Theragāthā (Psalms of the Brethren)

ccxxix. kacca[ya]na the great yourself ; by your mission, too, will the king be satisfied.’ He, thus bidden, went with the seven, satisfied the king’s desire, established him in the faith,1 and returned to the Master. One day many bhikkhus, having put aside their duties, and finding pleasure in worldly activities and in society, were leading desultory lives. The Thera thereupon admonished them in two verses, and in the next six admonished the king : Let not a brother occupy himself With busy works, let him keep clear of folk, Nor strive [to copy nor to emulate]. Who greedy seeks to taste life’s feast entire, Neglects the good that brings true happiness. (494) A treacherous bog it is, this patronage Of bows and gifts and treats from wealthy folk. ’Tis like a fine dart bedded in the flesh, For erring human hard to extricate.2 (495) Not evil are the actions of a man Because of what another [saith or doth] ; ’Tis of himself he must from wrong abstain, Of their own acts the offspring mortals be.3 (496) No speech of others makes a man a thief, No speech of others makes a man a sage ; And what we know at heart we really are,

That do the gods who know our hearts know too.4 (497) 1 Sasane. 2 —verses 124, and 1052/. 3 Majjh., iii. 203 ; Ang iii. 72. 4 The ^ Commentary reads atta ca nag yathdvediti naij sattan tassa atta cittag yatha ayarj parisuddho aparisuddho cdti yathdvato avedd jdnati. The devas are then credited — i.e the purer gods — with knowing the thoughts of others. ccxxix. kacca[ya]na the great People can never really understand That we are here but for a little spell. But they who grasp this truth indeed, Suffer all strife and quarrels to abate.1 (498) The wise man is alive, and he alone, Although his wealth be utterly destroyed ; And if the man of wealth do wisdom lack, For all his wealth he doth not truly live. (499) (To the King consulting him about a dream.)2 Things of all sorts by way of ear we hear ; Things of all sorts by way of eye we see ; And for the wise and strong it is not fit All to neglect as things unseen, unheard. (500) Let him as seeing be as he were blind, Let him as hearing be as he were deaf, Let him, in wisdom versed, be as one dumb,

And let the man of strength be as the weak ; But let the thing of genuine good arise : — Be that for him the nesting-place of thought.3 (501) 1 = verse 275. 2 The king’s dream is not told. He is only said to have gone next day to the Thera and told it ‘in the order in which he had seen it.’ The oracular reply may not have proved satisfying, but it is quite in keeping with the ‘Great Slla’ of Dialogues , i. 17(4). The chaplain was largely an astrologer and dream interpreter ; the Sakiya-samana was concerned with the bed-rock realities of waking life and moral law. 3 The last six lines are quoted in Milinda , ii. 282 /. My own rendering is guided by the high import attaching to attha (good) through the ‘ Psalms,’ and by Dhammapala. The latter, it is true, is no adequate guide. He omits any reference to ‘ in wisdom versed ’ (see Milinda , ii. 283, n. 1), and makes no attempt to paraphrase the curious mata-sayikay except by mataka-sdyikar). Preceding this word he has jpassetha= passitvd. The whole poem seems to be a patchwork of annexed gnomic proverbs from the current popular . philosophy, annexed like much of Sayyutta I. and the Jdtakas by the Canon, and only essentially in sympathy with the Buddhist teaching.

Reborn in this Buddha-age at Rajagaha as the son of a very wealthy landowner, he was named Sirimitta, his mother being sister to Sirigutta, whose story is included in the Dhammapada Commentary.1 Now he, Sirimitta, Sirigutta s nephew, found faith when the Master subdued the elephant Dhanapala.2 And he entered the Order, and in due course became arahant. One day rising from his seat to recite the Patimokkha, he took a painted fan,3 and reseating himself, taught the Norm to the bhikkhus, and in so doing, distinguished the more eminent virtues thus : From anger and from hatred free, Clean of deceit, of slander bare, Look you ! a brother such as he, When he goes hence,4 will weep no more. (502) From anger and from hatred free, Clean of deceit, of slander bare, Ever 4 door-guarded ’ 5 brother, he, When he goes hence, will weep no more. (503) ... of slander bare, Brother of noble virtue, he, When he goes hence, will weep no more. (504) 1 Presumably in i. 434 ff. He was a lay-adherent of Savatthi. 2 Called Nalagiri in Vinaya Texts , iii. 247-250. Cf. Milinda , i. 297 ff. 3 So did the learned Sister Khujjutara in preaching ( Dhammapada Commentary , i. 209).

4 ‘To another world’ (Commentary). He is not discoursing neces¬ sarily of or to arahants. Cf. for a different import in the phrase, verse 138. 6 Gutta-dvdro , the technical phrase in Buddhist ethics for control over the ‘ gates ’ of sense. Brother of virtuous comrades, he, When he goes hence, will weep no more. (505) Brother of noble insight, he, When he goes hence, will weep no more. (506) Having discoursed against anger and so on, he then set forth the supreme career by verses describing the right attitude for individuals, testifying thereby to anna in himself : Of him whose faith in the Tathagata Is firmly planted and unwavering, Whose virtues are commended by the good And pleasing in the eyes of Ariyans,1 (507) Who dwells contented with the Brotherhood, Who in his views is candid and sincere : 4 No pauper he,’ they say, with so much wealth, Nor sterile and in vain the life of him. (508) So let the wise man, so let him who aye Remembereth that which Buddhas have enjoined,, Devote himself to faith and righteousness, To know the blessedness they brought to us And the true vision of the holy Norm.2 (509)

When our Master had gone to Rajagaha, rolling the excellent wheel of righteousness, Panthaka, the elder son3 1 Buddhas, Silent (Pacceka) Buddhas, and earnest disciples (Buddha - sdvakd). 2 = verse 204. 3 The untimely birth of the boys when their mother had set out to return to her kinsfolk, their being named ‘ Roadling ’ the Greater and the Less, and their going to live with her kinsfolk, is briefly sketched here, but is told Imore fully in Jut., i. 14 ff., and Anguttara Commentary on i. 26. of a rich councillor’s daughter and one of her father’s servants, used to go with his grandfather to hear the Master, and so won faith with insight. Entering the Order, he became highly versed in the Buddha-Word, and in the four abstract jhanas, in due time becoming arahant. Dwelling in the bliss of jhana and of fruition, he was reviewing one day his achievement, and in great joy thereat burst into a ‘ lion’s roar ’ thus : When first I saw the blessed Master, Him For whom no fear can anywhence arise, A wave of deep emotion filled my soul At sight of Him, the peerless man of men. (510) Had a man erst on hands and knees besought Favour of Fortune’s goddess hither come,

And won the grace of Master such as this, Still might he fail to win [the thing he sought].1 (511) I for my part [all hindrance] cast away — [The hope of] wife and children, coin and corn,2 And let my hair and beard be shorn, and forth Into the homeless life I went from home. (512) The life and training practising, all faculties Well held in hand, in loyalty to Him, Buddha supreme, master of self I lived. (513) Then longing rose within my heart, I yearned [To consummate] : ‘ Now will I no more sit, Not even for a moment, while the dart Of craving sticketh and is not outdrawn. (514) Of me thus aye abiding, O ! behold 3 And mark the onward stride of energy : 1 ‘ Unlucky . . . fail at the ninth moment ’ (? eleventh hour), says the Commentary, which sees, moreover, in siriy an allusion not to the goddess of luck ( Buddhist India^ p. 217), but to the sivisaycmci, or cathedra of a teacher. 2 Living as a minor with his grandparents, he had as yet none of these, remarks the Commentary. 3 For this and following lines, cf. verses 167, 224, 296, 332, 477.

