earthquake';

(11) 'The god will thunder';

(12-15) 'There will be rising and setting,
clearness and dimness,
of the sun or the moon or the stars',|| ||

or foretelling of each of these fifteen phenomena
that they will betoken such and such a result;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

Foretelling an abundant rainfall;

Foretelling a deficient rainfall;

Foretelling a good harvest;

Foretelling scarcity of food;

Foretelling tranquillity;

Foretelling disturbances;

Foretelling a pestilence;

Foretelling a healthy season;

Counting on the fingers;

Counting without using the fingers;

Summing up large totals;

Composing ballads, poetising;

Casuistry, sophistry;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as:

(1) Arranging a lucky day for marriages
in which the bride or bridegroom is brought home;

(2) Arranging a lucky day for marriages
in which the bride or bridegroom is sent forth;

(3) Fixing a lucky time for the conclusion of treaties of peace
[or using charms to procure harmony;

(4) Fixing a lucky time
for the outbreak of hostilities
[or using charms to make discord];

(5) Fixing-a lucky time
for the calling in of debts
[or charms for success in throwing dice];

(6) Fixing a lucky time
for the expenditure of money
[or charms to bring ill luck to an opponent throwing dice];

(7) Using charms to make people lucky;

(8) Using charms to make people unlucky;

(9) Using charms to procure abortion;

(10) Incantations to bring on dumbness;

(11) Incantations to keep a man's jaws fixed;

(12) Incantations to make a man throw up his hands;

(13) Incantations to bring on deafness;

(14) Obtaining oracular answers by means of the magic mirror;

(15) Obtaining oracular answers through a girl possessed;

(16) Obtaining oracular answers from a god;

(17) The worship of the Sun;

(18) The worship of the Great One;

(19) Bringing forth flames from one's mouth;

(20) Invoking Siri, the goddess of Luck —

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

■

Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful,
earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts,
such as these:

(1) Vowing gifts to a god if a certain benefit be granted;

(2) Paying such vows;

(3) Repeating charms while lodging in an earth house;

(4) Causing virility;

(5) Making a man impotent;

(6) Fixing on lucky sites for dwelling;

(7) Consecrating sites;

(8) Ceremonial rinsings of the month;

(9) Ceremonial bathings;

(10) Offering sacrifices;

(11-14) Administering emetics and purgatives;

(15) Purging people to relieve the head
(that is by giving drugs to make people sneeze);

(16) Oiling people's ears
(either to make them grow or to heal sores on them);

(17) Satisfying people's eyes
(soothing them by dropping medicinal oils into them);

(18) Administering drugs through the nose;

(19) Applying collyrium to the eyes;

(20) Giving medical ointment for the eyes;

(21) Practising as an oculist;

(22) Practising as a surgeon;

(23) Practising as a doctor for children;

(24) Administering roots and drugs;

(25) Administering medicines in rotation;

the Bhikshu holds aloof from such low arts.

§

And then that Bhikshu, Vāseṭṭha,
being thus master of the minor moralities,
sees no danger from any side,
that is, so far as concerns his self-restraint in conduct.

Just, Vāseṭṭha, as a sovereign, duly crowned,
whose enemies have been beaten down,
sees no danger from any side;
that is, so far as enemies are concerned,
so is the Bhikshu confident.

And endowed with this body of morals,
so worthy of honour,
he experiences, within himself,
a sense of ease without alloy.

Thus is it, Vāseṭṭha, that the Bhikshu becomes righteous.

§

And how, Vāseṭṭha,
is the Bhikshu guarded
as to the doors of his senses?

When, Vāseṭṭha, he sees an object with his eye
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of sight.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of sight,
and he attains to mastery over it.

■

When, Vāseṭṭha, he hears a sound with his ear
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of hearing.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of hearing,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This, Vāseṭṭha, is that uprightness.

■

When, Vāseṭṭha, he smells an odour with his nose
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of smell.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of smell,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This, Vāseṭṭha, is that uprightness.

■

When, Vāseṭṭha, he tastes a flavour with his tongue
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of taste.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of taste,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This, Vāseṭṭha, is that uprightness.

■

When, Vāseṭṭha, he feels a touch with his body
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his sense of touch.

He keeps watch upon his faculty of touch,
and he attains to mastery over it.

This, Vāseṭṭha, is that uprightness.

■

When, Vāseṭṭha, he cognises a phenomenon with his mind
he is not entranced in the general appearance
or the details of it.

He sets himself to restrain
that which might give occasion for evil states,
covetousness and dejection,
to flow in over him
so long as he dwells unrestrained
as to his mental (representative) faculty.

He keeps watch upon his representative faculty,
and he attains to mastery over it.

■

And endowed with this self-restraint,
so worthy of honour,
as regards the senses,
he experiences, within himself, a sense of ease
into which no evil state can enter.

Thus is it, Vāseṭṭha,
that the Bhikshu becomes guarded
as to the doors of his senses.

§

And how, Vāseṭṭha, is the Bhikshu
mindful and self-possessed?

In this matter, Vāseṭṭha,
the Bhikshu
in going forth or in coming back
whether looking forward,
or in looking round;
in stretching forth his arm,
or in drawing it in again;
in eating or drinking,
in masticating or swallowing,
in obeying the calls of nature,
in going or standing or sitting,
in sleeping or waking,
in speaking or in being still,
he keeps himself aware
of all it really means.

Thus is it, Vāseṭṭha,
that the Bhikshu becomes mindful and self-possessed.

§

And how, Vāseṭṭha, is the Bhikshu content?

In this matter, Vāseṭṭha,
the Bhikshu is satisfied with sufficient robes
to cherish his body,
with sufficient food
to keep his stomach going.

Whithersoever he may go forth,
these he takes with him as he goes
- just as a bird with his wings, Vāseṭṭha,
whithersoever he may fly,
carries his wings with him as he flies.

Thus is it, Vāseṭṭha,
that the Bhikshu becomes content.

§

Then, master of this so excellent body of moral precepts,
gifted with this so excellent self-restraint as to the senses,
endowed with this so excellent mindfulness and self-possession,
filled with this so excellent content,
he chooses some lonely spot
to rest at on his way
— in the woods,
at the foot of a tree,
on a hill side,
in a mountain glen,
in a rocky cave,
in a charnel place,
or on a heap of straw in the open field.

And returning thither
after his round for alms
he seats himself, when his meal is done,
cross-legged,
keeping his body erect,
and his intelligence alert, intent.

§

Putting away the hankering after the world,
he remains with a heart that hankers not,
and purifies his mind of lusts.

■

Putting away the corruption
of the wish to injure,
he remains with a heart free from ill temper,
and purifies his mind of malevolence.

■

Putting away torpor of heart and mind,
keeping his ideas alight,
mindful and self-possessed,
he purifies his mind of weakness and of sloth.

■

Putting away flurry and worry,
he remains free from fretfulness,
and with heart serene within,
he purifies himself of irritability
and vexation of spirit.

■

Putting away wavering,
he remains as one passed beyond perplexity;
and no longer in suspense as to what is good,
he purifies his mind of doubt.

■

Then just, Vāseṭṭha,
as when a man, after contracting a loan,
should set a business on foot,
and his business should succeed,
and he should not only be able
to pay off the old debt he had incurred,
but there should be a surplus over
to maintain a wife.

Then would he realize:

'I used to have to carry on my business
by getting into debt,
but it has gone so well with me
that I have paid off what I owed,
and have a surplus over
to maintain a wife.'

And he would be of good cheer at that,
would be glad of heart at that: —

■

Then just, Vāseṭṭha,
as if a man were a prey to disease,
in pain, and very ill,
and his food would not digest,
and there were no strength left in him;
and after a time
he were to recover from that disease,
and his food should digest,
and his strength come back to him;
then, when he realized his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

■

Then just, Vāseṭṭha,
as if a man were bound in a prison house,
and after a time
he should be set free from his bonds,
safe and sound,
and without any confiscation of his goods;
when he realized his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

■

Then just, Vāseṭṭha,
as if a man were a slave,
not his own master,
subject to another,
unable to go whither he would;
and after a time
he should be emancipated from that slavery,
become his own master,
not subject to others,
a free man,
free to go whither he would;
then, on realising his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

■

Then just, Vāseṭṭha,
as if a man, rich and prosperous,
were to find himself on a long road,
in a desert, where no food was,
but much danger;
and after a time
were to find himself out of the desert,
arrived safe,
on the borders of his village,
in security and peace;
then, on realising his former and his present state,
he would be of good cheer at that,
he would be glad of heart at that: —

■

Just so, Vāseṭṭha, the Bhikshu,
so long as these five hindrances
are not put away within him
looks upon himself as in debt,
diseased,
in prison,
in slavery,
lost on a desert road.

But when these five hindrances
have been put away within him,
he looks upon himself as freed from debt,
rid of disease,
out of jail,
a free man,
and secure.

And gladness springs up within him
on his realising that,
and joy arises to him thus gladdened,
and so rejoicing
all his frame becomes at ease,
and being thus at ease
he is filled with a sense of peace,
and in that peace his heart is stayed.

§

76.²⁸And he lets his mind pervade
one quarter of [318] the world
with thoughts of Love,
and so the second,
and so the third,
and so the fourth.

And thus the whole wide world,
above,
below,
around,
and everywhere,
does he continue to pervade
with heart of Love,
far-reaching,
grown great,
and beyond measure.

77. Just, Vāseṭṭha, as a mighty trumpeter
makes himself heard -
and that without difficulty -
in all the four directions;
even so
of all things that have shape or life,
there is not one
that he passes by
or leaves aside,
but regards them all
with mind set free,
and deep-felt love.

Verily this, Vāseṭṭha,
is the way to a state of union with Brahmā.

■

And he lets his mind pervade
one quarter of the world
with thoughts of Pity,²⁹,
and so the second,
and so the third,
and so the fourth.

And thus the whole wide world,
above,
below,
around,
and everywhere,
does he continue to pervade
with heart of Pity,
far-reaching,
grown great,
and beyond measure.

Just, Vāseṭṭha, as a mighty trumpeter
makes himself heard -
and that without difficulty -
in all the four directions;
even so
of all things that have shape or life,
there is not one
that he passes by
or leaves aside,
but regards them all
with mind set free,
and deep-felt Pity.

Verily this, Vāseṭṭha,
is the way to a state of union with Brahmā.

■

And he lets his mind pervade
one quarter of the world
with thoughts of Sympathy,³⁰
and so the second,
and so the third,
and so the fourth.

And thus the whole wide world,
above,
below,
around,
and everywhere,
does he continue to pervade
with heart of Sympathy,
far-reaching,
grown great,
and beyond measure.

Just, Vāseṭṭha, as a mighty trumpeter
makes himself heard -
and that without difficulty -
in all the four directions;
even so
of all things that have shape or life,
there is not one
that he passes by
or leaves aside,
but regards them all
with mind set free,
and deep-felt Sympathy.

Verily this, Vāseṭṭha,
is the way to a state of union with Brahmā.

■

And he lets his mind pervade
one quarter of the world
with thoughts of Equanimity,³¹
and so the second,
and so the third,
and so the fourth.

And thus the whole wide world,
above,
below,
around,
and everywhere,
does he continue to pervade
with heart of Equanimity,
far-reaching,
grown great,
and beyond measure.

Just, Vāseṭṭha, as a mighty trumpeter
makes himself heard -
and that without difficulty -
in all the four directions;
even so
of all things that have shape or life,
there is not one
that he passes by
or leaves aside,
but regards them all
with mind set free,
and deep-felt Equanimity.

Verily this, Vāseṭṭha,
is the way to a state of union with Brahmā.

■

§

80. Now what think you, Vāseṭṭha,
will the Bhikkhu who lives thus
be in possession of women and of wealth,
or will he not?"

"He will not, Gotama!"

"Will he be full of anger,
or free from anger?"

"He will be free from anger, Gotama!"

"Will his mind be full of malice,
or free from malice?"

[319] "Free from malice, Gotama!"

'Will his mind be tarnished,
or pure?"

"It will be pure, Gotama!"

"Will he have self-mastery,
or will he not?"

"Surely he will, Gotama!'

§

81 "Then you say, Vāseṭṭha,
that the Bhikkhu is free
from household and worldly cares,
and that Brahmā is free
from household and worldly cares.

Is there then
agreement and likeness
between the Bhikkhu and Brahmā?"

"There is, Gotama!"

"Very good, Vāseṭṭha.

Then in sooth, Vāseṭṭha,
that the Bhikkhu who is free from household cares
should after death,
when the body is dissolved,
become united with Brahmā,
who is the same —
such a condition of things
is every way possible!

■

"Then you say, Vāseṭṭha,
that the Bhikkhu is free
from anger,
and that Brahmā is free
from anger.

Is there then
agreement and likeness
between the Bhikkhu and Brahmā?"

"There is, Gotama!"

"Very good, Vāseṭṭha.

Then in sooth, Vāseṭṭha,
that the Bhikkhu who is free from anger
should after death,
when the body is dissolved,
become united with Brahmā,
who is the same —
such a condition of things
is every way possible!

■

81 "Then you say, Vāseṭṭha,
that the Bhikkhu is free
from malice,
and that Brahmā is free
from malice.

Is there then
agreement and likeness
between the Bhikkhu and Brahmā?"

"There is, Gotama!"

"Very good, Vāseṭṭha.

Then in sooth, Vāseṭṭha,
that the Bhikkhu who is free from malice
should after death,
when the body is dissolved,
become united with Brahmā,
who is the same —
such a condition of things
is every way possible!

■

"Then you say, Vāseṭṭha,
that the Bhikkhu is pure in mind
and that Brahmā is pure in mind.

Is there then
agreement and likeness
between the Bhikkhu and Brahmā?"

"There is, Gotama!"

"Very good, Vāseṭṭha.

Then in sooth, Vāseṭṭha,
that the Bhikkhu who is pure in mind
should after death,
when the body is dissolved,
become united with Brahmā,
who is the same —
such a condition of things
is every way possible!

■

"Then you say, Vāseṭṭha,
that the Bhikkhu is master of himself,
and that Brahmā is master of himself.

Is there then
agreement and likeness
between the Bhikkhu and Brahmā?"

"There is, Gotama!"

"Very good, Vāseṭṭha.

Then in sooth, Vāseṭṭha,
that the Bhikkhu who is master of himself
should after death,
when the body is dissolved,
become united with Brahmā,
who is the same —
such a condition of things
is every way possible!

§

82. When he hid thus spoken,
the young Brahmans Vāseṭṭha and Bhāradvāja
addressed the Blessed One,
and said:

"Most excellent, Lord,
are the words of thy mouth,
most excellent!

Just as if a man were to set up
that which is thrown down,
or were to reveal
that which is hidden away,
or were to point out the right road
to him who has gone astray,
or were to bring a lamp into the darkness,
so that those who have eyes
can see external forms; —
just even so, Lord,
has the truth been made known to us,
in many a figure,
by the Exalted One.

And we, even we,
betake ourselves, Lord,
to the Blessed One as our guide,
to the Truth, [320]
and to the Brotherhood.

May the Blessed One accept us as disciples,
as true believers,
from this day forth,
as long as life endures!"

HERE ENDS THE TEVIJJA SUTTANTA³².

¹ Phaedo 69. The full context is given in my 'Hibbert Lectures,' Appendix viii.

² In the well-known story of the Bodhisattva giving his body to feed a tigress (No. I, verse 12).

³ See the remarks above on p. 206.

⁴ This Suttanta was translated from the MSS. in my 'Buddhist Suttas ' (S.B.E., 1881). Since then the text has been published by the Pāli Text Society; and alterations and amendments in a number of details have been rendered necessary.

⁵ Buddhaghosa says that Kaṇkī lived at Opasāda, Tārukkha lived at Icchagala (so MSS., perhaps for Icchānangala), Pokkharasādi (sic MS.) lived at Ukkaṭṭha, Jāṇussoṇi lived at Sāvatthi, and Todeyya lived at Tudigama.

Jāṇussoṇi was converted by the Bhaya-bherava Sutta. On Pokkharasādi, see above, pp. 108, 135, 147; and on Todeyya, see above, p. 267; and on all the names, see Majjhima Nikāya, No. 98= Sutta Nipāta, 9.

Buddhaghosa adds that because Manasākaṭa was a pleasant place the Brahmans had built huts there on the bank of the river and fenced them in, and used to go and stay there from time to time to repeat their mantras.

⁶Jaṇghāvihāraṃ anucaṇkamantānaṃ anuvicarantānaṃ. Caṇkamati is to walk up and down thinking. I have added 'after their bath,' from Buddhaghosa, who says that this must be understood to have taken place when, after learning by heart and repeating all day, they, went down in the evening to the riverside to bathe, and then walked up and down on the sand. Comp. Mil. 22; Jāt. II, 240, 272.

⁷ Comp. Divyāvadāna 196, 246; and Aṇguttara II, pp. 23, 24.

⁸ This is either mildly sarcastic - as much as to say, 'that is six of one, and half a dozen of the other' - or is intended to lead on Vāseṭṭha to confess still more directly the fact that the different theologians held inconsistent opinions.

⁹ The Mss. differ as to the last name, and some of them omit the last but one. The Adhvaryu, Taittirīya, Chandoga, and Bahvrica priests-those skilled in liturgy generally, and in the Yajur, Sāma, and Rig Vedas respectively — are probably meant. If we adopt the other reading for the last in the list, then those priests who relied on liturgy, sacrifice, or chant would be contrasted with those who had 'gone forth' as religieux, either as Tāpasas or as Bhikshus.

¹⁰ Maggāni, which is noteworthy as a curious change of gender.

¹¹ See the note on these names at 'Vinaya Texts,' II, 130.

¹² In the text §§ 12, 13 are repeated word for word.

¹³Andhaveṇī paramparaṃ saṇsattā. The Phayre Ms. has replaced veṇī by paveṇī, after the constant custom of the Burmese Mss. to improve away unusual or difficult expressions. Buddhaghosa explains andhaveṇi by andhapaveṇi; and tells a tale of a wicked wight, who meeting a company of blind men, told them of a certain village wherein plenty of good food was to be had. When they besought him for hire to lead them there, he took the money, made one blind man catch hold of his stick, the next of that one, and so on, and then led them on till they came to a wilderness. There he deserted them, and they all — still holding each the other, and vainly, and with tears, seeking both their guide and the path — came to a miserable end! Comp. M. II, 170.

¹⁴ The words of the question are repeated in the text in this and the following answers. It must be remembered, for these sections, that the Sun and Moon were gods just as much as Brahmā; and that the Moon always comes first in Nikāya and other ancient texts.

¹⁵ The text repeats at length the words of §§ 12, 13, 14.

¹⁶ Samatittika kākapeyyā. See on this phrase the note in my Buddhist Suttas (S.B.E.), pp. 178, 179.

¹⁷ The Sinhalese Mss. omit Mahiddhi and Yama, but repeat the verb, 'we call upon,' three times after Brahmā. It is possible that the Burmese copyist has wrongly inserted them to remove the strangeness of this repetition. The comment is silent.

¹⁸ The Buddha, as usual, here takes the 'further bank' in the meaning attached to it by the theologians he is talking to, as union with Brahmā. In his own system, of course, the 'further bank' is Arahatship. So Aṇguttara V, 232, 233, and elsewhere.

¹⁹ Gathitā mucchitā ajjhopannā. See A. I, 74, 274; Udāna VII, 3,4; Sum. 59, etc.

²⁰ Ariyassa vinaye. This may possibly mean 'in the disciple recommended by the Arahat' (that is, by the Buddha). But the latter is expressed rather by Sugata-vinaye. Comp. Aṇguttara V, 237-239 with 234, 235.

²¹ These Five 'Hindrances are more fully dealt with above, p. 82.

²² 'Sapariggaho vā Brahmā apariggaho va' ti. Buddhaghosa says on Vāseṭṭha's reply, 'Kāmacchandassa, ābhavato itthipariggahena apariggaho,' thus restricting the 'possession' to women. But the reference is no doubt to the first 'hindrance'; and the word in the text, though doubtless alluding to possession of women also. includes more. Compare, on the general idea of the passage, the English expression, 'no encumbrances,' and Jacobi, 'Jaina-Sūtras' (S.B.E.) I, xxiii.

²³ Asaṇkiliṭṭha-citto. That is, says Buddhaghosa, free from mental torpor and idleness, worry and flurry.'

²⁴ Vasavattī vā avasavattī vā. Buddhaghosa says, in explanation of the, answer, 'By the absence of wavering he has his mind under control (vase vatteti).'

²⁵ āsīditva saṇsīdanti. I have no doubt the commentator is right in his explanation of these figurative expressions. Confident in their knowledge of the Vedas, and in their practice of Vedic ceremonies, they neglect higher things; and so, sinking into folly and superstition, 'they are arriving only at despair, thinking the while that they are crossing over into some happier land.'

²⁶ Buddhaghosa takes this to mean, 'Save me of the Brahman race.'

²⁷ 'The point is, that the acceptance of this 'Doctrine and Discipline' is open to all; not of course that Brahmans never accept it.

²⁸ These paragraphs occur frequently; see. inter alia, Mahā-Sudassana Sutta II, 8, in my 'Buddhist Suttas' (S.B.E.). It will be seen from 'Buddhism,' pp. 170, 171, that these meditations play a great part in later Buddhism, and occupy very much the place that prayer takes in Christianity. A fifth, the meditation on Impurity, has been added, at what time I do not know, before the last. These four (or-five), are called the Brahma Vihāras, and the practice of them leads, not to Arahatship, but to rebirth in the Brahmā-world.

²⁹ Paragraphs 76, 77 are supposed to be repeated of each.

³⁰ Paragraphs 76, 77 are supposed to be repeated of each.

³¹ Paragraphs 76, 77 are supposed to be repeated of each.

³² Literally 'The Suttanta about those who have the knowledge of the Three (Vedas).' See p.303, where the names of these, 'doctors' are given.

14. The Sublime Story

Mahā-Padāna Suttantaṃ

[1]

Introduction

We find in this tract the root of that Biraṇa-weed which, growing up along with the rest of Buddhism, went on spreading so luxuriantly that it gradually covered up much that was of value in the earlier teaching, and finally led to the down-fall, in its home in India, of the ancient faith. The doctrine of the Bodhisatta, of the Wisdom-Being, drove out the doctrine of the Aryan Path. A gorgeous hierarchy of mythological wonder-workers filled men's minds, and the older system of self-training and self-control became forgotten.

Even at its first appearance here the weed is not attractive. The craving for edification is more manifest in it than the desire for truth. We have legends of six forerunners of the historical Buddha, each constructed with wearisome iteration, in imitation of the then accepted beliefs as to the life of Gotama. So exactly do these six legends follow one pattern that it has been possible, without the omission of any detail, to arrange them in parallel columns.

The main motive of this parallelism is revealed in the constantly repeated refrain Ayam ettha dhammatā: 'That, in such a case, is the rule,' the Norm, the natural order of things, according to the reign of law in the moral and physical world. Precisely the same idea is emphasized in the doctrine of dependent origination, the Paṭcca-samuppāda, placed here in the mouth of Vipassi, the most ancient of these six teachers of old. The fact that it is so placed shows that the early Buddhists, when our Suttanta was composed, believed this doctrine to have been pre-Buddhistic.

It is probable that all the great religious teachers of antiquity appealed, in support of their views, to the wise men of still older times. It is so recorded of most of them; and where it is not recorded, as in the cases of Lao Tsü and Zarathustra, that is probably due to the meagreness of the extant records. In every country where the level of intelligence was sufficient to produce a great leader of men in matters of religion, it was sufficient also to bear in remembrance the names at least, and a vague notion as to some of the doctrines, of former, if perhaps less successful and famous, reformers.

[2] But a Wisdom-Being, appearing from aeon to aeon under similar circumstances to propound a similar faith! This is an exclusively Indian conception; in Indian literature it is mainly Buddhist; and in Buddhist literature its first appearance is in documents of the date of our Suttanta. Did the Buddha himself know anything of this theory? Possibly not. The theory of a number of successive Buddhas pre-supposes the conception of a Buddha as a different and more exalted personage than an Arahant. Now in our oldest documents these two conceptions are still in a state of fusion. The word Buddha does not occur in its later, special, technical sense. It occurs often enough in ambiguous phrases, where it may be translated by 'Converted One, Awakened One.' Thus at Sutta Nipāta 48 [sic. vs 408, #III.1] it is said, of Gotama, 'The Awakened One (Buddho) came to Rājagaha'; but the time referred to is some years before he had become a Buddha in the later technical sense. And at Sutta Nipāta 167 it is said: 'Let us ask Gotama, the awakened one who has passed beyond anger and fear'; but the very same adjectives are used at Itivuttaka, No. 68, of any ordinary Arahant. So the phrases used to describe the mental crises in Gotama's career are invariably precisely the same as those used under similar circumstances of his disciples; and this holds good both of his going forth, and of his victory and attainment of Nirvana under the Tree of Wisdom. Further than that, in long descriptions of Gotama — such for instance as that in Sutta Nipāta, verses 153 to 167 — all the epithets used are found elsewhere applied to one or other of his disciples. The teacher never called himself a Buddha (as distinct from an Arahant). When addressed as Buddha, or spoken of as such, by his followers, it is always doubtful whether anything more is meant than an enlightened Arahant.

It is needless to state that this does not in the least imply any sense of equality between the teacher and his disciples. The very oldest documents represent the difference as immeasurable; but as a difference of degree, not of kind. The question is as to the manner of the growth and hardening of this sense of difference; and as to the consequent gradual change in the connotation of words.

In the episode of the events between the Wisdom Tree and the First Discourse, in which — for the first time perhaps — we twice have the epithet Sammāsambuddha,¹ it is in a similar way associated both times on equal terms with Arahā. So [3] the word Bodhisatta has gradually changed its meaning and implication. First used of Gotama between the Going Forth and the Nirvana, it is then used of him from the moment of conception; then of all the Buddhas from conception to Arahantship; then of those beings on earth — men or animals — who were eventually to become Buddhas; then of gods; and finally it became a sort of degree in theology, and was used as a term of respect for any learned and able Mahāyānist doctor.

The word Apadāna, used in the title of this Suttanta for the legend or life-story of a Buddha, is also used as a title of a book in the supplementary Nikāya. There it has come generally to mean the legend or life-story of an Arahant, male or female, though the older connotation is also found. In later books it is never used, I think, for the legend of a Buddha. The full title may mean the Story of the Great Ones — that is the Seven Buddhas — or the Great (the important) Story — that is the Story of the Dhamma, and its bearers and promulgators. The last is probably what is meant, as in the corresponding title of the Mahāvastu.

[4]

Mahā-Padāna Suttantaṃ

The Sublime Story

THUS HAVE I HEARD.

The Exalted One was once staying at Sāvatthi,
in Anāthapiṇḍika's pleasaunce
in the Jeta Wood,
at the Kareri-tree cottage.²

Now among many bhikkhus
who had returned from their alms-tour
and were assembled,
sitting together after their meal,
in the pavilion in the Kareri grounds,³
a religious conversation
bearing on previous births arose,
to the effect that
thus and thus were previous births.⁴

2. And the Exalted One,
with clear and Heavenly Ear
surpassing the hearing of men,
overheard this conversation among the bhikkhus.⁵

And arising from [5] his seat
he came to the pavilion in the Kareri grounds,
and took his seat
on the mat spread out for him.

And when he had sat down
he said to the brethren: —

"What is the talk
on which you are engaged sitting here,
and what is the subject
of conversation between you?"

And they told him:

"Now among many bhikkhus
who had returned from their alms-tour
and were assembled,
sitting together after their meal,
in the pavilion in the Kareri grounds,
a religious conversation
bearing on previous births arose,
to the effect that thus and thus
were previous births."

3. Then he said: —

"Do you not wish, brethren,
to hear some religious talk
on the subject of former lives?"

"Now is the time, O Exalted One,
now is the time, Welcome One,
for the Exalted One to give us
a religious discourse
on the subject of former lives.

When the brethren have heard it from the Exalted One
they will bear it in mind."

"Wherefore then, brethren,
hearken well to me,
and I will speak."

"So be it, lord,"
replied the brethren.

And the Exalted One said: —

§

4. "It is now ninety-one aeons ago, brethren,
since Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose in the world.

It is now thirty-one aeons ago, brethren,
since Sikhi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose in the world.

It was in that same thirty-first aeon, brethren,
that Vessabhu, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose in the world.

It was in this present auspicious aeon, brethren,
that Kakusandha, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose in the world.

It was in this auspicious aeon, brethren,
that Konāgamana, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose in the world.

It was in this auspicious aeon, brethren,
that Kassapa, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose in the world.

It is in this auspicious aeon, brethren,
that now I,
an Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
have arisen in the world.'

■

5.ed1 Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the aristocracy,
in the khattiya cast.

Sikhi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the aristocracy,
in the khattiya cast.

Vessabhu, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the aristocracy,
in the khattiya cast.

Kakusandha, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the theocracy,
in the brahmin cast.

Konāgamana, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the theocracy,
in the brahmin cast.

Kassapa, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the theocracy,
in the brahmin cast.

I,
an Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the aristocracy,
in the khattiya cast.

■

6. Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the Kondañña clan.

Sikhi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the Kondañña clan.

Vessabhu, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the Kondañña clan.

Kakusandha, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the Kassapa clan.

Konāgamana, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the Kassapa clan.

Kassapa, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the Kassapa clan.

I,
an Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the Gotama clan.

■

7. Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
lived when the length of life
was eighty-thousand years.

Sikhi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
lived when the length of life
was seventy-thousand years.

Vessabhu, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
lived when the length of life
was sixty-thousand years.

Kakusandha, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
lived when the length of life
was fourty-thousand years.

Konāgamana, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
lived when the length of life
was thirty-thousand years.

Kassapa, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
lived when the length of life
was twenty-thousand years.

I,
an Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
live when the length of life
is one hundred years.

■

8. Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose to awakening
at the root of the Pāṭali Tree.

Sikhi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose to awakening
at the root of the Puṇḍarīka Tree.

Vessabhu, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose to awakening
at the root of the Sāla Tree.

Kakusandha, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose to awakening
at the root of the Sirīsa Tree.

Konāgamana, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose to awakening
at the root of the Udumbara Tree.

Kassapa, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose to awakening
at the root of the Nigrodha Tree.

I,
an Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose to awakening
at the root of the Assattha Tree.

■

9. Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had disciples chief in learning,
chief in good luck
named Khaṇḍā and Tissa.

Sikhi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had disciples chief in learning,
chief in good luck
named Abhibhu and Sambhava.

Vessabhu, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had disciples chief in learning,
chief in good luck
named Soṇa and Uttara.

Kakusandha, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had disciples chief in learning,
chief in good luck
named Vidhūra and Sañjīva.

Konāgamana, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had disciples chief in learning,
chief in good luck
named Bhiyyosa and Uttara.

Kassapa, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had disciples chief in learning,
chief in good luck
named Tissa and Bhāradvāja.

I,
an Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
have disciples chief in learning,
chief in good luck
named Sāriputta and Moggallāna.

■

10. Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had three assemblies of disciples:
one of 68 lacs [6,800,000] of bhikkhus,
one of 100,000 bhikkhus,
one of 80,000 bhikkhus
and of these three assemblies
all had destroyed the āsavas.

Sikhi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had three assemblies of disciples:
one of 100,000 of bhikkhus,
one of 80,000 bhikkhus,
one of 70,000 bhikkhus
and of these three assemblies
all had destroyed the āsavas.

Vessabhu, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had three assemblies of disciples:
one of 80,000 of bhikkhus,
one of 70,000 bhikkhus,
one of 60,000 bhikkhus
and of these three assemblies
all had destroyed the āsavas.

Kakusandha, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had one assembly of disciples
numbering 40,000 bhikkhus
and of these
all had destroyed the āsavas.

Konāgamana, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had one assembly of disciples
numbering 30,000 bhikkhus
and of these
all had destroyed the āsavas.

Kassapa, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had one assembly of disciples
numbering 20,000 bhikkhus
and of these
all had destroyed the āsavas.

I,
an Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
have one assembly of disciples
numbering 1250 bhikkhus
and of these
all have destroyed the āsavas.

■

11. Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had as attendant,
main attendant,
a bhikkhu named Asoka.

Sikhi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had as attendant,
main attendant,
a bhikkhu named Khemaṇkura.

Vessabhu, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had as attendant,
main attendant,
a bhikkhu named Upasannaka.

Kakusandha, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had as attendant,
main attendant,
a bhikkhu named Buddhija.

Konāgamana, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had as attendant,
main attendant,
a bhikkhu named Sotthija.

Kassapa, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had as attendant,
main attendant,
a bhikkhu named Sabbamitta.

I,
an Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
have as attendant,
main attendant,
a bhikkhu named Ānanda.

■

12. Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had a father named King Bandhumā,
his mother was named Queen Bandhumatī,
and King Bandhumā ruled over
the great city of Bhandhumatī.

Sikhi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had a father named King Aruṇo,
his mother was named Queen Pabhāvatī,
and King Aruṇo ruled over
the great city of Aruṇavatī.

Vessabhu, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had a father named King Suppatīto,
his mother was named Queen Yasavatī,
and King Suppatīto ruled over
the great city of Anopamaṃ.

Kakusandha, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had a father named Brāhman Aggidatto,
his mother was named Brāhmani Visākhā,
and at that time Khemo
was the king of Khemavatī.

Konāgamana, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had a father named Brāhman Yaññadatto,
his mother was named Brāhmani Uttarā,
and at that time Sobho
was the king of Sobhavatī.

Kassapa, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had a father named Brāhman Brahmadatto,
his mother was named Brāhmani Dhanavatī,
and at that time Kikī
was the king of Bārāṇasī.

I,
an Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had a father named King Suddhodano,
my mother was named Queen Māyā,
and they ruled over
the great city of Kapilavatthu."

[Thus said the Exalted One. Having spoken, The Welcome-one arose from his seat and departed.]ed2

§

[6] 13. Now not long after he had gone out,
this talk arose among the brethren: —

"How wonderful a thing, brethren,
and how strange
is the great genius,
the master mind of the Tathāgata,
that he should remember the Buddhas of old,
who attained final completion,
who cut off obstacles,
who cut down barriers,
who have ended the cycle,
who have escaped from all sorrow —
that he should remember of these
that such was their rank,
such were their personal names,
such were their family names,
such the span of their lives,
such their pair of disciples,
and such the number
of the congregations of their disciples,
telling us: —

'Of such was the birth of those Exalted Ones,
such were their names,
and their clans;
such were their morals,
their doctrines,
their wisdom;
thus did they live,
and thus they gained emancipation.'

Now, what think you, brother?

Has this principle of truth
been clearly discerned by the Tathāgata,
so that by his discernment of it
that he should remember the Buddhas of old,
who attained final completion,
who cut off obstacles,
who cut down barriers,
who have ended the cycle,
who have escaped from all sorrow —
that he should remember of these
that such was their rank,
such were their personal names,
such were their family names,
such the span of their lives,
such their pair of disciples,
and such the number
of the congregations of their disciples,
telling us: —

'Of such was the birth of those Exalted Ones,
such were their names,
and their clans;
such were their morals,
their doctrines,
their wisdom;
thus did they live,
and thus they gained emancipation.'

Or have gods revealed this matter to the Tathāgata,
so that thereby he remembers?"

■

[7] 14. Now such was the trend
of the talk that was going on among the brethren
when the Exalted One,
rousing himself at eventide from meditation,
went to the pavilion in the Kareri grounds,
and took his seat
on the mat spread out for him.

And when he had sat down,
he said to the brethren:

"What is the talk
on which you are engaged, brethren,
as ye sit here,
and what was the subject
of conversation between you?"

And they told him:

"Not long after you had gone out,
this talk arose almonor the brethren: —

'How wonderful a thing, brethren,
and how strange
is the great genius,
the master mind of the Tathāgata,
that he should remember the Buddhas of old,
who attained final completion,
who cut off obstacles,
who cut down barriers,
who have ended the cycle,
who have escaped from all sorrow —
that he should remember of these
that such was their rank,
such were their personal names,
such were their family names,
such the span of their lives,
such their pair of disciples,
and such the number
of the congregations of their disciples,
telling us: —

"Of such was the birth of those Exalted Ones,
such were their names,
and their clans;
such were their morals,
their doctrines,
their wisdom;
thus did they live,
and thus they gained emancipation."

Now, what think you, brother?

Has this principle of truth
been clearly discerned by the Tathāgata,
so that by his discernment of it
that he should remember the Buddhas of old,
who attained final completion,
who cut off obstacles,
who cut down barriers,
who have ended the cycle,
who have escaped from all sorrow —
that he should remember of these
that such was their rank,
such were their personal names,
such were their family names,
such the span of their lives,
such their pair of disciples,
and such the number
of the congregations of their disciples,
telling us: —

"Of such was the birth of those Exalted Ones,
such were their names,
and their clans;
such were their morals,
their doctrines,
their wisdom;
thus did they live,
and thus they gained emancipation."

Or have gods revealed this matter to the Tathāgata,
so that thereby he remembers?'"

■

15. "It is through his clear discernment
of a principle of the truth, brethren,
that the Tathāgata is able
to remember⁶ the Buddhas of old,
who attained final completion,
who cut off obstacles,
who cut down barriers,
who have ended the cycle,
who have escaped from all sorrow —
that he should remember of these
that such was their rank,
such were their personal names,
such were their family names,
such the span of their lives,
such their pair of disciples,
and such the number
of the congregations of their disciples,
telling you: —

'Of such was the birth of those Exalted Ones,
such were their names,
and their clans;
such were their morals,
their doctrines,
their wisdom;
thus did they live,
and thus they gained emancipation.'

■

And gods also
have revealed these matters to him,
enabling him to remember
the Buddhas of old,
who attained final completion,
who cut off obstacles,
who cut down barriers,
who have ended the cycle,
who have escaped from all sorrow —
that he should remember of these
that such was their rank,
such were their personal names,
such were their family names,
such the span of their lives,
such their pair of disciples,
and such the number
of the congregations of their disciples,
telling you: —

'Of such was the birth of those Exalted Ones,
such were their names,
and their clans;
such were their morals,
their doctrines,
their wisdom;
thus did they live,
and thus they gained emancipation.'

§

Do ye not wish, brethren,
to hear yet further religious discourse
bearing on former lives?"

"Now, O Exalted One,
is the time,
now, O Welcome One,
is the time!

Whatsoever the Exalted [8] One may tell us
further bearing on former lives,
the brethren will listen to it
and bear it in mind."

"Wherefore, brethren, hearken
and attend well,
and I will speak."

"So be it, lord,"
replied the brethren.

The Exalted One said: —

16. "I have told you, brethren:⁷

"It is now ninety-one aeons ago, brethren,
since Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose in the world.

■

Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the aristocracy,
in the khattiya cast.

■

Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the Kondañña clan.

■

Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
lived when the length of life
was eighty-thousand years.

■

Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose to awakening
at the root of the Pāṭali Tree.

■

Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had disciples chief in learning,
chief in good luck
named Khaṇḍā and Tissa.

■

Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had three assemblies of disciples:
one of 68 lacs [6,800,000] of bhikkhus,
one of 100,000 bhikkhus,
one of 80,000 bhikkhus
and of these three assemblies
all had destroyed the āsavas.

■

Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had as attendant,
main attendant,
a bhikkhu named Asoka.

■

Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had a father named King Bandhumā,
his mother was named Queen Bandhumatī,
and King Bandhumā ruled over
the great city of Bhandhumatī.

17. Now Vipassi, brethren,
when, as Bodhisat,
he ceased to belong to the hosts
of the heaven of Delight,
descended into his mother's womb
mindful and self-possessed.⁸

That, in such a case,
is the rule'.⁹

■

[9] It is the rule, brethren, that,
when the Bodhisat ceases to belong
to the hosts of the heaven of Delight,
and enters a mother's womb,
there is made manifest throughout the universe —
including the worlds above of the gods,
the Māras and the Brahmās,
and the world below
with its recluses and brahmins,
its princes and peoples —
an infinite and splendid radiance,
passing the glory of the gods.

Even in those spaces
which are between the worlds,
baseless¹⁰
murky
and dark,
and where even moon and sun,
so wondrous and mighty,
cannot prevail to give light,
even there is made manifest
this infinite and splendid radiance,
passing the glory of the gods.

And those beings
who happen to be existing there,¹¹
perceiving each other by that radiance,
say: —

"Verily there be other beings living here!"

And the ten thousand worlds of the universe
tremble
and shudder
and quake.

And that this infinite splendid radiance
is made manifest in the world,
passing the glory of the gods —
that, in such a case,
is the rule.

■

17a. It is the rule, brethren, that,
when the Bodhisat is descending into a mother's womb,
four sons of the gods
go toward the four quarters to protect him,
saying: —

'Let no one,
be he human,
or non-human,
or whatsoever he be,
work harm to the Bodhisat
or to the mother of the Bodhisat!'

That, in such a case,
is the rule.

■

18. It is the rule, brethren, that,
when the Bodhisat is descending into a mother's womb,
the mother of the Bodhisat
is a woman virtuous through her own nature: —
averse from taking life,
averse from taking what is not given,
averse from unchastity,
averse from [10] lying speech,
averse from indulgence in strong drinks.

That, in such a case, is the rule.

■

19. It is the rule, brethren, that,
when the Bodhisat is descending into a mother's womb,
that mother has no mind for indulgence
in the pleasures of sense with men,
and is incapable of transgression
with any man whatever
who may be enamoured of her.

That, in such a case,
is the rule.

■

20. It is the rule, brethren, that,
when the Bodhisat is descending into a mother's womb,
that mother is living in the enjoyment
yielded by the five senses,
is addicted to it,
possessed of it,
surrounded by it.

That, in such a case,
is the rule.

■

21. It is the rule, brethren, that,
when the Bodhisat is descending into a mother's womb,
no ailment whatsoever befalls that mother;
at ease is she and unafflicted in body;
and within her womb
she sees the Bodhisat
complete in the endowment
of all his organs
and his limbs.

Just as if, brethren, there were a beautiful cat's-eye gem,¹²
of purest water,
octangular,
cut with supreme skill,
translucent and flawless,
excellent in every way.

And through it
were strung a thread,
blue
or orange,
red,
white,
or yellow.

If a man who had eyes to see
were to take it into his hand,
he would clearly perceive
how the one
was strung on the other.

Even so, brethren,
when the Bodhisat is descending into a mother's womb,
no ailment whatever befalls that mother;
at ease is she
and unaffected in body;
and within her womb
she sees the Bodhisat
complete in the endowment
of all his organs
and his limbs.

That, in such a case,
is the rule.

■

22. It is the rule, brethren, that,
on the seventh day after the birth of a Bodhisat,
the mother of the [11] Bodhisat dies,
and rises again in the heaven of Delight.

That, in such a case,
is the rule.

■

23. It is the rule, brethren, that,
whereas other women bring forth
after bearing either nine or ten months¹³
the mother of a Bodhisat brings not forth
till she has borne the child ten months.

That, in such a case,
is the rule.

■

24. It is the rule, brethren, that,
whereas other women bring forth
sitting or reclining,
the mother of a Bodhisat brings forth not so,
but standing.

That, in such a case,
is the rule.

■

25. It is the rule, brethren, that,
when a Bodhisat issues from his mother's womb,
gods receive him first,
afterwards men.¹⁴

That, in such a case,
is the rule.

■

26. It is the rule, brethren, that,
when a Bodhisat issues from his mother's womb,
and has not yet touched the earth,
for four sons of the gods to receive him,
and present him to the mother,
saying: —

'Rejoice, lady,
for Mighty is the son
that is born to thee!'

That, in such a case,
is the rule.

■

27. It is the rule, brethren, that,
when a Bodhisat issues from his mother's womb,
he comes forth stainless,
undefiled by watery matter,
undefiled by mucus,
undefiled by blood,
undefiled by any uncleanness whatever,
pure,
spotless.

Just as if, brethren,
a jewel were laid down on Benares muslin;
the jewel is not stained by the muslin,
nor is the muslin stained by it;
and why is that?

Because of the purity of both.

Even so, brethren, is it that,
when a Bodhisat issues from his mother's womb,
he comes forth stainless,
undefiled by watery matter,
undefiled by mucus,
undefiled by blood,
undefiled by any uncleanness whatever,
pure,
spotless.

That, in such a case,
is the rule.

■

28. It is the rule, brethren, that,
when a Bodhisat issues from his mother's womb,
two showers of [12] water appear from the sky,
one of cold,
the other of warm water,
wherewith they do the needful bathing
of the Bodhisat
and of his mother.

That, in such a case,
is the rule.

■

29. It is the rule, brethren, that,
when a Bodhisat has come to birth,
he stands firm on both feet and,
with his face to the north,
takes seven strides,
the while a white canopy is held over him¹⁵ and,
looking around on every side,
he utters as with the voice of a bull: —

'Chief am I in the world,
Eldest am I in the world,
Foremost am I in the world!

This is the last birth!

There is now no more coming to be!'¹⁶

That, in such a case,
is the rule.

■

30. It is the rule, brethren, that,
when a Bodhisat issues from his mother's womb,
there is made manifest throughout the universe —
including the worlds above of the gods,
the Māras and the Brahmās,
and the world below
with its recluses and brahmins,
its princes and peoples, —
an infinite and splendid radiance
passing the glory of the gods.

Even in those spaces which are between the worlds,
baseless,
murky and dark,
and where even moon and sun,
so wondrous and mighty,
cannot prevail to give light,
even there is manifest
this infinite and splendid radiance,
passing the glory of the gods.

And those beings
who happen to be existing there,
perceiving each other by that radiance,
say: —

"Verily there be other beings living here!"

And the ten thousand worlds of the universe
tremble and shudder and quake.

And this infinite and splendid [13] radiance
is made manifest in the world,
passing the glory of the gods.

That, in such a case,
is the rule.

§

31. When the boy Vipassi, brethren, was born,
they brought word to Bandhuman the rāja
saying: —

'A son, my lord, is born to you!

May it please you to see him?'

Now when Bandhuman the rāja had seen the babe,
he sent for the brahmin soothsayers,¹⁷
saying: —

'Let the reverend brahmin soothsayers
see the child.'

Then, brethren, when the brahmin soothsayers had seen the child,
they said to Bandhuman the rāja: —

'Rejoice, lord, for one of the Mighty Ones is born thy son!

Fortune is thine, my lord,
good fortune is thine,
in that in thy family
such a son has come to birth!

For this babe, my lord,
is endowed with the thirty-two marks of the Great Man;
and to one so endowed
two careers lie open,
and none other.

If he live the life of the House,
he becomes Lord of the Wheel,¹⁸
a righteous Lord of the Right,¹⁹
ruler of the four quarters,
conqueror,
guardian of the people's good,
owner of the Seven Treasures.

His do those seven treasures become,
to wit,
the Wheel treasure,
the Elephant treasure,
the Horse treasure,
the Gem treasure,
the Woman treasure,
the Steward treasure,
the Eldest Son treasure
making seven.²⁰

More than a thousand sons will be his,
heroes,
vigorous of frame,
crushers of the hosts of the enemy.

He, when he has conquered this earth
to its ocean bounds,
is established not by the scourge,
not by the sword,
but by righteousness.

But if such a boy
go forth from the life of the House
into the Homeless state,²¹
he becomes an Arahant,
a Buddha Supreme,
rolling back the veil from the world.

[14] 32. "And what, my lord,
are the thirty-two marks of the 'Great Man,'²²
wherewith endowed
this child hath two careers open to him,
and only two: —
that of the Lord of the Wheel a righteous Lord of the Right,
ruler of the four quarters,
conqueror,
guardian of the people's good,
owner of the Seven Treasures, or
that of Buddha Supreme?

{1} This babe, my lord,
has feet with level tread.²³

That this babe, my lord,
has feet with level tread
counts to him as one of the marks of a Great Man.

{2} On the soles of the babe's feet
wheels appear
with a thousand spokes,
with tyre and hub,
in every way complete.

That on the soles of the babe's feet
wheels appear
with a thousand spokes,
with tyre and hub,
in every way complete
counts to him as one of the marks of a Great Man.

{3} This babe has projecting heels.²⁴

That babe has projecting heels
counts to him as one of the marks of a Great Man.

{4} He is long in the fingers
and long in the toes.²⁵

That he is long in the fingers
and long in the toes
counts to him as one of the marks of a Great Man.

{5} Soft and tender in hands and feet.

That he is soft and tender in hands and feet
counts to him as one of the marks of a Great Man.

{6} With hands and feet like a net.²⁶

That he has hands and feet like a net
counts to him as one of the marks of a Great Man.

{7} His ankles are like rounded shells.²⁷

That his ankles are like rounded shells
counts to him as one of the marks of a Great Man.

{8} His legs are like an antelope's.²⁸

That his legs are like an antelope's
counts to him as one of the marks of a Great Man.

{9} Standing
and without bending
he can touch and rub his knees
with either hand.

That standing
and without bending
he can touch and rub his knees
with either hand
counts to him as one of the marks of a Great Man.

{10} His male organs are concealed in a sheath.

That his male organs are concealed in a sheath
counts to him as one of the marks of a Great Man.

{11} His complexion is like bronze,
the colour of gold.

That his complexion is like bronze,
the colour of gold
counts to him as one of the marks of a Great Man.

{12} His skin is so delicately smooth
that no dust cleaves to his body.²⁹

That his skin is so delicately smooth
that no dust cleaves to his body
counts to him as one of the marks of a Great Man.

[15] {13} The down on it grows in single hairs,
one to each pore.

That the down on it grows in single hairs,
one to each pore
counts to him as one of the marks of a Great Man.

{14} The small hairs on his body turn upward,
every hair of it,
blue-black in colour
like eye-paint,
in little curling rings,
curling to the right.

That the small hairs on his body turn upward,
every hair of it,
blue-black in colour
like eye-paint,
in little curling rings,
curling to the right
counts to him as one of the marks of a Great Man.

{15} This babe has a frame divinely straight.³⁰

That babe has a frame divinely straight
counts to him as one of the marks of a Great Man.

{16} He has the seven convex surfaces.³¹

That he has the seven convex surfaces
counts to him as one of the marks of a Great Man.

{17} The front half of his body
is like a lion's.³²

That the front half of his body
is like a lion's
counts to him as one of the marks of a Great Man.

{18} There is no furrow between his shoulders.³³

That there is no furrow between his shoulders
counts to him as one of the marks of a Great Man.

{19} His proportions have the symmetry of the banyan-tree:³⁴ —
The length of his body
is equal to the compass of his arms,
and the compass of his arms
is equal to his height.

That his proportions have the symmetry of the banyan-tree: —
The length of his body
is equal to the compass of his arms,
and the compass of his arms
is equal to his height
counts to him as one of the marks of a Great Man.

{20} His bust is equally rounded.³⁵

That his bust is equally rounded
counts to him as one of the marks of a Great Man.

{21} His taste is supremely acute.³⁶

That his taste is supremely acute
counts to him as one of the marks of a Great Man.

{22} His jaw is as a lion's.³⁷

That his jaw is as a lion's
counts to him as one of the marks of a Great Man.

{23} He has forty teeth.³⁸

That he has forty teeth
counts to him as one of the marks of a Great Man.

{24} He has regular teeth.

That he has regular teeth
counts to him as one of the marks of a Great Man.

{25} He has continuous teeth.

That he has continuous teeth
counts to him as one of the marks of a Great Man.

{26} His eye-teeth are very lustrous.

That his eye-teeth are very lustrous
counts to him as one of the marks of a Great Man.

{27} His tongue is very long.³⁹

[16] That his tongue is very long
counts to him as one of the marks of a Great Man.

{28} He has a divine voice like the karavika-bird's.⁴⁰

That he has a divine voice like the karavika-bird's
counts to him as one of the marks of a Great Man.

{29} His eyes are intensely blue.⁴¹

That his eyes are intensely blue
counts to him as one of the marks of a Great Man.

{30} He has the eyelashes of a cow.⁴²

That he has the eyelashes of a cow
counts to him as one of the marks of a Great Man.

{31} Between the eyebrows appears a hairy mole, white and like soft cotton down.

That between the eyebrows appears a hairy mole, white and like soft cotton down
counts to him as one of the marks of a Great Man.

{32} His head is like a royal turban.⁴³

That his head is like a royal turban
counts to him as one of the marks of a Great Man.⁴⁴

33. Endowed, my lord, as is this babe
with these two-and-thirty marks of the Great Man,
two careers and none other are open to him
that of the Lord of the Wheel
a righteous Lord of the Right,
ruler of the four quarters,
conqueror,
guardian of the people's good,
owner of the Seven Treasures, or
that of Buddha Supreme.'

Thereupon Bandhuman the rāja, brethren,
let the brahmin soothsayers be invested with new robes
and gratified their every desire.

34. And Bandhuman the rāja, brethren,
engaged nurses for the babe Vipassi.

Some suckled him,
some washed him,
some nursed him,
some carried him about on their hip.

And a white canopy
was held over him day and night,
for it was commanded: —

'Let not cold
or heat
or straws
or dust
or dew
annoy him!'

And the boy Vipassi, brethren,
became the darling and the beloved of the people,
even as a blue
or red
or white lotus
is dear to
and beloved of all,
so that he was literally
carried about from lap to lap.⁴⁵

35. And when the boy Vipassi was born, brethren,
he had a lovely voice,
well modulated
and sweet
and [17] charming,
just as the voice of the karavika-bird
in the mountains of Himaiaya
is lovely
and sweetly modulated
and charming.⁴⁶

36. And when the boy Vipassi was born, brethren,
there was manifested in him
the Heavenly Eye
born of the result of his karma,⁴⁷
by the which verily he could see
as far as a league by day
and eke by night.

37. And when the boy Vipassi was born, brethren,
he looked forward with unblinking eyes,
like the gods in the heaven of Delight.

Now it was because of this,
people exclaiming
'Vipassi, Vipassi' —
a Seer, a Seer! —
that this became his name.⁴⁸

And again, brethren,
while Bandhuman rāja was sitting as judge,
he would take the boy on his hip
and so lay down the law
as to the cases arising
till verily the boy,
thus seated on his father's hip,
and continually considering,
would also determine the points of the matter
according to justice.⁴⁹

Then at the thought
'It is the babe who is judging cases aright'
ever more and more did that word
'a Seer, a Seer'
become used as his name.

38. Now Bandhuman rāja, brethren,
had three palaces built for the boy Vipassi,
one for the rains,
one for the winter
and one for the summer,
and he had them fitted
with every kind of gratification
for the five senses.

Thus it came to pass that Vipassi spent [18] the four months of the rainy season in the rains-palace,
ministered to by bands of female musicians;⁵⁰
and not once did he come down
(from the upper terrace)
into the mansion."

Here endeth the Birth chapter.

§

II.

1. "Now the young lord Vipassi, brethren,
when many years,
many centuries,
many thousands of years
had passed by,⁵¹
bade his charioteer make ready the state carriages,
saying: —

'Get ready the carriages, good charioteer,
and let us go through the park
to inspect the pleasaunce.'

'Yea, my lord,'
replied the charioteer,
and harnessed the state carriages
and sent word to Vipassi: —

'The carriages are ready, my lord;
do now what you deem to be fit.'

Then Vipassi mounted a state carriage,
and drove out in state
into the park.

2. Now the young lord Vipassi saw, brethren,
as he was driving to the park,
an aged man
as bent as a roof gable,
decrepit,
leaning on a staff,
tottering as he walked,
afflicted
and long past his prime.

And seeing him Vipassi said: —

'That man, good charioteer,
what has he done,
that his hair is not like that of other men,
nor his body?'

'He is what is called an aged man, my lord.'

[19] 'But why is he called aged?'

'He is called aged, my lord,
because he has not much longer to live.'

'But then, good charioteer,
am I too subject to old age,
one who has not got past old age?'

'You, my lord,
and we too,
we all are of a kind to grow old,
we have not got past old age.'

'Why then, good charioteer,
enough of the park for to-day!

Drive me back hence to my rooms.'⁵²

'Yea, my lord,'
answered the charioteer,
and drove him back.

And he, brethren,
going to his rooms
sat brooding
sorrowful and depressed,
thinking: —

'Shame then verily be upon this thing called birth,
since to one born
old age shows itself like that!'

■

3. Thereupon Bandhuman rāja, brethren,
sent for the charioteer and asked him: —

'Well, good charioteer,
did the boy take pleasure in the park?

Was he pleased with it?'

'No, my lord, he was not.'

'What then did he see on his drive?'

'Now the young lord Vipassi saw, my lord,
as he was driving to the park,
an aged man
as bent as a roof gable,
decrepit,
leaning on a staff,
tottering as he walked,
afflicted
and long past his prime.

And seeing him Vipassi said: —

"That man, good charioteer,
what has he done,
that his hair is not like that of other men,
nor his body?"

"He is what is called an aged man, my lord."

"But why is he called aged?"

"He is called aged, my lord,
because he has not much longer to live."

"But then, good charioteer,
am I too subject to old age,
one who has not got past old age?"

"You, my lord,
and we too,
we all are of a kind to grow old,
we have not got past old age."

"Why then, good charioteer,
enough of the park for to-day!

Drive me back hence to my rooms."

"Yea, my lord,"
I answered,
and drove him back.

And he, my lord,
going to his rooms
sat brooding
sorrowful and depressed,
thinking: —

"Shame then verily be upon this thing called birth,
since to one born
old age shows itself like that!"'

■

4. Then the rāja, brethren, thought thus: —

'We must not have Vipassi declining to rule.

We must not have him going forth from the House into the Homeless state.

We must not let what the brahmin soothsayers spoke of come true.'

So, that these things might not come to pass,
he let the youth be still more surrounded by sensuous pleasures.

And thus Vipassi continued to live amidst the pleasures of sense.

■

5. Now the young lord Vipassi, brethren,
when many years,
many centuries,
many thousands of years
had passed by,
bade his charioteer make ready the state carriages,
saying: —

'Get ready the carriages, good charioteer,
and let us go through the park
to inspect the pleasaunce.'

'Yea, my lord,'
replied the charioteer,
and harnessed the state carriages
and sent word to Vipassi: —

'The carriages are ready, my lord;
do now what you deem to be fit.'

Then Vipassi mounted a state carriage,
and drove out in state
into the park.⁵³

6. Now the young lord Vipassi saw, brethren,
as he was driving [20] to the park,
a sick man,
suffering
and very ill,
fallen
and weltering in his own water,
by some being lifted up,
by others being dressed.

Seeing this, Vipassi asked,

'That man, good charioteer,
what has he done
that his eyes are not like others' eyes,
nor his voice like the voice of other men?'

'He is what is called ill, my lord.'

'But what is meant by "ill"?'

'It means, my lord,
that he will hardly recover from his illness.'

'But am I too then, good charioteer,
subject to fall ill;
have not I got out of reach of illness?'

'You, my lord,
and we too,
we all are subject to fall ill,
we have not got beyond the reach of illness.'

'Why then, good charioteer,
enough of the park for to-day!

Drive me back hence to my rooms.'

'Yea, my lord,'
answered the charioteer,
and drove him back.

And he, brethren,
going to his rooms
sat brooding
sorrowful
and depressed,
thinking: —

'Shame then verily
be upon this thing called birth,
since to one born
decay shows itself like that,
disease shows itself like that.'

■

7. Thereupon Bandhuman rāja, brethren,
sent for the charioteer and asked him: —

'Well, good charioteer,
did the boy take pleasure in the park?

Was he pleased with it?'

'No, my lord, he was not.'

'What then did he see on his drive?'

6. 'Now the young lord Vipassi saw, my lord,
as he was driving to the park,
a sick man,
suffering
and very ill,
fallen
and weltering in his own water,
by some being lifted up,
by others being dressed.

Seeing this, Vipassi asked,

"That man, good charioteer,
what has he done
that his eyes are not like others' eyes,
nor his voice like the voice of other men?"

"He is what is called ill, my lord."

"But what is meant by 'ill'?"

"It means, my lord,
that he will hardly recover from his illness."

"But am I too then, good charioteer,
subject to fall ill;
have not I got out of reach of illness?"

"You, my lord,
and we too,
we all are subject to fall ill,
we have not got beyond the reach of illness."

"Why then, good charioteer,
enough of the park for to-day!

Drive me back hence to my rooms."

"Yea, my lord,"
I answered,
and drove him back.

And he, my lord,
going to his rooms
sat brooding
sorrowful
and depressed,
thinking: —

"Shame then verily
be upon this thing called birth,
since to one born
decay shows itself like that,
disease shows itself like that."'

■

8. Then the rāja, brethren, thought thus: —

'We must not have Vipassi declining to rule.

We must not have him going forth from the House into the Homeless state.

We must not let what the brahmin soothsayers spoke of come true.'

So, that these things might not come to pass,
he let the youth be still more surrounded by sensuous pleasures.

And thus Vipassi continued to live amidst the pleasures of sense.

■

9. Now the young lord Vipassi, brethren,
when many years,
many centuries,
many thousands of years
had passed by,
bade his charioteer make ready the state carriages,
saying: —

'Get ready the carriages, good charioteer,
and let us go through the park
to inspect the pleasaunce.'

'Yea, my lord,'
replied the charioteer,
and harnessed the state carriages
and sent word to Vipassi: —

'The carriages are ready, my lord;
do now what you deem to be fit.'

Then Vipassi mounted a state carriage,
and drove out in state
into the park.

[21] 10. Now the young lord Vipassi saw, brethren,
as he was driving to the park,
a great concourse of people
clad in garments of different colours
constructing a funeral pyre.

And seeing them he asked his charioteer: —

'Why now are all those people
come together in garments of different colours,
and making that pile?'

'It is because some one, my lord,
has ended his days.'

'Then drive the carriage
close to him who has ended his days.'

'Yea, my lord,'
answered the charioteer,
and did so.

And Vipassi saw the corpse
of him who had ended his days
and asked: —

'What, good charioteer,
is ending one's days?'

'It means, my lord,
that neither mother,
nor father,
nor other kinsfolk
will see him any more,
nor will he ever again see them.'

'But am I too then
subject to death,
have I not got beyond the reach of death?

Will neither the rāja,
nor the ranee,
nor any other of my kin
see me more,
or I ever again see them?'

'You, my lord
and we too,
we all are subject to death,
we have not passed beyond the reach of death.

Neither the rāja,
nor the ranee,
nor any other of your kin
would see you any more,
nor would you ever again see them.'

'Why then, good charioteer,
enough of the park for to-day!

Drive me back hence to my rooms.'

'Yea, my lord,'
replied the charioteer,
and drove him back.

And he, brethren,
going to his rooms,
sat brooding
sorrowful
and depressed,
thinking: —

'Shame then verily be
upon this thing called birth,
since to one born
the decay of life,
since disease,
since death
shows itself like that!'

■

11. Thereupon Bandhuman rāja, brethren,
sent for the charioteer and asked him: —

'Well, good charioteer,
did the boy take pleasure in the park?

Was he pleased with it?'

'No, my lord, he was not.'

'What then did he see on his drive?'

12. 'Now the young lord Vipassi saw, my lord,
as he was driving to the park,
as he was driving to the park,
a great concourse of people
clad in garments of different colours
constructing a funeral pyre.

And seeing them he asked his charioteer: —

"Why now are all those people
come together in garments of different colours,
and making that pile?"

"It is because some one, my lord,
has ended his days."

"Then drive the carriage
close to him who has ended his days."

"Yea, my lord,"
answered the charioteer,
and did so.

And Vipassi saw the corpse
of him who had ended his days
and asked: —

"What, good charioteer,
is ending one's days?"

"It means, my lord,
that neither mother,
nor father,
nor other kinsfolk
will see him any more,
nor will he ever again see them."

"But am I too then
subject to death,
have I not got beyond the reach of death?

Will neither the rāja,
nor the ranee,
nor any other of my kin
see me more,
or I ever again see them?"

"You, my lord
and we too,
we all are subject to death,
we have not passed beyond the reach of death.

Neither the rāja,
nor the ranee,
nor any other of your kin
would see you any more,
nor would you ever again see them."

"Why then, good charioteer,
enough of the park for to-day!

Drive me back hence to my rooms."

"Yea, my lord,"
I replied,
and drove him back.

And he, my lord,
going to his rooms,
sat brooding
sorrowful
and depressed,
thinking: —

"Shame then verily be
upon this thing called birth,
since to one born
the decay of life,
since disease,
since death
shows itself like that!"'

■

13. Then the rāja, brethren, thought thus: —

'We must not have Vipassi declining to rule.

We must not have him going forth from the House into the Homeless state.

We must not let what the brahmin soothsayers spoke of come true.'

So, that these things might not come to pass, he let the youth be still more surrounded by sensuous pleasures.

And thus Vipassi continued to live amidst the pleasures of sense.

■

[22] 14. Now the young lord Vipassi, brethren,
when many years,
many centuries,
many thousands of years
had passed by,
bade his charioteer make ready the state carriages,
saying: —

'Get ready the carriages, good charioteer,
and let us go through the park
to inspect the pleasaunce.'

'Yea, my lord,'
replied the charioteer,
and harnessed the state carriages
and sent word to Vipassi: —

'The carriages are ready, my lord;
do now what you deem to be fit.'

Then Vipassi mounted a state carriage,
and drove out in state
into the park.

15. Now the young lord Vipassi saw, brethren,
as he was driving to the park,
a shaven-headed man,
a Wanderer,
wearing the yellow robe.

And seeing him
he asked the charioteer: —

'That man, good charioteer,
what has he done,
that his head is unlike other men's heads
and his clothes too
are unlike those of others?'

'That is what they call a Wanderer,
because, my lord,
he is one who has gone forth.'

'What is that,
to have gone forth?'

'To have gone forth, my lord,
means being thorough in the religious life,
thorough in the peaceful life,
thorough in good actions,
thorough in meritorious conduct,
thorough in harmlessness,
thorough in kindness to all creatures.'

'Excellent then, friend charioteer,
is what they call a Wanderer,
since excellent indeed, friend charioteer,
is being thorough in the religious life,
thorough in the peaceful life,
thorough in good actions,
thorough in meritorious conduct,
thorough in harmlessness,
thorough in kindness to all creatures.

Wherefore drive up to that forth-gone man.'

'Yea, my lord,'
replied the charioteer,
and drove up to the Wanderer.

Then Vipassi addressed him, saying: —

'You, master,
what have you done
that your head is not as other men's heads,
nor your clothes
as those of other men?'

'I, my lord,
am one who has gone forth.'

'What, master, is that,
to have gone forth?'

'It means, my lord,
being thorough in the religious life,
thorough in the peaceful life,
thorough in good actions,
thorough in meritorious conduct,
thorough in harmlessness,
thorough in kindness to all creatures.'

'Excellently indeed, master,
are you said to have gone forth,
since excellent indeed, friend charioteer,
is being thorough in the religious life,
thorough in the peaceful life,
thorough in good actions,
thorough in meritorious conduct,
thorough in harmlessness,
thorough in kindness to all creatures.'

16. Then the lord Vipassi, brethren,
bade his charioteer, saying: —

'Come then, good charioteer,
do you take the carriage
and drive it hence back to my rooms.

But I will even here
cut off my hair,
and don the yellow robe,
and go forth from the House
into the Homeless state.'

[23] 'Yea, my lord,'
replied the charioteer,
and drove back.

But the lord Vipassi,
there and then,
cutting off his hair
and donning the yellow robe,
went forth from the House
into the Homeless state.

17. Now at Bandhumati, brethren,
the rāja's seat,
a great number of persons —
some eighty-four thousand souls⁵⁴ —
heard of what lord Vipassi had done,
and thought: —

'Surely this is no ordinary religious rule,
this is no common going forth,
in that the lord Vipassi himself
has had his head shaved
and has donned the yellow robe
and has gone forth from the House
into the Homeless state.

If the lord Vipassi has done this,
why then should not we also?'

And they all had their heads shaved,
and donned the yellow robes,
and in imitation of Vipassi the Bodhisat
they went forth from the House
into the Homeless state.

So Vipassi the Bodhisat
went on his rounds through the villages,
towns,
and cities
accompanied by that multitude.

18. Now there arose, brethren,
in the mind of Vipassi the Bodhisat,
when he was meditating in seclusion,
the following consideration: —

'That indeed is not suitable for me
that I should live beset.

'Twere better were I to dwell alone,
far from the crowd!'

So after a time he dwelt alone,
away from the crowd.

These eighty-four thousand Wanderers went one way,
and Vipassi the Bodhisat
went another way.

19. Now there arose, brethren,
in the mind of Vipassi the Bodhisat,
when he had gone to his place,⁵⁵
and was meditating in seclusion,
the following consideration: —

'Verily this world has fallen upon trouble;
one is born,
and born grows old,
and dies,
and falls from one state,
and springs up in another.

[24] And from this suffering, moreover,
no one knows of any way of escape,
even from decay and death.

O when shall a way of escape from this suffering
be made known,
from decay
and from death!'

Then to Vipassi the Bodhisat, brethren,
this thought occurred: —

'What now being present,
is decay and dying also present;
what conditions decay and dying?'

Then, brethren, from attention to the cause⁵⁶
arose the conviction through reason: —

'Where birth is,
there is decay and dying;
birth is the condition
of decay and dying.'

■

Then to Vipassi the Bodhisat, brethren,
this thought occurred: —

'What now being present,
is birth also present;
what conditions birth?'

Then, brethren, from attention to the cause
arose the conviction through reason: —

'When becoming is,
birth also is present;
becoming is the condition of birth.'

Then to Vipassi the Bodhisat, brethren,
this thought occurred: —

'What now being present,
is becoming also present;
what conditions becoming?'

Then, brethren, from attention to the cause
arose the conviction through reason: —

'Where grasping⁵⁷ is,
there is becoming;
grasping is the condition of becoming.'

[25] Then to Vipassi the Bodhisat, brethren,
this thought occurred: —

'What now being present,
is grasping also present;
what conditions grasping?'

Then, brethren, from attention to the cause
arose the conviction through reason: —

'Where craving is,
there is grasping;
craving is the condition of grasping.'

Then to Vipassi the Bodhisat, brethren,
this thought occurred: —

'What now being present,
is craving also present;
what conditions craving?'

Then, brethren, from attention to the cause
arose the conviction through reason: —

'Where feeling is,
there is craving;
feeling is the condition of craving.'

Then to Vipassi the Bodhisat, brethren,
this thought occurred: —

'What now being present,
is feeling also present;
what conditions feeling?'

Then, brethren, from attention to the cause
arose the conviction through reason: —

'Where contact is,
there is feeling;
contact is the condition of feeling.'

Then to Vipassi the Bodhisat, brethren,
this thought occurred: —

'What now being present,
is contact also present;
what conditions contact?'

Then, brethren, from attention to the cause
arose the conviction through reason: —

'Where is the sixfold field,
there is contact;
the sixfold field is the condition of contact.'⁵⁸

Then to Vipassi the Bodhisat, brethren,
this thought occurred: —

'What now being present,
is the sixfold field also present;
what conditions the sixfold field?'

Then, brethren, from attention to the cause
arose the conviction through reason: —

'Where name-and-form is,
there is the sixfold field;
name-and-form is the condition of the sixfold field.'⁵⁹

Then to Vipassi the Bodhisat, brethren,
this thought occurred: —

'What now being present,
is name-and-form also present;
what conditions name-and-form?'

[26] Then, brethren, from attention to the cause
arose the conviction through reason: —

'Where cognition is there is name-and-form;
cognition is the condition of name-and-form.'⁶⁰

Then to Vipassi the Bodhisat, brethren,
this thought occurred: —

'What now being present,
is cognition also present;
what conditions cognition?'

Then, brethren, from attention to the cause
arose the conviction through reason: —

'Where name-and-form is,
there is cognition;
name-and-form conditions cognition.'

20. Then to Vipassi the Bodhisat, brethren, this occurred: —

'Cognition turns back from name-and-form;
it goes not beyond.

Only as follows
can one be born
or grow old
or die
or fall from one condition
or reappear in another;
that is, in that
cognition is conditioned by name-and-form,
and name-and-form by cognition,⁶¹
the sixfold field by name-and-form,
contact by the sixfold field,
feeling by contact,
craving by feeling,
grasping by craving,
becoming by grasping,
birth by becoming,
decay and dying by birth,
and so too grief,
lamentation,
ill,
sorrow
and despair
come to pass.

Such is the coming to be
of this entire body of ill.'

'Coming to be, coming to be!' —

at that thought, brethren,
there arose to Vipassi the Bodhisat
a vision into things
not called before to mind,
and knowledge arose,
reason arose,
wisdom arose,
light arose.

[27] 20. Then to Vipassi the Bodhisat, brethren, this occurred: —

'What now being absent,
is decay and dying also absent;
by the ceasing of what
does decay and dying cease?'

Then, brethren, from attention to the cause
arose the conviction through reason: —

'Where birth is absent,
decay and dying are absent;
when birth ceases,
decay and dying cease;

Where becoming is absent,
birth is absent;
when becoming ceases,
birth ceases;

Where grasping is absent,
becoming is absent;
when grasping ceases,
becoming ceases;

Where craving is absent,
grasping is absent;
when craving ceases,
grasping ceases;

Where feeling is absent,
craving is absent;
when feeling ceases,
craving ceases;

Where contact is absent,
feeling is absent;
when contact ceases,
feeling ceases;

Where the sixfold field is absent,
contact is absent;
when the sixfold field ceases,
contact ceases;

Where name-and-form is absent,
the sixfold field is absent;
when name-and-form ceases,
the sixfold field ceases;

Where cognition is absent,
name-and-form is absent;
when cognition ceases,
name-and-form ceases;

Where name-and-form is absent,
cognition is absent;
when name-and-form ceases,
cognition ceases.'

21. Then to Vipassi the Bodhisat, brethren, this occurred: —

'Lo! I have won to this,
the Way to enlightenment through insight.⁶²

And it is this:

That from name-and-form ceasing,
cognition ceases,
and cognition ceasing,
name and form ceases;
that from name-and-form ceasing,
the sixfold field ceases;
from the sixfold field ceasing,
contact ceases;
from contact ceasing,
feeling ceases;
from feeling ceasing,
craving ceases;
from craving ceasing,
grasping ceases;
from grasping ceasing,
becoming ceases;
from becoming ceasing,
birth ceases;
from birth ceasing,
decay and dying,
grief,
lamentation,
ill,
sorrow
and despair cease.

Such is the ceasing
of this entire body of ill.'

[28] 21 'Ceasing to be, ceasing to be!' —

at that thought, brethren,
there arose to Vipassi the Bodhisat
a vision into things not called before to mind,
and knowledge arose,
reason arose,
wisdom arose,
light arose.

22. Thereafter, brethren, Vipassi the Bodhisat
dwelt in the discernment
of the rising and passing away
of the five groups
[of individual life]
depending on grasping: —⁶³

'Such is form,
such is the coming to be of form,
such is its passing away;
such is feeling,
such is the coming to be of feeling,
such is its passing away;
such is perception,
such is its coming to be,
such is its passing away;
such are the syntheses,
such is their coming to be,
such is their passing away;
such is cognition,
such is its coming to be,
such is its passing away.'

And for him,
abiding in the discernment
of the rising and passing away
of the five groups depending on grasping,
not long was it before his heart,
void of grasping,
was set free from the 'Intoxicants.'"⁶⁴

Here endeth the Second Portion for recitation.

[29]

§

III.

1. "Then to Vipassi the Exalted One, Arahant, Buddha Supreme, brethren,
this occurred: —⁶⁵

'What if I were now to teach the Truth.'⁶⁶

Then to him, brethren, this occurred: —⁶⁷

'I have penetrated this Truth,
deep,
hard to perceive,
hard to understand,
calm, sublime,
no mere dialectic,⁶⁸
subtle,
intelligible only to the wise.

But this is a race devoting itself
to the things to which it clings,
devoted thereto,
delighting therein.

And for a race devoting itself
to the things to which it clings,
devoted thereto,
delighting therein,
this were a matter hard to perceive,
to wit,
that this is conditioned by that,
and all that happens is by way of cause.⁶⁹

This too were a matter hard to discern: —

The tranquillization of all the [30] activities of life,⁷⁰
the renunciation of all substrata of rebirth,
the destruction of craving,
the death of passion,
quietude of heart,
Nirvana.

And if I were now to teach the Truth,
and other men did not acknowledge it to me,
that would be wearisome to me,
that would be hurtful to me.'

2. And then verily, brethren,
to Vipassi the Exalted One, Arahant, Buddha Supreme
were revealed on the spur of the moment⁷¹ these verses unheard of before: —

'This that through many toils I've won —
Enough! why should I make it known?
By folk with lust and hate consumed
Not this the Truth that can be grasped!
Against the stream of common thought,
Deep, subtle, difficult, delicate,
Unseen 'twill be by passion's slaves
Cloaked in the murk of ignorance.'⁷²

In these words, brethren,
pondering over the matter,
did the heart of Vipassi incline to be averse from exertion
and not to preach the Truth.

■

Thereupon to one of the Great Brahmas⁷³
when he became aware in thought
of the thoughts of Vipassi,
this occurred: —

'Alas! the world will perish!

Utterly alas! will the world perish,
now that the heart of Vipassi the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
inclines to be averse from exertion
and not towards preaching the Truth!'

[31] 3. Then, brethren, did that Great Brahma,
like a strong man stretching his bent arm out,
or drawing back his outstretched arm,
vanish from the Brahma world
and appear before Vipassi.

And the Great Brahma, brethren,
draping his outer robe
over one shoulder
and stooping his right knee to the ground,
raised his joined hands
towards Vipassi the Exalted One,
the Arahant,
the Buddha Supreme
and said: —

'Lord! may the Exalted One preach the Truth!

May the Welcome One preach the Truth!

There are beings whose eyes are hardly dimmed by dust,
they are perishing from not hearing the Truth;
they will come to be knowers of the Truth.'

4. At these words, brethren,
Vipassi the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
spoke thus to the Great Brahma: —

■

'To me, O Brahma, did it occur: —

"What if I now were to preach the Truth?"

Then to me it occurred:

"I have penetrated this Truth,
deep,
hard to perceive,
hard to understand,
calm, sublime,
no mere dialectic,
subtle,
intelligible only to the wise.

But this is a race devoting itself
to the things to which it clings,
devoted thereto,
delighting therein.

And for a race devoting itself
to the things to which it clings,
devoted thereto,
delighting therein,
this were a matter hard to perceive,
to wit,
that this is conditioned by that,
and all that happens is by way of cause.

This too were a matter hard to discern: —

The tranquillization of all the activities of life,
the renunciation of all substrata of rebirth,
the destruction of craving,
the death of passion,
quietude of heart,
Nirvana.

And if I were now to teach the Truth,
and other men did not acknowledge it to me,
that would be wearisome to me,
that would be hurtful to me."

5. And then verily, O Brahma,
to me were revealed on the spur of the moment
these verses unheard of before: —

"This that through many toils I've won —
Enough! why should I make it known?
By folk with lust and hate consumed
Not this the Truth that can be grasped!
Against the stream of common thought,
Deep, subtle, difficult, delicate,
Unseen 'twill be by passion's slaves
Cloaked in the murk of ignorance."

In these words, O Brahma,
pondering over the matter,
did my heart incline to be averse from exertion
and not to preach the Truth.'

■

But this Great Brahma, brethren, addressed Vipassi a second time:

'Lord! may the Exalted One preach the Truth!

May the Welcome One preach the Truth!

There are beings whose eyes are hardly dimmed by dust,
they are perishing from not hearing the Truth;
they will come to be knowers of the Truth.'

And a second time, brethren,
Vipassi the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
spoke thus to the Great Brahma: —

'To me, O Brahma, did it occur: —

"What if I now were to preach the Truth?"

Then to me it occurred:

"I have penetrated this Truth,
deep,
hard to perceive,
hard to understand,
calm, sublime,
no mere dialectic,
subtle,
intelligible only to the wise.

But this is a race devoting itself
to the things to which it clings,
devoted thereto,
delighting therein.

And for a race devoting itself
to the things to which it clings,
devoted thereto,
delighting therein,
this were a matter hard to perceive,
to wit,
that this is conditioned by that,
and all that happens is by way of cause.

This too were a matter hard to discern: —

The tranquillization of all the activities of life,
the renunciation of all substrata of rebirth,
the destruction of craving,
the death of passion,
quietude of heart,
Nirvana.

And if I were now to teach the Truth,
and other men did not acknowledge it to me,
that would be wearisome to me,
that would be hurtful to me."

And then verily, O Brahma,
to me were revealed on the spur of the moment these verses unheard of before: —

"This that through many toils I've won —
Enough! why should I make it known?
By folk with lust and hate consumed
Not this the Truth that can be grasped!
Against the stream of common thought,
Deep, subtle, difficult, delicate,
Unseen 'twill be by passion's slaves
Cloaked in the murk of ignorance."

In these words, O Brahma,
pondering over the matter,
did my heart incline to be averse from exertion
and not to preach the Truth.'

■

5. But this Great Brahma, brethren, addressed Vipassi a third time:

'Lord! may the Exalted One preach the Truth!

May the Welcome One preach the Truth!

There are beings whose eyes are hardly dimmed by dust,
they are perishing from not hearing the Truth;
they will come to be knowers of the Truth.'

Then, brethren, when Vipassi the Exalted One, Arahant, Buddha Supreme,
became aware of the entreaty of the Brahma,
because of his pitifulness towards all beings,
he looked down over the world
with a Buddha's Eye.⁷⁴

And so looking, brethren,
he saw beings whose eyes were nearly free from dust,
[32] and beings whose eyes were much dimmed with dust,
beings sharp of sense
and blunted in sense,
beings of good and of evil disposition,
beings docile and indocile,
some among them discerning the danger in rebirth
and in other worlds,
and the danger in wrong doing.

As in a pond of blue,
or red,
or white lotuses,
some lotus-plants born in the water
grow up in the water,
do not emerge from the water,
but thrive sunken beneath;
and other lotus-plants,
born in the water
and grown up in the water,
reach to the level;
while other lotus-plants
born in the water
and grown up in the water,
stand thrusting themselves above the water,
undrenched by it;
even so, brethren, did Vipassi the Exalted One, Arahant, Buddha Supreme,
look down over the world with a Buddha's Eye,
and see beings whose eyes were much dimmed with dust,
beings sharp of sense
and blunted in sense,
beings of good and of evil disposition,
beings docile and indocile,
some among them discerning the danger in rebirth
and in other worlds,
and the danger in wrong doing.

7. Thereupon that Great Brahma, brethren,
when he became aware in thought
of the thoughts of Vipassi,
spoke to him in verse: —⁷⁵

'As on a crag, on crest of mountain standing,
A man might watch the people far below,
E'en so do thou, O Wisdom fair, ascending,
O Seer of all, the terraced heights of Truth,
Look down, from grief released, upon the nations
Sunken in grief, oppressed with birth and age.
Arise, thou Hero! Conqueror in the battle!
Thou freed from debt! Lord of the pilgrim band!
Walk the world o'er, sublime and blessed Teacher!⁷⁶
Teach us the Truth; there are who'll understand.'

[33] Thereupon, brethren, Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
made response in verse to that great Brahma: —

'Wide opened are the portals to Nirvana!⁷⁷
Let those that hear renounce their empty faith!⁷⁸
Despairing of the weary task, O Brahma,
I spake not of this doctrine, sweet and good, to men.'

Then, brethren, that Great Brahma thinking: —

'Verily I am the one
by whom an opening has been given
for the preaching of the Truth
by Vipassi the Exalted One,
the Arahant,
the Buddha Supreme,'

bowed down before Vipassi,
and passing round him by the left vanished away.

8. Then to Vipassi, brethren, the Exalted One, Arahant, Buddha Supreme,
this occurred: —

'To whom now should I first preach the Truth?

Who will quickly understand this doctrine?'

And he thought: —

'There is Khaṇḍa a rāja's son,
and Tissa, the chaplain's son,
both dwelling at Bandhumati.

They are learned, open-minded and wise,
and for long have had but little dust in their eyes.

If I were now to teach the Truth first to them,
they would quickly understand it.'

Thereupon, brethren, did Vipassi,
like a strong man stretching his bent arm out,
or drawing back his outstretched arm,
vanish from the Wisdom Tree
and appear in the Sanctuary,
in the deer-park at Bandhumati.⁷⁹

9. And Vipassi, brethren,
bade the park-keeper, saying: —

'Ho you, good park-keeper,
go into Ban- [34] dhumati and tell Khaṇḍa the rāja's son,
and Tissa the chaplain's son, that: —

"Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
has arrived at Bandhumati
and abides in the Khema deer-park.

He wishes to see you."'

'Ay, my lord,"
replied the park-keeper,
and went to Bandhumati
and gave this message to Khanda
and Tissa:

'Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
has arrived at Bandhumati
and abides in the Khema deer-park.

He wishes to see you.'

10. Then they,
ordering out their state carriages,
mounted,
and drove out from Bandhumati
to the deer-park.

As far as there was a road
they drove,
and then alighting
went on foot into the presence of Vipassi.

And being come
they saluted Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
and seated themselves beside him.

11. To them Vipassi discoursed in due order;⁸⁰
that is to say,
he gave them illustrative talk on generosity,
on right conduct,
on heaven,
on the danger,
the vanity
and the defilement of lusts,
on the advantages of renunciation.

When the Exalted One saw
that they had become prepared,
softened,
un-prejudiced,
upraised
and believing in heart,
then he proclaimed that Truth
which the Buddhas alone have won;
that is to say,
the doctrine of Sorrow,
of its origin,
of its cessation,
and the Path.

And just as a clean cloth,
from which all stain has been washed away,
will readily take the dye,
just even so did Khaṇḍa and Tissa obtain,
even while sitting there,
the pure and stainless Eye for the Truth,
and they knew: —

'Whatsoever has a beginning,
in that is also inherent
the necessity of passing away.'

12. Then they having seen the Truth,
won the Truth,
understood the Truth,
sounded the depths of Truth,
having crossed the waters of doubt
and put away perplexity,
having gained full confidence
and become dependent on none other
for the teaching of the Master,
addressed Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
and said: —

'Most excellent, lord,
most excellent, lord!

Just [35] as if a man were to set up
that which has been thrown down,
or were to reveal
that which has been hidden away,
or were to point out the right road
to him who has gone astray,
or were to bring a light into the darkness
so that those who had eyes
could see external forms, —
even so has the truth been made known
in many a figure
by the Exalted One.

We here, lord, betake ourselves
to the Exalted One as our guide,
and to the Truth.

May we be suffered
to go forth from the world
under the Exalted One,
may we be suffered
to obtain ordination.'

13. And so, brethren, Khaṇḍa the rāja's son
and Tissa the chaplain's son
obtained retreat
and ordination
under Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme.

Them did Vipassi instruct,
arouse,
incite
and gladden
with religious discourse,
making clear the danger,
the vanity
and the corruption of component things,
and the advantage in Nirvana.

And they
thus instructed,
aroused,
incited
and gladdened by his discourse,
their hearts ere long,
being void of grasping,
were set free from the Intoxicants.

■

14. Now a great multitude, brethren,
of the inhabitants of Bandhumati —
some 84,000 souls —
heard that Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had come to Bandhumati
and was staying at the Sanctuary (Khema),
in the deer-preserve;
and how Khaṇḍa the rāja's son
and Tissa the chaplain's son,
had actually
at his instigation
shaved their heads
and put on the yellow robe,
and had gone forth from the House
into the Homeless state.

And hearing it they thought: —

'Surely this is no ordinary religious rule,
this is no common going forth,
in that the rāja's son
and the chaplain's son
have had their heads shaved,
have donned the yellow robe
and gone forth from the House
into the Homeless state.

Khaṇḍa and Tissa have indeed done this;
why then should not we?'

So all that multitude came out from Bandhumati
to see Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
and when they were in his presence
they saluted him and sat down by him.

[36] 15. And to them Vipassi discoursed in due order;
that is to say,
he gave them illustrative talk on generosity,
on right conduct,
on heaven,
on the danger,
the vanity
and the defilement of lusts,
on the advantages of renunciation.

And when the Exalted One saw that they had become prepared,
softened,
un-prejudiced,
upraised
and believing in heart,
then he proclaimed that Truth
which the Buddhas alone have won;
that is to say,
the doctrine of Sorrow,
of its origin,
of its cessation,
and the Path.

And just as a clean cloth,
from which all stain has been washed away,
will readily take the dye,
just even so did those 84,000 souls obtain,
even while sitting there,
the pure and stainless Eye for the Truth,
and they knew: —

'Whatsoever has a beginning,
in that is also inherent
the necessity of passing away.'

16. Then they having seen the Truth,
won the Truth,
understood the Truth,
sounded the depths of Truth,
having crossed the waters of doubt
and put away perplexity,
having gained full confidence
and become dependent on none other
for the teaching of the Master,
addressed Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
and said: —

'Most excellent, lord,
most excellent, lord!

Just as if a man were to set up
that which has been thrown down,
or were to reveal
that which has been hidden away,
or were to point out the right road
to him who has gone astray,
or were to bring a light into the darkness
so that those who had eyes
could see external forms, —
even so has the truth been made known
in many a figure
by the Exalted One.

We here, lord, betake ourselves
to the Exalted One as our guide,
and to the Truth.

May we be suffered
to go forth from the world
under the Exalted One,
may we be suffered
to obtain ordination.'

17. And so, brethren, those 84,000 souls
obtained retreat
and ordination
under Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme.

Them did Vipassi instruct,
arouse,
incite
and gladden
with religious discourse,
making clear the danger,
the vanity
and the corruption of component things,
and the advantage in Nirvana.

And they
thus instructed,
aroused,
incited
and gladdened by his discourse,
their hearts ere long,
being void of grasping,
were set free from the Intoxicants.

■

18. Now a great multitude, brethren,
of recluses — some 84,000 —
heard from the former multitude that
Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had come to Bandhumati
and was staying at the Sanctuary (Khema),
in the deer-preserve;
and how Khaṇḍa the rāja's son
and Tissa the chaplain's son,
and these 84,000 souls
had actually
at his instigation
shaved their heads
and put on the yellow robe,
and had gone forth from the House
into the Homeless state.

And hearing it they thought: —

'Surely this is no ordinary religious rule,
this is no common going forth,
in that the rāja's son
and the chaplain's son
and these 84,000 souls
have had their heads shaved,
have donned the yellow robe
and gone forth from the House
into the Homeless state.

Khaṇḍa and Tissa
and these 84,000 souls
have indeed done this;
why then should not we?'

So all that multitude of recluses
came out from Bandhumati
to see Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
and when they were in his presence
they saluted him and sat down by him.

And to them Vipassi discoursed in due order;
that is to say,
he gave them illustrative talk on generosity,
on right conduct,
on heaven,
on the danger,
the vanity
and the defilement of lusts,
on the advantages of renunciation.

And when the Exalted One saw that they had become prepared,
softened,
un-prejudiced,
upraised
and believing in heart,
then he proclaimed that Truth
which the Buddhas alone have won;
that is to say,
the doctrine of Sorrow,
of its origin,
of its cessation,
and the Path.

And just as a clean cloth,
from which all stain has been washed away,
will readily take the dye,
just even so did those 84,000 souls obtain,
even while sitting there,
the pure and stainless Eye for the Truth,
and they knew: —

'Whatsoever has a beginning,
in that is also inherent
the necessity of passing away.'

Then they having seen the Truth,
won the Truth,
understood the Truth,
sounded the depths of Truth,
having crossed the waters of doubt
and put away perplexity,
having gained full confidence
and become dependent on none other
for the teaching of the Master,
addressed Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
and said: —

'Most excellent, lord,
most excellent, lord!

Just as if a man were to set up
that which has been thrown down,
or were to reveal
that which has been hidden away,
or were to point out the right road
to him who has gone astray,
or were to bring a light into the darkness
so that those who had eyes
could see external forms, —
even so has the truth been made known
in many a figure
by the Exalted One.

We here, lord, betake ourselves
to the Exalted One as our guide,
and to the Truth.

May we be suffered
to go forth from the world
under the Exalted One,
may we be suffered
to obtain ordination.'

17. And so, brethren, those 84,000 recluses
obtained retreat
and ordination
under Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme.

Them did Vipassi instruct,
arouse,
incite
and gladden
with religious discourse,
making clear the danger,
the vanity
and the corruption of component things,
and the advantage in Nirvana.

And they
thus instructed,
aroused,
incited
and gladdened by his discourse,
their hearts ere long,
being void of grasping,
were set free from the Intoxicants.

■

22. Now at that time, brethren,
a vast company of bhikkhus⁸¹
was staying at Bandhumati.

And to Vipassi the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
as he meditated in solitude,
this idea arose in his mind: —

"There is now a vast company of bhikkhus
dwelling at Bandhumati.

What if I were now to grant leave
to the bhikkhus and say: —

'Fare ye forth, brethren,
on the mission that is for the good of the many,
for the happiness of the many,
to take compassion on the world,
to work profit
and good
and happiness
to gods and men.

Go not singly;
go in pairs;
teach ye, brethren, the Truth,
lovely in its origin,
lovely in [37] its progress,
lovely in its consummation,
both in the spirit and in the letter,
proclaim ye the higher life
in all its fullness
and in all its purity.

Beings there are
whose eyes are hardly dimmed with dust,
perishing because they hear not the Truth.

Moreover after every six years have passed
come ye to Bandhumati,
the royal residence,
there to recite the summary of the Rules of the Order.'⁸²

23. Now one of the Great Brahmās, brethren,
when he became aware in thought
of the thoughts of Vipassi,
like a strong man stretching his bent arm out,
or drawing back his outstretched arm,
vanished from the Brahma-world
and appeared in the presence
of Vipassi the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme.

Then, draping his outer robe over one shoulder,
he raised his joined hands towards the Exalted One,
saying: —

'Even so, O Exalted One!

Even so, O Welcome One!

Let the Exalted One thus grant leave
to this great company of bhikkhus,
and say: —

"Fare ye forth, brethren,
on the mission that is for the good of the many,
for the happiness of the many,
to take compassion on the world,
to work profit
and good
and happiness
to gods and men.

Go not singly;
go in pairs;
teach ye, brethren, the Truth,
lovely in its origin,
lovely in its progress,
lovely in its consummation,
both in the spirit and in the letter,
proclaim ye the higher life
in all its fullness
and in all its purity.

Beings there are
whose eyes are hardly dimmed with dust,
perishing because they hear not the Truth.

Moreover after every six years have passed
come ye to Bandhumati,
the royal residence,
there to recite the summary of the Rules of the Order."

Moreover we too, lord,
will do even as the bhikkhus
after every six years have passed;
we will come to Bandhumati
there to recite the Patimokkha.'

Thus, brethren, spake that Great Brahma.

And bowing down before the Exalted One,
he passed round by the left,
and forthwith disappeared.

■

24, 25. Then Vipassi, brethren,
arose towards eventide
from his meditations
and told the bhikkhus:

'Now at this time, brethren,
a vast company of bhikkhus
is staying at Bandhumati.

And to me,
as I meditated in solitude,
this idea arose in my mind: —

"There is now a vast company of bhikkhus
dwelling at Bandhumati.

What if I were now to grant leave
to the bhikkhus and say: —

'Fare ye forth, brethren,
on the mission that is for the good of the many,
for the happiness of the many,
to take compassion on the world,
to work profit
and good
and happiness
to gods and men.

Go not singly;
go in pairs;
teach ye, brethren, the Truth,
lovely in its origin,
lovely in its progress,
lovely in its consummation,
both in the spirit and in the letter,
proclaim ye the higher life
in all its fullness
and in all its purity.

Beings there are
whose eyes are hardly dimmed with dust,
perishing because they hear not the Truth.

Moreover after every six years have passed
come ye to Bandhumati,
the royal residence,
there to recite the summary of the Rules of the Order.'

Now one of the Great Brahmās, brethren,
when he became aware in thought
of my thoughts,
like a strong man stretching his bent arm out,
or drawing back his outstretched arm,
vanished from the Brahma-world
and appeared in my presence.

Then, draping his outer robe over one shoulder,
he raised his joined hands towards me,
saying: —

"Even so, O Exalted One!

Even so, O Welcome One!

Let the Exalted One thus grant leave
to this great company of bhikkhus,
and say: —

'Fare ye forth, brethren,
on the mission that is for the good of the many,
for the happiness of the many,
to take compassion on the world,
to work profit
and good
and happiness
to gods and men.

Go not singly;
go in pairs;
teach ye, brethren, the Truth,
lovely in its origin,
lovely in its progress,
lovely in its consummation,
both in the spirit and in the letter,
proclaim ye the higher life
in all its fullness
and in all its purity.

Beings there are
whose eyes are hardly dimmed with dust,
perishing because they hear not the Truth.

Moreover after every six years have passed
come ye to Bandhumati,
the royal residence,
there to recite the summary of the Rules of the Order.'

Moreover we too, lord,
will do even as the bhikkhus
after every six years have passed;
we will come to Bandhumati
there to recite the Patimokkha."

Thus, brethren, spake that Great Brahma.

And bowing down before me,
he passed round by the left,
and forthwith disappeared.

■

26. I grant ye leave, brethren!

Fare ye forth, brethren,
on the mission that is for the good of the many,
for the happiness of the many,
to take compassion on the world,
to work profit
and good
and happiness
to gods and men.

Go not singly;
go in pairs;
teach ye, [38] brethren, the Truth,
lovely in its origin,
lovely in its progress,
lovely in its consummation,
both in the spirit and in the letter,
proclaim ye the higher life
in all its fullness
and in all its purity.

Beings there are
whose eyes are hardly dimmed with dust,
perishing because they hear not the Truth.

Moreover after every six years have passed
come ye to Bandhumati,
the royal residence,
there to recite the Patimokkha.'

Then those bhikkhus, brethren,
for the most part on that very day,
set forth on their mission among the people.

27. Now at that time, brethren,
there was a very great number of religious dwellings in Jambudipa —
some 84,000.

As one year was drawing to a close
the angels proclaimed the news: —

'Ho, friends! one year is ending;
now five years remain.

At the end of five years
we have to go to Bandhumati
to recite the Patimokkha.'

As the second year was drawing to a close
the angels proclaimed the news: —

'Ho, friends! the second year is ending;
now four years remain.

At the end of four years
we have to go to Bandhumati
to recite the Patimokkha.'

As the third year was drawing to a close
the angels proclaimed the news: —

'Ho, friends! the third year is ending;
now three years remain.

At the end of three years
we have to go to Bandhumati
to recite the Patimokkha.'

As the fourth year was drawing to a close
the angels proclaimed the news: —

'Ho, friends! the fourth year is ending;
now two years remain.

At the end of two years
we have to go to Bandhumati
to recite the Patimokkha.'

As the fifth year was drawing to a close
the angels proclaimed the news: —

'Ho, friends! the fifth year is ending;
now one year remains.

At the end of one year
we have to go to Bandhumati
to recite the Patimokkha.'

As the sixth year was drawing to a close
the angels proclaimed the news: —

'Ho, friends!

The six years are at an end.

Now is the time for us to go to Bandhumati to recite the Patimokkha.'

Then, brethren, those bhikkhus,
some by their own magic power,
some by the magic power of the gods,
on that very day
came to Bandhumati to recite the Patimokkha.

28. Then verily, brethren,
did Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
thus rehearse a Patimokkha: —

'How may ye best the flesh subdue?
Be patient, brethren, be forbearing.
What is the highest, what the best?
Nirvana, brethren, say the Buddhas.
For he's no Wanderer who harms
His fellow man; he's no recluse
Who works his neighbour injury.

Work ye no evil;
give yourselves to good;
Cleanse ye your hearts, —
so runs the Buddhas' word.

[39] Blame not, strike not, restrain self in the Law,
With temperance eat, lonely seek rest and sleep,
Given to thoughts sublime, — so runs the Buddhas' word.'⁸³

§

29. At one time I, brethren, was dwelling at Ukkattha,
in the Delectable Wood,
beneath a giant sal tree.

Now to me as I meditated in solitude
this idea arose in my mind: —

'There is but one abode of beings
easily accessible
that I have not dwelt in for a very long time,
and that is among the gods of the Pure Mansions.⁸⁴

What if I were now to repair thither?'

Then, brethren,
as a strong man stretching his bent arm out,
or drawing back his outstretched arm,
so did I vanish from beneath the giant sal tree
in the Delectable Wood at Ukkattha
and appear among the gods of the Aviha heaven.

In that group of gods, brethren,
several thousands of them came up to me,
and saluting me,
stood by and spake thus: —

'Friend, it is now ninety-one aeons ago
since Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose in the world.

Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the aristocracy,
in the khattiya cast.

Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the Kondañña clan.

Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
lived when the length of life
was eighty-thousand years.

Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose to awakening at the root
of a trumpet-flower tree.

Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had disciples chief in learning,
chief in good luck
named Khaṇḍā and Tissa.

Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had three assemblies of disciples:
one of 68 lacs [6,800,000] of bhikkhus,
one of 100,000 bhikkhus,
one of 80,000 bhikkhus
and of these three assemblies
all had destroyed the āsavas.

Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had as attendant, main attendant,
a bhikkhu named Asoka.

Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had a father named King Bandhumā,
his mother was named Queen Bandhumatī,
and King Bandhumā ruled over the great city of Bhandhu- [40] matī.

His leaving the world,
his becoming a recluse,
his travail,
his enlightenment,
his setting the Wheel of Truth a-rolling,
were each on such and such wise.

And we
being of those who have lived the holy life
under Vipassi our Exalted One,
and purged the lusts of the flesh,
have been reborn here."

■

30. And again, brethren, in that group of gods,
thousandsed4 of them came⁸⁵ up to me,
and saluting me,
stood by and spake thus:

"It is now thirty-one aeons ago, friend, since Sikhi,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose in the world.

Sikhi,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the aristocracy, in the khattiya cast.

Sikhi,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the Kondañña clan.

Sikhi,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
lived when the length of life was seventy-thousand years.

Sikhi,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose to awakening at the root of the Puṇḍarīka Tree.

Sikhi,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had disciples chief in learning, chief in good luck named Abhibhu and Sambhava.

Sikhi,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had three assemblies of disciples:
one of 100,000 of bhikkhus,
one of 80,000 bhikkhus,
one of 70,000 bhikkhus
and of these three assemblies all had destroyed the āsavas.

Sikhi,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had as attendant, main attendant, a bhikkhu named Khemaṇkura.

Sikhi,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had a father named King Aruṇo,
his mother was named Queen Pabhāvatī,
and King Aruṇo ruled over the great city of Aruṇavatī.

His leaving the world,
his becoming a recluse,
his travail,
his enlightenment,
his setting the Wheel of Truth a-rolling,
were each on such and such wise.

And we
being of those who have lived the holy life
under Vipassi our Exalted One,
and purged the lusts of the flesh,
have been reborn here."

■

And again, brethren,
in that group of gods,
thousands of them came up to me,
and saluting me,
stood by and spake thus:

"It was in that same thirty-first aeon, friend, that Vessabhu,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose in the world.

Vessabhu,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the aristocracy, in the khattiya cast.

Vessabhu,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the Kondañña clan.

Vessabhu,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
lived when the length of life was sixty-thousand years.

Vessabhu,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose to awakening at the root of the Sāla Tree.

Vessabhu,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had disciples chief in learning, chief in good luck named Soṇa and Uttara.

Vessabhu,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had three assemblies of disciples:
one of 80,000 of bhikkhus,
one of 70,000 bhikkhus,
one of 60,000 bhikkhus
and of these three assemblies all had destroyed the āsavas.

Vessabhu,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had as attendant, main attendant, a bhikkhu named Upasannaka.

Vessabhu,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had a father named King Suppatīto,
his mother was named Queen Yasavatī,
and King Suppatīto ruled over the great city of Anopamaṃ.

His leaving the world,
his becoming a recluse,
his travail,
his enlightenment,
his setting the Wheel of Truth a-rolling,
were each on such and such wise.

And we
being of those who have lived the holy life
under Vipassi our Exalted One,
and purged the lusts of the flesh,
have been reborn here."

■

And again, brethren,
in that group of gods,
thousands of them came up to me,
and saluting me,
stood by and spake thus:

"It was in this present auspicious aeon, friend, that Kakusandha,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose in the world.

Kakusandha,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the theocracy, in the brahmin cast.

Kakusandha,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the Kassapa clan.

Kakusandha,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
lived when the length of life
was fourty-thousand years.

Kakusandha,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose to awakening at the root of the Sirīsa Tree.

Kakusandha,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had disciples chief in learning,
chief in good luck
named Vidhūra and Sañjīva.

Kakusandha,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had one assembly of disciples
numbering 40,000 bhikkhus
and of this assembly
all had destroyed the āsavas.

Kakusandha,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had as attendant,
main attendant,
a bhikkhu named Buddhija.

Kakusandha,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had a father named Brāhman Aggidatto,
his mother was named Brāhmani Visākhā,
and at that time Khemo was the king of Khemavatī.

His leaving the world,
his becoming a recluse,
his travail,
his enlightenment,
his setting the Wheel of Truth a-rolling,
were each on such and such wise.

And we
being of those who have lived the holy life
under Vipassi our Exalted One,
and purged the lusts of the flesh,
have been reborn here."

■

And again, brethren,
in that group of gods,
thousands of them came up to me,
and saluting me,
stood by and spake thus:

"It was in this auspicious aeon, friend, that Konāgamana,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose in the world.

Konāgamana,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the theocracy,
in the brahmin cast.

Konāgamana,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the Kassapa clan.

Konāgamana,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
lived when the length of life
was thirty-thousand years.

Konāgamana,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose to awakening at the root
of the Udumbara Tree.

Konāgamana,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had disciples chief in learning,
chief in good luck
named Bhiyyosa and Uttara.

Konāgamana,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had one assembly of disciples
numbering 30,000 bhikkhus
and of this assembly
all had destroyed the āsavas.

Konāgamana,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had as attendant,
main attendant,
a bhikkhu named Sotthija.

Konāgamana,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had a father named Brāhman Yaññadatto,
his mother was named Brāhmani Uttarā,
and at that time Sobho was the king of Sobhavatī.

His leaving the world,
his becoming a recluse,
his travail,
his enlightenment,
his setting the Wheel of Truth a-rolling,
were each on such and such wise.

And we
being of those who have lived the holy life
under Vipassi our Exalted One,
and purged the lusts of the flesh,
have been reborn here."

■

And again, brethren,
in that group of gods,
thousands of them came up to me,
and saluting me,
stood by and spake thus:

It was in this auspicious aeon, friend, that Kassapa,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose in the world.

Kassapa,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the theocracy,
in the brahmin cast.

Kassapa,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the Kassapa clan.

Kassapa,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
lived when the length of life
was twenty-thousand years.

Kassapa,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose to awakening at the root
of the Nigrodha Tree.

Kassapa,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had disciples chief in learning,
chief in good luck
named Tissa and Bhāradvāja.

Kassapa,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had one assembly of disciples
numbering 20,000 bhikkhus
and of this assembly
all had destroyed the āsavas.

Kassapa,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had as attendant,
main attendant,
a bhikkhu named Sabbamitta.

Kassapa,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had a father named Brāhman Brahmadatto,
his mother was named Brāhmani Dhanavatī,
and at that time Kikī was the king of Bārāṇasī.

His leaving the world,
his becoming a recluse,
his travail,
his enlightenment,
his setting the Wheel of Truth a-rolling,
were each on such and such wise.

And we
being of those who have lived the holy life
under Vipassi our Exalted One,
and purged the lusts of the flesh,
have been reborn here."

■

And again, brethren,
in that group of gods,
several hundreds of them came up to me,
and saluting me,
stood by and spake thus:

It is in this fortunate aeon, friend, the Exalted One,
an Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
has arisen in the world.

The Exalted One,
an Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the aristocracy,
in the khattiya cast.

The Exalted One,
an Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the Gotama clan.

The Exalted One,
an Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
live when the length of life
is one hundred years.

The Exalted One,
an Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose to awakening at the root
of the Assattha Tree.

The Exalted One,
an Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
have disciples chief in learning,
chief in good luck
named Sāriputta and Moggallāna.

The Exalted One,
an Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
has one assembly of disciples
numbering 1250 bhikkhus
and of these all have destroyed the āsavas.

The Exalted One,
an Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
has as attendant,
main attendant,
a bhikkhu named Ānanda.

The Exalted One,
an Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
has a father named King Suddhodano,
his mother was named Queen Māyā,
and they ruled over the great city of Kapilavatthu."

31. 32.ed6 'Thereafter, brethren, I resorted,
not only to the Aviha gods,
but also to the home of the Cool gods;
and so, including both the Aviha gods
and the [41] Cool gods,⁸⁶
I came to the home of the Fair gods.⁸⁷

Then on, including thus
the Aviha
and Cool
and Fair gods,
I came to the home of the Well-seeing gods.⁸⁸

And yet on,
including thus
Aviha
and Cool
and Fair
and Well-seeing gods,
till I came to the home of the Senior gods.

And in each of these heavensed5
thousands of the gods of them
came up to me,
and saluting me,
stood by and spake thus:

'Friend, it is now ninety-one aeons ago
since Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose in the world.

Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the aristocracy,
in the khattiya cast.

Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the Kondañña clan.

Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
lived when the length of life
was eighty-thousand years.

Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose to awakening at the root
of a trumpet-flower tree.

Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had disciples chief in learning,
chief in good luck
named Khaṇḍā and Tissa.

Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had three assemblies of disciples:
one of 68 lacs [6,800,000] of bhikkhus,
one of 100,000 bhikkhus,
one of 80,000 bhikkhus
and of these three assemblies
all had destroyed the āsavas.

Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had as attendant, main attendant,
a bhikkhu named Asoka.

Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had a father named King Bandhumā,
his mother was named Queen Bandhumatī,
and King Bandhumā ruled over the great city of Bhandhumatī.

His leaving the world,
his becoming a recluse,
his travail,
his enlightenment,
his setting the Wheel of Truth a-rolling,
were each on such and such wise.

And we
being of those who have lived the holy life
under Vipassi our Exalted One,
and purged the lusts of the flesh,
have been reborn here."

■

30. And again, brethren, in that group of gods,
thousands of them came up to me,
and saluting me,
stood by and spake thus:

"It is now thirty-one aeons ago, friend, since Sikhi,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose in the world.

Sikhi,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the aristocracy, in the khattiya cast.

Sikhi,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the Kondañña clan.

Sikhi,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
lived when the length of life was seventy-thousand years.

Sikhi,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose to awakening at the root of the Puṇḍarīka Tree.

Sikhi,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had disciples chief in learning, chief in good luck named Abhibhu and Sambhava.

Sikhi,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had three assemblies of disciples:
one of 100,000 of bhikkhus,
one of 80,000 bhikkhus,
one of 70,000 bhikkhus
and of these three assemblies all had destroyed the āsavas.

Sikhi,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had as attendant, main attendant, a bhikkhu named Khemaṇkura.

Sikhi,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had a father named King Aruṇo,
his mother was named Queen Pabhāvatī,
and King Aruṇo ruled over the great city of Aruṇavatī.

His leaving the world,
his becoming a recluse,
his travail,
his enlightenment,
his setting the Wheel of Truth a-rolling,
were each on such and such wise.

And we
being of those who have lived the holy life
under Vipassi our Exalted One,
and purged the lusts of the flesh,
have been reborn here."

■

And again, brethren,
in that group of gods,
thousands of them came up to me,
and saluting me,
stood by and spake thus:

"It was in that same thirty-first aeon, friend, that Vessabhu,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose in the world.

Vessabhu,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the aristocracy, in the khattiya cast.

Vessabhu,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the Kondañña clan.

Vessabhu,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
lived when the length of life was sixty-thousand years.

Vessabhu,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose to awakening at the root of the Sāla Tree.

Vessabhu,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had disciples chief in learning, chief in good luck named Soṇa and Uttara.

Vessabhu,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had three assemblies of disciples:
one of 80,000 of bhikkhus,
one of 70,000 bhikkhus,
one of 60,000 bhikkhus
and of these three assemblies all had destroyed the āsavas.

Vessabhu,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had as attendant, main attendant, a bhikkhu named Upasannaka.

Vessabhu,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had a father named King Suppatīto,
his mother was named Queen Yasavatī,
and King Suppatīto ruled over the great city of Anopamaṃ.

His leaving the world,
his becoming a recluse,
his travail,
his enlightenment,
his setting the Wheel of Truth a-rolling,
were each on such and such wise.

And we
being of those who have lived the holy life
under Vipassi our Exalted One,
and purged the lusts of the flesh,
have been reborn here."

■

And again, brethren,
in that group of gods,
thousands of them came up to me,
and saluting me,
stood by and spake thus:

"It was in this present auspicious aeon, friend, that Kakusandha,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose in the world.

Kakusandha,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the theocracy, in the brahmin cast.

Kakusandha,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the Kassapa clan.

Kakusandha,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
lived when the length of life
was fourty-thousand years.

Kakusandha,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose to awakening at the root of the Sirīsa Tree.

Kakusandha,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had disciples chief in learning,
chief in good luck
named Vidhūra and Sañjīva.

Kakusandha,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had one assembly of disciples
numbering 40,000 bhikkhus
and of this assembly
all had destroyed the āsavas.

Kakusandha,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had as attendant,
main attendant,
a bhikkhu named Buddhija.

Kakusandha,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had a father named Brāhman Aggidatto,
his mother was named Brāhmani Visākhā,
and at that time Khemo was the king of Khemavatī.

His leaving the world,
his becoming a recluse,
his travail,
his enlightenment,
his setting the Wheel of Truth a-rolling,
were each on such and such wise.

And we
being of those who have lived the holy life
under Vipassi our Exalted One,
and purged the lusts of the flesh,
have been reborn here."

■

And again, brethren,
in that group of gods,
thousands of them came up to me,
and saluting me,
stood by and spake thus:

"It was in this auspicious aeon, friend, that Konāgamana,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose in the world.

Konāgamana,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the theocracy,
in the brahmin cast.

Konāgamana,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the Kassapa clan.

Konāgamana,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
lived when the length of life
was thirty-thousand years.

Konāgamana,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose to awakening at the root
of the Udumbara Tree.

Konāgamana,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had disciples chief in learning,
chief in good luck
named Bhiyyosa and Uttara.

Konāgamana,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had one assembly of disciples
numbering 30,000 bhikkhus
and of this assembly
all had destroyed the āsavas.

Konāgamana,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had as attendant,
main attendant,
a bhikkhu named Sotthija.

Konāgamana,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had a father named Brāhman Yaññadatto,
his mother was named Brāhmani Uttarā,
and at that time Sobho was the king of Sobhavatī.

His leaving the world,
his becoming a recluse,
his travail,
his enlightenment,
his setting the Wheel of Truth a-rolling,
were each on such and such wise.

And we
being of those who have lived the holy life
under Vipassi our Exalted One,
and purged the lusts of the flesh,
have been reborn here."

■

And again, brethren,
in that group of gods,
thousands of them came up to me,
and saluting me,
stood by and spake thus:

It was in this auspicious aeon, friend, that Kassapa,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose in the world.

Kassapa,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the theocracy,
in the brahmin cast.

Kassapa,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the Kassapa clan.

Kassapa,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
lived when the length of life
was twenty-thousand years.

Kassapa,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose to awakening at the root
of the Nigrodha Tree.

Kassapa,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had disciples chief in learning,
chief in good luck
named Tissa and Bhāradvāja.

Kassapa,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had one assembly of disciples
numbering 20,000 bhikkhus
and of this assembly
all had destroyed the āsavas.

Kassapa,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had as attendant,
main attendant,
a bhikkhu named Sabbamitta.

Kassapa,
the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had a father named Brāhman Brahmadatto,
his mother was named Brāhmani Dhanavatī,
and at that time Kikī was the king of Bārāṇasī.

His leaving the world,
his becoming a recluse,
his travail,
his enlightenment,
his setting the Wheel of Truth a-rolling,
were each on such and such wise.

And we
being of those who have lived the holy life
under Vipassi our Exalted One,
and purged the lusts of the flesh,
have been reborn here."

■

And again, brethren,
in that group of gods,
several hundreds of them came up to me,
and saluting me,
stood by and spake thus:

It is in this fortunate aeon, friend, the Exalted One,
an Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
has arisen in the world.

The Exalted One,
an Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the aristocracy,
in the khattiya cast.

The Exalted One,
an Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
was born in the Gotama clan.

The Exalted One,
an Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
live when the length of life
is one hundred years.

The Exalted One,
an Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose to awakening at the root
of the Assattha Tree.

The Exalted One,
an Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
have disciples chief in learning,
chief in good luck
named Sāriputta and Moggallāna.

The Exalted One,
an Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
has one assembly of disciples
numbering 1250 bhikkhus
and of these all have destroyed the āsavas.

The Exalted One,
an Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
has as attendant,
main attendant,
a bhikkhu named Ānanda.

The Exalted One,
an Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
has a father named King Suddhodano,
his mother was named Queen Māyā,
and they ruled over the great city of Kapilavatthu."

§

33. Thus, brethren, through his clear discernment
of that principle of the Truth,
is the Tathāgata able to remember
the Buddhas of old,
who attained final completion,
who cut off obstacles,
who cut down barriers,
who have ended the cycle,
who have escaped from all sorrow, —
so that he can remember
as to their birth,
their names,
their families,
the span of life usual in their time,
their pair of disciples,
and their congregations of disciples,
and can say: —

"Of such was the birth
of those Exalted Ones,
such were their names,
their families,
such were their morals,
their doctrines,
their wisdom;
how they lived
and how they gained emancipation."'

Thus spake the Exalted One.

And the brethren, pleased at heart,
rejoiced at the word of the Exalted One.

¹ Majjhima I, 171; Vinaya I, 8, 9; Kathā Vatthu 289; compare Divy. 393; Mahāvastu III, 326; Jātaka II, 284.

² Kareri, according to Childers, is Capparis trifoliata. The Cy. states that this tree which stood by the entrance to the cottage was a Varuṇa-tree, suggestive, if true, of the superseded tree-cult into which Varuṇa-worship had declined. See Rhys Davids's 'Buddhist India,' p. 235; Jāt. IV, 8. There were four principal buildings in the Jeta Wood: the cottage or chamber in question, the Kosamba-tree cottage, a perfumed chamber, and the fir-tree house (salaḷa = sarala-ghara). According to the commentator each cost 100,000 [? kahapaṇas] to build, but the ancient bas-relief on the Bharahat Tope shows clearly cottages, and apparently cottages of only one room each. In § 12 below this cottage is called a vihāra; and the latter word, in the ancient texts, always means a single room or lodging-place. Anātha-piṇḍika had built the first three, King Pasenadi the last.

³ Māḷo. Buddhaghosa describes this as a nisīdana-sālā, or sitting-room, built near the cottage. At the time when this Suttanta was composed it meant a thatched roof supported by wooden pillars. There were no walls to it.

⁴ According to the Cy. only religious teachers, religious disciples, Pacceka-Buddhas, and the Saviour Buddhas could recall their own or other previous lives, and, of the first, only those who taught Karma. Except the memories of the great Buddhas, which have no limit whatever, a limit is given in the case of each of these classes, past which they could not recall. This systematizing of a popular belief seems to indicate that, when Buddhaghosa lived, no claim to such transcendent memory was actually made among his contemporaries.

⁵ Buddhaghosa distinguishes between the 'omniscient knowledge' by which the Buddha realizes the drift of the talk in the Brahmajāla Suttanta ('Dialogues,' I, 2), and the divine hearing, as by a finer sense, operating here.

⁶ In the text is a full repetition of the reminiscence given in § 13. [Ed.: Here expanded.]

⁷ The text repeats verbatim all that was said above of Vipassi.

⁸ This and following paragraphs (to § 30 inclusive) recur in the Acchariya-b-bhuta-dhamma Sutta (M. III, pp. 119-24). The notes appended by Dr. Neumann to his translation of that Sutta, giving parallels from Christian archaeology, are of great interest. [Reden Gotamo Buddho's Majjhima-nikayo, III, pp. 253 ft.) How the Birth-legend had developed in the fifth century A.D. may be seen in the Nidanakatha, translated in Rhys Davids's 'Buddhist Birth Stories,' pp. 62 ff.
This state of mind in Rule the first, according to a voluminous comment by Buddhaghosa, refers more to the termination of the Bodhisat's life in the Tusita heaven, than to any miraculous embryonic commencement. He is depicted as being fully aware, with his angelic neighbours, of the imminent culminating career awaiting him, and to have selected country, region, town, father and mother, on the eve of his 'fall' from heaven. He is further said to be conscious that he was quā god deceased: — 'Thus fallen (or deceased) he knows 'I fall.' But he is not aware of his cuti-cittaṃ, or dying thought. As to when there is awareness of re-conception, the Buddhist fathers were not agreed. But they admit that, in its content, the dawning idea was either the first, or the fifth of the eight types of 'good thought' enumerated in Dhamma-Sangaṇi (pp. 1, 39 of the translation). But we learn, under § 21, that there was no consciousness by way of the five senses before birth.

⁹ Dhammatā, i.e. says the Cy. in the nature, or order of things. The five old-world order of things is the Order of Karma, of the Seasons, of Life-germs, of Mind, and of the Dhamma. The last named is here implicated.

¹⁰Asaṃvutā. Cy. — not supported from beneath.

¹¹ In the Great Inter-world Hell. They would be undergoing purgatory for karma of grievous offences against parents and the religious world, and of cruelty to animals. Very long in body and with bats' nails, they were condemned to crawl up the Cakkavāḷa rock, till finding no food, they turned back and fell into the river of brine flowing round the world. Cy.

¹² This simile, occurring in a similar connexion in M. III, 121, is elsewhere ('Dialogues,' I, 87; M. II, 17) applied to self-knowledge, i.e. of one's body and mind and their interdependence. The point of the simile is not the perfection of the jewel, but the clarity of vision. The myth of the visible embryo recurs in mediaeval Christian art. See Neumann, op. cit.; and 'Buddhist Birth Stories,' p. 65 n.

¹³ The Cy. holds that these disjunctives may be understood to include a term of from seven to twelve months. Seven months' embryos, it adds, live, but cannot endure heat or cold; eight months' babes do not live — a midwife tradition that, we fancy, is still current here and now.

¹⁴ Cf. the account of the birth of Gotama, 'Buddhist Birth Stories,' p. 66, and of the four, not three, adoring kings in some early Christian bas-reliefs, Neumann, op. cit.

¹⁵ As an emblem of sovereignty, says the Cy., in which case the emblem is usually named, not its bearers. But these were devata, angels or fairies or gods.

¹⁶ Each action of the babe had for the later Buddhists its symbolical meaning. Standing on the earth meant obtaining the Four Iddhipadas. Facing the north meant the spiritual conquest of multitudes. The seven strides were the Seven Bojjhangas. The canopy was the umbrella of emancipation. Looking around meant unveiled knowledge. The bull-cry meant the irrevocable turning of the wheel of the Truth or Law. The 'lion-roar' of 'the last birth' meant the arahantship he would attain in this life.

¹⁷ Literally, mark-men, or augurs. See 'Dialogues,' I, 16, n. 1. [n.70].

¹⁸ Turner of the Wheel, the now well-known Indian symbol of empire.

¹⁹ Dhamma-rājā.

²⁰ For details of each of these see below in the Maha-Sudassana Suttanta, No. XVII.

²¹ This vigorous and picturesque idiom — agārasmā anagāriyaṃ pabbajati — has been here and elsewhere rendered as literally as possible.

²² Given also at M. II, 136, 137. Comp. the note above Vol. I, p. 110. The whole theory is pre-Buddhistic.

²³ Suppaṭṭhita-pādo: literally, 'well-planted feet.' The traditional meaning is, that the whole under-surface touched the ground at once. The Great Man was 'flat-footed,' and did not toe or heel the ground in walking.

²⁴ If the foot of a 'Great Man' be measured in four parts, two are taken up by the sole and toes, one is under the leg, and one is the heel projecting rearward.

²⁵ And all four, fingers and toes, are of equal length, like a monkey's. Cy.

²⁶ Like a lattice, says the Cy., and explains this to mean that there is no 'webbing' between fingers and toes, but that these are set in right lines, like the meshes of a net.

²⁷ Ensuring the maximum of flexibility. Cy. This is desirable in sitting cross-legged.

²⁸ With protuberant well-modelled joints, like an ear of rice or barley. Cy.

²⁹ Hence the Buddhas only wash as an example to their followers. Cy.

³⁰ He will not stoop, nor lean backward, as if catching at the stars, nor have a crooked spine, but tower up symmetrically like a golden tower-gate in a city of the gods. Cy.

³¹ The backs of the four limbs, the shoulders and the trunk are well fleshed. Cy.

³² i.e. proportionately broad and full.

³³ Citantaraṃso, lit. he has the shoulder-interval filled up. The Cy. explains, the two sides of the back have no depression in the middle, nor look separated, but from the small of the back upwards the fleshy covering is as a level golden slab.

³⁴ Literally, he has the banyan circumference. It was believed that a banyan always measured the same, like the diameter of a circle, in height as in width.

³⁵ Samavattakkhandho. According to the Cy. the exterior of the whole vocal apparatus is here meant, rather than the trunk or shoulders only.

³⁶ Rasaggasaggi.

³⁷ That is, with the lower jaw relatively fuller than the upper. Cy.

³⁸ That is, the Great Man at a more adult stage has eight more than the normal thirty-two. How the learned brahmins saw these signs in the babe is not explained.

³⁹ See 'Dialogues,' I, 131.

⁴⁰ According to Childers, the Indian cuckoo. The Great Man's voice is very clear and pure-toned, neither worn nor broken nor harsh. Cy. Yoga-culture is today held to yield, as one result, a pleasant musical voice.

⁴¹ Like flax-blossom. Cy. Perhaps a tradition of Aryan origin.

⁴² Completely surrounding the eyes, thick like a black cow's; bright and soft like a new-born red calf's. Cy.

⁴³ Uṇhīsa-sīso. This expression, says the Cy., refers to the fullness either of the forehead or of the cranium. In either case the rounded highly-developed appearance is meant, giving to the unadorned head the decorative dignified effect of a crested turban, and the smooth symmetry of a water-bubble.

⁴⁴ In the text this refrain occurs after the naming of each mark. [Ed.: Here expanded.]

⁴⁵ Literally by hip to hip; women passing him from arm to arm, men from one shoulder to another, explains the Cy.

⁴⁶ The Cy. relates of the bird that it sings a flute-like song after pecking at honey and mangoes, and that the song exercises a sort of Orpheus-spell over every beast that hears it. Asandhimittā, the consort of Asoka, was converted by it. She had inquired of the Order, if it were known what the Buddha's voice was like; and on its being compared to the karavīka's song, wished to hear that. Asoka sent for one, which would not sing in its cage, till a mirror was placed by it. Fancying it saw a kinsman, it sang, throwing every one into ecstasies, and so exalting the queen's idea of the Buddha's voice, that she attained 'the fruit of sotāpatti.'

⁴⁷ That is, not by special practice, but as the result of action in former births, as with the fairies' power of vision. Cy.

⁴⁸ Vipassi refers rather to the inward vision of the seer. Vipassana is insight or intuition.

⁴⁹ Namely by giving signs of dissatisfaction when a decision was wrong.

⁵⁰ Nippurisehi turiyehi. Both words are ambiguous. Childers, following B.R., who follow Wilson, renders turiya by musical instrument. It is very doubtful whether it ever means that. Music, or orchestra, seems to be required in such passages as I have noted. Nippurisa (only found as yet in this connexion) may be non-human (that is, fairy), or not male. See D. II, 171; M. I, 571; A. I, 145; Vin. I, 15; II, 180; J. I, 58, and Senart's note at Mahāvastu III, 486. The alternative rendering would therefore be 'fairy music' But the commentator evidently takes the words in the meaning given above.

⁵¹ The legendary age of humans at the time of Vipassi was 80,000 years, so that we may reckon 1000 of his years as one of ours. When this legend is afterwards related of Gotama Buddha (in the Nidānakathā), he is said to have reached his majority (sixteen years) when the drives begin.

⁵² Antepuraṃ, or harem. Tradition adds that he 'dismissed his womenfolk, and sat alone in his bedchamber, pierced in heart by this first dart.'

⁵³ Text repeats in full as in § 1. [Ed.: Here expanded.]

⁵⁴ Pāṇa, 'living creatures.' The number is the usual idiom for a multitude, no more pretending to accuracy than our 'a thousand thanks.'

⁵⁵ Vāsupagato. The commentary explains this as meaning 'when seated under his Wisdom-Tree.' But the word in the text is quite vague; and it is only the later tradition which thought it edifying to limit all such deep questions as the one discussed in the following sections to one time and place.

⁵⁶ Yoniso manasikārā. The Cy. paraphrases thus that interesting idiom: 'i.e. from attention to expedients (upāya, that is, expedients in analysis, comp. S. II, 17; III, 135; III, 53; III, 161; A. V, 111): from attention to the course [of things] (patha); the attention of one who is attending to impermanence and the rest [dukkha, anattā] as such; the attention of one who is observing the continuity, that is to say the rising and passing away, of the phenomena in question under either their positive or negative aspect.' There is here no attempt to substitute, as an equivalent for yoni, a term for origin or basis — nidāna, e.g. or mūla. The observation that is yoniso appears to Buddhaghosa to be of causation viewed as phenomenal only, as process of invariable antecedent and consequent, with application of the methods of induction known since J. S. Mill as the Methods of Agreement and Difference.

⁵⁷ The translating of upādanaṃ must always be inadequate; we having no word to fill its dual sense of something-to-hand, staff, fuel, and a laying hold of something. If 'data,' which is etymologically' akin, had chanced to be danda, there would have been an approximation in implication. That the term, in the commentarial tradition, held this active force is clear from anupādāya, 'void of grasping,' being paraphrased by agahetvā, not having laid hold of. See also 'Psychological Ethics,' p. 322, n. 1; 'Asl.' pp. 385, 450.

⁵⁸ The sixfold field is the sphere of action of the six senses; that is, our five senses, and the representative faculty.

⁵⁹ Name-and-form is what we should call mind and body.

⁶⁰ The Cy. here inquires into the omission of the two ultimate links in the 'Chain of Causation' that are given in most of the passages where the formula occurs — notably in the Nidana Samyutta and in the Majjhima Nikāya (I, pp. 49-52, 261, etc.); also in Dh.S., p. 348, and Vibh., pp. 135 ff. It judges that, whereas avijjā and sahkhārā relate to existence prior to that in which the remainder of the terms from viññāṇaṃ to jarāmaraṇaṃ, for any given individual, hold true, Vipassi's vipassanā was confining itself to any given present life. Mr. Loveday, in his essay on the 'Chain,' also came to the conclusion that, to apply the links in succession to any individual life, 'ignorance' and 'the saṅkhāras' must be referred to prior existence. (J.A.O.S., 1894.)

⁶¹ In S. II, 114 their independence is compared to two sheaves of reeds leaning one against the other. Elsewhere — in definitions of nāma-rūpam — nāma is sometimes made to include viññāṇaṃ, Dh.S., pp. 341, 342, sometimes not, M. I, 53; Vibh. 136.

⁶² Literally 'the Vipassanā Way to insight.' As this is not a stock phrase in this connexion it doubtless contains a play on the name Vipassi.

⁶³ That is, the new individual, divisible into five constituent parts, called into being by the grasping attitude maintained during the previous life. Khandho, group, is rendered by 'body' in § 19 — 'whole body of Ill' — and, in both connexions, is always paraphrased by rāsi, or heap. Buddhist Pluralism turned away from unifying concepts, and chose to picture organic processes under aggregates. The concept is not so atomistic as we might think, the 'heap' referring to past and potential repetition of process.

⁶⁴ This is the standing phrase for the attainment, not of Buddhahood, but of Arahantship. Nevertheless Vipassi is henceforth called a Buddha. Compare what is said above, p. 2. On the Āsavas, here rendered Intoxicants, see above, Vol. I, pp. 92, 93. The Jain use of the term is referred to by Bhandarkar, 'Report, etc.,' p. 100. Other Pali references are J. IV, 222-3 and A. I, 124, 7, which confirm the suggested connotation of a poisonous, intoxicating drug.

⁶⁵ The following episode occurs also in Vinaya I, 4 (translated in Vin.Texts, I, 84-8), and M. I, 167-9 [MN 26-Horner] (translated by Dr. Neumann, 'Reden G. Buddho's, Mittlere Sammlung,' I, pp. 268 ff.), and S. I, 137-41.

⁶⁶ Dhamma, more literally the Norm. On this difficult but all-pervading term see Rh. D. 'American Lectures' pp. 2, 38, and 'Buddhist India,' 292-4..

⁶⁷ In the eighth week, says the Cy., after his attainment of Buddhahood, the intervening weeks having been spent in places corresponding to those where Gotama Buddha is alleged, in the Nidānakathā, to have spent them. Rh. D. 'Buddhist Birth Stories,' pp. 105-9. But there is nothing in the text to confirm this.

⁶⁸ See 'Dialogues,' I, 26: — 'not to be grasped by mere logic' — atakkāvacaro. 'Only by ñāṇani' — knowledge, insight — adds the Cy. Takka, meaning fundamentally thinking, is perhaps too much honoured, in the meaning it had come to bear, by being rendered 'logic' In the Takka-jātaka, e.g. where the soubriquet 'takka-paṇḍita,' date-sage, is considered by Mr. Chalmers to imply a word-play on date and logic, the pundit's occupation is said to be foretelling 'what were lucky and unlucky seasons' to villagers for pay. Such low crafts, however, are not classed as takka in the 'Moralities' list of Dialogues, I, pp. 16 ff. And it is very possible that 'takka' conveyed, to the religious mind of that day, much the same that so-called 'mere logic' or 'sophistry' does at the present time.

⁶⁹ Idapaccayatā paṭiccasamuppādo: — more literally, that conditionedness, genesis by way of cause. The second term implies the universal law, the first is its application to any given case.

⁷⁰ i.e. of the saṅkhāras of actions, speech and thoughts. 'When Nirvana is reached,' says the Cy., 'all their diffusions are calmed. So too all cravings are destroyed, all evil passions are quenched, all suffering ceases.' For Buddhaghosa, Vipassi's 'Truth' is the calm and detachment of the intellectually and ethically free man.

⁷¹ Anacchariyā, i. e. anu-acchar-iya, instantaneous; analogous to the Greek ἀνἁ χρόνον and similar to the later ἐν ἀγμωό of the New Testament (i Cor. xv. 52). The expression is frequently used of the Buddha's similes.

⁷² Ignorance, not explicit in the text, is usually symbolized by darkness — tamo-k-khandho — and is so referred to in the Cy.

⁷³ 'Although merely referred to,' says the Cy., 'as one among them, he is to be understood as the chief Great-Brahma in this universe.' But the title of Sahampati, given in the Vinaya and Majjhima versions, seems to be a later gloss.

⁷⁴ On the super-normal sense of a Buddha, one of his ten balas or powers, see 'Vibhanga,' p. 340.

⁷⁵ The following verses and the response are otherwise arranged in the Vinaya and Majjhima versions, in the former immediately following the deity's petition, in the latter immediately following the lotus simile.

⁷⁶ In the text simply, O Exalted (or Blessed) One; — practically the only expression not literally reproduced.

⁷⁷ Amatassa dvārā; literally the doors of ambrosia. On this term see Appendix I.ed3 Cf. also M. I, 227: — amatadvāraṃ. 'Wide-flung the living gate, the safe (road) leading to Nirvana.'

⁷⁸ Pamuñcantu saddhaṃ. The expression is ambiguous. Oldenberg, 'Vinaya Texts' I, 88, renders it 'Let them send forth faith to meet it.' We think it means let them give up their faith in rites, and gods, and ceremonies, with especial references to the offerings to the dead. Comp. R.0. Franke in Z.D.M.G., 1909, p. 7.

⁷⁹ Tradition apparently identified this with Isipatana, the deer-park, in Gotama Buddha's time, at Benares, and attributed the name Khema to the park as having been given as a deer-preserve, or refuge. Cy.

⁸⁰ Cf. 'Dialogues,' I, p. 135.

⁸¹ Aṭṭha-saṭṭhi sata-sahassaṃ — 6,800.000 — is the literal figure given. See p. 39.

⁸² Pātimokkha, literally the Disburdenment. The text as we have it (translated in 'Vinaya Texts' Vol. I) dates only from the times of early Buddhism, and it is not likely that this technical name used as the title was much older.

⁸³ These verses, except lines 8 and 9, have been included in the Dhammapada 184-6.

⁸⁴ The Suddhāvāsā devā comprise the five highest spheres of celestials in the so-called Rūpa loka, i.e. the universe of Form, the five being named successively in the text. Beyond these five heavens were yet four spheres of the Formless. The following paragraphs develop the assertion on p. 7: 'And gods also have revealed these matters to him.' ...

⁸⁵ The text here is greatly abbreviated. It is intended that numbers of the gods claim to have been, in a previous birth, the followers of each successive Buddha; and § 29 is to be understood, in full, for each Buddha. The full text is given, as usual, for the first and last cases only. {Ed.: here expanded fully.}

⁸⁶ The Cy. interprets as active: — na kañci sattaṃ tapentī ti — they torment no one.

⁸⁷ Paraphrased as 'lovely to look at, beautiful, charming.'

⁸⁸ Paraphrased as 'because they see vividly the beautiful vision of the former.'

ed1 Rhys Davids abridges §§ 5-12, providing the information in the following table. Note changes in the unabridged version which follow the Pali but use Rhys David's terminology where possible.

Name
Kappa, Aeon
Jāti: Cast
Gotta: Clan
Length of Life
at that time
Tree of
Awakening
Names of
two chief
disciples
Number of
Arahants
present at
assemblies
Name
of usual
attendant
Father
Mother
Birth-place

1. Vipassi
91st previous
Kshatriya: Aristocracy
Kondañña
80,000
Pāṭali
Khaṇḍā
Tissa
68 lacs
100000
80,000
Asoka
Bandhumā
Bandhumatī
Bandhumatī

2. Sikhi
31st previous
Kshatriya:
Kondañña
70,000
Puṇḍarīka
Abhibhu
Sambhava
100,000
80,000
70,000
Khemaṇkura
Aruṇa
Pabhāvatī
Pabhāvatī

3. Vessabhu
31st previous
Kshatriya:
Kondañña
60,000
Sāla
Soṇa
Uttara
80,000
70,000
60,000
Upasannaka
Sūppatīa
Yasavatī
Khemavatī

4. Kakusandha
This Aeon
Brahmin: Theocracy
Kassapa
40,000
Sirīsa
Vidhūra
Sañjīva
40,000
Buddhija
Aggidatta
Visākha
Khemavatī

5. Konāgamana
This Aeon
Brahmin:
Kassapa
30,000
Udumbara
Bhiyyosa
Uttara
30,000
Sotthija
Yaññadatta
Uttarā
Sobhavatī

6. Kassapa
This Aeon
Brahmin:
Kassapa
20,000
Nigrodha
Tissa
Bhāradvāja
20,000
Sabbamitta
Brahmadatta
Dhanavatī
Bārāṇasī

7. Gotama
This Aeon
Kshatriya:
Gotama
100
Assattha
Sāriputta
Moggallāna
1250
Ānanda
Soddhodana
Māyā
Kapilavatthu

ed2 Rhys Davids omits rather than abridges. In abridgments I unabridge following the Pali, using Rhys David's terminology and make no typographical distinction. Where he has simply omitted a passage I reconstruct it from the Pali using his terminology, place it in square brackets and italicize.

ed3 I do not find any 'Appendix 1' in my copies of this or the other volumes of the Dialogues. There is an Appendix in Volume 3, but it does not relate to this.

ed4 The text abbreviates and gives no clue as to the diminishing numbers of devas. The number for Sikhi is 'thousands' as with Vipassi, the number for Gotama is 'hundreds.' One would expect a diminishing number for each Buddha proportional to the stated following of Arahants. It is also conceivable that each description of each Buddha contained the text in full of the 'leaving the world, becoming a recluse, etc.' but this is not indicated in the text. Also for this group of sections I have retained the wording of their first appearance whereas Rhys-Davids has altered the order and some wording. I have changed the wording for the Gotama entry to that given by Rhys Davids.

ed5 Rhys Davids abridges with: [And in each of these heavens numbers of the gods accosted me and told me of their previous birth under Vipassi and the following Buddhas down to the present one, myself.]

ed6 I have expanded the following section according to Rhys Davids understanding, but I believe the Pali is better understood as follows (using Rhys Davids terminology):

Thereafter, brethren the Cool gods approached the Aviha gods, and from that group of gods several thousands of them came up to me,
and saluting me,
stood by and spake thus: —

"Friend, it is now ninety-one aeons ago
since Vipassi, the Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
arose in the world; ...

And again, brethren, in that group of gods,
thousands of them came up to me, and saluting me, stood by and spake thus: ...

"It is now thirty-one aeons ago, friend, since Sikhi, ...
Vessabhu, ...
Kakusandha, ...
Konāgamana, ...
Kassapa, ...
the Exalted One, ...

Thereafter, brethren the Fair Gods approached the Aviha gods and the Cool gods, and from that group of gods several thousands of them came up to me,
and saluting me,
stood by and spake thus: —

"It is now thirty-one aeons ago, friend, since Vipassi, ...
Sikhi, ...
Vessabhu, ...
Kakusandha, ...
Konāgamana, ...
Kassapa, ...
the Exalted One, ...

Thereafter, brethren the Well-seeing gods approached the Aviha gods and the Cool gods and the Fair Gods, and from that group of gods several thousands of them came up to me,
and saluting me,
stood by and spake thus: —

"It is now thirty-one aeons ago, friend, since Vipassi, ...
Sikhi, ...
Vessabhu, ...
Kakusandha, ...
Konāgamana, ...
Kassapa, ...
the Exalted One, ...

Thereafter, brethren the Senior gods approached the Aviha gods and the Cool gods and the Fair Gods and the Well-seeing gods, and from that group of gods several thousands of them came up to me,
and saluting me,
stood by and spake thus: —

"It is now thirty-one aeons ago, friend, since Vipassi, ...
Sikhi, ...
Vessabhu, ...
Kakusandha, ...
Konāgamana, ...
Kassapa, ...
the Exalted One, ...

15. The Great Discourse on Causation

Mahā-Nidāna Suttantaṃ

[42]

Introduction

THE doctrine of Paṭicca-samuppāda — that all dhammā (phenomena physical and mental) are paṭicca-samuppannā (happen by way of cause) finds in the following Suttanta the fullest exposition accorded to it throughout the Piṭakas. It is true that for some reason (cf. p. 26, n.1) the Dīghabhāṇakas (recorders of the Dīgha-Nikāya) excluded the first two of the Twelve Nidānas — avijjā, sankhārā — and that, in the Paccayākāra-vibhanga of the Abhidhamma, the formula is reiterated and analysed with greater variety of presentation. But in the present instance the doctrinal contents are more fully worked out. There is another feature in this Dīgha exposition which seems to us of no little significance.

But before discussing this feature, we would point to yet another factor in the statement of the chain of the Nidānas which does not find a place in the Nidāna-Suttanta. This is the schematized, or abstract formula of the whole sequence, showing the logic of it without the contents —|| ||

'That being thus, this comes to be,
from the coming to be of that, this arises.
That being absent, this does not happen,
from the cessation of that, this ceases.'
(M. II, 32.)

In the other Nikāyas the scheme usually precedes the full formula, and in one case where the principle of the latter is called 'the Dhamma,' supersedes the formula. It is on all fours with the modern formulation of the law of causation — 'That every event is the result or sequel of some previous event, or events, without which it could not have happened, and which, being present, it must take place.'

The significant feature is this: — although the formula, as expounded in this Suttanta, ends in the usual way — 'Such is the uprising of this whole body of Ill' — the burden of the Dialogue is in no way directly concerned with Ill, pain or sorrow. In certain other passages, on the other hand, where the Nidāna-chain occurs, dukkha occupies the foreground. Thus in A. I, 177, the formula of the Paṭicca-samuppāda is rehearsed to explain the Aryan Truth of the uprising of Ill.

[43] In M. I, 190 the context of the formula is an exhortation by Sāriputta on the primary importance of a right attitude towards, and understanding of, the nature and causes of Ill, so that the brethren may meet persecutions — ills not due to their own ill deeds — with fortitude and serenity. In the Nidāna Saṃyutta of the Saṃyutta-Nikāya, all the contexts of the formula known to the compilers are grouped together. Of the ninety-three brief Suttas of which this division consists, only one-sixth of those in which the formula occurs, have Dukkha (or its opposite) for their subject. A slightly larger proportion of the Suttas (16) are so many statements upholding the truth of the evolution of phenomena by way of natural causation. That any being exists absolutely and eternally is at the same time denied. And that any being ever perishes absolutely is equally denied. Of the remaining Suttas, four, in which Loka, the world of sense-perception, is substituted in the Paṭicca-samuppāda for Dukkha, belong virtually to the foregoing sixteen. Seven are concerned with rebirth, eight are ethical exhortations to destroy Craving, and thirty-six emphasize the importance of mastering the principle of the Paṭicca-samuppāda. That holds the key to insight; to understand it is therefore the test of true knowledge and sound doctrine. This too is the point in Saṃyutta V, 387-9, where the formula again occurs. Once more, in the very strongly emphasized rehearsal of the formula in the 'Great Taṇha-sankhaya-Sutta' of M. I, 256, the doctrine there inculcated is not in any way hedonistic, sentimental or, directly, moral. It has nothing to say about Dukkha. It is a repudiation of the belief in any permanent, transmigrating intelligent principle (viññāṇa) in man, and the affirmation of the contrary view-that viññāṇa is a contingent phenomenon, a happening by way of cause and effect, something that 'becomes' and dies away.

Dukkha, on the other hand, and the causes of it — 'evam ... samudayo' — holds, in nearly every case, the last word in this notable formula. And according to the Buddhist records, as told in the preceding Suttanta, the fact and sequence of those causes dawn ever on the mind of every Buddha in response to the anguished questionings of his mind brooding over the misery of the world, and of the infinite living and dying in it.

Hence in trying to account adequately for the profound significance and high importance attached by the founders of Buddhism to the doctrine of the Paṭicca-samuppāda, we need to keep in view this dual aspect of it — that it is a way of explaining phenomena, and that the most interesting phenomenon [44] to be explained is that of Dukkha.¹ The latter standpoint is that of man as recipient or percipient, the former, that of man as intellective or interpreting.

Now if to this twofold aspect we add that of man as reacting, by will and deed, to his impressions and his interpretations, and take the Buddha's doctrine of the Eightfold Path, as the corresponding formula, we have not only the whole of Early Buddhism in a nutshell, but also just those points concerning which we find the most emphatic affirmations of Dhamma as Dhamma ascribed to Gotama —

'Both in the past and now do I set forth just this: —
"dukkha and the cessation of dukkha."²

'Let us put aside questions of the Beginning and the End.
I will teach you the Dhamma: —

That being thus, this comes to be.
From the coming to be of that, this arises.
That being absent, this does not happen.
From the cessation of that, this ceases.³

'There is a Middle Path ...
discovered by the Tathāgata
(discovered by none but a Tathāgata, S. V. 14)
... this Aryan Eightfold Path ... .'⁴
This Path, my friend, is the religious life (brahmacariya).'⁵

These three central tenets are put, by our earliest and best authorities, in these or other words, into the mouth of Gotama himself at the very outset of his career, in his first sermon, as the doctrine of the Four Aryan or Noble Truths. And the Paṭicca-samuppāda, with its positive formula of uprising (Samudaya), and its negative formula of passing away (Nirodha), covers the ground staked out by the second and third of these Truths. It is frequently quoted in this connexion,⁶ and its importance in the Dhamma is thereby made the more evident.

But the reason for that importance only becomes clear, when we look away from the dukkha to which the formula is [45] so often applied, away too from the antecedents of dukkha, and consider all that is implied in the Paṭicca-samuppāda by way of method and Weltanschauung.

If we persist in viewing either Dukkha or its causes as the 'secret' of the doctrine, we might omit the formula altogether, since the nature and cause and effect of each nidāna is fully taught in each Nikāya. Nor is the order of sequence the main tenet. Frequent liberties are taken in the Canon with both order and number of nidānas.⁷ Nor finally could the arrangement of antecedents and consequences in an iterated rigmarole (convenient for oral transmission) appeal with the runic force of a Shibboleth to a movement of thought like that of Buddhism, any more than would the similarly arranged fragment of formula contained in the Sānkhya Kārikā have appealed, as such, to the followers of that school. No reformers who so carefully purged their literature of all the 'eulalic' reiterations of Om! Hari! and the rest, that so throng the pages of the Upanishads, would care a brass farthing for any 'accumulative jingle' accounting for things after the fashion of the widely spread pre-historic folk-rune, 'The cat began to kill the rat, the rat began to gnaw the rope,' etc. ... 'and so the old woman got home that night.' Evam etassa, etc.

It was not the fact of Dukkha, nor the fairly obvious conditions of birth and so on, leading up to it, that come as a revelation to each Buddha, beneath his Bo-tree. It was the process of samudaya and nirodha as a natural and universal law. 'Coming to pass! Coming to pass! At that thought there arose in me a Vision into things not called before to mind, and knowledge arose, insight, wisdom, light arose.'⁸ Not uncaused and casually, nor by the fiat of Icvara — Indra, Soma, Varuna, Brahmā⁹ — did events happen, painful or otherwise; not as Job and the Psalmist taught — 'God distributeth sorrows in his anger.'  For 'God is a righteous judge, and God is angry every day.'¹⁰ Events came impelled by preceding conditions, causes that man could by intelligence and good will, study and govern, suspend or intensify.¹¹

[46] Thus Buddhaghosa, in explaining the name Paṭicca-samuppāda,¹² points out that it excludes all theories of absolutism, nihilism, chance, irregular causation,¹³ and indeterminism.¹⁴ And of such theories, it is concerning the implied rejection of the first two that he is most explicit. Namely, that there is no persistent ego reaping results in one life sown as causes in a previous life, and that it is not a different, an alien ego either, which reaps. The latter person (attabhāva) is the resultant, the creature, the 'evolute' of the former. Thus faithfully was the tradition of the Piṭakas preserved, wherein the view of viññāṇa a as a persistent ego was categorically contradicted in the words aneka-pariyāyena paṭicca-samuppanna (causally evolved in various ways). M. I, 256.¹⁵

Let it be remembered that the 'immanent' absolutism opposed by Buddhism was chiefly the Brahmanic theosophy. According to this, the âtman of the individual was not so much an efflux of the World-Âtman, as was the latter immanent in, and identified with, each man-soul. 'In the beginning this world was only Soul, in the shape of a man ... world-guardian, world-lord, this that is My Soul.'¹⁶ 'My Soul' was therefore, in that theosophy, the personal First [47] Cause, and Final Cause. And hence the Paṭicca-samuppāda of Buddhism was as decided a negation of all teleology as was the theorem of Demokritus and his master Leukippus 'that nothing happens by chance, but everything through a cause and of necessity.¹⁷

Had the fates been kinder to the writings of the Atomist of Abdera, had the 'teleological reaction' not been led by two men of such extraordinary genius as Plato and Aristotle, it is conceivable that the whole philosophy, not to say the Dhamma, of the West, might have flowed along a channel in which the influence of the mikros and the megas Diakosmos might have brought both that philosophy and that Dhamma more nearly parallel to the informing principle of the Paṭicca-samuppāda. As it happened, Europe learned from Athens compromise and comprehensiveness, learned to believe in a universe governed partly by necessity and partly by chance, learned to combine belief in unchanging natural law with belief in first and final causes.

And so gradually has the realm of regular, causal sequence encroached upon that of the casual and the arbitrary, that on no period in the intellectual development of Europe can we place our finger and say: — Here the concept of a universe governed, as to its every movement and happening, by natural causation, was brought home to the minds of men, — to the mind of one man. There is nothing resembling the intellectual earthquake caused half a century ago by that extension of the law of causation: the theory of evolution. Or was there some such milestone of rational development reached, when Demokritus formulated the philosophy of Atomism, and won renown as a great prophet and teacher of mankind?

In the history of Indian thought, on the other hand, we can point to such an epoch-making crisis, we can discern the significance of the law of universal causation breaking in on a great mind with a flash of intuition. The law, we read, stands as fundamental, whether Tathāgatas have arisen or not. But the Tathāgata penetrates and masters it, and delivers the knowledge thereof to the world.¹⁸

[48] No such crisis of thought is patent in the literature of the Brahmins, though that literature extends over practically the whole era of Indian culture. Those Upanishads which are ranked as the oldest show a naïf animism: those ranked later reveal thought attained to relative maturity.¹⁹ But there is no evidence of a transition causing a mental upheaval. In the seventy-two stanzas of the Sânkhya Kârikâ, again, 25 per cent contain some consciously generalized affirmation respecting cause and effect. The abstract causal concept shows as a well-matured instrument of metaphysical thought. Throughout the Yoga Sûtra too we find allusions to causality as an abstract idea.²⁰ It is only in the Buddhist Nikāyas that we come up against the actual effort itself of the human mind to get at a more scientific view of world-order, — an effort which is marked with the freshness and vigour of a new fetch of intellectual expansion, and the importance and gravity of which is affirmed with the utmost emphasis, both in the earliest records and in the orthodox literature of ten centuries later.

The significance of the Piṭakas, as the vehicle of this evolutionary cry of travail and new birth, is not minimized by the objection, that a gospel promulgated by laymen (Khattiyas), and preached to the man in the street, would naturally regard, as truths new and wonderful, axioms which, to the more esoteric, philosophical schools of the day, were the commonplaces of dialectical metaphysic. For we have shown that, in the one case where such a school has preserved its ancient literature, we find books of pre-causational and post-causational thought, but nothing indicating that the conviction of a law of universal natural causation was taking birth. The aphorisms, constituting the oldest existing survivals of Yoga and Sânkhya thought, reveal no inner evolution of philosophic progress, and no traces of early animistic culture such as appear in certain of the Upanishads. Most of the Jain literature still awaits it editor, but we have Dr. Jacobi's learned authority for it, that, in spite of an atomistic theory of some interest, its philosophy was crude, animistic and mere 'common [49] sense.' It is not likely therefore that the Angas which are still unedited will reveal any conception of causation possessing deep philosophical insight. Hence all early Indian literature, for which any such insight is claimed, except that of Buddhism, either shows both the child-like and the more adult stages of thought without the (supremely interesting) transitional stage, or else it has preserved only its more adult records, or else it never had any but adult records to show, i.e. it is later literature only.

Now in the history of philosophy, whether its concepts be sought in the cell and the academy of the originating seer, or in the reaction to his influence in thoughtful and earnest minds, nothing is more illuminating either for chronology or for interpretation, than to catch the intelligence in the act of ascending to a fresh vantage-point in its interpretation of the world —

... dhammamayaṃ, Sumedha
pāsādaṃ āruyha, Samantacakkhu ...
avekkhassu!²¹

And since no auspicious day amid Egyptian or trans-Aegean ruins has brought back to us Leukippus or Demokritus, the Buddhist Piṭakas, by presenting this evolutionary moment, possess a unique interest for the historian of human ideas: not only in India, but in the entire world of culture.

[50]

XV. Mahā-Nidāna-Suttantaṃ

The Great Discourse on Causation

[55] [1][wrrn][wlsh][than][olds] THUS HAVE I HEARD:

The Exalted One was once dwelling among the Kurus.²²

Now a township of that country is named Kammāssadamma.

And the venerable Ānanda came
to where the Exalted One was,
bowed in salutation before him,
and took a seat on one side.

And so seated he said to the Exalted One: —

"Wonderful, lord, and marvellous it is,
that whereas this doctrine
of events as arising from causes
is so deep
and looks so deep,²³
to me it seems
as clear as clear can be!"

"Say not so, Ānanda,
say not so!

Deep is this doctrine
of events as arising from causes,
and it looks deep too.

It is through not understanding this doctrine,
through not penetrating it,
that this generation²⁴
has become a tangled skein,
a matted ball of thread,²⁵
like [51] to munja-grass and rushes²⁶
unable to overpass the doom of the Waste,²⁷
the Woeful Way,
the Downfall,
the Constant Round
[of transmigration].²⁸

If you, Ānanda, were asked:

'Is old age and death
due to a particular cause?'

you should say:

'It is.'

And to the question:

'From what cause
is old age and death?'

you should say:

'Birth is the cause
of old age and death.'

If you, Ānanda, were asked:

'Is birth
due to a particular cause?'

you should say:

'It is.'

And to the question:

'From what cause is birth?'

You should say:

'Becoming²⁹ is the cause
of birth.'

If you, Ānanda, were asked:

'Is becoming
due to a particular cause?"

you should say:

'It is.'

And to the question:

'From what cause
is becoming?'

you should say;

Grasping is the cause
of becoming.'

If you, Ānanda, were asked:

'Is grasping
due to a particular cause?'

you should say:

'It is.'

And to the question:

'From what cause
is grasping?"

you should say:

'Craving is the cause
of grasping?'

If you, Ānanda, were asked:

'Is craving
due to a particular cause?'

you should say:

'It is.'

And to the question:

'From what cause
is craving?"

you should say:

'Sensation is the cause
of craving.'

If you, Ānanda, were asked:

'Is sensation
due to a particular cause?'

you should say:

'It is.'

And to the question:

'From what cause
is sensation?'

you should say:

'Contact is the cause
of sensation.'

[52] If you, Ānanda, were asked:

'Is contact
due to a particular cause?'

you should say:

'It is.'

And to the question:

'From what cause
is contact?'

you should say:

'Name-and-form is the cause
of contact."

If you, Ānanda, were asked:

'Is name-and-form
due to a particular cause?'

you should say:

'It is.'

And to the question:

'From what cause
is name-and-form?'

you should say:

'Cognition is the cause
of name-and-form.'

Thus then is it, Ānanda,
that cognition
with name-and-form as its cause;
name-and-form,
with cognition as its cause;
contact,
with name-and-form as its cause;
sensation,
with contact as its cause;
craving
with sensation as its cause;
grasping,
with craving as its cause;
becoming,
with grasping as its cause;
birth,
with becoming as its cause;
old age and death,
with birth as its cause;
grief, lamentation,
ill, sorrow
and despair,
all come into being.

Such is the coming to pass
of this whole body of Ill.

I have said that
birth is the cause of old age and death.

Now in what way that is so, Ānanda,
is to be understood after this manner:

Were there no birth
of any sort or kind whatever
of any one anywhere —
that is to say,
of gods to godhood,
of Gandharvas³⁰ after their kind,
of Yakshas after their kind,
of goblins³¹ after their kind,
of humans to humanity,
of quadrupeds to the animal kingdom,
of birds to winged things,
or of insects to the insect-world —
were there no birth
after the several kind
of every one of these classes of beings,
then, there being no birth whatever,
would there, owing to this cessation of birth,
be any appearance of old age and death?"

"There would not, lord."

"Wherefore, Ānanda, just that
is the ground,
[53] that is the basis,
that is the genesis,
that is the cause
of old age and death,
to wit, birth.

I have said that becoming³²
is the cause of birth.

Now in what way that is so, Ānanda,
is to be understood after this manner:

Were there no becoming
of any sort or kind whatever
of any one anywhere,
that is to say,
no coming to be
of any sentient,
formed,
or formless being,³³
then there being no becoming whatever,
would there,
owing to this cessation of becoming,
be any appearance of birth?"

"There would not, lord."

"Wherefore, Ānanda, just that
is the ground,
that is the basis,
the genesis,
the cause of birth,
to wit; becoming.

I have said that grasping³⁴
is the cause of becoming.

Now in what way that is so, Ānanda,
is to be understood after this manner:

Were there no grasping
of any sort or kind whatever
by any one at anything —
that is to say,
no grasping at the things of sense,
no grasping through speculative opinions,
no grasping after mere rule and ritual,
no grasping through theories of soul —
then there being no grasping [54] whatever,
would there,
owing to this cessation of grasping,
be any appearance of becoming?"

"There would not, lord."

"Wherefore, Ānanda, just that
is the ground,
the basis,
the genesis,
the cause of becoming,
to wit, grasping.

I have said that craving³⁵
is the cause of grasping.

Now in what way that is so, Ānanda,
is to be understood after this manner:

Were there no craving
of any sort or kind whatever
by any one for anything —
that is to say,
no craving for sights,
sounds,
odours,
tastes,
tangibles or
ideas —
then there being no craving whatever,
would there,
owing to this cessation of craving,
be any appearance of grasping?"

"There would not, lord."

"Wherefore, Ānanda, just that
is the ground,
that is the basis,
the genesis,
the cause of grasping,
to wit, craving.

I have said that sensation³⁶
is the cause of craving.

Now in what way that is so, Ānanda,
is to be understood after this manner:

Were there no sensation
of any sort or kind whatever
in any one for anything,
that is to say,
no sensations born of impressions received
by way of sight,
hearing,
smell,
taste,
touch,
or imagination, —
then there being no sensation whatever,
would there,
owing to this cessation of sensation,
be any appearance of craving?"

[55] "There would not, lord."

"Wherefore, Ānanda, just that
is the ground,
the basis,
the genesis,
the cause of craving,
to wit, sensation.

§

Thus it is, Ānanda,
that craving³⁷ comes into being
because of sensation,
pursuit
because of craving,
gain,
because of pursuit,
decision³⁸
because of gain,
desire and passion³⁹
because of decision,
tenacity
because of desire and passion,
possession because of tenacity,
avarice⁴⁰
because of possession,
watch and ward
because of avarice,
and many a bad and wicked state of things
arising from keeping watch and ward over possessions: —
b1ows and wounds,
strife,
contradiction and retort,
quarrelling,⁴¹
slander and
lies.

I have said that many a bad and wicked state of things
arising from keeping watch and ward over possessions,
blows and wounds,
strife,
contradiction and retort,
quarrelling,
slander and
lies,
come into being.

Now in what way that is so, Ānanda,
is to be understood after this manner:

Were there no watch and ward
of any sort or kind whatever
by any one over anything,
then there being no watch and ward whatever,
would there,
owing to this cessation of watch and ward,
be any coming into being
of blows and wounds,
strife,
contradiction and retort,
quarrelling,
slander and
lies?"

"There would not, lord."

"Wherefore, Ānanda, just that
is the ground,
the [56] basis,
the genesis,
the cause
of blows and wounds,
of strife,
contradiction and retort,
of quarrelling,
slander and
lies,
to wit,
the guarding of property.

I have said that watch and ward
is because of avarice.

Now in what way that is so, Ānanda,
is to be understood after this manner:

Were there no avarice
of any sort or kind whatever
in any one about anything,
then there being no avarice whatever,
would there,
owing to this cessation of avarice,
be any appearance of watch and ward?"

"There would not, lord."

"Wherefore, Ānanda, just that
is the ground,
the basis,
the genesis,
the cause of watch and ward,
to wit, avarice.

I have said that avarice
is because of possession.

Now in what way that is so, Ānanda,
is to be understood after this manner:

Were there no possession
of any sort or kind whatever
by any one of anything,
then there being no possessing whatever,
would there,
owing to this cessation of possession,
be any appearance of avarice?"

"There would not, lord."

"Wherefore, Ānanda, just that
is the ground,
the basis,
the genesis,
the cause of avarice,
to wit, possession.

I have said that
tenacity is the cause of possession.

Now in what way that is so, Ānanda,
is to be understood after this manner:

Were there no tenacity
of any sort or kind whatever
shown by any one
with respect to anything,
then there being no tenacity whatever,
would there,
owing to this cessation of tenacity,
be any appearance of possession?"

"There would not, lord."

"Wherefore, Ānanda, just that
is the ground,
the basis,
the genesis,
the cause of possession,
to wit, tenacity.

I have said that
tenacity is because of desire and passion.

Now in what way that is so, Ānanda,
is to be understood after this manner:

Were there no passion or desire
of any sort or kind whatever
in any [57] one for anything,
then there being no passion or desire whatever,
would there,
owing to this cessation of passion and desire,
be any appearance of tenacity?"

"There would not, lord."

"Wherefore, Ānanda, just that
is the ground,
the basis,
the genesis,
the cause of tenacity,
to wit, desire and passion.

I have said that passion and desire
is because of decision.

Now in what way that is so, Ānanda,
is to be understood after this manner:

Were there no purpose
of any sort or kind whatever
devised by any one for anything,
then there being no purpose whatever,
would there,
owing to this cessation of purpose,
be any appearance
of passion and desire?"

[61] "There would not, lord."

"Wherefore, Ānanda, just that
is the ground,
the basis,
the genesis,
the cause of passion and desire,
to wit, decision.

I have said that decision
is because of gain.

Now in what way that is so, Ānanda,
is to be understood after this manner:

Were there no gain
of any sort or kind whatever
by any one of anything,
then, there being no gain whatever,
would there,
owing to this cessation of gain,
be any appearance of decision?"

"There would not, lord."

"Wherefore, Ānanda, just that
is the ground,
the basis,
the genesis,
the cause of decision,
to wit, gain.

I have said that gain
is because of pursuit.

Now in what way that is so, Ānanda,
is to be understood after this manner:

Were there no pursuit
of any sort or kind whatever
by any one after anything,
then there being no pursuit whatever,
would there,
owing to this cessation of pursuit,
be any appearance of gain?"

"There would not, lord."

"Wherefore, Ānanda, just that
is the ground,
the basis,
the genesis,
the cause of gain,
to wit, pursuit.

I have said that pursuit
is because of craving.

Now in what way that is so, Ānanda,
is to be understood after this manner:

Were there no craving
of [58] any sort or kind whatever
by any one for anything —
that is to say,
the lust of the flesh,
the lust of life eternal
and the lust of the life that now is⁴² —
then, there being no craving whatever,
would there,
owing to this cessation of craving,
be any appearance of pursuit?"

"There would not, lord."

"Wherefore, Ānanda, just that
is the ground,
the basis,
the genesis,
the cause of pursuit,
to wit, craving.

So now, Ānanda,
these two aspects
[of craving]
from being dual
become united through the sensation
[which conditions them].⁴³

[62] [19][wrrn][wlsh][than][olds] I have said that contact
is the cause of sensation.

Now in what way that is so, Ānanda,
is to be understood after this manner:

Were there no contact
of any sort or kind whatever
between any one and anything whatever, —
that is to say,
no reaction⁴⁴ of sight,
hearing,
smell,
taste,
touch or
imagination —
then, there being no contact whatever,
would there,
owing to this cessation of contact,
be any appearance of sensation?"

"There would not, lord."

"Wherefore, Ānanda, just that
is the ground,
the basis,
the genesis,
the cause of sensation,
to wit, contact.

I have said that name-and-form
is the cause of contact.

Now in what way that is so, Ānanda,
is to be understood after this manner:

Those modes,
features,
characters,
exponents,
by which the aggregate called 'name'
manifests itself: —
if all these were absent,
would there be any manifestation
of a corre- [59] sponding verbal impression
in the aggregate called [bodily] form?"⁴⁵

"There would not, lord."

"Those modes,
features,
characters,
exponents by which the aggregate called
[bodily]
form manifests itself —
if all these were absent,
would there be any manifestation
of an impression of sense-reaction⁴⁶
in the aggregate called name?"

"There would not, lord."

"And if all those modes,
features,
characters,
exponents
by which the aggregates of both kinds were absent,
would there be any manifestation
of either verbal or sensory impression?"

"There would not, lord."

"So that, if all those modes modes,
features,
characters,
exponents
by which name-and-form manifests itself were absent,
there would be no manifestation of contact?"

"There would not, lord."

"Wherefore, Ānanda, just that
is the ground,
the basis,
the genesis,
the cause of contact,⁴⁷ to wit, name-and-form.

[60] I have said that
cognition is the cause of name-and-form.

Now in what way that is so, Ānanda,
is to be understood after this manner:

Were cognition not to descend⁴⁸
into the mother's womb,
would name-and-form
become constituted therein?"⁴⁹

"It would not, lord."

"Were cognition,
after having descended into the mother's womb,
to become extinct,
would name-and-form come to birth
in this state of being?"

"It would not, lord."

"Were cognition to be extirpated
from one yet young,
[61] youth or maiden,
would name-and-form
attain to growth,
development,
expansion?"

"It would not, lord."

"Wherefore, Ānanda, just that
is the ground,
the basis,
the genesis,
the cause of name-and-form,
to wit, cognition.

I have said that
name-and-form is the cause of cognition.

Now in what way that is so, Ānanda,
is to be understood after this manner:

Were cognition to gain no foothold
in name-and-form,
would there then,
in the coming years,
be manifested that concatenation
of birth, old age, death
and the uprising of Ill?"

"There would not, lord."

"Wherefore, Ānanda, just that
is the ground,
the basis,
the genesis,
the cause of cognition,
to wit, name-and-form.

"In so far only, Ānanda,
can one be born,
or grow old,
or die,
or dissolve,
or reappear
in so far only
is there any process⁵⁰ of verbal expression,
in so far only
is there any process of explanation,
in far only
is there any process of manifestation,
in so far only
is there any sphere of knowledge,
in so far only
we go round the round of life
up to our appearance
mid the conditions of this world:⁵¹ —
in as far as this is,
to wit, name-and-form
together with cognition.

§

Now with declarations concerning the soul, Ānanda,
how many such declarations are there?⁵²

[62] Either the soul is declared
to have form and to be minute,
in the words:

'My soul has form and is minute.'

Or the soul is declared
to have form and to be boundless,
in the words:

'My soul has form and is boundless.'

Or the soul is declared
to be formless and minute,
in the words:

'My soul is formless and minute.'

Or the soul is declared
to be formless and boundless,
in the words:

'My soul is formless and boundless.'

And in each case, Ānanda,
he who makes the declaration,
makes it with regard
either to the present life,
or to the next life,
or else his idea is:

'My soul
not being like that,
I will refashion it
into that likeness.'

That being so, Ānanda,
we have said enough
about the case of one
who is given to the theories that
the soul has form and is minute,
the soul has form and is boundless,
the soul is formless and minute,
the soul is formless and boundless.

In so many ways, Ānanda,
are declarations made concerning the soul.

And in how many ways, Ānanda,
when no declaration concerning the soul is made,⁵³
is such declaring refrained from?

Either the soul is not declared
to have form and to be minute, saying:
'My soul has form and is minute.'
or the soul is not declared
to have form and to be boundless, saying:
'My soul has form and is boundless.'
or the soul is not declared
to be formless and minute, saying:
'My soul is formless and minute.'
or the soul is not declared
to be formless and boundless, saying:
'My soul is formless and boundless.'.

[63] [26][wlsh][than][olds] And in each case, Ānanda,
he who refrains from making the declaration,
does not make it
with regard either to the present life,
or to the next life,
nor is it his idea:

'My soul
not being like that,
I will refashion it
into that likeness.'

That being so, Ānanda,
we have said enough about the case
of those who are not given to theories
respecting the form and dimensions of the soul.

In so many ways, Ānanda,
is there a refraining from declarations
concerning the soul.

And under how many aspects, Ānanda,
is the soul regarded?

The soul is regarded⁵⁴ either as feeling,
in the words:

'My soul is feeling'

or the opposite,
in the words:

'Nay, my soul is not feeling,
my soul is not sentient';

or again:

'Nay, my soul is not feeling,
nor is it non-sentient;
my soul has feelings,
it has the property of sentience.'

Under such aspects as these
is the soul regarded.

Herein, Ānanda, to him who affirms:

'My soul is feeling'

answer should thus be made:

'My friend, feeling is of three kinds:

There is happy feeling,
painful feeling,
neutral feeling.

Of these three feelings,
look you,
which do you consider your soul is?'

When you feel a happy feeling, Ānanda,
you do not feel a painful feeling,
or a neutral feeling;
you feel just a happy feeling.

And when you feel a painful feeling,
you do not feel a happy feeling,
or a neutral feeling,
but just a painful feeling.

And when you feel a neutral feeling,
you do not then feel a happy feeling
or a painful feeling;
you feel just a neutral feeling.

[64] [29][wrrn][wlsh][than][olds] Moreover, Ānanda,
happy feeling is impermanent,
a product,⁵⁵
the result of a cause or causes,
liable to perish,
to pass away,
to become extinct,
to cease.

So too is painful feeling.

So too is neutral feeling.

If when experiencing a happy feeling one thinks:

'This is my soul,'

when that same happy feeling ceases,
one will also think:

'My soul has departed.'

So too when the feeling is painful,
or neutral.

Thus he who says:

'My soul is feeling,'

regards, as his soul,
something which, in this present life,
is impermanent,
is blended of happiness and pain,
and is liable to begin and to end.

Wherefore, Ānanda,
it follows that this aspect:

'My soul is feeling'

does not commend itself.

Herein again, Ānanda, to him who affirms:

'Nay, my soul is not feeling,
my soul is not sentient,'

answer should thus be made:

'My friend, where there is
no feeling of anything,
can you there say:

"I am?"'"

"You cannot, lord."⁵⁶

"Wherefore, Ānanda,
it follows that this aspect:

'Nay, my soul is not feeling,
my soul is not sentient,'

does not commend itself.

Herein again, Ānanda,
to him who affirms:

"Nay, my soul is not feeling,
nor is it non-sentient;
my soul has feelings,
it has the property of sentience,'

answer should thus be made:

'My friend, were feeling
of every sort or kind
to cease absolutely,
then there being,
owing to the cessation thereof,
no feeling whatever,
could one then say:

"I myself am?"'"

"No, lord, one could not."

[65] "Wherefore, Ānanda, it follows that this aspect:

'Nay, my soul is not feeling,
nor is it non-sentient;
my soul has feelings,
it has the property of sentience,'

does not commend itself.'

[32][wrrn][wlsh][than][olds] Now when a brother, Ānanda,
does not regard soul under these aspects,
either as feeling,
or as non-sentient,
or a having feeling, —
then he, thus refraining from such views,
grasps at nothing whatever in the world;
and not grasping he trembles not;
and trembling not,
he of himself attains to perfect peace.⁵⁷

And he knows that birth is at an end,
that the higher life has been fulfilled,
that what had to be done had been accomplishd,
and that after this present world there is no beyond!

And of such a brother, Ānanda,
whose heart is thus set free,
if any one should say:

'His creed is that an Arahant⁵⁸
goes on after death'

that were absurd.

Or:

'His creed is that an Arahant
does not go on after death'

that were absurd.

Or:

'His creed is that an Arahant does,
and yet does not,
go on after death'

that were absurd.

Or:

'His creed is that an Arahant
neither goes on
nor goes not on after death'

that were absurd.

Why is that?

Because, Ānanda,
whatever verbal expression there is
and whatever system of verbal expression,
whatever explanation there may be,
and whatever system of explanation,
whatever communication is possible
and whatever system of communication,
whatever knowledge there is
and whatever sphere of knowledge,
whatever round of life
and how far the round is traversed,
by mastery over all this
that brother is set free.

But to say, of a brother
who has been so set free [66] by insight:

'He knows not,
he sees not' —

that were absurd!⁵⁹

§

There are seven resting-places for Cognition,⁶⁰ Ānanda,
and two Spheres.⁶¹

Which are the seven?

[1] There are beings
differing in body
and differing in intelligence,⁶²
for instance,
human beings
and certain of the gods
and some of those in purgatory.

This is the first resting-place for Cognition.

■

[2] There are beings
differing in body
but of uniform intelligence,
for instance,
the gods of the Brahma heaven
who are there reborn
by means of the First [Jhāna].⁶³

This is the second resting-place for Cognition.

■

[3] There are beings
uniform in body
and differing in intelligence,
for instance,
the Luminous Gods.⁶⁴

This is the third resting-place for Cognition.

[67] [4] There are beings
uniform in body
and of uniform intelligence,
for instance, the All-Lustrous Gods.⁶⁵

This is the fourth resting-place for Cognition.

[5] There are beings who,
by having passed wholly beyond
all consciousness of form,
by the dying out
of the consciousness of sense-reaction,
by having turned the attention away
from any consciousness of the manifold,
and become conscious only of
'space as infinite,'
are dwellers in the realm of infinite space.⁶⁶

This is the fifth resting-place for Cognition.

[6] There are beings who,
by having passed wholly beyond
the realm of infinite space,
and become conscious only of
'cognition as infinite,'
are dwellers in the realm of infinite cognition.

This is the sixth resting-place for Cognition.

[7] There are beings who,
by having passed wholly beyond
the realm of infinite cognition,
and become conscious only that
'there is nothing whatever,'
are dwellers in the realm of nothingness.

This is the seventh resting-place for Cognition.

■

[1] The Sphere of beings without consciousness.⁶⁷

[2] Next to that,
the Sphere of beings
who neither have consciousness
nor yet have it not.⁶⁸

These are the two.ed1

§

Now there, Ānanda —
in that first resting-place for Cognition,
of differing bodies and differing intelligences, —
to wit, human beings
and certain of the gods
and certain of those in purgatory —
think you that he who both knows what that state is,
and how it comes to be,
and how it passes away, —
knows too the pleasures of it,
and the miseries⁶⁹ of it,
and the way of [68] escape from it, —
think you that it were fitting for such an one
to take delight in it?"⁷⁰

"Nay, lord."

■

"Now there, Ānanda —
in the second resting-place for Cognition,
of differing bodies but of uniform intelligence, —
to wit, the gods of the Brahma heaven
who are there reborn
by means of the First [Jhāna] —
think you that he who both knows what that state is,
and how it comes to be,
and how it passes away, —
knows too the pleasures of it,
and the miseries of it,
and the way of escape from it, —
think you that it were fitting for such an one
to take delight in it?"

"Nay, lord."

■

"Now there, Ānanda —
in the third resting-place for Cognition,
of uniform body
and differing in intelligence,
for instance, the Luminous Gods —
think you that he who both knows what that state is,
and how it comes to be,
and how it passes away, —
knows too the pleasures of it,
and the miseries of it,
and the way of escape from it, —
think you that it were fitting for such an one
to take delight in it?"

"Nay, lord."

■

"Now there, Ānanda —
in the fourth resting-place for Cognition,
of uniform body
and of uniform intelligence,
for instance, the All-Lustrous Gods —
think you that he who both knows what that state is,
and how it comes to be,
and how it passes away, —
knows too the pleasures of it,
and the miseries of it,
and the way of escape from it, —
think you that it were fitting for such an one
to take delight in it?"

"Nay, lord."

■

Now there, Ānanda —
in the fifth resting-place for Cognition,
where by having passed wholly beyond
all consciousness of form,
by the dying out
of the consciousness of sense-reaction,
by having turned the attention away
from any consciousness of the manifold,
and become conscious only of
'space as infinite,'
are dwellers in the realm of infinite space —
think you that he who both knows what that state is,
and how it comes to be,
and how it passes away, —
knows too the pleasures of it,
and the miseries of it,
and the way of escape from it, —
think you that it were fitting for such an one
to take delight in it?"

"Nay, lord."

■

Now there, Ānanda —
in the sixth resting-place for Cognition,
where by having passed wholly beyond
the realm of infinite space,
and become conscious only of
'cognition as infinite,'
are dwellers in the realm of infinite cognition —
think you that he who both knows what that state is,
and how it comes to be,
and how it passes away, —
knows too the pleasures of it,
and the miseries of it,
and the way of escape from it, —
think you that it were fitting for such an one
to take delight in it?"

"Nay, lord."

■

Now there, Ānanda —
in the seventh resting-place for Cognition,
where by having passed wholly beyond
the realm of infinite cognition,
and become conscious only that
'there is nothing whatever,'
are dwellers in the realm of nothingness —
think you that he who both knows what that state is,
and how it comes to be,
and how it passes away, —
knows too the pleasures of it,
and the miseries of it,
and the way of escape from it, —
think you that it were fitting for such an one
to take delight in it?"

"Nay, lord."

■

Now there, Ānanda —
in the first sphere,
of beings without consciousness —
think you that he who both knows what that state is,
and how it comes to be,
and how it passes away, —
knows too the pleasures of it,
and the miseries of it,
and the way of escape from it, —
think you that it were fitting for such an one
to take delight in it?"

"Nay, lord."

■

Now there, Ānanda —
in the sphere,
of beings who neither have consciousness
nor yet have it not —
think you that he who both knows what that state is,
and how it comes to be,
and how it passes away, —
knows too the pleasures of it,
and the miseries of it,
and the way of escape from it, —
think you that it were fitting for such an one
to take delight in it?"

"Nay, lord."

■

'But, Ānanda, when once a brother has understood as they really are
the coming to be
and the passing away,
the pleasures and the miseries of,
and the way of escape from,
these seven resting-places for Cognition,
and these two Spheres,
that brother, by being purged of grasping,
becomes free.

And then, Ānanda, he is called
'Freed-by-Reason.'⁷¹

§

Now these, Ānanda, are the eight stages of Deliverance:⁷² —

Which are they?

[69] [1] Having one's self external form,
one sees [these] forms.

This is the first stage.

■

[2] Unaware of one's own external form,
one sees forms external to one's self.

This is the second stage.

■

[3] 'Lovely!' — with this thought
one becomes intent.

This is the third stage.

■

[4] Passing wholly beyond⁷³ perceptions of form,
all perceptions of sense-reaction dying away,
heedless of all perceptions of the manifold,
conscious of space as infinite,
one enters into
and abides in
the sphere of space regarded as infinite.

This is the fourth stage.

■

[5] Passing wholly beyond the sphere of space regarded as infinite,
conscious of reason as infinite,
one enters into and abides in the sphere of cognition regarded as infinite.

This is the fifth stage.

■

[6] Passing wholly beyond the sphere of reason regarded as infinite,
conscious of there being nothing whatever,
one enters into and abides in the sphere of nothingness.

This is the sixth stage.

■

[7] Passing wholly beyond the sphere of nothingness;
one enters into and abides in the sphere of "neither-consciousness-nor-unconsciousness"

This is the seventh stage.

■

[8] Passing wholly beyond the sphere of "neither-ideation-nor-non-ideation,"[sic]
one enters into and abides [70] in a state of suspended perception and feeling.

This is the eighth stage.

These, Ānanda, are the eight stages of Deliverance.

■

Now when once a brother, Ānanda,
has mastered these eight stages of Deliverance in Order,
and has also mastered them in reverse order,
and again, in both orders consecutively,
so that he is able to lose himself in,
as well as to emerge from,
any one of them,
whenever he chooses,
wherever he chooses,
and for as long as he chooses —
when too, by rooting out the Taints,
he enters into and abides in that emancipation of heart,
that emancipation of the intellect
which he by himself,
here in this present world,
has come to know and realize —
then such a brother, Ānanda,
is called
'Free-in-both-ways.'⁷⁴

And, Ānanda, any other Freedom-in-both-ways
higher and loftier than this Freedom-in-both-ways
there is not!"

Thus spake the Exalted One.

Glad at heart the Venerable Ānanda delighted in his words.

HERE ENDETH THE MAHĀ NIDANA SUTTANTA

¹ It is regrettable that later Buddhist teaching, yielding to this fact of 'interest,' obscured the great causal principle taught by Gotama, through the simile of a wheel, so as to include the vaṭṭa, or round of Saṃsāra. A ladder or stairway (nisseni), like that used to illustrate the way to see Brahma ('Dialogues,' I,308, Tevijja-Sutta), would have been more appropriate.

² M. I, 140.

³ Ib. II, 32. Cf. ib. I, 190, where Sāriputta says — 'The Exalted One has said, that he who sees the Paṭicca-samuppāda, sees the Dhamma, and he who sees the Dhamma sees the Paṭicca-samuppāda.'

⁴ Vin. I, 10.

⁵ S. V, 15.

⁶ e.g. S. II, 14-16, 28, 29, 57-9, 108, 109, 129-31, A. I, 177.