The Threefold Wisdom have I made my own, And all the Buddha bids us do is done. (515) I know the where and when of former lives, And clearly shines the eye celestial. Ar’hant am I, worthy men’s offerings. Released and without basis for rebirth. (516) For as the darkness melted into light, And the day broke with rising of the sun, From craving, stanched and dry, had come release, And on my couch crosslegged I sat in peace. (517) Reborn in this Buddha-age in a suburb of the city of Saketa as the son of a wealthy councillor, he was the last and only surviving child, the others having been devoured by a hostile Yakkha. He was therefore well guarded, but the demon (i bhuta ) had meanwhile gone to wait on Vessavana1 and came back no more. On the child’s naming day he was called Bhuta, for they said : ‘ May compassionate non-humans protect him !’2 He by virtue of his merit having grown up without accident, reared with three residences as was Yasa,3 went, when the Master came to Saketa, with other laymen to the Vihara and heard the Norm. Entering the Order, he went to dwell in a cave on the banks of the River Ajakaranl.4 There he won arahantship. Thereafter, he visited his relatives out of kindness to them, staying himself in the Anjana Wood. When they besought him to stay, urging that this would result in mutual benefit, the Thera, declaring his love for and happiness in the monachistic life, spoke these lines before he left them :

1 Ruler of the northern quarter of the skies and of the Yakkhas (. Dialogues , ii. 259, 805). 2 Thus compelling the propitiation of such creatures by making them sponsors ! Bhuta = spirit, sprite, creature. 4 Cf. Sappaka, CXCVI. When the wise man hath grasped, that age and death, yea, all Whereto the undiscerning world-folk cling is Pain, And Pain thus understanding, dwells with mind intent And rapt in ecstasy of thought : — no higher bliss Is given to men than this. (518) When the fell poisoner 1 he hath banned who bringeth pain, — Ay, even Craving, who doth sweep him towards the pain Of being prisoned in the web of many things, Obsessed,2 — and he delivered dwells with mind intent And rapt in ecstasy of thought : — no higher bliss Is given to men than this. (519) When by insight he sees the happy-omened Path, Twice fourfold, ultimate, that purifies from all That doth defile, and seeing, dwells with mind intent, Rapt in an ecstasy of thought : — no higher bliss Is given to men than this. (520) When work of thought makes real and true the way of peace, From sorrow free, untarnished and uncorrelate,3 Cleansing from all that doth defile, and severing From every bond and fetter, and the brother sits Rapt in an ecstasy of thought : — no higher bliss Is given to men than this. (521)

When in the lowering sky thunders the storm-cloud’s drum, And all the pathways of the birds are thick with rain, 1 On visattikd see p. 213, n. 3. 2 With this phrase papancasanghdUa(-dukkhddhivdhaniy), cf. Majjh ., i. 271, l. 1 ; 383, l. 29 ; Milinda, 390, l. 7. The Com¬ mentary’s explanation is very lame, but it paraphrases papancanti vitthdrentiti. 3 Asankhatay. Na kenaci paccayena sankhatan ti (Commentary). The brother sits within the hollow of the hills, Rapt in an ecstasy of thought : — no higher bliss Is given to men than this. (522) Or when by rivers on whose banks together crowd Garlands of woodland blossoms bright with many a hue, With heart serene the brother sits upon the strand, Rapt in an ecstasy of thought : — no higher bliss Is given to men than this. (523) Or when at dead of night in lonely wood god rains, And beasts of fang and tusk 1 ravin and cry aloud, The brother sits within the hollow of the hills, Rapt in an ecstasy of thought : — no greater bliss Is given to men than this. (524) When he hath checked the mind’s discursive restless¬ ness,2 And to the mountain’s bosom hies and in some cave Sits sheltered, free from fear and from impediment, Rapt in an ecstasy of thought: — no greater bliss Is given to men than this. (525)

When he in healthful ease abides, abolisher Of stain and stumbling-stone and woe, open to peace 3 The portals of the mind, lust-free, immune from dart,4 Yea, all intoxicants become as nought, and thus Rapt in an ecstasy of thought no greater bliss Is given to men than this. (526) 1 The Commentary instances lions and tigers — true of course only of remoter haunts. Cf. at least Sisters, p. 151 n. 2 VitakJca, a word to indicate the application of attention to this and that, hindering concentrated thought. 3 Lit., one who is unbolted. The bolt is ignorance hindering the entrance of Nibbana, says the Commentary. 4 By ‘ dart,’ craving is always implied. He going on in rebirth among gods and men, was born on the same day as our Bodhisat, in the family of one of the king’s ministers at Kapiiavatthu. Yea, on that one day were born these seven : the Bodhisat, the Bodhi-tree, the mother of Bahula, and the four treasures the ridingelephant, the horse Kanthaka, Channa, and Kaludayin.1 Now on his naming day, the child was called Udayin, and because he was dark of feature he became known as Kal’ - Udayin. He grew up as the play -fellow of the Bodhisat. But later, when the Lord of the World had gone forth in the Great Renunciation, had become omniscient, and was staying in the Bamboo Grove near Rajagaha, rolling on the excellent wheel of the Norm, King Suddhodana heard thereof, and sent a minister with a suite of a thousand, saying:

* Bring my son hither.’ And that minister and suite, arriving when the Norm was being preached, heard, and all becoming arahants, the Master stretched forth his hand, saying : ‘ Come ye, bhikkhus !’ . . . And they abiding among the Ariyas, did not deliver the king’s message. And the like happened with other messengers. So the king sent Kaludayin, saying : ‘ This Udayin is of the same age as the Ten-

On these seven ‘ Connatal Ones ’ see Bud. Birthstories, 68 n. ; cf . Dialogues , ii. 202-208. powered, and is akin to me and affectionate ; I will send him ; go you, my dear, with a thousand men, and bring the Ten-powered One.’ So he went, saying : * If I, sire, may leave the world, then will I bring hither the Exalted One.’ ‘ Whatever you do, show me my son,’ was the reply. He, too, fared like the first minister and became arahant. Now he thought : ‘ Not yet is it time for Him to go to the city. When the rains have come, and the woods are in flower and the earth is covered with verdure, then ’twill be time.’ And when the time was come, he spoke these verses ro the Master, praising the beauty of the journey : Now crimson glow the trees, dear Lord, and cast Their ancient foliage in quest of fruit.1 Like crests of flame they shine irradiant, And rich in hope, great Hero, is the hour. (527) Verdure and blossom-time in every tree, Where’er we look delightful to the eye, And every quarter breathing fragrant airs,2 While petals falling, yearning comes for fruit : — ’Tis time, O Hero, that we set out hence. (528)

Not over hot, nor over cold, but sweet, O Master, now the season of the year. O let the Sakiyans and the Koliyans Behold thee with thy face set toward the West, Crossing the [border-river] Rohinl.3 (529) 1 ‘ Though without will, they express the setting about a voluntary act,’ is the comment. 2 Pavanti : gandhag visajjenti (Commentary). 3 ‘ From this river, flowing through the land of those two clans, from north to south,’ writes Dhammapala, ‘ Rajagaha lies S.E., there¬ fore to go from thence to Kapilavatthu, one crosses it facing W.,’ or north-west, a journey of 60 yojanas (p. 9 ; about 435 miles). On this river, now the Rowai, or Rohwaini, see the detailed account in Cunning¬ ham’s Archceological Survey of India , xii., p. 190 ff. Kaludayin ‘ then makes known his own aspirations by similes ’ (Commentary). In hope the field is ploughed, in hope the seed is sown, In hope of winning wealth merchants fare over sea. The hope I cherish, may that hope be realized ! (530) Again and yet again is seed in furrow sown. Again and yet again the cloud-king sends down rain, Again and yet again the ploughmen plough the field,

Again and yet again comes corn into the realm. (531) Again and yet again do beggars go their round ; Again and yet again the generous donors give ; Again and yet again when many gifts are given, Again and yet again the donors find their heaven. (532) Surely a hero lifts to lustrous purity Seven generations past wherever he be born. And so methinks can He, the vastly wise, the god Of gods. In Thee is born in very truth a Seer. (533) Suddhodana is named the mighty prophet’s sire, And mother of the Buddha was [our queen] Maya. She, having borne the Wisdom-being in her womb, Found, when the body died, delight in Tusita.1 (534) She, Gotamid, dying on earth, deceasing hence, Now lives in heavenly joys attended by those gods. (535) Now when the Exalted One, thus besought, discerned salvation coming for many by his going, he set out attended by 20,000 arahants, walking a yojana each day. And the Thera went by power of iddhi to Kapilavatthu, into the king’s presence. ‘ Who are you ?’ he was asked ; and he : ‘ If you know not the minister’s son whom you sent to the Exalted One, know that I am he’ :

Son of the Buddha I, yea, e’en of such as He, Th’ Anglrasa, to whom there lives not any peer, 1 The Heaven of Delight, fourth above this world. Cf. Sisters , p. 3. Who that which is insuperable hath o’ercome. And father of my Father art thou, Sakiyan, To me thou, Gotamid, art grandsire in the Norm.1 (536) He was reborn in this Buddha-age, after the Exalted One had passed away, as the youngest brother of the King Dhammasoka. And King Asoka, in the 218th year after that Passing Away, having united all India in one empire, and made his own younger brother Tissa vice¬ regent, enlisted Tissa’s friendship for the Sasana by a single stratagem.2 Now the prince, while hunting, was so impressed at the sight of the Greek Thera, Maha Dhammarakkhita,3 seated under a tree, that he also longed to live so in the forest. When he had seen the Thera’s supernormal powers, he 1 The Commentary gives two explanations of Anglrasa, a name applied to the Buddha elsewhere — e.g., Digha , iii. 196 ; Sany., i. 196 ; Ang., iii. 239 ; Jdt., i. 116. One is Commentator’s etymology ; the other calls it a second personal name, like Siddhattha. The first three graceful gathas are given more briefly in the Jataka Commentary {Buddhist Birth Stories , p. 121). The next gatha is in slokas ; all the rest is tristubh (upavajira) ; but it is a little difficult to believe that the musical opening and the clumsy sequel are by the same hand.

The specific distinction awarded to Kaludayin, in Ang. Nik., i. 25, is recorded to have been won by this embassy — that of ‘ him who best satisfied the clans.’ 2 This is told in th oMahdvaysa, ver. 154-160. Ibid., 161-172, is a metrical parallel to Dhammapala’s prose account in the following paragraph, which is slightly condensed. 3 Yonaka-Mahd-Dhammarakkhitathera. This Thera, not elsewhere called Greek, is mentioned, Mahdvaysa, loc. cit. ; Dipavaysa, viii. 8 ; Sdmaniapasdidika, pp. 314, 317. returned to the palace and told the king he wished to leave the world. Asoka could not in any way dissuade him. Longing for the happiness of the recluse, he uttered these verses : If there be none in front, nor none behind Be found, is one alone and in the woods Exceeding pleasant doth his life become.1 (537) Come then ! alone Ill get me hence and go To lead the forest-life the Buddha praised,2 And taste the welfare which the brother knows, Who dwells alone with concentrated mind. (538) Yea, swiftly and alone, bound to my quest,3 I’ll to the jungle that I love, the haunt Of wanton elephants, the source and means Of thrilling zest to each ascetic soul.4 (539)

In Cool Wood’s flowery glades cool waters lie,5 Within the hollows of the hills ; and there I’ll bathe my limbs when hot and tired, -and there At large in ample solitude I’ll roam. (540) 1 I was inclined, before gaining access to the Commentary, to see in these lines the sentiment of Sutta-Nipdta , verses 9, 52 : To him for whom there's nothing in the world Either before or after or betiueen — Nothing at all to take or to possess. . . . But the Commentary’s brief comment reveals, not the detachment of the arahant, but the longing of the court dignitary to be rid of the perpetual attendance of courtiers, retainers, soldiers, etc., ever before and behind and around, sycophantic, or slaves of etiquette, and perhaps traitorous, or at least backbiting. The name adopted by, or fastened on Prince Tissa, Ekavihariya, means Lone-dweller. 2 Vinaya Texts , ii. 312, 313 Cf, Bud. Suttas, p. 210 ff. ; SuttaNipdta, verses 34-74, etc. 3 Atthavasi, ‘ in submission to the business of a recluse ’ (Cy.). 5 The wood contains six pools, writes Dhammapala. Lone and unmated in the lovely woods, When shall I come to rest, work wrought, heart cleansed ? (541)

0 that I might win through, who am so fain ! I only may achieve the task ; herein None for his fellow-man can aught avail.1 (542) I’ll bind my spirit’s armour on, and so The jungle will I enter, that from thence I’ll not come forth until Nibbana’s won.2 (543) I’ll seat me on the mountain-top, the while The wind blows cool and fragrant on my brow, And burst the baffling mists of ignorance. (544) Then on the flower-carpet of the wood, Anon in the cool cavern of the cliff, Blest in the bliss of Liberty I’ll take Mine ease on thee, old Fastness o’ the Crag.3 (545) Lo ! I am he whose purpose is fulfilled, And rounded as the moon on fifteenth day. Destroyed all deadly canker, sane, immune, I know rebirth comes ne’er again for me. (546) 1 The beautiful poem reads better uninterrupted by prose; but Dhammapala gives it in three sections. Section 2 describes Tissa’s burst of delighted energy after his ordination, Asoka having conducted both him and his son-in-law (and nephew), Aggibrahma, to the Vihara with great pomp and ceremony (a last ordeal for Tissa’s tastes !). 2 Lit. , until the asavas are destroyed.

3 Giribbaja, the ‘ mountain stronghold ’ near Rajagaha. The ruined fortifications, 4| miles in circumference, are still extant, and are the most ancient stone buildings yet found in India. The ‘newer’ Raja¬ gaha is said to have been chiefly the work of King Bimbisara, the Buddha’s contemporary ( Buddhist India, p. 37). The last section is the dying utterance of Tissa (‘ Lone-dweller ’). He is related to have gone with his instructor (Dhammarakkhita) to the Kalinga country, a great and noted forest tract (cf. Majjh., i. 3^8) on the east coast, south of Rajagaha. There Asoka built for him the Vihara of Bhojaka-Giri. In Kalinga are the Asoka inscriptions of Dhauli and Jaugada (Cunningham, Corp. Inscr. Ind., i. 15^.). Reborn before our Master’s birth in the border country at a town named Kukkuta (Cock), in a raja’s family, he was named Kappina. At his father’s death he succeeded, as raja, Kappina the Great. He, to extend his knowledge, would send men of a morning out of the four gates to the cross-roads, bidding them arrest passing scholars and tell him. Now by that time our Master had come into the world, and was dwelling at Savatthi. And traders of that town brought goods to Kukkuta and disposed of them. Then saying, ‘Let us see the king,’ they took gifts and announced themselves. The king accepted their gifts, saluting them, and asked whence they came, and what their country and king were like, and what sort of religion (dhamma) was theirs?

‘Sire,’ they replied to the last question, ‘ we are not able to tell you with unwashen mouths.’ The king sent for a gold ewer of water, and they, with cleansed mouths and hands at salute, said: ‘ Sire, in our country the Treasure of a Buddha has arisen.’ At the one word ‘Buddha,’ rapture suffused the king’s whole body. ‘ “ Buddha,” ’ say you, friends ?’ And he made them tell him thrice that infinite word, giving them 100,000 pieces. They told him also of the Treasure of the Norm and of the Order, and he trebled his gift, and forth¬ with renounced the world, his ministers doing likewise. Now they set forth [to find the Exalted One] and came to the Ganges. There they made a determination by the power of truth,1 saying: ‘If [there be] a Master, a Buddha Supreme, let not even a hoof of these horses be wetted !’ Then they crossed on the surface of the full river, and so crossed yet another river, coming thirdly to

1 Saccadhitthana , for the more usual saccakiriyd. Cf. Jdt ., i., Nos. 20, 35. Cf. 2 Kings , i. 10. the great river, Candabhaga,1 which they crossed in like manner. The Master, too, who on that day had risen at dawn, and, filled with great compassion, surveyed the world, discerning that ‘ to-day Kappina the Great has renounced his kingdom, and comes with a great following to enter the Order ; ’tis fit I go far to meet him,’ first went with a company of bhikkhus to Savatthi for alms, then went himself through the air to the banks of the Candabhaga, and sat down cross-legged under a great banyan facing the landing-stage of the ford,2 sending forth the Buddha-rays. Kappina and his men saw the rays darting to and fro, and said : ‘ We are come on account of the Master, and lo ! here He is!’ And they drew near, prostrating themselves. Then the Master taught them the Norm, so that they were all estab¬ lished in arahantship, and asked to become recluses. The Master said, ‘ Come, bhikkhus !’ and this was their sanction and their ordination. Then he took them back with him through the air to the Jetavana.

One day the Exalted One asked whether Kappina taught the Norm to the bhikkhus ? They said that he lived in¬ actively, enjoying his happiness. Kappina, when sent for, admitted this was true, and was told : ‘ Brahmin ! 3 do not so ; from to-day teach the Norm to them that have arrived.' Kappina assented, worshipping, and by his very first dis¬ course established a thousand recluses in arahantship. 1 If this be the Chenab (the Akesines of the Greeks), the geography of Dhammapala is impossible ; but if for Ganges we substitute Sindhu (the Indus), then Kappina, coming from the extreme north-west (Kukkuta is an unknown locality), would have the Indus and the Vitasta (Jelum) for his first and second rivers. In Jdt., iv. 180, the Buddha is said to have gone 2,000 yojanas to meet him. This is commentarial legend. From Savatthi to the Chenab, before it flows into the Indus, is, as the crow (or a Buddha) flies, roughly 600 miles (?). 2 Uttar anatitthassdbhimukhattJidne, which seems to render the mystic feat rather superfluous. 3 The Buddha occasionally addresses his arahants thus— e.g., Angulimala ( Majjh ., ii. 104; cf. Ps. CCLV.). Brahmana == holy, or excellent man. By social class, Kappina was a Khattiya.