⁷ e.g. this Suttanta omits the first two. In 'Dialogues,' I, p. 53 (Brahmajāla S.), the first five are omitted, so also in S. II, 92. S. II, 101, instead of the usual order of the twelve nidānas, gives 3, 4, 2, 11, 12 only, and in this order. In M. I, 191, a different group of antecedents are said to have dukkha as their consequence — desire, attachment, indulgence, lusting after.

⁸ See above, p. 26.

⁹ See "Dialogues,' I, p. 310.

¹⁰ Job xxi. 17, Ps. vii. 2.

¹¹ Cf. herewith Prof. Oltramare's 'La Formule bouddhique des douze causes' (Genève, 1909), which we have had the good fortune to read before going to press. 'Le Bouddha a voulu apprendre ... que la misère ne vient point à l'homme de quelque agent externe échappant à sa prise, et qu'elle n'est pas non plus inhérente à une substance immutable, ce qui la rendrait el1e-même incurable. ... Le Pratityasamutpâda est une tentative d'expliquer la qualité de la vie, sans qu'interviennent ni la notion d'âme, ni la notion de Dieu,' etc. And yet to these luminous remarks he prefixes the statement, that the Buddha certainly did not wish to affirm any formula of universal causality, since that theory n'intéresse que l'homme. To us it seems that precisely for this reason it would be the object of the quest of him men called the Naruttama, the Aggapuggala — the supreme Man — who combined 'philosophical curiosity' or rather, insight, with the practical bent of a saviour of men.

¹² Visuddhi-Magga, ch. xvii.

¹³ Visama-hetu-vādo. Warren translates this 'heresy of existences due to an over-ruling power.' Buddhism did virtually reject an Issara, but scarcely in such terms as those above.

¹⁴ Vasavattivādo. Warren has 'self-determining existences.'

¹⁵ Cf. H. Oldenberg, 'Buddha' (London, 1882). 'Where there is no being, but only becoming, it is not substance, but only a law, which can be recognized, as the first and the last.' The significance of the Paṭicca-samuppāda as the discerning of such a law has found adequate emphasis in this scholar's work.

¹⁶ Bṛhad. Up. I, 4. 1; Kaush. Up. III, 8.

¹⁷ Lange, 'History of Materialism,' I, ch. I. Demokritus flourished apparently about half a century after the Buddha's death. See also Vis. Magga XVII: 'the wheel of becoming is without known beginning, lacking both maker (kārako) ... such as Brahmā ... and percipient (vadako) "I. "For each consequent proceeds by reason of its antecedent.'

¹⁸ S. II, 25.

¹⁹ Cf. Aitareyya Up. 'The Ātman deliberated: I will send forth worlds — he then formed the person ... he brooded over him, and ... a moulh burst forth like an egg' — with Çvetâsvatara Up. 'Should time, or nature, or necessity, or chance, or the elements, or the Person be considered as the cause?'

²⁰ In one passage (IV, 11), the statement takes the form of the negative part of the Buddhist formula. 'As the saṅkhāras are collected by cause, effect, substratum, and support, therefore through the absence of these, there is an absence of the saṅkhāras.'

²¹ See preceding Suttanta, p. 39 of the text.

²² The Kurus occupied the country of which Indraprastha, close to the modern Delhi, was the capital. See Rh. D. 'Buddhist India,' p.27.

²³ "Water, muses the Cy., may be shallow and look deep like a pool black with the rotten leaves beneath the surface; it may be deep and look shallow, like the jewel-like translucence of Ganges water; it may be and look shallow, like the contents of a basin; it may be and look deep, like the ocean at the foot of Mount Sineru. But this doctrine is ever and only deep both in substance and appearance.

²⁴ The Greek γέννημα of the Gospels has much the same vague meaning as pajā — offspring, here rendered 'generation.'

²⁵ A more literal rendering than Warren's picturesque 'entangled warp ... ensnarled web: The similes are drawn from weaving cloth and making nets. The tangle is due to bad workmanship or the teeth of mice; the matting, to grease (kañjiyasuttaṃ), the ball resembling a bird's nest. Both similes are to illustrate the confused state of the popular mind, lost in fallacies of opinion, prejudice and superstition e.g. among the sixty-two heresies of the first Suttanta (Vol. I). Cy.

²⁶ 'When these are withering and cut in autumn, if gathered up in sheaves wherever they fall, it becomes difficult to extricate stalk from stalk and lay them in parallel order. (Cy.)

²⁷ Apāya. For the concrete meaning see above, Vol. I, p. 125. In the secondary sense the word is often — quite wrongly — rendered 'hell.' There is no hell, i.e. no existence of unending torment, in Indian thought.

²⁸ 'These four terms all refer to a change for the worse in rebirth, i.e. to one or other of the four infra-human grades of existence — purgatory, animal kingdom, shades or ghosts, and asuras or fallen angels.

²⁹ 'The Cy. is at no pains to explain here the staple terms in the chain of causation, the author having expounded them after his fashion in the Visuddhi Magga.

³⁰ 'The Cy., following S. III, 250, speaks of these beings as fairies residing in the perfumes given out by roots and other parts of trees and flowers, saying nothing of their 'celestial musicianship' (see Hardy, 'Manual of Buddhism,' 43), or of Sakka as their king (see Jāt. VI, 260).

³¹ Bhūtā.

³² Tattha bhavatīti bhavo. 'Here bhavo means one becomes' (so the Vis. Mag. opens its comment) — not atthi, 'one is'. Burnouf, Oldenberg, Warren all choose 'existence.' Winternitz ('Religions-geschichtliches Lesebuch,' p. 236) has Dasein. But the mobile, plastic, evolutionary thing, ever in progress, that life appears as conceived by the Indian, fits ill in the more rigid Western metaphysic of Being. As Buddhist sponsors, possibly also as philosophers, we lost much when we dropped weorthan for becumen, and may envy our German colleagues with their Werden (see Mrs. Rh. D. in 'Buddhism,' March, 1904, pp. 389, 390; Rangoon). Moreover, according to the Vibhanga (p. 137) the bhava which is the cause of birth is not only uppattibhavo, — the becoming which is 'coming into sentient being' of some sort — but also kammabhavo, or the generating of effective actions, effective in good or bad results, or in result which is 'beyond good and bad,' viz. meritorious activity, demeritorious activity, and 'unmoved' or 'static activity' (āneñjabhisankhāro). 'Existence' fits here still worse.

³³ These three exhausted, for the Buddhist, the living universe. See Dh.S., §§ 1281-6 (Trans., p. 334).

³⁴ Upādāna. See preceding Suttanta, II, 18, [sic II, 24, n2] and the note there.

³⁵ Taṇhā. Usually translated 'thirst,' but not used to express physical thirst in the Piṭakas. Dr. Neumann sometimes uses the equivalent (to craving) — Begier. Winternitz has Gier.

³⁶ Vedanā, which is usually, in the Piṭakas, resolved into feeling, pleasurable, painful, neutral, is here explained in terms of sense reaction to contact. Now the term 'feeling,' in its widest psychological meaning (namely, as consisting essentially in our being affected or acted upon), is able to bear this connotation as well as the more emotional aspect. But since we have the alternative term 'sensation," since Buddhaghosa himself emphasizes the different aspect: dvārato vedanā vuttā ('the vedanā mentioned refers to sense,' Vis. Mag.), — and since other translators are unanimous in using 'sensation,' this rendering is followed here. In Sum. Vil., Buddhaghosa characterizes the term in this passage as vipāka-vedanā, 'resultant vedanā.'

³⁷ This and the nine following sections constitute a digression in the exposition of the chain which is thus explained by the Cy. Craving may be considered under two aspects; — There is the primordial craving which is the root or base of transmigration (vaṭṭa-mūla-bhūtā purima-taṇhā), and there is craving as manifested in conduct (samudācāra-taṇhā). The former, with the remaining links, is now put aside, 'as if one were putting a clamorous person out of the road, hitting him on the back and seizing his hair.' And the latter is discussed under the twofold subdivision of craving in the quest, and craving in the found quarry — seeking and gloating over.

³⁸ Vinicchayo, explained as, deciding what to do with one's gains.

³⁹ Chandarāgo. From these selfish considerations volitions both weak and strong arise. Chando is weak passion (or lust, rāgo).

⁴⁰ Macchariyaṃ; the not suffering others to share.

⁴¹ On tuvaṃtuvaṃ, see E. Müller, 'Pali Grammar,' p. 38.

⁴² See Rh.D. 'Buddhist Suttas,' p. 148, n. 4. On the three kinds. The Cy. remarks, that the first, kāma-taṇhā, means craving for the five classes of sense-objects, the second is the passion characterizing Eternalism; the third, that characterizing Nihilism (see 'Dialogues,' I, pp. 27, 46).

⁴³ 'These two aspects' (dhammā), i.e. according to the Cy., the two aspects of craving specified above, p. 55, n. 1.

⁴⁴ Samphasso.

⁴⁵ Rūpakāye adhivacana-samphasso. This and its complement the paṭigha-samphasso in 'name' (rendered 'impression of sense-reaction') occur in the Vibhanga, p. 6, as two modes of saññā, or perception, the former being described as refined, subtle, delicate, the latter as gross, coarse, thick. If the psychological comments of Buddhaghosa on these two expressions in the Sammoha-Vinodani and the Sumangala Vilāsinī be a correct guide to the Buddha's utterance, then the passage under consideration reveals what would now be called a psycho-physiological standpoint of much interest. The 'modes ... exponents' of 'name' are not physical expressions, but the processes of subjective consciousness, — feelings, perceptions, etc. The consciousness, bent back upon itself — piṭṭhivaṭṭakā hutvā — refoulé sur soí-méme — gives the name to what it finds. The modes, etc., of 'form' are the modes of sensation, by which 'form manifests itself' to the mind, — 'at the mind-door,' as the Cy. has it.

⁴⁶ See Dh.S., translation, p. 172, n. 1, 183, n. 1.

⁴⁷ i.e. of this twofold contact, as the Cy. points out, of mental object with mind-activity or mind, and of sense-object with sense-organ. Cf. Dh.S., §§ 3-5, and translation, p. 5, n. 2. The former mode of contact is there called ceto-samphasso, manoviññāṇadhātusamphasso.

The Cy. sums up the relation, between nāma-rūpa and phasso as follows: — In the channels of the five senses, sight, hearing, etc., by means of visual and other objects, are the 'form,' while the [other four] skandhas, brought into relation therewith, are the 'name'. Thus in a fivefold way is name-and-form the cause of contact. Moreover in the channel of the sixth sense (mano, ideation) its physical basis, — the heart — as well as such corporeal form as becomes its mental object, constitute 'form,' while the related states of consciousness induced, as well as such incorporeal form as becomes its mental object, constitute incorporeal form. Thus in saying that name-and-form is the cause of contact, we must also include contact that is mental (i.e. of ideas). Name-and-form is therefore in many ways the cause of contact. (On the heart, see Dh.S., translation, p. lxxviii; Pras. Up. III, 1, 5.)

⁴⁸ The animistic implication adhering to this term (okkamissatha; ava, down + √kram, stride) would of course have no significance for Buddhist doctrine. Accordingly it is, in the Cy., paraphrased as follows: — 'having entered, so to speak, and staying (vattamānaṃ = the Latin idiom, versatum est), by means of conception, were not to keep going on.' The contradictory term, vokkamissatha, 'become extinct,' rendered by Warren 'go away again,' is paraphrased nirujjhissatha, and only signifies that the advent is in some way annulled. There is no concept of cognition, as a unity, descending from outside into the womb like a ball into a bag. At Saṃyutta V, 283 we are told of happiness descending on a man, and at Mil. 299 of drowsiness descending into or on to a man. So okkantikā pīti is a standing expression for a particular sort of joy. In each of these cases the bliss, or drowsiness, or joy is supposed to develop from within; and so also here of cognition.

⁴⁹ Samucchissatha, derived by Dr. Konow (J.P.T.S., 1908) from sam+ √murch, to thicken, and by him and Warren rendered 'to be consolidated.' So also Oldenberg 'Buddha,' p. 259; and Windisch, 'Buddha's Geburt,' p. 39. The Cy. has kalalādi-bhāvena ... missibhūtaṃ hutvā, 'become mixed with the embryo in its different stages.'

⁵⁰ Patho, literally, course, path.

⁵¹ Itthattaṃ paññāpanāya, lit. for the making manifest thusness. Warren's rendering: — 'And it is all that is reborn to appear in the present shape,' — is beside the point, as well as free. Barely stated, the summary amounts to this: — 'Only through cognition, language and bodily form do we live and express ourselves.' The little paragraph contains a great part of modern psychology in the germ-state

⁵² The doctrine of origin by way of cause having now been set forth, the following is, according to the Cy., an illustration of how 'this generation has become a tangled skein,' etc., as asserted above (§ 1). These different impressions as to the nature of the attā (ātman), soul, or mannikin, are, according to the Cy., deductions from Jhāna experience. For instance, in the first 'declaration,' 'he who, on gazing at a particular kasiṇa' (one of ten kinds of objects for inducing meditative rapture); 'gets hold of an after-image where there is no expansion (avaḍḍhitaṃ), and of a consciousness that "it is the soul," declares that it, the soul, has form and is minute' — and so on. Comp. on the whole exposition above Vol. I, pp. 45 foll.

⁵³ 'Who are they,' asks the Cy., 'who refrain? All ariya-puggalā — noble-minded persons, learned persons: — those who know the Three Piṭakas (by heart), or two, or one, or even only one of the Nikāyas, and can discourse thereon, and are of alert insight. These take the kasiṇas for what they are, and, for them, the constituents of mind (the four khandhas) are such and no more.'

⁵⁴ These three forms of the 'individuality-heresy' amount to an interesting and metaphysically more discriminating statement of the oft-quoted theories identifying the soul or mannikin with one or other or the five Khandhas. (See Vin. I, 13 ('Vin. Texts,' I, 100); M. I, 138, 300; S. III, 66; IV, 34, etc.) According to the Cy., the second assertion is the identification with the body (rūpakkhandhavatthukā), which is usualIy placed first; the third assertion includes identification of the soul with the other three Khandhas — with, let us say, thinking and volition.

⁵⁵ Saṇkhata, con-fected, composite, the resultant of conditions. The soul, according to the then current animism, was considered to be unique, not a product, not causally modifiable through temporal or spatial conditions. The commentary explains saṇkhata as 'that which, having through such and such causes (lit. doings) come together, is made.'

⁵⁶ All the MSS. agree in putting this answer in the mouth of Ānanda, instead of in that of the soul-theorist. And it would be quite like him to rush in, in this way, with his opinion. And so also below.

⁵⁷ Parinibkhāyati. Usually rendered 'he attains complete Nirvana' or 'attains Parinirvāna,' or even 'enters Nirvana.' The term is applied to the death of an Arahant, but it is also used to express perfected tranquillity, as in the case of a horse (M. I, 446), or of a man (M. I, 251; S. III, 54). Tradition, as represented by the Cy., did not associate the hour of death with the term, for it says, 'Having thus completely parinibbāna-ed (by extinguishing all evil) he goes on to reflect, "Birth is at an end,", etc.

⁵⁸ Tathāgata; perhaps it merely means 'mortal.' See M. I, 542.

⁵⁹ The argument in this paragraph seems to have appealed in a special degree to the early Buddhists, for it has been made the basis of a whole Suttanta, the Jāliya (which is itself repeated, occurring first as part of the Mahāli, and then again separately). The main point there emphasized is that the converted man will have gone so far beyond them that all such questions will have ceased to interest him. The two other Suttantas have been translated in full in Vol. I; but see especially pp. 200-5.

⁶⁰ The Sangīti Suttanta ('Dialogues,' III) and A. IV, 39, 40 also name seven. S. III, 54 gives only four.

⁶¹ The Pali thus rendered is ṭhiti and āyatanaṃ respectively. The Cy. paraphrases the first by 'this is an equivalent for a setting-up (patiṭṭhāna) of viññāṇa.' Patiṭṭhānaṃ is the affording of a standing-place, resting-place, locus standi, or foothold for. Ṭhiti again, is the term for the central, static moment in any process, contrasting with two others in the same category, viz. inception and dying-out. 'Rest' is not satisfactory, but no English term suggests itself which exactly meets the requirement. For 'sphere' the paraphrase is simply: — 'nivāsana-ṭ-ṭhānaṃ,' dwelling-place, ... 'These are included to exhaust [the contents] of the Cycle (saṇsāra), for the Cycle goes not on merely by way of viññāṇa-resting places.'

⁶² No two human beings, says the Cy., are ever exactly alike; even in twins that are undistinguishable in likeness of appearance and complexion, there will be some difference in look, speech, gait or carriage.

⁶³ Cf. Dh.S., §§ 160 ff., 266 ff.; transl., pp. lxxxvii-ix, 43 ff., 72 ff.

⁶⁴ Ranking sixth in the heavens of Rūpa-brahmaloka.

⁶⁵ Ranking ninth in the same.

⁶⁶ The Cy. refers the inquirer to the Vis. Mag. for further comment. Cf. next Suttanta, and Dh.S., §§ 265-8; trans., pp. 71-5.

⁶⁷ Saññā perhaps awareness would be a better rendering.

⁶⁸ The Cy. here includes cognition with awareness, the extreme tenuity or refinement (sukhumattaṃ) of both being in this sphere such that it is as a zero point between presence and absence of either. See passage last cited in previous note.

⁶⁹ Or the peril of it (ādīnavo), i. e. the thought of its impermanence, changeableness, etc. Cy.

⁷⁰ This standpoint of insight into the limitations of all sentient experience when estimated according to its emotional or hedonistic values is claimed by the Buddha as a monopoly of his own doctrine, distinguishing it from other ethical systems. See his graphic exposition in the Great Suttanta on the Body of Ill; and the passages quoted under Yathābhūtam in the Saṃyutta Index (vol. vi).

⁷¹ Paññā vimutto, i.e. says the Cy. 'emancipated without the aid of the following eight grades of deliverance' — by native insight. So PP. 14, 73. Here, as throughout, when paññā is rendered by 'reason,' it is but a pìs-aller. Paññā is really intellect as conversant with, engaged upon, general truths, and thus comes out as approximately Kant's Vernunft, and Reason as distinct from Understanding, a distinction very general in English and European philosophy. See Dh.S., transl., p. 17, n. 2. By 'emancipated' the Cy. understands 'having effected the non-perpetuity (in rebirths) of name and form.'

⁷² Vimokhā. See the following Suttanta, p. 111 of the text; A. IV, 306, 349; Dh.S., §§ 248-50; transl., pp. 63-5. Buddhaghosa's comments on the last citation are approximately the same as those on the first three stages here given. Here, too, he explains Release as deliverance from adverse conditions, so that the attention is sustained with all the detachment and confidence felt by the little child borne on his father's hip, his limbs dangling, and no need felt to clutch. In the first stage, Jhāna is induced by intense concentration on the colour of some bodily feature. In the second, the kasiṇa is an object external to one's body. In the third, consciousness of an uprising glamour (around or superseding the kasiṇa) of perfectly pure colour or lustre is meant. The aesthetic suffusion was held to quicken the sense of emancipation from morally adverse conditions analogously to that perception of ethical rapture induced by the Four Divine or Sublime Moods, described in the Mahā Sudassana Suttanta. The Paṭisambhidāmagga is again referred to by the Cy., viz. II, p. 39, in this connexion. The curious thing is that in reply to the question, 'How is there release thus: — "How lovely it is — with this thought he becomes intent?"' — the reply is simply and solely the Formula of the Four Sublime Moods.'

⁷³ The 4th-7th stages were afterwards known as the Four Āruppa Jānas, or the four Jhānas to be cultivated for attaining to the Formless Heavens (see Dh.S., §§ 265 ff.).

⁷⁴ Ubhato-bhāga-vimutto i.e. freed both by Reason and also by the inteliectual discipline of the Eight Stages. According to a scholastic elaboration of the term, emanating from the Giri-vihāra of the great Loha-pāsāda (or Brazen Palace), 'both ways' meant the Four Jhānas and the Āruppa-jhānas. How this can be reconciled with this paragraph — confirmed by PP. 14 and 73 and by M. I, 477-8 is not stated. 'Taints' are the Four Āsavas, rendered 'Intoxicants' above, p. 28, n. 2.

ed1 R.D. The two 'spheres.' RD omits translating the "eva dutiyaṃ" and groups the two with the seven which obscures a distinction that was likely made for a reason. AN 9.24 has the nine grouped together under the one heading, but with the sphere of non-percipience as #5. In DN 33.9.3 the order is the same as AN 9.24. In DN 33.7.10 the 2 spheres are not included.

16. The Book of the Great Decease

Mahā-Parinibbāna Suttantaṃ

[71]

Introduction

The general conclusions we have to draw as to the gradual growth of the various books in the Buddhist canon have been stated in Chapter X of 'Buddhist India.' To work out the details of it will be greatly facilitated by tabular statements of the differences and resemblances found in the various books, whether in matters of form or of ideas. The following table gives a list of all such passages in this book as have, so far, been traced elsewhere. Others will, no doubt, be discovered; but those here given will throw some light on the method of construction followed in the book. Only parallel passages are given, passages in which some other book has at least a paragraph or more couched in identical, or almost identical, words.

A glance at column three, giving the pages of the text, shows a remarkable result. There are ninety-six pages of Pali text, beginning on p. 72. With a few gaps - pp. 92, 3; 113-15; 117-21; 130-3; 137-40; 148-50; 153; i58-60; 164-7 (nine in number)-the whole text is found, in nearly identical words, elsewhere. The gaps, filled with matter found only in the Book of the Great Decease, amount altogether to about 32 or 33 pages, that is to about one-third of the whole. That proportion would be reduced if we were to include passages of similar tendency, or passages of shorter length.

Secondly; the parallel passages are found, without exception, in those books which belong to the oldest portion of the canon. In 'Buddhist India,' p. 188, there is a table showing, in groups, the probable relative order in time of the Buddhist literature down to the time of Asoka.

All these passages belong to the two earliest groups; all are found in books included in groups 4-6; not one occurs in any of the books included in the later groups - groups 7, 8, 9, and 10. So far as it goes, therefore, the present table is in harmony with the order suggested in the table referred to.

Thirdly; the slight differences, the more important of which

[72]

Book of the Great Decease | Other Old Pāli Books
1 | Chap. I | §§1-10 | pp. 72-80 | A. IV, 16-24
2 |  | 16, 17 | 81-83 | D. XXVIII and S. V, 159-161
3 |  | 20-34 | 84-89 | Ud. Viii, 6 and Vin. I, 226
4 | II | 2, 3 | 90, 91 | S. V, 431; Vin. I, 231 and Netti 166
5 |  | 12, 13 | 94, 95 | S. IV, 211
6 |  | 14-19 | 95-98 | Vin. I, 231-233it1
7 |  | 22-26 | 98-101 | S. V, 152-154, §26, ib. 164, 5
8 | III | 1-20 | 102-109 | A. IV, 308-313
9 |  | 1-10 | 102-107 | S. V, 259-263 and Ud. VI, 1
10 |  | 21-23 | 109, 110 | A. IV, 30 (nearly = M. I. 72)
11 |  | 24-32 | 110, 111 | A. IV, 305 and 348; M. II, 13, 14
12 |  | 33 | 111, 112 | D. II, 70, 71; A. IV, 306 and 349
13 |  | 43 | 116 | Quoted KV. 559
14 | IV | 2, 3 | 122, 123 | A. II, 1, 2 and A. IV, 105 (quoted KV. 115)it2
15 |  | 7-11 | 123-126 | A. II, 167-170
16 |  | 13-25 | 126-129 | Ud. VIII, 5
17 |  | 39-43 | 134-136 | Ud. VIII, 5
18 | V | 11 | 141-142 | D. II, 161
19 |  | 12 | 142-143 | A. II, 245, 6
20 |  | 15 | 144 | S. V, 16 (nearly)
21 |  | 16 | 145, 146 | A. II, 132
22 |  | 17, 18 | 146, 147 | D. II, 169, 170
23 |  | 27 | 151 | Quoted KV. 601
24 |  | 28 | 152 | D. I, 176; M. I, 391, 494; S. II, 21; Vin. I, 69, 71
25 | VI | 5 | 154,5 | A. II, 79, 80
26 |  | 7-10 | 155-158 | S. I, 157-159it3
27 |  | 9 | 156 | A. IV, 410 ff.
28 |  | 10 | 157 | Th. I, 905, 1046; A. I, 236
29 |  | 17 | 161 | D. II, 141, 2
30 |  | 19-20 | 162, 163 | Vin. II, 284, 5it4
31 |  | 27 | 167 (end of text) |

it1 Differs as to locus in quo.

it2 Differs as to appliction.

it3 Differs as to order of sentences.

it4 Differs as to order of sentences.

[73]

are noted in the table, are very suggestive. No. 26 is the episode of the stanzas uttered at the moment of the Buddha's death. The Saṃyutta gives it in the Brahma-Saṃyutta because the first verse is attributed to Brahmā. The last two verses are there put into the mouths of Ānanda and Anuruddha respectively, perhaps because Anuruddha's verse forms a more fitting conclusion. In the Dīgha Ānanda's comes last, either in deprecation of Ānanda (which is scarcely probable), or for the reason given in the note to the translation.

In No. 14 we have four lines of verse, and the prose introductory to them, ascribed in the Dīgha to the Buddha, ascribed in the Aṇguttara to a former teacher whose story is there told by the Buddha. That previous teacher, though not a Buddha, is highly praised in the story; the epithet applied to him in the verses (satthā) is quite in the right place in that connexion; and the verses when spoken by the Buddha of another teacher, are quite appropriate. On the other hand, when put as the Dīgha puts them, into the mouth of the Buddha as spoken of himself, they are not in the best of taste, and sound forced. There can, I think, be no doubt but that the application of these verses to Sunetta the Teacher was the original one, and that the little poem was only later applied to the Buddha himself. But it does not follow in the least that the Aṇguttara is older than the Dīgha. For, as is shown by the references in the table, the Aṇguttara itself contains, in an earlier part of the work, the later application of these verses. There it gives the episode, word for word, as it occurs in the Dīgha. The two passages cannot be of the same age. It is not possible that the same story was told originally of two different people. But the two collections (Nikāyas) may very, well have been put together, from older materials of varying age, at the same time.

No. 30 is the episode of the explosion of ill-will on the part of Subhadda. There is a slight but very suggestive difference here between the two texts, one found in our Suttanta the other in the Pañcasatika Khandaka of the Vinaya. For convenience of comparison the two versions of this episode are here reprinted side by side.

Dīgha
Vinaya

Now at that time the venerable Mahā Kassapa was journeying along the high road from Pāvā to Kusinārā with a great company of the brethren, with about five hundred of the brethren. And the venerable Mahā Kassapa left the high road, and sat himself down at the foot of a certain tree.

Just at that time a certain ascetic who had picked up a Mandārava flower in Kusinārā was coming along the high road to Pāvā. Now the venerable Mahā Kassapa saw the ascetic coming in the distance, and on seeing him he said to that ascetic:

'O friend! surely thou knowest our Master?'

'Yea, friend! I know him. This day the Samaṇa Gotama has been dead a week. That is how I obtained this Mandārava flower.'

On that of those of the brethren who not yet free from the passions, some stretched out their arms and wept, and some fell headlong on the ground, and some reeled to and fro in anguish at the thought:

'Too soon has the Exalted One died! Too soon has the Happy One passed away! Too soon has the Light gone out in the world!' But those of the brethren who were free from the passions (the Arahants) bore their grief self-possessed and composed at the thought:

'Impermanent are all component things! How is it possible that (they should not be dissolved?).'

Now at that time a brother named Subhadda, who had been received into the Order in his old age, was seated in that company. And Subhadda, the recruit in his old age, said to those brethren:

'Enough, Sirs! Weep not, neither lament! We are well rid of the great Samaṇa. We used to be annoyed by being told: "This beseems you, this beseems you not." But now we shall be able [75] to do whatever we like; and what we do not like, that we shall not do!'

But the venerable Mahā Kassapa exhorted the brethren:

'Enough, my brethren! Weep not, neither lament! Has not the Exalted One formerly declared this, that it is in the very nature of all things near and dear unto us that we must divide ourselves from them, leave them, sever ourselves from them? How then, brethren, can this be possible - whereas anything whatever born, brought into being, and organized contains within itself the inherent necessity of dissolution - how then can this be possible that such a being should not be dissolved? No such condition can exist!'

Now the venerable Mahā Kassapa addressed the Bhikkhus and said: 'Once I was journeying along the high road from Pāvā to Kusinārā with a great company of the brethren, with about five [74] hundred of the brethren. And I left the high road and sat myself down at the foot of a certain tree.

Just at that time a certain ascetic who had picked up a Mandārava flower in Kusinārā was coming along the high road to Pāvā. Now I saw that ascetic coming in the distance, and on seeing him I said to that ascetic:

'O friend! surely thou knowest our Master?'

'Yea, friend! I know him. This day the Samaṇa Gotama has been dead a week. That is how I obtained this Mandārava flower.'

On that, Sirs, of those of the brethren who were not yet free from the passions, some stretched out their arms and wept, and some fell headlong on the ground, and some reeled to and fro in anguish at the thought:

'Too soon has the Exalted One died! Too soon has the Happy One passed away! Too soon has the Light gone out in the world!'

But those of the brethren who were free from the passions (the Arahants) bore their grief self-possessed and composed at the thought:

'Impermanent are all component things! How is it possible that (they should not be dissolved?).'

Then I, Sirs, spoke thus to the Bhikkhus:

'Enough, my brethren, weep not, neither lament! Has not the Exalted One, Sirs, formerly declared this, that it is in the very nature of all things near and dear to us that we must divide ourselves from them, leave them, sever ourselves from them. How, then, can this be possible - whereas anything whatever born, brought into being, and organized contains within itself the inherent necessity of dissolution - how then can this be possible that such a being should not be dissolved? No such condition can exist!'

Now at that time, Sirs, a brother named Subhadda, who had been received into the Order in his old age, was seated in that company. And Subhadda, Sirs, the recruit in his old age, said to those brethren:

'Enough, Sirs! Weep not, neither lament! We are well rid of the great Samaṇa. We used to be annoyed by being told: "This beseems you, this beseems you not." But now we shall be able to do whatever we like; and what we do not like that we shall not do.'

A glance at the above columns shows that the two texts are identical except in two particulars. The Dīgha gives the episode in narrative form, whereas the Vinaya puts it into the mouth of Kassapa himself. And secondly, whereas the Dīgha puts Kassapa's speech after the outburst of Subhadda, the Vinaya puts it before - that is, the last two paragraphs in the Dīgha are transposed in the Vinaya.

Professor Oldenberg, who was the first to point out (more than thirty years ago)i1 the parallelism between the two texts, acutely suggests that the change is due to the position occupied by this episode in the Vinaya. It is there used as introduction to the account of the Council at Rājagaha held, according to the tradition, to counteract such sentiments as were expressed in Subhadda's outburst. It was considered more appropriate, therefore, that in that connexion, Subhadda's words should come last, to lead up to what follows. The whole of the story is accordingly taken from our Suttanta. But the last paragraphs are transposed, and the whole is put into the mouth of Kassapa, on whose advice the Council is stated to have been convened.

This seems a very probable explanation of the transposition, and of the existence of two slightly different accounts of the [76] episode. If we accept it - and I think we shouldi2 - we have to face the further question: Why was the episode inserted in the Dīgha? It is given there in the middle of the account of the cremation of the Buddha at Kusinārā. It has very little to do either with what precedes, or with what follows it; and is said to have taken place away from Kusinārā. The outburst itself was of little importance in the long story of the Buddha's last days; and (in the older order as preserved in the Dīgha) is immediately overwhelmed by Mahā Kassapa's apt quotation from the Master's words. Have we not here a very similar motive, acting on either the same or very similar minds? Is it not precisely the part played by this anecdote in the traditional account of the First Council that led the compilers of the Dīgha to find a place for it in the Book of the Great Decease? They might so easily have left it out. As it stands it only breaks in upon the narrative. And, apart from the tradition about the First Council, it had no importance.

There has been much discussion both for and against the authenticity of this First Council. Is this really necessary? Oldenberg's analysis of the comparative date of the different parts of the Vinaya has shown conclusively that the record, as we have it, is later than the Council of Vesālī, that is at least a hundred years later than the meeting whose proceedings it purports to record. What can be the value of so late a record? It may be objected to this that though the extant record is late the tradition may be older. No one can prove that it was not. But this would not help matters at all. We must then point out that the details as given are, as one might expect, quite inaccurate.i3

Space will only allow of one example being taken.

It is well known that all the ancient sacred literatures of the world have grown up gradually, and are a mosaic of earlier [77] and later material. The Buddhist Piṭakas form no exception. As regards the Nikāyas I have shown this elsewhere in considerable detail.i4 Now the record, as we have it, presupposes the existence, already at the time of the Buddha's death, of the Five Nikāyas in their present arrangement!

It follows that both on general principles of comparative criticism, and on consideration of a particular instance in this special case, the details given us in the Vinaya about the First Council cannot be trusted. But it does not follow, as a matter of certainty, that there was no Council at all. It is quite possible, and even probable, that the Order held a 'General Chapter,' as we should call it, soon after the Buddha's death. They kept no proper minutes of the meeting. We may conjecture what happened at it, but it would be only conjecture. And we must continue patiently, from the incidental references in the books themselves, to formulate a probable theory as to the method in which the literature gradually sprang up. The record handed down to us in the Vinaya is authentic enough; but only in the only way in which any such record can be considered authentic, that is, as evidence of beliefs held at the date at which it was composed.

[78]

Mahā Parinibbāna Sutta

Chapter I

Thus have I heard.

The Exalted One was once dwelling in Rājagaha,
on the hill called the Vulture's Peak.

Now at that time Ajātasattu,
the son of the queen-consort of the Videha clan¹
the king of Magadha,
had made up his mind to attack the Vajjians;
and he said to himself:

"I will strike at these Vajjians,
mighty and powerful² though they be,
I will root out these Vajjians,
I will destroy these Vajjians,
I will bring these Vajjians to utter ruin!"

2. So he spake to the brahmin Vassakāra
(the Rainmaker),
prime-minister of Magadha,
and said:

[79] "Come now, brahmin,
do you go to the Exalted One,
and bow down in adoration at his feet
on my behalf,
and inquire in my name
whether he is free from illness and suffering,
and in the enjoyment of ease
and comfort
and vigorous health.

Then tell him that Ajātasattu, son of the Vedehī,
the king of Magadha,
in his eagerness to attack the Vajjians,
has resolved:

'I will strike at these Vajjians,
mighty and powerful though they be,
I will root out these Vajjians,
I will destroy these Vajjians,
I will bring these Vajjians to utter ruin!'

And bear carefully in mind
whatever the Exalted One may predict,
and repeat it to me.

For the Buddhas speak nothing untrue!"

3. Then the brahmin Vassakāra,
the Rainmaker,
hearkened to the words of the king,
saying:

"Be it as you say."

And ordering a number of state carriages to be made ready,
he mounted one of them,
left Rājagaha with his train,
and went to the Vulture's Peak,
riding as far as the ground was passable for carriages
and then alighting
and proceeding on foot
to the place where the Exalted One was.

On arriving there
he exchanged with the Exalted One
the greetings and compliments of politeness and courtesy,
sat down respectfully by his side
and then sitting respectfully by his side
he spoke thus to the Exalted One:³

"Ajātasattu, son of the Vedehī,
the king of Magadha,
bows down in adoration at the Exalted One's feet,
and inquires whether he is free from illness and suffering,
and in the enjoyment of ease
and comfort
and vigorous health.

He says that in his eagerness to attack the Vajjians,
he has resolved:

'I will strike at these Vajjians,
mighty and powerful though they be,
I will root out these Vajjians,
I will destroy these Vajjians,
I will bring these Vajjians to utter ruin!'"

■

4. Now at that time
the venerable Ānanda was standing behind the Exalted One,
and fanning him.

And the Blessed One said to him:

"Have you heard, Ānanda,
that the Vajjians foregather often
and frequent the public meetings
of their clan?"

"Lord, so I have heard," replied he.

"So long, Ānanda," rejoined the Blessed One,
"as the Vajjians foregather thus often,
and frequent the public meetings
of their clan;
so long may they be expected not to decline,
but to prosper.

■

[80] Have you heard, Ānanda,⁴ed1
that the Vajjians meet together in concord,
and rise in concord,
and carry out their undertakings in concord?"

"Lord, so I have heard," replied he.

"So long, Ānanda,
as the Vajjians meet together in concord,
and rise in concord,
and carry out their undertakings in concord;
so long may they be expected not to decline,
but to prosper.

■

Have you heard, Ānanda,
that the Vajjians enact nothing not already established,
abrogate nothing that has been already enacted,
and act in accordance
with the ancient institutions of the Vajjians,
as established in former days?"

"Lord, so I have heard," replied he.

"So long, Ānanda,
as the Vajjians enact nothing not already established,
abrogate nothing that has been already enacted,
and act in accordance
with the ancient institutions of the Vajjians,
as established in former days;
so long may they be expected not to decline,
but to prosper.

■

Have you heard, Ānanda,
that the Vajjians honour
and esteem
and revere
and support the Vajjian elders,
and hold it a point of duty
to hearken to their words?"

"Lord, so I have heard," replied he.

"So long, Ānanda,
as the Vajjians honour
and esteem
and revere
and support the Vajjian elders,
and hold it a point of duty
to hearken to their words;
so long may they be expected not to decline,
but to prosper.

■

Have you heard, Ānanda,
that no women or girls belonging to their clans
are detained among them
by force or abduction?"

"Lord, so I have heard," replied he.

"So long, Ānanda,
as no women or girls belonging to their clans
are detained among them
by force or abduction;
so long may they be expected not to decline,
but to prosper.

■

Have you heard, Ānanda,
that the Vajjians honour
and esteem
and revere
and support the Vajjian shrines⁵
in town or country,
and allow not the proper offerings and rites,
as formerly given and performed,
to fall into desuetude?"

"Lord, so I have heard," replied he.

"So long, Ānanda,
as the Vajjians honour
and esteem
and revere
and support the Vajjian shrines
in town or country,
and allow not the proper offerings and rites,
as formerly given and performed,
to fall into desuetude;
so long may they be expected not to decline,
but to prosper.

■

Have you heard, Ānanda,
that rightfu1 protection,
defence,
and support shall be fully provided
for the Arahants among them,
so that Arahants from a distance
may enter the realm,
and the Arahants therein
may live at ease?"

"Lord, so I have heard," replied he.

"So long, Ānanda,
as rightfu1 protection,
defence,
and support shall be fully provided
for the Arahants among them,
so that Arahants from a distance
may enter the realm,
and the Arahants therein
may live at ease;
so long may they be expected not to decline,
but to prosper."

§

5. Then the Exalted One addressed Vassakāra the brahmin and said:

"When I was once staying, 0 brahmin,
at Vesāli, at the Sarandada Shrine,⁶
I taught the Vajjians these conditions of welfare;
and so long as these conditions
shall continue to exist among the Vajjians,
so long as the Vajjians
shall be well instructed in those conditions,
so long may we expect them not to decline,
but to prosper."

"We may expect then,"
answered the brahmin,
"the welfare
and not the decline
of the Vajjians
when they are possessed of any one
of these conditions of welfare,
how much more so
when they are possessed of all [81] the seven.

So, Gotama, the Vajjians cannot be overcome
by the king of Magadha;
that is not in battle,
without diplomacy
or breaking up their alliance.⁷

And now, Gotama, we must go;
we are busy and have much to do."

"Whatever you think most fitting, 0 brahmin,"
was the reply.

And the brahmin Vassakāra,
the Rainmaker,
delighted and pleased with the words of the Exalted One,
rose from his seat,
and went his way.

6. Now soon after he had gone
the Exalted One addressed the venerable Ānanda,
and said:

"Go now, Ānanda,
and assemble in the Service Hall
such of the brethren⁸
as live in the neighbourhood of Rājagaha."

And he did so;
and returned to the Exalted One,
and informed him,
saying:

"The company of the brethren, lord,
is assembled,
let the Exalted One do as seemeth to him fit."

And the Exalted One arose,
and went to the Service [82] Hall;
and when he was seated,
he addressed the brethren,
and said:

"I will teach you, 0 mendicants,
seven conditions
of the welfare of a community.

Listen well
and attend,
and I will speak."

"Even so, lord,"
said the brethren, in assent,
to the Exalted One;
and he spake as follows:

"So long, 0 mendicants,
as the brethren foregather oft,
and frequent the formal meetings of their Order
so long as they meet together in concord,
and rise in concord,
and carry out in concord
the duties of the Order -
so long as the brethren shall establish
nothing that has not been already prescribed,
and abrogate nothing
that has been already established,
and act in accordance with the rules of the Order
as now laid down -
so long as the brethren honour
and esteem
and revere
and support the elders of experience
and long standing,
the fathers and leaders of the Order,
and hold it a point of duty
to hearken to their words
so long as the brethren
fall not under the influence
of that craving which,
springing up within them,
would give rise to renewed existence -
so long as the brethren delight
in a life of solitude -
so long as the brethren
so train their minds in self-possession
that good men among their fellow-disciples
shall come to them,
and those who have come
shall dwell at ease -
so long may the brethren be expected not to decline,
but to prosper.

So long as these seven conditions
shall continue to exist among the brethren,
so long as they are wellinstructed in these conditions,
so long may the brethren be expected not to decline,
but to prosper.

■

7. Other seven conditions of welfare
will I teach you, 0 brethren.

Listen well,
and attend,
and I will speak."

And on their expressing their assent,
he spake as follows:

"So long as the brethren
shall not engage in,
or be fond of,
or be connected with
business -
so long as the brethren
shall not be in the habit of,
or be fond of,
or be partakers in
idle talk -
so long as the brethren
[83] shall not be addicted to,
or be fond of,
or indulge in
slothfulness -
so long as the brethren
shall not frequent,
or be fond of,
or indulge in
society -
so long as the brethren
shall neither have,
nor fall under the influence of,
wrong desires⁹ -
so long as the brethren
shall not become the friends,
companions,
or intimates
of evildoers -
so long as the brethren
shall not come to a stop on their way
(to Nirvana in Arahantship¹⁰)
because they have attained
to any lesser thing -
so long may the brethren be expected not to decline,
but to prosper.

So long as these conditions
shall continue to exist
among the brethren -
so long as they are instructed
in these conditions -
so long may the brethren be expected not to decline,
but to prosper.

■

8. Other seven conditions of welfare
will I teach you, 0 brethren.

Listen well,
and attend,
and I will speak."

And on their expressing their assent,
he spake as follows:

"So long as the brethren
shall be full of faith,
modest in heart,
afraid of wrong doing,¹¹
full of learning,
strong in energy,
active in mind,
and full of wisdom -
so long may the brethren be expected not to decline,
but to prosper.

So long as these conditions
shall continue to exist
among the brethren -
so long as they are instructed
in [84] these conditions -
so long may the brethren be expected not to decline,
but to prosper.

■

9. Other seven conditions of welfare
will I teach you, 0 brethren.

Listen well,
and attend,
and I will speak."

And on their expressing their assent,
he spake as follows:

"So long as the brethren
shall exercise themselves
in the sevenfold higher wisdom,
that is to say,
in mental activity,
search after truth,
energy,
joy,
peace,
earnest contemplation,
and equanimity of mind -
so long may the brethren be expected not to decline,
but to prosper.

So long as these conditions
shall continue to exist
among the brethren -
so long as they are instructed
in these conditions -
so long may the brethren be expected not to decline,
but to prosper.

■

10. Other seven conditions of welfare
will I teach you, 0 brethren.

Listen well,
and attend,
and I will speak."

And on their expressing their assent,
he spake as follows:

"So long as the brethren
shall exercise themselves
in the realization of the ideas
of the impermanency of all phenomena,
bodily or mental,
the absence
[in them of any abiding principle]
of any 'soul,'
of corruption,
of the danger of wrong thoughts,
of the necessity of getting rid of them,
of purity of heart,
of Nirvana -
so long may the brethren be expected not to decline, but to prosper.

So long as these conditions
shall continue to exist
among the brethren -
so long as they are instructed
in these conditions -
so long may the brethren be expected not to decline,
but to prosper.

11. Six conditions of welfare
will I teach you, 0 brethren.

Listen well,
and attend,
and I will speak."

And on their expressing their assent,
he spake as follows:

"So long as the brethren
shall persevere in kindness
[85] of action,
speech,
and thought
towards their fellowdisciples,
both in public and in private -
so long as they shall divide
without partiality,
and share in common
with their upright companions,
all such things as they receive
in accordance with the just provisions of the Order,
down even to the mere contents of a begging-bowl -
so long as the brethren
shall live among the saints
in the practice,
both in public and in private,
of those virtues
which
[unbroken, intact, unspotted, unblemished]
are productive of freedom,¹²
and praised by the wise;
which are untarnished
[by the desire of future life,
or by the belief in the efficacy of outward acts]¹³
and which are conducive
to concentration of heart -
so long as the brethren
shall live among the saints,
cherishing,
both in public and in private,
that noble and saving insight
which leads to the complete destruction
of the sorrow of him who acts according to it -
so long may the brethren be expected not to decline,
but to prosper.

So long as these six conditions
shall continue to exist among the brethren -
so long as they are instructed
in these six conditions -
so long may the brethren be expected not to decline,
but to prosper."

§

12. Now it was while the Exalted One
was staying there at Rājagaha
on the Vulture's Peak
that he held that comprehensive religious talk
with the brethren, saying:

"Such and such is upright conduct;
such and such is earnest contemplation;
such and such is intelli- [86] gence.

Great becomes the fruit,
great the advantage
of earnest contemplation,
when it is set round
with upright conduct.

Great becomes the fruit,
great the advantage
of intellect
when it is set round
with earnest contemplation.

The mind set round with intelligence
is set quite free
from the Intoxications,
that is to say,
from the Intoxication of Sensuality,
from the Intoxication of Becoming,
from the Intoxication of Delusion,
from the Intoxication of Ignorance."¹⁴

13. Now when the Exalted One
had sojourned at Rājagaha
as long as he thought fit,
he addressed the venerable Ānanda,
and said: -

"Come, Ānanda,
let us go to Ambalaṭṭhikā."

"So be it, lord!"
said Ānanda in assent,
and the Exalted One,
with a large company of the brethren,
proceeded to Ambalaṭṭhikā.

14. There the Exalted One stayed
in the king's house
and held that comprehensive religious talk
with the brethren,
saying: -

"Such and such is upright conduct;
such and such is earnest contemplation;
such and such is intelligence.

Great becomes the fruit,
great the advantage
of earnest contemplation,
when it is set round
with upright conduct.

Great [87] the advantage
of intellect
when it is set round
with earnest contemplation.

The mind set round with intelligence
is set quite free
from the Intoxications,
that is to say,
from the Intoxication of Sensuality,
from the Intoxication of Becoming,
from the Intoxication of Delusion,
from the Intoxication of Ignorance."

15. Now when the Exalted One
had sojourned at Ambalaṭṭhikā
long as he thought fit,
he addressed the venerable Ānanda,
and said: -

"Come, Ānanda,
let us go on to Nālandā."¹⁵

"So be it, lord!"
said Ānanda, in assent,
to the Exalted One.

Then the Exalted One proceeded,
with a great company of the brethren,
to Nālandā;
and there, at Nālandā,
the Exalted One stayed
in the Pāvārika mango grove.

16. ¹⁶Now the venerable Sāriputta came to the place
where the Exalted One was,
and having saluted him,
took his seat respectfully at his side,
and said:

"Lord! such faith have I
in the Exalted One,
that methinks there never has been,
nor will there be,
nor is there now
any other,
whether wanderer or brahmin,
who is greater and wiser
than the Exalted One,
that is to say,
as regards the higher wisdom."

"Grand and bold
are the words of thy mouth, Sāriputta:
verily, thou hast burst forth
into a song of ecstasy!

Of course then
thou hast known all the Exalted Ones
who in the long ages of the past
have been Able, Awakened Ones,¹⁷
comprehending their [88] minds with yours,
and aware what their conduct was,
what their wisdom,
what their mode of life,
and what the emancipation they attained to?"

"Not so, 0 lord!"

"Of course then thou hast perceived
all the Exalted Ones
who in the long ages of the future
shall be Able Awakened Ones
comprehending their minds with yours,
and aware what their conduct was,
what their wisdom,
what their mode of life,
and what the emancipation they attained to?"

"Not so, 0 lord!"

"But at least then, 0 Sāriputta,
thou knowest me
as the Able Awakened One now alive,
and hast penetrated my mind with yours,
and aware what my conduct was,
what my wisdom,
what my mode of life,
and what the emancipation I attained to?"

"Not even that, 0 lord!"

"You see then, Sāriputta,
that you know not the hearts
of the Able Awakened Ones
of the past
and of the future.

Why therefore
are your words so grand and bold?

Why do you burst forth
into such a song of ecstasy?"

17. "0 lord! I have not the knowledge
of the hearts of the Able Awakened Ones
that have been,
and are to come,
and now are.

I only know the lineage of the faith.

Just, lord, as a king
might have a border city,
strong in its foundations,
strong in its ramparts and towers,
and with only one gate;
and the king might have a watchman there,
clever, expert, and wise,
to stop all strangers
and admit only men well known.

And he, on patrolling in his sentry walks
over the approaches all round the city,
might not so observe
all the joints and crevices
in the ramparts of that city
as to know where even a cat could get out.

He might well be satisfied to know
that all living things of larger size
that entered or left the city,
would have to do so
[89] by that gate.

Thus only is it, lord,
that I know the lineage of the faith.

I know that the Able Awakened Ones of the past,
putting away all hankering after the world,
ill-will,
sloth,
worry
and perplexity -
those five Hinclrances,
mental faults
which make the understanding weak;
training their minds
in the four kinds of mental activity;
thoroughly exercising themselves
in the sevenfold higher wisdom,
received the full fruition of Enlightenment.

And I know that
the Able Awakened Ones of the times to come
will put away all hankering after the world,
ill-will,
sloth,
worry
and perplexity -
those five Hinclrances,
mental faults
which make the understanding weak;
training their minds
in the four kinds of mental activity;
thoroughly exercising themselves
in the sevenfold higher wisdom,
will receive the full fruition of Enlightenment.

And I know that the Exalted One,
the Able Awakened One of to-day,
has put away all hankering after the world,
ill-will,
sloth,
worry
and perplexity -
those five Hinclrances,
mental faults
which make the understanding weak;
training his mind
in the four kinds of mental activity;
thoroughly exercising himself
in the sevenfold higher wisdom,
received the full fruition of Enlightenment now."¹⁸

18. There too
at Nālandā
in the Pāvārika mango grove
the Exalted One held that comprehensive religious talk
with the brethren, saying: -

"Such and such is upright conduct;
such and such is earnest contemplation;
such and such is intelligence.

Great becomes the fruit,
great the advantage
of earnest contemplation,
when it is set round
with upright conduct.

Great the advantage
of intellect
when it is set round
with earnest contemplation.

The mind set round with intelligence
is set quite free
from the Intoxications,
that is to say,
from the Intoxication of Sensuality,
from the Intoxication of Be [90] coming,
from the Intoxication of Delusion,
from the Intoxication of Ignorance."

■

19. Now when the Exalted One had sojourned
as long as he thought fit at Nālandā,
he addressed the venerable Ānanda,
and said: -

"Come, Ānanda,
let us go on to Pāṭaligāma."

"So be it, lord!"
said Ānanda, in assent,
to the Exalted One.

Then the Exalted One proceeded,
with a great company of the brethren,
to Pāṭaligāma.

20. Now the disciples at Pāṭaligāma
heard of his arrival there,
and they went on to the place where he was,
took their seats respectfully beside him,
and invited him to their village rest-house.

And the Exalted One signified,
by silence,
his consent.

21. Then the Pāṭaligāma disciples
seeing that he had accepted the invitation,
rose from their seats,
and went away to the rest-house,
bowing to the Exalted One
and keeping him on their right
as they passed him.

On arriving there
they strewed all the rest-house
with fresh sand,
placed seats in it,
set up a water-pot,
and fixed an oil lamp.

Then they returned to the Exalted One,
and saluting him they stood beside him,
and told him what they had done and said: -

"It is time for you
to do what you deem most fit."

22. And the Exalted One robed himself,
took his bowl and other things,
went with the brethren to the rest-house,
washed his feet,
entered the hall,
and took his seat against the centre pillar,
with his face towards the east.

And the brethren also,
after washing their feet,
entered the hall,
and took their seats round the Exalted One,
against the western wall,
and facing the east.

And the Pāṭaligāma disciples too,
after washing their feet,
entered the hall,
and took their seats opposite the Exalted One,
against the eastern wall,
and facing towards the west.

23. Then the Exalted One
addressed the Pāṭaligāma disciples,
and said: -

"Fivefold. 0 householders,
is the loss of the wrong-doer
through his want of rectitude.

In the first place
the wrong-doer,
devoid of rectitude,
[91] falls into great poverty
through sloth;
in the next place
his evil repute gets noised abroad;
thirdly,
whatever society he enters -
whether of nobles,
brahmins,
heads of houses,
or men of a religious order -
he enters shyly
and confused;
fourthly,
he is full of anxiety
when he dies;
and lastly,
on the dissolution of the body,
after death,
he is reborn into some unhappy state
of suffering or woe.¹⁹

This, 0 householders,
is the fivefold loss of the evil-doer!

■

24. Fivefold, 0 householders,
is the gain
of the well-doer
through his practice of rectitude.

In the first place
the well-doer,
strong in rectitude,
acquires great wealth
through his industry;
in the next place,
good reports of him
are spread abroad;
thirdly,
whatever society he enters -
whether of nobles,
brahmins,
heads of houses,
or members of a religious order -
he enters confident
and self-possessed;
fourthly,
he dies without anxiety;
and lastly,
on the dissolution of the body,
after death,
he is reborn
into some happy state in heaven.

This, 0 householders,
is the fivefold gain
of the well-doer."

25. When the Exalted One
had thus taught the lay disciples at Pāṭaligāma,
and incited them,
and roused them,
and gladdened them,
far into the night
with religious discourse,
he dismissed them,
saying:

"The night is far spent, 0 householders.

It is time for you
to do what you deem most fit."

"Even so, lord!"
answered the disciples of Pāṭaligāma,
and they rose from their seats,
and bowing to the Exalted One,
and keeping him on their right hand
as they passed him,
they departed thence.

§

And the Exalted One,
not long after the disciples [92] of Pāṭaligāma
had departed thence,
entered into his private chamber.²⁰

26. At that time Sunidha and Vassakāra,
the chief ministers of Magadha,
were building a fortress at Pāṭaligāma
to repel the Vajjians,
and there were a number of fairies
who haunted in thousands
the plots of ground there.

Now, wherever ground is so occupied
by powerful fairies,
they bend the hearts
of the most powerful kings and ministers
to build dwelling-places there,
wherever ground is so occupied
by fairies of middling power,
they bend the hearts of middling kings and ministers
to build dwelling-places there,
wherever ground is so occupied
by fairies of inferior power,
they bend the hearts of inferior kings and ministers
to build dwelling-places there.²¹

27. And the Blessed One,
with great and clear vision,
surpassing that of ordinary men,
saw thousands of those fairies
haunting Pāṭaligāma.

And he rose up very early in the morning,
and said to Ānanda: -

"Who is it then, Ānanda,
who is building a fortress
at Pāṭaligāma?"

"Sunidha and Vassakāra, lord,
the chief ministers of Magadha,
are building a fortress there
to keep back the Vajjians."

28. "They act, Ānanda,
as if they had consulted
with the Tāvatiṃsa angels.

I Ānanda
with great and clear vision,
surpassing that of ordinary men,
see thousands of fairies
who haunt plots of ground there.

Now, wherever ground is so occupied
by powerful fairies,
they bend the hearts
of the most powerful kings and ministers
to build dwelling-places there,
wherever ground is so occupied
by fairies of middling power,
they bend the hearts
of middling kings and ministers to build dwelling-places there,
wherever ground is so occupied
by fairies of inferior power,
they bend the hearts of inferior kings and ministers
to build dwelling-places there.

And as far, Ānanda,
as Aryan people resort,
as far as merchants travel,
this will become the chief city, Pāṭaliputta,
a centre for the interchange
of all kinds of wares.

But three dangers
will hang over Pāṭaliputta,
that of fire,
that of water,
and that of dissension among friends."²²

[93] 29. Now Sunidha and Vassakāra,
the chief ministers of Magadha,
proceeded to the place
where the Exalted One was.

And when they had come there
they exchanged with the Exalted One
the greetings and compliments of politeness and courtesy,
and stood there respectfully on one side.

And, so standing,
Sunidha and Vassakāra,
the chief ministers of Magadha,
spake thus to the Exalted One:

"May the venerable Gotama do us the honour
of taking his meal,
together with the company of the brethren,
at our house to-day."

And the Exalted One signified,
by silence,
his consent.

30. Then when Sunidha and Vassakāra,
the chief ministers of Magadha,
perceived that he had given his consent,
they returned to the place where they dwelt.

And on arriving there,
they prepared sweet dishes
of boiled rice,
and cakes;
and informed the Exalted One,
saying:

"The hour of food has come, 0 Gotama,
and all is ready."

And the Exalted One robed himself early,
took his bowl with him,
and repaired, with the brethren,
to the dwelling-place of Sunidha and Vassakāra
and sat down on the seat prepared for him.

And with their own hands
they set the sweet rice and the cakes
before the brethren
with the Buddha at their head,
and waited on them
till they had had enough.

And when the Exalted One
had finished eating his meal,
the ministers brought a low seat,
and sat down respectfully at his side.

31. And when they were thus seated
the Exalted One gave thanks in these verses:

'Wheresoe'er the prudent man shall take up his abode
[94]
Let him support the brethren there, good men of self-control,
And give the merit of his gifts to the deities who haunt the spot²³ed2
Revered, they will revere him: honoured, they honour him again;
Are gracious to him as a mother to her own, her only son.
And the man who has the grace of the gods, good fortune he beholds.'

32. And when he had thanked the ministers in these verses
he rose from his seat and departed thence.

And they followed him as he went, saying,

"The gate the Samana Gotama goes out by to-day
shall be called Gotama's gate,
and the ferry at which he crosses the river
shall be called Gotama's ferry."

And the gate he went out at
was called Gotama's gate.

33. But the Exalted One went on to the river.

And at that time the river Ganges
was brimful and overflowing;
and wishing to cross to the opposite bank,
some began to seek for boats,
some for rafts of wood,
whilst some made rafts of basket-work.

Then the Exalted One
as instantaneously as a strong man
would stretch forth his arm,
or draw it back again
when he had stretched it forth,
vanished from this side of the river,
and stood on the further bank
with the company of the brethren.

34. And the Exalted One beheld
the people who wished to cross to the opposite bank
looking some of them for boats
and some of them for rafts of wood,
and some of them for rafts of basket-work;
and as he beheld them
he brake forth at that time
into this song:

[95] "They who have crossed the ocean drear
Making a solid path across the pools -
Whilst the vain world ties its basket rafts
These are the wise, these are the saved indeed!'²⁴

End of the First Portion for Recitation.

[96]

Chapter II.

1. Now the Exalted One addressed the venerable Ānanda, and said:

"Come, Ānanda, let us go on to Koṭigāma"

"So be it, lord!"
said Ānanda, in assent, to the Exalted One.

The Exalted One proceeded
with a great company of the brethren
to Koṭigāma;
and there he stayed in the village itself.²⁵

2. And at that place
the Exalted One addressed the brethren,
and said:

"It is through not understanding and grasping
four Aryan Truths, 0 brethren,
that we have had to run so long,
to wander so long
in this weary path of transmigration,
both you and I!

And what are these four?

The Aryan truth about sorrow;
the Aryan truth about the cause of sorrow;
the Aryan truth about the cessation of sorrow;
and the Aryan truth about the path
that leads to that cessation.

But when these Aryan truths
are grasped and known
the craving for future life
is rooted out,
that which leads to renewed becoming
is destroyed,
and then there is no more birth!"²⁶

3. Thus spake the Exalted One;
and when the Happy One had thus spoken,
then again the Teacher said:

"By not seeing the Aryan Truths as they really are,
Long is the path that is traversed through many a birth:
[97] When these are grasped, the cause of rebirth is removed,
The root of sorrow uprooted, and then there is no more birth."

§

4. There too, while staying at Koṭigāma,
the Exalted One held that comprehensive religious talk
with the brethren,
saying:

"Such and such is upright conduct;
such and such is earnest contemplation;
such and such is intelligence.

Great becomes the fruit,
great the advantage of earnest contemplation,
when it is set round with upright conduct.

Great the advantage of intellect
when it is set round with earnest contemplation.

The mind set round with intelligence
is set quite free from the Intoxications,
that is to say,
from the Intoxication of Sensuality,
from the Intoxication of Becoming,
from the Intoxication of Delusion,
from the Intoxication of Ignorance."

■

5. Now when the Exalted One had remained
as long as he thought fit at Koṭigāma,
he addressed the venerable Ānanda, and said:

"Come, Ānanda, let us go on to the Nādikas."

"So be it, lord!"
said Ānanda, in assent, to the Exalted One.

And the Exalted One proceeded to the Nādikas
with a great company of the brethren;
and there at Nādika,
the Exalted One stayed in the Brick Hal1.²⁷

[98] 6. And the venerable Ānanda
went to the Exalted One
and paid him reverence
and took his seat beside him.

And when he was seated,
he addressed the Exalted One,
and said:

"The brother named Sāḷha
has died at Nādika, lord.

Where has he been reborn,
and what is his destiny?

The sister named Nandā
has died, lord, at Nādika.

Where is she reborn,
and what is her destiny?'

The lay disciple Sudatta
has died, lord, at Nādika.

Where is he reborn,
and what is his destiny?'

The devout lady Sugata
has died, lord, at Nādika.

Where is she reborn,
and what is her destiny?'

The lay disciple Kakudha
has died, lord, at Nādika.

Where is he reborn,
and what is his destiny?'

The lay disciple Kālinga
has died, lord, at Nādika.

Where is he reborn,
and what is his destiny?'

The lay disciple Nikaṭa
has died, lord, at Nādika.

Where is he reborn,
and what is his destiny?'

The lay disciple Kaṭissabha
has died, lord, at Nādika.

Where is he reborn,
and what is his destiny?'

The lay disciple Tuṭṭha
has died, lord, at Nādika.

Where is he reborn,
and what is his destiny?'

The lay disciple Santuṭṭha
has died, lord, at Nādika.

Where is he reborn,
and what is his destiny?'

The lay disciple Bhadda
has died, lord, at Nādika.

Where is he reborn,
and what is his destiny?'

The lay disciple Subhadda
has died, lord, at Nādika.

Where is he reborn,
and what is his destiny?"

■

7. "The brother named Sāḷha, Ānanda,
by the destruction of the Intoxications
has by himself,
and in this world,
known
and realized
and attained
to Arahantship,
to emancipation of heart
and to emancipation of mind.

The sister named Nandā, Ānanda, has,
by the complete destruction of the five bonds
that bind people to these lower worlds of lust,
become an inheritor of the highest heavens,
there to pass entirely away,
thence never to return.

The devout Sudatta, Ānanda,
by the complete destruction of the three bonds,
and by the reduction to a minimum of
lust,
ill-will,
and stupidity,
has become a Sakadāgāmin,
who on his first return to this world
will make an end of sorrow.

The devout Sugata, Ānanda,
by the complete destruction of the three bonds,
has become converted,
is no longer liable to be reborn
in a state of suffering,
and is assured of hereafter
attaining to the enlightenment
[of Arahantship].²⁸

The devout Kakudha, Ānanda,
by the complete destruction of the five bonds
that bind people to these lower worlds of lust,
has become an inheritor of the highest heavens,
there to pass entirely away,
thence never to return.

The devout Kālinga, Ānanda,
by the complete destruction of the five bonds
that bind people to these lower worlds of lust,
has become an inheritor of the highest heavens,
there to pass entirely away.

The devout Nikaṭa, Ānanda,
by the complete destruction of the five bonds
that bind people to these lower worlds of lust,
has become an inheritor of the highest heavens,
there to pass entirely away.

[99] The devout Kaṭissabha, Ānanda,
by the complete destruction of the five bonds
that bind people to these lower worlds of lust,
has become an inheritor of the highest heavens,
there to pass entirely away.

The devout Tuṭṭha, Ānanda,
by the complete destruction of the five bonds
that bind people to these lower worlds of lust,
has become an inheritor of the highest heavens,
there to pass entirely away.

The devout Santuṭṭha, Ānanda,
by the complete destruction of the five bonds
that bind people to these lower worlds of lust,
has become an inheritor of the highest heavens,
there to pass entirely away.

The devout Bhadda, Ānanda,
by the complete destruction of the five bonds
that bind people to these lower worlds of lust,
has become an inheritor of the highest heavens,
there to pass entirely away.

The devout Subhadda, Ānanda,
by the complete destruction of the five bonds
that bind people to these lower worlds of lust,
has become an inheritor of the highest heavens,
there to pass entirely away.

More than fifty devout men in Nādika, Ānanda,
by the complete destruction of the five bonds
that bind people to these lower worlds of lust,
have become inheritors of the highest heavens,
there to pass entirely away.

More than ninety devout men in Nādika,
who have died, Ānanda,
have by the complete destruction of the three bonds,
and by the reduction of lust,
ill-will
and stupidity,
become Sakadāgāmins,
who on their first return to this world
will make an end of sorrow.

More than five hundred devout men of Nādika
who have died, Ānanda,
have by the complete destruction of the three bonds
become converted,
are no longer liable to be reborn
in a state of suffering,
and are assured of hereafter
attaining the enlightenment
[of Arahantship].

8. Now there is nothing strange in this, Ānanda,
that a human being should die;
but that as each one does so
you should come to me,
and inquire about them in this manner,
that is wearisome to me.

I will, therefore,
teach you a way of truth,
called the Mirror of Truth,
which if a disciple of the noble ones possess
he may, if he should so desire,
himself predict of himself:

'Purgatory is destroyed for me,
and rebirth as an animal,
or a ghost,
or in any place of woe.

I am converted,
I am no longer liable to be reborn
in a state of suffering,
and am assured of hereafter
attaining to the enlightenment
[of Arahantship].'

9. What then, Ānanda,
is this Mirror of Truth?

[It is the consciousness that]
the disciple of the Arahants
is in this world
possessed of faith in the Buddha
believing the Exalted One to be the Arahant,
the Fully-enlightened One,
Wise,
Upright,
Happy,
Worldknowing,
Supreme,
the Bridler of men's wayward hearts,
the Teacher of gods and men,
the Exalted and Awakened One.

And that he [the disciple]
is possessed of faith in the Truth -
believing the Truth to have been proclaimed by the Exalted One,
of advantage in this world,
passing not away,
welcoming all,
leading to salvation,
and to be attained to by the wise,
each one for himself.

And that he [the disciple]
is possessed of faith in the Order -
believing the multitude of the disciples of the Exalted One
who are walking in the [100] four stages
of the noble eightfold path,
the righteous,
the upright,
the just,
the law-abiding -
believing this church of the Exalted One
to be worthy of honour,
of hospitality,
of gifts,
and of reverence;
to be the supreme sowing ground
of merit for the world

And that he [the disciple]ed3
is possessed of the virtues beloved by the good,
virtues unbroken,
intact,
unspotted,
unblemished,
virtues which make men truly free,
virtues which are praised by the wise,
are untarnished by the desire of future life
or by the belief in the efficacy of outward acts,
and are conducive to concentration of heart.²⁹

This, Ānanda, is the way,
the Mirror of Truth,
which if a disciple of the noble ones possess
he may, if he should so desire,
himself predict of himself:

'Purgatory is destroyed for me,
and rebirth as an animal,
or a ghost,
or in any place of woe.

I am converted,
I am no longer liable to be reborn
in a state of suffering,
and am assured of hereafter
attaining to the enlightenment
[of Arahantship].'"

■

10. There, too, at the Brick Hall at Nādika
the Exalted One held that comprehensive religious talk
with the brethren,
saying:

"Such and such is upright conduct;
such and such is earnest contemplation;
such and such is intelligence.

Great becomes the fruit,
great the advantage of earnest contemplation,
when it is set round with upright conduct.

Great the advantage of intellect
when it is set round with earnest contemplation.

The mind set round with intelligence
is set quite free from the Intoxications,
that is to say,
from the Intoxication of Sensuality,
from the Intoxication of Becoming,
from the Intoxication of Delusion,
from the Intoxication of Ignorance.'

§

11. Now when the Exalted One
had remained as long as he wished at Nādika,
he addressed Ānanda and said:

"Come, Ānanda let us go on to Vesāli."

[101] "So be it, lord!"
said Ānanda, in assent, to the Exalted One.

Then the Exalted One proceeded,
with a great company of the brethren,
to Vesāli;
and there at Vesāli the Exalted One stayed at Ambapāli's grove.

12. Now there the Exalted One addressed the brethren,
and said:

"Let a brother, 0 mendicants,
be mindful and self-possessed;
this is our instruction to you.³⁰

And how does a brother become mindful?

Herein, 0 mendicants,
a brother continues as to the body,
so to look upon the body
that he remains strenuous,
self-possessed,
and mindful,
having overcome both the hankering
and the dejection
common in the world.

Herein, 0 mendicants, a brother
continues as to the feelings,
so to look upon the feelings
that he remains strenuous,
self-possessed,
and mindful,
having overcome both the hankering
and the dejection
common in the world.

Herein, 0 mendicants, a brother
continues as to moods,
so to look upon moods
that he remains strenuous,
self-possessed,
and mindful,
having overcome both the hankering
and the dejection
common in the world.

Herein, 0 mendicants, a brother
continues as to ideas,
so to look upon ideas
that he remains strenuous,
self-possessed,
and mindful,
having overcome both the hankering
and the dejection
common in the world.

13. And how does a brother become self-possessed?

He acts, 0 mendicants,
in full presence of mind
whatever he may do,
in going out or coming in,
in looking forward or in looking round,
in bending in his arm or in stretching it forth,
in wearing his robes or in carrying his bowl,
in eating or drinking,
in masticating or swallowing,
in obeying the calls of nature,
in walking or standing or sitting,
in sleeping or waking,
in talking and in being silent.

Thus let a brother, 0 mendicants,
be mindful and self-possessed;
this is our instruction to you."³¹

[102] 14. ³²Now the courtezan Ambapāli heard
that the Exalted One had arrived at Vesāli,
and was staying there
at her mango grove.

And ordering a number of state vehicles
to be made ready,
she mounted one of them,
and went forth with her train from Vesāli
towards her garden.

She went in the carriage
as far as the ground was passable for carriages;
there she alighted;
and she proceeded on foot
to the place where the Exalted One was,
and took her seat respectfully on one side.

And when she was thus seated
the Exalted One instructed,
aroused,
incited,
and gladdened her
with religious discourse.

Then she -
instructed,
aroused,
incited,
and gladdened
with his words -
addressed the Exalted One and said:

"May the Exalted One do me the honour
of taking his meal,
together with the brethren,
at my house tomorrow?"

And the Exalted One gave,
by silence,
his consent.

Then when Ambapāli the courtezan
saw that the Exalted One had consented,
she rose from her seat
and bowed down before him,
and keeping him on her right hand as she passed him,
she departed thence.

[103] 15. Now the Licchavis of Vesāli
heard that the Exalted One had arrived at Vesāli,
and was staying at Ambapāli's grove.

And ordering a number of state carriages
to be made ready,
they each mounted one of them
and went forth with their train from Vesāli.

Some of them were dark,
dark in colour,
and wearing dark clothes and ornaments:
some of them were fair,
fair in colour,
and wearing light clothes and ornaments:
some of them were red,
ruddy in colour,
and wearing red clothes and ornaments:
some of them were white,
pale in colour,
and wearing white clothes and ornaments.

16. And Ambapāli drove up against the young Licchavis,
axle to axle,
wheel to wheel,
and yoke to yoke,
and the Licchavis said to Ambapāli the courtezan:

"How is it, Ambapāli,
that thou drivest up against us thus?"

"My lords, I have just invited the Exalted One
and his brethren
for their morrow's meal,"
said she.

"Ambapāli! give up this meal to us
for a hundred thousand,"
said they.

"My lords, were you to offer all Vesāli
with its subject territory,
I would not give up so honourable a feast!"

Then the Licchavis cast up their hands,
exclaiming:

"We are outdone
by this mango girl!

We are outreached
by this mango girl!"³³

And they went on to Ambapāli's grove.

17. When the Exalted One saw the Licchavis
approaching in the distance,
he addressed the brethren,
and said:

"0 brethren, let those of the brethren
who have never seen the Tāvatiṃsa gods,
gaze upon this company of the Licchavis,
behold this company of the Licchavis,
compare this company of the Licchavis
for they are even as a company of Tāvatiṃsa gods."³⁴

[104] 18. And when they had ridden
as far as the ground was passable for carriages,
the Licchavis alighted there,
and then went on foot
to the place where the Exalted One was,
and took their seats respectfully by his side.

And when they were thus seated
the Exalted One instructed
and roused
and incited
and gladdened them
with religious discourse.³⁵

Then they -
instructed
and roused
and incited
and gladdened
with his words -
addressed the Exalted One,
and said:

"May the Exalted One do us the honour
of taking his meal,
together with the brethren,
at our house to-morrow?"

"0 Licchavis, I have promised to dine to-morrow
with Ambapāli the courtezan,"
was the reply.

Then the Licchavis cast up their hands, exclaiming:

"We are outdone
by this mango girl!

We are outreached
by this mango girl!"

And expressing their thanks and approval
of the words of the Exalted One,
they rose from their seats
and bowed down before the Exalted One,
and keeping him on their right hand
as they passed him,
they departed thence.

19. And at the end of the night
Ambapāli the courtezan
made ready in her mansion
sweet rice and cakes,
and announced the time to the Exalted One,
saying:

"The hour, lord, has come,
and the meal is ready!"

And the Exalted One
who had dressed himself early in the morning,
took his bowl,
and his robe,
and went with the brethren
to the place where Ambapāli's mansion was:
and when he had come there
he seated himself on the seat prepared for him.

And Ambapāli [105] the courtezan
set the sweet rice and cakes
before the Order,
with the Buddha at their head,
and waited upon them
till they refused any more.

And when the Blessed One
had quite finished his meal,
and had cleansed the bowl and his hands,
the courtezan had a low stool brought,
and sat down at his side,
and addressed the Exalted One,
and said:

"Lord, I present this pleasaunce
to the order of mendicants,
of which the Buddha is the chief."

And the Exalted One accepted the gift;
and after instructing,
and rousing,
and inciting,
and gladdening her
with religious discourse,
he rose from his seat
and departed thence.³⁶

20. While at Ambapāli's mango grove
the Exalted One held that comprehensive religious talk
with the brethren,
saying:

"Such and such is upright conduct;
such and such is earnest contemplation;
such and such is intelligence.

Great becomes the fruit,
great the advantage of earnest contemplation,
when it is set round with upright conduct.

Great the advantage of intellect
when it is set round with earnest contemplation.

The mind set round with intelligence
is set quite free from the Intoxications,
that is to say,
from the Intoxication of Sensuality,
from the Intoxication of Becoming,
from the Intoxication of Delusion,
from the Intoxication of Ignorance."

§

21. Now when the Exalted One
had remained so long as he wished at Ambapāli's grove,
he addressed Ānanda,
and said:

"Come, Ānanda, let us go on to Beluva."³⁷

[106] "So be it. lord." said Ānanda, in assent, to the Exalted One.

Then the Exalted One proceeded,
with a great company of the brethren, to Beluva,
and there the Exalted One stayed in the village itself.

22. Now the Exalted One there addressed the brethren,
and said:

"0 mendicants, do you take up your abode
round about Vesāli,
each according to the place
where his friends,
acquaintances,
and intimates may live,
for the retreat in the rainy season
[for vassa].

I shall enter upon the rainy season
here at Beluva."

"So be it, lord!"
said those brethren, in assent,
to the Exalted One.

And they entered upon the rainy season
round about Vesāli,
each according to the place
where his friends,
acquaintances,
and intimates lived:
whilst the Exalted One stayed
even there at Beluva.

23. Now when the Exalted One
had thus entered upon the rainy season,
there fell upon him a dire sickness,
and sharp pains came upon him,
even unto death.

But the Exalted One,
mindful and self-possessed,
bore them without complaint.

Then this thought occurred to the Exalted One:

"It would not be right
for me to pass away
without addressing the disciples,
without taking leave of the Order.

Let me now,
by a strong effort of the will,
bend this sickness down again,
and keep my hold on life
till the allotted time be come."³⁸

And the Exalted One,
by a strong effort of the will,
bent that sickness down again,
and kept his hold on life
till the time he fixed upon should come.

And the sickness abated upon him.

24. Now very soon after
the Blessed One began to recover.

And when he had quite got rid of the sickness,
he came out from his lodging,
and sat down in the shadow thereof
on a seat spread out there.

And [107] the venerable Ānanda
went to the place where the Exalted One was,
and saluted him,
and took a seat respectfully on one side,
and addressed the Exalted One,
and said:

"I have beheld, lord,
how the Exalted One was in health,
and I have beheld
how the Exalted One had to suffer.

And though at the sight
of the sickness of the Exalted One
my body became weak as a creeper,
and the horizon became dim to me,
and my faculties were no longer clear,³⁹
yet notwithstanding
I took some little comfort
from the thought that the Exalted One
would not pass away
until at least he had left instructions
as touching the Order."

25. "What, then, Ānanda?

Does the Order expect that of me?

I have preached the truth
without making any distinction
between exoteric and esoteric doctrine;
for in respect of the truths, Ānanda,
the Tathāgata has no such thing
as the closed fist of a teacher,
who keeps some things back.⁴⁰

Surely, Ānanda,
should there be any one
who harbours the thought,
'It is I who will lead the brotherhood,'
or,
'The Order is dependent upon me,'
it is he who should lay down instructions
in any matter concerning the Order.

Now the Tathāgata, Ānanda, thinks not
that it is he who should lead the brotherhood,
or that the Order is dependent upon him.

Why then should he leave instructions
in any matter concerning the Order?

I too, 0 Ānanda, am now grown old,
and full of years,
my journey is drawing to its close,
I have reached my sum of days.

I am turning eighty years of age;
and just as a worn-out cart, Ānanda,
can be kept going only with the help of thongs,
so, methinks, the body of the Tathāgata
can only be kept going
by bandaging it up.⁴¹

It is only, Ānanda when the Tathāgata,
by [108] ceasing to attend to any outward thing,
becomes plunged
by the cessation of any separate sensation
in that concentration of heart
which is concerned with no material object -
it is only then
that the body of the Tathāgata is at ease.⁴²

26. ⁴³Therefore, 0 Ānanda,
be ye lamps unto yourselves.

Be ye a refuge to yourselves.

Betake yourselves to no external refuge.

Hold fast to the Truth as a lamp.

Hold fast as a refuge to the Truth.

Look not for refuge
to any one besides yourselves.

And how, Ānanda, is a brother
to be a lamp unto himself,
a refuge to himself,
betaking himself
to no external refuge,
holding fast to the Truth as a lamp,
holding fast as a refuge to the Truth,
looking not for refuge to any one besides himself?

Herein, 0 mendicants,
a brother continues as to the body,
so to look upon the body
that he remains strenuous,
self-possessed,
and mindful,
having overcome both the hankering
and the dejection
common in the world.

Herein, 0 mendicants,
a brother continues as to the feelings,
so to look upon the feelings
that he remains strenuous,
self-possessed,
and mindful,
having overcome both the hankering
and the dejection
common in the world.

Herein, 0 mendicants,
a brother continues as to moods,
so to look upon moods
that he remains strenuous,
self-possessed,
and mindful,
having overcome both the hankering
and the dejection common in the world.

Herein, 0 mendicants,
a brother continues as to ideas,
so to look upon ideas
that he remains strenuous,
self-possessed,
and mindful,
having overcome both the hankering
and the dejection
common in the world.

And whosoever, Ānanda,
either now
or after I am dead,
shall be a lamp unto themselves,
and a refuge unto themselves,
shall betake themselves to no external refuge,
but holding fast to the Truth as [109] their lamp,
and holding fast as their refuge to the Truth,
shall look not for refuge
to anyone besides themselves -
it is they, Ānanda,
among my bhikkhus,
who shall reach the very topmost height! -
but they must be anxious to learn." ⁴⁴

End of the Second Portion for Recitation.

[110]

Chapter III

1.⁴⁵ Now the Exalted One robed himself early in the morning,
and taking his bowl in the robe,
went into Vesāli for alms.

When, after he had returned
from the round for alms,
he had finished eating the rice,
he addressed the venerable Ānanda, and said:

"Take up the mat, Ānanda;
I will go and spend the day
at the Chapala Shrine."

"So be it, lord!"
said the venerable Ānanda, in assent,
to the Exalted One.

And taking up the mat
he followed step for step
behind the Exalted One.

2. So the Exalted One proceeded
to the Chapala Shrine,
and when he had come there
he sat down on the mat spread out for him,
and the venerable Ānanda took his seat
respectfully beside him.

Then the Exalted One addressed the venerable Ānanda,
and said:

"How delightful a spot, Ānanda, is Vesāli,
and how charming the Udena Shrine,
and the Gotamaka Shrine,
and the Shrine of the Seven Mangoes
and the Shrine of Many Sons,
and the Sarandada Shrine,
and the Chapala Shrine!⁴⁶

3. Ānanda, whosoever has developed,
practised,
dwelt on,
expanded
and ascended to the very heights
of the four paths to Iddhi,⁴⁷
and so mastered them
as to be able to use them as a vehicle,
and as a [111] basis,
he, should he desire it,
could remain in the same birth for an aeon
or for that portion of the aeon
which has yet to run.

Now the Tathāgata has thoroughly developed,
practised,
dwelt on,
expanded
and ascended to the very heights
of the four paths to Iddhi,
and so mastered them
as to be able to use them as a vehicle,
and as a basis,
and he could, therefore,
should he desire it,
live on yet for an aeon,
or for that portion of the aeon
which has yet to run."

4. But even though a suggestion so evident
and a hint so clear
were thus given by the Exalted One,
the venerable Ānanda was incapable
of comprehending them;
and he besought not the Exalted One,
saying:

"Vouchsafe, lord,
to remain during the aeon!

Live on through the aeon, 0 Happy One!

for the good
and the happiness
of the great multitudes,
out of pity for the world,
for the good
and the gain
and the weal
of gods and men!"

So far was his heart
possessed by the Evil One.⁴⁸

5. A second time
the Exalted One addressed the venerable Ānanda,
and said:

"How delightful a spot, Ānanda, is Vesāli,
and how charming the Udena Shrine,
and the Gotamaka Shrine,
and the Shrine of the Seven Mangoes
and the Shrine of Many Sons,
and the Sarandada Shrine,
and the Chapala Shrine!

Ānanda, whosoever has developed,
practised,
dwelt on,
expanded
and ascended to the very heights
of the four paths to Iddhi,
and so mastered them
as to be able to use them as a vehicle,
and as a basis,
he, should he desire it,
could remain in the same birth
for an aeon
or for that portion of the aeon
which has yet to run.

Now the Tathāgata has thoroughly developed,
practised,
dwelt on,
expanded
and ascended to the very heights
of the four paths to Iddhi,
and so mastered them
as to be able to use them as a vehicle,
and as a basis,
and he could, therefore,
should he desire it,
live on yet for an aeon,
or for that portion of the aeon
which has yet to run."

But even though a suggestion so evident
and a hint so clear
were thus given by the Exalted One,
the venerable Ānanda was incapable
of comprehending them;
and he besought not the Exalted One, saying:

"Vouchsafe, lord,
to remain during the aeon!

Live on through the aeon, 0 Happy One!

for the good and the happiness
of the great multitudes,
out of pity for the world,
for the good
and the gain
and the weal
of gods and men!"

So far was his heart
possessed by the Evil One.

A third time
the Exalted One addressed the venerable Ānanda,
and said:

"How delightful a spot, Ānanda, is Vesāli,
and how charming the Udena Shrine,
and the Gotamaka Shrine,
and the Shrine of the Seven Mangoes
and the Shrine of Many Sons,
and the Sarandada Shrine,
and the Chapala Shrine!

Ānanda, whosoever has developed,
practised,
dwelt on,
expanded
and ascended to the very heights
of the four paths to Iddhi,
and so mastered them
as to be able to use them as a vehicle,
and as a basis,
he, should he desire it,
could remain in the same birth
for an aeon
or for that portion of the aeon
which has yet to run.

Now the Tathāgata has thoroughly developed,
practised,
dwelt on,
expanded
and ascended to the very heights
of the four paths to Iddhi,
and so mastered them
as to be able to use them as a vehicle,
and as a basis,
and he could, therefore,
should he desire it,
live on yet for an aeon,
or for that portion of the aeon
which has yet to run."

But even though a suggestion so evident
and a hint so clear
were thus given by the Exalted One,
the venerable Ānanda was incapable
of comprehending them;
and he besought not the Exalted One,
saying:

"Vouchsafe, lord, to remain during the aeon!

Live on through the aeon, 0 Happy One!

for the good and the happiness
of the great multitudes,
out of pity for the world,
for the good
and the gain
and the weal
of gods and men!"

So far was his heart
possessed by the Evil One.

■

6. Then the Exalted One addressed the vener- [112] able Ānanda,
and said:

"You may leave me, Ānanda,
awhile,
and do whatsoever
now seemeth to thee fit."

"So be it, lord!"
said the venerable Ānanda, in assent,
to the Exalted One,
and passing him on the right
sat down at the foot of a certain tree
not far off thence.

7. Now not long after the venerable Ānanda had been gone,
Māra, the Evil One, approached the Exalted One
and stood beside him.

And so standing there,
he addressed the Exalted One in these words:

"Pass away now, lord;
let the Exalted One now die.

■

Now is the time for the Exalted One
to pass away -
even according to the word
which the Exalted One spoke
when he said:⁴⁹

'I shall not die, 0 Evil One!
until the brethren of the Order,⁵⁰
shall have become true hearers,
wise and well trained,
ready and learned,
carrying the doctrinal books in their memory,
masters of the lesser corollaries
that follow from the larger doctrine,
correct in life,
walking according to the precepts -
until they, having thus themselves learned the doctrine,
shall be able to tell others of it,
preach it,
make it known,
establish it,
open it,
minutely explain it
and make it clear -
until they,
when others start vain doctrine
easy to be refuted by the truth,
shall be able in refuting it,
to spread the wonder-working⁵¹ truth abroad!'

8. And now, lord, the brethren of the order
have become true hearers,
wise and well trained,
ready and learned,
carrying the doctrinal books in their memory,
masters of the lesser corollaries
that follow from the larger doctrine,
correct in life,
walking according to the precepts -
and they, having thus themselves learned the doctrine,
are able to tell others of it,
preach it,
make it known,
establish it,
open it,
minutely explain it
and make it clear -
and they,
when others start vain doctrine
easy to be refuted by the truth,
are able in refuting it,
to spread the wonder-working truth abroad!

Pass away now therefore, lord;
let the Exalted One now die!

■

The time has come
for the Exalted One to pass away
even according to the word
which the Exalted One spoke when he said:-

'I shall not die, 0 Evil One!
until this pure religion of mine
shall have become successful,
prosperous,
wide-spread,
and popular in all its full extent -
until, in a word,
it shall have been well proclaimed among men!'

And now, lord, this pure religion of thine
has become successful,
prosperous,
wide-spread,
and popular in all its full extent -
in a word, it has been well proclaimed among men!

Pass away now, lord;
let the Exalted One now die.

Now is the time for the Exalted One to pass away.

Pass away now, lord;
let the Exalted One now die.

■

Now is the time
for the Exalted One to pass away -
even according to the word
which the Exalted One spoke when he said:-

'I shall not die, 0 Evil One!
until the sisters of the Order,
shall have become true hearers,
wise and well trained,
ready and learned,
carrying the doctrinal books in their memory,
masters of the lesser corollaries
that follow from the larger doctrine,
correct in life,
walking according to the precepts -
until they, having thus themselves learned the doctrine,
shall be able to tell others of it,
preach it,
make it known,
establish it,
open it,
minutely explain it
and make it clear -
until they,
when others start vain doctrine
easy to be refuted by the truth,
shall be able in refuting it,
to spread the wonder-working truth abroad!'

And now, lord, the sisters of the order
have become true hearers,
wise and well trained,
ready and learned,
carrying the doctrinal books in their memory,
masters of the lesser corollaries
that follow from the larger doctrine,
correct in life,
walking according to the precepts -
and they, having thus themselves learned the doctrine,
are able to tell others of it,
preach it,
make it known,
establish it,
open it,
minutely explain it
and make it clear -
and they,
when others start vain doctrine
easy to be refuted by the truth,
are able in refuting it,
to spread the wonder-working truth abroad!

■

The time has come
for the Exalted One to pass away
even according to the word
which the Exalted One spoke when he said:-

'I shall not die, 0 Evil One!
until this pure religion of mine
shall have become successful,
prosperous,
wide-spread,
and popular in all its full extent -
until, in a word,
it shall have been well proclaimed among men!'

And now, lord, this pure religion of thine
has become successful,
prosperous,
wide-spread,
and popular in all its full extent -
in a word, it has been well proclaimed among men!

Pass away now, lord;
let the Exalted One now die.

Now is the time
for the Exalted One to pass away.

Pass away now, lord;
let the Exalted One now die.

■

Now is the time
for the Exalted One to pass away -
even according to the word
which the Exalted One spoke when he said:-

'I shall not die, 0 Evil One!
until the male lay-disciples of the Order,
shall have become true hearers,
wise and well trained,
ready and learned,
carrying the doctrinal books in their memory,
masters of the lesser corollaries
that follow from the larger doctrine,
correct in life,
walking according to the precepts -
until they, having thus themselves learned the doctrine,
shall be able to tell others of it,
preach it,
make it known,
establish it,
open it,
minutely explain it
and make it clear -
until they,
when others start vain doctrine
easy to be refuted by the truth,
shall be able in refuting it,
to spread the wonder-working truth abroad!'

And now, lord, the male lay-disciples of the order have become true hearers,
wise and well trained,
ready and learned,
carrying the doctrinal books in their memory,
masters of the lesser corollaries
that follow from the larger doctrine,
correct in life,
walking according to the precepts -
and they, having thus themselves learned the doctrine,
are able to tell others of it,
preach it,
make it known,
establish it,
open it,
minutely explain it
and make it clear -
and they,
when others start vain doctrine
easy to be refuted by the truth,
are able in refuting it,
to spread the wonder-working truth abroad!

The time has come
for the Exalted One to pass away
even according to the word
which the Exalted One spoke when he said:-

'I shall not die, 0 Evil One!
until this pure religion of mine
shall have become successful,
prosperous,
wide-spread,
and popular in all its full extent -
until, in a word,
it shall have been well proclaimed among men!'

And now, lord, this pure religion of thine
has become successful,
prosperous,
wide-spread,
and popular in all its full extent -
in a word, it has been well proclaimed among men!

Pass away now, lord;
let the Exalted One now die.

Now is the time
for the Exalted One to pass away.

Pass away now, lord;
let the Exalted One now die.

■

Now is the time
for the Exalted One to pass away -
even according to the word
which the Exalted One spoke when he said:-

'I shall not die, 0 Evil One!
until the female lay-disciples of the Order,
shall have become true hearers,
wise and well trained,
ready and learned,
carrying the doctrinal books in their memory,
masters of the lesser corollaries that follow from the larger doctrine,
correct in life,
walking according to the precepts -
until they, having thus themselves learned the doctrine,
shall be able to tell others of it,
preach it,
make it known,
establish it,
open it,
minutely explain it
and make it clear -
until they,
when others start vain doctrine
easy to be refuted by the truth,
shall be able in refuting it,
to spread the wonder-working truth abroad!'

And now, lord, the female lay-disciples of the order have become true hearers,
wise and well trained,
ready and learned,
carrying the doctrinal books in their memory,
masters of the lesser corollaries
that follow from the larger doctrine,
correct in life,
walking according to the precepts -
and they, having thus themselves learned the doctrine,
are able to tell others of it,
preach it,
make it known,
establish it,
open it,
minutely explain it
and make it clear -
and they,
when others start vain doctrine
easy to be refuted by the truth,
are able in refuting it,
to spread the wonder-working truth abroad!

■

The time has come for the Exalted One to pass away
[113] even according to the word which the Exalted One spoke when he said:-

'I shall not die, 0 Evil One!
until this pure religion of mine
shall have become successful,
prosperous,
wide-spread,
and popular in all its full extent -
until, in a word,
it shall have been well proclaimed among men!'

And now, lord, this pure religion of thine
has become successful,
prosperous,
wide-spread,
and popular in all its full extent -
in a word, it has been well proclaimed among men!

Pass away now, lord;
let the Exalted One now die.

Now is the time
for the Exalted One to pass away.

■

9. And when he had thus spoken,
the Exalted One addressed Māra,
the Evil One,
and said:

"0 Evil One!
make thyself happy,
the death of the Tathāgata
shall take place before long.

At the end of three months
from this time
the Tathāgata will pass away."

10. Thus the Exalted One
while at the Shrine of Chapala
deliberately and consciously rejected
the rest of his natural term of life.⁵²

And on his so rejecting it
there arose a mighty earthquake,
awful and terrible,
and the thunders of heaven burst forth.

And when the Exalted One beheld this,
he broke out at that time
into this hymn of exultation:

"His sum of life the sage renounced,
The cause of life immeasurable or small;
With inward joy and calm, he broke,
Like coat of mail, his life's own cause!"⁵³'

11.⁵⁴ Now the following thought
occurred to the [114] venerable Ānanda:

"Wonderful indeed
and marvellous is it
that this mighty earthquake should arise,
awful and terrible,
and that the thunders of heaven
should burst forth!

What may be the proximate,
what the remote cause
of the appearance of this earthquake?"

12. Then the venerable Ānanda went up to the place where the Blessed One was,
and did obeisance to the Exalted One,
and seated himself respectfully at one side,
and said:

"Wonderful indeed and marvellous is it
that this mighty earthquake should arise,
awful and terrible,
and that the thunders of heaven should burst forth!

What may be the proximate,
what the remote cause
of the appearance of this earthquake?"

§

13. "Eight are the proximate,
eight the remote causes, Ānanda,
for the appearance of a mighty earthquake.

What are the eight?

This great earth, Ānanda,
is established on water,
the water on wind,
and the wind rests upon space.

And at such a time, Ānanda,
as the mighty winds blow,
the Waters are shaken
by the mighty winds as they blow,
and by the moving water
the earth is shaken.

These are the first causes,
proximate and remote,
of the appearance of a mighty earthquake.⁵⁵

■

14. 'Again, Ānanda, a recluse or a brahmin
of great [intellectual] power,
and who has the feelings [115] of his heart
well under his control;
or a god or fairy (devatā⁵⁶)
of great might and power, -
when such a one
by intense meditation on the idea
of the minutest portion of earth
and on the idea
of the widest expanse of water
[has succeeded in realizing
the comparative value of things]
he can make this earth move
and tremble
and be shaken violently.⁵⁷

These are the second causes,
proximate and remote,
of the appearance of a mighty earthquake.

■

[116] Again, Ānanda, when a Bodhisatta
consciously and deliberately leaves
his [temporary] form in the heaven of delight
and descends into his mother's womb,
then is this earth made to quake
and tremble
and is shaken violently.

These are the third causes,
proximate and remote,
of the appearance of a mighty earthquake⁵⁸

■

16. Again, Ānanda, when a Bodhisatta
deliberately and consciously
quits his mother's womb,
then the earth quakes
and trembles
and is shaken violently.

This is the fourth cause,
proximate and remote,
of the appearance of a mighty earthquake.

■

17. 'Again, Ānanda, when a Tathāgata
arrives at the supreme and perfect enlightenment,
then this earth quakes
and trembles
and is shaken violently.

This is the fifth cause,
proximate and remote,
of the appearance of a mighty earthquake.

■

18. Again, Ānanda, when a Tathāgata
founds the sublime kingdom of righteousness,
then this earth quakes
and trembles
and is shaken violently.

This is the sixth cause,
proximate and remote,
of the appearance of a mighty earthquake.

■

19. Again, Ānanda, when a Tathāgata
consciously and deliberately
rejects the remainder of his life,
then this earth quakes
and trembles
and is shaken violently.

[117] This is the seventh cause,
proximate and remote,
of the appearance of a mighty earthquake.

■

20.'Again, Ānanda, when a Tathāgata
passes entirely away
in that utter passing away
in which nothing whatever is left behind,
then this earth quakes
and trembles
and is shaken violently.

This is the eighth cause,
proximate and remote,
of the appearance of a mighty earthquake.'

§

21. Now of eight kinds, Ānanda,
are these assemblies.

Which are the eight?

Assemblies of nobles,
brahmins,
householders
and wanderers,
and of the angel hosts of the Guardian Kings,
of the Great Thirty-Three,
of the Māras,
and of the Brahmās.

22. Now I call to mind, Ānanda, how
when I used to enter into an assembly
of many hundred⁵⁹ nobles,
before I had seated myself there
or talked to them
or started a conversation with them,
I used to become in colour
like unto their colour,
and in voice
like unto their voice.

Then with religious discourse
I used to instruct
and incite,
and quicken them,
and fill them with gladness.

But they knew me not when I spoke,
and would say:

'Who may this be
who thus speaks?
a man or a god?'

Then having instructed,
incited,
quickened,
and gladdened them with religious discourse,
I would vanish away.

But they knew me not
even when I vanished away:
and would say:

'Who may this be
who has thus vanished away?
a man or a god?'

■

23. Now I call to mind, Ānanda, how
when I used to enter into an assembly
of many hundred brahmins,
before I had seated myself there
or talked to them
or started a conversation with them,
I used to become in colour
like unto their colour,
and in voice
like unto their voice.

Then with religious discourse
I used to instruct
and incite,
and quicken them,
and fill them with gladness.

But they knew me not when I spoke,
and would say:

'Who may this be
who thus speaks?
a man or a god?'

Then having instructed,
incited,
quickened,
and gladdened them with religious discourse,
I would vanish away.

But they knew me not
even when I vanished away:
and would say:

'Who may this be
who has thus vanished away?
a man or a god?'

■

Now I call to mind, Ānanda, how
when I used to enter into an assembly
of many hundred householders,
before I had seated myself there
or talked to them
or started a conversation with them,
I used to become in colour
like unto their colour,
and in voice
like unto their voice.

Then with religious discourse
I used to instruct
and incite,
and quicken them,
and fill them with gladness.

But they knew me not when I spoke,
and would say:

'Who may this be
who thus speaks?
a man or a god?'

Then having instructed,
incited,
quickened,
and gladdened them with religious discourse,
I would vanish away.

But they knew me not
even when I vanished away:
and would say:

'Who may this be
who has thus vanished away?
a man or a god?'

■

Now I call to mind, Ānanda, how
when I used to enter into an assembly
of many hundred wanderers,
before I had seated myself there
or talked to them
or started a conversation with them,
I used to become in colour
like unto their colour,
and in voice
like unto their voice.

Then with religious discourse
I used to instruct
and incite,
and quicken them,
and fill them with gladness.

But they knew me not
when I spoke,
and would say:

'Who may this be
who thus speaks?
a man or a god?'

Then having instructed,
incited,
quickened,
and gladdened them with religious discourse,
I would vanish away.

But they knew me not
even when I vanished away:
and would say:

'Who may this be
who has thus vanished away?
a man or a god?'

■

Now I call to mind, Ānanda, how
when I used to enter into an assembly
of many hundred of the angel hosts
of the Guardian Kings,
before I had seated myself there
or talked to them
or started a conversation with them,
I used to become in colour
like unto their colour,
and in voice
like unto their voice.

Then with religious discourse
I used to instruct
and incite,
and quicken them,
and fill them with gladness.

But they knew me not
when I spoke,
and would say:

'Who may this be
who thus speaks?
a man or a god?'

Then having instructed,
incited,
quickened,
and gladdened them with religious discourse,
I would vanish away.

But they knew me not
even when I vanished away:
and would say:

'Who may this be
who has thus vanished away?
a man or a god?'

■

Now I call to mind, Ānanda, how
when I used to enter into an assembly
of many hundred of the Great Thirty-Three,
before I had seated myself there
or talked to them
or started a conversation with them,
I used to become in colour
like unto their colour,
and in voice
like unto their voice.

Then with religious discourse
I used to instruct
and incite,
and quicken them,
and fill them with gladness.

But they knew me not
when I spoke,
and would say:

'Who may this be
who thus speaks?
a man or a god?'

Then having instructed,
incited,
quickened,
and gladdened them with religious discourse,
I would vanish away.

But they knew me not
even when I vanished away:
and would say:

'Who may this be
who has thus vanished away?
a man or a god?'

■

'Now I call to mind, Ānanda, how
when I used to enter into an assembly
of many hundred of the Māras,
before I had seated myself there
or talked to them
or started a conversation with them,
I used to become in colour
like unto their colour,
and in voice
like unto their voice.

Then with religious discourse
I used to instruct and incite,
and quicken them,
and fill them with gladness.

But they knew me not
when I spoke,
and would say:

'Who may this be
who thus speaks?
a man or a god?'

Then having instructed,
incited,
quickened,
and gladdened them with religious discourse,
I would vanish away.

But they knew me not
even when I vanished away:
and would say:

'Who may this be
who has thus vanished away?
a man or a god?'

■

Now I call to mind, Ānanda, how
when I used to enter into an assembly
of many hundred of the Brahmās,
before I had seated myself there
or talked to them
or started a conversation with them,
I used to become in colour
like unto their colour,
and in voice
like unto their voice.

Then with religious discourse
I used to instruct
and incite,
and quicken them,
and fill them with gladness.

But they knew me not when I spoke,
and would say:

'Who may this be who thus speaks?
a man or a god?'

Then having instructed,
incited,
quickened,
and gladdened them with religious discourse,
I would vanish away.

But they knew me not
even when I vanished away:
and would say:

'Who may this be
who has thus vanished away?
a man or a god?'

Now these, Ānanda, are the eight assemblies.

§

[118] 24. Now these, Ānanda, are the eight
positions of Mastery
[over the delusion arising from
the apparent permanence of external things].⁶⁰

What are the eight?

25. When a man having subjectively
the idea of form
sees forms external to himself
which are finite,
and pleasant or unpleasant to the sight,
and having mastered them,
is conscious that he knows and sees
this is the first position of mastery.

26. 'When a man having subjectively the idea of form sees externally forms which are boundless,
and pleasant or unpleasant to the sight,
and having mastered them,
is conscious that he knows and sees -
this is the second position of mastery.

27. 'When a man without the subjective idea of form sees forms external to himself which are finite,
and pleasant or unpleasant to the sight,
and having mastered them,
is conscious that he knows and sees -
this is the third position of mastery.

28. 'When a man without the subjective idea of form sees externally forms external to himself which are boundless,
and pleasant or unpleasant to the sight,
and having mastered them,
is conscious that he knows and sees -
this is the fourth position of mastery.

29. 'When a man without the subjective idea of form sees externally forms external to himself that are blue,
blue in colour,
blue in appearance,
and reflecting blue, -
just, for instance, as the flax blossom is blue in colour,
blue in appearance,
and reflecting blue;
or, again, [119] as that fine muslin of Benares,
of delicate finish on both sides,
is blue in colour,
blue in appearance,
and reflecting blue, -
when a man without the subjective idea of form sees externally forms which,
just in that way,
are blue,
blue in colour,
blue in appearance,
and reflecting blue,
and having mastered them,
is conscious that he knows and sees -
that is the fifth position of mastery.'

30. 'When a man without the subjective idea of form sees externally forms external to himself that are blue,
yellow in colour,
yellow in appearance,
and reflecting yellow, -
just, for instance, as the Kanikara flower is yellow in colour,
yellow in appearance,
and reflecting yellow;
or, again, as that fine muslin of Benares,
of delicate finish on both sides,
is yellow in colour,
yellow in appearance,
and reflecting yellow, -
when a man without the subjective idea of form sees externally forms which,
just in that way,
are yellow,
yellow in colour,
yellow in appearance,
and reflecting yellow,
and having mastered them,
is conscious that he knows and sees -
that is the sixth position of mastery.'

31. 'When a man without the subjective idea of form sees externally forms external to himself that are blue,
red in colour,
red in appearance,
and reflecting red, -
just, for instance, as the Bandhu-givaka flower is red in colour,
red in appearance,
and reflecting red;
or, again, as that fine muslin of Benares,
of delicate finish on both sides,
is red in colour,
red in appearance,
and reflecting red, -
when a man without the subjective idea of form sees externally forms which,
just in that way,
are red,
red in colour,
red in appearance,
and reflecting red,
and having mastered them,
is conscious that he knows and sees -
that is the seventh position of mastery.'

32. 'When a man without the subjective idea of form sees externally forms external to himself that are blue,
white in colour,
white in appearance,
and reflecting white, -
just, for instance, as the morning star is white in colour,
white in appearance,
and reflecting white;
or, again, as that fine muslin of Benares,
of delicate finish on both sides,
is white in colour,
white in appearance,
and reflecting white, -
when a man without the subjective idea of form sees externally forms which,
just in that way,
are white,
white in colour,
white in appearance,
and reflecting white,
and having mastered them,
is conscious that he knows and sees -
that is the seventh position of mastery.'

33.⁶¹ 'Now these stages of Deliverance, Ānanda
[from the hindrance to thought arising from the sensations and ideas due to external forms],
are eight in number.

Which are the eight?

'A man possessed of form sees forms -
this is the first stage of deliverance.

'Unaware of his own form,
he sees forms external to himself -
this is the second stage of deliverance.

'With the thought
"it is well,"
he becomes intent
this is the third stage of deliverance.

'By passing quite beyond all idea of form,
by putting an end to all idea of sensory impact⁶²,
by paying no attention to the idea of multiformity,
he, thinking
"it is all infinite space,"
reaches [mentally] and remains in the state of mind in which the idea of the infinity of space is the only idea that is present -
this is the fourth stage of deliverance.

'By passing quite beyond all idea of space being the infinite basis,
he, thinking
"it is all infinite reason,"
[120] reaches [mentally] and remains in the state of mind to which the infinity of reason is alone present -
this is the fifth stage of deliverance.

'By passing quite beyond the consciousness of the infinity of reason,
he, thinking
"nothing at all exists,"
reaches [mentally] and remains in the state of mind to which nothing at all is specially present -
this is the sixth stage of deliverance.

'By passing quite beyond all idea of nothingness he reaches [mentally] and remains in the state of mind to which neither ideas nor the absence of ideas are specially present -
this is the seventh stage of deliverance.

'By passing quite beyond the state of "neither ideas nor the absence of ideas" he reaches [mentally] and remains in the state of mind in which both sensations and ideas have ceased to be -
this is the eighth stage of deliverance.

'Now these, Ānanda, are the eight stages of Deliverance.'

34. 'On one occasion, Ānanda,
I was resting under the goatherd's Nigrodha tree on the bank of the river Nerañjarā immediately after having reached the great enlightenment.

Then Māra, the Evil One, came, Ānanda,
to the place where I was,
and standing beside me he addressed me in the words: -

"Pass away now, lord, from existence!

Let the Exalted One now die!

Now is the time for the Exalted One to pass away!"

35. 'And when he had thus spoken, Ānanda,
I addressed Māra, the Evil One, and said:

"I shall not pass away, 0 Evil One!
until not only the brethren and sisters of the Order,
but also the lay-disciples of either sex
shall have become true hearers,
wise and well trained,
ready and learned,
carrying the doctrinal books in their memory,
masters of the lesser corollaries that follow from the larger doctrine,
correct in life,
walking according to the precepts -
until they, having thus themselves learned the doctrine,
shall be able to tell others of it,
preach it,
make it known,
establish it,
open it,
minutely explain it
and make it clear -
until [121] they, when others start vain doctrine easy to be refuted by the truth,
shall be able in refuting it
to spread the wonder-working truth abroad!

I shall not die until this pure religion of mine shall have become successful,
prosperous,
wide-spread,
and popular in all its full extent -
until, in a word,
it shall have been well proclaimed among men!"

36. 'And now again to-day, Ānanda, at Chāpāla's Shrine Māra, the Evil One,
came to the place where I was,
and standing beside me addressed me saying:

"Pass away now, lord, from existence!

Let the Exalted One now die!

Now is the time for the Exalted One to pass away!"

37. 'And when he had thus spoken, Ānanda,
I answered him and said: -

"Make thyself happy,
the passing away of the Tathāgata shall take place before long.

At the end of three months from this time the Tathāgata will pass away!"

And now again,ed4 Ānanda, the Tathāgata has to-day at Chāpāla's Shrine consciously and deliberately rejected the rest of his al1otted term of life.'

38. And when he had thus spoken the venerable Ānanda addressed the Exalted One, and said:

'Vouchsafe, lord, to remain during the aeon:
live on through the kalpa, 0 Exalted One!
for the good and the happiness of the great multitudes,
out of pity for the world,
for the good and the gain and the weal of gods and men!'

"Enough now, Ānanda, beseech not the Tathāgata!'
was the reply.

'The time for making such request is past.

39. And again, the second time, the venerable Ānanda besought the Exalted One:

'Vouchsafe, lord, to remain during the aeon:
live on through the kalpa, 0 Exalted One!
for the good and the happiness of the great multitudes,
out of pity for the world,
for the good and the gain and the weal of gods and men!'

And a second time:
'Enough now, Ānanda, beseech not the Tathāgata!'
was the reply.

And again, the third time, the venerable Ānanda besought the Exalted One:

'Vouchsafe, lord, to remain during the aeon:
live on through the kalpa, 0 Exalted One!
for the good and the happiness of the great multitudes,
out of pity for the world,
for the good and the gain and the weal of gods and men!'

And a third time:
'Enough now, Ānanda, beseech not the Tathāgata!'
was the reply.

'Hast thou faith, Ānanda, in the wisdom of the Tathāgata?'

'Even so, lord!'

'Now why, then, Ānanda, dost thou trouble the Tathāgata even until the third time?'

40. 'From his own mouth have I heard from the Exalted One,
from his own mouth have I received [122] this saying:

'Ānanda, whosoever has developed,
practised,
dwelt on,
expanded and ascended to the very heights of the four paths to Iddhi,
and so mastered them as to be able to use them as a vehicle,
and as a basis,
he, should he desire it,
could remain in the same birth for an aeon or for that portion of the aeon which has yet to run.

Now the Tathāgata has thoroughly developed,
practised,
dwelt on,
expanded and ascended to the very heights of the four paths to Iddhi,
and so mastered them as to be able to use them as a vehicle,
and as a basis,
and he could, therefore,
should he desire it,
live on yet for an aeon,
or for that portion of the aeon which has yet to run.'

'Hast thou faith, Ānanda?'

'Even so, lord!'

'Then, 0 Ānanda,
thine is the fault,
thine is the offence -
in that when a suggestion so evident
and a hint so clear
were thus given thee by the Tathāgata,
thou wast yet incapable of comprehending them,
and thou besoughtest not the Tathāgata, saying:

'Vouchsafe, lord, to remain during the aeon:
live on through the kalpa, 0 Exalted One!
for the good and the happiness of the great multitudes,
out of pity for the world,
for the good and the gain and the weal of gods and men!'

If thou shouldst then have so besought the Tathāgata,
the Tathāgata might have rejected the appeal even to the second time,
but the third time he would have granted it.

Thine, therefore, 0 Ānanda, is the fault,
thine is the offence!

41. 'On one occasion, Ānanda,
I was dwelling at Rājagaha, on the hill called the Vulture's Peak.

Now there, Ānanda, I spoke to thee, and said:

"How pleasant a spot, Ānanda, is Rājagaha;
how pleasant is this Vulture's Peak.

'Ānanda, whosoever has developed,
practised,
dwelt on,
expanded and ascended to the very heights of the four paths to Iddhi,
and so mastered them as to be able to use them as a vehicle,
and as a basis,
he, should he desire it,
could remain in the same birth for an aeon or for that portion of the aeon which has yet to run.

Now the Tathāgata has thoroughly developed,
practised,
dwelt on,
expanded and ascended to the very heights of the four paths to Iddhi,
and so mastered them as to be able to use them as a vehicle,
and as a basis,
and he could, therefore,
should he desire it,
live on yet for an aeon,
or for [123] that portion of the aeon which has yet to run.'

But even when a suggestion so evident
and a hint so clear
were thus given thee by the Tathāgata,
thou wast yet incapable of comprehending them,
and thou besoughtest not the Tathāgata, saying:

'Vouchsafe, lord, to remain during the aeon:
live on through the kalpa, 0 Exalted One!
for the good and the happiness of the great multitudes,
out of pity for the world,
for the good and the gain and the weal of gods and men!'

If thou shouldst then have so besought the Tathāgata,
the Tathāgata might have rejected the appeal even to the second time,
but the third time he would have granted it.

Thine, therefore, 0 Ānanda, is the fault,
thine is the offence!

■

42-43. 'On one occasion, Ānanda, I was dwelling at that same Rājagaha
in the Banyan Grove -

Now there, Ānanda, I spoke to thee, and said:

"How pleasant a spot, Ānanda, is Rājagaha;
how pleasant is this Banyan Grove.

'Ānanda, whosoever has developed,
practised,
dwelt on,
expanded and ascended to the very heights of the four paths to Iddhi,
and so mastered them as to be able to use them as a vehicle,
and as a basis,
he, should he desire it,
could remain in the same birth for an aeon or for that portion of the aeon which has yet to run.

Now the Tathāgata has thoroughly developed,
practised,
dwelt on,
expanded and ascended to the very heights of the four paths to Iddhi,
and so mastered them as to be able to use them as a vehicle,
and as a basis,
and he could, therefore,
should he desire it,
live on yet for an aeon,
or for that portion of the aeon which has yet to run.'

But even when a suggestion so evident
and a hint so clear
were thus given thee by the Tathāgata,
thou wast yet incapable of comprehending them,
and thou besoughtest not the Tathāgata, saying:

'Vouchsafe, lord, to remain during the aeon:
live on through the kalpa, 0 Exalted One!
for the good and the happiness of the great multitudes,
out of pity for the world,
for the good and the gain and the weal of gods and men!'

If thou shouldst then have so besought the Tathāgata,
the Tathāgata might have rejected the appeal even to the second time,
but the third time he would have granted it.

Thine, therefore, 0 Ānanda, is the fault,
thine is the offence!

■

On one occasion I was dwelling at that same Rājagaha at the Robbers' Cliff.

Now there, Ānanda, I spoke to thee, and said:

"How pleasant a spot, Ānanda, is Rājagaha;
how pleasant is this Robbers' Cliff.

'Ānanda, whosoever has developed,
practised,
dwelt on,
expanded and ascended to the very heights of the four paths to Iddhi,
and so mastered them as to be able to use them as a vehicle,
and as a basis,
he, should he desire it,
could remain in the same birth for an aeon or for that portion of the aeon which has yet to run.

Now the Tathāgata has thoroughly developed,
practised,
dwelt on,
expanded and ascended to the very heights of the four paths to Iddhi,
and so mastered them as to be able to use them as a vehicle,
and as a basis,
and he could, therefore,
should he desire it,
live on yet for an aeon,
or for that portion of the aeon which has yet to run.'

But even when a suggestion so evident
and a hint so clear
were thus given thee by the Tathāgata,
thou wast yet incapable of comprehending them,
and thou besoughtest not the Tathāgata, saying:

'Vouchsafe, lord, to remain during the aeon:
live on through the kalpa, 0 Exalted One!
for the good and the happiness of the great multitudes,
out of pity for the world,
for the good and the gain and the weal of gods and men!'

If thou shouldst then have so besought the Tathāgata,
the Tathāgata might have rejected the appeal even to the second time,
but the third time he would have granted it.

Thine, therefore, 0 Ānanda, is the fault,
thine is the offence!

■

On one occasion I was dwelling Rājagaha in the Sattapanni cave on the slope of Mount Vebhāra.

Now there, Ānanda, I spoke to thee, and said:

"How pleasant a spot, Ānanda, is Rājagaha;
how pleasant is this Sattapanni cave on the slope of Mount Vebhāra.

Now there, Ānanda, I spoke to thee, and said:

'Ānanda, whosoever has developed,
practised,
dwelt on,
expanded and ascended to the very heights of the four paths to Iddhi,
and so mastered them as to be able to use them as a vehicle,
and as a basis,
he, should he desire it,
could remain in the same birth for an aeon or for that portion of the aeon which has yet to run.

Now the Tathāgata has thoroughly developed,
practised,
dwelt on,
expanded and ascended to the very heights of the four paths to Iddhi,
and so mastered them as to be able to use them as a vehicle,
and as a basis,
and he could, therefore,
should he desire it,
live on yet for an aeon,
or for that portion of the aeon which has yet to run.'

But even when a suggestion so evident
and a hint so clear
were thus given thee by the Tathāgata,
thou wast yet incapable of comprehending them,
and thou besoughtest not the Tathāgata, saying:

'Vouchsafe, lord, to remain during the aeon:
live on through the kalpa, 0 Exalted One!
for the good and the happiness of the great multitudes,
out of pity for the world,
for the good and the gain and the weal of gods and men!'

If thou shouldst then have so besought the Tathāgata,
the Tathāgata might have rejected the appeal even to the second time,
but the third time he would have granted it.

Thine, therefore, 0 Ānanda, is the fault,
thine is the offence!

■

On one occasion I was dwelling at that same Rājagaha at the Black Rock on the slope of Mount Isigili.

Now there, Ānanda, I spoke to thee, and said:

"How pleasant a spot, Ānanda, is Rājagaha;
how pleasant is this Black Rock on the slope of Mount Isigili.

'Ānanda, whosoever has developed,
practised,
dwelt on,
expanded and ascended to the very heights of the four paths to Iddhi,
and so mastered them as to be able to use them as a vehicle,
and as a basis,
he, should he desire it,
could remain in the same birth for an aeon or for that portion of the aeon which has yet to run.

Now the Tathāgata has thoroughly developed,
practised,
dwelt on,
expanded and ascended to the very heights of the four paths to Iddhi,
and so mastered them as to be able to use them as a vehicle,
and as a basis,
and he could, therefore,
should he desire it,
live on yet for an aeon,
or for that portion of the aeon which has yet to run.'

But even when a suggestion so evident
and a hint so clear
were thus given thee by the Tathāgata,
thou wast yet incapable of comprehending them,
and thou besoughtest not the Tathāgata, saying:

'Vouchsafe, lord, to remain during the aeon:
live on through the kalpa, 0 Exalted One!
for the good and the happiness of the great multitudes,
out of pity for the world,
for the good and the gain and the weal of gods and men!'

If thou shouldst then have so besought the Tathāgata,
the Tathāgata might have rejected the appeal even to the second time,
but the third time he would have granted it.

Thine, therefore, 0 Ānanda, is the fault,
thine is the offence!

■

On one occasion I was dwelling at that same Rājagaha in the Sītavana Grove in the mountain cave Sappasoṇḍika.

Now there, Ānanda, I spoke to thee, and said:

"How pleasant a spot, Ānanda, is Rājagaha;
how pleasant is this Sītavana Grove in the mountain cave Sappasoṇḍika.

'Ānanda, whosoever has developed,
practised,
dwelt on,
expanded and ascended to the very heights of the four paths to Iddhi,
and so mastered them as to be able to use them as a vehicle,
and as a basis,
he, should he desire it,
could remain in the same birth for an aeon or for that portion of the aeon which has yet to run.

Now the Tathāgata has thoroughly developed,
practised,
dwelt on,
expanded and ascended to the very heights of the four paths to Iddhi,
and so mastered them as to be able to use them as a vehicle,
and as a basis,
and he could, therefore,
should he desire it,
live on yet for an aeon,
or for that portion of the aeon which has yet to run.'

But even when a suggestion so evident
and a hint so clear
were thus given thee by the Tathāgata,
thou wast yet incapable of comprehending them,
and thou besoughtest not the Tathāgata, saying:

'Vouchsafe, lord, to remain during the aeon:
live on through the kalpa, 0 Exalted One!
for the good and the happiness of the great multitudes,
out of pity for the world,
for the good and the gain and the weal of gods and men!'

If thou shouldst then have so besought the Tathāgata,
the Tathāgata might have rejected the appeal even to the second time,
but the third time he would have granted it.

Thine, therefore, 0 Ānanda, is the fault,
thine is the offence!

■

On one occasion I was dwelling at that same Rājagaha in the Tapoda Grove.

Now there, Ānanda, I spoke to thee, and said:

"How pleasant a spot, Ānanda, is Rājagaha;
how pleasant is this Tapoda Grove.

'Ānanda, whosoever has developed,
practised,
dwelt on,
expanded and ascended to the very heights of the four paths to Iddhi,
and so mastered them as to be able to use them as a vehicle,
and as a basis,
he, should he desire it,
could remain in the same birth for an aeon or for that portion of the aeon which has yet to run.

Now the Tathāgata has thoroughly developed,
practised,
dwelt on,
expanded and ascended to the very heights of the four paths to Iddhi,
and so mastered them as to be able to use them as a vehicle,
and as a basis,
and he could, therefore,
should he desire it,
live on yet for an aeon,
or for that portion of the aeon which has yet to run.'

But even when a suggestion so evident
and a hint so clear
were thus given thee by the Tathāgata,
thou wast yet incapable of comprehending them,
and thou besoughtest not the Tathāgata, saying:

'Vouchsafe, lord, to remain during the aeon:
live on through the kalpa, 0 Exalted One!
for the good and the happiness of the great multitudes,
out of pity for the world,
for the good and the gain and the weal of gods and men!'

If thou shouldst then have so besought the Tathāgata,
the Tathāgata might have rejected the appeal even to the second time,
but the third time he would have granted it.

Thine, therefore, 0 Ānanda, is the fault,
thine is the offence!

■

On one occasion I was dwelling at that same Rājagaha in the Bambu Grove in the Squirrels' Feeding Ground.

Now there, Ānanda, I spoke to thee, and said:

"How pleasant a spot, Ānanda, is Rājagaha;
how pleasant is this Bambu Grove in the Squirrels' Feeding Ground.

'Ānanda, whosoever has developed,
practised,
dwelt on,
expanded and ascended to the very heights of the four paths to Iddhi,
and so mastered them as to be able to use them as a vehicle,
and as a basis,
he, should he desire it,
could remain in the same birth for an aeon or for that portion of the aeon which has yet to run.

Now the Tathāgata has thoroughly developed,
practised,
dwelt on,
expanded and ascended to the very heights of the four paths to Iddhi,
and so mastered them as to be able to use them as a vehicle,
and as a basis,
and he could, therefore,
should he desire it,
live on yet for an aeon,
or for that portion of the aeon which has yet to run.'

But even when a suggestion so evident
and a hint so clear
were thus given thee by the Tathāgata,
thou wast yet incapable of comprehending them,
and thou besoughtest not the Tathāgata, saying:

'Vouchsafe, lord, to remain during the aeon:
live on through the kalpa, 0 Exalted One!
for the good and the happiness of the great multitudes,
out of pity for the world,
for the good and the gain and the weal of gods and men!'

If thou shouldst then have so besought the Tathāgata,
the Tathāgata might have rejected the appeal even to the second time,
but the third time he would have granted it.

Thine, therefore, 0 Ānanda, is the fault,
thine is the offence!

■

On one occasion I was dwelling at that same Rājagaha in Jīvaka's Mango Grove.

Now there, Ānanda, I spoke to thee, and said:

"How pleasant a spot, Ānanda, is Rājagaha;
how pleasant is this Jīvaka's Mango Grove.

'Ānanda, whosoever has developed,
practised,
dwelt on,
expanded and ascended to the very heights of the four paths to Iddhi,
and so mastered them as to be able to use them as a vehicle,
and as a basis,
he, should he desire it,
could remain in the same birth for an aeon or for that portion of the aeon which has yet to run.

Now the Tathāgata has thoroughly developed,
practised,
dwelt on,
expanded and ascended to the very heights of the four paths to Iddhi,
and so mastered them as to be able to use them as a vehicle,
and as a basis,
and he could, therefore,
should he desire it,
live on yet for an aeon,
or for that portion of the aeon which has yet to run.'

But even when a suggestion so evident
and a hint so clear
were thus given thee by the Tathāgata,
thou wast yet incapable of comprehending them,
and thou besoughtest not the Tathāgata, saying:

'Vouchsafe, lord, to remain during the aeon:
live on through the kalpa, 0 Exalted One!
for the good and the happiness of the great multitudes,
out of pity for the world,
for the good and the gain and the weal of gods and men!'

If thou shouldst then have so besought the Tathāgata,
the Tathāgata might have rejected the appeal even to the second time,
but the third time he would have granted it.

Thine, therefore, 0 Ānanda, is the fault,
thine is the offence!

■

On one occasion I was dwelling at that same Rājagaha in the Deer Forest at Maddakucchi.

Now there, Ānanda, I spoke to thee, and said:

"How pleasant a spot, Ānanda, is Rājagaha;
how pleasant is this Deer Forest at Maddakucchi.

44. [124] 'Ānanda, whosoever has developed,
practised,
dwelt on,
expanded and ascended to the very heights of the four paths to Iddhi,
and so mastered them as to be able to use them as a vehicle,
and as a basis,
he, should he desire it,
could remain in the same birth for an aeon or for that portion of the aeon which has yet to run.

Now the Tathāgata has thoroughly developed,
practised,
dwelt on,
expanded and ascended to the very heights of the four paths to Iddhi,
and so mastered them as to be able to use them as a vehicle,
and as a basis,
and he could, therefore,
should he desire it,
live on yet for an aeon,
or for that portion of the aeon which has yet to run.'

But even when a suggestion so evident
and a hint so clear
were thus given thee by the Tathāgata,
thou wast yet incapable of comprehending them,
and thou besoughtest not the Tathāgata, saying:

'Vouchsafe, lord, to remain during the aeon:
live on through the kalpa, 0 Exalted One!
for the good and the happiness of the great multitudes,
out of pity for the world,
for the good and the gain and the weal of gods and men!'

If thou shouldst then have so besought the Tathāgata,
the Tathāgata might have rejected the appeal even to the second time,
but the third time he would have granted it.

Thine, therefore, 0 Ānanda, is the fault,
thine is the offence!

■

45. On one occasion I was dwelling at Vesāli at the Udena Shrine.

Now there, Ānanda, I spoke to thee, and said:

"How pleasant a spot, Ānanda, is Vesāli;
how pleasant is this Udena Shrine.

'Ānanda, whosoever has developed,
practised,
dwelt on,
expanded and ascended to the very heights of the four paths to Iddhi,
and so mastered them as to be able to use them as a vehicle,
and as a basis,
he, should he desire it,
could remain in the same birth for an aeon or for that portion of the aeon which has yet to run.

Now the Tathāgata has thoroughly developed,
practised,
dwelt on,
expanded and ascended to the very heights of the four paths to Iddhi,
and so mastered them as to be able to use them as a vehicle,
and as a basis,
and he could, therefore,
should he desire it,
live on yet for an aeon,
or for that portion of the aeon which has yet to run.'

But even when a suggestion so evident
and a hint so clear
were thus [125] given thee by the Tathāgata,
thou wast yet incapable of comprehending them,
and thou besoughtest not the Tathāgata, saying:

'Vouchsafe, lord, to remain during the aeon:
live on through the kalpa, 0 Exalted One!
for the good and the happiness of the great multitudes,
out of pity for the world,
for the good and the gain and the weal of gods and men!'

If thou shouldst then have so besought the Tathāgata,
the Tathāgata might have rejected the appeal even to the second time,
but the third time he would have granted it.

Thine, therefore, 0 Ānanda, is the fault,
thine is the offence!

■

46. On one occasion I was dwelling at Vesāli at the Gotamaka Shrine.

Now there, Ānanda, I spoke to thee, and said:

"How pleasant a spot, Ānanda, is Vesāli;
how pleasant is this Gotamaka Shrine.

'Ānanda, whosoever has developed,
practised,
dwelt on,
expanded and ascended to the very heights of the four paths to Iddhi,
and so mastered them as to be able to use them as a vehicle,
and as a basis,
he, should he desire it,
could remain in the same birth for an aeon or for that portion of the aeon which has yet to run.

Now the Tathāgata has thoroughly developed,
practised,
dwelt on,
expanded and ascended to the very heights of the four paths to Iddhi,
and so mastered them as to be able to use them as a vehicle,
and as a basis,
and he could, therefore,
should he desire it,
live on yet for an aeon,
or for that portion of the aeon which has yet to run.'

But even when a suggestion so evident
and a hint so clear
were thus given thee by the Tathāgata,
thou wast yet incapable of comprehending them,
and thou besoughtest not the Tathāgata, saying:

'Vouchsafe, lord, to remain during the aeon:
live on through the kalpa, 0 Exalted One!
for the good and the happiness of the great multitudes,
out of pity for the world,
for the good and the gain and the weal of gods and men!'

If thou shouldst then have so besought the Tathāgata,
the Tathāgata might have rejected the appeal even to the second time,
but the third time he would have granted it.

Thine, therefore, 0 Ānanda, is the fault,
thine is the offence!

■

On one occasion I was dwelling at Vesāli at the Shrine of the Seven Mangoes.

Now there, Ānanda, I spoke to thee, and said:

"How pleasant a spot, Ānanda, is Vesāli;
how pleasant is this Shrine of the Seven Mangoes.

'Ānanda, whosoever has developed,
practised,
dwelt on,
expanded and ascended to the very heights of the four paths to Iddhi,
and so mastered them as to be able to use them as a vehicle,
and as a basis,
he, should he desire it,
could remain in the same birth for an aeon or for that portion of the aeon which has yet to run.

Now the Tathāgata has thoroughly developed,
practised,
dwelt on,
expanded and ascended to the very heights of the four paths to Iddhi,
and so mastered them as to be able to use them as a vehicle,
and as a basis,
and he could, therefore,
should he desire it,
live on yet for an aeon,
or for that portion of the aeon which has yet to run.'

But even when a suggestion so evident
and a hint so clear
were thus given thee by the Tathāgata,
thou wast yet incapable of comprehending them,
and thou besoughtest not the Tathāgata, saying:

'Vouchsafe, lord, to remain during the aeon:
live on through the kalpa, 0 Exalted One!
for the good and the happiness of the great multitudes,
out of pity for the world,
for the good and the gain and the weal of gods and men!'

If thou shouldst then have so besought the Tathāgata,
the Tathāgata might have rejected the appeal even to the second time,
but the third time he would have granted it.

Thine, therefore, 0 Ānanda, is the fault,
thine is the offence!

■

On one occasion I was dwelling at Vesāli at the Bahuputta Shrine.

Now there, Ānanda, I spoke to thee, and said:

"How pleasant a spot, Ānanda, is Vesāli;
how pleasant is this Bahuputta Shrine.

'Ānanda, whosoever has developed,
practised,
dwelt on,
expanded and ascended to the very heights of the four paths to Iddhi,
and so mastered them as to be able to use them as a vehicle,
and as a basis,
he, should he desire it,
could remain in the same birth for an aeon or for that portion of the aeon which has yet to run.

Now the Tathāgata has thoroughly developed,
practised,
dwelt on,
expanded and ascended to the very heights of the four paths to Iddhi,
and so mastered them as to be able to use them as a vehicle,
and as a basis,
and he could, therefore,
should he desire it,
live on yet for an aeon,
or for that portion of the aeon which has yet to run.'

But even when a suggestion so evident
and a hint so clear
were thus given thee by the Tathāgata,
thou wast yet incapable of comprehending them,
and thou besoughtest not the Tathāgata, saying:

'Vouchsafe, lord, to remain during the aeon:
live on through the kalpa, 0 Exalted One!
for the good and the happiness of the great multitudes,
out of pity for the world,
for the good and the gain and the weal of gods and men!'

If thou shouldst then have so besought the Tathāgata,
the Tathāgata might have rejected the appeal even to the second time,
but the third time he would have granted it.

Thine, therefore, 0 Ānanda, is the fault,
thine is the offence!

■

On one occasion I was dwelling at Vesāli at the Sarandada Shrine.

Now there, Ānanda, I spoke to thee, and said:

"How pleasant a spot, Ānanda, is Vesāli;
how pleasant is this Sarandada Shrine.

'Ānanda, whosoever has developed,
practised,
dwelt on,
expanded and ascended to the very heights of the four paths to Iddhi,
and so mastered them as to be able to use them as a vehicle,
and as a basis,
he, should he desire it,
could remain in the same birth for an aeon or for that portion of the aeon which has yet to run.

Now the Tathāgata has thoroughly developed,
practised,
dwelt on,
expanded and ascended to the very heights of the four paths to Iddhi,
and so mastered them as to be able to use them as a vehicle,
and as a basis,
and he could, therefore,
should he desire it,
live on yet for an aeon,
or for that portion of the aeon which has yet to run.'

But even when a suggestion so evident
and a hint so clear
were thus given thee by the Tathāgata,
thou wast yet incapable of comprehending them,
and thou besoughtest not the Tathāgata, saying:

'Vouchsafe, lord, to remain during the aeon:
live on through the kalpa, 0 Exalted One!
for the good and the happiness of the great multitudes,
out of pity for the world,
for the good and the gain and the weal of gods and men!'

If thou shouldst then have so besought the Tathāgata,
the Tathāgata might have rejected the appeal even to the second time,
but the third time he would have granted it.

Thine, therefore, 0 Ānanda, is the fault,
thine is the offence!

■

47. 'And now to-day, Ānanda, at the Chāpāla Shrine, I spoke to thee, and said:

"How delightful a spot, Ānanda, is Vesāli,
how charming the Uelena Shrine
and the Gotamaka Shrine
and the Shrine of the Seven Mangoes,
and the Shrine of Many Sons,
and the Sarapdada Shrine,
and the Chāpalā Shrine.

'Ānanda, whosoever has developed,
practised,
dwelt on,
expanded and ascended to the very heights of the four paths to Iddhi,
and so mastered them as to be able to use them as a vehicle,
and as a basis,
he, should he desire it,
could remain in the same birth for an aeon or for that portion of the aeon which has yet to run.

Now the Tathāgata has thoroughly developed,
practised,
dwelt on,
expanded and ascended to the very heights of the four paths to Iddhi,
and so mastered them as to be able to use them as a vehicle,
and as a basis,
and he could, therefore,
should he desire it,
live on yet for an aeon,
or for that portion of the aeon which has yet to run.'

But even when a suggestion so evident
and a hint so clear
were thus given thee by the Tathāgata,
thou wast yet incapable of comprehending them,
and thou besoughtest not the Tathāgata, saying:

'Vouchsafe, lord, to remain during [126] the aeon:
live on through the kalpa, 0 Exalted One!
for the good and the happiness of the great multitudes,
out of pity for the world,
for the good and the gain and the weal of gods and men!'

If thou shouldst then have so besought the Tathāgata,
the Tathāgata might have rejected the appeal even to the second time,
but the third time he would have granted it.

Thine, therefore, 0 Ānanda, is the fault,
thine is the offence!

48. 'But now, Ānanda, have I not formerly declared to you that it is in the very nature of all things,
near and dear unto us,
that we must divide ourselves from them,
leave them,
sever ourselves from them?

How, then, Ānanda, can this be possible -
whereas anything whatever born,
brought into being,
and organized,
contains within itself the inherent necessity of dissolution -
how then can this be possible that such a being should not be dissolved?

No such condition can exist!

And that which, Ānanda, has been relinquished,
cast away,
renounced,
rejected,
and abandoned by the Tathāgata -
the remaining sum of life surrendered by him -
verily with regard to that the word has gone forth from the Tathāgata, saying:

"The passing away of the Tathāgata shall take place before long.

At the end of three months from this time the Tathāgata will die!"

That the Tathāgata for the sake of living should repent him again of that saying
this can no wise be!⁶³

Come, Ānanda, let us go to the Kūṭāgara Hall,
to the Mahāvana.'

[127] 'Even so, lord!'
said the venerable Ānanda, in assent, to the Exalted One.

49. Then the Exalted One proceeded,
and Ānanda with him,
to the Mahāvana,
to the Kūṭāgara Hall:
and when he had arrived there he addressed the venerable Ānanda, and said:

'Go now, Ānanda, and assemble in the Service Hall such of the brethren as reside in the neighbourhood of Vesāāli.'

'Even so, lord!'
said the venerable Ānanda, in assent, to the Exalted One.

And when he had assembled in the Service Hall such of the brethren as resided in the neighbourhood of Vesāli,
he went to the Exalted One and saluted him and stood beside him.

And standing beside him,
he addressed the Exalted One, and said:

'Lord! the assembly of the brethren has met together.

Let the Exalted One do even as seemeth to him fit.'

50. Then the Exalted One proceeded to the Service Hall,
and sat down there on the mat spread out for him.

And when he was seated the Exalted One addressed the brethren, and said:

'Therefore, 0 brethren -
ye to whom the truths I have perceived have been made known by me
having thoroughly made yourselves masters of them,
practise them,
meditate upon them,
and spread them abroad;
in order that pure religion thay last long and be perpetuated,
in order that it may continue to be for the good and happiness of the great multitudes,
out of pity for the world,
to the good and the gain and the weal of gods and men!

'Which then, 0 brethren, are the truths which, when I had perceived,
I made known to you,
which when you have mastered it behoves you to practise,
meditate upon,
and spread abroad,
in order that pure religion may last long and be perpetuated,
in order that it may continue to be for the good and the happiness of the great multitudes,
out of pity for the world,
to the good and the gain and the weal of gods and men?

[128]'They are these:

The four earnest meditations,
The fourfold great struggle against evil,
The four roads to saintship
The five moral powers
The five organs of spiritual sense
The seven kinds of wisdom
and The Aryan eightfold path.

These, 0 brethren, are the truths which,
when I had perceived,
I made known to you,
which when you have mastered it behoves you to practise,
meditate upon,
and spread abroad,
in order that pure religion may last long and be perpetuated,
in order that it may continue to be for the good and the happiness of the great multitudes,
out of pity for the world,
to the good and the gain and the weal of gods and men!'

5I. And the Exalted One exhorted the brethren, and said:

'Behold now, 0 brethren,
I exhort you, saying:

"All component things must grow old.

Work out your salvation with diligence.

The final extinction of the Tathāgata will take place before long.

At the end of three months from this time the Tathāgata will die!"

'My age is now full ripe,
my life draws to its close:
I leave you,
I depart,
relying on myself alone!

Be earnest then, 0 brethren,
holy,
full of thought!

Be steadfast in resolve!

Keep watch o'er your own hearts!

Who wearies not,
but holds fast to this truth and law⁶⁴,
Shall cross this sea of life,
shall make an end of grief.'

End of the Third Portion for Recitation.⁶⁵

[131]

Chapter IV

1. Now the Exalted One early in the morning robed himself,
and taking his bowl,
entered Vesāli for alms;
and when he had passed through Vesāli,
and had eaten his meal and was returning from his almsseeking he gazed at Vesāli with an elephant look⁶⁶and addressed the venerable Ānanda, and said:

' This will be the last time, Ānanda,
that the Tathāgata will behold Vesāli.

Come, Ānanda,
let us go on to Bhaṇḍa-gāma.'

'Even so, lord!'
said the venerable Ānanda, in assent, to the Exalted One.

And the Exalted One proceeded with a great company of the brethren to Bhaṇḍa-gāma;
and there the Exalted One stayed in the village itself.

2. There the Exalted One addressed the brethren, and said:

'It is through not understanding and grasping four truths⁶⁷, 0 brethren,
that we have had to run so long,
to wander so long in this weary path of transmigration -
both you and I.

'And what are these four?

The noble conduct of life,
the noble earnestness in meditation,
the noble kind of wisdom,
and the noble salvation of freedom.

But when noble conduct is realized and known,
when noble meditation is realized and known,
when noble wisdom is realized and known,
when noble freedom is realized and known -
then is the craving for future life rooted out,
that which leads to renewed existence is destroyed,
and there is no more birth.'

[132] 3. Thus spake the Exalted One;
and when the Happy One had thus spoken,
then again the Teacher said⁶⁸:

Righteousness, earnest thought, wisdom, and freedom sublime -
These are the truths realized by Gotama, far renowned.
Knowing them, he, the knower, proclaimed the truth to the brethren.
The master with eye divine, the quencher of griefs, is at peace.'⁶⁹

4. There too, while staying at Bhaṇḍa-gāma,
the Exalted One held that comprehensive religious talk with the brethren, saying:

'Such and such is upright conduct;
such and such is earnest contemplation;
such and such is intelligence.

Great becomes the fruit,
great the advantage of earnest contemplation,
when it is set round with upright conduct.

Great the advantage of intellect
when it is set round with earnest contemplation.

The [133] mind set round with intelligence is set quite free from the Intoxications,
that is to say,
from the Intoxication of Sensuality,
from the Intoxication of Becoming,
from the Intoxication of Delusion,
from the Intoxication of Ignorance.'

5. Now when the Exalted One had remained at Bhaṇḍa-gāma as long as he desired,
he addressed the venerable Ānanda, and said:

'Come, Ānanda, let us go to Hatthi-gāma.'

'Even so, lord!'
said the venerable Ānanda, in assent, to the Exalted One.

And the Exalted One proceeded with a great company of the brethren to Hatthi-gāma;
and there the Exalted One stayed in the village itself.

There the Exalted One addressed the brethren, and said:

'It is through not understanding and grasping four truths, 0 brethren,
that we have had to run so long,
to wander so long in this weary path of transmigration -
both you and I.

'And what are these four?

The noble conduct of life,
the noble earnestness in meditation,
the noble kind of wisdom,
and the noble salvation of freedom.

But when noble conduct is realized and known,
when noble meditation is realized and known,
when noble wisdom is realized and known,
when noble freedom is realized and known -
then is the craving for future life rooted out,
that which leads to renewed existence is destroyed,
and there is no more birth.'

Thus spake the Exalted One;
and when the Happy One had thus spoken,
then again the Teacher said:

Righteousness, earnest thought, wisdom, and freedom sublime -
These are the truths realized by Gotama, far renowned.
Knowing them, he, the knower, proclaimed the truth to the brethren.
The master with eye divine, the quencher of griefs, is at peace.'

There too, while staying at Hatthi-gāma,
the Exalted One held that comprehensive religious talk with the brethren, saying:

'Such and such is upright conduct;
such and such is earnest contemplation;
such and such is intelligence.

Great becomes the fruit,
great the advantage of earnest contemplation,
when it is set round with upright conduct.

Great the advantage of intellect
when it is set round with earnest contemplation.

The mind set round with intelligence is set quite free from the Intoxications,
that is to say,
from the Intoxication of Sensuality,
from the Intoxication of Becoming,
from the Intoxication of Delusion,
from the Intoxication of Ignorance.'

6. Now when the Exalted One had remained at Hatthi-gāma as long as he desired,
he addressed the venerable Ānanda, and said:

'Come, Ānanda, let us go to Amba-gāma.'

'Even so, lord!'
said the venerable Ānanda, in assent, to the Exalted One.

And the Exalted One proceeded with a great company of the brethren to Amba-gāma;
and there the Exalted One stayed in the village itself.

There the Exalted One addressed the brethren, and said:

'It is through not understanding and grasping four truths, 0 brethren,
that we have had to run so long,
to wander so long in this weary path of transmigration -
both you and I.

'And what are these four?

The noble conduct of life,
the noble earnestness in meditation,
the noble kind of wisdom,
and the noble salvation of freedom.

But when noble conduct is realized and known,
when noble meditation is realized and known,
when noble wisdom is realized and known,
when noble freedom is realized and known -
then is the craving for future life rooted out,
that which leads to renewed existence is destroyed,
and there is no more birth.'

Thus spake the Exalted One;
and when the Happy One had thus spoken,
then again the Teacher said:

Righteousness, earnest thought, wisdom, and freedom sublime -
These are the truths realized by Gotama, far renowned.
Knowing them, he, the knower, proclaimed the truth to the brethren.
The master with eye divine, the quencher of griefs, is at peace.'

There too, while staying at Amba-gāma,
the Exalted One held that comprehensive religious talk with the brethren, saying:

'Such and such is upright conduct;
such and such is earnest contemplation;
such and such is intelligence.

Great becomes the fruit,
great the advantage of earnest contemplation,
when it is set round with upright conduct.

Great the advantage of intellect
when it is set round with earnest contemplation.

The mind set round with intelligence is set quite free from the Intoxications,
that is to say,
from the Intoxication of Sensuality,
from the Intoxication of Becoming,
from the Intoxication of Delusion,
from the Intoxication of Ignorance.'

Now when the Exalted One had remained at Amba-gāma as long as he desired,
he addressed the venerable Ānanda, and said:

'Come, Ānanda, let us go to Jambu-gāma.'

'Even so, lord!'
said the venerable Ānanda, in assent, to the Exalted One.

And the Exalted One proceeded with a great company of the brethren to Jambu-gāma;
and there the Exalted One stayed in the village itself.

There the Exalted One addressed the brethren, and said:

'It is through not understanding and grasping four truths, 0 brethren,
that we have had to run so long,
to wander so long in this weary path of transmigration -
both you and I.

'And what are these four?

The noble conduct of life,
the noble earnestness in meditation,
the noble kind of wisdom,
and the noble salvation of freedom.

But when noble conduct is realized and known,
when noble meditation is realized and known,
when noble wisdom is realized and known,
when noble freedom is realized and known -
then is the craving for future life rooted out,
that which leads to renewed existence is destroyed,
and there is no more birth.'

Thus spake the Exalted One;
and when the Happy One had thus spoken,
then again the Teacher said:

Righteousness, earnest thought, wisdom, and freedom sublime -
These are the truths realized by Gotama, far renowned.
Knowing them, he, the knower, proclaimed the truth to the brethren.
The master with eye divine, the quencher of griefs, is at peace.'

There too, while staying at Jambu-gāma,
the Exalted One held that comprehensive religious talk with the brethren, saying:

'Such and such is upright conduct;
such and such is earnest contemplation;
such and such is intelligence.

Great becomes the fruit,
great the advantage of earnest contemplation,
when it is set round with upright conduct.

Great the advantage of intellect
when it is set round with earnest contemplation.

The mind set round with intelligence is set quite free from the Intoxications,
that is to say,
from the Intoxication of Sensuality,
from the Intoxication of Becoming,
from the Intoxication of Delusion,
from the Intoxication of Ignorance.'

Now when the Exalted One had remained at Jambu-gāma as long as he desired,
he addressed the venerable Ānanda, and said:

'Come, Ānanda, let us go to Bhoga-nagara.'

'Even so, lord!'
said the venerable Ānanda, in assent, to the Exalted One.

7. Now there at Bhoga-nagara the Exalted One stayed at the Ānanda Shrine.

There the Exalted One addressed the brethren and said:

'I will teach you, 0 brethren,
these four Great Authorities⁷⁰

Listen thereto,
and give good heed,
and I will speak."

'Even so, lord!'
said the brethren, in assent⁷¹, to the Exalted One,
and the Exalted One spoke as follows:

8. 'In the first place, brethren,
a brother may say thus:

"From the mouth of the Exalted One himself [134] have I heard,
from his own mouth have I received it.

This is the truth,
this the law,
this the teaching of the Master."

The word spoken, brethren, by that brother should neither be received with praise nor treated with scorn.

Without praise and without scorn every word and syllable should be carefully understood and then put beside the Suttas
[the stock paragraphs learnt by heart in the community]
and compared with the Vinaya
[the rules of the Order]⁷²

If when so compared they do not harmonize with the Suttas,
and do not fit in with the rules of the Order,
then you may come to the conclusion:

"Verily, this is not the word of the Exalted One,
and has been wrongly grasped by that brother."

Therefore, brethren, you should reject it.

But if they harmonize with the Suttas
and fit in with the rules of the Order,
then you may come to the conclusion:

"Verily, this is the word of the Exalted One,
and has been well grasped by that brother."

This, brethren, you should receive as the first Great Authority.

■

9. 'Again, brethren, a brother may say thus:

"In such and such a dwelling-place there is a company of the brethren with their elders and leaders.

From the mouth of that company have I heard,
face to face have I received it.

This is the truth,
this the law,
this the teaching of the Master."

The word spoken, brethren, by that company of the brethren should neither be received with praise nor treated with scorn.

Without praise and without scorn every word and syllable should be carefully understood and then put beside the Suttas
and compared with the rules of the Order.

If when so compared they do not harmonize with the Suttas,
and do not fit in with the rules of the Order,
then you may come to the conclusion:

"Verily, this is not the word of the Exalted One,
and has been wrongly grasped by that company of the brethren."

Therefore, brethren, you should reject it.

But if they harmonize [135] with the Suttas
and fit in with the rules of the Order,
then you may come to the conclusion:

"Verily, this is the word of the Exalted One,
and has been well grasped by that company of the brethren."

This, brethren, you should receive as the second Great Authority.

■

10. 'Again, brethren, a brother may say thus:

"In such and such a dwelling-place there are dwelling many elders of the Order,
deeply read,
holding the faith as handed down by tradition,
versed in the truths,
versed in the regulations of the Order,
versed in the summaries of the doctrines and the law.

From the mouth of those elders have I heard,
from their mouth have I received it.

This is the truth,
this the law,
this the teaching of the Master."

The word spoken, brethren, by those elders should neither be received with praise nor treated with scorn.

Without praise and without scorn every word and syllable should be carefully understood and then put beside the Suttas
and compared with the rules of the Order.

If when so compared they do not harmonize with the Suttas,
and do not fit in with the rules of the Order,
then you may come to the conclusion:

"Verily, this is not the word of the Exalted One,
and has been wrongly grasped by those elders."

Therefore, brethren, you should reject it.

But if they harmonize with the Suttas
and fit in with the rules of the Order,
then you may come to the conclusion:

"Verily, this is the word of the Exalted One,
and has been well grasped by those elders."

This, brethren, you should receive as the third Great Authority.

■

11. 'Again, brethren, a brother may say thus:

"In such and such a dwelling-place there is a brother,
deeply read,
holding the faith as handed down by tradition,
versed in the truths,
versed in the regulations of the Order,
versed in the summaries of the doctrines and the law.

From the mouth of that brother have I heard,
from their mouth have I received it.

This is the truth,
this the law,
this the teaching of the Master."

The word spoken, brethren, by that [136] brother should neither be received with praise nor treated with scorn.

Without praise and without scorn every word and syllable should be carefully understood and then put beside the Suttas
and compared with the rules of the Order.

If when so compared they do not harmonize with the Suttas,
and do not fit in with the rules of the Order,
then you may come to the conclusion:

"Verily, this is not the word of the Exalted One,
and has been wrongly grasped by that brother."

Therefore, brethren, you should reject it.

But if they harmonize with the Suttas
and fit in with the rules of the Order,
then you may come to the conclusion:

"Verily, this is the word of the Exalted One,
and has been well grasped by that brother."

This, brethren, you should receive as the fourth Great Authority.

'These, brethren, are the Four Great Authorities.'

12. There too, the Exalted One held that comprehensive religious talk with the brethren, saying:

'Such and such is upright conduct;
such and such is earnest contemplation;
such and such is intelligence.

Great becomes the fruit,
great the advantage of earnest contemplation,
when it is set round with upright conduct.

Great the advantage of intellect
when it is set round with earnest contemplation.

The mind set round with intelligence is set quite free from the Intoxications,
that is to say,
from the Intoxication of Sensuality,
from the Intoxication of Becoming,
from the Intoxication of Delusion,
from the Intoxication of Ignorance.'

13. Now when the Exalted One had remained as long as he desired at Bhoga-gama, he addressed the venerable Ānanda, and said:

'Come, Ānanda, let us go on to Pāvā.'

'Even so, lord!' said the venerable Ānanda, in assent to the Exalted One.

And the Exalted One proceeded with a great company of the brethren to Pāvā.

[137] And there at Pāvā the Exalted One stayed at the Mango Grove of Chunda,
who was by family a smith.

14. Now Chunda, the worker in metals,
heard that the Exalted One had come to Pāvā,
and was staying there in his Mango Grove.

And Chunda, the worker in metals, went to the place where the Exalted One was,
and saluting him took his seat respectfully on one side.

And when he was thus seated,
the Exalted One instructed,
aroused,
incited,
and gladdened him with religious discourse.

15. Then he, instructed, aroused, incited, and gladdened by the religious discourse,
addressed the Exalted One, and said:

'May the Exalted One do me the honour of taking his meal together with the brethren,
at my house to-morrow?'

And the Exalted One signified, by silence, his consent.

16. Then seeing that the Exalted One had consented, Chunda, the worker in metals,
rose from his seat and bowed down before the Exalted One,
and keeping him on his right hand as he passed him,
departed thence.

17. Now at the end of the night, Chunda, the worker in metals,
made ready in his dwelling-place sweet rice and cakes,
and a quantity of truffles⁷³

And he [138] announced the hour to the Exalted One, saying:

'The hour, lord, has come,
and the meal is ready.'

18. And the Exalted One robed himself early in the morning,
and taking his bowl,
went with the brethren to the dwelling-place of Chunda, the worker in metals.

When he had come thither he seated himself on the seat prepared for him.

And when he was seated he addressed Chunda, the worker in metals, and said:

'As to the truffles you have made ready,
serve me with them, Chunda:
and as to the other food,
the sweet rice and cakes,
serve the brethren with it.'

'Even so, lord!'

said Chunda, the worker in metals, in assent, to the Blessed One.

And the truffles he had made ready he served to the Exalted One;
whilst the other food,
the sweet rice and cakes,
he served to the members of the Order.

19. Now the Exalted One addressed Chunda, the worker in metals, and said:

'Whatever truffles, Chunda, are left over to thee,
those bury in a hole.

I see no one, Chunda, on earth nor in Māra's heaven,
nor in Brahma's heaven,
no one among Samaṇas and Brāhmaṇas,
among gods, and men,
by whom, when he has eaten it,
that food can be properly assimilated,
save by a Tathāgata.'

'Even so, lord!' said Chunda, the worker in metals, in assent, to the Exalted One.

And whatever truffles remained over those he buried in a hole.

And he went to the place where the Exalted One was;
and when he had come there,
took his seat respectfully on one side.

And when he was seated,
the Exalted One instructed and aroused and incited and gladdened Chunda, the worker in metals
with religious discourse.

And the Exalted One then rose from his seat and departed thence.

20. Now when the Exalted One had eaten the rice prepared by Chunda, the worker in metals,
there fell upon him a dire sickness,
the disease of dysentery,
and sharp pain came upon him,
even unto death.

But the Exalted One, mindful and self-possessed,
bore it without complaint.

[139] And the Exalted One addressed the venerable Ānanda and said:

'Come. Ānanda, let us go on to Kusinārā.'

'Even so, lord!' said the venerable Ānanda, in assent, to the Exalted One.

'When he had eaten Chunda's food,
The copper-smith's - thus have I heard
He bore with fortitude the pain.
The sharp pain even unto death!

When he had eaten, from the truffles in the food
There fell upon the teacher sickness dire.
Then after nature was relieved the Exalted One announced and said:
'I now am going on to Kusinārā.'⁷⁴

21. Now the Exalted One went aside from the path to the foot of a certain tree;
and when he had con1e there he addressed the venerable Ānanda, and said:

'Fold, I pray you, Ānanda, the robe" in four;
and spread it out for me.

I am weary, Ānanda, and must rest awhile!'

'Even so, lord!' said the venerable Ānanda, in assent, to the Exalted One,
and spread out the robe folded fourfold.

22. And the Exalted One seated himself on the seat prepared for him;
and when he was seated,
he addressed the venerable Ānanda, and said:

'Fetch me, I pray you, Ānanda,
some water.

I am thirsty, Ānanda, and would drink.'

When he had thus spoken, the venerable Ānanda said to the Exalted One:

'But just now, lord, about five hundred carts have gone over.

That water stirred up by the wheels has become shallow and flows fouled and turbid.

This river Kakuṭṭha, lord,
not far off,
is clear and pleasant,
cool and transparent,
easy to [140] get down into,
and delightful.

There the Exalted One may both drink the water,
and cool his limbs.'

23. Again the second time the Exalted One addressed the venerable Ānanda, and said:

'Fetch me, I pray you, Ānanda,
some water.

I am thirsty, Ānanda, and would drink.'

And again the second time the venerable Ānanda said to the Exalted One:

'But just now, lord, about five hundred carts have gone over.

That water stirred up by the wheels has become shallow and flows fouled and turbid.

This river Kakuṭṭha, lord,
not far off,
is clear and pleasant,
cool and transparent,
easy to get down into,
and delightful.

There the Exalted One may both drink the water,
and cool his limbs.'

24. Again the third time the Exalted One addressed the venerable Ānanda, and said:

'Fetch me, I pray you, Ānanda,
some water.

I am thirsty, Ānanda, and would drink.'

'Even so, lord!' said the venerable Ānanda, in assent, to the Exalted One:
and taking a bowl he went down to the streamlet.

And lo! the streamlet which,
stirred up by the wheels,
was but just now become shallow,
and was flowing fouled and turbid,
had begun, when the venerable Ānanda came up to it,
to flow clear and bright and free from all turbidity.

25. Then Ānanda thought:

'How wonderful, how marvellous is the great might and power of the Tathāgata!⁷⁵

For this streamlet which,
stirred up by the wheels,
was but just now become shallow and was flowing foul and turbid,
now, as I come up to it,
is flowing clear and bright and free from all turbidity.'

And taking water in the bowl he returned towards the Exalted One;
and when he had come where the Exalted One was he said to him:

How wonderful, [141] how marvellous is the great might and power of the Tathāgata!

For this streamlet which,
stirred up by the wheels,
was but just now become shallow and was flowing foul and turbid,
now, as I come up to it,
is flowing clear and bright and free from all turbidity.

Let the Exalted One drink the water!

Let the Happy One drink the water!'

Then the Exalted One drank of the water.

26. Now at that time a man named Pukkusa⁷⁶,
a young Mallian,
a disciple of Aḷāra Kālāma's, was passing along the high road from Kusinārā to Pāvā.

And Pukkusa, the young Mallian,
saw the Exalted One seated at the foot of a tree.

On seeing him, he went up to the place where the Exalted One was,
and when he had come there he saluted the Exalted One,
and took his rest respectfully on one side.

And when he was seated Pukkusa, the young Mallian,
said to the Exalted One:

'How wonderful a thing it is, lord!
and how marvellous,
that those who have gone forth out of the world should pass their time in a state of mind so calm!

27. 'Formerly, lord, Aḷāra Kālāma was once walking along the high road;
and leaving the road he sat himself down under a certain tree to rest during the heat of the day.

Now, lord, five hundred carts passed by one after the other,
each close to Aḷāra Kālāma.

And a certain man,
who was following close behind that caravan of carts,
went up to the place where Aḷāra Kālāma was,
and when he was come there he spake as follows to Aḷāra Kālāma:

'"But, lord, did you see those five hundred carts go by?"'

"No, indeed, I saw them not."

[142] '"But, lord, did you hear the sound of them?"

'"No, indeed, sir, I heard not their sound?"

'"But, lord, were you then asleep?"

'"No, sir, I was not asleep?"

'"But, lord, were you then conscious?"

'"Even so, sir?"

'"So that you, lord, though you were both conscious and awake,
neither saw,
nor heard the sound of five hundred carts passing by,
one after the other,
and each close to you.

Why, lord, even your robe was sprinkled over with the dust of them!"

'"It is even so, sir."'

'Then thought that man:

"How wonderful a thing is it,
and how marvellous,
that those who have gone forth out of the world should pass their time in a state of mind so calm!

So much so that a man though being both conscious and awake,
neither sees,
nor hears the sound of five hundred carts passing by,
one after the other,
and each close to him."

'And after giving utterance to his deep faith in Aḷāra Kālāma,
he departed thence.'

28. 'Now what think you, Pukkusa,
which is the more difficult thing either to do or to meet with -
that a man, being conscious and awake,
should neither see,
nor hear the sound of five hundred carts passing by,
one after the other,
close to him, -
or that a man, being conscious and awake,
should neither see,
nor hear the sound thereof when the falling rain goes on beating and splashing,
and the lightnings are flashing forth,
and the thunderbolts are crashing?'

29.

'What in comparison, lord,
can these five hundred carts do,
or six or seven or eight or nine or ten hundred,
yea, even hundreds and thousands of carts?

That certainly is more difficult,
both to do and to meet with,
that a man, being conscious and awake,
should neither see,
nor hear the sound thereof when the falling rain goes on beating and splashing,
and the lightnings are flashing forth,
and the thunderbolts are crashing.'

30. 'Now on one occasion, Pukkusa,
I was dwelling [143] at Ātumā,
and was at the Threshing-floor.

And at that time the falling rain began to beat and to splash,
and the lightnings to flash forth,
and the thunderbolts to crash;
and two peasants, brothers,
and four oxen were killed.

Then, Pukkusa,a great multitude of people went forth from Ātumā,
and went up to the place where the two peasants, brothers,
and the four oxen, lay killed.'

31. 'Now at that time, Pukkusa,
I had gone forth from the Threshing-floor,
and was walking up and down thinking at the entrance to the Threshing-floor.

And a certain man came, Pukkusa,
out of that great multitude of people,
up to the place where I was;
and when he came up he saluted me,
and took his place respectfully on one side.

And as he stood there, Pukkusa,
I said to the man:

32. '"Why then, sir, is this great multitude of people assembled together?"'

'"But just now, the falling rain began to beat and to splash,
and the lightnings to flash forth,
and the thunderbolts to crash;
and two peasants, brothers, were killed,
and four oxen.

Therefore is this great multitude of people gathered together.

But where, lord, were you?"'

'"I, sir, have been here all the while."'

'"But, lord, did you see it?"'

'"I, sir, saw nothing."'

'"But; lord, did you hear it?"'

'"I, sir, heard nothing."'

'"Were you then, lord, asleep?"'

'"I, sir, was not asleep."'

'"Were you then conscious, lord?"'

'"Even so, sir."'

'"So that you, lord, being conscious and awake,
neither saw,
nor heard the sound thereof when the falling rain went on beating and splashing,
and the lightnings were flashing forth,
and the thunderbolts were crashing."'

'"That is so, sir."

33. 'Then, Pukkusa, the thought occurred to that man:

[144] '"How wonderful a thing is it,
and marvellous,
that those who have gone forth out of the world should pass their time in a state of mind so calm! -

so that a man, being conscious and awake,
neither sees,
nor hears the sound thereof when the falling rain is beating and splashing,
and the lightnings are flashing forth,
and the thunderbolts are crashing."

And after giving utterance to his deep faith in me,
he departed from me
[with the customary demonstrations of respect].'

34. And when he had thus spoken, Pukkusa, the young Mallian,
addressed the Blessed One in these words:

'Now I, lord, as to the faith that I had in Aḷāra Kālāma,
that I winnow away as in a mighty wind,
and wash it away as in a swiftly running stream.

Most excellent, lord, are the words of thy mouth,
most excellent!

Just as if a man were to set up that which is thrown down,
or were to reveal that which is hidden away,
or were to point out the right road to him who has gone astray,
or were to bring a lamp into the darkness,
so that those who have eyes can see external forms -
just even so, lord,
has the truth been made known to me,
in many a figure,
by the Exalted One.

And I, even I, betake myself, lord,
to the Exalted One as my refuge,
to the Truth,
and to the Brotherhood.

May the Exalted One accept me as a disciple,
as a true believer,
from this day forth,
as long as life endures!'⁷⁷

35. Now Pukkusa, the young Mallian,
addressed a certain man and said:

'Fetch me, I pray you, my good man,
a pair of robes of cloth of gold,
burnished and ready for wear.'

'So be it, sir!'
said that man, in assent, to Pukkusa, the young Mallian;
and he brought a pair of robes of cloth of gold,
burnished and ready for wear.

[145] And the Mallian Pukkusa presented the pair of robes of cloth of gold,
burnished and ready for wear, to the Exalted One, saying:

'Lord, this pair of robes of burnished cloth of gold is ready for wear.

May the Exalted One show me favour and accept it at my hands!'

'In that case, Pukkusa, robe me in one,
and Ānanda in one.'

'Even so, lord!' said Pukkusa, in assent, to the Exalted One;
and in one he robed the Exalted One,
and in one, Ānanda.

36. Then the Exalted One instructed and aroused and incited and gladdened Pukkusa, the young Mallian,
with religious discourse.

And Pukkusa, the young Mallian,

when he had been instructed and aroused and incited and gladdened by the Exalted One with religious discourse,
arose from his seat,
and bowed down before the Exalted One;
and keeping him on his right hand as he passed him,
departed thence.

37. Now not long after the Mallian Pukkusa had gone,
the venerable Ānanda placed that pair of robes of cloth of gold,
burnished and ready for wear,
on the body of the Exalted One;
and when it was so placed on the body of the Exalted One
it appeared to have lost its splendour!"⁷⁸

And the venerable Ānanda said to the Exalted One:

'How wonderful a thing is it, lord,
and how marvellous,
that the colour of the skin of the Exalted One should [146] be so clear,
so exceeding bright!

For when I placed even this pair of robes of burnished cloth of gold and ready for wear on the body of the Exalted One,
lo! it seemed as if }t had lost its splendour!'

'It is even so, Ānanda.

There are two occasions, Ānanda, on which the colour of the skin of a Tathāgata becomes clear and exceeding bright.

What are the two?

'On the night, Ānanda, on which a Tathāgata attains to the supreme and perfect insight,
and on the night in which he passes finally away in that utter passing away which leaves nothing whatever to remain -
on these two occasions the colour of the skin of the Tathāgata becomes clear and exceeding bright.

38. 'And now this day, Ānanda,
at the third watch of the night,
in the Upavattana of Kusinārā,
in the Sāla Grove of the Mallians,
between the twin Sāla trees,
the utter passing away of the Tathāgata will take place.

Come, Ānanda!

Let us go on to the river Kakutthā.'

'Even so, lord!' said the venerable Ānanda, in assent, to the Exalted One.

The pair of robes of cloth of gold,
All burnished, Pukkusa had brought,
Clad on with them the Master then
Shone forth in colour like to gold!⁷⁹

39. Now the Exalted One with a great company of the brethren went on to the river Kakutthā;
and when he had come there,
he went down into the water,
and bathed,
and drank.

And coming up out agatn on the other side he went on to the Mango Grove.

[147] And when he was come there he addressed the venerable Chundaka, and said:

'Fold, I pray you, Chundaka, a robe in four and spread it out.

I am weary, Chundaka, and would lie down.'

'Even so, lord!' said the venerable Chundaka, in assent, to the Exalted One.

And he folded a robe in four,
and spread it out.

40. And the Exalted One laid himself down on his right side,
with one foot resting on the other;
and calm and self-possessed he meditated,
intending to rise up again in clue time.

And the venerable Chundaka seated himself there in front of the Exalted One.

41. The Buddha to Kakutthā's river came,
Whose clear and pleasant waters limpid flow.
He plunged beneath the stream wearied and worn,
The Buddha without equal in the world!
When he had bathed and drunk, the teacher then
Crossed o'er, the brethren thronging round his steps:
The Blessed Master, preaching the while the truth,
The Mighty Sage came to the Mango Grove.
There spake he to the brother Chundaka:
Spread me the fourfold robe out as a couch.'
Urged by the Holy One, he quickly spread
The fourfold robe in order on the ground.
The Master laid him clown, wearied and worn;
And there, before him, Chunda took his seat.

42. And the Exalted One addressed the venerable Ānanda, and said:

'Now it may happen. Ānanda,
that some one should stir up remorse in Chunda the smith,
by saying:

"This is evil to thee, Chunda,
and loss to thee in that when the Tathāgata had eaten his last meal from thy provision,
then he died."

Any such remorse, Ānanda, in Chunda the smith should be checked by saying:

"This is good to thee, Chunda,
and gain to thee,
in that when the Tathāgata had eaten his last meal from thy provision,
then he died.

From the very mouth of the Exalted One, Chunda,
have I heard, [148] from his own mouth have I received this saying:

'These two offerings of food are of equal fruit,
and of equal profit,
and of much greater fruit
and much greater profit
than any other -
and which are the two?

The offering of food which,
when a Tathāgata has eaten,
he attains to supreme and perfect insight;
and the offering of food which,
when a Tathāgata has eaten,
he passes away by that utter passing away in which nothing whatever remains behind -
these two offerings of food are of equal fruit and of equal profit,
and of much greater fruit and much greater profit than any others.

There has been laid up by Chunda the smith a karma
redounding to length of life,
redounding to good birth,
redounding to good fortune,
redounding to good fame,
redounding to the inheritance of heaven,
and of sovereign power.'"

In this way, Ānanda. should be checked
any remorse in Chunda the smith.'⁸⁰

43. Then the Exalted One, perceiving how the matter stood,
uttered on that occasion this hymn of exultation:

'To him who gives shall virtue be increased;
In him who curbs himself, no anger can arise;
The righteous man casts off all evil ways,
And by the rooting out of lust, and bitterness,
And all infatuation, is at peace!'

End of the Fourth Portion for Recitation,
containing The Episode of Aḷāra.

[149]

Chapter V

1. Now the Exalted One addressed the venerable Ānanda, and said:

'Come. Ānanda, let us go on to the Sāla Grove of the Mallas,
the Upavattana of Kusinārā,
on the further side of the river Hiranyavati.'

'Even so, lord!'
said the venerable Ānanda, in assent, to the Exalted One.

And the Exalted One proceeded with a great company of the brethren to the Sāla Grove of the Mallas, the Upavattana of Kusinārā, on the further side of the river Hiranyavati:
and when he had come there he addressed the venerable Ānanda, and said:

Spread over for me, I pray you, Ānanda,
the couch with its head to the north,
between the twin Sāla trees.⁸¹

I am weary, Ānanda, and would lie down.'

'Even so, lord!'
said the venerable Ānanda, in assent, to the Exalted One.

And he spread a covering over the couch with its head to the north,
between the twin Sāla trees.

And the Exalted One laid himself down on his right side,
with one leg resting on the other;
and he was mindful and self-possessed.

2. Now at that time the twin Sāla trees were all one mass of bloom with flowers out of season;
and [150] all over the body of the Tathāgata⁸² these dropped and sprinkled and scattered themselves,
out of reverence for the successor of the Buddhas of old.

And heavenly Mandārava flowers, too,
and heavenly sandalwood powder came falling from the sky,
and all over the body of the Tathāgata they descended and sprinkled and scattered themselves,
out of reverence for the successor of the Buddhas of old.

And heavenly music was sounded in the sky,
out of reverence for the successor of the Buddhas of old.

And heavenly songs came wafted from the skies,
out of reverence for the successor of the Buddhas of old!

3. Then the Exalted One addressed the venerable Ānanda and said:

'The twin Sāla trees are all one mass of bloom with flowers out of season;
all over the body of the Tathāgata these drop and sprinkle and scatter themselves,
out of reverence for the successor of the Buddhas of old.

And heavenly Mandārava flowers, too,
and heavenly sandalwood powder come falling from the sky,
and all over the body of the Tathāgata they descended and sprinkled and scattered themselves,
out of reverence for the successor of the Buddhas of old.

And heavenly music sounds in the sky,
out of reverence for the successor of the Buddhas of old.

And heavenly songs come wafted from the skies,
out of reverence for the successor of the Buddhas of old!

'Now it is not thus, Ānanda,
that the Tathāgata is rightly honoured,
reverenced,
venerated,
held sacred or revered.

But the brother or the sister,
the devout man or the devout woman,
who continually fulfils all the greater and the lesser duties,
who is correct in life,
walking according to the precepts -
it is he who rightly honours,
reverences,
venerates,
holds sacred,
and reveres the Tathāgata with the worthiest homage.

[151] Therefore, 0 Ānanda, be ye constant in the fulfilment of the greater and of the lesser duties,
and be ye correct in life,
walking according to the precepts;
and thus Ānanda, should it be taught.'

4. Now at that time the venerable Upavaṇā was standing in front of the Exalted One,
fanning him.

And the Exalted One was not pleased with Upavaṇā,
and he said to him:

'Stand aside, 0 brother,
stand not in front of me!'

Then this thought sprang up in the mind of the venerable Ānanda:

'This venerable Upavaṇā had long been in close personal attendance and service on the Exalted One.

And now, at the last moment,
the Exalted One is not pleased with Upavaṇā,
and has said to him:

"Stand aside, 0 brother,
stand not in front of me!

"What may be the cause and what the reason that the Exalted One is not pleased with Upavaṇā,
and speaks thus with him?'

5. And the venerable Ānanda said to the Exalted One:

'This venerable Upavaṇā has long been in c1ose personal attendance and service on the Exalted One.

And now, at the last moment,
the Exalted One is not pleased with Upavaṇā,
and has said to him:

"Stand aside, 0 brother,
stand not in front of me!"

What may be the cause and what the reason that the Exalted One is not pleased with Upavaṇā,
and speaks thus with him?'

'In great numbers, Ānanda,
are the gods of the ten world-systems assembled together to behold the Tathāgata.

For twelve leagues, Ānanda,
around the Sāla Grove of the Mallas,
the Upavattana of Kusinārā,
there is no spot in size
even as the pricking of the point of the tip of a hair
which is not pervaded by powerful spirits.⁸³

And the spirits, Ānanda, are mur [152] muring, and say:

'From afar have we come to behold the Tathāgata.

Few and far between are the Tathāgatas, the Arahant Buddhas who appear in the world:
and now to-day,
in the last watch of the night,
the death of a Tathāgata will take place;
and this eminent brother stands in front of the Tathāgata,
concealing him,
and in his last hour we are prevented from beholding the Tathāgata";
thus, Ānanda, do the spirits murmur.'

6. 'But of what kind of spirits is the Exalted One thinking?'"

'There are spirits, Ānanda, in the sky,
but of worldly mind,
who dishevel their hair and weep,
who stretch forth their arms and weep,
who fall prostrate on the ground,
and roll to and fro in anguish at the thought:

"Too soon will the Exalted One die!

Too soon will the Exalted One pass away!

Full soon will the Light of the world vanish away!" '⁸⁴

There are spirits, too, Ānanda,
on the earth,
and of worldly mind,
who tear their hair and weep,
who stretch forth their arms and weep,
who fall pros- [153] trate on the ground,
and roll to and fro in anguish at the thought:

"Too soon will the Exalted One die!

Too soon will the Exalted One pass away!

Full soon will the Eye of the world disappear from sight."

'But the spirits who are free from passion bear it,
calm and self-possessed,
mindful of the saying which begins:

"Impermanent indeed are all component things.

How then is it possible
[whereas anything whatever, when born, brought into being, and organized,
contains within itself the inherent necessity of dissolution
how then is it possible
that such a being should not be dissolved?

No such condition can exist!"⁸⁵]

7. 'In times past, lord, the brethren, when they had spent the rainy season in different districts,
used to come to see the Tathāgata,
and we used to receive those very reverend brethren to audience,
and to wait upon the Exalted One.

But, lord, after the end of the Exalted One,
we shall not be able to receive those very reverend brethren to audience,
and to wait upon the Exalted One.'

8. 'There are these four places, Ānanda,
which the believing clansman should visit with feelings of reverence.

Which are the four?

'The place, Ānanda, at which the believing man can say:

"Here the Tathāgata was born!"

is a spot to be visited with feelings of reverence.

'The place, Ānanda, at which the believing man can say:

"Here the Tathāgata attained to the supreme and perfect insight!"

is a spot to be visited with feelings of reverence.

'The place, Ānanda, at which the believing man can say:

"Here was the kingdom of righteousness set on foot by the Tathāgata!"

is a spot to be visited with feelings of reverence.

'The place, Ānanda, at which the believing man can say:

"Here the Tathāgata passed finally away in that utter passing away which leaves nothing whatever to [154] remain behind!"

is a spot to be visited with feelings of reverence.

These are the four places, Ānanda,
which the believing clansman should visit with feelings of reverence.

'And there will come, Ānanda,
to such spots,
believers,
brethren and sisters of the Order,
or devout men and devout women,
and will say:

"Here was the Tathāgata born!"
or

"Here did the Tathāgata attain to the supreme and perfect insight!"

or,

"Here was the kingdom of righteousness set on foot by the Tathāgata!"

or,

"Here the Tathāgata passed away in that utter passing away which leaves nothing whatever to remain behind!"

'And they, Ānanda, who shall die while they,
with believing heart,
are journeying on such pilgrimage,
shall be reborn after death,
when the body shall dissolve,
in the happy realms of heaven.'

9. 'How are we to conduct ourselves, lord, with regard to womankind?'

'As not seeing them, Ānanda.'

'But if we should see them, what are we to do?'

'No talking, Ānanda.'

'But if they should speak to us, lord, what are we to do?'

'Keep wide awake, Ānanda.'

10. 'What are we to do, lord, with the remains of the Tathāgata?'

'Hinder not yourselves, Ānanda, by honouring the remains of the Tathāgata.

Be zealous, I beseech you, Ānanda,
in your own behalf!

Devote yourselves to your own good!

Be earnest,
be zealous,
be intent on your own good!

There are wise men, Ānanda, among the nobles,
among the brahmins,
among the heads of houses,
who are firm believers in the Tathāgata;
and they will do due honour to the remains of the Tathāgata.

[155] 11. ⁸⁶'But what should be clone, lord,
with the remains of the Tathāgata?'

'As men treat the remains of a king of kings,
so, Ānanda, should they treat the remains of a Tathāgata.

'And how, lord, do they treat the remains of a king of kings⁸⁷?'

'They wrap the body of a king of kings, Ānanda,
in a new cloth.

When that is done
they wrap it in carded cotton wool.⁸⁸

When that is done
they wrap it in a new cloth,
and so on till they have wrapped the body in five hundred successive layers of both kinds.

Then they place the body in an oil vessel of iron,
and cover that close up with another oil vessel of iron.⁸⁹

They then build a funeral pyre of all kinds [156] of perfume,
and burn the body of the king of kings.

And then at the four cross roads they erect a cairn⁹⁰ to the king of kings.

This, Ānanda, is the way in which they treat the remains of a king of kings.

'And as they treat the remains of a king of kings,
so, Ānanda, should they treat the remains of the Tathāgata.

At the four cross roads a cairn should be erected to the Tathāgata.

And whosoever shall there place garlands or perfumes or paint,
or make salutation there,
or become in its presence calm in heart -
that shall long be to them for a profit and a joy.'

12. 'The men, Ānanda, worthy of a cairn,
are four in number.

Which are the four?

'A Tathāgata,
an Able Awakened One, is worthy of a cairn.

One awakened for himself alone
is worthy of a cairn⁹⁰

A true hearer of the Tathāgata is :worthy of a cairn.

A king of kings is worthy of a cairn.

'And on account of what circumstance, Ānanda,
is a Tathāgata, an Able Awakened One, worthy of a cairn?

'At the thought, Ānanda:

"This is the cairn of that Exalted One,
of that Able Awakened One,"
the hearts of many shall be made calm and happy;
and since they there had calmed and satisfied their hearts
they will be reborn after death,
when the body has dissolved,
in the happy realms of heaven.

It is on account of this circumstance, Ānanda,
that a Tathāgata, an Able Awakened One, is worthy of a cairn.

[157] 'And on account of what circumstance, Ānanda, is one awakened for himself alone⁹¹ worthy of a cairn?

'At the thought, Ānanda:

"This is the cairn of that Exalted One awakened for himself alone"
the hearts of many shall be made calm and happy;
and since they there had calmed and satisfied their hearts
they will be reborn after death,
when the body has dissolved,
in the happy realms of heaven.

It is on account of this circumstance, Ānanda, that one awakened for himself alone is worthy of a cairn.

'And on account of what circumstance, Ānanda,
is a true hearer of the Exalted One, the Able Awakened One, worthy of a ca)rn?

'At the thought, Ānanda:

"This is the cairn of that true hearer of the Exalted Able Awakened One,"
the hearts of many shall be made calm and happy;
and since they there had calmed and satisfied their hearts
they will be reborn after death,
when the body has dissolved,
in the happy realms of heaven.

It is on account of this circumstance, Ānanda,
that a true hearer of the Exalted One,
the Able Awakened One,
is worthy of a cairn.

'And on account of what circumstance, Ānanda,
is a king of kings worthy of a cairn?

'At the thought, Ānanda:

"This is the cairn of that righteous king who ruled in righteousness,"
the hearts of many shall be made calm and happy;
and since they there had calmed and satisfied their hearts
they will be reborn after death,
when the body has dissolved,
in the happy realms of heaven.

It is on account of this circumstance, Ānanda,
that a king of kings is worthy of a cairn.

'These four,Ānanda, are the persons worthy of a cairn.'

13. 'Now the venerable Ānanda went into the Vihāra,⁹² and stood leaning against the lintel of the [158] door,
and weeping at the thought:

'Alas! I remain still but a learner,
one who has yet to work out his own perfection.⁹³

And the Master is about to pass away from me -
he who is so kind!'

Now the Exalted One called the brethren, and said:

'Where then. brethren, is Ānanda?'

'The venerable Ānanda, lord, has gone into the Vihāra, and stands leaning against the lintel of the door,
and weeping at the thought:
"Alas! I remain still but a learner, one who has yet to work out his own perfection. And the Master is about to pass away from me - he who is so kind!"'

And the Exalted One called a certain brother, and said:

'Go now, brother, and call Ānanda in my name, and say:

"Brother Ānanda, the Master calls for thee"'

'Even so, lord!'
said that brother, in assent, to the Exalted One.

And he went up to the place where the venerable Ānanda was:
and when he had come there,
he said to the venerable Ānanda:

'Brother Ānanda, the Master calls for thee.'

'Very well. brother,' said the venerable Ānanda, in assent, to that brother.

And he went up to the place where the Exalted One was,
and when he had come there,
he bowed down before the Exalted One,
and took his seat respectfully on one side.

14. Then the Exalted One said to the venerable Ānanda,
as he sat there by his side:

'Enough, Ānanda!

Do not let yourself be troubled;
do not weep!

Have I not already,
on former occasions,
told you that it is in the very nature of all things [159] most near and dear unto us that we must divide ourselves from them,
leave them,
sever ourselves from them?

How, then, Ānanda, can this be possible
whereas anything whatever born,
brought into being,
and organized,
contains within itself the inherent necessity of dissolution -
how, then, can this be possible,
that such a being should not be dissolved?

No such condition can exist!

For a long time, Ānanda, have you been very near to me by acts of love,
kind and good,
that never varies,⁹⁴
and is beyond all measure.

For a long time, Ānanda, have you been very near to me by words of love,
kind and good,
that never varies,
and is beyond all measure.

For a long time, Ānanda, have you been very near to me by thoughts of love,
kind and good, that never varies,
and is beyond all measure.

You have done well, Ānanda!

Be earnest in effort,
and you too shall soon be free from the Intoxications -
[of sensuality, and individuality, and delusion, and ignorance.]!'⁹⁵

15. Then the Exalted One addressed the brethren, and said:

'Whosoever, brethren, have been Able Awakened Ones through the long ages of the past,
they also had servitors just as devoted to those Exalted Ones as Ānanda has been to me.

'He is a clever man, brethren, is Ānanda,
and wise.⁹⁶

He knows when it is the right time
for the brethren
or for the sisters of the Order,
for devout men
and devout women,
for a king,
or for a king's ministers,
or for other teachers
or for their disciples,
to come and visit the Tathāgata.

16. 'Brethren, there are these four wonderful and marvellous qualities in Ānanda.

Which are the four?

[160] 'If, brethren, a number of the brethren of the Order should come to visit Ānanda,
they are filled with joy on beholding him;
and if Ānanda should then preach the truth to them,
they are filled with joy at the discourse;
while the company of brethren is ill at ease, brethren,
when Ānanda is silent.

'If, brethren, a number of the sisters of the Order should come to visit Ānanda,
they are filled with joy on beholding him;
and if Ānanda should then preach the truth to them,
they are filled with joy at the discourse;
while the company of sisters is ill at ease, brethren,
when Ānanda is silent.

'If, brethren, a number of devout men should come to visit Ānanda,
they are filled with joy on beholding him;
and if Ānanda should then preach the truth to them,
they are filled with joy at the discourse;
while the company of devout men is ill at ease, brethren,
when Ānanda is silent.

'If, brethren, a number of devout women, should come to visit Ānanda,
they are filled with joy on beholding him;
and if Ānanda should then preach the truth to them,
they are filled with joy at the discourse;
while the company of devout women is ill at ease, brethren,
when Ānanda is silent.

Brethren, there are these four wonderful and marvellous qualities in a king of kings.

What are the four?

'If, brethren, a number of nobles, should come to visit a king of kings,
they are filled with joy on beholding him;
and if the king of kings should then speak,
they are filled with joy at what is said;
while they are ill at ease, brethren, when the king of kings is silent.

'If, brethren, a number of brahmins, should come to visit a king of kings,
they are filled with joy on beholding him;
and if the king of kings should then speak,
they are filled with joy at what is said;
while they are ill at ease, brethren, when the king of kings is silent.

'If, brethren, a number of heads of houses, should come to visit a king of kings,
they are filled with joy on beholding him;
and if the king of kings should then speak,
they are filled with joy at what is said;
while they are ill at ease, brethren, when the king of kings is silent.

'If, brethren, a number of members of a religious order should come to visit a king of kings,
they are filled with joy on beholding him;
and if the king of kings should then speak,
they are filled with joy at what is said;
while they are ill at ease, brethren, when the king of kings is silent.

'Just so, brethren," are the four wonderful and marvellous qualities in Ānanda.

'If, brethren, a number of the brethren of the Order should come to visit Ānanda,
they are filled with joy on beholding him;
and if Ānanda should then preach the truth to them,
they are filled with joy at the discourse;
while the company of brethren is ill at ease, brethren,
when Ānanda is silent.

'If, brethren, a number of the sisters of the Order should come to visit Ānanda,
they are filled with joy on beholding him;
and if Ānanda should then preach the truth to them,
they are filled with joy at the discourse;
while the company of sisters is ill at ease, brethren,
when Ānanda is silent.

'If, brethren, a number of devout men should come to visit Ānanda,
they are filled with joy on beholding him;
and if Ānanda should then preach the truth to them,
they are filled with joy at the discourse;
while the company of devout men is ill at ease, brethren,
when Ānanda is silent.

'If, brethren, a number of devout women, should come to visit Ānanda,
they are filled with joy on beholding him;
and if Ānanda should then preach the truth to them,
they are filled with joy at the discourse;
while the company of devout women is ill at ease, brethren,
when Ānanda is silent.

Now these, brethren, are the four wonderful and marvellous qualities that are in Ānanda.'

17. When he had thus spoken, ⁹⁷the venerable Ānanda said to the Exalted One:

[161] Let not the Exalted One die in this little wattleand-daub town,
in this town in the midst of the jungle,
in this branch township.⁹⁸

For, lord, there are other great cities, such as Champa, Rājagaha, Sāvatthī, Sāketa, Kosambī, and Benares.

Let the Exalted One die in one of them.

There there are many wealthy nobles and brahmins and heads of houses,
believers in the Tathāgata,
who will pay due honour to the remains of the Tathāgata.'⁹⁹

'Say not so, Ānanda!

Say not so, Ānanda,
that this is but a small wattle-and-daub town,
a town in the midst of the jungle,
a branch township.

18. 'Long ago, Ānanda, there was a king, by name Mahā-Sudassana,
a king of kings,
a righteous man who ruled in righteousness,
Lord of the four quarters of the earth,
conqueror,
the protector of his people,
possessor of the seven royal treasures.

This Kusinārā, Ānanda,
was the royal city of King Mahā-Sudassana, under the name of Kusāvati,
and on the east and on the west it was twelve leagues in length,
and on the north and on the south it was seven leagues in breadth.

'That royal city Kusāvati, Ānanda, was mighty and prosperous and full of people,
crowded with men,
and provided with all things for food.

Just, Ānanda, as the royal city of the gods, Aḷakamandā by name,
is mighty,
prosperous,
and full of people,
crowded with the gods,
and provided with all kinds of food,
so [162] Ānanda, was the royal city Kusāvati mighty and prosperous,
full of people,
crowded with men,
and provided with all kinds of food.

Both by day and by night, Ānanda, the royal city Kusāvati resounded with the ten cries;
that is to say,
the noise of elephants,
and the noise of horses,
and the noise of chariots;
the sounds of the drum,
of the tabor,
and of the lute;
the sound of singing,
and the sounds of the cymbal
and of the gong;
and lastly, with the cry:

"Eat, drink, and be merry!"'

19.'Go now, Ānanda, and enter into Kusinārā,
and inform the Mallas of Kusinārā, saying:

"This day, 0 Vāseṭṭhas,
in the last watch of the night,
the final passing away of the Tathāgata will take place.

Be favourable herein, 0 Vāseṭṭhas, be favourable.

Give no occasion to reproach yourselves hereafter, saying:

In our own village did the death of our Tathāgata take place,
and we took not the opportunity of visiting the Tathāgata in his last hours.'

"'Even so, lord,' said the venerable Ānanda, in assent, to the Exalted One;
and he robed himself and taking his bowl,
entered into Kusinārā attended by another member of the order¹⁰⁰

20. Now at that time the Mallas of Kusinārā were assembled in the council hall on some [public] affair:¹⁰¹

[163] And the venerable Ānanda went to the council hall of the Mallas of Kusinārā;
and when he had arrived there,
he informed them, saying:

'This day, 0 Vāseṭṭhas, in the last watch of the night,
the final passing away of the Tathāgata will take place.

Be favourable herein, 0 Vāseṭṭhas,
be favourable.

Give no occasion to reproach yourselves hereafter, saying:

"In our own village did the death of our Tathāgata take place,
and we took not the opportunity of visiting the Tathāgata in his last hours."'

21. And when they had heard this saying of the venerable Ānanda,
the Mallas with their young men and maidens and their wives were grieved,
and sad,
and afflicted at heart.

And some of them wept,
dishevelling their hair,
and stretched forth their arms and wept,
fell prostrate on the ground,
and rolled to and fro in anguish at the thought:

'Too soon will the Exalted One die!

Too soon will the Happy One pass away!

Full soon will the Light of the world vanish away!'

Then the Ma11as,
with their young men and maidens and their wives,
being grieved,
and sad,
and afflicted at heart,
went to the Sāla Grove of the Mallas,
to the Upavattana, and to the place where the venerable Ānanda was.

22. Then the venerable Ānanda thought:

'If I allow the Ma11as of Kusinārā,
one by one,
to pay their respects to the Exalted One,
the whole of the Mallas of Kusinārā will not have been presented to the Exalted One until this night brightens up into the dawn.

Let me, now, cause the Mallas of Kusinārā to stand in groups,
each family in a group,
and so present them to the Exalted One, saying:

"Lord! a Malla of such and such a name,
with his children,
his wives,
his retinue,
and his friends,
humbly bows down at the feet of the Exalted One.'"

And the venerable Ānanda caused the Mallas of [164] Kusinārā to stand in groups,
each family in a group,
and so presented them to the Exalted One, and said:

'Lord! a Malia of such and such a name,
with his children,
his wives,
his retinue,
and his friends,
humbly bows down at the feet of the Exalted One.'

And after this manner the venerable Ānanda presented all the Mallas of Kusinārā to the Exalted One in the first watch of the night.

23. Now at that time a Wanderer named Subhadda,
who was not a believer,
was dwelling at Kusinārā.

And the Wanderer Subhadda heard the news:

'This very day, they say,
in the third watch of the night,
will take place the final passing away of the Samana Gotama.'

Then thought the Wanderer Subhadda:

'This have I heard from fellow Wanderers old and well stricken in years,
teachers and disciples,
when they said:

"Sometimes and full seldom do Tathāgatas appear in the world,
the Able Awakened Ones."

Yet this day,
in the last watch of the night,
the final passing away of the Samana Gotama will take place.

Now a certain feeling of uncertainty has sprung up in my mind;
and this faith have I in the Samana Gotama,
that he, methinks, is able so to present the truth that I may get rid of this feeling of uncertainty.'

24. Then the Wanderer Subhadda went to the Sāla Grove of the Mallas,
to the Upayattana of Kusinārā,
to the place where the venerable Ānanda was.

And when he had come there he said to the venerable Ānanda:

'Thus have I heard from fellow Wanderers,
old and well stricken in years,
teachers and disciples,
when they said:

"Sometimes and full seldom do Tathāgatas appear in the world,
the Able Awakened Ones."

Yet this day,
in the last watch of the night,
the final passing away of the Samana Gotama will take place.

Now a certain feeling of uncertainty has sprung up in my mind;
and this faith have I in the Samana Gotama,
that he, methinks, is able so to present the truth that I may get rid of this feeling of [165] uncertainty.'

0 that I, even I, Ānanda, might be allowed to see the Samana Gotama!'

And when he had thus spoken the venerable Ānanda said to the Wanderer Subhadda:

'Enough! friend Subhadda.

Trouble not the Tathāgata.

The Exalted One is weary.'

And a second time the Wanderer Subhadda said:

'Thus have I heard from fellow Wanderers,
old and well stricken in years,
teachers and disciples,
when they said:

"Sometimes and full seldom do Tathāgatas appear in the world,
the Able Awakened Ones."

Yet this day,
in the last watch of the night,
the final passing away of the Samana Gotama will take place.

Now a certain feeling of uncertainty has sprung up in my mind;
and this faith have I in the Samana Gotama,
that he, methinks, is able so to present the truth that I may get rid of this feeling of uncertainty.'

0 that I, even I, Ānanda, might be allowed to see the Samana Gotama!'

And a second time the venerable Ānanda responded:

'Enough! friend Subhadda.

Trouble not the Tathāgata.

The Exalted One is weary.'

And a third time the Wanderer Subhadda said:

'Thus have I heard from fellow Wanderers,
old and well stricken in years,
teachers and disciples,
when they said:

"Sometimes and full seldom do Tathāgatas appear in the world,
the Able Awakened Ones."

Yet this day,
in the last watch of the night,
the final passing away of the Samana Gotama will take place.

Now a certain feeling of uncertainty has sprung up in my mind;
and this faith have I in the Samana Gotama,
that he, methinks, is able so to present the truth that I may get rid of this feeling of uncertainty.'

0 that I, even I, Ānanda, might be allowed to see the Samana Gotama!'

And a third time the venerable Ānanda responded:

'Enough! friend Subhadda.

Trouble not the Tathāgata.

25. Now the Exalted One overheard this conversation of the venerable Ānanda with the Wanderer Subhadda.

And the Exalted One called the venerable Ānanda, and said:

'It is enough, Ānanda!

Do not keep out Subhadda.

Subhadda, Ānanda, may be allowed to see the Tathāgata.

Whatever Subhadda may ask of me,
he will ask from a desire for knowledge,
and not to annoy me.

And whatever I may say in answer to his questions,
that he will quickly understand.'

Then the venerable Ānanda said to Subhadda, the Wanderer:

'Enter in, friend Subhadda;
for the Exalted One gives you leave.'

26. Then Subhadda, the Wanderer, went in to the place where the Exalted One was,
and saluted him courteously,
and after exchanging with him the compliments of esteem and of civility,
he took his seat on one side.

And when he was thus seated, Subhadda, the Wanderer, said to the Exalted One:

'The leaders in religious life¹⁰² who are heads of companies of [166] disciples and students,
teachers of students,
well known,
renowned,
founders of schools of doctrine,
esteemed as good men by the multitude -
to wit: Pūraṇa Kassapa,
Makkhali of the cattle-pen,
Agita of the garment of hair,
Kakkāyana of the Pakudha tree,
Sañgaya the son of the Belaṭṭhi slave-girl,
and Nigaṇṭha of the Nātha clan -
have they all,
according to their own assertion,
thoroughly understood things?
or have they not?
or are there some of them who have understood,
and some who have not?'

'Enough, Subhadda!

Let this matter rest whether they,
according to their own assertion,
have thoroughly understood things,
or whether they have not,
or whether some of them have understood
and some have not!

The truth, Subhadda, will I teach you.

Listen well to that,
and give ear attentively,
and I will speak!'

'Even so, lord!'
said the Wanderer Subhadda, in assent, to the Exalted One.

27. And the Exalted One spake:

'In whatsoever doctrine and discipline, Subhadda,
the Aryan eightfold path is not found,
neither in it is there found a man of true saintliness
of the first,
or of the second,
or of the third,
or of the fourth degree.

And in whatsoever doctrine and discipline, Subhadda,
the Aryan eightfold path is found,
in it is found the man of true saintliness of the first,
and the second,
and the third,
and the fourth degree.¹⁰³

Now in this doctrine and discipline, Subhadda,
is found the Aryan eightfold path,
and in it [167] too, are found, Subhadda, the men of true saintliness of all the four degrees.

Void are the systems of other teachers -
void of true saints.

And in this one, Subhadda, may the brethren live the Life that's Right,
so that the world be not bereft of Arahants.¹⁰⁴

But twenty-nine was I when I renounced
The world, Subhadda, seeking after Good.
For fifty years and one year more, Subhadda,
Since I went out, a pilgrim have I been
Through the wide realm of System and of Law
Outside of that no victory can be won!¹⁰⁵

Yea, not of the first,
nor of the second,
nor of the third,
nor of the fourth degree.

Void are the systems of other teachers -
void of true saints.

But in this one, Subhadda,
may the brethren live the perfect life,
that the world be not bereft of Arahants.'

[168] And when he had thus spoken, Subhadda, the Wanderer, said to the Exalted One:

Most excellent, lord, are the words of thy mouth,
most excellent!

Just as if a man were to set up that which is thrown down,
or were to reveal that which is hidden away,
or were to point out the right road to him who has gone astray,
or were to bring a lamp into the darkness,
so that those who have eyes can see external forms -
just even so, lord,
has the truth been made known to me,
in many a figure,
by the Exalted One.

And I, even I, betake myself, lord,
to the Exalted One as my refuge,
to the Truth,
and to the Brotherhood.

I would fain be accepted as a probationer under the Exalted One,
as a full member in his Order.'

29. 'Whosoever, Subhadda, has formerly been a follower of another doctrine,
and thereafter desires to be received into the higher or the lower grade in this doctrine and discipline,
he remains on probation for the space of four months;
and at the end of the four months,
the brethren, exalted in spirit,
receive him into the lower or into the higher grade of the order.

Nevertheless in this case I acknowledge the difference in persons.'

'If, lord, whosoever has formerly been a follower of another doctrine,
and then desires to be received into the higher or the lower grade in this doctrine and discipline, -
if, in that case, such a person remains on probation for the space of four months;
and at the end of the four months,
the brethren, exalted in spirit,
receive him into the lower or into the higher grade of the Order -
I too, then, will remain on probation for the space of four months;
and at the end of the four months let the brethren,
exalted in spirit,
receive me into the lower or into the higher grade of the Order!'

But the Exalted One called the venerable Ānanda and said:

'As it is, Ānanda, receive Subhadda into the Order!'

'Even so. lord!'
said the venerable Ānanda, in assent, to the Exalted One.

[169] And Subhadda, the Wanderer, said to the venerable Ānanda:

'Great is your gain, friend Ānanda,
great is your good fortune, friend Ānanda,
in that you all have been sprinkled with the sprinkling of discipleship in this brotherhood at the hands of the Master himself!'

So Subhadda, the Wanderer, was received into the higher grade of the Order under the Exalted One;
and from immediately after his ordination the venerable Subhadda remained alone and separate,
earnest,
zealous,
and resolved.

And ere long he attained to that supreme goal of the higher life,¹⁰⁶ for the sake of which the clansmen go out from all and every household gain and comfort to become houseless wanderers -
yea, that supreme goal did he, by himself,
and while yet in this visible world,
bring himself to the knowledge of,
and continue to realize,
and to see face to face!

And he became conscious that birth was at an end,
that the higher life had been fulfilled,
that all that should be done had been accomplished,
and that after this present life there would be no beyond!

So the venerable Subhadda became yet another among the Arahants;
and he was the last disciple whom the Exalted One himself converted.¹⁰⁷

End of the Hiraññavatiya portion,
being the Fifth Portion for Recitation.

[171]

Chapter VI

1. Now the Exalted One addressed the venerable Ānanda, and said:

'It may be, Ānanda, that in some of you the thought may arise,
"The word of the master is ended,
we have no teacher more!"

But it is not thus, Ānanda, that you should regard it.

The Truths,
and the Rules of the Order,
which I have set forth and laid down for you all,
let them, after I am gone,
be the Teacher to you.'

2. 'Ānanda! when I am gone address not one another in the way in which the brethren have heretofore addressed each other -
with the epithet that is, of "Avuso" (Friend).

A younger brother may be addressed by an elder with his name,
or his family name,
or the title "Friend."

But an elder should be addressed by a younger brother as
"Sir"
or as
"Venerable Sir."¹⁰⁸

3. 'When I am gone, Ānanda, let the Order, if it should so wish,
abolish all the lesser and minor precepts.'¹⁰⁹

4. 'When I am gone, Ānanda, let the higher penalty be imposed on brother Channa.'

'But what, lord, is the higher penalty?'

'Let Channa say whatever he may like, Ānanda,
the [172] brethren should neither speak to him,
nor exhort him,
nor admonish him.'¹¹⁰

5. Then the Exalted One addressed the brethren, and said:

'It may be, brethren, that there may be doubt or misgiving in the mind of some brother as to the Buddha,
or the doctrine,
or the path,
or the method.¹¹¹

Inquire, brethren, freely.

Do not have to reproach yourselves afterwards with the thought:

"Our teacher was face to face with us,
and we could not bring ourselves to inquire of the Exalted One when we were face to face with him."'

And when he had thus spoken the brethren were silent.

And again the second time the Exalted One addressed the brethren, and said:

'It may be, brethren, that there may be doubt or misgiving in the mind of smne brother as to the Buddha,
or the doctrine,
or the path,
or the method.

Inquire, brethren, freely.

Do not have to reproach yourselves afterwards with the thought:

"Our teacher was face to face with us,
and we could not bring ourselves to inquire of the Exalted One when we were face to face with him."'

And a second time, when he had thus spoken the brethren were silent.

And again the third time the Exalted One addressed the brethren, and said:

'It may be, brethren, that there may be doubt or misgiving in the mind of smne brother as to the Buddha,
or the doctrine,
or the path,
or the method.

Inquire, brethren, freely.

Do not have to reproach yourselves afterwards with the thought:

"Our teacher was face to face with us,
and we could not bring ourselves to inquire of the Exalted One when we were face to face with him."'

And even the third time the brethren were silent.

Then the Exalted One addressed the brethren, and said:

'It may be, brethren, that you put no questions out of reverence for the teacher.

Let one friend communicate to another.'

And when he had thus spoken the brethren were silent.

6. And the venerable Ānanda said to the Exalted [173] One:

'How wonderful a thing is it, lord, and how marvellous!

Verily, I believe that in this whole assembly of the brethren there is not one brother who has any doubt or misgiving as to the Buddha,
or the doctrine,
or the path,
or the method!'

'It is out of the fullness of faith that thou hast spoken, Ānanda!

But, Ānanda, the Tathāgata knows for certain that in this whole assembly of the brethren there is not one brother who has any doubt or misgiving as to the Buddha,
or the doctrine,
or the path,
or the method!

For even the most backward, Ānanda,
of all these five hundred brethren has become converted,
is no longer liable to be born in a state of suffering,
and is assured of hereafter attaining to the Enlightenment
[of Arahantship].¹¹²

7. Then the Exalted One addressed the brethren, and said:

"Behold now, brethren, I exhort you, saying:

'Decay is inherent in all component things!
Work out your salvation with diligence!'"

This was the last word of the Tathāgata!

8. Then the Exalted One entered into the first stage of Rapture.¹¹³

And rising out of the first stage he passed into the second.

And rising out of the second he passed into the third.

And rising out of the third stage he passed into the fourth.

And rising out of the fourth stage of Rapture,
he entered into the state of mind to which the infinity of space is alone present.¹¹⁴

And passing out of the mere consciousness of the infinity of space
he entered into the state of mind to which the infinity of thought is alone present.

And passing out of the mere consciousness of the [174] infinity of thought
he entered into a state of mind to which nothing at all was specially present.

And passing out of the consciousness of no special object
he fell into a state between consciousness and unconsciousness.

And passing out of the state between consciousness and unconsciousness
he fell into a state in which the consciousness both of sensations and of ideas had wholly passed away.¹¹⁵

Then the venerable Ānanda said to the venerable Anuruddha:

0 my lord, 0 Anuruddha, the Exalted 0ne is dead!'

'Nay! brother Ānanda, the Exalted One is not dead.

He has entered into that state in which both sensations and ideas have ceased to be!'

9. Then the Exalted One passing out of the state in which both sensations and ideas have ceased to be,
entered into the state between consciousness and unconsciousness.

And passing out of the state between consciousness and unconsciousness
he entered into the state of mind to which nothing at all is specially present.

And passing out of the consciousness of no special object
he entered into the state of mind to which the infinity of thought is alone present.

And passing out of the mere consciousness of the infinity of thought
he entered into the state of mind to which the infinity of space is alone present.

And passing out of the mere consciousness of the infinity of space
he entered into the fourth stage of Rapture.

And passing out of the fourth stage
he entered into the third.

And passing out of the third stage
he entered into the second.

And passing out of the second
he entered into the first.

And passing out of the first stage of Rapture
he entered into the second.

And passing out of the second stage
he entered into the [175] third.

And passing out of the third stage
he entered into the fourth stage of Rapture.

And passing out of the last stage of Rapture
he immediately expired.

10. When the Exalted One died there arose,
at the moment of his passing out of existence,
a mighty earthquake,
terrible and awe-inspiring:
and the thunders of heaven burst forth.

When the Exalted One died, Brahma Sahampati,
at the moment of his passing away from existence,
uttered this stanza:

They all, all beings that have life, shall lay
Aside their complex form - that aggregation
Of mental and material qualities,
That gives them, or in heaven or on earth,
Their fleeting individuality!
E'en as the teacher-being such a one,
Unequalled among all the men that are,
Successor of the prophets of old time,
Mighty by wisdom, and in insight clear -
Hath died!'¹¹⁶

When the Exalted One died, Sakka,
the king of the gods,
at the moment of his passing away from existence,
uttered this stanza:

They're transient all, each being's parts and powers,
Growth is their very nature, and decay. [176]
They are produced, they are dissolved again:
To bring them all into subjection - that is bliss.'¹¹⁷

When the Exalted One died, the venerable Anuruddha, at the moment of his passing away from existence,
uttered these stanzas:

When he who from all craving want was free,
Who to Nirvana's tranquil state had reached,
When the great sage finished his span of life.
No gasping struggle vexed that steadfast heart!

All resolute, and with unshaken mind,
He calmly triumphed o'er the pain of death.
E'en as a bright flame dies away, so was
The last emancipation of his heart.'

[177] When the Exalted One died, the venerable Ānanda, at the moment of his passing away from existence,
uttered this stanza:

'Then was there terror!
Then stood the hair on end!
When he endowed with every grace
The supreme Buddha-died!'¹¹⁸

¹¹⁹When the Exalted One died,
of those of the brethren who were not yet free from the passions,
some stretched out their arms and wept,
and some fell headlong on the ground,
rolling to and fro in anguish at the thought:

'Too soon has the Exalted One died!

Too soon has the Happy One passed away!

Too soon has the Light gone out in the world!'

But those of the brethren who were free from the passions
[the Arahants]
bore their grief collected and composed at the thought:

'Impermanent are all component things!

How is it possible -
whereas anything whatever born,
brought into being,
and organized,
contains within itself the inherent necessity of dissolution -
how then can this be possible that such a being should not be dissolved?'

11. Then the venerable Anuruddha exhorted the brethren, and said:

'Enough, my brethren!

Weep not, neither lament!

Has not the Exalted One formerly declared this to us,
that it is in the very nature of all things near and dear unto us,
that we must divide ourselves from them,
leave them,
sever ourselves from them?

How then, brethren, can this be possible
that whereas anything whatever born,
brought into being,
and organized,
contains within itself the inherent necessity of dissolution -
how then can this be possible that such a being should not be dissolved?

No such [178] condition can exist!

Even the spirits, brethren, will reproach us.'¹²⁰

'But of what kind of spirits, Sir,
is the venerable Anuruddha thinking?'

'There are spirits, brother Ānanda,
in the sky,
but of worldly mind,
who dishevel their hair and weep,
and stretch forth their arms and weep,
fall prostrate on the ground,
and roll to and fro in anguish at the thought:

'Too soon has the Exalted One died!

Too soon has the Happy One passed away!

Too soon has the Light gone out in the world!'

'There are spirits, too, Ānanda,
on the earth,
and of worldly mind, who tear their hair and weep,
and stretch forth their arms and weep,
fall prostrate on the [179] ground,
and roll to and fro in anguish at the thought:

'Too soon has the Exalted One died!

Too soon has the Happy One passed away!

Too soon has the Light gone out in the world!'

But the spirits who are free from passion
bear it, calm and self-possessed,
mindful of the saying which begins: -

"Impermanent indeed are all component things.

How then is it possible
that whereas anything whatever born,
brought into being,
and organized,
contains within itself the inherent necessity of dissolution -
how then can this be possible that such a being should not be dissolved?

No such condition can exist!?"'¹²¹

12. Now the venerable Anuruddha and the venerable Ānanda spent the rest of that night in religious discourse.

Then the venerable Anuruddha said to the venerable Ānanda:

'Go now, brother Ānanda, into Kusinārā and inform the Mallas of Kusinārā, saying:

The Exalted One, 0 Vāseṭṭhas, is dead;
do, then, whatever seemeth to you fit!"'

'Even so, lord!'
said the venerable Ānanda, in assent, to the venerable Anuruddha.

And having robed himself early in the morning,
he took his bowl,
and went into Kusinārā with one of the brethren as an attendant.

Now at that time the Mallas of Kusinārā were assembled in the council hall concerning that very matter.

And the venerable Ānanda went to the council hall of the Mallas of Kusinārā;
and when he had arrived there,
he informed them, saying:

'The Blessed One, 0 Vāseṭṭhas, is dead;
do, then, whatever seemeth to you fit!'

And when they had heard this saying of the venerable Ānanda,
the Ma1las, with their young men and their maidens and their wives,
were grieved,
and sad,
and afflicted at heart.

And some of them wept, dishevelling their hair,
and some stretched forth their arms and wept,
falling prostrate on the ground,
and rolling to and fro in anguish at the thought:

'Too soon has the Exalted One died!

Too soon has [180] the Happy One passed away!

Too soon has the Light gone out in the world!'

13. Then the Mallas of Kusinārā gave orders to their attendants, saying:

'Gather together perfumes and garlands,
and all the music in Kusinārā!'

And the Mallas of Kusinārā took the perfumes and garlands,
and all the musical instruments,
and five hundred suits of apparel,
and went to the Upavattana,
to the Sāla Grove of the Mallas,
where the body of the Exalted One lay.

There they passed the day in paying honour,
reverence,
respect,
and homage to the remains of the Exalted One with dancing,
and hymns,
and music,
and with garlands and perfumes;
and in making canopies of their garments,
and preparing decoration wreaths to hang thereon.¹²²

Then the Mallas of Kusinārā thought:

'It is much too late to burn the body of the Exalted One to-day.

Let us now perform the cremation to-morrow.'

And in paying honour,
reverence,
respect,
and homage to the remains of the Exalted One
with dancing,
and hymns,
and music,
and with garlands and perfumes;
and in making canopies of their garments,
and preparing decoration wreaths to hang thereon,
they passed the second day too,
and then the third day,
and the fourth,
and the fifth,
and the sixth day also.

14. Then on the seventh day the Mallas of Kusinārā thought:

[181] 'Let us carry the body of the Exalted One,
by the south and outside,
to a spot on the south,
and outside of the city, -
paying it honour,
and reverence,
and respect,
and homage,
with dance,
and song,
and music,
with garlands and perfumes, -
and there, to the south of the city,
let us perform the cremation ceremony!'

And thereupon eight chieftains among the Mallas bathed their heads,
and clad themselves in new garments
with the intention of bearing the body of the Exalted One.

But, behold, they could not lift it up!

Then the Mallas of Kusinārā said to the venerable Anuruddha:

'What, lord, can be the reason,
what can be the cause,
that eight chieftains of the Mallas
who have bathed their heads,
and clad themselves in new garments
with the intention of bearing the body of the Exalted One,
are unable to lift it up?'

It is because you, 0 Vāseṭṭhas, have one purpose,
and the spirits have another purpose.'

15. 'But what, lord, is the purpose of the spirits?'

Your purpose, 0 Vāseṭṭhas, is this:

'Let us carry the body of the Exalted One,
by the south and outside,
to a spot on the south,
and outside of the city, -
paying it honour,
and reverence,
and respect,
and homage,
with dance,
and song,
and music,
with garlands and perfumes, -
and there, to the south of the city,
let us perform the cremation ceremony!'

But the purpose of the spirits, Vāseṭṭhas, is this:

Let us carry the body of the Exalted One by the north
to the north of the city,
and entering the city by the north gate,
let us bring it through the midst of the city
into the midst thereof.

And going out again by the eastern gate,
paying honour,
and reverence,
and respect,
and homage to the body of the Exalted One,
with heavenly dance,
and song,
and music,
and garlands,
and perfumes,
let us carry it to the shrine of the Mallas called Makuṭa-bandhana,
to the east of the city,
and there 1et us perform the cremation ceremony.'

Even according to the purpose of the spirits,
so, lord, let it be.'

[182] 16. Then immediately all Kusinārā down even to the dust bins and rubbish heaps became strewn kneedeep with Mandārava flowers from heaven!
and while both the spirits from the skies,
and the Mallas of Kusinārā upon earth,
paid honour,
and reverence,
and respect,
and homage to the body of the Exalted One,
with dance,
and song,
and music,
with garlands,
and with perfumes,
they carried the body by the north
to the north of the city;
and entering the city by the north gate
they carried it through the midst of the city
into the midst thereof;
and going out again by the eastern gate
they carried it to the shrine of the Mallas,
called Makuṭa-bandhana; and there,
to the east of the city,
they laid down the body of the Exalted One.¹²³

17¹²⁴ Then the Mallas of Kusinārā said to the venerable Ānanda:

'What should be done, lord,
with the remains of the Tathāgata?'

'As men treat the remains of a king of kings,
so, Vāseṭṭhas, should they treat the remains of a Tathāgata.'

'And how, lord, do they treat the remains of a king of kings?'

'They wrap the body of a king of kings, Vāseṭṭhas,
in a new cloth.

When that is done
they wrap it in carded cotton wool.

When that is done
they wrap it in a new cloth,
and so on till they have wrapped the body in five hundred successive layers of both kinds.

Then they place the body in an oil vessel of iron,
and cover that close up with another oil vessel of iron.

They then build a funeral pyre of all kinds of perfumes,
[183]and burn the body of the king of kings.

And then at the four cross roads they erect a cairn to the king of kings.

This, Vāseṭṭhas, is the way in which they treat the remains of a king of kings.

'And as they treat the remains of a king of kings,
so, Ānanda, should they treat the remains of the Tathāgata.

At the four cross roads a cairn should be erected to the Tathāgata.

And whosoever shall there place garlands or perfumes or paint,
or make salutation there,
or become in its presence calm in heart -
that shall long be to them for a profit and a joy.'

18. Therefore the Mallas gave orders to their attendants, saying:

'Gather together all the carded cotton wool of the Mallas!'

Then the Mallas of Kusinārā wrapped the body of the Exalted One in a new cloth.

And when that was done,
they wrapped it in carded cotton wool.

And when that was done,
they wrapped it in a new cloth -
and so on till they had wrapped the body of the Exalted One in five hundred layers of both kinds.

And then they placed the body in an oil vessel of iron,
and covered that close up with another oil vessel of iron.

And then they built a funeral pyre of all kinds of perfumes,
and upon it they placed the body of the Exalted One.

19. Now at that time the venerable Mahā Kassapa was journeying along the high road from Pāvā to Kusinārā with a great company of the brethren,
with about five hundred of the brethren.

And the venerable Mahā Kassapa left the high road,
and sat himself down at the foot of a certain tree.

Just at that time a certain naked ascetic¹²⁵ who had picked up a Mandārava flower in Kusinārā
was coming along the high road to Pāvā.

Now the venerable Mahā Kassapa saw the naked ascetic coming in the distance;
and when he had seen him he said to that naked ascetic:

[184] '0 friend! surely thou knowest our Master?'

'Yea, friend!

I know him.

This day the Samaṇa Gotama has been dead a week!

That is how I obtained this Mandārava flower.'

On that of those of the brethren who were not yet free from the passions,
some stretched out their arms and wept,
and some fell headlong on the ground,
and some reeled to and fro in anguish at the thought:

'Too soon has the Exalted One died!

Too soon has the Happy One passed away!

Too soon has the Light gone out in the world!'

But those of the brethren who were free from the passions
[the Arahants]
bore their grief self-possessed and composed at the thought:-' Impermanent are all component things! How is it possible -
whereas anything whatever born,
brought into being,
and organized,
contains within itself the inherent necessity of dissolution -
how then can this be possible that such a being should not be dissolved?'

20. Now at that time a brother named Subhadda,
who had been received into the Order in his old age,
was seated in that company.¹²⁶

And Subhadda the recruit in his old age
said to those brethren:

'Enough, sirs!

Weep not, neither lament!

We are well rid of the great Samaṇa.

We used to be annoyed by being told:

"This beseems you,
this beseems you not."

But now we shall be able to do whatever we like;
and what we do not like,
that we shall not have to do!'

But the venerable Mahā Kassapa exhorted the brethren:

'Enough, my brethren!

Weep not, neither lament!

Has not the Exalted One formerly declared this,
that it is in the very nature of all things near and dear unto us that we must divide ourselves [185] from them,
leave them,
sever ourselves frotn them?

How then, brethren can this be possible -
whereas anything whatever born,
brought into being,
and organized
contains within itself the inherent necessity of dissolution -
how then can this be possible
that such a being should not be dissolved?

No such condition can exist!'

21. Now just at that time four chieftains of the Mallas had bathed their heads and clad themselves in new garments with the intention of setting on fire the funeral pyre of the Exalted One.

But, behold, they were unable to set it alight!

Then the Mallas of Kusinārā said to the venerable Anuruddha:

'What, lord, can be the reason,
and what the cause that four chieftains of the Mallas having bathed their heads and clad themselves in new garments with the intention of setting on fire the funeral pyre of the Exalted One
were unable to set it alight?

The purpose of the spirits, 0 Vāseṭṭhas, is different.'

'But what, sir. is the purpose of the spirits?'

The purpose of the spirits, 0 Vāseṭṭhas, is this:

That venerable brother Mahā Kassapa is now journeying along the way from Pāvā to Kusinārā with a great company of the brethren,
with five hundred brethren.

The funeral pyre of the Exalted One shall not catch fire until the venerable Mahā Kassapa shall have been able reverently to salute the feet of the Exalted One.'

'Even according to the purpose of the spirits so, sir, let it be!'

22. Then the venerable Mahā Kassapa went on to Makuṭa-bandhana of Kusinārā, to the shrine of the Mallas,
to the place where the funeral pyre of the Exalted One was.

And when he had come up to it he arranged his robe on one shoulder;
and after bowing down with clasped hands,
he thrice walked reverently round the pyre,
and then, uncovering the feet,
he bowed down in reverence at the feet of the Exalted One.

And those five hundred brethren arranged their robes on one shoulder;
and bowing down with clasped [186] hands,
they thrice walked reverently round the pyre,
and then bowed down in reverence at the feet of the Exalted One.

And when the homage of the venerable Mahā Kassapa and of those five hundred brethren was ended,
the funeral pyre of the Exalted One caught fire of itself.¹²⁷

23. Now as the body of the Exalted One burned itself away,
from the skin and the integument,
and the flesh,
and the nerves,
and the fluid of the joints,
neither soot nor ash was seen.

Only the bones remained behind.

Just as one sees no soot or ash when ghee or oil is burned;
so, as the body of the Exalted One burned itself away,
from the skin and the integument,
and the flesh,
and the nerves,
and the fluid of the joints,
neither soot nor ash was seen.

Only the bones remained behind.

And of those five hundred pieces of raiment the very innermost and outermost were both consumed.

And when the body of the Exalted One had been burnt up,
there came down streams of water from the sky and extinguished the funeral pyre of the Exalted One;
and there burst forth streams of water from the storehouse of the waters
[beneath the earth],
and extinguished the funeral pyre of the Exalted One.

The Mallas of Kusinārā also brought water scented [187] with all kinds of perfumes,
and extinguished the funeral pyre of the Exalted One'.¹²⁸

Then the Mallas of Kusinārā surrounded the bones of the Exalted One in their council hall with a lattice Work of spears,
and with a rampart of bows;
and there for seven days they paid honour,
and reverence,
and respect,
and homage to them with dance,
and song,
and music,
and with garlands
and perfumes.

24. Now the king of Magadha, Ajātasattu, the son of the queen of the Videha clan,
heard the news that the Exalted One had died at Kusinārā.

Then the king of Magadha, Ajātasattu, the son of the queen of the Videha clan,
sent a messenger to the Mallas, saying,

'The Exalted One was a Kshatriya and so am I.

I am worthy to receive a portion of the relics of the Exalted One.

Over the remains of the Exalted One will I put up a sacred cairn,
and in their honour will I celebrate a feast!'

And the Licchavis of Vesāli heard the news that the Exalted One had died at Kusinārā.

And the Licchavis of Vesāli sent a messenger to the Mallas, saying:

'The Exalted One was a Kshatriya and so are we.

We are worthy to receive a portion of the relics of the Exalted One.

Over the remains of the Exalted One will we put up a sacred cairn,
and in their honour will we celebrate a feast!'

And the Sakiyas of Kapilavatthu heard the news that the Exalted One had died at Kusinārā.

And the [188] Sakiyas of Kapilavatthu sent a messenger to the Mallas, saying:

'The Exalted One was the pride of our race.

We are worthy to receive a portion of the relics of the Exalted One.

Over the remains of the Exalted One will we put up a sacred cairn,
and in their honour will we celebrate a feast!'

And the Bulis of Allakappa heard the news that the Exalted One had died at Kusinārā.

And the Bulis of Allakappa sent a messenger to the Mallas, saying:

'The Exalted One was a Kshatriya and so are we.

We are worthy to receive a portion of the relics of the Exalted One.

Over the remains of the Exalted One will we put up a sacred cairn,
and in their honour will we celebrate a feast!'

And the Koliyas of Rāmagāma heard the news that the Exalted One had died at Kusinārā.

And the Koliyas of Rāmagāma sent a messenger to the Mallas, saying:

'The Exalted One was a Kshatriya and so are we.

We are worthy to receive a portion of the relics of the Exalted One.

Over the remains of the Exalted One will we put up a sacred cairn,
and in their honour will we celebrate a feast!'

And the brahmin of Veṭhadīpa heard the news that the Exalted One had died at Kusinārā.

And the brahmin of Veṭhadīpa sent a messenger to the Mallas, saying:

'The Exalted One was a Kshatriya,
and I am a brahmin.

I am worthy to receive a portion of the relics of the Exalted One.

Over the remains of the Exalted One will I put up a sacred cairn,
and in their honour will I celebrate a feast!'

And the Mallas of Pāvā heard the news that the Exalted One had died at Kusinārā.

Then the Mallas of Pāvā sent a messenger to the Mallas, saying:

'The Exalted One was a Kshatriya and so are we.

We arc worthy to receive a portion of the relics of the Exalted One.

Over the remains of the Exalted One will we put up a sacred cairn,
and in their honour will we celebrate a feast!'

[189] 25. When they heard these things the Mallas of Kusinārā spoke to the assembled crowds, saying:

The Exalted One died in our village domain.

'We will not give away any part of the remains of the Exalted One!'

When they had thus spoken, Doṇa the brahmin addressed the assembled crowds, and said:

'Hear, gracious sirs, one single word from me.
Forbearance was our Buddha wont to teach.
Unseemly is it that over the division
Of the remains of him who was the best of beings
Strife should arise, and wounds, and war.
Let us all, sirs, with one accord unite
In friendly harmony to make eight portions.
Wide spread let cairns spring up in every land
That in the Light of the world mankind may trust!'

'Do thou then, 0 brahmin, thyself divide the remains of the Exalted One equally into eight parts,
with fair division.'¹²⁹

'Be it so, sirs!' said Doṇa the brahmin, in assent, to the assembled brethren.

And he divided the remains of the Exalted One equally into eight parts,
with fair division.

And he said to them:

'Give me, sirs, this vessel,
and I will set up over it a sacred cairn,
and in its honour will I establish a feast.'

And they gave the vessel to Doṇa the brahmin.

26. And the Moriyas of Pipphalivana heard the news that the Exalted One had died at Kusinārā.

Then the Moriyas of Pipphalivana sent a messenger to the Mallas, saying:

'The Exalted One was a Kshatriya and so are we.

We are worthy to receive a portion of the relics of the Exalted One.

Over the remains of the Exalted One will we put up a sacred cairn,
and in their honour will we celebrate a feast!'

And when they heard the answer, saying:

'There is [190] no portion of the remains of the Exalted One left over.

The remains of the Exalted One are all distributed,'
then they took away the embers.

27. So the king of Magadha, Ajātasattu, the son of the queen of the Videha clan,
made a cairn in Rājagaha over the remains of the Exalted One,
and celebrated a feast.

And the Licchavis of Vesāli made a cairn in Vesāli over the remains of the Exalted One,
and celebrated a feast.

And the Sākiyas of Kapilavatthu made a cairn in Kapilavatthu over the remains of the Exalted One,
and celebrated a feast.

And the Bulis of Allakappa made a cairn in Aliakappa over the remains of the Exalted One,
and celebrated a feast.

And the Koliyas of Rāmagāma made a cairn in Rāmagāma over the remains of the Exalted One,
and celebrated a feast.

And Veṭhadīpaka the brahmin made a cairn in Veṭhadīpaka over the remains of the Exalted One,
and celebrated a feast.

And the Mallas of Pāvā made a cairn in Pāvā over the remains of the Exalted One,
and celebrated a feast.

And the Mallas of Kusinārā made a cairn in Kusinārā over the remains of the Exalted One,
and celebrated a feast.

And Doṇa the brahmin made a cairn over the vessel [in which the remains had been collected] and celebrated a feast.

And the Moriyas of Pipphalivana made a cairn over the embers, and celebrated a feast.

Thus were there eight cairns (Thupas) for the remains,
and one for the vessel,
and one for the embers.

This was how it used to be.¹³⁰

[191] 28. Eight measures of relics there were of him of the far-seeing eye,
Of the best of the best of men. In India seven are worshipped,
And one measure in Rāmagāma, by the kings of the serpent race.
One tooth, too, is honoured in heaven, and one in Gandhāra's city,
One in the Kālinga realm, and one more by the Nāga race.
Through their glory the bountiful earth is made bright with offerings painless -
For with such are the Great Teacher's relics best honoured by those who are honoured,
By gods and by Nāgas and kings, yea, thus by the noblest of hun1ans
Bow down with clasped hands!
Hard, hard is a Buddha to meet with through hundreds of ages!]

End of the Book of the Great Decease.

i1 Introduction to the Vinaya, xxvi-xxviii.

i2 It does not quite follow that the Vinaya is borrowing direct from the Dīgha. That may be so. But the Subhadda story may have been in existence before either Dīgha or Vinaya was put into its present shape. If so, it was doubtless current in the form now preserved by the Dīgha; and was changed by the compilers of the Vinaya. Both Oldenberg (loc. cit.) and Franke (J.P.T.S., 1908, 8-12) suppose the Vinaya to be borrowing from the Dīgha. It is quite possible that the two books - Dīgha and Vinaya - may have been put together, as we now have them, at the same time.

i3 It is admitted there were no reporters present. There were at the time of the Buddha's death no mechanical means available for writing anything beyond the most meagre notes.

i4 'Dialogues,' I, x-xx; 'Buddhist India,' 161-208.

¹ Ajātasattu Vedehīputto. The first word is not a personal name but an official epithet, 'he against whom there has arisen no (worthy or equal) foe' (so already in the Rig Veda but Sum. I 31 different). The second gives us the maiden family, or tribal (not personal) name of his mother. Her name, according to a Tibetan authority quoted by Rockhill, 'Life of the Buddha,' p. 63, was Vāsavī.
Persons of distinction arc scarcely eyer mentioned by name in Indian Buddhist hooks, a rule applying more especially to kings, but extended not unfrequently to private persons. Thus Upatissa, the disciple whom the Buddha himself declared to be 'the second founder of the kingdom of righteousness,' is referred to either as Dhamma-senāpati or as Sāriputta; epithets of corresponding origin to those in the text. See above, Vol. 1, pp. 193-5.
By the Jains Ajātasattu is called Kūṇika or Koṇika, which again is probably not the name given to him at the rice-eating (the ceremony corresponding to infant baptism), but a nickname acquired in after-life.

² Evam mahiddihike evam mahānubhāve. There is nothing magical or supernatural about the iddhi here referred to. Etena tesaṃ samagga-bhāvaṃ kathesi says the commentator simply: thus referring the former adjective to the power of union, as he does the second to the power derived from practice in military tactics (hatthisippādīhi). See above, Vol. I, p. 273.

³ The wording of §2 is here repeated. [Ed.: included in this version.]

⁴ In the text there is a question, answer, and reply with each clause.

⁵ Cetiyāni, which Sum. VII. explains as Yakkha-cetiyāni.

⁶ The commentator adds that this was a vihara erected on the site of a former shrine of the Yakkha Sārandada. The teaching referred to is set out in full at A. IV, 16, but the persons taught are there called Licchavis.

⁷ 'Overcome' is literally 'done' (karaṇīya), but the word evidently has a similar sense to that which 'done' occasionally has in colloquial English. Upalāpana, which I have only met with here, must mean 'humbug, cajolery, diplomacy;' see the use of the verb upa-lāpeti, at S. I, 102; Vin. II, I 19; IV, 139; Jāt. II, 266, 267; IV, 56. Sum. VII. explains it, at some length, as making an alliance, by gifts, with hostile intent, which comes to much the same thing. The root, I think, is lī.

⁸ The word translated 'brethren' throughout is in the original bhikkhu, a word most difficult to render adequately by any word which would not, to Christians and in Europe, connote something different from the Buddhist idea. A bhikkhu, literally 'beggar,' was a disciple who had joined Gotama's order; but the word refers to their renunciation of worldly things, rather than to their consequent mendicancy; and they did not really beg in our modern sense of the word. Hardy has 'priests;' I have elsewhere used 'monks' and sometimes 'beggars' and 'members of the order.' This last is, I think, the best rendering; but it is too long for constant repetition, as in this passage, and too complex to be a really good version of bhikkhu. The members of the order were not priests, for they had no priestly powers. They were not monks, for they took no vow of obedience, and could leave the order (and constantly did so and do so still) whenever they chose. They were not beggars, for they had none of the mental and moral qualities associated with that word. 'Brethren' connotes very much the position in which they stood to one another; but I wish there were a better word to use in rendering bhikkhu.

⁹ The blundering misstatement that Buddhism teaches the suppression of desire (not of wrong desire) is still occasionally met with. The question is fully discussed in Mrs. Rhys Davids's article on 'The Will in Buddhism' (J.R.A.S., 1898).

¹⁰ This is an interesting analogue to Philippians iii. I 3: - 'I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark,' etc. See also below, Chap. V, § 68.

¹¹ The exact distinction between hiri and ottappa is here explained by Buddhaghosa as loathing sin as contrasted with fear of sin. But this is rather a gloss than an exact and exclusive definition. Ahirikā is shamelessness, anotappaṃ frowardness. At Jāt. I, 207 we find hiri described as subjective, and ottappa as objective, modesty of heart as contrasted with decency in outward behaviour. See further Mrs. Rhys Davids in 'Buddhist Psychology,' p. 20.

¹² Buddhaghosa takes this in a spiritual sense. He says: - 'These virtues are bhujissāni because they bring one to the state of a free man by delivering him from the slavery of craving.'

¹³ The commentator explains: - 'These virtues are called aparāmaṭṭhāni because they are untarnished by craving or delusion, and because no one can say of him who practises them, "you have been already guilty of such and such a fault." Craving is here the hope of a future life in heaven, and delusion the belief in the efficacy of rites and ceremonies (the two nissayas), which are condemned as unworthy inducements to virtue. At A. III, 132 these five qualities are ca1led phāsu-vihārā, states of bliss.

¹⁴ This paragraph is spoken of as if it were a well-known summary, and it is constantly repeated below. The word I have here rendered 'earnest contemplation' is samādhi, which occupies in the Five Nikāyas very much the same position as faith does in the New Testament; and this section shows that the relative importance of samādhi, paññā, and sīla played a part in early Buddhism just as the distinction between faith, reason, and works did afterwards in Western theology. It would be difficult to find a passage in which the Buddhist view of the relation of these conflicting ideas is stated with greater beauty of thought, or equal succinctness of form. See further Rhys Davids's 'The Yogavacara's Manual of Indian Mysticism,' pp. xxv foll., and above, Vol. I, p. 156. Also E.W. West, 'Pahlavi Texts,' III, 37; Aṇguttara I, 233; Itivuttaka, No. 59.
The expression 'set round with' is in Pāli paribhāvita. In a constantly recurring simile (M. I, 104; S. III, 153) eggs are said to be paribhāvitāni by a brooding hen. In medicine the word means 'charged with, impregnated with.' See Jāt. I, 380; IV, 407; and compare Mil. 361, 382, 394. Comp. Bhag. Gītā III 38 for this simile.

¹⁵ Afterwards the seat of the famous Buddhist University for so many centuries the centre of learning in India.

¹⁶ The following conversation is also given at length in the Sampasadāniya Suttanta of the Dīgha Nikāya, and a third time in the Satipaṭṭhāna Saṃyutta of the Saṃyutta Nikāya (S. V, 159). It was evidently a very popular passage, and is quite possibly the one referred to in Asoka's Bhabra Edict as the 'Question of Upatissa,' that is, of Sāriputta.

¹⁷ Arahant Buddhas. The meaning of these words must have been very present to the minds of those who used them at the time of the rise of what we call Buddhism; and there was little or no difference between the connotation of the two terms. As time went on the two were more and more differentiated, and hardened into technical terms. See Saṃyutta III, 65 on the difference between the two: and see Saṃyutta I, 233; III, 160; IV, 175 for very old explanations of Arahā, and Paṭisambhidā I, 172 for an ancient commentary on the meaning of Buddha.

¹⁸ The tertium quid of the comparison is the completeness of the knowledge. Sāriputta acknowledges that he was wrong in jumping to the wide conclusion that his 0wn lord and master was the wisest of all the teachers of the different religious systems that were known to him. So far-after the cross-examination by the Buddha - he admits that his knowledge does not reach. But he maintains that he does know that which is, to him, after all the main thing, namely, that all the Buddhas must have passed through the process here laid down as leading up to the Enlightenment of Arahantship.
All the details he gives are details, not of Buddhahood, but of Arahantship. He makes no distinction between the two states of attainment. This is most important for the history of that Buddhology, which, in after centuries, was the main factor in the downfall of Buddhism.

¹⁹ Four such states are mentioned, apāya, duggati, vinipāto, and nirayo, all of which are temporary states. The first three seem to be synonyms. The last is one of the four divisions into which the first is usually divided, and is often translated hell; but not being an eternal state, and not being dependent or consequent upon any judgement, it cannot be accurately so rendered. See p. 51.

²⁰ Compare Vinaya III, 93.

²¹ The curious popular belief as to good and bad fairies haunting the sites of houses gave rise to a quack science, akin to astrology, called vatthu-vijjā, which Buddhaghosa explains here at some length, and which is frequently condemned elsewhere in the Five Nikāyas. See, for instance, I of the Mahā-sīlam, translated above, Vol. I, p. 18. The belief is turned to ridicule in the edifying legend, No. 40, in my 'Buddhist Birth Stories,' pp. 326-34.

²² This paragraph is of importance to the orthodox Buddhist as proving the Buddha's power of prophecy and the authority of the Buddhist scriptures. To those who conclude that such a passage must have been written after the event that is prophesied (if any), it may be valuable evidence of the age both of the Vinaya and of this Mahā Parinibbāna Suttanta. See the note at 'Vinaya Texts,' II. 102.

²³ Tāsaṃ dakkhiṇaṃ ādise. See Therī Gāthā 307, 311; Mil. 294.

²⁴ That is, those who cross the 'ocean drear' of taṇhā, or craving; avoiding by means of the 'dyke' or causeway of the Aryan Path, the 'pools' or shallows of lust, and ignorance, and delusion (comp. Dhp. 91), whilst the vain world looks for salvation from rites, and ceremonies, and gods, - 'these are the wise, these are the saved indeed!'

²⁵ As will be observed from the similar passages that follow, there is a regular sequence of clauses in the set descriptions of the Buddha's movements. The last clause should specify the particular grove or house where the Exalted One stayed; but it is also (in this and one or two other cases) inserted with due regularity even when it adds nothing positive to the sense.

²⁶ Compare below, Chapter IV, §§ 2, 3; p. 131.

²⁷ At first Nādika is (twice) spoken of in the plural number (a clan name); but then, thirdly, in the last clause, in the singular (a local name derived from the clan-name). Buddhaghosa explains this by saying that there were two villages of the same name on the shore of the same piece of water. The 'Brick Hall' was the public restingplace for travellers, and the name is noteworthy as almost all buildings were then of wood.
The expression used here is an idiomatic phrase descriptive of the arrival of travellers at a place: - 'and there, at X. so and so stayed in Y.' where X. is the name of the town or village, and Y. is the lodgingplace the traveller occupies. (See just above in § 1 for a good instance.) The first name, the name X., is always the name of the town, and never an adjective in agreement with the second name. It seems simple enough; but even the best Sanskritists appear sometimes to be unfamiliar with the force of this Pāli idiom.

²⁸ See Rhys Davids's 'Buddhism,' pp. 108-10; above, Vol. I, pp. 190-2; below, at VI. 6, and in the translation of D. II, 201; also Divyāvadāna, pp. 533-4.

²⁹ See above, I, 11.

³⁰ Quoted Mil. 378.

³¹ This doctrine of being 'mindful and self-possessed' is one of the lessons most frequently inculcated in the Pāli Piṭakas, and is one of the 'Seven Jewels of the Law.' It is fully treated of in each of the Nikāyas, forming the subject of the Mahā Satippaṭṭhāna Suttanta in the Dīgha Nikāya, and the Satippaṭṭhāna Suttanta of the Majjhima Nikāya, and the Satippaṭṭhāna Saṃyutta of the Saṃyutta Nikāya, as well as of various passages in the Aṇguttara Nikāya, and of the Vibhaṇga. See above, Vol. I, pp. 80, 81; and the translation, below, of pp. 290 foll. of the text. The point is there discussed in detail.
Buddhaghosa has no comment here on the subject itself, reserving what he has to say for the comment on the Suttantas devoted entirely to it; but he observes in passing that the reason why the Exalted One laid stress, at this particular time and place, on the necessity of being 'mindful and thoughtful,' was because of the imminent approach of the beautiful courtezan in whose grove they were staying. The use of the phrase sati upaṭṭhāpetabbā below, Chap. V, 9 (text, p. 141), in reference to the way in which women should be treated, is quite in accordance with this explanation. But see the next note.

³² From this point down to the words 'he rose from his seat,' in II, 24 is, with a few unimportant variations, word for word the same as Vinaya, Vol. I, pp. 231-3. But the passage there follows immediately after the verses translated above, I. 34, so that the events here (in §§ 14-18) localized at Vesāli, are there localized at Koṭigāma. Our section II, 5 is then inserted between our sections II, 18 and II, 19; and our section II, 11 does not occur at all, the Exalted One only reaching Ambapāli's grove when he goes there (as in our section II, 19) to partake of the meal to which he had been invited. Buddhaghosa passes over this apparent discrepancy in silence.

³³ Literally 'by this woman.' But I have tried to reproduce the evident word-play. 'Ambapāli' means mango grower, one who looks after mangoes.

³⁴ The Tāvatiṃsa-devā are the gods in the heaven of the Great Thirty-Three, the principal deities of the Vedic Pantheon. See A. III, 239; Sum. I, 310; Mahāvastu I, 262.

³⁵ The Malālaṇkāra-vatthu gives the substance of the discourse on this occasion. 'The princes had come in their finest and richest dress; in their appearance they vied in beauty with the nats (or angels). But foreseeing the ruin and misery that was soon to come upon them all, the Buddha exhorted his disciples to entertain a thorough contempt for things that are dazzling to the eyes, but essentially perishable and unreal in their nature.' - Bigandet, 2nd ed., p. 260.

³⁶ Bishop Bigandet says: 'In recording the conversion of a courtezan named Apapalika, her liberality and gifts to Budha and his disciples, and the preference designedly given to her over princes and nobles, who, humanly speaking, seemed in every respect better entitled to attentions - one is almost reminded of the conversion of 'a woman that was a sinner,' mentioned in the Gospels ('Legend of the Burmese Budha,' 2nd ed., p. 258).

³⁷ The Vinaya (I, 233) says they went to the Great Wood near Vesāli, that is, it skips the context here as far as III, 64. Our sections 27-35 are in the Saṃyutta V. 152-4.

³⁸ Compare Divyāvadāna 203.

³⁹ Compare A. III, 69.

⁴⁰ Compare Jātaka II, 221, 250; Mil. 144.

⁴¹ Vegha-missakena, the meaning of which is not clear. The Malālaṇkarā-vatthu, as rendered by Bigandet, has 'repairs.' The Sumangala Vilāsinī agrees, but in such a way as to throw no light on the derivation of the word. In the Saṃyutta Nikāya (V, 153) the Burmese Phayre MS. reads vekhamissakena and another Burmese MS. vedha - but SS. all read vegha. The Siamese edition has veḷu. My Dīgha Nikāya confirms Childers's reading, which no doubt correctly represents the uniform tradition of the Ceylon MSS. On the use of the word missaka at the end of a compound see Jātaka II, 8, 420, 433; and compare M. I, 82; Thera-gāthā 143; Mil. I 59; and the discussion in J.P.T.S., 1884. pp. 97-101.

⁴² This is very interesting as giving what is, no doubt, the original meaning of animitta as applied to ceto-samādhi. See my Yogavacara's Manual of Indian Mysticism. p. xxvii.

⁴³ This section recurs at S. V, 163, compare III, 42, and the example given at V, 221.

⁴⁴ Buddhaghosa says:- 'Tamatagge is for tamagge. The "t" in the middle is used for euphony. This word means, "These are the most pre-eminent, the very chief." Having, as above stated, broken every bond of darkness (tama), those bhikkhus of mine, Ānanda, will be at the very top, in the highest condition. They will be at the very top of whom? Those bhikkhus who are willing to learn, and those who exercise themselves in the four ways of being mindful and thoughtful, they shall be at the top of all (the rest). Thus does he make Arahantship the three-peaked height of his discourse' (compare on this last phrase Nibbānena desanākutam gaṇhāti, Jātaka I, 275, 393, 401; and see also I, 114). Uttama, the highest (scil. bhava, condition ), is used absolutely of Arahantship or Nirvana at Jātaka I, 96; Aggaphala occurs in the same sense at Jātaka I, 114; and even Phalagga at Mahāvaṃsa XV, 209. The last words, 'but they must be anxious to learn,' seem to me to be an afterthought. It is only those who are thoroughly determined to work out their own salvation, without looking for safety to any one else, even to the Buddha himself, who will, whilst in the world, enter into and experience Nirvana. But, of course, let there be no mistake, merely to reject the vain baubles of the current superstitious beliefs is not enough. There is plenty to learn and to acquire, of which enough discourse is elsewhere.

⁴⁵ 1-20 recur in A. IV, 308 foll.; 1-10 in Udāna VI, 1. and S. V, 259 foll. Compare Divy., pp. 200-8.

⁴⁶ Shrines of pre-Buddhistic worship. They were probably trees and barrows; but as no excavations have yet been made at Vesāli the point is uncertain. The Anglo-Indian use of the word Chetiya, as equivalent to our Temple, is quite wrong.

⁴⁷ Iddhi. The four paths are: - (1) will, ( 2) effort, (3) thought, and (4) investigation, each united to earnest thought and the struggle against evil. On the Iddhi to be reached by them see above, Vol. I, pp. 272, 273; and the translator's 'Buddhism,' pp. 174-7. The whole set of participles is used elsewhere of other conditions of mind. So, for instance, of universal love (mettā) at A. V, 342, quoted Jātaka II, 61, Mil. 198. An ancient commentary on them is preserved at Paṭis. I, 172.

⁴⁸ Yathā tam Mārena pari-y-uṭṭhita-citto. Here tam is the indeclinable particle, yathā taṃ introducing an explanation. My MS. of the Dīgha Nikāya and the Turnour MS. of the Sumangala Vilāsinī read pari-v-uṭṭhita, and either spelling is correct. The fact is that the 'y' or 'v' in such cases is even less than euphonic; it is an assistance not to the speaker, but merely to the writer. Thus in the Sinhalese duwanawā, 'to run,' the spoken word is duanawā, and the 'w' is written only to avoid the awkward use in the middle of a written word of the initial sign for the sound 'a'. That the speakers of Pili found no difficulty in pronouncing two vowels together is abundantly proved by numerous instances. The writers of Pāli, in those cases in which the second vowel begins a word, use without hesitation the initial sign; but in the middle of the word this would be so ungainly that they naturally prefer to insert a consonantal sign to to carry the vowel sign. The varying readings I have pointed out are a strong confirmation of the correctness of the pronunciation of modern native scholars (in this case pari-uṭṭhita); and we may the more readily adopt it as the question is not really one concerning the pronunciation of Pāli, but concerning the use which modern native copyists make of their own alphabet. I would pronounce therefore pari-utthita-citto. See Windisch, 'Māara und Buddha,' p. 40; M. I, 433-4; Vin. II, 289; IV: 94, 229.

⁴⁹ The words here quoted were spoken by the Buddha, after he had been enjoying the first bliss of Nirvana, under the goatherd's Nigrodha tree (see below, ch. III, § 34).

⁵⁰ The whole paragraph is repeated, here and below, § 35, for each of these classes of persons. [Ed.: included in this version.]

⁵¹ Sappaṭihāriyaṃ dhammaṃ. (Comp. the opposite idea appaṭihīra-kataṃ bhāsitaṃ, D. I, 193, 239.) The two ideas are contrasted at KV. 561.

⁵² Āyu-saṃkhāraṃ ossaji. The difficult term Āyu-saṃkhāra must here have the meaning in which it is used at Majjhima I, pp. 295, 296; Saṃyutta II, 266; Jātaka IV, 215. He renounced those tendencies, potentialities, which in the ordinary course of things, would otherwise have led to the putting together of, the building up of, more life (that is, of course, in this birth. Any more life in a future birth he had already renounced when, under the Wisdom Tree, he attained Nirvana).

⁵³ This verse is obscure and possibly corrupt. See Windisch, 'Māra und Buddha,' pp. 37, 72; Ud. VI, 1; S. V, 263; Div. 203.

⁵⁴ The narrative is now interrupted by the insertion of paragraphs which at first sight seem to be quite out of place. But the connexion, or want of connexion, between them and the main story is very suggestive as to the way in which the Suttanta was put together. The whole chapter is an answer to a possible objection, either from outsiders or from weaker members of the fold, that if the Buddha were really so great why did he die at all. The suggested answer is that he could have lived on if he had so wished; but he did not wish because he had certain kinds of power and insight and self-mastery which prevented him from doing so. For the purpose of this answer these paragraphs, already in existence among the Suttas current in the community, and dealing with these powers, are here repeated without any such connecting argument as we should find under similar circumstances, in a modern (written) book of apologetics. The argument suggested by them follows exactly the same lines as that in the Mahāli Suttanta, translated in the former volume (Number VI of the 'Dialogues').

⁵⁵ Windisch, 'Māra und Buddha,' 61, adduces a number of interesting parallels, from European writers, to this curious old theory of earthquakes.

⁵⁶ Devatā is a fairy, god, genius, or angel. I am at a loss how to render this word without conveying an erroneous impression to those not familiar with ancient ideas, and specially with ancient Indian ideas, of the spirit world. It includes gods of all sorts; tree and river nymphs; the kindly fairies or ghosts who haunt houses (see my 'Buddhist Birth Stories,' Tale 40); spirits in the ground (see above, I, 26); the angels who minister at the great renunciation, the temptation, and the death of the Buddha; the guardian angels who watch over men, and towns, and countries; and many other similar beings. 'Celestial beings' would be wholly inapplicable, for instance, to the creatures referred to in the curious passage above (I, 26). 'Superhuman being' would be an inaccurate rendering; for all these light and airy shapes come below, and after, man in the Buddhist order of precedence. 'Spirit' being used of the soul inside the human body, and of the human soul after it has left the body, and figuratively of mental faculties - none of which are included under devatā - would suggest ideas inconsistent with that of the Pāli word. As there is therefore no appropriate general word I have chosen, for each passage where the expression occurs, the word used in English of the special class more particularly referred to in the passage of the text. Here all kinds of devatās being referred to, and there being no word in English for them all, I have ventured to put the word devatā into my version, and to trouble the reader with this note.

⁵⁷ Buddhaghosa here tells a long story how Saṇgharakkhita Sāmaṇera, the nephew of Nāga Thera, attained Arahantship on the day of his admission to the order; and at once proceeded to heaven, and standing on the pinnacle of the palace of the king of the gods, shook the whole place with his big toe; to the great consternation and annoyance of the exalted dwellers therein! There is no doubt a real truth in the idea that deep thought can shake the universe, and make the palaces of the gods to tremble, just as faith is said in Matthew xxi. 21 to be able to remove mountains, and cause them to be cast into the sea. But these figurative expressions have, in Buddhism, become a fruitful soil for the outgrowth of superstitions and misunderstandings. The train of early Buddhist speculation in this field has yet to be elucidated.

⁵⁸ The Bodhisatta's voluntary incarnation is looked upon by the Buddhists as a great act of renunciation, and curious legends have gathered about it. One is that on the night when she conceived his mother dreamt that a white elephant entered her side. The account will be found at length in my 'Buddhist Birth Stories' (pp. 62-4), and the earthquake is there mentioned in terms identical with those in the text. As I have pointed out in 'Buddhism' (p. 184), the white elephant legend is one of those hallowed sun stories by which halfconverted Indians strove to embellish the life-story of the Teacher whose followers they had become. In the Lalita Vistara (Calc. ed. p. 63) the entrance of the elephant into Māyā precedes the dream; but though the ignorant may have therefore accepted it as a fact, it is of course only a figure of speech - and I venture to think from the Indian standpoint, a beautiful figure of speech - to express the incarnation of divine mildness and majesty in a human form. The use of such a figure is not confined to India. In one of the Apocryphal Gospels, the Gospel according to the Hebrews, the incarnation of the divine gentleness and love is expressed by saying that a dove from heaven 'entered into' the human form.

⁵⁹ Windisch, 'Māra und Buddha,' p. 75, makes this number refer to the number of entrances, and quotes Itivuttaka, p. 15, in support. The Singhalese version (p. 758) is as above.

⁶⁰ This and the next paragraph are based upon the Buddhist belief as to the long-vexed question between the Indian schools who represented more or less closely the European Idealists and Realists. When cleared of the many repetitions inserted for the benefit of the repeaters or reciters, the fundamental idea seems to be that the great necessity is to get rid of the delusion that what one sees and feels is real and permanent. Nothing is real and permanent but character.
The so-called eight Positions of Mastery are merely an expansion of the first two of the following eight Stages of Deliverance, and the whole argument is also expressed in another form in the passage on the nine successive 'Cessations,' of which an abstract will be found in Childers, sub voce nirodha.

⁶¹ These have already occurred in the Mahā Nidāna (p. 70 of the text). The English version here is made somewhat fuller.

⁶² On these technical terms see Mrs. Rhys Davids's 'Buddhist Psychology,' pp. 72, 182, 204.

⁶³ I do not understand the connexion of ideas between this paragraph and the idea repeated with such tedious iteration in the preceding paragraphs. The two seem to be in marked contrast, if not in absolute contradiction. Perhaps we have here the older tradition; and certainly this paragraph is more in accordance with the general impression of the character, and with the other sayings, of Gotama as handed down in the Pāli Piṭakas.

⁶⁴ Dhamma and vinaya. The Buddhist religion, as just summarized, and the regulations of the Order.

⁶⁵ It is of great interest to notice what are the points upon which Gotama, in this last address to his disciples, and at the solemn time, when death was so near at hand, is reported to have lain such emphatic stress. Unfortunately we have only a fragment of the address, and, as it would seem from its commencement, only the closing fragment. This, however, is in the form of a summary, consisting of an enumeration of certain aggregates, the details of which must have been as familiar to the early Buddhists as the details of similar numerical terms-such as the ten commandments, the twelve tribes, the seven deadly sins, the four gospels, and so on - afterwards were to the Christians. This summary of the Buddha's last address may fairly be taken as a summary of Buddhism, which thus appears to be simply a system of earnest self-culture and self-control.
The following are the details of the aggregate technical terms used in the above summary, but it will be understood that the English equivalents used give rather a general than an exact representation of the ideas expressed by the Pāli ones. To attempt more would demand a treatise rather than a note.

The four Earnest Meditations are:

1. Meditation on the body.
2. Meditation on the sensations.
3. Meditation on the ideas.
4. Meditation on reason and character.

The. fourfold Great Struggle against evil is divided into:

1. The struggle to prevent evil arising.
2. The struggle to put away evil states which have arisen.
3. The struggle to produce goodness not previously existing.
4. The struggle to increase goodness when it does exist.

The four Roads to Saintship are four means by which Iddhi (see above, § 3, note) is to be acquired. They are:

1. The will to acquire it united to earnest meditation and the struggle against evil.
2. The necessary exertion united to earnest meditation and the struggle against evil.
3. The necessary preparation of the heart united to earnest meditation and the struggle against evil.
4. Investigation united to earnest meditation and the struggle against evil.

The five moral powers (balāni) are said to be the same as the next class, called organs (indriyāni). It is no doubt most remarkable that, in a summary like this, two classes out of seven should be absolutely identical except in name. The difference of name is altogether too unimportant to account, by itself, for the distinction made. Either the currently accepted explanation of one of the two aggregate terms must be incorrect, or we must look for some explanation of the repetition other than the mere desire to record the double title. Is it impossible that the one class was split into two to bring the number of the classes up to the sacred number seven, corresponding to the seven Ratanas of a Cakkavatti?

The details of both classes are:

1. Faith.
2. Energy.
3. Thought.
4. Contemplation.
5. Wisdom.

The seven kinds of Wisdom are:

1. Energy.
2. Thought.
3. Contemplation.
4. Investigation (of Scripture).
5. Joy.
6. Repose.
7. Serenity.

The Aryan Eightfold Path consists of:

1. Right views.
2. High aims.
3. Right speech.
4. Upright conduct.
5. A harmless livelihood.
6. Perseverance in well-doing.
7. Intellectual activity.
8. Right rapture.

⁶⁶ Nāgāpalokitaṃ Vesāliyaṃ apaloketvā. The Buddhas were accustomed, says Buddhaghosa, on looking backwards to turn the whole body round as an elephant does; because the bones in their neck were firmly fixed, more so than those of ordinary men!

⁶⁷ Or Conditions (Dhamma). They must, of course, be carefully distinguished from the better known Four Noble Truths above, p. 96.

⁶⁸ This is merely a stock phrase for introducing verses which repeat the idea of the preceding phrase (see above, paragraph 32). It is an instructive sign of the state of mind in which such records are put together, that these verses could be ascribed to Gotama himself without any feeling of the incongruity involved.

⁶⁹ The last word, Parinibbuto, was misunderstood by Childers. It is used in the Nikāyas of living persons in the sense of set free (from evil), at peace. In one passage (M. I, 446) it is even used of a living horse. In all of these passages Childers's rendering 'extinguished, extinct, dead' would be quite inexplicable. Such passages are Majjhima I, 45, 235, 251; II, 102; Thera-gāthā 5, 7, 8, 9, etc.; Sutta Nipāta 359, 758; Saṃyutta III, 26, 54; Itivuttaka 52, 56; Dhammapada 89. The same usage is still found in later books (Milinda 50; Jātaka IV, 303, 453). But, just as in the somewhat analogous Christian expression entered into rest, the word (still in its ordinary meaning as above) is once or twice used, figuratively, of Arahants who have died. They are at peace, set free. There is no word in the Buddhist phrase corresponding to the Christian 'entered.' The Buddhists never say entered into Nirvana of a deceased person. So far as I know the phrase occurs only once (Sutta Nipāta 514), and then it is used of a living person.

⁷⁰ The meaning of mah-ā-padesa is not quite clear. Perhaps it should be rendered 'true authorities.' I have followed Buddhaghosa in taking apadesa as the last part of the compound. He says: - mahāpadesā ti mahā-okāse mahā-apadese vā. Buddhādayo mahante mahante apadisitva vuttāni mahākaranāni ti attho, 'the causes (authorities) alleged when referring to Buddha and other great men.' Mr. Samarasekara takes it as mahā-padesa.

⁷¹ I ought perhaps to have explained why I have ventured to differ from Childers in the rendering of the common word patisunāti. The root √ru seems to have meant 'to sound' before it meant 'to hear'; and, whether this be so or not, pati-sunāti means not simply 'to consent,' but 'to answer (assentingly).' It has been pointed out to me that answer was formerly andswerian where swerian is probably not unrelated to the root svar, 'to sound.'

⁷² Sutte otāretabbāni vinaye sandassetabbāni, where one would expect to find the word Piṭaka if it had been in use when this passage was first written or composed.

⁷³ Sūkara-maddava. See the note in my translation of the Milinda (1890), Vol. I, p. 244. Dr. Hoey informs me that the peasantry in these districts are still very fond of a bulbous root, a sort of truffle, found in the jungle, and called sūkara-kanda. Mr. K.E. Neumann, in his translation of the Majjhima (1896), p. xx, has collected several similar instances of truffle-like roots, or edible plants, having such names. The Sinhalese translation of the Dīgha (London and Colombo, 1905), p. 796, simply repeats the Pāli word. Buddhists do not attach much importance to the point. They have been mostly vegetarians, and are increasingly so. But their scheme of ethics works from within; and the Buddha expressly refused, in the case of Devadatta's schism, to lay down any hard and fast rule as to abstinence from flesh as food. It is perhaps of importance that the food prepared by Chunda and eaten by the Buddha is called Bhatta (below, § 21): this is not used elsewhere of meat.

⁷⁴ 'It should be understood,' says Buddhaghosa, 'that these are verses by the Theras who held the council.' And he repeats this at §§ 38, 41. These here seem to be two different versifications of the same legend.

⁷⁵ This is a most unusual way of speaking of the Buddha. In the Suttantas believers are represented as addressing him as bhante, lord or sir (the same form as that used by junior members of the Order in addressing their seniors); and as speaking of him by the epithet Bhagavā the Exalted One. Unbelievers address him as bho Gotama, and speak of him as the Samaṇa Gotama.

⁷⁶ The Pukkusas were one of the despised tribes. Compare M. II, 152; A. II, 85; PP. IV, 19; Jāt. IV, 205, 306; Lalita Vistara XXI, 17. But Buddhaghosa says Pukkusa must here be simply a name, as the Mallas were Khattiyas. He adds that this Pukkusa was the owner of the five hundred carts that had just passed by; and that Aḷāra Kālāma was called Aḷāra because he was Dīgha-pingalo, Kālāma being his family name.

⁷⁷ This is a stock phrase constituting the final answer of a hitherto unconverted man at the end of one of those argumentative dialogues by which Gotama overcame opposition or expounded the truth. After a discussion of exalted themes it fits in very appropriately; here and elsewhere it is incongruous and strained. See below, V, 50.

⁷⁸ To understand what is here represented to have happened one must understand the mode in which the Buddhist Wanderers wore their robes. There was no tailoring at all. The set of three robes was simply three lengths of cotton cloth about a yard wide. One piece, folded in half, was wrapped round the body. Another piece covered the limbs from the waist to the ankles. It was supported by a girdle and went three or four times round. The third piece was put on over this last, went twice round the legs) and then the rest of it was thrown over the left shoulder, and passed under the right arm across the body. See below, ch. V, § 19.
Pukkusa had placed the two lengths of cloth, shawl-wise, over the shoulders of the recipients. When he left them Ānanda assisted the Buddha to put them on as Nos. 1 and 3 of a set of robes.

⁷⁹ We have here the commencement of the legend which afterwards grew into an account of an actual 'transfiguration' of the Buddha. It is very curious that it should have taken place soon after the Buddha had announced to Ānanda his approaching death, and that in the Buddhist Sutta it should be connected so closely with that event; for a similar remark applies also to the Transfiguration mentioned in the Gospels.

⁸⁰ Here, and above pp. 137-9, we have spelt the name of the smith, in English, as it is pronounced in Pāli, and should be pronounced in English.

⁸¹ According to the commentator 'tradition says that there was a row of Sāla trees at the head (sīsa) of that couch, and another at its foot, one young Sāla tree being close to its head, and another close to its foot. The twin Sāla trees were so called because the two trees were equally grown in respect of the roots, trunks, branches, and leaves. There was a couch there in the park for the special use of the (periodically elected) chieftin of the Mallas, and it was this couch which the Exalted One asked Ānanda to make ready.'
There is no further explanation of the term uttara-sīsakaṃ, which may have been the name for a slab of wood or stone reserved on great occasions for the use of the leaders of the neighbouring republic, but available at other times for passers-by.

⁸² We have here the unusual case of the Buddha being called Tathāgata, not by himself, but by a third person, the compiler of the Suttanta. The paragraph is perhaps moulded by inadvertence on the next one. But see § 10. Compare the note above on IV, 25.

⁸³ Buddhaghosa explains that even twenty to sixty angels or gods (devatāyo) could stand āragga-koṭi-nittūdana- (MS. nittaddana-) matte pi, 'on a point pricked by the extreme point of a gimlet,' without inconveniencing one another (aññam aññam avyābādhenti). It is most curious to find this exact analogy to the notorious discussion as to how many angels could stand on the point of a needle in a commentary written at just that period of Buddhist history which corresponds to the Middle Ages of Christendom. The passage in the text does not really imply or suggest any such doctrine, though the whole episode is so absurd that the author of the text could not have hesitated to say so, had such an idea been the common belief of the early Buddhists. With these sections should be compared the similar sections in Chapter VI, of which these are perhaps merely an echo.
There is no comment on nittūdana, but there can be little doubt that Childers's conjectural reading is correct.

⁸⁴ It is literally, 'the Eye in the world will vanish away,' where Eye is of course used figuratively of that by the aid of which spiritual truths can be perceived, corresponding exactly to the similar use in Europe of the word Light. The Master is often called 'He with the Eye,' 'He of the Spiritual Eye' (see, for instance, the last verses in this Book), and here by a bold figure of speech he is called the Eye itself, which was shortly about to vanish away from the world, the means of spiritual insight which was no longer to be available for the common use of all men. But this is, it will be noticed, only the lament of the foolish and ignorant.

⁸⁵ The words in brackets have been inserted from par. III, 48 above. See par. VI, 19 below.

⁸⁶ This conversation occurs also below (VI, 17), and the older tradition probably had it only in that connexion.

⁸⁷ King of kings is an adequate rendering of the 'King of the Rolling Wheel,' the wheels of whose chariot roll unhindered through the land; that is to say, a king whose power no other king can dispute, who is an acknowledged overlord. The idea, which is explained very fully in the next Suttanta, may have arisen with the rise of the Kosala power; but it may also be later. If we could trace its history it would afford us a guide to the date at which the Mahā Parinibbāna Suttanta assumed its present form.

⁸⁸ Buddhaghosa explains this passage thus: - 'As Benares cloth, by reason of its fineness of texture, does not take the oil, he therefore says: - "with vihata cotton wool," that is, with cotton wool that has been well forced asunder.' The technical use of the word, as applied to cotton wool, has only been found in this passage. It usually means 'torn' with grief.

⁸⁹ Ayasāya tela-doṇiyā, where one would expect āyasāya, but my MS. of the Dīgha Nikāya confirms twice over here, and twice again below (VI, 33, 35) the reading given by Childers. Buddhaghosa says the word here means gold. Ayas was originally used for bronze, and only later for iron also, and at last exclusively of iron. As kaṃsa is already a common word for bronze in very early Buddhist Pāli texts. I think āyasa (not ayasa) would here mean 'of iron.' When Buddhaghosa says it is here a name for gold, we can only conclude that iron had become, in his time, a metal which he might fairly consider too base for the purpose proposed. The whole process as described is not very intelligible; and one might suppose that ayasa after all had nothing to do with any metal, and was a technical term descriptive of some particular size or shape or colour of oil vessel. But it is frequently found in the MSS. when iron is clearly meant. Thus in the popular verse at Saṃyutta I, 77 on which a Jātaka is based (II, 140), which is inserted in the 'Anthologies' (Dhammapada 345, Khar. MS. No. 102), and twice quoted in the Netti (35, 153), the MSS. have both forms in spite of the metre favouring the long vowel. In this passage both Paññānanda's Colombo edition of 1877, and Samarasekara's version (Col. and Lond. 1905) have the short vowel only.

⁹⁰ Thūpa. A solid mound or tumulus or barrow, in the midst of which the bones and ashes are to be placed. The dome of St. Paul's as seen from the Thames Embankment gives a very good idea of one of the later of these Buddhist monumental mounds.

⁹¹ Pacceka-buddho. One who has attained to the supreme and perfect insight; but dies without proclaiming the truth to the world.

⁹² The expression that Ānanda went 'into the Vihara' at the end of a conversation represented as having taken place in the Sāla Grove, would seem to point to the fact that this episode originally stood in some other connexion. Buddhaghosa attempts to explain away the discrepancy by saying that Vihara here means Maṇḍala. As the spot was the place for the performance of the communal ceremonies of the clan there was most likely a Maṇḍala there, and there must, from the context below, § 25), have been also some small closed-in building, a hut or cottage. It is only this latter that could have been called a Vihāra.

⁹³ Ānanda had entered the Noble Path, but had not yet reached the end of it. He had not attained to Nirvana.

⁹⁴ Advayena, which Buddhaghosa explains as not being that kind of love which is now one thing and now another, or which varies in the presence or the absence of the object loved.

⁹⁵ That is, you too shall become an Arahant, shall attain Nirvana in this life.

⁹⁶ A word has here slipped out of the text, medhāvī should stand before jānāti.

⁹⁷ From here down to the end of section 18 is found also, nearly word for word, in the beginning of the Mahā-Sudassana Suttanta, translated below.

⁹⁸ Kuḍḍa-nagarake ti paṭirūpake sambādhe khuddakanagare. Uggangala-nagarake ti visama-nagarake (S. V, fol. thau) Kuḍḍa, if this explanation be right, seems to be merely an old and unusual form for kshudra, and the Burmese correction into khudda to be unnecessary: but I venture to think it is more likely to be = kuḍya, and to mean a wall built of mud and sticks, or what is called in India, of wattle and daub. When Buddhaghosa explains uggangala as 'lawless,' he is expressing his view that a town in the jungle is likely to be a heathen, pagan sort of place.

⁹⁹ With reference to Childers's note in his Dictionary on mahāsālā, with which every one must entirely agree, Buddhaghosa's explanation of the word will be interesting as a proof (if proof be needed) that the Ceylon scholars are not always trustworthy. He says: - Khattiyamahāsālā ti khattiya-mahāsārā, sārapattā mahākhattiyā. Eso nayo sabbatha.

¹⁰⁰ Literally 'Put on his under-garment, and taking his uppergarment and his bowl, etc.' This sounds complicated; and why should he take his bowl? The Wanderers when at their lodging places on their travels lived (naturally in that beautiful climate) in undress-with only one robe on, the one from the waist to the feet. When they set out for the village on a visit, or on any ceremonious occasion, they put on the second robe, and (just as a European often carries his great-coat on his arm) carried the third with them. At some convenient spot near the village they would put this also on, and enter - so to speak - in full canonicals. And the bowl belonged to, formed part of, their official costume. See J. I, 55; III, 379; Sum. I, 45, 186; and the note above on Ch. IV, § 37, p. 145.

¹⁰¹ Kenakid eva karaṇīyena. Professor Pischel, in his edition of the Assalāyana Sutta (p. 1), prints this expression kenaki devakaraṇīyena, and translates it (p. 28), 'for some religious purpose.' It seems to me that he has been misled by the commentary, which really presupposes the more correct division.

¹⁰² Samaṇa-brāhmaṇa, which compound may possibly mean Samanas and Brāhmanas as it has usually been rendered, but I think not necessarily. Not one of those here specified were brahmins by birth, as is apparent from the Sumangala Vilāsinī on the SāmaññaPhala Suttanta, §§ 3-7. Compare the use of Kshatriya-brahmano, a soldier priest,' a Kshatriya who offered sacrifice; and of Brahmano, absolutely, as an epithet of an Arahant. In the use of the word samaṇa there seems to me to be a hopeless confusion between, a complete mingling of the meanings of, the two roots √ram and √am (which, in Pāli, would both become sam). It connotes both asceticism and inward peace, and might best be rendered 'devotee,' were it not for the intellectual inferiority implied by that word in our language. A Samaṇa-brahmin should therefore mean a man of any birth, who by his saintliness of life, by his renunciation of the world, and by his reputation as a religious thinker, had acquired the position of a quasibrahmin and was looked up to by the people with as much respect as they looked up to a brahmin by birth. Compare further my 'Buddhist Birth Stories.' Vol. I, p. 260; and see J. I, 57, 187; M. I. 285-6, 400; II, 54; A. I, 180; III, 228.

¹⁰³ On these degrees in the religious life, see M. I, 63; A. II, 238). They are described in my 'Buddhism' (21st ed., pp. 108 foll.).

¹⁰⁴ Arahants are those who have reached Nirvana, the 'supreme goal, the highest fruit' of the Aryan Eightfold Path. To live 'the Life that's Right' (sammā) is to live in the Noble Path, each of the eight divisions of which is to be sammā, round, right and perfect, normal and complete. To live right (sammā) is therefore to have: (1) Right views, free from superstition; (2) right aims, high and worthy of the intelligent and earnest man; (3) right speech, kindly, open, truthful; (4) right conduct, in all concerns of life; (5) right livelihood, bringing hurt or danger to no living thing; (6) right perseverance, in all the other seven; (7) right mindfulness, the watchful, active mind; (8) right contemplation, earnest thought on the deep mysteries of life. In each of these the word right is sammā, and the whole paragraph being on the Aryan Path, the allusion is certainly to this central doctrine of the Buddhist Dhamma.
Buddhaghosa says that bhikkhu sammā viharati, who, having himself entered the Aryan Path, leads his brother into it, and this is, no doubt, good Buddhism. But it is a practical application of the text, a theological exegesis, and not a philological explanation. Even so it seems to lay the stress too much on 'bereft,' and too little on 'Arahants.'

¹⁰⁵ Literally 'There is no samaṇa.' See note on § 26. I have followed, though with some doubt, Childers's punctuation. Buddhaghosa refers padesa-vatti to samaṇo; and ito, not to padesa, but to magga, understood; and it is quite possible that this is the correct explanation. On samādhikāni see the comment at Jātaka II, 383: [⁵ samīdhītāni, Bd smadhikāni.] Watters, 'On Yüan Chwāng,' II, 33. and Ed. Hardy, 'Buddhismus.' p. 44. Both Paññananda and Samarasekhara render it as above.

¹⁰⁶ That is, Nirvana. Compare Mangala Sutta 10. 11, and the Dhammapada, verses 180, 354, and above, Chap. I, § 7.

¹⁰⁷ Buddhaghosa says that the last five words in the text (the last twelve words in my translation) were added by the Theras who held the Council. On Subhadda's ordination he has the following interesting note: - 'The Thera (that is, Ānanda), they say, took him on one side, poured water over his head from a water vessel, made him repeat the formula of meditation on the impermanency of the body (see my 'Buddhist Birth Stories,' p. 161), shaved off his hair and beard, clad him in the yellow robes, made him repeat the "Three Refuges," and led him back to the Exalted One. The Exalted One himself admitted him then into the higher rank of the brotherhood, and pointed out to him a subject for meditation (kamma-ṭ-ṭhāna). He accepted this. and walking up and down in a quiet part of the grove, he thought and meditated upon it, till overcoming the Evil Spirit, he had acquired Arahantship, and with it the discriminating knowledge of all the Scriptures (Paṭisambhidā). Then, returning, he came and took his seat beside the Exalted One.'
According to this, no set ceremony for ordination (Saṇghakammaṃ), as laid down in the Vinaya, took place; and it is otherwise probable that no such ceremony was usual in the earliest days of Buddhism.

¹⁰⁸ Bhante or āyasmā. This question has been fully discussed by Prof. Franke in the 'Journal of the Pāli Text Society,' 1908.

¹⁰⁹ According to tradition (trans. by Rhys Davids and Oldenberg, 'Vinaya Texts,' III, 377 foll.) the Order considered this matter shortly after the Buddha's death, and declined to avail themselves of this permission. As to what these lesser precepts were see Rhys Davids. 'Questions of King Milinda,' I, 202 foll.

¹¹⁰ This brother is represented as an obstinate, perverse man; so destitute of the proper esprit de corps that he dared to take part with the sisterhood, and against the brotherhood, in a dispute which had arisen between them. But after the social penalty here referred to had been duly imposed upon him, even his proud and independent spirit was tamed; he became humble; his eyes were opened; and he, also, attained to the 'supreme goal' of the Buddhist faith. (The passages are shown in the index to 'Vinaya Texts.')

¹¹¹ Comp. D. II. 287.

¹¹² Compare above, Chap. II, § 7. By 'the most backward' according to Buddhaghosa, the Exalted One referred to Ānanda, and he said this to encourage him.

¹¹³ The full text and an explanation of this Rapture will be found in the translator's 'Buddhism,' pp. 174-6.

¹¹⁴ Compare above, Chap. III, § 33. p. 119.

¹¹⁵ These nine states are called in the Milinda, p. 176, the nine Anupubba-Vihāras. We have therefore, in this list, a technical, scholastic, attempt to describe the series of ideas involved in what was considered the highest thought. No one, of course, can have known what actually did occur; and the eight boundary lines between the nine states are purely conjectural.

¹¹⁶ Brahmā, the first cause, the highest result of Indian theological speculation, the one God of the Indian Pantheists, is represented as using expressions full of deep allusions to the most characteristic Buddhist doctrines. The Samussaya is the result of the temporary collocation of the 'aggregations' (khandha) of mental and material qualities which give to each being (bhūto, that is, man, animal, god, ghost, fairy, or what not) its outward and visible shape, its individuality. Loka is here not the world in our sense, but the 'locality' in the Buddhist universe which such an individual occupies until it is dissolved. (Comp. Chap. II, §§ 12, 26.) Brahmā appears therefore as a veritable Doctor in theology, and I have been obliged to expand the translation to bring out all the meaning in the text.

¹¹⁷ On this celebrated verse see below the Introduction to MahāSudassana-Suttanta. It must be the original of the first verse in the Chinese work, Fa Kheu Pi Hu (Beal, Dhammapada, p. 32), though it is there so changed that every clause has lost its point.

Whatever exists is without endurance,
And hence the terms 'flourishing' and 'decaying.'
A man is born, and then he dies.
Oh, the happiness of escaping from this condition!'

The very meaning which is here the most essential connotation of saṅkhāra is lost in the phrase 'whatever exists.' By a misapprehension of the, no doubt, difficult word Dhamma, which, however, never means 'term,' the second clause has lost its point. And by a grammatical blunder the third clause in the Chinese confines the doctrine, erroneously, to man. In a Chinese tale, called Ngan shih niu, translated by Mr. Beal, in the 'Indian Antiquary' for May, 1880, the following verses occur; and they are possibly another reflection of this stanza:

'All things that exist are transitory,
They must of necessity perish and disappear;
Though joined together, there must be separation;
Where there is life there must be death.'

Compare the constantly repeated phrase: - 'Whatsoever hath an origin, in that is inherent the necessity of dissolution.' The perception of this is emphatically called the Eye for the Truth; and the doctrine is referred to in the next section.

¹¹⁸ In these four stanzas we seem to have the way in which the death of the Buddha would be regarded, as the early Buddhist thought, by four representative persons - the exalted God of the theologians; the Jupiter of the multitude (allowing in the case of each of these for the change in character resulting from their conversion to Buddhism); the holy, thoughtful Arahant; and the loving, childlike disciple.

¹¹⁹ Nearly = V, § 6; and below, VI, 19.

¹²⁰ Ugghāyanti. I have followed the reading of my own MS., which is confirmed by the Sumangala Vilāsinī and the Mālālaṇkaravatthu. Vigghāyanti, which Childers reads, would be questionable Buddhism. The spirits do not become extinct; that is, not as a general rule, as would be implied by the absolute statement: - 'Even the spirits, brethren, become extinct.' It is no doubt true that all spirits, from the lowest to the highest, from the most insignificant fairy to the God of theological speculation, are regarded as temporary. But when they cease to exist as gods or spirits (devatā), they do not go out, they are not extinguished (vigghāayanti); they continue to exist in some other form. And though that other form would, from the European point of view, be a different being, as there would be no continuity of consciousness, no passage of a 'soul' from the one to the other; it would, from the Buddhist point of view, be the same being, as it would be the resultant effect of the same Karma. There would follow on the death of a devatā, not extinction, but a transmutation of force, a transmigration of character, a passing on, an inheritance of Karma. Only in the exceedingly rare case of an anāgāmin, of which an instance will be found above Chap. II, § 7, could it be said that a spirit becomes extinct.
The expression 'of worldly mind,' here and above in V, 6, is in Pāli paṭhavi-saññiniyo, an ambiguous phrase which has only as yet been found in this connexion. The word is here opposed to vītarāga, 'free from passion,' and I have therefore taken it in a spiritual sense. There is another possibility, viz. that it is used in an intellectual sense, 'making the idea of earth present to their mind'; and this would be in accordance with the use of saññi in the Kasiṇa meditations, in which spirits, like men, were supposed to indulge; see Dīgha II, 108. But how easily, especially in Buddhism, the intellectual merges into the religious may be seen from such a Kasiṇa phrase as maraṇa-saññino, used at Mahāvaṃsa V, 159, of good men.

¹²¹ See the end of the first paragraph of this section.

¹²² The dress of the Mallas consisted probably of mere lengths of muslin or cotton cloth; and a suit of apparel consisted of two or, at the outside, of three of these - one to wrap around the loins, one to throw over the shoulders, and one to use as a turban. To make a canopy on occasions of state they would join such pieces together; to make the canopy into a tent they would simply add walls of the same material; and the only decoration, as simple as it is beautiful, would be wreaths of flowers, or single lotuses, hanging from the roof, or stretched along the sides. Every civil servant travelling on duty in remote districts in Ceylon has such a tent or canopy put up for him by the peasantry.

¹²³ The point of this interesting legend is that that the inhabitants of an lndian village of that time would have considered it a desecration or pollution to bring a dead body into or through their village. Authorities differ as to the direction in which it should be taken to avoid this. The old custom, according to Caland (p. 23) was to take it to the East or the West. Later priestly books (Manu, for instance, V, 92) say to the North. The Mallas wanted to go to the South. The remedy proposed by the spirits who are shocked at this impropriety, is more shocking still.

¹²⁴ Compare Chap. V, §§ 11, 12.

¹²⁵ An Ājīvaka. See the note above at Vol. I, p. 71.

¹²⁶ At p. xxvi of the Introduction to his edition of the Vinaya, Prof. Oldenberg identifies this Subhdda with Subhadda the last convert, mentioned above at the end of Chap. V. They are different persons; the last convert being represented as a man of high character, incapable of the conduct here ascribed to this Subhadda. The last convert was a brahmin, traditionally supposed to be younger brother to Aññā Kondañña, the first convert; this Subhadda had been a barber in the village Ātumā.

¹²⁷ It is possible that we have here the survival of some ancient custom. Spence Hardy appropriately refers to a ceremony among Jews (of what place or time is not mentioned) in the following terms: 'Just before a Jew is taken out of the house to be buried, the relatives and acquaintances of the departed stand round the coffin; when the feet are uncovered; and each in rotation lays hold of the great toes, and begs pardon for any offence given to the deceased, and requests a favourable mention of them in the next world' ('Manual of Buddhism,' p. 348).
The Buddhist bhikkhus in Siam and the great majority of those in Ceylon (the adherents of the Siyam-samāgama) always keep one shoulder uncovered. It is evident that the bhikkhus in Burma and those in Ceylon, who belong to the Amara-pura-samāgama, arc more in accordance with ancient custom in wearing the robe ordinarily over both shoulders.

¹²⁸ There is something very quaint in the way in which the faithful Mallas are here represented as bringing coals to Newcastle. The 'storehouse of the waters' is in Pāli udaka-sālā, on which Buddhaghosa has two theories: first, that the Sāla trees around shed down a miraculous rain from their trunks and branches and leaves; and next, that the waters burst up from the earth and became as it were a diadem of crystal round the pyre. On the belief that water thus burst up miraculously through the earth, see 'Buddhist Birth Stories,' pp. 64, 67. If the reading be correct it is scarcely possible that sālā can here have anything to do with Sāla trees; but the other interpretation is open to the objections that sālā means an open hall rather than a storehouse, and that the belief in a 'storehouse of water' has not, as yet, been found elsewhere.

¹²⁹ Here again the commentator expands and adds to the comparatively simple version of the text.

¹³⁰ Here closes Buddhaghosa's long and edifying commentary. He has no note on the following Verses, which he says were added by Theras in Ceylon. The additional verse found in the Phayre MS. was in the same way probably added in Burma.

ed1 Here abridged sections have been expanded. Hereafter they will be expanded as indicated without special notice.

ed2Yā tattha devatā assu tāsaṃ dakkhiṇam ādise As translated by RD this contradicts [MN 35]. There is no support for the idea of transfer of merit here. Walsh translates: 'Whatever devas there are who report this offering.' The devas are often shown to pass word of the merits of some good person.

ed3 RD has this section as an attribute of the members of the Order. However these are the virtues the individual is to see in himself to understand he is a Stream-entrant. Walsh notes this and has it correctly as such.

ed4 'further'.

17. The Great King of Glory¹

Mahā-Sudassana Suttantaṃ

[192]

Introduction

This Suttanta is an expansion of the conversation recorded in the Book of the Great Decease (above, Ch. V, § 17).

The same legend recurs as the Mahā-Sudassana Jātaka, No. 95 in Mr. Fausböll's edition. As the latter differs in several important particulars from our Suttanta, it is probably not taken directly from it, but is merely derived from the same source. To facilitate comparison between the two I add here a translation of the Jātaka.

The part enclosed in square brackets [] is the so-called Story of the Present: and the whole was probably written in Ceylon in the fifth century of our era. There is every reason to believe, for the reasons given in my 'Buddhist India' (pp. 201-7), that the stories themselves belong to a very early period in the history of Buddhism and are, many of them, older even than Buddhism. We may be sure that if this particular story had been abstracted by the author of the commentary from our Suttanta, he would not have ventured to introduce such serious changes into what he regarded as sacred writ.

Mahā-Sudassana Jātaka.

['How transient are all component things.' This the Master told when lying on his death-couch, concerning that word of Ānanda the Thera, when he said:- 'Do not, O Exalted One, die in this little town,' and so on.

When the Tathāgata was at the Jetavanai1 he thought:-

[193] 'The Thera Sāriputta, who was born at Nālagāma, has died, on the day of the full moon in the month of Kattika, in the chamber in which he had been born;i2 and Mahā-Moggallāna in the latter, the dark half of that same month. As my two chief disciples are thus dead, I too will pass away at Kusinārā.' Thereupon he proceeded straight on to that place, and lay down on the Uttarasisaka couch, between the twin Sāla trees, never to rise again.

Then the venerable Ānanda besought him, saying:- 'Let not the Exalted One die in this little township, in this little town in the jungle, in this branch township. Let the Exalted One die in one of the other great cities, such as Rājagaha, and the rest!'

But the Master answered:- 'Say not, Ānanda, that this is a little township, a little town in the jungle, a branch township. I was dwelling formerly in this town at the time when I was Sudassana, the king of kings; and then it was a great city, surrounded by a jewelled rampart, twelve leagues in length!

And at the request of the Thera, he, telling the tale, uttered the Mahā-Sudassana-Sutta.i3]

Now on that occasion when Queen Subhaddā saw Mahā-Sudassana when he had come down out of the Palace of Righteousness, and was lying down, not far off, on the appropriate couch, spread out in the grove of the seven kinds of gems, and when she said:- 'Thine, O king, are these four and eighty thousand cities, of which the chief is the royal city of Kusāvatī. Set thy heart on these';-

Then replied Mahā-Sudassana: 'Speak not thus, O queen! but exhort me rather, saying:- "Cast away desire for these, long not after them.'"i4

[194] And when she asked:- 'Why so, O king?' 'To-day my time is come, and I shall die!' was his reply.i5

Then the weeping queen, wiping her eyes, brought herself with difficulty and distress to address him accordingly. And having spoken, she wept, and lamented; and the other four and eighty thousand women wept too, and lamented; and of the attendant courtiers not one could restrain himself, but all also wept.

But the Bodisat stopped them all, saying 'Enough, my friends! Be still!' And he exhorted the queen, saying:- 'Neither do thou, O queen, weep: neither do thou lament. For down even unto a grain of sesamum fruit there is no such thing as a compound which is permanent! All are transient, all have the inherent quality of dissolution!'

And when he had so said, he further uttered this stanza:-

'How transient are all component things!
Growth is their nature and decay:
They are produced, they are dissolved again:
To bring them into full subjection, that is bliss.'i6

[In these verses the words 'How transient are all component things!' mean 'Dear lady Subhaddā, wheresoever and by whatsoever causes made or come together, compounds,i7 - that is, all those things which possess the essential constituents [whether material or mental] of existing things,i8 - all these compounds are impermanence itself. For of these formi9 is impermanent, reasoni10 is impermanent, the [mental] eyei11 is impermanent, and qualitiesi12 are impermanent. And whatever treasure there be, whether conscious or unconscious, that is transitory. Understand therefore "How transient are all component things!"

'And why? "Growth is their nature and decay." These, all, have the inherent quality of coming into [individual] existence, and have also the inherent quality of growing old; or [in other words] their very nature is to come into existence and to be broken up. Therefore should it be understood that they are impermanent.

'And since they are impermanent, when "they are produced, they are dissolved again." Having come into existence, [195] having reached a state,i13 they are surely dissolved. For all these things come into existence, taking an individual form; and are dissolved, being broken up. To them as soon as there is birth, there is what is called a state; as soon as there is a state, there is what is called disintegration.i14 For to the unborn there is no such thing as state, and there is no such thing as a state which is without disintegration. Thus are all compounds, having attained to the three characteristic marks [of impermanency, pain, and want of any abiding principle], subject, in this way and in that way, to dissolution. All these component things therefore, without exception, are impermanent, momentary, despicable, unstable, disintegrating, trembling, quaking, unlasting, sure to depart,i15 only for a time,i16 and without substance; as temporary as a phantom, as the mirage, or as foam!

'How then in these, dear lady Subhaddā, can you feel any sign of satisfaction? Understand rather than "to bring them into subjection, that is bliss." For to bring them into subjection, since it involves mastery over the whole circle of transmigration, is the same as Nirvana. That and this are one'.i17 And there is no other bliss than that.']

And when Mahā-Sudassana had thus brought his discourse to a point with the ambrosial great Nirvana, and had made exhortation also to the rest of the great multitude, saying:- 'Give gifts! Observe the precepts! Keep the sacred days!'i18 he became an inheritor of the world of the gods.

[When the Master had concluded this lesson in the truth, he summed up the Jātaka, saying:- 'She who was then Subhaddā the queen was the mother of Rāhula, the great adviser was Rāhula, the rest of the retinue the Buddha's retinue, and Mahā-Sudassana I myself.']

The word translated 'component things' or 'compounds' is sankhārā, literally confections, from kar, 'to make,' and sam, 'together.' It is a word very frequently used in Buddhist writings, and a word consequently of many different connotations; and there is, of course, no exactly corresponding word [196] in English. 'Production' would often be very nearly correct, although it fails entirely to give the force of the preposition sam; but a greater objection to that word is the fact that it is generally used, not of things that have come into being of themselves, but of things that have been produced by some one else. It suggests, if it does not imply, a producer; which is contrary to the whole spirit of the Buddhist passages in which the word sankhārā occurs. In this important respect the word 'compound' is a much more accurate translation, though it lays somewhat too much stress on the sam.

The term Confections (to coin a rendering) is sometimes used to denote all things which have been brought together, made up, by pre-existing causes; phenomena in general. In this sense it includes, as the commentator here points out, all those material or mental qualities which unite to form an individual, a separate thing or being, whether conscious or unconscious.

It is more usually used, (with special reference to their origin from pre-existing causes, and with allusion to the wider meanings just above explained), of the mental confections only, the mental constituents, of all sentient beings generally, or of man alone. In this sense it forms by itself one of the five classes or aggregates (khandha) into which the material and mental qualities of each separate individual are divided in Buddhist writings - the class of dispositions, capabilities, and all that goes together to make what we call character. This class has naturally enough been again divided and subdivided; and a full list of the Confections in this sense, as now acknowledged by orthodox Buddhists, will be found in my manual 'Buddhism' (pp. 91, 92). At the time when the Five Nikāyas reached their present form, no such elaborate list of Confections in detail seems to have been made; but the general sense of the word was, as is quite clear from the passages in which it occurs, the idea which these details together convey. It is this second and more usual meaning of the term which is more especially emphasized in the concluding verse of the above stanza.

Turning now to the Suttanta itself, we find that the portion of the legend omitted in the Jātaka throws an unexpected light upon the tale; for it commences with a long description of the riches and glory of Mahā-Sudassana, and reveals in its details the instructive fact that the legend is nothing more nor less than a spiritualized sun-myth.

It cannot be disputed that the sun-myth theory has become greatly discredited, and with reason, by having been used too [197] carelessly and freely as an explanation of religious legends of different times and countries which have really no historical connexion with the earlier awe and reverence inspired by the sun. The very mention of the word sun-myth is apt to call forth a smile of incredulity, and the indubitable truth which is the basis of the theory has not sufficed to protect it from the shafts of ridicule. The 'Book of the Great King of Glory' seems to afford a useful example both of the extent to which the theory may be accepted, and of the limitations under which it should always be applied.

It must at once be admitted that whether the whole story is based on a sun-story, or whether certain parts or details of it are derived from things first spoken about the sun, or not, it is still essentially Buddhistic. A large proportion of its contents has nothing at all to do with the worship of the sun; and even that which has, had not, in the mind of the author, when the book was put together. Whether indebted to a sun-myth or not, it is therefore perfectly true and valid evidence of the religious belief of the people among whom it was current; and no more shows that the Buddhists were unconscious sun-worshippers than the story of Samson, under any theory of its possible origin, would prove the same of the Jews.

What we really have is a kind of wonderful fairy tale, a gorgeous poem, in which an attempt is made to describe in set terms, the greatest possible glory and majesty of the greatest possible king, in order to show that all is vanity, save only righteousness-just such a poem as a Jewish prophet might have written of Solomon in all his glory. It would have been most strange, perhaps impossible, for the author to refrain from using the language of the only poets he knew, who had used their boldly figurative language in an attempt to describe the appearance of the sun.

To trace back all the rhetorical phrases of our Sutta to their earliest appearance in the Vedic hymns would be an interesting task of historical philology, though it would throw more light upon Buddhist forms of speech than upon Buddhist forms of belief. In M. Senart's valuable work, 'La Legende du Bouddha,' he has already done this with regard to the seven treasures (mentioned in the early part of the Suttanta) on the basis of the corresponding passage in the later Buddhist Sanskrit poem called the Lalita Vistara. The description of the royal city and of its wondrous Palace of Righteousness has been probably originated by the author, though on the same lines; and it reminds one irresistibly, in many of its expressions, of the similar, but simpler and more beautiful [198] poem in which a Jewish author, some three or four centuries afterwards, described the heavenly Jerusalem.

When the Northern Buddhists, long afterwards, had smothered the simple teaching of the founder of their religion under the subtleties of theological and metaphysical speculation, and had forgotten all about the Aryan Path, their goal was no longer a change of heart in the Arahantship to be reached on earth, but a life of happiness, under a change of outward condition, in a heaven of bliss beyond the skies. One of the most popular books among the Buddhists of China and Japan is a description of this heavenly paradise of theirs, called the Sukhavātī-vyūha, the 'Book of the Happy Country.' It is instructive to find that several of the expressions used are word for word the same as the corresponding phrases in our much older 'Book of the Great King of Glory.'

Incidentally the details given in this Suttanta enable us to judge as to what was considered, at the time when it was put together, to be the greatest possible luxury and glory of the mightiest and most righteous king. In spite of the exuberance of some of the language used, the luxury is after all curiously simple, and mostly of an out-of-door kind. A summary of the conclusions which can be drawn from the sacred books of the Buddhists as to the social and economic condition of the Ganges valley, at the time when those books were composed, will be found in my 'Buddhist India,' ch. IV-VI. The very simple character of the luxury here depicted is in accordance with the evidence there given.

[199]

Mahā-Sudassana Suttantaṃ

The Great King of Glory

Chapter I

Thus have I heard.

The Exalted One was once staying at Kusinārā in the Upavattana,
the Sāla grove of the Mallas,
between the twin Sāla trees,
at the time of his death.

2. Now the venerable Ānanda went up to the place where the Exalted One was,
and bowed down before him,
and took his seat respectfully on one side.

And when he was so seated,
the venerable Ānanda said to the Exalted One:

"Let not the Exalted One die
in this little wattle-anddaub town,
in this town in the midst of the jungle,
in this branch township.

For, lord, there are other great cities,
such as Champā,
Rājagaha,
Sāvatthī,
Sāketa,
Kosambī,
and Benares.

Let the Exalted One die in one of them.

There there are many wealthy nobles and brahmins
and heads of houses,
believers in the Tathāgata,
who will pay due honour to the remains of the Tathāgata."

3. "Say not so, Ānanda!

Say not so, Ānanda,
that this is but a small wattle-and-daub town,
a town in the midst of the jungle
a branch township.

Long ago, Ānanda, there was a king,
by name Mahā-Sudassana,
a king of kings,
a righteous man who ruled in righteousness,
an anointed Kshatriya,²
Lord of the four quarters [200] of the earth,
conqueror,
the protector of his people,
possessor of the seven royal treasures.

This Kusinārā, Ānanda,
was the royal city of king Mahā-Sudassana,
under the name of Kusāvati,
and on the east and on the west
it was twelve leagues in length,
and on the north and on the south
it was seven leagues in breadth.

That royal city Kusāvati, Ānanda,
was mighty,
and prosperous,
and full of people,
crowded with men,
and provided with all things for food.

Just, Ānanda, as the royal city of the gods,
Āḷakamandā by name,
is mighty,
prosperous,
and full of people,
crowded with the gods,
and provided with all kinds of food,
so, Ānanda, was the royal city Kusāvati
mighty and prosperous,
full of people,
crowded with men,
and provided with all kinds of food.

Both by day and by night, Ānanda,
the royal city Kusāvati resounded with the ten cries;
that is to say,
the noise of elephants,
and the noise of horses,
and the noise of chariots;
the sounds of the drum,
of the tabor,
and of the lute;
the sound of singing,
and the sounds of the cymbal
and of the gong;
and lastly, with the cry:

'Eat, drink, and be merry!'³

4. The royal city Kusāvati, Ānanda,
was surrounded by Seven Ramparts.

Of these, one rampart was of gold,
and one of silver,
and one of beryl,
and one of crystal,
and one of agate,
and one of coral,
and one of all kinds of gems!

5. To the royal city Kusāvati, Ānanda,
there were Gates of four colours.

One gate was of gold,
and one of silver,
and one of jade,
and one of crystal.

At each gate seven pillars were fixed;
in height as three times
or as four times
the height of a man.

And one pillar was of gold,
and one of silver,
and one of beryl,
and one of crystal,
and one of agate,
and one of coral,
and one of all kinds of gems.

[201] 6. The royal city Kusāvati, Ānanda,
was surrounded by Seven Rows of Palm Trees.

One row was of palms of gold,
and one of silver,
and one of beryl,
and one of crystal,
and one of agate,
and one of coral,
and one of all kinds of gems.

And the Golden Palms had trunks of gold,
and leaves and fruits of silver.

And the Silver Palms had trunks of silver,
and leaves and fruits of gold.

And the Palms of Beryl had trunks of beryl,
and leaves and fruits of crystal.

And the Crystal Palms had trunks of crystal,
and leaves and fruits of beryl.

And the Agate Palms had trunks of agate,
and leaves and fruits of coral.

And the Coral Palms had trunks of coral,
and leaves and fruits of agate.

And the Palms of every kind of Gem
had trunks and leaves and fruits of every kind of gem.

⁴ And when those rows of palm trees, Ānanda,
were shaken by the wind,
there arose a sound sweet,
and pleasant,
and charming,
and intoxicating.

Just, Ānanda, as the seven kinds of instruments yield,
when well played upon,
to the skilful man,
a sound sweet,
and pleasant,
and charming,
and intoxicating —
just even so, Ānanda,
when those rows of palm trees were shaken by the wind,
there arose a sound sweet,
and pleasant,
and charming,
and intoxicating.

And whoever, Ānanda,
in the royal city Kusāvati
were at that time gamblers,
drunkards,
and given to [202] drink,
they used to dance round together
to the sound of those palms
when shaken by the wind.

§

7. The Great King of Glory, Ānanda,
was the possessor of Seven Precious Things,
and was gifted with Four Marvellous Powers.

What are those seven?

⁵In the first place, Ānanda,
when the Great King of Glory,
on the Sabbath day,⁶
on the day of the full moon,
had purified himself,
and had gone up into the upper story of his palace
to keep the sacred day,
there then appeared to him
the heavenly Treasure of the Wheel,⁷
with its nave,
its tire,
and all its thousand spokes complete.

When he beheld it
the Great King of Glory thought:

'This saying have I heard:

"When a king of the warrior race,
an anointed king,
has purified himself on the Sabbath day,
on the day of the full moon,
and has gone up into the upper story of his palace
to keep the sacred day;
if there appear to him
the heavenly Treasure of the Wheel,
with its nave,
its tire,
and all its thousand spokes complete —
that king becomes a king of kings
invincible."

May I, then, become a king of kings
invincible.'⁸

8. Then, Ānanda, the Great King of Glory rose from his seat,
and reverently uncovering from one shoulder his robe,
he held in his left hand a pitcher,
and with his right hand he sprinkled water
up over the Wheel,
as he said:

'Roll onward, O my lord, the Wheel!

O my lord, go forth and overcome!'

Then the wondrous Wheel, Ānanda,
rolled onwards [203] towards the region of the East,
and after it went the Great King of Glory,
and with him his army,
horses,
and chariots,
and elephants,
and men.

And in whatever place, Ānanda,
the Wheel stopped,
there the Great King of Glory took up his abode,
and with him his army,
horses,
and chariots,
and elephants,
and men.

9. Then, Ānanda, all the rival kings
in the region of the East
came to the Great King of Glory and said:

'Come, O mighty king!

Welcome, O mighty king!

All is thine, O mighty king!

Do thou, O mighty king,
be a Teacher to us!'

Thus spake the Great King of Glory:

'Ye shall slay no living thing.

Ye shall not take that
which has not been given.

Ye shall not act wrongly
touching the bodily desires.

Ye shall speak no lie.

Ye shall drink no maddening drink.

Ye shall eat as ye have eaten.'⁹

Then, Ānanda, all the rival kings
in the region of the East
became subject unto the Great King of Glory.

■

10. But the wondrous Wheel, Ānanda,
having plunged down into
the great waters in the East,
rose up out again,
and rolled onward to the region of the South,
and after it went the Great King of Glory,
and with him his army,
horses,
and chariots,
and elephants,
and men.

And in whatever place, Ānanda,
the Wheel stopped,
there the Great King of Glory took up his abode,
and with him his army,
horses,
and chariots,
and elephants,
and men.

Then, Ānanda, all the rival kings
in the region of the South
came to the Great King of Glory and said:

'Come, O mighty king!

Welcome, O mighty king!

All is thine, O mighty king!

Do thou, O mighty king,
be a Teacher to us!'

Thus spake the Great King of Glory:

'Ye shall slay no living thing.

Ye shall not take
that which has not been given.

Ye shall not act wrongly
touching the bodily desires.

Ye shall speak no lie.

Ye shall drink no maddening drink.

Ye shall eat as ye have eaten.'

Then, Ānanda, all the rival kings
in the region of the South
became subject unto the Great King of Glory.

■

But the wondrous Wheel, Ānanda,
having plunged down into
the great waters in the South,
rose up out again,
and rolled onward to the region of the West,
and after it went the Great King of Glory,
and with him his army,
horses,
and chariots,
and elephants,
and men.

And in whatever place, Ānanda,
the Wheel stopped,
there the Great King of Glory
took up his abode,
and with him his army,
horses,
and chariots,
and elephants,
and men.

Then, Ānanda, all the rival kings
in the region of the West
came to the Great King of Glory and said:

'Come, O mighty king!

Welcome, O mighty king!

All is thine, O mighty king!

Do thou, O mighty king, be a Teacher to us!'

Thus spake the Great King of Glory:

'Ye shall slay no living thing.

Ye shall not take
that which has not been given.

Ye shall not act wrongly
touching the bodily desires.

Ye shall speak no lie.

Ye shall drink no maddening drink.

Ye shall eat as ye have eaten.'

Then, Ānanda, all the rival kings
in the region of the West
became subject unto the Great King of Glory.

■

But the wondrous Wheel, Ānanda,
having plunged down into
the great waters in the West,
rose up out again,
and rolled onward to the region of the North,
and after it went the Great King of Glory,
and with him his army,
horses,
and chariots,
and elephants,
and men.

And in whatever place, Ānanda,
the Wheel stopped,
there the Great King of Glory
took up his abode,
and with him his army,
horses,
and chariots,
and elephants,
and men.

Then, Ānanda, all the rival kings
in the region of the North
came to the Great King of Glory and said:

'Come, O mighty king!

Welcome, O mighty king!

All is thine, O mighty king!

Do thou, O mighty king, be a Teacher to us!'

Thus spake the Great King of Glory:

'Ye shall slay no living thing.

Ye shall not take
that which has not been given.

Ye shall not act wrongly
touching the bodily desires.

Ye shall speak no lie.

Ye shall drink no maddening drink.

Ye shall eat as ye have eaten.'

Then, Ānanda, all the rival kings
in the region of the North
became subject unto the Great King of Glory.

11. Now when the wondrous Wheel, Ānanda,
had gone forth conquering
and to conquer over the whole earth
to its very ocean boundary,
it returned back again
to the royal city of Kusāvati
and remained fixed on the open terrace
in front of the entrance to the inner apartments
of the Great King of Glory,
as [204] a glorious adornment to the inner apartments
of the Great King of Glory.

Such, Ānanda,
was the wondrous Wheel
which appeared to the Great King of Glory.'

■

12. 'Now further, Ānanda,
there appeared to the Great King of Glory
the Elephant Treasure,¹⁰
all white,
seven-fold firm¹¹,
wonderful in power,
flying through the sky —
the Elephant-King, whose name was
'The Changes of the Moon.'¹²

When he beheld it
the Great King of Glory was pleased at heart at the thought:

'Auspicious were it
to ride upon the Elephant,
if only it would submit to be controlled!'

Then, Ānanda,
the wondrous Elephant —
like a fine elephant of noble blood
long since well trained —
submitted to control.

And long ago, Ānanda,
when the Great King of Glory,
to test that wondrous Elephant,
had mounted on to it early in the morning,
it passed over along the broad earth
to its very ocean boundary,
and then returned again,
in time for the morning meal,
to the royal city of Kusāvati.¹³

Such, Ānanda,
was the wondrous Elephant
that appeared to the Great King of Glory.

■

13. Now further, Ānanda,
there appeared to the Great King of Glory
the Horse Treasure,¹⁴
all white [205] with a crow-black head,
and a dark mane,
wonderful in power,
flying through the sky —
the Charger-King,
whose name was
'Thunder-cloud.'¹⁵

When he beheld it,
the Great King of Glory was pleased at heart at the thought:

'Auspicious were it to ride upon that Horse
if only it would submit to be controlled!'

Then, Ānanda,
the wondrous Horse —
like a fine horse of the best blood
long since well trained —
submitted to control.

When long ago, Ānanda,
the Great King of Glory,
to test that wondrous Horse,
mounted on to it early in the morning,
it passed over along the broad earth
to its very ocean boundary
and then returned again,
in time for the morning meal,
to the royal city of Kusāvati.

Such, Ānanda, was the wondrous Horse
that appeared to the Great King of Glory.

■

14. Now further, Ānanda,
there appeared to the Great King of Glory
the Gem-Treasure.¹⁶

That Gem was the Veḷuriya,
bright,
of the finest species,
with eight facets,
excellently wrought,
clear,
transparent,
perfect in every way.

The splendour, Ānanda, of that wondrous Gem
spread round about a league on every side.

When, long ago, Ānanda, the Great King of Glory,
to test that wondrous Gem,
set all his fourfold army in array
and raised aloft the Gem upon his standard top,
he was able to march out
in the gloom and darkness of the night.

And then too, Ānanda,
all the dwellers in the villages round about,
set about their daily work,
thinking:

'The daylight hath appeared.'

[206] Such, Ānanda, was the wondrous Gem
that appeared to the Great King of Glory.

■

15. Now further, Ānanda, there appeared to the Great King of Glory
the Woman-Treasure,¹⁷
graceful in figure,
beautiful in appearance,
charming in manner,
and of the most fine complexion;
neither very tall,
nor very short;
neither very stout,
nor very slim;
neither very dark,
nor very fair;
surpassing human beauty,
she had attained unto the beauty of the gods.¹⁸

The touch too, Ānanda, of the skin
of that wondrous Woman
was as the touch of cotton
or of cotton wool;
in the cold her limbs were warm,
in the heat her limbs were cool;
while from her body was wafted
the perfume of sandal wood
and from her mouth
the perfume of the lotus.

That Pearl among Women too, Ānanda,
used to rise up before the Great King of Glory,
and after him retire to rest;
pleasant was she in speech,
and ever on the watch
to hear what she might do
in order so to act
as to give him pleasure.

That Pearl among Women too, Ānanda,
was never, even in thought,
unfaithful to the Great King of Glory —
how much less then could she be so
with the body!

Such, Ānanda, was the Pearl among Women
who appeared to the Great King of Glory.

■

16. Now further, Ānanda, there appeared unto the Great King of Glory
a Wonderful Treasurer,¹⁹
possessed,
[207] through good deeds done in a former birth,
of a marvellous power of vision
by which he could discover treasure,
whether it had an owner
or whether it had not.

He went up to the Great King of Glory, and said:

'Do thou, O King, take thine ease!

I will deal with thy wealth
even as wealth should be dealt with.'

Long ago, Ānanda, the Great King of Glory,
to test that wonderful Treasurer,
went on board a boat,
and had it pushed out into the current
in the midst of the river Ganges.

Then he said to the wonderful steward:

'I have need, O Treasurer,
of yellow gold!'

'Let the ship then, O Great King,
go alongside either of the banks.'

'It is here, O Treasurer,
that I have need of yellow gold.'

Then the wonderful Treasurer
reached down to the water
with both his hands,
and drew up a jar
full of yellow gold,
and said to the Great King of Glory:

'Is that enough, O Great King?

Have I done enough, O Great King?'

And the Great King of Glory replied:

'It is enough, O Treasurer.

You have done enough, O Treasurer.

You have offered me enough, O Treasurer!'

Such was the wonderful Treasurer, Ānanda,
who appeared to the Great King of Glory.

■

[208] Now further, Ānanda, there appeared to the Great King of Glory
a Wonderful Adviser,¹
learned,
clever,
and wise;
and qualified to lead the Great King of Glory
to undertake what he ought to undertake,
and to leave undone
what he ought to leave undone.

He went up to the Great King of Glory, and said:

'Do thou, O King, take thine ease!

I will be thy guide.'

Such, Ānanda, was the wonderful Adviser
who appeared to the Great King of Glory.

The Great King of Glory was possessed
of these Seven Precious Things.

■

18. Now, further, Ānanda, the Great King of Glory
was gifted with Four Marvellous Gifts.²¹

What are the Four Marvellous Gifts?

In the first place, Ānanda,
the Great King of Glory was graceful in figure,
handsome in appearance,
pleasing in manner,
and of most beautiful complexion,
beyond what other men are.

The Great King of Glory, Ānanda,
was endowed with this First Marvellous Gift.

■

19. And besides that, Ānanda, the Great King of Glory
was of long life,
and of many years,
beyond those of other men.

The Great King of Glory, Ānanda,
was endowed with this Second Marvellous Gift.

■

20. And besides that, Ānanda,
the Great King of Glory was free from disease,
and free from bodily suffering;
and his internal fire
was neither too hot nor too cold,
but such as to promote good digestion,
beyond that of other men.²²

[209] The Great King of Glory, Ānanda,
was endowed with this Third Marvellous Gift.

■

21. And besides that, Ānanda, the Great King of Glory
was beloved and popular
with priests and with laymen alike.

Just, Ānanda,
as a father is near and dear
to his own sons,
just so, Ānanda,
was the Great King of Glory
beloved and popular
with priests and with laymen alike.

And just, Ānanda,
as his sons are near and dear to a father,
just so, Ānanda,
were priests and laymen alike
near and dear to the Great King of Glory.

Once, Ānanda,
the Great King of Glory marched out
with all his fourfold army
to the pleasure ground.

There, Ānanda, the priests and laymen
went up to the Great King of Glory,
and said:

'O King, pass slowly by,
that we may look upon thee
for a longer time!'

But the Great King of Glory, Ānanda,
addressed his charioteer, and said:

'Drive on the chariot slowly, charioteer,
that I may look upon my people
[priests and laymen]
for a longer time!'

This was the Fourth Marvellous Gift, Ānanda,
with which the Great King of Glory was endowed.

'These are the Four Marvellous Gifts, Ānanda,
with which the Great King of Glory was endowed.

§

22. 'Now to the Great King of Glory, Ānanda, there occurred the thought:

[210] 'Suppose, now, I were to make Lotus-ponds
in the spaces between these palms,
at every hundred bow-lengths.'

Then, Ānanda, the Great King of Glory,
in the spaces between those palms,
at distances of a hundred bow-lengths,
made Lotus-ponds.

And those Lotus-ponds, Ānanda,
were faced with tiles of four kinds.

One kind of tile was of gold,
and one of silver,
and one of beryl,
and one of crystal.

And to each of those Lotus-ponds, Ānanda,
there were four flights of steps,
of four different kinds.

One flight of steps was of gold,
and one of silver,
and one of beryl,
and one of crystal.

The flight of golden steps
had balustrades of gold,
with the cross bars and the figure-head of silver.

The flight of silver steps
had balustrades of silver,
with the cross bars and the figure-head of gold.

The flight of beryl steps
had balustrades of beryl,
with the cross bars and the figurehead of crystal.

The flight of crystal steps
had balustrades of crystal,
with cross bars and figure-head of beryl.

And round those Lotus-ponds there ran, Ānanda,
a double railing.

One railing was of gold,
and one was of silver.

The golden railing
had its posts of gold,
and its cross bars and its capitals of silver.

The silver railing
had its posts of silver,
and its cross bars and its capitals of gold.²³

[211] 23. Now, to the Great King of Glory, Ānanda,
there occurred the thought:

'Suppose, now, I were to have flowers of every season
planted in those Lotus-ponds
for all the people to have garlands to put on²⁴ —
to wit, blue water-lilies
and blue lotuses,
white lotuses
and white water-lilies.'

And the Great King of Glory,
had flowers of every season
planted in those Lotus-ponds
for all the people to have garlands to put on —
to wit, blue water-lilies
and blue lotuses,
white lotuses
and white water-lilies.

Now, to the Great King of Glory, Ānanda,
occurred the thought:

'Suppose, now, I were to place bathing-men
on the banks of those Lotus-ponds,
to bathe such of the people
as come there from time to time.'

And the Great King of Glory,
placed bathing-men on the banks of those Lotus-ponds,
to bathe such of the people
as come there from time to time.

Now, to the Great King of Glory, Ānanda,
occurred the thought:

'Suppose, now, I were to establish a perpetual grant
by the banks of those Lotus-ponds—to wit,
food for the hungry,
drink for the thirsty,
raiment for the naked,
means of conveyance for those who have need of it,
couches for the tired,
wives for those who want wives,
gold for the poor,
and money for those who are in want.'

Then, Ānanda, the Great King of Glory established a perpetual grant
by the banks of those Lotus-ponds—to wit,
food for the hungry,
drink for the thirsty,
raiment for the naked,
means of conveyance for those who have need of it,
couches for the tired,
wives for those who want wives,
gold for the poor,
and money for those who were in want.

24. Now, Ānanda, the people
[priests and laymen]
went to the Great King of Glory,
taking with them much wealth.

And they said:

'This abundant wealth, O King
have we brought [212] here
for the use of the King of kings.

Let the King accept it of us!'

'I have enough wealth, my friends,
laid up for myself,
the produce of righteous taxation.

Do you keep this,
and take away more with you!'

When those men were thus refused by the King
they went aside and considered together, saying:

'It would not beseem us now,
were we to take back
this wealth to our own houses.

Suppose, now, we were to build a mansion
for the Great King of Glory.'

Then they went to the Great King of Glory,
and said:

'A mansion would we build for thee, O King!'

Then, Ānanda, the Great King of Glory signified,
by silence,
his consent.

■

25. 'Now, Ānanda, when Sakka, the king of the gods,
became aware in his mind
of the thoughts that were in the heart
of the Great King of Glory,
he addressed Vissakamma the god, and said:

'Come now, Vissakamma,
create me a mansion for the Great King of Glory —
a palace which shall be called
"Righteousness"'

'Even so, lord!' said Vissakamma,
in assent, Ānanda,
to Sakka, the king of the gods.

And as instantaneously as a strong man might stretch forth his folded arm,
or draw in his arm again
when it was stretched forth,
so quickly did he vanish
from the heaven of the Great Thirty-Three,
and appeared before the Great King of Glory.

Then, Ānanda, Vissakamma the god
said to the Great King of Glory:

'I would create for thee, O King, a mansion —
a palace which shall be called
"Righteousness!"'

Then, Ānanda, the Great King of Glory
signified, by silence,
his consent.

So Vissakamma the god, Ānanda,
created for the Great King of Glory
a mansion —
a palace to be called
'Righteousness'.

[213] 26. The Palace of Righteousness, Ānanda,
was on the east and on the west
a league in length,
and on the north and on the south
half a league in breadth.

The ground-floor, Ānanda,
of the Palace of Righteousness,
in height as three times the height
to which a man can reach,
was built of bricks of four kinds.

One kind of brick was of gold,
and one of silver,
and one of beryl,
and one of crystal.

To the Palace of Righteousness, Ānanda,
there were eighty-four thousand pillars
of four kinds.

One kind of pillar was of gold,
and one of silver,
and one of beryl,
and one of crystal.

The Palace of Righteousness, Ānanda,
was fitted up with seats
of four kinds.

One kind of seat was of gold,
and one of silver,
and one of beryl,
and one of crystal.

In the Palace of Righteousness, Ānanda,
there were twenty-four staircases
of four kinds.

One staircase was of gold,
and one of silver,
and one of beryl,
and one of crystal.

The staircase of gold
had balustrades of gold,
with the cross bars and the figure-head of silver.

The staircase of silver
had balustrades of silver,
with the cross bars and the figure-head of gold.

The staircase of beryl
had balustrades of beryl,
with the cross bars and the figure-head of crystal.

The staircase of crystal
had balustrades of crystal,
with cross bars and figure-head of beryl.

In the Palace of Righteousness, Ānanda,
there were eighty-four thousand chambers
of four kinds.

One kind of chamber was of gold,
and one of silver,
and one of beryl,
and one of crystal.

In the golden chamber
a silver couch was spread;
in the silver chamber
a golden couch;
in the beryl chamber
a couch of ivory;
and in the crystal chamber
a couch of coral.

At the door of the golden chamber
there stood a palm tree of silver;
and its trunk was of silver,
and its leaves and fruits of silver.

At the door of the beryl chamber
there stood a palm [214] tree of crystal;
and its trunk was of crystal,
and its leaves and fruits of beryl.

At the door of the crystal chamber
there stood a palm tree of beryl;
and its trunk was of beryl,
and its leaves and fruits of crystal.

27. Now there occurred, Ānanda,
to the Great King of Glory
this thought:

'Suppose, now, I were to make a grove of palm trees,
all of gold,
at the entrance to the chamber of the Great Complex,²⁵
under the shade of which
I may pass the heat of the day.'

Then, Ānanda, the Great King of Glory
made a grove of palm trees,
all of gold,
at the entrance to the chamber of the Great Complex,
under the shade of which
he might pass the heat of the day.

28. The Palace of Righteousness, Ānanda,
was surrounded by a double railing.

One railing was of gold,
and one was of silver.

The golden railing
had its posts of gold,
and its cross bars and its figure-head of silver.

The silver railing
had its posts of silver,
and its cross bars and its figure-head of gold.

29. The Palace of Righteousness, Ānanda,
was hung round with two networks of bells.

One network of bells was of gold,
and one was of silver.

The golden network
had bells of silver,
and the silver network
had bells of gold.

And when those networks of bells, Ānanda,
were shaken by the wind
there arose a sound
sweet,
and pleasant,
and charming,
and intoxicating.

Just, Ānanda, as the seven kinds of instruments yield,
when well played upon,
to the skilful man,
a sound
sweet,
and pleasant,
and charming,
and intoxicating —
just even so, Ānanda, when those networks of [215] bells
were shaken by the wind,
there arose a sound
sweet,
and pleasant,
and charming,
and intoxicating.

And whoever, Ānanda, in the royal city Kusāvati
were at that time gamblers,
drunkards,
and given to drink,
they used to dance round together
to the sound of those networks of bells
when shaken by the wind.

30. When the Palace of Righteousness, Ānanda, was finished
it was hard to look at,
destructive to the eyes.

Just, Ānanda,
as in the last month of the rains
in the autumn time,
when the sky has become clear
and the clouds have vanished away,
the sun,
springing up along the heavens,
is hard to look at,
and destructive to the eyes —
just so, Ānanda, when the Palace of Righteousness was finished
was it hard to look at,
and destructive to the eyes.

31. Now there occurred, Ānanda, to the Great King of Glory this thought:

'Suppose, now, in front of the Palace of Righteousness,
I were to make a Lotus-lake
to bear the name of "Righteousness".'

Then, Ānanda, the Great King of Glory
made a Lotus-lake to bear the name of 'Righteousness'.

The Lake of Righteousness, Ānanda,
was on the east and on the west
a league in length,
and on the north and on the south
half a league in breadth.

The Lake of Righteousness, Ānanda,
was faced with tiles of four kinds.

One kind of tile was of gold,
and one of silver,
and one of beryl,
and one of crystal.

The Lake of Righteousness, Ānanda,
had four and twenty flights of steps,
of four different kinds.

One flight of steps was of gold,
and one of silver,
and one of beryl,
and one of crystal.

The flight of golden steps
had balustrades of gold,
with the cross bars and the figure-head of silver.

The flight of silver steps
had balustrades of silver,
with the cross bars and the figurehead of gold.

The flight of beryl steps
had balustrades of beryl,
with the cross bars and the figure-head of [216] crystal.

The flight of crystal steps
had balustrades of crystal,
with cross bars and figure-head of beryl.

Round the Lake of Righteousness, Ānanda,
there ran a double railing.

One railing was of gold,
and one was of silver.

The golden railing
had its posts of gold,
and its cross bars and its capitals of silver.

The silver railing
had its posts of silver,
and its cross bars and its capitals of gold.

32. The Lake of Righteousness, Ānanda,
was surrounded by seven rows of palm trees.

One row was of palms of gold,
and one of silver,
and one of beryl,
and one of crystal,
and one of agate,
and one of coral,
and one of all kinds of gems.

And the golden palms
had trunks of gold,
and leaves and fruits of silver.

And the silver palms
had trunks of silver,
and leaves and fruits of gold.

And the palms of beryl
had trunks of beryl,
and leaves and fruits of crystal.

And the crystal palms
had trunks of crystal,
and leaves and fruits of beryl.

And the agate palms
had trunks of agate,
and leaves and fruits of coral.

And the coral palms
had trunks of coral,
and leaves and fruits of agate.

And the palms of every kind of gem
had trunks and leaves and fruits of every kind of gem.

And when those rows of palm trees, Ānanda,
were shaken by the wind,
there arose a sound
sweet,
and pleasant,
and charming,
and intoxicating.

Just, Ānanda,
as the seven kinds of instruments yield,
when well played upon,
to the skilful man,
a sound
sweet,
and pleasant,
and charming,
and intoxicating, —
just even so, Ānanda,
when those rows of palm trees
were shaken by the wind,
there arose a sound
sweet,
and pleasant,
and charming,
and intoxicating.

And whosoever, Ānanda, in the royal city Kusāvati
were at that time gamblers,
drunkards,
and given to drink,
they used to dance round together
to the sound of those palms
when shaken by the wind.

■

33. When the Palace of Righteousness, Ānanda, was [217] finished,
and the Lotus-lake of Righteousness was finished,
the Great King of Glory entertained with all good things
those of the Wanderers
who, at that time, were held in high esteem,
and those of the brahmins
who, at that time, were held in high esteem.

Then he ascended up into the Palace of Righteousness."

■

[218]

Chapter II.

1. "Now there occurred, Ānanda, this thought to the Great King of Glory:

'Of what previous character, now,
may this be the fruit,
of what previous character
the result,
that I am now so mighty and so great?'

And then occurred, Ānanda, to the Great King of Glory
this thought:

'Of three qualities is this the fruit,
of three qualities the result,
that I am now so mighty and so great, —
that is to say,
of giving,
of self-conquest,
and of self control.'²⁶

2. Now the Great King of Glory, Ānanda,
ascended up into the chamber of the Great Complex;
and there he broke out into a cry of intense emotion:

'Stay here, O thoughts of lust!

Stay here, O thoughts of ill-will!

Stay here, O thoughts of hatred!

Thus far only, O thoughts of lust!

Thus far only, O thoughts of ill-will!

Thus far only, O thoughts of hatred!'

3. And when, Ānanda, the Great King of Glory
had entered the chamber of the Great Complex,
and had seated himself upon the couch of gold,
having put away all passion
and all unrighteousness,
he entered into,
and remained in,
the First Rapture, —
a state of joy and ease,
born of seclusion,
full of reflection,
full of investigation.

By suppressing reflection and investigation,
he entered into,
and remained in,
the Second Rapture, —
[219] a state of joy and ease,
born of serenity,
without reflection,
without investigation,
a state of elevation of mind,
of internal calm.

By absence of the longing after joy,
he remained indifferent,
conscious,
self-possessed,
experiencing in his body
that ease which the noble ones announce, saying: —
'The man indifferent and self-possessed is well at ease,'
and thus he entered into,
and remained in,
the Third Rapture.

By putting away ease,
by putting away pain,
by the previous dying away
both of gladness and of sorrow,
he entered into,
and remained in,
the Fourth Rapture, —
a state of purified self-possession and equanimity,
without ease,
and without pain.²⁷

4. Then, Ānanda, the Great King of Glory
went out from the chamber of the Great Complex,
and entered the Golden chamber
and sat himself down on the silver couch.

And he let his mind pervade
one quarter of the world
with thoughts of Love;
and so the second quarter,
and so the third,
and so the fourth.

And thus the whole wide world,
above,
below,
around,
and everywhere,
did he continue to pervade with heart of Love,
far-reaching,
grown great,
and beyond measure,
free from the least trace of anger or ill-will.

■

And he let his mind pervade
one quarter of the world
with thoughts of Pity;
and so the second quarter,
and so the third,
and so the fourth.

And thus the whole wide world,
above,
below,
around,
and everywhere,
did he continue to pervade with heart of Pity,
far-reaching,
grown great,
and beyond measure,
free from the least trace of anger or ill-will.

■

And he let his mind pervade
one quarter of the [220] world
with thoughts of Sympathy;
and so the second quarter,
and so the third,
and so the fourth.

And thus the whole wide world,
above,
below,
around,
and everywhere,
did he continue to pervade with heart of Sympathy,
far-reaching,
grown great,
and beyond measure,
free from the least trace of anger or ill-will.

■

And he let his mind pervade
one quarter of the world
with thoughts of Equanimity;²⁸
and so the second quarter,
and so the third,
and so the fourth.

And thus the whole wide world,
above,
below,
around,
and everywhere,
did he continue to pervade with heart of Sympathy,
far-reaching,
grown great,
and beyond measure,
free from the least trace of anger or ill-will.

§

5. The Great King of Glory, Ānanda,
had four and eighty thousand cities,
the chief of which was the royal city of Kusāvati;

Four and eighty thousand palaces,
the chief of which was the Palace of Righteousness:

Four and eighty thousand chambers,
the chief of which was the chamber of the Great Complex;

Four and eighty thousand divans,
of gold,
and silver,
and ivory,
and sandal wood,
spread with longhaired rugs,
and cloths embroidered with flowers,
and magnificent antelope skins;
covered with lofty canopies;
and provided at both ends with purple cushions;

Four and eighty thousand state elephants,
with trappings of gold,
and gilded flags,
and golden coverings of network, —
of which the king of elephants, called
'the Changes of the Moon,' was chief;

Four and eighty thousand state horses,
with trappings of gold,
and gilded flags,
and golden coverings of network, —
of which 'Thunder-cloud,' the king of horses,
was the chief;

Four and eighty thousand chariots,
with coverings of the skins of lions,
and of tigers,
and of panthers, — [221] of which the chariot called
'the Flag of Victory' was the chief;

Four and eighty thousand gems,
of which the 'Wondrous Gem' was the chief;

Four and eighty thousand wives,
of whom Subhaddā,
the Queen of Glory²⁹ was the chief;

Four and eighty thousand yeomen,
of whom the 'Wonderful Steward' was the chief;

Four and eighty thousand nobles,
of whom the 'Wonderful Adviser' was the chief;

Four and eighty thousand cows,
with jute trappings,
and horns tipped with bronze;

Four and eighty thousand myriads of garments,
of delicate textures,
of flax,
and cotton,
and silk,
and wool;

Four and eighty thousand dishes,
in which, in the evening and in the morning
rice was served.³⁰

■

6. Now at that time, Ānanda,
the four and eighty thousand state elephants
used to come every evening and every morning
to be of service to the Great King of Glory.

And this thought occurred to the Great King of Glory:

'These eighty-four thousand elephants
come every evening and every morning
to be of service to me.

Suppose, now, I were to let the elephants
come in alternate forty-two thousands,
once each,
every alternate hundred years!'

Then, Ānanda, the Great King of Glory said to the Great Adviser:

'O, my friend, the Great Adviser!
these eighty-four thousand elephants
come every evening and every morning
to be of service to me.

Now, let the elephants [222] come,
O my friend, the Great Adviser,
in alternate forty-two thousands,
once each,
every alternate hundred years!'

'Even so, lord!'
said the Wonderful Adviser, in assent,
to the Great King of Glory.

From that time forth, Ānanda,
the elephants came
in alternate forty-two thousands,
once each,
every alternate hundred years.

■

7. Now, Ānanda, after the lapse of many years,
of many hundred years,
of many thousand years,
there occurred to the Queen of Glory this thought:

''Tis long since I have beheld the Great King of Glory.

Suppose, now, I were to go and visit the Great King of Gtary.'

Then, Ānanda, the Queen of Glory
said to the women of the harem:

'Arise now,
dress your hair,
and clothe yourselves in fresh raiment.

'Tis long since we have beheld
the Great King of Glory.

Let us go and visit
the Great King of Glory!'

'Even so, lady!'
said the women of the harem, Ānanda,
in assent,
to the Queen of Glory.

And they dressed their hair,
and clad themselves in fresh raiment,
and came near to the Queen of Glory.

Then, Ānanda, the Queen of Glory
said to the Great Adviser:

'Arrange, O Great Adviser,
the fourfold army in array.

'Tis long since I have beheld
the Great King of Glory.

I am about to go to visit
the Great King of Glory.'

'Even so, O Queen!'
said the Great Adviser, Ānanda,
in assent,
to the Queen of Glory.

And he set the fourfold army in array,
and had the fact announced to the Queen of Glory
in the words:

'The fourfold army, O Queen,
is set for thee in array.

Do now whatever seemeth to thee fit.'

8. Then, Ānanda, the Queen of Glory,
with the fourfold army,
repaired,
with the women of the harem,
to the Palace of Righteousness.

And when she [223] had arrived there
she mounted up into the Palace of Righteousness,
and went on to the chamber of the Great Complex.

And when she had reached it,
she stopped and leant against the side of the door.

When, Ānanda, the Great King of Glory
heard the noise
he thought:

'What, now, may this noise,
as of a great multitude of people, mean?'

And going out from the chamber of the Great Complex,
he beheld the Queen of Glory
standing leaning up against the side of the door.

And when he beheld her, he said to the Queen of Glory:

'Stop there, O Queen!

Enter not!'

9. Then the Great King of Glory, Ānanda,
said to one of his attendants:

'Arise, good man!
take the golden couch
out of the chamber of the Great Complex,
and make it ready
under that grove of palm trees
which is all of gold.'

'Even so, lord!'
said the man, in assent,
to the Great King of Glory.

And he took the golden couch
out of the chamber of the Great Complex,
and made it ready
under that grove of palm trees
which was all of gold.

Then, Ānanda, the Great King of Glory
laid himself down
in the dignified way a lion does;
and lay with one leg resting on the other,
calm and self-possessed.

10. Then, Ānanda, there occurred
to the Queen of Glory
this thought:

'How calm are all the limbs of the Great King of Glory!

How clear and bright is his appearance!

O may it not be
that the Great King of Glory
is dead!'³¹

And she said to the Great King of Glory:

'Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand [224] cities,
the chief of which is the royal city of Kusāvati:
Arise, O King,
re-awaken thy desire for these,
quicken thy longing after life.

Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand palaces,
the chief of which is the Palace of Righteousness:
Arise, O King,
re-awaken thy desire for these,
quicken thy longing after life.

Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand chambers,
the chief of which is the chamber of the Great Complex:
Arise, O King,
re-awaken thy desire for these,
quicken thy longing after life.

Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand divans,
of gold,
and silver,
and ivory,
and sandal wood,
spread with longhaired rugs,
and cloths embroidered with flowers,
and magnificent antelope skins;
covered with lofty canopies;
and provided at both ends with purple cushions:
Arise, O King,
re-awaken thy desire for these,
quicken thy longing after life.

Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand state elephants,
with trappings of gold,
and gilded flags,
and golden coverings of network, —
of which the king of elephants, called
"the Changes of the Moon," is chief:
Arise, O King,
re-awaken thy desire for these,
quicken thy longing after life.

Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand state horses,
with trappings of gold,
and gilded flags,
and golden coverings of network, —
of which "Thunder-cloud," the king of horses,
is the chief:
Arise, O King,
re-awaken thy desire for these,
quicken thy longing after life.

Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand chariots,
with coverings of the skins of lions,
and of tigers,
and of panthers, —
of which the chariot called
"the Flag of Victory" is the chief:
Arise, O King,
re-awaken thy desire for these,
quicken thy longing after life.

Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand gems,
of which the Wondrous Gem is the chief:
Arise, O King,
re-awaken thy desire for these,
quicken thy longing after life.

[225] Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand wives,
of whom Subhaddā,
the Queen of Glory is the chief:
Arise, O King,
re-awaken thy desire for these,
quicken thy longing after life.

Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand yeomen,
of whom the Wonderful Steward is the chief:
Arise, O King,
re-awaken thy desire for these,
quicken thy longing after life.

Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand nobles,
of whom the Wonderful Adviser was the chief:
Arise, O King,
re-awaken thy desire for these,
quicken thy longing after life.

Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand cows,
with jute trappings,
and horns tipped with bronze:
Arise, O King,
re-awaken thy desire for these,
quicken thy longing after life.

Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand myriads of garments,
of delicate textures,
of flax,
and cotton,
and silk,
and wool:
Arise, O King,
re-awaken thy desire for these,
quicken thy longing after life.

Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand dishes,
in which, in the evening and in the morning
rice was served:
Arise, O King,
re-awaken thy desire for these,
quicken thy longing after life.'

■

11. 'When she had thus spoken, Ānanda,
the Great King of Glory said to the Queen of Glory:

'Long hast thou addressed me, O Queen,
in pleasant words,
much to be desired,
and sweet.

Yet now in this last time you speak
in words unpleasant,
disagreeable,
not to be desired.'

'How then, O King, shall I address thee?'

'Thus, O Queen, shouldst thou address me —

"The nature of all things near and dear to us, O King,
is such that we must leave them,
divide ourselves from them,
separate ourselves from them.³²

Pass not away, [226] O King,
with longing in thy heart.

Sad is the death of him who longs,
unworthy is the death of him who longs³³

Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand cities,
the chief of which is the royal city of Kusāvati:
Cast away desire for these,
long not after life.

Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand palaces,
the chief of which is the Palace of Righteousness:
Cast away desire for these,
long not after life.

Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand chambers,
the chief of which is the chamber of the Great Complex:
Cast away desire for these,
long not after life.

Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand divans,
of gold,
and silver,
and ivory,
and sandal wood,
spread with longhaired rugs,
and cloths embroidered with flowers,
and magnificent antelope skins;
covered with lofty canopies;
and provided at both ends with purple cushions:
Cast away desire for these,
long not after life.

Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand state elephants,
with trappings of gold,
and gilded flags,
and golden coverings of network, —
of which the king of elephants, called
"the Changes of the Moon," is chief:
Cast away desire for these,
long not after life.

Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand state horses,
with trappings of gold,
and gilded flags,
and golden coverings of network, —
of which "Thunder-cloud," the king of horses,
is the chief:
Cast away desire for these,
long not after life.

Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand chariots,
with coverings of the skins of lions,
and of tigers,
and of panthers, —
of which the chariot called
"the Flag of Victory" is the chief:
Cast away desire for these,
long not after life.

[227] Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand gems,
of which the Wondrous Gem is the chief:
Cast away desire for these,
long not after life.

Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand wives,
of whom Subhaddā,
the Queen of Glory is the chief:
Cast away desire for these,
long not after life.

Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand yeomen,
of whom the Wonderful Steward is the chief:
Cast away desire for these,
long not after life.

Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand nobles,
of whom the Wonderful Adviser was the chief:
Cast away desire for these,
long not after life.

Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand cows,
with jute trappings,
and horns tipped with bronze:
Cast away desire for these,
long not after life.

Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand myriads of garments,
of delicate textures,
of flax,
and cotton,
and silk,
and wool:
Cast away desire for these,
long not after life.

Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand dishes,
in which, in the evening and in the morning
rice was served:
Cast away desire for these,
long not after life."'

■

12. When he thus spake, Ānanda,
the Queen of Glory wept and poured forth tears.

Then, Ānanda, the Queen of Glory
wiped away her tears,
and addressed the Great King of Glory,
and said:

"The nature of all things near and dear to us, O King,
is such that we must leave them,
divide ourselves from them,
separate ourselves from them.

Pass not away, O King,
with longing in thy heart.

Sad is the death of him who longs,
unworthy is the death of him who longs.

Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand cities,
the chief of which is the royal city of Kusāvati:
Cast away desire for these,
long not after life.

Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand palaces,
the chief of which is the Palace of Righteousness:
Cast away desire for these,
long not after life.

Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand chambers,
the chief of which is the chamber of the [228] Great Complex:
Cast away desire for these,
long not after life.

Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand divans,
of gold,
and silver,
and ivory,
and sandal wood,
spread with longhaired rugs,
and cloths embroidered with flowers,
and magnificent antelope skins;
covered with lofty canopies;
and provided at both ends with purple cushions:
Cast away desire for these,
long not after life.

Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand state elephants,
with trappings of gold,
and gilded flags,
and golden coverings of network, —
of which the king of elephants, called
"the Changes of the Moon," is chief:
Cast away desire for these,
long not after life.

Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand state horses,
with trappings of gold,
and gilded flags,
and golden coverings of network, —
of which "Thunder-cloud," the king of horses,
is the chief:
Cast away desire for these,
long not after life.

Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand chariots,
with coverings of the skins of lions,
and of tigers,
and of panthers, —
of which the chariot called
"the Flag of Victory" is the chief:
Cast away desire for these,
long not after life.

Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand gems,
of which the Wondrous Gem is the chief:
Cast away desire for these,
long not after life.

Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand wives,
of whom Subhaddā,
the Queen of Glory is the chief:
Cast away desire for these,
long not after life.

Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand yeomen,
of whom the Wonderful Steward is the chief:
Cast away desire for these,
long not after life.

Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand nobles,
of whom the Wonderful Adviser was the chief:
Cast away desire for these,
long not after life.

Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand cows,
with jute trappings,
and horns tipped with bronze:
Cast away desire for these,
long not after life.

Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand [229] myriads of garments,
of delicate textures,
of flax,
and cotton,
and silk,
and wool:
Cast away desire for these,
long not after life.

Thine, O King, are those four and eighty thousand dishes,
in which, in the evening and in the morning
rice was served:
Cast away desire for these,
long not after life."

■

13. Then immediately, Ānanda,
the Great King of Glory died.

Just, Ānanda,
as when a yeoman has eaten a hearty meal
he becomes all drowsy,
just so were the feelings he experienced, Ānanda,
as death came upon the Great King of Glory.

When the Great King of Glory, Ānanda, had died,
he came to life again
in the happy world of Brahmā.

For eight and forty thousand years, Ānanda,
the Great King of Glory lived the happy life of a prince,
for eight and forty thousand years
he was viceroy and heir-apparent,
for eight and forty thousand years
he ruled the kingdom,
and for eight and forty thousand years he lived,
as a layman,
the noble life in the Palace of Righteousness.

And then, when full of noble thoughts he died,
he entered,
after the dissolution of the body,
the world of Brahmā.³⁴

14. Now it may be, Ānanda, that you may think:

'The Great King of Glory of that time
was another person.'

But, Ānanda, you should not view the matter thus.

I at that time was the Great King of Glory.

Mine at that time were those four and eighty thousand cities,
the chief of which was the royal city of Kusāvati.

Mine at that time were those four and eighty thousand palaces,
the chief of which was the Palace of Righteousness

[230] Mine at that time were those four and eighty thousand chambers,
the chief of which was the chamber of the Great Complex.

Mine at that time were those four and eighty thousand divans,
of gold,
and silver,
and ivory,
and sandal wood,
spread with longhaired rugs,
and cloths embroidered with flowers,
and magnificent antelope skins;
covered with lofty canopies;
and provided at both ends with purple cushions.

Mine at that time were those four and eighty thousand state elephants,
with trappings of gold,
and gilded flags,
and golden coverings of network, —
of which the king of elephants, called
"the Changes of the Moon," was chief.

Mine at that time were those four and eighty thousand state horses,
with trappings of gold,
and gilded flags,
and golden coverings of network, —
of which "Thunder-cloud," the king of horses,
was the chief.

Mine at that time were those four and eighty thousand chariots,
with coverings of the skins of lions,
and of tigers,
and of panthers, —
of which the chariot called
"the Flag of Victory" was the chief.

Mine at that time were those four and eighty thousand gems,
of which the Wondrous Gem was the chief.

Mine at that time were those four and eighty thousand wives,
of whom Subhaddā,
the Queen of Glory was the chief.

Mine at that time were those four and eighty thousand yeomen,
of whom the Wonderful Steward was the chief.

Mine at that time were those four and eighty thousand nobles,
of whom the Wonderful Adviser was the chief.

Mine at that time were those four and eighty thousand cows,
with jute trappings,
and horns tipped with bronz.

Mine at that time were those four and eighty thousand myriads of garments,
of delicate textures,
of flax,
and cotton,
and silk,
and wool.

Mine at that time were those four and eighty thousand dishes,
in which, in the evening and in the morning
rice was served.

■

15. Of those four and eighty thousand cities, Ānanda,
one was that city in which,
at that time,
I used to dwell —
to wit,
the royal city of Kusāvati.

[231] Of those four and eighty thousand palaces, too, Ānanda,
one was that palace in which,
at that time,
I used to dwell —
to wit,
the Palace of Righteousness.

Of those four and eighty thousand chambers, too, Ānanda,
one was that chamber in which,
at that time,
I used to dwell —
to wit,
the chamber of the Great Complex.

Of those four and eighty thousand divans, too, Ānanda,
one was that divan which,
at that time,
I used to occupy —
to wit,
one of gold,
or one of silver,
or one of ivory,
or one of sandalwood.

Of those four and eighty thousand state elephants, too, Ānanda,
one was that elephant which,
at that time,
I used to ride —
to wit,
the king of elephants,
"the Changes of the Moon."

Of those four and eighty thousand horses, too, Ānanda,
one was that horse which,
at that time,
I used to ride —
to wit,
the king of horses,
"the Thunder-cloud."

Of those four and eighty thousand chariots, too, Ānanda,
one was that chariot in which,
at that time,
I used to ride —
to wit, the chariot called
"the Flag of Victory."

Of those four and eighty thousand wives, too, Ānanda,
one was that wife who,
at that time,
used to wait upon me —
to wit,
either a lady of noble birth,
or a Velāmikāni.

Of those four and eighty thousand myriads of suits of apparel, too, Ānanda,
one was the suit of apparel which,
at that time,
I wore —
to wit,
one of delicate texture,
of linen,
or cotton,
or silk,
or wool.

Of those four and eighty thousand dishes, too, Ānanda,
one was that dish from which,
at that time,
I ate a measure of rice
and the curry suitable thereto.

16. See, Ānanda,
how all these things are now past,
are ended,
have vanished away.

Thus impermanent, Ānanda, are component things;
thus transitory, Ānanda,
are component things;
thus untrustworthy, [232] Ānanda,
are component things.

Insomuch, Ānanda,
is it meet to be weary of,
is it meet to be estranged from,
is it meet to be set quite free from
the bondage of all component things!

■

17. Now I call to mind, Ānanda,
how in this spot
my body had been six times buried.

And when I was dwelling here
as the righteous king
who ruled in righteousness,
the lord of the four regions of the earth,
the conqueror,
the protector of his people,
the possessor of the seven royal treasures —
that was the seventh time.

But I behold not any spot, Ānanda,
in the world of men and gods,
nor in the world of Māra,
nor in the world of Brahmā —
no, not among the race of Samaṇas or Brahmins,
of gods or men, —
where the Tathāgata for the eighth time
will lay aside his body."³⁵

Thus spake the Exalted One;
and when the Happy One had thus spoken,
once again the Teacher said:

How transient are all component things!
Growth is their nature and decay;
They are produced, they are dissolved again;
To bring them all into subjection — that is bliss.³⁶

End of the Mahā-Sudassana-Suttanta

i1 It is not easy with our present materials to reconcile the apparently conflicting statements with regard to the Buddha's last journey. According to the Mālālaṇkāra-vatthu this refers here to a residence at the Jetavana, which took place between the end of § 23 in Chap. II in the Book of the Great Decease, and the beginning of § 24.

Mr. Fausböll, by his punctuation, includes these words in the following thought ascribed to the Exalted One, but I think they only describe the time at which the thought is supposed to have arisen.

i2 The text reads 'at Varaka.' But this is a mistake. The word which has puzzled Mr. Fausböll is ovaraka. The modem name of the village, afterwards the site of the famous Buddhist university of Nālanda, is Baragaon. The full-moon day in Kattika is the first of December. An account of the death of Sariputta will be found in the Mālālaṇkāra-vatthu (Bigandet, 'Legend,' etc., 3rd ed., II, 1-25), and of the murder of Moggallāna by the Niganthas in the Dhammapada commentary (Fausböll, p. 298 seq.), of which Spence Hardy's account ('Manual of Buddhism,' p. 338) is nearly a translation; and Bigandet's account (loc. cit., pp. 25-7) is an abridgement.

i3 In the earliest description of this conversation (above, 'Book of the Great Decease,' V, 17) there is no mention of this. But it is inserted most incongruously in the present Suttanta.

i4 Both these speeches are different from those given on the same occasion in the Suttanta below.

i5 This question and answer are not in the Suttanta.

i6 All this is omitted in the Suttanta. It is true the verse occurs there, but it is placed in the mouth of the Teacher, after the account of Mahā-Sudassana's death.

i7 Sankhārā.

i8 Khandāyatanādayo.

i9 Rūpam.

i10 Viññāṇam.

i11 Cakkhum.

i12 Dhammā.

i13 Thiti.

i14 Bhango.

i15 Pāyātā, literally 'departed.' The forms payāti and payāto, given by Childers, should be corrected into pāyāti and pāyāto.

i16 Tāva-kālika. See Jātaka I, 121, where the word is used of a cart let out on hire for a time only.

i17 Tad ev ekam ekaṃ, which is not altogether without ambiguity.

i18 This paragraph, too, is omitted in the Suttanta.

¹ 'Sudassana' means 'beautiful to see, having a glorious appearance,' and is the name of many kings and heroes in Indian legend.

² Khattiyo muddhāvasitto, which does not occur in the Mahā-parinibbāna, the Mahāpadāna, and the Lakkhaṇa Suttantas, and other places where this stock description of a king of kings is found. It is omitted also in the Lalita Vistara. The Burmese Phayre MS. of the India Office reads here muddābhisitto, but this is an unnecessary correction. The epithet is probably inserted here from § 7 below.

³ This enumeration is found also at Jātaka I, 3, only that the chank is added there — wrongly, for that makes the number of cries eleven.

⁴ This section should be compared with one in the Sukhāvatīvyūha, translated by Professor Max Müller as follows ('Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,' 1880, p. 170): —
'And again, O Sāriputra, when those rows of palm trees and strings of bells in that Buddha country are moved by the wind, a sweet and enrapturing sound proceeds from them. Yes, O Sāriputra, as from a heavenly musical instrument consisting of a hundred thousand kotis of sounds, when played by Aryas, a sweet and enrapturing sound proceeds; a sweet and enrapturing sound proceeds from those rows of palm trees and strings of bells moved by the wind.
'And when the men there hear that sound, reflection on Buddha arises in their body, reflection on the Law, reflection on the Assembly.'
Compare also below, § 32, and Jātaka I, 32.

⁵ The following enumeration is found word for word in several other Pāli Suttas, and occurs also, in almost identical terms, in the Lalita Vistara (Calcutta edition, pp. 14-19).

⁶ Uposatha, a weekly sacred day; being full-moon day, new-moon day, and the two equidistant intermediate days. Comp. § 12.

⁷ This is the disk of the sun.

⁸ A king of the rolling wheel.

⁹ Yathābhuttam bhuñjatha. Buddhaghosa has no comment on this. I suppose it means, 'Observe the rules current among you regarding clean and unclean meats.' If so, the Great King of Glory disregards the teaching of the Āmagandha Sutta (translated in my 'Buddhism,' p. 131).

¹⁰ Hatthi-ratana.

¹¹ Satta-p-patittho, that is, perhaps, in regard to its four legs, two tusks, and trunk. The expression is curious, and Buddhaghosa has no note upon it. It is quite possible that it merely signifies 'exceeding firm,' the number seven being used without any hard and fast interpretation.

¹² Uposatho. In the Lalita Vistara its name is 'Wisdom' (Bodhi). Uposatha is the name for the sacred day of the moon's changes — first, and more especially the full-moon day; next, the new-moon day; and lastly, the days equidistant between these two. It was, therefore, a weekly sacred day, and, as Childers says, may often be well rendered 'Sabbath.'

¹³ Compare on this and § 29 my "Buddhist Birth Stories.' p. 85, where a similar phrase is used of Kanthaka.

¹⁴ Assa-ratanam.

¹⁵ Vaḷahako. Compare the Valāhassa-Jātaka (Fausboll, No. 196), of which the Chinese story translated by Mr. Beal at pp. 332-40 of his 'Romantic History,' etc., is an expanded and altered version. In the Valāhaka Saṃyutta of the Saṃyutta Nikāya the spirits of the skies are divided into Uṇha-valāhaka Devā, Sīta-valāhaka Devā, Abbha-valāhaka Devā, Vāta-valāhaka Devā, and Vassa-valāhaka Devā, that is, the cloud-spirits of cold, heat, air, wind, and rain respectively.

¹⁶ Maṇi-ratanaṃ.

¹⁷ Itthi-ratanaṃ.

¹⁸ The above description of an ideally beautiful woman is of frequent occurrence.

¹⁹ Gahapati-ratanaṃ. The word gahapati has been hitherto usually rendered 'householder,' but this may often, and would certainly here, convey a wrong impression. There is no single word in English which is an adequate rendering of the term, for it connotes a social condition now no longer known among us. The gahapati was the head of a family, the representative in a village community of a family, the pater familias. So the god of fire, with allusion to the sacred fire maintained in each household, is called in the Rig-veda the grihapati, the pater familias, of the human race. It is often used in opposition to brāhmaṇa very much as we used 'yeoman' in opposition to 'clerk' (Jātaka I, 83); and the two combined are used in opposition to people of other ranks and callings held to be less honourable than that of clerk or yeoman (Jātaka I, 218). The compound brāhmaṇa-gahapatika as a collective term comes to be about equivalent to 'priests and laymen' (see, for instance, below, § 21, and Vinaya I, 35, 36). Then again the gahapati is distinct from the subordinate members of the family, who had not the control and management of the common property (Sāmañña Phala Suttanta 133, = Tevijja Suttanta I, 47); and it is this implication of the term that is emphasized in the text. Buddhaghosa uses, as an explanatory phrase, the words seṭṭhi-gahapati.

²⁰ Pariṇāyaka-ratanaṃ. Buddhaghosa says that he was the eldest son of the king. The Lalita Vistara makes him a general.

²¹ The Four Iddhis. Here again, as elsewhere, it will be noticed that there is nothing supernatural about these four Iddhis. See the passages quoted above, Vol. I, pp. 272 foll. They are merely attributes accompanying or forming part of the majesty (iddhi) of the King of kings.

²² The same thing is said of Raṭṭhapāla in the Raṭṭhapāla Sutta, where Gogerly renders the whole passage: — 'Raṭṭhapāla is healthy, free from pain, having a good digestion and appetite, being troubled with no excess of either heat or cold' ('Journal of the Ceylon Asiatic Society,' 1847-8, p. 98). The gahaṇi is a supposed particular organ or function situate at the junction of the stomach and intestines. Moggallāna explains it, udare tu tathā pācanalasmiṃ gahaṇi (Abhidhāna-p-padīpikā 972), where Subhūti's Sinhalese version is 'kukshi, pākāgni,' and his English version, 'the belly, the internal fire which promotes digestion.' Buddhaghosa explains samavipākiyā kammaga-tejo-dhātuyā, and adds: — 'If a man's food is dissolved the moment he has eaten it, or if it remains like a lump, he has not the samavepākini gahaṇi, but he who has appetite (bhattacchando) when the time for food comes round again, he has the samavepākini gahaṇi,' — which is delightfully naive.

²³ Pokkharaṇi, the word translated Lotus-pond, is an artificial pool or small lake for water-plants. There are some which are probably nearly as old as this passage still in good preservation in Anurādhapura in Ceylon. Each is oblong, and has its tiles and its four flights of steps, and some had railings. The balustrades, cross bars, figure-head, and railings are in Pāli thambha, sūciyo, unhīsa, and vedikā, of the exact meaning of which I am not quite confident. They do not occur in the description of the Lotus-lakes in Sukhāvatī. General Cunningham says that the cross bars of the Buddhist railings are called sūciyo in the inscriptions at Bharahat ('The Stupa of Bharhut,' p. 127). Buddhaghosa, who is good enough to tell us the exact number of the ponds — to wit, 84,000, has no explanation of these words, merely saying that of the two vedikās one was at the limit of the tiles and one at the limit of the pariveṇa. See below §31; and Rhys Davids, 'Buddhist India,' Figures 6, 7; pp. 74-6.

²⁴ Literally 'have garlands planted for all the people to put on' — an elliptical expression revealing the ideas of that early time as to the only possible use of flowers. I think the reading should be anavaraṃ.

²⁵ Mahāvyūhassa kūṭāgārassa dvāre. The 'Great Complex' contains a double allusion, in the same spirit in which the whole legend has been worked out: (1) To the Great Complex as a name of the Sun God regarded as a unity of the deities; and (2) To the Great Complex as a name of a particular kind of deep religious meditation or speculation.

²⁶ I have here translated kamma by 'previous character' and by 'quality.' The easiest plan would, no doubt, have been to preserve in the translation the technical term karma, which is explained at some length in 'Buddhism,' pp. 99-106.

²⁷ The above paragraphs are an endeavour to express the inmost feelings when they are first strung to the uttermost by the intense effects of deep religious emotion, and then feel the effects of what may be called, for want of a better word, the reaction. Most deeply religious natures have passed through such a crisis; and though the feelings are perhaps really indescribable, this passage is dealing, not with a vain mockery, but with a very real event in spiritual experience. It implies neither hypnotism nor trance.

²⁸ These are the four Appamaññas or infinite feelings, also called (e.g. below, § 13) the four Brahma-vihāras or Sublime Conditions. They are here very appropriately represented to follow immediately after the state of feeling described in the Raptures; but they ought to be the constant companions of a good Buddhist.

²⁹ Subhaddā Devī. Subhaddā, 'glorious, magnificent,' is a not uncommon name both for men and women in Buddhist and post-Buddhistic Hindu literature.

³⁰ Most of the trappings and cloths here mentioned are the same as those referred to in the Moralities translated above, Vol. I, pp. 11, 12. The whole paragraph is four times repeated below.

³¹ On the approach of death, explains the commentator, people are transfigured, shine forth. This idea may be the source of the legend of the Transfiguration translated above, p. 146, 'Book of the Great Decease,' IV, 37.

³² The Pāli words are the same as those at the beginning of the constantly repeated longer phrase to the same effect in the 'Book of the Great Decease.'

³³ Compare Jātaka, No. 34.

³⁴ The 'noble thoughts' are the Brahma-vihāras, the sublime conditions described above, Chap. II, § 4. The 'noble life' is the Brahmacariyaṃ, which does not mean the same as it does in Sanskrit. The adjective Brahma may have reference here also to the subsequent (and consequent?) rebirth in the Brahmaloka.

³⁵ The whole of this conversation between the Great King of Glory and the Queen is very much shorter in the Jātaka. This may be perhaps partly explained by the narrative style in which the stories are composed — a style incompatible with the repetitions of the Suttas, and confined to the facts of the story.
But I think that no one can read this Suttanta in comparison with the short passage found in the 'Book of the Great Decease' (above, Chap. V, § 18) without feeling that the latter is the more original of the two, and that the legend had not, when that passage or episode was first composed, attained to its present extended form.

³⁶ On this celebrated verse, see the note at Mahāparinibbāna Suttanta VI, 16, where it is put into the mouth of Sakka, the king of the gods. The principal word, saṃkhāra (states, or things, or phenomena), is discussed in the Introduction to this Suttanta. See the 'Journal of the Pāli Text Society' for 1909, and below, p. 248.

18. Jana-Vasabha's Story

Jana-Vasabha Suttantaṃ

[233]

Introduction

JUST as the Mahā-Sudassana is based on one paragraph now incorporated in the Book of the Great Decease, and the Sampasādaniya is based on another, so our present Suttanta is based on a third.

In the other two cases it is probable, but not certain, that the expansion is later than the paragraph. In this case the available evidence, small as it is, points to a more decisive conclusion. It is easy to point out that probably no one can read the opening paragraphs of the Jana-Vasabha, with the episode about the Nādika adherents in the Book of the Great Deceasein1 in his mind, without seeing at once that the latter is older. It is not so easy to point out why - so much depends, in the comparison of two passages of literature, on the personal equation, so evasive are the slight nuances of meaning when it is attempted to set them forth at length.

But this can be said. In the Book of the Great Decease the rebirths of certain followers at Nādika are explained. In the Jana-vasabha, for the sake of the story that follows about Bimbisāra, the well-known king of Magadha, it was necessary to include Magadha; and it was desirable to emphasize Magadha. Magadha is accordingly left out in the first list of localities, and special reasons are then given why it should be included. The story begins by stating that the Buddha used to tell how adherents of the new teaching, who belonged to one or other of ten tribes, had fared in their rebirths. As an example of how he did so the paragraph about the adherents in Nādika - which is not one of the ten tribes just mentioned - is given word for word. Now, unless that paragraph had been before the story-teller he would surely have given, as an example, one or other, or all, of the ten tribes. As it stands the Nādika paragraph, and indeed the mention of Nādika at all, is out of place. On the supposition that the [234] prologue to the story was composed on the basis of the Nādika paragraph, additions necessary or desirable for the sake of the subsequent story being added to it, everything explains itself, and is in good order.

It is perhaps as well to repeat the caution that it would not follow that the Jana-vasabha, as we have it, is younger than the Mahā-parinibbāna, as we have it. The Nādika paragraph may have been in existence, as a separate episode, before both of them. The collection (Nikāya) containing both may have been put together, from older material of varying dates, at the same time.in2 And this is, in point of fact, what seems, in the present state of our knowledge to have been, most probably, the case.

After the prologue, here discussed, the story turns into a fairy tale, quite well told, and very edifying, and full of subtle humour.in3 The manner in which the gods, even the highest, give themselves away, must have been quite satisfactory to the adherents of the new doctrine, and is quite on a par with the famous passage in the Kevaddha.in4 Just as the supreme being of the priestly speculation is there raised to the highest pinnacle of power and glory that words are able to express, only to be then described as confessing ignorance; so here, after his imposing entry into the Council Hall of the gods, he materializes himself into the form of a Gandharva only to propagate among them the new gospel. Just previously the gods have been rejoiced to find that adherents of the new Teacher, who have died and been reborn among them, outshine them all in radiance and glory; and Sakka, the king of the gods, has voiced their satisfaction in a hymn of praise to the Teacher, and his doctrine of the reign (not of the gods but) of Law.

The irony of it all falls rather flat now. Brahmā and Sakka are mere names to us, void of vitality or power. So confident are we that there are no beings in the universe, worth considering, except human beings, that the whole story seems simply absurd; and so strange to us is a narrative composed, not to be read, but to be recited, that however clearly the necessity for them is explained, the repetitions continue to jar upon our sense of literary fitness.

It was far different then. Having no books (in our sense of the word) they liked and looked for the repetitions. The mixture of irony and earnestness appealed to their literary [235] taste. And they all accepted as a matter of course the existence of gods and fairies, and ethereal beings of varied character and radiance. We cannot therefore be surprised to find that this group of Suttantas all directed to the one purpose of persuading the people that the gods were on the side of the reforming party, attained a lasting success. Even when the Buddhists, some centuries after the death of the Buddha, began to write in Sanskrit, they still quoted from these Pāli mythological legends, and from those passages of them which seem to our taste the most bizarre.in5

There are two expressions in our Suttanta which merit a longer discussion than is possible in a note. These are
kenacid eva karaṇīyena and
yāvad eva manussehi suppakāsitaṃ

In each case the question arises whether the d is to be taken as added for euphony, or whether it should be taken with the following eva to form the word deva, god.

Buddhaghosa comments on the former phrase when it occurs in the Assalāyana (M. II, 147). There certain brahmins are said to be staying at Sāvatthi kenacid eva karaṇīyena (as Sir Robert Chalmers prints it), that is, 'on some business or other.' Prof. Pischel, however, in the separate edition he published at Chemnitz in 1880, prints it kena ci devakaraṇīyena, that is 'on some matter connected with worship of the gods.' The Papañca Sūdanī has kenacidevāti yaññūpāsanādinā aniyamita-kiccena, 'on some undetermined matter such as sacrifice, worship, or so on.' This is an explanation of the meaning of the phrase as found in that connexion, and not a direction as to whether the phrase contains the word deva or the word eva. The gloss would be equally correct in either case. In our Suttanta the phrase occurs in §11 where Jana-vasabha is sent by one god to another kenacid eva karaṇīyena. Here it seems quite unnecessary to mention that he was sent 'on business referring to the god,' and the phrase may well be taken in its ordinary sense as, for instance, in the Mahā-Parinibbāna (D. II, 147). There Ānanda goes to the Mallas to announce the impending death of the Buddha and finds them assembled in their Mote Hall kenacid eva karaṇīyena - clearly, in this connexion 'on some business or other.' (Cp. D. II, 159) It may, indeed, be objected that the clansmen may have been consulting about some business 'connected with the gods.' That seems, how- [236] ever, unlikely. If really meant it would have been expressed otherwise. And frankly it is most doubtful whether the suggested phrase deva-karaṇīya 'god-business' is really a good Pāli idiom at all. The best conclusion therefore, in the present state of our knowledge of that idiom, is that the right reading is eva, not deva, and that the phrase always means 'on some business or other.'

The other case is more difficult. The phrase occurs at the end of the epilogue to our Suttanta. It recurs in the Sampasādaniya (D. III, 122). In both places it is evidently an excerpt from the stock episode found in the Aṇguttara IV, 308 ff., the Saṃyutta V, 258 ff., and the Udāna VI, 1, and incorporated in the Mahi-parinibbāna (D. II, 10a ff., see especially pp. 106, 114). There the Buddha refuses to die till certain things have been accomplished. These are (1) until the Bhikkhus shall have become true hearers, wise and well trained, &c - (2) until they, having themselves learned the doctrine, shall be able to tell others of it, preach it, expound it, &c - (3) until they shall be able, by the truth, to refute vain doctrine - (4) until the way of good life shall have become wide spread and popular - (5) yavad eva manussehi pakāsitaṃ, apparently meaning 'until it shall have been well proclaimed among men' (or perhaps 'by men' as Prof. Windisch renders, Mara and Buddha, p. 72). The same set of conditions is then repeated, reading for 'Bhikkhus,' 'Bhikkhunis,' 'laymen' and 'lay women' respectively. The conditions, it will be observed, are all of them conditions to obtain among humans. Nevertheless the Divyāvadāna (p. 202), in Sanskritising (or re-writing) the passage, doubles the ā (yavad devamanushyebhyaḥ), and so introduces the gods - 'until it shall have been well proclaimed among (or by) gods and men.' Later tradition does the same. Buddhaghosa brings in the gods in his comments on the Digha passages. But the question is, did the version of the episode, as originally composed, have this meaning? The context is against it. Another constantly repeated phrase about the reform being 'for the good and the weal and the gain of gods and men,' is, as Dr. Estlin Carpenter suggests to me, in its favour. But it may be precisely the haunting memory of that phrase that influenced the author of the version included in the Divyāvadāna, and also Buddhaghosa. When once the gods got in, it would be most difficult to dislodge them. There the matter must, for the present, be left.

XVIII. Jana-Vasabha Suttantaṃ

Jana-Vasabha's Story

[237] [200]

Thus have I heard.

1. The Exalted One was once staying in Nādika,¹
at the Brick House.

Now at that time
the Exalted One was wont to make declarations
as to the rebirths of such followers
(of the doctrine)
as had passed away in death
among the tribes round about on every side —
among the Kāsis
and Kosalans,
the Vajjians
and Mallas,
the Chetis
and Vaṃsas,
the Kurus
and Panchālas,
the Macchas
and Sūrasenas —
saying:

"Such an one has been reborn there,
and such an one there.²

From Nādika upwards of fifty adherents,
who passed away in death
after having completely destroyed
the Five Bonds that bind people to this world,³
have become inheritors of the highest heavens,
there to pass utterly away,
thence never to return.

Full ninety adherents in Nādika,
who have passed away in death
after having completely destroyed the Three Bonds,
and reduced to a minimum
lust
ill-will
and delusion,
have become Once-returners,
and on their first return to this world
shall make an end of pain.

Over five hundred adherents of Nādika,
who have passed away in death
after having completely destroyed the Three Bonds,
and become converted,
cannot be reborn in any state of woe,
but are assured of attaining to the Insight
(of the higher stages of the Path)."

[201] 2. Now the adherents at Nādika,
when they heard these declarations
as to the rebirths of such followers
(of the doctrine)
as had passed away in death
among the tribes round about on every side —
among the Kāsis
and Kosalans,
the Vajjians
and Mallas,
the Chetis
and Vaṃsas,
the Kurus
and Panchālas,
the Macchas
and Sūrasenas —
saying:

"Such an one has been reborn there,
and such an one there;

From Nādika upwards of fifty adherents,
who passed away in death
after having completely destroyed the Five Bonds that bind people to this world,
have become inheritors of the highest heavens,
there to pass utterly away,
thence never to return;

Full ninety adherents in Nādika,
who have passed away in death
after having completely destroyed the Three Bonds,
and reduced to a minimum
lust
ill-will
and delusion,
have become Once-returners,
and on their first return to this world
shall make an end of pain;

Over five hundred adherents of Nādika,
who have passed away in death
after having completely destroyed the Three Bonds,
and become converted,
cannot be reborn in any state of woe,
but are assured of attaining to the Insight
(of the higher stages of the Path);"

were pleased,
gladdened
and filled with joy and happiness
at these solutions by the [238] Exalted One
of the problems that had been put to him.

3. Now the venerable Ānanda heard of these declarations made by die Exalted One,
as to the rebirths of such followers
(of the doctrine)
as had passed away in death
among the tribes round about on every side —
among the Kāsis
and Kosalans,
the Vajjians
and Mallas,
the Chetis
and Vaṃsas,
the Kurus
and Panchālas,
the Macchas
and Sūrasenas —
saying:

"Such an one has been reborn there,
and such an one there;

From Nādika upwards of fifty adherents,
who passed away in death
after having completely destroyed the Five Bonds that bind people to this world,
have become inheritors of the highest heavens,
there to pass utterly away,
thence never to return;

Full ninety adherents in Nādika,
who have passed away in death
after having completely destroyed the Three Bonds,
and reduced to a minimum
lust
ill-will
and delusion,
have become Once-returners,
and on their first return to this world
shall make an end of pain;

Over five hundred adherents of Nādika,
who have passed away in death
after having completely destroyed the Three Bonds,
and become converted,
cannot be reborn in any state of woe,
but are assured of attaining to the Insight
(of the higher stages of the Path);"

and that the adherents at Nādika were pleased,
gladdened
and filled with joy and happiness
at these solutions by the Exalted One
of the problems that had been put to him.

4. And this idea occurred to him:

"But there were also adherents in Magadha,
many of them,
and of long religious experience,
who have passed away in death.

One might think that Anga and Magadha
were void of adherents who have passed away in death.

For they too had entire faith in the Buddha
the Law
and the Order,
they had fulfilled the moral precepts.

And yet concerning them,
since they passed away in death,
nothing has been declared by the Exalted One.

It were surely a good thing to evoke a response as to them;
for much folk would believe,
and would hereafter enter into bliss.

Then too there was Seniya Bimbisara, king of Magadha,
righteous and ruling righteously,
benign to priests and laymen,
to town-folk and country-folk.