Wherefore the Master assigned him the foremost rank among those who taught the Sisters.1 * Now one day the Thera taught the Sisters as follows : Can ye but see that which is coming ere it come,2 And mark such business as will benefit or harm, Nor foes nor friends, howe’er they seek, will find a rift. (547) The man by whom the breathing exercise With self-control is to perfection brought, Practised with method as the Buddha taught, He casts a radiant sheen about the world, As doth the moon emerging free from cloud. (548) Lo ! now the mind of me is white indeed,3 Expanded beyond measure, practised well, Its nature understood, and strenuous ; Shedding a radiance on every side. (549) The wise man is alive and he alone, Although his wealth be utterly destroyed ; And if the man of wealth do wisdom lack, For all his wealth he doth not truly live.4 (550) Wisdom is arbiter of what is heard. Wisdom doth nourish honourable fame. With wisdom in his company a man Even in pain and sorrow findeth joys. (551) Here is a fact that’s not of yesterday ; ’Tis not abnormal nor anomalous : ‘ Where ye are being born, ye also die.’

What have we there save what is natural ? (552) 1 Ang., i. 27. 2 Patigacca : xmretaray yeva (Cy.). 3 Oddtay. When the Buddha (Sayy., ii. 284) points out Kappina to the bhikkhus to praise him, he says : ‘ Do you see that slight little white ( odatakay ) man with the prominent nose coming along ?’ referring probably only to his complexion. Cf. p. 3, n. 1 ; and verse 972. 4 = ver. 499. For after being born we do but lead A life that is a dying hour by hour. Whoe’er are born in that same life they die — Such is the nature of all living things. (553) That brings no good to the dead which is good for the living. Mourning the dead is no honour nor purification,1 Nor is it praised by the wise, by recluses and brahmins. (554) Mourning vexes the eye and the body, wasteth Comeliness, strength [of body and mind] and intelligence. If he be blithesome, all the four quarters become Cordial well-wishers, e’en if his lot be not happy. (555) Wherefore let laymen desire to receive in their family None but them that are wise and discreet and much learned.

They by the power of their wisdom accomplish their business, E’en as a boat doth effect a crossing o’er the full river.2 (556) 1 I do not pretend to have solved the difficulties here. Even Dhammapala seems to evade them. He reads, for na lokyay, na sokyay , and paraphrases this bty na visuddhi. I follow him, as the only way to make the passage intelligible. 2 Kappina was one of the twelve ‘ Great ’ Theras ; his verses, however, are, for the most part, more gnomic saws of popular philosophy than genuine Dhamma, such as was fitted for members of the Order, whom he is said to have been addressing. They would have fitted an early Greek, or any pagan. And it was not possible to get poetry out of them. Dr. Neumann succeeds here and there, but only by departing from the original. The change of metre is merely to indicate a corresponding change in the Pali. His previous story is told in the Eighth Canto, in the chronicle of Roadling major. The remainder is [told in the Commentary on the Culasetthi-Jataka.1] He, on another occasion, uttered these verses : Sluggish and halt the progress that I made,

And therefore was I held in small esteem. My brother judged I should be turned away, And bade me, saying: ‘Now do thou go home.’ (557) So I, dismissed and miserable, stood Within the gateway of the Brethren’s Park, Longing at heart within the Rule to stay. (558) And there he came to me, the Exalted One, And laid his hand upon my head ; and took My arm, and to the garden led me back. (559) To me the Master in his kindness gave A napkin for the feet and bade me thus : ‘ Fix thou thy mind on this clean thing, the while Well concentrated2 thou dost sit apart.’ (560) And I who heard his blessed Word abode Fain only and alway to keep his Rule.3 Achieving concentrated thought and will, That I might win the crown of all my quest. (561) 1 Jdt., i., 4. Dhammapala also gives the story, agreeing in all but a few details, in which his version is the simpler. The gist of the ‘ remainder ’ is contained in the verses above. He also mentions the double eminence (in mind-created forms and in mental evolution), defined by Buddhaghosa as skill in the fourfold Riipa and Arujpa jhana, assigned to Cula-Panthaka and his brother respectively (Ang., i. 24).

2 Svadhitthitay is paraphrased only by manasikarena. Panthaka handles the cloth while he muses, till it is no longer clean and smooth. 3 Sisters, verses 187, 194, 202. And now I know the where and how I lived, And clearly shines the Eye Celestial ; 1 The Threefold Wisdom have I made my own, And what the Buddha bids us do is done. (562) In thousand different shapes did Panthaka Himself by power abnormal multiply ; And seated in the pleasant Mango-Grove,2 Waited until the hour should be revealed. (563) Then did the Master send a messenger, Who came revealer of the hour to me, And at th’ appointed time I flew to Him. (564) Low at his feet I worshipped ; then aside I sat me down ; and me so seated near Whenas he had discerned, the Master then Suffered that men should do him ministry.3 (565) High altar 4 He where all the world may give, Receiver of th’ oblations of mankind, Meadow of merit for the sons of men, He did accept the gifts of piety. (566) Reborn in this Buddha-age in the kingdom of Magadha, as the son of a provincial hereditary raja, he succeeded his father, but was addicted to self-indulgence and sensuality. Him the Master saw, as he roused himself from a reverie

1 Above, verse 516. 2 The property of the court physician and lay- adherent, Jivaka. See Sisters, p. 139 n. 3 The story relates that, whereas Panthaka’s elder brother, who was steward, had omitted his junior from the brethren entertained at lunch by Jivaka, the Buddha (who had left Cula-Panthaka studying impurity by the towel as object-lesson) closed his bowl with his hand when food was offered till Cilia had been sent for. How Cula’s new powers of magic mystify the messenger is told in the Jdtakci Commentary . 4 This rendering of ay ago, following Dr. Neumann, is supported by the Commentary’s yajitabba-thanabhuto, 1 who is become the place where oblations should be made.’ of great compassion and surveyed the world for treasure for his net of insight. And pondering, ‘What now will he become ?’ he discerned that ‘ This one, hearing from me a discourse on foul things, will have his heart diverted from lusts, and will renounce the world and win arahantship.’ Going to Kappa through the air, he addressed to him these verses : Filled full with divers things impure, Great congeries of excrement, Like stale and stagnant pool of slime, Like a great cancer, like a sore, (567)

Filled full of serum and of blood, As ’t were from dung-heap issuing, Dropping with fluid — ever thus The body leaks, a carrion thing. (568) By sixty tendons kept in place, And smeared with plaster of the flesh, By dermis armed and cuticle — In carrion carcase lies small gain. (569) By bony framework rendered firm, By sinew-threads together knit, The which, as they in concert work, Effect our postures manifold ; (570) Faring world without end to death, E’en to the King of Mortals’ realm : — If it be even here cast off, A man may go where’er he will.1 (571) The body cloaked in ignorance, Entrammelled bv the fourfold tie,2 1 On this verse that may have been annexed, proverb-wise, from Animistic literature, the Commentary has : ‘ In just this world having cast away (chaddetvd) .... By these words he shows that, since the body is a transitory thing, no tie is to be formed.’ Dr. Neumann considers that what may be cast off is the power of death. 2 Viz., covetousness, ill-will, faith in ritual, clinging to dogma (Bud. Psy ., p. 304/. ; Compendium, p. 171). On the four Floods and seven¬ fold Bias ( anus ay a ) see ( Compendium , ibid.,f.).