His fame are men verily spreading abroad saying:

'Dead is our so righteous king
of righteous rule
who made us so happy!

How well have we lived
in the kingdom of that righteous king!'

Now he too had entire faith in the Buddha
the Law
and the Order,
and fulfilled the moral precepts.

And people verily have also said.

'Seniya Bimbisara, king of Magadha,
who up to the day of his death
was given to praises of the Exalted One,
is dead.'

Concerning him who has passed away in death
nothing has been declared by the Exalted One.

It were surely a good thing
to evoke a response as to him;
for much folk would believe,
and would hereafter enter into bliss.

Moreover the Exalted One
attained Supreme Insight in Magadha.

Now where that took place,
how should there be no declaration from the Exalted One
concerning adherents in Magadha
who have passed away in death?

[203] If the Exalted One declare nothing concerning them
they will be hurt.

And since they would be hurt,
how can the Exalted One keep silence?"

[239] 5, 6. Having thus pondered,
alone and privately,
concerning the Magadhese adherents,
the venerable Ānanda rose up the next morning
and came into the presence of the Exalted One,
and being come,
saluted him and sat down on one side.

And so sitting, he told the Exalted One:⁴

"Now I, my Lord, heard of these declarations made by die Exalted One,
as to the rebirths of such followers
(of the doctrine)
as had passed away in death
among the tribes round about on every side —
among the Kāsis
and Kosalans,
the Vajjians
and Mallas,
the Chetis
and Vaṃsas,
the Kurus
and Panchālas,
the Macchas
and Sūrasenas —
saying:

'Such an one has been reborn there,
and such an one there;

From Nādika upwards of fifty adherents,
who passed away in death
after having completely destroyed the Five Bonds that bind people to this world,
have become inheritors of the highest heavens,
there to pass utterly away,
thence never to return;

Full ninety adherents in Nādika,
who have passed away in death
after having completely destroyed the Three Bonds,
and reduced to a minimum
lust
ill-will
and delusion,
have become Once-returners,
and on their first return to this world
shall make an end of pain;

Over five hundred adherents of Nādika,
who have passed away in death
after having completely destroyed the Three Bonds,
and become converted,
cannot be reborn in any state of woe,
but are assured of attaining to the Insight
(of the higher stages of the Path);'

and that the adherents at Nādika were pleased,
gladdened
and filled with joy and happiness
at these solutions by the Exalted One
of the problems that had been put to him.

And this idea occurred to me:

'But there were also adherents in Magadha,
many of them,
and of long religious experience,
who have passed away in death.

One might think that Anga and Magadha
were void of adherents who have passed away in death.

For they too had entire faith in the Buddha
the Law
and the Order,
they had fulfilled the moral precepts.

And yet concerning them,
since they passed away in death,
nothing has been declared by the Exalted One.

It were surely a good thing to evoke a response as to them;
for much folk would believe,
and would hereafter enter into bliss.

Then too there was Seniya Bimbisara, king of Magadha,
righteous and ruling righteously,
benign to priests and laymen,
to town-folk and country-folk.

His fame are men verily spreading abroad saying:

"Dead is our so righteous king
of righteous rule
who made us so happy!

How well have we lived
in the kingdom of that righteous king!"

Now he too had entire faith in the Buddha
the Law
and the Order,
and fulfilled the moral precepts.

And people verily have also said.

"Seniya Bimbisara, king of Magadha,
who up to the day of his death
was given to praises of the Exalted One,
is dead."

Concerning him who has passed away in death
nothing has been declared by the Exalted One.

It were surely a good thing
to evoke a response as to him;
for much folk would believe,
and would hereafter enter into bliss.

Moreover the Exalted One
attained supreme Insight in Magadha.

Now where that took place,
how should there be no declaration from the Exalted One
concerning adherents in Magadha
who have passed away in death?

If the Exalted One declare nothing concerning them
they will be hurt.

And since they would be hurt,
how can the Exalted One keep silence?'"

[204]And when he had made an end
of thus speaking before the Exalted One,
he rose from his seat,
saluted the Exalted One rightwise,
and went away.

7. Then the Exalted One,
not long after the venerable Ānanda had gone away,
robed himself in the morning and,
taking a bowl and cloak,
went forth for alms to Nādika.

And when he had walked through Nādika for alms,
after his meal,
when he had come back again from his round for alms
and bathed his feet,
he entered the Brick House
and sat down on a seat made ready,
thinking over
and cogitating upon
and concentrating his whole mind
on the Magadhese adherents,
saying to himself:|| ||

"I will find out their future,
their fate after this life,
whither these good men are bound,
what their destiny is."

And he, the Exalted One,
saw the Magadhese adherents,
whither they were bound,
[205] and what their destiny was.

Then at eventide the Exalted One,
arising from his meditation,
went out of the Brick House,
and sat down on a mat spread
in the shade behind the lodging place.

8. Then the venerable Ānanda came into the presence of the Exalted One,
saluted him
and sat down on one side.

Thus seated
he said to the Exalted One:

"My lord the Exalted One looks serene,
his complexion shines forth,
as it were,
owing to the tranquillity of his faculties.

Has the lord the Exalted One spent a pleasant day?"

9. "When you had made that speech to me, Ānanda,
concerning the Magadhese adherents
and had gone away,
I, when I had gone to Nādika for alms,
had dined,
returned,
bathed my feet
and entered the Brick House,
sat me down on a mat spread there
and thought [240] over,
cogitated upon,
and concentrated my whole mind on
those Magadhese adherents,
resolving to know their future,
their fate after this life,
whither these good men were bound,
what their destiny would be.

And I saw, Ānanda,
those Magadhese adherents,
whither the good men were bound,
what their destiny would be.

Thereupon an invisible spirit
made himself heard, saying:

'I am Jana-vasabha, O Exalted One;
I am Jana-vasabha, O Welcome One!'

Now do you allow, Ānanda,
that you have ever heard of any one
bearing such a name as Jana-vasabha?"

"I confess, lord,
that I have never heard of one
bearing such a name as Jana-vasabha.

Moreover, lord, on hearing such a name as Jana-vasabha,
I am thrilled with excitement⁵
and I [206] fancy it can be no ordinary spirit
who bears such a name as Jana-vasabha."⁶

10. "After those words had been spoken, Ānanda,
the spirit himself appeared before me,
a splendid presence.

And he made a second utterance:

'I am Bimbisara, O Exalted One!

I am Bimbisara, O Welcome One!

'Tis now the seventh time, lord,
that I am reborn into the communion
of the great King Vessavaṇa.

Deceased as a human king,
I am in heaven become a non-human king.

Hence seven,
thence seven,
in all fourteen rebirths —
So much I know of lives
I've lived in the long past.

Long, lord, have I,
who am destined not to be reborn in states of woe,
been conscious of that destiny,
and now is there desire in me
to become a Once-returner.'

'Wonderful is this,
marvellous is this
that you, the venerable spirit Jana-vasabha,
tell me:

"Long have I
who am destined not to be reborn in states of woe, [241]
been conscious of that destiny;"

and again:

"Now is there desire in me
to become a Once-returner."

How has it come about
that Jana-vasabha
the venerable spirit
recognizes his attainment
to a distinction so splendid?'

11. 'Nowise save through thy word, O Exalted One,
nowise save through thy word, O Blessed One!

From the moment when I had gone over,
in absolute and entire faith
to the Exalted One,
from that moment, lord,
[207]did I
who am destined not to be reborn in states of woe,
been conscious of that destiny;
and I now desire to become a Once-returner.

Now, lord, I have been sent
on a message concerning some business
by King Vessavaṇa
to King Virūḷhaka;
and on my way
I saw the Exalted One entering the Brick House,
and sitting down to think over,
to cogitate upon,
to concentrate his whole mind upon
the deceased Magadhese adherents,
in the resolve to know their future,
their fate after this life;
whither the good men are bound,
what their destiny is.

Now it was only the moment before, lord,
that I had heard face to face
and had understood from his own mouth
from King Vessavaṇa,
how he had said to his assembly
whither those good men were bound,
and what their destiny was,
so it occurred to me
that I would visit the Exalted One,
and I would announce it to him.

These, lord, are the two reasons
why I came forth to visit the Exalted One.⁷

12.⁸ In days gone by, lord,
in days long long gone by,
it came to pass
that on the night of the feast of the fifteenth day
at the full moon
in the month for entering upon Retreat,⁹
the month Āsāḷhi,
the whole of the gods in the retinue of the Thirty-Three
were assembled [242] together,
seated in the hall of Good Counsel.

And around them on every side
a vast celestial company was seated;
and at the four quarters of the firmament
sat the Four Great Kings.

There was Dhataraṭṭha, king of the East,
seated facing the west,
presiding over his host;

Virūḷhaka,
king of the South,
seated facing the north,
presiding over his host;

Virūpakkha,
king of the West,
seated facing the east,
presiding over his host;

and Vessavaṇa,
king of the North,
seated facing the south,
presiding over his host.

[208]Whenever, lord, all the gods in the heaven of the Thirty-Three
are assembled
and seated in their hall of Good Counsel,
with a vast celestial company
seated around them on every side,
and with the Four Great Kings at the four quarters of the firmament,
this is the order of the seats of the Four.

After that come our seats.

And those gods, lord,
who had been recently reborn
in the hosts of the Thirty-Three
because they had lived the higher life
under the Exalted One,
they outshone the other gods
in appearance and in glory.

And thereat, lord,
the Thirty-Three were glad
and of good cheer,
were filled with joy and happiness,
saying:

"Verily, sirs, the celestial hosts are waxing,
the titanic hosts are waning."

13. Now, lord, Sakka, ruler of the gods,
when he saw the satisfaction felt by the retinue of the Three-and-Thirty,
expressed his approval in these verses:

"The Three-and-Thirty, verily, both gods and lord, rejoice,
Tathāgata they honour and the cosmic law sublime,¹⁰
Whereas they see the gods new-risen, beautiful and bright,
Who erst the holy life had lived, under the Happy One,
The Mighty Sage's hearers, who had won to higher truths,¹¹
[243] Come hither; and in glory all the other gods outshine.
This they behold right gladly, both lord and Thirty-Three,
Tathāgata they honour and the cosmic law sublime."

Hereat, [209] lord, the Three-and-Thirty Gods were even more abundantly glad
and of good cheer
and filled with joy and happiness,
saying:

"Verily the celestial hosts are waxing,
the titanic hosts are waning!"

14. Then, lord, concerning the object
for which the Three-and-Thirty gods were assembled
in their seats in the Hall of Good Counsel,
they took counsel
and deliberated about it;
and with respect to that object
the Four Great Kings were addressed,
and with respect to that object
the Four Great Kings were admonished,
standing by their seats:

The uttered word th'admonished Kings accepted there,
Serene in mind and calm
they stood each at his place.

15. Then, lord, a splendid light came forth out of the North,
and a radiance shone around
surpassing the divine glory of the gods.

And, lord, then did Sakka, king of the gods,
say to the retinue of the Thirty-Three:

"According, friends, to the signs now seen, —
the light that ariseth,
the radiance that appeareth —
Brahma will be manifested.

For this is the herald sign
of the manifestation of Brahma
to wit,
when the light ariseth
and the glory shineth:¹²

The portents now are seen,
so Brahma draweth nigh,
For this is Brahma's sign,
this glorious splendour vast."

16. Then, lord, the gods of the Thirty-Three
sat down in their own places, saying:

"We will ascertain what shall be the result of this radiance,
when we have [244] realized it,
we will go to meet him."

The Four Great Kings also sat down in their own places,
saying:

"We will ascertain what shall be the result of this radiance;
when we have realized it,
we will go to meet him."

[210] And when they had heard this,
the gods of the Three-and-Thirty were all together agreed:

"We will ascertain what shall be the result of this radiance;
when we have realized it,
we will go to meet him."

17. When, lord, Brahmā Sanaṃkumāra¹³ appears before the Thirty-Three gods,
he appears as a (relatively) gross personality
which he has specially created.

For Brahmā's usual appearance
is not sufficiently materialized
to impress the vision of the Thirty-Three Gods.

And, lord, when Brahmā Sanaṃkumāra appears before the Thirty-Three Gods,
he outshines the other gods
in colour and in glory.

Just, lord, as a figure made of gold
outshines the human frame,
so, when Brahmā Sanaṃkumāra appears before the Thirty-Three Gods,
does he outshine the other gods
in colour and in glory.

And when, lord, Brahmā Sanaṃkumāra appears before the Thirty-Three Gods,
there is no god in all that assembly that salutes him,
or rises up,
or invites him to be seated.

They all sit in silence,
with clasped hands
and cross-legged,
thinking:

"Of whichever god Brahmā Sanaṃkumāra now desires anything,
he will sit down on that god's divan."

And by whichever god he does sit down,
that god is filled with a sublime satisfaction,
a sublime happiness,
even as a Kshatriya king
newly anointed and crowned
is filled with a sublime satisfaction,
a sublime happiness.

[211] 18. So, lord, Brahmā Sanaṃkumāra
having created a grosser personality
and become in appearance as the youth Five-crest,¹⁴
manifested himself thus
to the gods of the company of the Thirty-Three.

Rising up into the air
he sat down cross-legged in the sky.

Just, lord, as easily as a strong man
might sit down cross-legged on a well-spread divan
or a smooth piece of [245] ground,
even so did Brahmā Sanaṃkumāra,
rising up into the air,
sit down cross-legged in the sky.

And seeing the tranquillity of the gods of the company of the Thirty-Three
he expressed his pleasure in these verses:

"The Three-and-Thirty, verily, both gods and lord, rejoice,
Tathāgata they honour and the cosmic law sublime,
Whereas they see these gods new-risen, beautiful and bright,
Who erst the holy life had lived, under the Happy One,
The Mighty Sage's hearers, who had won to higher truths,
Come hither; and in glory all the other gods outshine.
This they behold right gladly, both lord and Thirty-Three,
Tathāgata they honour and the cosmic law sublime."

19. This was the matter of Brahmā Sanaṃkumāra's speech.

And he spoke it with a voice of eightfold characteristics —
in a voice that was fluent,
intelligible,
sweet,
audible,
continuous,
distinct,
deep,
and resonant.

And whereas, lord, Brahmā Sanaṃkumāra
communicated with that assembly by his voice,
the sound thereof did not penetrate beyond the assembly.

He whose voice has these eight characteristics
is said to be Brahma-voiced.

20. Then, lord, Brahmā Sanaṃkumāra,
having-created thirty-three shapes [212] of himself,
sitting each on the couch of each of the Thirty-Three Gods,
thus addressed the Gods:

"Now what think ye, my lord gods Thirty-and-Three?

Inasmuch as the Exalted One
hath acted for the welfare of the peoples,
for the happiness of the peoples,
out of pity for the world,
for the advantage,
for the welfare,
for the happiness of gods and men,
they, whoever they be, Sirs,
who have taken the Buddha for their refuge,
the Truth for their refuge,
[246] the Order for their refuge,
they, on the dissolution of the body after death,
have been reborn,
some of them into the communion of the Paranimmita-Vasavattī gods,
some of them into the communion of the Tusita gods,
or of the gods in the retinue of Yāma,
or of the Thirty-Three Gods,
or of the Four Great Kings.

Those who fill the number of the lowest group,
they go to fill the number of the Gandharva host."

21. This was the matter of Brahmā Sanaṃkumāra's speech.

And he spoke it with such a voice,
that each god fancied:¹⁵

"He who is on my divan,
he alone hath spoken."

Speaks but one Brahma-shape, the Thirty-Three all speak;
Silently sits one shape, they all in silence sit.
Then all the Three-and-Thirty with their king too think,
He who is on my couch, 'tis he alone that spake.¹⁶

22. Then, lord, Brahmā Sanaṃkumāra betook himself to one end [of the Hall]
and then [213] sitting down on the divan
of Sakka, lord of the gods,
addressed the Thirty-Three Gods:

"Now what think ye, my lord gods Thirty-and-Three,
of the completeness wherewith the Exalted One,
who knows,
who sees,
the Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
hath revealed the Four Ways to Iddhi
for the development thereof,
for proficiency therein,
for the elaboration thereof?

Which are the Four Ways?

In the first place
a brother practises that way
which is compounded of concentration
and effort
with desire.

In the second place
a brother practises that way
which is compounded of concentration
and effort
with energy.

In the third place
a brother practises that way
which [247] is compounded of concentration
and effort
with a [dominant] idea.

In the fourth place
a brother practises that way
which is compounded of concentration
and effort
with investigation.

These, sir, are the Four Ways to Iddhi
revealed by the Exalted One
who knows,
who sees,
the Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
for the development thereof,
for proficiency therein,
for the elaboration thereof.¹⁷

Now those recluses or brahmins who,
in past times,
have enjoyed Iddhi in one or more of its forms,
they have all done so
through practice
and improvement
in just these Four Ways.

And those recluses or brahmins who,
in future times,
will enjoy Iddhi in one or more of its forms,
they will all do so
through practice
and improvement
in just these Four Ways.

And those recluses or brahmins who,
at the present time,
enjoy Iddhi in one or more of its forms,
they all do so
through practice
and improvement
in just these Four Ways.

Do ye see, my lord gods Thirty-and-Three,
in me a potency of Iddhi like that?"

"Yea, Brahma."

"I too, Sirs,
through practice
and improvement
in just these Four Ways to Iddhi,
[214] have acquired such power and potency therein."

23. Such was the matter of Brahmā Sanaṃkumāra's speech.

And having thus spoken
he addressed the Thirty-Three Gods:

"Now what think ye, my lord gods Thirty-and-Three,
of the Three Avenues for arriving at Bliss
manifested by the Exalted One
who knows,
who sees,
by the Arahant,
Buddha Supreme?

Which are the Three?

In the first place, Sirs,
take a brother who is living
in indulgence in the pleasures of sense,
in association with bad conditions.

He on a certain occasion
hears the Aryan Truth,
studies it
and acquires both the main
[248] and the subsidiary doctrines.

Having come to this hearing,
studying
and acquisition,
he takes to a life detached from the pleasures of sense,
not associated with bad conditions.

Under these circumstances
he experiences ease
and more than ease,
happiness.

Just as a feeling of complacency
may develop into gladness,
so does for him,
under those circumstances,
first ease arise,
and then more than ease,
happiness.

This, Sirs, is the First Avenue
for arriving at Bliss
manifested by the Exalted One
who knows,
who sees,
by the Arahant,
Buddha Supreme.

24. In the next place, Sirs,
take a brother in whom the grosser conditions precedent¹⁸ to action,
speech
and thought
are not entirely calmed down.

He on a certain occasion
hears the Aryan Truth preached,
studies it
and acquires both the main
and subsidiary doctrines.

Having arrived at this hearing,
studying
and acquisition,
the grosser conditions precedent to action,
speech
and thought
in him become entirely calmed down.

And from this ease is experienced,
and then more than ease,
happiness.

Just as a feeling of complacency
may develop into gladness,
so does for him,
under those circumstances,
first ease arise
and then more than ease,
happiness.

[215] This, Sirs, is the Second Avenue
for arriving at Bliss
manifested by the Exalted One
who knows,
who sees,
by the Arahant,
Buddha Supreme.

25. In the third place, Sirs,
take the case of a brother
who does not really know that

'This is good,'
'This is bad,'
'This is wrong,'
'This is not wrong,'
'This is to be followed,'
'This is to be avoided,'
'This is base,'
'This is excellent,'
'This is of mixed dark and bright quality.'

He on a certain occasion
hears the Aryan Truth,
studies it
and acquires the main
and subsidiary doctrines.

Having arrived at this hearing,
study
and acquisition,
he now really knows tha

'This is good,'
'This is bad,'
'This is wrong,'
'This is not wrong,'
'This is to be followed,'
'This is to be avoided,'
'This is base,'
'This is [249] excellent,'
'This is of mixed dark and bright quality.'

For him thus knowing,
thus seeing,
ignorance is put away,
wisdom has arisen.

From this extinction of ignorance,
from the arising of wisdom,
a sense of ease arises
and, then more than ease,
happiness.

Just as a feeling of complacency
may develop into gladness,
so does for him,
under these circumstances,
first ease arise,
and then more than ease,
happiness.

This, Sirs, is now the Third Avenue
for arriving at Bliss
manifested by the Exalted One
who knows,
who sees,
by the Arahant,
Buddha Supreme.

These, Sirs, are [216] the Three Avenues
for arriving at Bliss
manifested by the Exalted One
who knows,
who sees,
by the Arahant,
Buddha Supreme."

26. On this matter, lord, did Brahmā Sanaṃkumāra speak.

And having so spoken
he addressed the Thirty-Three Gods:

"Now what think ye,
my lord gods Thirty-and-Three,
of the completeness wherewith the Exalted One,
who knows,
who sees,
the Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
hath revealed the Four Inceptions of Mindfulness¹⁹
for attaining to the Good.

And which are the Four?

Take, Sirs, a brother who abides
subjectively watchful over the body,
ardent
self-possessed
mindful,
that he may discern the unhappiness
arising from coveting the things of the world.

So, subjectively watchful,
he attains to right concentration
and right calm.

He, having right concentration
and right calm
in his physical being,
evokes knowledge of
and insight into
all other physical forms external to himself.

■

So, again, he abides subjectively watchful over his feelings,
ardent
self-possessed
mindful,
that he may discern the unhappiness
arising from coveting the things of the world.

So, subjectively watchful,
he attains to right concentration
and right calm.

He, having right concentration
and right calm
in his feelings,
evokes knowledge of
and insight into
the feelings of others external to himself.

■

So, again, he abides subjectively watchful over his heart,
ardent
self-possessed
mindful,
that he may discern the unhappiness
arising from coveting the things of the world.

So, subjectively watchful,
he attains to right concentration
and right calm.

He, having right concentration
and right calm
in his heart,
evokes knowledge of
and insight into
the hearts of others external to himself.

■

So, again, he abides subjectively watchful over his ideas,
ardent
self-possessed
mindful,
that he may discern the unhappiness
arising from coveting the things of the world.

So, subjectively watchful,
he attains to right concentration
and right calm.

He, having right concentration
and right calm
in his ideas,
[250] evokes knowledge of
and insight into
the ideas of others external to himself.

These, Sirs, are the Four Inceptions of Deliberation
for attaining to the Good
completely revealed by the Exalted One,
who knows,
who sees,
the Arahant,
Buddha Supreme."

27. On this matter did Brahmā Sanaṃkumāra speak.

And having spoken
he addressed the Thirty-Three Gods:

"Now what think ye,
my lord gods Thirty-and Three,
of the completeness wherewith the Exalted One,
who knows,
who sees,
the Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
hath revealed the Seven Requisites of Intellectual Concentration,²⁰
for practice of right Rapture,
for the perfecting of Rapture?

Which are the Seven?

Right views,
right intention,
right speech,
right action,
right livelihood,
[217] right effort,
right mindfulness.

That concentration of thought, Sirs,
which is prepared by these seven factors,
is called the Noble Right Rapture
together with its bases,
together with its requisites.

Right intention suffices to maintain right views,
right speech suffices to maintain right intention,
right action suffices to maintain right speech,
right livelihood suffices to maintain right action,
right effort suffices to maintain right livelihood,
right mindfulness suffices to maintain right effort,
right rapture suffices to maintain right mindfulness,
right knowledge suffices to maintain right rapture,
right freedom suffices to maintain right knowledge.

If any one uttering right speech, Sirs,
were to say:

'Well hath the Exalted One proclaimed the Truth, —
the Norm that in this life beareth fruit,
that avails not for a time only,²¹
that welcometh every one,
that leadeth away and onward,
that each one who hath intelligence
may of and by himself understand!'

Then in saying:

'Wide opened are the portals to Nirvana!'

[251] He would be rightly saying that.

For, Sirs, the doctrine well proclaimed by the Exalted One
is all that;
and

"Wide opened are the portals to Nirvana!"

For, Sirs, whosoever has unwavering²² faith in the Buddha,
unwavering faith in the Truth,
unwavering faith in the Order,
and is endowed with the virtues pleasing to the Noble Ones;
and whatsoever new gods have appeared in our midst,
led hither by the Law,
to wit more than twenty-four lacs of Magadha disciples
now dead and gone;²³
these all through complete destruction of the Three Bonds,
have become converted,
and cannot be reborn in any state of woe,
but are assured of attaining to the Insight
(of the highest stages of the Path).

[218] Moreover there are here Once-returners;

But of that other Breed to tell,
Of higher merit,²⁴ lo! the tale
I cannot reckon, lest perchance
I should offend against the truth."'

28. This, lord, was the matter of Brahmā Sanaṃkumāra's speech.

And concerning what he had spoken,
the reflection arose in the mind of the Great King Vessavaṇa:

'Wonderful truly is it, Sirs,
marvellous is it,
that there should be so glorious a Teacher,
so glorious a proclaiming of the Truth,
and that such glorious avenues to distinction²⁵ should be made known!'

[252] Then, lord, Brahmā Sanaṃkumāra
discerning this reflection
in the mind of the Great King Vessavaṇa,
spake thus to him:

"Now what thinks my lord,
the Great King Vessavaṇa?

There both has been in past times,
a Teacher so glorious,
a proclaiming of the Truth so glorious,
a making known
such glorious avenues to distinction,
and there will be also in future times
a Teacher so glorious,
[219] a proclaiming of the Truth so glorious,
a making known
such glorious avenues to distinction."

29. This was the matter whereof Brahmā Sanaṃkumāra spoke to the Thirty-Three Gods.

And this matter the Great King Vessavaṇa,
when he had, in his own person,
heard it
and assented to it,
reported to his own following."

And this matter the spirit Jana-vasabha,
when he had in his own person
heard it so reported by Vessavaṇa,
reported to the Exalted One.

And this matter the Exalted One,
when he had in his own person
heard it
and assented to it,
and had also intuitively discerned it,
reported to Ānanda.

And this matter the venerable Ānanda,
when he had in his own person
heard it from the Exalted One
and assented to it,
reported to the brethren
and the sisterhood,
to believing laymen
and laywomen.

And the System waxed influential and prosperous
and expanded and broadened
with the numbers that joined,
so well was it spread abroad among men.²⁶

Here endeth Jana-vasabhas Story

in1 Dīgha II, 91-93.

in2 See above, p. 73.

in3 Compare above, Vol. I, pp. 160-63.

in4 Translated above, Vol. I, pp. 280 ff

in5 See further the remarks in 'Buddhist India,' pp. 219 ff.

¹ See above pp. 97 ff., and the notes there.

² For the details see above, p. 98, § 7.

³ See 'Dialogues' I, pp. 200, 201.

⁴ Repeated from §§1,2, 4, nearly word for word.

⁵ Literally, the down of my skin bristles.

⁶ Literally, the 'Bull of the Folk,' that is glorious among the people. The name seems scarcely to justify the good Ānanda's excitement, as such epithets were then, as now, common enough in India. But it is part of the art of the story-teller to make a mystery of it.

⁷ These two reasons are: firstly, that he had heard a statement by Vessavaṇa; secondly, that (having noticed, on his way, how the Exalted One had been thinking on that very matter) he wished to report it to him.

⁸ Recurs slightly altered below, Maha-Govinda Suttanta, § 2.

⁹ Vassūpanāyika. Vassa is here used in its technical sense of the yearly Retreat during the rains. See A. I, 51; Vin. I, 137.

¹⁰ Literally, 'and the fair Normness of the Norm,' that is, the rule, not of gods, but of Law.

¹¹ Visesūpagata. See above, Vol. I, p. 296: 'attains to distinction so excellent.' Perhaps this technical phrase is to be taken here (as in § 28) in its ordinary sense. It would then mean: 'who have attained to the distinction of rebirth among the gods.'

¹² So also in the Kevaddha (p. 211, translated above, Vol. I, p. 276).

¹³ See Vol. I, p. 121. [?]

¹⁴ Pañcasikha, which became a famous name in Indian legends, and was adopted by Saivite and Sānkhya writers. It is nowhere explained what, or how disposed, his five crests were.

¹⁵ In the text read so so devo.

¹⁶ The first couplet of this verse, oddly enough it seems to us, was a great favourite. It survived among the Buddhists for many centuries, and is extant in its Sanskritised form in the Divyāvadāna, p. 166; and also in the Madhyamaka Vritti, p. 118 of the edition published by the Buddhist Text Society.

¹⁷ There are two sorts of Iddhi, the worldly and the spiritual. On the former see above, Vol. I, pp. 272, 3; and on the latter Dīgha III, 112, 113.

¹⁸ Saṅkhārā. This paragraph throws light on the celebrated verse given above, p. 232.

¹⁹ The four Satipaṭṭhānas.

²⁰ Samādhi-parikkhārā.

²¹ akālika. The opposite tāvakālika occurs above, p. 195.

²² Avecca, not as Childers thought from ava + eti but from a + vi + eti. Buddhaghosa says acala. Veti (not in Childers) is to wane (see S. I, 135; A. II, 51; KV. 66; Asl. 329), but one can scarcely say 'unwaning faith.'

²³ The reading is uncertain. As it stands the deceased disciples belong only to the second group — the new gods. It is quite possible that it is intended to include them also among the men of faith and virtue in the first group.

²⁴ These must be Anāgāmins, Non-returners, those who, reborn in one of the heavens, will attain Arahantship there, without returning at all to this world.

²⁵ Visesādhigamā. See note above on § 13.

²⁶ Afterwards interpreted to mean 'gods and men' (see pp. 235, 236). But the last two sentences refer here to men and women only. To put in the gods spoils the climax.

19. The Lord High Steward

Mahā-Govinda Suttantaṃ

[253]

Introduction

THIS Suttanta is certainly, in some respects, among the most interesting in the collection; and for the history of the literature is of great importance.

The subject is twofold, both necessary points at the time, and both scarcely intelligible, without a little attention, to modern Western minds. Even in the East, and to Buddhists, the story now seems somewhat strange and antiquated. The success of the method of argument here adopted has been so far complete that the need of the argument has ceased, the point of view has changed, and the Suttanta, among the most popular in early times, is now, compared to others dealing with the positive side of the doctrine, considered of minor value.

The two points are those of the brahmins and the gods. The method of the argument is not to argue about anything; to accept the opponents' position throughout, and simply to out-flank it by making the gods and the brahmins themselves act and speak as quite good Buddhists, and take for granted the Buddhist position on ethical matters. This is of course, from one point of view, logically absurd. No militant brahmin, in favour of the pecuniary or social advantages allowed to brahmins by birth, would speak or act thus. No god, as he was supposed by his worshippers to be (and he existed only as such), would speak or act thus. But the composer (or composers) of the Govinda knew this quite well. And he is (or they are) scrupulously polite. The actions imputed to the brahmin and the gods, the words put into their mouths, are quite admirable. No one can blame the story-teller that they happen also to be Buddhist. The question as to what the good brahmin ought to be, what a good god ought to do or say, is quietly begged in the most delicate way. On this point — the ethical doctrine — the narrator is thoroughly in earnest; and he no less thoroughly enjoys the irony of the incongruities involved. It is the fashion to label all Buddhist writings, without discrimination, as insufferably dull; and the fashion [254] will be kept up, no doubt, among those who do not see the point of the really very able way in which, sometimes, it is all done. But we may be permitted to appreciate a clever story (even with a moral) in spite of the fact that the story part is a story — all make-believe, none of it historically true.

It has been pointed out above (Vol. I, 208), how a brahmin law book, at a time when the increasing respect paid to Wanderers and Bhikkhus threatened loss of prestige and profit to the sacrificing priests, puts into the mouth of Prajāpati the ferocious remark that he who praises such people (the wandering teachers, etc.) 'becomes dust and perishes.' The writer hoped (quite in vain as it turned out) to gain acceptance for his view by attributing it to a deity. This polemical device was quite in accord with the literary ethics of the day. The choice of the god has an artistic touch, and the anecdote se non è vero è ben trovato. Quite a number of other instances might be quoted from Indian books of all ages, though not from Pāli works later than the Nikāyas, nor from works written in Ceylon or Burma. And they are found also in other lands and other literatures. The device is peculiar, not to India, but to a certain stage in religious beliefs and literary taste. It is not in reality so good a device as, at first sight, it seems to be. There are many instances, like the one just quoted, where it has altogether failed. As applied here, in the Govinda, the device has failed as regards the brahmins.i1 Where it has had a measure of success (that is, where the opinion thus fathered on a deity has become more or less an accepted opinion), it probably owes more to its validity, or to its appeal to the feeling of the times, than to the help of the deity invoked. The reader may be reminded that the habit of assuming that the deity is on one's own side, of taking it for granted that He shares one's own opinions, comes out quite clearly in modes of expression in constant use, even by very exalted personages, in the Europe of to-day.

Our Suttanta introduces us, in the first scene of the play, to heaven. There the gods rejoice at the increase in their numbers through the appearance, in their midst, of new gods produced by the good Karma of the followers of the new view of life put forward by Gotama. The king of the gods voices their satisfaction in a hymn; and then utters, in eight paragraphs, a eulogy on the Buddha. In scene two the still higher god, Mahā-Brahmā, appears. He desires to hear the eulogy, which is accordingly repeated for his benefit. He approves of it, and [255] adds that the Exalted One had long been as wise as that. In support of this he then tells the story which forms the second act, as it were, in many scenes. Here we have Brahmā's view (that is, the view of the author or authors of the Govinda) concerning the ideal brahmin. It is really very funny; whether we compare it with the actual brahmin of to-day, or with the brahmin as described in the epics and the law books, or with the brahmin as he probably really was in the Buddha's time. The last must have been in the authors' mind all the time; and the incongruity, though quite courteous, is sufficiently startling.

The episode told in Act I, Scenes 1 and 2, has already occurred, nearly word for word, in the Jana-Vasabha: -

Jana-Vasabha 12, 13 = Govinda 2, 3.
Jana-Vasabha 14-19 = Govinda 14-18.

The intervening passage (Govinda 4-13) contains Sakka's eulogy. A eulogy is also part of the Jana-Vasabha (§§ 22 ff.). But it is there put, at a later stage in the episode, into the mouth of Brahma, and deals accordingly with much deeper matters.i2

What is the conclusion to be drawn from these facts? They would be explained if the episode had existed in the community before either of these Suttantas had been put into its present shape; and had been so popular that it had been worked up, by different authors, in slightly differing ways. Or the author or authors of either Suttanta might have altered an episode, already incorporated in the other, to harmonize better with the particular lines of his own story. In that case it must be the Govinda version that is the later. In it the eulogy is put into the mouth of Sakka, and altered to suit that divinity, because Brahmā's speech was wanted for the story to follow. In either case it is evident that, at the time when these Suttantas were put together as we have them, the legendary material current among the community was still in a fluid, unstable, condition, so that it was not only possible, it was considered quite the proper thing, to add to or alter it.i3 [256] The whole story is retold, in a Sanskrit dialect and in different phraseology and order, in the Mahāvastu, The following table will make the degree of the resemblance and difference plain.

Mahā-Govinda Suttanta | Govindīya Sutta in Mahāvastu
§ I | Vol. Ill, p. 197
2 | 198
4 | 199
5,6 | 200
8 | 201
9 | 200
10 | 201
12 | 201
13 | 198
17 | 203
19-27 | 202
29 | 204
30 | 205
31,32 | 206
34 | 207
35,36 | 208
37,38 | 209
43,44 | 210,211
45 | 212
46 | 213,214
47 | 215
48 | 217
49 | 218
50 | 216
51 | 210
56 | 220
57,58 | 222
60 | 223
61 | 215

Now we do not know exactly when and where Buddhists began to write in Sanskrit, though it was probably in Kashmir some time before the beginning of our era. They did not then translate into Sanskrit any Pāli book. They wrote new books. And the reason for this was twofold. In the first place they had already come to believe things very different from those contained in the canon; they were no longer in full sympathy with it. In the second place, though Pāli was never the vernacular of Kashmir, it was widely known there, and even very probably still used for literary work; translations were therefore not required.

This gives a possible explanation of the most astounding [257] fact we know about the Mahāvastu. It purports to be the Vinaya (that is, the Rules regulating the outward conduct of the members of the Order), as held by the school of the Lokottara-vadins. In M. Senart's admirable edition it fills three bulky volumes. There is not, from beginning to end of them, even one single Rule of the Order! No explanation has been given of this extraordinary state of things, though it was pointed out at once on the publication of the edition.i4 Prof. Windisch in his able discussion (just above referred to) of the actual contents of the book does not refer to this remarkable omission.

The old Vinaya begins with the Sutta Vibhanga, that is, the Rules themselves elucidated by discussion of their origin and meaning. This occupies 615 pages in Oldenberg's editions. Then follow in 660 pages the Khandhakas, twenty-two in number, dealing with various points of Canon Law. At the beginning of these is an Introduction, explaining how the Order arose; and at the end an Appendix, on the Councils.i5 This old Vinaya has never been translated into Sanskrit. The Mahāvastu is based on the Introduction to the Khandhakas, rewritten, added to, enormously expanded, and arranged according to the order of the Pāli Nidana Kathā. Now why did the Lokottara-vādins, in their Vinaya, omit practically the whole of the Vinaya, and confine themselves to rewriting the Introduction to what is only a part of the Vinaya? Why did not they also rewrite the rest? May it be because, when they wrote, the old rules and explanations, with which they did not quarrel in the least, were still well known and used in the original Pāli, or in some closely cognate shape?i6

It must have been from some such cognate recension, and not from our Pāli text, that the Govinda story was Sanskritised. The differences between the Dīgha and the Mahāvastu are too great to have arisen at one stage. The whole point of the story in the Dīgha is the way in which Brahmā describes his [258] ideal brahmin as quite emancipated from animistic superstitions and practices. He gains access to Brahmā by practising (with reference, no doubt, to the closing scene of the Mahā-Sudassana, and also to the Tevijjā and other passages) the Rapture of Mercy, one of the Brahma-vihāras, or Sublime Conditions. The Mahāvastu is not satisfied with that. It makes him add to it the kindling of the mystic Fire, Agni (D. II, 239 and Mhvst. III, 210). The paean of delight at the arrival of the new gods (D. II, 227 and Mhvst. III, 203) is introduced in the Mahāvastu by the words: 'He (Brahmā) addressed them in verses.' But it gives only one verse. The others are found in the Dīgha. Perhaps their ethical standpoint did not appeal any more to the Lokottara-vādins. In the eulogy on the Buddha (D. II, 222 and Mhvst. III, 199) the Mahāvastu mentions that there are eight points concerning which the Buddha was worthy of praise. It gives, however, only seven, differing in order and meaning from the eight given in the Dīgha. Verbal differences throughout the whole story are found in almost every paragraph.

In column 136 of Bunyiu Nanjio's catalogue of Chinese Buddhist books we find mentioned a translation of the Mahā-Govinda evidently from some recension different from the Pāli. It would be interesting to know whether there has, in this version, been preserved an intermediate stage between the Dīgha and the Mahāvastu.

[259]

XIX. Mahā-Govinda Suttantaṃ

The Lord High Steward

Chapter I

Thus have I heard.

The Exalted One was once dwelling in Rājagaha,
on Vulture-peak Hill.

Now when the night was far spent,
Five-crest of the Gandharva fairies,¹
beautiful to see,
irradiating the whole of Vulture-peak,
came into the presence of the Exalted One,
and saluted him,
and stood on one side.

So standing
Five-crest the Gandharva addressed the Exalted One,
and said:

"The things, lord, that I have seen,
the things I have noted
when in the presence of the gods
in the heaven of the Three-and-Thirty,
I would tell to the Exalted One."

"Tell thou me, Five-crest,"
said the Exalted One.

2. "In days gone by, lord,
in days long long gone by,
on the Fifteenth,
the holy-day,
at the Feast of the Invitations²
on the night of full moon,
all the gods in the heaven of the Thirty-Three
were assembled,
sitting in their Hall of Good Counsel.

And a vast celestial company
was seated round about,
and at the four quarters of the firmament
sat the Four Great Kings.

There was Dhataraṭṭha,
king of the East,
seated facing the west,
presiding over his host;

Virūḷhaka,
king of the South,
seated facing the north,
presiding over his host;

Virūpakkha,
king of the West,
seated facing the east,
presiding over his host;

and Vessavaṇa,
king of the North,
seated facing the south,
presiding over his host.

Whenever, lord, all the gods in the heaven of the Thirty-Three
are assembled
and seated in their hall of Good Counsel,
with a vast celestial company
seated around them on every side,
and with the Four Great Kings at the four quarters of the firma- [260] ment,
this is the order of the seats of the Four.

After that come our seats.

And those gods, lord,
who had been recently reborn
in the hosts of the Thirty-Three
because they had lived the higher life
under the Exalted One,
they outshone the other gods
in appearance and in glory.

And thereat, lord,
the Thirty-Three were glad
and of good cheer,
were filled with joy and happiness,
saying:

'Verily, sirs, the celestial hosts are waxing,
the titanic hosts are waning.'

3. Now, lord, Sakka, ruler of the gods,
when he saw the satisfaction
felt by the retinue of the Three-and-Thirty,
expressed his approval in these verses:

'The Three-and-Thirty, verily, both gods and lord, rejoice,
Tathāgata they honour and the cosmic law sublime,
Whereas they see the gods new-risen, beautiful and bright,
Who erst the holy life had lived, under the Happy One,
The Mighty Sage's hearers, who had won to higher truths,
Come hither; and in glory all the other gods outshine.
This they behold right gladly, both lord and Thirty-Three,
Tathāgata they honour and the cosmic law sublime.

Hereat, lord, the Three-and-Thirty Gods
were even more abundantly glad
and of good cheer
and filled with joy and happiness,
saying:

'Verily the celestial hosts are waxing,
the hosts of the titans are waning!'

4. Then Sakka, lord,
perceiving the satisfaction
of the Three-and-Thirty gods,
addressed them thus:

'Is it your wish, gentlemen,
to hear eight truthful items
in praise of that Exalted One?'

'It is our wish, sir,
to hear them.'

Then Sakka, lord, ruler of the gods,
uttered before [261] the Three-and-Thirty gods
these eight truthful items
in praise of the Exalted One:

5. 'Now what think ye, my lords gods Three-and-Thirty?

[1] Inasmuch as the Exalted One has so wrought for the good of the many,
for the happiness of the many,
for the advantage,
the good,
happiness of gods and men,
out of compassion for the world —
a teacher of this kind,
of this character,
we find not,
whether we survey the past
or whether we survey the present —
save only the Exalted One.

■

6. [2] Inasmuch, again,
as the Doctrine has been proclaimed by that Exalted One,
a Doctrine for the life that now is,
a Doctrine not for mere temporary gain,
a Doctrine of welcome and of guidance,
to be comprehended by the wise
each in his own heart —
a preacher of such a Doctrine
so leading us on,
a teacher of this kind,
of this character
we find not,
whether we survey the past,
or whether we survey the present,
save only the Exalted One.

■

7. [3] "This is good;
that is bad" —
well has this been revealed by that Exalted One,
well has he revealed
that this is wrong,
and that is right,
that this is to be followed,
that to be avoided,
that this is base
and that noble,
that this is of the Light
and this of the Dark.³

Such a Revelation of the nature of things,
a teacher of this kind,
of this character
we find not,
whether we survey the past,
or whether we survey the present,
save only the Exalted One.

■

8. [4] Well revealed, again, to his disciples
by that Exalted One
is the Way leading to Nirvana;
they run one into the other,
Nirvana and the Way.

Even as the waters of the Ganges and the Jumna
flow one into the other,
and go on together united,
so it is with that well-revealed Way
leading to Nirvana;
they ran one into the other,
Nirvana and the Way.

A revealer of such a Way
leading to Nirvana,
a teacher of this kind,
[262] of this character
we find not,
whether we survey the past,
or whether we survey the present,
save only that Exalted One.

■

9. [5] Comrades too
has this Exalted One gotten,
both students, only travelling along the Way,
and Arahants who have lived "the life."

Them does he not send away,
but dwells in fellowship with them
whose hearts are set on one object.

A teacher so dwelling,
of this kind,
of this character,
we find not,
whether we survey the past,
or whether we survey the present,
save only that Exalted One.

■

10. [6] Well established⁴ are the gifts made⁵ to that Blessed One,
widely established is his fame,
so much so that the nobles, methinks,
continue well disposed towards him.

Yet notwithstanding,
that Exalted One takes sustenance
with a heart unintoxicated by pride.

One so living,
a teacher of this kind,
of this character,
we find not,
whether we survey the past,
or whether we survey the present,
save only that Exalted One.

■

11. [7] The acts, again, of that Exalted One
conform to his speech;
his speech conforms to his acts.

One who has so carried out hereby
the greater and the lesser matters of the Law,
a teacher of this kind,
of this character,
we find not,
whether we survey the past,
or whether we survey the present;
save only that Exalted One.

■

12. [8] Crossed, too, by that Exalted One
has been the sea of doubt,
gone by for him is all question of the "how"
and "why,"
accomplished for him is every purpose
with respect to his high resolve
and the ancient rule of right.

A teacher who has attained thus far,
of this kind,
of this character,
we find not,
whether we survey the past,
or whether we survey the present,
save only that Exalted One.'

These eight true praises, lord,
of the Exalted One
[263] did Sakka, ruler of the gods, utter before the Three-and-Thirty gods.

Hereat the Three-and-Thirty gods were even more abundantly pleased,
gladdened
and filled with joy and happiness
over the things they had heard.

13. Then certain gods, lord, spoke thus:

'Oh! sir, if only four supreme Buddhas might arise in the world
and teach the Doctrine
even as the Exalted One!

That would make for the welfare of the many,
for the happiness of the many,
for compassion to the world,
for the good
and the gain
and the weal
of gods and men.'

■

And certain other gods spoke thus:

'It would suffice, sir,
if there arose three supreme Buddhas might arise in the world
and teach the Doctrine
even as the Exalted One!

That would make for the welfare of the many,
for the happiness of the many,
for compassion to the world,
for the good
and the gain
and the weal
of gods and men.'

■

And certain other gods spoke thus:

'It would suffice, sir, if two supreme Buddhas might arise in the world
and teach the Doctrine
even as the Exalted One!

That would make for the welfare of the many,
for the happiness of the many,
for compassion to the world,
for the good
and the gain
and the weal
of gods and men.'

14. Then answered Sakka, ruler of the gods
to the Three-and-Thirty:

'Nowhere, gentlemen,
and at no time
is it possible
that, in one and the same world-system,
two Arahant Buddhas supreme should arise together,
neither before
nor after the other.

This can in no wise be.

Ah! gentlemen
would that this Blessed One might yet live for long years to come,
free from disease
and free from suffering!

That would make for the welfare of the many,
for the happiness of the many,
for loving compassion to the universe,
for the good
and the gain
and the weal
of gods and men!'

Then, lord, the Three-and-Thirty gods
having thus deliberated
and taken counsel together
concerning the matter for which they were assembled
and seated in the Hall of Good Counsel,
with respect to that matter
the Four Kings were receivers of the spoken word,
the Four Great Kings were receivers of the admonition given,
remaining the while in their places,
not retiring.⁶ [264]

Taking the uttered word and speech,
the Kings Stood there,
serene and calm,
each in his place.

15. Then, lord, from out of the North
came forth a splendid light,
and a radiance shone around,
surpassing the divine glory of the gods.

Then did Sakka, ruler of the gods,
say to the dwellers in the heaven of the Three-and-Thirty:

'According, gentlemen, to the signs now seen,
the light that ariseth,
the radiance that appeareth —
will Brahmā now be made manifest.

For this is the herald sign of the manifestation of Brahmā,
when the light ariseth
and the glory shineth.

Even by yonder signs
great Brahmā draweth nigh.

For this is Brahmāā's sign,
this glorious splendour vast.'

Then, lord, the Three-and-Thirty gods
sat down again in their own places, saying:

'We will ascertain
what shall be the result of this radiance;
when we have realized it,
we will go to meet him.'

The Four Kings also sat down in their places,
saying:

'We will ascertain
what shall be the result of this radiance;
when we have realized it,
we will go to meet him.'

And when they heard that,
the Three-and-Thirty gods were all agreed saying:

'We will ascertain
what shall be the result of this radiance;
when we have realized it,
we will go to meet him.'

16. When, lord, Brahmā Sanaṃkumāra appears before the Thirty-Three gods,
he manifest himself as an individual of relatively gross substance
which he has specially created.

For Brahmā's usual appearance
is not sufficiently materialized
for the scope of the sight of the Thirty-Three Gods.

And, lord, when Brahmā Sanaṃkumāra is manifested before the Thirty-Three Gods,
he outshines the other gods
in his appearance and his glory.

Just, lord, as a figure made of gold
outshines the human frame,
so, when Brahmā Sanaṃkumāra is manifested before the Thirty-Three Gods,
does he outshine the other gods
in his appearance and his glory.

And when, lord, Brahmā Sanaṃkumāra is manifested [265] before the Thirty-Three Gods,
not one god in that assembly salutes him,
or rises up,
or invites him to be seated.

They all sit in silence,
with clasped hands
and cross-legged,
thinking:

'Of whichever god Brahmā Sanaṃkumāra now desires anything,
he will sit down on that god's divan.'

And that god by whom he does so seat himself,
is filled with a sublime satisfaction,
a sublime happiness,
even as a Kshatriya king
newly anointed and crowned
is filled with a sublime satisfaction,
a sublime happiness.

17. Then, lord, Brahmā Sanaṃkumāra perceiving how gratified were those Three-and-Thirty gods,
uttered his approval in these verses:

'The Three-and-Thirty, verily, both gods and lord, rejoice,
Tathāgata they honour and the cosmic law sublime,
Whereas they see these gods new-risen, beautiful and bright,
Who erst the holy life had lived, under the Happy One,
The Mighty Sage's hearers, who had won to higher truths,
Come hither; and in glory all the other gods outshine.
This they behold right gladly, both lord and Thirty-Three,
Tathāgata they honour and the cosmic law sublime.'

18. This was the matter of Brahmā Sanaṃkumāra's speech.

And he spoke it with a voice of eightfold quality —
in a voice that was fluent,
intelligible,
sweet,
audible,
sustained,
distinct,
deep,
and resonant.

And whereas, lord, Brahmā Sanaṃkumāra
made himself audible to that assembly by his voice,
the sound thereof did not penetrate beyond the assembly.

He whose voice has these eight characteristics
is said to have a Brahmā-voice.

19. Then, lord, to Brahmā the Eternal Youth
the Three-and-Thirty gods spoke thus:

'Tis well, O Brahmā!
we do rejoice at this that we have noted.

Moreover Sakka, ruler of the gods,
[266] hath rehearsed to us
eight truthful praises of that Exalted One,
and these too we have marked and do rejoice thereat.'

Then, lord, Brahmā the Eternal Youth spoke thus
to Sakka, ruler of the gods:

'Tis well, O ruler of the gods;
we too would hear the eight truthful praises of that Exalted One.'

'So be it, O Great Brahmā,'
replied Sakka.⁷

20. 'Now what think ye, my lord, the Great Brahmā?

Inasmuch as the Exalted One has so wrought for the good of the many,
for the happiness of the many,
for the advantage,
the good,
happiness of gods and men,
out of compassion for the world —
a teacher of this kind,
of this character,
we find not,
whether we survey the past
or whether we survey the present —
save only the Exalted One.

21. Inasmuch, again,
as the Doctrine has been proclaimed by that Exalted One,
a Doctrine for the life that now is,
a Doctrine not for mere temporary gain,
a Doctrine of welcome and of guidance,
to be comprehended by the wise
each in his own heart —
a preacher of such a Doctrine
so leading us on,
a teacher of this kind,
of this character
we find not,
whether we survey the past,
or whether we survey the present,
save only the Exalted One.

22. "This is good;
that is bad" —
well has this been revealed by that Exalted One,
well has he revealed
that this is wrong,
and that is right,
that this is to be followed,
that to be avoided,
that this is base
and that noble,
that this is of the Light
and this of the Dark.

Such a Revelation of the nature of things,
a teacher of this kind,
of this character
we find not,
whether we survey the past,
or whether we survey the present,
save only the Exalted One.

23. Well revealed, again, to his disciples
by that Exalted One
is the Way leading to Nirvana;
they run one into the other,
Nirvana and the Way.

Even as the waters of the Ganges and the Jumna
flow one into the other,
and go on together united,
so it is with that well-revealed Way
leading to Nirvana;
they ran one into the other,
Nirvana and the Way.

A revealer of such a Way leading to Nirvana,
a teacher of this kind,
of this character
we find not,
whether we survey the past,
or whether we survey the present,
save only that Exalted One.

24. Comrades too
has this Exalted One gotten,
both students, only travelling along the Way,
and Arahants who have lived "the life."

Them does he not send away,
but dwells in fellowship with them
whose hearts are set on one object.

A teacher so dwelling,
of this kind,
of this character,
we find not,
whether we survey the past,
or whether we survey the present,
save only that Exalted One.

25. Well established are the gifts made to that Blessed One,
widely established is his fame,
so much so that the nobles, methinks,
continue well disposed towards him.

Yet notwithstanding,
that Exalted One takes sustenance
with a heart unintoxicated by pride.

One so living,
a teacher of this kind,
of this character,
we find not,
whether we survey the past,
or whether we survey the present,
save only that Exalted One.

26. The acts, again, of that Exalted One
conform to his speech;
his speech conforms to his acts.

One who has so carried out hereby
the greater and the lesser matters of the Law,
a teacher of this kind,
of this character,
we find not,
whether we survey the past,
or whether we survey the present;
save only that Exalted One.

27. Crossed, too, by that Exalted One
has been the sea of doubt,
gone by for him is all question of the 'how'
and 'why,'
accomplished for him is every purpose
with respect to his high resolve
and the ancient rule of right.

A teacher who has attained thus far,
of this kind,
of this character,
we find not,
whether we survey the past,
or whether we survey the present,
save only that Exalted One.'

These eight true praises, lord,
of the Exalted One
did Sakka, ruler of the gods, utter before the Great Brahmā.

Hereat, lord, Brahmā the Eternal Youth was pleased and gladdened,
and was filled with joy and happiness
when he had heard those praises.

28. And so, lord, Brahmā the Eternal Youth materializing himself and becoming in appearance like the youth Five-crest,
manifested himself to the Three-and-Thirty gods,
and rising up into the air,
he sat down cross-legged in the sky.

Just, lord, as easily as a strong man
might sit down cross-legged on a well-spread divan
or a smooth piece of ground,
even so did Brahmā the Eternal Youth,
rising up into the air,
sit down cross-legged in the sky.

And he addressed the Three-and-Thirty gods thus:

29. 'Now what think ye, my lord gods Thirty-and-Three?

For how long hath the Blessed One been of great wisdom?⁸

Once upon a time there was a king named Disampati.

And king Disampati's minister was a brahmin named Govinda (the Steward).⁹

And king Disampati had a son named Reṇu,
and Govinda had a son named Jotipāla.

And prince Reṇu
and the young Jotipāla
and six other young nobles —
these eight—were great friends.

Now in the course of years Govinda [267] died.

And king Disampati mourned for him, saying:

"Alas! just when we had devolved all our duties on Govinda the brahmin,
and were surrounded by
and giving ourselves up to
the pleasures of sense,
Govinda has died!"

Then said prince Reṇu to the king:

"Mourn not, sire, so excessively for Govinda, the brahmin.

Govinda has a son,
young Jotipāla,
who is wiser than his father was,
better able to see what is profitable than his father.

Let Jotipāla administer all such affairs
as were entrusted to his father."

"Do you think so, my boy?"

"I do, sire."

30. Then king Disampati summoned a man and said:

"Come you, good man,
go to Master Jotipāla, and say to him:

'May good fortune attend the honourable Jotipāla!

King Disampati calls for the honourable Jotipāla.

King Disampati would like to see the honourable Jotipāla.'

"So be it, sire,"
responded the man,
and going to Jotipāla he repeated the message.

"Very good, sir,"
responded Jotipāla,
and went to wait upon the king.

And when he had come into the king's presence,
he exchanged with the king the greetings and compliments of politeness and courtesy,
and sat down on one side.

Then said king Disampati to Jotipāla:

"We would have the honourable youth Jotipāla administer for us.

Let him not refuse to do so.

I will set him in his father's place
and appoint him to the Stewardship."¹⁰

"So be it, sire,"
replied Jotipāla in assent.

31. So king Disampati appointed Jotipāla as his Steward,
and set him in his father's place.

And thus appointed and installed,
whatever matters his father had administered,
those did Jotipāla administer;
and [268] whatever his father had not administered,
those matters did he too not administer.

And whatever works his father had accomplished,
and no others,
even such works,
and no others,
did he too accomplish.

Of him men said:

"The brahmin is verily a Steward!

A Great Steward is verily this brahmin!"

And on this wise Jotipāla came to be called the High Steward.

32. Now it came to pass that the Great Steward went to those six nobles,
and said to them:

"Disampati the king is old
and wasted with age,
full of years,
and arrived at the term of life.

Who indeed can answer for the survival of the living?

When the king dies,
it will behove the king-makers to anoint Reṇu the prince as king.

I suggest, gentlemen,
that you wait on prince Reṇu,
and say to him thus:

'We are the dear, beloved, and congenial friends of our lord Reṇu.

We are happy when our lord is happy;
unhappy when he is unhappy.

Disampati, our lord king,
is old and wasted with age,
full of years and arrived at the term of life.

Who indeed can answer for the living?

When the king dies,
it will behove the kingmakers
to anoint our lord Reṇu king.

If our lord Reṇu should gain the sovereignty,
let him divide it with us.'

33. "So be it,"
responded the six nobles,
and waiting upon prince Reṇu
they repeated these words to him.

"Why, sirs, who besides myself
ought to prosper in this realm
if it be not you?

If I, sirs, shall gain the sovereignty,
I will divide it with you."

34. And it came to pass in course of time
that king Disampati died.

And after his death,
the kingmakers anointed Reṇu his son king.

And he, when he was made king,
lived surrounded by
and given up to
the pleasures of sense.

Then the High Steward went to those six nobles and said thus:

"Disampati, gentlemen, is dead,
and my lord Reṇu lives surrounded by
and given up to
the pleasures of sense.

Well, gentlemen, who can say?

The pleasures of sense are intoxicating,
I would suggest, gentlemen,
[269] that you wait on king Reṇu
and say to him:

'King Disampati, my lord, is dead,
my lord Reṇu is anointed king.

Does my lord remember his promise?'"

"Very good, sir,"
responded the six nobles,
and going into Reṇu's presence,
they said:

"King Disampati, sire, is dead,
and my lord Reṇu is anointed king.

Does my lord remember his promise?"

"I do remember my promise, gentlemen.

Which of you gentlemen now
is able successfully to divide this mighty [land
so broad on the north end,
Sakaṭamukka¹¹ on the south,
into seven equal portions?"

"Who, sire, is able
if it be not the Great Steward, the brahmin?"

55. Then king Reṇu sent a man to the Great Steward, saying:

"Come, my good fellow,
go to the Great Steward, the brahmin, and say:

'The king has sent for you, my lord.'"

And the Great Steward was told and obeyed,
and, coming into the king's presence,
exchanged with him the greetings and compliments of politeness and courtesy,
and sat down on one side.

Then said the king to him:

"Will you go, my lord Steward,
and so divide this great [land
so broad at the north end,
as narrow at the south as the pole of a bull cart,]
into seven portions, all equal."

"Very good, sire,"
responded the High Steward,
and he so divided this great [land
so broad at the north end,
as narrow at the south as the pole of a bull cart,]
into seven portions, all equal.

36. And king Reṇu's country held the central position.

As it is said:

[270] Dantapura of the Kālingas, and Potana for the Assakas,
Māhissati for the Avantis, and Roruka in the Sovira land.
Mithila of the Videhās, and then Campā among the Aṇgas,
Lastly Benares in the Kāsi realm: — all these did the Great Steward wisely plan.

Then were those six nobles well pleased each with his allotted gain,
and at the success of his plan.

For they said:

"What we wished for,
what we desired,
what we intended,
what we aimed at,
lo! that is what we have gotten."

And the seven kings were named:

Sattabhu and Brahmādatta,
Vessabhu with Bharata,
Reṇu and two Dhaṭaraṭṭhas:
These are the seven Bharatas.¹²

§

Here ends the first Portion for Recitation.

Chapter II

[271] 37. Now those six nobles came to the High Steward and said to him:

"Just as the honourable Steward
was dear, beloved and congenial
as companion to Reṇu the king,
so has he been also to us a companion,
dear, beloved and congenial.

We would that the honourable Steward administer our affairs;
we trust he will not refuse to do so."

"Very good, sirs"
replied the Great Steward.

And so he instructed those seven anointed kings in government;
and he taught the mantras to seven eminent and wealthy Brahmāns
and to seven hundred young graduates.

38. Now later on
the excellent reputation of the brahmin, the High Steward,
was noised abroad after this fashion:

"With his own eyes
the High Steward sees Brahmā!

Face to face
does the High Steward commune with Brahmā,
converse and take counsel with Him!"

Then the High Steward thought:

"This flattering rumour is noised abroad about me,
that I both see Brahmā
and hold converse with Him.

Now I neither see Him,
nor commune with Him,
nor converse
or take counsel with Him.

But I have heard aged and venerable brahmins,
teachers and pupils, say:

'He who remains in meditation the four months of the rains,
and practises the ecstasy of pity,
he sees Brahmā,
communes,
converses,
takes counsel with Brahmā.'

What if I now were to cultivate that discipline?"

39. So the High Steward waited on king Reṇu,
and telling him:

"This flattering rumour is noised abroad about me,
that I both see Brahmā
and hold converse with Him.

Now I neither see Him,
nor commune with Him,
nor converse
or take counsel with Him.

But I have heard aged and venerable brahmins,
teachers and pupils, say:

'He who remains in meditation the four months of the rains,
and practises the ecstasy of pity,
he sees Brahmā,
communes,
converses,
takes counsel with Brahmā.'

I wish, sir, to meditate
during the four months of the rains
and to practise the ecstasy of pity.

No one is to come near me
save some one who will bring me my meals."

"Do, honourable Steward, whatever seems to you fit."

40. And the High Steward went round to each of the six nobles,
and told them:

"This flattering rumour is noised abroad about me,
that I both see Brahmā
and hold converse with Him.

Now I neither see Him,
nor commune with Him,
nor converse
or take counsel with Him.

But I have heard aged and venerable brahmins,
teachers and pupils, say:

'He who remains in meditation the four months of the rains,
and practises the ecstasy of pity,
he sees Brahmā,
communes,
converses,
takes counsel with Brahmā.'

I wish, sir, to meditate
during the four months of the rains
and to practise the ecstasy of pity.

No one is to come near me
save some one who will bring me my meals."

"Do, honourable Steward, whatever seems to you fit."

41. Then he went to those seven eminent and wealthy Brahmāns,
and to the seven hundred graduates, [272]
and told them:

"This flattering rumour is noised abroad about me,
that I both see Brahmā
and hold converse with Him.

Now I neither see Him,
nor commune with Him,
nor converse
or take counsel with Him.

But I have heard aged and venerable brahmins,
teachers and pupils, say:

'He who remains in meditation the four months of the rains,
and practises the ecstasy of pity,
he sees Brahmā,
communes,
converses,
takes counsel with Brahmā.'

Wherefore, sirs, according as you have heard the mantras
and have committed them to memory,
continue to rehearse them in full,
and teach them to each other.

I, sirs, wish to meditate during the four months of the rains,
and to practise the ecstasy of pity.

No one is to come near me
save some one who shall bring me my meals."

"Do, honourable Steward, whatever seems to you fit."

42. Next the High Steward went to his forty wives
who were all on an equality,
and told them:

"This flattering rumour is noised abroad about me,
that I both see Brahmā
and hold converse with Him.

Now I neither see Him,
nor commune with Him,
nor converse
or take counsel with Him.

But I have heard aged and venerable brahmins,
teachers and pupils, say:

'He who remains in meditation the four months of the rains,
and practises the ecstasy of pity,
he sees Brahmā,
communes,
converses,
takes counsel with Brahmā.'

I, sisters, wish to meditate during the four months of the rains,
and to practise the ecstasy of pity.

No one is to come near me
save some one who shall bring me my meals."

"Do, honourable Steward, whatever seems to you fit."

43. Then the High Steward had a new rest-house built eastward of the city,
and there for the four months of the rains he meditated,
rapt in the Ecstasy of Pity;
nor did any one have access to him
save one who brought him his meals.

But when the four rainy months were over,
then verily came disappointment and anguish over him
as he thought:

"Here have I heard aged and venerable brahmins,
teachers and their pupils, say:

'He who remains in meditation the four months of the rains,
and practises the Ecstasy of Pity,
he sees Brahmā,
communes,
converses,
and takes counsel with Brahmā.'

But I see not Brahmā,
I commune not,
nor converse,
nor take counsel with Him."

44. Then Brahmā, the Eternal Youth,
when in his mind
he knew the thoughts of the High Steward's mind,
vanished from his heaven,
and, like a strong man shooting his arm out
or drawing back his out-shot arm,
appeared before the High Steward.

Then verily came fear,
then came trembling
upon the High Steward,
then did the hair of his flesh stand up¹³
when he saw this thing that had never been seen before.

And he,
full of fear and dread
with stiffening hair,
addressed Brahmā the Eternal Youth in these verses:

[273] "O Vision fair, O glorious and divine!
Who art thou, lord? knowing thee not we ask,
That we may know!

In heaven supreme I'm known
As the Eternal Youth. All know me there.
Know me e'en thou, Govinda.

To a Brahmā Blest
Let seat and water for the feet and sweet
Cooked cakes and drink be brought. We ask what gift
The Lord would take. Would he himself decide
The form for us.¹⁴

Hereby we take thy gift,
And now — whether it be for good and gain
In this thy present life, or for thy weal
In that which shall be — Thou hast leave. Come, ask,
Govinda, whatsoe'er thou fain would'st have?"

45. Then the High Steward thought:

"Leave is given me by Brahmā the Eternal Youth!

What now shall I ask of him,
some good thing for this life,
or a future good?"

Then it occurred to him:

"I am an expert regarding what is profitable for this life.

Even others consult me about that.

What now if I were to ask Brahmā the Eternal Youth
for something of advantage in a life to come?"

And he addressed the god in these verses:

"I ask the Brahmā, the Eternal Youth,
Him past all doubt I, doubting, ask anent
The things that others would fain know about.
Wherein proficient, in what method trained
Can mortal reach th'immortal world of Brāhm?"

[274] "He among men, O Brahmān, who eschews
All claims of 'me' and 'mine'; he in whom thought
Rises in lonely calm, in pity rapt,
Loathing all foul things, dwelling in chastity, —
Herein proficient, in such matters trained,
Mortal can reach th'immortal heaven of Brāhm."

46. "What the Lord saith touching
'eschewing all claims of "me" and "mine"'
I understand.

It is to renounce all property
whether it be small or large,
and to renounce all family life,
whether the circle of one's kin be small or large,
and with hair and beard cut off
and yellow robes donned,
to go forth from the home into the homeless life.

Thus do I understand this.

What the Lord saith touching
'thought rising in lonely calm'
I understand.

It is when one chooses a solitary abode —
the forest,
at the foot of a tree,
a mountain brae,
a grotto,
a rock-cavern,
a cemetery,
or a heap of grass out in the open field.

Thus do I understand this.

What the Lord saith touching
'in pity rapt'
I understand.

It is when one continues to pervade
one quarter of the horizon
with a heart charged with pity,
and so the second quarter,
and so the third,
and so the fourth.

And thus the whole wide world,
above,
below,
around and everywhere
does one continue to pervade
with a heart charged with pity,
far-reaching,
expanded,
infinite,
free from wrath and ill will.

Thus do I understand this.

Only in what He saith touching
'loathing the foul'
do I not understand thee, Lord.

What mean'st thou by
'foul odours among men,'
O Brahmā? here I understand thee not.
Tell what these signify, who knowest all.
When cloaked and clogged by what is man thus foul.
Hell-doomed, and shut off from the heaven of Brāhm?"

"Anger and lies, deceit and treachery,
Selfishness, self-conceit and jealousy,
[275] Greed, doubt, and lifting hands 'gainst fellow men,
Lusting and hate, dullness and pride of life, —
When yoked with these man is of odour foul,
Hell-doomed, and shut out from the heaven of Brāhm."

As I understand the word of the Lord concerning these
'foul odours,'
they cannot easily be suppressed
if one live in the world.

I will therefore go forth from the home
into the life of the homeless state."

"Do, lord steward, whatever seems to you fit."

47. Then the High Steward waited on king Reṇu
and said to him:

"Will my lord now seek another minister,
who will administer my lord's affairs?

I wish to leave the world
for the homeless life.

I am going forth
in accordance with the word of Brahmā
which I have heard
concerning foul odours.

These cannot be easily suppressed
when one is living in the world.

King Reṇu, lord o' the land, I here declare: —
Do thou thyself take thought for this thy realm!
I care no longer for my ministry."

"If for thy pleasures aught there lacketh yet,
I'll make it good. If any injure thee,
Them I'll restrain, warlord and landlord I!
Thou art my father, Steward, lo! I am thy son!
Abide with us, Govinda, leave us not."

"Naught lack I for my pleasures, nor is there
One who doth injure me. But I have heard
Voices unearthly. Henceforth home holds me not."

"What like is this Unearthly? What did He say
To thee, that having heard thou will straightway
Forsake our house and us and all the world?"

"Ere I had passed through this Retreat, my care
Was for due altar-rites, the sacred fire
Was kindled, strewn about with kusa-grass.
But lo! Brahmā I saw, from Brahmā's heaven,
Eternal god. I asked; he made reply;
I heard. And now irksome is home to me."

[276] "Lo! I believe the words that thou hast said.
Govinda. Having heard the Unearthly Voice.
How could it be thou should'st act otherwise?
Thee will we follow after. Be our guide,
Our teacher! So, like gem of purest ray,
Purg'd of all dross, translucent, without flaw, —
As pure as that we'll walk according to thy word.

If the honourable Steward goes forth
from the home into the homeless,
I too will do the like.

For whither thou goest, I will go."

48. Then the High Steward, the brahmin,
waited upon the six nobles,
and said to them:

"Will my lords now seek another minister who will administer my lords' affairs?

I wish to leave the world for the homeless life.

I am going forth
in accordance with the word of Brahmā
which I have heard concerning foul odours.

These cannot be easily suppressed
when one is living in the world."

Then the six nobles went aside together
and thus deliberated:

"These brahmin folk are greedy for money.

What if we were to gain him over through money?"

And coming to the High Steward they said:

"There is abundance of property, sir,
in these seven kingdoms.

Wherefore, sir, take of it as much as seems profitable to you."

"Enough, sirs!

I have already abundant possessions,
thanks to the action of my lords.

It is that luxury
that I am now relinquishing
in leaving the world
for the homeless life.

I am going forth
in accordance with the word of Brahmā
which I have heard concerning foul odours.

These cannot be easily suppressed
when one is living in the world."

49. Then the six nobles went aside together,
and thus deliberated:

"These brahmin folk are greedy about women.

What if we were to gain him over through women?"

And coming to the High Steward they said:

"There is, sir, in those seven kingdoms abundance of women.

Wherefore, sir, conduct away with you as many as you want."

"Enough, sirs!

I have already these forty wives
equal in rank.

All of them I am forsaking
in leaving the world for the homeless life.'

I am going forth
in accordance with the word of Brahmā
which I have heard concerning foul odours.

These cannot be easily suppressed
when one is living in the world."

[277] 50. "If the honourable Steward goes forth
from the home into the homeless life,
we too will do the like.

Whither thou goest we will go.

If ye would put off fleshly lusts that worldling's heart coerce,
Stir ye the will, wax strong, firm in the power of patience.
This is the Way, the Way that's Straight,¹⁵ the Way unto the End,¹⁶
The Righteous Path that good men guard, to birth in Brahmā's heaven.

51. Wherefore, my lord Steward, wait yet seven years,
and when they are over,
we too will go forth from the world
into the homeless life.

Whither thou goest we will go."

"Too long, my lords, are seven years!

I cannot wait for my lords seven years.

For who can answer for the living?¹⁷

We must go toward the future,
we must learn by wisdom,¹⁸
we must do good,
we must walk in righteousness,
for there is no escaping death
for all that's born.

Now I am going forth
in accordance with the word of Brahmā
which I have heard concerning foul odours.

They cannot be easily suppressed
when one is living in the world."

■

52. "Well then, lord Steward, wait for us six years,
and when they are over,
we too will go forth from the world
into the homeless life.

Whither thou goest we will go."

"Too long, my lords, are six years!

I cannot wait for my lords six years.

For who can answer for the living?

We must go toward the future,
we must learn by wisdom,
we must do good,
we must walk in righteousness,
for there is no escaping death
for all that's born.

Now I am going forth
in accordance with the word of Brahmā
which I have heard concerning foul odours.

They cannot be easily suppressed
when one is living in the world."

■

"Well then, lord Steward, wait for us five years,
and when they are over,
we too will go forth from the world
into the homeless life.

Whither thou goest we will go."

"Too long, my lords, are five years!

I cannot wait for my lords five years.

For who can answer for the living?

We must go toward the future,
we must learn by wisdom,
we must do good,
we must walk in righteousness,
for there is no escaping death
for all that's born.

Now I am going forth
in accordance with the word of Brahmā
which I have heard concerning foul odours.

They cannot be easily suppressed
when one is living in the world."

■

"Well then, lord Steward, wait for us four years,
and when they are over,
we too will go forth from the world
into the homeless life.

Whither thou goest we will go."

"Too long, my lords, are four years!

I cannot wait for my lords four years.

For who can answer for the living?

We must go toward the future,
we must learn by wisdom,
we must do good,
we must walk in righteousness,
for there is no escaping death
for all that's born.

Now I am going forth
in accordance with the word of Brahmā
which I have heard concerning foul odours.

They cannot be easily suppressed
when one is living in the world."

■

"Well then, lord Steward, wait for us three years,
and when they are over,
we too will go forth from the world
into the homeless life.

Whither thou goest we will go."

"Too long, my lords, are three years!

I cannot wait for my lords three years.

For who can answer for the living?

We must go toward the future,
we must learn by wisdom,
we must do good,
we must walk in righteousness,
for there is no escaping death
for all that's born.

Now I am going forth
in accordance with the word of Brahmā
which I have heard concerning foul odours.

They cannot be easily suppressed
when one is living in the world."

■

"Well then, lord Steward, wait for us two years,
and when they are over,
we too will go forth from the world
into the homeless life.

Whither thou goest we will go."

"Too long, my lords, are two years!

I cannot wait for my lords two years.

For who can answer for the living?

We must go toward the future,
we must learn by wisdom,
we must do good,
we must walk in righteousness,
for there is no escaping death
for all that's born.

Now I am going forth
in accordance with the word of Brahmā
which I have heard concerning foul odours.

They cannot be easily suppressed
when one is living in the world."

■

"Well then, lord Steward, wait for us one year,
and when they are over,
we too will go forth from the world
into the homeless life.

Whither thou goest we will go."

53. "Too long, my lords, is one year!

I cannot wait for my lords one year.

For who can answer for the living?

We must go toward the future,
we must learn by wisdom,
we must do good,
we must walk [278] in righteousness,
for there is no escaping death
for all that's born.

Now I am going forth
in accordance with the word of Brahmā
which I have heard concerning foul odours.

They cannot be easily suppressed
when one is living in the world."

■

"Well then, lord Steward, wait for us seven months,
and when they are over,
we too will go forth from the world
into the homeless life.

Whither thou goest we will go."

53. "Too long, my lords, is seven months!

I cannot wait for my lords seven months.

For who can answer for the living?

We must go toward the future,
we must learn by wisdom,
we must do good,
we must walk in righteousness,
for there is no escaping death
for all that's born.

Now I am going forth
in accordance with the word of Brahmā
which I have heard concerning foul odours.

They cannot be easily suppressed
when one is living in the world."

■

"Well then, lord Steward, wait for us six months,
and when they are over,
we too will go forth from the world
into the homeless life.

Whither thou goest we will go."

53. "Too long, my lords, is six months!

I cannot wait for my lords six months.

For who can answer for the living?

We must go toward the future,
we must learn by wisdom,
we must do good,
we must walk in righteousness,
for there is no escaping death
for all that's born.

Now I am going forth
in accordance with the word of Brahmā
which I have heard concerning foul odours.

They cannot be easily suppressed
when one is living in the world."

■

"Well then, lord Steward, wait for us five months,
and when they are over,
we too will go forth from the world
into the homeless life.

Whither thou goest we will go."

53. "Too long, my lords, is five months!

I cannot wait for my lords five months.

For who can answer for the living?

We must go toward the future,
we must learn by wisdom,
we must do good,
we must walk in righteousness,
for there is no escaping death
for all that's born.

Now I am going forth
in accordance with the word of Brahmā
which I have heard concerning foul odours.

They cannot be easily suppressed
when one is living in the world."

■

"Well then, lord Steward, wait for us four months,
and when they are over,
we too will go forth from the world
into the homeless life.

Whither thou goest we will go."

53. "Too long, my lords, is four months!

I cannot wait for my lords four months.

For who can answer for the living?

We must go toward the future,
we must learn by wisdom,
we must do good,
we must walk in righteousness,
for there is no escaping death
for all that's born.

Now I am going forth
in accordance with the word of Brahmā
which I have heard concerning foul odours.

They cannot be easily suppressed
when one is living in the world."

■

"Well then, lord Steward, wait for us three months,
and when they are over,
we too will go forth from the world
into the homeless life.

Whither thou goest we will go."

53. "Too long, my lords, is three months!

I cannot wait for my lords three months.

For who can answer for the living?

We must go toward the future,
we must learn by wisdom,
we must do good,
we must walk in righteousness,
for there is no escaping death
for all that's born.

Now I am going forth
in accordance with the word of Brahmā
which I have heard concerning foul odours.

They cannot be easily suppressed
when one is living in the world."

■

"Well then, lord Steward, wait for us two months,
and when they are over,
we too will go forth from the world
into the homeless life.

Whither thou goest we will go."

53. "Too long, my lords, is two months!

I cannot wait for my lords two months.

For who can answer for the living?

We must go toward the future,
we must learn by wisdom,
we must do good,
we must walk in righteousness,
for there is no escaping death
for all that's born.

Now I am going forth
in accordance with the word of Brahmā
which I have heard concerning foul odours.

They cannot be easily suppressed
when one is living in the world."

■

"Well then, lord Steward, wait for us one month,
and when they are over,
we too will go forth from the world
into the homeless life.

Whither thou goest we will go."

53. "Too long, my lords, is one month!

I cannot wait for my lords one month.

For who can answer for the living?

We must go toward the future,
we must learn by wisdom,
we must do good,
we must walk in righteousness,
for there is no escaping death
for all that's born.

Now I am going forth
in accordance with the word of Brahmā
which I have heard concerning foul odours.

They cannot be easily suppressed
when one is living in the world."

■

"Well then, lord Steward, wait for us half a month,
and when they are over,
we too will go forth from the world
into the homeless life.

Whither thou goest we will go."

53. "Too long, my lords, is half a month!

I cannot wait for my lords half a month.

For who can answer for the living?

We must go toward the future,
we must learn by wisdom,
we must do good,
we must walk in righteousness,
for there is no escaping death
for all that's born.

Now I am going forth
in accordance with the word of Brahmā
which I have heard concerning foul odours.

They cannot be easily suppressed
when one is living in the world."

■

"Well then, lord Steward, wait for us seven days,
till we have devolved our kingdoms
on to our sons and brothers.

When seven days are over,
we will leave the world for the Homeless State.

Whither thou goest we will go."

"Seven days, my lords,
is not a long time.

I will wait, my lords, for seven days."

56. Then the High Steward, the brahmin,
came to those seven eminent and wealthy brahmins
and to those seven hundred graduates,
and said:

"Will ye now seek another teacher, sirs,
who will (by repetition) teach you the mystic verses?¹⁹

I wish to leave the world
for the homeless life.

I am going forth in accordance with the word of Brahmā
which I have heard concerning foul odours.

These cannot easily be suppressed
when one is living in the world."

"Let the honourable Steward not leave the world for the homeless life!

Leaving the world means little power
and little gain;
to be a brahmin brings great power
and great gain."

"Speak not so, gentlemen,
of leaving the world
or of being a brahmin.

Who for that matter has greater power or wealth than I?

I, sirs, have been hitherto as a king of kings,
as Brahmā to brahmins,
as a deity²⁰ to householders.

And this,
all this,
I put away
in leaving the world,
in accordance with the word of Brahmā
which I have heard concerning foul odours.

These cannot easily be suppressed
when one is living in the world."

"If the lord Steward leaves the world for the Homeless State,
we too will do the like.

Whither thou goest, we will go."

[279] 57. Then the High Steward, the Brahmān,
went to his forty wives,
all on an equality,
and said:

"Will each of you, ladies,
who may wish to do so,
go back to her own family
and seek another husband?

I wish, ladies, to leave the world
for the homeless life, in accordance with the of Brahmā
which I have heard concerning foul odours.

These cannot easily be suppressed
when one is living in the world."

"Thou, even thou,
art the kinsman of our hearts' desire;
thou art the husband of our hearts' desire.

If the lord Steward leaves the world for the Homeless State,
we too will do the like.

Whither thou goest, we will go."

58. And so the High Steward, the brahmin,
when those seven days were past,
let his hair and beard be cut off,
donned the yellow robes
and went forth from his home into the Homeless State.

And he having so acted,
the seven kings also,
anointed kshatriyas,
as well as the seven eminent and wealthy brahmins
and the seven hundred graduates,
the forty wives all on an equality,
several thousand nobles,
several thousand brahmins,
several thousand commoners
and several young women from women's quarters,
let their hair be cut,
donned the yellow robes
and went forth from their homes
into the Homeless State.

And so, escorted by this company,
the High Steward, the brahmin,
went a-wandering through the villages,
towns,
and cities.

And whether he arrived at village or town or city,
there he became as a king to kings,
as Brahmā to brahmins,
as a deity to commoners.

And in those days when any one sneezed or slipped,
they called out:

"Glory be to the High Steward, the brahmin!

Glory be to the Minister of Seven!"

59. Now the High Steward, the brahmin,
continued to pervade one quarter of the world with thoughts of Love;
and so the second quarter,
and so the third,
and so the fourth.

And thus the whole wide world,
above,
below,
around,
and everywhere,
did he continue to pervade with heart of Love,
far-reaching,
grown great,
and beyond measure,
free from the least trace of anger or ill-will.

■

And he let his mind pervade one quarter of the world with thoughts of Pity;
and so the second quarter,
and so the third,
and so the fourth.

And thus the whole wide world,
above,
below,
around,
and everywhere,
did he continue to pervade with heart of Pity,
far-reaching,
grown great,
and beyond measure,
free from the least trace of anger or ill-will.

■

And he let his mind pervade one quarter of the world with thoughts of Sympathy;
and so the second quarter,
and so the third,
and so the fourth.

And thus the whole wide world,
above,
below,
around,
and everywhere,
did he continue to pervade with heart of Sympathy,
far-reaching,
grown great,
and beyond measure,
free from the least trace of anger or ill-will.

■

And he let his mind pervade one quarter of the world with thoughts of Equanimity;
and so the second quarter,
and so the third,
and so the fourth.

And thus the whole wide world,
above,
below,
around,
and everywhere,
did he continue to pervade with heart of Sympathy,
far-reaching,
grown great,
and beyond measure,
free from the least trace of anger or ill-will.

And he taught to disciples
the way to union with the world of Brahmā.

[280] 60. Now all they who at that time
had been the High Steward's disciples
and in all points wholly understood his teaching,
were after their death
reborn into the blissful world of Brahmā.

They who had not in all points
wholly understood his teaching,
were after their death
reborn into the company either of
the gods who Dispose of Joys purveyed from without,
or of the gods of the Heaven of Boundless Delight,
or of the gods of the Heavens of Bliss,
or of the Yāma gods,
or of the Three-and-Thirty gods,
or of the gods who are the Four Kings of the Horizon.

Even they who accomplished the lowest realm of all,
attained to the realm of the Gandharva fairies.

Thus of all those clansmen
there was not one whose renunciation proved vain or barren;
in each case it bore fruit and development.'

§

61. Does the Exalted One remember?"

"I do remember, Five-crest.

I was the High Steward of those days.²¹

I taught my disciples the way to communion with the Brahmā world.

But, Five-crest,
that religious life
did not conduce to detachment,
to passionlessness,
to cessation of craving,
to peace,
to understanding,
to insight of the higher stages of the Path,
to Nirvana,
but only to rebirth in the Brahmā-world.

On the other hand
my religious system, Five-crest,
conduces wholly and solely to detachment,
to passionlessness,
to cessation of craving,
to peace,
to understanding,
to insight of the higher stages of the Path,
to Nirvana.

And that is the Aryan Eightfold Path, to wit,
right views,
right intention,
right speech,
right, action,
right livelihood,
right effort,
right mindfulness,
right rapture.

62. Those of my disciples, Five-crest,
who in all points
wholly understand my teaching,
they from the [281] destruction of the Deadly Taints
have by and for themselves understood,
realized
and attained to,
even in this life,
freedom from taint,
liberty of heart,
liberty of intellect.

Those who do not in all points
wholly understand my teaching,
some of them,
in that they have broken away the five Fetters belonging to the Hither Side,
are reborn without parents,
where they will utterly pass away,
being no more liable to return to this world.

And some of them,
in that they have broken away three [other] Fetters,
and have worn down passion and hate and dullness,
become Once-Returners,
who after once returning to this world
shall make an end of I11.

And some of them, again,
in that they have broken away those three Fetters,
become Stream-Attainers,
not liable to be reborn in any state of woe,
but assured of attaining to the Insight.

And so, Five-crest, of all,
even all those persons,
there is not one whose renunciation
is vain or barren;
in each case it will have brought fruit and development."

Thus spoke the Exalted One.

And Five-crest of the Gandharva fairies
was pleased at the word of the Exalted One,
and in delight and gladness
he saluted the Exalted One,
and with the salutation of the right side
he vanished from that place.

Here endeth the Story of the Lord High Steward.

i1 This question has been fully discussed, and the reasons for the failure given, above, VoL I, pp. 105, 138 ff., and especially 141.

i2 This difference in the mental endowments of the two gods, — the one the mere king of the gods, an Indian Zeus; and the other the Great First Cause, the outcome of the highest speculation — is always carefully observed in the various speeches ascribed, in the early Buddhist texts, to these divinities. See above, p. 175, for another instance.

i3 The doctrinal material stands on a different footing. Already in 1877 I ventured to point out the difference (in 'Buddhism,' pp. 86-7), and the point has since increasingly forced itself upon my notice. Professor Windisch (in 'Die Composition des Mahāvastu' Leipzig, 1909, p. 494) supports this view.

i4 Rhys Davids, J.R.A.S., 1898, 424.

i5 There is a supplementary work, the Parivāra, much shorter, and consisting mainly of what we should now call examination papers. This volume, though most interesting from the point of view of the history of Indian education, presupposes the old Vinaya, and is later.
As is well known the Khandhakas come first in Oldenberg's edition, but the order in the MSS. is as above. See for instance Oldenberg's 'Catalogue of the Pāli MSS. in the India Office Library,' J.P.T.S., 1882, p. 59.

i6 Compare Oldenberg's remarks on the Chinese translations of Vinaya at the end of his introduction to the Pāli Text.

¹ Pañcasikho Gandhabbo. See above, p. 244.

² Pavāraṇā.

³ In Milinda, these contrasted distinctions are given to illustrate the exercise of sati ('minding' or 'remembering') by way of careful practice. 'Questions of King Milinda,' i. 58.

⁴ Abhinippanno lābho.

⁵ Ajjhāsayaṃ ādi-brahmacariyaṃ. Buddhaghosa says these two words are to be taken distributively, and refer to his lofty intentions and to the ethics of the Aryan Path.

⁶ This sounds very much as if the Four Great Kings were looked upon as Recorders (in their memory, of course) of what had been said. They kept the minutes of the meeting. If so (the gods being made in the image of men) there must have been such Recorders at the meetings in the Mote Halls of the clans.

⁷ §§ 5-12 repeated in the text. [Ed.: included in this version.]

⁸ The Cy. here supplements: Himself desirous of clearing up this problem, it is as if he went on to say, that there was nothing wonderful in that, so he tells the story.

⁹ It is evident from §§ 30, 31 that Govinda, literally 'Lord of the Herds,' was a title, not a name, and means Treasurer or Steward.

¹⁰ Govindiye abhisiñcissāmi. Literally, 'I will anoint him to the Govinda-ship' (the Lordship over the herds). The expression 'anoint' is noteworthy. It suggests that the office was of royal rank. But a king was of lower rank then than now.

¹¹ Sakaṭamukka. This adjective, applied here to the earth, and at the end of the next section to the seven kingdoms, is at present quite unintelligible; and is left untranslated. The traditional explanations differ. Samarasekara (Colombo, 1905) translates here (p. 1016) dakuṇu pasin gael mukhayak lesaṭa, that is, 'on the south side like a waggon's mouth.' Buddhaghosa has nothing here; but below as applied to the kingdoms he explains 'with their mouths debouching together.' Neither is satisfactory. It has been suggested that it might mean 'facing the Wain,' that is, the constellation of the Great Bear. But this is unfortunately in the North. The front opening of a bullock waggon is (now) elliptical in form.

¹² If we follow the order of the names in this no doubt very old mnemonic doggerel, the result may be tabulated thus:

City | Tribe | King
Dantapura | Kālingas | Sattabhu
Potana | Assakas | Brahmadatta
Māhissati | Avantis | Vessabhu
Roruka | Sovīras | Bharata
Mithilā | Videhas | Reṇu
Campā | Aṇgas | Dhataraṭṭha
Bārāṇasi | Kāsis | Dhataraṭṭha

This list is enough to show that the verses do not fit with the story. Reṇu's kingdom is said in the text to be in the middle. No one of these seven kingdoms is in the midst of the others. Benares would suit that position less badly, than any other. It was probably intended therefore that Disampati and Reṇu were kings or chieftains in Benares. The king Bharata of the Sovīras of J. III, 470 may be the same as the Bharata who also appears in the table here as king of the Sovīras. The Reṇu of J. IV, 444 is king of the Kurus. None of the numerous Brahmādattas in the Jātakas can be identified with our Brahmādatta. Our Disampati and Reṇu are referred to, apparently as kings of Benares, at Dipavaṃsa III, 40.
The verses survived, but in a very corrupt state, down to the time of the Mahāvastu (Vol. III, p. 208, ed. Senart).

¹³ See above, p. 240.

¹⁴ The expressions here are all elliptical, and it is not certain that the meanings supplied are quite right as the idioms agghe pucchati and agghaṃ no karoti do not occur elsewhere. The sequence of ideas would seem to be: 'Only such and such are fit to be offered as a mark of respect to so holy a deity. But not knowing which is best, I ask. Let the Holy One make it right.' Then the deity, who wants nothing, taking the will for the deed, says he accepts; and offers a boon.

¹⁵ See S. I, 33: — 'Straight is that way named.'

¹⁶ Anuttaro, lit. having no beyond. The Cy. interprets asadiso, uttamo (unique, supreme).

¹⁷ See above, p. 268.

¹⁸ Mantāya. Mantā vuccati paññā, says Buddhaghosa. Cp. the commentary on Dhp. 363; and Aṇguttara II, 141-228.

¹⁹ Mante. See last note.

²⁰ Devatā; 'like Sakka, king of gods, to all other heads of families.' Cy. The phrase might be taken to mean that Brahmā was not a devatā.

²¹ In spite of this express statement this legend of the High Steward does not appear in the canonical collection of Birth Stories. See Rhys Davids's 'Buddhist India,' p. 196, for other instances.

20. The Great Concourse

Mahā Samaya Suttantaṃ

[282]

Introduction

The method followed in this poem is nearly the same as in the two previous Suttantas, only here it is rather the minor gods, — the local deities, the personification of natural phenomena, guardian spirits, fairies, harpies, naiads, dryads, and many others — who are represented as themselves proclaiming their adherence to the new movement. Important gods are indeed incidentally mentioned; and it is perhaps not without intention that great and small are here thrown together, as if Soma and Varuṇa and Brahmā were really all of the same kind as the long list of spirits and fairies in which they appear.i1

The poem is almost unreadable now. The long list of strange names awakes no interest. And it is somewhat pathetic to notice the hopeless struggle of the author to enliven his unmanageable material with a little poetry. It remains, save here and there, only doggrel still.

There are three parts to the poem. The first is the list of gods; the second the frame-work, put into the Buddha’s mouth, at the beginning (after the prologue), and at the end; the third the prologue, with the verses of the four gods of the Pure Abode. The prologue has been preserved as a separate episode in the Saṃyutta, I, 27. The way in which the list is fitted into the frame-work in our sections 4, 5, and 6 is very confused and awkward; and the grammar of the frame-work is inconsistent with the grammar of the list. It is highly probable therefore that the list itself, and also the epilogue, had been handed down as independent works in the community before our Suttanta was composed. The frame-work may be the work of the editor.

Our list here begins in §§ 7, 8, with seven classes or groups of gods, without personal names. The personal names begin at § 9, with the four Great Kings of the four quarters; and [283] §§ 10-20 follow with ten other groups in each of which the principal personal names are given. There is another list of gods in the Aṭānāṭiya (No. 32 in the Dīgha). This other list also begins with the four Great Kings; and then adds, as a sort of afterthought or appendix, the names of forty-one gods, all mentioned one after another, without division into groups and without any details. Our §§ 10-20 look very much like an improved and enlarged edition of the bare list in the Aṭānāṭiya. The latter is just such a mnemonic doggrel as was found useful in other cases also by the early Buddhists, who had no books, and were compelled to carry their dictionaries and works of reference in their heads. There are other instances in Pali literature of the original mnemonic verses, and their subsequent expansion, having both been preserved.

As the contents of the two lists, and their great importance for the history of religion in India, have been discussed elsewhere,i2 it is only necessary here to remind the reader that when these Suttantas were composed the names they contain were full of meaning to the people; and that the legends here told were intended to counteract the animistic delusions about them then so prevalent in the Ganges valley. They are almost the only evidence we have as yet outside the priestly books. Perhaps the most important fact to which they bear testimony is the continual change in animistic belief that went on in India. They are of especial value, as they show what those beliefs were at a particular period. We shall not be able to have a scientific history of religion in India until the absurd anachronisms of the classical Sanskrit literature have been discarded; and until we have learnt carefully to distinguish between the divers faiths and gods which, in those books, are mixed up together, and supposed to have remained the same for many centuries on end.

[284]

XX. Mahā Samaya Suttantaṃ

The Great Concourse

Thus have I heard.

The Blessed One was once dwelling among the Sakiyas,
at Kapilavatthu in the Great Wood,
together with a great band of the brethren,
about five hundred of them,
all being Arahants.

And gods from the ten thousand world-systems
oft-times assembled there
that they might visit the Exalted One
and the band of brethren.

2. Now to four gods of the hosts of the Pure Abodes
this thought occurred:

"That Blessed One is now dwelling among the Sakiyas, at Kapilavatthu in the Great Wood,
together with a great band of the brethren,
about five hundred of them,
all being Arahants.

And gods from the ten thousand world-systems
oft-times are assembling there
to see the Exalted One and his band of brethren.

What if we, too,
were to go into his presence,
and before him
were to recite each of us a poem?"

3. Then those gods,
as easily as a strong man might stretch out his arm,
or draw back his out-stretched arm,
vanished from the Pure Abodes,
and appeared before the Exalted One.

There they saluted him
and stood on one side.

And so standing
one of the gods recited to the Blessed One
this verse:

"Great is the gathering in the glade!
The hosts of heaven together met!
We too are come unto this congress blest,
and fain would see
The Company Invincible."

Then another god recited to the Exalted One this verse:

[285] "The brethren there, wrought up to concentration rapt,
make straight their hearts.
Wisely, as driver keeping grip on rein,
their faculties they guard."

Then another god recited to the Exalted One this verse:

"All bars and bolts are hewn in twain for them,
The threshould is dug up.¹
In purity, their way they go,
Stainless, with vision clear,
like well-tamed elephants."

Then the other god recited to the Exalted One this verse:

"Who in the Buddha refuge take,
they shall not go to woeful doom.
When they put off this human frame they shall fill up the hosts in heaven."

4. Then said the Exalted One to the brethren:

"Oft-times, brethren,
do gods from the ten world-systems
foregather to see the Tathāgata
and the company of the Brethren.

Whosoever, brethren,
in the past
were Arahant Buddhas supreme,
upon them waited a like number of the heavenly hosts,
and a like number shall wait upon whosoever shall,
in the future,
be Arahant Buddhas supreme.

I will detail to you, brethren,
the names of the hosts of gods,
I will publish abroad, brethren,
their names,
I will teach you, brethren,
their names.

Hearken hereunto
and pay heed,
and I will speak."

"Even so, lord,"
responded the brethren.

And the Exalted One spake thus:

5. "In measured speech I will give utterance: —

Where'er their realm, there will ye find the gods,
But they who in the bowels of the hills
Sit with heart throughly purged and well composed, [286]
Like to so many lions crouching still,
Are vanquishers over the creeping dread,
White-minded, pure, serene and undefiled."

Seeing within Kapilavatthu's grove
Five hundred such and more, disciples all,
To them who loved his word the Master spoke:

"Celestial hosts draw nigh!
Look to it, brethren, that ye them discern!"

And they, hearing the Buddha's word, forthwith
Strove ardently to see.²

6. And lo! in them
Arose vision of those not born of men.
Some saw one hundred gods, ten hundred, some,
And some saw seventy thousand, others saw
Infinite multitudes thronging around.
And all their sight and seeing He Who Sees
Intuitively marked and understood.

Then to his followers who loved his Word
The Master turned and spoke: —

"Celestial hosts
Draw near! Them do ye, brethren, recognize
As I, in rhythmic speech, each in their turn
Proclaim them unto you in order due: —

7. Seven thousand Yakkhas of our country's soil
Of wondrous gifts and powers exceeding great,
And comeliness, and splendid following,³
Are come rejoicing to the forest glade
To see the brethren met together there.

Six thousand Yakkhas from Himālaya,
Diverse in hue, of wondrous gifts and powers
[287] And comeliness and splendid following,
Are come rejoicing to the forest glade
To see the brethren met together there.

From Sāta's Hill three thousand Yakkhas more,
Diverse in hue, of wondrous gifts and powers
And comeliness, with splendid following,
Have come rejoicing to the forest glade
To see the brethren met together there.

Thus have I sixteen thousand Yakkhas told,
Of diverse hue, of wondrous gifts and powers
And comeliness, and splendid following,
Who come rejoicing to the forest glade
To see the brethren met together there.

8. Five hundred more from Vessāmittā's host,
Of diverse hue, of wondrous gifts and powers
And comeliness and splendid following,
Have come rejoicing to the forest glade
To see the brethren met together there.

Kumbhira, too, of Rājagaha town,
Having his dwelling on Vepulla's mount,
More than a hundred thousand in his train,
This Yakkha likewise to the wood is come.

9. King Dhataraṭṭha rules the Eastern clime,
Lord of Gandhabbas, mighty monarch he,
With splendid following. Sons has he too,
Many and strong, all after Indra named.
And these of wondrous gifts and mighty power
And comeliness and splendid following,
Have come rejoicing to the forest glade
To see the brethren met together there.

Virūḷha, ruler of the Southern clime,
Lord of Kumbaṇḍas, mighty monarch he,
With splendid following. Sons has he too,
Many and strong, all after Indra named.
And these of wondrous gifts and mighty power
And comeliness and splendid following,
Have come rejoicing to the forest glade
To see the brethren met together there.

[288] Virūpakkha rules o'er the Western clime,
Lord of the Nāgas, mighty monarch he,
With splendid following. Sons has he too,
Many and strong, all after Indra named.
And these, of wondrous gifts and mighty power
And comeliness and splendid following,
Have come rejoicing to the forest glade
To see the brethren met together there.

Kuvera rules over the Northern clime,
Lord of the Yakkhas, mighty monarch he,
With splendid following. Sons has he too,
Many and strong, all after Indra named.
And these, of wondrous gifts and mighty power
And comeliness and splendid following,
Have come rejoicing to the forest glade
To see the brethren met together there.

So stood those four great kings within the wood
Of Kapilavatthu, on the four climes
Shedding effulgent radiance round about:
Over the East King Dhataraṭṭha shone,
To right, Virūḷhaka, westward
Virūpakkha, Kuvera o'er the North.

10. With them are come their vassals versed in craft,
Hoodwinking wizards, apt to cloak and feign: —
Māyā, Kuṭeṇḍu, Vṭeṇḍu, Viṭu,
Viṭucca, Candana, Rāmaseṭṭha too,
Kinnughaṇḍu, Nighaṇḍu (nine in all).
Next, these Gandhabba chieftains all are come: —
Panāda, Opamañña too, and Mātali
The driver of the gods, Cittasena
The Gandhabba, Nala, Janesabha,
Pañcasikha and Suriyavaccasā,
Daughter of Timbarū. These princes all
And with them other chiefs, Gandhabbas too,
Are come rejoicing to the forest glade
To see the brethren met together there.

11. Now too Nāgas are come from Nabhasa,
And from Vesāli and from Tacchaka,
[289] Kambalas, Assataras, Pāyagas
With all their kin. Nāgas from Yamuna,
And Dhataraṭṭha, too, with brilliant trains,
Erāvana, great among Nāga folk,
He too is come into the forest glade.

They who twice-born,⁴ winged and keen
Of sight, the heavenly Harpies who,
With violence prey on Nāga chiefs, —
Gaudy and Well-winged are their names —
Have flown into the wood. —
The cobra kings felt quite secure.
A refuge from the dreadful birds
Buddha had made. With gentle words
Entreating one another they,
The Harpies and their prey alike
To the Buddha as their Sanctuary come.

12. They whom the Lightning-Hand did smite,
Now dwellers in the ocean, Asuras,
Vāsava's brethren, they of wondrous gifts
And splendid train⁵; — The Kālakañjas all
Of fearsome shape, the Dānaveghasas,
Sucitti, Vepacitti, and Pahārada —
With them came Namucā, spirit of Evil;
And Bali's hundred sons, all of them named
After Veroca,⁶ having armed a host
Of warriors, hied them to their noble liege,
And Rāhu said, 'Good luck attend this mote
For which the brethren now have sought the wood!'

13. The gods of Fire and Water, Earth and Air
Are hither come; celestial Varuṇas
[290] With their attendant Varuneian sprites,
And Soma with Yaso. Come, too, the gods
From Love and Pity born, with splendid train.
These ten, a tenfold host in all, of hue
Diverse, of wondrous gifts and mighty power,
And comeliness, with splendid following,
Are come rejoicing to the forest glade
To see the brethren met together there.

14. Come Vishṇu with his gods, the Sahalis,
The Asamas and the Yāma twins;⁷ the elves
That dwell within the moon attend the Moon,
The solar fairies too attend the Sun,
While fragile spirits of the Clouds attend
The Constellations; Lord of the Vasus, too,
God Sakka, Generous One of yore:⁸ —
These ten, a tenfold host in all, of hue
Diverse, of wondrous gifts and mighty powers,
And comeliness, with splendid following,
Are come rejoicing to the forest glade
To see the brethren met together there.

15. Now too are come the fairies Sahabhu,
In flaming radiance like crests of fire: —
The Ariṭṭhakas, Rojas, like azure flowers,
With Varuṇa and eke Sahadhammā,
And Accutā is come, Anejakā
And Suleyya and Rucirā are come,
Come too Vāsavanesi deities.
These ten, a tenfold host in all, of hue
Diverse, of wondrous gifts and mighty powers,
And comeliness, with splendid following,
Are come rejoicing to the forest glade
To see the brethren met together there.

16. Samānas, Great Samānas, sprites like men
And sprites like Supermen, are come, the gods
[291] Debauched-by-sport⁹ are come and those Debauched -
In-mind,¹⁰ fairies that haunt the Green and they
That wear the Red, they too that Pass-Over,
And the Great Passers-o'er, with splendid following.
These ten, a tenfold host in all, of hue
Diverse, of wondrous gifts and mighty powers,
And comeliness, with splendid following,
Are come rejoicing to the forest glade
To see the brethren met together there.

17. Sukka, Aruṇa, Karumha fairies too,
With Veghanasas, having at their head
Th'Odātagayhas, come; Vicakkhaṇas,
Sadāmattas, Harāgajas, and they
Called the Mixed gods with splendid following;
Pajunna thundering is come, he who
Pours down the rains upon the quarters four.
These ten, a tenfold host in all, of hue
Diverse, of wondrous gifts and mighty powers,
And comeliness, with splendid following,
Are come rejoicing to the forest glade
To see the brethren met together there.

18. The Khemiyas and gods from Tusita
And Yāma heav'ns, the Kaṭṭhakas and suite,
Lambītakas and the chief Lāma-gods,
The Fiery spirits, and the Āsavas,
They who rejoice in shapes they make themselves,
And they who use creations not their own.¹⁰
These ten, a tenfold host in all, of hue
Diverse, of wondrous gifts and mighty powers,
And comeliness, with splendid following,
Are come rejoicing to the forest glade
To see the brethren met together there.

19. These sixty spirit hosts, of divers hues,
According to their name and class are come,
[292] And with them others, whosoe'er they be,
Saying 'Him who has outlived birth, for whom
No barrier stands, for whom the flood is crossed,
The Āsavas are not, Him shall we see,
Ferry-man o'er the flood, mighty through purity,¹¹
Moon that has passed beyond th'enshrouding dark.'

20. Then Tissa, the Eternal Youth, and with
Him Paramatta and Subrahmā, sons
Of the Potent One, came to the congress-wood.
Great Brahmā, suzerain of thousand worlds
In Brahmā-heaven, has thither been reborn,¹²
Mighty in power, and in shape awesome
And vast, of great renown. Ten of his lords,
Each regnant o'er a Brahmā-world, are come,
And in their midst with all his suite comes Hārita."¹³

[293] 21. To all of them thus hither come, those gods,
Marshalled around the Lord and Great Brahmā,
The host of Māra cometh up. Lo! now
The folly of the Murky One:¹⁴ —

"Come on
And seize and bind me these, let all be bound
By lust! Surround on every side, and see
Ye let not one escape, whoe'er he be!"

Thus the Great Captain bade his swarthy host,¹⁵
And with his palm did smite upon the ground
Making a horrid din, as when a storm-cloud
Thunders and lightens, big with heavy rains.
Then he recoiled, still raging, powerless
Aught to effect.

22. And He-Who-Sees by insight knew all this
And understood. Then to his followers
Who loved his word the Master spake:

"The host
Of Māra comes! Brethren, beware of them!"

And they, hearing the Buddha's word, forthwith
Held themselves all alert. The foe departs
From them in whom no lust is found, nor e'er
Upon whose bodies stirs a hair.

[Then Māra spake:—]

"All they, those victors in the fight, for whom
All fear is past, great of renown, His followers,
Whose fame among the folk spreads far and wide,
Lo! now with all creation they rejoice."'¹⁶

i1 So above, Vol. I, p. 17, the worship of Agni is deliberately inserted in a list of animistic hocus-pocus.

i2 Rhys Davids's 'Buddhist India' pp. 219-237.

¹ 'The bars and bolts and hindering threshould stone of lust, ill-will and stupidity,' explains Buddhaghosa.

² The connexion of the various clauses of this stanza is obscure; and the interpretations of the native scholars differ. We have followed the version of lhe Colombo Sannaya of 1891. Samarasekhara's translation (Col. 1905) takes the assitā in line 1 to refer to the Arahants. Buddhaghosa's commentary may be understood either way. All agree in referring ñatvā in line 5 to the Buddha.

³ Yassassino, glossed here by Buddhaghosa as parivārasam-pannā, and later, in this Suttanta, by yasena samannāgatā.

⁴ All birds are twice-born, first from the mother's womb (when she lays the egg), and then from the egg itself.

⁵ These are all born of Sujā, Vāsava's mother, and had been driven out of heaven by 'Him-with-the-thunderbolt-in-his-hand.' The latter had been identified, at the time when this poem was composed, with Sakka.

⁶ That is, their uncle Rāhu.

⁷ The Castor and Pollux of Indian mythology.

⁸ This seems to come in here most strangely: but it is an epithet of Sakka expressly designed to distinguish him from Indra, the Vedic god, whose epithet was 'Destroyer of Towns,' see p. 297.

⁹ On these described in the Brahmajala Suttanta, see Dialogues I, 32, 33.

¹⁰ Nimmānarati, Paranimmita[vasavatti].

¹¹ In this word-play, Nāgo means also N'āgu, not having sin, says the Cy.: — āgiṃ akaraṇato. So the gods, too, make bad puns! — untranslatable ones, alas.

¹² Upapanno. Note the Buddhist care to bring even 'Great Brahmā' under the universal Law, 'rem inexorabilem.'

¹³ The inter-dependence of the clauses, and also of the names, in this stanza, is ambiguous. It may hereafter become clear that the author (or authoress) thought of Tissa and the Eternal Youth as two distinct persons, or of the Eternal Youth and the Great Brahmā of the Buddha's time as one. The grammar is against the first of these suppositions. But we have seen (above, p. 272, 3) that the Mahā-Brahmā of Govinda's time was Sanṃ-kumāra, the Eternal Youth (so also D. I, 200 compared with D. II, 209, 225); and Tissa according to tradition (Smp. p. 296, 7) was the name of a Mahā-Brahmā. Buddhaghosa explains 'the Potent One' (iddhi mā) as the Buddha; it is much more likely to have been intended for Brahmā, who claims (above, p. 247) to have acquired the potency of iddhi.
This legend of the Ever-virgin Knight, Sanaṃ-kumāra, is the Indian counterpart of the European legend of Sir Galahad. The oldest mention of it is in the Chāndogya Upanished (Ch. VII), where the ideal of the saintly knight teaches a typical brahmin about the highest truth (compare Deussen's note on p. 171 of 'Sechzig Upanishads'). In the Nikāyas the Eternal Youth is frequently quoted as the author of a famous verse which says that, though the knight takes precedence among all those that trust in lineage, he that is perfect in wisdom takes precedence over all (see above, I, 121, and M. I, 358; S. I, 153; A. V, 326. At S. II, 284 the verse is ascribed to the Buddha). A similar sentiment is ascribed to him in the Great Bhārata. In mediaeval literature he is said to have been one of five or seven mind-born sons of Brahmā, like the Sons of the Potent One in our verse. (For the five see the references in Wilson's 'Vishṇu Purāṇa,' I, 38; for the seven those in Garbe's 'Sāṃkhya-philosophie,' p. 35). Buddhaghosa has a similar tale (quoted J.R.A.S., 1894, p. 344). A later and debased Jain version of the legend tells us at length of the love adventures and wives of the chaste knight, with a few words at the end on his conversion to the saintly life (Jacobi, 'Ausgewählte Erzählungen in Mahārashtrī pp. 20-28, translated by de Blonay in 'Rev. de l'H. des Rel.,' 1895, pp. 29-41).

¹⁴ Kaṇho, for Māra. Cf. Kālī, the Black Woman.

¹⁵ Māra is called Mahā-seno, his army being of course senā. The Pāli, making no distinction between syena (hawk) and sena, it is not impossible that a pun is here intended.

¹⁶ We have followed the traditional interpretation in ascribing these last four lines to Māra. They may quite as well, or better, be a statement by the author himself.

21. The Questions of Sakka

Sakka-Pañha Suttantaṃ¹

[294]

Introduction

THIS is the last of the series of mythological dialogues, and in some respects the most interesting of them all. Here we reach the culmination, in the last paragraph, in the conversion of Sakka. Though the various episodes leading up to this culmination are not all equal in literary skill to the charming story and striking verses of Five-crest, they have each of them historical value; and they lead quite naturally up to the conversion at the end.

It seems odd to talk of the conversion of a god. But what do we understand by the term god? He - it is often more correct to say she, or it - is an idea in men's minds. To the worshipper he seems immense, mysterious, unchanging, a unity. And he is, in a sense, a unity - a temporary unity of a complex of conceptions, each of them complex. To use the technical Buddhist terms a god is khaṇika, and saṃkhāra. In the same sense we can speak of a chemical compound as a unity; but to understand that unity we must know of what it is compounded. Now what are the ideas of which the unity we know under the name of Sakka is made up? Let us take them in the order of personal character, outward conditions, and titles.

Personal

Sakka has not become free from the three deadly evils - lust, illwill, and stupidity (A. I, 144; S. I, 219).

He is not free from anxiety (S. I, 219).

He is still subject to death and rebirth (A. I, 144). As examples of this it is mentioned that Sunetta had thirty-five times been reborn as Sakka (A. IV, 105), a statement transferred to the Buddha (A. IV, 89).i1

He comes down from heaven to confirm Uttara's teaching [295] that one should bear in mind and compare one's own and others' failings and attainments (A. IV, 162).

One of the shortest of the Saṃyuttas is devoted to Sakka. [Sacca Saṃyutta] It has twenty-five short Suttas. In the first and second, Sakka praises energy (viriya). In the third he denounces timidity. In the fourth he shows forbearance to his enemy.i2 In the fifth he advocates the conquest of anger by kindness; in the sixth kindness to animals; in the seventh he denounces trickery even towards enemies; and in the ninth he preaches courtesy and honour to the wise (to Rishis). In eleven it is said he acquired his position as Sakka by having observed in a former birth seven lifelong habits - support of his parents, reverence to clan elders, gentleness of speech, dislike of calumny, generosity, truth, and freedom from anger. Twelve and thirteen repeat this and explain his titles. In fourteen Sakka explains how new gods who outshine the old ones do so because they have observed the Buddha's teaching.i3 In fifteen he says that the most beautiful spot is where Arahants dwell. In sixteen he praises gifts to the Order. In seventeen he praises the Buddha, but is told he has selected the wrong attributes for praise. In eighteen to twenty he says that, whereas brahmins and nobles worship him, he himself worships good men, and Arahants. Nos. 21, 22, 24 and 25 are against anger, and 23 is against deceit.

In one passage Sakka is represented as coming down from heaven to make an inquiry about Nirvāna (S. I, 201)[?], and in another as listening, in heaven, to Moggallāna's exposition of the simplest duties of a good layman (S. IV, 269-280).

He, Sakka, is present at the death of the Buddha and utters, in verse, a simple lament very different from the thoughtful verses ascribed to Brahma (above, p. 175).

He proclaims a eulogy on the Buddha, in which he emphasizes eight points of comparatively simple character (above, p. 260).

These Nikāya passages are sufficient to show that Sakka was considered by the early Buddhists to be a god of high character indeed, kindly and just; but not perfect, and not very intelligent. He has reached as far as a good layman might have reached, to the point where his conversion was immanent.

Outward Conditions

Sakka dwells in the Tāvatiṃsa heaven, that is, in the heaven of the thirty-three great gods of the Vedic pantheon. [296] This is not by any means the highest plane of being, nor is it quite the lowest. It is an essential part of the early Buddhist cosmogony (and not held by any other school in India) that there were twenty-six planes of celestial beings: - 1. The Four Great Kings, guardians of the four quarters of the world. 2. The Thirty-Three. 3. The Yama gods. 4. The Tusita gods. 5. The Nimmana-rati gods. 6. The Paranimitta-vasavatti gods.i4 Above these are the twenty worlds of Brahmā. For practical ethical purposes the stress is laid on two planes only - the six just mentioned, which have a collective name (Kāmāvacara-devaloka), and the world of Brahmā.i5 It is only the lower of these two that is meant when heaven (sagga) is referred to. Sakka dwells therefore in the lowest heaven but one of the lower plane.

There he dwells in the palace Victoria (Vejayanta, S. I, 235, 6). It was built by Sakka, is described at Majjhima I, 253, and is illustrated on the Bharahat Tope.i6

Dwelling in that palace he is king over all the Thirty-Three. When the gods fight the Titans (Asuras) it is under his banner, and under his orders, that they fight. But he is no absolute monarch. He is imagined in the likeness of a chieftain of a Kosala clan. The gods meet and deliberate in their Hall of Good Counsel; and Sakka, on ordinary peaceful occasions, consults with them rather than issues to them his commands. Yet in ten matters he surpasses them all - in length of life, in beauty, in happiness, in renown, and in lordship, and in the degree of his five sensations, sight, hearing, smelling, taste, and touch (A. IV, 242).

Titles

Sakka. In its Sanskrit form, S'akra, it occurs nearly fifty times in the Vedas as an adjective qualifying gods (usually Indra). It is explained as meaning 'able, capable.'i7 It is not found as a name in pre-Buddhistic literature.

Kosiya used, not in speaking of, but in speaking to Sakka, just as the family (gotta) name, not the personal name, is used [297] by polite persons in addressing a man.i8 It means 'belonging to the Kuśika family,' and occurs D. II, 270; M. I, 252. It is used once in the Rig Veda of Indra, in what exact sense is not known. Have we a survival here from the time when Indra was only the god of a Kuśika clan?

Vāsava, as chief of the Vasu godsi9 (D. II, 260, 274; S. I, 223-30; SN. 384).

Purindada, 'the generous giver in former births' (S. I, 230; P.V. II, 9,12,13; Jāt. V, 395), no doubt with ironical allusion to the epithet of Indra, Purandara, 'destroyer of cities.'

Sujampati, the husband of Sujā (S. I, 225, 234-6; SN. 1024).

Maghavā, because, as a man, he had once been a brahmin of that name (S. I, 230; cp. Jāt. IV, 403 = V, 137). This had been also, for another reason, an epithet of Indra and other gods.

Thousand-eyed (Sahassa-cakkhu, sahassakkha, S. I, 230, sahassa-netta, S. I, 226; SN. 346). This also had been used of Indra.

Yakkha. Scarcely perhaps an epithet: but it is interesting to notice that even so high a god as Sakka was considered to be a Yaksha (M. I, 252; see S. I, 206).

Inda ( = Indra). This is used occasionally of the Vedic god (e.g. D. i, 244; ii. 274; SN. 310), but is applied also to Sakka himself (D. I, 221, 261, 274; SN. 316, 679, 1024). The god Indaka, of S. I, 206 and PV. 11,9, is quite another person.

Conclusions

Now what are the conclusions which can fairly be drawn from the above facts? In the first place it is evident that Sakka and Indra are quite different conceptions. Of course Indra is also a complex conception, and not by any means only the savage ideal of a warrior, big and blustering and given to drink. But we shall not be far wrong if we say that no single item of the personal character of Sakka is identical with any point in the character of the Vedic Indra, and not one single item of the character of Indra has been reproduced in the descriptions of Sakka. Some of the epithets are the same, and are certainly borrowed, though they are explained differently in harmony with the new conception. Some of the details of the outward conditions may be, and probably are, the outgrowth of corresponding details as told of the older [298] god, but varied and softened in harmony with the new conception.

And further, all these mythological dialogues are Tendenz-schriften, written with the object of persuading the Kosala clansmen that they need not be in the least afraid, for their own gods were on the side of the reformation. The storytellers who invented them have twisted the details to suit their purpose. But they will not have changed the figure of the god so much that there could be any doubt as to the god they talked of being the then popular god. To do so would have been to defeat their object. We may be sure that at the time when Buddhism arose the popular god in Kosala was already very different from Indra, so different that he was spoken of under a new name. This remains true, though he probably was a degeneration, as the brahmins would say, or a development, as their opponents would say, of the old Vedic hero-god.

We cannot be surprised to learn that the conception which appealed so strongly to a more barbarous age, and to clans when engaged in fighting their way into a new country, were found discordant, unattractive, not quite nice, in the settled and prosperous districts of Kosala, after many centuries of progress and culture. It is so with every god known to history. He seems eternal. But by the gradual accumulation of minute variations there comes a time, it may be in a few generations, it may be after the lapse of centuries, when the old name no longer fits the new ideas, the old god falls from his high estate, and a new god, with a new name, occupies the place he filled in the minds of men. Of course the priests went on repeating the old phrases about Indra. But even to the priests they had become barely intelligible. The people paid little heed to them; they followed rather other gods more up-to-date, and of their own making. And it was of these new gods that the leaders of the new movement told their new stories to point a new moral.i10

[263][299]

Sakka-Pañha Suttantaṃ

The Questions of Sakka

Chapter I

Thus have I heard.

The Exalted One was once staying in Magadha,
to the east of Rājagaha,
at a brahmin village named Ambasaṇḍā.

There he resided on the Vediya mountain to the north of the village,
in the cave called the cave of Indra's Sāl Tree.²

Now at that time a longing came over Sakka, the king of the gods,
to visit the Exalted One.

And this idea occurred to him: —

"Where may he now be staying, the Exalted One,
the Arahant,
the Buddha supreme?"

And Sakka saw that he was staying in Magadha
at Ambasaṇḍā,
east of Rājagaha,
in the cave called Indra's Sāl Tree Cave
on the Vediya mountain
to the north of the village.

And seeing that,
he said to the Three-and-Thirty gods:

"Gentlemen, that Exalted One is staying in Magadha,
to the east of Rājagaha
at a brahmin village named Ambasaṇḍā,
in the cave called Indra's Sāl Tree Cave,
on the Vediya mountain
to the north of the village.

How would it be, gentlemen,
if we were to go and visit the Exalted One?"

"So be it and good luck to you!"
replied the Three-and-Thirty gods consenting.

[300] 2. Then Sakka said to Five-crest the Gandhabba:

"Sir, that Exalted One is staying in Magadha,
to the east of Rājagaha
at a brahmin village named Ambasaṇḍā,
in the cave called Indra's Sāl Tree Cave,
on the Vediya mountain
to the north of the village.

How would it be, sir,
if we were to go and visit the Exalted One?"

"So be it and good luck to you!"
replied Five-crest the Gandhabba consenting.

And Five-crest taking his lyre of yellow Beluva wood,
followed in attendance on Sakka, the king of the gods.

So Sakka, the king of the gods,
surrounded by the Thirty-and-Three,
and attended by Five-crest the Gandhabba,
vanished from his heaven
as easily as a strong man might shoot out his arm,
or draw in his arm outshot,
and reappeared in Magadha,
standing on the Vediya mountain.

3. Now at that time the Vediya mountain was bathed in radiance,
and so was Ambasaṇḍā, the brahmin village, —
such is the potency of the celestials —
so much so that in the villages round about
folk were saying:

"For sure the Vediya mountain is on fire to-day,
for sure the Vediya mountain is burning to-day,
for sure the Vediya mountain is in flame to-day!

Why, O why, is the Vediya mountain bathed in radiance to-day,
and Ambasaṇḍā too the brahmins' village?"

And they were anxious and sore afraid.

4. Then said Sakka, the king of the gods,
to Five-crest the Gandhabba:

"Difficult of approach, dear Five-crest,
are Tathāgatas,
to one like me,
when they are rapt in the bliss of meditation,
and for that purpose
abiding in solitude.

But if you were first to gain over the Exalted One
[by your music]
then might I afterwards come up and visit him,
the Arahant,
the Buddha supreme."

"So be it and good luck to you!"
consented Five-crest,
and taking his lyre
he went to the Indra-Sāltree-cave.

On coming there he thought:

"Thus far will the Exalted One
be neither too far from me
nor too near to me,
and he will hear my voice."

And he stood on one side,
and let his lyre be heard
and recited these verses
concerning the Awakened One
and the Truth,
the Arahants
and Love:³

[301] 5. "Lady, thy father Timbaru I greet
With honour due, O Glory-of-the-Sun!⁴
In that he wrought a thing so nobly fair
As thou, O fount divine of all my joy!

Sweet as the breeze to one foredone with sweat,
Sweet as a cooling drink to one athirst,
So dear art thou, O presence radiant!
To me, dear as to Arahants the Truth.

As medicine bringing ease to one that's sick,
As food to starving man, so, lady, quench,
As with cool waters, me who am all a-flame.

E'en as an elephant with heat oppressed,
Hies him to some still pool, upon whose face
Petals and pollen of the lotus float,
So would I sink within thy bosom sweet.

E'en as an elephant fretted by hook,
Dashes unheeding curb and goad aside,
So I, crazed by the beauty of thy form,
Know not the why and wherefore of my acts.

By thee my heart is held in bonds, and all
Bent out of course; nor can I turn me back,
No more than fish, once he hath ta'en the bait.

Within thine arm embrace me, lady, me
With thy soft languid eyne embrace and hold,
O nobly fair! This I entreat of thee.

Scanty in sooth, O maid of waving locks
Was my desire, but now it swelleth aye,
Indefinitely great, e'en as the gifts
Made by the faithful to the Arahants.

[302] Whate'er of merit to such holy ones
I've wrought, be thou, O altogether fair,
The ripened fruit to fall therefrom to me.

Whate'er of other merit I have wrought
In the wide world, O altogether fair,
Be thou the fruit thereof to fall to me.

As the great Sakyan Seer, through ecstasy
Rapt and intent and self-possessed, doth brood
Seeking ambrosia, even so do I
Pursue the quest of thee, O Glory-of-the-Sun!

As would that Seer rejoice, were he to win
Ineffable Enlightenment, so I
With thee made one, O fairest, were in bliss.

And if perchance a boon were granted me
By Sakka, lord of Three-and-Thirty gods,
'Tis thee I'd ask of him, lady, so strong
My love. And for thy father, wisest maid —
Him as a sāl-tree freshly burgeoning
I worship for such peerless offspring giv'n.'

6. When Five-crest had finished
the Exalted One said to him:

"The sound of your strings, Five-crest,
so harmonizes with that of your song,
and the sound of your voice
with that of the strings,
that your lyre does not too much colour your song,
nor your song too much colour your play.

Where, Five-crest, did you learn these verses
concerning the Awakened One
and the Truth,
the Arahants,
and Love?"

"The Exalted One, lord,
was once staying at Uruvelā,
on the bank of the Nerañjarā river,
at the foot of the Goatherd's Banyan tree
before he attained to Enlightenment.

Now at that time, lord,
the lady called Bhaddā,
in appearance as Sunshine,
daughter of Timbaru, king of the Gandhabbas,
was beloved by me.

But that lady, lord,
was in love with another —
Sikhaddi, son of Mātali the charioteer.

And since I could not get the lady
by any method whatever,
I took my lyre of yellow Beluva wood,
and going to the abode of Timbaru, king of the Gandhabbas,
I [303] played my lyre
and recited these verses
concerning the Awakened One,
the Truth,
the Arahants
and Love:

7. 'Lady, thy father Timbaru I greet
With honour due, O Glory-of-the-Sun!
In that he wrought a thing so nobly fair
As thou, O fount divine of all my joy!

Sweet as the breeze to one foredone with sweat,
Sweet as a cooling drink to one athirst,
So dear art thou, O presence radiant!
To me, dear as to Arahants the Truth.

As medicine bringing ease to one that's sick,
As food to starving man, so, lady, quench,
As with cool waters, me who am all a-flame.

E'en as an elephant with heat oppressed,
Hies him to some still pool, upon whose face
Petals and pollen of the lotus float,
So would I sink within thy bosom sweet.

E'en as an elephant fretted by hook,
Dashes unheeding curb and goad aside,
So I, crazed by the beauty of thy form,
Know not the why and wherefore of my acts.

By thee my heart is held in bonds, and all
Bent out of course; nor can I turn me back,
No more than fish, once he hath ta'en the bait.

Within thine arm embrace me, lady, me
With thy soft languid eyne embrace and hold,
O nobly fair! This I entreat of thee.

Scanty in sooth, O maid of waving locks
Was my desire, but now it swelleth aye,
Indefinitely great, e'en as the gifts
Made by the faithful to the Arahants.

Whate'er of merit to such holy ones
I've wrought, be thou, O altogether fair,
The ripened fruit to fall therefrom to me.

[304] Whate'er of other merit I have wrought
In the wide world, O altogether fair,
Be thou the fruit thereof to fall to me.

As the great Sakyan Seer, through ecstasy
Rapt and intent and self-possessed, doth brood
Seeking ambrosia, even so do I
Pursue the quest of thee, O Glory-of-the-Sun!

As would that Seer rejoice, were he to win
Ineffable Enlightenment, so I
With thee made one, O fairest, were in bliss.

And if perchance a boon were granted me
By Sakka, lord of Three-and-Thirty gods,
'Tis thee I'd ask of him, lady, so strong
My love. And for thy father, wisest maid —
Him as a sāl-tree freshly burgeoning
I worship for such peerless offspring giv'n.'

And when I had finished, lord,
the Lady Suriya-vaccasā said to me:

'That Blessed One, sir,
I have not seen face to face,
and yet I heard of him
when I went to dance at the Sudhamma Hall
of the Three-and-Thirty gods.⁵

Since you so extol the Blessed One,
let there be a meeting between thee and me to-day.'

So, lord, I met that lady,
not on that day but afterwards."

8. Now Sakka, the king of the gods, thought:

"Five-crest and the Exalted One are in friendly converse."

And he called to Five-crest and said:

"Salute the Exalted One for me, dear Five-crest,
and tell him:

'Sakka, lord,
the ruler of the gods,
with his ministers and suite,
does homage at the foot of the Exalted One.'"

And Five-crest said to the Exalted One

"Sakka, lord,
the ruler of the gods,
with his ministers and suite,
does homage at the foot of the Exalted One."

"May good fortune, Five-crest,
attend Sakka, ruler of gods,
and his ministers and suite.

For they desire happiness —
those gods and men,
Asuras,
Nāgas,
Gandhabbas,
and whatever other numerous hosts there be!"

[305] On this wise do the Tathāgatas salute these dignitaries.

And so saluted by the Exalted One,
Sakka, the king of the gods,
entered the cave of Indras Sāl-tree,
and saluting the Exalted One
stood on one side.

Thus did also the Three-and-Thirty gods
and Five-crest the Gandhabba.

9. Now at that time in the cave
the rough passages were made smooth,
the narrow spaces were made wide,
and in the dark cavern
it became bright,
such was the potency of the celestials.

Then said the Exalted One to Sakka:

"Wonderful is this!
marvellous is this,
that the venerable Kosiya,
with so much to do,
so much to perform,
should come hither!"

"For a long time, lord,
have I been desirous of coming to see the Exalted One,
but I was hindered by one task and another
that I had to perform
for the Three-and-Thirty gods,
and was not able to come.

On one occasion the Exalted One was staying at Sāvatthī,
in the Saḷala cottage.

So I went to Sāvatthī, to see the Exalted One.

10. Now at that time, lord,
the Exalted One was seated,
rapt in some stage of meditation,
and Bhuñjati, wife of Vessavaṇa⁶
was waiting on him,
worshipping with clasped hands.

Then I said to Bhuñjati:

'Madam, do you salute the Exalted One for me,
and say:

"Sakka, lord, ruler of gods,
with ministers and suite,
does homage at the feet of the Exalted One."'

And Bhuñjati replied:

'Tis not the right time, sir,
for seeing the Exalted One;
he is in retreat.'

'Well then, madam,
when the Exalted One rouses himself from his meditation,
salute him for me
and say:

"Sakka, lord, ruler of gods,
with ministers and suite,
does homage at the feet of the Exalted One."'

Did the lady so salute the Exalted One, lord,
for me?

And does the Exalted One remember what she said?"

"She did salute me, ruler of gods.

I remember her words.

And this too —
that it was the noise of your [306] excellency's chariot wheels
that aroused me from that meditation."

11. "Lord, I have heard and understood
when in the presence of those gods
who were reborn into the heaven of the Three-and-Thirty before us,
that when a Tathāgata,
an Arahant Buddha supreme,
arises in the world,
the celestial hosts wax in numbers,
and the Asura hosts wane.

And I myself, lord,
have seen
and can witness that this is so.

Take, lord, this case.

There was, at Kapilavatthu,
a daughter of the Sākyans named Gopikā,
who trusted in the Buddha,
the Dhamma
and the Order,
and who fulfilled the precepts.

She, having abandoned a woman's thoughts
and cultivated the thoughts of a man,
was, at the dissolution of the body after her death,
reborn to a pleasant life,
into the communion of the Three-and-Thirty gods,
into sonship with us.

And there they knew her as
'Gopaka of the sons of the gods,
Gopaka of the sons of the gods.'

Moreover, lord, there were three bhikkhus
who, having followed the religious life
prescribed by the Exalted One,
were reborn into a lower state
among the Gandhabbas.

Surrounded by and enjoying the pleasures of the five senses,
they used to wait upon and minister to us.

Things being so,
Gopaka upbraided them saying:

'Where were your ears, sirs,
that ye hearkened not to the Dhamma of the Exalted One?

Here am I who being but a maiden,
trusting in the Buddha,
the Dhamma
and the Order,
and fulfilling the precepts,
abandoned all my woman's thoughts
and, cultivating a man's thoughts,
was reborn after my death
into a pleasant life,
into communion with the Three-and-Thirty gods,
into the sonship of Sakka, the lord of the gods,
and am known as Gopaka,
son of the gods.

But ye, sirs, following the religious life of the Exalted One,
have only been reborn into the lower state of Gandhabbas.

A sad thing, indeed, is this to see,
when we behold our co-religionists
reborn into the inferior condition of Gandhabbas.'

Of those fairies, lord,
thus rebuked by Gopaka,
two acquired in that same lifetime
[307] mindfulness,
and therewith the heaven of the ministers of Brahmā.

But the third fairy clave to sensuous enjoyment.'"

12. Gopaka's Verses.

"'Disciple once of Him-Who-Sees, —
By name they called me: — Gopika, —
In Buddha, Dhamma, firm my trust,
I served the Order glad of heart.
Through this good service paid to Him
Behold me son of Sakka, born
All glorious in the Deva-world,
Of mighty power, and known henceforth
As Gopaka. Now saw I men
Who, bhikkhus in a former birth,
Had won to mere Gandhabba rank.
What! persons erst of human kind,
And followers of Gotama, —
Supplied by us with food and drink
And tended in our own abode, —
Where were their ears that they, so blest,
Yet failed to grasp the Buddha's Law?
The Gospel well proclaimed to all
And understood by Him-Who-Sees,
Each for himself must comprehend.
I, serving only you, have heard
The good words of the Noble Ones —
And now behold me reborn here,
All glorious and powerful,
As Sakka's son in Deva-world,
But you who served the Best of men,
And by the Highest shaped your lives,
Have re-appeared in lowly rank,
Degraded from your due advance.
An evil sight is this, to see
One's co-religionists sunk low,
Where, as Gandhabba spirits, sirs,
Ye come to wait upon the gods.
For me see! what a change is here!
[308] From house-life as a woman, I,
A male to-day, a god reborn,
In joys celestial take my share.'

Upbraided thus by Gopaka,
Disciple erst of Gotama,
They in sore anguish made response: —

'Yea verily! let us go hence
And strive our utmost, lest we live
The slaves of others!' Of the three
Two bent their will unto the work,
Mindful of Gotama's behests.
The perils in the life of sense
They saw, e'en here cleansing their hearts;
And like an elephant that bursts
Each strap and rope, so they o'ercame
The fetters and the bonds of sense,
Ties of the Evil One, so hard
To get beyond—yea, e'en the gods,
The Three-and-Thirty, seated round
With Indra, with Pājapati,
Enthroned in Sudhamma's Hall,
The heroes twain left far behind,
Purging all passion, ousting lust.

At sight of them distress arose
In Vāsava, ruler of gods,
In midst of all his retinue: —
'Lo now! these, born to lower rank,
Outstrip the Three-and-Thirty gods!'
His sovereign's apprehension heard,
Gopaka spake to Vāsava: —
'O Indra! in the world of men
A Buddha, called the Sākya Sage,
Is conqueror o'er the world of sense.
And these his children, who had lost
All conscience when they left the world,
Through me their conscience have regained.
One of the three yet dwelleth here,
Reborn among Gandhabba folk;
And two, on highest Wisdom bent,
In deepest rapture scorn the gods.
[309] Let no disciple ever doubt
That by the kind who here abide
The Truth may yet be realized.
All hail to Buddha who hath crossed
The flood and put an end to doubt,
Great Conqueror and Lord of all!'

They recognized thy Truth e'en here; and they
Have onward passed and won to eminence.
'Mong Brahmā's ministers they twain have won
A higher place than this. And we are come,
O master, here that we too may attain
That Truth.⁷ If the Exalted One should grant
Us leave, Master, we fain would question him."

13. Then the Exalted One thought:

"For a long time now this Sakka has lived a pure life.

Whatever question he may ask of me
will be to good purpose,
and not frivolous.

And what I shall answer,
that will he quickly understand."

Then did the Exalted One address these verses to Sakka, lord of gods:

"Question me, Vāsava, whate'er thy mind desires,
And on each problem put I'll end thy doubts!"

§

End of the First Portion for Recitation.

[310]

Chapter II

1. Thus invited, Sakka, the ruler of the gods,
asked this first question of the Exalted One:

"By what fetters, sir, are they bound —
gods,
men,
Asuras,
Nāgas,
Gandhabbas,
and whatever other great classes of beings there be —
in that they, wishing thus: —

'Would that, without hatred,
injury,
enmity,
or malignity,
we might live in amity!' —

do nevertheless live in enmity,
hating,
injuring,
hostile,
malign?"

Such was the fashion of Sakka's first question to the Exalted One.

To him the Exalted One so asked made answer:

"By the fetters of envy and selfishness,
ruler of gods,
are they bound —
gods,
men,
Asuras,
Nāgas,
Gandhabbas,
and whatever other great classes of beings there be —
in that they, wishing thus: —

'Would that, without hatred,
injury,
enmity,
or malignity,
we might live in amity!' —

do nevertheless live in enmity,
hating,
injuring,
hostile,
malign."

Such was the fashion of the Exalted One's answer to Sakka's question.

And Sakka, delighted with the Exalted One's utterance,
expressed his pleasure and appreciation saying:

"That is so, Exalted One,
that is so, Welcome One!

I have got rid of doubt
and am no longer puzzled,
through hearing the answer of the Exalted One."

■

2. So Sakka, expressing pleasure and appreciation,
asked a further question of the Exalted One:

"But envy and selfishness, sir, —
what is the source thereof,
the cause thereof?
what gives birth to them?
how do they come to be?

What being present,
are envy and selfishness also present?

What being absent,
are they also absent?"

"Things as dear and not dear to us,
ruler of gods, —
this is the source and cause
of envy and selfishness,
this [311] is what gives birth to them,
this is how they come to be.

In the presence of what is dear or not dear,
envy and selfishness come about,
and in the absence of such feelings,
they do not come about."

Such was the fashion of the Exalted One's answer to Sakka's question.

And Sakka, delighted with the Exalted One's utterances,
expressed his pleasure and appreciation saying:

"That is so, Exalted One,
that is so, O Welcome One!

I have got rid of doubt
and am no longer puzzled,
through hearing the answer of the Exalted One."

■

So Sakka, expressing his pleasure and appreciation,
asked a further question of the Exalted One:

"But what, sir, is the source,
what the cause of things being dear and not dear,
what gives birth to these feelings,
how do they come to be?

What being present, do we so feel,
and what being absent,
do we not so feel?"

"Desire⁸ ruler of gods,
is the source and cause
of things being dear or not dear,
this is what gives birth to such feelings,
this is how they come to be.

If desire be present,
things become dear and not dear to us;
if it be absent,
things are no more felt as such."

Such was the fashion of the Exalted One's answer to Sakka's question.

And Sakka, delighted with the Exalted One's utterances,
expressed his pleasure and appreciation saying:

"That is so, Exalted One,
that is so, O Welcome One!

I have got rid of doubt
and am no longer puzzled,
through hearing the answer of the Exalted One."

■

So Sakka, expressing his pleasure and appreciation,
asked a further question of the Exalted One:

"But desire, sir, —
what is the source and cause of that?

What gives birth to it,
how does it come to be?

What being present,
is desire present,
and what being absent,
is desire also absent?"

"Mental pre-occupation,⁹ ruler of gods, —
this is the source,
this is the cause of desire,
this is what gives birth to desire,
this is how desire comes to be.

Wherewith our mind is pre-occupied,
for that desire arises;
if our mind is not so pre-occupied,
desire is absent."

Such was the fashion of the Exalted One's answer to Sakka's question.

And Sakka, delighted with the Exalted One's utterances,
expressed his pleasure and appreciation saying:

"That is so, Exalted One,
that is so, O Welcome One!

I have got rid of doubt
and am no longer puzzled,
through hearing the answer of the Exalted One."

■

So Sakka, expressing his pleasure and appreciation,
asked a further question of the Exalted One:

"But what, sir, is the source
and what is the cause
of our mind being pre-occupied?

What gives birth to such a state,
how does it come to be?

What being present,
does our mind become pre-occupied,
and what being absent,
does it not?"

[312] "The source, ruler of gods,
the cause of our becoming pre-occupied
is what we may call obsession.¹⁰

This is what gives birth to pre-occupation of mind,
this is how that comes about.

If that obsession is present,
our mind is pre-occupied
[by the idea by which we are obsessed];
if it is absent,
it is not."

Such was the fashion of the Exalted One's answer to Sakka's question.

And Sakka, delighted with the Exalted One's utterances,
expressed his pleasure and appreciation saying:

"That is so, Exalted One,
that is so, O Welcome One!

I have got rid of doubt
and am no longer puzzled,
through hearing the answer of the Exalted One."

■

So Sakka, expressing his pleasure and appreciation,
asked a further question of the Exalted One:

3. "But how, sir, has that bhikkhu gone about
who has reached the path suitable for
and leading to
the cessation of obsession?"

"Happiness, ruler of gods,
I declare to be twofold,
according as it is to be followed after,
or avoided.

Sorrow too I declare to be twofold,
according as it is to be followed
or avoided.

Equanimity too I declare to be twofold,
according as it is to be followed
or avoided.

And the distinction I have affirmed in happiness,
was drawn on these grounds: —
When in following after happiness
I have perceived that bad qualities developed
and good qualities were diminished,
then that kind of happiness was to be avoided.

And when, following after happiness,
I have perceived that bad qualities were diminished
and good qualities developed,
then such happiness was to be followed.

Now of such happiness
as is accompanied by pre-occupation and travail of mind,
and of such as is not so accompanied,
the latter is the more excellent.

Thus, ruler of gods,
when I declare happiness to be [313] twofold,
according as it is to be followed after,
or avoided,
I say so for that reason.

Again, ruler of gods,
when I declare sorrow to be twofold,
according as it is to be followed after,
or avoided,
for what reason do I say so?

When, in following after sorrow¹¹
I have perceived that bad qualities developed
and good qualities were diminished,
then that kind of sorrow was to be avoided.

And when, following after sorrow,
I have perceived that bad qualities were diminished
and good qualities were developed,
then such sorrow was to be followed after.

Now of such sorrow
as is accompanied by pre-occupation and travail of mind,
and of such as is not so accompanied,
the latter¹² is the more excellent.

Thus, ruler of gods,
when I declare sorrow to be twofold,
according as it is to be followed after,
or avoided,
I say so for that reason.

Again, ruler of gods,
when I declare equanimity to be twofold,
according as it is to be followed after,
or avoided,
for what reason do I say so?

When, in following after equanimity,
I have perceived that bad qualities developed
and good qualities were diminished,
then that kind of equanimity was to be avoided.

And when, following after equanimity,
I perceived that bad qualities were diminished
and good qualities were developed,
then that kind of equanimity was to be followed after.¹³

Now of such equanimity [314]
as is accompanied by pre-occupation and travail of mind
and of such as is not so accompanied,
the latter is the more excellent.

Thus, ruler of gods,
when I declare equanimity to be twofold,
according as it is to be followed after,
or avoided,
I say so for that reason.

And it is on this wise that a bhikkhu, ruler of gods,
must have gone about,
who has reached the path suitable for,
and leading to,
the cessation of perceiving
and taking account of distractions."

Such was the fashion of the Exalted One's answer to Sakka's question.

And Sakka, delighted with the Exalted One's utterances,
expressed his pleasure and appreciation saying:

"That is so, Exalted One,
that is so, O Welcome One!

I have got rid of doubt
and am no longer puzzled,
through hearing the answer of the Exalted One."

■

4. So Sakka, expressing his pleasure and appreciation,
asked a further question of the Exalted One:

"But how, sir, has that bhikkhu gone about
who has acquired the self-restraint
enjoined by the Patimokkha?"

"I say, ruler of gods,
that behaviour in act and in speech,
as well as those things we seek after
are twofold,
according as they are to be followed after
or avoided.

And for what reason do I say so?

When, in following some mode of behaviour
in act
or speech
or in pursuing some quest,
I have perceived that bad qualities developed
and good qualities diminished,
then such behaviour
or such pursuits
were to be avoided.

And when, again,
I perceived as the consequence of some other mode of behaviour
in act
or speech,
or of some other pursuit
that bad qualities were diminished
and good qualities were developed,
then that behaviour,
or that pursuit,
was to be followed after.

Thus when I, ruler of gods,
declare that behaviour in act,
behaviour in speech,
and the things we seek after
are twofold,
I say so for those reasons.

[315] And it is on this wise, ruler of gods,
that a bhikkhu must have gone about
to have acquired the self-restraint enjoined by the Patimokkha."

Such was the fashion of the Exalted One's answer to Sakka's question.

And Sakka, delighted with the Exalted One's utterances,
expressed his pleasure and appreciation saying:

"That is so, Exalted One,
that is so, O Welcome One!

I have got rid of doubt
and am no longer puzzled,
through hearing the answer of the Exalted One."

■

5. So Sakka, expressing his pleasure and appreciation,
asked a further question of the Exalted One:

"But how, sir, has that bhikkhu gone about
who has acquired control of his faculties?"

"I say, ruler of gods,
that the objects of the senses —
visible,
audible,
odorous,
sapid,
tangible
and mental objects¹⁴ —
are twofold,
according as they are to be followed after
or avoided."

Then said Sakka to the Exalted One:

"I, sir, understand the details
of that which you have told me in outline.

Those sense-objects which are not to be followed
are such as cause bad qualities to develop
and good qualities to diminish;
and those sense-objects which have the opposite effect
are to be followed after.

And because I can thus understand in detail
the meaning of that which the Exalted One has told me in outline, I have got rid of doubt
and am no longer puzzled,
now that I have heard the Exalted One's answer to my question."

Such was the fashion of the Exalted One's answer to Sakka's question.

6. So Sakka, expressing his pleasure and appreciation,
asked a further question of the Exalted One:

"Are all recluses and brahmins, sir,
wholly of one creed,
one practice,
one persuasion,¹⁵ one aim?"

[316] "No, ruler of gods, they are not."

"But why, sir, are they not?"

"Of many and divers elements, ruler of gods,
is this world composed.

And that being so,
people naturally incline to adhere
to one or another of those elements;
and to whichsoever it be
they, being so inclined,
become strongly
and tenaciously addicted,
holding that
'just this is true,
the rest is foolish.'

And therefore it is
that recluses and brahmins
are not all wholly of one creed,
one practice,
one persuasion,
one aim."

"Are all recluses and brahmins, sir,
perfectly proficient,
perfectly saved,
living perfectly the best life¹⁶
have they attained the right ideal?"¹⁷

"No, ruler of gods, they are not all so."

"Why, sir, are they not all so?"

"Those recluses and brahmins, ruler of gods,
who are set free
through the entire destruction of craving,
only they are perfectly proficient,
only they are perfectly saved,
only they are living perfectly
the best life
and have attained the ideal.

Therefore is it
that not all recluses and brahmins are perfectly proficient,
perfectly saved,
living perfectly
the best life,
and have attained the ideal."¹⁸

Such was the fashion of the Exalted One's answer to Sakka's question.

And Sakka, delighted with the Exalted One's utterances,
expressed his pleasure and appreciation saying:

"That is so, Exalted One,
that is so, O Welcome One!

I have got rid of doubt
and am no longer puzzled,
through hearing the answer of the Exalted One."

7. So Sakka, expressing his pleasure and appre- [317] ciation of the Exalted One's utterance,
spoke thus:

"Passion,¹⁹ lord,
is disease,
passion is a cancer,
passion is a dart,
passion drags a man about
by one rebirth and then another,
so that he finds himself now up above
now down below.

Whereas other recluses and brahmins
not of your followers, lord,
gave me no opportunity to ask these questions,
the Exalted One has answered for me,
instructing me at length,
so that the dart of doubt and perplexity
has by the Exalted One been extracted."

"Do you admit to us, ruler of gods,
that you have put the same questions to other recluses or brahmins?"

"I do, lord."

"Then tell me,
if it be not inconvenient to you,
how they answered you."

"It is not inconvenient to me
when the Exalted One is seated to hear,
or others like him."

"Then tell, ruler of gods."

"I went to those, lord,
whom I deemed to be recluses and brahmins,
because they were dwelling in secluded forest abodes,
and I asked them those questions.

Being asked,
they did not withdraw themselves,
but put a counter-question to me:

'Who is the venerable one?'

I replied:

'I, sir, am Sakka, ruler of gods.'

They asked me further:

'What business has brought the venerable ruler of gods to this place?'

Whereupon I taught them the Dharma
as I had heard and learnt it.

And they
with only so much
were well pleased saying:

'We have seen Sakka, ruler of gods,
and he has answered
that which we asked of him!'

And actually,
instead of me becoming their disciple,
they became mine.

But I, lord,
am a disciple of the Exalted One,
a Stream-winner,
who cannot be reborn in any state of woe,
and who has the assurance of attaining to enlightenment."²⁰

[318] "Do you admit to us, ruler of gods,
that you have ever before experienced
such satisfaction
and such happiness
as you now feel?"

"Yes, lord, I do admit it."

"And what do you admit, ruler of gods,
with regard to that previous occasion?"

"In former times, lord,
war had broken out between gods and asuras.

Now in that fight the gods won
and the asuras were defeated.

Then when the battle was over,
to me the conqueror
the thought occurred:

'The gods will henceforth enjoy not only celestial nectar
but also asura-nectar.'

But, lord, the experiencing satisfaction
and happiness such as this,
which was wrought by blows and by wounds,
does not conduce to detachment,
nor to disinterestedness,
nor to cessation,
nor to peace,
nor to the higher spiritual knowledge,²¹
nor to enlightenment,
nor to Nirvana.

But this satisfaction, lord,
this happiness that I have experienced
in hearing the Dhamma of the Exalted One,
this which is not wrought by blows and by wounds
does conduce to detachment,
to disinterestedness,
to cessation,
to peace,
to spiritual knowledge,
to enlightenment,
to Nirvana."

8. "What are the things present to your mind, ruler of gods,
when you confess to experiencing such satisfaction
and such happiness?"

"Six are the things present to my mind, lord,
that I feel such satisfaction and happiness:

'I who here merely as a god exist
Have [by my acts]²² incurred the destiny
To live again once more. Hear, sir, and know!'

This, lord, is the first meaning implied
in what I said.

'Deceasing from the gods I shall forsake
The life that's not of men, and straight shall go
Unerring to that womb I fain would choose.'

[319] This, lord, is the second meaning implied
in what I said.

'I who have had my problems rendered clear
And live delighting in His Word, shall then
Live righteously, mindful and self-possessed.'

This, lord, is the third meaning implied
in what I said.

'And if into my life thus rightly led
Enlightenment should come, then shall I dwell
As one who Knows, and this shall be the end.'

This, lord, is the fourth meaning implied
in what I said.

'Deceasing from the human sphere, I then
Forsake the life of men, and lo! once more
A god I'll be, best in the Deva-world.'

This, lord, is the fifth meaning implied
in what I said.

'Finer than Devas are the Peerless Gods²³
All glorious, while my last span of life
Shall come and go 'tis there my home will be.'

This, lord, is the sixth meaning
implied in my confession
of experiencing such satisfaction
and such happiness.

These, lord, are the six things present to my mind
that I feel such satisfaction
and such happiness.

9. With aspirations unfulfilled, perplexed
And doubting, long I wandered seeking him
Who-had-on-That-wise-Thither-Come. Me-thought,
Hermits who dwell secluded and austere
Must sure enlightened be! To them I'll fare.
'What must I do to win, what doing fail?'
Thus asked they rede me naught in Path or Ways.
[320] But me, forsooth, whereas they know that I
Who come, am Sakka of the gods, 'tis me
They ask, 'What would'st thou that thou comest here?'
Thereat to them I teach, as I have heard,
As all may hear, the Dhamma; whereat they
Rejoicing cry, forsooth, 'Vasava have we seen!'
But since I've seen the Buddha, seen my doubts
Dispelled, now would I, all my fears allayed,
On him, the Enlightened One, adoring wait.
Him do I worship who hath drawn the dart
Of craving, him the Buddha, peerless Lord.
Hail, mighty hero! hail, kin to the sun!
E'en as by gods is Brahmā reverenced,
Lo! even thus to-day we worship thee.
Thou art the Enlightened One, Teacher Supreme
Art thou, nor in the world, with all its heav'ns
Of gods, is any found like unto thee!"

10. Then spake Sakka, ruler of gods,
to Five-crest of the Gandhabbas:

"Great has been your help to me, dear Five-crest,
in that you first placated the Exalted One.

For it was after you had first placated him,
that we were admitted to his presence
to see the Exalted One,
the Arahant,
Buddha Supreme.

I will take the place of father to you,
and you shall be king of the Gandhabbas,
and I will give to you Bhaddā,
the Sun-maiden,
whom you have longed for."

Then Sakka, touching the earth with his hand
to call it to witness,
called aloud thrice:

"Honour to the Exalted One,
to the Arahant,
to the Buddha Supreme!

Honour to the Exalted One,
to the Arahant,
to the Buddha Supreme!

Honour to the Exalted One,
to the Arahant,
to the Buddha Supreme!"

Now while he was speaking in this dialogue,
the stainless spotless Eye for the Truth arose in Sakka,
the ruler of the gods,
to wit:

Whatsoever thing can come to be,
that must also cease to be.²⁴

And this happened also
to eighty thousand of devas besides.

[321] Such were the questions which Sakka was invited to ask,
and which were explained by the Exalted One.²⁵

Therefore has this dialogue the name of
"The Questions of Sakka."

i1 We have had another instance (above, p. 73) of a detail in Sunetta's biography being taken over into the biography of ihe Buddha.

i2 This Sutta is repeated at Saṃyutta IV, 201.

i3 The very words of the Sakka-pañha are here used.

i4 These are often mentioned in sequence. See, for instance, above, Vol. 1, pp. 280, 281.

i5 The later Mahā-bhārata borrowed this idea, though, as Hopkins points out ('Religions of India,' 358), it is 'a view quite foreign to the teaching current elsewhere in the epic.'

i6 Cunningham, 'Stupa of Bharhut,' p. 137.

i7 For another derivation, a pretty piece of word-play, see Saṃyutta, I, 230.

i8 This point has been discussed above, Vol. I, pp. 193-6.

i9 Their names (ten of them) in PVA., p. 111.

i10 The above is based exclusively on Nikāya evidence. It is confirmed by that of the later books given by Childers (sub voce Sakko).

■

¹ This Suttanta is quoted by name at Saṃyutta III, 13; Mahavastu I, 350; Milinda 350; Sumaṇgala Vilāsinī I, 24 (where it is called vedalla). The last passage is repeated at Gandha Vaṃsa 57.

² Inda-sāla-guhā. Buddhaghosa says there was a cave here between two overhanging rocks with a large Sāl tree at the entrance. The village community had added walls with doors and windows; and ornamented it with polished plaster scroll-work and garlands, and presented it to the Buddha. In Fa Hian's time (Legge, p. 81) [Giles] it was still inhabited. In Yuan Chwāng's time (Walters, II, 173) it was deserted. Both pilgrims were told that certain marks on the rock had been made by Sakka writing his questions(!). The Sanskritisation of the name into Indra-śaila-guhā (Schiefner, Böhtlingk-Roth, Julien, Legge, and Beal) is a mere blunder. The name Indra enters into the names of several plants, probably merely in the sense of excellent. There is nothing to justify the idea that Indra was supposed to haunt this tree.

³ This idea is found again in the Mahā-bhārata (I, 2. 383). That poem there claims to be a artha-√āstra, dharma-√āstra, and kama-√āstra. So Windisch ('Buddha's Geburt,' 82) speaks of a group of ideas, recurrent in Indian literature, which very happily sums up and exhausts the matter — the Useful, the True, and the Agreeable — to which Emancipation is sometimes added as a fourth. Our passage here is the earliest in which such a group appears.

⁴ Suriya-vaccase, the young lady's name; sunshine in prose. See § 10 of the Mahā-Samaya.

⁵ When Sakka pronounced his eulogy in the Mahā-Govinda, says Buddhaghosa.

⁶ That is, Kuvera, king of the North Quarter, ruler over Yakkhas. See previous Suttanta, § 9.

⁷ We follow the printed text. It is more probable that pattiyā is the gloss. In that case the version would be: 'For that Truth's sake, O master, have we come.' The full stop after visesagū is a misprint.

⁸ Chanda. The Cy. distinguishes exegetically five kinds of chanda: — desire to seek, to gain, to enjoy, to hoard, to spend, and includes all in the present connexion with the words: 'here it is used in a sense tantamount to craving (taṇhā).'

⁹ Vitakka. The Cy. does not give the Abhidhamma definition of this term (see Dh.S., § 7; 'Bud. Psy.' p. 10: 'the disposing, fixating, focusing, applying the mind.' Cf. also 'Compendium of Buddhist Philosophy' Appendix: vitakka, P.T.S., 1910), but gives as a parallel term vinicchaya (see above, p. 55 'lābhaṃ paṭicca vinicchayo'— 'deciding respecting gain'). The word is used, according to Suttanta method, not with any fine shade of psychological meaning, but in its popular sense of μεριμνάω, 'taking thought for' (Matt. vi. 25), 'being pre-occupied about.'

¹⁰ Papañca-saññā (idée fixe). An exactly similar sequence of ethical states is put elsewhere (M. I, 111, 112) into the mouth of Mahā Kaccāna. Buddhaghosa glosses papaña here by mattappa-mattākāra-pāpana, where pāpana is etymological word-play, and matt'appamatta may be rendered 'infatuation.' The infatuation is either craving (taṇhā) in one or other of its 108 forms, or self-conceit (māna) in one or other of its nine forms, or speculation (diṭṭhi) in one or other of its sixty-two forms.
This is one of the most recurrent conceptions of the higher Buddhism, the system of the Aryan Path (see above, Vol. I, p. 188), and is one of the many ways in which the early Buddhists struggled to give more precise and ethical an implication to the Indian conception of Avijjā. It is also one of the technical terms most frequently misunderstood. Neumann all through the Majjhima renders it Vielheit, plurality, and Dahlke follows him.

¹¹ The two sorts of sorrow or grief are geha-sita and nekkhamma-sita, and are well paralleled by St. Paul's τοϋ κόσμον λύπη and κατά θεόν λύπη (2 Cor. vii. 10). And the working of the lalter: 'for that ye sorrowed after a godly sort ... wrought in you ... what vehement desire, yea, what zeal' — has its counterpart in Buddhaghosa's exposition, namely, that through insight into the impermanence of all sensuous satisfaction 'arouses yearning for deliverances even without beyond (anuttaresu), and that yearning leads to sorrow, when one thinks, O that I might reach that state wherein the elect (Ariyas) do dwell even now.'

¹² According to the Cy., 'the latter' in this and the foregoing paragraph refers especially to the state of mind reached in the second and higher stages of Jhāna, as compared with the first, which is savītakkaṃ savicāraṃ.

¹³ For equanimity thus ethically distinguished, see M. I, 364. The Commentator (who repeats his comment in Asl. 194) describes the former ethical indifference (upekhā) as that of the foolish average person, confused in mind, who has not overcome limitations or results (of Karma), but is bound by his world of objects of sense.

¹⁴ According to Buddhist psychology, these are not ideas as distinct from impressions, but are any presentations or objects of consciousness, whether on occasion of sense or of reflexion, at that stage when mind 'turns toward' the object and 'receives' it (āvajjana, sampaṭicchana).

¹⁵ Ekanta-c-chandā, lit. of one desire, will or purpose; but equated by the Cy. with eka-laddhikā, of one heresy.

¹⁶ Accanta-brahmacārī = 'seṭṭha-ṭ-ṭhena brahmaṃ ariya-maggaṃ caratīti'. Cy. 'Walking in the highest, Aryan Path.'

¹⁷ Accanta-pariyosānā = 'pariyosānan ti nibbānaṃ.' Cy. 'The ideal' is a free rendering, the term meaning the end, goal or climax.

¹⁸ This paragraph is quoted as from the Sakka-pañha at Saṃyutta III, 13. Two unnecessary words are there added at the end of it. Buddhaghosa does not say anything on the discrepancy. The two words are either there added by mistake from Majjhima I, 251, where the phrase recurs, or stood originally in our text here.

¹⁹ Ejā = calana-ṭ-ṭhena taṇhā. Cy., i.e. 'Craving, with respect to the thrill' (e-motion, commotion) caused by it. 'Passion' lacks etymological coincidence with the implication of 'movement' in ejā, but no other term is forceful enough.

²⁰ Cf. Vol. I, pp. 190-2.

²¹ Abhiññā, i.e. knowledge of that advanced (abhi-) nature, which is neither conveyed by the channels of sense, nor is occupied with sense-experience as such.

²² Cy. aññena kamma-vipākena, by another result of action.

²³ Those called Akaniṭṭhā.

²⁴ See Vol. I, p. 184.

²⁵ 'Was invited' is doubtful. Sakka had not been invited to put any particular questions. Leave had been granted him generally to put any question he liked. Yet the editions printed in Siam and Ceylon read 'the invited questions put.' Buddhaghosa reads ajjhittā. It is doubtful whether the other reading (ajjiṭṭhā) could be properly applied to a question. In Vin. I, 113 it is applied to a person who is invited to speak. It looks here like a conjectural emendation of a lectio difficilior.

22. Setting-Up of Mindfulness

Mahā Sati-Paṭṭhāna Suttantaṃ

[322]

Introduction

The doctrine here expounded is perhaps the most important, after that of the Aryan Path, in early Buddhism; and this tract, the oldest authoritative statement of the doctrine, is still in frequent and popular use among those Buddhists who have adhered to the ancient faith.

The two doctrines are closely connected. The exposition here of mindfulness (Sati) includes that of the Path, and no exposition of the Path is complete without he inclusion of mindfulness. Whosoever neglects the fourfold practice of mindfulness he misses the Path, whosoever practices mindfulness has found the Path (Saṃyutta V, 179, 180, 294). The right way to the practice of mindfulness is precisely the Aryan Path (ibid. 183). And that practice is in turn, in one passage, called the Path to the Unconditioned (Asamkhata, that is, Arahantship, Nirvana, the goal of the Aryan Path).¹

What then is this Mindfulness?

This Suttanta will show. But a few observations may help the student of it. Etymologically Sati is Memory. But as happened at the rise of Buddhism to so many other expressions in common use, a new connotation was then attached to the word, a connotation that gave a new meaning to it, and renders 'memory' a most inadequate and misleading translation. It became the memory, recollection, calling-to-mind, being-aware-of, certain specified facts. Of these the most important was the impermanence (the coming to be as the result of a cause, and the passing away again) of all phenomena, bodily and mental. And it included the repeated application of this awareness, to each experience of life, from the ethical point of view. 'Thus does he cultivate those qualities which ought to be practiced, and not those which ought not. That is how repetition is the mark of Mindfulness,' says Nāgasena², in complete accord with our Suttanta.

[323] When Christians are told: 'Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God,' [Ed.: 1 Corinthians 10:31] a way is shown by which any act, however lowly, can, by the addition of a remembrance (a Sati), be surrounded by the halo of a high moral enthusiasm; and how, by the continual practice of this remembrance, a permanent improvement in character can be obtained. The Buddhist idea is similar. But the remembrance is of what we should now call natural law, not of a deity. This has been made a corner-stone of the system of ethical self-training. The corresponding cornerstone in the West is conscience; and indeed, so close is the resemblance in their effects that one scholar has chosen 'conscience' as a rendering of Sati; — wrongly, we think, as this introduces a Western idea into Buddhism. The curious notion of an internal monitor, distinct from the soul, yet speaking independently of the will of the man himself, is confined to animistic modes of thought. Buddhaghosa uses it, indeed, as a simile, to explain the connotations of Sati; but he expressly pours scorn on any idea of a separate entity.³

On the other hand though Sati ([Skt.:] Smṛti) does not occur in any ethical sense in pre-Buddhistic literature, it is possible that the Buddhist conception was, in one way, influenced by previous thought. Stress is laid in the Upanishad ideal on Intuition, especially as regards the relation between the soul, supposed to exist inside each human body, and the Great Soul. In the Buddhist protest against this, the doctrine of Sati, dependent not on intuition, but on grasp of actual fact, plays an important part. This opposition may have been intentional. On the other hand, the ethical value of Mindfulness (in its technical sense) would be sufficient, without any such intention, to explain the great stress laid upon it.

The following are some of the proposed translations of Sati: —

Conscience
Spence Hardy, 'Manual,' 412

Attention
Spence Hardy, 'Manual,' 497

Meditation
Gogerly, 'Ceylon Buddhism,' 584
Childers, 'Dictionary.'⁴

Memory
Oldenberg, 'Vinaya Texts,' I, 96
E. Hardy, 'Buddha,' 40

[324] Contemplation
Warren, 'Buddhism in Translations,' 353

Insight
Neumann, 'Majjhima,' I, 85

Thought
Pischel, 'Buddha,' 28

Thought
Thought, Oldenberg, 'Buddha' (English translation), 128

The other word in the compound that gives the title to this Suttanta is Paṭṭhāna — which would mean etymologically 'putting forward, setting forth.' It does not occur in pre-Buddhistic literature. It has not been yet found in the Nikāyas in its concrete, primary, sense; or in any connexion except this. Buddhaghosa here paraphrases it, exegetically only, by gocara, which is the feeding-ground, resort, of an animal [pasture]. The mediaeval use of the word (in its Sanskrit form) was in the sense of starting off, going away, departure. It is the title of the most often quoted book in the Abhidhamma, and there means probably Origins, Starting-points, as it gives under twenty-four categories the paccayas (causes) of phenomena. In one passage of a fifth-century commentator (Jat. I, 78.-5) the Abhidhamma Piṭaka as a whole is said to be samanta-paṭṭhāna, 'having (or giving) the settings-on-foot, the points of departure, of all things.' Childers gives the word as a neuter. It is masculine throughout our Suttanta. But he analyses the compound (sub voce uppaṭṭhānam), not into Sati+paṭṭhāna, but into Sati+upaṭṭhāna. This is a possible contraction, and Buddhaghosa gives it as an alternative explanation which he does not adopt. Had we adopted it, the rendering of the title would have been 'The getting-ready of Mindfulness.' Neumann renders it 'Pillars of Insight,' and Warren 'Intent Contemplations.' Neither of these is much more than a distant cousin of the Pāli.

It is not easy at first sight to understand the choice of just those four fields of areas (comp. paṭṭhāna = thānā = gocarā), to which, in this Suttanta, 'mindfulness' is to be applied, or in respect to which it is to be set up. We need ourselves to be mindful, lest, in interpreting them, we follow too closely European points of view. In trying to avoid this danger, we do not consider our choice of terms leaves nothing to be desired, or to be explained.

The ethical desirableness of Sati, as the instrument most efficacious in self-mastery, lay in the steady alertness of inward vision which it connoted, whether past or present experience was contemplated. In discussing it, the Buddhist was concerned, not with the outer world as such, but with the microcosm of his subjective experience, and with the vehicles thereof — sense and mind. These he is here represented as considering under the fourfold aspect of —

[325] (1) kaya, physical structure and activities
(2) vedana, the emotional nature, first as bare feeling, then as having ethical implications
(3) citta, conscious life, consciousness or intelligence, considered under ethical aspects
(4) Dhamma, with its subdivisions —

a. the Five Hindrances.
b. The Five Groups.
c. The Six Spheres of Sense.
d. The Seven Factors of Enlightenment,
e. The Four Aryan Truths.

Now it is always difficult to make any English term coincide with either Dhamma or dhammā. Here, as elsewhere in Buddhist diction, it is chiefly the context that must be the guide to meaning. The Suttanta is a discipline — the supreme discipline — in ethical introspection. And in Buddhist introspective analysis, dhammā (elsewhere translatable now by 'things,' now by 'qualities') are, more especially, 'cognoscible objects.' These are related to mano (consciousness as apprehending), just as each kind of sense-object is related to one kind of sense-organ; thing-seen, for example, to sight. A cognoscible object is any presentation (German, Vorstellung), that has got beyond the stage of mere sensory re-action. It is an idea or perception in the wider sense used by Locke: — 'Whatsoever is the immediate object of perception, thought, or understanding.' But neither cognoscible object, nor presentation, is a term which lends itself with sufficient simplicity and impressiveness to ethical homily. We have therefore decided to perpetuate the Lockean 'idea.'

For the same reason we use 'thought' for citta, in preference to a term of more psychological precision; and we understand by 'thought', thinking, or knowing, or being intelligently conscious, and do not restrict the word to any special mode of cognition.

Hence we get this distinction of aspects in (3) and (4): under citta, the ever-changing ever-active continuance of consciousness, or re-acting intelligence; under dhammā, those same activities considered objectively, as concrete states, procedure, content of consciousness,' as the psychologists phrase it. Under (3) we watch the agency as a whole, in its chameleon-like phases. Under (4) we take transverse cuttings, so to speak, of our subjective experience.

It is interesting to note that Buddhaghosa, explaining the inclusion, under No. 4, of the Six Senses and the fivefold Khandha doctrine, says: — 'in contemplation of the body the Exalted One taught only the grasp of matter, in contemplation [326] of feeling and consciousness, only the grasp of the immaterial. Now in order to teach grasp of matter and the immaterial mixed (rūpārūpamissakapariggaho), he spoke of dhammā. And again: 'grasp of the rūpa-khanda being taught by contemplation of body, and grasp of the khandhas of feeling and viññāṇa (cognition or consciousness) by contemplation of feeling and citta, He now, to teach grasp of the khandhas of perception and saṅkhāra (let us say, volition and other mental factors) went on to speak of dhammā.

[290][327]

XII. Mahā Sati-Paṭṭhāna Suttantaṃ

Setting-Up of Mindfulness

THUS HAVE I HEARD:

The Exalted One was once staying among the Kurus.

Kammāssadhamma is a city of the Kuru country.

There the Exalted One addressed the brethren, saying,

"Bhikkhus!"

"Reverend sir!" responded the brethren.

And the Exalted One said:

"The one and only path, Bhikkhus
leading to the purification of beings,
to passing far beyond grief and lamentation,
to the dying-out of ill and misery,
to the attainment of right method,⁵
to the realization of Nirvana,
is that of the Fourfold Setting up of Mindfulness.⁶

■

Which are the Four?

Herein,⁷ O bhikkhus,
let a brother,
as to the body,
continue so to look upon the body
that he remains ardent,
self-possessed,
and mindful,
having overcome both the hankering
and the dejection common in the world.

And in the same way as to feelings,
thoughts,
and ideas,
let him so look upon each,
that he remains ardent,
self-possessed,
and mindful,
having overcome both the hankering
and the dejection common in the world.

§

[291][328] And how, bhikkhus, does a brother
so continue to consider the body?

⁸ Herein, O bhikkhus, let a brother,
going into the forest,
or to the roots of a tree,
or to an empty chamber,
sit down cross-legged,
holding the body erect,
and set his mindfulness alert.⁹

Mindful let him inhale,
mindful let him exhale.

Whether he inhale a long breath,
let him be conscious thereof;
or whether he exhale a long breath,
let him be conscious thereof.

Whether he inhale a short breath,
or exhale a short breath,
let him be conscious thereof.

Let him practise with the thought
'Conscious of my whole body
will I inhale';
let him practise with the thought
'Conscious of my whole body
will I exhale.'

Let him practise with the thought
'I will inhale
tranquillizing my bodily organism;
let him practise with the thought
'I will exhale
tranquillizing my bodily organism.'

Even as a skilful turner,
or turner's apprentice,
drawing (his string) out at length,
or drawing it out short,
is conscious that he is doing one or the other,
so let a brother practise inhaling and exhaling.

[292] So does he,
as to the body,
continue to consider the body,
either internally or externally,
or both internally and externally.

He keeps on considering
how the body is something that comes to be,
or again he keeps on considering
how the body is something that passes away;
or again he keeps on considering
the coming to be with the passing away;
or again, conscious that
'There is the body,'
mindfulness hereof becomes thereby established,
far enough for the purposes of knowledge
and of self-collectedness.

And he abides independent,
grasping after nothing in the world [329] whatever.

Thus, bhikkhus, does a brother continue to regard the body.

■

And moreover, bhikkhus, a brother,
when he is walking,
is aware of it thus:
— 'I walk';
or when he is standing,
or sitting,
or lying down,
he is aware of it.

However he is disposing the body,
he is aware thereof.

So does he, as to the body,
continue to consider the body,
either internally or externally,
or both internally and externally.

He keeps on considering
how the body is something that comes to be,
or again he keeps on considering
how the body is something that passes away;
or again he keeps on considering
the coming to be with the passing away;
or again, conscious that
'There is the body,'
mindfulness hereof becomes thereby established,
far enough for the purposes of knowledge
and of self-collectedness.

And he abides independent,
grasping after nothing in the world whatever.

Thus, bhikkhus, does a brother continue to regard the body.

■

And moreover, bhikkhus, a brother
— whether he departs or returns,
whether he looks at
or looks away from,
whether he has drawn in
or stretched out (his limbs),
whether he has donned under-robe,
over-robe,
or bowl,
whether he is eating,
drinking,
chewing,
reposing,
or whether he is obeying the calls of nature —
is aware of what he is about.

In going,
standing,
sitting,
sleeping,
watching,
talking,
or keeping silence,
he knows what he is doing.

[293] So does he,
as to the body,
continue to consider the body,
either internally or externally,
or both internally and externally.

He keeps on considering
how the body is something that comes to be,
or again he keeps on considering
how the body is something that passes away;
or again he keeps on considering
the coming to be with the passing away;
or again, conscious that
'There is the body,'
mindfulness hereof becomes thereby established,
far enough for the purposes of knowledge
and of self-collectedness.

And he abides independent,
grasping after nothing in the world whatever.

Thus, bhikkhus, does a brother continue to consider the body.

■

[330] And moreover, bhikkhus, a brother
reflects upon this very body,
from the soles of his feet below
upward to the crown of his head,
as something enclosed in skin
and full of divers impurities:
— 'Here is in this body hair and down,
nails,
teeth,
skin,
flesh,
sinews,
bones,
marrow,
kidney,
heart,
liver,
membranes,
spleen,
lungs,
stomach,
bowels,
intestines; excrement,
bile,
phlegm,
pus,
blood,
sweat,
fat,
tears,
serum,
saliva,
mucus,
synovic fluid,
urine.'

Just as if there were a double-mouthed sample-bag¹⁰ bhikkhus,
full of various sorts of grain,
such as rice,
paddy,
beans,
vetches,
sesamum
or rice husked for boiling;
and a keen-eyed man
were to reflect as he poured them out:
— 'That's rice,
that's paddy,
those are beans,'
and so forth.

Even so, bhikkhus,
does a brother reflect upon the body,
from the soles of the feet below
upward to the crown of the head,
as something enclosed in skin
and full of divers impurities.

So does he,
as to the body,
continue to consider the body,
either internally or externally,
or both internally and externally.

He keeps on considering
how the body is something that comes to be,
or again he keeps on considering
how the body is something that passes away;
or again he keeps on considering
the coming to be with the passing away;
or again, conscious that
'There is the body,'
mindfulness hereof becomes thereby established,
far enough for the purposes of knowledge
and of self-collectedness.

And he abides independent,
grasping after nothing in the world whatever.

Thus, bhikkhus, does a brother continue to regard the body.

■

[294] [6] And moreover, bhikkhus, a brother
reflects upon this very body,
however it be placed or disposed,
with respect to its fundamentals:
— 'There are in this body
the four primary elements
of earth,
water,
heat,
[331] and air.'

Just as a cattle-butcher,
or his apprentice,
when he has slain an ox,
displays the carcass piecemeal
at the crossways
as he sits,
even so, bhikkhus, does a brother
reflect upon this very body ...
with respect to its fundamental constituents . . .

So does he,
as to the body,
continue to consider the body,
either internally or externally,
or both internally and externally.

He keeps on considering
how the body is something that comes to be,
or again he keeps on considering
how the body is something that passes away;
or again he keeps on considering
the coming to be with the passing away;
or again, conscious that
'There is the body,'
mindfulness hereof becomes thereby established,
far enough for the purposes of knowledge
and of self-collectedness.

And he abides independent,
grasping after nothing in the world whatever.

Thus, bhikkhus, does a brother continue to regard the body.

■

[295] And moreover, bhikkhus, a brother,
just as if he had seen a body
abandoned in the charnel-field,
dead for one,
two,
or three days,
swollen,
turning black and blue,
and decomposed,
applies that perception
to this very body (of his own),
reflecting:
'This body, too,
is even so constituted,
is of even such a nature,
has not got beyond that (fate).'

So does he, as to the body,
continue to consider the body,
either internally or externally,
or both internally and externally.

He keeps on considering
how the body is something that comes to be,
or again he keeps on considering
how the body is something that passes away;
or again he keeps on considering
the coming to be with the passing away;
or again, conscious that
'There is the body,'
mindfulness hereof becomes thereby established,
far enough for the purposes of knowledge
and of self-collectedness.

And he abides independent,
grasping after nothing in the world whatever.

Thus, bhikkhus, does a brother continue to regard the body.

■

And moreover, bhikkhus, a brother,
just as if he had seen a body
abandoned in the charnel-field
pecked by crows,
ravens,
or vultures,
gnawn by dogs
or jackals
or by various small creatures,
applies that perception
[332] to this very body (of his own),
reflecting:
'This body, too,
is even so constituted,
is of such a nature,
has not got beyond that (fate).'

[296] So does he, as to the body,
continue to consider the body,
either internally or externally,
or both internally and externally.

He keeps on considering
how the body is something that comes to be,
or again he keeps on considering
how the body is something that passes away;
or again he keeps on considering
the coming to be with the passing away;
or again, conscious that
'There is the body,'
mindfulness hereof becomes thereby established,
far enough for the purposes of knowledge
and of self-collectedness.

And he abides independent,
grasping after nothing in the world whatever.

Thus, bhikkhus, does a brother continue to regard the body.

■

And moreover, bhikkhus, a brother,
just as if he had seen a body
abandoned in the charnel-field
(reduced to) a chain of bones
hanging together by tendons,
with flesh and blood yet about it,
or stripped of flesh
but yet spotted with blood;
or cleaned of both flesh and blood;
or reduced to bare bones,
loosed from tendons,
scattered here and there,
so that the bones of a hand
lie in one direction,
in another the bones of a foot,
in another those of a leg,
in another a thigh bone,
in another the pelvis,
in another [297] the spinal vertebrae,
in another the skull,
applies that perception
to this very body (of his own) reflecting:
'This body, too,
is even so constituted,
is of such a nature,
has not got beyond that (fate).'

So does he, as to the body,
continue to consider the body,
either internally or externally,
or both internally and externally.

He keeps on considering
how the body is something that comes to be,
or again he keeps on considering
how the body is something that passes away;
or again he keeps on considering the coming to be with the passing away;
or again, conscious that
'There is the body,'
mindfulness hereof becomes thereby established,
far enough for the purposes of knowledge
and of self-collectedness.

And he abides independent,
[333] grasping after nothing in the world whatever.

Thus, bhikkhus, does a brother continue to regard the body.

■

And moreover, bhikkhus, a brother,
just as if he had seen a body
abandoned in the charnel-field,
(reduced to) white bones
the colour of a sea shell
... or to a mere heap of bones a year old ...
or to rotten powder,
this perception does he apply
to this very body (of his own) reflecting:
— 'This body too is even so constituted,
is of such a nature,
has not got beyond that (fate).'

So does he, as to the body,
continue to consider the body,
either internally or externally,
or both internally and externally.

He keeps on considering
how the body is something that comes to be,
or again he keeps on considering
how the body is something that passes away;
or again he keeps on considering
the coming to be with the passing away;
or again, conscious that
'There is the body,'
[298] mindfulness hereof becomes thereby established,
far enough for the purposes of knowledge
and of self-collectedness.

And he abides independent,
grasping after nothing in the world whatever.

Thus, bhikkhus, does a brother continue to regard the body.

§

And how, bhikkhus, does a brother,
as to the feelings,
continue to consider the feelings?

Herein, O bhikkhus, is a brother
when affected by a feeling of pleasure,
aware of it, reflecting:
'I feel a pleasurable feeling.'

So, too, is he aware
when affected by a painful feeling,
or by a neutral feeling,
or by a pleasant or painful or neutral feeling
concerning material things,
or by a pleasant or painful or neutral feeling
concerning spiritual things.

So does he, as to the feelings,
continue to consider the feelings,
both internally and externally,
or internally and externally together.

He keeps on considering
how the feelings are something that comes to be,
or again he keeps on considering
how the feelings are something that passes away;
or [299] he keeps on considering
their coming to be with their passing away.

Or again with the consciousness:
'There is feeling,'
[334] mindfulness thereof becomes thereby established,
far enough for the purposes of knowledge
and of self-collectedness.

And he abides independent,
grasping after nothing in the world whatever.

Thus, bhikkhus, does a brother with respect to the feelings,
continue to consider feeling.

§

And how, bhikkhus, does a brother,
as to thought,
continue to consider thought?¹¹

Herein, O bhikkhus, a brother,
if his thought be lustful,
is aware that it is so,
or if his thought be free from lust,
is aware that it is so;
or if his thought be full of hate,
or free from hate,
or dull,
or intelligent,
or attentive,
or distrait,
or exalted,
or not exalted,
or mediocre,
or ideal,
or composed,
or discomposed,
or liberated,
or bound,
he is aware in each case
that his thought is so, reflecting:
'My thought is lustful,'
and so on.

So does he,
as to thought,
continue to consider thought,
internally or externally,
or internally and externally together.

He keeps on considering
how thought is something that comes to be,
or again he keeps on considering
how thought is something that passes away;
or again he ever considers
its coming to be and passing away together.

Or again, with the consciousness:
'There is a thought,'
mindfulness thereof becomes thereby established,
[300] far enough for the purposes of knowledge
and of self-possession.

And he abides independent,
grasping after nothing in the world whatever.

Thus, bhikkhus, does a brother
with respect to thought,
continue to consider thought

§

And how, bhikkhus, does a brother,
as to ideas¹²,
continue to consider ideas?

Herein, O bhikkhus, a brother,
as to ideas,
continues [335] to consider ideas
from the point of view of the Five Hindrances¹³.

And how, bhikkhus, does a brother,
as to ideas,
continue to consider ideas
relating to the Five Hindrances?

Herein, O bhikkhus, a brother,
when within him is sensuous desire,
is aware of it,
reflecting:

'I have within me sensuous desire.'

Or again, when within him
is no sensuous desire,
he is aware of this.

And he knows of
the uprising of such desire unfelt before,
knows too of his putting aside
that uprisen sensuous desire,
knows too of the non-arising in future
of that banished sensuous desire.

—

[301]Herein, O bhikkhus, a brother,
when within him is ill-will,
is aware of it,
reflecting:
'I have within me ill-will.'

Or again, when within him
is no ill-will,
he is aware of this.

And he knows of
the uprising of such ill-will unfelt before,
knows too of his putting aside
that uprisen ill-will,
knows too of the non-arising in future
of that banished ill-will.

—

Herein, O bhikkhus, a brother,
when within him is sloth and torpor,
is aware of it,
reflecting:
'I have within me sloth and torpor.'

Or again, when within him
is no sloth and torpor,
he is aware of this.

And he knows of
the uprising of such sloth and torpor unfelt before,
knows too of his putting aside
that uprisen sloth and torpor,
knows too of the non-arising in future
of that banished sloth and torpor.

—

Herein, O bhikkhus, a brother,
when within him is flurry and worry,
is aware of it,
reflecting:
'I have within me flurry and worry.'

Or again, when within him
is no flurry and worry,
he is aware of this.

And he knows of
the uprising of such flurry and worry unfelt before,
knows too of his putting aside
that uprisen flurry and worry,
knows too of the non-arising in future
of that banished flurry and worry.

—

Herein, O bhikkhus, a brother,
when within him is doubt,
is aware of it,
reflecting:
'I have within me doubt.'

Or again, when within him
is no doubt,
he is aware of this.

And he knows of
the uprising of such doubt unfelt before,
knows too of his putting aside
that uprisen doubt,
knows too of the non-arising in future
of that banished doubt.

So does he,
as to ideas,
continue to consider them,
both internally or externally,
or internally and externally together.

He ever considers
how an idea is a thing that comes to be,
again he ever considers
how an idea is a thing that passes away;
or he ever considers their coming to be with their passing away;
or again, with the consciousness:

'There is such and such an idea,'
mindfulness thereof is thereby established,
far enough for the purposes of knowledge
and of self-possession.

And he abides independent,
grasping after nothing in the world whatever.

Thus, bhikkhus, does a brother
with respect to ideas,ed1
continue to consider ideased1
in the case of the Five Hindrances.

■

And moreover, bhikkhus, a brother,
as to ideas,
continues to consider these
from the point of view of
the Five Skandhas of Grasping.

And how, bhikkhus, does he so consider them?

Herein, O bhikkhus, a brother reflects:
'Such is material form,
such is its genesis,
such its passing away;
such is feeling
— perception
— the mental activities
— such is cognition,
its genesis,
its passing away.

So does he,
as to ideased1,
continue to consider them....

■

[302][336] And moreover, bhikkhus, a brother,
as to ideas,
continues to consider ideas
from the point of view of
the Six Internal and External Spheres of Sense.

And how does he do this?

Herein, O bhikkhus, a brother
is aware of the organ of sight,
is aware of the objects of sight,
and any Fetter which arises
on account of them both
— of that, too, is he aware;
and how there comes an uprising
of a Fetter not arisen before
— of that, too, is he aware;
and how there comes a putting-aside
of a Fetter than has arisen
— of that, too, is he aware;
and how in the future
there shall arise
no Fetter that has been put aside
— of that too, is he aware.

And so, too,
with respect to the organ of hearing and sounds,
to the organ of smell and odours,
to the organ of taste and tastes,
to the organ of touch and tangibles,
to the sensorium and images,
he is aware of the sense
and of the object,
of any Fetter
which arises on account of both,
of how there comes an uprising of a Fetter
not arisen before,
of how there comes a putting aside
of a Fetter than has arisen,
and of how in the future
there shall arise no Fetter
that has been put aside.

So does he, as to ideas,
continue to consider ideas,
from the point of view of
the Six Internal and External Spheres of Sense.

■

[303] And moreover, bhikkhus, a brother,
as to ideas
continues to consider ideas,
with respect to
the Seven Factors of Enlightenment.

And how does he do this?

Herein, O bhikkhus, a brother,
if there be present to him subjectively
mindfulness as a factor of enlightenment,
is aware that it is resent.

Or if it be absent,
he is subjectively aware of its absence.

And how there comes an uprising
of such mindfulness not hitherto uprisen
— of that, too, is he aware;
and how there comes a full development
of such mindfulness
when it has arisen
— of that too is he aware.

And so too with respect
to the other subjective factors of enlightenment:
— search the truth,
energy,
joy,
serenity,
rapture,
equanimity —
he is aware
if they are subjectively present or absent,
and he is aware
of how there [337] comes an uprising
of any factor not hitherto uprisen,
and of how there comes a full development
of such factors when it has arisen.

So does he, as to ideas,
continue to consider ideas
from the point of view of
the Seven Factors of Enlightenment.

■

[304] And moreover, bhikkhus, a brother,
as to ideas,
continues to consider ideas
from the point of view of
the Four Aryan Truths.

And how does he do this?

Herein, O bhikkhus, a brother
at the thought:
'This is Ill!'
is aware of it as it really is;
— at the thought:
'This is the coming to be of Ill!'
is aware of it as it really is;
— at the thought:
'This is the cessation of Ill!'
is aware of it as it really is;
— at the thought:
'This is the way leading to the cessation of Ill!'
is aware of it as it really is.

-◦-

[305] And what, bhikkhus, is the Aryan truth (regarding) Ill?

Birth is painful,
old age is painful,¹⁴¹⁵
death is painful,
grief,
lamentation,
suffering,
misery and despair are painful,
painful is it not to get what is wished for,
[338] in a word,
the Five Groups that arise from Grasping
are connected with pain.¹⁶

—

And what, bhikkhus, is birth?

Birth is the production,
the outcome,¹⁷
the rising up in a new form,
the appearance of the Groups,
the acquisition of sense spheres,
by this or that being
in this or that class of beings.

This is what is called birth.

—

And what, bhikkhus, is growing old¹⁸?

Growing old is the decay,
the decrepitude,
the breaking-up,
the hoariness,
the wrinkled state,
the shrinkage of life's span,
the collapse¹⁹ of the sense-faculties
of this or that being
in this or that class of beings.

This is what is called growing old.

—

And what, bhikkhus, is dying?

Dying is the fall (out of any state),
the dropping out of it,
the dissolution,
the disappearance,
the death,
the dying,
the accomplishment of the life-term,
the breaking up of the Groups,
the laying down of the body
of this or that being
in this or that class of beings.

This is called dying.

—

And what, bhikkhus, is grief?

Grieving is the state of woe,
heart ache,
and affliction.

The inward grief,
the hidden wretchedness,
of one who is visited by some calamity or other,
of one who is smitten by some kind of ill.

[306] This is what is called grief.

—

And what, bhikkhus, is lamenting?

[339] Lamenting is the act
and the state of mourning,
lamentation,
deploring,
of one who is visited by some calamity or other,
of one who is smitten by some kind of ill.

This is what is called lamenting.

—

And what, bhikkhus, is suffering?

Suffering is bodily ill,
bodily pain,
ill that is born of bodily contact,
the being bodily affected
by what is painful.

This is what is called suffering.

—

And what, bhikkhus, is misery?

Misery is mental ill,
mental pain,
ill that is born of mental contact,
the being mentally affected
by what is painful.

This is what is called misery.

—

And what, bhikkhus, is despair?

Despair is the act and state
of dejection,
of despondency,
of one who is visited by some calamity or other,
of one who is smitten by some kind of ill.

This is what is called despair.

—

[307] And what, bhikkhus, is the ill
of not getting what is wished for?

In beings subject to birth
the wish arises:
— 'Ah! If only we were not subject to birth,
if only we could avoid being born!'

But this is not to be got by wishing.

This is the ill
of no getting what is wished for.

—

So too in the case of growing old,
falling ill,
dying,
grieving,
lamenting,
suffering,
being in misery and in despair,
in being subject to these
the wish arises:
— 'Ah! If only we were not subject
to this one or that one of those things!

If only we could avoid them!'

But this cannot be had for the wishing.

This again is the ill
of not getting what is wished for.

—

And what, bhikkhus, is
'in a word
the Five Groups that arise from Grasping
are associated with Ill.'?

These are the Groups
of material form,
of feeling,
of perception,
of dispositions,
and of cognition
that arise from grasping.

This is what is called
'in a word
the Five Groups that arise from Grasping
are associated with Ill.'

This, bhikkhus, is the Aryan Truth regarding Ill.

-◦-

[308] And what, bhikkhus, is the Aryan Truth
concerning the coming to be of Ill?

Even this Craving,
potent for rebirth,
that is accom- [340] panied by lust and self-indulgence,
seeking satisfaction now here now there,
to wit,
the craving for the life of sense,
the craving for becoming (renewed life),
and the craving for not becoming (for no rebirth)²⁰.

-◦-

Now this Craving, bhikkhus,
where does it take its rise,
where does it have its dwelling?

In those material things of this world
which are dear to us,
which are pleasant.

There does Craving take its rise,
there does it dwell.

What things in this world are dear,
what things are pleasant?

The sense of sight,
the sense of hearing ,
the senses of smell,
taste,
touch and imagination
— these are the things in this world
that are dear,
that are pleasant.

There does Craving take its rise,
there does it dwell.

Things seen,
things heard,
things smelt,
tasted,
tangible,
things in memory recalled
— these are the things in this world
that are dear,
that are pleasant.

There does Craving take its rise,
there does it dwell.

The thoughts that arise through sight,
the thoughts that arise through hearing,
the thoughts that arise through smell,
taste,
touch and imagination
— these are the things in this world
that are dear,
that are pleasant.

There does Craving take its rise,
there does it dwell.

The stimulus of visual sense,
the stimulus of auditory sense,
the stimulus of the senses of smell,
taste,
touch and imagination
— these are the things in this world
that are dear,
that are pleasant.

[309] There does Craving take its rise,
there does it dwell.

Feeling that is born
of the stimulus of the visual sense,
feeling that is born
of the stimulus of the [341] auditory sense,
feeling that is born
of the stimulus of the senses of smell,
taste,
touch
and feeling born of imagination
— these are the things in this world
that are dear,
that are pleasant.

There does Craving take its rise,
there does it dwell.

The perceiving of things visible,
the perceiving of things audible,
the perceiving of things odorous,
sapid,
tangible,
of things in memory recalled
— these are the things in this world
that are dear,
that are pleasant.

There does Craving take its rise,
there does it dwell.

Intentions concerned with things visible,
intentions concerned with things audible,
intentions concerned with things odorous,
sapid,
that may be smelt,
tasted,
touched,
tangible,
with things in memory recalled
— these are the things in this world
that are dear,
that are pleasant.

There does Craving take its rise,
there does it dwell.

Craving for things visible,
craving for things audible,
craving for things that may be smelt,
tasted,
touched,
for things in memory recalled
— these are the things in this world
that are dear,
that are pleasant.

There does Craving take its rise,
there does it dwell.

Pre-occupation about things seen,
pre-occupation about things heard,
pre-occupation about things smelt,
tasted,
tangible,
about things in memory recalled
— these are the things in this world
that are dear,
that are pleasant.

There does Craving take its rise,
there does it dwell.

Deliberating about things seen,
deliberating about things heard,
deliberating about things smelt,
tasted,
tangible,
about things in memory recalled
— these are the things in this world
that are dear,
that are pleasant.

And there does Craving take its rise,
there does it dwell.

[310] This bhikkhus, is what is called
the Aryan Truth concerning the coming to be of Ill.

-◦-

And what, bhikkhus,
is the Aryan Truth concerning the cessation of Ill?

The utter cessation of
and disenchantment about
that very Craving,
giving it up,
renouncing it,
emancipation from it,
detachment from it.

[342] But, now this Craving, bhikkhus,
where in being put away,
is it put away;
where in ceasing,
does it cease?

In those material things of this world
which are dear to us,
which are pleasant
— there may this Craving be put away,
there does it cease.

What things in this world
are dear,
what things are pleasant?

The sense of sight,
the sense of hearing ,
the senses of smell,
taste,
touch and imagination
— these are the things in this world
that are dear,
that are pleasant.

Here may this Craving be put away,
here does it cease.

Things seen,
things heard,
things smelt,
tasted,
tangible,
things in memory recalled
— these are the things in this world
that are dear,
that are pleasant.

Here may this Craving be put away,
here does it cease.

The thoughts that arise through sight,
the thoughts that arise through hearing,
the thoughts that arise through smell,
taste,
touch and imagination
— these are the things in this world
that are dear,
that are pleasant.

Here may this Craving be put away,
here does it cease.

The stimulus of visual sense,
the stimulus of auditory sense,
the stimulus of the senses of smell,
taste,
touch and imagination
— these are the things in this world
that are dear,
that are pleasant.

[311] Here may this Craving be put away,
here does it cease.

Feeling that is born
of the stimulus of the visual sense,
feeling that is born
of the stimulus of the auditory sense,
feeling that is born
of the stimulus of the senses of smell,
taste,
touch
and feeling born of imagination
— these are the things in this world
that are dear,
that are pleasant.

Here may this Craving be put away,
here does it cease.

The perceiving of things visible,
the perceiving of things audible,
the perceiving of things odorous,
sapid,
tangible,
of things in memory recalled
— these are the things in this world
that are dear,
that are pleasant.

Here may this Craving be put away,
here does it cease.

Intentions concerned with things visible,
intentions concerned with things audible,
intentions concerned with things odorous,
sapid,
that may be smelt,
tasted,
[343] touched,
tangible,
with things in memory recalled
— these are the things in this world
that are dear,
that are pleasant.

Here may this Craving be put away,
here does it cease.

Craving for things visible,
craving for things audible,
craving for things that may be smelt,
tasted,
touched,
for things in memory recalled
— these are the things in this world
that are dear,
that are pleasant.

Here may this Craving be put away,
here does it cease.

Pre-occupation about things seen,
pre-occupation about things heard,
pre-occupation about things smelt,
tasted,
tangible,
about things in memory recalled
— these are the things in this world
that are dear,
that are pleasant.

Here may this Craving be put away,
here does it cease.

Deliberating about things seen,
deliberating about things heard,
deliberating about things smelt,
tasted,
tangible,
about things in memory recalled
— these are the things in this world
that are dear,
that are pleasant.

Here may this Craving be put away,
here does it cease.

This, bhikkhus,
is what is called
the Aryan Truth concerning the cessation of Ill.

-◦-

And what, bhikkhus,
is the Aryan Truth concerning the Way that leads to the Cessation of Ill?

This is that Aryan Eightfold Path,
to wit,
right view,
right aspiration,
right speech,
right doing,
right livelihood,
right effort,
right mindfulness,
right rapture.

—

And what, bhikkhus,
is right view?

[312] Knowledge, bhikkhus,
about Ill,
knowledge about the coming to be of Ill,
knowledge about the cessation of Ill,
knowledge about the Way
that leads to the cessation of Ill.

This is what is called right view.

—

And what, bhikkhus,
is right aspiration?

The aspiration towards renunciation ²¹,
the aspiration [344] towards benevolence,
the aspiration towards kindness.

This is what is called right aspiration.

—

And what, bhikkhus,
is right speech?

Abstaining from lying,
slander,
abuse
and idle talk.

This is what is called right speech.

—

And what, bhikkhus,
is right doing?

Abstaining from taking life,
from taking what is not given,
from carnal indulgence.

This is what is called right doing.

—

And what, bhikkhus,
is right livelihood?

Herein, O bhikkhus,
the Aryan disciple
having put away wrong livelihood,
supports himself by right livelihood.

And what, bhikkhus is right effort?

—

Herein, O bhikkhus,
a brother makes effort
in bringing forth will
that evil and bad states
that have not arisen within him
may not arise,
to that end he stirs up energy,
he grips and forces his mind.

That he may put away
evil and bad states
that have arisen within him
he puts forth will,
he makes effort,
he stirs up energy,
he grips and forces his mind.

That good states
which have not arisen may arise
he puts forth will,
he makes effort,
he sirs up energy,
he grips and forces his mind.

That good states
which have arisen may persist,
may not grow blurred,
may multiply,
grow abundant,
develop and come to perfection,
he puts forth will,
he makes effort,
he stirs up energy,
he grips and forces his mind.

This is what is called right effort.

—

And what, bhikkhus,
is right mindfulness?

[313] Herein, O bhikkhus, a brother,
as to the body,
continues to look upon the body,
that he remains ardent,
[345] self-possessed and mindful,
having overcome
both the hankering
and the dejection
common in the world.

And in the same way as to feelings,
thoughts and ideas,
he so looks upon each,
that he remains ardent,
self possessed and mindful,
having overcome the hankering
and the dejection
that is common in the world.

This is what is called right mindfulness.

—

And what, bhikkhus,
is right rapture?

Herein, O bhikkhus, a brother,
aloof from sensuous appetites,
aloof from evil ideas,
enters into and abides in the First Jhāna,
wherein there is cogitation and deliberation,
which is born of solitude
and is full of joy and ease.

Suppressing cogitation and deliberation
he enters into and abides in the Second Jhāna,
which is self-evoked,
born of concentration,
full of joy and ease, in that,
set free from cogitation and deliberation,
the mind grows calm and sure,
dwelling on high.

And further,
disenchanted with joy,
he abides calmly contemplative while,
mindful and self-possessed,
he feel in his body that ease
whereof Aryans declare
'He that is calmly contemplative and aware,
he dwelleth at ease.'

So does he enter into
and abide in
the Third Jhāna.

And further,
by putting aside ease
and by putting aside malaise,
by the passing away of the happiness
and of the melancholy
he used to feel,
he enters into
and abides in
the Fourth Jhāna,
rapture of utter purity of mindfulness and equanimity,
wherein neither ease is felt
nor any ill.

This is what is called right rapture.

This, bhikkhus,
is the Aryan Truth concerning
the Way leading to the cessation of Ill.

-◦-

[314] So does he,
as to ideas,
continue to consider ideas,
both internally or externally,
or internally and externally together.

He ever considers
how ideas are something that comes to be,
again he ever considers
how they are something that passes away;
or again he ever considers
their coming to be with their passing away;
or again with the consciousness
'There are ideas,'
mindfulness thereof is thereby established,
[346] far enough for the purposes of knowledge
and of self-possession.

And he abides independent,
grasping after nothing in the world whatever.

Thus, bhikkhus, does a brother
with respect to ideas,
continue to consider ideas
with respect to the Four Aryan Truths.

§

Bhikkhus!

Whoso shall thus practise
these Four Applications of Mindfulness
for seven years,
in him one or two kinds of fruition may be looked for:
— either in this present life
The Knowledge,²²
or, if there be yet residuum for rebirth,
the state of him who returns no more.

Or, not to speak of seven years, bhikkhus,
whoso shall thus practise
these Four for six years,
for five only,
for four only,
for three only,
for two only,
for one year only,
in him one or two kinds of fruition may be looked for:
either in this present life
The Knowledge,
or, if there be yet residuum for rebirth,
the state of him who returns no more.

Or not to speak of one year, bhikkhus,
whoso shall thus practise
these Four for six months,
or for five months,
for four only,
or three,
or two,
or one month only,
[315] or half a month only,
in him one or two kinds of fruition may be looked for:
either in this present life
The Knowledge,
or, if there be yet residuum for rebirth,
the state of him who returns no more.

Or not to speak of half a month, bhikkhus,
whoso shall thus practise
these Four for seven days,
in him one of two kinds of fruition may be looked for:
either in this present life
The Knowledge,
or if there be yet residuum for rebirth,
the state of him who returns no more.

It was on account of this
that that was said
which was said (at the beginning)
'The one and only path, bhikkhus,
leading to the purification of beings,
to passing far beyond grief and lamentation,
to the dying out of ill and misery,
to the attainment of right method,
to the realization of Nirvana,
is that of the Four-fold Setting-up of Starting."

Thus spake the Exalted One.

Pleased were the brethren,
delighting in that which was spoken by the Exalted One.

¹ Saṃyutta IV, 363

² Questions of King Milinda, I, 59

³ See Mrs. Rhys David's 'Buddhist Psychology,' p. 16, note I: and note I above on Vol. I, p. 81

⁴ He renders kāyagatā sati, where the word occurs in its technical sense, as 'meditation on the body.' He has other renderings for popular usage.

⁵ Ñāya. Practical Buddhism is summed up (Majjhima I, 181, 197) as exertion in ñāya, dhamma, and kusala (the Method, the Norm, and the Good). Ñāya is defined at Saṃyutta V, 388 as what comes pretty much to our method in philosophy. Above (p.167) it is rendered System. There, in a very old verse, the Buddha says that seeking after Good he had been a pilgrim through the realm of System and Law, outside of which no victory can be won.

⁶ See Introduction.

⁷ The commentarial tradition sees in this word idha, the implication of 'belonging to this order or doctrine or school' (imasmiṃ sāsane), and thus an antithesis to 'ito bahiddhā,' outside this (order) — an expression which occurs immediately after the verse mentioned in the last note.

⁸ Quoted Paṭisambhidā I, 175, and 'Yogāvacara Manual,' p. I. Each quotation gives a word for word commentary; and so does Sum. I. 210.

⁹ Parimukkhaṃ satiṃ uppaṭṭhapati, literally, 'set up his memory in face of (the object of his thought). The ultimate object is throughout, as the 'Yogāvacara Manual' says, Nirvana. Examples of the subsidiary, changing, objects of thought are given in what follows.

¹⁰ Mutoli. Buddhaghosa has no explanation. But Daramiṭipola says mallak pasumbiyak, that is, a small bag, such as is used by grain merchants for keeping samples in. The particular kind meant is kept tied up with string at both ends, and either end can be opened. The word only occurs in this connexion (here, and at M. I. 57; III 90). The spelling of the word is uncertain.

¹¹ Citta. The reader is reminded that 'thought' is used here for citta in the widest sense possible to that term, such as is intended when, in the Christian tradition, it is made to complement the 'word and deed' of the Epistles. And as such it is 'thinking' rather than 'what is thought,' that should be understood.

¹² Dhammā. See Introduction

¹³ Literally, 'in the Five Hindrances.'

¹⁴ What follows (down to the line and space on p.345) is not found in the Majjhima recension of the Satipaṭṭhāna (M.I.55ff). Except for this the two recensions agree, and ours here is doubtless called the Mahā-satipaṭṭhāna, precisely because, to that extent, it is longer. That would show that when that title was first used the Majjhima recension was already known. It would not follow that the Dīgha is younger than the Majjhima; they may have been edited at the same time from older material.
The Dīgha addition is interesting as containing a fragment of Old Commentary (as old as the texts) of which other fragments are found in the Nikāyas, and also in the Vinaya.
The Vibhanga (99-106) quotes this Dīgha addition verbatim.

¹⁵ Many MSS. And the Colombo edition of 1876 add 'disease is painful.' But this is not mentioned in the word-for-word commentary that follows. It is probably transferred as a gloss from the Saṃyutta recension of the Four Truths (S. V, 421) which differs slightly from that of the repeaters of the Dīgha (the Dīgha bhānakā).

¹⁶ Pañc'upādāna-k-khandhā. The Groups are the five groups of material and mental qualities that form, in combination brought about by grasping, an individual. One might, therefore, express this central thought of the first Aryan truth in modern Western language by saying that pain is involved in individuality — a most pregnant and far reaching suggestion. The rest of the Truth is merely a statement of facts universally admitted.

¹⁷ Sañjāti only found elsewhere as yet Dīgha I, 227, where it means the produce arising out of an estate and accruing to the landlord.

¹⁸ Cf. Dh.S. and Bud. Psy. On rūpassa jaratā (§ 644)

¹⁹ Paripāka, which in all other passages means maturity, must here mean over-ripeness, loss of power through having reached their full vigour and begun to give out.

²⁰ Vibhava. This word usually means power, prosperity, success — the prefix vi being used as an intensitive particle. In this particular connexion the traditional interpretation takes the prefix in a negative sense, and paraphrases the word by 'the absence of becoming (bhava).' This view is apparently supported by some Nikāya passages (S. III, 57; It. no. 49), and by the Dhamma Saṇgaṇī 1314. But it may be derived from them; and it is odd that the word should have been found nowhere else in that sense. It is quite possible that the original sense was the usual one. At Dhp. 282 it seems to mean decline in wisdom.

²¹ Nekkhamma. Burnouf ('Lotus,' 334) derives this word from nis+karma; Oldenberg ('Vinaya Texts,' I, 104) from nis+kāma, and Childers (sub voce) from nis+kramya. These three derivations would give the meaning respectively as having no Karma, being devoid of lust, and going forth from home. Daraminpola explains it here as meaning either the second or the third. No doubt Oldenberg is right as to the derivation. But Daramiṭipola is also right if we take his note as exegetical, not philological. The fact is that the derivation had been, from very early times, forgotten or confused; and the connotation of the word was renunciation generally, with special reference to these two kinds. It never had anything to do with Karma.
The three aspirations of our paragraph here recur at Saṃyutta II, 152, and on p. 151 nekkhamma is replaced by kama. See also It. No 72, and M. I. 114.

²² Aññā; one of the many epithets of Arahantship.

ed1 Rhys Davids has here and in the next used 'dispositions', but it should be as he has with the rest, 'ideas'.

More Satipaṭṭhāna Resources

23. Rebirth and Karma

Pāyāsi Suttantaṃ

[347]

Introduction

THIS Dialogue is one of the few which refer to events that took place in the Community after the Buddha's death. We hear from Dhammapāla (in his commentary on the 'Vimāna Vatthu,' p. 297) that the Dialogue was believed, when he wrote (that is, at Kāñcipura in South India in the fifth century) to have taken place after the erection of the cairns (thūpas) over the ashes of the Teacher. He does not say how long after; and the length of the interval is not very important, for all the Dialogues were put together more than fifty years at least after the Buddha's death.i1 The difference is only this, that whereas the Dialogues in which the principal part is ascribed to the Buddha himself may well, and very often undoubtedly do, contain material much older than the date of the redaction of the Dīgha, this Suttanta (and that is also true of the few others that fall into the same category) may not. The difference is not great.

In this particular case we find nothing fresh in the Suttanta. The climax, led up to at the end, shows us a messenger from the gods coming down from heaven to teach the doctrine of generosity (dāna) by laymen. We have discussed above in the Introduction to the 'Mahā-Govinda Suttanta' (p. 254) the reasons which induced ancient authors to bring down a divinity from heaven to support any particular opinion. Why was it done here? It seems scarcely necessary.

True, the doctrine does not occupy a very high position in the earliest documents. It does not appear at all in the thirty-seven points (afterwards called the Bodhi-pakkhiya-dhammā) in which the Buddha, just before his death, summed up his teachingi2.

[348] It does not appear in the Dhammapada, an anthology of verses current in the Community on twenty-six subjects which the makers of the anthology held of most importance. There is a miscellaneous section into which verses on charity might well have been introduced, had it been considered a point of equal value with the rest; but it is not there. It is the first and lowest in the list of the ten Pāramitās, the virtues necessary to the attainment of Buddhahood.i3 But this list is a late one, and is not found in the Four Nikāyas, or even in the Vinaya.

On the other hand there are several incidental references to giving in charity, and always by way of approval, in the Dialogues and the Saṃyutta. And in the Aṇguttara (which contains a good deal more of the milk for babes than the other three of the great Nikāyas)i4 there is a special Dāna Vagga with seven short Suttas on the subject, and six or seven more are scattered through the work.i5

It is clear therefore, though this particular virtue is ranked after the thirty Wings of Wisdom, that it is accorded, in the earliest Buddhism, a very respectable place. Nevertheless at this particular juncture, when the death of their Master had weakened the prestige of the Order, it is quite possible that the brethren, finding their numbers in excess of the sources of income and support, should have found it advisable to invoke the help of a deus ex machina to set the discrepancy right.

The rest of the Suttanta throws some light on the reputation in which Kassapa, the Boy-Wanderer, was held by his fellows. As becomes a flowery speaker (citra-kathī) he is lavish in illustration, and tells a number of stories, some of them quite good, and all of them bearing more or less relation (usually less) to the particular point in dispute. They are sufficient, however, to throw dust into the eyes of Pāyāsi, whose arguments, futile as they are, do not depend so exclusively on analogy, that most misleading of guides.

[349]

Pāyāsi Suttantaṃ

Rebirth and Karma

Chapter I

Thus have I heard.

1. The venerable Kumāra Kassapa¹ was once walking on tour in Kosala
together with a great company of bhikkhus,
to the number of about five hundred,
and coming to the Kosalese city named Setavyā,
he there abode.

And there the venerable Kumāra Kassapa
dwelt to the north of Setavyā,
in the Siṃsapā-tree Grove.

Now at that time the chieftain Pāyāsi
was residing at Setavyā,
a spot teeming with life,
with much grass-land and wood-land,
with water and corn,
on a royal domain
granted him by King Pasenadi of Kosala,
as a royal gift,
with power over it as if he were the king.²

2. Now at that time
there came over Pāyāsi
an evil view of things to this effect:

"Neither is there any other world,
nor are there beings reborn
otherwise than from parents,
nor is there fruit or result of deeds
well done or ill done."

Now the brahmins and householders of Setavyā heard the news:

"They say that the wanderer Master Kassapa,
disciple of the wanderer Gotama,
walking on tour with a great company of bhikkhus,
to the number of about five hundred,
has arrived at Setavyā
and is staying there to the north of the town,
in the [350] Siṃsapā-tree Grove.

Now regarding that Master Kassapa,
such is the excellent reputation that has been raised abroad:

'Wise and expert is he,
abounding in knowledge and learning,
eloquent and excellent in discourse,
venerable too
and an Arahant.

And good is it to interview Arahants like him.'"

Then the brahmins and householders of Setavyā,
coming out from the town
in companies and bands from each district
so that they could be counted,³
went by the north gate,
to the Siṃsapā-tree Grove.

3. Now at that time Pāyāsi, the chieftain,
had gone apart
to the upper terrace of his house for siesta.

And seeing the people thus go by
he said to his doorkeeper:

"Why are the people of Setavyā
going forth like this
towards the Siṃsapā-tree Grove?"

Then the doorkeeper told him the news.

And he said:

"Then, good doorkeeper,
go to the brahmins and householders of Setavyā
and say to them:

'Pāyāsi, sirs, bids you wait;
he will come himself
to see the Wanderer Master Kassapa.'

That Boy Kassapa
will be winning over at the outset
those foolish and inexpert
brahmins and householders of Setavyā
to think:

'There is both another world
and there are beings
who are born not of parents,
and there is fruit,
and result of deeds
well done and ill done.'

But, my good doorkeeper,
these three things do not exist."

"Even so, sir,"
said the doorkeeper,
and carried out his master's bidding.

4. So Pāyāsi, the chieftain,
surrounded by the brahmins and householders of Setavyā,
came to the Siṃsapā-tree Grove,
and finding the venerable Kassapa,
exchanged with him the greetings and compliments of politeness and courtesy,
and took his seat on one side.

And as to the brahmins and householders of Setavyā,
some of them bowed before the venerable Kassapa
and took their seats on one side;
some of them exchanged with him the greetings and compliments of politeness and courtesy
and then took their [351] seats on one side;
some of them saluted him with joined hands
and took their seats on one side;
some of them called out their name and family
and did likewise,
some of them took their seats on one side in silence.

5. And when he was seated
Pāyāsi spoke thus to the venerable Master Kassapa:

"I, Master Kassapa, am of this opinion,
of these views:

'Neither is there any other world,
nor are there beings reborn
otherwise than from parents,
nor is there fruit or result of deeds
well done or ill done.'"

"I, Prince, have neither seen or heard
of any one holding such a view,
such an opinion.

How then can you declare,
as you do, that
'there neither is another world,
nor are there beings reborn
otherwise than from parents,
nor is there fruit or result of deeds
well done or ill done'?

Wherefore, Prince, I will cross-question you herein,
and do you reply in what way you may approve.

What think you,
yon moon and sun,
are they in this world
or in another world,
are they divine or human?"

"This moon and sun, Master Kassapa,
are in another world,
not in this,
they are gods,
not human."

"Then, Prince,
let this be taken as evidence
that there is both another world,
and rebirth as inheritor of the highest heavens,
and fruit and result of deeds done well or ill."

6. "Even though Master Kassapa says thus,
it still appears to me that:

Neither is there any other world,
nor are there beings reborn
otherwise than from parents,
nor is there fruit or result of deeds
well done or ill done."

"Have you, Prince, any proof
to establish that they do not exist?"

"I have, Master Kassapa."

"As how?"

"Here it is, Master Kassapa.

I have had friends,
companions,
relatives,
men of the same blood as myself,
who have taken life,
committed thefts,
or fornication,
have uttered lying,
slanderous,
abusive,
gossiping speech,
have been covetous,
of malign thoughts,
of evil opinions.

They anon have fallen ill
of mortal suffering and disease.

When I had understood
that they would not recover from that illness,
I have gone to them and [352] said:

'According to the views and opinion held, sirs,
by certain wanderers and brahmins,
they who break the precepts of morality,
when the body breaks up after death,
are reborn into the Waste,
the Woeful Way,
the Fallen Place,
the Pit.

Now you, sirs, have broken those precepts.

If what those reverent wanderers and brahmins say is true,
this, sirs, will be your fate.

If these things should befall you, sirs,
come to me and tell me, saying:

'There is another world,
there is rebirth not of parents,
there is fruit and result
of deeds well-done and ill-done.'

You, sirs, are for me trustworthy and reliable,
and what you say you have seen,
will be even so,
just as if I myself had seen it."

They have consented to do this, saying,

'Very good,'

but they have neither come themselves,
nor dispatched a messenger.

Now this, Master Kassapa,
is evidence for me
that there is neither another world,
nor rebirth not by human parents,
nor fruit or result of deeds
well done and ill."

7. "Well then, prince,
I will yet ask you this,
and do you answer even as you think fit.

What think you?

Take the case of men
who have taken a felon red handed
and bring him up saying:

'My lord, this felon was caught in the act;
inflict what penalty you wish.'

He replies:

'Well then, sirs,
bind this man securely,
his arms behind him,
with a strong cord;
shave his head;
lead him around,
to the sound of a sharp drum,
from street to street,
from cross-road to cross-road,
and out at the southern gate;
there, south of the town
in the place of execution,
cut off his head.'

They, assenting with

'Very good,'

proceed to carry out these orders,
and, in the place of execution,
make him sit down.

Now would the felon gain permission of this sort from his executioners:

'Let my masters, the executioners,
wait till I have visited my friends and advisers,
my kinsmen by blood,
in this or that village or town,
and come back'?

Or would the executioners cut off the head of this vain talker?"

"They would not grant the permission, Master Kassapa;
they would cut off his head."

[353] "But this felon, prince, is human
and cannot get leave from human executioners.

How much less then
would your friends and relatives,
after death, in the Pit,
gain permission from the keepers of the Pit,
saying:

'Let my masters, the Pit-keepers,
wait till we have gone and told the chieftain Pāyāsi,
that there is both another world
and rebirth other than of parents,
and fruit and result of deeds
well-done and ill?'

Be this exposition a proof to you, Prince,
that these things exist."

8. "Even though Master Kassapa says thus,
it still appears to me that not one of these things exists."

"Have you, prince,
any further proof to establish that they do not exist?"

"I have, Master Kassapa."

"As how?"

"Here it is, Master Kassapa.

I have had friends and companions,
kinsmen,
men of the same blood as myself,
who have abstained from taking life,
from committing thefts,
or fornication,
from lying,
slandering,
rude,
or frivolous speech,
who have not coveted,
or had malign thoughts
or evil opinions.

They anon have fallen ill
of mortal suffering and disease.

When I had understood
that they would not recover from that illness,
I have gone to them and said:

'According, sirs, to the views and opinions held by some Wanderers and Brahmins,
they who keep the precepts of morality,
when the body breaks up,
are after death reborn into the bright and happy world.

Now you, sirs, have kept those precepts.

If what those reverend samaṇas and brahmins say is true,
this, sirs, will be your fate.

If these things should befall you, sirs,
when you have been there reborn,
come to me and let me know
that there is both another world,
rebirth other than of parents,
and fruit and result of deeds
well-done and ill-done.

You, sirs, are for me trustworthy and reliable,
and what you say you have seen,
will be even so,
just as if I myself had seen it.'

They have consented to do this, saying

'Very good';

but they have not come and let me know,
nor have [354] they dispatched a messenger.

Now this again, Master Kassapa,
is evidence to me
that there is neither another world,
nor rebirth other than of parentage,
nor fruit and result of deeds
well-done and ill-done."

9. "Well then, Prince,
I will make you a simile,
for by a simile some intelligent persons
will recognize the meaning of what is said.

Just as if a man were plunged head-under
in a pit of mire.

And you were to order men saying:

'Well now, masters,
pull the man out of that pit.'

They, saying

'Very good,'

were to comply and pull him out.

You were then to say to them:

'Well now, masters,
brush the mire smearing him
from off his body with split bamboo.'⁴

And they were to obey you.

And you were to say to them:

'Well now, masters,
shampoo this man's body
a treble massage
with yellow shampoo powder.'

And they were to do so.

And you were to say to them:

'Now, masters,
rub him with oil,
and bathe him three times
using fine chunam.'

And they were to do so.

And you were to say to them:

'Well, masters,
now dress his hair.'⁵

And they were to do so.

And you were to say to them:

'Now, masters,
deck him with a costly garland
and costly unguent
and costly garments.'

And they were to do so.

And you were to say to them:

'Well, masters,
take him up on to the palace
and amuse him with the pleasures of the five senses.'

And they were to do so.

Now what think you, O chieftain?

Would this man, well bathed,
well anointed,
shaved
and combed,
dressed,
wreathed
and adorned,
clad in clean raiment,
taken to the upper palace,
and indulging in,
surrounded by,
treated to,
the five pleasures of sense,
be desirous of being plunged once more
into that pit of mire?"

"No indeed, Master Kassapa."

[355] And why?

Foul, Master Kassapa,
is a pit of mire,
foul and counted as such,
stinking,
disgusting,
repulsive,
and counted as such."

"Even so, Prince,
are human beings
in the eyes of the gods,
foul
and counted as such,
stinking,
disgusting,
repulsive,
and counted as such.

The smell of man
offends the gods
a hundred leagues away.

What then?

Shall your friends and companions,
your kinsmen and connexions
who, having kept the precepts,
are reborn into the bright and happy place,
come and bring you word
that there is another world,
that there is rebirth other than by parentage,
that there is fruit and result of deeds
well-done and ill-done?

Let this exposition, chieftain,
be evidence to you
that these things exist."

10. "Even though Master Kassapa says so,
it still appears to me
that not one of these things exists."

"Have you, prince,
any further proof to establish that they do not exist?"

"I have, Master Kassapa."

"As how?"

"Here it is, Master Kassapa.

I have had friends,
companions,
kinsmen,
men of the same blood as myself,
who kept the precepts,
abstaining from taking life;
from taking what was not given,
from inchastity,
lying speech
and strong intoxicating liquors.

They anon have fallen mortally ill;
and I, having told them how some samaṇas and brahmins say that,
after such a life,
one would be reborn in the communion
of the Three-and-Thirty Gods,
have asked them,
if they were so reborn,
to come and let me know that there was another world,
birth other than of parents,
and fruit and result of deeds
well-done and ill-done.

They have promised to do so,
but they have neither come and told me,
nor sent a messenger.

This, Master Kassapa,
is evidence to me that not one of those things exists."

11. "Well then, Prince,
I will reply by asking you something,
and do you answer as you think fit.

That which, humanly speaking,
is a century,
this to the [356] Three-and-Thirty Gods
is one night and day.

Of such a night
thirty nights are the month —
of such a month
twelve months are the year —
of such a year
the celestial thousand years
are the life-span of the Three-and-Thirty Gods.

Those of whom you now speak
will have attained rebirth into the communion of these Gods.

If it should occur to them thus:

'Let us for two or three days
indulge ourselves,
surrounded by and steeped in
the five pleasures of sense,
and thereafter let us go and tell the chieftain Pāyāsi
that there is another world,
rebirth other than of parents,
and fruit and result of deeds
well-done and ill-done'

would they then have come to you,
and told you so?"

"Certainly not, Master Kassapa;
for we should have been dead long before.

But who lets Master Kassapa know all these things:
that there are Three-and-Thirty Gods,
or that the Three-and-Thirty Gods live so many years?

We do not believe him when he says these things."

"That, Prince, is just as if there were a man born blind
who could not see objects
as dark or bright,
as blue,
yellow,
red
or brown;
who could not see things
as smooth
or rough,
nor the stars,
nor moon,
nor sun.

And he were to say:

'There are none of these things,
nor any one capable of seeing them.

I don't know them,
I don't see them;
therefore they don't exist.'

Would one so speaking,
speak rightly, Prince?"

"Not so, Master Kassapa.

The visual objects of which you speak do exist,
and so does the faculty of seeing them.

To say

'I don't know them,
I don't see them;
therefore they don't exist':

that would not be speaking rightly."

"But even so, methinks, do you, Prince,
talk like the blind man in my parable
when you say:

'But who lets Master Kassapa know
that there are Three-and-Thirty Gods,
or that the Three-and-Thirty Gods live so many years?

We do not believe him
when he says these things.'

For, Prince, the other world is not,
as you imagine,
to be regarded with this fleshly eye.

[357] Those Wanderers and Brahmins
who haunt the lonely and remote recesses of the forest,
where noise,
where sound
there hardly is,
they there abiding
strenuous,
ardent,
aloof,
purify the eye divine;
they by that purified eye divine,
passing the vision of men,
see both this world
and that other world,
and beings reborn not of parents.

In this way, Prince,
is the other world to be seen,
and not, even as you imagine,
by this fleshly eye.

Let this be a proof to you
that there is another world,
that there are beings reborn not of parents,
that there is fruit and result of deeds
well-done and ill-done."

12. "Even though Master Kassapa says so,
yet it still appears to me
that not one of these things exists."

"Have you any further evidence, Prince?"

"I have, Master Kassapa."

"As how?"

"Here it is, Master Kassapa.

I see Wanderers and Brahmins
moral and of virtuous dispositions,
fond of life,
averse from dying,
fond of happiness,
shrinking from sorrow.

Then I think, Master Kassapa:

'If these good Wanderers and Brahmins were to know this —

"When once we are dead
we shall be better off" —

then these good men would take poison,
or stab themselves,
or put an end to themselves by hanging,
or throw themselves from precipices.

And it is because they do not know that,
once dead, they will be better off,
that they are fond of life,
averse from dying,
fond of happiness,
disinclined for sorrow.

This, Master Kassapa, is for me evidence
that there is no other world,
no beings reborn otherwise than of parents,
no fruit and no result of deeds
well and ill-done."

13. "Well then, Prince, I will make you a simile,
for by way of a simile
some wise men discern the meaning of what is spoken.

Once upon a time, Prince,
there was a brahmin who had two wives.

By one he had a son,
ten or twelve years of age;
the other was pregnant
and near her time.

Then the brahmin died.

Now the boy said to his mother's co-wife:

[358] 'Whatever treasure there is, lady,
or grain,
or silver,
or gold,
all that is mine.

There is nothing here for you whatever;
make over to me, lady,
the heritage of my father!'

Then the brahminee made answer to him:

'Wait, my lad,
till my child is born.

If 'twill be a boy,
one portion shall be his;
if a girl, she shall wait on you.'

But the boy reiterated his claim
again and yet again.

Then the brahminee,
taking a sword,
entered an inner room
and ripped up her belly, saying:

'If I can only find out whether 'tis a boy or a girl.'

Thus did she destroy both her own life
and her unborn infant,
and her wealth also,
through the foolish and thoughtless way in which,
seeking a heritage,
she met with ruin and disaster.

Even so you, Prince,
foolish and thoughtless that you are,
will meet with ruin and disaster
by seeking without wisdom
for another world.

Moral and virtuous Wanderers and Brahmins
do not force maturity
on that which is unripe;
they, being wise,
wait for that maturity.

The virtuous have need of their life.

In proportion to the length of time such men abide here,
is the abundant merit that they produce
and accomplish
for the welfare of many,
for the happiness of many,
out of compassion for the world,
for the advantage,
the welfare,
the happiness of gods and men.

Let this then be a proof to you, Prince,
that there is another world,
that there is rebirth other than of parentage,
that there is fruit and result of deeds
well and ill-done."

14. "Even though Master Kassapa says so,
it still appears to me
that not one of these things exists."

"Have you further evidence, Prince?"

"I have, Master Kassapa."

"As how, Prince?"

"Here it is, Master Kassapa.

Take the case of men
who having taken a felon red-handed
bring him up, saying:

'This felon, my lord, was caught in the act.

Inflict on him what penalty you wish.'

And I should say:

'Well then, my masters,
throw this man alive into a jar;
close the mouth of it
and cover it [359] over with wet leather,
put over that
a thick cement of moist clay,
put it on to a furnace
and kindle a fire.'

They saying

'Very good.'

would obey me
and throw this man alive into a jar;
close the mouth of it
and cover it over with wet leather,
put over that
a thick cement of moist clay,
put it on to a furnace
and kindle a fire.

When we knew that the man was dead,
we should take down the jar,
unbind and open the mouth,
and quickly observe it,
with the idea:

'Perhaps we may see the soul of him coming out!'

We don't see the soul of him coming out!

This, master Kassapa,
is for me evidence that there neither is another world,
nor rebirth other than by parentage,
nor fruit or result of deeds well or ill-done."

15. "Well then, Prince, I will in reply ask you something,
and do you answer as you may please.

Do you not admit, Prince,
that, when you are taking siesta,
you see dreams of enjoyment in garden,
grove,
country,
or lake side?"

"I do admit it, Master Kassapa."

"Are you at that time watched over
by attendant women—hunchbacks
and dwarfs,
and maidens⁶
and girls?"

"That is so, Master Kassapa."

"Do they see your soul entering or leaving you?"

"Not so, Master Kassapa."

"So they who are living
do not see the soul
of you who are living
entering or leaving you
(when you dream).

How then will you see the soul
of a dead person
entering or leaving him?

Let this be a proof to you, Prince,
that those things do exist."

16. "Even though Master Kassapa says so,
it still appears to me
that not one of those things exists."

"Have you any further evidence, Prince?"

"I have, Master Kassapa."

"As how?"

"Take the case, Master Kassapa,
of men taking a felon red-handed,
and bringing him up saying:

'My lord, we caught this felon in the act.

Inflict what penalty [360] you wish.'

And I say:

'Well then, my masters,
take this man and weigh him alive;
then strangle him with a bowstring
and weigh him again.'

And they do so.

While he lives,
he is more buoyant,
supple,
wieldy.

When he is dead,
he is weightier,
stiffer,
unwieldier.

This, Master Kassapa,
is evidence for me
that there is neither another world,
nor rebirth other than by human parentage,
nor fruit nor result of deeds
well-done or ill-done."

17. "Well now, Prince,
I will give you a simile,
for by way of a simile
some wise men discern the meaning of what is said.

It is just as if, Prince,
a man were to weigh in a balance
a ball of iron that had been heated all day,
and was burning and glowing with heat;
and were to weigh it later on in a balance
when it was cool and quenched.

When would that ball of iron be lighter,
softer
and more plastic?

When it was burning and glowing with heat,
or when it was cool and quenched?"

"When, Master Kassapa,
that ball of iron,
with its lambent and gaseous concomitants,
is burning and glowing with heat,
then it is lighter,
softer,
more plastic,
but when, without those lambent and gaseous concomitants,
it is cool and quenched,
it is then heavier,
more rigid,
less plastic."

"Even so, Prince,
when this body has its concomitants of life,
heat
and intelligence,
then it is lighter,
softer
and more plastic.

But when it lacks those three concomitants,
then it is heavier,
more rigid,
less plastic.

Let this, Prince, be a proof to you
that there is both another world,
rebirth other than of parents,
and fruit and result of deeds
well and ill-done."

18. "Even though Master Kassapa says this,
it still appears to me
that not one of those things exists."

"Have you any further evidence, Prince?"

"I have, Master Kassapa."

"What might that be like?"

"Take the case, Master Kassapa,
of the men taking a felon red-handed and bringing him up, saying:

'My lord, this felon was caught in the act.

Inflict on [361] him what penalty you wish.'

And I say:

'Well, my masters,
kill this man by stripping off cuticle
and skin
and flesh
and sinews
and bones
and marrow.'

They do so.

And when he is half dead, I say:

'Lay him on his back,
and perhaps we may see the soul of him pass out.'

And they do so,
but we see the passing of no soul.

Then I say:

'Well then, lay him bent over,
and perhaps we may see the soul of him pass out.'

And they do so,
but we see the passing of no soul.

Then I say:

'Well then, lay him on his side,
and perhaps we may see the soul of him pass out.'

And they do so,
but we see the passing of no soul.

Then I say:

'Well then, lay him on the other side,
and perhaps we may see the soul of him pass out.'

And they do so,
but we see the passing of no soul.

Then I say:

'Well then, stand him up,
and perhaps we may see the soul of him pass out.'

And they do so,
but we see the passing of no soul.

Then I say:

'Well then, stand him on his head,
and perhaps we may see the soul of him pass out.'

And they do so,
but we see the passing of no soul.

Then I say:

'Well then, smite him with your hand,
and perhaps we may see the soul of him pass out.'

And they do so,
but we see the passing of no soul.

Then I say:

'Well then, smite him with clods,
and perhaps we may see the soul of him pass out.'

And they do so,
but we see the passing of no soul.

Then I say:

'Well then, on this side,
and perhaps we may see the soul of him pass out.'

And they do so,
but we see the passing of no soul.

Then I say:

'Well then, smite him on that side,
and perhaps we may see the soul of him pass out.'

And they do so,
but we see the passing of no soul.

Then I say:

'Well then, smite him all over,
and perhaps we may see the soul of him pass out.'

And they do so,
but we see the passing of no soul.

He has sight and there are forms,
but the organ does not perceive them;
he has hearing and there are sounds,
but the organ does not perceive them;
he has smell and there are odours,
but the organ does not perceive them,
he has a tongue and there are tastes,
but the organ does not perceive them;
he has a body and there are tangibles,
but the organ does not perceive them.

This, Master Kassapa, is for me evidence
that there is neither another world,
nor rebirth other than of parents,
nor fruit or result of deeds
well or ill-done."

19. "Well then, Prince,
I will give you a simile,
for by way of a simile
some wise men discern the meaning of what is said.

Once upon a time, Prince,
a certain trumpeter,
taking his trumpet of chank-shell,
travelled to the folk on the border.

When he came to a certain village,
he stood in its midst
and blew thrice on his trumpet,
then laying it on the ground
sat down beside it.

Now, Prince, those border folk thought:

'Whose is this sound so charming,
so lovely,
so sweet,
so constraining,
so enervating?'

Coming together they asked the trumpeter.

'This, my masters,
is what men call a trumpet,
the sound whereof is so charming,
so lovely,
so sweet,
so constraining,
so enervating.'

They laid the trumpet on its back
and said:

'Speak, master trumpet!
speak, master trumpet!'

No sound did the trumpet make.

They laid the trumpet curving downward,
on this side,
on that side,
they stood it upright,
[362] they stood it topsy turvy,
they struck it with their hands,
with a clod,
with a stick,
with a sword,
on one side,
on the other,
on every side,
saying:

'Speak, master trumpet!
speak, master trumpet!'

Then, Prince, the trumpeter thought:

'How silly are these border born men!

Why will they seek so senselessly for the trumpet's sound?'

And while they looked on,
he took his trumpet,
blew thrice upon it and,
taking it with him,
went away.

Then, Prince, those border born men thought thus:

'When forsooth there was with that trumpet a man,
and an effort,
and air,
that same trumpet made sounds.

But when there was with it neither man,
nor effort,
nor air,
that same trumpet made no sounds.'

Even so, Prince, when this body has its concomitants of life,
heat
and intelligence,
then it goes about and comes back,
it stands
and sits
and lies down,
it sees forms with the eye,
hears sounds with the ear,
smells odours with the smell,
tastes tastes with the tongue,
touches the tangible with the body,
cognizes things with the mind.

But when it lacks those three concomitants,
it can do none of these things.

Let this, Prince, be to you a proof
that there both is another world,
rebirth other than of parents,
and fruit and result of deeds
well and ill-done."

20. "Even though Master Kassapa says this,
it still appears to me
that there is neither another world,
nor rebirth other than of parents,
nor fruit or result of deeds
well or ill-done."

"Have you any further evidence, Prince?"

"I have, Master Kassapa."

"What may that be like?"

"Take the case, Master Kassapa,
of men who have taken a felon red-handed
and bring him up, saying:

'My lord, we caught this felon in the act;
inflict on him what penalty you wish.'

And I say:

'Well, my masters,
flay this man alive,
perchance we may see the soul of him passing out.'

They do so, but no passing of the soul of him do we see.

And in cutting out his integument,
and his flesh,
and his nerves,
and breaking his bones
and extracting the marrow thereof,
still no [363] soul of him do we see.

This, Master Kassapa, is for me
evidence that there is neither another world,
nor rebirth other than of parents,
nor fruit or result of deeds
well or ill-done."

21. "Well now, Prince,
I will give you a simile,
for it is by way of a simile
that some intelligent men discern the meaning of what is spoken.

Once upon a time, Prince,
a fire-worshipping Jaṭila
was dwelling in a leaf-hut
in a woodland spot.

Now the people of a certain country-side migrated.

And their leader,
after spending one night near the Jaṭila's hermitage,
went away.

Then the Jaṭila thought:

'If I were to go to that leader's camp,
I might perhaps get something useful.'

And rising up betimes
he came to the leader's camp,
and there he saw,
abandoned and lying on its back
a little baby.

And when he saw it he thought:

'It is not fit
that I should let a human being die
while I look on.

What if I were to carry this baby to my hermitage,
and foster,
tend,
and rear it?'

So he carried the baby to his hermitage,
and fostered,
tended,
and reared it.

When the boy had attained the age of ten or twelve years,
it happened that the Jaṭila had something or other to do in the country-side.

So he said to the boy:

'I want to go to the country-side, my lad;
keep up the fire;
do not let it go out.

If it should go out,
here is a hatchet,
here are sticks,
here is the fire drill,
so that if you do let the fire out,
you can rekindle it again.'

And having thus instructed the boy,
the Jaṭila went off to the country-side.

Intent upon his play,
the boy let the fire out.

Then he thought:

'Father told me,

"Tend the fire, my lad;
let it not go out.

If it should go out,
here is a hatchet,
here are sticks,
here is the fire drill,
so that if you do let the fire out,
you can rekindle it again."

What if I were now to do so?'

Then the boy chopped the fire drill with the hatchet, thinking

'Perhaps that's how I shall get fire.'

No fire got he.

He split the fire drill in twain,
in three,
four,
five,
ten,
a hundred pieces,
he made it into piecemeal,
he then pounded it in a mortar,
and winnowed it in the wind,
thinking that so he might [364] perhaps get fire.

No fire got he.

Then the Jaṭila,
having accomplished his business,
came back to his own hermitage
and said to the boy:

'Why, child, you have let the fire out!'

'Father, the fire went out
because I was busy at my game.

Then I thought of what you had told me,
and I set about rekindling it.

And I chopped the fire drill with the hatchet to get fire,
but no fire came.

And I went on till I had smashed the fire drill into atoms,
pounded it in a mortar
and winnowed it in the wind,
but I never got any fire!'

Then the Jaṭila thought:

'How silly, how unintelligent is the lad!

Why will he be seeking fire in this senseless manner?'

And while the boy looked on,
he took a fire drill,
and making fire
said to him:

'This is how to make fire, my lad.

One doesn't try to get it as you,
so silly and unintelligent,
were trying.'

Even so, Prince, have you,
silly and unintelligent,
sought after another world.

Renounce, Prince, this evil set of opinions.

Let them not involve you for long in bale and sorrow!"

22. "Even though Master Kassapa says this,
I still cannot bring myself to renounce
this evil set of opinions.

King Pasenadi the Kosalan knows me,
and so do foreign kings,
as holding to the creed
and the opinion
that there is neither another world
nor rebirth other than of parents,
nor fruit or result of deeds
well and ill-done.

If I, Master Kassapa, renounce these opinions,
people will say of me:

'How silly is Prince Pāyāsi,
how unintelligent,
how badly he grasps anything!'

In wrath thereat will I keep to it.

In guile will I keep to it.

In self-respect will I keep to it!"

23. "Well then, Prince,
I will give you a simile;
for it is by way of a simile that some intelligent men
discern the meaning of what has been said.

Once upon a time, Prince,
a great caravan of a thousand carts
was going from the East country
into the West country.

Wherever it went,
it consumed swiftly
straw,
wood,
water
and verdure.

Now in that caravan
were two caravan leaders,
each commanding one half of the carts.

And this occurred to them:

[365] 'This is a great caravan,
one of a thousand carts.

Wherever we go,
we consume everything.

What if we were to divide this caravan into two,
five hundred carts in each.'

So they divided that caravan into two equal portions.

Then one of the leaders collected large quantities of straw,
wood
and water,
and started [his carts].

On the second or third march
the leader saw a swarthy red-eyed man
coming from the opposite direction,
armed with a quiver,
wearing a lotus wreath,
his garments and hair wet,
and driving a chariot drawn by asses,
its wheel splashed with mud.

When he saw this man he said:

'Whence come you, Sir?'

'From such and such a district'

'Whither go you?'

'To such and such a district.'

'Has there, Sir, been any great fall of rain
recently in the jungle?'

'Yes indeed, Sir, there has been a great rain
in the jungle just in front,
the roads are well watered,
there is much grass
and wood
and water.

Throw away the grass
and wood
and water,
Sir, you have already got;
with light-laden carts
you will go quite quickly;
do not tire your teams.'

Then the leader told his carters
what the man had said,
and bade them throw away their provender
and wood,
that the caravan might travel more quickly.

'So be it, sir,'
the carters replied,
and did so.

But at their first camp
they saw no grass
or wood
or water,
nor at the second,
third,
fourth,
fifth,
sixth
or seventh camp.

So they all met with ruin and disaster.

And then that fiend, the yakkha,
devoured all the men and the cattle in that caravan,
leaving only the bones behind.

When the second caravan leader
knew that the other caravan had got well on its way,
he took in large supplies of grass
and wood
and water
and set out.

And he too met a swarthy red-eyed man,
and exchanged with him the same remarks,
and was also bidden to throw away his provender.

[366] Then that leader said to his carters:

'This man, sirs, says that there has recently been much rain in the jungle,
that the roads are watered,
and there is plenty of grass
and wood
and water.

And he advises us to throw away our provender,
so that, with lightened carts
we may travel quicker
and not weary our teams.

But this man, Sirs,
is not a friend of ours,
nor a kinsman,
nor of our blood.

Why should we act as if we trusted him?

Our stock of provender is not to be thrown away;
let the caravan proceed
with the goods we brought;
let us not part with what we have.'

'So be it, sir,'
agreed the carters,
and went on with the stock they had loaded.

And at seven successive camping places
they saw no grass
or wood
or water;
but they saw the other caravan
that had come to grief.

And they saw the skeletons
of the men and cattle
devoured by that yakkha fiend.

Then the caravan leader said to the carters:

'That caravan, my masters,
met with ruin and disaster,
through having that silly caravan leader for its guide.

Well then, let us leave here
such of our wares as are of little value,
and take from that caravan
such wares as are of great value.

'So be it, master,'
replied the carters,
and made the transfer,
and passed safely through the jungle,
through having this wise caravan leader
for their guide.⁷

Even so you, Prince,
silly and unintelligent,
will meet with ruin and disaster
in that you seek so senselessly after another world,
even like that former caravan leader.

They who fancy
that they can believe whatever they hear,
will meet with ruin and disaster,
even like those carters.

Renounce, Prince,
this evil set of opinions;
renounce them, I say!

Let them not involve you long
in bale and sorrow!"

24. "Even though Master Kassapa says this,
I still [367] cannot bring myself to renounce this evil set of opinions.

King Pasenadi the Kosalan knows me,
and so do foreign kings,
as holding to the creed and the opinion
that there is neither another world,
nor rebirth other than of parents by human parentage,
nor fruit or result of deeds well and ill-done.

If I, master Kassapa, renounce these opinions people will say of me:

'How silly is prince Pāyāsi,
how unintelligent,
how badly he grasps anything!'

In wrath thereat will I keep to it.

In guile will I keep to it.

In self-respect will I keep to it!"

25. "Well then, Prince, I will give you a simile,
for it is by way of a simile
that some intelligent men discern the meaning of what has been said.

Once upon a time, Prince,
a certain swineherd was going from his own village to another village.

There he saw a heap of dry dung thrown away.

Seeing it he thought:

'Thats a lot of dry dung thrown away which will feed my pigs.

What if I were to carry it away?'

So he spread out his cloak
and collecting the dry dung
tied it into a bundle
and lifting it on to his head went on.

In the after-part of his journey
there fell a heavy shower of rain out of season.

He, splashed with muck to his nail-tips,
bearing his oozing,
dripping dung-burden,
went on his way.

And men seeing him said:

'Gramercy, you must be mad,
you must be out of your senses!

How can you tote along that oozing,
dripping load of dung,
splashed with muck to your nail-tips?'

'It's you that are mad,
you that are out of your senses;
by this my pigs will get food.'

Even so, methinks, Prince, do you talk,
like this dung-carrying simile.

Renounce, Prince, this evil set of opinions,
renounce them, I say!

Let them not be long a cause of bale and sorrow to you."

26. "Even though Master Kassapa says this,
I cannot bring myself to renounce this evil set of opinions.

King Pasenadi the Kosalan knows me,
and so do foreign kings,
as holding to the creed and the opinion
that there is neither another world,
nor rebirth other than of parents by human parentage,
nor fruit or result of deeds well and ill-done.

If I, master Kassapa, renounce these opinions people will say of me:

'How silly is prince Pāyāsi,
how [368] unintelligent,
how badly he grasps anything!'

In wrath thereat will I keep to it.

In guile will I keep to it.

In self-respect will I keep to it!"

27. "Well then, Prince, I will give you a simile,
for it is by way of a simile
that some intelligent men discern the meaning of what is said.

Once upon a time, Prince,
two gamesters were playing with dice.

One gamester swallowed as it came
each adverse die.

The other gamester saw him do this and said:

'Look here, friend, you've won outright;
give me the dice;
I will make a votive offering of them.'

'Good, friend,'
said the other,
and handed over the dice.

Then the second gamester
smeared over the dice with poison,
and proposed to the former:

'Come along, friend, let's play.'

'Good, friend,' replied the other.

Again, therefore, they played,
and again that gamester swallowed each adverse die.

The second gamester saw him doing so and said:

'The man knows not the swallowed die
With sharpest burning is smeared o'er.
Swallow, you false cheat, swallow now!
Bitter the hour at hand for you!'⁸

Even like the simile of the gamester, Prince,
methinks is what you say.

Renounce, Prince, this evil set of opinions,
renounce them, I say!

Let them not be long a source of bale and sorrow to you!"

28. "Even though Master Kassapa says this,
I still cannot bring myself to renounce
this evil set of opinions.

King Pasenadi the Kosalan knows me,
and so do foreign [369] kings,
as holding to the creed and the opinion
that there is neither another world,
nor rebirth other than of parents by human parentage,
nor fruit or result of deeds well and ill-done.

If I, master Kassapa, renounce these opinions people will say of me:

'How silly is prince Pāyāsi,
how unintelligent,
how badly he grasps anything!'

In wrath thereat will I keep to it.

In guile will I keep to it.

In self-respect will I keep to it!"

29. "Well then, Prince, I will give you a simile,
for it is by way of a simile
that some intelligent men
discern the meaning of what is said.

Once upon a time, Prince,
a certain country-side migrated.

And one man said to his crony:

'Let's go friend, to that country-side;
perhaps we may come upon some treasure.'

'Good, friend,' assented the other.

And they came to where,
in that country-side,
there was a certain village street.

There they saw a heap of hemp thrown away.

Then one said to the other:

'Here's a heap of hemp:
do you make some into a bundle,
I'll do the same and we'll carry it away.'

The other consented,
and they did so.

Bearing this burden
they went on to another village street.

There they saw a heap of hempen thread thrown away,
and one said to the other:

'This heap of hempen thread thrown away
is just the thing we want hemp for.

Well then, friend,
you throw away your load of hemp,
I'll throwaway mine,
and we'll take away each a load of hempen thread.'

'I've brought this load of hemp a long way, friend,
and it's well tied up —
that's enough for me;
you choose for yourself.'

So the former changed his load
for one of hempen thread.

Then they came to another village street.

There they saw a heap of hempen cloths.

And the one said to the other:

'This heap of hempen cloths
is just the thing we want hemp for,
or hempen thread for.

Well then, friend,
do you throw away your load of hemp,
I'll throw away my load of hempen thread,
and we'll each take a load of hempen cloth.'

'I've brought this load of hemp a long way, friend,
and it's [370] well tied up —
that's enough for me;
you choose for yourself.'

So the former changed his load
for one of hempen cloth.

Then they came to another village street.

There they saw a heap of flax;
and to another where they saw linen thread;
and to another where they saw linen cloth.

And at each place the one crony made a change for the better,
the other retained his hemp.

Further they saw cotton-down,
cotton thread
and calico;
and the same thing happened.

Further they saw iron,
copper,
tin,
lead,
silver,
gold.

So that in the end the one crony had a load of gold,
the other of hemp.

So they came to their own village.

There the crony who brought a load of hemp pleased neither his parents,
nor his own family,
nor his friends,
and won neither pleasure or happiness.

But the other
with his load of gold
both gave and won pleasure.

Even like the simile of the load of hemp, methinks Prince,
is what you say.

Renounce, Prince, this evil set of opinions,
renounce them, I say!

Let them not be long a source of bale and sorrow to you."

30. "With Master Kassapa's first simile
I was pleased,
I was charmed;
moreover I wanted to hear his ready wit in questions,
for I regarded Master Kassapa
as one who was to be opposed.

It is wonderful, Master Kassapa,
it is marvellous!
just as if one were to set up what has been upset,
or were to reveal that which has been hidden away,
or were to point out the road to the bewildered,
or were to bring a lamp into the darkness,
so that they that have eyes may see —
even so has the truth been declared in many a figure
by Master Kassapa.

And I, even I,
betake myself for refuge to Gotama the Exalted One,
to the Doctrine
and to the Brotherhood.

May Master Kassapa accept me as a disciple,
as one who from this day forth
as long as life endures,
has taken him as his guide.

And I should like, Master Kassapa,
to offer a great sacrifice.

Let Master Kassapa instruct me herein
that it may bring me long welfare and happiness."

31. "At the sort of sacrifice, Prince, where oxen are [371] slain,
or goats,
or fowls
and pigs,
or divers creatures are put an end to;
and those that take part in the sacrifice have wrong views,
wrong intention,
wrong speech,
wrong action,
wrong livelihood,
wrong endeavour,
wrong mindfulness,
wrong rapture,
such a sacrifice, Prince,
is neither of great fruitfulness
nor of great profit,
nor of great renown,
nor of widespread effect.⁹

It is just as if a farmer, Prince,
were to enter a wood
taking with him plough and seed,
and were there,
in an untilled tract,
in unfavourable soil,
among unuprooted stumps,
to plant seeds that were broken,
rotten,
spoilt by wind and heat,
out of season,
not in good condition,
and the god were not to give good rain in due season.

Would those seeds attain to growth,
increase
and expansion,
or would the farmer get abundant returns?"

"No indeed, Master Kassapa."

"So is it, Prince,
with that sort of sacrifice.

But where, Prince, neither oxen are slain,
nor goats,
nor fowls
and pigs,
nor are divers creatures put an end to,
and those that partake of the sacrifice
have right views,
right intention,
right speech,
right action,
right livelihood,
right endeavour,
right mindfulness,
right rapture,
such a sacrifice is of great fruitfulness,
of great profit,
of great renown,
of widespread effect.

It is just as if a farmer, Prince,
were to enter a wood,
taking with him plough and seed,
and were there,
in a well-tilled tract,
in favourable soil
well cleared of stumps,
to plant seed that was unbroken,
free from mildew,
unspoilt by wind or heat,
in season
and in good condition,
and the god were to give good rain in due season.

Would those seeds grow,
increase,
expand,
and would the farmer get abundant returns?"

"He would indeed, Master Kassapa."

"So is it, Prince,
with that sort of sacrifice,
where neither oxen are slain,
nor goats,
nor fowls
and pigs,
nor are divers creatures put an end to,
and those that partake [372] of the sacrifice
have right views,
right intention,
right speech,
right action,
right livelihood,
right endeavour,
right mindfulness,
right rapture.

Such a sacrifice is of great fruitfulness,
profit,
renown
and widespread effect."

32. Then Prince Pāyāsi instituted a gift to Wanderers and Brahmins,
the poor,
wayfarers,
beggars
and petitioners.

In that gift such food was given
as gruel
and scraps of food,
and coarse robes with ball-fringes.¹⁰

And at that gift
a young brahmin named Uttara
was passed over.¹¹

When the largesse had been distributed
he mocked, saying:

"By this largesse
I have met Prince Pāyāsi in this world,
but how about the next?"¹²'

Pāyāsi heard of this,
and sent word to Uttara
asking him if it was true
that he was saying this?

"Yes, sir," replied Uttara.

"But why have you been saying this,
my dear Uttara?

Do not we who are seeking merit
look for result from giving?"

"In your gift, sir,
such food as gruel and broken meats are given
which you, sir, would not touch with your foot,
much less eat;
also coarse ball-fringed robes
which you, sir, would not deign to use as carpets,
much less to wear.

You, sir, are pleasant and dear to us;
how are we to associate what is pleasant and dear
with what is unpleasant?"

"Well then, my dear Uttara,
do you arrange that such food shall be given as I eat,
and such garments be given as I wear."

"Very good, sir," replied Uttara,
and did so.¹³

[373] Now prince Pāyāsi,
inasmuch as he had bestowed his gift without thoroughness,
not with his own hands,
without due thought,
as something discarded,
was, after his death,
reborn into the communion of the Four Great Kings,¹⁴
in the empty mansion of the Acacia.

But the youth Uttara,
who had objected to that gift
and had bestowed his gift thoroughly,
with his own hands,
with due thought,
not as something discarded,
was, after his death,
reborn in a bright and happy world,
into the communion of the Three-and-Thirty Gods.

33. Now at that time the venerable Gavampati¹⁵ used frequently to go for siesta
to the empty mansion of the Acacia.

And Pāyāsi,
now one of the gods,
came up to him and,
saluting him,
stood on one side.

To him so standing the venerable Gavampati said:

"Who art thou, friend?"

"I, sir, am prince Pāyāsi."

"Wert thou not once of the opinion
that there was no other world,
no rebirth other than of parents,
no fruit or result of deeds
well or ill-done?"

"I was indeed, sir,
but through his reverence Kumāra Kassapa
I detached myself from that evil set of opinions."

"But the youth Uttara,
who objected to thy gift, friend,
whereunto has he been reborn?"

"He, Sir, having objected to my gift,
and having himself bestowed a gift thoroughly,
with his own hands,
with due thought,
not as something discarded,
has, since he died,
been reborn in the bright and happy world,
into the communion of the Three-and-Thirty Gods.

I, sir, inasmuch as I bestowed my gift without thoroughness,
not with my own hand,
without due thought,
as something discarded,
was after my death [374] reborn into the communion of the Four Great Kings,
in the empty mansion of Acacia.

Wherefore, Gavampati, Sir,
go thou into the world of men and tell them:

'Give ye your gifts with thoroughness,
with your own hands,
with due thought,
and give not as if ye were discarding somewhat.

For so did not prince Pāyāsi;
and he after his death
was reborn into the communion of the Four Great Kings,
in the empty mansion of the Acacia.

But the youth Uttara,
who bestowed his gifts in the right way,
was after his death reborn in the bright and happy world,
into the communion of the Three-and-Thirty Gods."

34. So the venerable Gavampati came back to the world of men,
and there told these things.

The Pāyāsi Dialogue is ended.

i1 See the general Introduction to the 'Dialogues,' I, 19.

i2 See above, pp. 128-30. The Wings of Wisdom are really only thirty, not thirty-seven, as seven of them are repeated. So there was plenty of room, had it been wanted, for charity. The Aryan Path is in the list. But the Path, though open to laymen and lay-women, contains no mention of dāna.

i3 The scholasiics, by dividing each of the ten into three (see Childers, sub voce), have brought the number up to thirty, the same as the real number of the more ancient Wings of Wisdom, to which this later list is meant as a counterblast or rival.

i4 Compare Mrs. Rhys Davids's remarks in the Introduction to vol. VI. [Ed.: The Index Volume]

i5 See Miss Hunt's 'Indexes,' under Dāna.

¹ The touching story of his birth is told in the Introductory Story to the twelfth Jātaka, translated in Rhys Davids's 'Buddhist Birth Stories,' pp. 199 ff. [JAT 12] He was declared by the Buddha to be the best of the preachers in the Order (A. I, 24). Kumāra was a nickname, 'The Boy' (because he was Ordained so young), which distinguished him from the other Kassapas in the Order, and clung to him even in advanced years. It was the more appropriate, as Kumāra means a boy of good family, a young gentleman, a master; and Kassapa, the son of a clansman, had been brought up at Pasenadi's court.

² See Vol. I, p. 108, note 1.

³ The expression is somewhat ambiguous. See the note on I, 145.

⁴ No doubt a sort of brush made of split bamboo.

⁵ How elaborate were the coiffures used by men at this date may be seen from the illustration in Rhys Davids's 'Buddhist India,' p.97.

⁶ Velāmikā, 'very young and childish.' says Buddhaghosa here. Above, p. 231, it seems to be a clan name, but used in a similar connexion.

⁷ This story has been turned into a Jātaka by identifying the hero as the Buddha in a previous birth, and has been made the first story in the collection afterwards put together as the Jātaka Book. It is one of twelve stories in that book found in the older texts. See 'Buddhist India,' p. 195.

⁸ This story is also in the Jātaka Book, I, 380. The modus operandi of the cheat is rendered obscure by our ignorance of the game played. Lüders in his 'Würfelspiel der alten Inder' has shown that the dice were seeds of a tree called the Vibhītaka, and that the usual game was probably to throw a number of seeds on a board, having previously fixed on a certain number.
The seeds fell some upright, some on their sides. Only the upright ones counted.
If they were less than the agreed number it was a draw; if equal the thrower won and threw again; if more he lost, and lost the throw.
An extra seed was called the kali, 'the unlucky die.' This the cheat seems to have managed to pick up, and swallow.

⁹ So of the sacrifice intended by the Very Reverend Sir Gold-stick Sharp-tooth in the Kūṭadanta. See especially above, I, 163.

¹⁰ To keep the robes down.

¹¹ Vyāvaṭo. This became almost a technical term in connexion with largesse. It is literally 'hindered'; but when the things to be given were too limited as compared with the number of applicants, some had to be passed over. They were dāna-vyāvaṭa 'hindered at the largesse' (Jat. III, 129). Compare D. II, 141; Sum. I, 296; Jat. I, 89; VVA. 298. But here perhaps it may simply mean 'objected to the largesse.'

¹² Literally 'do not associate (with him) in the next.' The gibe intended must be very nearly as we have rendered. But both the reading of the text and the grammatical construction are doubtful. The word we have rendered 'mocked' (uddissati) has only been found here. Perhaps it means 'showed (the matter) up,' which comes to much the same as to point the finger of mockery.

¹³ Apparently at his own cost.

¹⁴ The guardian spirits of the four quarters. See the Introduction to the Maha-samaya Suttanta.

¹⁵ He had been the son of a merchant at Benares; and had been received into the Order by the Buddha at the very beginning of his career as a teacher (Vin. I, 19). This legend supposes him, still a man, going for meditation to the lower heavens.

24. Mystic Wonders and the Origin of Things

Pāṭika Suttantaṃ

[1]

Introduction

This Suttanta is concerned really with only two topics, firstly that of mystic wonders, and secondly that of the origin of things. The former has been dealt with much better and more fully in the Kevaddha;¹ the latter, here treated quite curtly and by way of appendix only, is fully discussed below in the Aggamia.

The treatment here is clumsy. It is no doubt intended to be both humorous and edifying. But the humour is far removed from the delicate irony of the Kevaddha and the Aggamia. The fun is of the pantomime variety; loud, and rather stupid. It is funny perhaps to hear how a corpse gets slapped on the back, wakes up just long enough to let the cat out of the bag, and then falls back dead again; or how an incompetent medicine-man gets stuck fast to his seat, and wriggles about in his vain endeavours to rise. But this sort of fun would appeal more strongly to a music-hall audience, or to schoolboys out for a holiday, than to those who are likely to read it in this volume. And the supposed edification is of the same order. As an argumentum ad homiuem, as propounded for the enlightenment of the very foolish Sunakkhatta (and this is just, after all, what it purports to be), it may pass muster. Whether it can have appealed to (or was even meant to appeal to) wiser folk is very questionable. One gets rather bored with the unwearied patience with which the Tathāgata is here represented as suffering fools gladly. And it is difficult to bear with an author who tells stories so foolish merely to prove that the Tathāgata is as good a magician as the best, and who has the bad taste to put them into the mouth of the Tathāgata himself. Not only in style and taste does this Suttanta differ from the others. In doctrine also it is opposed to them. The wonders in which the peoples of India, in the sixth century B.C., believed were not very different from those so easily, at the same period, [2] believed in Europe. The mental attitude regarding them was, I venture to think, not at all the same. In the West, though the other view was also found, the prevailing belief was that such wonders were the result of the interference of some deity suspending, or changing, the general law, the sequence of things that generally happened. In India, though this view was sometimes held by some, the prevailing belief was that such wonders (whether worked by humans, gods, or animals) were in accordance with law. In a word, they were not miracles. There is a tendency to make little of this distinction, but it is really of vital importance. It is the difference between Animism and what I have ventured to call Normalism, the exact contrary of Animism.²

The early Buddhists did not deny the occurrence of such marvels; on the contrary, they accepted them in the Normalistic sense held by most of their more cultured compatriots. But they held them in low esteem. The Kevaddha makes the Master say:

"It is because I see danger in the practice of such mystic wonders that I loathe, and abhor, and am ashamed thereof."³

And he is there represented as maintaining that the real wonder, the one he advocates, is the wonder of education — a thesis then set out in detail, and set out, in all probability, for the first time in the history of the world.

So at Dīgha III, 112, 113 (translated below), a distinction is made between such wonders as are ignoble and those that are noble (Ariyan). The former are all the wonders worked by the unconverted, or the worldly. The latter is the wonder of self-mastery.

Then again there is a special rule in the canon law:

You are not, O Bhikkhus, to display before the laity the wonders of Iddhi, surpassing the power of ordinary men. Whosoever does so shall be guilty of a wrong act (dukkaṭa).⁴

Yet in this Suttanta we have the Master, who is said in the Vinaya to have laid down this rule, represented as doing the very thing he denounces in the Rule as a wrong act. We have before us then a case, not only of divergence in doctrine, but of complete contradiction. What does it mean? It is partly a question of time, partly a question of individual eccentricity, and partly a question of toleration. Our Suttanta can scarcely have grown up in the community [3] after the period in which the Rule just quoted became acknowledged in the community as valid. Now the occurrence in the Rule of the technical term dukkata (wrong act), a term not found in the Patimokkha, shows (for the reasons given by Oldenberg in the Introduction to his edition of the text) that the Rule in question belongs to the third and latest stage in the evolution of the Canon Law. We must allow, at least, two or three generations after the death of the Buddha for this evolution. During that interval different individuals in the community held different views as to the powers of magic. No one believed in miracles in the European sense of that word. But there were a number of individuals who thought it edifying to ascribe the power of magic, and to ascribe it in ever increasing degree, to the Buddha and his most famous disciples. The view of the more intelligent; the view that ultimately, in great measure, prevailed; and so far as we can judge, the view of the Buddha himself, was the view put forward in the Kevaddha and allied passages. But the other view was also held by weaker vessels. And when the anthology called the Dīgha was put together, its editor, or editors, included not only both old and new, but also stories, legends or paragraphs embodying views divergent and even opposed. We are not entitled on these facts to suppose that the Pāṭika Suttanta was either later or earlier than the Kevaddha. Both may have been already current in the community when the Dīgha was edited, and the editors may have been tolerant of whichever of the opposing views they did not share; or they may have thought the story should go in, as it clearly implied how very silly Sunakkhatta was, and how deplorably weak were the views he held.

The word 'Arahant' is, in this Suttanta, applied by Sunakkhatta to three persons — religieux of the baser sort, devoid, in all that we are told about them, of the essential qualities of the Arahant as laid down in the Nikāyas. He is simply not using the word in the Buddhist sense at all. The expression is pre-Buddhistic. It is used, for instance, in the Brāhmaṇa of the Hundred Paths of kings and priests, not apparently with any ethical connotation, but simply as people entitled to receive gifts and respect, and who are apt to be very angry if these be not forthcoming.⁵ It is here an honorific title, used of worldly people of distinguished position. It might be freely rendered Right Honourable, but [4] really means worthy or entitled to receive gifts. In our Suttanta it is applied by Sunakkhatta, who rejects the new movement of reform, to ascetics as such merely on account of their self-mortification (tapas).⁶ It might be rendered His Worship (that is, worth-ship) or His Reverence. In this he has the devas on his side. They are represented as saying of one become emaciated by voluntary starvation that he is like in appearance to an Arahant.⁷ Now the dear devas were not considered as very bright, except in their outward form. They were intellectually on a level with the chorus in a Greek play, or with the man in the street of the modern journalist, but they talk, no doubt, the language of men, and we may take it that at the time of the rise of Buddhism the word Arahant had come to be popularly applied, not only to priests and kings, but also to ascetics.⁸

As in so many other cases, the leaders of the new movement adopted the current term, but poured, as it were, new wine into the old bottle by using it with a new connotation. They tried the same plan also with the old term Brahmin, and then they failed; vested interests were too strong for them.⁹

In this particular case they succeeded. Seldom or never in later writings do we find the word in its old sense. It has the reformed meaning only — viz., that of a man who has reached the end of the Ariyan Path and has the consequent knowledge and sense of emancipation.¹⁰ And as a consequence of this we find alongside of the old derivation (from arahati, to be worthy of) all sorts of fanciful and purely exegetical explanations. So at Majjhima I, 280 the word is connected with āraka, distant, because all evil dispositions are far from the Arahant, and the Visuddhi Magga¹¹ and the Abhidhāna Padīpikā Sūcī (s.v.) give a number of others of the same kind.

Arahant, in the new sense, thus differs from the ancient usage in connoting not worldly position or the outward signs of asceticism, but a radical change of heart, and an alertness of intellect so ingrained that it amounts, at times, to intuition. There are many passages in the oldest texts [5] giving the details of this ideal state.¹² The post-canonical history of the word is a striking testimony to the decline of the faith. The later writers, whether in Pali or Sanskrit, do not know any contemporary Arahants. For them Arahants, whether laymen or not, existed only in the good old times. We have seen above¹³ how the Buddha, just before his death, in the talk with his last convert, gives utterance to the hope: May the brethren live the perfect life, that the world be not bereft of Arahants!

According to the view of Buddhist writers, the world has been bereft of Arahants for more than two thousand years. But the Buddhist Messiah is to come and then there will be Arahants again.¹⁴

There arises out of this a further question: Who, in the oldest period, could be an Arahant? The answer is: Anyone — men or women, old or young, lay or religieux.¹⁵ There is a statement in the Milinda (p. 264) that Whoever has attained, as a layman, to Arahantship, one of two courses is possible to him, and no other — either that very day he enters the Order, or he dies, for beyond that day he cannot last.

No confirmation of this has so far been found in the Nikāyas. But there is an adumbration to such a doctrine in the Kathā Vatthu (IV. i) when the objector has decidedly the best of the argument against the Thera-vādin. The latter depends on a statement put into the Master's mouth in the Majjhima:

'There is no layman who, without putting away the bonds that bind laymen, obtains after death the end of ills.'¹⁶

But this is a very different matter and is no answer, as pointed out by the objector, to the fact that examples are given of laymen who become Arahants. When laymen had experienced the mental change called becoming an Arahant, the natural result, under the conditions prevailing in North India in the sixth or fifth centuries B.C., would be that he [6] would become a religieux. And this may have been sufficient reason for such opinions as those expressed in the Kathā Vatthu and the Milinda having, in the course of centuries, grown up.

We talk now of the Buddha, and have scarcely begun to be familiar with the term Arahant. In the old days these were so closely allied that they really gave expression to two facets of the same jewel. Every Buddha (awakened one) was an Arahant. Every Arahant was buddha (awakened).¹⁷

T.W.R.D.

[7]

XXIV. Pāṭika Suttanta¹⁸

Mystic Wonders and the Origin of Things

THUS HAVE I HEARD.

The Exalted One was once staying among the Mallas,
at Anupiya, one of their towns.¹⁹

Now the Exalted One, having robed himself in the early morning,
put on his cloak and took his bowl,
and entered the town for alms.

And he thought:

"It is too early for me now
to go through Anupiya for alms.

I might go to the pleasaunce
where Bhaggava the Wanderer dwells,²⁰
and call upon Bhaggava."

So the Exalted One went to the pleasaunce
and to the place where Bhaggava the Wanderer was.

Then Bhaggava spake thus to the Exalted One:

"Let my Lord the Exalted One come near.

Welcome to the Exalted One!

It is long since the Exalted One
has taken the opportunity²¹
to come our way.

May it please you, Sir,
to be seated;
here is a seat made ready."

The Exalted One sat down thereon,
and Bhaggava, taking a certain low stool,
sat down beside him.

So [8] seated,
Bhaggava the Wanderer spake thus
to the Exalted One:

"Some days ago, Lord,
a good many days ago,
Sunakkhatta of the Licchavis²² called on me
and spake thus:

'I have now given up the Exalted One, Bhaggava.

I am remaining no longer
under him (as my teacher).'

Is the fact really so,
just as he said?"

"It is just so, Bhaggava,
as Sunakkhatta of the Licchavis said.

Some days ago, Bhaggava,
a good many days ago,
Sunakkhatta, the Licchavi, came to call on me,
and spake thus:

'Sir, I now give up the Exalted One.

I will henceforth remain no longer
under him (as my teacher).'

When he told me this, I said to him:

'But now, Sunakkhatta,
have I ever said to you:

"Come, Sunakkhatta,
live under me (as my pupil)?"'

'No, Sir, you have not.'

'Or have you ever said to me:

"Sir, I would fain dwell
under the Exalted One (as my teacher)?"'

'No, Sir, I have not.'

'But if I said not the one,
and you said not the other,
what are you
and what am I
that you talk of giving up?²³

See, foolish one,
in how far the fault here is your own.'²⁴

'Well, but Sir,
the Exalted One works me no mystic wonders
surpassing the power of ordinary men.'²⁵

'Why, now, Sunakkhatta,
have I ever said to you:

"Come, take me as your teacher, Sunakkhatta,
and I will work for you
mystic wonders
surpassing the power of ordinary men?"'

'You have not, Sir.'

'Or have you ever said to me:

"Sir, I would fain take the Exalted One
as my teacher,
for he will work for [9] me
mystic wonders
beyond the powers of ordinary men"?'

'I have not, Sir.'

'But if I said not the one,
and you said not the other,
what are you
and what am I,
foolish man,
that you talk of giving up?

What think you, Sunakkhatta?

Whether mystic wonders
beyond the power of ordinary man
are wrought,
or whether they are not,
is the object for which I teach the Norm this:
that it leads to the thorough destruction of ill
for the doer thereof?'

'Whether, Sir, they are so wrought
or not,
that is indeed the object
for which the Norm is taught
by the Exalted One.'

'If then, Sunakkhatta,
it matters not to that object
whether mystic wonders are wrought
or not,
of what use to you
would be the working of them?

See, foolish one,
in how far the fault here is your own.'

'But, Sir, the Exalted One does not reveal to me
the beginning of things.'²⁶

'Why now, Sunakkhatta,
have I ever said to you:

"Come, Sunakkhatta,
be my disciple
and I will reveal to you
the beginning of things?"'

'Sir, you have not.'

'Or have you ever said to me:

"I will become the Exalted One's pupil,
for he will reveal to me
the beginning of things"?'

'Sir, I have not.'

'But if I have not said the one
and you have not said the other,
what are you
and what am I,
foolish man,
that you talk of giving up on that account?

What think you, Sunakkhatta?

Whether the beginning of things be revealed,
or whether it be not,
is the object for which I teach the Norm this:
that it leads to the thorough destruction of ill
for the doer thereof?'

[10] 'Whether, Sir, they are revealed or not,
that is indeed the object
for which the Norm is taught
by the Exalted one.'

'If then, Sunakkhatta, it matters not
to that object
whether the beginning of things be revealed,
or whether it be not,
of what use to you would it be
to have the beginning of things revealed?

See, foolish one,
in how far the fault here is your own.

In many ways have you, Sunakkhatta,
spoken my praises
among the Vajjians,²⁷
saying:²⁸

"Thus is the Exalted One;
he is an Arahant
fully awakened;
wisdom he has
and righteousness;
he is the Well-Farer;²⁹
he has knowledge of the worlds;
he is the supreme driver
of men willing to be tamed;
the teacher of devas³⁰ and men;
the Awakened
and Exalted One."

In such wise have you been wont,
among the Vajjians,
to utter praise of me.

In many ways have you, Sunakkhatta,
spoken the praises of the Dhamma
among the Vajjians:

"Well proclaimed by the Exalted One
is the Dhamma
as bearing on this present life,
not involving time,³¹
in- [11] viting all to come and see,³²
to be understood by every wise man for himself."

In such wise have you been wont,
among the Vajjians,
to utter praise of the Dhamma.

In many ways have you, Sunakkhatta,
spoken the praises of the Order
among the Vajjians:

"Well are they trained,
the Order of the Exalted One's disciples,
even the four branches thereof.

The eight classes of individuals³³
well trained in uprightness,
in principles
and in courtesy.

This Order should be respected
and revered;
gifts should be given it,
and homage;
for it is the world's unsurpassed field
(for sowing) merit."

In such wise have you been wont,
among the Vajjians,
to utter praise of the Order.

I tell you Sunakkhatta,
I make known to you Sunakkhatta,
that there will be those that shall say concerning you
thus:

"Sunakkhatta of the Licchavis
was not able to live the holy life
under Gotama the recluse.

And he, not being able to adhere to it,
hath renounced the discipline
and turned to lower things."'

Thus, Bhaggava, did Sunakkhatta of the Licchavis,
addressed by me,
depart from this Doctrine and Discipline,
as one doomed to disaster and purgatory.

§

At one time, Bhaggava,
I was staying among the Bumu's.

Uttarakā is a village of theirs,
and having dressed early one morning,
I afterwards took my bowl,
put on my robe,
and went into Uttarakā for alms.

Now, at that time, a cynic there,
Bandylegs the Khattiya,³⁴
was wont to behave like a dog,
walking on all fours,³⁵
[12] or sprawling on the ground
and taking up food,
whether hard or soft,
with his mouth only
(without using his hands).

Sunakkhatta, seeing him act thus, thought:

'How truly admirable does he look,
the holy man,
the recluse creeping on all fours,
or sprawling on the ground,
taking up food,
whether hard or soft,
with his mouth only.'

Then I, Bhaggava,
knowing what was in his mind,
said to him:

'Do you, O foolish man,
confess yourself
as following the son of the Sakiyas?'

'What does the Exalted One mean, Sir,
in saying this to me?'

'Did you not think, Sunakkhatta,
as you looked at that naked Cynic, Kora the Khattiya,
on all fours,
sprawling on the earth,
taking up his food,
whether hard or soft,
with his mouth only:

"How admirable were it to be a holy man like that"?'

'Yes, lord, I did.

What then!

Does the Exalted One begrudge Arahantship in others?'³⁶

'Nay, foolish man.

I begrudge in no one Arahantship.

It is only in you
that this vicious opinion has arisen.

Put it away.

Let it not become a lasting source
of harm and ill to you.

This naked cynic, Kora the Khattiya,
whom you, Sunakkhatta, fancy so admirable an arahant,
will die seven days hence
of an epilepsy,³⁷
and dying he will be reborn
as one of the Kālakañjas,³⁸
the very lowest of the Asura groups.

As dead,
he will be laid out
on a heap of birana grass
in the charnel field.

You might go up to him,
if you wish,
and ask him:

"Do you know your own destiny, friend Kora?"

Perchance he will reply:

"I know my own [13] destiny, friend Sunakkhatta.

There are Asuras called Kalakanjas, the very lowest of the Asura groups — 'tis among them I am reborn."'

Thereat, Bhaggava, Sunakkhatta of the Licchavis,
went up to the cynic, Kora the Khattiya,
and spake thus to him:

'Friend Kora the Khattiya,
the Samaṇa Gotama has declared that on the seventh day hence,
the naked ascetic, Kora the Khattiya, will die,
and dying
he will be reborn as one of the Kalakanjas,
the very lowest of the Asura groups.

As dead,
he will be laid on a heap of birana grass
in the charnel field.

Wherefore, friend Kora the Khattiya,
you should partake of food with great moderation;
you should drink liquids with great moderation;
so that the word of the Samaṇa Gotama
may prove wrong.'

Then Sunakkhatta, so firmly did he disbelieve the Tathāgata,
counted up the seven days one after another;
but, Bhaggava, on the seventh day,
Kora the Khattiya died of an epilepsy,
and dying
was reborn as one of the Kalakanjas,
the very lowest of the Asura groups;
and as dead,
was laid out on a heap of birana grass
in the charnel field.

Now Sunakkhatta heard, Bhaggava,
that Kora the Khattiya lay dead in the charnel field
on a heap of birana grass.

And he went thither
where the corpse was lying,
and thrice he smote the naked ascetic
with his hand, saying:

'Do you know, friend Kora the Khattiya,
what has been your destiny?'

Then Bhaggava, Kora the Khattiya,
rubbing his back with his hand,
raised himself up and said:

'I know, friend Sunakkhatta,
what is my destiny.

Among the Kalakanjas,
the very lowest of the Asura groups —
there am I reborn.'

So saying, he fell back supine.³⁹

Thereupon, Bhaggava, Sunakkhatta the Licchavi came to me,
and saluting me,
sat down beside me.

So [14] sitting,
I spake to him thus:

'What think you, Sunakkhatta?

Has it happened to the cynic, Kora the Khattiya,
even as I declared to you,
or otherwise?'

'It has happened to him
even as the Exalted One declared to me,
not otherwise.'

'What think you, Sunakkhatta?

This being so,
has a mystic wonder
by power beyond that of ordinary men
been wrought,
or has it not?'

'Surely, sir, this being so,
such a mystic wonder has been wrought.'⁴⁰

'And is it then to me, you foolish man,
who have thus
by power beyond that of ordinary men,
wrought a mystic wonder,
that you say:

"Sir, the Exalted one works me no miracles
with his superhuman gifts?"

See, foolish man,
how far you have committed yourself.'

Thus, Bhaggava, did Sunakkhatta of the Licchavis,
addressed by me,
depart from this Doctrine and Discipline,
as one doomed to disaster and to purgatory.

§

At one time, Bhaggava, I was staying at Vesalī
in the Great Wood,
at the Gable Hall.

Now at that time
there was a naked ascetic residing at Vesalī, named Kandara-masuka,⁴¹
and great was his gain
and his fame
in the Vajjian home.

He had vowed
and taken upon himself
seven rules of life,
to wit:

'So long as I live
I will be of the Naked Ascetics,
I will put on no garment;

so long as I live,
I will be a devotee,
devoted to a life of chastity;

so long as I live,
I will maintain myself
by spirituous drink and by flesh,
eating no rice-broth or gruel;

I will never go beyond the Udena shrine
on the east of Vesall;

the Gotamaka shrine
on the south;

the Sattamba shrine
on the west,

and the Bahuputta shrine
on the north.'

It was because of his having laid [15] upon himself
these seven rules of life
that he had gain and fame
beyond all others
in the Vajjian home.

Now, Bhaggava, Sunakkhatta of the Licchavis
went to call on Kandara-masuka
and asked him a question.

Kandara-masuka did not follow the question,
and not following,
manifested resentment,
dislike,
and anger.

Then it occurred to Sunakkhatta:

'We might come into conflict
with⁴² the admirable arahant recluse.

Let nothing happen
that would make for lasting harm and ill to us.'

Thereupon, Bhaggava, Sunakkhatta the Licchavi
came to call upon me,
and saluting me,
he sat down beside me
and thus I spake to him:

'Do you, O foolish man,
still confess yourself
as following the son of the Sakiyas?'

'What does the Exalted One mean
in saying that?'

'Why, Sunakkhatta, did you not go up to the naked ascetic, Kandara-masuka
and ask him a question which he did not follow,
and over which he manifested anger,
dislike,
and resentment?

And did it not occur to you:

"We might come into conflict
with the admirable arahant and recluse."

Let nothing happen
that would make for lasting harm and ill to us?"'

'It was even so, Sir.

Does the Exalted One begrudge arahantship in anyone?'

'Nay, foolish man,
I begrudge in no one Arahantship.

To you only
has this vicious opinion arisen.

Get rid of it.

Let that not make
for lasting harm and ill to you.

This naked ascetic Kandara-masuka,
whom you think so admirable an arahant recluse,
will ere long end his days clothed and married,
his diet rice-broth and rice-gruel;
his range past all shrines in Vesalī,
and he will die fallen from his fame.'

And ere long, Bhaggava,
that ascetic ended his days clothed and married,
his diet rice-broth and rice-gruel;
his range past all shrines in Vesalī,
and died fallen from his fame.

[16] Now Sunakkhatta heard that Kandara-masuka, the ascetic,
had ended his days clothed and married,
his diet rice-broth and rice-gruel;
his range past all shrines in Vesalī,
and died fallen from his fame.

Thereupon he came to call upon me,
and saluting me,
he sat down beside me,
and I spake to him thus:

'What think you, Sunakkhatta?

Has it happened to the naked ascetic, Kandara-masuka,
even as I declared to you,
or otherwise?'

'It has happened to him
even as the Exalted One declared to me,
not otherwise.'

'What think you, Sunakkhatta?

This being so,
has a mystic wonder
by power surpassing that of ordinary men
been wrought,
or has none been wrought?'

'Surely, Sir, this being so,
such a mystic wonder has been wrought.'⁴³

'And is it then to me, you foolish man,
who have thus by power surpassing that of ordinary men,
wrought a mystic wonder,
that you say:

"Sir, the Exalted One works no such mystic wonder."

See, foolish man, how far you have committed yourself.'

Thus, Bhaggava, did Sunakkhatta the Licchavi,
addressed by me,
depart from this Doctrine and Discipline,
as one doomed to disaster
and to purgatory.

§

At one time, Bhaggava,
I was staying there at Vesalī,
in the Great Wood, at the Gable Hall.

Now at that time,
the naked ascetic, Pāṭika's son,⁴⁴
was residing at Vesalī,
and great was his gain
and his fame
in the Vajjian home.

He held forth thus
in the Vesalī assemblies:

'Both the Samaṇa Gotama and I
affirm that we have insight.

Now it becomes one
who affirms this
to show, in virtue of his insight,
mystic wonders,
by his extraordinary gifts.

If the Samaṇa Gotama would come half-way,
I would meet him half-way.

Then we could both work a mystic wonder
by our extraordinary gifts.

If the Samaṇa Gotama work one such mystic wonder,
[17] I will work two.

If he work two,
I will work four.

If he will work four,
I will work eight.

Thus, to whatever extent he may perform,
I will perform double.'

Then, Bhaggava, Sunakkhatta the Licchavi
came to call on me,
and saluting me,
sat down beside me.

And so seated, he said this:

'The naked ascetic, Pāṭika's son, sir,
held forth thus
in the Vesalī assemblies:

"Both the Samaṇa Gotama and I
affirm that we have insight.

Now it becomes one
who affirms this
to show, in virtue of his insight,
mystic wonders,
by his extraordinary gifts.

If the Samaṇa Gotama would come half-way,
I would meet him half-way.

Then we could both work a mystic wonder
by our extraordinary gifts.

If the Samaṇa Gotama work one such mystic wonder,
I will work two.

If he work two,
I will work four.

If he will work four,
I will work eight.

Thus, to whatever extent he may perform,
I will perform double."'

And when he had thus spoken, Bhaggava,
I said to Sunakkhatta:

'Incompetent, Sunakkhatta,
is the naked ascetic, Pāṭika's son,
to meet me face to face,
if he withdraw not those words,
if he put not away that idea,
if he renounce not that opinion.

If he thinks that,
holding to those words,
to that idea,
maintaining that opinion,
he would come to meet the Samaṇa Gotama,
his head would split asunder.'

'Let the Exalted One
take heed to what he says.

Let the Wellfarer
take heed to what he says.'

'What mean you, Sunakkhatta,
that you say this to me?'

"Let the Exalted One
take heed to what he says.

Let the Wellfarer
take heed to what he says."

'It may be, sir,
that the Exalted One's words
convey an absolute statement
respecting what would happen,
in any case,
to Pāṭika's son,
should he,
as such,
come to meet the Samaṇa Gotama.

But Pāṭika's son might come
in an altered shape⁴⁵
to meet the Exalted One,
and that would render the Exalted One's words false.'

'Now, Sunakkhatta,
would a Tathāgata utter any speech
that was ambiguous?'

'Well now, Sir,
is it by the Exalted One's own discernment
that he knows:

"Incompetent is the naked ascetic, Pāṭika's son,
to meet me face to face,
if he withdraw not those words,
if he put not away that idea,
if he renounce not that opinion.

If he thinks that,
holding to those words,
to that idea,
maintaining that opinion,
he would come to meet the Samaṇa Gotama,
his head would split asunder,"

or has some deva announced:

"Incompetent is the naked ascetic, Pāṭika's son,
to meet me face to face,
if he withdraw not those words,
if he put not away that idea,
if he renounce not that opinion.

If he thinks that,
holding to those words,
to that idea,
maintaining that opinion,
he would come to meet the Samaṇa Gotama,
his head would split asunder,"

to the Tathāgata?'

'I have both discerned in my mind, Sunakkhatta:

"Incompetent is the naked ascetic, Pāṭika's son,
to meet me face to face,
if he withdraw not those words,
if he put not away that idea,
if he renounce not that opinion.

If he thinks that,
holding to those words,
to that idea,
maintaining that opinion,
he would come to meet the Samaṇa Gotama,
his head would split asunder,"

and a deva has also announced to me:

"Incompetent is the naked ascetic, Pāṭika's son,
to meet me face to face,
if he withdraw not those words,
if he put not away that idea,
if he renounce not that opinion.

If he thinks that,
holding to those words,
to that idea,
maintaining that opinion,
he would come to meet the Samaṇa Gotama,
his head would split asunder,"

for Ajita, general of the Licchavis,
who died the other day,
has been reborn in the realm of the Three-and-Thirty.

He came to me
and declared this to me:

"Shameless, Sir, is the naked ascetic, Pāṭika's son;
a liar, Sir, is Pāṭika's [18] son.

He made this statement
concerning me among the Vajjians:

'Ajita, the general of the Licchavis,
is reborn in the Great Purgatory.'

But I am not reborn there, sir;
I am reborn in the realm of the Thirty-and-Three.

Shameless is Pāṭika's son, Sir,
and a liar;
incompetent is he to meet Samaṇa Gotama face to face,
if he withdraw not those words,
if he put not away that idea,
if he renounce not that opinion.

If he thinks that, holding to those words, to that idea, maintaining that opinion, he would come to meet the Samaṇa Gotama, his head would split asunder."

Thus, Sunakkhatta, have I both discerned in my mind:

"Incompetent is the naked ascetic, Pāṭika's son,
to meet me face to face,
if he withdraw not those words,
if he put not away that idea,
if he renounce not that opinion.

If he thinks that,
holding to those words,
to that idea,
maintaining that opinion,
he would come to meet the Samaṇa Gotama,
his head would split asunder,"

and a deva has also announced to me:

"Incompetent is the naked ascetic, Pāṭika's son,
to meet me face to face,
if he withdraw not those words,
if he put not away that idea,
if he renounce not that opinion.

If he thinks that,
holding to those words,
to that idea,
maintaining that opinion,
he would come to meet the Samaṇa Gotama,
his head would split asunder."

Now Sunakkhatta, when I have gone to Vesalī
on my round for alms,
and have dined,
and am on the way back,
I will go to Pāṭika's son's Park.

Tell him, then, Sunakkhatta, whatever you think right.'

Then I, Bhaggava, having dressed early,
and taken my bowl and robe,
entered Vesalī for alms.

And after my meal,
as I returned,
I went into Pāṭika's son's park for siesta.

Then, Bhaggava, Sunakkhatta the Licchavi,
in a great hurry,
went into Vesalī,
and went to all the most distinguished of the Licchavis
and told them saying:

'Friends, that Exalted One,
on returning from his round for alms,
and after dining,
has gone to Pāṭika's son's park for siesta.

Come forth, sirs, come forth.

There is going to be wonder-working
by the superhuman gifts
of admirable recluses.'

Then those most distinguished among the Licchavis thought:

'There is going to be wonder-working
by the superhuman gifts
of admirable recluses.

Come then, let's go.'

And wherever there were eminent brahmins
and wealthy householders of position,⁴⁶
who had become Wanderers
or brahmins of different sects,
there he went and told them saying:

'Friends, that Exalted One,
on returning from his round for alms,
and after dining,
has gone to Pāṭika's son's park for siesta.

Come forth, sirs, come forth.

There is going to be wonder-working
by the superhuman gifts
of admirable recluses.'

And those most eminent brahmins
and wealthy householders of position,
who had become Wanderers
or brahmins of different sects thought:

'There is going to be wonder-working
by the superhuman gifts
of admirable recluses.

Come then, let's go.'

So, Bhaggava, those eminent Licchavis
and distinguished brahmins
and wealthy householders of position,
now Wanderers or brahmins of different sects,
all repaired to the park of the naked ascetic, Pāṭika's son.

And [19] they formed an assembly of several hundred,
nay, of several thousand persons.

Now Pāṭika's son heard that all these people were come out
and that the Samaṇa Gotama himself
was sitting,
during siesta,
in his park,
and hearing of it,
fear came upon him
and trembling
and creeping of the flesh.

And thus afeared,
agitated,
and in dread,
he went away to the Tinduka Pollards,
the Wanderers' Park.

Then that company, Bhaggava,
heard that he had gone thither in a panic,
and they charged a certain man, saying:

'Come, my man,
go to the Tinduka Pollards
and find Pāṭika's son, the naked ascetic
and say this to him:

"We have come out, friend Pāṭika's son;
there are come out many distinguished Licchavis
and brahmins
and wealthy householders,
and various teachers among brahmins and recluses.

And the Samaṇa Gotama himself is sitting,
during siesta,
in your reverence's park.

You, friend Pāṭika's son,
have delivered this speech in the assembly at Vesalī:

'Both the Samaṇa Gotama and I
affirm that we have insight.

Now it becomes one
who affirms this
to show, in virtue of his insight,
mystic wonders,
by his extraordinary gifts.

If the Samaṇa Gotama would come half-way,
I would meet him half-way.

Then we could both work a mystic wonder
by our extraordinary gifts.

If the Samaṇa Gotama work one such mystic wonder,
I will work two.

If he work two,
I will work four.

If he will work four,
I will work eight.

Thus, to whatever extent he may perform,
I will perform double.'

Come forth then half-way, friend Pāṭika's son;
the Samaṇa Gotama has come all the first half
and is seated in your reverence's park for siesta."'

'Very good', said that man,
consenting,
and he went to the Tinduka Pollards,
the Wanderers' Park,
found Pāṭika's son,
and said this:

'We have come out, friend Pāṭika's son;
there are come out many distinguished Licchavis
and brahmins
and wealthy householders,
and various teachers among brahmins and recluses.

And the Samaṇa Gotama himself is sitting,
during siesta,
in your reverence's park.

You, friend Pāṭika's son,
have delivered this speech in the assembly at Vesalī:

"Both the Samaṇa Gotama and I
affirm that we have insight.

Now it becomes one
who affirms this
to show, in virtue of his insight,
mystic wonders,
by his extraordinary gifts.

If the Samaṇa Gotama would come half-way,
I would meet him half-way.

Then we could both work a mystic wonder
by our extraordinary gifts.

If the Samaṇa Gotama work one such mystic wonder,
I will work two.

If he work two,
I will work four.

If he will work four,
I will work eight.

Thus, to whatever extent he may perform,
I will perform double."

Come forth then half-way, friend Pāṭika's son;
the Samaṇa Gotama has come all the first half
and is seated in your reverence's park for siesta.'

When this was told him, Bhaggava,
the naked ascetic, Pāṭika's son, saying:

'I am coming, friend, I am coming,'
writhed about then and there
and was unable to rise from his seat.

Then said the man to him:

'How now, friend Pāṭika's son?

Are your hams stuck to your seat,
or is your seat stuck to your hams?

You [20] say:

"I am coming, friend, I am coming", yet you writhe about
and are not able to rise from your seat.'

And though this was said to him, Pāṭika's son repeated:

'I am coming, friend, I am coming,'
but only writhed about,
unable to rise.

Now when the man recognized Pāṭika's son's discomfiture,
hearing his words
and seeing his incapacity,
he went to the assembly
and told them, saying:

'The naked ascetic Pāṭika's son seems discomfited.

He says:

"I am coming, friend, I am coming,"
but he only writhes about as he sits
and is unable to get up.

At these words, Bhaggava,
I said to the assembly:

'Incompetent, friends, is the naked ascetic, Pāṭika's son,
to meet me face to face,
if he withdraw not those words,
if he put not away that idea,
if he renounce not that opinion.

If he thinks that,
holding to those words,
to that idea,
maintaining that opinion,
he would come to meet the Samaṇa Gotama,
his head would split asunder.'

Thereupon, Bhaggava, a certain councillor of the Licchavis
rose from his seat
and addressed the meeting:

'Well then, gentlemen,
wait a while till I go and see
whether I am able to bring the naked ascetic, Pāṭika's son,
to this assembly.'

Then that councillor went to the Tinduka Pollards,
the Wanderers' Park,
found Pāṭika's son
and summoned him to attend, saying:

'We have come out, friend Pāṭika's son;
there are come out many distinguished Licchavis
and brahmins
and wealthy householders,
and various teachers among brahmins and recluses.

And the Samaṇa Gotama himself is sitting,
during siesta,
in your reverence's park.

You, friend Pāṭika's son,
have delivered this speech in the assembly at Vesalī:

"Both the Samaṇa Gotama and I
affirm that we have insight.

Now it becomes one
who affirms this
to show, in virtue of his insight,
mystic wonders,
by his extraordinary gifts.

If the Samaṇa Gotama would come half-way,
I would meet him half-way.

Then we could both work a mystic wonder
by our extraordinary gifts.

If the Samaṇa Gotama work one such mystic wonder,
I will work two.

If he work two,
I will work four.

If he will work four,
I will work eight.

Thus, to whatever extent he may perform,
I will perform double."

Come forth then half-way, friend Pāṭika's son;
the Samaṇa Gotama has come all the first half
and is seated in your reverence's park for siesta.'

If you come
we will make you the victor,
and cause the Samaṇa Gotama to lose.'

When this was told him, Bhaggava,
the naked ascetic, Pāṭika's son, saying:

'I am coming, friend, I am coming,'
writhed about then and there
and was unable to rise from his seat.

Now when the councillor recognized the ascetic's discomfiture,
hearing his words
and seeing his incapacity,
he came to the meeting
and told them, saying:

'The naked ascetic, Pāṭika's son, seems discomfited.

[21] He says:

"I am coming, friend, I am coming,"
but he writhes about as he sits
and is unable to get up.'

And when he had thus said, Bhaggava,
I spake to the meeting
and told them again:

'Incompetent, friends, is the naked ascetic, Pāṭika's son,
to meet me face to face,
if he withdraw not those words,
if he put not away that idea,
if he renounce not that opinion.

If he thinks that,
holding to those words,
to that idea,
maintaining that opinion,
he would come to meet the Samaṇa Gotama,
his head would split asunder.

Even if it occurred to my noble friends the Licchavis:

"Let us bind Pāṭika's son with thongs and drag him hither with ox-yokes,"
Pāṭika's son would break those thongs.

Incompetent, friends, is the naked ascetic, Pāṭika's son,
to meet me face to face,
if he withdraw not those words,
if he put not away that idea,
if he renounce not that opinion.

If he thinks that,
holding to those words,
to that idea,
maintaining that opinion,
he would come to meet the Samaṇa Gotama,
his head would split asunder.'

Thereupon, Bhaggava, Jaliya,
pupil of Wooden-Bowl⁴⁷
rose from his seat
and spoke thus to the meeting:

'Well then, gentlemen,
wait awhile till I go and see whether I am able
to bring the naked ascetic, Pāṭika's son,
to this assembly.'

Then Bhaggava, Jaliya, Wooden-Bowl's pupil,
went to the Tinduka Pollards,
the Wanderers' Park,
found Pāṭika's son,
and summoned him to attend, saying:

'We have come out, friend Pāṭika's son;
there are come out many distinguished Licchavis
and brahmins
and wealthy householders,
and various teachers among brahmins and recluses.

And the Samaṇa Gotama himself is sitting,
during siesta,
in your reverence's park.

You, friend Pāṭika's son,
have delivered this speech in the assembly at Vesalī:

"Both the Samaṇa Gotama and I
affirm that we have insight.

Now it becomes one
who affirms this
to show, in virtue of his insight,
mystic wonders,
by his extraordinary gifts.

If the Samaṇa Gotama would come half-way,
I would meet him half-way.

Then we could both work a mystic wonder
by our extraordinary gifts.

If the Samaṇa Gotama work one such mystic wonder,
I will work two.

If he work two,
I will work four.

If he will work four,
I will work eight.

Thus, to whatever extent he may perform,
I will perform double."

Come forth then half-way, friend Pāṭika's son;
the Samaṇa Gotama has come all the first half
and is seated in your reverence's park for siesta.'

If you come
we will make you the victor,
and cause the Samaṇa Gotama to lose.'

When this was told him, Bhaggava,
the naked ascetic, Pāṭika's son, saying:

'I am coming, friend, I am coming,'
writhed about then and there
and was unable to rise from his seat.

Now when Jaliya, Wooden-Bowl's pupil,
recognized the ascetic's discomfiture,
he spake to him thus:

Long ago, friend Pāṭika's son,
this idea occurred to the lion,
king of the beasts:⁴⁸

"What if I were to make my lair near a certain jungle,
so that in the evening I could issue from my lair,
and stretch myself and survey the landscape,
and thrice roar a lion's roar,
and go forth towards the cattle pastures.

I could slay the pick of the herd of beasts,
feast on a continual diet of tender flesh,
and get me back to that same lair."

Then the lion, friend, made his lair near a certain jungle,
so that in the evening he could issue from his lair,
and stretch himself and survey the landscape,
and thrice roar a lion's roar,
and go forth towards the cattle pastures.

And he would slay the pick of the herd of beasts,
feast on a continual diet of tender flesh,
and get him back to that same lair.

Now, friend Pāṭika's son,
there was an old jackal
who had continually thriven
on the remains of that lion's food,
and was stout and strong,
and it occurred [22] to him:⁴⁹

"Who am I,
and who is Lion,
king of the beasts?

What if I were to choose my lair near a certain jungle,
so that in the evening I could issue from my lair,
and stretch myself and survey the landscape,
and thrice roar a lion's roar,
and go forth towards the cattle pastures?

I could slay the pick of the herd of beasts,
feast on a continual diet of tender flesh,
and get me back to that same lair."

Now, friend, that old jackal chose his lair
near a certain jungle,
and coming forth in the evening and stretching himself,
and surveying the landscape, he thought:

"Thrice will I roar a lion's roar",
and thereat he roared a jackal's howl,
a vulpine howl.

Would you compare a vile jackal's howl
with a lion's roar?⁵⁰

Even so, you, friend Pāṭika's son,
living among the exploits⁵¹ of the Wellfarer,
feeding on food left over after the Wellfarer has been served,
fancy you can reach up to those
who are⁵² Tathāgatas, Arahants, Buddhas Supreme!

Why, what have wretched Pāṭika's sons in common
with Tathāgatas, Arahants, Buddhas Supreme?'

Now since Jaliya, Bhaggava, was unable,
even by this parable,
to make the ascetic leave his seat,
he went on:

'The jackal on himself reflecting deemed:
"The lion I! I am the king of beasts!"
And so he roared — a puny jackal's whine.
For what is there in common 'twixt the twain —
The scurvy jackal and the lion's roar?

Even so do you, friend Pāṭika's son,
living among [23] the exploits of the Wellfarer,
feeding on the offerings set aside for the Wellfarer,
you fancy things that are to be set up
against Tathāgatas, Arahants, Buddhas Supreme.

Why, what have wretched Pāṭika's sons in common
with Tathāgatas, Arahants, Buddhas Supreme?'

Now, Bhaggava, since Jaliya was unable,
even by this parable,
to make the ascetic leave his seat,
he said this to him:

'Roaming the pleasant woods, seeing himself
Grown fat on scraps, until he sees himself no more,⁵³
"A tiger I!" the jackal deems himself.
But lo! he roars — a puny jackal's howl.
For what is there in common 'twixt the twain:
The scurvy jackal and the lion's roar?

Even so do you, friend Pāṭika's son,
living among the exploits of the Wellfarer,
feeding on food set aside for the Wellfarer,
fancy you can set yourself up
against Tathāgatas, Arahants, Buddhas Supreme!

Why, what have wretched Pāṭika's sons in common
with the Tathāgatas, Arahants, Buddhas Supreme?'

Now, Bhaggava, since Jaliya was unable,
even by this parable,
to make the ascetic leave his seat,
he went on thus:

'Feeding on frogs, on barn floor mice, and on
The corpses laid apart in charnel-field,
In the great forest, in the lonely wood
The jackal throve and fancied vain conceits:
"The lion, King of all the beasts am I!"
But when he roared — a puny jackal's whine.
For what is there in common 'twixt the twain —
The scurvy jackal and the lion's roar?

Even so you, friend Pāṭika's son,
living among the exploits of the Wellfarer,
feeding on food set aside for the Wellfarer,
fancy things that are to be set up
against Tathāgatas, Arahants, Buddhas [24] Supreme.

What have wretched Pāṭika's sons in common
with rivals of Tathāgatas, Arahants, Buddhas Supreme?'

Now, Bhaggava, since Jaliya was unable,
even by this parable,
to make the ascetic leave his seat,
he went back to the meeting and told them, saying:

'The naked ascetic, Pāṭika's son, seems discomfited.

He says:

"I am coming, friend, I am coming,"
but he writhes about as he sits,
and is unable to get up.'

And when he had thus said, Bhaggava,
I spake to the meeting as before:

'Incompetent, friends, is the naked ascetic, Pāṭika's son,
to meet me face to face,
if he withdraw not those words,
if he put not away that idea,
if he renounce not that opinion.

If he thinks that,
holding to those words,
to that idea,
maintaining that opinion,
he would come to meet the Samaṇa Gotama,
his head would split asunder.

If it occurred to my noble friends, the Licchavis:
"Let us bind Pāṭika's son with thongs
and drag him hither with ox-yokes,"
Pāṭika's son would break those thongs.

Incompetent, friends, is the naked ascetic, Pāṭika's son,
to meet me face to face,
if he withdraw not those words,
if he put not away that idea,
if he renounce not that opinion.

If he thinks that,
holding to those words,
to that idea,
maintaining that opinion,
he would come to meet the Samaṇa Gotama,
his head would split asunder.'

Thereupon, Bhaggava, I taught,
and incited,
and aroused,
and gladdened⁵⁴ that company
with religious discourse.

And when I had so done,
and had set them at liberty from the great bondage,⁵⁵
had drawn forth eighty-four thousand creatures from the great abyss,⁵⁶
I entered on jhāna
by the method of flame,
rose into the air to the height of seven palm trees,
projected a flame the height of another seven palm trees,
so that it blazed and glowed;
and then I reappeared in the Great Wood,
at the Gabled Hall.

§

Then, Bhaggava, Sunakkhatta, the Licchavi, came to call on me,
and saluting,
he sat down beside me.

To him, so sitting, I said:

'What think you of it, Sunakkhatta?

Has it fared with Pāṭika's son
as I declared unto you,
and not otherwise?'

'It has fared with him even as the lord, the Exalted One,
declared unto me,
and not otherwise.'

[25] 'What think you of it, Sunakkhatta?

If it be even so,
has a mystic wonder through superhuman gifts
been wrought,
or has none been wrought?'

'Verily, Sir, it being even so,
a mystic wonder through superhuman gifts
has been wrought indeed.'

'Even so do you,
you foolish man
say of me working mystic wonders by superhuman gifts:

"The lord, the Exalted One, works no mystic wonder
with his superhuman gifts."

Behold, O foolish man,
how far you have committed yourself.'

Thus, Bhaggava, did Sunakkhatta the Licchavi,
addressed by me,
depart from this Doctrine and Discipline,
as one doomed to disaster and to purgatory.

§

The ultimate beginning of things,⁵⁷ I know, Bhaggava,
and I know not only that,
but more than that.⁵⁸

And while I know that,
I do not pervert it.⁵⁹

And as one not perverting it,
I even of myself have understood that Peace,⁶⁰
the which realizing,
a Tathāgata can fall into no error.

There are, Bhaggava, certain recluses and brahmins
who declare it as their traditional doctrine,
that the beginning of things
was the work of an overlord,
of Brahmā.

To them have I gone and said:

'Is it indeed true
that the reverend teachers declare it as their traditional doctrine,
that the beginning of things
was the work of an overlord,
of Brahmā?'

And they, so questioned, have answered:

'Ay.'

And then I have said:

'But how do the reverend teachers declare
in their traditional opinion,
that the beginning of things
as the work of an overlord,
of Brahmā
was appointed?'

They, so asked by me,
were unable to go any further into that matter,
and in their confusion
they [26] asked it of me
as a counter-question.

To whom I, being asked,
have made answer:

'There comes a time,⁶¹ friends,
when, sooner or later,
after the lapse of a long epoch,
the world is dissolved and evolved.

When this takes place,
beings have mostly been reborn in the World of Radiance.

There they dwell,
made of mind,
feeding on rapture,
radiating light from themselves,
traversing space,
continuing in beauty,
and thus they remain —
for a long, long period of time.

Now there comes also a time, friends,
when, sooner or later,
this world-system begins to re-evolve.

When this happens,
the abode of the Brahmfis appears,
but it is empty.

And some being or other,
either because his span of years has passed,
or because his merit is exhausted,
deceases from that world of Radiance,⁶²
and comes to life in the abode of the Brahmins.

And there also he lives,
made of mind,
feeding on rapture,
radiating light from himself,
traversing space,
continuing in beauty;
and thus does he remain
for a long, long period of time.

Now there arises in him,
from his dwelling there so long alone,
a dissatisfaction and a longing:

"Oh, would that other beings too
might come to join me in this place!"

And just then,
either because their span of years had passed,
or because their merit was exhausted,
other beings fall from the world of Radiance
and appear in the abode of the Brahmas
as companions to him;
and in all respects,
they lead a life like his.

On this, friends,
that being who was first reborn
thinks thus:

"I am Brahmā,
the great Brahmā,
the Vanquisher,
the Unvanquished,
the All-Seeing,
the Disposer,
the Lord,
the Maker,
the Creator,
the Chief,
the Assigner,
Master of myself,
the Father of all that are
and are to be.⁶³

By me are these beings created.

[27] And why is that so?

A while ago I thought:

Would that other beings too
might come to this state of being!

Such was the aspiration of my mind,
and lo!
these beings did come."

And those beings themselves
who arose after him,
they too think thus:

"This worthy must be Brahmā,
the great Brahmā,
the Vanquisher,
the Unvanquished,
the All-Seeing,
the Disposer,
the Lord,
the Maker,
the Creator,
the Chief,
the Assigner,
Master of myself,
the Father of all that are
and are to be.

By this Brahmā have we,
good sirs, been created.

And why is that so?

Because he, as we see,
arose here first,
but we arose after him."

On this, friends,
that being who first arose
becomes longer lived,
handsomer,
and more powerful,
but those who appeared after him become shorter lived,
less comely,
less powerful.

And it might well be, friends,
that some other being,
on deceasing from that state,
should come to this state [on earth].

So come,
he might go forth
from the household life
into the homeless state.

And having thus gone forth,
by reason of ardour,
effort,
devotion,
earnestness,
perfected intellection,⁶⁴
he reaches up to such rapt concentration,
that with rapt mind
he calls to mind his former dwelling-place,
but remembers not what went before.

He says thus:

'That worshipful Brahmā, that great Brahmā,
the Vanquisher,
the Unvanquished,
the All-Seeing,
the Disposer,
the Lord,
the Maker,
the Creator,
the Chief,
the Assigner,
Master of myself,
the Father of all that are
and are to be,
he by whom we were created,
he is permanent,
constant,
eternal,
unchanging,
and he will remain so for ever and ever.

But we who were created by that Brahmā,
we have come hither
all impermanent,
transient,
unstable,
short-lived,
destined to pass away.'"

Thus was appointed the beginning of things
which ye, sirs, declare
as your traditional doctrine;
to wit,
that it has been wrought by an overlord,
by Brahmā.' [28]

And they have said:

'Even so have we heard, friend Gotama,
as the reverend Gotama has told us.'

But I, Bhaggava,
know the beginning of things
and I know not only that,
but more than that.

And while I know that,
I do not pervert it.

And as one not perverting it,
I even of myself have understood that Peace,
the which realizing,
a Tathāgata can fall into no error.

§

There are, Bhaggava, certain recluses and brahmins
who declare it as their doctrine,
that the beginning of things
was owing to a debauch of pleasure.⁶⁵

To them have I gone and said:

'Is it indeed true that the reverend teachers
declare it as their doctrine,
that the beginning of things
was owing to a debauch of pleasure?'

And they, so questioned, have answered,

'Ay.'

And then have I said:

'But how do the reverend teachers
declare in their traditional opinion,
that the beginning of things
as being due to a debauch of pleasure
was appointed?'

They, so asked by me,
were unable to go any further into that matter,
and in their confusion
they asked it of me instead
as a counter-question.

To them, I, on being asked,
have made reply:

'There are, friends,
certain spirits called the Debauched-by-Pleasure.

For ages they pass their time
in mirth and sport of sensual lusts.

In consequence thereof
their self-control is corrupted,
and thereby those devas
decease from that state.

Now it might well be, friends,
that some being or other,
on deceasing from that state,
should come hither,
and that, having come hither,
he should go forth from the household life
into the homeless state.

As a recluse he might,
by reason of ardour,
effort,
devotion,
earnestness,
perfected intellection,
he reach up to such rapt concentration,
that with rapt mind
he acquire the power of recollecting his previous birth,
but not what preceded it.⁶⁶

And he would say to himself:

"Those worshipful spirits
who are not debauched-by-pleasure,
they have not,
for ages, passed their time
in the mirth and sport of sensual lusts.

Hence is their self-control not corrupted.

Hence they decease not from their estate,
but are [29] permanent,
constant,
eternal,
unchanging,
and will so remain for ever and ever.

But we who were pleasure-debauched,
we did pass our time for ages
in the mirth and sport of sensual lusts,
whereby our self-control became corrupted,
so that we deceased from that estate,
and are come to this form of life
impermanent,
transient,
unstable,
short-lived,
deciduous."

Thus was appointed the beginning of things
which ye declare
as being due to a debauch of pleasure.

And they have said:

'Even so have we heard, friend Gotama,
as the reverend Gotama has told us.'

But I, Bhaggava, know the beginning of things
and I know not only that,
but more than that.

And while I know that,
I do not pervert it.

And as one not perverting it,
I even of myself have understood that Peace,
the which realizing,
a Tathāgata can fall into no error.

§

There are, Bhaggava, certain recluses and brahmins,
who declare as their traditional doctrine,
that the beginner of things
was owing to a debauch of mind.

To these have I gone and said:

'Is it indeed true
that the reverend teachers declare it as their traditional doctrine,
that the beginning of things
was owing to a debauch of mind?'

And they, so questioned, have answered:

'Ay.'

And then have I said:

'But how do the reverend teachers declare,
in their opinion,
that the beginning of things
as being due to a debauch of mind
was appointed?'

They, so asked by me,
were unable to go any further into that matter,
and in their confusion
they asked it of me instead
as a counter-question.

To whom I, being asked,
have made answer:

'There are, friends,
certain spirits called the Debauched-in-Mind.⁶⁷

For ages they burn with mutual envy;
hence their thoughts regarding each other
become depraved.

Hence their bodies become feeble
and their minds imbecile.

They decease from that estate.

Now it might well be, friends,
that some being or other,
deceasing from that estate,
should come hither,
and being hither come,
should go forth from the household life
into the homeless state.

As a recluse [30] he might,
by reason of ardour,
effort,
devotion,
earnestness,
perfected intellection,
reach up to such rapt concentration,
that with rapt mind
he acquire the power of recollecting his previous birth,
but not what preceded it.

And he would say to himself:

"Those worshipful devas
who are not debauched in mind,
they have not for ages
been burning with mutual envy.

Hence their thoughts regarding each other
have not become depraved.

Hence have their bodies not become feeble,
nor their minds imbecile.

Those devas decease not from that estate,
but are permanent,
constant,
eternal,
unchanging
and will so remain for ever and ever.

But we who were debauched in mind,
we did pass the time for ages
burning with mutual envy,
whereby our thoughts about each other became depraved,
our bodies feeble,
our minds imbecile.

And we have deceased from that estate
and are come hither,
impermanent,
transient,
unstable,
short-lived,
deciduous."

Thus was appointed the beginning of things
which ye declare
as being due to debauch of mind.'

And they have said:

'Even so have we heard, friend Gotama,
as the reverend Gotama has told us.'

But I, Bhaggava, know the beginnings of things
and I know not only that,
but more than that.

And while I know that,
I do not pervert it.

And as one not perverting it,
I even of myself have understood that Peace,
the which realizing,
a Tathāgata can fall into no error.

§

There are, Bhaggava, certain recluses and brahmins,
who declare it as their doctrine,
that the beginning of things was by chance.⁶⁸

To them have I gone and said:

'Is it indeed true that the reverend teachers
declare it as their traditional doctrine,
that the beginning of things was by chance?

And they, so questioned, have answered:

"Ay."'

Then have I said to them:

'But how do the reverend teachers declare
that the beginning of things by chance,
which you teach,
was appointed?'

They, so asked by me,
were unable to go any further into that matter,
and in their confusion
they asked it of me instead
as a counter-question.

To whom, I, being asked,
have made answer:

'There are, friends,
certain spirits called Unconscious [31] Beings.⁶⁹

As soon as an idea occurs to them
they decease from that estate.

Now it may well be, friends,
that some being or other
having so deceased,
comes to this form of life,
and so come,
goes forth from the household life
into the homeless state.

As a recluse he,
by reason of ardour,
effort,
devotion,
earnestness,
perfected intellection,
he reach up to such rapt concentration,
that with rapt mind
he acquire the power of recollecting his previous birth,
but not what preceded it.

And he would say to himself:

"Fortuitous in origin
are the soul and the world.

And why so?

Because formerly I was not,
now, having non-existed,
I am changed into being."

Thus was appointed the beginning of things
as being due to chance,
which you venerable teachers declare as your doctrine.'

And they have said:

'Even so have we heard, friend Gotama,
as the reverend Gotama has told us.'

But I, Bhaggava, know the beginning of things,
and I know not only that,
but more than that.

And knowing it,
I do not pervert it

And not perverting it,
I, even of myself,
have understood that Peace
which, realizing,
a Tathāgata can fall into no error.

§

Now I, Bhaggava, being of such an opinion,
certain recluses and brahmins have falsely,
emptily,
mendaciously
and unfairly accused me, saying:

'Gotama, the recluse, is all wrong,⁷⁰
and so are his bhikkhus.

He has said:

"Whenever one has attained to the stage of deliverance,⁷¹
entitled the Beautiful,
one then considers all things as repulsive."

[32] But this, Bhaggava, I have not said.

What I do say is this:

'Whenever one attains to the stage of deliverance,
entitled the Beautiful,
one is then aware
'Tis lovely!'"

"But it is they, lord,
that are all wrong,
who impute to the Exalted One
and to his bhikkhus,
that they err.

So delighted am I with the Exalted One
that I believe he is able so to teach me
that I may attain to
and remain in
the stage of deliverance,
entitled the Beautiful."

"Hard is it, Bhaggava, for you,
holding, as you do, different views,
other things approving themselves to you,
you setting different aims before yourself,
striving after a different aim,
trained in a different system,⁷²
to attain to
and abide in
the deliverance that is beautiful.

Look therefore to it, Bhaggava,
that you foster well
this faith of yours in me."

"If, Sir, it be hard for me,
holding different views,
other things approving themselves to me,
I setting different aims before myself,
striving after a different aim,
trained in a different system,
to attain to
and abide in
the deliverance that is beautiful,
then will I, at least,
foster well my faith in the Exalted One."

These things spake the Exalted One.

And Bhaggavagotta, the Wanderer,
pleased in heart,
took delight in his words.⁷³

The Pāṭika Suttanta is ended.

¹ Above, I, 272-279.

² Journal of the Manchester Oriental Society, 191 5.

³ Above, I, 278.

⁴ Vinaya II, 112; translated in Vinaya Texts III, 81.

⁵ Sat. Br. (S.B.E.) III, 4, i, 3, 6, 8.

⁶ See the passages referred to above, II, 208-311.

⁷ Majjhima I, 245. Cf. Pss. of the Sisters, p. 130.

⁸ Ye 1oke arahanto. See Saṃyutta II, 220.

⁹ See above, Vol. I, p. 141.

¹⁰ Majjhima III, 76. Comp. Saṃyutta III, 161; I, 175- 252.

¹¹ P. 198 f.

¹² See R.O. Franke in Appendix II to his Dīgha Nikāya (Leipzig, 1913), a translation into German of selected portions of the Dīgha.

¹³ Vol. II, p. 167.

¹⁴ Dīgha III, 76.

¹⁵ For examples of lay Arahants see Vinaya, I, 17; Saṃyutta V, 94[?]; Aṇguttara III, 451; Kathā Vatthu 267. Compare the Comy. on Theragāthā (Pss. of the Brethren, 234, a boy seven years old), and on Therī-Gāthā 64 (a girl seven years old); Dhp. Comy. I, 308; Jāt. II, 229; Milinda II, 57, 96, 245.

¹⁶ Majjhima I, 483.

¹⁷ Saṃyutta I, 169, 200; III, 83 f.; Sutta-Nipāta 186, 590; Udāna I, 5; Sum. Vil. I, 43; and the passages quoted above, II, 1-3.

¹⁸ It appears from the passages quoted above (Vol. I, p. 199) that this dialogue was supposed to have taken place only shortly before the Buddha's death. The Burmese MSS. spell the name Pāṭhika, apparently holding this man to be identical with the Ājivaka ascetic named Pāṭhika of Dhp. Comy. I, 376.

¹⁹ Cf. Vin Texts III, 224; Ud. II, § 10; Dhp. Comy. I, 133.

²⁰ Literally, the wanderer who belonged to the Bhaggava gotta, or gens, a wider term than family. His personal name was Channa (Cf. Sum. Vil. 35?). He should not be confounded with another Wanderer of the same gotta settled in Magadha who is said, in the Therīgāthā Comy. (p. 2), Pss. of the Sisters (p. 4), to have been Gotama's first teacher. It will be seen that in accordance with the rule of courtesy explained above (I, 195), Gotama addresses the Wanderer by his gotta, not by his mū1a-nāma.

²¹ Pariyāyam akāsi. The exact meaning of this idiom is uncertain. See the note above, I, 245.

²² His story is sketched above (I, 199).

²³ Literally, being who, whom do you give up? that is, considering your want of position in the matter, how can you so talk? So also at M., I, 428.

²⁴ Yāvañ ca te idaṃ aparaddhaṃ. See D. II, 198; M. III, 169.

²⁵ Iddhi-pāṭihāriya. See above, I, 272-9, for a statement of the doctrine on mystic wonders.

²⁶ Na ... aggaññan paññapeti. Aggañña, meaning priority in time, space or merit, is by the Comy. defined here as loka-paññatti, revelation of the world, and, in the Aggañña Suttanta below, as lokuppatti, the genesis of the world.

²⁷ Vajji-gāme, literally, in the village — i.e., says the Comy. of the Vajjian-rājas (free men) at Vesālī.

²⁸ The following three paragraphs are the stock passages for the description of a Buddha, his Dhamma, and his Saṇgha respectively. See A. VI, 57; S. IV, 41 etc.

²⁹ Sugata. It is curious that this, after Buddha, the awakened, should be the epithet most frequently used as a name of the founder of Buddhism. That is so, both in the ancient texts and in the more modern commentaries. See above, II, 242-5, 265. See also below, Chap. II, § 7 f.; Suttanta XXXI, § 6 etc.; Sutta-Nipāta Comy. I, 43.

³⁰ We judge that while the word deva is applicable also to conceptions of divinity, its essential meaning, in Indian literature, is rather that of other-world nature than of superhuman nature. We in the next world are deva's. Spirit alone can roughly and inadequately parallel this wide denotation. See I, 115, n 1.

³¹ The definitions of akālika by Buddhaghosa elsewhere and Dhammapāla hardly justify our previous renderings of this word. See Kindred Sayings, I, 15, n. 2; Pss. of the Brethren, 314, n. 1.

³² Ehi-passiko: come-see-ish.

³³ The branches are brethren and sisters, laymen and lay-women. The eight classes refer to the four Paths and four stages of Fruition — i.e., the spiritual condition of the four branches.

³⁴ Kora-khattiyo kukkura-vatiko. Buddhaghosa explains kora as a nickname, having the feet turned in. See M. I, 387; Netti 99; Jāt. I, 389, and compare Rh. D.'s Buddhist India, 245.

³⁵ Catukuṇṭiko as in M. I, 79. The Comy. reads catu-konṭḥiko, which it paraphrases by catusanghaṭhito, and explains by walks, resting the knees and elbows on the earth.

³⁶ The Comy. paraphrases by mā aññassa arahattan hotūti — May no one else (except me and mine) be Arahants. Arahant in common non-Buddhist usage was simply holy man. (Dhp.A. 1. 400; Psalms of the Sisters, 130).

³⁷ Alasakena: is this a negative of lasikā, the synovial fluid (p. 100)?

³⁸ On these see Vol. II, p. 289:

The Kalakanjas all
Of fearsome shape. ...

³⁹ It may be interesting to mention the Commentator's suspended judgment on this weird occurrence: A corpse is not capable of rising up and speaking. It spoke by the power of the Buddha, The Exalted One either brought back Kora the Khattiya from the Asura-womb (or form of birth, yoni), or he made the body speak. For the range of a Buddha is incalculable.

⁴⁰ Five miracles, reckons the Comy.: The date of death foretold; the illness; the rebirth; the birana-bier indicated; the speaking corpse.

⁴¹ The MSS. give the name also as Ka1āra - and Kaḷāra-maṭṭaka and -maṭṭhaka and -maṭṭhuka and -masukha, but it has not, so far, been met with elsewhere.

⁴² Āsādimhase. Comy. āsādiyimhase, āsādiyimha, ghaṭṭayimha Dhammapāla paraphrases the word āhari with this verb. See Psalms of the Brethren, pp. 387, n. 3, 419.

⁴³ Seven mystic wonders, says the Comy. — viz., of prophecy: one for each of the seven rules broken by the ascetic, as predicted.

⁴⁴ In Jāt. I, 389, the Buddha is said to have been staying in Pāṭika's Park, during the Kora episode. Cf. also Jāt. 1, 77.

⁴⁵ He might, explains the Comy., assume an invisible or the shape of a lion, or tiger, etc.

⁴⁶ Necayikā; nicaya, storing up. Ang. v, 149, 364. Neither at D. I, 136, nor here does Buddhaghosa give any help.

⁴⁷ See Dialogues I, 202.

⁴⁸ Not without interest is the commentator's remark: There are four kinds of Lions — the grass lion, the black, the tawny, and the hairy (kesava) lion. The last is the greatest and is the kind here meant.

⁴⁹ Because of his asnii-māno is the comment — his I-am conceit.

⁵⁰ On the idiom ke ca ... ke ca (Cf. M. III, 209) the Comy. has ko ca ... ko pana ... sigālassa ca sihanādassa ko sambandho ti adhippāyo. The Papañca Sūdani has no corresponding comment.

⁵¹ Comy. — i.e. on the lakkhaṇa's, on the religious achievements of the Sugata in the threefold training.

⁵² Āsādetabban. Comy.: This term covering many things is spoken as if there were but one.

⁵³ The reading is here very uncertain.

⁵⁴ On this formula Cf. Kindred Sayings I, 140, n. 4.

⁵⁵ Of the Kilesa's. Comy.: Cf. Bud. Psych. Ethics, p. 327.

⁵⁶ Mahāvidugga — i.e. of the four Floods. Comy. Cf. A. I, 35, nadī-vidugga.

⁵⁷ Aggañña — i.e. according to the Comy., lokuppatticariyavaṃsa: the history of the genesis and course of the world. See above p. 9, n. 1.

⁵⁸ Uttaritara — i.e. starting from virtue and concentration, I know even up to omniscient insight. Comy.

⁵⁹ By way of craving, opinion and conceit. Comy.

⁶⁰ Nibbuti, which Buddhaghosa explains by ki1esa-nibbāna.

⁶¹ Cf. Vol. I, p. 30.

⁶² This, the Abhassara-devaloka, ranked, in the cosmogony adopted (or put forth) by Buddhism, as the third celestial stage above that of the Great Brahmā devaloka.

⁶³ See Vol. I, pp. 31, 281.

⁶⁴ Sammā-manasikāran — a rare compound of two familiar terms.

⁶⁵ Khiḍḍā-padūsika-mūlakan. Comy.: Cf. Part I, p. 32; Part II, p. 291.

⁶⁶ This is told verbatim as the preceding episode, § 17. Compare also above Vol. I, pp. 32, 33.

⁶⁷ Cf. Vol. I, p. 33, n. 1.

⁶⁸ Cf. Vol. I, p. 41: Fortuitous Originists.

⁶⁹ To these Asaññasattā were assigned a celestial realm in the Rūpaloka only below the highest (Akaniṭṭha) and the next below that (the Pure Abodes). See Compendium of Philosophy (Pali Text Soc, 1910), pp. 136, 142, 167. The exceptional nature of these beings, figuring in the Rūpaloka, where, at least, sight, hearing, and mind were ascribed to the variously staged denizens, affords a fertile field for the quasilogical exercises of the Yamaka catechisms — e.g. the Khandha, Āyatana, Yamakas, etc. — q.v. (P.T.S., 1911); below, 244, n. 1.

⁷⁰ Viparīta, literally who has gone the wrong way.

⁷¹ The third stage, see p. 119 of Part II, where subhan ti is rendered 'It is well.' We have no word exactly rendering subha, lit. that which is pleasing to the eye; asubha being anything repulsive or ugly. Buddhaghosa calls this stage the colour- (or beauty-) artifice — vaṇṇakasiṇaṃ.

⁷² Cf. Vol. I, 254. The Comy. refers also to this parallel in the Potthapada Suttanta.

⁷³ Buddhaghosa judges that this was merely affected appreciation. But we are not told anything of the later history of this man.

25. The Lion's Roar to the Udumbarikans:
ON ASCETICISM

Udumbarikā Sīhanāda Suttantaṃ

[33]

THUS HAVE I HEARD.

The Exalted One was once staying near Rājagaha, on the Vulture's Peak.

Now at that time
there was sojourning in Queen Udumbarikā's Park
assigned to the Wanderers,
the Wanderer Nigrodha,¹
together with a great company of Wanderers,
even three thousand.

Now the householder Sandhāna
went forth in the afternoon
from Rājagaha,
to call on the Exalted One.

Then it occurred to him:

"It is not timely to call just now on the Exalted One;
he will be in retirement.

Nor is it the hour for calling on the brethren
who are practising mind-culture;
they will be in retirement.

What if I were to go to Udumbarikā's Park
and find out Nigrodha, the Wanderer?

And Sandhāna did so.

2. Now at that time Nigrodha the Wanderer
was seated with his large company,
all talking with loud voices,
with noise and clamour,
carrying on childish² [34] talk of various kinds,
to wit:

Tales of kings,
robbers,
and state officials;
tales of armies,
panics,
and battles;
talk about foods and drinks,
and clothes,
beds,
garlands,
and perfumes;
talk about relatives;
talk about carriages,
villages,
towns,
cities,
and countries;
talk about women,³
talk of heroes;
gossip from street-corners
and the places for drawing water;
ghost-stories:
desultory talk;
speculative talk on the world and the sea;
on existence and non-existence.

3. And Nigrodha the Wanderer
saw the householder Sandhāna approaching in the distance,
and called his own company to order,
saying:

"Be still, sirs, and make no noise.

Here is a disciple of the Samaṇa Gotama coming,
the householder Sandhāna.

Whatever white-robed lay disciples of Gotama
there be dwelling at Rājagaha,
this Sandhāna is one of them.

Now these good gentlemen
delight in quiet;
they are trained in quiet;
they speak in praise of quiet.

How well it were
if seeing how quiet the assembly is,
he should see fit to join us.

And when he spake thus,
the Wanderers kept silence.

§

4. Now the householder Sandhāna came on
to where Nigrodha the Wanderer was,
and exchanged with him
the greetings and compliments of civility and courtesy,
and sat down beside him.

So seated, Sandhāna said to Nigrodha:

"Different is the way
in which these reverend Wanderers,
holding views of their own,
talk when they have met
and are come together,
from the practice of the Exalted One.

They talk with loud voices,
with noise and clamour,
carrying on childish [35] talk of vanous kinds, to wit:

Tales of kings,
robbers,
and state officials;
tales of armies,
panics,
and battles;
talk about foods and drinks,
and clothes,
beds,
garlands,
and perfumes;
talk about relatives;
talk about carriages,
villages,
towns,
cities,
and countries;
talk about women,
talk of heroes;
gossip from street-corners
and the places for drawing water;
ghost-stories:
desultory talk;
speculative talk on the world and the sea;
on existence and non-existence.

But the Exalted One haunts the lonely and remote recesses of the forest,
where noise,
where sound there hardly is,
where the breezes from the pastures blow,⁴
yet which are hidden from the eyes of men,
suitable for self-communing."

5. And when Sandhāna had spoken,
Nigrodha to him made answer:

"Look you now, householder,
know you with whom the Samaṇa Gotama talks?

With whom he holds conversation?

By intercourse with whom
does he attain to lucidity in wisdom?⁵

The Samaṇa Gotama's insight is ruined
by his habit of seclusion.

He is not at home
in conducting an assembly.

He is not ready in conversation.

He is occupied only
with the fringes of things.⁶

Even as a one-eyed cow
that, walking in a circles
follows only the outskirts,
so is the Samaṇa Gotama.

Why forsooth, householder,
if the Samaṇa Gotama were to come to this assembly,
with a single question only
could we settle him;
yea, methinks we could roll him over
like an empty pot."

§

6. Now the Exalted One heard
with his clairaudient sense of hearing,
pure, and surpassing that of man,
this conversation between Sandhāna the householder
and Nigrodha the Wanderer.

And descending [36] from the Vulture's Peak,
he came to the Peacocks' Feeding-ground
on the bank of the Sumāgadha⁷
and there walked to and fro
in the open air.

Then Nigrodha saw him thus walking,
and on seeing him
he called his company to order, saying:

"Be still, sirs, and make no noise.

The Samaṇa Gotama is walking to and fro in the open air
at the Peacocks' Feeding-ground,
by the bank of the Sumāgadha.

Now this good gentleman delights in quiet,
speaks in praise of quiet;
how well it were
if, seeing how quiet the assembly is,
he should see fit to join us.

If the Samaṇa Gotama should come to this assembly,
we might ask him this question:

'What, lord, is this religion of the Exalted one
wherein he trains his disciples,
and which those disciples,
so trained by the Exalted One as to win comfort,
acknowledge to be their utmost support
and the fundamental principle of righteousness?'"⁸

When he had said this
the Wanderers kept silence.

7. Then the Exalted One went up to Nigrodha the Wanderer,
and Nigrodha spake thus to him:

"Let the lord the Exalted One approach.

Welcome is the lord the Exalted One!

Long has the lord the Exalted One taken
ere deciding on this step
of coming hither.

May it please the lord the Exalted One
to take a seat.

Here is one ready."

The Exalted One sat down on the seat made ready,
and Nigrodha, taking a low seat,
sat beside him.

To him so seated
the Exalted One spake thus:

"On what talk, Nigrodha,
are ye here and now engaged
as ye sit together,
and what conversation between you
have I interrupted?"

Thereupon Nigrodha replied to the Exalted One and said:

"Lord, we have just seen the Exalted [37] One
walking in the open air
at the Peacocks' Feeding-ground,
by the Sumāgadha,
and seeing him thus, we said:

'If the Samaṇa Gotama should come to this assembly,
we could ask him this question:

"What, lord, is this religion of the Exalted one
wherein he trains his disciples,
and which those disciples,
so trained by the Exalted One as to win comfort,
acknowledge to be their utmost support
and the fundamental principle of righteousness?"'"

"Difficult is it, Nigrodha,
for one of another view,
of another persuasion,
of another confession,
without practice and without teaching,
to understand that wherein I train my disciples,
and which they,
so trained as to win comfort,
acknowledge to be their utmost support
and the fundamental principle of righteousness.

Come now, Nigrodha,
ask me a question about your own doctrine,
about austere scrupulousness of life:⁹
in what does the fulfilment,
in what does the non-fulfilment
of these self-mortifications consist?"

When he had said this,
the Wanderers exclaimed loudly,
with noise and clamour:

"Wonderful, sir!

Marvellous is it, sir,
the great gifts and powers of the Samaṇa Gotama
in withholding his own theories
and inviting the discussion
of those of others!"

§

8. Then Nigrodha bade the Wanderers be quiet,
and spake thus to the Exalted One:

"We, lord, profess self-mortifying austerities;
we hold them to be essential;
we cleave to them.

In what, Lord, does the fulfilment,
in what does the non-fulfilment of them
consist?"

§

"Suppose, Nigrodha,ed1 that an ascetic¹⁰ goes naked,
is of certain loose habits,
licks his hands,
respects no 'Approach, sir',
nor 'Stop, sir';
accepts nothing expressly brought,
nor expressly prepared,
nor any invitations.

He accepts nothing
taken from mouth of cooking-pot,
nor placed within the threshould,
nor within a mortar,
[38] nor among sticks,
nor within a quern;
nor anything from two eating together,
nor from a pregnant woman,
nor from a nursing mother,
nor from a woman in intercourse with a man,
nor food collected in drought,
nor from where a dog is,
nor from where flies are swarming,
nor will he accept fish or meat,
nor drink strong drink,
or intoxicants,
or gruel.

He is either a one-houser,
a one-mouthful man;
or a two-houser,
a two-mouthful man;
or a three-houser,
a three-mouthful man;
or a four-houser,
a four-mouthful man;
or a five-houser,
a five-mouthful man;
or a six-houser,
a six-mouthful man;
or a seven-houser,
a seven-mouthful man.

He maintains himself on one alms,
or he maintains himself on two alms,
or he maintains himself on three alms,
or he maintains himself on four alms,
or he maintains himself on five alms,
or he maintains himself on six alms,
or he maintains himself on seven alms.

He takes food once a day,
or he takes food once every two days,
or he takes food once every three days,
or he takes food once every four days,
or he takes food once every five days,
or he takes food once every six days,
or he takes food once every seven days.

Thus does he dwell addicted
to the practice of taking food
according to rule,
at regular intervals,
up to even half a month.

He feeds either on potherbs,
or wild rice,
or nivara seeds,
or leather parings,
or on hata,
or on the powder in rice rusks,
on rice-scum,
on flour of oil-seeds,
on grasses,
on cowdung,
on fruits and roots from the woods,
or on windfalls.

He wears coarse hempen cloth,
coarse mixture cloth,
discarded corpse-cloths,
discarded rags,
or tirita-bark cloth;
or again,
he wears antelope-hide,
or strips of the same netted,
or kusa-fibre,
or bark garments,
or shale cloth,
or a human-hair blanket,
or a horse-hair blanket,
or an owl's-feather garment.

He is a hair-and-beard plucker,
addicted to the practice
of plucking out both;
a stander-up;
a croucher on heels,
addicted to exerting himself
(to move forward) when thus squatting;
a bed-of-thorns man,
putting iron spikes or thorns on his couch;
he uses a plank-bed;
sleeps on the ground;
sleeps only on one side;
is a dust-and-dirt wearer
and an open-air man;
a where-you-will sitter;
a filth-eater,
addicted to the practice of eating such;
a non-drinker,
addicted to the practice
of never drinking (cold water);
an evening-for-third-time-man
addicted to the practice
of going down into water thrice a day.

What think you, Nigrodha?

If these things be so,
is the austerity of self-mortification carried out,
or is it not?"

"Truly, lord, if these things be so,
the austerity of self-mortification is carried out,
and not the contrary."

§

"Now I, Nigrodha, affirm
that austerity by self- [39] mortification,
thus carried out,
involves blemish¹¹
in several ways."

"In what way, lord,
do you affirm
that blemish ts involved?"

"In case, Nigrodha,
when an ascetic undertakes a course of austerity,
he, through that course,
becomes self-complacent,
his aim is satisfied.¹²

Now this, Nigrodha,
becomes a blemish in the ascetic.

And then again, Nigrodha,
when an ascetic undertakes a course of austerity,
he, through that undertaking,
exalts himself and despises others.

This, too, becomes a blemish in the ascetic.

And again, Nigrodha,
when an ascetic undertakes a course of austerity,
he, through that undertaking,
becomes inebriated and infatuated,
and grows careless.

This, too, becomes a blemish in the ascetic.

And again, Nigrodha,
when an ascetic undertakes a course of austerity,
it procures for him
gifts, attention, and fame.

Thereby he becomes complacent
and his aim is satisfied.

This, too, becomes a blemish in the ascetic.

And again, Nigrodha,
by the winning of gifts, attentions, and fame,
the ascetic exalts himself
and despises others.

This, too, becomes a blemish in the ascetic.

And again, Nigrodha,
by the winning of gifts, attentions, and fame,
he becomes inebriated and infatuated,
and grows careless.

This, too, becomes a blemish in the ascetic.

And again, Nigrodha,
when an ascetic undertakes a course of austerity,
he comes to make a distinction¹³ in [40] foods, saying:

'This suits me;
this doesn't suit me.'

The latter kind he deliberately rejects.

Over the former
he waxes greedy and infatuated,
and cleaves to them,
seeing not the danger in them,
discerning them not as unsafe,
and so enjoys them.

This, too, becomes a blemish in the ascetic.

And again, Nigrodha,
because of his longing for gifts, attentions and fame,
he thinks:

'Rājas will pay me attentions,
and so will their officials;
so, too, will nobles,
brahmins,
householders
and founders of schools.'

This, too, becomes a blemish in the ascetic.

And again, Nigrodha,
an ascetic gets grumbling
at some recluse or brahmin,
saying:

'That man lives on all sorts of things:
things grown from tubers,
or shoots,
or berries,
or joints,
or fifthly, from seeds,¹⁴
munching them all up together
with that wheel-less thunderbolt of a jawbone -
and they call him a holy man!'¹⁵

This, too, becomes a blemish in the ascetic.

And again, Nigrodha,
an ascetic sees a certain recluse or brahmin
receiving attentions;
being revered,
honoured
and presented with offerings
by the citizens.

And seeing this he thinks:

'The citizens pay attentions to this fellow
who lives in luxury;
they revere and honour him,
and present him with offerings,
while to me
who, as ascetic,
live a really austere life,
they pay no attentions,
nor reverence,
nor honour,
nor offerings!'

And so he cherishes envy and grudging
at the citizens.

This, too, becomes a blemish in the ascetic.

And again, Nigrodha,
an ascetic becomes one
who sits in public.¹⁶

This, too, becomes a blemish in the ascetic.

[41] And again, Nigrodha, the ascetic,
when on his round for alms among the people,
slinks along furtively¹⁷
as if to say:

'This is part of my austerity;
this is part of my austerity.'

This, too, becomes a blemish in the ascetic.

And again, Nigrodha,
the ascetic affects the mysterious.

When asked:

'Do you approve of this?'

he, not approving, says:

'I do,'

or approving, says:

'I do not.'

Thus he consciously tells untruths.

This, too, becomes a blemish in the ascetic.

12. And again, Nigrodha,
when the Tathāgata,
or a disciple of the Tathāgata,
teaching the Norm,
uses a method worthy of appreciation,
the ascetic does not appreciate it.

This, too, becomes a blemish in the ascetic.

And again, Nigrodha,
the ascetic is liable to lose his temper
and bear enmity.

This, too, becomes a blemish in the ascetic.

And again, Nigrodha,
the ascetic is liable to be hypocritical.

This, too, becomes a blemish in the ascetic.

And again, Nigrodha,
the ascetic is liable to be deceitful.

This, too, becomes a blemish in the ascetic.

And again, Nigrodha,
the ascetic is liable to be envious and grudging.

This, too, becomes a blemish in the ascetic.

And again, Nigrodha,
the ascetic is liable to be cunning and crafty.

This, too, becomes a blemish in the ascetic.

And again, Nigrodha,
the ascetic is liable to be hard-hearted and vain.

This, too, becomes a blemish in the ascetic.

And again, Nigrodha,
the ascetic is liable to entertain evil wishes
and becomes captive to them.

This, too, becomes a blemish in the ascetic.

And again, Nigrodha,
the ascetic is liable to entertain false opinions.

This, too, becomes a blemish in the ascetic.

And again, Nigrodha,
the ascetic is liable to be become possessed of metempirical dogma¹⁸.

This, too, becomes a blemish in the ascetic.

And again, Nigrodha,
the ascetic is liable to misinterpret his experience;¹⁹.

This, too, becomes a blemish in the ascetic.

And again, Nigrodha,
the ascetic is liable to be avaricious
and adverse from renunciation.

This, too, becomes a blemish in the ascetic.

What think you of this, Nigrodha?

Are these things blemishes
in the austerities of self-mortification,
or are they not?"

"Verily, lord, these things are blemishes
in the austerities of self-mortification.

It is possible, lord, that an ascetic
may be possessed even of all these blemishes,
much more by one or other of them."

§

13. "Now take the opposite case, Nigrodha:
an [42] ascetic undertakes a course of austerity.

Through that course
he does not become self-complacent,
nor are his aims fulfilled.

This being so, he is to that degree purified.

And then again, Nigrodha,
when an ascetic undertakes a course of austerity,
he, through that undertaking,
does not exalt himself and despise others.²⁰

This being so, he is to that degree purified.

And again, Nigrodha,
when an ascetic undertakes a course of austerity,
he, through that undertaking,
does not become inebriated and infatuated,
and grow careless.

This being so, he is to that degree purified.

And again, Nigrodha,
when an ascetic undertakes a course of austerity,
it procures for him
gifts, attention, and fame.

He thereby does not becomes complacent
and his aim is not satisfied.

This being so, he is to that degree purified.

And again, Nigrodha,
by the winning of gifts, attentions, and fame,
the ascetic does not exalt himself
and despise others.

This being so, he is to that degree purified.

And again, Nigrodha,
by the winning of gifts, attentions, and fame,
he does not become inebriated and infatuated,
and grow careless.

This being so, he is to that degree purified.

And again, Nigrodha,
when an ascetic undertakes a course of austerity,
he does not come to make a distinction in foods, saying:

'This suits me;
this doesn't suit me.'

He does not deliberately reject the latter.

Over the former
he does not wax greedy and infatuated,
and cleave to them,
seeing not the danger in them,
discerning them not as unsafe,
and so enjoying them.

This being so, he is to that degree purified.

And again, Nigrodha,
he does not think,
out of his longing for gifts,
attentions and fame:

'Rājas will pay me attentions,
and so will their officials;
so, too, will nobles,
brahmins,
householders
and founders of schools.'

This being so, he is to that degree purified.

And again, Nigrodha,
an ascetic does not grumble
at some recluse or brahmin,
saying:

'That man lives on all sorts of things:
things grown from tubers,
or shoots,
or berries,
or joints,
or fifthly, from seeds,
munching them all up together
with that wheel-less thunderbolt of a jawbone -
and they call him a holy man!'

This being so, he is to that degree purified.

And again, Nigrodha,
an ascetic sees a certain recluse or brahmin
receiving attentions;
being revered,
honoured
and presented with offerings
by the citizens.

And seeing this he does not think:

'The citizens pay attentions to this fellow
who lives in luxury;
they revere and honour him,
and present him with offerings,
while to me
who, as ascetic,
live a really austere life,
they pay no attentions,
nor reverence,
nor honour,
nor offerings!'

And thus he does not cherish envy and grudging
at the citizens.

This being so, he is to that degree purified.

And again, Nigrodha,
an ascetic does not become one
who sits in public.

This being so, he is to that degree purified.

And again, Nigrodha, the ascetic,
when on his round for alms among the people,
does not slink along furtively
as if to say:

'This is part of my austerity;
this is part of my austerity.'

This being so, he is to that degree purified.

And again, Nigrodha,
the ascetic does not affect the mysterious.

When asked:

[43] 'Do you approve of this?'

he, not approving, says:

'I do not,'

or approving, says:

'I do.'

Herein he avoids telling deliberate untruths.

This being so, he is to that degree purified.

12. And again, Nigrodha,
when the Tathāgata,
or a disciple of the Tathāgata,
teaching the Norm,
uses a method worthy of appreciation,
the ascetic appreciates it.

This being so, he is to that degree purified.

And again, Nigrodha,
the ascetic is not liable to lose his temper
and bear enmity.

This being so, he is to that degree purified.

And again, Nigrodha,
the ascetic is not liable to be hypocritical.

This being so, he is to that degree purified.

And again, Nigrodha,
the ascetic is not liable to be deceitful.

This being so, he is to that degree purified.

And again, Nigrodha,
the ascetic is not liable to be envious and grudging.

This being so, he is to that degree purified.

And again, Nigrodha,
the ascetic is not liable to be cunning and crafty.

This being so, he is to that degree purified.

And again, Nigrodha,
the ascetic is not liable to be hard-hearted and vain.

This being so, he is to that degree purified.

And again, Nigrodha,
the ascetic is not liable to entertain evil wishes
or become captive to them.

This being so, he is to that degree purified.

And again, Nigrodha,
the ascetic is not liable to entertain false opinions.

This being so, he is to that degree purified.

And again, Nigrodha,
the ascetic is not liable to be become possessed of metempirical dogma.

This being so, he is to that degree purified.

And again, Nigrodha,
the ascetic is not liable to pervert experience.

This being so, he is to that degree purified.

And again, Nigrodha,
the ascetic is not avaricious
and adverse from renunciation.

This being so, he is to that degree purified.

What think you, Nigrodha?

That being so,
does the austerity by these things
become genuinely pure,
or not?"

"Verily, lord, the austerity of these things
becomes genuinely pure,
and not impure;
it wins topmost rank,
it reaches the pith."²¹

"Nay, Nigrodha,
not yet does the austerity
become of topmost rank,
nor reach the pith;
for that matter
it has but reached the outside splinters."

§

16. "In what way, lord,
does an austerity win top-most rank,
and reach the pith?

Good were it
if the Exalted One caused my austerity
to win topmost rank
and reach the pith!"

"Take the case, Nigrodha,
of an ascetic self-restrained
by the Restraint of the Fourfold Watch.

What is the Restraint of the Fourfold Watch?

[1] It is when an ascetic inflicts injury
on no living thing,
nor causes injury to be inflicted
on any living thing,
nor approves thereof.

[2] He takes not what is not given,
nor approves thereof.

[3] He utters no lies,
nor causes lies to be uttered,
nor approves thereof.

[4] He craves not for [44] the pleasures of sense,²²
nor leads others to crave for them,
nor approves thereof.

Now it is thus, Nigrodha,
that the ascetic becomes self-restrained
by the Restraint of the Fourfold-Watch.

■

Now in that he is thus self-restrained,
and his austerity is made to consist in this,
he advances upwards²³
and turns not back to lower things.

He chooses²⁴ some lonely spot for his seat -
in the forest,
at the foot of a tree,
on the hillside,
in mountain glen,
or rocky cave,
in the charnel place,
or on a heap of straw in the open fields.

And returning thither
after his round for alms,
he seats himself
when his meal is done,
cross-legged,
keeping his body erect,
and his intelligence alert,
intent.

Putting away the hankering after the World,
he abides with unhankering heart,
and purifies his mind of covetousness.

Putting away the canker of ill-will,
he abides with heart free from enmity,
benevolent and compassionate towards every living thing,²⁵
and purifies his mind of malevolence.

Putting away sloth and torpor,
he abides clear of both;
conscious of light,
mindful and self-possessed,
he purifies his mind of sloth and torpor.

Putting away flurry and worry,
he abides free from excitement;
with heart serene within,
he purifies his mind of flurry and worry.

Putting away doubt,
he abides as one
who has passed beyond perplexity;
no longer in suspense
as to what is good,
he purifies his mind of doubt.

■

17. He, having put away these Five Hindrances,
and to weaken by insight
the strength of the things
that defile the heart,
abides letting his mind,
fraught with love,²⁶
pervade one quarter of the world,
and so [45] too, the second quarter,
and so the third,
and so the fourth.

And thus the whole wide world,
above,
below,
around
and everywhere,
and altogether
does he continue to pervade
with love-burdened thought,
abounding,
sublime,
and beyond measure,
free from hatred and ill-will.

And he lets his mind,
fraught with pity
pervade one quarter of the world,
and so too, the second quarter,
and so the third,
and so the fourth.

And thus the whole wide world,
above,
below,
around
and everywhere,
and altogether
does he continue to pervade
with pity-burdened thought,
abounding,
sublime,
and beyond measure,
free from hatred and ill-will.

And he lets his mind,
fraught with sympathy with joy²⁷
pervade one quarter of the world,
and so too, the second quarter,
and so the third,
and so the fourth.

And thus the whole wide world,
above,
below,
around
and everywhere,
and altogether
does he continue to pervade
with sympathy with joy-burdened thought,
abounding,
sublime,
and beyond measure,
free from hatred and ill-will.

And he lets his mind, fraught with equanimity,
pervade one quarter of the world,
and so too, the second quarter,
and so the third,
and so the fourth.

And thus the whole wide world,
above,
below,
around
and everywhere,
and altogether
does he continue to pervade
with equanimity-burdened thought,
abounding,
sublime,
and beyond measure,
free from hatred and ill-will.

What think you of this, Nigrodha?

Does austerity by these things become genuinely pure or not?"

"Verily, lord,
austerity by these things
becomes genuinely pure
and not impure,
wins topmost rank
and reaches the pith."

"Nay, Nigrodha,
not yet does the austerity win top-most rank,
or reality;
for that matter
it does but reach into the bark."²⁸

§

18. "In what way, lord,
does an austerity win top rank
and reach the pith?

How good it were
if the Exalted One could make my austerities
win top rank
and reach the pith!"

"Take the case, Nigrodha,
of an ascetic who is self-restrained
by the Restraint of the Fourfold Watch.

What is the Restraint of the Fourfold Watch?

It is when an ascetic inflicts injury
on no living thing,
nor causes injury to be inflicted
on any living thing,
nor approves thereof.

He takes not what is not given,
nor approves thereof.

He utters no lies,
nor causes lies to be uttered,
nor approves thereof.

He craves not for the pleasures of sense,
nor leads others to crave for them,
nor approves thereof.

Now it is thus, Nigrodha,
that the ascetic becomes self-restrained
by the Restraint of the Fourfold-Watch.

■

In that he is thus self-restrained,
and his austerity is made to consist in this,
he advances upward
and turns not back to lower things.

He chooses some lonely spot
for his seat -
in the forest,
at the foot of a tree,
on the hillside,
in mountain glen,
or rocky cave,
in the charnel place,
or on a heap of straw in the open fields.

And returning thither
after his round for alms,
he seats himself
when his meal is done,
cross-legged,
keeping his body erect,
and his intelligence alert,
intent.

Putting away the hankering after the World,
he abides with unhankering heart,
and purifies his mind of covetousness.

Putting away the canker of ill-will,
he abides with heart free from enmity,
benevolent and compassionate towards every living thing,
and purifies his mind of malevolence.

Putting away sloth and torpor,
he abides clear of both;
conscious of light,
mindful and self-possessed,
he purifies his mind of sloth and torpor.

Putting away flurry and worry,
he abides free from excitement;
with heart serene within,
he purifies his mind of flurry and worry.

Putting away doubt,
he abides as one
who has passed beyond perplexity;
no longer in suspense
as to what is good,
he purifies his mind of doubt.

Having put away those Five Hindrances,
and to weaken by insight
the strength of [46] the things
that defile the heart,
abides letting his mind,
fraught with love,
pervade one quarter of the world,
and so too, the second quarter,
and so the third,
and so the fourth.

And thus the whole wide world,
above,
below,
around
and everywhere,
and altogether
does he continue to pervade
with love-burdened thought,
abounding,
sublime,
and beyond measure,
free from hatred and ill-will.

And he lets his mind,
fraught with pity
pervade one quarter of the world,
and so too, the second quarter,
and so the third,
and so the fourth.

And thus the whole wide world,
above,
below,
around
and everywhere,
and altogether
does he continue to pervade
with pity-burdened thought,
abounding,
sublime,
and beyond measure,
free from hatred and ill-will.

And he lets his mind,
fraught with sympathy with joy
pervade one quarter of the world,
and so too, the second quarter,
and so the third,
and so the fourth.

And thus the whole wide world,
above,
below,
around
and everywhere,
and altogether
does he continue to pervade
with sympathy with joy-burdened thought,
abounding,
sublime,
and beyond measure,
free from hatred and ill-will.

And he lets his mind, fraught with equanimity,
pervade one quarter of the world,
and so too, the second quarter,
and so the third,
and so the fourth.

And thus the whole wide world,
above,
below,
around
and everywhere,
and altogether
does he continue to pervade
with equanimity-burdened thought,
abounding,
sublime,
and beyond measure,
free from hatred and ill-will.

■

He recalls to mind²⁹
his various temporary states in days gone by
— one birth,
or two or three or four or five births,
or ten or twenty or thirty or forty or fifty
or a hundred or a thousand
or a hundred thousand births,
through many an aeon of dissolution,
many an aeon of evolution,
many an aeon of both dissolution and evolution.

'In such a place such was my name,
such my family,
such my caste,
such my food,
such my experience of discomfort or of ease,
and such the limits of my life.

When I passed away from that state,
I took form again in such a place.

There I had such and such a name
and family
and caste
and food
and experience of discomfort or of ease,
such was the limit of my life.

When I passed away from that state
I took form again here.'

— thus does he call to mind
his temporary states in days gone by
in all their details,
and in all their modes.

What think you of that, Nigrodha?

Does the austerity by these things
become genuinely pure or not?"

"Verily, lord, the austerity by these things
becomes genuinely pure
and not impure,
wins topmost rank
and reaches the pith."

Nay, Nigrodha,
not yet does the austerity win to topmost rank
and reach the pith,
although it does reach the underlying fibre."

§

19. "But in what Way, lord,
does an austerity reach to the top
and to the pith?

How well it were
if the Exalted One could make my austerities attain to the top
and to the pith!"

"Take the case, Nigrodha,
of an ascetic who is self-restrained
by the Restraint of the Fourfold Watch.

What is the Restraint of the Fourfold Watch?

It is when an ascetic inflicts injury
on no living thing,
nor causes injury to be inflicted
on any living thing,
nor approves thereof.

He takes not what is not given,
nor approves thereof.

He utters no lies,
nor causes lies to be uttered,
nor approves thereof.

He craves not for the pleasures of sense,
nor leads others to crave for them,
nor approves thereof.

Now it is thus, Nigrodha,
that the ascetic becomes self-restrained
by the Restraint of the Fourfold-Watch.

■

In that he is thus self-restrained,
and his austerity is made to consist in this,
he advances upward
and turns not back to lower things.

He chooses some lonely spot
for his seat -
in the forest,
at the foot of a tree,
on the hillside,
in mountain glen,
or rocky cave,
in the charnel place,
or on a heap of straw in the open fields.

And returning thither
after his round for alms,
he seats himself
when his meal is done,
cross-legged,
keeping his body erect,
and his intelligence alert,
intent.

Putting away the hankering after the World,
he abides with unhankering heart,
and purifies his mind of covetousness.

Putting away the canker of ill-will,
he abides with heart free from enmity,
benevolent and compassionate towards every living thing,
and purifies his mind of malevolence.

Putting away sloth and torpor,
he abides clear of both;
conscious of light,
mindful and self-possessed,
he purifies his mind of sloth and torpor.

Putting away flurry and worry,
he abides free from excitement;
with heart serene within,
he purifies his mind of flurry and worry.

Putting away doubt,
he abides as one
who has passed beyond perplexity;
no longer in suspense
as to what is good,
he purifies his mind of doubt.

■

Having put away those Five Hindrances,
and to weaken by insight
the strength of the things
that defile the heart,
abides letting his mind,
fraught with love,
pervade one quarter of the world,
and so too, the second quarter,
and so the third,
and so the fourth.

And thus the whole wide world,
above,
below,
around
and everywhere,
and altogether
does he continue to pervade
with love-burdened thought,
abounding,
sublime,
and beyond measure,
free from hatred and ill-will.

And he lets his mind,
fraught with pity
pervade one quarter of the world,
and so too, the second quarter,
and so the third,
and so the fourth.

And thus the whole wide world,
above,
below,
around
and everywhere,
and altogether
does he continue to pervade
with pity-burdened thought,
abounding,
sublime,
and beyond measure,
free from hatred and ill-will.

And he lets his mind,
fraught with sympathy with joy
pervade one quarter of the world,
and so too, the second quarter,
and so the third,
and so the fourth.

And thus the whole wide world,
above,
below,
around
and everywhere,
and altogether
does he continue to pervade
with sympathy with joy-burdened thought,
abounding,
sublime,
and beyond measure,
free from hatred and ill-will.

And he lets his mind, fraught with equanimity,
pervade one quarter of the world,
and so too, the second quarter,
and so the third,
and so the fourth.

And thus the whole wide world,
above,
below,
around
and everywhere,
and altogether
does he continue to pervade
with equanimity-burdened thought,
abounding,
sublime,
and beyond measure,
free from hatred and ill-will.

■

He recalls to mind
his various temporary states in days gone by
— one birth,
or two or three or four or five births,
or ten or twenty or thirty or forty or fifty
or a hundred or a thousand
or a hundred thousand births,
through many an aeon of dissolution,
many an aeon of evolution,
many an aeon of both dissolution and evolution.
"In such a place such was my name,
such my family,
such my caste,
such my food,
such my experience of discomfort or of ease,
and such the limits of my life.

When I passed away from that state,
I took form again in such a place.
There I had such and such a name
and family
and caste
and food
and experience of discomfort or of ease,
such was the limit of my life.

When I passed away from that state
I took form again here."
— thus does he call to mind
his temporary states in days gone by
in all their details,
and in all their modes.

■

He with the pure deva- [47] vision,
surpassing that of men,
he sees beings as they pass away
from one form of existence
and take shape in another;
he recognises the mean and the noble,
the well favoured and the ill favoured,
the happy and the wretched,
passing away according to their deeds:

"Such and such worthy folk³⁰,
evil-doers in act and word and thought,
revilers of the Ariyans,
holding to wrong views,
acquiring for themselves that Karma
which results from wrong views,
they, on the dissolution of the body, after death,
are reborn in some unhappy state of suffering or woe.

But such and such beings,
good in act and word and thought,
no revilers of the Ariyans,
holding to right views,
acquiring for themselves that Karma
that results from right views,
they, on the dissolution of the body, after death,
are reborn in some happy state in heaven."

Thus with the pure deva-vision,
surpassing that of men,
he sees beings as they pass away from one state of existence,
and take form in another;
he recognises the mean and the noble,
the well favoured and the ill favoured,
the happy and the wretched,
passing away according to their deeds.

What think you of that, Nigrodha?

Does austerity by these things
become genuinely pure
or not?"

"Verily, lord, austerity by these things
becomes genuinely pure,
and not impure;
it wins topmost rank
and reaches the pith."

"Thus, Nigrodha, does austerity
win topmost rank
and reach the pith.

And so, Nigrodha, when you say to me:

'What, lord, is this religion of the Exalted One,
wherein he trains his disciples,
and which those disciples,
so trained by the Exalted One
as to win comfort,
acknowledge to be their utmost support
and the fundamental principle of righteousness?

I say that it is a matter
of a higher
and more excellent degree
wherein I train my disciples,
so that they,
so trained by me
therein as to find comfort,
acknowledge it to be their utmost support
and the fundamental principle of righteous living.

[48] When he had thus said,
the Wanderers raised a clamour,
exclaiming loudly and noisily:

"Herein are we and our teachers
set at naught.

We know of nothing beyond their teaching
that is higher."

§

20. When the householder Sandhāna realized:

"Surely now these Wanderers,
though of other views,
are listening to what the Exalted One has said,
are paying attention,
are applying their minds to understand",

he then spake thus to Nigrodha:³¹

"You were saying to me just now, Nigrodha:

'Look you now, householder,
know you with whom the Samaṇa Gotama talks;
with whom he holds conversation;
by intercourse with whom
does he attain to lucidity in wisdom?

The Samaṇa Gotama's insight is ruined
by his habit of seclusion.

He is not at home
in conducting an assembly.

He is not ready in conversation.

He is occupied only with the fringes of things.

Even as a one-eyed cow
that, walking in a circle,
follows ever the outskirts,
so is the Samaṇa Gotama.

Why forsooth, householder,
if the Samaṇa Gotama were to come to this assembly,
with a single question only
could we settle him;
yea, methinks we could roll him over
like an empty pot.'

Now then the lord
the Exalted One,
the Arahant Buddha Supreme,
has arrived among us;
show ye him
as not at home in an assembly;
show him to be
as a one-eyed cow
walking in a circle;
with your single question
settle him now,
roll him over
me thinks like an empty pot."

■

When he had thus said,
Nigrodha sat silent
and annoyed,
with hunched back
and drooping head,
brooding
and dumbfounded.

21. Now When the Exalted One perceived Nigrodha
silent
and annoyed,
with hunched back
and drooping head,
brooding
and dumbfounded,
he said:

"Is it true, Nigrodha,
that you made this speech?"

"It is true, lord,
that I made that speech,
so foolish was I,
so stupid,
so wrong."

[49] "What think you of this, Nigrodha?

Have you ever heard it said
by Wanderers who were venerable,
aged,
your teachers
and teachers of your teachers,
thus:

'They who in past ages were Arahants,
Buddhas Supreme, forsooth,
those Exalted Ones,
when they were met and assembled,
used to talk with loud voices,
with noise and clamour,
carrying on childish talk of various kinds,
to wit:

Tales of kings,
robbers,³²
and state officials;
tales of armies,
panics,
and battles;
talk about foods and drinks,
and clothes,
beds,
garlands,
and perfumes;
talk about relatives;
talk about carriages,
villages,
towns,
cities,
and countries;
talk about women,
talk of heroes;
gossip from street-corners
and the places for drawing water;
ghost-stories:
desultory talk;
speculative talk on the world and the sea;
on existence and non-existence'

as you and your teachers do now?

Or did they say:

'Thus were those Exalted Ones wont
to haunt the lonely
and remote recesses of the forest,
where noise,
where sound
there hardly is,
where breezes from the pastures blow,
yet which were hidden from the eyes of men,
meet for self-communing',

even as I do now?"

"Lord, I have heard it said
by Wanderers who were venerable,
aged,
our teachers,
and teachers of our teachers, thus:

'They who in past ages were Arahants,
Buddhas Supreme,
not theirs was it,
when met and assembled,
to talk with loud voices,
with noise and clamour,
carrying on childish talk of various kinds kinds,
to wit:

Tales of kings,
robbers,
and state officials;
tales of armies,
panics,
and battles;
talk about foods and drinks,
and clothes,
beds,
garlands,
and perfumes;
talk about relatives;
talk about carriages,
villages,
towns,
cities,
and countries;
talk about women,
talk of heroes;
gossip from street-corners
and the places for drawing water;
ghost-stories:
desultory talk;
speculative talk on the world and the sea;
on existence and non-existence,'
even as I do now in my own persuasion,
'but theirs was it
to haunt the lonely
and remote recesses of the forest,
where noise,
where sound
there hardly is,
where breezes from the pastures blow,
yet which were hidden from the eyes of men,
meet for self-communing,
even as the Exalted One does now."

"You yourself, Nigrodha,
being intelligent
and advanced in years,
has not this occurred to you?

Enlightened is the Exalted One;
he teaches the religion of Enlightenment.

Self-mastered³³ is the Exalted One;
he teaches the religion of Self-mastery.

Calm is the Enlightened One;
he teaches the religion of Calm.

Saved is the Enlightened One;
he teaches the [50] religion of Salvation.³⁴

At peace is the Enlightened One;
he teaches the religion of Peace."³⁵

12. When this was said,
Nigrodha the Wanderer spake thus
to the Exalted One:³⁶

"An offence has overcome me, lord,
foolish
and stupid
and wrong
that I am,
who spoke thus about the Exalted One.

May the Exalted 0ne accept it of me, lord,
that do so acknowledge it as an offence,
to the end that in future
I may restrain myself."

"Verily, Nigrodha,
it was an offence that overcame you
in acting thus,
foolish
and stupid
and wrung
that you were,
in that you spake thus of me.

And inasmuch as you, Nigrodha,
looking upon it as an offence,
confess according to your deeds,
we accept your confession.

Fur that, Nigrodha,
is custom in the discipline of the Ayriyans,
that whosoever looks upon his fault
as a fault,
and rightfully confesses it,
shall in the future
attain to self-restraint.

§

But I, Nigrodha, say this to you:³⁷

Let a man of intelligence come to me,
who is honest,
candid,
straightforward -
I will instruct him,
I will teach him the Norm.

If he practise
according as he is taught,
then to know himself
and to realize even here and now
that supreme religion and goal,
for the sake of which,
clansmen go forth from the household life
into the homeless state,
will take him seven years.

Nay, Nigrodha, let be the seven years.

Let a man of intelligence come to me,
who is honest,
candid,
straightforward -
I will instruct him,
I will teach him the Norm.

If he practise
according as he is taught,
then to know for himself
and realize even here and now
that supreme religion and goal,
for the sake of which
clansmen go forth from [51] the household life
into the homeless state,
will take him six years.

Nay, Nigrodha, let be the six years.

Let a man of intelligence come to me,
who is honest,
candid,
straightforward -
I will instruct him,
I will teach him the Norm.

If he practise
according as he is taught,
then to know for himself
and realize even here and now
that supreme religion and goal,
for the sake of which
clansmen go forth from the household life
into the homeless state,
will take him five years.

Nay, Nigrodha, let be the five years.

Let a man of intelligence come to me,
who is honest,
candid,
straightforward -
I will instruct him,
I will teach him the Norm.

If he practise
according as he is taught,
then to know for himself
and realize even here and now
that supreme religion and goal,
for the sake of which
clansmen go forth from the household life
into the homeless state,
will take him four years.

Nay, Nigrodha, let be the four years.

Let a man of intelligence come to me,
who is honest,
candid,
straightforward -
I will instruct him,
I will teach him the Norm.

If he practise
according as he is taught,
then to know for himself
and realize even here and now
that supreme religion and goal,
for the sake of which
clansmen go forth from the household life
into the homeless state,
will take him three years.

Nay, Nigrodha, let be the three years.

Let a man of intelligence come to me,
who is honest,
candid,
straightforward -
I will instruct him,
I will teach him the Norm.

If he practise
according as he is taught,
then to know for himself
and realize even here and now
that supreme religion and goal,
for the sake of which
clansmen go forth from the household life
into the homeless state,
will take him two years.

Nay, Nigrodha, let be the two years.

Let a man of intelligence come to me,
who is honest,
candid,
straightforward -
I will instruct him,
I will teach him the Norm.

If he practise
according as he is taught,
then to know for himself
and realize even here and now
that supreme religion and goal,
for the sake of which
clansmen go forth from the household life
into the homeless state,
will take him one year.