Tlie body flood-engulfed and drowned, In net of latent bias caught, (572) To the five Hindrances a slave, By restless play of mind obsessed, By pregnant craving ever dogged, In trammels of illusion swathed : — (573) Lo ! such a thing this body is, Carried about on Karma’s car, To manifold becoming doomed, Now to success, to failure then. (574) And they who say of it 4 ’Tis mine !’ — Poor foolish blinded many-folk — They swell the dreadful field of death,1 Grasping rebirth again, again. (575) They who this body seek to shun, As they would serpent smeared with slime, They, vomiting becoming’s root, Shall make an end, sane and immune. (576) Kappa, hearing the Master discourse in so many figures on the nature and destiny of the body-complex, in fear, and aversion at his own body, besought him in distress for ordination. The Master consigned him to a bhikkhu to be ordained. Kappa received five exercises, and forth¬ with attained arahantship as his hair was being shaved. He thereupon went to render homage to the Master, and seated at one side, confessed anua in those very verses. Hence they became Thera-verses. Keborn in this Buddha-age at the village of Nalaka as the son of Rupasarl, the brahminee, he was named Upasena.2

1 Cf. verse 456. 2 Brother therefore to Sariputta (CCLIX.) and the three sisters Cala, etc. Cf. Dhavimapada Cy ., ii. 84. 262 ccxxxviii. upasena, vanganta’s son Having come of age and learnt the three Vedas, he renounced the world after hearing the Master teach the Norm. Or¬ dained but one year, he thought, ‘ I will multiply the breed of the Ariyas,’ and himself ordained another bhikkhu, and with him went to wait upon the Master. The latter, having heard of this, rebuked his hasty procedure. Then Upasena thought : 4 If now, on account of having a following, I am blamed by the Master, on that same account will I earn his praise.’ 1 And studying for insight, he won in due course arahantship. Thereafter, himself adopting the austerer practices,2 he persuaded others to do likewise, and with such success that the Exalted One ranked him fore¬ most among those who were generally popular.3 4 5 At another time he was asked by that other bhikkhu, when at KosambT, what was to be done during the dissensions and the schism there?4 Upasena taught him thus : Lonely the spot and far away where noise Scarce comes, the haunt of creatures of the wild :

’T is there the Brother should his couch prepare For purposes of studious retreat. (577) From rubbish-pile, or from the charnel-field, Or from the highways let him take and bring, Worn cloths and thence a cloak of patchwork make, And in such rough apparel clothe himself. (578) In lowliness of mind from house to house, In turn unbroken 5 let the Brother fare 1 Told in Vin. Texts , i. 175/. ; Jdt. ii., No. 800. 2 The Dhutangas. See Milinda , vol. ii., book vi. 3 Ang ., i. 24. Cf. Milinda , ii. 270 ; also 289, 326, 328. 4 See p. 16, n. 2; Vinaya Texts , ii. 312. 5 Sapaddnay. On this term see JPTS , 1909, p. 72; JBAS , 1912, p. 736 ff. Dhammapala defines it as gharesu avakhanda-rahitay, anugharay . Seeking his alms, sense guarded, well con¬ trolled ; (579) With any fare content rough though it be, Nor fain for other than he gets, or more, For if he once indulge in greed for tastes, Ne’er can his mind in jhana take delight. (580) In great content, with very sparse desires, Remote, secluded : so the sage should live, Detached from housefolk and the homeless, both. (581)

Let him so show himself as he were dull And dumb, nor let the wise man speech prolong Unduly, when in midst of gathered folk. (582) Let him not any man upbraid ; let him Refrain from hurting ; let him be in rule And precept trained, and temperate in food. (583) Let him be one who concentrates upon The symbol, skilled in genesis of thought. To practise Calm let him devote himself, And Intuition also in due time. (584) With energy and perseverance armed, Let him he ever to his studies yoked ; Nor till he have attained the end of Ill, Let the wise man go forth in confidence. (585) Thus if the Brother, fain for purity [Of knowledge and of vision] 1 shall abide, The working of th’ Intoxicants shall cease, And he shall reach and find Nibbana’s peace.2 (586) Now the Thera, in so admonishing that bhikkhu, showed his own attainment, and confessed anna. 2 Nibbuti , explained as Nibbana in life and at death. Reborn before the manifestation of our Exalted One at SavatthT, in a brahmin family from Udicca,1 he grew up an expert in the Vedas and an unrivalled orator. Now our Exalted One, having arisen and started the rolling of the wheel of the Norm, after converting Yasa and his friends,2 came on to SavatthT at the urgent request of Anathapindika. Gotama the brahmin saw and heard him, and asked for ordination. Ordained by a bhikkhu at the Master’s bidding, he attained arahantship even as his hair was being shaved. After a long residence in the Kosala country, he returned to SavatthT. And many of his relations, eminent brahmins, waited upon him and asked him which, of the many gospels3 as guides to life that were current, he judged should be followed. He addressed them thus :

Let the recluse discern his own real good, And let him well consider all the Word He heareth preached, and what therein beseems The holy life whereunto he hath come. (587) Religious friendships in the Rule, a course Of ample training, and the wish to hear Men fit to teach this the recluse beseems. (588) For Buddhas reverence ; towards the Norm Honour sincere ; for the Fraternity Care and esteem this the recluse beseems. (589) Of decorous habit and in living pure, In conduct blameless, and the intelligence 1 A north-western district. Cf. p. 79, n. 2 See above, CXVII. ; Bud. Birth Stories , p. 130. ...3 Purity-doctrines ( suddhivadd ). It would appear from Ang., iii. 277 {cf. Dialogues , i. 220), that among such doctrinaires were those called Gotamakas, or Gotamists. Apparently none of the three Theras called Gotama (CXXIX., CLXXXIII., and above) was this doctrinaire. In the Cy. he is termed ‘ Another ’ (Apara-) Gotama. Adjusted well : — this the recluse beseems. (590) In what he does and what he leaves undone Using deportment that doth favour find ; To higher training of the heart and mind Fervently given : — this the recluse beseems. (591) Haunts of the forest, lone, remote, where sounds May hardly come, ’mong these the earnest sage

Should make his choice : — this the recluse be¬ seems. (592) And virtue, and much learning, and research To know how in themselves things really are, Grasp of the Truths : — this the recluse be¬ seems. (593) To meditate upon the Impermanent, And on the absence of all soul, and on The foul, and in the world to find no charm To bind the heart : — this the recluse beseems. (594) To meditate on Wisdom’s seven arms, On paths to mystic potency, on powers And forces five, and on the eightfold Path, The Ariyan 1 : — this the recluse beseems. (595) Let the true sage put Craving far away ; Let him uproot and crush the Intoxicants ; Let him live Free : — this the recluse beseems. (596) Thus the Thera, in praising the course suitable to a recluse, magnified the efficiency of his Order, and contrari¬ wise the ineffectualness of a recluse not of it. Then those brahmins, mightily approving of the Rule, were established in the precepts and so forth. 1 Cf. ‘ Ariyan ’ conveyed to Buddhists much what our ‘ Christian 5 does to us. Originally a racial term, it had come to mean ‘noble, gentle,5 and specifically, a saintly ‘ confessor 5 of the Dhamma. These subjects are the thirty-seven ‘ bodhipakkhiya dhamma,’ or Factors of Enlightenment, less the four Onsets of Mindfulness (verses 166, 352) and the four Supreme Efforts. See Compendium, p. 179/.

Reborn in this Buddha-age at SavatthI in a family of very eminent brahmins, his mother died just prior to his birth, so that he was discovered unburnt upon the funeral pyre. For the life of a being in his last birth cannot perish ere he attain arahantship, even if he fell down Mount Sineru. At seven years of age, when he heard of his mother dying at his birth, he was thrilled, and said, * I will leave the world.’ So they brought him to Sariputta. And he won arahantship even as his hair was being cut off. How he offered his life to brigands to save 8,000 bhikkhus is told in the Dhammapada Commentary.1 Now a certain layman, desiring to wait upon him, asked him to dwell in the neighbourhood, saying : What is the gain for thee, dear lad,2 to dwell During the rains within the distant woods, Like Ujjuhana, marshy, jungle-crowned ? Sweeter for thee Verambha, Cave of Winds, Since they who meditate must dwell apart.3 (597) 1 Vol. ii., pp. 240-252 : the story of Sankicca the novice, and how he converted the highwaymen, explaining the circumstances of Dhammapada , verse 110. With his birth, cf. Dabba, V., p. 10, n. 4.

3 Tata , speaking to the boy as if he were his father, says Dhammapala. Kim, he adds, is for ho ( attho ). 3 Ujjuhana is said to have been either a hill covered with jungle and abounding in waters, or a bird that dwelt in thickets during the Then the Thera, to show the charm of the forest and other things, replied : E’en as the wind of the monsoon blows up And all around the cloud- wrack, in the rains, [So in the forest lone, remote, arise] The thoughts that with detachment harmonize, And all my spirit whelm and overspread.* 1 (598) ’Twas the dun-feathered one,2 in charnel-field Going his rounds, that made to rise in me Clear thought about this body, passionpurged. (599) Moreover, he whom others need not guard, He too who hath no others whom to guard : — Even the bhikkhu, dwells in happy ease, Regardless of what men desire and love.3 (600) Crags where clear waters lie, a rocky world, Haunted by black-faced apes and timid deer, Where ’neath bright blossoms run the silver streams : — Those are the highlands of my heart’s de¬ light.4 (601) I’ve dwelt in forests and in mountain caves,