Nay, Nigrodha, let be the one year.

Let a man of intelligence come to me,
who is honest,
candid,
straightforward -
I will instruct him,
I will teach him the Norm.

If he practise
according as he is taught,
then to know for himself
and realize even here and now
that supreme religion and goal,
for the sake of which
clansmen go forth from the household life
into the homeless state,
will take him six months.

Nay, Nigrodha, let be the six months.

Let a man of intelligence come to me,
who is honest,
candid,
straightforward -
I will instruct him,
I will teach him the Norm.

If he practise
according as he is taught,
then to know for himself
and realize even here and now
that supreme religion and goal,
for the sake of which
clansmen go forth from the household life
into the homeless state,
will take him five months.

Nay, Nigrodha, let be the five months.

Let a man of intelligence come to me,
who is honest,
candid,
straightforward -
I will instruct him,
I will teach him the Norm.

If he practise
according as he is taught,
then to know for himself
and realize even here and now
that supreme religion and goal,
for the sake of which
clansmen go forth from the household life
into the homeless state,
will take him four months.

Nay, Nigrodha, let be the four months.

Let a man of intelligence come to me,
who is honest,
candid,
straightforward -
I will instruct him,
I will teach him the Norm.

If he practise
according as he is taught,
then to know for himself
and realize even here and now
that supreme religion and goal,
for the sake of which
clansmen go forth from the household life
into the homeless state,
will take him three months.

Nay, Nigrodha, let be the three months.

Let a man of intelligence come to me,
who is honest,
candid,
straightforward -
I will instruct him,
I will teach him the Norm.

If he practise
according as he is taught,
then to know for himself
and realize even here and now
that supreme religion and goal,
for the sake of which
clansmen go forth from the household life
into the homeless state,
will take him two months.

Nay, Nigrodha, let be the two months.

Let a man of intelligence come to me,
who is honest,
candid,
straightforward -
I will instruct him,
I will teach him the Norm.

If he practise
according as he is taught,
then to know for himself
and realize even here and now
that supreme religion and goal,
for the sake of which
clansmen go forth from the household life
into the homeless state,
will take him one month.

Nay, Nigrodha, let be the one month.

Let a man of intelligence come to me,
who is honest,
candid,
straightforward -
I will instruct him,
I will teach him the Norm.

If he practise
according as he is taught,
then to know for himself
and realize even here and now
that supreme religion and goal,
for the sake of which
clansmen go forth from the household life
into the homeless state,
will take him half a month.

Nay, Nigrodha, let be half a month.

Let a man of intelligence come to me,
who is honest,
candid,
straightforward -
I will instruct him,
I will teach him the Norm.

If he practise
according as he is taught,
then to know for himself
and realize even here and now
that supreme religion and goal,
for the sake of which
clansmen go forth from the household life
into the homeless state,
will take him seven days.

§

23. Maybe, Nigrodha, you will think:

'The Samaṇa Gotama has said this
from a desire to get pupils';

but you are not thus to explain my words.

Let him who is your teacher
be your teacher still.

Maybe, Nigrodha, you will think:

'The Samaṇa Gotama has said this
from a desire to make us secede from our rule';

but you are not thus to explain my words.

Let that which is your rule
be your rule still.

Maybe, Nigrodha, you will think:

'The Samaṇa Gotama has said this
from a desire to make us secede from our mode of livelihood';

but you are not thus to explain my words.

Let that which is your mode of livelihood
be so still.

Maybe, Nigrodha, you will think:

'The Samaṇa Gotama has said this
from a desire to confirm us
as to such points of our doctrines
as are wrong,
and reckoned as wrong -
by those in our community';

but you are not thus to explain my words.

Let those points in your doctrines
which are wrong
and reckoned as wrong
by those in your community,
remain so still for you.

Maybe, Nigrodha, you will think:

'The Samaṇa Gotama has said this
from a desire to detach us
from such points in our doctrines
as are good,
reckoned as good
by those in our community';

but you are not thus to explain my words.

Let those points in your doctrines
which are good,
reckoned to be good
by those in your community,
remain so still.

Wherefore, Nigrodha,
I speak thus,
neither because I wish to gain pupils,
nor because I wish to cause [52] seceding from rule,
nor because I wish to cause
seceding from mode of livelihood,
nor because I wish to confirm you
in bad doctrines,
or detach you from good doctrines.

But, 0 Nigrodha,
there are bad things not put away,
corrupting,
entailing birth renewal,
bringing suffering,
resulting in ill,
making for birth,
decay
and death
in the future,
and it is for the putting away of these
that I teach the norm,
according to which
if ye do walk,
the things that corrupt
shall be put away,
the things that make for purity
shall grow and flourish,
and ye shall attain to
and abide in,
each one for himself
even here and now,
the understanding
and the realization
of full
and abounding insight."

24. When he had thus said,
the Wanderers sat silent
and annoyed,
with hunched back
and drooping head,
brooding
and dumbfounded,
so were their hearts driven over to Māra.

Then the Exalted One thought:

"Every one of these foolish men
is pervaded by the Evil One,
so that to not even one of them
will the thought occur:

'Come, let us now live
the holy life taught by the Samaṇa Gotama,
that we may learn to know it.

What does an interval of seven days matter?'"

Then the Exalted One
having uttered his Lion's Roar
in the park Queen Udumbarikā had assigned to the Wanderers,
rose up
and went through the air,
and alighted on the Vulture's Peak.

And then, too, the householder Sumāgadha
returned to Rājagaha.

The Udumbarika Sihaniida-Suttanta is ended

¹ Pronounce Nigrô'dha. The conversation reported in this Suttanta is referred to above, I, 239.

² Tiracchāna-kathā, literally animal-talk, but the adjective 'animal' as applied to talk is meaningless to Europeans. Brutish, brutal, beastly would all be literal, but very bad renderings. The fact is that the mental attitude of Indians towards animals is quite different from our own. They regard animals as on a lower plane indeed than men, but different (not in kind), only in degree. They take for granted the very real relationship between men and animals which we fail to realize, and often deny. The phrase animal-talk is therefore untranslatable. Buddhaghosa (Sum. I, 89) says, not leading to heaven or to emancipation. This is good exegesis of the whole passage, but throws little light on the exact connotation of the particular phrase animal-talk. It was translated above at I, 13 by low, and at I, 245 by worldly. Neither of these gives the exact force of the original, which must be akin to childish. For as the child is to the man with us now, so then in India (only one stage removed) was the animal to the man.

³ Here the Siṇhalese MSS. again (as above I, 13) omit purisa-kathan - talk about men, the Siamese and Burmese modern printed editions inserting it. Probability is all on the side of the Siṇhalese. From the male standpoint, all the other subjects are about Ourselves, directly or indirectly, i.e. in relation to this or that; itthi-kathā is about Ourselves in relation to women. Hence, to add talk about men is entirely redundant and a later gloss.

⁴ Vijanavātāni. Both reading and meaning are doubtful See Rhys Davids' Quest. of King Milinda I, 30; E. Windisch, Mara und Buddha, 242; H. Oldenberg, Vinaya I, 367. The epithet is usually applied to a residence for members of the Order, but it is also applicable to a place of meditation. Both must be near enough to the homesteads for the confidence necessary to peace of mind, and yet far enough off to be free from disturbance. The first part of the word may well have been originally from vṛjana, as Buddhaghosa's explanation from jana seems very forced.

⁵ Cf. M. I, 82, 175; II, 209. Veyyattiya = vyattibhāva. By way of reply and rejoinder with whom? says Buddhaghosa. The word is not in Childers, but see Majjhima I, 82, 175; II, 208-9. Perhaps we should render lucidity and Wisdom.

⁶ Antamantāni eva sevati. Perhaps: 'so he keeps apart from others, in solitary places.'

⁷ A lotus-pool or tank in the park. Cf. M. II, 1; A. I, 29I; V, 326 as to the Peacocks' Feeding-ground in the same park.

⁸ Ajjhāsayaṃ ādihrahmacariyaṃ. Cf. above, II, p. 262, n. 2. (The reference has there, by a printer's error and our oversight, been made to refer to § 10, instead of to § 12, 1. 4.) In the present connexion the Comy. paraphrases ajjhāsayaṃ by uttama-nissaya-bhūta q1ṃ, and ādibrahmacariyaṃ by The Ariyan Path termed the ancient brahmacariya (holy life).

⁹ This question is referred to above, I, 239. The catalogue of austerities is identical with the list in that Suttanta where the various practices are explained.

¹⁰ Tapassī One who depends on tapas, austerities, self-mortification.

¹¹ Upakki1eso. An auxiliary or subsidiary corruption (no doubt with the connotation that it may lead on to worse), spot, flaw, defect, blemish.

¹² Paripuṇṇa -saṇkappo ti alam ettāvatā ti evaṃ pariyosita-saṇkappo: Comy. his aims are completed means thinking: 'thus far is enough; my aims are ended.' Again: he thinks: 'Who is equal to me in this practice?' With this may be compared our comment on Dr. Neumann's different rendering in M. I, 192; III, 276; in J.R.A.S., 1902, p. 482.

¹³ Vodāsam āpajjati. Buddhaghosa explains: dvedhaṃ āpajjati, dve bhāge karoti.

¹⁴ On these varieties of bīja see above, I, 6, n. 2.

¹⁵ The sentence is not clear. The reading asani-vicakka is confirmed by Saṃyutta II, 229. As to the metaphor, the Atthasālinī, p. 404, has five, equally vigorous.

¹⁶ Buddhaghosa explains: He sits in some meeting-(lit. seeing-) place, and where they can see him, he executes the bat-rite (cf. Jāt III, 235; IV, 299; I, 493) of hanging head downwards like a sleeping bat, the fivefold austerity (see ibid.) or stands on one leg, or worships the sun.

¹⁷ Attānaṃ adassayamāno. Buddhaghosa thinks the negative a- in the latter word a mere particle.

¹⁸ Antaggahikā-diṭṭhi, which the Comy. limits to the Annihilationist heresy (ucchedanta); cf. above, I, p. 46.

¹⁹ Sandiṭṭhi: what he himself can see, says the Comy.

²⁰ [Ed.: the PTS edition here abridges this entire section and notes that fact here.]

²¹ Sārappattā. Sāra (pith) is the usual Buddhist metaphor for the essence, the heart, root, or core of the matter.

²² Na bhāvitaṃ āsiṃsati. Perhaps: he does not rest complacently on that in which he has so trained himself. But we follow Buddhaghosa.

²³ Abhiharati, paraphrased as upari upari vaḍḍhati - he grows upward upward.

²⁴ See above, I, p. 82.

²⁵ This phrase was inadvertently omitted from the corresponding sentence in I, 82.

²⁶ Lit.: accompanied by. These paragraphs occur above at I, p. 318; II, pp. 219, 279, but not at p. 82.

²⁷ Our modern tongues sadly lack a word for muditā: joy in others' good, the obverse, so to speak, of sympathy. We have only another obverse: malice, Schadenfreude!

²⁸ Lit.: has reached the bark, as distinct from the pith (sāra).

²⁹ See above, I, p. 90.

³⁰ Bhonto sattā. Cf. bho satta, Dīgha III, 89 f., and below, Sampasadaniya Suttanta, § 17, n.

³¹ Buddhaghosa imputes to Sandhāna the charitable intention of so forcing Nigrodha's hand as to bring about the Buddha's forgiveness of his insolent assertion (§ 5). By overthrowing this banner of conceit he would cause Nigrodha to reap lasting benefit.

³² [Ed.: The PTS abridges the whole list of subjects.]

³³ Lit., tamed.

³⁴ Lit., crossed over, and crossing over, a figure applied always to the Four Floods (sensuality, renewed existence, speculative opinion, ignorance) which whelm mankind in everlasting living. Asl., p. 49. On the form of the sentences, cf. Paṭisambhidāmagga I, p. 126 f., On the Great Pity of a Tathāgata.

³⁵ Parinibbāna - i.e., says the Comy., the driving away for mankind of all the Corruptions (ki1esa's). For the Ten Corruptions, see Bud. Psych. Ethics, pp. 327 ff.

³⁶ Cf. above, I, p. 94.

³⁷ Cf. M. II, 44.

ed1 This is addressed to Nigrodha in the Pali, and it is consistant with the concluding remark: "What think you, Nigrodha? If these things be so ..." txt pg 42.

26. War, Wickedness, and Wealth

Cakka-Vatti Sīhanāda Suttantaṃ

The Lion-roar on the Turning of the Wheel

[53]

Introduction

ASOKA states in his Edicts that it was the horrors of actual warfare, as brought to his notice during his conquest of Kalīnga, that led him to the propagation, in those Edicts, of the Dhamma - the Norm - as the only true conquest. So the Buddha is represented in this Suttanta as setting out his own idea of conquest (not without ironical reference to the current ideas), and then as inculcating the observance of the Dhamma - the Norm - as the most important force for the material and moral progress of mankind.

The whole is a fairy tale. The personages who play their part in it never existed. The events described in it never occurred. And more than that: a modern writer, telling a story to emphasize a moral, would always, like the creator of the immortal Dr. Teufelsdröckh, endeavour to give probability, vraisemblance, to the characters and events of his tale. Here the very opposite would seem to be the case. Recourse is had rather to the shock of improbability. This is in accord with the procedure in other cases (for instance, in the story of Sharp-tooth the Priest; or in that of the Riddles of the God¹). The point of the moral - and in this fairy tale the moral is the thing - is the Reign of Law. Never before in the history of the world had this principle been proclaimed in so thorough-going and uncompromising a way. But of course it is not set out in such arguments as we find in modern treatises on ethics or philosophy. The authors are not writing a monograph on history or ethics. They are preaching a gospel, and their method is to state their view, and leave the hearer to accept it or not, just as he pleases.

The view was, so to speak, in the air at that time. The whole history of religion, in India as elsewhere, had been the history of a struggle between the opposing ideas, or groups of ideas, that may be summed up by the words Animism and Normalism.

[54] Animism has now become a well-known term. It is based on the very ancient hypothesis of a soul — a subtle, material homunculus, or manikin, supposed to dwell in the heart of a man. This afforded what seemed a simple and self-evident explanation of many mysterious things. When in his dream a man saw another, whom, when the dreamer woke, he knew to have been dead, he at once concluded, on the evidence of the dream, that the person he saw in his dream was still alive. It is true he had seen the body dead. But it was self-evident that a something, he knew not what, but very like the body, was still alive. He did not reason much about it, or stay to weigh the difficulties involved. But he was much too frightened of it to forget it. Once formed, the hypothesis was widely used. When a man awoke in the morning, after hunting all night in his dreams, and learnt from his companions that his body had been there all the time, it was, of course, his soul that had been away. In a similar way, death and trance and disease could be ascribed to the absence of the soul. Souls were believed to wander from body to body. Animals had souls, even things had souls, if they were uncanny, or when they seemed to have life and motion and sound. The awe-inspiring phenomena of nature were instinctively regarded as the result of spirit action; and rivers, plants, and stars, the earth, the air, and heaven, became full of souls of gods, each of them in fashion as a man, and with the passions of a man.

But wide-reaching as this hypothesis was, it could not cover everything. From the earliest times of which we have any record we find, in India as elsewhere, quite a number of religious beliefs and ceremonies which were not explained, and could not be explained by the hypothesis of a soul. In other words, they are not animistic. The first impression we get is that of the bewildering variety of such beliefs. But they can be arranged, with more or less exactitude, into overlapping groups — and behind all the groups can be discerned a single underlying principle. That principle is the belief in a certain rule, order, law. We have no word for such a belief in English; and this, since the theory is as important, in the ancient Indian religions, as Animism, is a pity. I have suggested, in my lectures on Comparative Religion in Manchester, to call it Normalism.

Of course the men who held the beliefs, and practised the ceremonies so named, had no clear conception of the theory of Normalism, just as they had no clear conception of the theory of Animism. But they unmistakably held the view that things happened, effects were brought about, without [55] the agency of a soul or god, and quite as a matter of course; and they regarded that as the rule in such and such a case. Now we do not ourselves believe in the rule, or in any one of the rules, thus laid down (any more than we believe in the hypothesis of a homunculus within the heart). But the word Animism has been found most useful in clearing up our appreciation of ancient views. Its usefulness is limited, it is true. It covers rather less than half of the main beliefs recorded in the most ancient literatures of the world. The other half would be covered by the corresponding hypothesis of Normalism.

This is not the place to raise the question of the importance of Normalism in the general history of religions. Perhaps one of the reasons why, in Europe, so much more attention has been paid to Animism, maybe the general trend of belief in Europe being itself predominantly Animistic. But it is at least certain that in the far East, and more especially in China and India, Normalism is the more important of the two.

In China it is the basis of the theory of the Tao (the Way), which finds its earliest expression in the famous tractate of Lao Tsu, but was undoubtedly earlier than that, and is taken for granted also by Confucius.

The Tao is quite Normalistic; and though much debased in later times in the official circles of Taoism, the early form of it has never ceased to influence the various intellectual centres of Chinese belief. The theory of Yang and Yin, also so widely, indeed universally, held in China, and also going back to very early times, is equally Normalistic. No one of these three conceptions was ever personified. All three rested on the idea of law, or rule, independent of any soul.

In India, our earliest records, the thousand and more Vedic hymns, seem at first sight to be altogether Animistic. They consist almost exclusively in appeals to various gods. The European books on Indian religions are concerned in treating of the Vedic period, with descriptions of these gods, based on the epithets applied to them, or the acts attributed to them, and so on. But these poems make no pretension to being a complete statement of the beliefs held by the tribes whose priests made or used the poems. Other poems, not included in our present collection, were doubtless extant in the community at the time when the collection was made. Other beliefs, not mentioned in the poems, were widely influential among the people. What we have is not complete even as a summary of the theosophy or the ritual [56] or the mythology of the priests; and it refers only incidentally to other beliefs, unconnected with gods, of great importance as a factor in religion and daily life.

This conclusion might be justified as rendered necessary by a critical consideration of the simple, known facts as to the composition of the anthology we call the Rig Veda. It is confirmed by the discovery in later Vedic books, especially in the manuals of domestic rites, of customs and beliefs, that must evidently go back to the Rig Veda period (though not referred to in that collection); and even of one or two such cases that certainly go back to an earlier period still. We have space here for only one or two sample instances, and even they can only be treated in the merest outline.

Take the case of Rita. The meaning of the word would seem to have passed through some such evolution as motion, rhythmic motion, order, cosmic order, moral order, the right. In those slowly moving ages a long period must be postulated for the growth and consolidation of such ideas. The word is found, incidentally mentioned, at the end of its career, in the Avesta and the Veda. It must have been in full use before the Persian Aryans had separated from the Indian Aryans. The idea may therefore with reasonable probability be traced back to the third millennium before Christ. The use of the word died out in India before the time of the rise of Buddhism. Of the pre-Buddhistic Upanishads it occurs only in one — the Taittirīya. In the peroration to that work Rita is placed above, before the gods. The word occurs, it is true, in three or four isolated passages of post-Buddhistic works, but these are archaisms. It has not been traced in either the Buddhist or the Jain canonical literature.

The process of the gradual decline in the use of an abstract word is precisely analogous to the process of the gradual decay and death of a god.² The word covers not one idea only, but a number of connotations. The implications involved in it are constantly, though imperceptibly, changing. Sooner or later one or other phase of it overmasters the others, and some new word or words, emphasizing some one or other of the various connotations of the older word, come gradually into use as more adequate or more clear. When that process is complete, the older word is dead. But it lives again in the newer word, or words, that have taken its place, and would never have been born or thought of unless the older word had previously lived. It was so with Rita — a broader and deeper conception than the Greek Moira; and [57] more akin to the Chinese Tao. Like these, Rita was never personified, and it lives again in the clearer and more definite (though still very imperfect) phrases of the Suttanta before us now.

The case of Rita is by no means unique. I have elsewhere discussed at some length another case, that of Tapas or self- mortification, austerity.³ It was held in India from Vedic times onwards that tapas (originally burning glow, but afterwards used of fasting and other forms of self-mortification) worked out its effects by itself, without the intervention of any deity. This is only the more remarkable since it is almost certain that in India, as elsewhere, the ecstatic state of mind which rendered such austerity possible was originally often regarded as due to the inspiration of a spirit. But it is, so far as I know, never mentioned that the supranormal effects of the austerity were due to the spirit from whom the inspiration came. The effects were due to the austerity itself. Very often indeed there was no question of any deity's help in the determination to carry out the self-torture — just as in the case of the pujāris at the ghats in modern India.

Even the very sacrifice itself — made to gods, supposed to give sustenance and strength to gods, accompanied by hymns and invocations addressed to gods — was not entirely free from such Normalistic ideas. The hymns themselves already contain phrases which suggest that their authors began to see a certain mystic power over the gods in a properly conducted sacrifice. And we know that afterwards, in the Brāhmanas, this conception was carried to great lengths. So also we have evidence of a mystic power, independent of the gods, in the words, the verses, that accompany the sacrifice. And it is no contradiction of this that we find thus mystic power itself deified and becoming, indeed, in the course of centuries of speculation, the highest of the gods. And it is significative, in this connection, that the string of Behaspati's bow is precisely Rita.

It would be tedious (and it would also, after the above instances, be unnecessary, I trust) to quote the very numerous other instances in Vedic works of a slighter character and less importance, showing the existence of a theory of life the very opposite of Animism. They are naturally only quite incidental in the Rig Veda itself, and more and more frequent as the books get later, being most numerous in the Sūtra [58] period. Many of these can be classed under one or other of the various meanings given by anthropologists to the ambiguous and confusing word Magic⁴ — the magic of names, or numbers, or propinquity, or likeness, or association, or sympathy, and so on. Many will also be found in the long list of practices from which it is said in the Sīlas (one of the very earliest of our Buddhist documents, earlier than the Piṭakas) that the Samana Gotama refrains.⁵

The above suffices to show something of the position of Normalism in pre-Buddhistic India. Our present Suttanta shows the stage it had reached in the period of the early Buddhists. It is a stage of great interest — differing, as it does, from the line of development followed by Normalism in other countries.

T.W. Rhys Davids.

[58] [59]

XXVI. Cakkavatti-Sīhanāda Suttanta⁶
(The Lion-roar on the Turning of the Wheel)

War, Wickedness, and Wealth

THUS HAVE I HEARD.

The Exalted One was once staying in the land of the Magadhese
at Mātuhlā.

Now there the Exalted One addressed the brethren,⁷ saying:

"Brethren!"

And they made answer:

"Lord!"

The Exalted One spake thus:

"Live ye as islands⁸ unto yourselves, brethren,
as refuges unto yourselves,
taking no other as your refuge;
live with the doctrine (the Norm),
as your island,
with the Norm as your refuge,
taking no other as your refuge.

■

But how, brethren, does a brother live
as an island unto himself,
as a refuge unto himself,
taking no other as his refuge?

How does he live
with the Norm as his island,
with the Norm as his refuge,
taking no other refuge?

Herein,⁹ brethren,
a brother as to the body,
continues so to look upon the body
that he remains ardent,
self-possessed,
and mindful,
that he may overcome both the hankering
and the dejection
common in the world;

as to the feelings,
continues so to look upon these
that he remains ardent,
self-possessed,
and mindful,
that he may overcome both the hankering
and the dejection
common in the world;

as to thought,
continues so to look upon these
that he remains ardent,
self-possessed,
and mindful,
that he may overcome both the hankering
and the dejection
common in the world;

as to ideas,¹⁰
continues so to look upon these
that he remains ardent,
self-possessed,
and mindful,
that he may overcome both the hankering
and the dejection
common in the world.

Thus, brethren, does a brother live
as an island unto himself,
as a refuge unto himself,
taking no other as his refuge
thus does he live with the Norm as his island,
with the Norm as his refuge,
taking no other refuge.

[60] Keep to your own pastures,¹¹ brethren,
walk in the haunts where your fathers roamed.¹²

If ye thus walk in them
the Evil One will find no landing-place,
no basis of attack.

It is precisely by the cultivation of good qualities
that this merit grows.

§

[59] 2. Long, long ago, brethren,
there was a sovran overlord named Strongtyre,
a righteous king ruling in righteousness,¹³
lord of the four quarters of the earth,
conqueror,
the protector of his people,
possessor of the seven precious things.

His were these seven precious things,
to wit,
the Wheel,
the Elephant,
the Horse,
the Gem,
the Woman,
the House-father, the Counsellor.

More than a thousand sons also were his,
heroes,
vigorous of frame,
crushers of the hosts of the enemy.¹⁴

He lived in supremacy
over this earth to its ocean bounds,
having conquered it,
not by the scourge,
not by the sword,
but by righteousness.

3. Now, brethren, after many years,
after many hundred years,
after many thousand years,
King Strongtyre commanded a certain man,
saying:

'If thou shouldst see, sirrah,
that the Celestial Wheel has sunk a little,
has slipped down from its place,
bring me word.'

'Even so, sire,' replied the man.

Now after many years,
after many hundred years,
after many thousand years
that man saw that the Celestial Wheel had sunk,
had slipped down from its place.

On seeing that
he went to King Strongtyre and said:

'Know, sire, for a truth
that thy Celestial Wheel has sunk,
has slipped down from its place.'

[61] Then King Strongtyre, brethren,
let the prince his eldest son
be sent for,
and spake thus:

'Behold, dear boy,
my Celestial Wheel has sunk a little,
has slipped down from its place.

Now it has been told me:

"If the Celestial Wheel
of a Wheel-turning King
shall sink down,
shall slip down from its place,
that king has not much longer to live."

I have had my fill [60] of human pleasures;
'tis time to seek after divine joys.

Come, dear boy,
take thou charge
over this earth bounded by the ocean.

But I,
shaving hair and beard,
and donning yellow robes,
will go forth from home
into the homeless state.'

So, brethren, King Strongtyre,
having in due form
established his eldest son on the throne,
shaved hair and beard,
donned yellow robes
and went forth from home
into the homeless state.

But on the seventh day
after the royal hermit had gone forth,
the Celestial Wheel disappeared.¹⁵

4. Then a certain man went to the king,
the anointed warrior,
and told him,
saying:

'Know, O king, for a truth,
that the Celestial Wheel has disappeared!'

Then that king, brethren,
the anointed warrior,
was grieved thereat
and afflicted with sorrow.

And he went to the royal hermit
and told him,
saying:

'Know, sire, for a truth,
that the Celestial Wheel has disappeared.'

And the anointed king so saying,
the royal hermit made reply:

'Grieve thou not, dear son,
that the Celestial Wheel has disappeared,
nor be afflicted.

For no paternal heritage of thine,
dear son,
is the Celestial Wheel.

But verily, dear son, turn thou
in the Ariyan turning of the Wheel-turners.¹⁶

[Act up to the noble ideal of duty set before themselves by the true sovrans of the world.]¹⁷

Then it may well be
that if thou carry [62] out the Ariyan duty
of a Wheel-turning Monarch,
and on the feast of the full moon
thou wilt go with bathed head
to keep the feast on the chief upper terrace,
lo! the Celestial Wheel will manifest itself
with its thousand spokes,
its tyre,
navel,
and all its parts complete.'

[61]5. 'But what, sire,
is this Ariyan duty
of a Wheel-turning Monarch?'

'This, dear son:
that thou,
leaning on the Norm
[the Law of truth and righteousness]¹⁸
honouring, respecting and revering it,
doing homage to it,
hallowing it,
being thyself a Norm-banner,
a Norm-signal,
having the Norm as thy master,
shouldst provide the right watch, ward, and protection
for thine own folk,
for the army,
for the nobles,
for vassals,
for brahmins,
and householders,
for town and country dwellers,
for the religious world,
and for beasts and birds.

Throughout thy kingdom
let no wrongdoing prevail.

And whosoever in thy kingdom is poor,
to him let wealth be given.

And when, dear son,
in thy kingdom men of religious life,
renouncing the carelessness arising
from the intoxication of the senses,
and devoted to forbearance and sympathy,
each mastering self,
each calming self,
each perfecting self,
shall come to thee from time to time,
and question thee
concerning what is good and what is bad,
what is criminal and what is not,
what is to be done and what left undone,
what line of action will
in the long run
work for weal or for woe,
thou shouldst hear what they have to say,
and thou shouldst deter them from evil,
and bid them take up what is [63] good.

This, dear son,
is the Ariyan duty
of a sovran of the world.'

'Even so, sire,'
answered the anointed king,
and obeying,
carried out the Ariyan duty of a sovran lord.

To him, thus behaving,
when¹⁹ on the feast of the full moon
he had gone in due observance
with bathed head
to the chief upper terrace,
the Celestial Wheel revealed itself,
with its thousand spokes,
its tyre,
its navel,
and all its parts complete.

And seeing this
it occurred to the king:

'It has been told me
that a king to whom
on such an occasion
the Celestial Wheel reveals itself completely,
[62] becomes a Wheel-turning monarch.

May I even I also
become a sovran of the world.'

6. Then, brethren,
the king arose from his seat,
and uncovering his robe from one shoulder,
took in his left hand a pitcher,
and with his right hand
sprinkled up over the Celestial Wheel,
saying:

'Roll onward, O lord Wheel!

Go forth and overcome, O lord Wheel!'

Then, brethren,
the Celestial Wheel rolled onwards
towards the region of the East,
and after it went the Wheel-turning king,
and with him his army,
horses
and chariots
and elephants
and men.

And in whatever place, brethren,
the Wheel stopped,
there the king,
the victorious war-lord,
took up his abode,
and with him his fourfold army.

Then all the rival kings
in the region of the East
came to the sovran king and said:

'Come, O mighty king!

Welcome, O mighty king!

All is thine, O mighty king!

Teach us, O mighty king!'²⁰

The king, the sovran war-lord,
spake thus:

Ye shall slay no living thing.

Ye shall not take that which has not been given.

Ye shall not act wrongly touching bodily desires.

Ye shall speak no lie.

Ye shall drink [64] no maddening drink.

Enjoy your possessions
as you have been wont to do.²¹

Then, brethren, all they
that were enemy kings
in the region of the East
became vassals to the king,
the Wheel-turner.

7. Then, brethren, the Celestial Wheel,
plunging down into the Eastern ocean,
rose up out again,
and rolled onwards to the region of the South,
and after it went the Wheel-turning king,
and with him his army,
horses
and chariots
and elephants
and men.

And in whatever place, brethren,
the Wheel stopped,
there the king,
the victorious war-lord,
took up his abode,
and with him his fourfold army.

Then all the rival kings
in the region of the South
came to the sovran king and said:

'Come, O mighty king!

Welcome, O mighty king!

All is thine, O mighty king!

Teach us, O mighty king!'

The king, the sovran war-lord,
spake thus:

'Ye shall slay no living thing.

Ye shall not take that which has not been given.

Ye shall not act wrongly touching bodily desires.

Ye shall speak no lie.

Ye shall drink no maddening drink.

Enjoy your possessions as you have been wont to do.'

Then, brethren,
all they that were enemy kings
in the region of the South
became vassals to the king,
the Wheel-turner.

Then, brethren, the Celestial Wheel,
plunging down into the Southern ocean,
rose up out again,
and rolled onwards
to the region of the West,
and after it went the Wheel-turning king,
and with him his army,
horses
and chariots
and elephants
and men.

And in whatever place, brethren,
the Wheel stopped,
there the king,
the victorious war-lord,
took up his abode,
and with him his fourfold army.

Then all the rival kings
in the region of the West
came to the sovran king and said:

'Come, O mighty king!

Welcome, O mighty king!

All is thine, O mighty king!

Teach us, O mighty king!'

The king, the sovran war-lord, spake thus:

'Ye shall slay no living thing.

Ye shall not take that which has not been given.

Ye shall not act wrongly touching bodily desires.

Ye shall speak no lie.

Ye shall drink no maddening drink.

Enjoy your possessions as you have been wont to do.'

Then, brethren,
all they that were enemy kings
in the region of the West
became vassals to the king,
the Wheel-turner.

Then, brethren, the Celestial Wheel,
plunging down into the Western ocean,
rose up out again,
and rolled onwards to the region [63]of the North,
and after it went the Wheel-turning king,
and with him his army,
horses
and chariots
and elephants
and men.

And in whatever place, brethren,
the Wheel stopped,
there the king,
the victorious war-lord,
took up his abode,
and with him his fourfold army.

Then all the rival kings
in the region of the North
came to the sovran king and said:

'Come, O mighty king!

Welcome, O mighty king!

All is thine, O mighty king!

Teach us, O mighty king!'

The king, the sovran war-lord,
spake thus:

'Ye shall slay no living thing.

Ye shall not take that which has not been given.

Ye shall not act wrongly touching bodily desires.

Ye shall speak no lie.

Ye shall drink no maddening drink.

Enjoy your possessions as you have been wont to do.'

Then, brethren,
all they that were enemy kings
in the region of the North
became vassals to the king,
the Wheel-turner.

Then when the Celestial Wheel had gone forth
conquering over the whole earth
to its ocean boundary,
it returned to the royal city,
and stood,
so that one might think it fixed,
in front of the judgment hall
at the entrance to the inner apartments of the king,
the Wheel-turner,
lighting up with its glory
the facade of the inner apartments of the king,
the sovran of the world.

§

[The Third in the Line]

8.1. Now, brethren, after many years,
after many hundred years,
after many thousand years,
King Strongtyre commanded a certain man,
saying:

'If thou shouldst see, sirrah,
that the Celestial Wheel has sunk a little,
has slipped down from its place,
bring me word.'

'Even so, sire,' replied the man.

Now after many years,
after many hundred years,
after many thousand years
that man saw that the Celestial Wheel had sunk,
had slipped down from its place.

On seeing that
he went to King Strongtyre and said:

'Know, sire, for a truth
that thy Celestial Wheel has sunk,
has slipped down from its place.'

Then the King, brethren,
let the prince his eldest son
be sent for,
and spake thus:

'Behold, dear boy,
my Celestial Wheel has sunk a little,
has slipped down from its place.

Now it has been told me:

"If the Celestial Wheel
of a Wheel-turning King
shall sink down,
shall slip down from its place,
that king has not much longer to live."

I have had my fill of human pleasures;
'tis time to seek after divine joys.

Come, dear boy,
take thou charge
over this earth bounded by the ocean.

But I,
shaving hair and beard,
and donning yellow robes,
will go forth from home
into the homeless state.'

So, brethren, the King,
having in due form
established his eldest son on the throne,
shaved hair and beard,
donned yellow robes
and went forth from home
into the homeless state.

But on the seventh day
after the royal hermit had gone forth,
the Celestial Wheel disappeared.

Then a certain man went to the king,
the anointed warrior,
and told him,
saying:

'Know, O king, for a truth,
that the Celestial Wheel has disappeared!'

Then that king, brethren,
the anointed warrior,
was grieved thereat
and afflicted with sorrow.

And he went to the royal hermit
and told him,
saying:

'Know, sire, for a truth,
that the Celestial Wheel has disappeared.'

And the anointed king so saying,
the royal hermit made reply:

'Grieve thou not, dear son,
that the Celestial Wheel has disappeared,
nor be afflicted.

For no paternal heritage of thine,
dear son,
is the Celestial Wheel.

But verily, dear son, turn thou
in the Ariyan turning of the Wheel-turners.

[Act up to the noble ideal of duty set before themselves by the true sovrans of the world.]

Then it may well be
that if thou carry out the Ariyan duty
of a Wheel-turning Monarch,
and on the feast of the full moon
thou wilt go with bathed head
to keep the feast on the chief upper terrace,
lo! the Celestial Wheel will manifest itself
with its thousand spokes,
its tyre,
navel,
and all its parts complete.'

'But what, sire,
is this Ariyan duty
of a Wheel-turning Monarch?'

'This, dear son:
that thou,
leaning on the Norm
[the Law of truth and righteousness]
honouring, respecting and revering it,
doing homage to it,
hallowing it,
being thyself a Norm-banner,
a Norm-signal,
having the Norm as thy master,
shouldst provide the right watch, ward, and protection
for thine own folk,
for the army,
for the nobles,
for vassals,
for brahmins,
and householders,
for town and country dwellers,
for the religious world,
and for beasts and birds.

Throughout thy kingdom
let no wrongdoing prevail.

And whosoever in thy kingdom is poor,
to him let wealth be given.

And when, dear son,
in thy kingdom men of religious life,
renouncing the carelessness arising
from the intoxication of the senses,
and devoted to forbearance and sympathy,
each mastering self,
each calming self,
each perfecting self,
shall come to thee from time to time,
and question thee
concerning what is good and what is bad,
what is criminal and what is not,
what is to be done and what left undone,
what line of action will
in the long run
work for weal or for woe,
thou shouldst hear what they have to say,
and thou shouldst deter them from evil,
and bid them take up what is good.

This, dear son,
is the Ariyan duty
of a sovran of the world.'

'Even so, sire,'
answered the anointed king,
and obeying,
carried out the Ariyan duty of a sovran lord.

To him, thus behaving,
when on the feast of the full moon
he had gone in due observance
with bathed head
to the chief upper terrace,
the Celestial Wheel revealed itself,
with its thousand spokes,
its tyre,
its navel,
and all its parts complete.

And seeing this
it occurred to the king:

'It has been told me
that a king to whom
on such an occasion
the Celestial Wheel reveals itself completely,
becomes a Wheel-turning monarch.

May I even I also
become a sovran of the world.'

Then, brethren,
the king arose from his seat,
and uncovering his robe from one shoulder,
took in his left hand a pitcher,
and with his right hand
sprinkled up over the Celestial Wheel,
saying:

'Roll onward, O lord Wheel!

Go forth and overcome, O lord Wheel!'

Then, brethren,
the Celestial Wheel rolled onwards
towards the region of the East,
and after it went the Wheel-turning king,
and with him his army,
horses
and chariots
and elephants
and men.

And in whatever place, brethren,
the Wheel stopped,
there the king,
the victorious war-lord,
took up his abode,
and with him his fourfold army.

Then all the rival kings
in the region of the East
came to the sovran king and said:

'Come, O mighty king!

Welcome, O mighty king!

All is thine, O mighty king!

Teach us, O mighty king!'

The king, the sovran war-lord,
spake thus:

Ye shall slay no living thing.

Ye shall not take that which has not been given.

Ye shall not act wrongly touching bodily desires.

Ye shall speak no lie.

Ye shall drink no maddening drink.

Enjoy your possessions
as you have been wont to do.

Then, brethren, all they
that were enemy kings
in the region of the East
became vassals to the king,
the Wheel-turner.

Then, brethren, the Celestial Wheel,
plunging down into the Eastern ocean,
rose up out again,
and rolled onwards to the region of the South,
and after it went the Wheel-turning king,
and with him his army,
horses
and chariots
and elephants
and men.

And in whatever place, brethren,
the Wheel stopped,
there the king,
the victorious war-lord,
took up his abode,
and with him his fourfold army.

Then all the rival kings
in the region of the South
came to the sovran king and said:

'Come, O mighty king!

Welcome, O mighty king!

All is thine, O mighty king!

Teach us, O mighty king!'

The king, the sovran war-lord,
spake thus:

'Ye shall slay no living thing.

Ye shall not take that which has not been given.

Ye shall not act wrongly touching bodily desires.

Ye shall speak no lie.

Ye shall drink no maddening drink.

Enjoy your possessions as you have been wont to do.'

Then, brethren,
all they that were enemy kings
in the region of the South
became vassals to the king,
the Wheel-turner.

Then, brethren, the Celestial Wheel,
plunging down into the Southern ocean,
rose up out again,
and rolled onwards
to the region of the West,
and after it went the Wheel-turning king,
and with him his army,
horses
and chariots
and elephants
and men.

And in whatever place, brethren,
the Wheel stopped,
there the king,
the victorious war-lord,
took up his abode,
and with him his fourfold army.

Then all the rival kings
in the region of the West
came to the sovran king and said:

'Come, O mighty king!

Welcome, O mighty king!

All is thine, O mighty king!

Teach us, O mighty king!'

The king, the sovran war-lord, spake thus:

'Ye shall slay no living thing.

Ye shall not take that which has not been given.

Ye shall not act wrongly touching bodily desires.

Ye shall speak no lie.

Ye shall drink no maddening drink.

Enjoy your possessions as you have been wont to do.'

Then, brethren,
all they that were enemy kings
in the region of the West
became vassals to the king,
the Wheel-turner.

Then, brethren, the Celestial Wheel,
plunging down into the Western ocean,
rose up out again,
and rolled onwards to the region of the North,
and after it went the Wheel-turning king,
and with him his army,
horses
and chariots
and elephants
and men.

And in whatever place, brethren,
the Wheel stopped,
there the king,
the victorious war-lord,
took up his abode,
and with him his fourfold army.

Then all the rival kings
in the region of the North
came to the sovran king and said:

'Come, O mighty king!

Welcome, O mighty king!

All is thine, O mighty king!

Teach us, O mighty king!'

The king, the sovran war-lord,
spake thus:

'Ye shall slay no living thing.

Ye shall not take that which has not been given.

Ye shall not act wrongly touching bodily desires.

Ye shall speak no lie.

Ye shall drink no maddening drink.

Enjoy your possessions as you have been wont to do.'

Then, brethren,
all they that were enemy kings
in the region of the North
became vassals to the king,
the Wheel-turner.

Then when the Celestial Wheel had gone forth
conquering over the whole earth
to its ocean boundary,
it returned to the royal city,
and stood,
so that one might think it fixed,
in front of the judgment hall
at the entrance to the inner apartments of the king,
the Wheel-turner,
lighting up with its glory
the facade of the inner apartments of the king,
the sovran of the world.

§

[The Fourth in the Line]

8.2. Now, brethren, after many years,
after many hundred years,
after many thousand years,
King Strongtyre commanded a certain man,
saying:

'If thou shouldst see, sirrah,
that the Celestial Wheel has sunk a little,
has slipped down from its place,
bring me word.'

'Even so, sire,' replied the man.

Now after many years,
after many hundred years,
after many thousand years
that man saw that the Celestial Wheel had sunk,
had slipped down from its place.

On seeing that
he went to King Strongtyre and said:

'Know, sire, for a truth
that thy Celestial Wheel has sunk,
has slipped down from its place.'

Then the King, brethren,
let the prince his eldest son
be sent for,
and spake thus:

'Behold, dear boy,
my Celestial Wheel has sunk a little,
has slipped down from its place.

Now it has been told me:

"If the Celestial Wheel
of a Wheel-turning King
shall sink down,
shall slip down from its place,
that king has not much longer to live."

I have had my fill of human pleasures;
'tis time to seek after divine joys.

Come, dear boy,
take thou charge
over this earth bounded by the ocean.

But I,
shaving hair and beard,
and donning yellow robes,
will go forth from home
into the homeless state.'

So, brethren, the King,
having in due form
established his eldest son on the throne,
shaved hair and beard,
donned yellow robes
and went forth from home
into the homeless state.

But on the seventh day
after the royal hermit had gone forth,
the Celestial Wheel disappeared.

Then a certain man went to the king,
the anointed warrior,
and told him,
saying:

'Know, O king, for a truth,
that the Celestial Wheel has disappeared!'

Then that king, brethren,
the anointed warrior,
was grieved thereat
and afflicted with sorrow.

And he went to the royal hermit
and told him,
saying:

'Know, sire, for a truth,
that the Celestial Wheel has disappeared.'

And the anointed king so saying,
the royal hermit made reply:

'Grieve thou not, dear son,
that the Celestial Wheel has disappeared,
nor be afflicted.

For no paternal heritage of thine,
dear son,
is the Celestial Wheel.

But verily, dear son, turn thou
in the Ariyan turning of the Wheel-turners.

[Act up to the noble ideal of duty set before themselves by the true sovrans of the world.]

Then it may well be
that if thou carry out the Ariyan duty
of a Wheel-turning Monarch,
and on the feast of the full moon
thou wilt go with bathed head
to keep the feast on the chief upper terrace,
lo! the Celestial Wheel will manifest itself
with its thousand spokes,
its tyre,
navel,
and all its parts complete.'

'But what, sire,
is this Ariyan duty
of a Wheel-turning Monarch?'

'This, dear son:
that thou,
leaning on the Norm
[the Law of truth and righteousness]
honouring, respecting and revering it,
doing homage to it,
hallowing it,
being thyself a Norm-banner,
a Norm-signal,
having the Norm as thy master,
shouldst provide the right watch, ward, and protection
for thine own folk,
for the army,
for the nobles,
for vassals,
for brahmins,
and householders,
for town and country dwellers,
for the religious world,
and for beasts and birds.

Throughout thy kingdom
let no wrongdoing prevail.

And whosoever in thy kingdom is poor,
to him let wealth be given.

And when, dear son,
in thy kingdom men of religious life,
renouncing the carelessness arising
from the intoxication of the senses,
and devoted to forbearance and sympathy,
each mastering self,
each calming self,
each perfecting self,
shall come to thee from time to time,
and question thee
concerning what is good and what is bad,
what is criminal and what is not,
what is to be done and what left undone,
what line of action will
in the long run
work for weal or for woe,
thou shouldst hear what they have to say,
and thou shouldst deter them from evil,
and bid them take up what is good.

This, dear son,
is the Ariyan duty
of a sovran of the world.'

'Even so, sire,'
answered the anointed king,
and obeying,
carried out the Ariyan duty of a sovran lord.

To him, thus behaving,
when on the feast of the full moon
he had gone in due observance
with bathed head
to the chief upper terrace,
the Celestial Wheel revealed itself,
with its thousand spokes,
its tyre,
its navel,
and all its parts complete.

And seeing this
it occurred to the king:

'It has been told me
that a king to whom
on such an occasion
the Celestial Wheel reveals itself completely,
becomes a Wheel-turning monarch.

May I even I also
become a sovran of the world.'

Then, brethren,
the king arose from his seat,
and uncovering his robe from one shoulder,
took in his left hand a pitcher,
and with his right hand
sprinkled up over the Celestial Wheel,
saying:

'Roll onward, O lord Wheel!

Go forth and overcome, O lord Wheel!'

Then, brethren,
the Celestial Wheel rolled onwards
towards the region of the East,
and after it went the Wheel-turning king,
and with him his army,
horses
and chariots
and elephants
and men.

And in whatever place, brethren,
the Wheel stopped,
there the king,
the victorious war-lord,
took up his abode,
and with him his fourfold army.

Then all the rival kings
in the region of the East
came to the sovran king and said:

'Come, O mighty king!

Welcome, O mighty king!

All is thine, O mighty king!

Teach us, O mighty king!'

The king, the sovran war-lord,
spake thus:

Ye shall slay no living thing.

Ye shall not take that which has not been given.

Ye shall not act wrongly touching bodily desires.

Ye shall speak no lie.

Ye shall drink no maddening drink.

Enjoy your possessions
as you have been wont to do.

Then, brethren, all they
that were enemy kings
in the region of the East
became vassals to the king,
the Wheel-turner.

Then, brethren, the Celestial Wheel,
plunging down into the Eastern ocean,
rose up out again,
and rolled onwards to the region of the South,
and after it went the Wheel-turning king,
and with him his army,
horses
and chariots
and elephants
and men.

And in whatever place, brethren,
the Wheel stopped,
there the king,
the victorious war-lord,
took up his abode,
and with him his fourfold army.

Then all the rival kings
in the region of the South
came to the sovran king and said:

'Come, O mighty king!

Welcome, O mighty king!

All is thine, O mighty king!

Teach us, O mighty king!'

The king, the sovran war-lord,
spake thus:

'Ye shall slay no living thing.

Ye shall not take that which has not been given.

Ye shall not act wrongly touching bodily desires.

Ye shall speak no lie.

Ye shall drink no maddening drink.

Enjoy your possessions as you have been wont to do.'

Then, brethren,
all they that were enemy kings
in the region of the South
became vassals to the king,
the Wheel-turner.

Then, brethren, the Celestial Wheel,
plunging down into the Southern ocean,
rose up out again,
and rolled onwards
to the region of the West,
and after it went the Wheel-turning king,
and with him his army,
horses
and chariots
and elephants
and men.

And in whatever place, brethren,
the Wheel stopped,
there the king,
the victorious war-lord,
took up his abode,
and with him his fourfold army.

Then all the rival kings
in the region of the West
came to the sovran king and said:

'Come, O mighty king!

Welcome, O mighty king!

All is thine, O mighty king!

Teach us, O mighty king!'

The king, the sovran war-lord, spake thus:

'Ye shall slay no living thing.

Ye shall not take that which has not been given.

Ye shall not act wrongly touching bodily desires.

Ye shall speak no lie.

Ye shall drink no maddening drink.

Enjoy your possessions as you have been wont to do.'

Then, brethren,
all they that were enemy kings
in the region of the West
became vassals to the king,
the Wheel-turner.

Then, brethren, the Celestial Wheel,
plunging down into the Western ocean,
rose up out again,
and rolled onwards to the region of the North,
and after it went the Wheel-turning king,
and with him his army,
horses
and chariots
and elephants
and men.

And in whatever place, brethren,
the Wheel stopped,
there the king,
the victorious war-lord,
took up his abode,
and with him his fourfold army.

Then all the rival kings
in the region of the North
came to the sovran king and said:

'Come, O mighty king!

Welcome, O mighty king!

All is thine, O mighty king!

Teach us, O mighty king!'

The king, the sovran war-lord,
spake thus:

'Ye shall slay no living thing.

Ye shall not take that which has not been given.

Ye shall not act wrongly touching bodily desires.

Ye shall speak no lie.

Ye shall drink no maddening drink.

Enjoy your possessions as you have been wont to do.'

Then, brethren,
all they that were enemy kings
in the region of the North
became vassals to the king,
the Wheel-turner.

Then when the Celestial Wheel had gone forth
conquering over the whole earth
to its ocean boundary,
it returned to the royal city,
and stood,
so that one might think it fixed,
in front of the judgment hall
at the entrance to the inner apartments of the king,
the Wheel-turner,
lighting up with its glory
the facade of the inner apartments of the king,
the sovran of the world.

§

[The Fifth in the Line]

8.3. Now, brethren, after many years,
after many hundred years,
after many thousand years,
King Strongtyre commanded a certain man,
saying:

'If thou shouldst see, sirrah,
that the Celestial Wheel has sunk a little,
has slipped down from its place,
bring me word.'

'Even so, sire,' replied the man.

Now after many years,
after many hundred years,
after many thousand years
that man saw that the Celestial Wheel had sunk,
had slipped down from its place.

On seeing that
he went to King Strongtyre and said:

'Know, sire, for a truth
that thy Celestial Wheel has sunk,
has slipped down from its place.'

Then the King, brethren,
let the prince his eldest son
be sent for,
and spake thus:

'Behold, dear boy,
my Celestial Wheel has sunk a little,
has slipped down from its place.

Now it has been told me:

"If the Celestial Wheel
of a Wheel-turning King
shall sink down,
shall slip down from its place,
that king has not much longer to live."

I have had my fill of human pleasures;
'tis time to seek after divine joys.

Come, dear boy,
take thou charge
over this earth bounded by the ocean.

But I,
shaving hair and beard,
and donning yellow robes,
will go forth from home
into the homeless state.'

So, brethren, the King,
having in due form
established his eldest son on the throne,
shaved hair and beard,
donned yellow robes
and went forth from home
into the homeless state.

But on the seventh day
after the royal hermit had gone forth,
the Celestial Wheel disappeared.

Then a certain man went to the king,
the anointed warrior,
and told him,
saying:

'Know, O king, for a truth,
that the Celestial Wheel has disappeared!'

Then that king, brethren,
the anointed warrior,
was grieved thereat
and afflicted with sorrow.

And he went to the royal hermit
and told him,
saying:

'Know, sire, for a truth,
that the Celestial Wheel has disappeared.'

And the anointed king so saying,
the royal hermit made reply:

'Grieve thou not, dear son,
that the Celestial Wheel has disappeared,
nor be afflicted.

For no paternal heritage of thine,
dear son,
is the Celestial Wheel.

But verily, dear son, turn thou
in the Ariyan turning of the Wheel-turners.

[Act up to the noble ideal of duty set before themselves by the true sovrans of the world.]

Then it may well be
that if thou carry out the Ariyan duty
of a Wheel-turning Monarch,
and on the feast of the full moon
thou wilt go with bathed head
to keep the feast on the chief upper terrace,
lo! the Celestial Wheel will manifest itself
with its thousand spokes,
its tyre,
navel,
and all its parts complete.'

'But what, sire,
is this Ariyan duty
of a Wheel-turning Monarch?'

'This, dear son:
that thou,
leaning on the Norm
[the Law of truth and righteousness]
honouring, respecting and revering it,
doing homage to it,
hallowing it,
being thyself a Norm-banner,
a Norm-signal,
having the Norm as thy master,
shouldst provide the right watch, ward, and protection
for thine own folk,
for the army,
for the nobles,
for vassals,
for brahmins,
and householders,
for town and country dwellers,
for the religious world,
and for beasts and birds.

Throughout thy kingdom
let no wrongdoing prevail.

And whosoever in thy kingdom is poor,
to him let wealth be given.

And when, dear son,
in thy kingdom men of religious life,
renouncing the carelessness arising
from the intoxication of the senses,
and devoted to forbearance and sympathy,
each mastering self,
each calming self,
each perfecting self,
shall come to thee from time to time,
and question thee
concerning what is good and what is bad,
what is criminal and what is not,
what is to be done and what left undone,
what line of action will
in the long run
work for weal or for woe,
thou shouldst hear what they have to say,
and thou shouldst deter them from evil,
and bid them take up what is good.

This, dear son,
is the Ariyan duty
of a sovran of the world.'

'Even so, sire,'
answered the anointed king,
and obeying,
carried out the Ariyan duty of a sovran lord.

To him, thus behaving,
when on the feast of the full moon
he had gone in due observance
with bathed head
to the chief upper terrace,
the Celestial Wheel revealed itself,
with its thousand spokes,
its tyre,
its navel,
and all its parts complete.

And seeing this
it occurred to the king:

'It has been told me
that a king to whom
on such an occasion
the Celestial Wheel reveals itself completely,
becomes a Wheel-turning monarch.

May I even I also
become a sovran of the world.'

Then, brethren,
the king arose from his seat,
and uncovering his robe from one shoulder,
took in his left hand a pitcher,
and with his right hand
sprinkled up over the Celestial Wheel,
saying:

'Roll onward, O lord Wheel!

Go forth and overcome, O lord Wheel!'

Then, brethren,
the Celestial Wheel rolled onwards
towards the region of the East,
and after it went the Wheel-turning king,
and with him his army,
horses
and chariots
and elephants
and men.

And in whatever place, brethren,
the Wheel stopped,
there the king,
the victorious war-lord,
took up his abode,
and with him his fourfold army.

Then all the rival kings
in the region of the East
came to the sovran king and said:

'Come, O mighty king!

Welcome, O mighty king!

All is thine, O mighty king!

Teach us, O mighty king!'

The king, the sovran war-lord,
spake thus:

Ye shall slay no living thing.

Ye shall not take that which has not been given.

Ye shall not act wrongly touching bodily desires.

Ye shall speak no lie.

Ye shall drink no maddening drink.

Enjoy your possessions
as you have been wont to do.

Then, brethren, all they
that were enemy kings
in the region of the East
became vassals to the king,
the Wheel-turner.

Then, brethren, the Celestial Wheel,
plunging down into the Eastern ocean,
rose up out again,
and rolled onwards to the region of the South,
and after it went the Wheel-turning king,
and with him his army,
horses
and chariots
and elephants
and men.

And in whatever place, brethren,
the Wheel stopped,
there the king,
the victorious war-lord,
took up his abode,
and with him his fourfold army.

Then all the rival kings
in the region of the South
came to the sovran king and said:

'Come, O mighty king!

Welcome, O mighty king!

All is thine, O mighty king!

Teach us, O mighty king!'

The king, the sovran war-lord,
spake thus:

'Ye shall slay no living thing.

Ye shall not take that which has not been given.

Ye shall not act wrongly touching bodily desires.

Ye shall speak no lie.

Ye shall drink no maddening drink.

Enjoy your possessions as you have been wont to do.'

Then, brethren,
all they that were enemy kings
in the region of the South
became vassals to the king,
the Wheel-turner.

Then, brethren, the Celestial Wheel,
plunging down into the Southern ocean,
rose up out again,
and rolled onwards
to the region of the West,
and after it went the Wheel-turning king,
and with him his army,
horses
and chariots
and elephants
and men.

And in whatever place, brethren,
the Wheel stopped,
there the king,
the victorious war-lord,
took up his abode,
and with him his fourfold army.

Then all the rival kings
in the region of the West
came to the sovran king and said:

'Come, O mighty king!

Welcome, O mighty king!

All is thine, O mighty king!

Teach us, O mighty king!'

The king, the sovran war-lord, spake thus:

'Ye shall slay no living thing.

Ye shall not take that which has not been given.

Ye shall not act wrongly touching bodily desires.

Ye shall speak no lie.

Ye shall drink no maddening drink.

Enjoy your possessions as you have been wont to do.'

Then, brethren,
all they that were enemy kings
in the region of the West
became vassals to the king,
the Wheel-turner.

Then, brethren, the Celestial Wheel,
plunging down into the Western ocean,
rose up out again,
and rolled onwards to the region of the North,
and after it went the Wheel-turning king,
and with him his army,
horses
and chariots
and elephants
and men.

And in whatever place, brethren,
the Wheel stopped,
there the king,
the victorious war-lord,
took up his abode,
and with him his fourfold army.

Then all the rival kings
in the region of the North
came to the sovran king and said:

'Come, O mighty king!

Welcome, O mighty king!

All is thine, O mighty king!

Teach us, O mighty king!'

The king, the sovran war-lord,
spake thus:

'Ye shall slay no living thing.

Ye shall not take that which has not been given.

Ye shall not act wrongly touching bodily desires.

Ye shall speak no lie.

Ye shall drink no maddening drink.

Enjoy your possessions as you have been wont to do.'

Then, brethren,
all they that were enemy kings
in the region of the North
became vassals to the king,
the Wheel-turner.

Then when the Celestial Wheel had gone forth
conquering over the whole earth
to its ocean boundary,
it returned to the royal city,
and stood,
so that one might think it fixed,
in front of the judgment hall
at the entrance to the inner apartments of the king,
the Wheel-turner,
lighting up with its glory
the facade of the inner apartments of the king,
the sovran of the world.

§

[The Sixth in the Line]

8.4. Now, brethren, after many years,
after many hundred years,
after many thousand years,
King Strongtyre commanded a certain man,
saying:

'If thou shouldst see, sirrah,
that the Celestial Wheel has sunk a little,
has slipped down from its place,
bring me word.'

'Even so, sire,' replied the man.

Now after many years,
after many hundred years,
after many thousand years
that man saw that the Celestial Wheel had sunk,
had slipped down from its place.

On seeing that
he went to King Strongtyre and said:

'Know, sire, for a truth
that thy Celestial Wheel has sunk,
has slipped down from its place.'

Then the King, brethren,
let the prince his eldest son
be sent for,
and spake thus:

'Behold, dear boy,
my Celestial Wheel has sunk a little,
has slipped down from its place.

Now it has been told me:

"If the Celestial Wheel
of a Wheel-turning King
shall sink down,
shall slip down from its place,
that king has not much longer to live."

I have had my fill of human pleasures;
'tis time to seek after divine joys.

Come, dear boy,
take thou charge
over this earth bounded by the ocean.

But I,
shaving hair and beard,
and donning yellow robes,
will go forth from home
into the homeless state.'

So, brethren, the King,
having in due form
established his eldest son on the throne,
shaved hair and beard,
donned yellow robes
and went forth from home
into the homeless state.

But on the seventh day
after the royal hermit had gone forth,
the Celestial Wheel disappeared.

Then a certain man went to the king,
the anointed warrior,
and told him,
saying:

'Know, O king, for a truth,
that the Celestial Wheel has disappeared!'

Then that king, brethren,
the anointed warrior,
was grieved thereat
and afflicted with sorrow.

And he went to the royal hermit
and told him,
saying:

'Know, sire, for a truth,
that the Celestial Wheel has disappeared.'

And the anointed king so saying,
the royal hermit made reply:

'Grieve thou not, dear son,
that the Celestial Wheel has disappeared,
nor be afflicted.

For no paternal heritage of thine,
dear son,
is the Celestial Wheel.

But verily, dear son, turn thou
in the Ariyan turning of the Wheel-turners.

[Act up to the noble ideal of duty set before themselves by the true sovrans of the world.]

Then it may well be
that if thou carry out the Ariyan duty
of a Wheel-turning Monarch,
and on the feast of the full moon
thou wilt go with bathed head
to keep the feast on the chief upper terrace,
lo! the Celestial Wheel will manifest itself
with its thousand spokes,
its tyre,
navel,
and all its parts complete.'

'But what, sire,
is this Ariyan duty
of a Wheel-turning Monarch?'

'This, dear son:
that thou,
leaning on the Norm
[the Law of truth and righteousness]
honouring, respecting and revering it,
doing homage to it,
hallowing it,
being thyself a Norm-banner,
a Norm-signal,
having the Norm as thy master,
shouldst provide the right watch, ward, and protection
for thine own folk,
for the army,
for the nobles,
for vassals,
for brahmins,
and householders,
for town and country dwellers,
for the religious world,
and for beasts and birds.

Throughout thy kingdom
let no wrongdoing prevail.

And whosoever in thy kingdom is poor,
to him let wealth be given.

And when, dear son,
in thy kingdom men of religious life,
renouncing the carelessness arising
from the intoxication of the senses,
and devoted to forbearance and sympathy,
each mastering self,
each calming self,
each perfecting self,
shall come to thee from time to time,
and question thee
concerning what is good and what is bad,
what is criminal and what is not,
what is to be done and what left undone,
what line of action will
in the long run
work for weal or for woe,
thou shouldst hear what they have to say,
and thou shouldst deter them from evil,
and bid them take up what is good.

This, dear son,
is the Ariyan duty
of a sovran of the world.'

'Even so, sire,'
answered the anointed king,
and obeying,
carried out the Ariyan duty of a sovran lord.

To him, thus behaving,
when on the feast of the full moon
he had gone in due observance
with bathed head
to the chief upper terrace,
the Celestial Wheel revealed itself,
with its thousand spokes,
its tyre,
its navel,
and all its parts complete.

And seeing this
it occurred to the king:

'It has been told me
that a king to whom
on such an occasion
the Celestial Wheel reveals itself completely,
becomes a Wheel-turning monarch.

May I even I also
become a sovran of the world.'

Then, brethren,
the king arose from his seat,
and uncovering his robe from one shoulder,
took in his left hand a pitcher,
and with his right hand
sprinkled up over the Celestial Wheel,
saying:

'Roll onward, O lord Wheel!

Go forth and overcome, O lord Wheel!'

Then, brethren,
the Celestial Wheel rolled onwards
towards the region of the East,
and after it went the Wheel-turning king,
and with him his army,
horses
and chariots
and elephants
and men.

And in whatever place, brethren,
the Wheel stopped,
there the king,
the victorious war-lord,
took up his abode,
and with him his fourfold army.

Then all the rival kings
in the region of the East
came to the sovran king and said:

'Come, O mighty king!

Welcome, O mighty king!

All is thine, O mighty king!

Teach us, O mighty king!'

The king, the sovran war-lord,
spake thus:

Ye shall slay no living thing.

Ye shall not take that which has not been given.

Ye shall not act wrongly touching bodily desires.

Ye shall speak no lie.

Ye shall drink no maddening drink.

Enjoy your possessions
as you have been wont to do.

Then, brethren, all they
that were enemy kings
in the region of the East
became vassals to the king,
the Wheel-turner.

Then, brethren, the Celestial Wheel,
plunging down into the Eastern ocean,
rose up out again,
and rolled onwards to the region of the South,
and after it went the Wheel-turning king,
and with him his army,
horses
and chariots
and elephants
and men.

And in whatever place, brethren,
the Wheel stopped,
there the king,
the victorious war-lord,
took up his abode,
and with him his fourfold army.

Then all the rival kings
in the region of the South
came to the sovran king and said:

'Come, O mighty king!

Welcome, O mighty king!

All is thine, O mighty king!

Teach us, O mighty king!'

The king, the sovran war-lord,
spake thus:

'Ye shall slay no living thing.

Ye shall not take that which has not been given.

Ye shall not act wrongly touching bodily desires.

Ye shall speak no lie.

Ye shall drink no maddening drink.

Enjoy your possessions as you have been wont to do.'

Then, brethren,
all they that were enemy kings
in the region of the South
became vassals to the king,
the Wheel-turner.

Then, brethren, the Celestial Wheel,
plunging down into the Southern ocean,
rose up out again,
and rolled onwards
to the region of the West,
and after it went the Wheel-turning king,
and with him his army,
horses
and chariots
and elephants
and men.

And in whatever place, brethren,
the Wheel stopped,
there the king,
the victorious war-lord,
took up his abode,
and with him his fourfold army.

Then all the rival kings
in the region of the West
came to the sovran king and said:

'Come, O mighty king!

Welcome, O mighty king!

All is thine, O mighty king!

Teach us, O mighty king!'

The king, the sovran war-lord, spake thus:

'Ye shall slay no living thing.

Ye shall not take that which has not been given.

Ye shall not act wrongly touching bodily desires.

Ye shall speak no lie.

Ye shall drink no maddening drink.

Enjoy your possessions as you have been wont to do.'

Then, brethren,
all they that were enemy kings
in the region of the West
became vassals to the king,
the Wheel-turner.

Then, brethren, the Celestial Wheel,
plunging down into the Western ocean,
rose up out again,
and rolled onwards to the region of the North,
and after it went the Wheel-turning king,
and with him his army,
horses
and chariots
and elephants
and men.

And in whatever place, brethren,
the Wheel stopped,
there the king,
the victorious war-lord,
took up his abode,
and with him his fourfold army.

Then all the rival kings
in the region of the North
came to the sovran king and said:

'Come, O mighty king!

Welcome, O mighty king!

All is thine, O mighty king!

Teach us, O mighty king!'

The king, the sovran war-lord,
spake thus:

'Ye shall slay no living thing.

Ye shall not take that which has not been given.

Ye shall not act wrongly touching bodily desires.

Ye shall speak no lie.

Ye shall drink no maddening drink.

Enjoy your possessions as you have been wont to do.'

Then, brethren,
all they that were enemy kings
in the region of the North
became vassals to the king,
the Wheel-turner.

Then when the Celestial Wheel had gone forth
conquering over the whole earth
to its ocean boundary,
it returned to the royal city,
and stood,
so that one might think it fixed,
in front of the judgment hall
at the entrance to the inner apartments of the king,
the Wheel-turner,
lighting up with its glory
the facade of the inner apartments of the king,
the sovran of the world.

§

[The Seventh in the Line]

8.5. Now, brethren, after many years,
after many hundred years,
after many thousand years,
King Strongtyre commanded a certain man,
saying:

'If thou shouldst see, sirrah,
that the Celestial Wheel has sunk a little,
has slipped down from its place,
bring me word.'

'Even so, sire,' replied the man.

Now after many years,
after many hundred years,
after many thousand years
that man saw that the Celestial Wheel had sunk,
had slipped down from its place.

On seeing that
he went to King Strongtyre and said:

'Know, sire, for a truth
that thy Celestial Wheel has sunk,
has slipped down from its place.'

Then the King, brethren,
let the prince his eldest son
be sent for,
and spake thus:

'Behold, dear boy,
my Celestial Wheel has sunk a little,
has slipped down from its place.

Now it has been told me:

"If the Celestial Wheel
of a Wheel-turning King
shall sink down,
shall slip down from its place,
that king has not much longer to live."

I have had my fill of human pleasures;
'tis time to seek after divine joys.

Come, dear boy,
take thou charge
over this earth bounded by the ocean.

But I,
shaving hair and beard,
and donning yellow robes,
will go forth from home
into the homeless state.'

So, brethren, the King,
having in due form
established his eldest son on the throne,
shaved hair and beard,
donned yellow robes
and went forth from home
into the homeless state.

But on the seventh day
after the royal hermit had gone forth,
the Celestial Wheel disappeared.

Then a certain man went to the king,
the anointed warrior,
and told him,
saying:

'Know, O king, for a truth,
that the Celestial Wheel has disappeared!'

Then that king, brethren,
the anointed warrior,
was grieved thereat
and afflicted with sorrow.

And he went to the royal hermit
and told him,
saying:

'Know, sire, for a truth,
that the Celestial Wheel has disappeared.'

And the anointed king so saying,
the royal hermit made reply:

'Grieve thou not, dear son,
that the Celestial Wheel has disappeared,
nor be afflicted.

For no paternal heritage of thine,
dear son,
is the Celestial Wheel.

But verily, dear son, turn thou
in the Ariyan turning of the Wheel-turners.

[Act up to the noble ideal of duty set before themselves by the true sovrans of the world.]

Then it may well be
that if thou carry out the Ariyan duty
of a Wheel-turning Monarch,
and on the feast of the full moon
thou wilt go with bathed head
to keep the feast on the chief upper terrace,
lo! the Celestial Wheel will manifest itself
with its thousand spokes,
its tyre,
navel,
and all its parts complete.'

'But what, sire,
is this Ariyan duty
of a Wheel-turning Monarch?'

'This, dear son:
that thou,
leaning on the Norm
[the Law of truth and righteousness]
honouring, respecting and revering it,
doing homage to it,
hallowing it,
being thyself a Norm-banner,
a Norm-signal,
having the Norm as thy master,
shouldst provide the right watch, ward, and protection
for thine own folk,
for the army,
for the nobles,
for vassals,
for brahmins,
and householders,
for town and country dwellers,
for the religious world,
and for beasts and birds.

Throughout thy kingdom
let no wrongdoing prevail.

And whosoever in thy kingdom is poor,
to him let wealth be given.

And when, dear son,
in thy kingdom men of religious life,
renouncing the carelessness arising
from the intoxication of the senses,
and devoted to forbearance and sympathy,
each mastering self,
each calming self,
each perfecting self,
shall come to thee from time to time,
and question thee
concerning what is good and what is bad,
what is criminal and what is not,
what is to be done and what left undone,
what line of action will
in the long run
work for weal or for woe,
thou shouldst hear what they have to say,
and thou shouldst deter them from evil,
and bid them take up what is good.

This, dear son,
is the Ariyan duty
of a sovran of the world.'

'Even so, sire,'
answered the anointed king,
and obeying,
carried out the Ariyan duty of a sovran lord.

To him, thus behaving,
when on the feast of the full moon
he had gone in due observance
with bathed head
to the chief upper terrace,
the Celestial Wheel revealed itself,
with its thousand spokes,
its tyre,
its navel,
and all its parts complete.

And seeing this
it occurred to the king:

'It has been told me
that a king to whom
on such an occasion
the Celestial Wheel reveals itself completely,
becomes a Wheel-turning monarch.

May I even I also
become a sovran of the world.'

Then, brethren,
the king arose from his seat,
and uncovering his robe from one shoulder,
took in his left hand a pitcher,
and with his right hand
sprinkled up over the Celestial Wheel,
saying:

'Roll onward, O lord Wheel!

Go forth and overcome, O lord Wheel!'

Then, brethren,
the Celestial Wheel rolled onwards
towards the region of the East,
and after it went the Wheel-turning king,
and with him his army,
horses
and chariots
and elephants
and men.

And in whatever place, brethren,
the Wheel stopped,
there the king,
the victorious war-lord,
took up his abode,
and with him his fourfold army.

Then all the rival kings
in the region of the East
came to the sovran king and said:

'Come, O mighty king!

Welcome, O mighty king!

All is thine, O mighty king!

Teach us, O mighty king!'

The king, the sovran war-lord,
spake thus:

Ye shall slay no living thing.

Ye shall not take that which has not been given.

Ye shall not act wrongly touching bodily desires.

Ye shall speak no lie.

Ye shall drink no maddening drink.

Enjoy your possessions
as you have been wont to do.

Then, brethren, all they
that were enemy kings
in the region of the East
became vassals to the king,
the Wheel-turner.

Then, brethren, the Celestial Wheel,
plunging down into the Eastern ocean,
rose up out again,
and rolled onwards to the region of the South,
and after it went the Wheel-turning king,
and with him his army,
horses
and chariots
and elephants
and men.

And in whatever place, brethren,
the Wheel stopped,
there the king,
the victorious war-lord,
took up his abode,
and with him his fourfold army.

Then all the rival kings
in the region of the South
came to the sovran king and said:

'Come, O mighty king!

Welcome, O mighty king!

All is thine, O mighty king!

Teach us, O mighty king!'

The king, the sovran war-lord,
spake thus:

'Ye shall slay no living thing.

Ye shall not take that which has not been given.

Ye shall not act wrongly touching bodily desires.

Ye shall speak no lie.

Ye shall drink no maddening drink.

Enjoy your possessions as you have been wont to do.'

Then, brethren,
all they that were enemy kings
in the region of the South
became vassals to the king,
the Wheel-turner.

Then, brethren, the Celestial Wheel,
plunging down into the Southern ocean,
rose up out again,
and rolled onwards
to the region of the West,
and after it went the Wheel-turning king,
and with him his army,
horses
and chariots
and elephants
and men.

And in whatever place, brethren,
the Wheel stopped,
there the king,
the victorious war-lord,
took up his abode,
and with him his fourfold army.

Then all the rival kings
in the region of the West
came to the sovran king and said:

'Come, O mighty king!

Welcome, O mighty king!

All is thine, O mighty king!

Teach us, O mighty king!'

The king, the sovran war-lord, spake thus:

'Ye shall slay no living thing.

Ye shall not take that which has not been given.

Ye shall not act wrongly touching bodily desires.

Ye shall speak no lie.

Ye shall drink no maddening drink.

Enjoy your possessions as you have been wont to do.'

Then, brethren,
all they that were enemy kings
in the region of the West
became vassals to the king,
the Wheel-turner.

Then, brethren, the Celestial Wheel,
plunging down into the Western ocean,
rose up out again,
and rolled onwards to the region of the North,
and after it went the Wheel-turning king,
and with him his army,
horses
and chariots
and elephants
and men.

And in whatever place, brethren,
the Wheel stopped,
there the king,
the victorious war-lord,
took up his abode,
and with him his fourfold army.

Then all the rival kings
in the region of the North
came to the sovran king and said:

'Come, O mighty king!

Welcome, O mighty king!

All is thine, O mighty king!

Teach us, O mighty king!'

The king, the sovran war-lord,
spake thus:

'Ye shall slay no living thing.

Ye shall not take that which has not been given.

Ye shall not act wrongly touching bodily desires.

Ye shall speak no lie.

Ye shall drink no maddening drink.

Enjoy your possessions as you have been wont to do.'

Then, brethren,
all they that were enemy kings
in the region of the North
became vassals to the king,
the Wheel-turner.

Then when the Celestial Wheel had gone forth
conquering over the whole earth
to its ocean boundary,
it returned to the royal city,
and stood,
so that one might think it fixed,
in front of the judgment hall
at the entrance to the inner apartments of the king,
the Wheel-turner,
lighting up with its glory
the facade of the inner apartments of the king,
the sovran of the world.

§

[The Eighth in the Line; Great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson of Strongtyre:]

8.6. Now, brethren, after many years,
after many hundred years,
after many thousand years,
the King commanded a certain man, saying:

'If thou shouldst see, sirrah,
that the Celestial Wheel has sunk a little,
has slipped down from its place,
bring me word.'

'Even so, sire,'
replied the man.

Now after many years,
after many hundred years,
after many thousand years
that man saw that the Celestial Wheel had sunk,
had slipped down from its place.

On seeing that
he went to the King and said:

'Know, sire, for a truth
that thy Celestial Wheel has sunk,
has slipped down from its place.'

Then the King, brethren,
let the prince his eldest son be sent for,
and spake thus:

'Behold, dear boy,
my Celestial Wheel has sunk a little,
has slipped down from its place.

Now it has been told me:

"If the Celestial Wheel
of a Wheel-turning King
shall sink down,
shall slip down from its place,
that king has not much longer to live."

I have had my fill of human pleasures;
'tis time to seek after divine joys.

Come, dear boy,
take thou charge over this earth
bounded by the ocean.

But I,
shaving hair and beard,
and donning yellow robes,
will go forth from home
into the homeless state.

So, brethren, the King,
having in due form
established his eldest son on the throne,
shaved hair and beard,
donned yellow robes
and went forth from home
into the homeless state.

But on the seventh day
after the royal hermit had gone forth,
the Celestial Wheel disappeared.

9. Then a certain man went to the king,
the anointed warrior,
and told him, saying:

'Know, O king, for a truth,
that the Celestial Wheel has disappeared!'

Then the king,
the anointed Kshatriya,
was grieved at the disappearance of the Wheel,
and afflicted with grief.

But he did not go to the hermit-king
to ask concerning the Ariyan Duty
of a sovran war-lord.

By his own ideas, forsooth,
he governed his people;
and they so governed,
differently from what they had been,
did not prosper
as they used to do under former kings
who had carried out the Ariyan duty
of a sovran king.

Then, brethren,
the ministers and courtiers,
the finance officials,
the guards and doorkeepers,
and they who lived by sacred verses²²
came to the king,
the anointed warrior,
and spake thus:

[65] 'Thy people, O king,
whilst thou governest them
by thine own ideas,
differently from the way
to which they were used when former kings
were carrying out the Ariyan duty,
prosper not.

Now there are in thy kingdom
ministers and courtiers,
finance officers,
guards and custodians,
and they who live by sacred verses —
both all of us and others —
who keep the knowledge
of the Ariyan duty of a sovran king.

Lo! O king,
do thou ask us concerning it;
to thee thus asking
will we declare it.'

10. Then, brethren, the king,
the anointed warrior,
having made the ministers
and all the rest sit down together,
asked them about the Ariyan duty
of a sovran war-lord.

And they declared it unto him.

And when he had heard them,
he did provide the due watch and ward and protection,
but on the destitute [66] he bestowed no wealth.

And because this was not done,
poverty became widespread.²³

When poverty was thus become rife,
a certain man took
that which others had not given him,
what people call by theft.

Him they caught,
and brought before the king,
saying:

'This man, O king, has taken
that which was not given him,
and that is theft.'

Thereupon the king spake thus to the man:

'Is it true, sirrah,
that thou hast taken
what no man gave thee,
hast committed what men call theft?'

'It is true, O king.'

'But why?'

'O king, I have nothing to keep me alive.'

[66] Then the king bestowed wealth on that man,
saying:

'With this wealth, sirrah,
do thou both keep thyself alive,
maintain thy parents,
maintain children and wife,
carry on thy business,
and keep up such alms for holy men
as shall be of value in the realms above,
heavenly gifts,
the result whereof shall be happiness here
and rebirth in the heavenly worlds.'

'Even so, O king',
replied the man.

11. Now another man, brethren,
took by theft
what was not given him.

Him they caught and brought before the king,
the anointed Kshatriya,
and told him, saying:

This man, O king,
hath taken by theft
what was not given him.

Thereupon the king spake thus to the man:

'Is it true, sirrah,
that thou hast taken
what no man gave thee,
hast committed what men call theft?'

'It is true, O king.'

'But why?'

'O king, I have nothing to keep me alive.'

Then the king bestowed wealth on that man,
saying:

'With this wealth, sirrah,
do thou both keep thyself alive,
maintain thy parents,
maintain children and wife,
carry on thy business,
and keep up such alms for holy men
as shall be of value in the realms above,
heavenly gifts,
the result whereof shall be happiness here
and rebirth in the heavenly worlds.'

'Even so, O king',
replied the man.

12. Now men heard, brethren,
that to them who had taken by theft
what was not given them,
the king was giving wealth.

And hearing they thought:

'Let us then take by theft
what has not been given us.'

[67] Now a certain man did so.

And him they caught
and charged before the king,
the anointed Kshatriya,
[67] and told him,
saying:

'This man, O king, hath taken by theft
what was not given him.'

Thereupon the king spake thus to the man:

'Is it true, sirrah,
that thou hast taken
what no man gave thee,
hast committed what men call theft?'

'It is true, O king.'

'But why?'

'Because, O king, I cannot maintain myself.'

Then the king thought:

'If I bestow wealth
on anyone soever
who has taken by theft
what was not given him,
there will be hereby
an increase of this stealing.

Let me now put a final stop to this,
inflict condign punishment on him,
have his head cut off!'

So he bade his men saying:

'Now, look ye!
bind this man's arms behind him
with a strong rope
and a tight knot,
shave his head bald,
lead him around
with a harsh sounding drum,
from road to road,
from crossways to crossways,
take him out by the southern gate,
and to the south of the town,
put a final stop to this,
inflict on him the uttermost penalty,
cut off his head.'

'Even so, O king',
answered the men,
and carried out his commands.

13. Now men heard, brethren,
that they who took by theft
what was not given them,
were thus put to death.

And hearing, they thought:

'Let us also now have sharp swords
made ready for ourselves,
and them, from whom we take what is not given us[68]—
what they call theft —
let us put a final stop to them,
inflict on them the uttermost penalty,
and cut their heads off.'

And they gat themselves sharp swords,
and came forth to sack village and town and city,
and to work highway robbery.

And them whom they robbed
they made an end of,
cutting off their heads.

14. Thus, brethren,
from goods not being bestowed on the destitute
poverty grew rife;
from poverty growing rife
stealing increased,
from the spread of stealing
violence grew apace,
from the growth of violence
the destruction of life became common,
from the frequency of murder²⁴
both the span of life in those beings
and their comeliness also wasted away,
so that, [68] of humans whose span of life
was eighty thousand years,
the sons lived but forty thousand years.

Now among humans of the latter span of life, brethren,
a certain man took by theft
what was not given him.

And him they caught
and charged before the king,
the anointed Kshatriya,
and told him, saying:

'This man, O king, hath taken by theft
what was not given him.'

Thereupon the king spake thus to the man:

'Is it true, sirrah,
that thou hast taken what no man gave thee,
hast committed what men call theft?'

'Nay, O king',
he replied,
thus deliberately telling a lie.

15. Thus, brethren,
from goods not being bestowed on the destitute
poverty grew rife;
from poverty growing rife
stealing increased,
from the spread of stealing
violence grew apace,
from the growth of violence
the destruction of life became common,
from the frequency of murder
lying grew common.

[69] And from lying growing common
both the span of life in those beings
and the comeliness of them wasted away,
so that of humans whose span of life
was forty thousand years,
the sons lived but twenty thousand years.

Now among humans of the latter life-span,
a certain man took by theft
what was not given him.

Him a certain man reported to the king,
the anointed Kshatriya, saying:

'Such and such a man, O king,
has taken by theft
what was not given him' —
thus speaking evil of him.

16. And so, brethren,
from goods not being bestowed on the destitute
poverty grew rife;
from poverty growing rife
stealing increased,
from the spread of stealing
violence grew apace,
from the growth of violence
the destruction of life became common,
from the frequency of murder
lying grew common,
from lying growing common,
evil speaking grew abundant.

And from evil speaking growing abundant,
both the life-span of those beings
and also the comeliness of them wasted away,
so that, of humans whose life-span
was twenty thousand years,
the sons live but ten thousand years.

Now among humans of the latter span of life, brethren,
some were comely and some were ugly.

And so those who were ugly,
coveting them that were comely,
committed adultery
with their neighbours' wives.

17. Thus from goods not being bestowed on the destitute
poverty grew rife;
from poverty growing rife
stealing increased,
from the spread of stealing
violence grew apace,
from the growth of violence
the destruction of life became common,
from the frequency of murder
lying grew common,
from lying growing common,
evil speaking grew abundant,
from evil speaking growing abundant,
immorality grew rife.

And from the increase of immorality,
both the life-span of those beings
and also the comeliness of [69] them wasted away,
so that, of humans whose lifespan
was ten thousand years,
the sons lived but five thousand years.

Now among humans of the latter span of life, brethren,
two things increased:
abusive speech
and idle talk.

And from these two things increasing,
both the life-span of those beings
and the comeliness of them wasted away,
so that, of humans whose life-span
was five [70] thousand years,
some sons lived but two and a half,
some but two thousand years.

Among humans of a life-span
of two thousand years and a half,
covetousness and ill-will waxed great.

And thereby both the life-span of those beings
and the comeliness of them wasted away,
so that, of humans whose life-span
was two and a half,
or two thousand years,
the sons lived but a thousand years.

Among humans of the latter span of life, brethren,
false opinions grew.

And thereby the life-span of those beings
and the comeliness of them wasted,
so that, of humans whose span of life
was a thousand years,
the sons lived but five hundred years.

Among humans of the latter span of life, brethren,
three things grew apace:
incest, wanton greed, and perverted lust.

Thereby the life-span of those beings
and their comeliness wasted,
so that, of humans whose span of life
was five hundred years,
some sons lived but two and a half centuries,
some only two centuries.

Among humans of a life-span, brethren,
of two and a half centuries,
these things grew apace —
lack of filial piety to mother and father,
lack of religious piety to holy men,
lack of regard for the head of the clan.²⁵

18. Thus, brethren,
from goods not being bestowed on the destitute
poverty grew rife;
from poverty growing rife
stealing increased,
from the spread of stealing
violence grew apace,
from the growth of violence
the destruction of life became common,
from the frequency of murder
lying grew common,
from lying growing common,
evil speaking grew abundant,
from evil speaking growing abundant,
adultery grew common,
from adultery growing common
abusive and idle talk grew common,
from [71] abusive and idle talk growing common,
covetousness and ill-will grew common,
from covetousness and ill-will growing common,
false opinions grew common,
from false opinions growing common,
incest,
wanton greed
and perverted lust grew common,
finally from incest, wanton greed and perverted lust growing common
lack lack of filial and religious piety
and lack of regard for the head of the clan grew great.

From these things growing,
the [70] life-span of those beings
and the comeliness of them wasted,
so that, of humans whose span of life
was two and a half centuries,
the sons lived but one century.

19. There will come a time, brethren,
when the descendants of those humans
will have a life-span of ten years.

Among humans of this life-span,
maidens of five years
will be of a marriageable age.

Among such humans
these kinds of tastes (savours)
will disappear:
ghee,
butter,
oil of tila,
sugar,
salt.

Among such humans
kudrusa grain²⁶
will be the highest kind of food.

Even as to-day rice and curry
is the highest kind of food,
so will kudrusa grain be then.

Among such humans
the ten moral courses of conduct
will altogether disappear,
the ten immoral courses of action²⁷
will flourish excessively;
there will be no word²⁸ for moral
among such humans —
far less any moral agent.

Among such humans, brethren,
they who lack filial [72] and religious piety,
and show no respect for the head of the clan —
'tis they to whom homage and praise will be given,
just as today homage and praise are given
to the filial-minded,
to the pious
and to them who respect the heads of their clans.

20. Among such humans, brethren,
there will be no [such thoughts of reverence
as are a bar to inter-marriage with] mother,
or mother's sister,
or mother's sister-in-law,
or teacher's wife,
or father's sister-in-law.²⁹

The world will fall into promiscuity,
like goats and sheep,
fowls and swine,
dogs and jackals.

Among such humans, brethren,
keen mutual enmity
will become the rule,
keen ill-will,
keen animosity,
passionate thoughts
even of killing,
in a mother towards her child,
in a child towards its mother,
in a father towards his child
and a child towards its father,
in [71] brother to brother,
in brother to sister,
in sister to brother.

Just as a sportsman
feels towards the game³⁰ that he sees,
so will they feel.

[73] 21. Among such humans, brethren,
there will arise a sword-period³¹
of seven days during which
they will look on each other as wild beasts;
sharp swords will appear ready to their hands,
and they, thinking
'This is a wild beast,
this is a wild beast,'
will with their swords
deprive each other of life.

Then to some of those beings it will occur:

'Let us not slay just anyone;
nor let just anyone slay us!

Let us now, therefore,
betake ourselves to dens of grass,
or dens in the jungle,
or holes in trees,
or river fastnesses,
or mountain clefts,
and subsist on roots and fruits of the jungle.'

And they will do so
for those seven days.

And at the end of those seven days,
coming forth from those dens
and fastnesses
and mountain clefts,
they will embrace each other,
and be of one accord³²
comforting one another,
and saying:

'Hail, O mortal,
that thou livest still!

O happy sight to find thee still alive!'

Then this, brethren,
will occur to those beings:

'Now, only because we had gotten into evil ways,
have we had this heavy loss of kith and kin.

Let us therefore now do good.

What can we do that is good?

Let us now abstain from taking life.

That is a good thing
that we may take up and do.

And they will abstain from slaughter,
and will continue in this good way.

Because of their getting into this good way,
they will increase again
both as to their span of life
and as to their comeliness.

[74] And to them thus increasing
in life and comeliness,
to them who [72] lived but one decade,
there will be children
who will live for twenty years.

22. Then this, brethren,
will occur to those beings:

'Now we,
because we have gotten into good ways,
increase in length of life and comeliness.

Let us now do still more good.

Let us now abstain from taking what is not given,
let us abstain from adultery,
let us now abstain from lying,
let us now abstain from evil speaking,
let us now abstain from abuse
and from idle talk,
let us now abstain from covetousness,
from ill-will,
from false opinions,
let us now abstain from the three things
— incest, wanton greed and perverted desires;
let us now be filial
towards our mothers and our fathers,
let us be pious toward holy men,
let us respect the heads of clans,
yea, let us continue to practise
each of these good things.'

So they will practise these virtues,
and they abstain from taking what is not given,
they abstain from adultery,
they abstain from lying,
they abstain from evil speaking,
they abstain abstain from abuse and from idle talk,
they abstain abstain from covetousness,
they abstain from ill-will,
from false opinions,
they abstain from the three things
— incest, wanton greed and perverted desires;
they become filial
towards mothers and fathers,
pious toward holy men,
respectful of the heads of clans.

And because of the good they do
they will increase in length of life,
and in comeliness,
so that the sons of them
who lived but twenty years,
will come to live forty years.

And the sons of these sons
will come to live eighty years;
their sons to 160 years;
their sons to 320 years;
their sons to 640 years;
their sons to 2,000 years;
their sons to 4,000 years;
their sons to 8,000 years;
their sons to 20,000 years;
their sons to 40,000 [75] years;
and the sons of those that lived 40,000 years
will come to live 80,000 years.

23. Among humans living 80,000 years, brethren,
maidens are marriageable
at 500 years of age.

Among such humans
there will be only three kinds of disease
— appetite, non-assimilation and old age.

Among such humans,
this India³³ will be mighty and prosperous,
the villages, towns and royal cities
will be so close that a cock could fly
from each one to the next.³⁴

Among [73] such humans
this India
— one might think it a Waveless Deep³⁵ —
will be pervaded by mankind
even as a jungle is by reeds and rushes.

Among such humans
the Benares of our day³⁶
will be named Ketumatī,
a royal city, mighty and prosperous,
full of people,
crowded and well fed.

Among such humans in this India
there will be 84,000 towns,
with Ketumatī the royal city at their head.

24. Among such humans, brethren,
at Ketumatī the royal city,
there will arise Sankha,
a Wheel-turning king,
righteous and ruling in righteousness,
lord of the four quarters,
conqueror,
protector of his people,
possessor of the seven precious things.

His will be these seven precious things,
to wit:
the Wheel,
the Elephant,
the Horse,
the Gem,
the Woman,
the House-father,
the Councillor.

More than a thousand also
will be his offspring,
heroes, vigorous of frame,
crushers of the hosts of the enemy.

He will live in supremacy
over this earth
to its ocean bounds,
having conquered it
not by the scourge,
not by the sword,
but by righteousness.

25. At that period, brethren,
[76] there will arise [74] in the world
an Exalted One named Metteyya,
Arahant,
Fully Awakened,
abounding in wisdom and goodness,
happy,
with knowledge of the worlds,
unsurpassed as a guide
to mortals willing to be led,
a teacher for gods and men,
an Exalted One,
a Buddha,
even as I am now.

He, by himself,
will thoroughly know and see,
as it were face to face,
this universe,
with its worlds of the spirits,
its Brahmās and its Māras,
and its world of recluses and brahmins,
of princes and peoples,
even as I now, by myself,
thoroughly know and see them.

The truth [the Norm]
lovely in its origin,
lovely in its progress,
lovely in its consummation,
will he proclaim,
both in the spirit and in the letter,
the higher life will he make known,
in all its fullness
and in all its purity,
even as I do now.

He will be accompanied by a congregation
of some thousands of brethren,
even as I am now accompanied by a congregation
of some hundreds of brethren.

26. Then, brethren, King Sankha will raise up again
the fairy palace
which the King Great Panāda
had had built.³⁷

And therein will he dwell.

But afterwards
he will give it away,
hand it over as a gift
to recluses and brahmins,
to the destitute,
wayfarers and beggars.

And he himself,
cutting off hair and beard,
will don the yellow robes,
and leave his home
for the life that is homeless
under Metteyya the Exalted One,
the Arahant fully awakened.

And he, having thus left the world,
will remain alone and separate,
earnest, zealous and master of himself.

And ere long he will attain
to that supreme goal
for the sake of which
clansmen go forth from the [77] household life
into the homeless state;
yea, that supreme goal will he,
while yet in this visible world,
bring himself to the knowledge of,
and continue to realize and to know!

27. Live as islands unto yourselves, brethren,
as refuges unto yourselves,
take none other as your refuge,
live with the Norm as your island,
with the Norm as your refuge,
take none other as your refuge.

[75] But how, brethren,
does a brother live
as an island unto himself,
as a refuge unto himself,
taking no other as his refuge?

How does he live
with the Norm as his island,
with the Norm as his refuge,
taking no other refuge?

Herein, brethren,
a brother as to the body,
as to the feelings,
as to thought,
as to ideas, continues so to look upon these
that he remains ardent,
self-possessed,
and mindful,
that he may overcome both the hankering
and the dejection
common in the world.

Thus, brethren,
does a brother live as an island unto himself,
as a refuge unto himself,
taking no other as his refuge?

Thus, brethren,
does a brother live with the Norm as his island,
with the Norm as his refuge,
taking no other refuge.

28. Keep to your own pastures, brethren,
walk in the haunts where your fathers roamed.

If ye so walk,
ye shall grow in length of years,
ye shall grow in comeliness,
ye shall grow in happiness,
ye shall grow in wealth,
ye shall grow in power.

And what is the meaning
of length of years to a brother?

Herein that a brother practises
the Four Roads to Iddhi,³⁸
to wit:
action, effort, and concentration
applied to desire,
to energy,
to [the whole] consciousness,
and to investigation.

From practising and developing
these Four Roads,
he may, if he so desire,
live on for an aeon,
or the remainder of an aeon.

This is the meaning
of length of years
to a brother.

And what is the meaning
of comeliness
to a brother?

Herein, that a brother live
in the practice of right conduct,
restrained according to the Rules of the Order,
perfect in behaviour and habitude;
he sees danger
in the least of the things he should avoid
and, taking the precepts³⁹ on himself,
he trains himself therein.

This is comeliness for a brother.

And what is the meaning
of happiness for a brother?

Herein, that a brother
estranged from lusts,
aloof from evil dispositions,
enters into and remains in the First Jhāna
— a state of zest and ease born of detachment,
application and persistence of attention
going on the while.

Then suppressing all application and persist- [76] ence of attention,
he enters into and abides in the Second Jhāna,
a state of zest and ease,
born of the serenity of concentration,
wherein the mind is lifted up alone,
and the heart grows calm within.

And entering into the Third Jhāna
he abides calmly contemplative
while, mindful and self-possessed,
feeling in his body that ease
whereof Aryans declare
'He that is calmly contemplative and aware,
he dwelleth at ease.'

And by putting aside ease
and by putting aside malaise,
by the passing away of the happiness
and of the melancholy
he used to feel,
he enters into and abides in the Fourth Jhāna,
rapture of utter purity
of mindfulness and equanimity,
wherein neither ease is felt
nor any ill.ed1

This is happiness for a brother.

And what is the meaning of wealth for a brother?

Herein that a brother abides
letting his mind fraught with love
pervade one quarter of the world,
and so too the second quarter,
and so the third,
and so the fourth.

And thus the whole wide world,
above, below, around, and everywhere,
and altogether does he continue to pervade
with love-burdened thought,
abounding, sublime, and beyond measure,
free from hatred and ill will.

And he lets his mind
fraught with pity
pervade one quarter of the world,
and so too the second quarter,
and so the third,
and so the fourth.

And thus the whole wide world,
above, below, around, and everywhere,
and altogether does he continue to pervade
with pity-burdened thought,
abounding, sublime, and beyond measure,
free from hatred and ill will.

And he lets his mind fraught with sympathy
pervade one quarter of the world,
and so too the second quarter,
and so the third,
and so the fourth.

And thus the whole wide world,
above, below, around, and everywhere,
and altogether does he continue to pervade
with sympathy-burdened thought,
abounding, sublime, and beyond measure,
free from hatred and ill will.

And he lets his mind
fraught with equanimity
pervade one quarter of the world,
and so too the second quarter,
and so the third,
and so the fourth.

And thus the whole wide world,
above, below, around, and everywhere,
and altogether does he continue to pervade with equanimity-burdened thought,
abounding, sublime, and beyond measure,
free from hatred and ill will.

This is wealth for a brother.

And what is the meaning of power for a brother?

Herein, that a brother,
by destruction of the deadly taints,
enters into and abides in
that untainted emancipation of mind
and of insight,
which he by himself
has both known and realized.⁴⁰

This is power for a brother.

I consider no power, brethren,
so hard to subdue
as the power of Māra.

But this merit
[the merit of these four groups of ethical concepts, beginning at Right Conduct, and culminating in Arahantship]⁴¹
expands, brethren,
by the taking up into oneself
of that which is good."

Thus spake the Exalted One.

Glad at heart the brethren rejoiced at the words of the Exalted One.

Here ends the Cakka-Vatti Sīhanāda Suttantaṃ

¹ Kūṭadanta and Sakka-Pañha.

² See Buddhist India, p. 234.

³ Dialogues of the Buddha I, 209-218. See also Oldenberg, Religion du Veda (R. Henry), 344-347.

⁴ For some of these divergent and contradictory meanings see Proceedings of the Oxford Congress of Religions, 1908.

⁵ Dialogues of the Buddha Vol. I, pp. 16-30.

⁶ This and the next Suttanta have been excellently translated into German by R. Otto Franke, in his selections from the Dīgha Nikāya, Gottingen, 1913, pp. 260 ff.

⁷ Twenty in number. Comy..

⁸ Dīpa, lamp, or island. Buddhaghosa here takes to mean island: as an island in the midst of the ocean make self the terra firma. Cf. above, II, 100.

⁹ As above, II, 327 ff.

¹⁰ Ib., p. 325.

¹¹ Gocara: cattle-range.

¹² Pettike visaye: or your native beat. This injunction forms the moral in the Jātaka of the Quail and the Falcon (II, 59)[No. 168]. It must have been an old story, for it is told already (not as a Jātaka) in Saṃyutta V, 146, 147. The parable must have been familiar in the oldest Buddhist period and should be added to the list given in Buddhist India, p. 195.

¹³ On the omission here of an anointed Kshatriya, see II, 199, n. 2.

¹⁴ Cf. II, 13.

¹⁵ Like the extinguished flame of a lamp. Comy..

¹⁶ I.e. do good (make good karma) as I did, and earn the Wheel. Cf. the Great King of Glory's reflection, II, 218.

¹⁷ It is impossible to render the pregnant phrase into intelligible English without a paraphrase. There is a play upon the words vatta, and Ariya. Vatta means turning, but also duty (the way one ought to turn). Franke has Widme dich der hohen Cakkavatti-Pflicht. On the threefold meaning of Ar(i)yan — racial, ethical, and aesthetic — see Rhys Davids, Early Buddhism, 49, 50. On the new meaning here put into the curious word Wheel-turner, see Introduction.

¹⁸ 'The Norm' is 'Dhamma'. We must coin a word for this. Both French and Germans have a better word in droit and Recht, each of which means both law and right. See Mrs. Rhys Davids above, II, 325, and Buddhism (1912), 227. The whole passage in the Pali is a striking outburst on the superiority of right over might, on the ideal of empire as held by the early Buddhists. Its eloquence has suffered much in our translation.

¹⁹ Cf. II, p. 202.

²⁰ In this parody on the ordinary methods of conquest all the horrors and crimes of war are absent. The conqueror simply follows the bright and beneficent Wheel, and the conquered, with joy and trust, ask only for instruction.

²¹ Yathābhuttaṃ bhuñjatha. But see above, II, 203, and Franke, op. cit., 263. To enjoy this paragraph as it deserves the reader should bear in mind the kind of method of which it is a parody, the laws that would be made, say, by an Assyrian or Hun conqueror, with a motto of frightfulness, for his conquered foes. Saṃyutta I, 10 (Kindred Sayings I, 15, n. 1) has a similar play on the various meanings of bhutvā.

²² Mantass'ajīvino — that is, the magicians, brahmins.

²³ It should be noticed that this king is apparently doing his best — what he thinks is best — and yet that his action leads to long-continued and disastrous results. It is as if a man, doing his best, goes under a tree for protection during a storm, and is struck by lightning attracted by the tree. The cosmic law, the Dhamma, the Norm, acts on in the realm of morals as it does in the realm of physics. The law is inexpugnable, res inexorabilis. If the law is not observed, the consequences are inevitable.

²⁴ Some MSS. include lying in this series.

²⁵ Kula-seṭṭha, not to be confused with gahapati, the head of the family.

²⁶ Cf. Milinda II, 267. It is a kind of rye. Franke compares it with Sanskrit koraduṣa.

²⁷ Given in the Vibhanga, p. 391. They are very nearly those referred to above.

²⁸ Neither term — kusalan ti nāmaṃ — nor concept — paññatti-mattam pi — says Buddhaghosa.

²⁹ Lit. wives of garu's (guru's). The Comy. interprets this to mean wives of little father or great father — i.e. wives of father's brothers, younger and older.

³⁰ Migo, deer, is capable of meaning all game, or wild animals.

³¹ Satth'antara-kappa. Sattha is sword; antara-kappa is a period included in another period. Here the first period, the one included, is seven days. See Ledi Sadaw in the Buddhist Review, January, 1916.

³² Sabhāgāyissanti. Both text and commentary are corrupt. Perhaps one should read sabhāgā bhavissanti (one of three consecutive and very similar aksharas having fallen out). In the next clause read satta.

³³ Jambudīpa, this world (1oko at Aṇguttara, I 1 59).

³⁴ Kukkuṭa-sampātikā, lit. cock's-flightish. R. Morris discusses this phrase in vain, J.P.T.S., 1885, p. 38. At Divyāvadana, p. 316, the editors (in the Index) give it up and suggest reading kakura. Franke here translates 'resembling flocks of birds.' Compare also Vinaya IV, 131. Buddhaghosa says here that another reading, kukkuṭa-sampādikā is also possible in the sense of within a cock's walk, which amounts to much the same thing as the translation adopted above. [Ed.: See Tao Te Ching for another possible explanation of this term.]

³⁵ Avīci. The tertium quid of this comparison is obscure. The Waveless Deep was, in later books, one of the purgatories. We, in this twentieth century, may well think a country so densely populated a purgatory. But the authors of our document are evidently speaking in praise, not disparagement of the density of the population. Can the Waveless Deep, in this connexion, have been originally used in that sense? Buddhaghosa naturally explains it so, but that is not conclusive. The word does not occur in the four Nikāyas except in this passage (which recurs at Aṇguttara I, 159). It does not occur in the list of the purgatories given in the Sutta Nipāta (pp. 121-7) and Samyutta I, 154. It is found in a poem in the Itivuttaka (No. 89), which recurs in the Vinaya (II, 203), and in the Dhamma-Sangani, § 1,281. But the history of Avīci and of the purgatory idea in India has yet to be written. In Vis. Magga avīci = disintegration (p 449).

³⁶ Ayaṃ Bārānasī. As the discourse was said to have been delivered in Magadha, the allusion must have been rather to the city as contemporary than to any contiguity in space. But perhaps the story may have had its origin among the Kāsis.

³⁷ See the passages quoted in Psalms of the Brethren, p. 130. It had been sunk in the Ganges at Payāga.

³⁸ Cf. II, 128 f.

³⁹ Cf. I, 79.

⁴⁰ That is to say, the Fruition of Arahantship. Comy.

⁴¹ This is added from Buddhaghosa. He does not think that the merit referred to is the conquest of Māra. That follows from the destruction of the mental intoxications. See above, I, 92, and § I of this Suttanta.

ed1 Rhys Davids abbreviates the third and Fourth Jhāna, and working back the closest near description is found in DN 22, where the translation of the first and second Jhānas are somewhat different. Here is his translation from that sutta:

Herein, O bhikkhus, a brother, aloof from sensuous appetites, aloof from evil ideas, enters into and abides in the First Jhāna, wherein there is cogitation and deliberation, which is born of solitude and is full of joy and ease.

Suppressing cogitation and deliberation he enters into and abides in the Second Jhāna, which is self-evoked, born of concentration, full of joy and ease, in that, set free from cogitation and deliberation the mind grows calm and sure, dwelling on high.

And further, disenchanted with joy, he abides calmly contemplative while, mindful and self-possessed, he feel in his body that ease whereof Aryans declare 'He that is calmly contemplative and aware, he dwelleth at ease.' So does he enter into and abide in the Third Jhāna.

And further, by putting aside ease and by putting aside malaise, by the passing away of the happiness and of the melancholy he used to feel, he enters into and abides in the Fourth Jhāna, rapture of utter purity of mindfulness and equanimity, wherein neither ease is felt nor any ill.

Working forward, there is still another version in DN 29:

...aloof from sensuous appetites, aloof from evil ideas, enters into and abides in the First Jhāna, wherein there is initiative and sustained thought which is born of solitude and is full of zest and ease.

Secondly, when suppressing initiative and sustained thought, he enters into and abides in the Second Jhāna, which is self-evoked, born of concentration, full of zest and ease, in that, set fre from initial and sustained thought, the mind grows calm and sure, dwelling on high.

Thirdly, when a brother, no longer fired with zest, abides calmly contemplative, while mindful and self-possessed he feels in his body that ease whereof Ariyans declare: He that is calm contemplative and aware, he dwelleth at ease, so does he enter into and abide in the Third Jhāna.

Fourthly, by putting aside ease and by putting aside malaise, by the passing away of the joy and the sorrow he used to feel, he enters into and abides in the Fourth Jhāna, rapture of utter purity of mindfulness and equanimity, wherein neither ease is felt nor any ill.

27. A Book of Genesis

Aggañña Suttantaṃ¹

[77]

THUS HAVE I HEARD:

1. The Exalted One was once staying near Sāvatthī,
in the East Park,
at the mansion of the Mother of Migāra.²

Now at that time Vāseṭṭha and Bhāradvāja
were passing their probation
among the brethren,
desiring to become bhikkhus.³

Then at eventide the Exalted One,
having arisen from his meditations,
had come down from the house,
and was walking to and fro in the open air,
in the shade of the house.

2. Now Vāseṭṭha saw this,
and on seeing it
he told Bhāradvāja, adding:

"Let us go, friend Bhāradvāja,
let us approach the Exalted One,
for perchance we might have the good fortune
to hear from the Exalted One
a talk on matters of doctrine."

"Even so, friend",
Bhāradvāja made reply.

So Vāseṭṭha and Bhāradvāja
went and approached the Exalted One,
and having saluted him,
they walked after him
as he walked to and fro.

3. Then the Exalted One said to Vāseṭṭha:

[81] "You, Vāseṭṭha,
being brahmins by birth and family,
have gone forth from a brahmin family,
your home,
[78] into the homeless life.

Do not the brahmins blame and revile you?"

"Yea, verily, lord,
the brahmins do blame and revile us
with characteristic abuse,
copious,
not at all stinted."

"But in what words, Vāseṭṭha,
do they so blame you?"

"The brahmins, lord, say thus:

'The brahmin class⁴ is the best.'"

"But in what terms, Vāseṭṭha,
do the brahmins blame and censure you
to this extent?"

"The brahmins, lord, say thus:

'Only a brahmin is of the best social grade;
other grades are low.

Only a brahmin is of a clear complexion;
other complexions are swarthy.

Only brahmins are of pure breed;
not they that are not of the brahmins.

Only brahmins are genuine children of Brahmā,
born of his mouth,
offspring of Brahmā,
created by Brahmā,
heirs of Brahmā.

As for you,
you have renounced the best rank,
and have gone over to that low class —
to shaven recluses,
to the vulgar rich,
to them of swarthy skins,
to the foot-born descendants.

Such a course is not good,
such a course is not proper,
even this,
that you,
having forsaken that upper class,
should associate with an inferior class,
to wit,
with shaveling friar-folk,
menials,
swarthy of skin,
the offscouring of Our kinsman's heels.'

In these terms, lord,
do the brahmins blame and revile us
with characteristic abuse,
copious,
not at all stinted."

4. "Surely, Vāseṭṭha, the brahmins have quite forgotten the past
(the ancient lore)
when they say so?

On the contrary, brahminees,
the wives of brahmins,
are known to be fertile,
are seen to be with child,
[82] bringing forth
and nursing children.

And yet it is these very womb-born brahmins
who say that only brahmins are genuine children of Brahmā,
born of his mouth,
offspring of Brahmā,
created by Brahmā,
heirs of Brahmā.

By this they make a travesty⁵
of the nature of Brahmā.

[79] It is false what they say,
and great is the demerit
that they thereby earn.

5. There are these four classes, Vāseṭṭha:
nobles, brahmins, tradesfolk, workpeople.⁶

Now here and there
a noble deprives a living being of life,
is a thief,
is unchaste,
speaks lies,
slanders,
uses rough words,
is a gossip,
or greedy,
or malevolent,
or holds wrong views.

Thus we see that qualities
which are immoral and considered to be so,
which are blameworthy and considered to be so,
which ought not to be sought after
and are so considered,
which are unworthy of an Ariyan
and are so considered,
qualities sinister
and of sinister effect,
discountenanced by the wise,
are to be found here and there
in such a noble.

And we may say as much concerning brahmins, tradesfolk and workpeople.

6. Again, here and there
a noble abstains from murder,
theft,
inchastity,
lying,
slandering,
gossiping,
greed,
malevolence
and false opinions.

Thus we see that qualities
which are,
and are considered,
moral,
inoffensive,
unexceptional,
truly Ariyan,
benign
and of benign effect,
commended by the wise,
are to be found here and there
in a noble.

And we may say as much
concerning each of the others —
brahmins, tradesfolk [83] and workpeople.

7. Now seeing, Vāseṭṭha,
that both bad and good qualities,
blamed and praised respectively by the wise,
are thus distributed
among each of the four classes,
the wise do not admit those claims
which the brahmins put forward.

And why?

Because, Vāseṭṭha,
whoever among all these four classes
becomes a bhikkhu,
an Arahant,
one who has destroyed the deadly taints,
who has lived the life,
has done that which was to be done,
has laid down the burden,
has attained his own salvation,⁷
has destroyed the fetter of rebirth,⁸
and has [80] become free
because he has perfected knowledge⁹ —
he is declared chief among them,
and that in virtue of a norm (a standard),
and not irrespective of a norm.

For a norm, Vāseṭṭha, is

the best among this folk¹⁰
both in this life and in the next.¹¹

8. The following, Vāseṭṭha,
is an illustration for understanding
how a norm is the best among this folk
both in this life
and in the next.

King Pasenadi of Kosala is aware
that the Samaṇa Gotama has gone forth
from the adjacent¹² clan of the Sākiyas.

Now the Sākiyas are become
the vassals of King Pasenadi.

They render to him
homage and respectful salutation,
they rise and do him obeisance,
and treat him with ceremony.

Now, just as the Sakiyans treat King Pasenadi of Kosala,
[84] so does the king treat the Tathāgata.

For he thinks:

'Is not the Samaṇa Gotama well born?

Then I am not well born.

The Samaṇa Gotama is strong,
I am weak.

He is attractive,
I am not comely.

The Samaṇa Gotama has great influence,
I have but little influence.'

Now it is because the king honours a norm,
reveres a norm,
regards a norm,
does homage [81] to a norm,
holds sacred a norm,
that he renders homage
and respectful salutation to the Tathāgata,
rising and doing him obeisance,
and treating him with ceremony.¹³

By this illustration
may it be understood how a norm is:

the best among this folk
both in this life and in the next.

9. You, Vāseṭṭha, who,
differing all of you in birth,
in name,
in clan
and family,
have gone forth from home
into the homeless life,
may be asked:

'Who are ye?'

Then do ye reply:

'We be Samaṇas
who follow him of the sons of the Sākiyans.

He, Vāseṭṭha,
whose faith in the Tathāgata is settled,
rooted,
established
and firm,
a faith not to be dragged down
by recluse or brahmin,
by deva
or Mara
or Brahmā
or anyone in the world,
well may he say:

'I am a veritable son of the Exalted One,
born from his mouth,
born of the Norm,
created by the Norm,
heir of the Norm.'

And why?

Because, Vāseṭṭha,
these are names tantamount to Tathāgata:
'Belonging to¹⁴ the Norm,'
and again,
'belonging to the highest',¹⁵
and again,
'one with the Norm',¹⁶
and again,
'one with the Highest'.

10. There comes a time,¹⁷ Vāseṭṭha,
when,
sooner or later,
after the lapse of a long, long period,
this world [82] passes away.

And when this happens,
beings have mostly been reborn
in the World of Radiance;
and there they dwell,
made of mind,
feeding on rapture,
self-luminous,
traversing the air,
continuing in glory;
and thus they remain
for a long, long period of time.

There comes also a time, Vāseṭṭha,
when sooner or later
this world begins to re-evolve.

When this happens,
beings who had deceased from the World of Radiance,
usually [85] come to life as humans.¹⁸

And they become made of mind,
feeding on rapture,
self-luminous,
traversing the air,
continuing in glory,
and remain thus
for a long, long period of time.

11. Now at that time,
all had become one world of water,
dark,
and of darkness that maketh blind.

No moon nor sun appeared,
no stars were seen,
nor constellations,
neither was night manifest nor day,
neither months nor half-months,
neither years nor seasons,
neither female nor male.

Beings were reckoned just as beings only.

And to those beings, Vāseṭṭha,
sooner or later
after a long time,
earth with its savour was spread out in the waters.

Even as a scum forms on the surface
of boiled milky rice that is cooling,
so did the earth appear.

It became endowed with colour,
with odour,
and with taste.

Even as well-made ghee
or pure butter,
so was its colour;
even as the flawless honey of the bee,
so sweet was it.

12. Then, Vāseṭṭha,
some being of greedy disposition,¹⁹ said:

'Lo now! what will this be?'

and tasted the savoury earth with his finger.

He thus, tasting,
became suffused with the savour,
and craving entered into him.

And other beings,
following his example,
tasted the savoury earth with their finger.

They thus, tasting,
became suffused with the savour,
a craving entered into them.

Then those beings began to feast
on the savoury earth,
breaking off lumps of it
with their hands.

And [83] from [86] the doing thereof
the self-luminance of those beings
faded away.

As their self-luminance faded away,
the moon and the sun became manifest.|| ||

Thereupon star-shapes
and constellations became manifest.

Thereupon night and day became manifest,
months too and half-months,
the seasons and the years.

Thus far then, Vāseṭṭha,
did the world evolve again.

13. Now those beings, Vāseṭṭha,
feasting on the savoury earth,
feeding on it,
nourished by it,
continued thus for a long long while.

And in measure as they thus fed,
did their bodies become solid,
and did variety in their comeliness become manifest.

Some beings were well favoured,
some were ill favoured.

And herein
they that were well favoured
despised them that were ill favoured,
thinking:

'We are more comely than they;
they are worse favoured than we.'

And while they
through pride in their beauty
thus became vain and conceited,
the savoury earth disappeared.

At the disappearance of the savoury earth,
they gathered themselves together
and bewailed it:

'Alas for the savour!
alas for the savour!'

Even so now
when men having gotten a good savour say;

'Ah, the savour of it!
ah, the savour of it!'

they do but follow
an ancient primordial saying,
not recognizing the significance thereof.

14. Then, Vāseṭṭha,
when the savoury earth [87] had vanished for those beings,
outgrowths appeared in the soil.

The manner of the rising up thereof
was as the springing up of the mushroom,²⁰
it had colour,
odour and taste;
even as well-formed ghee
or fine butter
so was the colour thereof,
and even as flawless honeycomb
so was the sweetness thereof.

Then those beings began to feast
on these outgrowths of the soil.

And they,
feasting on them,
finding food and nourishment in them,
continued for a long long while.

And [84] in measure as they thus fed
and were thus nourished,
so did their bodies grow ever more solid,
and the difference in their comeliness
more manifest,
some becoming well favoured,
some ill favoured.

Then they that were well favoured
despised them that were ill favoured,
thinking:

'We are more comely than they;
they are worse favoured than we.'

And while they,
through pride in their beauty,
thus became vain and conceited,
these outgrowths of the soil disappeared.

Thereupon creeping plants²¹ appeared,
and the manner of the growth thereof
was as that of the bamboo,
and they had colour, odour and taste.

Even as well-made ghee
or fine butter
so was the colour thereof;
even as flawless honeycomb
so was the sweetness thereof.

15. Then, Vāseṭṭha,
those beings began to feast on the creepers.

And they, feasting on them,
feeding on them,
nourished by them,
continued so for a long long while.

And in measure as they thus fed
and were nourished
did their bodies wax more solid,
and the difference in their comeliness
more manifest,
[88]
some becoming well favoured,
some ill favoured.

Then they that were well favoured
despised them that were ill favoured,
thinking:

'We are more comely than they;
they are worse favoured than we.'

And while those,
through pride in their beauty,
became vain and conceited,
the creepers disappeared.

At the disappearance thereof
they gathered themselves together
and bewailed, saying:

'Verily it was ours, the creeper!

Now it has vanished away!

Alas and O me! we have lost!'

Even so now when men,
being asked what is the matter, say:

'Alas and O me! what we had
that have we lost!'

they do but follow
an ancient primordial saying,
not recognizing the significance thereof.

16. Then, Vāseṭṭha,
when the creepers had vanished for those beings,
rice appeared
ripening in open spaces.²²

No powder had it
and no husk.

[Pure,] fragrant and clean grained.²³

[85] Where of an evening
they gathered and carried away for supper,
there next morning the rice stood ripe
and grown again.

Where in the morning
they gathered and carried away for breakfast,
there in the evening it stood ripe
and grown again.

No break was to be seen
[where the husks had been broken off].

Then those beings
feasting on this rice in the clearings,
feeding on it,
nourished by it,
so continued for a long long while.

And in measure as they,
thus feeding,
went on existing,
so did the bodies of those beings
become even more solid,
and the divergence in their comeliness
more pronounced.

In the female
appeared the distinctive features
of the female,²⁴
in the male
those of the male.

Then truly did woman contemplate man too closely,
and man, woman.

In them contemplating over much
the one the other,
passion arose
and burning entered their body.

They in consequence thereof
followed their lusts.

And beings seeing them so doing
threw, some, sand,
some, ashes, [89] some, cowdung,
crying:

'Perish, foul one! perish, foul one!

How can a being
treat a being so?'

Even so now when men,
in certain districts,
when a bride is led away,
throw either sand,
or ashes,
or cowdung,
they do but follow
an ancient enduring primordial form,
not recognizing the significance thereof.

17. That which was reckoned immoral
at that time, Vāseṭṭha,
is now reckoned to be moral.

Those beings
who at that time followed their lusts,
were not allowed to enter village or town
either for a whole month
or even for two months.

And inasmuch as those beings
at that time quickly incurred blame for immorality,
they set to work to make huts,
to conceal just that immorality.

[86] Then Vāseṭṭha,
this occurred to some being
of a lazy disposition:

'Lo now! why do I wear myself out
fetching rice for supper in the evening,
and in the morning for breakfast?

What if I were to fetch enough rice
for supper and breakfast together?'

So he gathered at one journey
enough rice for the two meals together.

Then some being came to him and said:

'Come, good being,
let us go rice-gathering.'

'That's not wanted, good being,
I have fetched rice
for the evening and morning meal.'

Then the former followed his example
and fetched rice for two days at once,
saying:

'So much, they say,
will about do.'

Then some other being
came [90] to this one and said:

'Come, good being, let us go rice-gathering.'

And he:

'Never mind, good being,
I have fetched rice enough for two days.'

Then the former followed his example
and fetched rice for four days at once,
saying:

'So much, they say,
will about do.'

Then some being came to him and said:

'Come, good being,
let us go rice-gathering.'

'That's not wanted, good being,
I have fetched rice enough
for four days.'

Then the former followed his example
and fetched rice for eight days at once,
saying:

'So much, they say,
will about do.'

Now from the time, Vāseṭṭha,
that those beings began to feed on hoarded rice,
powder enveloped the clean grain,
and husk enveloped the grain,
and the reaped or cut stems
did not grow again;
a break became manifest
[where the reaper had cut];
the rice stubble stood in clumps.

18. Then those beings, Vāseṭṭha,
gathered themselves
and bewailed this, saying:

'Evil customs, sirs,
have appeared among men.

For in the past,
we were made of mind,
we fed on rapture,
self-luminous,
we traversed the air in abiding loveliness;
long long the period we so remained.

For us sooner or later,
after a long long while
the savoury earth had arisen over the waters.

Colour it had,
and odour and taste.

We set to work
to make the earth into lumps,
and feast on it.

As we did so
our self-luminance vanished away.

When it was gone,
moon and sun became manifest,
[91] star-shapes and constellations,
night and day,
the months and half-months,
the seasons and the years.

We enjoying the savoury earth,
feeding on it,
nourished by it,
continued so for a long long while.

But since evil and immoral customs
became rife among us,
[87] the savoury earth disappeared.

When it had ceased
outgrowths of the soil became manifest,
clothed with colour,
odour and taste.

Them we began to enjoy;
and fed and nourished thereby,
we continued so for a long long while.

But when evil and immoral customs
arose among us,
these outgrowths disappeared.

When they had vanished,
creepers appeared
clothed with colour,
odour and taste.

Them we turned to enjoy;
and fed and nourished thereby
we continued so for a long long while.

But since evil and immoral customs
became prevalent among us,
the creepers also disappeared.

When they had ceased
rice appeared,
ripening in open spaces,
without powder,
without husk,
pure, fragrant and clean grained.

Where we plucked and took away
for the evening meal every evening,
there next morning it had grown ripe again.

Where we plucked and took away
for the morning meal,
there in the evening it had grown ripe again.

There was no break visible.

Enjoying this rice,
feeding on it,
nourished by it,
we have so continued a long long while.

But from evil and immoral customs
becoming manifest among us,
powder has enveloped the clean grain,
husk too has enveloped the clean grain,
and where we have reaped is no re-growth;
a break has come,
and the rice-stubble stands in [92] clumps.

Come now, let us divide off the rice fields
and set boundaries thereto!'

And so they divided off the rice
and set up boundaries round it.

19. Now some being, Vāseṭṭha,
of greedy disposition,
watching over his own plot,
stole another plot
and made use of it.

They took him
and holding him fast, said:

'Truly, good being,
thou hast wrought evil
in that, while watching thine own plot,
thou hast stolen another plot
and made use of it.

See, good being,
that thou do not such a thing again!'

'Ay, sirs, he replied.'

And a second time he did so.

And yet a third.

And again they took him
and admonished him.

Some smote him with the hand,
some with clods,
some with sticks.

With such a beginning, Vāseṭṭha,
did stealing appear,
and censure
and lying
and punishment became known.

[88] 20. Now those beings, Vāseṭṭha,
gathered themselves together,
and bewailed these things, saying:

'From our evil deeds, sirs,
becoming manifest,
inasmuch as stealing,
censure,
lying,
punishment have become known,
what if we were to select a certain being,
who should be wrathful
when indignation is right,
who should censure
that which should rightly be censured
and should banish
him who deserves to be banished?

But we will give him in return
a proportion of the rice.'

[93] Then, Vāseṭṭha,
those beings went to the being among them
who was the handsomest,
the best favoured,
the most attractive,
the most capable
and said to him:

'Come now, good being,
be indignant
at that whereat one should rightly be indignant,
censure
that which should rightly be censured,
banish
him who deserves to be banished.

And we will contribute to thee
a proportion of our rice.'

And he consented,
and did so,
and they gave him a proportion of their rice.

21. 'Chosen by the whole people', Vāseṭṭha,
is what is meant by Mahā Sammata;²⁵
so 'Mahā Sammata' (the Great Elect)
was the first standing phrase to arise
[for such an one].²⁶

'Lord of the Fields'
is what is meant by Khattiya;
so 'Khattiya' (Noble)
was the next expression to arise.

'He charms the others by the Norm' —
by what ought (to charm) —
is what is meant by Raja;
so this was the third standing phrase to arise.

Thus then, Vāseṭṭha,
was the origin of this social circle of the Nobles,
according to the ancient primordial phrases
[by which they were known].

Their origin
was from among those very beings,
and no others;
like unto themselves,
not unlike;
and it took [89] place according to the Norm
[according to what ought to be, justly,
not unfittingly.²⁷

For, Vāseṭṭha:

The norm's the best among this folk
both in this life and in the next.²⁸

22. Now it occurred, Vāseṭṭha,
to some of those beings,
as follows:

'Evil deeds, sirs,
have become manifest among us,
inasmuch as stealing,
censure,
lying,
punishment can be noticed,
and banishment.

Let us now put away from us
evil and immoral customs.'

And they put away from them such customs.

'They put away
(bāhenti) evil, immoral customs,' Vāseṭṭha,
is what is meant by Brahmins,
and thus was it
that Brahmins became the earliest standing phrase
[for those who did so].

They, making leaf huts in woodland spots,
meditated therein.

Extinct for them
the burning coal,
vanished the smoke,
fallen
lies pestle and mortar;
gathering of an evening
for the evening meal,
of a morning
for the morning meal,
they go down into village
and town
and royal city,
seeking food.

When they have gotten food,
back again in their leaf huts
they meditate.

When men saw this, they said:

[90] 'These good beings,
having made unto themselves
leaf-huts in the forest region,
meditate therein.

For them burning coal is extinct,
smoke is known no more,
pestle and mortar
have fallen from their hands;
they gather of an evening
for the evening meal,
of a morning
for the morning meal,
and go down into village
and town
and royal city
seeking food.

When they have gotten food,
back again in their leaf-huts
they meditate.

'They meditate' (jhāyanti), Vāseṭṭha,
is what is meant by
'the brooding one' (jhāyakā).

Thus was it that this
was the second phrase that arose.

23. Now certain of those beings, Vāseṭṭha,
being incapable of enduring
this meditation in forest leaf-huts,
went down and settled
on the outskirts of villages and towns,
making books.²⁹

When men saw this, they said:

'These good beings,
being incapable of enduring meditation in forest leaf-huts,
have gone down
and settled on the outskirts of villages and towns,
and there they make books.

But they cannot meditate.'

Now, 'These meditate not', Vāseṭṭha,
is what is meant by 'Ajjhāyak'a
(repeaters, viz., of the Vedas).

Thus this third phrase for such people
came into use.

At that time
they were looked upon as the lowest;
now they are thought the best.

Such then, Vāseṭṭha,
according to the ancient,
yea, primordial,
expressions by which they were known,
was the origin of this social circle of the Brahmins.³⁰

[95] Their origin
was from just those beings
[above referred to];
beings like unto themselves,
not unlike;
[and it took place]
according to the Norm
[according to what ought to be, justly
not unfittingly.

For, Vāseṭṭha:

The Norm's the best among this folk
both in this life and in the next.

[91] 24. Now, Vāseṭṭha,
there were some others of those beings who,
adopting the married state,
set on foot various trades.

That they, adopting the married state,
set on foot various [vissa] trades
is, Vāseṭṭha, the meaning of 'vessā'
(tradesfolk).

So this word came into use
as a standing expression for such people.

The origin, Vāseṭṭha,
of the social group called the Vessas
was in accordance with this ancient,
yea, primordial designation.

It was from just those beings
[above described]
beings like unto themselves,
not unlike.

And it took place
in accordance with the Norm
according to what ought to be, justly
not unfittingly.

For, Vāseṭṭha:

The norm's the best among this folk
both in this life and in the next.

25. Now, Vāseṭṭha,
those of these beings that remained over
took to hunting.

But 'those that live on hunting,
and suchlike trifling pursuits',
is what is meant by 'Sudda'
(the lowest grade of folk).³¹

Thus then, according to the ancient,
yea, primordial expression,
is the origin of this social group called Suddas.

Their origin was from just those beings
(above described),
beings like unto themselves,
not unlike;
[and it took place]
according to the Norm,
[according to what ought to be]
not unfittingly,
namely, from those who were not different from other beings,
but like them,
not unlike them,
by a norm
and not through lack of a norm.

For, Vāseṭṭha:

The norm's the best among this folk
both in this life and in the next.

[92] 26. Now there came a time, Vāseṭṭha,
when some Khattiya,
misprizing his own norm,
went forth from home into the homeless life,
saying:

'I will become a recluse.'

Some Brahmin
misprizing his own norm,
went forth from home into the homeless life,
saying:

'I will become a recluse.'

Some Vessa
[96]
misprizing his own norm,
went forth from home into the homeless life,
saying:

'I will become a recluse.'

Some Sudda,
misprizing his own norm,
went forth from home into the homeless life,
saying:

'I will become a recluse.'

Out of these four groups or circles, Vāseṭṭha,
the company of the recluses came into being.

Their origin was from just these beings like unto themselves,
not different.

And it took place according to a norm
[a fitness, justly],
not unfittingly.

For, Vāseṭṭha,

The norm's the best among this folk
both in this life and in the next.

27. Now a khattiya, Vāseṭṭha,
who has led a bad life,
in deed, word and thought,
whose views of life are wrong,
will, in consequence of his views and deeds,
when the body breaks up,
be reborn after death
in the Waste,
the Woeful Way,
the Downfall,
Purgatory.³²

And a Brahmin, Vāseṭṭha,
who has led a bad life,
in deed, word and thought,
whose views of life are wrong,
will, in consequence of his views and deeds,
when the body breaks up,
be reborn after death
in the Waste,
the Woeful Way,
the Downfall,
Purgatory.

And a Vessa, Vāseṭṭha,
who has led a bad life,
in deed, word and thought,
whose views of life are wrong,
will, in consequence of his views and deeds,
when the body breaks up,
be reborn after death
in the Waste,
the Woeful Way,
the Downfall,
Purgatory.

And a Sudda, Vāseṭṭha,
who has led a bad life,
in deed, word and thought,
whose views of life are wrong,
will, in consequence of his views and deeds,
when the body breaks up,
be reborn after death
in the Waste,
the Woeful Way,
the Downfall,
Purgatory.

28. Again, Vāseṭṭha, a Khattiya, who has led a good life,
in deed, word and thought,
whose views of life
are as they should be,
will, in consequence of his views and deeds,
when the body breaks up,
be reborn after death
in a happy,
bright world.

And a Brahmin, who has led a good life,
in deed, word and thought,
whose views of life
are as they should be,
will, in consequence of his views and deeds,
when the body breaks up,
be reborn after death
in a happy,
bright world.

And a Vessa, who has led a good life,
in deed, word and thought,
whose views of life
are as they should be,
will, in consequence of his views and deeds,
when the body breaks up,
be reborn after death
in a happy,
bright world.

And a Sudda, who has led a good life,
in deed, word and thought,
whose views of life
are as they should be,
will, in consequence of his views and deeds,
when the body breaks up,
be reborn after death
in a happy,
bright world.

29. Again, Vāseṭṭha, a Khattiya,
who has lived a life both good and bad,³³
in deed, word and thought,
[93] whose views of life are mixed,
will, in consequence of his mixed views and deeds,
when the body breaks up,
be reborn after death
suffering both happiness and unhappiness.

A Brahmin, too [97],
who has lived a life both good and bad,
in deed, word and thought,
whose views of life are mixed,
will, in consequence of his mixed views and deeds,
when the body breaks up,
be reborn after death
suffering both happiness and unhappiness.

A Vessa, too,
who has lived a life both good and bad,
in deed, word and thought,
whose views of life are mixed,
will, in consequence of his mixed views and deeds,
when the body breaks up,
be reborn after death
suffering both happiness and unhappiness.

A Sudda, too,
who has lived a life both good and bad,
in deed, word and thought,
whose views of life are mixed,
will, in consequence of his mixed views and deeds,
when the body breaks up,
be reborn after death
suffering both happiness and unhappiness.

30. Again, Vāseṭṭha, a Khattiya,
who is self-restrained
in deed, word and thought,
and has followed after the practice
of the seven principles
which are the Wings of Wisdom,
attains to complete extinction
[of evil]
in this present life.

A Brahmin, too,
who is self-restrained
in deed, word and thought,
and has followed after the practice
of the seven principles
which are the Wings of Wisdom,
attains to complete extinction
[of evil]
in this present life.

A Vessa, too,
who is self-restrained
in deed, word and thought,
and has followed after the practice
of the seven principles
which are the Wings of Wisdom,
attains to complete extinction
[of evil]
in this present life.

A Sudda, too,
who is self-restrained
in deed, word and thought,
and has followed after the practice
of the seven principles
which are the Wings of Wisdom,³⁴
attains to complete extinction
[of evil]³⁵
in this present life.

31. For, Vāseṭṭha,
whosoever of these Four classes becomes,
as a bhikkhu, an arahant,
who has destroyed the intoxicants,
who has done that which it behoved him to do,
who has laid down the burden,
who has won his own salvation,
who has wholly destroyed the fetter of re-becoming,
who through knowledge made perfect is free, —
he is declared chief among them,
in virtue of a norm,
not in the absence of a norm.

For, Vāseṭṭha:

The norm's the best among this folk
both in this life and in the next.

32. Now this verse, Vāseṭṭha,
was spoken by Brahmā,
the Eternal Youth:³⁶

[94] The Khattiya is the best among this folk
  Who put their trust in lineage.
But one in wisdom and in virtue clothed,
  Is best of all 'mong spirits and men.

Now this stanza, Vāseṭṭha,
was well sung
and not ill sung
by Brahmā the Eternal Youth,
well said
and not ill said,
full of meaning
and not void thereof.

I too, Vāseṭṭha, say:

[98] The Khattiya is the best among this folk
  Who put their trust in lineage.
But one in wisdom and in virtue clothed,
  Is best of all 'mong spirits and men.

Thus spake the Exalted One.

Pleased at heart Vāseṭṭha and Bhāradvāja rejoiced in what the Exalted One had said.

Here ends the Aggañña-Suttanta.

¹ On the subject of this Suttanta see Introduction to I, 105 f.

² Visākhā. Buddhaghosa gives an account of her and her mansion, built for the Order, which is much shorter, but in agreement with the full narrative contained in the Dhammapada Comy. I, 334 ff. The vast majority of houses were in the oldest Buddhist period in North India what we should now call huts. We hear only of a very few such pāsādas or mansions. Tradition describes this one as a bungalow with one upper storey. In the Mahā-sudassana (above, Vol. II) we have a description of the most glorious palace the early Buddhists could think of. It is a modest affair. The archceological evidence is discussed in Buddhist India, pp. 63-77, Figs. 3-11.

³ The Comy. identifies these two with the two brahmins of the Tevijja Suttanta (above, I, 301) and the Vāseṭṭha Suttas of Majjhima, Sutta 98, and Sutta-Nipāta, Sutta 35.

⁴ Vaṇṇa. Literally, colour, which never means caste. See above, I, 99 ff.

⁵ Abbhācikkhanti Brahmānaṃ. The verb often means to misrepresent another's opinions (Majjh. I, 368; Dīgha I, 161; Ang. III, 57; Vin. IV, 135). The root cikh is to take note of, observe.

⁶ Khattiyā, brahmaṇā, vessā, suddā.

⁷ Buddhaghosa permits an alternative meaning of sadattho either as sundaro, or sako attho: excellent or own advantage.

⁸ = taṇhā (Comy.).

⁹ Sammā hetunā kāraṇena jānitvā vimutto (Comy.).

¹⁰ Imasmiṇ 1oke ti attho; the world's inhabitants. The verse from which this is quoted is given in full at the end of this Dialogue, § 32.

¹¹ We take dhamma here (the word rendered norm, standard) in the sense attributed to it by Mrs. Rhys Davids in her discussion of this passage in Buddhism (Home University Library) pp. 235 ff. The remarkable utterance we find in this passage is only one of many in which the Normalism (as distinct from Animism) of the Buddhist position is emphasized. There is nothing metempirical about it. It is the cosmic law which is the Norm or standard, by which alone superiority or inferiority is to be judged.

¹² We read anantarā, not anuttaro. See note in text. The Comy. has the following: anantarā ti antara-virahitā (or vihitā), attano kulena sadisā ti attho. It agrees better with the context, which does not call for such a word as anuttaro.

¹³ See M. II, 112, 120, where the homage paid is of the humblest.

¹⁴ Dhammakāyo. Lit. having a Norm-body. Buddhaghosa says: why is the Tathāgato said to have a Norm-body? Because having devised the Three-Piṭaka-Buddha-word by his mind he conducts it forth by his speech. Therefore his body from having Normness (dhammatā) is considered as the Norm, and is so called. And just because of this Norm-body-ness, he has an excellent body, for Norm is called brahma in the sense of best, supreme, excellent ... thus far the Exalted One having spoken in terms of values, goes on to speak in those terms by another method, beginning, There comes a time, etc.

¹⁵ Brahma — i.e. says the Comy. brahma in the sense of best (seṭṭhaṭṭhena).

¹⁶ Lit. Norm-become — i.e. says the Comy. of-the-nature-of-the-Norm (Dhamma-sabhāvo).

¹⁷ This paragraph occurs in Vol. I, p. 30, verbatim, as to the former half, fuller as to the latter half.

¹⁸ Lit. come to 'hereness' which the Comy. explains as humanity. The description of them is scarcely human, but their birth, says Buddhaghosa, is opapātika. See I, 201, n. 3. Cf. Ambapāli's birth, Psalms of the Sisters, 120.

¹⁹ Greedy in his previous birth, remarks the Comy.

²⁰ Ahicchattako. Literally snake-hood, but that this was used idiomatically for a kind of mushroom shaped like a snake's hood appears from Jātaka II, 95 and Udāna, p. 81, note. The Sanskrit lexicons give the names of several other plants called snake-hood, and the plant here meant is not certain. We do not know whether mushrooms are found at all in North India.

²¹ Badalatā. A beautiful creeper of sweet taste, says Buddhaghosa.

²² Akaṭṭha-pāko. According to the Comy. springing up in land free from jungle.

²³ R.O. Franke is probably right in supposing that we have here a fragment of an old ballad, and should therefore add 'pure' suddho. See below, § 18. There are quite a number of such apparent fragments of verse in the prose texts. See the notes of Vinaya Texts I, 149, and Buddhist Suttas (S.B.E.), p. 107. The apparent verse is here (as often) very poor verse.

²⁴ Those who had been women in a previous birth, explains Buddhaghosa.

²⁵ Mahā Sammata. Name of a famous king in the beginning of time, who was the first king of the Solar race, and the legendary ancestor of many lines of kings (among others of the kings of the Sākiya clan).

²⁶ Akkhara, the enduring, came later on to mean letter. At the end of § 16 we have rendered it form (of speech). Cf. § 18.

²⁷ No adhammena. The argument is that there was no tribal difference, no difference of blood, between them and all the rest. They were selected, set apart, for the performance of certain duties, and they were so selected, not arbitrarily, but according to their real fitness for the post. Each of them fulfilled the Ideal of a noble, which included, not only righteousness, but also other things. As will be seen, there was also an ideal, a standard, a Norm, for each of the other groups.

²⁸ The etymologies in this paragraph are purely fanciful; and as a matter of fact the historical order in which the three words are said to qave arisen is exactly reversed. Rāja is the oldest of the three — belonging, as it does, to the oldest Aryan stock of words, and being found in Latin and Welsh. Khattiya is the next, and Mahā Sammata. is the youngest of all. But it would show a strange ignorance of history to complain of this. Such plays upon words are common to all ancient literatures. Scientific etymology is a growth of yesterday. The author or authors of this passage (and of all similar ones) were thinking, of course, not of etymology, but of what they regarded as matter of the highest import.

²⁹ Ganthe karontā; tayo Vede abhisankharontā c'eva vācentā ca, says the Comy. — compiling the three Vedas and teaching others to repeat them.

³⁰ Brāhmaṇa-maṇdalassāti Brāhmaṇa-gaṇassa, says Buddhaghosa.

³¹ Both the readings here and the logic of the word-play are doubtful. If the readings are right we have — instead of the usual half pun, half riddle — a mere jingle of rhymes, ludda, khudda, sudda, hunter, mean fellow, low grade. Our modern nobles would lift their eyebrows at so amazing a mixture of epithets, and it would be quite in the spirit of these Suttantas if that touch of irony were really the point of the rhyme. It would be quite as apposite then in India as here in Europe when Carlyle in his Sartor Resartus gave us his vivid sketch of the noble sportsman.

³² Cf. II, 51.

³³ Lit. a double-doer, dvaya-kāarī. Buddhaghosa's elaboration of this destiny in outline is of interest: There is no opportunity where both results may be incurred at the same moment. But one who has wrought much bad and slight good may be reborn as a Khattiya or Brahmin, because of that good, yet be one-eyed or a hunchback or a cripple, or he may be worthy of a kingdom, yet be unable to come into his own. In another case, when he is dying, his good and bad karma attend him like two strong wrestlers, and the stronger bad karma prevailing, he is reborn as an animal, but, the good karma persisting, he becomes a state-elephant, or state-horse, or state-buffalo.

³⁴ These seven, in the ancient commentary, embedded in the text of the Vibhanga are explicitly limited to the seven Bojjhangas (p. 249; cf. Mrs. Rhys Davids's Preface, xiv; also A. III, 70, 71; IV. 351). In the present Comy. Buddhaghosa defines them as the thirty-seven, divided, as Four Satipaṭṭhānas, etc., into seven. But see below, p. 96, § 3, where the thirty-seven would surely have been called bodhipakkhiyā dhammā, instead of just kusa1ā, had the thirty-seven been so entitled, when the Dialogues were compiled.

³⁵ Kilesa-parinibbānena parinibbāti. Comy.

³⁶ Recurs Vol. I, p. 122, and Samyutta I, 153; II, 284.

28. The Faith That Satisfied

Sampasādaniya Suttantaṃ

[95]

THUS HAVE I HEARD.

1. At one time the Exalted One was staying near Nāḷandā
in the Pāvārika Mango Wood¹

Now the venerable Sāriputta came to the place where the Exalted One was,
and having saluted him,
took his seat respectfully at his side
and said:

"Lord! such faith have I in the Exalted One,
that methinks there never has been,
nor will there be,
nor is there now
any other,
whether recluse or Brahman,
who is greater
and wiser
than the Exalted One,
that is to say,
as regards the higher wisdom."²

"Grand and bold
are the words of thy mouth, Sāriputta!

Thou hast roared
a veritable lion's roar
in this that thou hast said.

Of course then
thou hast known all the Exalted Ones
who in the long ages of the past
have been Arahants,
Awakened Ones,
comprehending their minds
with thy mind,
and aware
what was their conduct,
what their doctrines,³
what their wisdom,
what their mode of life,
and the liberty
to which they attained?"

"Not so, lord."

"Of course then
thou hast perceived all the Exalted Ones
who in the long ages of the future
will be Arahants,
Awakened Ones,
comprehending their minds with thy mind,
and aware
what will be their conduct,
[96] what their doctrines,
what their wisdom,
what their mode of life,
and the liberty
to which they attain?"

"Not so, lord."

But at least then, Sāriputta,
thou knowest that I now am Arahant,
an Awakened One,
comprehending my mind
with thy mind,
and aware
that thus is the Exalted One's conduct,
such is his wisdom,
such his doctrine,
such his mode of life,
and such the liberty
to which he has attained?"

"Not so, lord."

"Lo! here, Sāriputta,
no knowledge hast thou
concerning Arahants,
Awakened Ones,
past,
future
or present.

Why then forsooth
are thy words so grand and bold?

Why hast thou roared
this all-comprehensive lion's roar?"

2. "Lord! no knowledge have I
concerning the minds of past,
future
and present Arahants,
Awakened Ones.

I only know, lord,
the lineage of the Norm.⁴

Just as a king, lord,
might have a border-city,
strong in its foundations,
strong in its ramparts and towers,
and with only one gate.

And there might be a warden of the gate,
discreet and clever and wise,
to stop all strangers
and admit only them that were known.

And he,
on patrolling in his sentry-walks
over the approaches all round the city,
might not so observe
all the joints and crevices
in the ramparts of that city
as to know where anything as small as a cat
could get past.

He would think:

'Whatever bulkier creatures
either enter or leave this city,
they all pass only by this gate.'

Only thus is it, lord,
that I know the lineage of the Norm.

They who in the long ages of the past
were Arahants,
Supremely Awakened Ones,
putting away the five Hindrances,
suppressing the corruptions of the mind by wisdom,
with hearts well established
in the four exercises for setting up mindfulness,
thoroughly exercising themselves
in the seven branches of enlightenment,
have wholly awaked to the uttermost awakening.

They who in the long ages of the future
will be Arahants,
[97] Supremely Awakened Ones,
will do likewise.

And the Exalted One too,
who now, lord,
is Arahant Supremely Awakened,
he too hath done likewise.

It⁵ happened one day, lord,
that I had come to the Exalted One
to listen to the exposition of the Norm.

And the Exalted One taught me doctrine,
each point ever more excellent than the last,
with comparison of the things of light
and the things of darkness.

Now while the Exalted One
was teaching me the Norm, after this sort,
even so I,
understanding that Norm,
perfected among doctrines
one certain doctrine,
namely,
faith⁶ in the Master.

And I confessed in my heart:

'The Exalted One is supremely awakened;
well taught by him is the Norm;
blessed is the Order.'

3. Moreover, lord, this too is unsurpassed:
the way namely in which the Exalted One
teaches the Norm concerning righteous doctrines;⁷
I mean
the Four Exercises in setting up Mindfulness,
the Four Supreme Efforts,
the Four Roads to Saintship,
the Five Moral Powers,
the Five Forces,
the Seven Branches of Enlightenment,
the Aryan Eightfold Path
[showing how] a bhikkhu
by destruction of the intoxicants may [98] know and realize for himself,
even in this life,
sane and immune emancipation
of intellect and intuition,
and so attaining may therein abide.

Unsurpassed, lord,
is this concerning righteous doctrines.

All this the Exalted One understands,
and beyond what he understands
there is nothing left to understand.

Nor is there any other,
whether he be recluse or brahmin,
who is greater and wiser than the Exalted One,
that is to say,
as regards righteous doctrines.

4. Moreover, lord, this too is unsurpassable,
the way namely in which the Exalted One
teaches the Norm concerning our sense-experience, —
how the six fields of sense
are subjective and objective:⁸
sight and visible things,
hearing and sounds,
smell and odours,
taste and sapid things,
touch and tangible things,
mind and mental objects.

Unsurpassable, lord, is this
concerning our sense-experience.

All this the Exalted One understands,
and beyond what he understands
there is nothing left to understand.

Nor is there any other,
whether he be recluse or brahmin,
who is greater and wiser than the Exalted One,
that is to say,
as regards our sense-experience.⁹

§

5, Moreover, lord, this too is unsurpassable:
the way namely in which the Exalted One
teaches the Norm concerning descensions at rebirth: —

That there are four modes in descension, thus: —

One descends into the mother's womb unknowing,¹⁰
abides there unknowing,
departs thence unknowing.

This is the first mode.

Next, one descends into the mother's womb knowingly,
but persists there unknowing
and departs thence unknowing.

This [99] is the second mode.

Again, one descends and persists knowing,
but departs unknowing.

This is the third mode.

Again, one descends into the mother's womb, knowing,
persists there knowing
and departs thence knowing.

This is the fourth mode of descension.

Unsurpassable, lord, is this concerning descensions at rebirth.

All this the Exalted One understands,
and beyond what he understands
there is nothing left to understand.

Nor is there any other,
whether he be recluse or brahmin,
who is greater and wiser than the Exalted One,
that is to say,
as regards descensions at rebirth.

§

6. Moreover, lord, this too is unsurpassable,
the way namely in which the Exalted One
teaches the Norm concerning the modes of revealing
[the mind of another]¹¹: —
that there are four modes, thus: —

One reveals by a visible sign,
saying Thou art thinking thus,
thou hast so and so in thy mind,
thy thought is thus.

However much one reveals,
that is so and not otherwise.

This is the first mode of revealing
[the mind of another].

Again, one reveals thoughts
not by a visible sign,
but through hearing a sound
uttered by humans or non-humans
[Yakkhas, Pisācas], or devas,¹² -
and one says: —

Thou art thinking thus,
thou hast so and so in thy mind,
thy thought is thus.

However much one reveals, that is so and not otherwise.

This is the second mode.

Again, one reveals thoughts
neither by a visible sign,
nor through hearing a sound
made by humans or non-humans or devas,¹²
but through hearing a rational sound
made intelligently and deliberately.¹³

And one says:

Thou art thinking thus,
thou hast so and so in thy mind,
thy thought is thus.

However much one reveals, that is so and not otherwise.

This is the third mode of revealing.

Again one reveals thoughts
neither by a visible sign,
nor through hearing a sound
made by humans or non-humans or devas,
nor through hearing a rational sound
made intelligently and deliberately,
but when achieving concentration,
without attention applied on occasion of sense,
one then knows intuitively the thoughts of another.

And one says:

Just according to the aim of the mental activity of this good person even on such and such a [100] thought will he next be directing his mind.

And however much one reveals that is so and not otherwise.

This is the fourth mode.

Unsurpassable, lord, is this concerning the modes of revealing [the mind of another].¹⁴

All this the Exalted One understands,
and beyond what he understands
there is nothing left to understand.

Nor is there any other,
whether he be recluse or brahmin,
who is greater and wiser than the Exalted One,
that is to say,
as regards the modes of revealing [the mind of another].

§

7. Moreover, lord, unsurpassable is the way in which the Exalted One
teaches the Norm concerning decrees of discernment:¹⁵ -
that there are four such degrees, namely:

Some¹⁶ recluse or brahmin by means of ardour,
of effort,
of application,
of strenuous earnestness,
of careful concentration,
reaches up to such rapture of thought
that with rapt mind
he meditates introspectively
on just this bodily organism
from the sole of the foot
to the crown of the head,
as a hide-bound mass of manifold uncleanness,
thus: —

In this body¹⁷ are hairs,
down,
nails,
teeth,
skin,
flesh,
sinews,
bone,
marrow,
kidney,
heart,
liver,
membrane,
spleen,
lungs,
bowels,
mesentery,
stomach,
faeces,
bile,
phlegm,
pus,
blood,
sweat,
fat,
tears,
saliva,
snot,
synovial fluid,
urine.

This is the first degree of discernment.

Again, lord, such a recluse or brahmin by means of ardour,
of effort,
of application,
of strenuous earnestness,
of careful concentration,
reaches up to such rapture of thought
that with rapt mind
he meditates introspectively
on just this bodily organism
from the sole of the foot
to the crown of the head,
as a hide-bound mass of manifold uncleanness,
thus: —

In this body are hairs,
down,
nails,
teeth,
skin,
flesh,
sinews,
bone,
marrow,
kidney,
heart,
liver,
membrane,
spleen,
lungs,
bowels,
mesentery,
stomach,
faeces,
bile,
phlegm,
pus,
blood,
sweat,
fat,
tears,
saliva,
snot,
synovial fluid,
urine,
and goes on to meditate
after that
on the human skeleton
[as covered by] skin,
flesh
and blood.

This is the second degree of discernment.

Again, lord, such a recluse or brahmin by means of ardour,
of effort,
of application,
of strenuous earnestness,
of careful concentration,
reaches up to such rapture of thought
that with rapt mind
he meditates introspectively
on just this bodily organism
from the sole of the foot
to the crown of the head,
as a hide-bound mass of manifold uncleanness,
thus: —

In this body are hairs,
down,
nails,
teeth,
skin,
flesh,
sinews,
bone,
marrow,
kidney,
heart,
liver,
membrane,
spleen,
lungs,
bowels,
mesentery,
stomach,
faeces,
bile,
phlegm,
pus,
blood,
sweat,
fat,
tears,
saliva,
snot,
synovial fluid,
urine,
and goes on to meditate
after that
on the human skeleton
[as covered by] skin,
flesh
and blood.
and he goes on after that
to discern the unbroken flux
of human consciousness¹⁸
established both in this world
and in another world.

This is the third degree of discernment.

Again, lord, such a recluse or brahmin by means of ardour,
of effort,
of application,
of strenuous earnestness,
of careful concentration,
reaches up to such rapture of thought
that with rapt mind
he meditates introspectively
on just this bodily organism
from the sole of the foot
to the crown of the head,
as a hide-bound mass of manifold uncleanness,
thus: —

In this body are hairs,
down,
nails,
teeth,
skin,
flesh,
sinews,
bone,
marrow,
kidney,
heart,
liver,
membrane,
spleen,
lungs,
bowels,
mesentery,
stomach,
faeces,
bile,
phlegm,
pus,
blood,
sweat,
fat,
tears,
saliva,
snot,
synovial fluid,
urine,
and goes on to meditate
after that
on the human skeleton
[as covered by] skin,
flesh
and blood.
and he goes on after that
to discern the unbroken flux
of human consciousness
established both in this world
and in another world
and he goes after that
to discern the unbroken flux
of human consciousness
as not established either in this world
or [101] in another world.¹⁹

This is the fourth degree of discernment.

Unsurpassable is this, lord,
concerning degrees of discernment.

All this the Exalted One understands,
and beyond what he understands
there is nothing left to understand.

Nor is there any other,
whether he be recluse or brahmin,
who is greater and wiser than the Exalted One,
that is to say,
as regards degrees of discernment.

§

8. Moreover, lord, unsurpassable is the way in which the Exalted One
teaches the Norm concerning the classification of individuals:²⁰
that there are seven classes, to wit: —

freed-both-ways,
freed by insight,
having bodily testimony,
having gained the view,
freed by confidence,
follower of wisdom,
follower of confidence.

Unsurpassable, lord,
are these terms for classes of individuals.

All this the Exalted One understands,
and beyond what he understands
there is nothing left to understand.

Nor is there any other,
whether he be recluse or brahmin,
who is greater and wiser than the Exalted One,
that is to say,
as regards terms for classes of individuals.

§

9. Moreover, lord, unsurpassable is the way in which the Exalted One
teaches the Norm concerning endeavour: —
that there are these seven factors of enlightenment,
to wit: —

the factor of mindfulness,
the factor of examination of doctrine,
the factor of energy,
the factor of zest,
the factor of serenity,
the factor of concentration
the factor of equanimity.

Unsurpassable, lord, is this concerning endeavour.²¹

All this the Exalted One understands,
and beyond what he understands
there is nothing left to understand.

Nor is there any other,
whether he be recluse or brahmin,
who is greater and wiser than the Exalted One,
that is to say,
as regards endeavour.

§

10. Moreover, lord, unsurpassable is the way in which the Exalted One
teaches the norm concerning rates of progress: —
that there are four such rates of progress,
to wit: —

when progress is difficult
and intuition slow,
when progress is difficult
but intuition comes swiftly,²²
when progress is easy
but intuition is slow,
when progress is easy
and intuition comes swiftly.

In the first case,
progress is reckoned as bad
both from difficulty and slowness.

In the second case,
progress is reckoned as bad
from its difficulty.

In the third case,
progress is reckoned as bad
from slowness.

In the fourth case,
progress is reckoned as excellent [102] because of both ease and swiftness.

Unsurpassable, lord, is this concerning rates of progress.

All this the Exalted One understands,
and beyond what he understands
there is nothing left to understand.

Nor is there any other,
whether he be recluse or brahmin,
who is greater and wiser than the Exalted One,
that is to say,
as regards rates of progress.

§

11. Moreover, lord, unsurpassable is the way in which the Exalted One
teaches the Norm concerning conduct in speech
to wit: —

how one should not only
use no speech associated with lying,
but should also,
in seeking to win his case,
avoid calumnious,²³
abusive
and contentious speech,
speaking ever gently words of wisdom,
worth treasuring up,
and uttered in due season.

Unsurpassable, lord, is this concerning conduct in speech.

All this the Exalted One understands,
and beyond what he understands
there is nothing left to understand.

Nor is there any other,
whether he be recluse or brahmin,
who is greater and wiser than the Exalted One,
that is to say,
as regards conduct in speech.

§

12. Moreover, lord, unsurpassable is the way in which the Exalted One
teaches the Norm concerning the ethical conduct of man
to wit: —

how such a man should be
true and believing,
no trickster,²⁴
no droner out [of holy words for pay],
no diviner,
no exorcist,
nor hungering to add gain to gain,
guarded as to the doors of his senses,
abstemious in diet,
a peacemaker,
devoted to keeping vigil,
unfaltering,
apt to apply effort,
contemplative,
mindful,
of seemly conversation,²⁵
valiant to go,
to endure
and to think,
not greedy, besides,
for worldly pleasures,
but heedful and sagacious.

Unsurpassable, lord, is this concerning a man's ethical conduct.

All this the Exalted One understands,
and beyond what he understands
there is nothing left to understand.

Nor is there any other,
whether he be recluse or brahmin,
who is greater and wiser than the Exalted One,
that is to say,
as regards a man's ethical conduct.

§

13. Moreover, lord, unsurpassable is the way in which the Exalted One
teaches the Norm concerning modes of [receiving] instruction,
namely,
that there are four such modes
to wit: —

(1) The Exalted One knows
through his own [method of] systematic thought,²⁶
that a given individual,
when carrying out what he has been taught,
by the complete destruction of Three Fetters,
will [103] become a Stream-winner,²⁷
saved from disaster hereafter,
certain to attain enlightenment;

(2) by the complete destruction of Three Fetters,
will have so diminished passion
and hate
and illusion
that he will become a Once-Returner,
and returning but once to this world
will make an end of ill;

(3) by the complete destruction of the Five ulterior Fetters,
will be reborn in a deva-world,²⁸
there to pass utterly away,
thence never to return;

(4) by the destruction of the Intoxicants
will come to know and realize for himself,
even in this life
emancipation of intellect
and emancipation of insight,
and will therein abide.

Unsurpassable, lord, is this concerning modes of receiving instruction.

All this the Exalted One understands,
and beyond what he understands
there is nothing left to understand.

Nor is there any other,
whether he be recluse or brahmin,
who is greater and wiser than the Exalted One,
that is to say,
as regards modes of receiving instruction.

§

14. Moreover, lord, unsurpassable is the way in which the Exalted One
teaches the Norm concerning
the knowledge of the [degree of] emancipation
to which any given individual will attain namely,
that:²⁹ —

(1) The Exalted One knows
through his own [method of] systematic thought,
that a given individual,
when carrying out what he has been taught,
by the complete destruction of Three Fetters,
will become a Stream-winner,
saved from disaster hereafter,
certain to attain enlightenment;

(2) by the complete destruction of Three Fetters,
will have so diminished passion
and hate
and illusion
that he will become a Once-Returner,
and returning but once to this world
will make an end of ill;

(3) by the complete destruction of the Five ulterior Fetters,
will be reborn in a deva-world,
there to pass utterly away,
thence never to return;

(4) by the destruction of the Intoxicants
will come to know and realize for himself,
even in this life
emancipation of intellect
and emancipation of insight,
and will therein abide.

Unsurpassable, lord, is this concerning knowledge
of the degree of emancipation
to be attained by a given individual.

All this the Exalted One understands,
and beyond what he understands
there is nothing left to understand.

Nor is there any other,
whether he be recluse or brahmin,
who is greater and wiser than the Exalted One,
that is to say,
as regards knowledge
of the degree of emancipation
to be attained by a given individual.

§

15. Moreover, lord, unsurpassable is the way in which the Exalted One teaches the Norm concerning the doctrines of Eternalism,
namely,
that there are these three doctrines:³⁰

(1) Some recluse or brahmin by means of ardour,
of exertion,
of application,
of earnestness,
of careful thought,
reaches up to such rapture of thought that,
rapt in heart,
he calls to mind his various [104] dwelling-places
(or births)
in times gone by —
in one birth,
or in two,
or three,
or four,
or five,
or ten,
or twenty,
or thirty,
or forty,
or fifty,
or a hundred,
or a thousand,
or a hundred thousand,
or in several hundred,
or several thousand,
or several hundred thousand births,
to the effect that
'There I had such and such a name,
was of such and such a lineage and class,
lived on such and such food,
experienced such and such pains and pleasures,
had such and such a span of years.

And when I fell from thence I was reborn here': —
thus does he recollect,
both as to the manner thereof and in detail,
his various dwelling-places in times gone by.

And he says to himself:

'The time that is gone by I know,
whether the world was in process of evolution
or of dissolution.

But I know not the time for to come,
whether the world will evolve or dissolve.

Eternal is both soul and world,
giving birth to nothing new,
steadfast as a mountain-peak,
as a pillar firmly fixed;
and though these living creatures
transmigrate and pass away,
fall from one state of existence
and spring up in another,
yet there is only
that which is for ever and ever.'

This is the first Eternalist doctrine.

(2) Again, lord, some recluse or brahmin,
by means of ardour,
of exertion,
of application,
of earnestness,
of careful thought,
reaches up to such rapture of thought that,
rapt in heart,
he calls to mind his various dwelling-places in the past
for even greater periods,
such as one,
two,
three,
four,
five,
ten,
or twenty pairs
of world-evolution and dissolution
to the effect that
'There I had such and such a name,
was of such and such a lineage and class,
lived on such and such food,
experienced such and such pains and pleasures,
had such and such a span of years.

And when I fell from thence
I was reborn here': —
thus does he recollect,
both as to the manner thereof and in detail,
his various dwelling-places in times gone by.

And he too reflects:

'The time that is gone by I know,
both of the evolution
and dissolution of the world,
but I know not the time for to come,
whether the world will evolve or dissolve.

Eternal is both soul and world,
giving birth to nothing new,
steadfast as a mountain peak,
as a pillar firmly fixed;
and though these living creatures
transmigrate and pass away,
fall from one state of existence
and spring up in another,
yet there is only
that which is for ever and ever.'

This is the second Eternalist doctrine.

(3) Again, lord, some recluse or brahmin,
by means of ardour,
of exertion,
of application,
of earnestness,
of careful thought,
reaches up to such rapture of thought that,
rapt in heart,
calls to mind his dwelling-places in the [105] past
for even greater periods still,
even up to forty world-systems
evolving and dissolving
to the effect that
'There I had such and such a name,
was of such and such a lineage and class,
lived on such and such food,
experienced such and such pains and pleasures,
had such and such a span of years.

And when I fell from thence
I was reborn here': —
thus does he recollect,
both as to the manner thereof and in detail,
his various dwelling- places
in times gone by.

And he too reflects:

'The time that is gone by I know,
both of the evolution and dissolution of the world,
but I know not the time for to come,
whether the world will evolve or dissolve.

Eternal is both soul and world,
giving birth to nothing new,
steadfast as a mountain peak,
as a pillar firmly fixed;
and though these living creatures
transmigrate and pass away,
fall from one state of existence
and spring up in another,
yet there is only
that which is for ever and ever.'

Unsurpassable, lord, is this
concerning Eternalist doctrines.

All this the Exalted One understands,
and beyond what he understands
there is nothing left to understand.

Nor is there any other,
whether he be recluse or brahmin,
who is greater and wiser than the Exalted One,
that is to say,
as regards Eternalist doctrines.

§

16. Moreover, lord, unsurpassable is the way in which the Exalted One
teaches the Norm concerning knowledge of former dwelling-places,
how some recluse or brahmin,
by means of ardour,
of exertion,
of application,
of earnestness,
of careful thought,
reaches up to such rapture of mind,
that rapt in thought
he calls to mind his various dwelling-places
in times gone by,
to wit:

in one birth,
or in two,
or three,
or four,
or five,
or ten,
or twenty,
or thirty,
or forty,
or fifty,
or a hundred,
or a thousand,
or a hundred thousand,
or in several hundred,
or several thousand,
or several hundred thousand births,
up to even several myriads
of world-evolutions and dissolutions: —

'There I had such and such a name,
was of such and such a lineage and class,
lived on such and such food,
experienced such and such pains and pleasures,
had such and such a span of years.'

Deceasing thence
I was reborn in such another place,
where I was of such and such a lineage and class,
lived on such and such food,
experienced such and such pains and pleasures,
had such and such a span of years.'

And when I fell from thence
I was reborn here'

Thus does he recollect,
both as to the manner thereof and in detail,
his various dwelling-places in times gone by.

There are devas, lord,
whose span of life is not to be reckoned
either by counting or by computation,³¹
and yet with whatever individuality
they have previously existed,
whether as corporeal or incorporeal,
whether as percipient,
non-percipient,
or neither,
there is reminiscence of former dwelling-place
both as to the manner thereof and in detail.

Unsurpassable, lord, is this
concerning knowledge as to such reminiscences.

All this the Exalted One understands,
and beyond what he understands
there is nothing left to understand.

Nor is there any other,
whether he be recluse or brahmin,
who is greater and wiser than the Exalted One,
that is to say,
as regards knowledge as to such reminiscences.

§

17. Moreover, lord, unsurpassable is the way in which the Exalted One
teaches the Norm concerning knowledge
of the decease and rebirth of creatures.

Thus some recluse or brahmin,
by means of ardour,
of exertion,
of application,
of earnestness,
of careful thought,
reaches up to such rapture of mind,
that rapt in thought
he sees with pure deva-eye,
surpassing the sight of men, [106] beings as they decease
and are reborn;
he recognizes beings as mean or noble,
as ill-favoured or well-favoured,
as blest or wretched,
passing on according to their deeds:

Such and such worthy folk,
ill-doers³² in act,
word
and thought,
revilers of the noble ones,³³
holding wrong views,
acquiring karma resulting from wrong views,
are reborn after death,
at the dissolution of the body,
in some unhappy state of suffering or woe.

But such and such worthy folk,
well-doers in act
and word
and thought,
not revilers of the noble ones,
holding right views,
acquiring karma resulting from right views,
are reborn after death,
at the dissolution of the body,
in some happy state in heaven.

Thus with the pure deva-eye,
surpassing the sight of men,
does he see beings deceasing and being reborn.

Unsurpassable, lord, is this
concerning knowledge of decease and rebirth.

All this the Exalted One understands,
and beyond what he understands
there is nothing left to understand.

Nor is there any other,
whether he be recluse or brahmin,
who is greater and wiser than the Exalted One,
that is to say,
as regards knowledge of decease and rebirth.

§

18. Moreover, lord, unsurpassable is the way in which the Exalted One
teaches the Norm concerning modes of supernormal power,
that there are two modes, to wit: —

(1) Supernormal power
which is concomitant with the mental intoxicants
and with worldly aims.

This is called ignoble [power].

(2) Supernormal power
which is not concomitant with the mental intoxicants
and with worldly aims.

This is called noble [power].

And what, lord, is Supernormal power
which is concomitant with the mental intoxicants
and with worldly aims
the ignoble supernormal power?

When, lord, some recluse or brahmin,
by means of ardour,
of exertion,
of application,
of earnestness,
of careful thought,
reaches up to such rapture of mind,
that rapt in thought
he becomes able to enjoy
divers modes of supernormal power:³⁴ —

From being one
he becomes multiform,
from being multiform,
he becomes one;
from being visible
he becomes invisible;
he passes without hindrance
to the further [107] side of a wall,
or a battlement,
or a mountain,
as if through air;
he penetrates up and down
through solid ground
as if through water;
he walks on water
without dividing it
as if on solid ground;
he travels cross-legged through the sky,
like a bird on the wing;
he touches and feels with the hand
even the moon and the sun,
of mystic power and potency though they be;
he reaches even in the body
up to the heaven of Brahma.

This, lord, is the supernormal power,
concomitant with the mental Intoxicants
and with worldly aims,
that is called ignoble.

And what, lord, is the Supernormal power
which is not concomitant with the mental intoxicants
and with worldly aims
that is called noble?

This is when a bhikkhu can,
if he so desire,
remain unconscious of disgust
amid what is disgusting;
or conscious of disgust
amid what is not disgusting;
or unconscious of disgust
amid what is both disgusting
and what is not disgusting;
or conscious of disgust
amid what is both disgusting
and what is not disgusting;
or, avoiding both that which is disgusting
and what is not disgusting,
should remain indifferent to them as such,
mindful and understanding.

This, lord, is the supernormal power,
incompatible with mental intoxicants
or with worldly aims,
which is called noble.

Unsurpassable, lord, is this concerning modes of supernormal power.

These things the Exalted One understands
from beginning to end.

And beyond what he understands
there is nothing left to understand.

Nor is there any other,
whether he be recluse or brahmin,
who is greater and wiser than the Exalted One,
that is to say,
as regards modes of supernormal power.

19. Whatsoever, lord, may be achieved
by a clansman who has faith,
summons up energy
and is steadfast, —
by human steadfastness,
energy,
progress,
and patience, —
that has been achieved by the Exalted One.

For, lord, the Exalted One
neither follows the habitual practice
of those things which attract
through worldly desires,
especially sensuality —
a low and pagan way,
unworthy,
unprofitable,
belonging to the worldly majority; —
nor does he follow the habitual practice
of self-mortification,
which [108] is painful,
unworthy,
unprofitable.³⁵

The Exalted One is able
to obtain at will,
with ease
and in full measure,
that earthly happiness
of a loftier kind³⁶
which the Four Stages of Ecstasy afford.

If, lord, anyone were to ask me:

What then, friend Sāriputta,
has there ever been in times gone by
other recluses or brahmins
greater and wiser
as to enlightenment
than the Exalted One?

I should say No.

What then, friend Sāriputta,
will there come in future times
other recluses or brahmins
greater and wiser
as to enlightenment
than the Exalted One?

Thus asked, I should say No.

What then, friend Sāriputta, is there now any
other recluse or brahmin
greater and wiser
as to enlightenment
than the Exalted One?

Thus asked, I should say No.

Again, lord, if I were asked:

What then, friend Sāriputta,
have there been in times gone by
other recluse or brahmin
equal to the Exalted One
in the matter of enlightenment?

Thus asked, I should say Yea.

Again, lord, if I were asked:

What then, friend Sāriputta,
will there be in future times
other recluse or brahmin
equal to the Exalted One
in the matter of enlightenment?

Thus asked, I should say Yea.

But if I were asked:

Is there now any recluse or brahmin
equal to the Exalted One
in the matter of Enlightenment?

Thus asked, I should say No.

Again, lord, if I were asked:

Why does the venerable Sāriputta
thus acknowledge the superiority of one teacher,
and not that of another?

Thus asked, I should say:

In the presence of the Exalted One
have I heard him say
and from him have received,
that,
whereas in times gone by
and in future times
there have been,
and will be
other Supreme Buddhas equal to himself
in the matter of Enlightenment,
yet that in one and the same world-system³⁷
there should arise two [109] Arahants Buddhas Supreme,
the one neither before nor after the other: —
that is impossible and unprecedented.³⁸

That cannot be.

Should I, lord,
answering my questioners thus,
be stating the doctrine of the Exalted One,
and not misrepresenting him by what is not fact?

Should I be stating doctrine
in conformity with the Norm,
and would no orthodox disputant
find occasion for blame herein?"

"Of a truth, Sāriputta, hadst thou been asked such questions
and thus hadst answered,
thou hadst stated my doctrine,
and hadst not misrepresented me
by what is not fact.

Thou hast stated doctrine
in conformity with the Norm,
and no orthodox disputant
could have found occasion for blame therein."

20. When they had thus spoken,
the venerable Udayin³⁹ said to the Exalted One:

"Wonderful, lord,
marvellous, lord,
is it to behold how self-contained,
serene,
and resigned
is the Tathāgata,
when he who is so mighty and powerful
will not proclaim himself!⁴⁰

If any Wanderers of independent doctrines
were to discern in themselves
even one of such matters,
they would flourish around a banner because of it.

Wonderful, marvellous is it
to behold how self-contained,
serene
and resigned
is the Tathāgata,
when he who is so mighty and powerful
will not proclaim his own virtues!"

"Take note of this then, Udayin,
that this is so;
and that if Wanderers teaching independent doctrines
were to discern in themselves
even one such quality,
they would flourish around a banner about it.

Take note of this."

21. Then the Exalted One addressed the venerable Sāriputta: —

"Wherefore thou, Sāriputta,
[110] shouldst often discourse on this matter
to both brethren and sisters,
laymen and lay sisters.

Whatever foolish ones there be
who will feel doubt and hesitation concerning the Tathāgata,
when they have heard such discourse,
even they too will banish their hesitation and their doubt.

On this wise did the venerable Sāriputta make known his faith before the Exalted One.

Hence the title The Faith that Satisfied is another name for his confession.

Here ends the Fifth Suttantaed1 The Faith that Satisfied.

¹ Cf. Vol. I, 276; II, p. 87; Saṃyutta IV, 23, 110, 311; V, 159; Jāt. V, 443. The present Suttanta repeats the conversation of the second citation and gives a long sequel. Pāvārika, according to the Comy., was a rich burgess (seṭṭhi) who had presented vihāra and park (uyyāna) to the Buddha. He is not identified with Pāvāriya, the (seṭṭhi) who presented the mango-grove at Kosambī (Comy. I, 318; Dhp. Comy. I, 203 f.

² Enlightenment, sambodhi.

³ Evaṃ dhamma; omitted in the previous translation. Cf. II, 6; 88.

⁴ Dhamm'anvayo. Or of the faith (II, 88. Cf. Saṃyutta II, 58). I.e., lit. what is in conformity with the Dhamma.

⁵ According to Buddhaghosa on this passage Sāriputta is here alluding to the conversation between the Buddha and Sāriputta's nephew, Dīgha-nakha, recorded in Majjhima I, 497 foll. Dhammapala in his commentary on Th. I, 995 says the same (see Psalms of the Brethren, pp. 341, 345). It was then that Sāriputta, listening to the talk, reached emancipation.

⁶ Pasidi. There is no English word that quite fits this or its variants pasādo, pasanno. They are expressions of the satisfaction akin to aesthetic gratification (Cf. B.P.E 174, n. 3) felt by the believer in whom faith, confidence, amounts to a passion, akin to religious love.

⁷ Kusalesu dhammesu, afterwards called the thirty-seven bodhipakkhiyā dhamma (Cf. C. Rh. D. in Preface to Vibhanga; Compendium of Philosophy, 179, supra. Vol. II, 128). Buddhaghosa distinguishes under kusala the Jātaka meaning of that which makes for well-being (ārogya), as taught by common sense, the Suttanta meaning or what is ethically right (anavajja), as here; and the Ahhidhamma meaning, as that which is efficient (kosalla), makes for absence of pain (niddaratha), for happy results (sukha vipāka). Cf. The Expositor, pp. 48 f.; 83.

⁸ Literally, of the self, and external. The former term includes more than our subjective. Bud. Psy., 141; B.P.E., 207, n. I; Expositor, 60.

⁹ This refrain is to be understood as repeated in full after each of the remaining fifteen sections of unsurpassables. [Ed.: These refrains have been added back in this edition. However they do not appear in full in the PTS, BJT, or CSCD editions of the Pali. These have only the first line and no indication that an abbreviation has been made.]

¹⁰ Comy.: Asampajāno ti ajānanto sammūḷho. These four modes are held by Buddhaghosa to be the mental evolution at rebirth of (1) human beings generally; (2) the eighty great theras; (3) the two chief disciples of any Buddha, Pacceka Buddhas, and Bodhisats; (4) omniscient Bodhisats (i.e., Bodhisats in their last rebirth) respectively.

¹¹ This is the second of the so-called three wonders. See Vol. I, 276 f. = Aṇguttara I, 170 f.

¹² Devatā.

¹³ In the first two modes, the sign and the sound, or noise, have no direct bearing on the thought that is divined, but are applied in the same way as a modern gambler stakes on a number he sees or hears accidentally. In the third mode, the sound is some remark overheard, made by persons chattering or drowsy with sleep. Comy., cf. Points of Controversy, 239, § 9.

¹⁴ I.e., says the Comy., we divine, by the start made by practising jhāna, or other exercise for insight, how far in the four stages, and how far in the Four Paths, such and such a one will eventually attain to.

¹⁵ Dassana-samāpatti.

¹⁶ Cf. Vol. I, p. 27.

¹⁷ This formula omits the last two of the equally classic formula in the Khuddakapātha: the Thirty-two-fold Mode — matthakaṃ, matthalungaṃ: head, brains.

¹⁸ Viññāṇasotan ti viññāṇam eva. In this and the next degree, he distinguishes between the disposition of the worldling and the learner, on the one hand, and that of the Arahant on the other. Comy.

¹⁹ The consciousness namely of the Arahant, whom Karma and its consequences no longer affect. Comy.

²⁰ Puggala-paññattīsu — as differing from the terms conventionally applied — viz., satto, puggalo, naro, poso. The seven qualifying terms are defined in the Puggala-paññatti, p. 14 f, and in the Visuddhi Magga, Paṭipadāñaṇadassana visuddhi-niddesa; cf. also Aṇguttara I, 73 f., and above, II, 68, 70.

²¹ It is most unusual to find the seven Bojjhangas called padhānas or efforts. Cf. p. 97, § 3.

²² Cf. Dhamma-Sangaṇi, § 176 f; Expositor, 243 f.

²³ Vebhūtiyaṃ [vācaṃ], paraphrased as bhedakāra-kavacaṃ, speech causing rupture, schism, division. Cf. Childers's Dict., s.v. and below, XXX, 2, 21.

²⁴ Cf. Dialogues, I, 15, § 20. These expressions are discussed in the Comy., ibid., and in Visuddhi Magga, 23 f.

²⁵ Kaḷyānapaṭibhāno, paraphrased as one who is proficient not only in utterance and in converse (vākkaraṇa-, paṭibhana-sampanno), but also in relevant or suitable (yutta-) converse, as was Thera Vangīsa, concerning whom see Psalms of the Brethren, 395 f.

²⁶ Paccattaṃ yoniso manasikārā.

²⁷ These and the following technical phrases of Buddhist belief are explained in a previous similar passage in Vol. I, 200.

²⁸ Opapātiko — i.e., having attained rebirth in deva-world he there gets Parinibbāna. Puggala-Paññatti Comy. I, §40 (J.P.T.S., 1913, p. 197).

²⁹ These — the Four Paths and Fruits — are characterized in exactly the same terms as in the preceding paragraph.

³⁰ All three are similarly stated in the Brahmajala Suttanta, Vol. 1, p. 27 f.

³¹ Explained in the Comy. as by addition [of units of time], or by mental estimate without division [of time].

³² This passage occurs in Vol. I, 91, where, by the way, 'ill-doers' has been accidentally omitted. Worthy folk: bhonto sattā. English idiom cannot reproduce the courteous Messieurs [ces] êtres of the Pali. Dr. Neumann uses the colloquial lieben, dear or good creatures. Cf. above [p. 47, n. i].

³³ Ariyā: Buddhas and their leading disciples.

³⁴ This, the accepted description of iddhi, occurs in the Kevaddha Suttanta, Vol. I, 277, and in all the Nikāyas.

³⁵ The two extremes of conduct as stated in the Buddha's First Sermon (Vin. Texts, I, 94; Saṃyutta, V, 421; cf. IV, 330; Buddhist Suttas (S.B.E., XI), 146 f.).

³⁶ Abhicetasikānaṃ, paraphrased as kāmāvacaracittāni atikkamitvā ṭhitānaṃ (jhānānaṃ): (ecstasies) persisting when thoughts belonging to sense-experience have been transcended. Lit., ultra-thoughtish.

³⁷ Loka-dhātu. On the extent of a lokadhātu cf. Buddhaghosa here and on text Vol. II, 225. On the doctrine cf. Vol. II, 263: Milinda II, 47 f., a discussion referred to and re-discussed in our Comy.

³⁸ Aṇguttara I, 27, § 10; Vibhanga, 336.

³⁹ Of the three Theras so-called Lāḷudāyin, Kāḷudayin, and the Great Udāyin this is the last named. Comy. Cf. Psalms of the Brethren, p. 228, [more likely this is p. 287] with Jāt. I, 123, 446.

⁴⁰ Attano guṇe na āvikarissati: will not reveal his own virtues. Comy.

ed1 The Fifth Sutta of the Third division of the Dīgha Nikāya, the Pāthika-vagga-pāḷi.

29. The Delectable Discourse

Pāsādika Suttantaṃ

[111]

[117] THUS HAVE I HEARD.

The Exalted One was at one time sojourning among the Sākyans,
[at the technical college¹] in the Mango Grove
of the Sakyan family named The Archers.

Now at that time Nāthaputta the Nigantha
had just died at Pāvā.²

And at his death
the Nigaṇṭhas³ became disunited
and divided into two parties,
in mutual strife and conflict,
quarrelling and wounding each other
with wordy weapons: —

"Thou dost not understand this doctrine and discipline;
but I do understand it."

"How shouldst thou understand it?"

"Thou art in the wrong;
I am in the right!"

"I am speaking to the point;
thou art not!"

"Thou sayest last
what should be said first,
and first
what ought to come last!"

"What thou hast so long excogitated
is quite upset!"

"Thy challenge is taken up;
thou'rt proved to be wrong!"

"Begone to get rid of thy opinion,
or disentangle thyself if thou canst!"⁴

Truly the Nigaṇṭhas,
followers of Nāthaputta,
were out methinks to kill.

Even the lay disciples [118] of the white robe,
who followed Nāthaputta,
showed themselves shocked,
repelled and indignant
at the Nigaṇṭhas,
so badly was their doctrine and discipline
set forth and imparted,
so ineffectual was it for guidance,
so little conducive to peace,
imparted as it had been
by one who was not supremely enlightened,
and [112] now wrecked as it was
of his support⁵
and without a protector.⁶

2. Now Cunda the Novice,⁷
having passed the rainy season at Pāvā,
came to see the venerable Ānanda at Sāmāgama,
and coming,
saluted him
and sat down beside him.

So seated
he said to the venerable Ānanda:

"Nāthaputta, sir,
the Nigaṇṭha,
has just died at Pāvā.

And he being dead,
the Nigaṇṭhas have become disunited
and divided into two parties,
in mutual strife and conflict,
quarrelling and wounding each other
with wordy weapons: —

'Thou dost not understand this doctrine and discipline;
but I do understand it.'

'How shouldst thou understand it?'

'Thou art in the wrong;
I am in the right!'

'I am speaking to the point;
thou art not!'

'Thou sayest last
what should be said first,
and first
what ought to come last!'

'What thou hast so long excogitated
is quite upset!'

'Thy challenge is taken up;
thou'rt proved to be wrong!'

'Begone to get rid of thy opinion,
or disentangle thyself if thou canst!'

Truly the Nigaṇṭhas,
followers of Nāthaputta,
were out methinks to kill.

Even the lay disciples of the white robe,
who followed Nāthaputta,
showed themselves shocked,
repelled and indignant
at the Nigaṇṭhas,
so badly was their doctrine and discipline
set forth and imparted,
so ineffectual was it for guidance,
so little conducive to peace,
imparted as it had been
by one who was not supremely enlightened,
now wrecked as it was
of his support
and without a protector."

Then said the venerable Ānanda
to Cunda the Novice:

"Friend Cunda,
this is a worthy subject
to bring before the Exalted One.

Let's go to him,
and tell him about it."

"Very good, sir", replied Cunda the Novice.

3. So the venerable Ānanda
and Cunda the Novice
sought out the Exalted One
and saluting him,
and sitting down beside him,
said this:

"Nāthaputta, sir,
the Nigaṇṭha,
has just died at Pāvā.