In rocky gorges and in haunts remote, And where the creatures of the wild do roam ; (602) But never mine the quest, with ill-will fraught, Ungentle and ignoble :5 — 4 Let us hunt, Let’s slay these creatures, let us work them ill!’ (603) rains. Similarly, veramb(Ji)a is the monsoon wind, or a certain cave nearer the layman’s home than the woods. I am of an open mind as to which was really meant. 1 The Pali is here very terse. For abhiMranti (see Jdt ., iii. 57) = ajjhottharanti. Cf. Ps. CXXXII., Mr anti. 2 I.e. , the carrion crow, at home in the charnel-field, feeding on the dead. Ayandaro , not-clear, not-bright, is paraphrased as k dlavanno. 3 See Jdt., i., No. 10. 4 See CXIII., CCLXI. - Cf. XLVIII., CCXLIY. The Master hath my fealty and love, And all the Buddha’s bidding hath been done. Low have I laid the heavy load I bore Cause for rebirth is found in me no more. (604) The Good for which I bade the world farewell, And left the home a homeless life to lead, That highest Good have I accomplished, And every bond and fetter is destroyed.2 (605) With thought of death I dally not, nor yet Delight in living. I await the hour,

Like any hireling who hath done his task. (606) With thought of death I dally not, nor yet Delight in living. I await the hour With mind discerning and with heedfulness.3 (607) The load of the Khandhas (Commentary) — i.e., he had removed the cause ( tanhd , see next line) of their future renewal. He now concludes his reply in terms of the question put to him, viz., of ‘ good,’ or ‘ gain ’ ( attlia ). 2 = ver. 136; 380. 3 See CLXVIII., CCLIX. (1002 /.) ; cf Milinda, i. 70. The hireling, woiking for another, takes no great joy in the completion of his work (Commentary). Cf. Laws of Manu (S.B.E. xxv.), p. 207. Reborn in this Buddha-age at Rajagaha, as a son of King Bimbisara, he was named Silavat. When he was come of age, his brother Ajatasattu was king, and wished to put him to death, but was unable, because Silavat was in his last span of life, and had not won arahantship.1 Then the Exalted One, discerning what was going on, sent Moggallana the Great to fetch him. And Prince Silavat alighted from his elephant, and did obeisance to the Exalted One. Then the latter taught him, adapting the doctrine to his temperament, so that the youth won faith, entered the Order, and in due time became an arahant. He dwelt in Kosala, and when Ajatasattu sent men to murder him, he taught them and converted them, so that they, too, joined the Order. And he preached to them thus :

In morals2 * ’tis that ye should train yourselves Here on this earth, in morals practised well. 1 Cf. CCXXVII., CCXL. ; also Vinaya Texts , iii. 241 /. 2 I was tempted to retain the pretty word sila for our more cumbrous 4 morality,’ etc. 4 Virtue ’ is more elegant, but a little vague. Sila is moral habit , habitual good, or moral conduct — the conduct of one who does not hurt or rob living things, is sexually straight, truthful, and gentle of speech, and sober as to drink. That is all. Such conduct is only the essential basis of the higher life. The sermon is addressed to hired assassins, not to bhikkhus. For moral culture well applied doth bring Near to our reach success of every kind.1 (608) Let the wise man protect his morals well, Who doth to threefold happiness aspire : A good name and the gain of this world’s goods And, when this life is o’er, the joys of heaven. (609) The moral man, restrained, wins many friends ; Th’ immoral, working mischief, loseth friends. (610) Dispraise and ill-fame wins th’ immoral man ; Aye wins the good man fame, approval, praise. (611) Nothing there is of spiritual worth But hath the moral habit as its base,

Its matrix and its vanguard and its source ; Make ye therefore your morals wholly pure. (612) Morals do give the tether and the term, Light and delight affording to the heart ;2 The strand whence all th’ enlightened put to sea ;3 Make ye therefore your morals wholly pure. (613) No force is there like unto moral force ; Weapon supreme the moral habit is ; Chief decoration is the moral life ; Wondrous invulnerable coat of mail.1 (614) A mighty causeway is morality ; A peerless fragrance, sov’reign frankincense, Wherewith we safely travel far and wide.5 (615) Good morals are the best viaticum,6 Sov’reign munitions [for life’s pilgrimage], Good morals are a peerless talisman, Wherewith we safely travel far and wide.7 (616) 1 Success as man, as god, or in Nibbana (Commentary). 2 Abhibhasanay means either; the Commentary reads the latter meaning. 3 ‘In fording the great river (or sea) of Nibbana’ (Commentary). 4 The Commentary maintains that abbhutay, wondrous, means abhejjay, unbreakable. 5 Lit., from one quarter (of the compass) to another, so acceptable to all men are virtuous qualities. Sambalay is illustrated by the yufablicittcLy , or leaf - wrapped pudding taken by a traveller. 7 gee ncqe 5.

The evil-minded man1 wins blame on earth, And in the after-life a woeful doom ; A fool no matter where hath sorry cheer, Not firmly planted on morality. (617) The man of virtuous mind wins fame on earth, And in the after-life the radiant realms. No matter where, the brave are of good cheer, Their hearts well stablished in morality. (618) Chief here below is morals, but the man Of wisdom is supreme ; ’mong gods and men He doth prevail who is both good and wise.2 (619) Reborn in this Buddha-age as one of a family of flowerscavengers,3 he earned his living as a road-sweeper, not making enough to still his hunger. Now in the first watch of the night the Exalted One, attaining that mood of great pity so largely practised by Buddhas, surveyed the world. And he marked the conditions of arahantship in the heart of Sunita, shining like a lamp within a jar. And when the night paled into dawn he rose and dressed, and with bowl and robe, followed by his bhikkhu train, walked to Rajagaha for alms, and sought the street where Sunlta was cleaning. Now Sunlta was collecting scraps, rubbish, and so on into heaps, and filling therewith the baskets he carried on a yoke. And when he saw the Master and his train approaching, his heart was filled with joy and awe. Finding no place to hide in on the road, he placed his yoke

1 Dummano and its opposite are usually rendered ‘ gloomy ’ and ‘cheerful,’ but the context demands an ethical rendering. The Com¬ mentary paraphrases by papadhammo, etc., and kalyanadhammo. 3 I.e., removers of cut flowers, wreaths, etc., thrown aside. This was a ‘ low ’ hereditary trade. in a bend of the wall, and stood as if stuck to the wall saluting with clasped hands. Then the Master, when he had come near, spoke to him in voice divinely sweet, saying : ‘ Sunlta ! what to you is that wretched mode of living ? Can you endure to leave the world ?’ And Sunlta, experiencing the rapture of one who has been sprinkled by ambrosia, said : 4 If even such as I, Exalted One, may in this life take orders, why should I not ? May the Exalted One suffer me to come forth.’ Then the Master said: 4 Come, bhikkhu !’ And he, by that word receiving sanction and ordination, was by magic power invested with bowl and robes. The Master, leading him to the Vihara, taught him an exercise, and he won first the eight attain¬ ments1 and fivefold abhinna; then developing insight, the sixth. And Sakka and the Brahma gods came and did homage to him, as it is written :

Those, deities seven hundred , glorious , Brahma s and Irulr as following drew nigh And gladly paid S unit a homage due , As high-bred victor over age and death.2 The Exalted One saw him surrounded by gods, and smiled and commended him, teaching the Norm by the verse : ‘ By discipline of holy life! . . .3 Now many bhikkhus, desirous of raising their ‘lion’s roar,’ asked Sunlta: ‘From what family did you come forth ? Or why did you leave the world ? And how did ‘ Of Bud. Psy., p. 346, n. 3 ; Compendium, , p. 133, n. 3 (read part IX., $ 11) for XI., § 12. The five Jhanas are often taken as four). The sixth abhinna is abolition of the Asavas = arahantship. 2 Of Sisters, p. 146, verse 365. These lines are not quoted as from the Apaddna. The spiritual breeding, transmitted from the past, is doubtless emphasized in aesthetic and ethical contrast with the sordid circumstances of his last span of life. you penetrate the truths?’ Then Sunlta told them the whole matter thus : Humble the clan wherein I took my birth, And poor was I and scanty was my lot ;

Mean task was mine, a scavenger of flowers. (620) One for whom no man cared, despised, abused, My mind I humbled and I bent the head In deference to a goodly tale of folk. (621) And then I saw the All-Enlightened come, Begirt and followed by his bhikkhu-train, Great Champion ent’ring Magadha’s chief town. (622) I laid aside my baskets and my yoke, And came where I might due obeisance make, And of his lovingkindness just for me, The Chief of men halted upon his way. (623) Low at his feet I bent, then standing by, I begged the Master’s leave to join the Buie And follow him, of every creature Chief. (624) Then he whose tender mercy watcheth all The world, the Master pitiful and kind, Gave me my answer : Come, bhikkhu ! he said. Thereby to me was ordination given.1 (625) Lo ! I alone in forest depths abode, Wdth zeal unfaltering wrought the Master’s word, Even the counsels of the Conqueror. (626) While passed the first watch of the night there rose Long memories of the bygone line of lives. While passed the middle watch, the heav’nly eye, Purview celestial, was clarified. While passed the last watch of the night, I burst Asunder all the gloom of ignorance.2 (627)

Cf. above, Bhadda, CCXXVI. ; Sisters , verse 109 13 Nearly identical with Sisters, verses 172, 173. Then as the night wore down at dawn And rose the sun, came Indra and Brahma, Yielding me homage with their clasped hands : (628) Hail unto thee, thou nobly horn of men ! Hail unto thee, thou highest among men ! Perished for thee are all th’ intoxicants ; And thou art worthy, noble sir, of gifts. (629) The Master, seeing me by troop of gods Begirt and followed, thereupon a smile Revealing, by this utterance made response : (630) ‘ By discipline of holy life, restraint And mastery of self : hereby a man Is holy ; this is holiness supreme I’1 (631) 1 I.e ., says the Commentary, supreme brahminhood {brahman fi-arj) , not caste and the like, and quotes Dhammapada , verses 58, 59 : ‘ As on a rubbish-heap on highway cast A lily there may grow , fragrant and sweet , So among rubbish-creatures , worldlings blind By insight shines the Very Buddha's child.' ‘ Holy life,’ ‘ holy,’ - holiness,’ are in the Pali brahmacariyay , brdhmano , brdhmanay. Celestial tribute evokes a smile from a great Thera in Ps. CCLXI., verse 1086. One is tempted to think it was because of the humorous element in the situation — the man become as god — and not from complacency alone.

He got rebirth, in the lifetime of our Exalted One, at the city of Campa, in the family of a distinguished councillor. From the time when his birth was expected, his father’s great wealth increased even more, and on his birthday the whole town kept festival. Now because of his generosity in a previous birth to a Silent Buddha, his body was as fine gold and most delicately soft, wherefore he was named Sona (golden) . On the soles of his feet and the palms of his hand grew fine down of golden colour, and he was reared in luxury, in three mansions suited to each of the three seasons.1 Now when our Master had attained omniscience and begun rolling the wheel of the Norm, and was staying at Bajagaha, King Bimbisara sent for Sona. He, having arrived with a great company of fellow-townsmen, heard the Master teach the Norm, and, winning faith, obtained his parents’ consent to enter the Order. He received a subject of study from the Master, but was unable to con¬ centrate, owing to his maintaining intercourse with people while he stayed in Cool Wood. And he thought : ‘ My body is too delicately reared to arrive happily at happiness.2 A

1 This episode and the following occur in Vmaya Texts , ii. 1 ff. Kolivisa, his family name, distinguishes him from the other Sonas (CLVII., CCVIII.). 2 Cf. CLXX. , verse 220. recluse’s duties involve bodily fatigues.’ So he disregarded the painful sores on his feet got from pacing up and down, and strove his utmost, but was unable to win. And he thought: ‘I am not able to create1 either path or fruit. Of what use is the religious life to me ? I will go back to lowTer things and wTork merit.’ Then the Master discerned, and saved him by the lesson on the Parable of the Lute,2 showing him how to temper energy with calm. Thus corrected, he went to Vulture's Peak, and in due course won arahantship. Reflecting on his achievement, he thus declared his anna : Who once in Anga’s realm was passing rich, A squire to Anga’s king,3 lo ! he to-day Is of fair wealth in spiritual things. Yea, past all ill hath Sona won his way. (632) Five cut thou off ; Five leave behind, and Five beyond these cultivate ! He who the Fivefold Bond transcends — a Brother Flood-crossed is he called.4 (633)

Seest thou a Brother with a rush-like mind, [Stuck-up and empty],5 trifler, keen to taste External things ? Never will he attain Fulness of growth within the moral code, In mental training, or in insight’s grasp.6 (634) 2 Op. cit ., p. 8, Ang. iii., 874 j/f. He was to cultivate a just mean in effort, like a well-strung lute. 3 Bimbisara was therefore King of both Anga and Magadha. Cf. op. cit., 1, n. 2. On ‘ squire,5 paddliagu , patagu, cf. Sutta Nipdta, verse 1094, ‘comrade.5 4 = XY. See note there. 5 JJnnalo is thus derived by Buddhists. Cf. s.v. Childers’ Dictionary. The Commentary has the phrase there quoted : f bearing aloft the reed of pride.’ The etymology is probably exegetical only ; but it expresses what the word means for a Buddhist — and that is all that matters here. 6 The three trainings. Cf. my Buddhism , chap. viii. For such neglect that which they have to do, But what should not be done they bring to pass. In these conceited, desultory minds Grow [the rank weeds of] the intoxicants. (635) In whom the constant governance of sense Is well and earnestly begun, the things

That should be left undone they practise not ; Ever what should be done they bring to pass. For them who live mindful and self-possessed, The intoxicants wane utterly away. (636) In the straight Path, the Path that is declared, See that ye walk, nor turn to right or left. Let each himself admonish and incite ; Let each himself unto Nibbana bring ! (637) When overtaxed and strained my energies, The Master — can the world reveal his peer ?— Made me the parable about the lute, And thus the Man who Sees taught me the Norm. (638) And I who heard his blessed word abide Fain only and alway to do his will.1 Calm I evolved and practised, equipoise,2 That so to highest Good I might attain. And now the Threefold Wisdom have I won, And all the Buddha’s ordinance is done. (639) He who hath compassed yielding up the world, And hath attained detachment of the mind,3 Who hath achieved conquest of enmity, And grasping rooted out that bringeth birth, (640) And death of craving hath attained and all That doth bewilder and obscure the mind, 1 Cf. verse 561 ; Sisters , LIX. ff. 2 The MSS. read here some samathay , some samatay. The Cy. exploits both, and so does the translation.

3 These lines, to the end, occur verbatim in Vinaya Texts , loc. cit. and in Anguttara iii. , 378. And of sensations marked the genesis : — His heart is set at perfect liberty. (641) For such a Brother rightly freed, whose heart Hath peace, there is no mounting up of deeds, Nor yet remaineth aught for him to do. (642) Like to a rock that is a monolith,1 And trembleth never in the windy blast, So all the world of sights and tastes and sounds, Odours and tangibles, yea, things desired, (643) And undesirable can ne’er excite A man like him. His mind stands firm, detached, And of all thatg he notes the passing hence. (644) 1 Dhammapada, verse 81. 2 Assrt for Tassa. The Cy. paraphrases by arammanadhammassa . . . khane b hijjan as abJidvay. Re v at a. This Thera’s verse has already been recorded in the first Canto,1 where is incorporated the admonition to his sisters’ sons to be mindful. Here are incorporated the verses he published during his life in the Order. This is the point of them : When he had won arahantship, he went from time to time with the great Theras, Sariputta and the rest, to visit the Master, and after staying for a while, returned to the Acacia Wood, dwelling in the bliss of fruition won and in the Sublime Moods.2 And thus he continued till he was an aged man.

Going thus one day to visit the Buddha, he stayed not far from SavatthI in a forest. Now the police came round on the track of thieves. The thieves running by the Thera dropped their booty near him and ran. And the police, running up, arrested the Thera, dragged him before the king, and said : ‘ This, sire, is the thief !’ The king3 had him released, and asked him : ‘Has your reverence committed this robbery or not ?’ Then the Thera, who had never from his birth done anything of the sort, taught the Norm, by way of showing his incapacity for such an act, in these verses :

1 XLII. Revata is a brother of Sariputta, and hence a brother of Upasena (CCXXXVIII.) and of Cunda (CXXXI.). The summary reference is in Dhammapala’s own words. 2 See verse 286, n. 3 Pasenadi, King of Kosala, was a warm lay-adherent, and was alive in the Buddha’s last years ( Mctjjh ., ii. 124). Cf. the similar episode, with a very different judge, on p. 109. Since I went forth from home to homeless life, Ne’er have I harboured conscious wish or plan Un-Ariyan or linked with enmity. (645) Ne’er mine the quest, all this long interval; — ‘ Let’s smite our fellow-creatures, let us slay, Let them be brought to pain and misery.’ 1 (646) Nay, love I do avow, made infinite, Well trained, by orderly progression grown, Even as by the Buddha it is taught. (647) With all am I a friend, comrade to all, And to all creatures kind and merciful ; A heart of amity I cultivate, And ever in good will is my delight. (648) A heart that cannot drift or fluctuate I make my joy ; the sentiments sublime That evil men do shun I cultivate. (649) Whoso hath won to stage of ecstasy 2 Beyond attention’s range of flitting sense,