And he being dead,
the Nigaṇṭhas have become disunited
and divided into two parties,
in mutual strife and conflict,
quarrelling and wounding each other
with wordy weapons: —

'Thou dost not understand this doctrine and discipline;
but I do understand it.'

'How shouldst thou understand it?'

'Thou art in the wrong;
I am in the right!'

'I am speaking to the point;
thou art not!'

'Thou sayest last
what should be said first,
and first
what ought to come last!'

'What thou hast so long excogitated
is quite upset!'

'Thy challenge is taken up;
thou'rt proved to be wrong!'

'Begone to get rid of thy opinion,
or disentangle thyself if thou canst!'

Truly the Nigaṇṭhas,
followers of Nāthaputta,
were out methinks to kill.

Even the lay disciples of the white robe,
who followed Nāthaputta,
showed themselves shocked,
repelled and indignant
at the Nigaṇṭhas,
so badly was their doctrine and discipline
set forth and imparted,
so ineffectual was it for guidance,
so little conducive to peace,
imparted as it had been
by one who was not supremely enlightened,
now wrecked as it was
of his support
and without a protector."

[119] 4. (The Buddha:) "Here, Cunda, we have a teacher
who was not supremely enlightened,
and a doctrine badly set forth,
badly imparted,
ineffectual to guide,
not conducing to peace,
imparted by one
who was not supremely enlightened.

In such a doctrine, moreover,
the disciple does not come to master⁸
the lesser corollaries
that follow from the larger doctrine,
[113] nor to acquire correct conduct,
nor to walk according to the precepts,
but is perpetually evading that doctrine.

To him one might say:

'Friend, thou hast got [thy gospel],
and thou hast got thy opportunity.⁹

Thy teacher is not supremely enlightened;
his Norm is badly set forth,
badly imparted,
ineffectual for guidance,
not conducive to peace,
not imparted by one supremely enlightened.

Thou in that doctrine
hast not mastered the lesser corollaries
that follow from the larger doctrine,
nor acquired correct conduct,
nor walkest thou
according to those corollaries,
but thou dost perpetually evade that doctrine.'

Thus, Cunda, both that teacher
and that doctrine
are shown blameworthy,
but the disciple is praiseworthy.

Now he who should say to such a disciple:

'Come, your reverence,
practise even according to the doctrine taught
and declared by your teacher!'

Both he who instigates,
and he who is instigated,
and he too who,
being instigated,
practises accordingly, -
they all of them generate much demerit.

And why?

Because their doctrine and discipline
are badly set forth,
badly imparted,
ineffectual for guidance,
not conducive to peace,
not imparted by one supremely enlightened.

5. But consider, Cunda,
where, the teacher
not being supremely enlightened,
and the doctrine being badly set forth,
badly imparted,
ineffectual for guidance,
not conducive to peace,
not imparted by one supremely enlightened,
the disciple abides in that doctrine,
practising the lesser corollaries
following on the larger doctrine,
acquiring correct conduct and,
walking according to the precepts,
perpetually conforms to that doctrine.

To him one might say:

'Friend, thou hast been unlucky
[in thy teacher],
and in thy opportunity;
thy teacher is not supremely [120] enlightened;
thy doctrine is badly set forth,
badly imparted,
ineffectual for guidance,
not conducive to peace,
not imparted by one supremely enlightened;
and thou abide in that doctrine,
practising the lesser corollaries
following on the larger doctrine,
acquiring correct conduct and,
walking according to the precepts,
perpetually conformest to that [114] doctrine.'

By these words, Cunda,
teacher
and doctrine
and disciple
are all blameworthy.

And he who should say:

'Verily his reverence¹⁰
mastering the system
will carry it to a successful end!' -

He thus commending
and he who is commended
and he who, thus commended,
redoubles the energy he puts forth, -
all they generate much demerit.

And why?

Because their doctrine and discipline
have been badly set forth,
badly imparted,
ineffectual for guidance,
not conducive to peace,
not imparted by one supremely enlightened.

6. But consider, Cunda,
where the teacher is supremely enlightened,
and the doctrine well set forth,
well imparted,
effectual for guidance,
conducive to peace,
imparted by one supremely enlightened,
but where the disciple in that norm
has not mastered the lesser corollaries
following on the larger doctrine,
nor learnt to practise correct conduct,
nor walks according to the precepts,
but perpetually evades that doctrine.

To him one might say: -

'Friend, thou hast not succeeded,
thou hast missed thy opportunity.

Thy teacher is supremely enlightened,
and his doctrine is well set forth,
well imparted,
effectual for guidance,
conducive to peace,
imparted by one who is supremely enlightened,
but thou hast not mastered the lesser corollaries
following on the larger doctrine,
nor learnt to practise correct conduct,
nor walk according to the precepts,
but perpetually evade that doctrine.'

By these words, Cunda,
teacher and doctrine are commended,
but the disciple is held blameworthy.

Now if one were to say to such a disciple: -

'Come, your reverence,
practise in accordance with the doctrine taught
and declared by your teacher!' -

he who instigated,
he who was instigated,
and he who being instigated practised accordingly,
would all of them generate much merit.

And why?

Because that doctrine and discipline
were well set forth,
well imparted,
effectual for guidance,
conducive to peace,
imparted by one who is supremely enlightened.

[121] 7. But consider, Cunda,
where the teacher is supremely enlightened,
the doctrine well set forth,
well imparted,
effectual for guidance,
conducive to peace,
imparted by one who is supremely enlightened
and where the disciple has mastered
the lesser corollaries
following on the larger doctrine,
learnt to practise correct conduct,
walks according to the precepts,
and perpetually conformest to that doctrine.

To him one might say:

[115] 'Thou, friend, hast been successful in teacher
and in opportunity
thy teacher is supremely enlightened,
the doctrine well set forth,
well imparted,
effectual for guidance,
conducive to peace,
imparted by one who is supremely enlightened
and you have mastered
the lesser corollaries
following on the larger doctrine,
learnt to practise correct conduct,
walk according to the precepts,
and perpetually conformest to that doctrine.'

By these words, Cunda,
teacher
and doctrine
and disciple
are all three deemed praiseworthy.

And if one should say to such a disciple: -

'Verily his reverence has mastered the system
and will carry it to a successful end,
he who commends,
he who is commended
and he who, commended,
redoubles the energy he is putting forth,
do all of them generate much merit.'

And why?

Because, Cunda, that is so
when a doctrine and discipline
well set forth and well imparted,
effectual for guidance,
conducive to peace,
have been imparted
by one who is supremely enlightened.

8. But consider, Cunda,
where a teacher hath arisen in the world,
Arahant,
supremely enlightened;
where a doctrine hath been well set forth,
well imparted,
effectual for guidance,
conducive to peace,
imparted by one who is supremely en1ightened;
but where his disciples
have not become proficient in the good Norm,
nor has the full scope
of the higher life
become manifest to them,
evident,
with all the stages in it coordinated,
nor has it been made a thing
of saving grace¹¹ for them,
[122] well proclaimed among men,¹²
when their teacher passes away.

Now for such a teacher to die, Cunda,
is a great affliction for his disciples.

And why?

'Our teacher arose in the world for us,
Arahant,
supremely enlightened;
and a Norm was well set forth,
well imparted,
effectual for guidance,
conducive to peace,
imparted by one who was supremely enlightened.

But we have not become proficient
in the good Norm,
nor has the full scope
of the higher life
become manifest to us,
evident,
with all the stages in it coordinated,
nor has it been made a thing
of saving grace for us,
[116] well proclaimed among men.

Now has our teacher passed away!'

For such a teacher to die, Cunda,
is a great affliction for his disciples.

9. But consider, Cunda,
where a Teacher has appeared in the world who is Arahant,
supremely enlightened;
where a Norm has been well set forth,
well imparted,
effectual for guidance,
conducive to peace,
imparted by one who is supremely enlightened;
and where the disciples
have become proficient in the good Norm,
and where the full scope of the higher life
has become manifest to them,
evident,
with all its stages coordinated,
and made a thing of saving grace,
well proclaimed among men,
when that teacher passes away.

Now for such a teacher, Cunda,
to die is not an affliction for his disciples.

And why?

'A Teacher arose in the world for us,
Arahant,
supremely enlightened;
and a Norm was well set forth,
well imparted,
effectual for guidance,
conducive to peace,
imparted by one who is supremely enlightened.

And we have become proficient in the good Norm,
and the full scope of the higher life
has become manifest to us,
evident,
with all its stages coordinated
and made a thing of saving grace,
well proclaimed among men.

[123] 'Now is our Teacher passed away!'

For such a Teacher to die, Cunda,
is not an affliction to his disciples.

10. If a religious system
be placed in these circumstances, Cunda,
and there be none to take the lead
who is a senior brother,
experienced,
of long standing in the order,
of ripe age,
arrived at years of discretion,
then is that system
by this circumstance
imperfect.

But if a religious system
be placed in these circumstances, Cunda,
and there be one to take the lead
who is a senior brother,
experienced,
of long standing in the order,
of ripe age,
arrived at years of discretion,
then is that system
by this circumstance
made perfect.

11. Again, if a religious system, Cunda,
be placed in these circumstances,
and there be one to take the lead
who is a senior brother,
experienced,
of long standing in the order,
of ripe age,
arrived at years of discretion,
but there be no senior bhikkhus who are disciples,
wise and well trained,
ready and learned,
who have won the goal of religion,¹³
who are able to pro- [117] pagate the truth,
who, having well confuted uprisen opposing schools
with their doctrines,
are able to teach the Norm
with saving grace:
then is that system
by this circumstance
imperfect.

12. But if a religious system
be placed in these circumstances, Cunda,
and there be one to take the lead
who is a senior brother,
experienced,
of long standing in the order,
of ripe age,
arrived at years of discretion,
and there be senior bhikkhus who are disciples,
wise and well trained,
ready and learned,
who have won the goal of religion,
who are able to propagate the truth,
who, having well confuted uprisen opposing schools
with their doctrines,
are able to teach the Norm
with saving grace:
then is that system
by this circumstance
perfect.

Again, if a religious system, Cunda,
be placed in these circumstances,
and there be one to take the lead
who is a senior brother,
experienced,
of long standing in the order,
of ripe age,
arrived at years of discretion,
and there be senior bhikkhus who are disciples,
wise and well trained,
ready and learned,
who have won the goal of religion,
who are able to propagate the truth,
who, having well confuted uprisen opposing schools
with their doctrines,
are able to teach the Norm
with saving grace,
but if there be no bhikkhus
of middle age or standing
who are disciples,
then is the holy life
by this circumstance
imperfect.

But if a religious system
be placed in these circumstances, Cunda,
and there be one to take the lead
who is a senior brother,
experienced,
of long standing in the order,
of ripe age,
arrived at years of discretion,
and there be senior bhikkhus who are disciples,
wise and well trained,
ready and learned,
who have won the goal of religion,
who are able to propagate the truth,
who, having well confuted uprisen opposing schools
with their doctrines,
are able to teach the Norm
with saving grace,
and if there be bhikkhus
of middle age or standing
who are disciples,
then is the holy life
by this circumstance
perfect.

Again, if a religious system, Cunda,
be placed in these circumstances,
and there be one to take the lead
who is a senior brother,
experienced,
of long standing in the order,
of ripe age,
arrived at years of discretion,
and there be senior bhikkhus who are disciples,
wise and well trained,
ready and learned,
who have won the goal of religion,
who are able to propagate the truth,
who, having well confuted uprisen opposing schools
with their doctrines,
are able to teach the Norm
with saving grace,
and if there be bhikkhus
of middle age or standing
who are disciples,
but if there be no novices who are disciples,
then is the holy life
by this circumstance
imperfect.

But if a religious system
be placed in these circumstances, Cunda,
and there be one to take the lead
who is a senior brother,
experienced,
of long standing in the order,
of ripe age,
arrived at years of discretion,
and there be senior bhikkhus who are disciples,
wise and well trained,
ready and learned,
who have won the goal of religion,
who are able to propagate the truth,
who, having well confuted uprisen opposing schools
with their doctrines,
are able to teach the Norm
with saving grace,
and if there be bhikkhus
of middle age or standing
who are disciples,
and if there be novices who are disciples,
then is the holy life
by this circumstance
perfect.

Again, if a religious system, Cunda,
be placed in these circumstances,
and there be one to take the lead
who is a senior brother,
experienced,
of long standing in the order,
of ripe age,
arrived at years of discretion,
and there be senior bhikkhus who are disciples,
wise and well trained,
ready and learned,
who have won the goal of religion,
who are able to propagate the truth,
who, having well confuted uprisen opposing schools
with their doctrines,
are able to teach the Norm
with saving grace,
and if there be bhikkhus
of middle age or standing
who are disciples,
and if there be novices who are disciples,
but if there be no senior¹⁴ Sisters
who are disciples
then is the holy life
by this circumstance
imperfect.

But if a religious system
be placed in these circumstances, Cunda,
and there be one to take the lead
who is a senior brother,
experienced,
of long standing in the order,
of ripe age,
arrived at years of discretion,
and there be senior bhikkhus who are disciples,
wise and well trained,
ready and learned,
who have won the goal of religion,
who are able to propagate the truth,
who, having well confuted uprisen opposing schools
with their doctrines,
are able to teach the Norm
with saving grace,
and if there be bhikkhus
of middle age or standing
who are disciples,
and if there be novices who are disciples,
and if there be senior Sisters
who are disciples
then is the holy life
by this circumstance
perfect.

Again, if a religious system, Cunda,
be placed in these circumstances,
and there be one to take the lead
who is a senior brother,
experienced,
of long standing in the order,
of ripe age,
arrived at years of discretion,
and there be senior bhikkhus who are disciples,
wise and well trained,
ready and learned,
who have won the goal of religion,
who are able to propagate the truth,
who, having well confuted uprisen opposing schools
with their doctrines,
are able to teach the Norm
with saving grace,
and if there be bhikkhus
of middle age or standing
who are disciples,
and if there be novices who are disciples,
and if there be senior Sisters
who are disciples
but if there be no Sister novices
who are disciples
then is the holy life
by this circumstance
imperfect.

But if a religious system
be placed in these circumstances, Cunda,
and there be one to take the lead
who is a senior brother,
experienced,
of long standing in the order,
of ripe age,
arrived at years of discretion,
and there be senior bhikkhus who are disciples,
wise and well trained,
ready and learned,
who have won the goal of religion,
who are able to propagate the truth,
who, having well confuted uprisen opposing schools
with their doctrines,
are able to teach the Norm
with saving grace,
and if there be bhikkhus
of middle age or standing
who are disciples,
and if there be novices who are disciples,
and if there be senior Sisters
who are disciples
and if there be Sister novices
who are disciples
then is the holy life
by this circumstance
perfect.

Again, if a religious system, Cunda,
be placed in these circumstances,
and there be one to take the lead
who is a senior brother,
experienced,
of long standing in the order,
of ripe age,
arrived at years of discretion,
and there be senior bhikkhus who are disciples,
wise and well trained,
ready and learned,
who have won the goal of religion,
who are able to propagate the truth,
who, having well confuted uprisen opposing schools
with their doctrines,
are able to teach the Norm
with saving grace,
and if there be bhikkhus
of middle age or standing
who are disciples,
and if there be novices who are disciples,
and if there be senior Sisters
who are disciples
and if there be Sister novices
who are disciples
but if there be no laymen
who are disciples,
householders of the white robe,
holy livers,¹⁵
then is the holy life
by this circumstance
imperfect.

But if a religious system
be placed in these circumstances, Cunda,
and there be one to take the lead
who is a senior brother,
experienced,
of long standing in the order,
of ripe age,
arrived at years of discretion,
and there be senior bhikkhus who are disciples,
wise and well trained,
ready and learned,
who have won the goal of religion,
who are able to propagate the truth,
who, having well confuted uprisen opposing schools
with their doctrines,
are able to teach the Norm
with saving grace,
and if there be bhikkhus
of middle age or standing
who are disciples,
and if there be novices who are disciples,
and if there be senior Sisters
who are disciples
and if there be Sister novices
who are disciples
and if there be laymen
who are disciples,
householders of the white robe,
holy livers,
then is the holy life
by this circumstance
perfect.

Again, if a religious system, Cunda,
be placed in these circumstances,
and there be one to take the lead
who is a senior brother,
experienced,
of long standing in the order,
of ripe age,
arrived at years of discretion,
and there be senior bhikkhus who are disciples,
wise and well trained,
ready and learned,
who have won the goal of religion,
who are able to propagate the truth,
who, having well confuted uprisen opposing schools
with their doctrines,
are able to teach the Norm
with saving grace,
and if there be bhikkhus
of middle age or standing
who are disciples,
and if there be novices who are disciples,
and if there be senior Sisters
who are disciples
and if there be Sister novices
who are disciples
and if there be laymen
who are disciples,
householders of the white robe,
holy livers,
but if there be none among those,
laymen who are wealthy,¹⁶
then is the holy life
by this circumstance
imperfect.

But if a religious system
be placed in these circumstances, Cunda,
and there be one to take the lead
who is a senior brother,
experienced,
of long standing in the order,
of ripe age,
arrived at years of discretion,
and there be senior bhikkhus who are disciples,
wise and well trained,
ready and learned,
who have won the goal of religion,
who are able to propagate the truth,
who, having well confuted uprisen opposing schools
with their doctrines,
are able to teach the Norm
with saving grace,
and if there be bhikkhus
of middle age or standing
who are disciples,
and if there be novices who are disciples,
and if there be senior Sisters
who are disciples
and if there be Sister novices
who are disciples
and if there be laymen
who are disciples,
householders of the white robe,
holy livers,
and if there be among those,
laymen who are wealthy,
then is the holy life
by this circumstance
perfect.

Again, if a religious system, Cunda,
be placed in these circumstances,
and there be one to take the lead
who is a senior brother,
experienced,
of long standing in the order,
of ripe age,
arrived at years of discretion,
and there be senior bhikkhus who are disciples,
wise and well trained,
ready and learned,
who have won the goal of religion,
who are able to propagate the truth,
who, having well confuted uprisen opposing schools
with their doctrines,
are able to teach the Norm
with saving grace,
and if there be bhikkhus
of middle age or standing
who are disciples,
and if there be novices who are disciples,
and if there be senior Sisters
who are disciples
and if there be Sister novices
who are disciples
and if there be laymen
who are disciples,
householders of the white robe,
holy livers,
and if there be among those
laymen who are wealthy,
but if there be no laywomen
who are disciples,
householders of the white robe,
holy livers,
then is the holy life
by this circumstance
imperfect.

But if a religious system
be placed in these circumstances, Cunda,
and there be one to take the lead
who is a senior brother,
experienced,
of long standing in the order,
of ripe age,
arrived at years of discretion,
and there be senior bhikkhus who are disciples,
wise and well trained,
ready and learned,
who have won the goal of religion,
who are able to propagate the truth,
who, having well confuted uprisen opposing schools
with their doctrines,
are able to teach the Norm
with saving grace,
and if there be bhikkhus
of middle age or standing
who are disciples,
and if there be novices who are disciples,
and if there be senior Sisters
who are disciples
and if there be Sister novices
who are disciples
and if there be laymen
who are disciples,
householders of the white robe,
holy livers,
and if there be among those,
laymen who are wealthy,
and if there be laywomen
who are disciples,
householders of the white robe,
holy livers,
then is the holy life
by this circumstance
perfect.

Again, if a religious system, Cunda,
be placed in these circumstances,
and there be one to take the lead
who is a senior brother,
experienced,
of long standing in the order,
of ripe age,
arrived at years of discretion,
and there be senior bhikkhus who are disciples,
wise and well trained,
ready and learned,
who have won the goal of religion,
who are able to propagate the truth,
who, having well confuted uprisen opposing schools
with their doctrines,
are able to teach the Norm
with saving grace,
and if there be bhikkhus
of middle age or standing
who are disciples,
and if there be novices who are disciples,
and if there be senior Sisters
who are disciples
and if there be Sister novices
who are disciples
and if there be laymen
who are disciples,
householders of the white robe,
holy livers,
and if there be among those
laymen who are wealthy,
and if there be laywomen
who are disciples,
householders of the white robe,
holy livers,
but if there be none among those,
laywomen who are wealthy,
then is the holy life
by this circumstance
imperfect.

But if a religious system
be placed in these circumstances, Cunda,
and there be one to take the lead
who is a senior brother,
experienced,
of long standing in the order,
of ripe age,
arrived at years of discretion,
and there be senior bhikkhus who are disciples,
wise and well trained,
ready and learned,
who have won the goal of religion,
who are able to propagate the truth,
who, having well confuted uprisen opposing schools
with their doctrines,
are able to teach the Norm
with saving grace,
and if there be bhikkhus
of middle age or standing
who are disciples,
and if there be novices who are disciples,
and if there be senior Sisters
who are disciples
and if there be Sister novices
who are disciples
and if there be no laymen
who are disciples,
householders of the white robe,
holy livers,
and if there be among those,
laymen who are wealthy,
and if there be laywomen
who are disciples,
householders of the white robe,
holy livers,
and if there be among those,
laywomen who are wealthy,
then is the holy life
by this circumstance
perfect.

Again, if a religious system, Cunda,
be placed in these circumstances,
and there be one to take the lead
who is a senior brother,
experienced,
of long standing in the order,
of ripe age,
arrived at years of discretion,
and there be senior bhikkhus who are disciples,
wise and well trained,
ready and learned,
who have won the goal of religion,
who are able to propagate the truth,
who, having well confuted uprisen opposing schools
with their doctrines,
are able to teach the Norm
with saving grace,
and if there be bhikkhus
of middle age or standing
who are disciples,
and if there be novices who are disciples,
and if there be senior Sisters
who are disciples
and if there be Sister novices
who are disciples
and if there be laymen
who are disciples,
householders of the white robe,
holy livers,
and if there be among those
laymen who are wealthy,
and if there be laywomen
who are disciples,
householders of the white robe,
holy livers,
and if there be among those,
laywomen who are wealthy,
but if the system be not successful,
prosperous,
widespread
and popular
in its full extent,
well proclaimed among men,
then is the holy life
by this circumstance
imperfect.

But if a religious system
be placed in these circumstances, Cunda,
and there be one to take the lead
who is a senior brother,
experienced,
of long standing in the order,
of ripe age,
arrived at years of discretion,
and there be senior bhikkhus who are disciples,
wise and well trained,
ready and learned,
who have won the goal of religion,
who are able to propagate the truth,
who, having well confuted uprisen opposing schools
with their doctrines,
are able to teach the Norm
with saving grace,
and if there be bhikkhus
of middle age or standing
who are disciples,
and if there be novices who are disciples,
and if there be senior Sisters
who are disciples
and if there be Sister novices
who are disciples
and if there be no laymen
who are disciples,
householders of the white robe,
holy livers,
and if there be among those,
laymen who are wealthy,
and if there be laywomen
who are disciples,
householders of the white robe,
holy livers,
and if there be among those,
laywomen who are wealthy,
and if the system be successful,
prosperous,
widespread
and popular
in its full extent,
well proclaimed among men,
then is the holy life
by this circumstance
perfect.

Again, if a religious system, Cunda,
be placed in these circumstances,
and there be one to take the lead
who is a senior brother,
experienced,
of long standing in the order,
of ripe age,
arrived at years of discretion,
and there be senior bhikkhus who are disciples,
wise and well trained,
ready and learned,
who have won the goal of religion,
who are able to propagate the truth,
who, having well confuted uprisen opposing schools
with their doctrines,
are able to teach the Norm
with saving grace,
and if there be bhikkhus
of middle age or standing
who are disciples,
and if there be novices who are disciples,
and if there be senior Sisters
who are disciples
and if there be Sister novices
who are disciples
and if there be laymen
who are disciples,
householders of the white robe,
holy livers,
and if there be among those
laymen who are wealthy,
and if there be laywomen
who are disciples,
householders of the white robe,
holy livers,
and if there be among those,
laywomen who are wealthy,
and if the system be successful,
prosperous,
widespread
and popular
in its full extent,
well proclaimed among men,
but if the system be all this
but have not attained the foremost place
in public fame and support
then is the holy life
by this circumstance
imperfect.

But if a religious system
be placed in these circumstances, Cunda,
and there be one to take the lead
who is a senior brother,
experienced,
of long standing in the order,
of ripe age,
arrived at years of discretion,
and there be senior bhikkhus who are disciples,
wise and well trained,
ready and learned,
who have won the goal of religion,
who are able to propagate the truth,
who, having well confuted uprisen opposing schools
with their doctrines,
are able to teach the Norm
with saving grace,
and if there be bhikkhus
of middle age or standing
who are disciples,
and if there be novices who are disciples,
and if there be senior Sisters
who are disciples
and if there be Sister novices
who are disciples
and if there be no laymen
who are disciples,
householders of the white robe,
holy livers,
and if there be among those,
laymen who are wealthy,
and if there be laywomen
who are disciples,
householders of the white robe,
holy livers,
and if there be among those,
laywomen who are wealthy,
and if the system be successful,
prosperous,
widespread
and popular
in its full extent,
well proclaimed among men,
and if the system be all this
and have attained the foremost place
in public fame and support
[125] then is the holy life
by this circumstance
perfect.

14. But I, Cunda, have now arisen
as a teacher in the world
who am Arahant,
supremely enlightened.

And the Norm is well set forth,
well imparted,
effectual for guidance,
conducive to peace,
imparted by one who is supremely enlightened.

And my true hearers
are proficient in the good Norm,
and the full scope of the holy life
has become manifest to them,
evident,
with all its stages coordinated,
and made a [118] thing of saving grace for them,
well proclaimed among men.

But I, Cunda, the teacher
am now grown old,
many are the nights I have known,
long is it since I went forth,
I have reached full age,
l have come to my journey's end.

15. Yet senior bhikkhus of mine are there, Cunda,
who are disciples,
wise and well trained,
ready and learned,
who have won the peace of the Arahant,
who are able to propagate the good Norm,
who when others start opposed doctrine,
easy to confute by the truth,
will be able in confuting it
to teach the Norm
and its saving grace.

And bhikkhus of middle age and standing
now are there, Cunda;
disciples of mine
and wise.

And novices now are there, Cunda,
disciples of mine.

And senior Sisters now are there, Cunda,
disciples of mine.

And Sisters of middle age and standing
now are there, Cunda,
and novices also,
disciples of mine.

And laymen now are there, Cunda,
householders of the white robe,
men of holy life,
disciples of mine;
and among these
are men of wealth.

Laywomen now are there, Cunda,
householders of the white robe,
disciples of mine;
[126] and among these
are women of wealth.

And my religion,¹⁷ Cunda,
is successful,
prosperous,
widespread
and popular in all its full extent,
well proclaimed among men.

To what extent, Cunda,
there now are teachers arisen in the world,
I cannot discern any teacher,
who has attained to such a leading position
in renown and support
as I have.

To what extent, Cunda,
there now are Orders and companies arisen in the world,
I cannot discern any one
that has attained to such a leading position
in renown and support
as the Order of Bhikkhus.

If any one,
in describing a religion
as in every way successful,
in every respect complete,
neither defective nor redundant,
well set forth in all its full extent,
were to be speaking rightly,
it is this religion
that he would be describing.

[119] Uddaka the son of Rama,¹⁸ Cunda,
used to say:

'Seeing he seeth not.'

And on seeing what does one not see?

Of a well sharpened razor
one sees the blade,
but one does not see the edge.

This is what he meant.

And a low pagan thing
was this that he spoke,
unworthy,
unprofitable,
suitable to the worldly majority,
about a razor forsooth.

[127] Now were one to wish to use rightly that phrase,

'Seeing he does not see,'

it is thus that he should say:

'Seeing he seeth not.'

But what is it that seeing
he does not see?

A religion that is in every way successful,
in every respect complete,
neither defective nor redundant,
well set forth
in all its full extent:
this is what he sees.

Were he to abstract some feature
at a given point,
thinking to make it clearer,
then he does not see it.

Were he to fill in some feature
at a given point,
thinking to make it more complete
then he does not see it,

and thus Seeing he seeth not.

Hence, Cunda,
if anyone wishing to describe a religion
in every way successful,
in every respect complete,
neither defective nor redundant,
well set forth in all its full extent,
were to be speaking rightly,
it is this religion
of which he should speak.

17. Wherefore, Cunda, do ye,
to whom I have made known
the truths that I have perceived,¹⁹
come together in company
and rehearse all of you together
those doctrines
and quarrel not over them,
but compare meaning with meaning,
and phrase with phrase,
in order that this pure religion
may last long
and be perpetuated,
in order that it may continue to be
for the good and happiness of the great multitudes,
out of love for the world,
to the good
and the gain
and the weal
of devas and men!

Which then, Cunda, are the truths which,
when I [120] had perceived,
I made known to you?

Which when ye have come together
and have associated yourselves,
ye are to rehearse,
all of you,
and not quarrel over,
comparing meaning with meaning,
and phrase with phrase,
in order that this pure religion
may last long
and be perpetuated,
in order that it may continue
to be for the good and happiness
of the great multitudes,
out of love for the world,
to the good
and the gain
and the weal
of devas and men?

They are these: -

The Four Onsets of Mindfulness,
the Four Supreme Efforts,
the Four Paths to Efficacy,
the Five Powers,
the Five Forces,
the Seven Factors of Enlightenment, [128]
the Ariyan Eightfold Path.

These, 0 Cunda, are the truths
which when I had perceived,
I made known to you,
and which, when ye have come together
and have associated yourselves,
ye are to rehearse,
all of you,
and not quarrel over,
comparing meaning with meaning
and phrase with phrase,
in order that this pure religion
may last long,
and be perpetuated,
in order that it may continue
to be for the good and the happiness of the great multitudes,
out of love for the world,
to the good
and the gain
and the weal
of devas and men.²⁰

18. You, Cunda,
thus met together in concord
and in courtesy,
suppose that a co-religionist
expresses an opinion before the Chapter.

Then if you judge that this honourable member
has laid hold of the meaning wrongly,
or is proposing a wrong form of words,
ye are neither to approve of,
nor to blame him.

Unapproving,
unblaming,
ye are to address him thus:

Of this meaning, brother,
either this is the phraseology
or that:
which fits it better?

Or: -

of these phrases
either this is the meaning,
or that:
which fits them [121] better?

If he reply:

Of this meaning, brother,
just that phraseology
is the more fitting, or,

Of these phrases, brother,
just that meaning
fits them better,

he is neither to be set aside
nor upbraided.

Neither setting him aside
nor upbraiding him,
ye are
with careful attention
to explain to him
both meaning
and phraseology.

19. Again, Cunda,
suppose that a co-religionist
expresses an opinion before the Chapter.

Then if you judge that if this honourable member
has laid hold of the meaning wrongly,
but propagates [129] a right form of words,
ye are neither to approve of,
nor to blame him.

Unapproving,
unblaming,
ye are to address him thus:

Of these different phrases, brother,
either this is the meaning
or that:
which fits them better?

If he reply:

Of these phrases, brother,
just this meaning
is the more fitting,
he is neither to be set aside,
nor to be upbraided.

Neither setting him aside,
nor upbraiding him,
ye are thoroughly to explain to him,
with careful attention,
the right meaning.

21. So also must ye act,
if ye judge that such a speaker
has laid hold of the right meaning,
but is propagating a wrong form of words;
ye are thoroughly to explain to him,
with careful attention,
the right phraseology.

21. But if, Cunda,
such a speaker say and mean
what ye judge to be right,
then saying

'Weil said!'

ye should approve of
and congratulate him.

And so saying and doing,
ye should thus address him:

'We are fortunate, brother,
this is most fortunate for us
that in your reverence
we see a co-religionist so expert in the spirit
and in the letter!

22. A new doctrine, Cunda,
do I teach
for [130] subduing the mental intoxicants
that are generated
even in this present life.

I teach not a doctrine
for the extirpating of intoxicants
in the future life only,
but one for subduing them now
and also for extirpating them
in the after-life.

Wherefore, Cunda,
the raiment sanctioned by me [122] for you,
let it suffice for the purpose of warding off cold,
for warding off heat,
for warding off the touch of gadfly and mosquito,
of wind
and sun
and snakes.²¹

The alms which are sanctioned by me for you,
let that suffice to sustain the body in life,
to keep it going,
to prevent injury,
to aid you in living the holy life,
you taking thought that:

'Thus shall I overcome the former sensation,
nor cause new sensation to arise.

So far shall I both be at ease
and incur no blame.'²²

The lodging which is sanctioned by me for you,
let that suffice for you
to ward off cold,
to ward off heat,
to ward off the touch of gadfly and mosquito,
of wind
and sun
and snakes,
just for the purpose of avoiding
the dangers of the climate
and of enjoying seclusion.

The provision in drugs
and other necessaries for sickness
which is sanctioned by me for you,
let that suffice you
so far as it may ward off sensations of illness
that have arisen
and preserve your health.

23. It may happen, Cunda,
that wanderers holding other views than ours may say: -

'Those recluses who follow the Sakyan
are addicted and devoted
to a life of pleasure.'²³

Teachers alleging this, Cunda,
should be answered thus:

'What, brother,
is it to be addicted and devoted to pleasure?'

For there are many
and manifold modes
in which one may be
so addicted and devoted.

There are four such modes, Cunda,
which are low and pagan,
belonging to the average majority,
unworthy,
not associated with good,
not conducing to unworldliness,
to passionlessness,
to cessation,
to peace,
to higher knowledge,
to enlightenment,
to Nibbāna.

What are the four?

Firstly, there is the case
of the fool who takes his pleasure
and finds gratification
in slaying living creatures.

Secondly, there is the case
of [131] one who takes his pleasure
and finds gratification
in taking what is not given.

Thirdly, there is the case
[123] of one who takes his pleasure
and finds gratification
in false statements.

Fourthly, there is the case
of one who dwells surrounded by,
and in the enjoyment of
the five kinds of sensuous pleasures.

These, Cunda, are the four modes
of being addicted and devoted
to pleasure which are low and pagan,
belonging to the average majority,
unworthy,
disconnected with good,
not conducive to unworldliness,
to passionlessness,
to cessation,
to peace,
to insight,
to enlightenment,
to Nibbāna.

24. It may happen, Cunda,
that other teachers may ask:

'Are those recluses who follow the Sakyan
addicted and devoted
to these four modes?'

They should be answered:

'Nay, that is not so!'

They would not be speaking rightly;
they would be misrepresenting you
by what is not fact,
by what is not so.

These are the four modes
of being addicted and devoted to pleasure, Cunda,
which conduce absolutely to unworldliness,
to passionlessness,
to cessation,
to peace,
to higher knowledge,
to enlightenment,
to Nibbāna.

What are the four?

Firstly, Cunda, when a brother,
aloof from sensuous appetites,
aloof from evil ideas,
enters into and abides in the First Jhāna,
wherein there is initiative and sustained thought
which is born of solitude
and is full of zest and ease.²⁴

Secondly,
when suppressing initiative and sustained thought,
he enters into and abides in the Second Jhāna,
which is self-evoked,
born of concentration,
full of zest and ease,
in that, set free from initial and sustained thought,
the mind grows calm and sure,
dwelling on high.²⁵

Thirdly, when a brother,
no longer fired with zest,
abides calmly contemplative,
while mindful and self-possessed
he feels in his body
[124] that ease where of Ariyans declare:

'He that is calmly contemplative and aware,
he dwelleth at ease,'

so does he enter into and abide in the Third Jhāna.

Fourthly, by putting aside ease
and by putting aside malaise,
by the passing away
of the joy and the sorrow he used to feel,
[132] he enters into and abides in the Fourth Jhāna,
rapture of utter purity of mindfulness and equanimity,
wherein neither ease is felt
nor any ill.

These four modes
of being addicted and devoted tu pleasure, Cunda,
conduce to utter unworldliness,
to passionlessness,
to cessation,
to peace,
to insight,
to enlightenment,
to Nibbāna.

If then it happen, Cunda,
that wanderers teaching other doctrines
should declare:

'The Sākyan recluses
live addicted and devoted to these four modes of pleasure,
to them ye should answer:

'Yea.'

Rightly would they be speaking of you,
nor would they be misrepresenting you
by what is not fact,
by what does not exist.

25. It may happen, Cunda,
that Teachers teaching other doctrines than ours
may declare:

'For those who live addicted and devoted
to these four modes of pleasure, brother,
how much fruit,
how many advantages are to be expected?'

Them ye should answer thus:

'Four kinds of fruit, brother,
four advantages
are to be expected.

What are the four?

Firstly, the case of a brother
who by the complete destruction of the three fetters²⁶
becomes a Stream-winner,
saved from disaster hereafter,
certain to attain Enlightenment.

Secondly, the case of a brother
who by the complete destruction of three fetters
has so diminished
passion and hate and illusion
that he has become a OnceReturner,
and returning but once to this world
will make an end of Ill.

Thirdly, the case of a brother who,
by the complete destruction
of the five last fetters,
will be reborn in another world,
thence never to return,
there to pass away.

Fourthly, the case of the brother
who, by the destruction of the mental intoxicants,
has come to know and realize for himself,
even [125] in this life,
emancipation of intellect
and emancipation of insight,
and therein abides.

These, brother, are the four kinds of fruit,
the four advantages to be expected
by those who are addicted and devoted
to those four modes of pleasure.'

26. It may happen, Cunda,
that wanderers [133] teaching other views than ours
may declare:

'The Sakyan recluses are inconsistent in the doctrines they hold.'

To them thus declaring, this might be replied:-

'Brother, the Exalted One who knows, who sees,
Arahant,
supremely enlightened,
hath taught and made known to his disciples
doctrines not to be transgressed
so long as life shall last.

Just as a pillar of stone or iron,
with base deep planted,
well fixed,
unshaking,
unquivering,
even so are those doctrines.

The brother who is arahant,
in whom the intoxicants are destroyed,
who has lived the life,
who has done his task,
who has laid low his burden,
who has attained salvation,
who has utterly destroyed the fetter of rebirth,
who is emancipated by the true gnosis,
he is incapable of perpetrating nine things:

1. He²⁷ is incapable
of deliberately depriving a living creature of life.
2. He is incapable
of taking what is not given
so that it constitutes theft.
3. He is incapable of sexual impurity.
4. He is incapable of deliberately telling lies.
5. He is incapable of laying up treasure
for indulgence in worldly pleasure
as he used to do in the life of the house.
6. He is incapable
of taking a wrong course through partiality.
7. He is incapable
of taking a wrong course through hate.
8. He is incapable
of taking a wrong course through stupidity.
9. He is incapable
of taking a wrong course through fear.

[126] These nine things
the arahant in whom the mental intoxicants arc destroyed,
who has lived the life,
whose task is clone,
whose burden is laid low,
who has attained salvation,
who has utterly destroyed the fetter of becoming,
who is emancipated by the true gnosis
is incapable of perpetrating.'

[134] 27. It may happen, Cunda,
that Wanderers who hold other views than ours
mav declare:

'Concerning the past
Gotama the Recluse reveals
an infinite knowledge and insight,
but not so concerning the future,
as to the what and the why of it.'

[If they were to say so],
then those wanderers would fancy,
like so many silly fools,
that knowledge and insight
concerning one kind of thing
are to be revealed
by knowledge and insight
engaged upon another kind of thing.

Concerning the past, Cunda,
the Tathāgata has cognition
reminiscent of existences.

He can remember as far back as he desires.

And concerning the future
there arises in him
knowledge born of Enlightenment²⁸
to this effect:

This is the last birth;
now is there no more coming to be.

28. If, 0 Cunda, the past mean
what is not true,
what is not fact,
what does not redound to your good,
concerning that
the Tathāgata reveals nothing.²⁹

If the past mean
what is true,
what is fact,
but what does not redound to your good,
concerning that
the Tathāgata reveals nothing.

If the past mean
what is true,
what is fact,
and what does redound to your good,
concerning that
the Tathāgata knows well
the time when to reveal it.

If, 0 Cunda, the future mean
what is not true,
what is not fact,
what does not redound to your good,
concerning that
the Tathāgata reveals nothing.

If the future mean
what is true,
what is fact,
but what does not redound to your good,
concerning that
the Tathāgata reveals nothing.

If the future mean
what is true,
what is fact,
and what does redound to your good,
concerning that
the Tathāgata knows well
the time when to reveal it.

If, 0 Cunda, the present mean
what is not true,
what is not fact,
what does not redound to your good,
concerning that
the Tathāgata reveals nothing.

If the present mean
what is true,
what is fact,
but what does not redound to your good,
concerning that
the Tathāgata reveals nothing.

If the present mean
what is true,
what is fact,
and what does redound to your good,
concerning that
the Tathāgata knows well
the time when to reveal it.

[135] And so, 0 Cunda,
concerning things past,
future
and present
the Tathāgata is a prophet³⁰ of the hour,
a prophet of fact,
a prophet of good,
[127] a prophet of the Norm,
a prophet of the Discipline.

For this is he called Tathāgata.³¹

29. Whatever, 0 Cunda, in this world
with its devas and Māras and Brahmās,
is by the folk thereof,
gods or men,
recluses or brahmins,
seen,
heard,
felt,³²
discerned,
accomplished,
striven for,
or devised in mind, -
all is understood by the Tathāgata.

For this is he called Tathāgata.

And all that
in the interval between the night, 0 Cunda,
wherein the Tathāgata was enlightened
in the supreme enlightenment,
and the night
wherein he passed away
without any condition of rebirth remaining, -
all that,
in that interval,
he speaks in discourse
or conversation
or exposition: -
all that is so,
and not otherwise.

For that is he called Tathāgata.

As the Tathāgata says, 0 Cunda
so he does;
as he does,
so he says.

Inasmuch as he goeth
even according to his word,
and his word
is according to his going,
for that is he called Tathāgata.

As to the world, 0 Cunda,
with its Māras and its Brahmās,
of all its folk,
divine or human,
recluses or brahmins,
the Tathāgata hath surpassed them,
hath not by them been surpassed,
surveys them with sure vision,
disposer of things.

For that is he called Tathāgata.

30. It may happen, Cunda,
that wanderers teaching other doctrines than ours
may say:

'How is it, brother,
does a Tathāgata exist after death?³³

Is that true,
and is any other view absurd?'

They so asking are thus to be answered:

'Brother, this hath not been revealed [128] [136] by the Exalted One.'

Or they may say:

'Does a Tathāgata not exist after death?'

Is that true,
and is any other view absurd?'

They so asking are thus to be answered:

'Brother, this hath not been revealed by the Exalted One.'

Or they may say:

'Does a Tathāgata neither exist nor not exist after death?'

Is that true,
and is any other view absurd?'

They so asking are thus to be answered:

'Brother, this hath not been revealed by the Exalted One.'

Or they may say:

'Does he both exist and not exist after death?

Is that true,
and is any other view absurd?'

They so asking are thus to be answered:

'Brother, this hath not been revealed by the Exalted One.'

31. But it may happen, Cunda, that they may ask:

'But why, brother, is this not revealed by Gotama the Recluse?'

They are thus to be answered:

'Because, brother,
it is not conducive to good,
nor to true doctrine,
nor to the fundamentals of religion,
nor to unworldliness,
nor to passionlessness,
nor to tranquillity,
nor to peace,
nor to insight,
nor to enlightenment,
nor to Nibbāna.

Therefore is it not revealed by the Exalted One.'

32. It may happen, Cunda, that they may ask:

'But what, brother, is revealed by Gotama the Recluse?'

They are thus to be addressed: -

'This is Ill: -

that, brother, is revealed by the Exalted One.

This is the Cause of Ill: -

that, brother, is revealed by the Exalted One.

This is the Cessation of Ill: -

that, brother, is revealed by the Exalted One.

This is the Path leading to the Cessation of I11: -

that, brother, is revealed by the Exalted One.'

[137] 33. It may happen, Cunda, that those wanderers may ask:

'But why, brother, is just that revealed by the Exalted One?'

They so asking are to be thus addressed: -

'Because that, brother,
is fraught with Good,
that belongs to the Norm,
that is fundamental to religion,
and conduces to absolute unworldliness,
to passionlessness,
to cessation [of ill],
to peace,
to insight,
to enlightenment,
to Nibbāna.

Therefore is it revealed by the Exalted One.'

34. Those comments on views
concerning the beginning of things, Cunda,
which have been revealed by me to you
even as they should be revealed: -
as they should not be revealed
shall I thus reveal them unto you?³⁴

And those comments on views
concerning [129] the end
or the beginnings of things,
which have been revealed by me to you
even as they should be revealed:
as they should not be revealed
shall I thus reveal them unto you?

There are, Cunda,
some recluses and brahmins
who believe and profess one or another
of the following views; saying:

'This alone is true, any other opinion is absurd':

'The soul and the world are eternal.'

'The soul and the world are not eternal.'

'The soul and the world are neither.'

'The soul and the world are both.'

'The soul and the world are self-made.'

'The soul and the world are made by another.'

'The soul and the world are both self-made and made by another.'

[138] 'The soul and the world are neither,
having come into being fortuitously.'³⁵

Or they believe and profess
one or other of these same views
concerning pleasure and pain.³⁶

35. Now, Cunda, to those recluses and brahmins
who believe and profess any one of these views
I go and say thus:

'Is this so, friend?'

And if they reply:

'Yes!

This alone is true, any other view is absurd'

I do not admit their claim.

Why is this?

Because persons hold different opinions on such questions.

Nor do I consider this [or that] view
on a level with my own,³⁷
let alone higher.

'Tis I who am higher,
that is
with regard to exposition.³⁸

36. And thus I say
regarding each of these opinions aforesaid.

[139] Concerning all these comments
concerning the beginning of things,
I have revealed to you
what should be revealed;
shall I then reveal to you
what should not be revealed?

37. And what, Cunda, are the comments concerning [130] the things after this life,
both which should be revealed
and which should not be revealed?

There are, Cunda,
certain recluses and brahmins
who believe and profess one or other
of the following views and say regarding it:

'That alone is true,
any other view is absurd':

'The soul becomes after death of visible shape free from infirmity.'

'It becomes invisible.'

'It becomes both visible and invisible.'

'It becomes neither visible nor invisible.'

[140] 'It becomes conscious.'

'It becomes unconscious.'

'It becomes both.'

'It becomes neither.'

'The soul is abolished,
destroyed,
does not come to be after death.'

38. Now, Cunda, to those recluses and brahmins
who believe and profess any one of these views,
I go and say, as before: -

'Is this even as you say, friend?'

And if they reply:

'Yes!

This alone is true, any other view is absurd,'

I do not admit that.

And why is this?

Because persons hold different views on such questions.

Nor do I consider this or that view
on a level with mine own,
let alone higher.

'Tis I who am higher,
that is
with regard to exposition.

39. And thus I say regarding all those opinions aforesaid.

Concerning all these comments
concerning the things after this life,
I have revealed to you
what should be revealed;
shall I then reveal to you
what should not be revealed?

40. For the expunging of all these comments
on opinions concerning the beginning
and the hereafter of things,
and for getting beyond them, Cunda,
I have taught
and laid down³⁹ the Four Onsets of Mindfulness.

What are the Four?⁴⁰

Herein, let a brother,
as to the body,
continue so to look upon the body
that he remains ardent,
self-possessed
and mindful,
that he may [131] overcome both the hankering
and the dejection
common in the world.

Herein, let a brother,
as to feeling,
continue so to look upon the feelings
that he remains ardent,
self-possessed
and mindful,
that he may overcome both the hankering
and the dejection
common in the world.

Herein, let a brother,
as to thought,
continue so to look upon the thoughts
that he remains ardent,
self-possessed
and mindful,
that he may overcome both the hankering
and the dejection
common in the world.

Herein, let a brother,
as to ideas,
continue so to look upon ideas
that he remains ardent,
self-possessed
and mindful,
that he may overcome both the hankering
and the dejection
common in the world.

These have I taught
and laid down
for the expunging of
and the getting beyond
all those comments on opinions.

41. Now at that time
the venerable Upavāna was standing behind the Exalted One fanning him.⁴¹

Thereupon he said to the Exalted One:

Wonderfully, lord, and marvellously delectable
is this exposition of the Norm;
exceeding great is the charm thereof.

How, lord, is this exposition named?

"We11 then, Upavāna, bear it in mind as the Delectable Discourse.

Thus spake the Exalted One.

And pleased and delighted was the venerable Upavāna at his words.

Here Ends the Pāsādika Suttanta.

¹ Sippuggahanatthāya kato dighapāsādo atthi: There is a long terraced mansion made for the learning of crafts. Comy.

² In the reference given in Majjhima II, 243 f., to the death of Nāthaputta, the Buddha is stated to have been staying at Sāmāgama, among the Sākyans. See below, § 2. The episode is repeated below, Sangīti Suttanta, XXIII, I,§ 6.

³ On the Nigaṇṭhas see Vol. I, 74 f., 220 f.

⁴ On these wrangling phrases see Vol. I, 14 f. and nn.

⁵ Bhinnathūpe, lit. having its stūpa broken — a metaphor, says the Comy., for foundation (platform, patiṭṭhā).

⁶ Paṭisaraṇaṃ, lit. a resort, to whom, as B. elsewhere explains, all go for injunctions, etc. See Bud. Psy., 1914, p. 6g.

⁷ Pronounce 'Choonda', the 'oo' as in 'good.' According to Buddhaghosa this is none other than the youngest brother of Sāriputtta (and of Revata), called in the Theragātha Mahācunda. See Pss. of the Brethren, pp. 118 and 350 (where we have tentatively inferred that the Cundas were not identical).

⁸ Cf. for the following phrases Vol. II, 112.

⁹ Tassa te suladdhaṃ lit. for thee [is] the well-gotten; paraphrased as: for thee humanity (rebirth as human) is well gotten.

¹⁰ Read Addhāyasmā.

¹¹ Sappaṭihīrakataṃ. The apparently elastic import of this term is here (Cf. Vol. I, 257, n. 3) further varied by Buddhaghosa, who paraphrases it simply by niyyānikaṃ, rendered above (following freely his definition on Dhammasangaṇi, § 277) by 'effectual for guidance.'

¹² On this reading see Vol. II, 235 f.

¹³ Patta-yogakkhemā. 'Arahantship' — so the Comy. paraphrases.

¹⁴ Therā (sic).

¹⁵ Brahmacārino. Paraphrased as brahmacariyavāsaṃ vasamānā ariyasāvakā.

¹⁶ Wealthy converts (sotāpannā), qualifies Buddhaghosa.

¹⁷ Brahmacariya.

¹⁸ One of Gotama's two teachers. Vin. Texts I, 89; Majjhima I, 165; Dhammapada Comy. I. 85; Buddhist Birth stories, 89.

¹⁹ Cf. Vol. II, 127, where the nature of the solemn charge is similar, yet not the same.

²⁰ This summary of Buddhism is word for word the same as that laid before the disciples on the Buddha's last journey (above II, 127 ff. The note there explains the details). It will be seen that the list amounts to thirty-seven items; and they are often referred to in later books as the thirty-seven Factors of Enlightenment, the Bodhi-pakkhiya-dhammā. (p. 93; 97).

²¹ Cf. Majjhima I, p. 10; Buddhist Suttas, S.B.E. XI, p. 303. Buddhaghosa refers to Visuddhi Magga for details.

²² Cf. Dhammasangaṇi, § I, 348.

²³ Cf. above, p. 107, § 20.

²⁴ It should be borne in mind that the one a11-expressive word in Pali for pleasant sensation, pleasure, happiness, ease is sukha. Ease here, therefore, must be taken as representing exactly, generically considered, the foregoing term pleasure.

²⁵ On the Jhāna-term ekodi-bhāva Cf. Expositor, i, p. 226. It is there taken to mean literally state of unique or lonely exaltation.

²⁶ Cf. supra, p. 102, § 13; Vol. I, p. 200 f.

²⁷ Cf. below Sangīti, p. 225 (x); Aṇguttara IV, 370.

²⁸ Buddhaghosa explains this as bodhimūle jātaṃ: evolved, or born, at the root of the Bo-tree.

²⁹ Or, does not answer (ṇa vyākaroti).

³⁰ Literally, declarer, or speaker of (-vādī).

³¹ Tathā-gado, putting d for t, says Buddhaghosa.

³² Here, as in Papañca Sūdani on Majjhima I, 1, Buddhaghosa calls mutaṃ, mutvā, an equivalent term for the other three senses. And he refers viññātaṃ: discerned, to ideas pleasant and unpleasant. See Buddh. Psychological Ethics, 239, n. I ; and Cf. Saṃyutta I, 186: diṭṭhasute paṭighe ca mute ca (Cf. Kindred Sayings I, 23 7, n. 1).

³³ The four alternatives are enumerated among Eel-wriggler speculations, Vol. I, p. 39 f. In this connexion, says Buddhaghosa, Tathāgata means a person (being, satto), presumably any arahant, not the Buddha only.

³⁴ Read, for no, vo, as in the following similar phrase.

³⁵ Cf. above, I, 186-188.

³⁶ Cf. Saṃyutta ii., 19 f.

³⁷ Attano sama-samaṃ. That is, says the Comy., on a level of knowledge (ñāṇena).

³⁸ Adhipaññatti.

³⁹ Paññattā.

⁴⁰ Vol. II, 327.

⁴¹ Cf. Psalms of the Brethren, p. 140, for his poem and his ministry; and p. 350 for another allusion to this incident.

30. The Marks of the Superman

Lakkhaṇa Suttantaṃ

[132].

Introduction

This Suttanta is a very interesting instance of the method, so often followed in the Dialogues, of pouring new wine into the old bottles.¹.

The brahmins had inherited a very ancient speculation (or, if that expression be preferred), a religious belief, in a mystic man, to whose dismemberment the origin of the world, and of all that is in the world, had been due. Such a theory is not, however, exclusively Aryan. Relics of it, in its most savage ferocity, are found as far off as the South Seas, and lie hidden under the grotesque details of the myth of Osiris. It is strange indeed that any such relics should have survived. For this idea runs counter to all the numerous cosmogonies that arose out of the later polytheisms. In India we have the most ancient presentation of it in the well-known Puruṣa-Sūkta—a hymn now incorporated, it is true, in one of the latest portions of the Rig Veda, but preserving the memory of a trend of thought earlier, no doubt, than the cult of most of the Vedic gods. We owe a debt of gratitude to the brahmin compilers of this anthology that they should have thought it worth while to include a conception so foreign to the rest of the collection.

The dismemberment of the Man is here ascribed to the gods. It is they who slay him and cut him up, and sacrifice him. From the pieces are produced (we are not told how) various things that gods need — metres in which they may be praised; animals to be sacrificed to them; men to perform the sacrifices; the earth and sky, the moon and the sun. As the gods are made in the image of men, it is scarcely probable that this bizarre idea could have arisen except among people who believed that a human sacrifice would bring advantage to the tribe. Of course the victim of the gods, before there were any men, was no ordinary man. He was a mythic monster of a man with a thousand heads, a thousand eyes and a thousand feet, as suitable a victim for the gods as a captive enemy would be for men. So say the [133] opening verses; afterwards the Man is treated as if he were the usual shape. It is therefore quite possible that the beginning of the hymn is by one author and the rest by another.

Notwithstanding its own incongruities, and its direct contradiction of other stories of creation, this one survived. A hymn of the Atharva (X, 2) returns to the subject. The mythic Man loses in that hymn his thousand heads and eyes and feet, but the purpose of the hymn is to identify him quite clearly and completely with Brahmā, the new personification of the magic words of the sacrifice, the new name for a Spirit of the universe. Thus do new gods absorb the old.

There is another mythical Man in the pre-Buddhistic literature, who is also identified with Brahman. He creates all this out of himself. But he is not a sacrificial victim; and the long account of how he does it does not identify him with the Man of the Puruṣa-sūkta.².

There is yet a third Man to be considered — the man in the eye, and in the mirror, and in many other things — the subject of the well-known passage incorporated in two Upanishads, and therefore older than either.³ This third Man is simply the animistic soul.

Which of these three is the one referred to in our Suttanta? It is necessary before we attempt to answer this question to see what the Pali evidence says. It is unfortunately very little, but not without importance. In the first place there are several passages where brahmins of good standing are represented as claiming this theory of natal marks on the body of the superman as part of their stock of hereditary knowledge.⁴ It is true that when the whole list of such knowledge is given, this theory of marks is put at the end as if it were the least of all in importance. Nevertheless, if this statement be correct for the period of the rise of Buddhism, and for the localities mentioned, then it follows that the theory is not a Buddhist one at all: it is brahmin. And the information is just what we should expect — certain brahmins, in their capacity as augurs and soothsayers, had worked out a theory of such marks, and handed it on to their pupils. It must be recollected that there was then, in the valley of the Ganges, no astrology; [134] and that in one of the very oldest of their documents — in the Silas — the Buddhists had expressly condemned all sorts of augury and soothsaying practised for gain by some samaṇas and by brahmins.⁵ This particular form of soothsaying is there mentioned.

Secondly the Buddhists had a theory of the superman, the Maha-purisa. It is only mentioned incidentally in a few passages; but it was there. Thus at Saṃyutta V, 158 when Sāriputta asks the Buddha what the saying, 'the superman' means, he is answered as follows:.

"It is by emancipation of mind that I call a man superman. Without that emancipation there is no superman. And how is one thus emancipated? With regard to his body, his feelings, his mind and his ideas he continues to be so master of them by insight that, ardent, self-possessed and mindful, he overcomes both the dejection and the hankering common in the world. So doing his mind is purified, emancipated, free from mental intoxications.".

Again at Aṇguttara II, 35 a brahmin, known by his epithet of Vassakāra, the Rain-maker, calls on the Buddha. He is most probably the same rain-maker as the one who afterwards became notorious as the spy and traitor who brought about the destruction and slaughter of the Licchavis. He says that they (the priests) call a man endowed with four qualities a very wise man, a superman (a Maha-purisa). Those qualities are (1) That he is learned. (2) That he is a good expositor of the meaning of what he has learnt by heart. (3) That he has a good memory. (4) That he is expert and untiring in everything a layman has to do, and can search out expedients for doing and carrying through anything that has to be done.

The answer, put into the mouth of the Buddha by the early Buddhists, amounts to this: —.

Very well. It is not for me to express approval or disapproval. That you know best. I also call a man of four qualities very wise, a superman. And what are those qualities? (1) He concerns himself with the advantage and the welfare of the great masses of the people, many are the folk he has established in the Ariyan system — that is in the beauty of righteousness as set forth in the Ariyan Path. (2) He can think about a thing, or not, just as he wishes; he can harbour an aspiration, or not, just as he wishes. Thus is he master of his mind in the trends of thought. (3) He can enter at his pleasure without toil or trouble into the four ecstasies that are beyond thought and yet pertain [135] to this present life.⁶ (4) He has put away the intoxications arising from lust and becomings from speculation and ignorance. Thus does he gain and abide in that sane emancipation of heart and mind that he knows and realizes even in this present life.

The story goes on to say that the Buddha himself (let us add, like any other Arahant) has done all this; and then it winds up in an impassioned verse which sums up the lesson of the talk.

Again there is a verse included in the Dhammapada anthology — it is No. 352 — which in different phraseology asserts the same conclusion, that is, that the Arahant is the superman. Unfortunately this particular verse is one of those the origin of which has not yet been traced; and the new edition of the text puts the very word in question (Mahāpurisa, the superman) in brackets, as if it were an interpolation. This is not correct. The commentary has the word, and the reading is confirmed by Aṇguttara II, 37.⁷.

These are the only passages in the 16 vols. of the four Nikāyas in which the word has so far been traced. This is sufficient to show that the word is not in use as a technical term in the Buddhist doctrine. It occurs only when the brahmin use of the word is referred to (Sāriputta was a brahmin), and is there used to show the startling contrast between the brahmin and the Buddhist conceptions of what a superman must be.

So with these marks. Our Suttanta says that — granted, for the purposes of this argument, that these are supermen recognizable by bodily marks that may be discerned at birth — then the superiority of these children is due entirely to good deeds done in a former birth, and can only be maintained, in the present life, by righteousness. The superman, by the theory, becomes either king or leader of a religious movement. In either case it is righteousness that produces and keeps alive the gain. The marks must have the same origin, and the results would be the same without them.

It follows that the marks are incidental; they don't really matter. And as a matter of fact we never hear of them again, as a serious proposition, in all the immense literature of Buddhism throughout the centuries of its development in India, and China, in Ceylon, or in Japan. The idea survived in the brahmin schools. Eleven centuries later Varāha Mihira still has a list of such marks. Why did the Buddhists [136] never take to it? Can it be possible that this Suttanta was not without influence in keeping alive among the Buddhists their sane dislike to all the animist arts of soothsaying?

It would seem that the more learned and influential brahmins shared this feeling. They have preserved very little of the details of such arts. And on these particular marks they have nothing to say. Most of the marks are so absurd, considered as marks of any human, that they are probably mythological in origin, and three or four seem to be solar. Our Suttanta seems gravely ironical in the contrast it makes between the absurdity of the marks and the beauty of the ethical qualities they are supposed, in the Suttanta, to mean. And Buddhaghosa makes pathetically futile efforts to bring some sense into them. It is quite evident that his traditional forerunners have understood them as little as he does himself.

[137] [142].

Lakkhaṇa Suttantaṃ

The Marks of the Superman

CHAPTER I.

THUS HAVE I HEARD:.

The Exalted One was once staying near Sāvatthī,
in Anāthapiṇḍika's Park, the Jeta-Vana.

And there the Exalted One addressed the Brethren, saying:

"Bhikkhus!".

"Yea, lord!" they responded.

And he said: —.

"There are thirty-two special marks of the Super- man,⁸ brethren,
and for the Superman possessing them
two careers lie open,
and none other.

If he live the life of the House,
he becomes Monarch,
Turner of the Wheel,
a righteous Lord of the Right,
Ruler of the four quarters,
Conqueror,
Guardian of the people's good,
Owner of the Seven Treasures.

His do those seven treasures become,
to wit,
the Wheel treasure,
the Elephant treasure,
the Horse treasure,
the Gem treasure,
the Woman treasure,
the Housefather treasure,
the Adviser treasure making the seventh.

More than a thousand sons will be his,
heroes,
champions,
vigorous of frame,
crushers of the hosts of the enemy.

He, when he has conquered this earth to its ocean bounds,
is established not by the scourge,
not by the sword,
but by righteousness.

But if such a boy
go forth from the life of the House
into the Homeless State,
he becomes Arahant,
a Buddha Supreme,
rolling back the veil from the world.

2. And what, brethren,
are the Thirty-two Marks of the Superman,
wherewith endowed
[143] two careers lie open to him
and none other:
that of the Lord of the Wheel
and that of Buddha Supreme?

§

[1] He hath feet with level tread.

That this is so
counts to him
as one of the marks of the Superman.

[2] Moreover beneath, on the soles of his feet,
wheels appear thousand-spoked,
with tyre and hub,
in every [138] way complete and well divided.

That this is so
counts to him
as one of the marks of the Superman.

[3] He has projecting heels.

That this is so
counts to him
as one of the marks of the Superman.

[4] He is long in the fingers and toes.

That this is so
counts to him
as one of the marks of the Superman.

[5] Soft and tender in hands and feet.

That this is so
counts to him
as one of the marks of the Superman.

[6] With hands and feet like a net.

That this is so
counts to him
as one of the marks of the Superman.

[7] His ankles are like rounded shells.

That this is so
counts to him
as one of the marks of the Superman.

[8] His legs are like an antelope's.

That this is so
counts to him
as one of the marks of the Superman.

[9] Standing and without bending
he can touch and rub his knees
with either hand.

That this is so
counts to him
as one of the marks of the Superman.

[10] His male organs are concealed in a sheath.

That this is so
counts to him
as one of the marks of the Superman.

[11] His complexion is like bronze,
the colour of gold.

That this is so
counts to him
as one of the marks of the Superman.

[12] His skin is so delicately smooth
that no dust cleaves to his body.

That this is so
counts to him
as one of the marks of the Superman.

[144] [13] The down on it grows in single hairs
one to each pore.

That this is so
counts to him
as one of the marks of the Superman.

[14] The down on his body turns upward,
every hair of it,
blue black in colour like eye-paint,
in little curling rings,
curling to the right.

That this is so
counts to him
as one of the marks of the Superman.

[15] He has a frame divinely straight.

That this is so
counts to him
as one of the marks of the Superman.

[16] He has the seven convex surfaces.

That this is so
counts to him
as one of the marks of the Superman.

[17] The front half of his body
is like a lion's.

That this is so
counts to him
as one of the marks of the Superman.

[18] There is no furrow between his shoulders.

That this is so
counts to him
as one of the marks of the Superman.

[19] His proportions have the symmetry of the banyan-tree:
the length of his body
is equal to the compass of his arms,
and the compass of his arms
is equal to his height.

That this is so
counts to him
as one of the marks of the Superman.

[20] His bust is equally rounded.

That this is so
counts to him
as one of the marks of the Superman.

[21] His taste is supremely acute.

That this is so
counts to him
as one of the marks of the Superman.

[22] His jaws are as a lion's.

That this is so
counts to him
as one of the marks of the Superman.

[23] He has forty teeth.

That this is so
counts to him
as one of the marks of the Superman.

[24] Regular teeth.

That this is so
counts to him
as one of the marks of the Superman.

[25] Continuous teeth.

That this is so
counts to him
as one of the marks of the Superman.

[26] The eyeteeth are very lustrous.

That this is so
counts to him
as one of the marks of the Superman.

[27] His tongue is long.

That this is so
counts to him
as one of the marks of the Superman.

[28] He has a divine voice
like the karavika bird's.

That this is so
counts to him
as one of the marks of the Superman.

[29] His eyes are intensely blue.

That this is so
counts to him
as one of the marks of the Superman.

[30] He has eyelashes like a cow's.

That this is so
counts to him
as one of the marks of the Superman.

[139] [31] Between the eyebrows appears a hairy mole
white and like soft cotton down.

That this is so
counts to him
as one of the marks of the Superman.

[145] [32] His head is like a royal turban.

That this is so
counts to him
as one of the marks of the Superman.

3. These, brethren, are the Thirty-two Marks of the Superman,
wherewith endowed
he has two careers that lie open to him
and none other:
that of the Lord of the Wheel
and that of Buddha Supreme.

And seers not of our communion, brethren,
are acquainted with these Marks,
but they know not for what deeds done
any one of the Marks is acquired.

4. "Whereas in whatsoever former birth,
former state of becoming,
former sojourning, brethren, the Tathāgata,
then being human,
took on mighty enterprise
in all good things,
took on unfaltering enterprise
in seemly course of deed and word and thought: —
in dispensing gifts,
in virtuous undertakings,
in keeping of festivals,
in filial duties to mother and to father,
in pious duties to recluse and brahmin,
in honour to the head of the house
and in other such things of lofty merit
[146] — by the doing
and by the accumulating
of that karma,
by the mass and the abundance thereof,
he when the body perished
was after death
reborn in a bright and blessed world.

There was he endowed
with a larger measure than other devas
in ten matters,
to wit in celestial years,
beauty,
happiness,
glory,
dominion,
sights,
sounds,
odours,
tastes
and touches.

Deceasing thence
and attaining life as ye know it,⁹
he acquires this Mark of the Superman,
to wit:
feet with level tread,
evenly placing his foot upon earth,
evenly drawing it up,
evenly touching earth
with the entire surface of the foot.

5. He, endowed with this mark,
if he dwell in the House,
becomes Monarch,
Turner of the Wheel
a righteous Lord of the Right,
Ruler of the four quarters,
Conqueror,
Guardian of the people's good,
Owner of the Seven Treasures.

He, when he has conquered this earth to its ocean bounds,
is established not by the scourge,
not by the sword,
but by righteousness,
he doth preside over this earth
to its ocean-bounds,
an earth void of barrenness,
pitfalls¹⁰ or jungle,
mighty,
prosperous,
secure
and fortunate [140]
and without blemish.

As Monarch, what doth he get?

He is not liable to obstruction
from any human foe with hostile intent.

As Monarch this doth he get.

If he leave the House
for the Homeless State,
he becomes Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
rolling back the veil of the world.

As Buddha what doth he get?

He is not liable to obstruction
from any foe or adversary
within or without,
out of lust or hate or illusion,
whether recluse or brahmin
or deva or Māra
[147] or Brahmā
or anyone in all the world.

As Buddha this doth he get."

This was the matter spoken of by the Exalted One.

6. Concerning it this was said: —.

With heart intent on speaking truth,
On righteous ways and self-restraint,
Curbing of sense and conduct pure,
On virtue's hearth and holy feast,
On open hand and gentle life,
Harming no creature, shunning force: —
So fared he ever and a day,
And high resolve upon him took.
He by that karma passed to heaven¹¹
To share in bliss and ravishment;
Thence when he fell, reborn as man,
Lo! 'twas with even-treading feet
He came and touched the lap of earth.
Interpreters together met
Declared: No obstacle can rise
For him who treads with level foot.
Dwell he among the laity,
Or leave the world as Wanderer,
This doth that sign betoken clear.
If of the House a dweller he,
Unhindered shall he hold his way,
By foemen; he shall overcome
All others, he shall rout the foe.
[141] No human power can bid him stay,
So works in him his Karma's fruit.

Or if, so treading, he doth fare
Forth from the world as Wanderer,¹²
With vision clear and wholly fain
Worldly ambitions to forswear,
Chief among men, and peerless he
Never i' faith comes back to birth.
This is for him the natural law,¹³.

7. "Whereas in whatsoever former births,
former state of becoming,
former sojourning, brethren,
the Tathāgata, then being human,
[148] lived for the weal of the great multitudes,
dispeller of dread and of panic,
purveyor of just protection and wardenship
and giver of supplies,
he, by the doing
and by the accumulating of that karma,
by the mass and the abundance thereof,
was, when the body perished,
reborn after death in a bright and blessed world.

Deceasing thence
and attaining life as ye know it,
he acquires this mark of the Superman,
to wit:
beneath on the soles of his feet
wheels appear,
thousand-spoked,
with tyre and hub,
in every way complete and well divided.

8. Endowed with this Mark,
if he dwell in the House,
he becomes Monarch,
Turner of the Wheel.

As Monarch what doth he get?

He hath a great retinue;
many are they that surround him: —
brahmin householders,
townsmen and country folk,
treasury officials,
bodyguards,
warders,
ministers,
courtiers,
tributary kings,
feudatories in chief¹⁴
and youths of high degree.

As Monarch this doth he get.

If he leave the House for the Homeless State,
he [142] becomes Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
rolling back the veil of the world.

As Buddha what doth he get?

He hath a great retinue;
many are they that surround him:
bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs,
lay-brethren and lay-sisters,
devas and men,
Asuras,
Nagas,
Gandhabbas.

As Buddha this doth he get."

This was the matter spoken of by the Exalted One.

9. Concerning it this was said: —.

In bygone years, in earlier births,
As man, to many bringing weal,
Dispelling dread and quaking fear,
Zealous to ward, to shield, to fend,
[149] He by that Karma passed to heaven
To share in bliss and ravishment.
Thence when he fell, reborn as man,
Wheels upon his two feet are found,
With tyre complete and thousand spokes.
Interpreters together met
Declared when they beheld the boy
With marks of merit, hundredfold:
Ever surrounded will he be
By liegemen, foe-subduer he;
For lo! the wheels with tyres complete.
If, bearing these, he fare not forth
As Wanderer, he turns the Wheel
And rules the earth, where princes all
And nobles yield him fealty,
Attending him, the mighty one.
And if, so marked, he forth do fare
Leaving the world as Wanderer
With vision clear and wholly fain
Worldly ambitions to forswear,
Devas and men and demons all,
Asuras, Sakkas, Rakkhasas,
Nāgas, Gandhabbas. Garudas,
Fourfooted beasts, all on him zuait:—
Peerless, by devas and by men
Revered, so great and glorious he.

10. "Whereas in former birth,
former state of be- coming,
former sojourning, brethren,
the Tathāgata, [143] then being human,
putting away the taking of life,
refrained therefrom
and laying the scourge and sword aside,
dwelt gentle and compassionate,
merciful and friendly
to all living creatures,
he by the doing
and by the accumulating of that karma,
by the mass and the abundance thereof,
was when the body perished
reborn after death in a bright and blessed world.

Deceasing thence and attaining life as ye know it,
he acquires these three marks of the Superman,
[150] to wit:
he has projecting heels,
has long fingers and toes,
and as to his limbs is divinely straight.

11. Endowed with these Marks,
if he dwell in the House,
he becomes Monarch,
Turner of the Wheel.

As Monarch, what doth he get?

Longlived is he,
long doth he last,
for many years doth he preserve his life;
no enemy whatever born of man
is able in that interval
to take his life away.

As Monarch this doth he get.

If he leave the House for the Homeless State,
he becomes Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
rolling back the veil of the world.

As Buddha what doth he get?

Longlived is he,
long doth he last,
for many years doth he preserve his life;
no enemy whatever,
no foe, be he recluse or brahmin,
or deva or Māra or Brahmā
or anyone in the whole world
is able in that interval
to take his life.

As Buddha this doth he get."

This was the matter spoken of by the Exalted One.

12. Concerning it this was said: —.

Death's dreadful havoc well he felt
And fellow creatures shunned to slay.
Through such good ways to heaven he came,
Of things well done enjoyed the fruit.
Deceased, and hither come once more,
As man these Marks are on him seen: —
Full long of heel is he reborn,
And like Brahma divinely straight,
Lovely to see, fair shaped of limb.
Of shapely arms and tender skin,
Goodly to see, proportioned well,¹⁵
Tender and soft his finger's touch.
[144] [151] By those three marks of man supreme
They tell the boy long-lived will be.
If a layman he grow to be,
Long years his life will be maintained,
And longer yet if from the world
He goeth forth as Wanderer,
Lord over self, life he maintains
To practise saintly gifts and power.¹⁶
Wherefore 'tis said those three marks be
The token of longevity.

13. "Whereas in whatsoever former birth,
former state of becoming,
former sojourning, brethren,
the Tathāgata then being human,
became a giver of choice,
well-flavoured,
tasty,
dainty foods,
both hard and soft,
and drinks,
he by the doing
and by the accumulating of that karma,
by the mass and the abundance thereof,
was when the body perished
reborn after death
in a bright and blessed world.

Deceasing thence
and attaining life as ye know it,
he acquires this Mark of the Superman,
to wit:
he has the seven convexes.

Seven are these:
on both hands,
on both feet,
on both shoulders
and on the trunk.

14. Endowed with this mark,
if he dwell in the House
he becomes Monarch,
Turner of the Wheel.

As Monarch what doth he get?

Choice well-flavoured food,
tasty dainty drinks.

As Monarch, this doth he get.

If he leave the House
for the Homeless State,
he becomes Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
rolling back the veil of the world.

As Buddha what doth he get?

Choice well-flavoured food,
tasty dainty drinks.

As Buddha this doth he get."

[152] This was the matter spoken of by the Exalted One.

15. Concerning it this was said: — .

Giver was he of divers foods,
And essences peerless in taste.
Through seemly act, in Nandana¹⁷
Celestial grove, he revelled long.
[145] On earth arrived, the sevenfold swell
He bore, on softly rounded limbs.
And skilled diviners then declared,
Fine food and drink would be his lot.
Nor for the layman's life alone
Was clearly there the token shown,
Even if he as Wanderer
The world forsook, they said, that he,
Cleaving all layman's bonds, e'en then
Foremost in gifts of food would be.

16. "Whereas in whatsoever former birth,
former state of being,
former sojourning, brethren,
the Tathāgata, then being human,
became popular to the people
by the four bases of popularity,¹⁸
to wit,
by giving,
by kindly speech,
by sagacious conduct
and by impartiality,
he by the doing
and by the accumulating of that karma,
by the mass
and by the abundance thereof,
was when the body perished
reborn after death
in a bright and blessed world.

Deceasing thence and attaining life as ye know it,
he acquired these two [153] marks of the Superman,
to wit,
soft and tender hands and feet,
and the hands and feet
(reticulated) like a net.

17. Endowed with these Marks,
if he dwell in the House,
he becomes Monarch,
Turner of the Wheel.

As Monarch what doth he get?

He hath well affected attendants,
well affected to him are brahmin house-fathers,
townsfolk and countryfolk,
treasury officials,
bodyguards,
warders,
ministers,
courtiers,
tributary kings,
feudatory chiefs
and youths of high degree.

As Monarch this doth he get.

If he leave the House
for the Homeless State,
he becomes Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
rolling back the veil of the world.

As Buddha what doth he get?

Well affected are his attendants,
well affected to him
are bhikkhus and bhikkhunls,
lay-brethren and lay-sisters,
devas and men,
Asuras,
Nāgas,
Gandhabbas.

As Buddha this doth he get."

[146] This was the matter spoken of by the Exalted One.

18. Concerning it this was said: —.

By fourfold act and exercise: —
By liberal hand, by conduct wise,
By kindly speech, by just intent —
Winning the hearts of many folk,
Holding such parts in honour high,
He went to bright and blessed worlds.
Deceased again and hither come,
Exceeding soft his hands and feet,
And bearing net-like meshes fine;
And passing loveliness is his,
Pleasant to see: — such gifts he hath,
This wondrous youth while yet a babe.
[154] Disposer of the obedient crowd¹⁹
Around him, lo! on earth he dwells
Of kindly speech, and ever fain
For others' weal and happiness: —
Thus doth he practise virtues fair.
And if all wealth of worldly joys
He doth renounce, then Conqueror
Of self to common folk he talks
Of righteousness. And when they hear
With joyful hearts, responsive to
His word, they follow righteousness —
The greater duties and the less.

19. "Whereas in whatsoever former birth,
former state of being,
former sojourning, brethren,
the Tathāgata, then being human,
became one who spoke to the multitude
on their good,
on righteousness,
explaining to the multitude,
became a bearer of welfare and happiness
to living creatures,
a celebrant of righteousness,
he, by the doing
and by the accumulating of that karma,
by the mass
and the abundance thereof,
was when the body perished
reborn after death
in a bright and blessed world.

Deceasing thence
and attaining life as ye know it,
he acquired these two marks of the [147] Superman,
to wit,
ankles like rounded shells
and down on the body turning upward.

20. Endowed with these marks,
if he dwell in the House,
he becomes Monarch,
Turner of the Wheel.

As Monarch what doth he get?

He becomes Chief,
Best,
Foremost,
Supreme,
Paramount among those who have worldly possessions.

As Monarch this doth he get.

If he leave the House
for the Homeless State,
he becomes Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
rolling back the veil of the world.

As Buddha what doth he get?

He becomes Chief,
Best,
Foremost,
Supreme,
Paramount over all beings.

As Buddha this doth he get."

This was the matter spoken of by the Exalted One.

21. Concerning it this was said: —.

[155] Of yore he lifted up his voice,
Speaking anent the Good, the Right,
Declared it to the multitude,
And to all living things became
Bearer of weal and happiness,
And offered up unstintingly
The sacrifice of Right, of Truth.²⁰
Through seemly act to heaven he fared,
And in the bright world found delight.
On earth reborn, upon him showed
Two marks of highest happiness: —
Upright the down upon him stood;
Goodly to see his ankles were
Built up beneath the flesh, and skin
Above right shapely, beautiful.
If with these signs house-life he lead,
The height of this worlds wealth he wins;
Greater than he nowhere is found;
Of Jambudīpa lord he rules.
[156]If he sublimely leave the world,
The greatest of all creatures he.
Greater than he is nowhere found.
The whole wide world itself is his;
He lives the Conqueror over all.

[148] 22. "Whereas in whatsoever former birth,
former state of being,
former sojourning, brethren,
the Tathāgata, then being human,
became a zealous learner
in craft,
trade
or science,
in conduct or action,
saying:

'What can I quickly learn,
quickly understand,
quickly acquire,
nor long suffer toil?'

he, by the doing
and by the accumulating of that karma,
by the mass
and the abundance thereof,
was when the body perished
reborn after death
in a bright and blessed world.

Deceasing thence
and attaining life as ye know it,
he acquired this mark of the Superman,
to wit:
legs like an antelope's.

23. Endowed with that Mark,
if he dwell in the House,
he becomes Monarch,
Turner of the Wheel.

As Monarch what doth he get?

Whatsoever things are worthy of a Monarch,
the appanage,
the treasures,
the belongings of a Monarch,
these doth he quickly acquire.

As Monarch this doth he get.

If he leave the House
for the Homeless State,
he becomes Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
rolling back the veil of the world.

As Buddha what doth he get?

Whatsoever things are worthy of a recluse,
the appanage,
the treasures,
the belongings of a recluse,
these doth he quickly acquire.

As Buddha this doth he get."

This was the matter spoken of by the Exalted One.

24. Concerning it this was said:.

In arts and crafts, in life, in deed,
How he may learn to know with ease:—
This was his wish; [157] where none was harmed.
Swiftly he learnt, nor laboured long.
That karma wrought, with happy fruit,
Shapely and fair the limbs he gets,
And sweetly set in spiral curl
On delicate skin the down goes up.
Antelope-legged is such a man,
'Tis said, and further: 't is the sign
Of swiftly won prosperity.
As by each several downy tip,
Swiftly he comes by heart's desire,
If from the world he go not forth.
But if, so marked, he forth do fare
Leaving the world as Wanderer,
With vision clear and wholly fain
[149] Worldly ambitions to forswear,
All that his fit belongings are,
That doth he find accordingly.
And quick, when on his course sublime.

25. "Whereas in whatsoever former birth,
former state of being,
former sojourning, brethren,
the Tathāgata then being human,
drew nigh and questioned recluse or brahmin,
saying:

'What, sir, is good?

What is bad?

What is right, what wrong?

What ought I to do,
or not to do?

What when I have done it
will long be for my unhappiness ...
or for my happiness?'

he, by the doing
and by the accumulating of that karma,
by the mass
and the abundance thereof,
was when the body perished
reborn after death
in a bright and blessed world.

Deceasing thence
and attaining life as ye know it,
he acquired this mark of the Superman,
to wit:
[158] his skin is so delicately smooth
that no dust cleaves to his body.

26. Endowed with that Mark,
if he dwell in the House,
he becomes Monarch,
Turner of the Wheel.

As Monarch, what doth he get?

Great wisdom will be his,
nor is anyone therein equal to him,
nor superior to him
amongst those who have worldly wealth.

As Monarch this doth he get.

If he leave the House
for the Homeless State,
he becomes Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
rolling back the veil of the world.

As Buddha what doth he get?

Great wisdom will be his,
and wisdom in many fields,
and the wisdom of a glad heart,
and the wisdom of swift thought,
and the wisdom of discrimination
and the wisdom of revulsion.²¹

Nor is [150] anyone equal to him
or superior in wisdom
among all beings.

As Buddha this doth he get."

This is the matter spoken of by the Exalted One.

Concerning it this was said: —.

27. In days gone by, in former births,
All fain to know, a questioner,
He waited oft on saintly men,
Eager to listen and to learn.
And with a heart intent on good²²
Heeded discourse anent the good.
By deeds thus done in wisdom's quest,
Fine skin is his, as man reborn.
Diviners of the signs at birth
Declared: 'tis he will know and see
Full subtle meanings and mystery.
If one so marked leave not the world,
The Wheel he'11 turn and rule the earth.
And in such meanings as are taught
And among them that grasp them none
Will equal, none will him excel.
[159]But if so marked he forth do fare,
Leaving the world as Wanderer,
With vision clear and wholly fain
Worldly ambitions to forswear,
He may attain the height supreme
Of wisdom, yea, Enlightenment
'Tis his to win, with powers of mind
So boundless and so excellent.

28. "Whereas in whatsoever former birth,
former state of being,
former sojourning, brethren,
the Tathāgata, then being human,
lived without wrath,
full of serenity,'²³
and even when much had been said,
fell not foul of anyone,
was neither angry,
nor malign,
[151] nor enraged,
manifesting neither anger
nor hate
nor melancholy,
but was a giver of fine and soft coverlets,
and cloaks,
and fine linen,
fine cotton,
fine silken,
fine woollen stuffs,
he by the doing
and by the accumulating of that karma,
by the mass
and the abundance thereof,
was when the body perished
reborn after death
in a bright and blessed world.

Deceasing thence
and attaining life as ye know it,
he acquired this mark of the Superman,
to wit:
his complexion is like bronze,
and his skin like gold.

29. Endowed with that Mark,
if he dwell in the House,
he becomes Monarch,
Turner of the Wheel.

As Monarch what doth he get?

Receiver is he
of fine and soft coverlets
and cloaks
and fine linen,
fine cotton,
fine silken,
fine woollen stuffs.

As Monarch this doth he get.

If he leave the House
for the Homeless State,
he becomes Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
rolling back the veil of the world.

As Buddha what doth he get?

Receiver is he
of fine and soft coverlets
and cloaks
and fine linen,
fine cotton,
fine silken,
fine woollen stuffs.

As Buddha this doth he get."

This is the matter spoken of by the Exalted One.

30. Concerning it this was said: —.

Good will he practised and he gave
Raiment and coverings fleecy, fine.
[160] Thus he dispensed in former life,
As god pours rain upon the earth.
So doing fared he hence to heaven,
Reborn to fruit of deeds well done.
Those pleasures o'er, here takes he shape
With body as 'twere wrought of gold.
Than gods more fine, like Indras self.
Dwells he at home, a man not fain²⁴
To leave the world as Wanderer,
The mighty earth he governeth,
And for past effort he obtains
Choicest of robes and coverings
Abundant, delicate, textured fine.
Raiment and drapery superfine
Doth he receive no less, should he
Go forth into the homeless life.
Victor he wins the past-earned fruit,
What's done can never come to nought.

[152] 31. "Whereas in whatsoever former birth,
former state of being,
former sojourning, brethren,
the Tathāgata, then being human,
reunited long-lost with long-bereaved²⁵ relatives,
friends
and comrades,
reunited mother with child
and child with mother,
father [161] with child
and child with father,
brother with brother,
brother with sister
and sister with brother,
making them as one,
causing them to rejoice,
he, by the doing
and by the accumulating of that karma,
by the mass
and the abundance thereof,
was when the body perished
reborn after death
in a bright and blessed world.

Deceasing thence
and attaining life as ye know it,
he acquired this mark of the Superman,
to wit:
his male organs were concealed in a sheath.

32. Endowed with this Mark,
if he dwell in the House,
he becomes Monarch,
Turner of the Wheel.

As Monarch what doth he get?

Abundant children will be his,
more than a thousand sons,
heroes,
victors
vigorous of frame,
crushers of the host of the enemy.

As Monarch this doth he get.

If he leave the House
for the Homeless State,
he becomes Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
rolling back the veil of the world.

As Buddha what doth he get?

Abundant children will be his.

for thousands of children will he have,
heroes,
champions,
vigorous of frame,
crushers of the hosts of the enemy.

As Buddha this doth he get."

This is the matter that was spoken of by the Exalted One.

33. Concerning it this was said: —.

In bygone days, in former births
Lost ones to those who long had sought,
Kinsfolk and friends to friends he brought,
Made them at one and made than glad.
By such deeds he to heaven fared
To share in bliss and ravishment.
Thence falling, born once more on earth.
His organs in a sheath were veiled.
[162] Abundant offspring such will have,
More than a thousand sons are his,
Heroes and champions, quelling foes,
[153] Greeting with words of filial love,
They are the layman's joy and pride.
But if he fare as Wanderer,
Yet greater will his offspring be,
Children obedient to his word.
So be he layman or Wanderer
This mark such benefit portends.

Here ends the First Portion for Recitation.

§.

[154].

CHAPTER II.

34. "Whereas in whatsoever former birth,
former state of being,
former sojourning, brethren,
the Tathāgata, then being human,
was sincerely desirous
of contemplating the good will of the folk,
knew what each man was like,²⁶
himself recognized each,
and knew his reputation
and how he differed from others,
and thus distinguishing,
he judged:

'This one deserves that,
and this one again deserves that,' —

he, by the doing
and by the accumulating of that karma,
by the mass
and the abundance thereof,
was when the body perished
reborn after death
in a bright and blessed world.

Deceasing thence
and attaining life as ye know it,
he acquired this mark of the Superman,
to wit:
his proportions have the symmetry of the banyan-tree;
and standing without bending,
he can touch and rub his knees
with both hands.

35. Endowed with these Marks,
if he dwell in the House,
he becomes Monarch,
Turner of the Wheel.

As Monarch what [163] doth he get?

Rich is he,
of great fortune,
of great wealth,
full is the treasure-house
of much gold and silver,
of many goods,
of coin and corn.

As Monarch, this doth he get.

If he leave the House
for the Homeless State,
he becomes Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
rolling back the veil of the world.

As Buddha what doth he get?

Rich is he,
of great fortune,
of great wealth.

And this is his plenteous currency: —
faith,
morality,
modesty,
discretion,
learning,
renunciation,
wisdom.

As Buddha this doth he get."

This was the matter spoken of by the Exalted One.

36. Concerning it this was said:.

Seeking alway the folk's good will
Once did he wisely men appraise,
Weighed them in judgment, criticized,
Each by himself: He's worthy that,
Detecting where each one excelled.
[155] Hence can he now unbending stand,
And touch the knees with both his hands.
And as a tree for girth and height,
The fruit of other well-wrought deeds.
Experts in divers signs and marks,
Versed in such lore did thus declare:
Things fit for laymen of all kinds
As quite a little boy he gets.
[164]Much worldly wealth for this world's lord
And fit for laymen shall be his.
And if all wealth of worldly joys
He shall renounce, then doth he win
Of riches highest utmost crown.

37. Whereas, in whatsoever former birth,
former state of being,
former sojourning, brethren,
the Tathāgata, then being human,
grew desirous for the good of the many,
for their welfare,
their comfort,
their safety,
considering how they might increase
in confidence,
in morality,
in education,
in charity,
in righteousness,
and in wisdom,
might increase in money and corn,
in land,
in animals two-footed
and four-footed,
in wife and children,
in servants and slaves,
in kinsfolk
and friends and connections,
he by the doing
and by the accumulating of that karma,
by the mass
and the abundance thereof,
was when the body perished
reborn after death
in a bright and blessed world.

Deceasing thence
and attaining life as ye know it,
he acquired this mark of the Superman,
to wit:
the front half of his body
is like a lion's;
there is no furrow between his shoulders;
his bust is equally rounded.

38. Endowed with these Marks,
if he dwell in the House,
he becomes Monarch,
Turner of the Wheel.

As Monarch, what doth he get?

He is incapable of failure and loss,
he suffers no loss in money or corn,
in fields or fallow,
in two or four-footed beasts,
in wife or children,
in servants or slaves,
in kinsfolk,
friends or connections,
he forfeits nothing wherein he succeeds.

As Monarch this doth he get.

If he leave the House
for the Homeless State,
he becomes Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
rolling back the veil of the world.

As Buddha what doth he get?

He is incapable of failure
[156] or loss,
he suffers no loss in faith,
in morals,
in learning,
in renunciation,
in wisdom;
he does not fail of success in anything.

As Buddha this doth he get."

This was the matter spoken of by the Exalted One.

39. Concerning it this is said: —.

In faith, in morals, teaching, wisdom, right,
And charity and other goodly things;
In coin and corn, fallow and field, in wife
And children and four footed things; kinsfolk
And friends, connections, strength and comeliness
And happiness: — how shall my neighbour lose
Nowise in these? this was his wish, and thus
Their profit to achieve, his strong desire.
Handsome with lion-fronted body born,
No furrow in his back, and rounded front,
By karma wrought in bygone days, well stored,
Lo! for him now the birth-sign this shall be²⁷
Of fortune blest, immunity from loss.
As layman he shall thrive in corn and coin,
In family, and in four-footed beasts;
As Wanderer possessing naught, he wins
Enlightenment supreme and unsurpassed,
That perfect sphere where failure entereth not.

[166] 40. Whereas, in whatsoever former birth,
former state of being,
former sojourning, brethren,
the Tathāgata, then being human,
acquired the habit
of harming no creatures,²⁸
either by hand
or clod
or scourge
or sword,
he by the doing
and by the accumulating of that karma,
by the mass
and the abundance thereof,
was when the body perished
reborn after death
in a bright and blessed world.

Deceasing thence
and attaining life as ye know it,
he acquired this mark of the Superman,
to wit:
his taste is supremely acute;
of anything on the tip [of the tongue]
sensations of taste are produced in the throat
and are diffused everywhere.

[157] 41. Endowed with that Mark,
if he dwell in the House,
he becomes Monarch,
Turner of the Wheel.

As Monarch what doth he get?

He experiences little
of illness or suffering,
he is possessed of good digestion,
of an equable temperature,
neither too hot nor too cold.

As Monarch this doth he get.

If he leave the House
for the Homeless State,
he becomes Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
rolling back the veil of the world.

As Buddha what doth he get?

He experiences little
of illness or suffering,
he is possessed of good digestion,
of an equable temperature,
neither too hot nor too cold,
equable,
of patience in exertion.

As Buddha this doth he get."

This was the matter spoken of by the Exalted One.

42. Concerning it this was said: —.

No living thing he harmed, by hand, by scourge,
By clod, by sword, by any murderous death,
By bonds or threats, no injury he wrought.
Therefore in blissful bourne he reaped the fruit
Of happiness, found happy things for deeds.
Reborn on earth, he gets most delicate sense,
[167]Erect taste-bearers planted well [in throat.]
And so the seers expert declared of him:
This man shall plenteously happy be.
Live he as layman or as Wanderer,
This is the thing betokened by the mark.

43. "Whereas in whatsoever former birth,
former state of being,
former sojourning, brethren,
the Tathāgata, then being human,
acquired the habit
of looking not askance
nor obliquely
nor furtively,
but with upright
candid
and lofty mind
contemplating people with affectionate eyes,
he by the doing
and by the accumulating of that karma,
by the mass and the abundance thereof,
when the body perished
was reborn after death
in a bright and blessed world.

Deceasing thence
and attaining life as ye know it,
he acquired these two Marks of the Superman,
to wit,
his eyes are intensely blue
and he has eyelashes like a cow.

44. Endowed with these marks,
if he dwell in the House,
he becomes Monarch, Turner of the Wheel.

As Monarch what doth he get?

The people [158] love to see him;
he is popular among,
and beloved by brahmin householders,
town and country folk,
treasury officials,
bodyguards,
warders,
ministers,
courtiers,
tributary kings,
feudatory chiefs²⁹
and youths of high degree.

As Monarch this doth he get.

If he leave the House
for the Homeless State,
he becomes Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
rolling back the veil of the world.

As Buddha what doth he get?

The people love to see him;
he is popular among,
and beloved by bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs,
lay-brethren and lay-sisters,
devas and men,
Asuras,
Nāgas
and Gandhabbas.

As Buddha, this doth he get.

This was the matter spoken of by the Exalted One.

45. Concerning it this was said: —.

With glance not furtive nor askance
Nor downward casting, but as one
Whose upright, candid lofty mind
Looked on the people lovingly,
Resulting fruit in blessed worlds
'Twas his t' experience and enjoy.
Here born again, his lashes long
As cow's, and eyes of deep dark blue,
Most fair to see, wise augurs said, —
Expert such signs t' interpret well -
A babe with eyes so rare and fine
Betokens popularity.
Dear to the eyes of many folk,
As layman will he live beloved;
[169] And if not lay, but Wanderer,
Loved as the healer of their griefs.

46. "Whereas in whatsoever former birth,
former state of being,
former sojourning, brethren,
the Tathāgata, then being human,
became leader among men in goodness,
foremost in virtuous deed and word and thought,
in dispensing gifts,
in conformity to morals,
in attending religious festivals,
in filial duties,
in honouring recluses and brahmins,
in deferring to the head of the family,
and in other and sundry righteous observances,
he by the doing

and by [159] the accumulating of that karma,
by the mass
and the abundance thereof,
was when the body perished
reborn after death
in a bright and blessed world.

Deceasing thence
and attaining life as ye know it,
he acquired this mark of the Superman,
to wit:
a head like a turban.

47. Endowed with this Mark,
if he dwell in the House,
he becomes Monarch,
Turner of the Wheel.

As Monarch what doth he get?

The loyalty³⁰ of the multitude,
of brahmin householders,
town and country folk,
treasury officials,
bodyguards,
warders,
ministers,
courtiers,
tributary kings,
feudatory chiefs
and youths of high degree.

As Monarch this doth he get.

If he leave the House
for the Homeless State,
he becomes Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
rolling back the veil of the world.

As Buddha what doth he get?

The loyalty of the multitude,
of bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs,
of lay-brethren and lay-sisters,
devas and men,
Asuras,
Nāgas,
Gandhabbas.

As Buddha this doth he get."

This was the matter spoken of by the Exalted One.

48. Concerning it this was said: —.

Foremost among good livers once
He lived, and all his love was given
To walk in ways of righteousness,
Loyal to help the multitude.
He reaped in heaven his due reward.
[170] Fruit of good life thus having plucked,
He came to earth with crested head.
And they who knew what signs should mean
Declared: This one will lead the folk.
As in the past so now all men
Will render services to him.
So they reported thus of him: —
If he be born of noble clan,
As lord of lands 't is his to win
The faithful service of the folk.
But if he leave the world, this man,
So versed and practised in good deeds,
Will draw the people after him,
For all their love will given be
To keep what he so well doth teach.

[160] 49. "Whereas in whatsoever former birth,
former state of being,
former sojourning, brethren,
the Tathāgata, then being human,
put away lying,
felt revulsion at lies,
became truth-speaker,
bound to truth,
trustworthy,
consistent,
breaking his word to no one,
he by the doing
and by the accumulating of that karma,
by the mass
and the abundance thereof,
was when the body perished
reborn after death
in a bright and blessed world.

Deceasing thence
and attaining life as ye know it,
he acquired this mark of the Superman,
to wit:
down growing in separate hairs,
all over his body;
and between the eyebrows a hairy mole,
white and like soft cotton-down.

50. Endowed with these marks,
if he dwell in the House,
he becomes Monarch,
Turner of the Wheel.

As Monarch what doth he get?

The people conform to his wishes,
brahmin householders,
town and [171] country folk,
treasury officials,
bodyguards,
warders,
ministers,
courtiers,
tributary kings,
feudatory chiefs
and youths of high degree.

As Monarch, this doth he get.

If he leave the House
for the Homeless State,
he becomes Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
rolling back the veil of the world.

As Buddha what doth he get?

The people conform to his wishes,
bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs,
lay-brethren and lay-sisters,
devas and men,
Asuras,
Nāgas,
Gandhabbas.

As Buddha, this doth he get.

This was the matter spoken of by the Exalted One.

51. Concerning it this was said: —.

True was his promise in past births ;
Sincere his word,³¹ he shunned the false;
A breaker of his troth to none,
He pleased by truth, consistency.
White, lustrous, soft as cotton-down
A mole was seen betwixt his brows;
And from each pore but one hair grew
About his skin: — so was he made.
When many versed in signs were met,
They saw the marks and thus declared:
With mole and hairs well-placed like these,
Him will the people all obey,
[161] As layman they will look to him,
So far above by past wrought deeds.
As Buddha they will look to him,
Naught owning, Wanderer supreme.

52. "Whereas in whatsoever former birth,
former state of being,
former sojourning, brethren,
the Tathāgata, then being human,
put away abusive speech,
revolted against abusive speech,
what he heard here
not repeating elsewhere,
to raise a quarrel against people here;
and what he heard elsewhere
not repeating here,
to raise a quarrel against people there: —
thus becoming a binder together
of those who are divided,
[172] or fostering those
who are friends,
a peacemaker,
lover of concord,
impassioned for peace,
a speaker of words that make for peace,³²
he by the doing
and by the accumulating of that karma,
by the mass
and the abundance thereof,
was when the body perished
reborn after death
in a bright and blessed world.

Deceasing thence
and attaining life as ye know it,
he acquired this mark of the Superman,
to wit:
he had forty teeth,
and they were in unbroken rows.

53. Endowed with these Marks,
if he dwell in the House,
he becomes Monarch,
Turner of the Wheel.

As Monarch what doth he get?

Those about him
are not to be divided against themselves,³³
among brahmin householders,
town and country folk,
treasury officials,
bodyguards,
warders,
ministers,
courtiers,
tributary kings,
feudatory chiefs
and youths of high degree.

As Monarch this doth he get.

If he leave the House
for the Homeless State,
he becomes Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
rolling back the veil of the world.

As Buddha what doth he get?

A following that may not be divided against itself,
either of bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs,
lay-brethren and lay-sisters,
gods and men,
Asuras,
Nāgas,
Gandhabbas.

As Buddha this doth he get."

This is the matter spoken of by the Exalted One.

54. Concerning it this was said: —.

No speaker he of slanderous words,
Provoking breach of friendship, growth
[162] Of breach, and fostering strife,
Embittering unseemly brawls,
Parent of rupture 'twixt good friends.
That which he uttered made for peace,
Engendered binding what was broke,
[173]With power to scatter people's brawls,
In folk at one he found delight.
Resulting fruit in blessed worlds
'Twas his t' experience and enjoy.
Back on this earth, his teeth grew close,
Two score, in even rank unbroke.
If trained to arms he will become
Lord of the soil, and those he rules
Will be a gentle, peaceful folk.
But if from lusts and blemish free,
He shall become a Wanderer,
Ranged³⁴ and firm his band shall be.

55. "Whereas in whatsoever former birth,
former state of being,
former sojourning, brethren,
the Tathāgata, then being human,
put away rough language,
revolted from rough language,
and became an habitual speaker
of whatsoever words are blameless,
pleasant to the ear,
lovely,
reaching to the heart,
urbane,
pleasing to the people,
beloved of the people,³⁵
he by the doing
and by the accumulating of that karma,
by the mass
and the abundance thereof,
was when the body perished
reborn after death
in a bright and blessed world.

Deceasing thence
and attaining life as ye know it,
he acquired this mark of the Superman,
to wit:
his tongue is very long,
and he has an exquisite voice
like that of the karavīka-bird.

56. Endowed with these Marks,
if he dwell in the House
he becomes Monarch,
Turner of the Wheel.

As Monarch what doth he get?

A voice that commands attention;³⁶
all take his words to heart,
brahmin house- [163] holders,
town and country folk,
treasury officials,
bodyguards,
warders,
ministers,
courtiers,
tributary kings,
feudatory chiefs
and youths of high degree.

As Monarch this doth he get.

If he leave the House
for the Homeless State,
he becomes Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
rolling back the veil of the world.

As Buddha what doth he get?

[174] A voice that commands attention;
all take his voice to heart,
bhikkhus,
bhikkhunīs,
lay-brethren,
lay-sisters,
devas and men,
Asuras,
Nāgas,
Gandhabbas.

As Buddha this doth he get."

This was the matter spoken by the Exalted One.

57. Concerning it this was said: —.

Not his to lift abusive voice,
Contentious, hurtful, harsh and rude,
Afflicting, crushing many folk;
Gentle his voice and sweet to hear,
Well-pitched and kind, lovely in sense
His words, appealing to the heart.
Thus to his listeners giving ease,
Fruit of good deed was his t' enjoy,
In heavens he tasted due reward.
Thereon again reborn on earth,
Gifted he grew with voice divine,
And bounteous was his length of tongue.
Weighty the words of him will be,
Crowned with success, if layman he.
But if this man do leave the world,
[175]People will take his words to heart,
And lay great store on all he saith.

58. "Whereas in whatsoever former birth,
former state of being,
former sojourning, brethren,
the Tathāgata, then being human,
put away idle talk,
revolted from idle talk,
and became one who spoke in due season,
in accordance with the facts,
words full of meaning,
who spoke of religion
and of discipline,
words worthy to be laid up in the heart,
fitly illustrated,
clearly divided
and to the point,³⁷
he by the doing
and by the accumulating of that karma,
by the mass
and the abundance thereof,
was when the body perished
reborn after death
in a bright and blessed [164] world.

Deceasing thence
and attaining life as ye know it,
he acquired this mark of the Superman,
to wit:
his jaws were as a lion's.

59. Endowed with this Mark,
if he dwell in the House,
he becomes Monarch,
Turner of the Wheel.

As Monarch what doth he get?

He cannot be overthrown
by any human foe or adversary whatever.

As Monarch this doth he get.

If he leave the House
for the Homeless State,
he becomes Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
rolling back the veil of the world.

As Buddha what doth he get?

He cannot be overthrown
by any foes
or things inimical
within or without,
out of lust
or hate
or illusion,
by recluse or brahmin,
by deva
or Māra
or Brahmā
or anyone in the world.

As Buddha this doth he get."

This was the matter spoken of by the Exalted One.

60. Concerning it this was said: —.

Not idle talk nor foolishness
Framed by confused thought was his.
Things mischievous he brushed away;
For all men's good and weal he spoke,
[176] So doing, hence deceased in heaven
He reaped the fruit of deeds well done.
Once more deceased, reborn on earth,
His was a jaw resembling that
Of chief of twice-tway-footed things.³⁸
He, as a monarchy sure will be
Lord over men impregnable,
A sovran over sons of men,
Of mighty power, like unto head
Of devas city, Indra's self,
The leader of celestial hosts.
Heroes demonic or divine
Will find him hard to overthrow.
Such will he be, so will he prove
In layman's life, throughout the earth³⁹.

[165] 61. "Whereas in whatsoever former birth,
former state of being,
former sojourning, brethren,
the Tathāgata, then being human,
put away wrong livelihood,
maintained himself by right livelihood,
revolted from cheating with scales,
bronzes
or measures,
from deceiving by bribery,
cheating and fraud,
from maiming,
murder,
putting in bonds,
highway-robbery,
dacoity
and violence;⁴⁰
he by the doing
[177] and by the accumulating of that karma,
by the mass
and the abundance thereof,
was when the body perished
reborn after death
in a bright and blessed world.

Deceasing thence
and attaining life as ye know it,
he acquired this mark of the Superman,
to wit:
even and very lustrous teeth.

62. Endowed with these Marks,
if he dwell in the House,
he becomes Monarch,
Turner of the Wheel,
a righteous Lord of the Right,
ruler of the four quarters,
Conqueror,
Guardian of the people's good,
Owner of the Seven Treasures.

His do those seven treasures become,
to wit,
the Wheel-treasure,
the Elephant-treasure,
the Horse-treasure,
the Gem-treasure,
the Woman-treasure,
the Steward-treasure,
the Adviser-treasure⁴¹
making the seventh.

More than a thousand sons will be his,
heroes,
champions,
vigorous of frame,
crushers of the hosts of the enemy.

He, when he has conquered this earth
to its ocean-bounds,
an earth void of barrenness,
pitfalls
or jungle,
mighty,
prosperous,
secure,
fortunate,
without blemish,
is established not by the scourge,
not by the sword,
but by righteousness.

As Monarch what doth he get?

Pure in heart
are his attendants,
pure-hearted are his brahmin householders,
town and country folk,
treasury officials,
bodyguards,
warders,
ministers,
courtiers,
tributary kings,
feudatory chiefs
and youths of high degree.

As Monarch this doth he get.

63. But if he go forth
from the life of the House
into the Homeless State,
he becomes Arahant,
a [166] Buddha Supreme,
rolling back the veil from the world.

As Buddha what doth he get?

Pure in heart
are his attendants,
pure-hearted are bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs,
lay-brethren and lay-sisters,
devas and men,
Asuras,
Nāgas,
Gandhabbas.

As Buddha this doth he get."

This was the matter spoken of by the Exalted One.

64. Concerning it this was said: —.

Wrong livelihood he laid aside:
And shaped a course just, pure and right.
[178]Things mischievous he brushed away;
For all men's good and weal he worked.
Happy rewards he learnt in heaven,
Works had he wrought the skilled and wise
Praise ever highly; hence his lot
To share in bliss and ravishment,
In devas city like the chief.
Thence falling, gaining man's estate,
By fruit residual of good⁴²
He thus wins evenness of teeth,
Fine lustre too and purity.
Then the assembled augurs said,
Chief among men in wisdom's lore:
Pure will the folk around him be
Whose teeth so even, bright and pure
And lustrous as bird's plumage shine.
To him, as prince and governor
Of the great earth, all men shall be
Pure-hearted, waiting upon him.
The people shall not be oppressed
By violence, for they shall seek
The general good and happiness.
But if as Wanderer he lives,
Then free from evil, lusts all quenched,
And rolling back the [murky] Veil,
And pain gone by and weariness.
[167] He sees both this world and the next.
Laymen and Wanderers galore
Heeding his teaching, cast aside
Ways bad, impure, that he doth blame.
For pure are they who on him wait.
[From hearts of men] he casteth out
The stains that mar, the barren soil,
The vice that preys, the hapless fate.⁴³.

Here ends the Discourse on the Marks of the Superman.

¹ Compare on this method what has been said above, I, 206-208.

² See Rh. D.'s Theory of Soul in the Upanishads, J.R.A.S., 1899, p. 79.

³ Brihad. Ār. Up. I, 4.

⁴ Dīgha I, 89, 114, 120; Aṇguttara I, 163; Majjhima II, 136; Sutta Nipāta, 690, 1000; Milinda, 10; Divyāvadāna, 620.

⁵ See above, I, 15-19.

⁶ See above, III, 108.

⁷ The metre can be corrected by omitting vuccatīti.

⁸ On the following formula cf. the Buddha-legend in The Sublime Story Suttanta, Vol. II, 13 f., and explanatory footnotes; also above, p. 60;below, p. 165.

⁹ Itthattaṃ.

¹⁰ Animittaṃ; according to Buddhaghosa, the signs of brigandage, in the sense of causes of disaster, are absent.

¹¹ Divaṃ; v.l. tidivaṃ: the next world, the world of devas, or that region of it called Tusita (blissful). Cf. below, § 15, Nandana.

¹² Lit. if he enter the state of going forth (pabbajjam upeti) — i.e., leaving a worldly career for religion. On the term Wanderer see Rh.D., Buddhist India, 141 ff.

¹³ Cf. Vol. II, p. 8, n. 3: esa hi tassa dhammatā. This is his nature (ayaṃ sabhāvo), the Cy. here adds.

¹⁴ Bhogiyā. See above, Vol. I, p. 108, n. 1, and below, § 17. Cf. M. III, 133; J. VI, 344.

¹⁵ On sujāta, cf Dhammapala's comment in the Sela Sutta, Psalms of the Brethren, p. 311, n. 3.

¹⁶ Iddhimā vasippatto hutvā. Comy. Cf. the same pair of terms in Milinda, p. 82.

¹⁷ Cf. Kindred Sayings, I, 9, n 1.

¹⁸ These are also stated below, p. 183, XXXIII, XL; in Aṇguttara II, 32, 248; cf. Jāt. V, 330; J.P.T.S., 1909, 31.

¹⁹ We should probably read parijan'assa vovidheyyo.

²⁰ The sacrifice of the gift of Dhamma, says the Comy.; cf. Aṇguttara, I, 91; Mahāvaṃsa, ch. xxxii, 42, and above: 'celebrant.'.

²¹ This curious formula, used also by Ānanda of Sāriputta (Kindred Sayings, I, 87), by the Buddha himself of Sāriputta (M. III, 25) and of any believer (S., V, 376 f.; cf. A., I, 45), is explained word for word at some length by Buddhaghosa. Great wisdom is grasp of central doctrines. In the next, knowledge proceeds continually respecting many and divers doctrines. The next seems to be knowing the joy both of insight and achievement in ethical and religious exercise. In the ante-penultimate term, javana is both swiftly going, and intellect in action. It is here applied to grasping the three signs of all living aggregates (khandha). The penultimate refers to detection and extirpation of evil; the last to horror of evil. The contrast between this notable list and the absurdity and insignificance of the mark of popular superstition is characteristic of this whole Suttanta.

²² Attha is here, by Buddhaghosa, opposed to dosa, resentment or evil, with which so many set out to question others. But the double sense of good and meaning cannot be reproduced.

²³ Absence of despair or exasperation. Comy.

²⁴ Read apabbajam icchaṃ.

²⁵ The Comy. conceives him as a ruler, organizing rescue-work of this kind within and without the city.

²⁶ Read (with Buddhaghosa) samaṃ jānāti for saṇjañāti.

²⁷ Pubbaniinittam assa taṃ. ...

²⁸ Referred to in Milinda 319.

²⁹ Here and in following §§ bhogiyā is substituted for bhojakā. The Siamese ed. reads bhogikā.

³⁰ Anvāyiko. The expression recurs in Jāt. III, 348.

³¹ Advejjhavāco.

³² The passage occurs in Vol. I, 4 f.

³³ Abhejja. See Mil. 359.

³⁴ An Anugatā. The Comy. does not help in this unusual application of the word. The regularity of the teeth seems to call for some corresponding meaning.

³⁵ This is from the Silas, above, Vol. I, p. 5.

³⁶ Buddhaghosa paraphrases adeyya-vāco by gahetabba-vacano, one having speech that is to be taken hold of, grasped. Cf. Vin. Texts III, 186, n. 3; Milinda I, 166, n. 2.

³⁷ This passage also is from the Silas in Vol. I, 5.

³⁸ This quaint phrase for a lion is only met with in this passage.

³⁹ Literally, as to the quarters, their opposites and intervening points. The Comy. passes over these lines, nor remarks on the absence of the Buddhological complement. This last omission is quite remarkable.

⁴⁰ This passage is taken from the Silas, translated in Vol. I, 6.

⁴¹ A sort of vizier. See note at II, 208.

⁴² The na at the beginning of this pada cannot be read as negating the following phrase. It is a corrupt reading, and the last word of the previous line caviya is probably part of the same corruption.

⁴³ Expansion of the compound ma1a-khi1a-ka1i-ki1esa, the third and fourth factors being transposed.

31. The Sigāla Homily

Sigālovada (Siṇgālovāda) Suttantaṃ

[168]

Introduction

This Suttanta has been translated into English by by Gogerly in Grimblot, Sept Suttas Palis (Paris, 1876), by Gogerly, J.R.A.S., Ceylon Branch, 1847, and by R.C. Childers in the Contemporary Review, London, 1876.¹ The latter entitled it The Whole Duty of the Buddhist Layman.

Childers doubtless sought to draw the eye of the general reader by a title borrowed from a well-known English classic. At this time of day we should look, under a claim so comprehensive, for some statement of political duties, for allusions to the senate and the forum, to affairs national and international. It is not enough to reply that these questions of wider ethics had not arisen. The Saddhamma was promulgated, it is true, in the kingdoms of autocrats like Pasenadi of Kosala, and Bimbisāra and Ajātasattu of Magadha. But it was taught at the same time in the villages of the free clansmen of the Sākiyan, Koliyan, Licchavi and other republics. And among these the whole duty of the layman might well have included some corporate ideals of citizenship. There is certainly in one or two of the foregoing dialogues enough to show that Gotama could have uttered a discourse on such a theme. Either he judged that his listeners were not ready for it, or that the occasion did not call for it. Or it maybe that his chroniclers, cut off from political interests, failed to preserve or edit such sayings. But possibly 'layman' is susceptible, at least in our day, of a wider implication than gihī, house-man. And hence 'whole duty' were better modified as 'whole domestic and social duty.'

Anyway, the Buddha's doctrine of love and goodwill between man and man is here set forth in a domestic and social ethics with more comprehensive detail than elsewhere. In a Canon compiled by members of a religious order and largely concerned with the mental experiences and ideals of recluses, and with their outlook on the world, it is of great interest to find in it a Sutta entirely devoted to the outlook [169] and relations of the layman on and to his surroundings. And the discourse was felt to possess this interest in the long past by Buddhaghosa, or by the tradition he handed on, or by both. In this Sutta, he writes, 'nothing in the duties of housemen is left unmentioned. This Suttanta is called the Vinaya of the Houseman. Hence in one who practises what he has been taught in it, growth is to be looked for, and not decay.' And truly we may say even now of this Vinaya, or code of discipline, so fundamental are the human interests involved, so sane and wide is the wisdom that envisages them, that the utterances are as fresh and practically as binding to-day and here as they were then at Rājagaha. 'Happy would have been the village or the clan on the banks of the Ganges, where the people were full of the kindly spirit of fellow-feeling, the noble spirit of justice which breathes through these naive and simple sayings.'² Not less happy would be the village, or the family on the banks of the Thames to-day, of which this could be said.

The object of the young Sigāla's open-air matins will seem unfamiliar to the readers who are more accustomed to the names of Vedic deities surviving in the allusions scattered throughout these dialogues — "to Brahmā and Prajāpati, Indra and Soma, Varuṇa and Isāna.³ He was probably no brahmin, or we might have found him tending Agni's perpetual fire, or bathing his conscience clean in some stream of symbolical efficacy. The Commentary does not help us. The historical sense had not developed when the great commentators wrote, and they are incurious as to beliefs and rites that were possibly no longer alive at least in their own environment. It is a noteworthy instance of this that Buddhaghosa is silent regarding the deities just named, when he is commenting on the Tevijja-Suttanta, as well as on the string of tremendous attributes ascribed to Great Brahmā in the Kevaddha Suttanta that comes before it. We may picture him as we would a mediaeval Christian exegetist. In his milieu, Indian or Singhalese, a certain cosmology had long been traditional and orthodox. Outside it there were now other cults, pantheistic, polytheistic, atheistic. He doubtless held that discussion on the gods of these or older alien cults was as superfluous as discussion on Baal or Jupiter might have seemed to his Christian colleague. The only deva of whom, in the Kevaddha-Suttanta he has anything to say is Sakka (concerning whom the text is silent). And Sakka was just the quasi-human governor in the nearest, lowest heaven after earth.

[170] For Buddhaghosa the heavens were filled, not with gods in our sense of the word, but, at least as to those mentioned in that Sutta, with devas who are one in kind with ourselves, and who will in due time become once more men and women on earth, such as they have already been times without number, unless they, in their upward way, have attained to the Never-returner's stage of advancement.

But we, more curious than the Commentators, may find evidence in Brahmanic literature that the quarters or regions of the external world (disā), or mighty spirits inhabiting them were invoked for protection generally, and especially in battle, for luck and against snakes, etc. In the Atharva-veda (III, 26, 27) are two of such rakshamantras (guarding runes) or parittas, as they are called by Buddhists (see the following Suttanta). Here we have the same six regions — viz., the four cardinal points, the fixed and the upward regions.

Ye gods that are in the Eastern quarter,
missiles by name,
of you there the arrows are fire!
Do ye be gracious to us,
do ye bless us!
To you be there homage!
To you there Hail! etc.⁴

No. 27 identifies a god with each region, not the Four Kings of Buddhist cosmology⁵ but Agni, Indra, Varuṇa, Soma, Visnu, Brihaspati. To their jaws the invoker consigns his enemies. In the Satapatha Brāhmana⁶ five, and also seven disā's as well as four are mentioned in rites. In the Grihya Sutras⁷ the four quarters are to be worshipped in connection with certain rites. And so much self-anointing or contact with water is enjoined that the lay celebrant may well have had both hair and garments wet as Sigāla had.

Hence it may well be that there was nothing eccentric or even unusual in these orisons of the filially-minded 'householder's son,' as he is called. It is true that the Commentary speaks of his being asked, What are you doing? But the Master asks only, Why are you worshipping so the several quarters? If he was interrupted and shown a better channel for the sending forth of his votive gestures, this was because the hour had come when the Exalted One saw him. Saw him not then only, is the Comment, but at dawn already had the Teacher, surveying the world with the Buddha-vision, seen him so engaged and had decided that 'this day will I [171] discourse to Sigāla on the layman's Vinaya. That discourse will be of benefit to many folk. There must I go.' And so he passed by him going to Rājagaha for alms. And when Sigāla saw him standing near, 'the Exalted One, like a great lotus expanding at the touch of the rays of the sun, opened his mouth and spoke.'

The conversion from the invoking of animistically conceived nature-forces to that loving service to fellow-beings which is the truest worship of Deity, was the more easily effected because Sigāla's own convictions were not involved. The Commentary expands his own words by relating that his parents were pious upāsakas (lay followers), but could not persuade their son to accompany them to hear the good Doctrine. Nay, he would say, 'I'll have naught to do with Samaṇas. Doing homage to them would make my back ache, my knees stiff. I should have to sit on the ground and soil and wear out my clothes. And when at the conversations with them, after so sitting, one gets to know them, one has to invite them and make them presents, and so one only loses by it.' Finally the father on his deathbed bethought him of a pious ruse. If he, an upasaka's son, were daily to practise disā-worship, the Master or his disciples would be sure to see him and teach him better things. And since deathbed wishes are to be remembered, the son remembered and obeyed.

The standpoint taken in this charming code of domestic and other relations, and the reciprocal duty resulting therefrom, calls here for just one remark. It will be noticed that in summing up the latter, the parable of the six-quarter-worship is maintained throughout. As good and loving gods take compassion upon (anukampanti) their sincere devotees, who wait upon them with offerings material and spiritual, so in all the six relations adduced the seniors are represented functioning as little gods, the juniors or subordinates as devotees. The one exception may be in the case of friends equal in age and other respects. The word expressing the duty towards the six seniors: paccupaṭṭhātabbā (the passive gerund) is rare,⁸ but its meaning is clearly that of attendance in tending. Etymologically it is to be re-as-sisted. Anukampanti is the type-word for the protecting tenderness of the stronger for the weaker, and means vibrating along-after. It thus in emotional force is even stronger than our compassion or sympathy. And because the pulsing emotion is other-regarding, a feeling-together what- [172] ever the loved one feels, it is justifiable to render it often by love, thus taking the smaller concept up into the greater. Gotama frequently claims to feel this godlike emotion:

Hitanukampī Sambuddho yad-aññaṇ anusāsati

Love and compassion doth th'Enlightened feel
Towards another when he teacheth him.⁹

In the attitude of parent to child love is at bottom a tender compassion, a vibrant care to protect. So wife-love is largely motherly. Parent, wife, friend, master, teacher and religieux all rank, in Gotama's social Vinaya, and for that matter in that of India generally, as little gods, so great is the responsibility attaching to these six positions, so fine is the opportunity for exercising compassion, tender care, protection. In the six reciprocal aspects there is an element of childhood. The child under loving compassionate protection feels safe and confident as does the believing worshipper. And ideally, such childlike security and confidence is the attitude of student to teacher, husband to wife, friend to friend, servant to master.

C.A.F.R.D.

[173]

Sigālovada Suttanta

The Sigāla Homily

Thus have I heard:

The Exalted One was once staying near Rājagaha
in the Bamboo Wood at the Squirrels Feeding ground.

Now at this time young Sigāla,¹⁰
a householder's son,
rising betimes,
went forth from Rājagaha,
and with wet hair and wet garments
and clasped hands uplifted,
paid worship to the several quarters of earth and sky: —
to the east, south, west, and north,
to the nadir and the zenith.

2. And the Exalted One
early that morning dressed himself,
took bowl and robe
and entered Rājagaha seeking alms.

Now he saw young Sigāla worshipping
and spoke to him thus:

"Why, young householder, do you,
rising betimes and leaving Rājagaha,
with wet hair and raiment,
worship the several quarters of earth and sky?"

"Sir, my father, when he was a-dying,
said to me:

'Dear son, you should worship the quarters of earth and sky.'

So I, sir, honouring my father's word,
reverencing,
revering,
holding it sacred,
rise betimes
and, leaving Rājagaha,
worship on this wise."

"But in the religion of an Ariyan, young householder,
the six quarters should not be worshipped thus."

"How then, sir, in the religion of an Ariyan,
should the six quarters be worshipped?

It would be an excellent thing, sir,
if the Exalted One would so teach me the doctrine
according to which, in the religion of an Ariyan,
the six quarters should be worshipped."

§

[174] "Hear then, young householder,
give ear to my words and I will speak."

"So be it, sir", responded young Sigāla.

And the Exalted One said:

3. "Inasmuch, young householder,
as the Ariyan disciple has put away
the four vices in conduct,
inasmuch as he does no evil actions
from the four motives,¹¹
inasmuch as he does not pursue
the six channels for dissipating wealth,
he thus, avoiding these fourteen evil things,
is a coverer¹² of the six quarters;
he has practised so as to conquer both worlds;
he tastes success¹³ both in this world and in the next.

At the dissolution of the body, after death,
he is reborn to a happy destiny in heaven.

What are the four vices of conduct
that he has put away?

[1] The destruction of life,
[2] the taking what is not given,
[3] licentiousness,
[4] and lying speech.

These are the four vices of conduct
that he has put away."

Thus spake the Exalted One.

4. And when the Blessed One had thus spoken,
the Master spake yet again:

Slaughter of Life, theft, lying, adultery:
To these no word of praise the wise award.

■

5. "By which four motives
does he do no evil deed?

Evil deeds are done from motives of
[1] partiality,
[2] enmity,
[3] stupidity
[4] and fear.

But inasmuch as the Ariyan disciple
is not led away by these motives,
he through them does no evil deed."

Thus spake the Exalted One.

6. And when the Blessed One had thus spoken, the Master spake yet again:

Whoso from partiality or hate
Or fear or dullness doth transgress the Norm,
All minishèd good name and fame become
As in the ebbing month the waning moon.

[175] Who ne'er from partiality or hate
Or fear or dullness doth transgress the Norm,
Perfect and full good name and fame become,
As in the brighter half the waxing moon.

■

7. "And which are the six channels
for dissipating wealth?

[1] The being addicted to intoxicating liquors,¹⁴
[2] frequenting the streets at unseemly hours,
[3] haunting fairs,
[4] the being infatuated by gambling,
[5] associating with evil companions,
[6] the habit of idleness.

8. There are, young householder, these six dangers
through the being addicted to intoxicating liquors:
[1] actual loss of wealth,
[2] increase of quarrels,
[3] susceptibility to disease,
[4] loss of good character,
[5] indecent exposure,
[6] impaired intelligence.

9. Six, young householder, are the perils
from frequenting the streets at unseemly hours: —
[1] he himself is without guard or protection
[2] and so also are wife and children;
[3] so also is his property;
[4] he moreover becomes suspected
[as the doer] of [undiscovered] crimes,¹⁵
[5] and false rumours fix on him,
[6] and many are the troubles he goes out to meet.

10. Six, young householder, are the perils
from the haunting of fairs: —
[1] [He is ever thinking] where is there dancing?
[2] where is there singing?
[3] where is there music?
[4] where is recitation?
[5] where are the cymbals?
[6] where the tam-tams?¹⁶

11. Six, young householder, are the perils
for him who is infatuated with gambling:
[1] as winner he begets hatred;
[2] when beaten he mourns his lost wealth;¹⁷
[3] his actual substance is wasted;
[4] his word has no weight in a court of law;
[5] he is despised by friends and officials;
[6] he is not sought after by those who would give or take [176] in marriage,
for they would say that a man who is a gambler
cannot afford to keep a wife.

12. Six, young householder, are the perils
from associating with evil companions:
[1] any gambler,
[2] any libertine,
[3] any tippler,
[4] any cheat,
[5] any swindler,
[6] any man of violence
is his friend and companion.

13. Six, young householder, are the perils
of the habit of idleness: —
[1] he says, 'It is too cold', and does no work;
[2] he says, 'It is too hot', and does no work;
[3] he says, 'It is too early', and does no work;
[4] he says, 'It is too late', and does no work;
[5] he says, 'I am too hungry' and does no work;
[6] he says, 'I am too full', and does no work.

And while all that he should do
remains undone,
new wealth he does not get,
and such wealth as he has dwindles away."

Thus spake the Exalted One.

14. And when the Blessed One had thus spoken, the Master spake yet again: —

Some friends are bottle-comrades; some are they
Who [to your face] dear friend! dear friend! will say.
Who proves a comrade in your hour of need
Him may ye rightly call a friend indeed.

Sleeping when sun has risen, adultery,
Entanglement in strife, and doing harm,
Friendship with wicked men, hardness of heart
These causes six to ruin bring a man.

Is he of evil men comrade and friend,
Doth he in evil ways order his life,
Both from this world and from the world to come
To woeful ruin such a man doth fall.

Dicing and women, drink, the dance and song,
Sleeping by day, prowling around at night¹⁸
Friendship with wicked men, hardness of heart: —
These causes six to ruin bring a man.

Playing with dice, drinking strong drink, he goes
To women dear as life to other men,
Following the baser, not th'enlightened minds,
He wanes as in the darker half the moon.

[177] The tippler of strong drink, poor, destitute,
Athirst while drinking, haunter of the bar,
As stone in water so he sinks in debt;
Swift will he make his folk without a name.

One who by habit in the day doth sleep,
Who looks upon the night as time to arise,¹⁹
One who is ever wanton, filled with wine,
He is not fit to lead a household life.

Too cold! too hot I too late I such is the cry.
And so past men who shake off work that waits
The opportunities for good pass by.
But he who reckons cold and heat as less
Than straws, doing his duties as a man.
He nowise falls away from happiness."²⁰

■

15. "Four, O young householder, are they
who should be reckoned as foes
in the likeness of friends;
to wit,
[1] a rapacious person,
[2] the man of words not deeds,
[3] the flatterer,
[4] the fellow-waster.

16. Of these the first is
on four grounds
to be reckoned as a foe
in the likeness of a friend: —
[1] he is rapacious;
[2] he gives little and asks much;
[3] he does his duty out of fear;
[4] he pursues his own interests.

17. On four grounds
the man of words, not deeds,
is to be reckoned as a foe
in the likeness of a friend: —
[1] he makes friendly profession as regards the past;²¹
[2] he makes friendly profession as regards the future;
[3] he tries to gain your favour by empty sayings;
[4] when the opportunity for service has arisen
he avows his disability.²²

[178] 18. On four grounds
the flatterer is to be reckoned
as a foe in the likeness of a friend: —
[1] he both consents to do wrong,²³
[2] and dissents from doing right;²⁴
[3] he praises you to your face;
[4] he speaks ill of you to others.

19. On four grounds
the fellow-waster companion is to be reckoned
as a foe in the likeness of a friend: —
[1] he is your companion
when you indulge in strong drinks;
[1] he is your companion
when you frequent the streets at untimely hours;
[1] he is your companion
when you haunt shows and fairs;
[1] he is your companion
when you are infatuated with gambling."

Thus spake the Exalted One.

And when the Blessed One had thus spoken,
the Master spake yet again: —

The friend who's ever seeking what to take,
The friend whose words are other than his deeds,
The friend who flatters, pleasing you withal.
The boon companion down the errant ways: —
These four are Foes. Thus having recognized.
Let the wise man avoid them from afar
As they were path of peril and of dread.²⁵

■

21. "Four, O young householder,
are the friends who should be reckoned
as sound at heart²⁶: —
[1] the helper;
[2] the friend who is the same in happiness and adversity;
[3] the friend of good counsel;
[4] the friend who sympathizes.

22. On four grounds
the friend who is a helper
is to be reckoned as sound at heart: —
[1] he guards you when [179] you are off your guard,²⁷
[2] he guards your property when you are off your guard;
[3] he is a refuge to you when you are afraid;
[4] when you have tasks to perform
he provides a double supply [of what you may need].²⁸

23. On four grounds
the friend who is the same
in happiness and adversity
is to be reckoned as sound of heart: —
[1] he tells you his secrets;
[2] he keeps secret your secrets;
[3] in your troubles he does not forsake you;
[4] he lays down even his life for your sake.

24. On four grounds
the friend who declares what you need to do
is to be reckoned as sound of heart: —
[1] he restrains you from doing wrong;
[2] he enjoins you to [do what is] right;
[3] he informs you of what you had not heard before;
[4] he reveals to you the way to heaven.

25. On four grounds
the friend who sympathizes
is to be reckoned as sound at heart: —
[1] he does not rejoice over your misfortunes;
[2] he rejoices over your prosperity;
[3] he restrains anyone who is speaking ill of you;
[4] he commends anyone who is praising you."

Thus spake the Exalted One.

26. And when the Blessed One had thus spoken,
the Master spake yet again: —

The friend who is a helpmate, and the friend
Of bright days and of dark, and he who shows
What 't is you need, and he who throbs for you
With sympathy²⁹: — these four the wise should know
As friends, and should devote himself to them
As mother to her own, her bosom's child.

Whoso is virtuous and intelligent,
Shines like a fire that blazes [on the hill].³⁰
[180] To him amassing wealth, like roving bee
Its honey gathering [and hurting naught],³¹
Riches mount up as ant-heap growing high.
When the good layman wealth has so amassed
Able is he to benefit his clan.
In portions four let him divide that wealth.
So binds he to himself life's friendly things.³²

One portion let hint spend and taste the fruit.³³
His business to conduct let him take two.
And portion four let him reserve and hoard;
So there'11 be wherewithal in times of need.

■

27. "And how, O young householder,
does the Ariyan disciple
protect the six quarters?

The following should be looked upon
as the six quarters: —
[1] parents as the east,³⁴
[2] teachers as the south,
[3] wife and children as the west,
[4] friends and companions as the north,
[5] servants and work people as the nadir,
[6] religious teachers and brahmins as the zenith.

28. In five ways
a child should minister to his parents
as the eastern quarter: —

[1] 'Once supported by them
I will now be their support;
[2] I will perform duties incumbent on them;
[3-4] I will keep up the lineage and tradition³⁵ of my family;
[5] I will make myself worthy of my heritage.

[l8l] In five ways
parents thus ministered to,
as the eastern quarter,
by their child,
show their love³⁶ for him: —
[1] they restrain him from vice,
[2] they exhort him to virtue,
[3] they train him to a profession,³⁷
[4] they contract a suitable marriage for him,
[5] and in due time³⁸ they hand over his inheritance.

Thus is this eastern quarter protected by him
and made safe and secure.

29. In five ways
should pupils minister to their teachers
as the southern quarter:
[1] by rising (from their seat, in salutation)
[2] by waiting upon them,
[3] by eagerness to learn,³⁹
[4] by personal service,
[5] and by attention when receiving their teaching.

And in five ways
do teachers, thus ministered to
as the southern quarter by their pupils,
love their pupil: —
[1] they train him in that wherein he has been well trained;
[2] they make him hold fast
that which is well held;
[3] they thoroughly instruct him in the lore of every art;
[4] they speak well of him among his friends and companions.
[5] they provide for his safety in every quarter.

Thus is this southern quarter
protected by him
and made safe and secure.

30. In five ways
should a wife as western quarter
be ministered to by her husband: —
[1] by [182] respect,
[2] by courtesy,
[3] by faithfulness,
[4] by handing over authority to her,
[5] by providing her with adornment.

In these five ways does the wife,
ministered to by her husband
as the western quarter,
love him: —
[1] her duties are well performed,
[2] by hospitality to the kin of both,
[3] by faithfulness,
[4] by watching over the goods he brings,
[5] and by skill and industry in discharging all her business.

Thus is this western quarter
protected by him
and made safe and secure.

31. In five ways
should a clansman minister to his friends and familiars
as the northern quarter: —
[1] by generosity,
[2] courtesy
[3] and benevolence,
[4] by treating them as he treats himself,
[5] and by being as good as his word.

In these five ways
thus ministered to as the northern quarter,
his friends and familiars love him: —
[1] they protect him when he is off his guard,⁴⁰
[2] and on such occasions guard his property;
[3] they become a refuge in danger,
[4] they do not forsake him in his troubles,
[5] and they show consideration for his family.

Thus is the northern quarter
by him protected
and made safe and secure.

32. In five ways
does an Ariyan master⁴¹
minister to his servants and employees
as the nadir: —
[1] by assigning them work according to their strength;
[2] by supplying them with food and wages;
[3] by tending them in sickness;
[4] by sharing with them unusual delicacies;
[5] by granting leave at times.⁴²

In these ways
ministered to by their master,
servants and employees love their master in five ways; —
[1] they rise before him,
[2] they lie down to rest after him;
[3] they are content with what is given to them;
[4] they do [183] their work well;
[5] and they carry about his praise and good fame.

Thus is the nadir
by him protected and made safe and secure.

33. In five ways should the clansman
minister to recluses and brahmins as the zenith: —
[1] by affection in act and [2] speech and [3] mind;
[4] by keeping open house to them,
[5] by supplying their temporal needs.

Thus ministered to as the zenith,
recluses and brahmins show their love for the clansman
in six ways: —
[1] they restrain him from evil,
[2] they exhort him to good,
[3] they love him with kindly thoughts;
[4] they teach him what he had not heard,
[5] they correct and purify what he has heard,
[6] they reveal to him the way to heaven.

Thus by him is the zenith
protected and made safe and secure."

Thus spake the Exalted One.

And when the Blessed One had so spoken,
the Master said yet further: —

Mother and father are the Eastern view,
And teachers are the quarters of the South.
And wife and children are the Western view,
And friends and kin the quarter to the North;
Servants and working folk the nadir are,
And overhead the brahmin and recluse.
These quarters should be worshipped by the man
Who fitly ranks as houseman in his clan.

He that is wise, expert in virtue's ways,
Gentle and in this worship eloquent,⁴³
Humble and docile, he may honour win.
Active in rising, foe to laziness,
Unshaken in adversities, his life
Flawless, sagacious, he may honour win.
If he have winning ways,⁴⁴ and maketh friends,
[184] Makes welcome with kind words and generous heart,⁴⁵
And can he give sage counsels and advice,
And guide his fellows, he may honour win.

The giving hand, the kindly speech, the life
Of service, impartiality to one
As to another, as the case demands: —
These be the things that make the world go round⁴⁶
As linchpin serves the rolling of the car.
And if these things be not, no mother reaps
The honour and respect her child should pay,
Nor doth the father win them through the child.
And since the wise rightly appraise these things,⁴⁷
They win to eminence and earn mens praise.

■

When the Exalted One had thus spoken
Sigāla the young householder said this:

"Beautiful, lord, beautiful!

As if one should set up again
that which had been overthrown,
or reveal that which had been hidden,
or should disclose the road
to one that was astray,
or should carry a lamp into darkness, saying:
'They that have eyes will see!'

Even so hath the Truth been manifested by the Exalted One in many ways.

And I, even I, do go to him as my refuge,
and to the Truth
and to the Order.

May the Exalted One receive me
as his lay-disciple,
as one who has taken his refuge in him
from this day forth
as long as life endures."

Here ends the Sigālovāda Suttanta.

¹ Cf. the abstract in Rhys Davids's Buddhism, London, 1907.

² Rhys Davids (op. cit.), p. 148.

³ Cf. I, 310.

⁴ Whitney-Lanman translation, Harvard O.S. 7, p. 131 f.

⁵ Cf. above II, 242, 259; next Suttanta.

⁶ S.B.E. XII, 382; XLIII, 277, 314.

⁷ S.B.E. XXIX, 320, cf. 232; XXX, 171, 194, 213, 278. These Sutras contain the rules of Vedic domestic ceremonies. Grihya means houseness.

⁸ Cf. above II, 84 f. rendered 'persevere in kindness towards.'

⁹ Kindred Sayings I, 139; cf. 264.

¹⁰ The MSS. call him Singālo, Sigālo (both variants of the Pali for jackal) and Singālako, which has merely the affix of agency, of the adjective (cf. Greek κοϛ Latin -cus) or of the diminutive. The Singhalese MSS. mostly read Sigāla.

¹¹ Ṭhānāni.

¹² I.e, includes, embraces.

¹³ Āraddho.

¹⁴ The Comy., distinguishes five kinds of surā, and says that meraya is āsava. So also the old Comy., at Vin. IV. 110.

¹⁵ So the Comy.. : — crimes committed by some thief or adulterer are fathered on him. See Iti-vuttaka, § 76.

¹⁶ Cf. on shows and these last two terms, symbolical of performances, acrobatic, etc. Dialogues I, 7 f.

¹⁷ Read vittaṇ. Cf. S. I. 123. Kindred Sayings, p. 153, n. 3

¹⁸ Lit. unseasonably.

¹⁹ B. paraphrases by rattiṇ anuṭṭhāna-silena: by habit rises not at night.

²⁰ These last six lines are identical (with one or two slight variations) with verses ascribed in Psalms of the Brethren, No. 174, to Mātanga.

²¹ Such as a supply of rice was put by for you; we sat watching the road, but you did not come, and now it is gone bad. In the next case a present of corn is spoken of in the future. Comy..

²² Such as, you want a cart, and his has a wheel off, or a broken axle. Comy..

²³ With respect to taking life, etc., to whatever you propose to do, he consents saying: Good, friend, let's do it. With respect to right acts, the same method applies. Comy..

²⁴ The MSS. are equally divided between consents and dissents (anujānāti, nānujānāti). Childers translates as from anujānāti.

²⁵ These verses are quoted at Jātaka II, 390, where Dr. Rouse has a charming version.

²⁶ Suhadā.

²⁷ If he sees you fallen down anywhere in the village after drinking spirits, he sits down by you till you wake, lest your cloak should be stolen. Comy..

²⁸ If you go to him burdened with a commission involving outlay, he presses you to accept double what you will require to spend. Comy..

²⁹ The literal sense of anu-kamp-ako is one who vibrates because of. See p. 171 f.

³⁰ On a hill in the night. Comy..

³¹ Thus Buddhaghosa prettily amplifies, taking the idea perhaps from Dhammapada, ver. 49.

³² Mittāni. Cf. S. I, 214. The Comy., explains by mitte, friends.

³³ Which portion is to serve for doing good? asks B. The first; with it he can both give gifts to religienx and the destitute, and can pay wages to weavers, bathmen, etc. [for personal services as distinct from trade dealings].

³⁴ The symbolism is deliberately chosen: as the day in the East, so life begins with parents' care; teachers' fees and the South are the same word: dakkhiṇa; domestic cares follow when the youth becomes man, as the West holds the later day-light; North is 'beyond,' so by help of friends, etc., he gets beyond troubles.

³⁵ Kula-vaṇsa implies both. B. explains it as not dissipating property, restoring, if need be, the family honour and integrity, and maintaining gifts to religienx.

³⁶ Anukampanti, and so below. See p. 179, n. 1.

³⁷ To conveyancing, or as an accountant, etc., according to the family tradition. Comy..

³⁸ Both on suitable occasions and at death.

³⁹ Childers has obedience. This is quite wrong. Considering the enormous importance attached in the autocratic states and religious Orders of Europe to obedience, it is most worthy of notice that obedience does not occur in Buddhist ethics. It is not mentioned in any one of the 227 rules of the Buddhist Order. It does not occur in any one of the clauses of this summary of the ethics of the Buddhist layman, and it does not enter into any one of the divisions of the Eightfold Path nor of the thirty-seven constituent qualities of Arahantship. Hence no member of the Buddhist order takes any vow of obedience; and the vows of a Buddhist layman ignore it. Has this been one of the reasons for the success of Buddhism? It looked beyond obedience.

⁴⁰ See above § 22.

⁴¹ Ayirakena or ayyirakena. B. is silent as to this unusual term. Cf. Jāt. II, 349. On the metathesis cf. Ed. Müller, Pali Gram., p. 49.

⁴² I.e., constant relaxation so that they need not work all day, and special leave with extra food and adornment for festivals, etc. Comy..

⁴³ B. thus interprets paṭibhānavā in this connexion, viz., on the occasion of worshipping the quarters.

⁴⁴ I.e., the four bases of popularity, says B. These are liberality, affability, beneficence, impartiality (cf. Childers s.v., saṇgaha, above, p. 145).

⁴⁵ = A pada in S. I, 34. There and here, with different illustrations, B. explains vādaññu, makes welcome. ...

⁴⁶ So B.: given these qualities the world goes round. Cf. the French adage: C'est l'amour, qui fait le monde a la ronde.

⁴⁷ Samavekkhanti.

32. The Ward Rune of Āṭānāṭa

Āṭānāṭiya Suttantaṃ

[185]

Introduction

On this Suttanta we have already commented incidentally in the preceding and the Mahā-Samaya Suttantas (II, 283). Here we wish very briefly to consider the position of these rakkhan's, parittās or prayers for safety in the Buddhist cult. Parittā (pari-trā) means protection, from a root trā, to rescue. It is a different word from the parittaṃ (parītra, limited, little) on which we have commented elsewhere.¹ And it is more often used than its synonym rakkhaṃ, the term used here. A list of parittās is given in the Questions of King Milinda (trs. I, 231), and the sanction of their use is there made one of the horns of a dilemma, thus: — 'The Parittās were promulgated by the Blessed One, that is to say, the Ratana Sutta, the Khandha, Peacock, Banner-crest, Āṭānāṭiya and Angulimāla Parittās. Now if a man may not escape death, the Paritta is useless; if the Parittā saves him, it is not true that he cannot escape death.' All of these Parittās are translated into English. The Ratana is in the Khuddakapatha, translated by Childers,² and the Sutta-Nipāta;³ the Peacock is the Jātaka verses so called;⁴ the Banner-crest is in the Sakka-Saṃyutta;⁵ and the Angulimāla may be read in the Theragātha and the Majjhima-Nikāya.⁶ The Khandha parittā is in the Aṇguttara-Nikaya (II., 72) and in the Cullavagga of the Vinaya.⁷ In the last-named works it is said to be 'allowed' by the Buddha 'as a watch, a guard, a protection for one's self for the use of the Order.' The occasion for this general injunction was the death of a member through snake-bite. The formula consists of a profession of amity towards the four tribes of snakes, an entreaty against injury from beasts, a prayer for the welfare of all beings. The profession of amity, according to Buddhist doctrine, was no mere matter of pretty speech.

[186] It was to accompany and express a psychic suffusion of the hostile man or beast or spirit with benign, fraternal emotion — with mettā. For strong was the conviction, from Sutta and Vinaya to Buddhaghosa's Visuddhi-Magga,⁸ that 'thoughts are things,' that psychical action, emotional or intellectual, is capable of working like a force among forces. Europe may yet come round further to this Indian attitude.

The belief in the effective power to heal, or protect, of the saccakiriyā, or asseveration of something quite true, is but another aspect of the work ascribed to the parittā."⁹

It may well be that Buddhism was compelled to adopt and then adapt, in the parittā, the rakshamantras dear to its converts. There was wisdom shown by the teachers of the new successful Dhamma in making friends out of certain traditions and prejudices very hard to overcome. In moments of vital peril any conceivable means are clutched at that may avail to save. And it is chiefly as a cry for help in sickness that the parittā-rite or pirit survives yet in Ceylon. The simple ritual is described in Spence Hardy's Eastern Monarchism, p. 240, and in Gogerly's Ceylon Buddhism, edited by A. S. Bishop, p. 327 ff.

But on the other hand there is an aspect under which these guarding runes are not alien to Buddhist doctrine, but are as much in harmony with it as is prayer with a theistic religion. This is not altogether because the agencies whose power to harm is deprecated are not, as in other cults, cursed and anathematized, but are blessed with good wishes, and suffused with an outgoing love. Though, for that matter, we cannot but linger for a moment to render homage to this wonderful vista of faith, wherein even the most malignant spirits and beasts were looked upon, not as hopelessly and eternally damned, but as erring unfortunates upon their agelong upward way, and capable of being doctored and softened by the lovely power of love. What we mean here is that the Buddhist's idea of the moral order reigning in the universe — an order or law which he called Dhamma — justifies him in the practice of the parittā. The kernel of Buddhist doctrine is insight into the moral cosmic order — into the eternal truth of Ill and of its arising and passing, and of the Path whereby it may be overpassed. But this order is not a finished, rigid, alien measure which may be [187] applied from without to life and conduct. It is not like an iron gallon jar which may be filled and emptied innumerable times with changing contents. It is more like an infinite web that living creatures themselves are ever weaving. The results of our actions are the web. The pattern that comes out as the web progresses is by us interpreted as moral law. It is a growing induction based on faith, namely, that good brings happiness, evil, unhappiness. And the actions with such pregnant results are acts not only of deed and speech, but also of feeling, thinking, and will. Each thread of the web is the result of some person's karma. Whether that karma be good or bad, the eternal shuttle weaves in the result. And at any given moment it requires, in making up the pattern, which is the fulfilling of the moral law, an act 'of mind, word, or deed from some being or beings. The Hebrew prophet in a fine inspiration conceived the Lord as 'waiting to be gracious.' So the Buddhist, his world teeming with the life and power of beings seen and unseen, all making their own karma, conceives the moral order as, so to speak, waiting for the action of this or that human or non-human being, contributing to the progress of its sempiternal fulfilment. Nāgasena, in the Milinda question, likens this, that we have called a 'waiting' for the human intercession in the Parittā, to the sick man's turning to the physician's remedies. Either means may avail if the patient's karma for this life be not exhausted. The fervent utterances of the Parittā, as synergy of thought sent forth by the utterers, are judged to be a possibly effective medicine no less than the muscular and material appliances of medical art. They are intended to range benign agencies on the side of the patient, and to keep far off those that may harm. Deities as conceived in other creeds were no longer invoked. Short of this, the parittas have yet much of the force of prayer. Balaam's aspiration: 'Let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his!' would be accounted as a prayer by both theist and Buddhist. Even Aaron's benediction of Israel: 'May the Lord bless thee and keep thee,' etc., is a votive uttering — a voeu — an invocation on the lines of the parittās. In these the power and goodness of the wonderful Teacher and Saviour, the truth of the Dhamma, the help of all holy ones — these are made present to the mind and give strength. The heart of unbounded love converts foes to friends, or else to powerlessness, and so drives out fear. So that whether it is to be a prolonged span of safety here, or whether life elsewhere is once more imminent, great allies have been called to aid and are standing by, and all is well.

C.A.F. RHYS DAVIDS.

[188]

XXXII. Āṭānāṭiya Suttantaṃ

The Ward Rune of Āṭānāṭa

THUS HAVE I HEARD.

The Exalted One was once staying near Rājagaha on Vulture's Peak.

Now the Four Kings¹⁰
having set a guard,
a screen,
a patrol
over the four quarters
with a great army of Yakkhas,
of Gandhabbas,
of Kumbhaṇḍas,
went to Vulture's Peak when night was far spent,
lighting up the whole mountain
with their effulgent beauty.¹¹

And there they saluted the Exalted One
and sat down at one side.

And of the [attendant] fairies¹²
some saluted only and sat down at one side,
some exchanged greetings and compliments of politeness and courtesy,
and took their seats on one side;
some saluted him with clasped hands,
then sat down on one side;
some called out their name and family,
then sat down on one side;
some sat down in silence.¹³

2. Then King Vessavana¹⁴
so seated
spake thus to the Exalted One:

"Lord! there are eminent fairies¹⁵
who do not believe in the Exalted One,
and there are eminent fairies who do.

There are also fairies of middle
and of inferior rank
who do not believe in him,
and there are [189] fairies of middle and of inferior rank who do.

But for the most part, lord,
fairies do not believe in the Exalted One.

Why is this?

The Exalted One teaches a code
of abstaining from the taking of life,
from theft,
inchastity,
lying
and intemperance.

But for the most part, lord,
fairies do not abstain
from any one of these things.

To them such a code
is distasteful and disagreeable.

Surely, lord, there are disciples of the Exalted One
who haunt the lonely and remote recesses of the forest,
where noise,
where sound
there hardly is,¹⁶
where breezes from the pastures blow,
hidden from men,
suitable for meditation.

There do eminent fairies dwell,
who have no faith in the word of the Exalted One.

That they may find faith,
may the Exalted One learn¹⁷ the Āṭānāṭa¹⁸ ward-rune
whereby both brethren and sisters of the Order,
and laymen and laywomen
may dwell at ease
guarded,
protected
and unscathed?"

The Exalted One by his silence gave consent.

3. Then King Vessavana,
noting the Exalted One's consent,
recited in that hour
this ward-rune of Āṭānāṭa: —

§

All glory to Vipassi, splendid seer!
To Sikhin of the tender heart for all!
To Vessabhu ascetic, wholly pure!
To Kakusandha, mill of Māra's host!
To Koṇāgamana, perfected saint!
To Kassapa, in every way set free!
And to Angīrasa the splendid son
Of Sākiyas who hath taught the holy Norm
Defeating and dispelling every ill.¹⁹
[190] They too who here from passions freed²⁰ have pierced
E'en as it really is the truth of things,
Such souls of gentle speech, mighty, serene,
To GOTAMA give glory, Fount of Good²¹
To devas and to men, in wisdom's lore
And conduct versed, mighty, serene.

4. Whence cometh up the sun, Aditi's child,²²
Orbèd and vast, e'en as he cometh up
Ceaseth the Shrouder:²³ lo! the day, 't is said.
There too and thus they know the sounding deep,
The sea, the bourne of travelling waters, so
They call it 'Sea.' And looking hence²⁴ we say
This quarter is the East: the 'First' to come²⁵
Custodian of this quarter is a king.
With brilliant retinue, the sovereign lord
Of the Gandhabbas, Dhataraṭṭha named.
Attended by Gandhabbas he enjoys
Their songs and dances. Many are his sons
Of one name and the same, so have I heard.
Eighty and ten and one the tale of them,
Inda their name and mighty is their strength.
They too beholding Buddha, kin o' th sun,
Mighty, serene, acclaim him from afar.
'Hail thou, humanity's aristocrat!
Glory to thee, thou highest among men!²⁶
'Tis by thy goodness²⁷ thou hast looked on us.
[191] We, though we be not human, worship thee!'
Full often have we heard the question asked,
'The conqueror do ye worships GOTAMA?'
Therefore do we on this wise utterance make:
'The conqueror we do worships GOTAMA,
In wisdom's lore and conduct throughly versed;
The Buddha do we worships GOTAMA!'

5. Where they whom men call Peta-folk reside,
Folk rough of speech, backbiters, murderers,
Brigands and crafty-minded, looking hence,
They say, 'This is the quarter of the south.'
Custodian of this quarter is a king,
With brilliant retinue, the sovereign lord
Of the Kumbhaṇḍa sprites, Virūḷha named.
Attended by Kumbhaṇḍas he enjoys
Their songs and dances. Many are his sons,
Of one name and the same, so have I heard,
Eighty and ten and one the tale of them;
Inda their name and mighty is their strength.
They too beholding Buddha, kin o' th' sun,
Mighty, serene, acclaim him from afar,
'Hail thou, humanity's aristocrat!
Glory to thee, thou highest among men!
'Tis by thy goodness thou hast looked on us.
We, though we be not human, worship thee!'
Full often have we heard the question asked,
'The conqueror do ye worship, GOTAMA?'
Therefore do we on this wise utterance make:
'The conqueror we do worship, GOTAMA,
In wisdom's lore and conduct throughly versed;
The Buddha do we worship, GOTAMA!'

6. And where the sun goes down, Aditi's child,
Orbèd and vast, e'en as he goeth down
Ceaseth the day, and when he goeth down
The Shrouder cometh, men are wont to say.
[192] There too and thus they know the sounding deep.
The sea, the bourne of travelling waters, so
They call it 'sea.' And looking hence we say
This quarter is the 'West' the 'Last' to come.²⁸
Custodian of this quarter is a king,
Of brilliant retinue, the sovereign lord
Of Nāgas, him Virupakkha we name.
Attended by the Nāgas he enjoys
Their songs and dances. Many are his sons.
Of one name and the same, so have I heard.
Eighty and ten and one the tale of them;
Inda their name and mighty is their strength.
They too beholding Buddha, kin o' th' sun.
Mighty, serene, acclaim him from afar.
'Hail thou, humanity's aristocrat!
Glory to thee, thou highest among men!
'Tis by thy goodness thou hast looked on us.
We, though we be not human, worship thee.'
Full often have we heard the question asked,
'The conqueror do ye worship, GOTAMA?'
Therefore do we on this wise utterance make:
'The conqueror we do worship, GOTAMA,
In wisdom's lore and conduct throughly versed;
The Buddha do we worship, GOTAMA!'

7. Where Northern Kuru lies delectable,
Where towers great Neru's²⁹ mountain beauteously,.
There do men live calling no goods their own,.
Nor as their chattels any womenkind.³⁰
No seed they scatter, nor in furrows led
Are ploughshares. Of itself the ripened corn³¹
Stands without toil of tilth for men to enjoy.
The rice purged of red powder and of husk,
Sweet-scented, boiling on hot oven-stones:³²
[193] Thus they [untoiling find and] eat their food.
They make of kine a single-seated mount,³³
And so they ride about the land; and eke
Their flocks they use on this wise, women too
And men, and maids and youths — these vehicles
Mounting they ride about on every hand,
Engaged upon the service of their king.
And elephants they have to ride and horses too
And cars celestial, and for the king
And all his retinue state palanquins.
Cities are theirs well built on airy base;
Their names Āṭānāṭā, Kusināṭā,
Parakusināṭā and Nāṭapuriya,
And Parakusitanāṭa, to the North
Kapīvanta and other cities too: —³⁴
Janogha and Navanavatiya
And Ambara-Ambaravatiya³⁵
Āḷakamandā too, the royal residence.
But where Kuvera³⁶ dwells, their gracious king,
Visānā is the citadel, and hence
The name he goes by of Vessavaṇa.
And these are they who take his embassies
And make them known: — Tatolā, Tattalā,
Tatotalā; Ojasi, Tejasi,
Tatojasi and Sūro and Rāja
Ariṭṭha too and Nemi. There too spreads
The mighty sheet of water, Dharani,
Whence rain-clouds [drawing waters]³⁷ pour them forth
Whence showers rain down. And there too stands the hall
Named Bhagalavati, where congregate
The Yakkha sprites. And round about are trees
[194] Bearing perpetual fruit; their foliage
Swarming with divers birds and jubilant
With cry of peacock and of heron and the song
Melodious of the kokilā. There too
You hear the jīva-bird who calls 'Live ye!
Live ye!' and he who sings 'O lift your hearts!'³⁸
And many another bird of wood and lake³⁹
With noisy parrots and the gentler song
Of myna-birds and harpies called by men
Rod-mannikins. Aye in her beauty lies
The livelong day Kuvera's lotus-lake.
And looking hence our people designate
That quarter of the firmament as North.
Custodian of this quarter is a king
Of brilliant retinue, the sovereign lord
Of Yakkhas, by the name Kuvera known.
Attended by the Yakkhas he enjoys
Their songs and dances. Many are his sons,
Of one name and the same, so have I heard.
Eighty and ten and one the tale of them;
Inda their name and mighty is their strength.
They too beholding Buddha kin o' the sun,
Mighty, serene, acclaim him from afar:
Hail thou., humanity s aristocrat!
Glory to thee, thou highest among men!
'Tis by thy goodness thou hast looked on us.
We though we be not human worship thee.
Full often have we heard the question asked:
'The conqueror do ye worships GOTAMA?'
Therefore do we on this wise utterance make:
'The conqueror we do worship, GOTAMA,
In wisdom's lore and conduct throughly versed.
The Buddha do we worships GOTAMA.'

8. This, dear Sir, is the ward rune,
whereby both brethren and sisters of the Order,
and laymen and laywomen
may dwell at ease,
guarded,
protected
[195] and unscathed.

When any brother or sister,
layman or laywoman
shall have well learnt this Āṭānāṭa spell,
and shall know it word-perfectly,
if any non-human creature,
whether it be a Yakkha of either sex,
young or otherwise,
chief or attendant,
or servant,
or a Gandhabba,
or a Kumbhaṇḍa,
or a Nāga,
of either sex,
young or otherwise,
chief
or attendant
or servant,
should approach him or her
while walking,
standing,
sitting
or lying down,
with malevolent intent,
such a creature, dear sir,
would not win,
either in village or township,
hospitality or respect.

Such a creature, dear sir,
would obtain at my royal city of Āḷakamandā
neither site nor dwelling.

He would not be received
in any assembly of Yakkhas.

And he would not be taken or given in marriage.

And when his trial was over,
the public of creatures non-human
would heap contumely upon him,
and they would bend down his head
like an empty bowl,
and split it in seven pieces.

9. There are creatures not human, dear sir,
who are rough,
irascible,
violent.

They heed neither the [four] kings,
nor the officers of the kings,
nor their men.

They are called rebels against the four kings.

Even as brigand chiefs
suppressed by the king of Magadha,
so do they act.

Now if any Yakkha whatever,
or Gandhabba,
Kumbhaṇḍa
or Nāga
should approach a brother or sister of the Order,
or a lay-disciple,
walking,
standing,
sitting
or lying,
with malevolent intent,
then should [the molested one] incite
and cry aloud
and shout to those Yakkhas,
the Great Yakkhas,
their generals and commanders,
saying:

'This Yakkha is seizing me,
is assailing me,
is hurting,
injuring,
harming me,
and will not let me go!'

10. Which are the Yakkhas
[to whom appeal should be made]?

Inda,†⁴⁰ Soma† and Varuna,†
Bhāradvāja, Pajāpati,†
Candana,† Kāmasettha too,*
[196] Kinnughaṇḍu* and Nighaṇḍu*
Panāda, Opamañña too,
Devasūta and Mātali,†*
Cittasena* the Gandhabba,
Naḷa,* Rāja,* Janesabha*
Sātāgira* Hemavata,*
Puṇṇaka,* Karatiya, Gula.
Sīvaka* Mucalinda too
Vessāmitta, Yugandhara,
Gopāla, Suppagedha too,
Hirī, Nettī and Mandiya,
Pañcālacaṇḍa Āḷavaka,*
Pajunna,† Sumana, Sumukha,
Dadhimukha, Mani,
Mānicara, Dīgha,
With these Serissaka.

These are the Yakkhas,
the Greater Yakkhas,
the commanders,
the chief commanders,
who should be invoked.

11. This, dear sir,
is the ward rune
whereby both brethren and sisters of the Order,
and laymen and laywomen
may dwell at ease,
guarded,
protected
and unscathed.

Well, dear sir,
now we take our leave;
we have many duties,
much to do."

"That, sires, is whenever you think fit."

Then the Four King's arose from their seat,
and saluting the Exalted One
passed round him by his right
and there and then vanished.

And the Yakkhas arose from their seat
some following the procedure of the four kings,
some exchanging with the Exalted One
friendly and courteous salutations,
some stretching forth clasped hands,
some announcing their name and family,
some keeping silence.

And so all there and then vanished.

And when the night had passed,
the Exalted One addressed the brethren:

Last night
while staying near Vulture's Peak
the Four Kings
having set a guard,
a screen,
a patrol
over the four quarters
with a great army of Yakkhas,
of Gandhabbas,
of Kumbhaṇḍas,
went to Vulture's Peak when night was far spent,
lighting up the whole mountain
with their effulgent beauty.

And there they saluted the me
and sat down at one side.

And of the [attendant] fairies
some saluted only and sat down at one side,
some exchanged greetings and compliments of politeness and courtesy,
and took their seats on one side;
some saluted me with clasped hands,
then sat down on one side;
some called out their name and family,
then sat down on one side;
some sat down in silence.

Then King Vessavana so seated spake thus:

'Lord! there are eminent fairies
who do not believe in the Exalted One,
and there are eminent fairies who do.

There are also fairies of middle
and of inferior rank
who do not believe in him,
and there are fairies of middle and of inferior rank who do.

But for the most part, lord,
fairies do not believe in the Exalted One.

Why is this?

The Exalted One teaches a code
of abstaining from the taking of life,
from theft,
inchastity,
lying
and intemperance.

But for the most part, lord,
fairies do not abstain
from any one of these things.

To them such a code
is distasteful and disagreeable.

Surely, lord, there are disciples of the Exalted One
who haunt the lonely and remote recesses of the forest,
where noise,
where sound
there hardly is,
where breezes from the pastures blow,
hidden from men,
suitable for meditation.

There do eminent fairies dwell,
who have no faith in the word of the Exalted One.

That they may find faith,
may the Exalted One learn the Āṭānāṭa ward-rune
whereby both brethren and sisters of the Order,
and laymen and laywomen
may dwell at ease
guarded,
protected
and unscathed?'

Then I, by silence gave consent.

Then King Vessavana,
noting my consent,
recited in that hour
this ward-rune of Āṭānāṭa: —

§

All glory to Vipassi, splendid seer!
To Sikhin of the tender heart for all!
To Vessabhu ascetic, wholly pure!
To Kakusandha, mill of Māra's host!
To Koṇāgamana, perfected saint!
To Kassapa, in every way set free!
And to Angīrasa the splendid son
Of Sākiyas who hath taught the holy Norm
Defeating and dispelling every ill.
They too who here from passions freed have pierced
E'en as it really is the truth of things,
Such souls of gentle speech, mighty, serene,
To GOTAMA give glory, Fount of Good
To devas and to men, in wisdom's lore
And conduct versed, mighty, serene.

Whence cometh up the sun, Aditi's child,
Orbèd and vast, e'en as he cometh up
Ceaseth the Shrouder: lo! the day, 't is said.
There too and thus they know the sounding deep,
The sea, the bourne of travelling waters, so
They call it 'Sea.' And looking hence we say
This quarter is the East: the 'First' to come
Custodian of this quarter is a king.
With brilliant retinue, the sovereign lord
Of the Gandhabbas, Dhataraṭṭha named.
Attended by Gandhabbas he enjoys
Their songs and dances. Many are his sons
Of one name and the same, so have I heard.
Eighty and ten and one the tale of them,
Inda their name and mighty is their strength.
They too beholding Buddha, kin o' th sun,
Mighty, serene, acclaim him from afar.
'Hail thou, humanity's aristocrat!
Glory to thee, thou highest among men!
'Tis by thy goodness thou hast looked on us.
We, though we be not human, worship thee!'
Full often have we heard the question asked,
'The conqueror do ye worships GOTAMA?'
Therefore do we on this wise utterance make:
'The conqueror we do worships GOTAMA,
In wisdom's lore and conduct throughly versed;
The Buddha do we worships GOTAMA!'

Where they whom men call Peta-folk reside,
Folk rough of speech, backbiters, murderers,
Brigands and crafty-minded, looking hence,
They say, 'This is the quarter of the south.'
Custodian of this quarter is a king,
With brilliant retinue, the sovereign lord
Of the Kumbhaṇḍa sprites, Virūḷha named.
Attended by Kumbhaṇḍas he enjoys
Their songs and dances. Many are his sons,
Of one name and the same, so have I heard,
Eighty and ten and one the tale of them;
Inda their name and mighty is their strength.
They too beholding Buddha, kin o' th' sun,
Mighty, serene, acclaim him from afar,
'Hail thou, humanity's aristocrat!
Glory to thee, thou highest among men!
'Tis by thy goodness thou hast looked on us.
We, though we be not human, worship thee!'
Full often have we heard the question asked,
'The conqueror do ye worship, GOTAMA?'
Therefore do we on this wise utterance make:
'The conqueror we do worship, GOTAMA,
In wisdom's lore and conduct throughly versed;
The Buddha do we worship., GOTAMA!'

And where the sun goes down, Aditi's child,
Orbèd and vast, e'en as he goeth down
Ceaseth the day, and when he goeth down
The Shrouder cometh, men are wont to say.
There too and thus they know the sounding deep.
The sea, the bourne of travelling waters, so
They call it 'sea.' And looking hence we say
This quarter is the 'West' the 'Last' to come.
Custodian of this quarter is a king,
Of brilliant retinue, the sovereign lord
Of Nāgas, him Virupakkha we name.
Attended by the Nāgas he enjoys
Their songs and dances. Many are his sons.
Of one name and the same, so have I heard.
Eighty and ten and one the tale of them;
Inda their name and mighty is their strength.
They too beholding Buddha, kin o' th' sun.
Mighty, serene, acclaim him from afar.
'Hail thou, humanity's aristocrat!
Glory to thee, thou highest among men!
'Tis by thy goodness thou hast looked on us.
We, though we be not human, worship thee.'
Full often have we heard the question asked,
'The conqueror do ye worship, GOTAMA?'
Therefore do we on this wise utterance make:
'The conqueror we do worship, GOTAMA,
In wisdom's lore and conduct throughly versed;
The Buddha do we worship, GOTAMA!'

Where Northern Kuru lies delectable,
Where towers great Neru's mountain beauteously,.
There do men live calling no goods their own,.
Nor as their chattels any womenkind.
No seed they scatter, nor in furrows led
Are ploughshares. Of itself the ripened corn
Stands without toil of tilth for men to enjoy.
The rice purged of red powder and of husk,
Sweet-scented, boiling on hot oven-stones:
Thus they [untoiling find and] eat their food.
They make of kine a single-seated mount,
And so they ride about the land; and eke
Their flocks they use on this wise, women too
And men, and maids and youths — these vehicles
Mounting they ride about on every hand,
Engaged upon the service of their king.
And elephants they have to ride and horses too
And cars celestial, and for the king
And all his retinue state palanquins.
Cities are theirs well built on airy base;
Their names Āṭānāṭā, Kusināṭā,
Parakusināṭā and Nāṭapuriya,
And Parakusitanāṭa, to the North
Kapīvanta and other cities too: —
Janogha and Navanavatiya
And Ambara-Ambaravatiya
Āḷakamandā too, the royal residence.
But where Kuvera dwells, their gracious king,
Visānā is the citadel, and hence
The name he goes by of Vessavaṇa.
And these are they who take his embassies
And make them known: — Tatolā, Tattalā,
Tatotalā; Ojasi, Tejasi,
Tatojasi and Sūro and Rāja
Ariṭṭha too and Nemi. There too spreads
The mighty sheet of water, Dharani,
Whence rain-clouds [drawing waters] pour them forth
Whence showers rain down. And there too stands the hall
Named Bhagalavati, where congregate
The Yakkha sprites. And round about are trees
Bearing perpetual fruit; their foliage
Swarming with divers birds and jubilant
With cry of peacock and of heron and the song
Melodious of the kokilā. There too
You hear the jīva-bird who calls 'Live ye!
Live ye!' and he who sings 'O lift your hearts!'
And many another bird of wood and lake
With noisy parrots and the gentler song
Of myna-birds and harpies called by men
Rod-mannikins. Aye in her beauty lies
The livelong day Kuvera's lotus-lake.
And looking hence our people designate
That quarter of the firmament as North.
Custodian of this quarter is a king
Of brilliant retinue, the sovereign lord
Of Yakkhas, by the name Kuvera known.
Attended by the Yakkhas he enjoys
Their songs and dances. Many are his sons,
Of one name and the same, so have I heard.
Eighty and ten and one the tale of them;
Inda their name and mighty is their strength.
They too beholding Buddha kin o' the sun,
Mighty, serene, acclaim him from afar:
Hail thou., humanity s aristocrat!
Glory to thee, thou highest among men!
'Tis by thy goodness thou hast looked on us.
We though we be not human worship thee.
Full often have we heard the question asked:
'The conqueror do ye worships GOTAMA?'
Therefore do we on this wise utterance make:
'The conqueror we do worship, GOTAMA,
In wisdom's lore and conduct throughly versed.
The Buddha do we worships GOTAMA.'

This, dear Sir, is the ward rune,
whereby both brethren and sisters of the Order,
and laymen and laywomen
may dwell at ease,
guarded,
protected
and unscathed.

When any brother or sister,
layman or laywoman
shall have well learnt this Āṭānāṭa spell,
and shall know it word-perfectly,
if any non-human creature,
whether it be a Yakkha of either sex,
young or otherwise,
chief or attendant,
or servant,
or a Gandhabba,
or a Kumbhaṇḍa,
or a Nāga,
of either sex,
young or otherwise,
chief
or attendant
or servant,
should approach him or her
while walking,
standing,
sitting
or lying down,
with malevolent intent,
such a creature, dear sir,
would not win,
either in village or township,
hospitality or respect.

Such a creature, dear sir,
would obtain at my royal city of Āḷakamandā
neither site nor dwelling.

He would not be received
in any assembly of Yakkhas.

And he would not be taken or given in marriage.

And when his trial was over,
the public of creatures non-human
would heap contumely upon him,
and they would bend down his head
like an empty bowl,
and split it in seven pieces.

9. There are creatures not human, dear sir,
who are rough,
irascible,
violent.

They heed neither the [four] kings,
nor the officers of the kings,
nor their men.

They are called rebels against the four kings.

Even as brigand chiefs
suppressed by the king of Magadha,
so do they act.

Now if any Yakkha whatever,
or Gandhabba,
Kumbhaṇḍa
or Nāga
should approach a brother or sister of the Order,
or a lay-disciple,
walking,
standing,
sitting
or lying,
with malevolent intent,
then should [the molested one] incite
and cry aloud
and shout to those Yakkhas,
the Great Yakkhas,
their generals and commanders,
saying:

'This Yakkha is seizing me,
is assailing me,
is hurting,
injuring,
harming me,
and will not let me go!'

Which are the Yakkhas
[to whom appeal should be made]?

Inda, Soma and Varuna,
Bhāradvāja, Pajāpati,
Candana, Kāmasettha too,
Kinnughaṇḍu and Nighaṇḍu
Panāda, Opamañña too,
Devasūta and Mātali,
Cittasena the Gandhabba,
Naḷa, Rāja, Janesabha
Sātāgira Hemavata,
Puṇṇaka, Karatiya, Gula.
Sīvaka Mucalinda too
Vessāmitta, Yugandhara,
Gopāla, Suppagedha too,
Hirī, Nettī and Mandiya,
Pañcālacaṇḍa Āḷavaka,
Pajunna, Sumana, Sumukha,
Dadhimukha, Mani,
Mānicara, Dīgha,
With these Serissaka.

These are the Yakkhas,
the Greater Yakkhas,
the commanders,
the chief commanders,
who should be invoked.

This, dear sir,
is the ward rune
whereby both brethren and sisters of the Order,
and laymen and laywomen
may dwell at ease,
guarded,
protected
and unscathed.

Well, dear sir,
now we take our leave;
we have many duties,
much to do.'

That, sires, is whenever you think fit."

Then the Four King's arose from their seat,
and saluting the Exalted One
passed round him by his right
and there and then vanished.

And the Yakkhas arose from their seat
some following the procedure of the four kings,
some exchanging with the Exalted One
friendly and courteous salutations,
some stretching forth clasped hands,
some announcing their name and family,
some keeping silence.

And so all there and then vanished.

13. Learn by heart, brethren,
the Āṭānāṭa ward [197] rune,
master it and recollect it.

This rune, brethren,
pertains to your good
and by it brethren and sisters of the Order,
laymen and laywomen
may dwell at ease,
guarded,
protected
and unscathed."

Thus spake the Exalted One.

The brethren were pleased and delighted at his words.

Here ends the Āṭānāṭiya Suttanta.

¹ Bud. Psych. Ethics, p. 265, n. 1; 269, n. 3.

² J.R.A.S., Nov., 1869.

³ II, i; S.B.E. X, p. 37 f.

⁴ Mora-Jātaka II, No. 159.

⁵ Kindred Sayings I, 283.

⁶ Vol. II, 104 f.; Pss. of the Brethren (probably only), verses 874-6.

⁷ Vinaya Texts III, p, 76. The Aṇguttara Sutta is termed Ahinda, 'lord of snakes.' [AN 4.67]

⁸ Chapter IX, p. 313. According to the Sāsanālankāra quoted in Gray's Buddhaghosuppatti, p. 15, Buddhaghosa was about to write a Commentary on the Parittās, when he was sent to a greater work in Ceylon.

⁹ See our article on Truth (Buddhist) Ency. Religion and Ethics.

¹⁰ On these see II, 242, 258, the 'genii' presiding over the four quarters of the firmament. 'Great king' is more literal than correct. Only a 'maharājā' deserves to be rendered by king in our sense of the word.

¹¹ I.e., of their luminous skin, says B., commenting here as on S. I, I.

¹² Yakkhā.

¹³ See the identical formula in II, 350.

¹⁴ King of the northern quarter; 'intimate with the Buddha, expert in conversation, well-trained, and hence the spokesman.' Comy.

¹⁵ Fairy is yakkha. We have no legendary being whom the Pali word quite fits. See our note 1. Kindred Sayings I, p. 262. 'Genie' is fairly approximate. All these non-human creatures had bodies, hence 'spirits' is not very suitable.

¹⁶ Cf. Vol. II, 357; III, 35.

¹⁷ The Buddha acquiesces as if he did not know this rakshamantra (here called rakkhaṃ.) To safeguard the doctrine of his omniscience, the Commentary explains the king's word as intended to create an opportunity for others to learn, Gotama lending the undertaking the prestige of his authority.

¹⁸ The Commentary calls this a town. Cf. below, p. 193.

¹⁹ Each attribute, writes B., is equally applicable to each of the Buddhas ... all were Angīrasas because of the emission of rays.

²⁰ B. apparently interprets these (who are 'freed': nibbuta by the Nibbāna of the kilesas) as Arahants. But, he says, 'the Commentary' refers this and the next two lines to the Buddhas, and in the fourth line only understands 'the wise' to be meant.

²¹ Hitaṃ, by the suffusion of love. Comy.

²² Aditiyā putto.

²³ Saṇvarī, a name for night, elsewhere found only in a later work : the Jātaka Comy. IV, 441⁶; VI, 243¹³.

²⁴ Namely, from Mt. Sineru, or from where they were seated. Comy.

²⁵ Purimā = both 'east,' and 'first' or 'former.'

²⁶ Cf. Pss. of the Brethren, ver. 629, 1084, 1179. The Pali formula is the same in each passage.

²⁷ These lines are not part of the formula elsewhere. 'By, or with, goodness': kusalena, a curious, unusual phrase. B. gives 'pure wisdom,' 'omniscience' as alternative meanings.

²⁸ Pacchima is both 'West' and 'last.'

²⁹ Usually called Sineru.

³⁰ So B. 'no woman property'; no 'mineness' which says 'this is my wife'; and no desire for possession.

³¹Akaṭṭha-pāk imaṃ sāliṃ is apparently the right reading.

³² So B. explains tuṇḍikīre.

³³ Taṃ pitthi abhiruyha is B.'s only explanation of the curious term ekakhuraṃ katvā.

³⁴ Aparena, Comy. aparabhāge. Not 'on the west,' as in Grimblot.

³⁵ The double name of one city; so Comy.

³⁶ According to tradition, he was in a former birth a very charitable sugar-growing brahmin.

³⁷ So Comy. reading for yatto, yato.

³⁸ So the Comy.

³⁹ Kukutthaka, kulīraka, and pokkharasātaka are specified.

⁴⁰ See Appendix, giving references to works in the Piṭakas, where certain of these names are met with.

33. The Recital: Introduction

Saṇgīti Suttantaṃ

[198]

An English translation of this Suttanta by the Rev. Suriyagoda Sumangala was published at Calcutta in 1904 by the Mahābodhi Society.

It and the following Suttanta, in concluding the Dīgha Nikāya, form for that work a novel departure. Novel, not because they are compiled as catechisms - we have already met with an exposition so compiled in the Mahā Satipaṭṭhāna Suttanta, Vol. II, pp. 337 - 45, where there is a lengthy discourse, possibly an interpolation, by question and answer, on the so-called Four Aryan Truths, another in the Mahā Nidāna Suttanta (Vol. II, pp. 51 - 68), not to mention yet other dialogues which are in part catechetical. The novelty lies in this, that the materials are arranged on the plan observed at much greater length throughout the Fourth, or Aṇguttara Nikāya. This plan is not that of the first and second Nikāyas, which are professedly grouped according to length, nor that of the third Nikāya, where the grouping is more intelligently done, namely, according to subject. It is a grouping where the points or chief items brought forward are grouped numerically and in arithmetical progression. Recourse to it must have been on mnemonic grounds, grounds that would be of great importance in an unwritten mass of doctrine.

It is not equally obvious why the compilation of doctrinal items in this form should have been attributed to Sariputta. In the Commentarial tradition of the procedure at the First Council, as told by Buddhaghosa,¹ in the Commentary on the Dīgha Nikāya, it is related that, whereas Ānanda was required to testify to the circumstances under which every Sutta in the Nikāyas was uttered, the other three Nikāyas were handed over to the disciples of (the late) Sariputta, Mahā Kassapa (the president) and Anuruddha respectively. Thus it was the Majjhima that fell to the school of Sariputta, and not the Aṇguttara, as we should have expected, had Sariputta, in his teaching, always preferred the numerical method. Nor is his teaching more amply represented in the Suttas of the Aṇguttara than in those of [199] the second and third Nikāyas. Sariputta's gift of teaching was not one able to express itself in one channel only. His manifold powers as a teacher are eloquently testified to by more than one distinguished apostle, witness the eulogies of Ānanda, Vangīsa, Mahā Kassapa, Mahā Moggallāna his fellow 'chief-disciple,' and by the Master himself.² He is in one of these testimonials praised for his ability to summarize as well as to expand:

He teaches first in outline brief
And then expands in full detail.

It was of prime importance in this unwritten gospel so to summarize that expansion was possible with the maximum of accuracy and the minimum of muddle and difficulty. And he on whom the duty would fall, should he survive his chief - which he did not - of faithfully maintaining and propagating the inherited doctrine, was naturally deeply concerned to get a correct catalogue of such summaries, while the leader was at hand to sanction them.

Some such reasoning may have led the compilers of these two last Suttantas to ascribe them to Sariputta. All that we now know is that each of them forms a sort of thematic Index to the doctrines scattered through the Four Nikāyas, that they follow the Aṇguttara method of arrangement, but that they contain here and there matter which suggests that they took their present shape at a later date than the bulk of the rest of the Dīgha.

In the two features they have in common, of catechism as a monologue by the catechumen, and of the absence of narrative (nidāna or vatthu), this further interest attaches to these last Suttantas, that they become practically Abhidhamma rather than Sutta Piṭaka. In the oldest division of the body of doctrine called in the Piṭakas the nine Angas or parts, one is Veyyākaranam, translatable as answering, or expounding. Under this Anga all the sort of catechetical dialogue was included that was called from the early days of the Order's history Abhidhamma-Katha, translatable as 'advanced discourse on doctrine.'³ Most of this Anga was at a later date systematized and expanded as the third or Abhidhamma Piṭaka. But some of it remained in the Nikāyas. In the Khuddaka or Fifth Nikāya there is a whole book of it: - the Patisambhidā-magga, or Analytic Course.

[200] Another pair of books, the Niddesas, though we class them as Commentaries, are practically Abhidhamma. And embedded in two of the other Nikāyas we have on the one hand Abhidhamma-talk in the two Vedalla-Suttas of the Majjhima (I, 299 f., though Buddhist tradition classes them under a Vedalla-anga), and on the other, these two lengthy Abhidhamma-lists in the Dīgha here presented.

The important Kashmirian Buddhist school of the Sabbatthivādins (Sanskrit: Sarvāstivādins), or 'Everything-exists-doctrinaires,' were so satisfied that the former of these two - the Saṇgīti Suttantaṃ - was proper 'Advanced talk,' that they placed it, or their own version of it among the seven works which, according to Tibetan and Chinese translations, constituted their Abhidhamma books. It is variously classed as No. 2, 3 or 7, and in the Chinese recensions is still ascribed to Sariputta. The Tibetan recensions father it on Mahā-Koṭṭhita, the Apostle who in the Majjhima is the speaker in the major Vedalla-Sutta. The episode that may possibly have stimulated Sariputta or the compilers of the two Suttantas to lose no time in drawing up summarized doctrines - the death of the Jain leader and the subsequent disputes among that body - is repeated in the Sabbatthivādin recension. We are indebted for what we know of this recension to Professor J. Takakusu's admirable essay on 'The Sarvāstivādin Abhidharma Books' in the Journal of the Pali Text Society, 1904-5. Space-limits prevented him from giving a full list of the summaries, but all he does give occur also in our Saṇgīti Suttantaṃ. Some day a full comparison will be possible.

C.A.F.R.D.

¹ Sumangala Vilāsinī I, 15.

² Kindred Sayings I, 87 f.; Psalms of the Brethren, verses 1231 - 3, 1082 - 6, 1176 f.; Kindred Sayings I, 242.

³ Majjhima I, 214.

33. The Recital

Saṇgīti Suttantaṃ

Ones and Twos

[207] [201]

THUS HAVE I HEARD:

The Exalted One was once making a tour in the country of the Mallas,¹ accompanied by a great company of the brethren, numbering about five hundred.

And he arrived at Pāvā the Malla capital.

There he resided in the mango-grove of Cunda the smith.²

Now at that time a new mote-hall of the Pāvā Mallas named Ubbhaṭaka³ had not long been built, and had not been occupied by recluse or brahmin or any human being whatever.

And the Pāvā Mallas heard that the Exalted One on his tour had arrived with his following at Pāvā and was staying in Cunda's mango-grove.

And they went to visit him, and saluting him sat down at one side.

So seated they said to him: --

"Lord, a new mote-hall named Ubbhaṭaka has lately been built by us Mallas of Pāvā, and no recluse or brahmin or any human being whatever has yet occupied it.

[208]Let, lord, the Exalted One be the first to make use of it.

That is has first been used by the Exalted One will be for the lasting good and happiness of the Pāvā Mallas."

The Exalted One by his silence assented.

3. When they marked his assent, they rose and saluted him, passing round by his right, and went to the mote-hall.

They spread the whole hall with carpets, arranged seats, put a bowl of water ready, hung up an oil lamp, and returned to the Exalted One.

Saluting [202] him and standing at one side they said:|| ||

"The whole mote-hall, lord, is spread with carpets, seats are arranged, a bowl of water has been placed ready, a lamp is hung up.

And now, lord, whenever the Exalted One deems the time is fit. ... "

4. Then the Exalted One dressed himself and taking bowl and robe he went with the company of brethren to the mote-hall.

On arriving he bathed his feet, and entered the hall, and took his seat facing the east, leaning against the central pillar.

The brethren also bathed their feet and entered the hall ranging themselves against the western wall and facing the east, [209] behind the Exalted One.

The Pāvā Mallas also bathed their feet and entered the hall, ranging themselves against the eastern wall and facing the west with the Exalted One before them.

Then the Exalted One far into the night discoursed on the doctrine to the Pāvā Mallas, instructing, enlightening, inciting and inspiring them.⁴

And then he dismissed them saying:|| ||

"Lovely, Vāseṭṭhas⁵ is the night.

Do ye deem it time?"

"We do, lord," responded the Pāvā Mallas.

And rising they saluted the Exalted One by the right and departed.

5. And presently the Exalted One, surveying the company of brethren wrapped in silence wherever they sat,⁶ called to the venerable Sāriputta:|| ||

"There is an absence, Sāriputta, of sloth and torpor in the company of brethren.

Let a religious discourse occur to thee, My back is aching, I will stretch it."

"So be it, lord," replied Sāriputta.

Then the Exalted One, letting his robe be folded in four, took up the lion-posture on his right side, placing his feet [203] one in the curve of the other, mindful and deliberate,⁷ having mentally noted a time for arousing himself.

6. Now at that time the Nigaṇṭha, Nātha's son, [210] had just died at Pāva.⁸

After his death the Nigaṇṭhas became divided, falling into opposite parties and into strife, disputes broke out and they went on wounding each other with wordy weapons: —

"Thou dost not confess this Norm and Discipline!"

"I do confess it!"

"Wilt thou confess it?"

"Thou are in the wrong!"

"I am practising it rightly!"

"I am speaking to the point;
thou art off the point!"

"Thou sayest last what should be said first,
and first what should come last!"

"What thou hast so long excogitated is quite upset!"

"Thy challenge is taken up;
thou'rt proved to be wrong!"

"Begone to get rid of thy opinion, or disentangle thyself if thou canst!"

Truly the Nigaṇṭhas, followers of Nāthaputta, were out methinks to kill.

Even the lay disciples of the white robe, who followed Nāthaputta, showed themselves shocked,⁹ repelled and indignant at the Nigaṇṭhas, so badly was their doctrine and discipline set forth and imparted, so ineffectual was it for guidance, so little conducive to peace, imparted as it had been by one who was not supremely enlightened, and now wrecked as it was of his support and without a protector.

7. Then the venerable Sāriputta addressed the brethren:|| ||

"The Nigaṇṭha, Nāthaputta, friends, has just died at Pāvā.

Since his death the Nigaṇṭhas have become divided and have fallen into opposite parties and into strife.

Disputes have broken out and they go on wounding each other with wordy weapons: —

'Thou dost not confess this Norm and Discipline!'

'I do confess it!'

'Wilt thou confess it?'

'Thou are in the wrong!'

'I am practising it rightly!'

'I am speaking to the point;
thou art off the point!'

'Thou sayest last what should be said first,
and first what should come last!'

'What thou hast so long excogitated is quite upset!'

'Thy challenge is taken up;
thou'rt proved to be wrong!'

'Begone to get rid of thy opinion, or disentangle thyself if thou canst!'

Truly the Nigaṇṭhas, followers of Nāthaputta, were out methinks to kill.

Even the lay disciples of the white robe, who followed Nāthaputta, showed themselves shocked, repelled and indignant at the Nigaṇṭhas, so badly was their doctrine and discipline set forth [204] and imparted, so ineffectual was it for guidance, so little conducive to peace, imparted as it had been by one who was not supremely enlightened, and now wrecked as it was of his support and without a protector.

[211] But to us, friends, the Norm has been well set forth and imparted by the Exalted One.

It is effectual for guidance, conducive to self-mastery, and is imparted by one perfectly enlightened.¹⁰

Herein there should be a chanting by all in concord, not a wrangling, that thus this holy life may persist and be long maintained.

That may be for the welfare and happiness of many folk, for compassion on the world, for the good, the welfare, the happiness of devas and of men."

The Recital
Ones

8. "What is the single doctrine?

All beings persist through causes.

All beings persist through conditions.¹¹

This 'single doctrine,' friends, has been perfectly set forth by the Exalted One who knows, who sees.

Hereon there should be a chanting in concord, not a wrangling, [212] that thus this holy life may persist and be long maintained.

That may be for the welfare and happiness of many folk, for compassion on the world, for the good, the welfare, the happiness of devas and of men.

§

The Recital
Twos¹²

9. There are double doctrines, friends, which are perfectly set forth by the Exalted One who knows, who sees.

Herein there should be a chanting by all in concord, [205] not a wrangling, that thus this holy life may persist and be long maintained.

That may be for the welfare and happiness of many folk, for compassion on the world, for the good, the welfare, the happiness of devas and of men.

Which are the doubles?

i. Mind¹³ and body.

ii. Ignorance and craving for rebirth.

iii. False opinion as to (a) rebirth, (b) no rebirth.

iv. Unconscientiousness and indiscretion.

v. Conscientiousness and discretion.¹⁴

vi. Contumacy and friendship with evil.¹⁵

vii. Suavity and friendship with good.

viii. Proficiency as to offences and restoration from them.

ix. Proficiency as to attainments and recovery from them (viz.: as to jhāna).

x. Proficiency in elements¹⁶ and in understanding them.

xi. Proficiency in the (twelve) spheres of sense and in the (twelve factors¹⁷ of the) causal formula.

xii. Proficiency in assigning specific causes, and in eliminating elements that are not causal [in a specific effect].¹⁸

[213] [206] xiii. Rectitude and shamefacedness.¹⁹

xiv. Patience and gentleness.

xv. Mildness of speech and courtesy.²⁰

xvi. Kindness²¹ and love.²²

xvii. Absence of mind²³ and want of intelligence.

xviii. Mindfulness and intelligence.

xix. Unguardedness of faculties²⁴ and intemperance in diet.

xx. Guardedness of faculties and temperance in diet.

xxi. The powers of judging and of cultivation.

xxii. The powers of mindfulness and concentration.

xxiii. Calm and insight.²⁵

xxiv. The causes [or signs]²⁶ of calm and of mental grasp.²⁷

xxv. Mental grasp and balance.

xxvi. Attainment in conduct and in [sound] belief.

xxvii. Failure in conduct and in [sound] belief.²⁸

[214] xxviii. Purity in conduct and in belief.²⁹

xxix. Purity in belief and the struggle according to the belief one holds.³⁰

xxx. Agitation over agitating conditions and the systematic exertion of one [thus] agitated.

xxxi. Discontent in meritorious acts and perseverance in exertion.

[207] xxxii. The higher wisdom³¹ and emancipation.³²

xxxiii. Knowledge how to extirpate and knowledge how to prevent recrudescence.³³

These, friends, are the Double Doctrines perfectly set forth by the Exalted One who knows, who sees.

Hereon there should be a chanting by all in concord, not a wrangling, that thus this holy life may persist and be long maintained.

That may be for the welfare and happiness of many folk, for compassion on the world, for the good, the welfare, the happiness of devas and of men.

¹ The Mallas were an oligarchy of rājas. They are called rājas in the Comy.

² Cf. above, Vol. II, 137

³ 'Thrown-aloft-er,' 'So-called because of its height.' Comy.

⁴ B.'s comments on these four verbs is in the Soṇadanda Suttanta (I, 159) should be compared with those on the same passage in S. I, 114, given in Kindred Sayings I, 140, n.4.

⁵ Apparently a leading family name among the Mallas both of Pāvā and the neighbouring village, Kusinārā. See II, 181.

⁶ Literally, wrapped in silence, wrapped in silence.' 'Wherever he looked, there that part was silent.' Comy.

⁷ Recorded in the same terms of Gotama, e.g. II, 149, S. I, 107; but cf. Devadatta in Vinaya Texts III, 258.

⁸ This episode forms the occasion for Suttanta XXIX, above, p.111, and for the Samāgama Sutta, M. II, 243 f. (MN#104, same as DN#29)

⁹ Only the Burmese Mandalay MS, and Rangoon edition and the Siamese edition here read also virattaṛūpā, 'repelled,' as on p.111.

¹⁰ Cf. above, p, 115 f

¹¹ Cf. Khp. IV; A. V., 50, 55. The Dīgha alone gives the second aphorism. 'Cause'; āhāra, usually meaning 'food,' is literally a thing 'adduced,''brought up.' Four kinds of āhāra are specified. e.g., S. II, ii f.; below, 219 — food, contact, purpose, consciousness (in connection with rebirth), all considered as so many causes, conditions, antecedents of 'result' or fruit. Hence āhāra in general can always be rendered by paccaya. So B. 'Condition' = saṅkhāra: the karana or doing, action, that leads to the result. Comy.

¹² With this list compare Aṇguttara I, 83 f., and below, XXXIV, i, 3, etc.

¹³ I.e. Nāma, by which in this connection the 'four incorpreal khandhas' (aggregates) are always meant. B. refers to the Visuddhi Magga for a detailed analysis (ch.xiv.).

¹⁴ The former concerns one's own estimate of one's self, the latter the estimate of one's neighbours. Comy.

¹⁵ Cf. Bud. Psy. Eth., p.344.

¹⁶ The eighteen dhātus, those residual factors of our experience which cannot be expressed in more ultimate [subjective] terms (attano sabhāvaṇ dhāreti ti dhātu), to wit, the three ultimates in each act of consciousness, object, or stimulus, re-acting organ [of sense or mind], resulting cognition.

¹⁷ The only apparent reason for linking these two is the common number.

¹⁸ The first of the 'ten powers' of a Tathāgata (M. I, 69 f.; A. V, 33 f.; Vibh. 335 f. Cf. Psalms of the Early Brethren I, p. 167, n. i; II, 7, n.i; Bud. Psy. Eth., p. 348) shared partly by disciples (Points of Controversy, 139 f.). 'Proficiency' (kusalatā) is, by B., defined as 'intelligence-with-understanding' (paññā-pajāna), further specialized in x.a as learning, remembering, grasping, intuition, in x.b as the last two plus reflection, in xi.a as learning by heart, plus the last group, in xi.b, understanding of procedure, in xii. as determining.

¹⁹ In Bud. Psy. Eth., § 1340, this term is not lajjavo (defined as hiribalaṇ § 30), but maddavo.

²⁰ Cf. Bud. Psy. Eth., § 1343 f.

²¹ Literally, Not-hurting, defined as 'pity.'

²² Defined as purity of fraternal love (mettā).

²³ I.e., of mindfulness (sati), muddleheadedness. Bud. Psy. Eth., § 1349

²⁴ Cf. Bud. Psy. Eth., § 1345 f.

²⁵ Cf. ibid. § 1355 f.

²⁶ Nimitta, on which see Points, 387 f. Refers to Jhāna-practice.

²⁷ Grasp = effort (viriyaṇ), Comy.

²⁸ Diṭṭhi, associated with sampadā, sampanno, is always used in this sense. Cf. Points, 269, n. 3. In the Comy. the contents of xxvii precede those of xxvi.

²⁹ Bud. Psy. Eth., § 1365 f.

³⁰ Ibid., p. 357, n. 2

³¹ Vijjā. The term annexed from brahminism by the Buddha and made to refer, not to the three Vedas, but either to the whole field of 'insight,' intellectual and mystical, as in I, 124, or, as here (Comy.), to three tracts of that field, viz. — ibid., Nos. 14-16. Cf. A. I, 163-5; Psalms of the Sisters, p. 26, n. 2.

³² Both intellectual riddance of the five Hindrances and Nibbāna. Comy.

³³ Cf. with Sum. V. Asl 407 on this passage. 'Bearing on rebirth' (paṭisandhivasena), it apparently refers to the doctrine in the statement of which the figure of the palm-tree stump occurs — 'so that they are destroyed and cannot grow up again.' See Vin. Texts II, 113. The phrase recurs in the Nikāyas several times.

33. The Recital

Saṇgīti Suttantaṃ

Threes

[214] [207]

There are Triple Doctrines, friends, which are perfectly set forth by the Exalted One who knows, who sees.

Herein there should be a chanting by all in concord, not a wrangling, that thus this holy life may persist and be long maintained.

That may be for the welfare and happiness of many folk, for compassion on the world, for the good, the welfare, the happiness of devas and of men.

Which are these?

1. Three bad 'roots' (or conditions): — greed, hate, dullness.

ii. Three good 'roots': — disinterestedness, love; intelligence.¹

iii. Three kinds of evil conduct, to wit, in act, word and thought.

[215] [208] iv. Three kinds of fine conduct, to wit, in act, word and thought.

v. Three kinds of bad thoughts,² to wit, thoughts of sense-desire, of enmity, of cruelty.

vi. Three kinds of good thoughts, to wit, thoughts of renunciation,³ of amity, of kindness.

vii. Three kinds of bad purposes...[as in v.].⁴

viii. Three kinds of good purposes thoughts of renunciation, of amity, of kindness.

ix. Three kinds of bad notions...[as in v.].

x. Three kinds of good notions thoughts of renunciation, of amity, of kindness.

xi. Three bad elements, to wit, of sense-desire, enmity, cruelty.

xii. Three good elements, thoughts of renunciation, of amity, of kindness.

xiii. Other three elements, to wit, the sphere of sense-desire, that of the brahma-world, that of the higher heavens.⁵

xiv. Other three elements, to wit, the sphere of the brahma-world, that of the higher heavens, that of cessation.⁶

xv. Other three elements, to wit, low, medium and sublime spheres.⁷

[216] xvi. Three [directions of] craving, to wit, craving for the pleasure of this life, craving for life to come, craving for life to end.

[209] xvii. Other three [directions of] craving, to wit, craving for life in the spheres of sense, for life in the brahma (rūpa) world, for life in the higher worlds.

xviii. Other three [directions of] craving: — craving for life in the lower spheres, for life in the higher spheres, for cessation.⁸

xix. Three 'fetters,' to wit, the false opinion concerning individuality, doubt, inverted [judgment] as to rule and ritual.⁹

xx. Three intoxicants, to wit, the poisons¹⁰ of sensuality, future life and ignorance.

xxi. Three [planes of] rebirths, to wit, the universe of sense-desire, that of the lower and that of the higher worlds.

xxii. Three quests: — that of sensuous enjoyment, that of life renewed, that of [problems¹¹ connected with] the religious life.

xxiii. Three forms [of conceit], to wit(1),'I am better than...,' (2) 'I am equal to ...,' (3) 'I am worse than...'¹²

xxiv. Three periods, to wit, past, future, present.¹³

[210] xxv. Three limits, to wit, individuality,¹⁴its rising, its cessation.¹⁵

xxvi. Three [modes of] feelings, to wit, pleasant, painful and neutral feeling.

xxvii. Three states of suffering, to wit, pain, conditioned existence, change.¹⁶

[217] xxviii. Three 'heaps,' to wit, that of wrong-doing entailing immutable evil results, that of well-doing entailing immutable¹⁷ good results, and that of everything not so determined.

xxix. Three doubts,¹⁸ to wit, doubts, perplexity, inability to decide, dissatisfaction concerning past, future and present.

xxx. Three things which a Buddha¹⁹ has not to guard against: a Buddha, friends, is pure in conduct whether of act, or speech, or thought. There is no misdeed of any kind concerning which he must take good care lest another should come to know of it.

xxxi. Three obstacles,²⁰ to wit, lust, hate, illusion.

[211] xxxii. Three fires, to wit, lust, hate, illusion.

xxxiii. Other three fires, to wit, the fire of the worshipful, the fire of the head of the household, the fire of those worthy of offerings.²¹

xxxiv. Threefold classification of matter, to wit, as visible and resisting, as invisible and resisting, as invisible and unresisting.²²

xxxv. Three accumulations,²³ to wit, complexes of merit, of demerit, of influctuate [results].²⁴

[218] xxxvi. Three kinds of persons, to wit, the learner, the adept, he who is neither.²⁵

xxxvii. Three kinds of seniors, to wit, an aged layman, an eminent bhikkhu, a bhikkhu officially ranked as 'senior.'²⁶

xxxviii. Three bases by merit accomplished, to wit, the bases²⁷ composed of giving, of virtue, of study.

xxxix. Three bases for reproof, to wit, that which has been seen, that which has been heard, that which one suspects.²⁸

xl. Three uprisings of desires connected with sense: (1) There are beings, friends, whose sense-desires are bound up with the objects thereof, and they are in subjection to such desire. Such are human beings, [212] some devas and some reborn to [one of the four] evil destinies. (2) There are beings who have desires for that which [they have] creates; such are the devas so called (Nimmānarati), who having created one thing after another are in subjection to such desires. (3) There are beings who have desires for the creations of others; and get these into their power; such are the devas²⁹ so called (Paranimmita-vāsavatti).

xli. Three happy rebirths:—(1) There are beings, friends, who [in a former birth] having continually produced, dwell now in happiness; such are the devas of the Brahmā group. (2) There are beings who are soaked and steeped in happiness, full of it, pervaded by it. They from time to time pour forth ecstatic utterance saying: 'Oh the bliss of it!' Ah what happiness!' Such are the Radiant Devas.³⁰ (3) There are beings who are similarly filled with happiness ... pervaded by it; they, serenely blissful, experience only sublime [219] happiness. Such are the Luminous Devas.³¹

xlii. Three kinds of knowledge: that of the learner, that of the adept, that of him who is neither.

xliii. Other three kinds of knowledge: — knowledge that is thought out, knowledge that is learned (from another), knowledge that is gained by [cultural] development.³²

xliv. Three kins of armour: — that of doctrine learnt, that of detachment,³³ that of knowledge.

xlv. Three faculties: — that of coming to know the unknown, that of knowing, that of perfected knowledge.³⁴

[213] xlvi. Three kinds of vision, to wit, the eye of flesh, the heavenly eye, the eye of insight.³⁵

xlvii. Three courses of training, to wit, the higher morality, the higher mental training, the higher insight.³⁶

xlviii. Three [branches of] culture, to wit, the culture of sense-impressions,³⁷ of mind, of insight.

xlix. Three supreme things, to wit, that of vision, that of procedure, that of freedom.³⁸

l. Three species of concentration:³⁹ — that of mental application followed by sustained thought, that of sustained thought without mental application, that of concentration without either.

li. Other three species of concentration: — concentrative insight into 'emptiness,' 'signlessness,' 'end of baneful longing.'⁴⁰

lii. Three purities, to wit, of action, speech and thought.

[220] liii. Three factors of the anchorite,⁴¹ to wit, a certain attitude respecting conduct, respecting speech, respecting thought.

liv. Three proficiencies, to wit, proficiency as to progress, regress, and the means of success.⁴²

lv. Three intoxications, to wit, the pride of health, the ride of youth, the pride of life.

lvi. Three dominant influences [on effort]: to wit, the influence of self-[criticism], the influence of the community, the influence of spiritual things.

[214] lvii. Three bases of discourse, to wit (1) discourse may be concerned with the past: — 'Such things were in the past'; (2) discourse may be concerned with the future: — 'So will it be in time to come,' or (3) with the present: — 'So has it come to pass at the present day.'

lviii. Three branches of wisdom, to wit, knowledge of one's former lives, knowledge of the decease and rebirth of beings, knowledge in the destruction of the 'intoxicants.'⁴³

lix. Three states, to wit, deva-consciousness, the divine states, the Ariyan state.⁴⁴

lx. Three wonders, to wit, the wonder of mystic power, the wonder of manifestation, the wonder of education.⁴⁵

These, friends, are the Triple Doctrines perfectly set forth by the Exalted One who knows, who sees.

Hereon there should be a chanting by all in concord, not a wrangling, that thus this holy life may persist and be long maintained.

That may be for the welfare and happiness of many folk, for compassion on the world, for the good, the welfare, the happiness of devas and of men.

¹ Literally, the negatives of the three in 1. They are invested, in Pali, with a positive force; they are contraries, logically speaking, not contradictories. B. allows an alternative reading: akusala-mūlaṃ means either 'bad root' or 'root of all that is bad.' 'Bad,' for a Buddhist, means 'productive of painful result,' 'demeritorious.'

² Vitakkā: an unspecialized expression in the Nikāyas; in Abidhamma, inception of cogitative activity. Cf. 213

³ Nekkhamma. B. does not analyze this term. By the context it is the contrary of kāma (sense-desire). 'All good states are nekkhamma-dhātu.' Comy.

⁴ Sankappa. 'There is no difference in the meaning (content, attha) of sankappa and vitakka.' Comy. Cf. Compendium, p.238.

⁵ Arūpadhātu. Here dhātu is used to mean the place reached in rebirths (āgataṭṭhānasmiṇ bhavena), says B., and describes the three in the terms used in Dhs. (Bud. Psy. Eth.), §§1281-6. It will be seen that the lowest (5) spheres are included in the universe of sense desire (Kāma; below, 3.40, 3.41.).

⁶ Nibbāna is here referred to. Comy. Cf. below, 3.18

⁷ I.e., the twelve classes of bad thoughts (Bud. Psy. Eth., § 365, f.), all other worldly (secular) thoughts, and (3) the nine spiritual thoughts. Comy. In the 'Bahudhātuka Sutta' (M. III, 61 f.), dhātu's are enumerated in one category of 18, three of 6, one of 3, and one of 2.

⁸ Here taken in the sense of 'for life to end' (3.16), the Uccheda or Annihilationist view. See Vibhanga, 365 f., where the 3 threes are defined, and which B. quotes. B. concludes: 'What did he teach in this section (3.16-3.18)? That under the aspect of lusting, all ideas of life are based on [what is termed] taṇhā, and as all taṇhā is permeated (pariyāditvā) by sensuous craving, he shows the other two forms as deduced (niharitvā) from that.' Cf. above, 3.16.

⁹ See Expositor i, 65. B.'s note on the first runs: belief in the actual existence of a kāya consisting in body and mind — i.e., of a soul (attā) in either of them.

¹⁰ 'Āsava, in the sense of surrounding, or of flowing up to ... e.g., from the eye (or sight) a flowing, percolating, rolling on into the object ... Abhidhamma, adding diṭṭhi (erroneous opinion), gives four.' Comy. Cf. Dhs., §§ 1096-1100, and above, p. 175, n.1.

¹¹ Brahmacariyesanā — i.e., eschatological problems, concerning the soul and its beginning, nature, and ending (antagāhikā diṭṭhi). See Vibh., p.366.

¹² See Vibh. 367; S. I, 12 (20); III, 48. The first form, says B., besets kings and recluses; the second, the king's officials; the third form is characteristic of servants (?).

¹³ Addhā. The Four Nikāyas use addhānaṇ, e.g., A. V. 32; S. I, 140. B. distinguishes between the religious and philosophical denotation of addhā (Suttanta-, Abhidhamma-pariyāyuā). In the former, 'the present' refers to one span of life; 'the past' is time prior to this span of life; 'the future' is time after decease from this life. In the latter, the present is any threefold instant (nascent, static, cessant); past and future precede and follow that.

¹⁴ Sakkāyo. 'The five aggregates (body and mind) of grasping.' Comy.

¹⁵ 'The discontinuance, extinction (nibbāna) of both.' Comy.

¹⁶ The first dukkhatā is painful feeling, the second is neutral feeling, but is our oppressed awareness of the tyranny of birth, old age, and dissolution. The third is pleasant feeling, but with the accompanying sense of liability to be plunged into sorrow. Such is the substance of B.'s comment.

¹⁷ Niyata: certain, fixed. The first are the crimes enumerated in Points, 80, n. 5; df. p. 177, n.1; the second, the fourfold Path and its fruits. On 'heap' see op. cit. XXI, 7

¹⁸ B. reads tamā for kankhā: 'obfuscations.'

¹⁹ Tathāgata, here clearly meaning a Buddha, at least according to commentarial tradition, since B. proceeds to show the little difference in the case of 'other Arahants,' who needed to take care. He instances the conduct of Sāriputta in the 'Cātuma-sutta,' M. I, 459, explaining the latter's motive. Cf. Ang. IV, 82, where the 'friends' is omitted.

²⁰ Literally, 'somewhats.' The secondary meaning is paraphrased by 'palibodho.' Cf. B. here, and Comy. on Dhp. 200 (III, 258).

²¹ I.e., the ministry due to parents, to children, wife and dependents, and to the religious world. Ang. IV, 45; cf. II, 70.

²² Or non-reacting. A psycho-physical category. See Bud. Psy. Eth., §§ 754-6. The third kind is also applicable to very subtle matter. Comy.

²³ Saṅkhāra: — because 'they compound co-existent states and states of future-life-results; they make a heap (rāsiṃ).' Comy. But cf. above, p.204, n.2.

²⁴ Aneñjabhisankhāro: — it compounds what is immovable ... has become result, is immaterial ... a synonym for will for rebirth in the Arūpa heavens. Comy. Cf. S. II, 82 f.; Vibh. 135, 340.

²⁵ I.e., the puthujjana, or 'man in the street,' average person.

²⁶ Whom the novices speak of as 'thera.' Comy.

²⁷ Grounds for profit, advantages.

²⁸ To be consulted in detail in the Sāmanta pāsādikā (B.'s Comy. on the Vinaya). Comy.

²⁹ These two curiously named groups are the highest stages of life in the 'sensuous universe.' Cf. below, p.241

³⁰ Devā Ābhassarā. Cf. Kindred Sayings, p. 144, and Compendium, p. 138.

³¹ Subhakiṇha devas; ninth in the Rūpa worlds. For tesan taṇ yeva the Comy. reads te santam eva, santam meaning paṇitaṇ.

³² Cf. Bud. Psy., p. 130.

³³ Detachment of body (solitude), of mind (purity), and from the conditions of rebirth. Comy.

³⁴ Cf. Bud. Psy. Eth., §§ 296, 364a, 555; Vibh., p. 124; P.P., p.2; Yam. II, 61.

³⁵ Cf. Iti-vuttaka, § 61.

³⁶ Cf. A. I, 235; Buddhism (by Mrs. Rhys Davids), 1912, p. 199 f.

³⁷ Kāyo, usually, in Abidhamma, referring to the psycho-physical mechanism of sense. Culture is literally making to become, developing.

³⁸ B. refers these to categories of Path, Fruit, and Nibbāna, with alternative assignments.

³⁹ Samādhi. Cf. M. III, 162; S. IV, 360; A. IV, 300; Compendium 95.

⁴⁰ Cf. Bud. Psy. Eth., p. 91 f.; Compendium 216.

⁴¹ Moneyyāni: munibhāvakarā dhammā. Comy.

⁴² Ayo, apāyo, upāyo; derivatives from i, to go. The second more usually covers all evil rebirth.

⁴³ Or Āsavas. On the annexation, with the meaning above given, of the adjective te-vijjo, see Psalms of the Sisters, 26, n. 2. B. exegetically paraphrases vijjā as tamaṇ vijjhati, pierces the gloom, i.e., of the unknown.

⁴⁴ The first is the conscious experience of the 'Eight Attainments' or Jhānas, the second that of the Four Exercises in sublime emotion (cf. I, p. 317 f.), the third is that of the Fruitions.

⁴⁵ See I, p. 277 f.

 [Ones-Twos]  [Threes]  [Fours]  [Fives]  [Sixes]  [Sevens]  [Eights]  [Nines]  [Tens]

33. The Recital

Saṇgīti Suttantaṃ

Fours

[214]

[221] 11. Fourfold doctrines, friends, friends, which are perfectly set forth by the Exalted One who knows, who sees.

Herein there should be a chanting by all in concord, not a wrangling, that thus this holy life may persist and be long maintained.

That may be for the welfare and happiness of many folk, for compassion on the world, for the good, the welfare, the happiness of devas and of men.

Which are these?

Four applications of mindfulness,¹ to wit: — Herein, friends, let a brother as to the body continue so to look on the body, that he remains ardent, self-possessed and mindful, overcoming both the hankering and the dejection common in the world;
as [215] to feelings continue so to look on the feelings, that he remains ardent, self-possessed and mindful, overcoming both the hankering and the dejection common in the world;
as to thoughts continue so to look on thoughts, that he remains ardent, self-possessed and mindful, overcoming both the hankering and the dejection common in the world;
as to ideas continue so to look on ideas, that he remains ardent, self-possessed and mindful, overcoming both the hankering and the dejection common in the world.

Four supreme efforts,² to wit: — Herein, friends, a brother, in order that unrisen wrong and wicked ideas may not arise generates will endeavours, stirs up energy, makes firm his mind, struggles;
in order that wrong and wicked ideas if arisen, may be put away generates will endeavours, stirs up energy, makes firm his mind, struggles;
in order that unrisen good ideas may arise generates will endeavours, stirs up energy, makes firm his mind, struggles;
in order that good ideas, if arisen, may persist, may be clarified, multiplied, expanded, developed, perfected, generates will endeavours, stirs up energy, makes firm his mind, struggles.

Four stages to efficiency (iddhi).³ Herein, friends, a brother develops the stage which is characterized by (1) the mental co-efficient of an effort of purposive concentration; (2) by the mental co-efficient of an effort of intellectual concentration; (3) by the mental co-efficient of an effort of energized [222]concentration; (4) by the mental co-efficient of an effort of investigating concentration.

Four Jhānas. Herein, friends, a brother, aloof from sensuous appetites, aloof from evil ideas, enters into and abides in the First Jhāna, wherein there is initiative and sustained thought, which is born of solitude, and is full of zest and ease.⁴
Secondly, when suppressing initiative and sustained thought, he enters into and abides in the Second Jhāna, which is self-evoked, born of concentration, full of zest and ease, in that, set free from initial and sustained thought, the mind grows calm and sure, dwelling on high.
Thirdly, when a brother, no longer fired with zest, abides calmly contemplative, while mindful and self-possessed he feel in his body that ease whereof Ariyans declare: He that is calmly contemplative and aware, he dwelleth at ease, so does he enter into and abide in the Third Jhāna.
Fourthly, by putting aside ease and by putting aside malaise, by the passing away of the joy and the sorrow he used to feel, he enters into and abides in the Fourth Jhāna, rapture of utter purity of mindfulness and equanimity, wherein neither ease is felt nor any ill.

Four developments of concentration,⁵ to wit, that which when practised and expanded, conduces to
(1) pleasure in this life;
(2) acquisition of intuition and insight;
(3) mindfulness and well-awareness;
(4) destruction of 'spiritual intoxicants.
Which are these severally?
(1) is the Fourfold Jhāna. [223]
(2) is when a brother attends to the sensation of light,⁶ sustains the perception of daylight, and attends to light [216] no less in the night-time, and thus, with open and unmuffled consciousness, creates a radiant luminous mind.
(3) is the understanding of each feeling, or perception or thought, as they severally arise, remain present and vanish.
(4) is the keeping watch over the five aggregates of grasping, as they rise and cease: — 'This is material ... this is the appearance of something material ... this is the vanishing, and so on.'

Four 'infinitudes,'⁷ to wit: — Herein, brethren, a brother lets his mind pervade one quarter of the world with thoughts of love. And thus the whole wide world, above, below, around and everywhere does he continue to pervade with heart of love, far-reaching, grown great and beyond measure, free from anger and ill-will.
Herein, brethren, a brother lets his mind pervade one quarter of the world with thoughts of pity. And thus the whole wide world, above, below, around and everywhere does he continue to pervade with heart of pity, far-reaching, grown great and beyond measure, free from anger and ill-will.
Herein, brethren, a brother lets his mind pervade one quarter of the world with thoughts of sympathy in joy. And thus the whole wide world, above, below, around and everywhere does he continue to pervade with heart of sympathy, far-reaching, grown great and beyond measure, free from anger and ill-will.
Herein, brethren, a brother lets his mind pervade one quarter of the world with thoughts of equanimity, and so the second quarter, and so the third, and so the fourth. And thus [224] the whole wide world, above, below, around and everywhere does he continue to pervade with a heart of equanimity far-reaching, grown great and beyond measure, free from anger and ill-will.

Four Jhānas of Arūpa-consciousness, to wit:⁸ — Herein, brethren, a brother, by passing beyond the consciousness of matter, by the dying out of the sensation of resistance, by paying no heed to the idea of difference, at the thought: 'space is infinite!' attains to and abides in the conceptual sphere of space as infinite.
(2) Having wholly transcended the sphere of space, at the thought: 'Infinite is consciousness!' he attaines to and abides in the conceptual sphere of consciousness as infinite.
(3) Having wholly transcended the of consciousness, at the thought: 'It is nothing!' he attains to and abides in the conceptual sphere of nothingness.
(4) Having wholly transcended the sphere of nothingness, he attains to and abides in the sphere of neither consciousness nor unconsciousness.

Four Bases of Conduct:⁹ — Herein, brethren, a brother judges that a certain thing is to be habitually pursued,
another thing is to be endured,
another to be avoided,
another to be suppressed.

[217] Four Ariyan lineages. Herein, brethren, a brother is content with whatever robes [he may have], commends contentment of this kind, and does not try to gain robes in improper unsuitable ways. And he is not dismayed if he gain no robe, but when he has gained one, he is not greedy, nor infatuated nor overwhelmed;
he wears it heedful lest he incur evil, and understanding its object. Finally, by this contentment as to any garment, he neither is puffed up nor disparages others;
he is content with whatever alms he receives, commends contentment of this kind,
and does not try to gain alms in improper unsuitable ways. And he is not dismayed if he gain no alms, but when he has, he is not greedy, nor infatuated nor overwhelmed;
he uses it heedful lest he incur evil, and understanding its object. Finally, by this contentment as to any alms, he neither is puffed up nor disparages others;
he is content with whatever lodging he receives, commends contentment of this kind,
and does not try to gain lodging in improper unsuitable ways. And he is not dismayed if he gain no lodging, but when he has, he is not greedy, nor infatuated nor overwhelmed;
he uses it heedful lest he incur evil, and understanding its object. Finally, by this contentment as to any lodging, he neither is puffed up nor disparages others;
Lastly, bethren, the brother who, having the love both of eliminating on the one hand, and of developing on the other, loves both to eliminate and to develop, in loving both, neither is puffed up, nor disparages others. Now he that is expert, not slothful, heedful, mindful, [225] is called, brethren, a brother who is true to the ancient distinguished lineage of the Ariyans

Four exertions, to wit, self-control, eliminating, developing, safe-guarding.
What is the first? Herein, brethren, when a brother sees an object with the eye, and is not entranced by the general appearance or the details of it, [226] but sets himself to restrain that which might give occasion for bad, wicked states, covetousness, dejection to flow in over him were he to dwell unrestrained as to the faculty of sight, and to keep watch over that faculty, and attains to mastery over it;
when he hears a sound with the ear, and is not entranced by the general appearance or the details of it, but sets himself to restrain that which might give occasion for bad, wicked states, covetousness, dejection to flow in over him were he to dwell unrestrained as to the faculty of hearing, and to keep watch over that faculty, and attains to mastery over it;
when he smells a scent with the nose, and is not entranced by the general appearance or the details of it, but sets himself to restrain that which might give occasion for bad, wicked states, covetousness, dejection to flow in over him were he to dwell unrestrained as to the faculty of smell, and to keep watch over that faculty, and attains to mastery over it;
when he tastes a savour with the tongue, and is not entranced by the general appearance or the details of it, but sets himself to restrain that which might give occasion for bad, wicked states, covetousness, dejection to flow in over him were he to dwell unrestrained as to the faculty of taste, and to keep watch over that faculty, and attains to mastery over it;
when he feels a touch with the body, and is not entranced by the general appearance or the details of it, but sets himself to restrain that which might give occasion for bad, wicked states, covetousness, dejection to flow in over him were he to dwell unrestrained as to the faculty of feeling, and to keep watch over that faculty, and attains to mastery over it;
when he cognizes a mental object with the mind, and is not entranced by the general appearance or the details of it, but sets himself to restrain that which might give occasion for bad, wicked states, covetousness, dejection to flow in over him were he to dwell unrestrained as to the faculty of cognition, and to keep watch over that faculty, and attains to mastery over it, such an effort is called exertion in self-control.¹⁰
(2) What is exertion in elimination? Herein, brethren, a brother, when a sensual, malign, or cruel thought has arisen, will not endure it, but puts it away, suppresses, exterminates it and makes it non-existent. Such an [218] exertion is called exertion in elimination.
(3) What is exertion in developing? Herein, brethren, a brother cultivates each of the seven factors of enlightenment¹¹ which are based upon detachment, upon passionlessness, upon cessation, and wherein is maturity¹² of self-surrender.¹³ This is called exertion in development.
(4) What is exertion in safe-guarding? Herein, brethren, a brother keeps pure and genuine¹⁴ an auspicious object of concentrated imagination when it has arise, [such as] one of the contemplations of foul things. This is called exertion in safe-guarding.

Four knowledges,¹⁵ to wit, knowledge of the Doctrine,
knowledge in its corollaries,
knowledge of what is in another's consciousness,¹⁶
and popular knowledge.¹⁷

[227] Other four knowledges, to wit:
knowledge regarding suffering, genesis, cessation, path.

Four factors in 'Stream-attainment,' to wit, intercourse with the good,
hearing the good doctrine,
systematized¹⁸ attention,
practice in those things that lead up to the doctrine and its corollaries.

Four factors of his state who has attained the stream. Herein, brethren, the Ariyan disciple has an [219] unshakeable faith
(1) in the Buddha: — 'So he too, the Exalted One, is Arahant, supremely enlightened, full of wisdom and goodness, Blessed One, world-knower, peerless driver and tamer of men, teacher of devas and men, Buddha, Exalted One!'
(2) in the Norm: — 'Well proclaimed by the Exalted One is the Norm, effective in this life and without delay, bidding us come and see, leading us onward, to be known by the wise as a personal experience.'
(3) in the Order: — 'Well practised is the Order of the Exalted One's disciples, in uprightness, method and propriety, namely, the four pairs of persons, the eight classes of individuals. Thi is the Order of the Exalted One's disciples, to whom offerings and ministering should be made, and gifts and reverent greeting as unto the supreme field of merit throughout the world.'
(4) Endowed is it with virtues lovely to the Ariyans, unbroken and flawless, consistently practised, unblemished, making men free, commended by the wise, unperverted and conducing to rapt concentration.¹⁹

Four fruits of the life of a recluse, to wit, the fruit of [the fourfold path, i.e. of] Stream-attainment, of the Once-returner, of the Never-returner, of Arahantship.²⁰

[228] Four elements, to wit, the extended [or earthy],
the cohesive [or watery],
the hot [or fiery],
the mobile [or aerial] element.

Four supports [or foods], to wit, solid [bodily] food, whether gross or subtle,
contact, as the second,
motive or purpose as third,
consciousness [in rebirth] as fourth.²¹

Four stations of consciousness. Brethren, when consciousness gaining a foothold persists, it is [220] either in connection with material qualities,
or with [a co-efficient of] feeling, or perception or volitional complexes. In connection with any of these as an instrument, as an object of thought, as a platform, as a set of enjoyment, it attains to growth, increase, abundance.²²

Four ways of going astray,²³ to wit, through partiality, hate, illusion, fear.

Four uprisings of craving. Brethren, craving arises in a brother because of raiment, alms, lodging, and dainty foods.²⁴

Four rates of progress, to wit, when progress is difficult and intuition slow, when progress is difficult but intuition comes swiftly, when progress is easy, but intuition is slow, and when progress is easy, and intuition comes swiftly.²⁵

[229] Other four modes of progress, to wit, exercise without endurance, with endurance, with taming (of faculties), with calm.²⁶

Four divisions of doctrine, to wit, [when the highest things are attained by an attitude of] (1) disinterestedness, or (2) amity, or (3) perfect mindfulness, or (4) perfect concentration.²⁷

Four religious undertakings: — (1) one that brings present suffering and in the future painful consequences; (2) one that brings present suffering and in [221] the future happy consequences; (3) one that brings present pleasure and in the future painful consequences; (4) one that brings present happiness and in the future happy consequences.²⁸

Four bodies of doctrine, to wit, morals, concentrative exercise, insight,²⁹ emancipation.

Four powers, to wit, energy, mindfulness, concentration, insight.

Four resolves, to wit, to gain insight, to win truth, to surrender [all evil], to master self.

Four modes of answering questions, to wit, the categorical reply, the discriminating reply, the counter-question reply, the waived question.³⁰

[230] Four kinds of action, to wit, that which is dark with dark result, that which is bright with bright result, mixed, with mixed result, that which is neither, with neither kind of result, and conduces to the destruction of karma (action).³¹

Four matters to be realized,³² to wit, former lives, to be realized by clear mentality;³³ decease and rebirth, to be realized by the 'heavenly eye'; the eight deliverances, to be realized by all the mental factors;[33] destruction of intoxicants, to be realized by insight.³⁴

[222] Four floods, to wit, sensual desires, life renewed, error, ignorance.

Four bonds, to wit, sensual desires, life renewed, error, ignorance.

Four bond-loosenings, to wit, from sensual desires, life renewed, error, ignorance.

Four knots, to wit, the body-knots³⁵ of covetousness, of malevolence, of inverted judgment as to rule and ritual, and of the inclination to dogmatize.

Four graspings,³⁶ to wit, the laying hold of sensual desires, of error, of rules and rites, of the soul-theory.

Four matrices, to wit, the matrix of birth by an egg, the viviparous matrix, the matrix of moist places, and rebirth as deva.

[231] Four classes of conception at rebirth.³⁷ Herein, brethren, one person descends into the mother's womb unknowing, abides there unknowing, departs thence unknowing. This is the first class of conception. Next, another person descends deliberately, but abides and departs unknowing. Next another person descends and abides deliberately, but departs unknowing. Lastly, another person descends, abides and departs deliberately.

Four methods of acquiring new personality, to wit, (1) in which our own volition works, not another's, (2) in which another's volition works, not ours, (3) in which both our own and another's volition work, (4) in which the volition of neither works.³⁸

Four modes of purity in offerings, to wit, (1) when a gift is purely made on the part of the giver, but not purely received; (2) when a gift is made pure by the recipient, not by the giver; (3) when the gift is [223] made pure by both; (4) when the gift is made pure by neither.³⁹

[232] Four grounds of popularity, to wit, liberality, kindly speech, justice, impartiality.⁴⁰

Four un-Ariyan modes of speech, to wit, lying, slander, abuse, vain chatter.

Four Ariyan modes of speech, to wit, abstinence from lying, slander, abuse, vain chatter.⁴¹

Other four un-Ariyan modes of speech, to wit, declaring that to have been seen, heard, thought of,⁴² known, which has not been seen, not been herd, not thought of, not known.

Other four Ariyan modes of speech, to wit, declaring truthfully that to have been seen, heard, thought of, known, which has been seen, heard, thought of, known.

Other four un-Ariyan modes of speech, to wit, declaring that to have been unseen, unheard, un-thought of, unknown, which was seen, heard, thought of, known.

Other four Ariyan modes of speech, to wit, declaring that which has been seen, heard, thought of, known, to have been seen, heard, thought of, known.

Four classes of individuals. Herein, brethren (1) a certain individual torments himself, is devoted to self-mortification; (2) another torments others, is devoted to torturing others; (3) another torments both himself and others; (4) another torments neither himself nor others nor is devoted to tormenting either. He thus abstaining [233] lives his life void of longings, perfected, cool, in blissful enjoyment, his whole self ennobled.⁴³

[224] Other four individuals. Herein, brethren, (1) a certain person whose conduct makes for his own good, not for that of others; (2) another whose conduct makes for other's good, not his own; (3) another's conduct makes for neither; (4) another's conduct makes both for his own good and for that of others.⁴⁴

Other four individuals, to wit, (1) living in darkness and bound for the dark; (2) living in darkness and bound for the light; (3) living in the light and bound for the darkness; (4) living in the light and bound for the light.⁴⁵

Other four individuals, to wit, the unshaken recluse, the blue lotus recluse, the white lotus recluse, the exquisite recluse.⁴⁶

These fourfold doctrines, friends, have been perfectly set forth by the Exalted One who knows, who sees.

Hereon there should be a chanting by all in concord, not a wrangling, that thus this holy life may persist and be long maintained.

That may be for the welfare and happiness of many folk, for compassion on the world, for the good, the welfare, the happiness of devas and of men.

¹ See Vol. II, p. 327 f.

² Above, Vol. II, 344.

³ Vol. II, 110

⁴ Above, p. 123 f. (Ed.: omitted here; I have inserted the sequence into the text above)

⁵ Ang. II, 44

⁶ Proceeding from sun, moon, gems, etc. S. Sumangala renders the next clause as: — 'fixing it in his mind that at night the sun is up and there is light, and vice versá during the day.'

⁷ Called 'devine states' (Brahma vihārā) in lix. of the Triple Doctrines. See Vol. II, p. 219 f.; Visuddhi Magga, p. 320.

⁸ Cf. Bud. Psy., 117 f.; Bud. Psy. Eth., §§ 265 f.; Dial., I, 249 f.; II, 119 f.

⁹ Cf. R. Morris in J.P.T.S., 1884, p.71, on the term apassena.

¹⁰ Cf. Bud. Psy. Eth., § 1347.

¹¹ Or 'wings of wisdom,' i.e., mindfulness, investigation of doctrine, energy, zest, serenity, rapt contemplation, equanimity.

¹² All synonyms, says B., for Nibbāna.

¹³ B. repeats this rendering of vossagga-pariṇāmi in commenting on S. I, 88 (K.S., p. 113, n.3). Surrender means both giving up and plunging in (after Nibbāna).

¹⁴ So B.: sodhati. The text merely repeats anurakkhati.

¹⁵ Of this category, (1) and (2) occur in S. II, 57 f. There they are described respectively as the 'four truths' applied to 'decay and death,' and this tradition as loyally held and to be held. Vibhanga, 329 f., gives the four, describing (1) as understanding the four paths and their fruits, and (2) as tradition of the four truths respecting suffering as loyally held, etc. B. here quotes Vibh., but defines (1) as the four truths.

¹⁶ For pariccheda- read (as in B. and Vibh.) paricce- B.: paresaṇ citta-paricchede ñāṇaṇ. But he reads paricce in the text.

¹⁷ Cf. Milinda i, 226.

¹⁸ On yoniso as thus rendered, cf. K.S. I, 131, and in Index.

¹⁹ Cf. II, 100

²⁰ Cf. I, 65 f., where the 'fruits' are differently, less technically less eschatologically described; and above, p. 124, § 25, where they agree with the present description.

²¹ Cf. Bud. Psy. Eth., p 61 f. B. gives as a special aspect under which sections xii-xv are to be regarded, 'their [relative] grossness and subtlety by way of harsh or pleasant basis' (lūkhapaṇītavatthuvasena).

²² Cf. S. III, 53, where B.'s comment is fuller: consciousness, functioning by the other four khandhas, eventuates in action; action (karma) entails rebirth, hence increase or propagation of consciousness.

²³ Agatiṃ gacchati, literally, he goes to a not-going, or wrong going, or impasse. See above, XXIX, § 26; XXXI, § 5.

²⁴ Bhav-ā-bhavo, existence-nonexistence, is an idiomatic expression for future life or annihilation, e.g. Sutta Nipāta, 496 (and Comy.); or higher or lower rebirth, Psalms of the Brethren, verse 784. Here, according to B., it means oil, honey, ghee, etc.

²⁵ See XXVIII, § 10.

²⁶ I.e., when engaged in concentration (samādhi), are cold and other hardships endured? Are sensuous thoughts tolerated? Comy.

²⁷ Namely, when jhāna, insight, a Path, a Fruit, Nibbāna is reached.

²⁸ (1) is the course followed by ascetics (acelakas); (2) is that of the religious student handicapped by passions but tearfully persevering; (3) is that of the sensualist; (4) that of the recluse in the Order, even though he be lacking in comforts. Comy.

²⁹ Read paññā- for puññā.

³⁰ B. says these are discussed in the 'Mahāpadesa kathā.' This is apparently not the sermon on the 'four Mahāpadese' in A. II, 167, nor the brief summary (as above) in A. II, 46, but the sermon on the 'Tiṇi Kathāvatthūni,' in A. I, 197. There is apparently no Mahāpadesa kathā in the Dīgha.

³¹ Dark and bright are meant ethically and eschatologically; a parallel pair of terms: tamo, joti, is used in K.S. I, 118 f., and below, xlix. The fourth alternative is [mental activity in] Fourfold Path-knowledge.

³² I.e., by making them present to the eye (paccakkha karaṇena) and acquiring them. Comy. Cf. below, 253. x.

³³ I.e., by all co-nascent factors in the nāma-kāyo, or mind-group, at any given moment.

³⁴ By knowledge of the fruit of Arahantship.

³⁵ Cf. Bud. Psy. Eth., p. 305, n. 1. B. repeats the same comment in both Commentaries.

³⁶ In other words, 'takings, seizings.' Comy.

³⁷ Cf. above XXVIII, § 5. [Ed.: which is the same, but where sampajano is consistently translated "knowing".]

³⁸ The second of these is illustrated by the slaughter of an animal by a butcher. The other three cases are referred to the decease and rebirth of the devas referred to in Vol. 1, pp. 32 and 33, and of other devas respectively.

³⁹ I.e., purified by the virtuous character and motives of the one or the other. B. illustrates (1) by Vessantara's elephant. Jāt. VI, 487.

⁴⁰ See above, p. 145.

⁴¹ The Burmese printed edition transposes xli, xlii.

⁴² Mutaṃ, sometimes interpreted as the other three senses, B. is silent. Cf. p. 127, n. 2

⁴³ Literally, become as Brahmā, or at its best. The passage, which occurs in several Suttas, is quoted in the Kathāvatthu (Points, p. 25) by the Animists (Puggalavādins) to justify their asserting the existence of 'a puggala,' or animistic entity.

⁴⁴ B. instances (1) Thera Bākula (or Bakkula), who entered the Order at eighty (? too old to convert others), Psalms of the Brethren, p. 159. (2) Upananda, whose bad conduct hindered his own good, though as recluse he helped others, Vin. Texts, e.g., I, 321 f.; III, 392, n. 2. (3) Devadatta the schismatic, and (4) Great Kassapa (see Psalms of the Brethren, p. 359 f.).

⁴⁵ See above xxix.

⁴⁶ Interpreted as those in the Four Paths.

 [Ones-Twos]  [Threes]  [Fours]  [Fives]  [Sixes]  [Sevens]  [Eights]  [Nines]  [Tens]

33. The Recital

Saṇgīti Suttantaṃ

Fives

[224] There are Fivefold Doctrines, friends, which are perfectly set forth by the Exalted One who knows, who sees.

Herein there should be a chanting by all in concord, not a wrangling, that thus this holy life may persist and be long maintained.

That may be for the welfare and happiness of many folk, for compassion on the world, for the good, the welfare, the happiness of devas and of men.

Which they?

Five aggregates, to wit,
of material qualities,
feeling,
perception,
volitional complexes,
consciousness.

[225] Five aggregates [regarded as vehicles] of grasping, to wit,
of material qualities,
feeling,
perception,
volitional complexes,
consciousness.

[234] Five kinds of sensuous pleasures, to wit,
objects of sight cognized through the eye, desirable, pleasant, agreeable, charming and lovely, bound up with sensuous desires and exciting the passions;
sounds cognized through the ear, desirable, pleasant, agreeable, charming and lovely, bound up with sensuous desires and exciting the passions;
odours cognized through the organ of smell, desirable, pleasant, agreeable, charming and lovely, bound up with sensuous desires and exciting the passions;
tastes cognized through the organ of taste, desirable, pleasant, agreeable, charming and lovely, bound up with sensuous desires and exciting the passions;
tangibles coznized through the organ of touch, desirable, pleasant, agreeable, charming and lovely, bound up with sensuous desires and exciting the passions;
images cognized through the sensorium, desirable, pleasant, agreeable, charming and lovely, bound up with sensuous desires and exciting the passions.

Five ways of destiny, to wit,
purgatory,
the animal kingdom,
the realm of the 'departed' (Petas),
mankind,
the devas.

Five forms of meanness,¹ to wit,
in hospitality,
in [monopolizing a ministering] family,
in gains acquired,
in beauty physical and moral,
in [monopolizing learnt] truths.

Five hindrances, to wit,
sensuality,
ill-will,
sloth and torpor,
excitement and worry,
doubt.

Five fetters as to lower worlds, to wit,
error of permanent individual entity,
doubt,
wrong judgment as to rules and ritual,
sensuality,
malevolence.

Five fetters as to upper [worlds], to wit,
lust after rebirth in Rūpa [worlds],
lust after rebirth in Arūpa [worlds],
conceit,
excitement,
ignorance.

[235] Five branches of moral training, to wit,
abhorrence of murder,
theft,
inchastity,
lying,
and intemperance in drink.

Five impossibles, to wit,
for an Arahant intentionally to take life,
or to take what is not given, so as to amount to theft,
or to commit sexual offences,
or to lie deliberately,
or to spend stored up treasures in worldly enjoyments,
as in the days before he left the world.

Five kinds of losses, to wit,
of kinsfolk,
of wealth,
disease,
loss of character,
loss of sound opinions.
No being, friends, because of any of the first three kinds of loss, is after death and bodily dissolution reborn to disaster, to evil destiny, to downfall, to purgatory. But this happens because of the last two kinds of loss.

[226] Five kinds of prosperity, to wit,
in kinsfolk,
wealth,
health,
virtue,
and sound opinion.
No being, friends, because of any of the first three kinds, is after death and dissolution reborn to a happy destiny in a bright world. But this happens because of success in virtue and in winning sound opinions.

Five disasters to the immoral by lapse from virtuous habits.
[236] Herein, friends, an immoral person, having lapsed in virtuous habits, incurs, through want of industry, great loss of wealth.
Secondly, an evil reputation as to his moral lapse spreads abroad.
Thirdly, whatever assembly he attends, whether of nobles, brahmins, householders, members of a religious order, he comes in diffident and disturbed.
Fourthly, he dies baffled and without assurance.
Fifthly, on the dissolution of the body after death, he is reborn into an unhappy state, an evil destiny, a downfall, a purgatory.²

Five advantages to the moral man through his success in virtuous conduct.
Herein, friends, in the first place, he acquires through industry great wealth.
Secondly, good reports of him spread abroad.
Thirdly, whatever assembly he attends, whether or nobles, brahmins, householders, or members of a religious order, he enters confident and undisturbed.
Fourthly, he dies with lucid and assured mind.
Fifthly, he is reborn to a happy destiny in a bright world.

Five points, friends, should be present inwardly to a brother who is desirous of chiding another.
'I will speak at a timely moment, not at an untimely moment.³
I will utter what is true, not what is fictitious,
I will speak mildly, not roughly.
I will speak from a desire [237] for his good, not for his hurt.
I will speak with love in my heart, not enmity.'

Five factors in spiritual wrestling.
Herein, [227] friends, a brother has confidence, believing in the Tathāgata's enlightenment: —
'Thus is the Exalted One: he is Arahant fully awakened, wisdom he has, and righteousness; he is the Well-Farer; he has knowledge of the worlds; he is the supreme driver of men willing to be tamed; the teacher of devas and men; the Awakened and Exalted One' —
he is in good health, exempt from suffering, endowed with a smoothly assimilating digestion, neither overheated nor too chilly, but medium, suited for exertion.
He is not deceitful nor crafty, honestly making known himself for what he is to the Teacher, or to wise persons among his fellow-disciples.
He maintains a flow of energy in eliminating wrong states of mind and evoking good states, vigorous, strongly reaching out, not shirking toil with respect to good states of mind.
He has insight, being endowed with understanding which goes to the rise and cessation of all things. Ariyan, penetrating, going to the perfect destruction of ill.

Five Pure Abodes, to wit, the heavens called
Avihā,
Atappā,
Sudassā,
Sudassī,
Akaniṭṭha.⁴

Five classes of persons become Never-returners: —
one who passes away before middle age in that world in which he has been reborn,
one who so passes after middle age,
one who so passes without much toil, with ease,
one who so passes with toil and difficulty,
one who striving 'upstream' is reborn in the Akaniṭṭha world.⁵

Five spiritual barrennesses.⁶ [238]Herein, friends, a brother doubts, is perplexed about the Master, comes to no definite choice, is not satisfied. He being thus, his mind does not incline (lit. bend) towards ardour, devotion, perseverance, exertion: — this is the first barrenness.
When he doubts, is perplexed about the Doctrine, comes to no definite choice, is not satisfied. He being thus, his mind does not incline (lit. bend) towards ardour, devotion, perseverance, exertion: — this is [228] the second barrennesses.
When he doubts, is perplexed about the Order, comes to no definite choice, is not satisfied. He being thus, his mind does not incline (lit. bend) towards ardour, devotion, perseverance, exertion: — this is the third barrennesses.
When he doubts, is perplexed about the Training, comes to no definite choice, is not satisfied. He being thus, his mind does not incline (lit. bend) towards ardour, devotion, perseverance, exertion: — this is the fourth barrennesses.
When he is offended with his fellow-disciples, vexed, agitated, sterile towards them, he being thus, his mind does not incline towards ardour, devotion, perseverance, exertion: — this is the fifth barrenness.⁷

Five bondages of the mind.
Herein, brethren, when a brother has not got rid of the passion for sense-desires, of desire, fondness, thirst, fever, craving for them, he being thus, his mind does not incline towards ardour, devotion, perseverance, exertion.
In the same way, when a brother has not got rid of the passion, desire, fondness, thirst, fever, craving for his own person,⁸ he being thus, his mind does not incline towards ardour, devotion, perseverance, exertion.
In the same way, when a brother has not got rid of the passion, desire, fondness, thirst, fever, craving for external objects, he being thus, his mind does not incline towards ardour, devotion, perseverance, exertion.
Fourthly, if a brother have eaten as much as his stomach can hold,⁹ and then abides given over to the ease of repose, of turning from this side to that,¹⁰ of sloth, he being thus, his mind does not incline towards ardour, devotion, perseverance, exertion.
Fifthly, [239] if a brother have adopted the religious life with the aspiration of belonging to some one or other of the deva-groups, thinking: — 'By these rules or by these rites or by these austerities or by this religious life I shall become a greater, or a lesser deva;¹¹ he being thus, his mind does not incline towards ardour, devotion, perseverance, exertion.

Five faculties,¹² to wit,
the faculty of the eye;
the faculty of the ear;
the faculty of the nose;
the faculty of the tongue;
the faculty of the body.

Other five faculties, to wit,
that of pleasure,
of pain,
joy,
grief,
indifference.

Other five faculties, to wit,
that of faith,
energy,
mindfulness,
concentration,
insight.

Five elements tending to deliverance.
Herein, [229] friends, when a brother is contemplating sensuous desires, his heart does not leap forward to them, nor rest complacent in them, does not choose them.¹³ But when he is contemplating renunciation of them, his heart leaps forward, rests complacent in it, chooses it. [240] This frame of mind he gets well in hand, well developed, well lifted up, well freed and detached from sense desires. And those intoxicants, whose miseries, those fevers which arise in consequence of sense-desires, from all these he is freed, nor does he feel that sort of feeling. This is pronounced to be the first deliverance.
When a brother is contemplating ill will, his heart does not leap forward to that, nor rest complacent in that, does not choose that. But when he is contemplating renunciation of that, his heart leaps forward, rests complacent in it, chooses it. This frame of mind he gets well in hand, well developed, well lifted up, well freed and detached from ill will. And those intoxicants, whose miseries, those fevers which arise in consequence of ill will, from all these he is freed, nor does he feel that sort of feeling. This is pronounced to be the second deliverance.
When a brother is contemplating cruelty, his heart does not leap forward to that, nor rest complacent in that, does not choose that. But when he is contemplating renunciation of that, his heart leaps forward, rests complacent in it, chooses it. This frame of mind he gets well in hand, well developed, well lifted up, well freed and detached from cruelty. And those intoxicants, whose miseries, those fevers which arise in consequence of cruelty, from all these he is freed, nor does he feel that sort of feeling. This is pronounced to be the third deliverance.
When a brother is contemplating external objects, his heart does not leap forward to that, nor rest complacent in that, does not choose that. But when he is contemplating renunciation of that, his heart leaps forward, rests complacent in it, chooses it. This frame of mind he gets well in hand, well developed, well lifted up, well freed and detached from external objects. And those intoxicants, whose miseries, those fevers which arise in consequence of external objects, from all these he is freed, nor does he feel that sort of feeling. This is pronounced to be the fourth deliverance.
When a brother is contemplating individuality, his heart does not leap forward to that, nor rest complacent in that, does not choose that. But when he is contemplating renunciation of that, his heart leaps forward, rests complacent in it, chooses it. This frame of mind he gets well in hand, well developed, well lifted up, well freed and detached from individuality. And those intoxicants, whose miseries, those fevers which arise in consequence of individuality, from all these he is freed, nor does he feel that sort of feeling. This is pronounced to be the fifth deliverance.

[241] Five occasions of emancipation.
Herein, friends, when the Master, or a reverend fellow-disciple teaches the Norm to a brother, according as the teaching is given, the listener comes to know both the matter of the doctrine, and the text of the doctrine.¹⁴ And gladness springs up in him, and in him gladdened zest springs up; his mind enraptured, the faculties¹⁵ become serene; with serenity comes happiness, and of him thus happy the heart is stayed and firm.¹⁶ This is the first occasion.
In the next place, a brother, while himself is teaching others the Norm in detail, as he has learnt and got it by memory, comes to know both the matter of the doctrine, and the text of the doctrine. And gladness springs up in him, and in him gladdened zest springs up; his mind enraptured, the faculties become serene; with serenity comes happiness, and of him thus happy the heart is stayed and firm. This is the second occasion.
In the third place, a brother, when he is reciting the doctrines of the Norm in detail as he has learnt and got them by memory, comes to know both the matter of the doctrine, and the text of the doctrine. And gladness springs up in him, and in him gladdened zest springs up; his mind enraptured, the faculties become serene; with serenity comes happiness, and of him thus happy the heart is stayed and firm. [242] This is the third occasion.
In the fourth place, a brother, when he applies his thought to the Norm as he has [230] learnt and got it by memory, and sustains protracted meditation on it and contemplates it in mind, comes to know both the matter of the doctrine, and the text of the doctrine. And gladness springs up in him, and in him gladdened zest springs up; his mind enraptured, the faculties become serene; with serenity comes happiness, and of him thus happy the heart is stayed and firm. This is the fourth occasion.
Finally, a brother, when he has well grasped some given clue to concentration,¹⁷ has well applied his understanding, has well thought it out, has well penetrated it by intuition,¹⁸ comes to know both the matter of the doctrine, and the text of the doctrine. And gladness springs up in him, and in him gladdened zest springs up; his mind enraptured, the faculties become serene; with serenity comes happiness, and of him thus happy the heart is stayed and firm. [243] This is the fifth occasion.

Five thoughts by which emancipation¹⁹ reaches maturity, to wit,
the notion of impermanence,
the notion of suffering in impermanence,
the notion of no-soul in suffering,
the notion of elimination,
the notion of passionlessness.

These fivefold doctrines, friends, have been perfectly set forth by the Exalted One who knows, who sees.

Hereon there should be a chanting by all in concord, not a wrangling, that thus this holy life may persist and be long maintained.

That may be for the welfare and happiness of many folk, for compassion on the world, for the good, the welfare, the happiness of devas and of men.

¹ Macchariyaṃ, implying also avarice, selfishness. Cf. Bud. Psy. Eth., § 1122 and n.; K.S., p. 27, § 2.

² These two paragraphs form an address, or the outlines of one, given to the lay disciples at Pāṭaligāma, See Volume II, 90 f.

³ Not, e.g., in a public room, assembly, refectory; at the mid-day rest he should seek opportunity, saying, 'I should like to speak to the reverend brother,' but not in the case of anyone uttering slander. Comy. (Ed.: Why not? Because others observing this will think one is in agreement with the slanderer.)

⁴ On the last four names, see (Volume) II, p. 41. B. refers to this. The five are the topmost Rūpa worlds. Cf. Points, 74, n. 2.

⁵ It was believed that these completed life as we conceive it, in a final rebirth in one of these five heavens. Cf. A. IV. 14 f.

⁶ See Bud. Suttas (S.B.E. XI), p. 223 f., also for following section (XX.): translation of the Cetokhila Sutta, Majjhima I.

⁷ Paraphrased exegetically as unbelief, stubbornness

⁸ Kāye. Attano kāye, is the comment. Kāyo means the whole personal aggregate, not the physical factor only; all that is ajjhattaṃ, in distinction to the next bondage, where rūpe is explained as bahiddhā; 'external' to self.

⁹ Cf. Psalms of the Brethren, ver, 935, n. 1; J.P.T.S., 1886, 150.

¹⁰ The Comy. reads passa not phassa, and explains as above. Cf. Psalms of the Brethren, ibid.

¹¹ B. explains as mahesakkho, appesakkho vā.

¹² Indriyāni, lit. controlling powers.

¹³ Na vimuccati aādhimuccati.

¹⁴ 'Matter' and 'text' are in the Comy. pāli-atthaṃ and pāliṃ

¹⁵ Kāyo here = nāma-kāyo, 'mental group.' Comy.

¹⁶ 'By the samādhi of the fruit of arahantship.' Comy. Cf. Vol. I. 84, § 75. This sentence is repeated after each of the five.

¹⁷ Samādhi nimittaṇ. On nimittaṇ see Points of Controversy, p. 387 f.

¹⁸ Suppaṭividdhaṇ paññāya.

¹⁹ I.e., Arahantship. Comy.

 [Ones-Twos]  [Threes]  [Fours]  [Fives]  [Sixes]  [Sevens]  [Eights]  [Nines]  [Tens]

33. The Recital

Saṇgīti Suttantaṃ

Sixes

[230] There are sixfold doctrines, friends, which are perfectly set forth by the Exalted One who knows, who sees.

Herein there should be a chanting by all in concord, not a wrangling, that thus this holy life may persist and be long maintained.

That may be for the welfare and happiness of many folk, for compassion on the world, for the good, the welfare, the happiness of devas and of men.

Which are they?

Six fields of personal experience, to wit,
sight,
sound,
smell,
taste,
touch
and mind.

Six external fields [of objects of experience], to wit,
sights,
sounds,
smells,
tastes,
tangibles,
phenomena.¹

Six groups of consciousness,² to wit,
visual,
auditory,
olfactory,
sapid,
tactual
and perceptual-and-conceptual consciousness.³

Six groups of contacts, to wit,
visual,
auditory,
olfactory,
sapid,
tactual
and impact on the mind.

Six groups of feeling on occasion of sensory [231] stimulus, to wit,
[244] the feeling that is excited when we see,
hear,
smell,
taste,
feel,
or when we think.

Six groups of perceptions, to wit,
perception on occasion of visual stimulus,
auditory stimulus,
olfactory stimulus,
sapid stimulus,
tactual stimulus,
or of ideas.

Six groups of volitions, to wit,
purposes on occasion of visual stimulus,
auditory stimulus,
olfactory stimulus,
sapid stimulus,
tactual stimulus,
or of ideas.

Six craving-groups, to wit,
sights,
sounds,
smells,
tastes,
tangibles,
and phenomena.

Six forms of irreverence. Herein, friends, a brother conducts himself irreverently and insolently to the Master,
the Norm,
the Order,
the training,
or to his studies,
or lacks in reverence and respect towards the duties of courtesy.

Six forms of reverence. Herein, friends, a brother conducts himself reverently and respectfully to the Master,
the Norm,
the Order,
the training,
or to his studies,
or lacks in reverence and respect towards the duties of courtesy.

Six pleasurable investigations, to wit,
when on occasion of any sensation through the eye, a corresponding object giving rise to pleasure is examined
when on occasion of any sensation through the ear, a corresponding object giving rise to pleasure is examined
when on occasion of any sensation through the nose, a corresponding object giving rise to pleasure is examined
when on occasion of any sensation through the tongue, a corresponding object giving rise to pleasure is examined
when on occasion of any sensation through the body, a corresponding object giving rise to pleasure is examined
or any cognition by the mind, a corresponding object giving rise to pleasure is examined.

[245] Six disagreeable investigations, to wit,
when on occasion of any sensation through the eye, a corresponding object giving rise to the disagreeable is examined
when on occasion of any sensation through the ear, a corresponding object giving rise to the disagreeable is examined
when on occasion of any sensation through the nose, a corresponding object giving rise to the disagreeable is examined
when on occasion of any sensation through the tongue, a corresponding object giving rise to the disagreeable is examined
when on occasion of any sensation through the body, a corresponding object giving rise to the disagreeable is examined
or any cognition by the mind, a corresponding object giving rise to the disagreeable is examined.

Six investigations of indifference, to wit,
when on occasion of any sensation through the eye, a corresponding object giving rise to indifference is examined
when on occasion of any sensation through the ear, a corresponding object giving rise to indifference is examined
when on occasion of any sensation through the nose, a corresponding object giving rise to indifference is examined
when on occasion of any sensation through the tongue, a corresponding object giving rise to indifference is examined
when on occasion of any sensation through the body, a corresponding object giving rise to indifference is examined
or any cognition by the mind, a corresponding object giving rise to indifference is examined.

Six occasions of fraternal living.⁴
Herein, friends, when a brother's kindly act towards his fellow-disciples has been attested, as wrought publicly and in private, that is an occasion of fraternity, causing affection and regard, and conducing to concord, absence of strife, harmony, union.
when a brother's kindly speech towards his fellow-disciples has been attested, as wrought publicly and in private, that is an occasion of fraternity, causing affection and regard, and conducing to concord, absence of strife, harmony, union.
when a brother's kind thoughts towards his fellow-disciples has been attested, as wrought publicly and in private, that is an occasion of fraternity, causing affection and regard, and conducing to concord, absence of strife, harmony, union.
In the next place, when a brother who has honestly and righteously obtained gifts, distributes these impartially among his fellow-disciples, and has everything in common with them, even to the contents of his alms-bowl, that is an occasion of fraternity, causing affection and regard, and conducing to concord, absence of strife, harmony, union.
Next, when the character and moral habits of a brother are [232] without rupture or flaw, are consistently practised, unblemished, making a man free, commended by the wise, unperverted, and conducing to rapt concentration,⁵ and he, so virtuous, [246] dwells openly and privately among his fellow-disciples, that is an occasion of fraternity, causing affection and regard, and conducing to concord, absence of strife, harmony, union.
Lastly, when a brother lives with his religious life [guided by] that Ariyan, safe-guarding belief, which leads him who so lives to the perfect destruction of sorrow, — when he thus equipped lives among his fellow-disciples publicly and in private, that is an occasion of fraternity, causing affection and regard, and conducing to concord, absence of strife, harmony, union.

Six roots of contention.
Herein, friends, take a brother who gets angry and cherishes rancour, and in this mood becomes irreverent and insolent toward the Master, the Norm, the Order, and does not accomplish the training. Such an one stirs up contention in the Order, and that contention is fraught with ill and misery for multitudes, with disadvantage, ill and sorrow for devas and men. If you, friends, should discern such a root of contention among yourselves or in other communities, then should ye strive to get just that evil root of contention eliminated. And if ye do not discern any such root, so work that it may not come to overwhelm you in the future. Such is the eliminating, such is the future averting of that evil root of contention.
(2) When a brother conceals other's good deeds,⁶ and is hypocritical, and in this mood becomes irreverent and insolent toward the Master, the Norm, the Order, and does not accomplish the training. Such an one stirs up contention in the Order, and that contention is fraught with ill and misery for multitudes, with disadvantage, ill and sorrow for devas and men. If you, friends, should discern such a root of contention among yourselves or in other communities, then should ye strive to get just that evil root of contention eliminated. And if ye do not discern any such root, so work that it may not come to overwhelm you in the future. Such is the eliminating, such is the future averting of that evil root of contention.
(3) When a brother is envious and mean, and in this mood becomes irreverent and insolent toward the Master, the Norm, the Order, and does not accomplish the training. Such an one stirs up contention in the Order, and that contention is fraught with ill and misery for multitudes, with disadvantage, ill and sorrow for devas and men. If you, friends, should discern such a root of contention among yourselves or in other communities, then should ye strive to get just that evil root of contention eliminated. And if ye do not discern any such root, so work that it may not come to overwhelm you in the future. Such is the eliminating, such is the future averting of that evil root of contention.
(4) When a brother is deceitful and crafty, and in this mood becomes irreverent and insolent toward the Master, the Norm, the Order, and does not accomplish the training. Such an one stirs up contention in the Order, and that contention is fraught with ill and misery for multitudes, with disadvantage, ill and sorrow for devas and men. If you, friends, should discern such a root of contention among yourselves or in other communities, then should ye strive to get just that evil root of contention eliminated. And if ye do not discern any such root, so work that it may not come to overwhelm you in the future. Such is the eliminating, such is the future averting of that evil root of contention.
(5) When a brother is full of evil wishes and false opinions, [247] and in this mood becomes irreverent and insolent toward the Master, the Norm, the Order, and does not accomplish the training. Such an one stirs up contention in the Order, and that contention is fraught with ill and misery for multitudes, with disadvantage, ill and sorrow for devas and men. If you, friends, should discern such a root of contention among yourselves or in other communities, then should ye strive to get just that evil root of contention eliminated. And if ye do not discern any such root, so work that it may not come to overwhelm you in the future. Such is the eliminating, such is the future averting of that evil root of contention.
(6) When a brother is infatuated with his own opinion, clutching it tenaciously and is loth to renounce it, and in this mood becomes irreverent and insolent toward the Master, the Norm, the Order, and does not accomplish the training. Such an one stirs up contention in the Order, and that contention is fraught with ill and misery for multitudes, with disadvantage, ill and sorrow for devas and men. If you, friends, should discern such a root of contention among yourselves or in other communities, then should ye strive to get just that evil root of contention eliminated. And if ye do not discern any such root, so work that it may not come to overwhelm you in the future. Such is the eliminating, such is the future averting of that evil root of contention.

Six elements, to wit,
those of extension,
cohesion,
heat
and mobility [in matter],
space
and consciousness.⁷

[233] Six elements tending to deliverance.
Herein, friends, a brother might say: 'Lo! I have developed mental emancipation by love, [248]I have multiplied it, made it a vehicle, and a base. I have brought it out, accumulated and set it well going. Nevertheless malevolence persistently possesses my heart.' To him it should be said: 'Not so! Say not so, your reverence! Do not misrepresent the Exalted One! It is not well to calumniate the Exalted One! Surely he would not say this was so! This is a baseless and uncalled-for statement, friend. Things cannot be as you say. Emancipation of the heart through love, brother, this is how you become delivered from malevolence.
In the same way a brother might say: 'Lo! I have developed mental emancipation of the heart through pity, I have multiplied it, made it a vehicle, and a base. I have brought it out, accumulated and set it well going. Nevertheless cruelty persistently possesses my heart.' To him it should be said: 'Not so! Say not so, your reverence! Do not misrepresent the Exalted One! It is not well to calumniate the Exalted One! Surely he would not say this was so! This is a baseless and uncalled-for statement, friend. Things cannot be as you say. Emancipation of the heart through pity, brother, this is how you become delivered from cruelty.
In the same way a brother might say: 'Lo! I have developed mental emancipation of the heart through sympathetic joy, I have multiplied it, made it a vehicle, and a base. I have brought it out, accumulated and set it well going. Nevertheless disgust persistently possesses my heart.' To him it should be said: 'Not so! Say not so, your reverence! Do not misrepresent the Exalted One! It is not well to calumniate the Exalted One! Surely he would not say this was so! This is a baseless and uncalled-for statement, friend. Things cannot be as you say. Emancipation of the heart through sympathetic joy, brother, this is how you become delivered from disgust.
In the same way a brother might say: 'Lo! I have developed mental emancipation of the heart through equanimity, I have multiplied it, made it a vehicle, and a base. I have brought it out, accumulated and set it well going. Nevertheless passion persistently possesses my heart.' To him it should be said: 'Not so! Say not so, your reverence! Do not misrepresent the Exalted One! It is not well to calumniate the Exalted One! Surely he would not say this was so! This is a baseless and uncalled-for statement, friend. Things cannot be as you say. Emancipation of the heart through equanimity, brother, this is how you become delivered from passion.
[249] Next, friends, a brother might say: 'Lo! I have developed mental emancipation from the power of any object to catch the fancy and incite lust,⁸ I have multiplied that emancipation, made it a vehicle and a base I have brought it out, accumulated and set it well going. Nevertheless my mind still pursues seductive objects.' To him it should be said: 'Not so! Say not so, your reverence! Do not misrepresent the Exalted One! It is not well to calumniate the Exalted One! Surely he would not say this was so! This is a baseless and uncalled-for statement, friend. Things cannot be as you say. Mental emancipation from the power of any object to catch the fancy and incite lust, brother, this is how you become delivered from seductive objects.
Or again he may say: 'Lo! the notion "I am" is offensive to me! I pay no heed to the notion "This 'I' exists!" Nevertheless doubts and queries and debating⁹ still possess my mind.' To these answer should be made as before. He should be assured that such cannot really be the case; that it is by emancipating the heart through equanimity, or again, through the expulsion of the conceit of the [234] existence of an 'I,' that he becomes delivered from lust [250] and from doubts and queries and debatings.

Six unsurpassable experiences, to wit,
certain sights,
certain things heard,
certain gains,
certain trainings,
certain ministries,
certain memories.

Six matters for recollection, to wit,
the Buddha,
the Norm,
the Order,
the moral precepts,
renunciation,
the devas.¹⁰

Six chronic states.¹¹
Herein, friends, a brother on occasion of sights seen with the eye, is neither delighted nor displeased, but remains equable, mindful and deliberate.
on occasion of sounds heard with the ear, is neither delighted nor displeased, but remains equable, mindful and deliberate.
on occasion of scents smelled with the nose, is neither delighted nor displeased, but remains equable, mindful and deliberate.
on occasion of savours tasted with the tongue, is neither delighted nor displeased, but remains equable, mindful and deliberate.
on occasion of tactile objects felt with the body, is neither delighted nor displeased, but remains equable, mindful and deliberate.
as well as on that of any impression or idea, is neither delighted nor displeased, but remains equable, mindful and deliberate.

Six modes of heredity.¹²
Herein, friends, some persons being reborn in dark circumstances [251]lead dark lives,
others so born lead bright lives,
and other so born bring Nibbāna to pass, which is neither dark nor bright.¹³
Again, others born in bright circumstances lead bright lives,
or dark lives,
or bring Nibbāna to pass, which is neither dark nor bright.

Six ideas conducing to Nibbāna, to wit,
the idea of impermanence,
of ill in impermanence,
of soullessness in ill,
of elimination
of passionlessness,
of cessation.

These Sixfold Doctrines friends, have been perfectly set forth by the Exalted One who knows, who sees.

Hereon there should be a chanting by all in concord, not a wrangling, that thus this holy life may persist and be long maintained.

That may be for the welfare and happiness of many folk, for compassion on the world, for the good, the welfare, the happiness of devas and of men.

¹ Dhammā: the co-ordinated impressions of sense, and all mental objects.

² Kāya. See above, p. 229, n.3 (5.25.1)

³ Mano-viññānaṇ

⁴ Sārāṇiyā dhammā

⁵ See above 219, xiv, (4). (4.14)

⁶ So B. paresaṃ guṇamakkhana ...

⁷ The primary meaning of the first four is earth, water, fire, air. In Abhidhamma, the meaning is as stated. B. paraphrases by (1) patiṭṭhā, the more usual interpretation being kakkhalatta, or hardness (v. B.P.E. 241, n.1), (2) ābandhanā, or binding, (3) paripācanā, or maturing, (4) vitthambanā, or unstable, (5) asamphuṭṭhā, or intangible. Cf. p. 219, xvi. (4.16)

⁸ A cumbrous rendering of the elusive words a-nimittā ceto-vimutti. See above, p. 230, n.1 (note 5.25.2)

⁹ Sallāpaṃ

¹⁰ These, says B., are fully explained in the Visuddhi Magga P.T.S., ed. i., pp. 197-228.

¹¹ Satata. In his Comy. on A. II, 198, B. explains by nicca, nibaddha.

¹² Abhijātiyo, explained as just jātiyo, which means equally birth and social status.

¹³ B. takes 'dark,' 'bright,' when applied to birth to mean 'obscure,' 'high born'; when applied to life and conduct, to mean 'demeritorious,' 'meritorious.' Nibbāna involves the transcendence of merit and demerit. Cf. Kindred Sayings, I, pp. 118-20; above, p. 221, xxix (4.19); 224, xlix (4.49).

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33. The Recital

Saṇgīti Suttantaṃ

Sevens

[234] There are Sevens in the Doctrine, friends, which are perfectly set forth by the Exalted One who [235] knows, who sees.

Herein there should be a chanting by all in concord, not a wrangling, that thus this holy life may persist and be long maintained.

That may be for the welfare and happiness of many folk, for compassion on the world, for the good, the welfare, the happiness of devas and of men.

Which are they?

Seven treasures,¹ to wit,
the treasure of faith,
of morals,
of conscientiousness,
of discretion,
of learning,
of self-denial,
of insight.

Seven factors of enlightenment, to wit,
the factor of mindfulness, [252] of study of doctrines,
of energy,
of zest,
of serenity,
of concentration,
of equanimity.

Seven requisites of concentration,² to wit,
right views,
right intention,
right speech,
right action,
right livelihood,
right effort,
right mindfulness.

Seven vicious qualities, to wit,
want of faith,
unconscientiousness,
indiscretion,
want of doctrinal knowledge,
slackness,
muddleheadedness,
want of insight.

Seven virtuous qualities, to wit,
faith,
conscientiousness,
discretion,
doctrinal knowledge,
established energy,
clear-headedness,
insight.

Seven qualities of the good, to wit,
knowledge of the Dhamma,
knowledge of the meaning [contained in its doctrines],
knowledge of self,
knowledge of how to be temperate,
knowledge of how to choose and keep time,
knowledge of groups of persons,
and knowledge of individuals.

Seven bases of Arahantship.³
Herein, friends, a brother is keenly desirous of entering the training,
and longs to continue doing so.
a brother is keenly desirous of insight into the doctrine,
a brother is keenly desirous of insight into the suppression of hankerings,
a brother is keenly desirous of insight into to [the need of] solitude,
a brother is keenly desirous of insight into evoking energy,
a brother is keenly desirous of insight into mindfulness and perspicacity,
[253] a brother is keenly desirous of insight into intuition of the truth.

Seven perceptions, to wit,
that of impermanence,
of soullessness,
of ugliness,
of evil [in the world],
of elimination,
of passionlessness,
of cessation.⁴

[236] Seven powers, to wit,
the power of faith,
energy,
conscientiousness,
discretion,
mindfulness,
concentration,
insight.⁵

Seven stations of consciousness.⁶
There are beings, brethren, who are diverse both in body and in mind, such as mankind, certain devas and some who have gone to an evil doom. This is the first station (or persistence) for [re-born] consciousness.⁷
Other beings are diverse of body, but uniform in mind, such as the devas of the Brahma-world, reborn there from [practice here of] first [Jhāna].
Others are uniform in body, diverse in intelligence, such as the Radiant Devas.
Others are uniform both in body and in intelligence, such as the All-Lustrous Devas.⁸
Others there are who, by having passed wholly beyond all consciousness of matter, by the dying out of the consciousness of sense-reaction, by having turned the attention away from any consciousness of the manifold and become conscious only of 'space as infinite' are dwellers in the realm of infinite space.
Others there are who, by having passed wholly beyond the realm of infinite space and become conscious only of consciousness as infinite are dwellers in the realm of infinite consciousness.
Others there are who, having passed wholly beyond the realm of infinite consciousness, and become conscious only that 'there is nothing whatever,' are dwellers in the realm of nothingness. Such are the seven stations of consciousness.

Seven [types of] persons worthy of offerings, to wit,
the freed-both-ways,
[254] the freed by insight,
they who have bodily testimony,
they who have won [237] the view,
they who are freed by confidence,
the followers of wisdom,
and the followers of confidence.⁹

Seven kinds of latent bias,¹⁰ to wit,
the bias of sensual passion,
of enmity,
of false opinion,
of doubt,
of conceit,
of lust for rebirth,
of ignorance.

Seven fetters, to wit,
compliance,
opposition,
false opinion,
doubt,
conceit,
lust for rebirth,
ignorance.

Seven rules for the pacifying and suppression of disputed questions that have been raised,¹¹ to wit,
the proceeding face-to-face must be performed,
the proceeding for the consciously innocent must be performed,
the proceeding in the case of those who are no longer out of their mind must be performed,
the proceeding on confession of guilt must be carried out,
the proceeding by a majority of the Chapter,
or the proceeding for the obstinate,
or the proceeding by covering over as with grass.

These Sevenfold doctrines friends, have been perfectly set forth by the Exalted One who knows, who sees.

Hereon there should be a chanting by all in concord, not a wrangling, that thus this holy life may persist and be long maintained.

That may be for the welfare and happiness of many folk, for compassion on the world, for the good, the welfare, the happiness of devas and of men.

¹ The Burmese and Siamese printed editions read 'Ariyan Treasures' (ariyadhanān).

² = Vol. II, p. 250

³ Niddesa is here defined by B. as equivalent to Arahantship and to be a term borrowed from the Jains, applied by them to one who died within ten years (niddasa vassakāle mataṃ)? of attaining saintship. Its ordinary meaning in commentarial Pali is exposition.

⁴ Cf. below, p. 263, viii

⁵ Cf. 1, II, xxvi, and pp. 102, 127 of text.

⁶ Cf. 1, II, xviii; Vol. II, p.66.

⁷ Viññāṇa-ṭ-ṭhiti, rendered resting-place of cognition in Vol. II, p. 66

⁸ Two of the Rūpa spheres, 'above' that of the Brahmās, 'below' the Pure Abodes (cf. 5, xvii.). Cf. above, I, 30 f.; III, 26, 82. the last four are the Arūpa devas.

⁹ See above, p. 101. (Sampasādaniva Suttanta: '...unsurpassable is the way in which the Exalted One teaches the Norm concerning the classification of individuals...")

¹⁰ 'They continue sedent, in the sense of something not got rid of,' is B.'s definition of anussaya's.

¹¹ See Vin. Texts I, 68, where illustrative references are given in the Cullavagga (ibid., Vol. III).

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33. The Recital

Saṇgīti Suttantaṃ

Eights

[237] "There are 'Eights in the Doctrine', friends, which are perfectly set forth by the Exalted One who knows, who sees.

Herein there should be a chanting by all in concord, not a wrangling, that thus this holy life may persist and be long maintained.

That may be for the welfare and happiness of many folk, for compassion on the world, for the good, the welfare, the happiness of devas and of men.

Which are they?

Eight wrong factors of character and conduct,¹ to wit,
wrong views,
wrong intention,²
wrong speech,
wrong action,
wrong livelihood,
wrong effort,
wrong mindfulness,
wrong concentration.

[238] [255] Eight right factors of character and conduct, to wit,
right views,
right intentions,
right speech,
right action,
right livelihood,
right effort,
right mindfulness,
right concentration.

Eight types of persons worthy of offerings, to wit,
one who has 'attained the stream' [or First Path].
One who has worked for the realizing of the Fruit of stream-attainment.
One who is a Once-returner.
One who has worked for the realizing of the Fruit of Once-returning.
One who is a Never-returner.
One who has worked for the realizing of the Fruit of Never-returning.
One who is Arahant.
One who has worked for the realizing of Arahantship.

Eight bases of slackness.
Herein, friends,
(1) let a brother have some work to do.
He thinks:
'There's that work I have to do,
but the doing of it will tire me.
Well then, I shall lie down.'
He lies down;
he stirs up no energy to finish that which is not done,
to accomplish the unaccomplished,
to realize the unrealized.
(2) Or he has been working, and thinks:
'I have been working,
and the doing of my work has tired me.
Well then, I shall lie down.'
He lies down;
he stirs up no energy to finish that which is not done,
to accomplish the unaccomplished,
to realize the unrealized.
(3) Or he has to make a journey,
and he thinks:
'I have to make a journey,
and that will tire me.
Well then, I shall lie down.'
He lies down;
he stirs up no energy to finish that which is not done,
to accomplish the unaccomplished,
to realize the unrealized.
(4) Or he has gone on his journey,
and reflects:
'I have gone on a journey,
and that has tired me.
Well then, I shall lie down.'
He lies down;
he stirs up no energy to finish that which is not done,
to accomplish the unaccomplished,
to realize the unrealized.
(5) Or he tours about a village or township for alms
and does not obtain his fill
of poor or rich food, and thinks:
'I've gone about village,
about township for alms
[256]and have not obtained my fill
of poor or rich food.
This body of me is tired and good for naught.
Well then, I'll lie down.'
He lies down;
he stirs up no energy to finish that which is not done,
to accomplish the unaccomplished,
to realize the unrealized.
(6) Or he tours about a village or township for alms
and does obtain his fill
of poor or rich food and thinks:
'I've gone about a village or township for alms
and have obtained my fill
of poor or rich food.
This body of me is heavy and good for naught,
seems tome like a load of soaked beans.
Well then, I'll lie down'
He lies down;
he stirs up no energy to finish that which is not done,
to accomplish the unaccomplished,
to realize the unrealized.
(7) Or in him some slight ailment has arisen,
and he thinks:
In this state it is fit I lie down.
He lies down;
he stirs up no energy to finish that which is not done,
to accomplish the unaccomplished,
to realize the unrealized.
(8) Or he has recovered from illness,
has [239] recently arisen from some indisposition.
And he thinks his body is weak and good for naught
and lies down
nor stirs up energy to finish that which is not done,
to accomplish the unaccomplished,
to realize the unrealized.

Eight bases of setting afoot an undertaking.
Herein, brethren,
(1) let a brother have some work to do.
He thinks:
'There is that work I have to do,
but in doing it,
I shall not find it easy to attend to the religion of the Buddhas.
Well then, I will stir up energy to finish that which is not done,
to accomplish the unaccomplished,
to realize the unrealized.'
(2) Or he has [257] done a task, and thinks:
'I have been working,
but I could not attend to the religion of the Buddhas.
Well then, I will stir up energy to finish that which is not done,
to accomplish the unaccomplished,
to realize the unrealized.'
(3) Or he has to go on a journey,
and thinks it will not be easy for him, on his way,
to attend to the religion of the Buddhas,
and resolves:
'Well then, I will stir up energy to finish that which is not done,
to accomplish the unaccomplished,
to realize the unrealized.'
(4) Or he has been on a journey,
but has not been able to attend to the religion of the Buddhas,
and resolves:
Well then, I will stir up energy to finish that which is not done,
to accomplish the unaccomplished,
to realize the unrealized.'
(5) Or he has toured about village or township for alms
and has not obtained his fill
of poor or rich food.
And he thinks that,
under the circumstances,
his body is light and fit for work
and resolves:
Well then, I will stir up energy to finish that which is not done,
to accomplish the unaccomplished,
to realize the unrealized.'
(6) Or he has toured and has obtained his fill and thinks that,
under the circumstances,
his body is strong and fit to work
and resolves:
Well then, I will stir up energy to finish that which is not done,
to accomplish the unaccomplished,
to realize the unrealized.'
(7) Or in him some slight ailment has arisen.
And he thinks it is possible that the ailment may grow worse,
so that he must stir up energy
to finish that which is not done,
to accomplish the unaccomplished,
to realize the unrealized.'
[258] (8) Or he has recovered from illness,
has recently arisen from some indisposition.
And he thinks:
I have recovered from illness,
I have recently arisen from my indisposition.
It is possible that the illness may recur.
Well then, I will stir up energy to finish that which is not done,
to accomplish the unaccomplished,
to realize the unrealized.'ed1

Eight bases of giving gifts: — One gives (1) because [an object of hospitality] has approached;
(2) from fear;³
(3) because 'he gave to me';
(4) because [240] 'he will give to me';
(5) because one thinks 'giving is blessed';
(6) because one thinks 'I cook; these do not cook; it is not fit that I who cook should give nothing to those who do not cook';
(7) because one thinks: 'from the giving of this gift by me an excellent report will spread abroad';
(8) because one wishes to adorn and equip one's heart.¹⁴

Eight rebirths due to giving gifts. Herein, friends, (1) a certain person gives a gift to a recluse or brahmin in the shape of food, drink, raiment, vehicle, wreaths,perfumes and ointments, bedding, dwelling and lights. That which he gives, he hopes to receive in his turn. He sees a wealthy noble or brahmin or householder surrounded and attended by, and enjoying the five forms of sensuous pleasures. And he thinks: 'Ah! if only I may be reborn at the dissolution of the body after death as one amongst wealthy nobles, or brahmins, or householders!" This thought he holds fixed, firmly established, and expands it. This thought set free in a lower range, and not expanded to anything higher, conduces to rebirth within that range. [259] And this, I affirm, only in the case of a moral person, not of one who is vicious. The mental aspiration, friends, of a moral person succeeds because of its purity.⁵
(2) Another person gives a gift to a recluse or brahmin in the shape of food, drink, raiment, vehicle, wreaths,perfumes and ointments, bedding, dwelling and lights. That which he gives, he hopes to receive in his turn. He may have learnt thus: 'Devas in the realm of the four kings of the firmament⁶ are long-lived, splendid in appearance and lead a blissful existence.' He aspires to be reborn among them, and holds the thought fixed, firmly established, and expands it. This thought set free in a lower range, and not expanded to anything higher, onduces to rebirth within that [lower] range. And this, I affirm, only in the case of a moral person, not of one who is vicious. The mental aspiration, brethren, of a moral person⁷ succeeds because of its purity.
[241] (3) Another person gives a gift to a recluse or brahmin in the shape of food, drink, raiment, vehicle, wreaths,perfumes and ointments, bedding, dwelling and lights. That which he gives, he hopes to receive in his turn. He may have learnt thus: 'Devas the Three-and Thirty gods, are long-lived, splendid in appearance and lead a blissful existence.' He aspires to be reborn among them, and holds the thought fixed, firmly established, and expands it. This thought set free in a lower range, and not expanded to anything higher, onduces to rebirth within that [lower] range. And this, I affirm, only in the case of a moral person, not of one who is vicious. The mental aspiration, brethren, of a moral person succeeds because of its purity.
(4) Another person gives a gift to a recluse or brahmin in the shape of food, drink, raiment, vehicle, wreaths,perfumes and ointments, bedding, dwelling and lights. That which he gives, he hopes to receive in his turn. He may have learnt thus: 'the Yāma Devas, are long-lived, splendid in appearance and lead a blissful existence.' He aspires to be reborn among them, and holds the thought fixed, firmly established, and expands it. This thought set free in a lower range, and not expanded to anything higher, onduces to rebirth within that [lower] range. And this, I affirm, only in the case of a moral person, not of one who is vicious. The mental aspiration, brethren, of a moral person succeeds because of its purity.
(5) Another person gives a gift to a recluse or brahmin in the shape of food, drink, raiment, vehicle, wreaths,perfumes and ointments, bedding, dwelling and lights. That which he gives, he hopes to receive in his turn. He may have learnt thus: 'the Tusita Devas, are long-lived, splendid in appearance and lead a blissful existence.' He aspires to be reborn among them, and holds the thought fixed, firmly established, and expands it. This thought set free in a lower range, and not expanded to anything higher, onduces to rebirth within that [lower] range. And this, I affirm, only in the case of a moral person, not of one who is vicious. The mental aspiration, brethren, of a moral person succeeds because of its purity.
(6) Another person gives a gift to a recluse or brahmin in the shape of food, drink, raiment, vehicle, wreaths,perfumes and ointments, bedding, dwelling and lights. That which he gives, he hopes to receive in his turn. He may have learnt thus: 'the Nimmānarati Devas, are long-lived, splendid in appearance and lead a blissful existence.' He aspires to be reborn among them, and holds the thought fixed, firmly established, and expands it. This thought set free in a lower range, and not expanded to anything higher, onduces to rebirth within that [lower] range. And this, I affirm, only in the case of a moral person, not of one who is vicious. The mental aspiration, brethren, of a moral person succeeds because of its purity.
(7) Another person gives a gift to a recluse or brahmin in the shape of food, drink, raiment, vehicle, wreaths,perfumes and ointments, bedding, dwelling and lights. That which he gives, he hopes to receive in his turn. He may have learnt thus: 'the Paranimmita-vasavatti Devas, are long-lived, splendid in appearance and lead a blissful existence.' He aspires to be reborn among them, and holds the thought fixed, firmly established, and expands it. This thought set free in a lower range, and not expanded to anything higher, onduces to rebirth within that [lower] range. And this, I affirm, only in the case of a moral person, not of one who is vicious. The mental aspiration, brethren, of a moral person succeeds because of its purity.
(8) Another person gives a gift to a recluse or brahmin in the shape of food, drink, raiment, vehicle, wreaths,perfumes and ointments, bedding, dwelling and lights. That which he gives, he hopes to receive in his turn. He may have learnt thus: 'the Paranimmita-vasavatti Devas, are long-lived, splendid in appearance and lead a blissful existence.' He thinks: 'Ah! would that after death I might be reborn as one among them!' That thought he holds fixed, that thought he firmly establishes, that thought he expands. That thought set free in a lower range,⁸ and not expanded to anything higher, conduces to rebirth within that range. And this, [260] I affirm, only in the case of a moral person, not of one who is vicious, in the case of one who has got rid of the passions, not of one still beset by them. The mental aspiration, friends, of a moral person succeeds because it is void of lustful passion.⁹

Eight assemblies, to wit,
those of nobles,
brahmins,
householders,
religious orders,
four-king devas,
Three-and-Thirty devas,
Māra devas
and Brahma devas.¹⁰

Eight matters of worldly concern, to wit,
gains and losses,
fame and obscurity,
blame and praise,
pleasures and pains.

Eight positions of mastery.¹¹
(1) When anyone pictures to himself some material feature of his person [242] and sees [corresponding] features in others,
lovely or ugly,
as small,
transcending this [object] he is aware of doing so,
[thinks] 'I know, I see!'
(2) Or when he pictures to himself some material feature of his person and sees [corresponding] features in others,
lovely or ugly,
as infinitely great,
and nevertheless transcending this [object],
and is aware of doing so [thinks]:
'I know, I see!'
(3) Or when he sees the features in others
lovely or ugly,
as small,
without first picturing any material feature of his own
transcending this [object] he is aware of doing so,
[thinks] 'I know, I see!'
(4) Or when he sees the features in others
but sees those features not as small,
but as infinitely great,
and nevertheless transcending this [object],
and is aware of doing so [thinks]:
'I know, I see!'
(5) Or when without the personal preliminary,
he sees external shapes of indigo,
[261] indigo in colour,
indigo in visible expanse,
indigo in lustre,
as is the ummā flower,
or a Benares muslin delicately finished on both sides
transcending this [object] he is aware of doing so,
[thinks] 'I know, I see!'
(6) or shapes of yellow
yellow in colour,
yellow in visible expanse,
yellow in lustre,
as is the kaṇikāra flower,
or Benares muslin delicately finished on both sides
transcending this [object] he is aware of doing so,
[thinks] 'I know, I see!'
(7) or shapes of red
red in colour,
red in visible expanse,
red in lustre,
as is the bandhujīvaka flower,
or Benares muslin delicately finished on both sides
transcending this [object] he is aware of doing so,
[thinks] 'I know, I see!'
(8) or shapes of white,
white in color,
white in visible expanse,
white in lustre
as is the morning star,
or Benares muslin delicately finished on both sides
transcends this [object] and is aware of doing so,
[thinks]: 'I know, I see!'

Eight deliverances,¹² to wit,
(1) He, picturing any material feature of himself,
sees such material features [as they really are].
(2) Not picturing any material feature of himself,
[262] he sees material features external to his own.
(3) He decides that it is beautiful.¹³
(4) By passing wholly beyond all consciousness of material qualities,
by the dying out of the awareness of sensory reaction,
by the unheeding of any awareness of difference,
he enters into and abides
in that rapt ecstasy
which is a consciousness of infinite space.
(5) By passing wholly beyond such a sphere of consciousness,
he enters into and abides
in that rapt ecstasy
which is a consciousness of infinitude of consciousness itself.
(6) By passing wholly beyond such a sphere of consciousness,
he enters into and abides
in that rapt [243] ecstasy
which regards consciousness itself as nothing whatever,
a sphere of nothingness.
(7) By passing wholly beyond such a sphere,
he enters into and abides
in that rapt consciousness
which neither is,
nor yet is not
to be called conscious.
(8) By passing wholly beyond such a sphere,
he enters into and abides
in a state of unconsciousness,
wherein awareness and feeling cease.

These Eightfold doctrines friends, have been perfectly set forth by the Exalted One who knows, who sees.

Hereon there should be a chanting by all in concord, not a wrangling, that thus this holy life may persist and be long maintained.

That may be for the welfare and happiness of many folk, for compassion on the world, for the good, the welfare, the happiness of devas and of men.

¹ Lit. 'wrongnesses' and in (ii.) 'rightnesses' (the 'Ariyan Eightfold Path'), elsewhere called Magga, kummagga (wrong path), paṭipadā and paṭipatti. Cf. S., V, 18, 23: Vibh. 373, etc., etc.

² [Ed.: Sankappa] Sometimes rendered 'aspiration'; a synonym of vitakka. Application of the mind to an object or mental 'contriving' must be understood.

³ Either from fear of blame, or of future retribution. Comy.

⁴ Namely, in studying for calm and insight, for giving softens the heart in both donor and recipient. Comy.

⁵ I.e., its being unmixed, single-minded.

⁶ Cf. preceding Suttanta passim.

⁷ Omitted in the text.

⁸ All rebirth in other worlds, from the Nibbāna or Arahant point of view, was low in range. But the Brahma world was also lowest in the Rūpa heavens. Only in the upper Rūpa worlds could Parinibbāna be obtained, when not accomplished on earth.

⁹ Got rid of, remarks B., either by the Paths or by the Attainments (Jhāna). Charitable giving alone cannot secure rebirth in Brahma world. But as an adornment to the mind studying calm and insight, they make thought tender, and then, exercise in the Brahma-vihāara emotions (I, 317, f., § 76) can lead to such a rebirth.

¹⁰ There is no comment on the absence of parisā's in other worlds. Presumably it is because no such assemblies are recorded in the Suttas, nor mention of any hierarchy or government, as e.g., in Dial. I, 282; II, 242 f., 293 (21), etc.

¹¹ See II, 118. The 'positions' refer to induction of the Jhāna consciousness. Cf. Bud. Psy. Eth., §§ 204-246; Expositor, ch. xi.

¹² Or releases, or emancipations (cf. Bud. Psy. Eth., p. 63), or 'stages' of the same (Dial. II, 119). These are also jhāna-incidents. Cf. above, p. 216, vā.

¹³ Namely, the kasina, or abstracted bare colour or lustre in the object selected, wherewith to induce self-hypnosis.

ed1 RD has 'unrealizable.' which must be a typo.

 [Ones-Twos]  [Threes]  [Fours]  [Fives]  [Sixes]  [Sevens]  [Eights]  [Nines]  [Tens]

33. The Recital

Saṇgīti Suttantaṃ

Nines

[243] There are Nines in the Doctrine, friends, which are perfectly set forth by the Exalted One who knows, who sees.

Herein there should be a chanting by all in concord, not a wrangling, that thus this holy life may persist and be long maintained.

That may be for the welfare and happiness of many folk, for compassion on the world, for the good, the welfare, the happiness of devas and of men.

Which are they?

Nine bases of quarrelling, thus: —
quarrelling is stirred up¹ at the thought:
'he has done me an injury,'
or 'he is doing me an injury,'
or 'he will do me an injury,'
or 'he has done,
is doing,
will do an injury to one I love,'
or 'he has bestowed a benefit,
is bestowing,
will bestow a benefit on one I dislike.'

Nine suppressions of quarrelling, thus: —
quarrelling is suppressed by the thought:
'He has done,
[263]is doing,
will do me an injury,
or 'he has done,
is doing,
will do an injury to one I love',
or 'he has bestowed,
is bestowing,
will bestow a benefit on one I dislike',
true, but what gain would there be to either of us if I quarrelled about it?'²

Nine spheres inhabited by beings.ed1.
(1) There are beings, brethren, who are diverse both in body and in mind, such as mankind, certain devas and some who have gone to an evil doom.
(2) Other beings are diverse of body, but uniform in mind, such as the devas of the Brahma-world, reborn there from [practice here of] first [Jhāna].
(3) Others are uniform in body, diverse in intelligence, such as the Radiant Devas.
(4) Others are uniform both in body and in intelligence, such as the All-Lustrous Devas.
(5) There are beings without perception or feeling. These live in [244] the sphere of the 'unconscious devas.'³
(6) There are beings who having passed wholly beyond awareness of material qualities, by the dying out of sensory reaction, by unheeding the awareness of difference, have attained to the sphere of infinite space with a consciousness thereof.
(7) There are beings who having passed wholly beyond awareness of the sphere of infinite space, have attained to the sphere of infinite consciousness with a consciousness thereof.
(8) There are beings who having passed wholly beyond awareness of the sphere of infinite consciousness, have attained to the sphere of nothingness with a consciousness thereof.
(9) There are beings who having passed wholly beyond awareness of the sphere of nothingness, have attained to the sphere of neither consciousness nor yet unconsciousness with a consciousness thereof.⁴

Nine untimely unseasonable intervals for life in a religious order,
[264] (1) A Tathāgata, friends, is born into the world, Arahant Buddha Supreme. The Norm is taught, quenching [the passions],⁵ extinguishing [the passions], leading to enlightenment, declared by the Well-Farer. And this person is reborn at that time in purgatory. This is the first untimely, unseasonable period for living in a religious order.
(2) A Tathāgata, friends, is born into the world, Arahant Buddha Supreme. The Norm is taught, quenching [the passions], extinguishing [the passions], leading to enlightenment, declared by the Well-Farer.
And this person is reborn at that time in the animal kingdom. This is the second untimely, unseasonable period for living in a religious order.
(3) A Tathāgata, friends, is born into the world, Arahant Buddha Supreme. The Norm is taught, quenching [the passions], extinguishing [the passions], leading to enlightenment, declared by the Well-Farer. And this person is reborn at that time among the Petas. This is the third untimely, unseasonable period for living in a religious order.
(4) A Tathāgata, friends, is born into the world, Arahant Buddha Supreme. The Norm is taught, quenching [the passions], extinguishing [the passions], leading to enlightenment, declared by the Well-Farer. And this person is reborn at that time among the Asuras. This is the fourth untimely, unseasonable period for living in a religious order.
(5) A Tathāgata, friends, is born into the world, Arahant Buddha Supreme. The Norm is taught, quenching [the passions], extinguishing [the passions], leading to enlightenment, declared by the Well-Farer. And this person is reborn at that time among some long-lived deva community. This is the fifth untimely, unseasonable period for living in a religious order.
(6) A Tathāgata, friends, is born into the world, Arahant Buddha Supreme. The Norm is taught, quenching [the passions], extinguishing [the passions], leading to enlightenment, declared by the Well-Farer. And this person is reborn at that time in the border countries among unintelligent barbarians, where there is no opening for members of the Order or lay-brethren. This is the sixth untimely, unseasonable period for living in a religious order.
(7) A Tathāgata, friends, is born into the world, Arahant Buddha Supreme. The Norm is taught, quenching [the passions], extinguishing [the passions], leading to enlightenment, declared by the Well-Farer. And this person is reborn at that time in the middle countries, but he holds wrong opinions and has perverted vision, holding that gifts,⁶ offerings, oblations are as naught, for there is no fruit nor result of deeds well or ill done; [265] there are no parents nor birth without them; there are no recluses or brahmins in the world who have attained the highest, leading perfect lives, and who, havintg known and realized each for himself the truth as to this and the next world, do reveal it. This is the seventh untimely,
unseasonable period for living in a religious order.
(8) A Tathāgata, friends, is born into the world, Arahant Buddha Supreme. The Norm is taught, quenching [the passions], extinguishing [the passions], leading to enlightenment, declared by the Well-Farer.
And though reborn at the time in the Middle countries, he is stupid, dull, or deaf and dumb, unable to know whether a matter has been well said or ill said. This is the eighth untimely, unseasonable period for living in a religious order.
(9) Or finally, friends, a Tathāgata has not arisen in the world as Arahant Buddha Supreme, the [245] Norm is not taught, quenching [the passions], extinguishing [the passions], leading to enlightenment, as revealed by the Well-Farer; and this person is [in that interval] reborn in the Middle country, is intelligent, bright of wit, nor deaf-mute, able to know whether a matter has been well said or ill said. This is the ninth untimely, unseasonable period for living in a religious order.

Nine successional states, to wit,
(1) Herein, friends, a brother, aloof from sensuous appetites, aloof from evil ideas, enters into and abides in the First Jhāna, wherein there is initiative and sustained thought, which is born of solitude, and is full of zest and ease.
(2) when suppressing initiative and sustained thought, he enters into and abides in the Second Jhāna, which is self-evoked, born of concentration, full of zest and ease, in that, set free from initial and sustained thought, the mind grows calm and sure, dwelling on high.
(3) when, no longer fired with zest, abides calmly contemplative, while mindful and self-possessed he feel in his body that ease whereof Ariyans declare: He that is calmly contemplative and aware, he dwelleth at ease, so does he enter into and abide in the Third Jhāna.
(4) by putting aside ease and by putting aside malaise, by the passing away of the joy and the sorrow he used to feel, he enters into and abides in the Fourth Jhāna, rapture of utter purity of mindfulness and equanimity, wherein neither ease is felt nor any ill.
(5) By passing beyond the consciousness of matter, by the dying out of the sensation of resistance, by paying no heed to the idea of difference, at the thought: 'space is infinite!' attains to and abides in the conceptual sphere of space as infinite.
(6) Having wholly transcended the sphere of space, at the thought: 'Infinite is consciousness!' he attaines to and abides in the conceptual sphere of consciousness as infinite.
(7) Having wholly transcended the of consciousness, at the thought: 'It is nothing!' he attains to and abides in the conceptual sphere of nothingness.
(8) Having wholly transcended the sphere of nothingness, he attains to and abides in the sphere of neither consciousness nor unconsciousness.
[266] (9) and complete trance.⁷

Nine successional cessations, thus: — Taking each of the foregoing nine in order, by the attainment of (1) First Jhāna, sensuous perceptions cease,
(2) Second Jhāna, applied and sustained thought ceases,
(3) Third Jhāna zest ceases,
(4) Fourth Jhāna, respiration ceases,
(5) by the perception of infinite space, perception of material things ceases,
(6) by the perception of infinite consciousness, perception of infinite space ceases,
(7) by the perception of nothingness, perception of infinite consciousness ceases,
(8) by the perception that is neither conscious nor yet unconscious, perception of nothingness ceases,
(9) by the cessation of perception and feeling, perception that is neither conscious nor yet unconscious ceases.

These Ninefold doctrines friends, have been perfectly set forth by the Exalted One who knows, who sees.

Hereon there should be a chanting by all in concord, not a wrangling, that thus this holy life may persist and be long maintained.

That may be for the welfare and happiness of many folk, for compassion on the world, for the good, the welfare, the happiness of devas and of men.

¹ Āghātaṃ bandhati.

² So Comy. Cf. Vis. Magga, p. 297 f.

³ Assuming as the Buddhist does, that in Jhāna ecstasy, terrestrial consciousness was exchanged for other-world consciousness, he was logically driven to assume also a source for the abnormal state of mind supervening in complete trance.

⁴ As above 3, I, xi [Ed.: ? [DN 33.4.7]]

⁵ Kilesā. So B.

⁶ See above. II, 73 ? [ed: DN 2 §23]

⁷ Cf. above 1, II, iv., ? [Ed.: DN 33.4.4 and 3, I, xi. DN.33.4.7].

ed1 RD abridges: "The first four are described in terms verbatim of the first four stations of consciousness [2. 3, x.]"
At DN 33.4.18 Four stations of consciousness are given:|| ||

Brethren, when consciousness gaining a foothold persists, it is either in connection with material qualities,
or with [a co-efficient of] feeling, or perception or volitional complexes. In connection with any of these as an instrument, as an object of thought, as a platform, as a set of enjoyment, it attains to growth, increase, abundance.

But these are really just the expansion of the four foods. The propper four also exist at Vol.2:#15:33:

'There are beings differing in body and differing in intelligence, for instance, human beings and certain of the gods and some of those in purgatory. This is the first resting place for Cognition.
'There are beings differing in body but of uniform intelligence, for instance, the gods of the Brahma-heaven who are there reborn by means of the First [Jhāna]. This is the second resting-place for Cognition.
'There are beings uniform in body and differing in intelligence, for instance, the Luminous Gods. This is the third resting place for Cognition.
'There are beings uniform in body and of uniform intelligence, for instance, the All-Lustrous Gods. This is the fourth resting place for Cognition.'

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33. The Recital

Saṇgīti Suttantaṃ

Tens

[245] There are Tens in the Doctrine, friends, which are perfectly set forth by the Exalted One who knows, who sees.

Herein there should be a chanting by all in concord, not a wrangling, that thus this holy life may persist and be long maintained.

That may be for the welfare and happiness of many folk, for compassion on the world, for the good, the welfare, the happiness of devas and of men.

Which are the tens?

Ten doctrines conferring protection.¹

(1) Herein [246] friends, a brother is virtuous, lives self-controlled according to the self-control prescribed in the Vinaya, he has entered on a proper range of conduct, he sees danger in the least of the things he should avoid, he adopts and trains himself in the precepts.
[267]
(2) He learns much, and remembers and stores up what he has learnt. Those doctrines which, excellent at the start, in the middle, at the end, in the letter and in their contents, declare the absolutely perfect and pure religious life, these he learns to a great extent bears them in mind, treasures them by repetition, onders them in mind, penetrates them by intuition.²
(3) He is a friend, an associate, an intimate of men of good character.
(4) He is affable, endowed with gentleness and humility; he is patient and receives admonition with deference.
(5) Where there are duties to be done for the seniors among his fellow-disciples, he therein is industrious, not slothful, and exercises forethought in methods for discharging them, is capable of accomplishing, capable of organizing.
(6) And furthermore, friends, he loves the doctrine, the utterance of it is dear to him,³ he finds exceeding joy in the advanced teaching of both Doctrine and Discipline.⁴
[268] (7) Furthermore, friends, he is content with necessaries of any quality, whether it be raiment, alms, lodging, drugs and provision against sickness.
(8) Furthermore, friends, he is continually stirring up effort to eliminate bad qualities, evoke good qualities, making dogged and vigorous progress in good things, never throwing off the burden.
(9) Furthermore, friends, he is mindful, [247] and possessed of supreme lucidity and perspicacity in following mentally and recollecting deeds and words long past.
(10) Furthermore,friends, he is intelligent, endowed with insight into the rise and passing away [of things], insight which is of that Ariyan penetration which leads to the complete destruction of pain.

Ten objects for self-hypnosis.⁵ These, perceived severally as above, below or across, and as homogeneous, and without limits, are:
a piece of earth [extended matter],
water,
fire,
air,
indigo,
yellow,
red,
white,
space,
consciousness.⁶

[269] Ten bad channels of action, to wit,
taking life,
theft,
inchastity,
lying,
abuse,
slander,
idle talk,
covetousness,
malevolence,
wrong views.

Ten good channels of action, to wit,
abstention from taking life,
theft,
inchastity,
lying,
abuse,
slander,
idle talk,
covetousness,
malevolence,
wrong views.

Ten Ariyan methods of living. Herein, friends, a brother has got rid of five factors,
is possessed of six factors,
has set the one guard,
carries out the four bases of observance,⁷
has put away sectarian opinions,
has utterly given up quests,
is candid in his thoughts,
has calmed the restlessness of his body,
and is well emancipated in heart
and intellect.
(1) What five factors has he got rid of? Sensuality, malevolence, sloth and torpor, excitement and worry, doubt.⁸
(2) What six factors is he possessed of? The six 'chronic states.' (See p. 234)
(3) How has he set the one guard? By the mental guard of mindfulness.
[248] [270] (4) What are the four bases of observance? Herein a brother judges that something is to be (i) habitually pursued, (ii) endured, (iii) avoided, (iv) suppressed.
(5) How does he become 'one who has put away sectarian opinions?⁹ All those many opinions of the mass of recluses and brahmins which are held by individuals as dogmas: — all these he has dismissed, put away, given up, ejected, let go, eliminated, abandoned.
(6) How is he one whose questing is utterly given up? He has eliminated the questing after worldly desires, the questing for rebirth, the questing for religious life.¹⁰
(7) How is he candid in his thoughts? He has eliminated occupying his mind with sensual or malicious or cruel ideas.
(8) How does he tranquillize the activity of the body? Because of eliminating the being affected pleasurably or painfully, because of the dying out of previous impressions as joyful or sorrowful, he attains to and abides in a state of neutral feeling, of very pure indifference and mental lucidity, namely, the state called Fourth Jhāna.
(9) How does he become well emancipated in heart?¹¹ He becomes emancipated in heart from passion, hate, and illusion.
(10) How does he become well emancipated in intellect?¹² He understands his emancipated condition, namely, in the thought: Passion ... hate ... illusion ... for me are eliminated, cut off at the root, become as a palmtree stump, become non-existent, unable to grow again in future.¹³

[271] [249] Ten qualities belonging to the adept, to wit,
the right (or perfect) views,
intentions,
speech,
action,
livelihood,
effort,
mindfulness,
concentration,
insight
and emancipation as held by adepts.¹⁴

These Tenfold doctrines friends, have been perfectly set forth by the Exalted One who knows, who sees.

Hereon there should be a chanting by all in concord, not a wrangling, that thus this holy life may persist and be long maintained.

That may be for the welfare and happiness of many folk, for compassion on the world, for the good, the welfare, the happiness of devas and of men."

Now when the Exalted One had arisen he addressed the venerable Sāriputta saying:|| ||

"Excellent, Sāriputta, excellent!

Excellently, Sāriputta, have you uttered the scheme of chanting together¹⁵ for the brethren."

These things were spoken by the venerable Sāriputta.

The Master signified his assent.

The brethren were pleased and delighted with the venerable Sāriputta's discourse.

HERE ENDETH THE SUTTANTA OF THE CHANTING IN CONCORD

¹ Lit. protector-making. For (1) cf. Dial. I, 317. 'Self-control prescribed,' etc., is pātimokkha-saṃvara.

² See Vin. Texts III, 50, on these qualifications for a bhikkhu juryman, and the footnote.

³ Piya-samudāhāro, concerning which term Childers was doubtful, is thus expanded by B.: 'he listens intently (sakkaccaṃ) when another discourses and longs to teach others.' Cf. Mil. II, 237.

⁴ Abhidhamme Abhivinaye. B., by alternative exegeses, shows these terms are used vaguely, The former may mean the third Piṭake(?), or the doctrine of the Paths and Fruits. The latter may mean the Khandhaka-Parivāra, or the end of the vinaya — self-mastery. Cf. Sumagala Vilāsinī I, 18.

⁵ Kasiṇa, 'in the sense of entire (sakala).' Comy. Cf. Bud. Ps. Eth., pp. 43 f., n. 4; 57 f., n. 2.

⁶ On the varying number of these 'objects' in Buddhist literature see B.P.E., p.57, n.2. Buddhaghosa also comments thereon in The Expositor, p. 249 f., but not here, nor in the Visuddhimagga, though he refers to fuller treatment there. There he drops the 'consciousness' object altogether, substituting āloka, or brightness. He identifies the former with the second of the Eight Deliverances (or second Arūpa-jhāna). See above. (Ed.: follow links)

⁷ Kindred Sayings I, 124

⁸ Cf. above, 216, viii

⁹ A curious use of sacca (fact or truth). 'This view, that view is true! Thus pātiyekkam gahitāni ..." Comy.

¹⁰ Cf. above, p. 209, xxii

11] [12 The distinctive replies given in the case of citta and paññā should be noted.

¹³ This No. v., which is a Sutta in the Aṇguttara (v., 29), is presumably the Ariya-vasāni, one of the five Dhamma-teachings recommended for study in Asoka's Bhabra edict. Cf. Rh. Davids, Buddhist India, 169.

¹⁴ That is, these factors in their case are 'connected with fruition.' The 'views' and 'insight' are understanding (or intellect, paññā) exercised on two sorts of occasion (ṭhāna). To avoid multiplying footnotes, references have not been given to all the parallels in the other Nikāyas, of the foregoing summarized doctrines. References, especially to one Nikāya, the Aṇguttara, will be found in Dr. J.E. Carpenter's edition of the text.

¹⁵ Sangīti-pariyāyan ti sāmaggikāraṇaṃ

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34. The Tenfold Series¹

Das'Uttara Suttantaṃ

[272] [250]

THUS HAVE I HEARD:

The Exalted One was once staying at Campā,²
on the banks of Lake Gaggara,
with a great company of the brethren,
about five hundred in number.

There the venerable Sāriputta addressed them, saying,
"Friends, brethren!"

"Yes, friend," responded the brethren.

And the venerable Sāriputta spake thus: —

"In groups from one to ten will I declare
The Norm, that so ye may Nibbāna win,
That ye may make an end of ill and pain,
That ye may be from every bond set free.

I.

There is One thing,³ friends, that helpeth much,
One thing that is to be developed,
One that is to be understood,
One that is to be eliminated,
One that belongs to disaster,
One that leads to distinction,
One that is hard to penetrate,
One that is to be brought to pass,
One that is to be thoroughly learnt,
One that is to be realized.

i. Which One thing helpeth much?

Zeal in things that are good.

ii. Which One thing is to be developed?⁴

Mindfulness with respect to the bodily factors,
accompanied by pleasurable feeling.

iii. Which One thing is to be understood?

Contact as a condition of intoxicants (Āsavas)
and of grasping.

[273] [251] iv. Which One thing is to be eliminated?

The conceit: 'I am.'⁵

v. Which One thing belongs to decline?

Disorderly⁶ thinking.

vi. Which One thing leads to distinction?

Orderly thinking.

vii. Which One thing is hard to penetrate?

Immediacy of succession in mental concentration.⁷

viii. Which One thing is to be brought to pass?

Sure and unshakeable knowledge.⁸

ix. Which One thing is to be thoroughly learnt?

All beings are maintained by causes.⁹

x. Which One thing is to be realized?

Sure and unshakeable emancipation of mind.

Now these ten things are genuine,
true,
thus,
not otherwise,
not different,
perfectly comprehended by the Tathāgata.¹⁰

II.

There are Two things, friends,
that helpeth much,
Two things that are to be developed,
Two things that are to be understood,
Two things that are to be eliminated,
Two things that belong to disaster,
Two things that lead to distinction,
Two things that are hard to penetrate,
Two things that are to be brought to pass,
Two things that are to be thoroughly learnt,
Two things that are to be realized.

i. Which Two help much?

Mindfulness and deliberation.

ii. Which Two are to be developed?

Calm and insight.

iii. Which Two are to be understood?

Mind and body.¹¹

[274] [252] iv. Which Two are to be eliminated?

Ignorance and the craving for rebirth.

v. Which Two belong to decline?

Contumacy and friendship with evil.

vi. Which Two lead to distinction?

Suavity and friendship with good.

vii. Which Two are hard to penetrate?

That which is the condition,
the cause of the corruption of beings,
and that which is the condition,
the cause of their purification.

viii. Which Two are to be brought to pass?

Insight into extinction,
and insight into not coming to be.

ix. Which Two are to be thoroughly learnt?

Two elements, to wit,
the Conditioned and
the Unconditioned.¹²

x. Which Two are to be realized?

Supernormal knowledge¹³
and emancipation.

Now these Twofold things are genuine,
true,
thus,
not otherwise,
not different,
and perfectly comprehended by the Tathāgata.

III.

There are Three things, friends,
that helpeth much,
Three things that are to be developed,
Three things that are to be understood,
Three things that are to be eliminated,
Three things that belong to disaster,
Three things that lead to distinction,
Three things that are hard to penetrate,
Three things that are to be brought to pass,
Three things that are to be thoroughly learnt,
Three things that are to be realized.

i. Which Three¹⁴ help much?

Intercourse with noble-minded persons,
hearing the good Doctrine,
progress in doctrine and minor doctrines.

ii. Which Three are to be developed?

The three modes of concentrative thought, to wit,
mental application followed by sustained thought,
sustained thought without mental application,
concentrative thought without either.

[275] [253] iii. Which Three are to be understood?

Three modes of feeling, to wit,
pleasurable,
painful,
and neutral feeling.

iv. Which Three are to be eliminated?

Three cravings, to wit,
sensual, worldly craving,
craving for rebirth,
craving to end life.¹⁵

v. Which Three belong- to decline?

Three roots of demerit, to wit,
greed,
hate,
illusion.

vi. Which Three lead to distinction?

Three roots of merit, to wit,
disinterestedness,
love,
intelligence.

vii. Which Three are hard to penetrate?

Three elements of deliverance, to wit,
renunciation;
— this is the escape from all worldly desires;
the immaterial:
— this is the escape from material things;
but whatever has become,
is conditioned,
has arisen from a cause:
— the escape from that is cessation.¹⁶

viii. Which Three are to be brought to pass?

Three knowledges, to wit,
as to the past,
the future and
the present.

ix. Which Three are to be thoroughly learnt?

Three elements, to wit,
the element¹⁷ of sensuous desires,
of Rūpa,
of Arūpa.¹⁸

x. Which Three are to be realized?

Three branches of wisdom,¹⁹ to wit,
intuition of former births,
intuition of the deceases and rebirths of beings,
intuition of the extinction of 'intoxicants.'

[276] Now these Three Things things are genuine,
true,
thus,
not otherwise,
not different,
and perfectly comprehended by the Tathāgata.

[254]

IV.

There are Four things, friends,
that helpeth much,
Four things that are to be developed,
Four things that are to be understood,
Four things that are to be eliminated,
Four things that belong to disaster,
Four things that lead to distinction,
Four things that are hard to penetrate,
Four things that are to be brought to pass,
Four things that are to be thoroughly learnt,
Four things that are to be realized.

i. Which Four help much?

Four 'wheels,'²⁰ to wit,
the orbit of a favourable place of residence,
the orbit of association with the good,
perfect adjustment of one's self,
the cycle of merit wrought in the past.

ii. Which Four are to be developed?

The Four Applications of Mindfulness,²¹ to wit:
— Herein, friends, a brother as to the body,
feelings,
thought,
and ideas,
continues so to look upon [each of these four groups],
that he remains ardent,
self-possessed and mindful,
and can suppress both the hankering and the dejection common in the world.

iii. Which Four are to be understood?

The Four Nutriments,²² to wit,
solid nutriment, gross or subtle;
contact as second,
the purposes of the mind as third,
[rebirth-] consciousness as fourth.

iv. Which Four are to be eliminated?

The Four Floods of sensuous desires,
re-becoming,
erroneous opinions,
ignorance.

v. Which Four belong to decline?

The Four Bonds of sensuous desires,
re-becoming,
erroneous opinions,
ignorance.

vi. Which Four lead to distinction?

The Four Detachments, to wit,
detachment from sensuous desires,
re-becoming,
erroneous opinions,
ignorance.

[277] vii. Which Four are hard to penetrate?

The Four Concentrations, to wit,
that leading to decline,
that leading to maintenance,
that leading to distinction,
that leading to Nibbāna.

viii. Which Four are to be brought to pass?

The Four knowledges,²³ to wit,
knowledge of the Doctrine,
know- [255] ledge of its corollaries,
knowledge of what is in another's consciousness and
popular knowledge.

ix. Which Four are to be thoroughly learnt?

The Four Ariyan Truths,²⁴ to wit,
the Ariyan Truth as to i11,
and the Ariyan Truths as to the Genesis of i11,
the Cessation of i11,
the Path leading to the Cessation of i11.

x. Which Four are to be realized?

The Four Fruits of the Recluse's Life, to wit,
the Fruit of each Path:
— that of the Stream-winning,
of Once-Returning,
of Never-Returning,
of Arahantship.

Now these Four Things things are genuine,
true,
thus,
not otherwise,
not different,
and perfectly comprehended by the Tathāgata.

V.

There are Five things, friends,
that helpeth much,
Five things that are to be developed,
Five things that are to be understood,
Five things that are to be eliminated,
Five things that belong to disaster,
Five things that lead to distinction,
Five things that are hard to penetrate,
Five things that are to be brought to pass,
Five things that are to be thoroughly learnt,
Five things that are to be realized.

i. Which Five help much?

Five factors in spiritual wrestling
confidence (or faith),
good health,
honesty,
energy,
insight.²⁵

ii. Which Five are to be developed?

The five factors of perfect concentration, to wit,
suffusion of rapture,
suffusion of easeful bliss,
suffusion [278] of [telepathic] consciousness,
suffusion of light,
and images for retrospective thought.²⁶

iii. Which Five are to be understood?

The five aggregates of grasping, to wit,
material qualities,
feeling,
perception,
volitional and other complexes,
consciousness.

iv. Which Five are to be eliminated?

The Five Hindrances, to wit,
sensuality,
malevolence,
sloth and torpor,
excitement and worry,
doubt.

[256] v. Which Five belong to decline?

The five spiritual barrennesses, to wit,
(1) herein, a brother doubts,
is perplexed about the Master,
comes to no definite choice,
is not satisfied.
He being thus,
his mind does not incline (lit. bend) towards ardour,
devotion,
perseverance,
exertion:
— this is the first barrenness.
(2-4) When he doubts,
is perplexed about the Doctrine,
the Order,
the Training,
these are, in order, the second,
third and
fourth barrennesses.
(5) When he is offended with his fellow-disciples,
vexed,
agitated,
sterile towards them,
he being thus,
his mind does not incline towards ardour, etc.²⁷

vi. Which Five belong to distinction?

The five spiritual faculties, to wit,
faith,
energy,
mindfulness,
concentration,
insight.

vii. Which Five are hard to penetrate?

The five elements favourable to deliverance, to wit:

(1) Herein, friends,
when a brother is contemplating sensuous desires,
his heart does not leap forward to them,
nor rest complacent in them,
does not choose them.

But when he is contemplating renunciation of them,
his heart leaps forward,
rests complacent in it,
chooses it.

This frame of mind he gets well in hand,
well developed,
well lifted up,
well freed and detached from sense desires.

And those intoxicants,
whose miseries,
those fevers which arise in consequence of sense-desires,
from all these he is freed,
nor does he feel that sort of feeling.

This is pronounced to be the first deliverance.

(2) Again, friends,
when a brother is contemplating [Ed.: thoughts of] ill will,
his heart does not leap forward to them,
nor rest complacent in them,
does not choose them.

But when he is contemplating renunciation of them,
his heart leaps forward,
rests complacent in it,
chooses it.

This frame of mind he gets well in hand,
well developed,
well lifted up,
well freed and detached from ill will.

And those intoxicants,
whose miseries,
those fevers which arise in consequence of ill will,
from all these he is freed,
nor does he feel that sort of feeling.

This is pronounced to be the second deliverance.

(3) Again, friends,
when a brother is contemplating [Ed.: thoughts of] cruelty,
his heart does not leap forward to them,
nor rest complacent in them,
does not choose them.

But when he is contemplating renunciation of them,
his heart leaps forward,
rests complacent in it,
chooses it.

This frame of mind he gets well in hand,
well developed,
well lifted up,
well freed and detached from cruelty.

And those intoxicants,
whose miseries,
those fevers which arise in consequence of cruelty,
from all these he is freed,
nor does he feel that sort of feeling.

This is pronounced to be the third deliverance.

(4) Again, friends,
when a brother is contemplating external objects,
his heart does not leap forward to them,
nor rest complacent in them,
does not choose them.

But when he is contemplating renunciation of them,
his heart leaps forward,
rests complacent in it,
chooses it.

This frame of mind he gets well in hand,
well developed,
well lifted up,
well freed and detached from external objects.

And those intoxicants,
whose miseries,
those fevers which arise in consequence of external objects,
from all these he is freed,
nor does he feel that sort of feeling.

This is pronounced to be the fourth deliverance.

(5) Again, friends,
when a brother is contemplating [Ed.: thoughts of] individuality,
his heart does not leap forward to them,
nor rest complacent in them,
does not choose them.

But when he is contemplating renunciation of them,
his heart leaps forward,
rests complacent in it,
chooses it.

This frame of mind he gets well in hand,
well developed,
well lifted up,
well freed and detached from [Ed.: thoughts of] individuality.

And those intoxicants,
whose miseries,
those fevers which arise in consequence of [Ed.: thoughts of] individuality,
from all these he is freed,
nor does he feel that sort of feeling.

This is pronounced to be the fifth deliverance.²⁸

viii. Which Five are to be brought to pass?

The fivefold intuition of perfect concentration,²⁹ to wit:
— As a personal experience the intuition arises that
(1) 'this rapture is both a present happiness and
a future result of happiness;'
(2) 'this rapture is Ariyan, is unworldly;'
(3) [279] 'this rapture is not a pursuit of any but the noblest men;'³⁰
(4) 'this rapture is good, excellent,
has won tranquillization,
has attained to mental uplift and concentration,³¹
and is not instigated
nor opposed
nor foiled;³²
(5) 'this rapture I myself with mental clarity attain,
and from it with mental clarity emerge.'

ix. Which Five are to be thoroughly learnt?

The five occasions of emancipation, to wit:
(1) Herein, when the Master,
or a reverend fellow-disciple
teaches the Norm to a brother,
according as the teaching is given,
the listener comes to know both
the matter of the doctrine,
and the text of the doctrine.
And gladness springs up in him,
and in him gladdened zest springs up;
his mind enraptured,
the faculties become serene;
with serenity comes happiness,
and of him thus happy
the heart is stayed and firm.
This is the first occasion.

(2) In the next place,
a brother has a similar experience
not from hearing the Master
or a reverend fellow-disciple teach,
but while himself teaching others the Norm in detail,
as he has learnt and got it by memory
and he comes to know both
the matter of the doctrine,
and the text of the doctrine.
And gladness springs up in him,
and in him gladdened zest springs up;
his mind enraptured,
the faculties become serene;
with serenity comes happiness,
and of him thus happy
the heart is stayed and firm.
This is the second occasion.

(3) In the third place,
a brother has a similar experience,
not on those first two occasions,
but when he is reciting
the doctrines of the Norm in detail
as he has learnt and got them by memory
and he comes to know both
the matter of the doctrine,
and the text of the doctrine.
And gladness springs up in him,
and in him gladdened zest springs up;
his mind enraptured,
the faculties become serene;
with serenity comes happiness,
and of him thus happy
the heart is stayed and firm.
This is the third occasion.

(4) In the fourth place,
a brother has a similar experience,
not on those first three occasions,
but when he applies his thought to the Norm
as he has learnt and got it by memory
and he comes to know both
the matter of the doctrine,
and the text of the doctrine.
and sustains protracted meditation on it
and contemplates it in mind.
And gladness springs up in him,
and in him gladdened zest springs up;
his mind enraptured,
the faculties become serene;
with serenity comes happiness,
and of him thus happy
the heart is stayed and firm.
This is the fourth occasion.

(5) Finally, a brother has a similar experience,
not on those first four occasions,
but when he has well grasped
some given clue to concentration,
has well applied his understanding,
has well thought it out,
has well penetrated it by intuition.
And gladness springs up in him,
and in him gladdened zest springs up;
his mind enraptured,
the faculties become serene;
with serenity comes happiness,
and of him thus happy
the heart is stayed and firm.
This is the fifth occasion.

x. Which Five are to be realized?

The five bodies of doctrine, to wit,
morals,
concentrative exercise,
insight,
emancipation,
knowledge and insight requisite for emancipation.³³

Now these Five Things things are genuine,
true,
thus,
not [257] otherwise,
not different,
and perfectly comprehended by the Tathāgata.

VI.

There are Six things, friends,
that helpeth much,
Six things that are to be developed,
Six things that are to be understood,
Six things that are to be eliminated,
Six things that belong to disaster,
Six things that lead to distinction,
Six things that are hard to penetrate,
Six things that are to be brought to pass,
Six things that are to be thoroughly learnt,
Six things that are to be realized.

i. Which Six help much?

The six occasions of fraternal living, [280] to wit:
(1) Herein, friends, when a brother's kindly act towards his fellow-disciples has been attested,
as wrought publicly and in private,
that is an occasion of fraternity,
causing affection and regard,
and conducing to concord,
absence of strife, harmony, union.
(2-3) The second and third occasions are those of kindly speech and kind thoughts.
(4) In the next place,
when a brother who has honestly and righteously obtained gifts,
distributes these impartially among his fellow-disciples,
and has everything in common with them,
even to the contents of his alms-bowl,
that is an occasion of fraternity, etc.
(5) Next, when the character and moral habits of a brother are without rupture or flaw,
are consistently practised,
unblemished,
making a man free,
commended by the wise,
unperverted,
and conducing to rapt concentration,
and he, so virtuous,
dwells openly and privately among his fellow-disciples,
that is an occasion of fraternity,
causing affection and regard,
and conducing to concord,
absence of strife,
harmony, union.
(6) Lastly, when a brother lives with his religious life [guided by] that Ariyan,
safe-guarding belief,
which leads him who so lives to the perfect destruction of sorrow,
— when he thus equipped lives among his fellow-disciples publicly and in private,
that is an occasion of fraternity
... like the foregoing.

ii. Which Six are to be developed?

The six matters for recollection, to wit,
the Buddha,
the Norm,
the Order,
the moral precepts,
renunciation,
the devas.

iii. Which Six are to be understood?

The six (organs of sense or) fields of personal experience, to wit,
sight,
sound,
smell,
taste,
touch and
mind.

iv. Which Six are to be eliminated?

The six groups of cravings, to wit,
the five kinds of sense-objects, and phenomena.

v. Which Six belong to decline?

The six forms of irreverence, to wit,
Herein, friends, a brother conducts himself irreverently and insolently to the Master,
the Norm,
the Order,
the training,
or to his studies,
or lacks in reverence and respect towards the duties of courtesy.

vi. Which Six belong to distinction?

The six forms of reverence, to wit,
Herein, friends, a brother conducts himself in the opposite manner in the foregoing six cases.

vii. Which Six are hard to penetrate?

The six elements tending to deliverance, to wit,
(1) Herein, friends, a brother might say:
'Lo! I have developed mental emancipation by love,
I have multiplied it, made it a vehicle, and a base.
I have brought it out,
accumulated and set it well going.
Nevertheless malevolence persistently possesses my heart.'
To him it should be said:
'Not so! Say not so, your reverence!
Do not misrepresent the Exalted One!
It is not well to calumniate the Exalted One!
Surely he would not say this was so!
This is a baseless and uncalled-for statement, friend.
Things cannot be as you say.
Emancipation of the heart through love, brother,
this is how you become delivered from malevolence.
(2-4) In the same way a brother might wrongly complain that after cultivating emancipation of the heart through pity,
he was still possessed by cruelty,
or that after cultivating emancipation of the heart through sympathetic joy,
or through equanimity,
he was still possessed by disgust,
and passion respectively.
(5) Next, friends, a brother might say:
'Lo! I have developed mental emancipation
from the power of any object
to catch the fancy and incite lust,
I have multiplied that emancipation,
made it a vehicle and a base I have brought it out,
accumulated and set it well going.
Nevertheless my mind still pursues seductive objects.
(6) Or again he may say:
'Lo! the notion "I am" is offensive to me!
I pay no heed to the notion "This 'I' exists!"
Nevertheless doubts and queries and debating
still possess my mind.'
To these answer should be made as before.
He should be assured that such cannot really be the case;
that it is by emancipating the heart through equanimity,
or again, through the expulsion of the conceit of the existence of an 'I,'
that he becomes delivered from lust
and from doubts and queries and debatings.

[281] viii. Which Six are to be brought to pass?

The six chronic states, to wit,
(1-5) Herein, friends, a brother on occasion of any of the five kinds of sensation,
(6) as well as on that of any impression or idea,
is neither delighted nor displeased,
but remains equable,
mindful and deliberate.

ix. Which Six are to be thoroughly learnt??

The six unsurpassable experiences, to wit,
certain sights,
certain things heard,
certain gains,
certain trainings,
certain ministries,
certain memories.

x. Which Six are to be realized?

The six superknowledges.
Herein, friends, a brother
(1) enjoys the wondrous gift³⁴ in its various modes:

— being one he becomes many,
or having become many becomes one again;
he becomes visible or invisible;
he goes, feeling no obstruction,
to the further side of a wall or rampart or hill,
as if through air;
he penetrates up and down through solid ground,
as if through water;
he walks on water without breaking through,
as if on solid ground;
he travels cross-legged in the sky,
like the birds on wing;
even the Moon and the Sun,
so potent, so mighty though they be,
does he touch and feel with his hand;
he reaches in the body
even up to the heaven of Brahmā.

(2) With that clear Heavenly Ear
surpassing the ear of men
he hears sounds both human and celestial,
whether far or near.

(3) Penetrating with his own heart
the hearts of other beings, of other men,
he knows them.
He discerns —

The passionate mind to be passionate,
and the calm mind calm;
the angry mind to be angry,
and the peaceful mind peaceful;
the dull mind to be dull,
and the alert mind alert;
the attentive mind to be attentive,
and the wandering mind wandering;
the broad mind to be broad,
and the narrow mind narrow;
the mean mind to be mean,
and the lofty mind lofty;
the stedfast mind to be stedfast,
and the wavering mind to be wavering;
the free mind to be free,
and the enslaved mind enslaved.

(4) He recalls to mind
his various temporary [258] states in days gone by
— one birth,
or two or three or four or five births,
or ten or twenty or thirty or forty or fifty
or a hundred or a thousand
or a hundred thousand births,
through many an aeon of dissolution,
many an aeon of evolution,
many an aeon of both dissolution and evolution.
"In such a place such was my name,
such my family,
such my caste,
such my food,
such my experience of discomfort or of ease,
and such the limits of my life.

When I passed away from that state,
I took form again in such a place.
There I had such and such a name
and family
and caste
and food
and experience of discomfort or of ease,
such was the limit of my life.

When I passed away from that state
I took form again here."
— thus does he call to mind
his temporary states in days gone by
in all their details,
and in all their modes.

(5) With the pure Heavenly Eye,
surpassing that of men,
he sees beings as they pass away
from one form of existence
and take shape in another;
he recognises the mean and the noble,
the well favoured and the ill favoured,
the happy and the wretched,
passing away according to their deeds:

"Such and such beings, my brethren,
evil-doers in act and word and thought,
revilers of the noble ones,
holding to wrong views,
acquiring for themselves that Karma
which results from wrong views,
they, on the dissolution of the body, after death,
are reborn in some unhappy state of suffering or woe.

But such and such beings, my brethren,
well-doers in act and word and thought,
not revilers of the noble ones,
holding to right views,
acquiring for themselves that Karma
that results from right views,
they, on the dissolution of the body, after death,
are reborn in some happy state in heaven."

Thus with the pure Heavenly Eye,
surpassing that of men,
he sees beings as they pass away from one state of existence,
and take form in another;
he recognises the mean and the noble,
the well favoured and the ill favoured,
the happy and the wretched,
passing away according to their deeds.

(6) he lives in the attainment, the personal knowledge and realization, through the extinction of the intoxicants, of sane and immune freedom of heart and mind.

Now these Six Things things are genuine,
true,
thus,
not otherwise,
not different,
and perfectly comprehended by the Tathāgata.

VII.

[282] There are Seven things, friends,
that helpeth much,
Seven things that are to be developed,
Seven things that are to be understood,
Seven things that are to be eliminated,
Seven things that belong to disaster,
Seven things that lead to distinction,
Seven things that are hard to penetrate,
Seven things that are to be brought to pass,
Seven things that are to be thoroughly learnt,
Seven things that are to be realized.

i. Which Seven help much?

The seven treasures, to wit:

The treasure of faith,
of morals,
of conscientiousness,
of discretion,
of learning,
of self-denial,
of insight.

ii. Which Seven are to be developed?

Seven factors of enlightenment, to wit,
the factor of mindfulness,
of study of doctrines,
of energy,
of zest,
of serenity,
of concentration,
of equanimity.

iii. Which Seven are to be understood?

Seven stations of consciousness.
(1) There are beings, brethren, who are diverse both in body and in mind,
such as mankind,
certain devas and some who have gone to an evil doom.
This is the first station (or persistence) for [re-born] consciousness.
(2) Other beings are diverse of body,
but uniform in mind,
such as the devas of the Brahma-world,
reborn there from [practice here of] first [Jhāna].
(3) Others are uniform in body,
diverse in intelligence,
such as the Radiant Devas.
(4) Others are uniform both in body and in intelligence,
such as the All-Lustrous Devas.
(5) Others there are who,
by having passed wholly beyond all consciousness of matter,
by the dying out of the consciousness of sense-reaction,
by having turned the attention away from any consciousness of the manifold
and become conscious only of 'space as infinite'
are dwellers in the realm of infinite space.
(6) Others there are who,
by having passed wholly beyond the realm of infinite space
and become conscious only of consciousness as infinite
are dwellers in the realm of infinite consciousness.
(7) Others there are who,
having passed wholly beyond the realm of infinite consciousness,
and become conscious only that
'there is nothing whatever,'
are dwellers in the realm of nothingness.
Such are the remaining stations of consciousness.

iv. Which Seven are to be eliminated?

The seven forms of latent bias, to wit,
the bias of sensual passion,
of enmity,
of false opinion,
of doubt,
of conceit,
of lust for rebirth,
of ignorance.

v. Which Seven belong to decline?

The seven vicious qualities, to wit,
want of faith,
unconscientiousness,
indiscretion,
want of doctrinal knowledge,
slackness,
muddleheadedness,
want of insight.

vi. Which Seven are belong to increase?

The seven virtuous qualities, to wit, the opposites of the foregoing.

vii. Which Seven are hard to penetrate?

The seven qualities of the good, to wit,
knowledge of the Dhamma,
of the meaning [contained in its doctrines],
knowledge of self,
knowledge how to be temperate,
how to choose and keep time,
knowledge of groups of persons,
and of individuals.

viii. Which Seven are to be brought to pass?

The seven perceptions, to wit,
that of impermanence,
of soullessness,
of ugliness,
of evil [in the world],
of elimination,
of passionlessness,
of cessation.

ix. Which Seven are to be thoroughly understood?

The [259] seven bases of arahantship.
Herein, friends, a brother is keenly desirous of entering the training,
and longs to continue doing so.
He feels similarly with regard to insight into the doctrine,
to the suppression of hankerings,
to [the need of] solitude,
to evoking energy,
to mindfulness and perspicacity,
to intuition of the truth.

x. Which Seven are to be realized?

The seven powers of the Arahant.
Herein, friends, for a brother who is Arahant

(1) the impermanence of all conditioned things is well seen as it really is by perfect insight.
This is one of his powers,
on account of which he recognizes that for him the
'Intoxicants' are destroyed.
(2) That sensuous worldly desires are like coals of fire"³⁵ is well seen as it really is etc. . . . (as above) destroyed.
(3) His heart is inclined to, set upon detachment;
he has made detachment its mountain-cave, its object;
his heart loves renunciation,
and has become entirely non-existent
for all opportunities of incoming intoxicants.
This is one, etc. ...
(4) the four applications of mindfulness have been developed and well developed.
[284] This, etc. ...
(5) so also for the five spiritual faculties,
(6) the seven factors of enlightenment,
(7) the Ariyan Eightfold Path.
In that this and those have been developed and well developed,
these are powers of the Arahant brother,
on account of which he recognizes that for him
the 'Intoxicants' are destroyed.

Now these Seven Things things are genuine,
true,
thus,
not otherwise,
not different,
and perfectly comprehended by the Tathāgata.

Here endeth the first Portion for Recitation.

VIII.

There are Eight things, friends,
that helpeth much,
Eight things that are to be developed,
Eight things that are to be understood,
Eight things that are to be eliminated,
Eight things that belong to disaster,
Eight things that lead to distinction,
Eight things that are hard to penetrate,
Eight things that are to be brought to pass,
Eight things that are to be thoroughly learnt,
Eight things that are to be realized.

i. Which Eight help much?

The eight conditions,
the eight causes which conduce to attaining
that wisdom in those fundamentals of religious life
which have not been attained,
to multiplying,
expanding,
developing,
[260] perfecting those that have been attained.
Herein, friends,
(1) one dwells near the Master,
or near a fellow-disciple occupying the place of teacher,
whereby he is strongly established in conscientiousness,
prudence,
love,
and respect.
[285] (2) Under such circumstances he approaches his teachers from time to time and asks and considers, saying:
'Lord, how is this?
What does this mean?'
And to him those reverend ones reveal what is hidden,
make plain what is obscure,
and dispel any doubts in perplexing matters.
(3) When he has heard their doctrine,
he succeeds in obtaining a double serenity,³⁶
that of body and of mind.
(4) Moreover, friends, a brother,
virtuous,
habitually self-restrained
with the self-restraint of the Canon law,
proficient in behaviour and propriety,³⁷
seeing danger in the smallest offence,
undertakes to train himself in the stages of the training.
This is the fourth condition,
the eighth cause of such as conduce
to attaining that wisdom
in the fundamentals of religious life
which have not been attained,
to multiplying,
expanding,
developing,
perfecting those that have been attained.
(5) Moreover, friends,
a brother having learnt much,
bears what he has heard in mind and stores it up.
And whatever doctrines,
lovely in the beginning,
in the middle,
at the end,
both in the letter and in the spirit,
commend a religious life
that is absolutely fulfilled
and made quite pure,
those doctrines are by such a brother much learnt,
remembered,
treasured by repetition,
pondered in mind,
well penetrated by intuition.³⁸
This is the fifth condition,
the eighth cause of such as conduce
to attaining that wisdom
in the fundamentals of religious life
which have not been attained,
to multiplying,
expanding,
developing,
perfecting those that have been attained.
(6) Moreover, friends,
a brother is habitually stirring up energy
for the elimination of bad qualities,
the evoking of good qualities,
indomitable,
strongly progressing and never shirking
with respect to what is good.
This is the sixth condition,
the eighth cause of such as conduce
to attaining that wisdom
in the fundamentals of religious life
which have not been attained,
to multiplying,
expanding,
developing,
perfecting those that have been attained.
[286] (7) Moreover, friends,
he is clear-minded,
supremely heedful and discriminating,
noting and remembering
what has long since been done and spoken.
This is the seventh condition,
the eighth cause of such as conduce
to attaining that wisdom
in the fundamentals of religious life
which have not been attained,
to multiplying,
expanding,
developing,
perfecting those that have been attained.
(8) Moreover, friends,
a brother is habitually contemplating
the rise and passing away of the five aggregates of grasping,
to wit:
'Such is the material [aggregate],
such its cause,
its cessation.'

[261] Similarly for the four mental aggregates.
This is the eighth condition,
the eighth cause of such as conduce
to attaining that wisdom
in the fundamentals of religious life
which have not been attained,
to multiplying,
expanding,
developing,
perfecting those that have been attained.

ii. Which Eight are to be developed?

The Aryan Eightfold Path, to wit,
right views,
intentions,
speech,
action,
livelihood,
effort,
mindfulness,
concentration
(VIII, ii of the Sangiti Sutta).

iii. Which Eight are to be understood?

Eight matters of worldly concern, to wit,
gains and losses,
fame and obscurity,
blame and praise,
pleasures and pains.

iv. Which Eight are to be eliminated?

[287] Eight wrong factors of character and conduct, to wit,
wrong views,
intention,
speech,
action,
livelihood,
effort,
mindfulness,
concentration.
(VIII, i of the Sangiti Sutta)

v. Which Eight belonging to decline?

Eight bases of slackness.
Herein, friends,
(1) let a brother have some work to do.
He thinks:
'There's that work I have to do,
but the doing of it will tire me.
Well then, I shall lie down.'
He lies down;
he stirs up no energy to finish that which is not done,
to accomplish the unaccomplished,
to realize the unrealized.
(2) Or he has been working, and thinks:
'I have been working,
and the doing of my work has tired me.
Well then, I shall lie down.'
He lies down;
he stirs up no energy to finish that which is not done,
to accomplish the unaccomplished,
to realize the unrealized.
(3) Or he has to make a journey,
and he thinks:
'I have to make a journey,
and that will tire me.
Well then, I shall lie down.'
He lies down;
he stirs up no energy to finish that which is not done,
to accomplish the unaccomplished,
to realize the unrealized.
(4) Or he has gone on his journey,
and reflects:
'I have gone on a journey,
and that has tired me.
Well then, I shall lie down.'
He lies down;
he stirs up no energy to finish that which is not done,
to accomplish the unaccomplished,
to realize the unrealized.
(5) Or he tours about a village or township for alms
and does not obtain his fill
of poor or rich food, and thinks:
'I've gone about village,
about township for alms
and have not obtained my fill
of poor or rich food.
This body of me is tired and good for naught.
Well then, I'll lie down.'
He lies down;
he stirs up no energy to finish that which is not done,
to accomplish the unaccomplished,
to realize the unrealized.
(6) Or he tours about a village or township for alms
and does obtain his fill
of poor or rich food and thinks:
'I've gone about a village or township for alms
and have obtained my fill
of poor or rich food.
This body of me is heavy and good for naught,
seems tome like a load of soaked beans.
Well then, I'll lie down'
He lies down;
he stirs up no energy to finish that which is not done,
to accomplish the unaccomplished,
to realize the unrealized.
(7) Or in him some slight ailment has arisen,
and he thinks:
In this state it is fit I lie down.
He lies down;
he stirs up no energy to finish that which is not done,
to accomplish the unaccomplished,
to realize the unrealized.
(8) Or he has recovered from illness,
has recently arisen from some indisposition.
And he thinks his body is weak and good for naught
and lies down
nor stirs up energy to finish that which is not done,
to accomplish the unaccomplished,
to realize the unrealized.
(VIII, iv of the Sangiti Sutta).

vi. Which Eight belonging to distinction?

Eight bases of setting afoot an undertaking.
Herein, brethren,
(1) let a brother have some work to do.
He thinks:
'There is that work I have to do,
but in doing it,
I shall not find it easy to attend to the religion of the Buddhas.
Well then, I will stir up energy to finish that which is not done,
to accomplish the unaccomplished,
to realize the unrealized.'
(2) Or he has done a task, and thinks:
'I have been working,
but I could not attend to the religion of the Buddhas.
Well then, I will stir up energy to finish that which is not done,
to accomplish the unaccomplished,
to realize the unrealized.'
(3) Or he has to go on a journey,
and thinks it will not be easy for him, on his way,
to attend to the religion of the Buddhas,
and resolves:
'Well then, I will stir up energy to finish that which is not done,
to accomplish the unaccomplished,
to realize the unrealized.'
(4) Or he has been on a journey,
but has not been able to attend to the religion of the Buddhas,
and resolves:
Well then, I will stir up energy to finish that which is not done,
to accomplish the unaccomplished,
to realize the unrealized.'
(5) Or he has toured about village or township for alms
and has not obtained his fill
of poor or rich food.
And he thinks that,
under the circumstances,
his body is light and fit for work
and resolves:
Well then, I will stir up energy to finish that which is not done,
to accomplish the unaccomplished,
to realize the unrealized.'
(6) Or he has toured and has obtained his fill and thinks that,
under the circumstances,
his body is strong and fit to work
and resolves:
Well then, I will stir up energy to finish that which is not done,
to accomplish the unaccomplished,
to realize the unrealized.'
(7) Or in him some slight ailment has arisen.
And he thinks it is possible that the ailment may grow worse,
so that he must stir up energy
to finish that which is not done,
to accomplish the unaccomplished,
to realize the unrealized.'
(8) Or he has recovered from illness,
has recently arisen from some indisposition.
And he thinks:
I have recovered from illness,
I have recently arisen from my indisposition.
It is possible that the illness may recur.
Well then, I will stir up energy to finish that which is not done,
to accomplish the unaccomplished,
to realize the unrealized.'
(VIII, v of the Sangiti Sutta).

vii. Which Eight are hard to penetrate?

Eight untimely unseasonable intervals for life in a religious order,
(1) A Tathāgata, friends, is born into the world, Arahant Buddha Supreme. The Norm is taught, quenching [the passions], extinguishing [the passions], leading to enlightenment, declared by the Well-Farer.
And this person is reborn at that time in purgatory.
This is the first untimely,
unseasonable period
for living in a religious order.
(2) A Tathāgata, friends, is born into the world, Arahant Buddha Supreme. The Norm is taught, quenching [the passions], extinguishing [the passions], leading to enlightenment, declared by the Well-Farer.
And this person is reborn at that time in the animal kingdom.
This is the second untimely,
unseasonable period
for living in a religious order.
(3) A Tathāgata, friends, is born into the world, Arahant Buddha Supreme. The Norm is taught, quenching [the passions], extinguishing [the passions], leading to enlightenment, declared by the Well-Farer.
And this person is reborn at that time among the Petas.
This is the third untimely,
unseasonable period
for living in a religious order.
(4) A Tathāgata, friends, is born into the world, Arahant Buddha Supreme. The Norm is taught, quenching [the passions], extinguishing [the passions], leading to enlightenment, declared by the Well-Farer.
And this person is reborn at that time among some long-lived deva community.
This is the fourth untimely,
unseasonable period
for living in a religious order.
(5) A Tathāgata, friends, is born into the world, Arahant Buddha Supreme. The Norm is taught, quenching [the passions], extinguishing [the passions], leading to enlightenment, declared by the Well-Farer.
And this person is reborn at that time in the border countries among unintelligent barbarians, where there is no opening for members of the Order or lay-brethren.
This is the fifth untimely,
unseasonable period
for living in a religious order.
(6) A Tathāgata, friends, is born into the world, Arahant Buddha Supreme. The Norm is taught, quenching [the passions], extinguishing [the passions], leading to enlightenment, declared by the Well-Farer.
And this person is reborn at that time in the middle countries, but he holds wrong opinions and has perverted vision, holding that gifts, offerings, oblations are as naught, for there is no fruit nor result of deeds well or ill done;
there are no parents nor birth without them; there are no recluses or brahmins in the world who have attained the highest, leading perfect lives, and who, havintg known and realized each for himself the truth as to this and the next world, do reveal it.
This is the sixth untimely,
unseasonable period
for living in a religious order.
(7) A Tathāgata, friends, is born into the world, Arahant Buddha Supreme. The Norm is taught, quenching [the passions], extinguishing [the passions], leading to enlightenment, declared by the Well-Farer.
And though reborn at the time in the Middle countries,
he is stupid, dull, or deaf and dumb,
unable to know whether a matter has been well said or ill said.
This is the seventh untimely,
unseasonable period
for living in a religious order.
(8) Or finally, friends, a Tathāagata has not arisen in the world as Arahant Buddha Supreme, the Norm is not taught, quenching [the passions], extinguishing [the passions], leading to enlightenment, as revealed by the Well-Farer; and this person is [in that interval] reborn in the Middle country, is intelligent, bright of wit, nor deaf-mute, able to know whether a matter has been well said or ill said.
This is the eighth untimely,
unseasonable period
for living in a religious order.
(IX, iv of the Sangiti Sutta, but omitting the fourth: — 'rebirth as Asura').

viii. Which Eight are to be brought to pass?

The eight thoughts of a superman.³⁹
This Norm³⁹ is for one of little wants,
not for one of great wants;
for one who is serenely content,
not for the discontented;
for one who is detached,⁴⁰
not for one who is fond of society;
for one who is energetic,
not for the slacker;
for one who has presence of mind,
not a confused mind;
for one whose mind is concentrated,
not distracted;
for one who has insight,
not for the unintelligent;
for one who delights [262] not in conceit,
craving and opinion,⁴¹
not for one who delights therein.

ix. Which Eight are to be thoroughly learnt?

Eight positions of mastery.
(1) When anyone pictures to himself some material feature of his person
and sees [corresponding] features in others,
lovely or ugly,
as small,
transcending this [object] he is aware of doing so,
[thinks] 'I know, I see!'
(2) Or when he has the same experience,
but sees those features not as small,
but as infinitely great,
and nevertheless transcending this [object],
and is aware of doing so [thinks]:
'I know, I see!'
(3) Or when he sees the features in others
lovely or ugly,
as small,
without first picturing any material feature of his own
transcending this [object] he is aware of doing so,
[thinks] 'I know, I see!'
(4) Or when he sees the features in others
but sees those features not as small,
but as infinitely great,
and nevertheless transcending this [object],
and is aware of doing so [thinks]:
'I know, I see!'
(5) Or when without the personal preliminary,
he sees external shapes of indigo,
indigo in colour,
indigo in visible expanse,
indigo in lustre,
as is the ummā flower,
or a Benares muslin delicately finished on both sides
transcending this [object] he is aware of doing so,
[thinks] 'I know, I see!'
(6) or shapes of yellow
yellow in colour,
yellow in visible expanse,
yellow in lustre,
as is the kaṇikāra flower,
or Benares muslin delicately finished on both sides
transcending this [object] he is aware of doing so,
[thinks] 'I know, I see!'
(7) or shapes of red
red in colour,
red in visible expanse,
red in lustre,
as is the bandhujīvaka flower,
or Benares muslin delicately finished on both sides
transcending this [object] he is aware of doing so,
[thinks] 'I know, I see!'
(8) or shapes of white,
white in color,
white in visible expanse,
white in lustre
as is the morning star,
or Benares muslin delicately finished on both sides
transcends this [object] and is aware of doing so,
[thinks]: 'I know, I see!'
(VIII, x of the Sangiti Sutta).

[288] x. Which Eight are to be realized?

Eight deliverances, to wit,
(1) He, picturing any material feature of himself,
sees such material features [as they really are].
(2) Not picturing any such,
he sees material features external to his own.
(3) He decides that it is beautiful.
(4) By passing wholly beyond all consciousness of material qualities,
by the dying out of the awareness of sensory reaction,
by the unheeding of any awareness of difference,
he enters into and abides
in that rapt ecstasy
which is a consciousness of infinite space.
(5) By passing wholly beyond such a sphere of consciousness,
he enters into and abides
in that rapt ecstasy
which is a consciousness of infinitude of consciousness itself.
(6) By passing wholly beyond such a sphere of consciousness,
he enters into and abides
in that rapt ecstasy
which regards consciousness itself as nothing whatever,
a sphere of nothingness.
(7) By passing wholly beyond such a sphere,
he enters into and abides
in that rapt consciousness
which neither is,
nor yet is not
to be called conscious.
(8) By passing wholly beyond such a sphere,
he enters into and abides
in a state of unconsciousness,
wherein awareness and feeling cease.
(VIII, xi of the Sangiti Sutta).

Now these Eight Things things are genuine,
true,
thus,
not otherwise,
not different,
and perfectly comprehended by the Tathāgata.

IX.

There are Nine things, friends,
that helpeth much,
Nine things that are to be developed,
Nine things that are to be understood,
Nine things that are to be eliminated,
Nine things that belong to disaster,
Nine things that lead to distinction,
Nine things that are hard to penetrate,
Nine things that are to be brought to pass,
Nine things that are to be thoroughly learnt,
Nine things that are to be realized.

i. Which Nine help much?

The nine states of mind and body which are rooted in orderly thinking⁴²: —
To one so thinking, gladness arises,
in him gladdened, rapture arises,
his mind enraptured the body is satisfied,
one whose body is thus appeased is at ease,
he being happily at ease, the mind is stayed,
with mind thus stayed, concentrated,
he knows he sees [things] as they really are,
and he thus knowing thus seeing turns in repulsion,
repelled he becomes passionless;
hence he is set free.

ii. Which Nine are to be developed?

The nine factors in wrestling for utter purity, to wit,
the purification of morals,
of the mind,
of views,
the purification of escaping from doubt,
that of intuition and insight into what is the [genuine] path,
and what is not,
that of intuition and insight into progress,
the purification which is intuition and insight,
that which is understanding,
that which is emancipation.⁴³

[263] iii. Which Nine are to be understood?

Nine spheres inhabited by beings.
(1) 'There are beings differing in body
and differing in intelligence,
for instance,
human beings and certain of the gods
and some of those in purgatory.
This is the first resting place for Cognition.
(2) 'There are beings differing in body
but of uniform intelligence,
for instance,
the gods of the Brahma-heaven
who are there reborn by means of the First [Jhāna].
This is the second resting-place for Cognition.
(3) 'There are beings uniform in body
and differing in intelligence,
for instance,
the Luminous Gods.
This is the third resting place for Cognition.
(4) 'There are beings uniform in body
and of uniform intelligence,
for instance,
the All-Lustrous Gods.
This is the fourth resting place for Cognition.'.
(5) There are beings without perception or feeling.
These live in the sphere of the 'unconscious devas.'
(6) There are beings who
having passed wholly beyond awareness of material qualities,
by the dying out of sensory reaction,
by unheeding the awareness of difference,
have attained to the sphere of infinite space
with a consciousness thereof,
(7) by passing wholly beyond such a sphere of consciousness,
enter into and abides
in that rapt ecstasy
which is a consciousness of infinitude of consciousness itself,
(8) by passing wholly beyond such a sphere of consciousness,
enter into and abides
in that rapt ecstasy
which regards consciousness itself as nothing whatever,
a sphere of nothingness,
(9) by passing wholly beyond such a sphere,
enter into and abides
in that rapt consciousness
which neither is,
nor yet is not
to be called conscious.
(IX, iii of the Sangiti Sutta).

iv. Which Nine are to be eliminated?

[289] The nine things springing from craving, to wit,
pursuit caused by craving,
gain because of pursuit,
decision because of gain,
desire and passion because of decision,
tenacity because of desire and passion,
possession because of tenacity,
avarice because of possession,
watch and ward because of avarice,
and many a bad and wicked state of things
arising from keeping watch and ward over possessions:
— blows and wounds,
strife,
contradiction and retort,
quarrelling,
slander and lies.⁴⁴

v. Which Nine are belong to decline?

Nine bases of quarrelling, thus: —
quarrelling is stirred up at the thought:
'he has done me an injury,'
or 'he is doing me an injury,'
or 'he will do me an injury,'
or 'he has done,
is doing,
will do an injury to one I love,'
or 'he has bestowed a benefit,
is bestowing,
will bestow a benefit on one I dislike.'
(IX, iii of the Sangiti Sutta).

vi. Which Nine are belong to distinction?

Nine suppressions of quarrelling, thus: —
quarrelling is suppressed by the thought:
'He has done,
is doing,
will do me an injury,
or 'he has done,
is doing,
will do an injury to one I love',
or 'he has bestowed,
is bestowing,
will bestow a benefit on one I dislike', true,
but what gain would there be to either of us if I quarrelled about it?'
(IX, iii of the Sangiti Sutta).

vii. Which Nine are hard to penetrate?

The nine differences : —
on account of difference in the [sensory] element,
a different contact takes place,
on account of difference in contact
difference in feeling arises,
hence difference in perception,⁴⁵
hence difference in purposive thought,
hence difference in active desire,
hence difference in greed,
hence difference in pursuit,
hence difference in gain.

viii. Which Nine are to be brought to pass?

The nine perceptions, to wit,
perception of ugliness,
of death,⁴⁶
revulsion from nutriment (physical, sensory, mental),⁴⁷
disaffection with everything worldly,
impermanence,
suffering in impermanence,
[290] no-soul in that which suffers,
elimination,
passionlessness.

[264] ix. Which Nine are to be thoroughly learnt?

Herein, friends, a brother,
(1) aloof from sensuous appetites,
aloof from evil ideas,
enters into and abides in the First Jhāna,
wherein there is initiative and sustained thought,
which is born of solitude,
and is full of zest and ease.
(2) Secondly, when suppressing initiative and sustained thought,
he enters into and abides in the Second Jhāna,
which is self-evoked,
born of concentration,
full of zest and ease,
in that, set free from initial and sustained thought,
the mind grows calm and sure,
dwelling on high.
(3) Thirdly, when a brother,
no longer fired with zest,
abides calmly contemplative,
while mindful and self-possessed
he feels in his body
that ease whereof Ariyans declare:
He that is calmly contemplative and aware,
he dwelleth at ease,
so does he enter into and abide in the Third Jhāna.
(4) Fourthly, by putting aside ease
and by putting aside malaise,
by the passing away of the joy and the sorrow he used to feel,
he enters into and abides in the Fourth Jhāna,
rapture of utter purity of mindfulness and equanimity,
wherein neither ease is felt
nor any ill.
(5) By passing wholly beyond all consciousness of material qualities,
by the dying out of the awareness of sensory reaction,
by the unheeding of any awareness of difference,
he enters into and abides
in that rapt ecstasy
which is a consciousness of infinite space.
(6) By passing wholly beyond such a sphere of consciousness,
he enters into and abides
in that rapt ecstasy
which is a consciousness of infinitude of consciousness itself.
(7) By passing wholly beyond such a sphere of consciousness,
he enters into and abides
in that rapt ecstasy
which regards consciousness itself as nothing whatever,
a sphere of nothingness.
(8) By passing wholly beyond such a sphere,
he enters into and abides
in that rapt consciousness
which neither is,
nor yet is not
to be called conscious.
(9) By passing wholly beyond such a sphere,
he enters into and abides
in a state of unconsciousness,
wherein awareness and feeling cease.
(IV.iv; and IX, 5 of the Sangiti Sutta)

x. Which Nine are to be realized?

The nine successional cessations, thus: —
Taking each of the foregoing nine in order,
by the attainment of
(1) First Jhāna,
sensuous perceptions cease,
(2) Second Jhāna,
applied and sustained thought ceases,
(3) Third Jhāna,
zest ceases,
(4) Fourth Jhāna,
respiration ceases,
(5) by the perception of infinite space,
perception of material things ceases,
(6) by the perception of infinite consciousness,
perception of infinite space ceases,
(7) by the perception of nothingness,
perception of infinite consciousness ceases,
(8) by the perception that is neither conscious nor yet unconscious,
perception of nothingness ceases,
(9) by the cessation of perception and feeling,
perception that is neither conscious nor yet unconscious ceases.
(VIII, xi of the Sangiti Sutta).

Now these Nine Things things are genuine,
true,
thus,
not otherwise,
not different,
and perfectly comprehended by the Tathāgata.

X.

There are Ten things, friends,
that helpeth much,
Ten things that are to be developed,
Ten things that are to be understood,
Ten things that are to be eliminated,
Ten things that belong to disaster,
Ten things that lead to distinction.
Ten things that are hard to penetrate,
Ten things that are to be brought to pass.
Ten things that are to be thoroughly learnt,
Ten things that are to be realized.

i. Which Ten help much?

Ten doctrines conferring protection.

(1) Herein friends, a brother is virtuous, lives self-controlled according to the self-control prescribed in the Vinaya, he has entered on a proper range of conduct, he sees danger in the least of the things he should avoid, he adopts and trains himself in the precepts.
(2) He learns much, and remembers and stores up what he has learnt. Those doctrines which, excellent at the start, in the middle, at the end, in the letter and in their contents, declare the absolutely perfect and pure religious life, these he learns to a great extent bears them in mind, treasures them by repetition, orders them in mind, penetrates them by intuition.
(3) He is a friend, an associate, an intimate of men of good character.
(4) He is affable, endowed with gentleness and humility; he is patient and receives admonition with deference.
(5) Where there are duties to be done for the seniors among his fellow-disciples, he therein is industrious, not slothful, and exercises forethought in methods for discharging them, is capable of accomplishing, capable of organizing.
(6) And furthermore, friends, he loves the doctrine, the utterance of it is dear to him, he finds exceeding joy in the advanced teaching of both Doctrine and Discipline.
(7) Furthermore, friends, he is content with necessaries of any quality, whether it be raiment, alms, lodging, drugs and provision against sickness.
(8) Furthermore, friends, he is continually stirring up effort to eliminate bad qualities, evoke good qualities, making dogged and vigorous progress in good things, never throwing off the burden.
(9) Furthermore, friends, he is mindful, and possessed of supreme lucidity and perspicacity in following mentally and recollecting deeds and words long past.
(10) Furthermore,friends, he is intelligent, endowed with insight into the rise and passing away [of things], insight which is of that Ariyan penetration which leads to the complete destruction of pain.
(as detailed in X, i onwards of the Sangiti Sutta).

ii. Which Ten must be developed?

Ten objects for self-hypnosis.
These, perceived severally as above, below or across, and as homogeneous, and without limits, are
a piece of earth [extended matter],
water,
fire,
air,
indigo,
yellow,
red,
white,
space,
consciousness.
(as detailed in X, ii onwards of the Sangiti Sutta).

iii. Which Ten must be understood?

The ten areas [of sense-contact],⁴⁸ to wit,
the five organs of special sense
and the five kinds of sense-objects.

iv. Which Ten must be eliminated?

The ten wrong factors [of character and conduct], to wit,
wrong views,
wrong purposes,
wrong speech,
action
and livelihood,
wrong effort,
mindfulness
and concentrative practice,
wrong knowledge,
wrong emancipation.⁴⁹

v. Which Ten belong to decline?

Ten bad channels of action, to wit,
taking life,
theft,
inchastity,
lying,
abuse,
slander,
idle talk,
covetousness,
malevolence,
wrong views.
(X, iii of the Sangiti Sutta).

[291] vi. Which Ten belong to distinction?

The ten good channels of action, to wit,
abstention from taking life,
abstention from theft,
abstention from inchastity,
abstention from lying,
abstention from abuse,
abstention from slander,
abstention from idle talk,
abstention from covetousness,
abstention from malevolence,
abstention from wrong views. (the opposites of the ten X, iii of the Sangiti Sutta).

vii. Which Ten are hard to perpetrate?

Ten Ariyan methods of living.
Herein, friends, a brother has got rid of five factors,
is possessed of six factors,
has set the one guard,
carries out the four bases of observance,
has put away sectarian opinions,
has utterly given up quests,
is candid in his thoughts,
has calmed the restlessness of his body,
and is well emancipated in heart and intellect.
(1) What five factors has he got rid of?
Sensuality,
malevolence,
sloth and torpor,
excitement and worry,
doubt.
(2) What six factors is he possessed of?
The six 'chronic states.'
Herein, friends, a brother on occasion
(1-5) of any of the five kinds of sensation,
(6) as well as on that of any impression or idea,
is neither delighted
nor displeased,
but remains equable,
mindful
and deliberate.
(See p. 234)
(3) How has he set the one guard?
By the mental guard of mindfulness.
(4) What are the four bases of observance?
Herein a brother judges that something is to be
(i) habitually pursued,
(ii) endured,
(iii) avoided,
(iv) suppressed.
(5) How does he become 'one who has put away sectarian opinions?
All those many opinions
of the mass of recluses and brahmins
which are held by individuals as dogmas:
— all these he has dismissed,
put away,
given up,
ejected,
let go,
eliminated,
abandoned.
(6) How is he one whose questing is utterly given up?
He has eliminated the questing after worldly desires,
the questing for rebirth,
the questing for religious life.
(7) How is he candid in his thoughts?
He has eliminated occupying his mind with sensual
or malicious
or cruel ideas.
(8) How does he tranquillize the activity of the body?
Because of eliminating the being affected pleasurably or painfully,
because of the dying out of previous impressions as joyful or sorrowful,
he attains to and abides in a state of neutral feeling,
of very pure indifference and mental lucidity,
namely,
the state called Fourth Jhāna.
(9) How does he become well emancipated in heart?
He becomes emancipated in heart from passion,
hate,
and illusion.
(10) How does he become well emancipated in intellect?
He understands his emancipated condition, namely, in the thought: Passion for me is eliminated,
cut off at the root,
become as a palmtree stump,
become non-existent,
unable to grow again in future.
Hate for me is eliminated,
cut off at the root,
become as a palmtree stump,
become non-existent,
unable to grow again in future.
Illusion for me is eliminated,
cut off at the root,
become as a palmtree stump,
become non-existent,
unable to grow again in future.
(X, v of the Sangiti Sutta).

viii. Which Ten must be brought to pass?

The ten perceptions, to wit,
perception of ugliness,
of death,
revulsion from nutriment (physical, sensory, mental),
disaffection with everything worldly,
impermanence,
suffering in impermanence,
no-soul in that which suffers,
elimination,
passionlessness,
and of cessation.

[265] ix. Which Ten are to be thoroughly learnt?

The ten causes of wearing away: —
by right views wrong views are worn away;
whatever manifold bad and wicked qualities,
proceeding from those wrong views,
take shape,
they are worn away in you.
And many good qualities,
caused by right views,
become developed and brought to perfection.
The same wearing away is wrought by the other nine factors of the tenfold Path⁵⁰ on the opposed nine wrong factors of character and conduct.⁵¹

x. Which Ten are to be realized?

Ten qualities belonging to the adept, to wit,
the right (or perfect) views,
intentions,
speech,
action,
livelihood,
effort,
mindfulness,
concentration,
insight and
emancipation as held by adepts.
(X, vi of the Sangiti Sutta).

Now these Ten Things things are genuine,
true,
thus,
not otherwise,
not different,
and perfectly comprehended by the Tathāgata.

Thus spake the venerable Sāriputta. And pleased in mind those brethren delighted in his words.

HERE ENDETH THE DASUTTARA SUTTANTA

[ENVOI]

To compass utter end of ill;
To bring to pass true happiness;
Haven ambrosial to win
Under the Sovereign of the Norm.

HERE ENDETH THE DĪGHA NIKĀYA OR LONG-[SUTTA]-COLLECTION

¹ This is not a literal rendering. Plus-up-to-ten is a little nearer, but uncouth. So we have not tried to be literal.

² Pronounced Champā.

³ Dhamma. Anything as presented to the mind is a Dhamma. We have no parallel word.

⁴ Or 'made to grow' (vaḍḍhetabbo = bhāvetabbo).

⁵ 1 Rūpādīsu. Comy.

⁶ Ayoniso. I.e., taking the changing as permanent, etc. Comy.

⁷ Of Path, as result, after insight. Comy.

⁸ I.e., to understand when reflecting on fruition gained. This was an attribute of Emancipation (Vin. Texts, i., 97, § 29, Majjhima I. 167, etc.) and Nibbāna. See (x.).

⁹ See above, p. 204.

¹⁰ Namely, 'under the bo-tree.' Comy. Hence, according to B., Tathāgata here means clearly a Buddha, and not any Arahant.

¹¹ See above, p. 205. B. passes over this answer. Element (dhātu) has here somewhat the meaning of conditions of being, e.g., water to a fish, not any one factor in such.

¹² 'Made by causes, the five aggregates; not so made, Nibbāna.' Comy.

¹³ 'Vijjā here means the threefold lore' (an annexed Brahmanic term). Comy. Cf. above, p, 214, lviii. ff., and below, x.

¹⁴ The ten questions are to be read as repeated here and below. [Ed. filled out in this edition.]

¹⁵ 1 Lit. becoming-craving and contra-becoming craving. Cf. above 1, 10, xvi. [? III.iv]

¹⁶ B.'s comments are purely exegetical. He calls the three escapes the Path of the Non-returner, the Path, and the Fruit of Arahantship respectively.

¹⁷ I.e., conditions. See above 2, ix.

¹⁸ I.e., the three spheres of existence, described in Bud. Psy. Eth., p. 334.

¹⁹ In text verbatim, as on p. 214, lviii. See the six, p. 257 f.

²⁰Cakkāni, says B., are of five kinds: wheels of wood, as in a carriage; circlets of gems; the [symbolic] wheel of Dhamma (righteousness or law); the fourfold range of postures (standing, walking, sitting, lying); the vehicles or means of success (sampatti), as here.

²¹ Cf. Vol. II. p. 327 f.; above, p. 214 (i.).

²² Cf. p. 219 (xvii.).

²³ Cf. above, p. 218 (xi.).

²⁴ 1 Saccāni (sat-yāni), lit. things that are. Truths is the more subjective counterpart, although the word may be objectively used.

²⁵ As detailed in V, xvi of the Sangiti Sutta

²⁶ The first and second are the expression of insight in the first two and first three Jhānas respectively. The third expresses telepathic (thought-reading) insight. The fourth expresses the insight of the 'heavenly eye' (clairvoyance). The fifth is insight on emerging from ecstasy.

²⁷ As in p. 227. [Ed. here inserted]

²⁸ Detailed as on DN 33: Sangitti Sutta, p. 228 (xxiv.). [Ed.: Here inserted from his translation and then fully expanded to agree with the Pali]

²⁹ Samādhi (includes all the stages preliminary to ecstasy). Cf. ii.

³⁰ Akapuriso, 'to wit Buddhas, supermen, etc.'

³¹ Of this phrase ekodibhāvadhigato B. remarks: 'because the rapture has been attained by mental uplift, etc., or because of mental uplift, etc., having been attained.'

³² On sasaṅkhāra see Bud. Psy. Eth., p. 34, n. I, Of vārita-vato the readings in MSS. of the Comy, vary as much as those in the text. The only comment is paccanīkadhamme gatattā.

³³ Cf. the four on p. 221.

³⁴ 1 Iddhi (Vol. 1, 88 f.; cf. above, p. 253, x.).

³⁵ Kāmā here are both the objects of desire, desires objectified, lit. object-desires (vatthukāmā), and the modes of desire, or passions (ki1esakama). 'Coals of fire,' i.e., feverish states. Cf. Majjhima I, 130; Aṇguttara IV, 224; Jātaka IV, 118.

³⁶ Vupakāsa. We have not elsewhere met with this word.

³⁷ Gocara: range, proper limits in thought and conduct.

³⁸ Cf. above, p. 246 (2); cf. 230*.

³⁹ The first seven are said to have been excogitated by the Thera Anuruddha. The Buddha adds the eighth, and repeats them all as a sermon to the Order. A. IV (a misprint in our text gives III), 229.

⁴⁰ 'As to body, mind and the conditions for rebirth' Comy.

⁴¹ Expansion of papañ ca. This term is by the Commentators usually analyzed into these three, the term itself being left unequated.

⁴² Cf. above, pp. 229, 251, vi.

⁴³ On the later scheme of this 'purity,' cf. Compendium, p 210 f. Here the first seven are given, the eighth is omitted (paññā occurs only twice in the book), the ninth is developed separately. B.'s sparse comments agree with the definitions, p. 212 f., but he refers the reader to Visuddhi Magga for more, also to the 'Ratha-Vinīta,' presumably M. I, Sutta 24, especially p. 147. The last two he calls the fruition of Arahantship. The Visuddhi Magga is an expansion of just these nine heads.

⁴⁴ Repeated verbatim from the Māhā Nidāna Suttanta (Dial, II, 55, cf. footnotes ibid.).

⁴⁵ That is, in perception with regard to sense-experience. Comy.

⁴⁶ Intuition on contemplating death. Comy. 'Saññā' is here concept rather than percept, or perception widely understood.

⁴⁷ On the four kinds, see p. 254.

⁴⁸ Or 'fields,' or ' spheres,' Ayatanāni. Cf. Expositor I, 186.

⁴⁹ Cf. the first eight, p. 237.

⁵⁰ Cf. x.

⁵¹ Cf. iv.