He, folloAver of the Enlightened One Supreme, To Ariyan silence straightway doth attain.3 (650) E’en as a mountain crag unshaken stands Sure-based, a Brother with illusions gone Like very mountain stands unwavering.4 (651) The man of blameless life, who ever seeks For what is pure, doth deem some trifling fault, That is no heavier than the tip of hair, Weighty as [burden of the gravid] cloud. (652) E’en as a border city guarded well Within, without, so guard ye well yourselves. See that the Moment pass not vainly by.5 (653) 1 Cf. XLVIII. ; CCXL., verse 603. 2 = verses 999 jf. in his brother’s poem. 3 Namely, in the second stage of Jhana (Commentary). The Com¬ mentary cites Majjh. Nik., i. 161. Cf. Sayy. Nik., ii. 273. 4 See CXLVI. and preceding Ps., verse 643. 6 Cf. verses 231, 403, and Sisters, verse 5, and note. Here the Com- With thought1 of death I dally not, nor yet Delight in living. I await the hour Like any hireling who hath done his task. (654) With thought of death I dally not, nor yet Delight in living. I await the hour With mind discerning and with heedfulness, (655) The Master hath my fealty and love,

And all the Buddha’s bidding hath been done. Low have I laid the heavy load I bore, Cause for rebirth is found in me no more. (656) The Good for which I bade the world farewell, And left the home to lead the homeless life, That highest Good have I accomplished, And every bond and fetter is destroyed. (657) Work out your good with zeal and earnestness ! This is my [last] commandment unto you.2 For lo ! now shall I wholly pass away, To me comes absolute enfranchisement.3 (658) Reborn in this Buddha-age at Savatthi, in a family of caravan-leaders, he was named Godatta. After his father’s death he arranged his estate, and taking 500 carts full of wares travelled about, maintaining himself by trading. One day an ox fell on the road while drawing its cart, and his men could not raise it, so he himself went and smote mentary pertinently adds being born in the ‘ Middle Country ’ (p. 107) to the great 'conjuncture.’ 1 = verses 606, 607, 604, 605. 2 Cf. the Buddha’s last words (. Dialogues , ii. 173), and Sariputta’s, below, verse 1017. 3 The Chronicle relates that he then and there passed away— lit., ‘ became extinct ’ — like a flame going out. There is no ‘ passing hence ’ in the Pali term yarinibbissay , as originally conceived.

it severely. Then the ox, incensed at his ruthlessness, assumed a human voice and said : ‘ Godatta, this long time have I unreservedly given my strength to draw your burdens, but to-day when I was unable and fell, you hurt me badly. Well then ! wherever henceforth you are reborn, may I be there as your enemy able to hurt you P Godatta was thrilled at hearing this, and thought : ‘ What do I in this way of life who have thus hurt living things ?’ And he divested himself of all his property, and took orders under a certain great Thera, in due course attaining arahantship. Now one day as he was abiding in the bliss of fruition, he discoursed to Ariyan groups, both lay and religious, on worldly wisdom : 1 E’en as the mettled brute of noble breed, Yoked to his load, drawing his load along, Though worn by burden past his powers, [unfair], Breaks not away, revolting from bis bonds, (659) So they in whom, as water in the sea, Wisdom abounds, despise not other men ; This among creatures is the Ariyan rule.2 (660) Living in time, come ’neath the power of time ; Subject to dread concerning future life,3 Men go their ways to pain and misery,

Yea, here below the sons of men do mourn. (661) Elated by some pleasant hap, by ill Depressed, the fools are smitten to and fro,4 Who nothing as it really is can see. (662) But they who can escape the seamstress fell,5 Twixt pain and pleasure holding Middle Way, 2 It is interesting to contrast the protest of the Indian ox with that of the Hebrew ass of Balak. According to the Commentary, the gist of the ‘ Ariyan rule ’ is the sporting maxim that, whether we do or do not congratulate ourselves on our successes, we are not to belittle ( avambhanay ) others when we fail. Herein, in either case, rich wisdom makes a man happy. 3 More literally, subject to becoming and not becoming. 5 I.e., craving (tanka), who sews life on to life (Bad. Psy p. 278). They stand as any pillar at the gate, Neither elated they, nor yet depressed. (663) For not to gain or loss, to honour, fame, To praise or blame, to pleasure or to pain — (664) Where’er it be — do they take hold and cling, No more than drop of dew to lotus-leaf. Hale and serene are heroes everywhere,

And everywhere unconquered [bound to win].1 (665) Of him who rightly seeks and nought doth gain, And him who gains but seeketh wrongfully, Better is he who rightly sought and lost Than he who gained by methods that were wrong. (666) Of them who have repute, but scanty dower Of wit, and them who know, but lack repute, Better the wise men who do lack repute Than great repute and men of little wit. (667) Of praises by the unintelligent, And blame and criticism by the wise, Better the censure of th’ intelligent Than are the commendations of a fool. (668) The pleasure born of sensuous desire, The pain that comes from life detached, austere, Better the pain that comes from life austere Than pleasure born of sensuous desire. (669) To live by wrong ; for doing right to die, Better ’twere thus to die than so to live. (670) They who have put off sense-desire and wrath, Peace in their heart regarding life to come,2 They walk the world from lust and craving free ; Likes and dislikes are not for such as these. (671) The factors of enlightenment, the powers, These have they studied and the forces too.

So winning perfect peace, as fires extinct, They wholly pass away, sane and immune. (672) 1 This last ( metri causa) from the Commentary : anabhibhavaniyato. 2 See ver. 661, n. 3. Rebokn before our Exalted One, in the village of Donavatthu, not far from Kapilavatthu, in a very wealthy brah¬ min family, he came to be called by his family name, Kondanna. When grown up he knew the three Vedas, and excelled in runes concerning marks.1 Now when our Bodhisat was born, he was among the eight brahmins sent for to prognosticate. And though he was quite a novice, he saw the marks of the Great Man on the infant, and said : ‘ Verily this one will be a Buddha !’ So he lived, awaiting the Great Being’s renunciation. When this happened in the Bodhisat’s twenty-ninth year, Kondanna heard of it, and left the world with four other sons of mark-interpreting brahmins, Vappa2 and others, and for six years dwelt at Uruvela, near the Bodhisat, during the latter’s great struggle. Then when the Bodhisat ceased to fast, they were disgusted, and went to Isipatana. There the Buddha followed them, and preached his Wheel sermon, whereby Dialogues, i. 17, n. 2. On the prophecy, see a fuller version in Buddhist Birth Stories, p. 72 f.

2 See above, LXI. Kondanna and myriads of Brahma angels won the fruition of the first path. And on the fifth day, through the sermon on 4 No Sign of any Soul/ Kondanna realized arahantship. Him the Master, later on, in conclave at the great Jeta Grove Vihara, ranked chief among those bhikkhus who were of long standing in the Order.1 And on one occasion Kondanna’s sermon on the Four Truths — a discourse bearing the impress of the three signs, dealing with non¬ substantiality, varied by divers methods, based on Nibbana, and delivered with the Buddha’s own fluency — so impressed Sakka the god that he uttered this verse : Hearing thy doctrine’s mighty properties, Lo ! I thereby am more than satisfied. Most passionless and pure the Norm thus taught, From every form of grasping wholly free.2 (673) On another occasion the Thera, seeing how the minds of certain worldlings were mastered by wrong ideas, delivered himself on this wise : Many the motley pictures in the world, Enjoyed within this earth’s circumference, Inciting, I do note, man’s purposes, Fair-seeming hopes, and linked with fierce de¬ sire. (674) As dust by wind upchurned the rain-cloud lays, So are those purposes composed and quenched, When he by wisdom doth discern and see. (675)

When he by wisdom doth discern and see : ‘ Impermanent is everything in life,’ Then he at all this suffering feels disgust. Lo ! herein lies the way to purity. (676) 1 Any., i. 26. For the Buddha’s sermon, see Vinaya Texts, i. 100 f. 2 Anupadaya , paraphrased by agahetvd vimiUtisddhanavasena pavattattd. When he by wisdom doth discern and see, That ‘Everything in life is bound to III’ . . d (677) That ‘Everything in life is Void of Soul,’ Then he at all this suffering feels disgust. Lo ! herein lies the way to purity. (678) Thereupon he showed that he bad himself attained this insight, confessing ariha, and saying : Brother Kondanna, wakened by the Wake : — Lo ! he hath passed with vigour out and on ; Sloughed off hath he the dyings and the births, Wholly accomplishing the life sublime. (679) And be it ‘ flood ’ or ‘ snare ’ or ‘ stumblingstone,’ Or be it ‘ mountain ’ hard to rive in twain,1 2 The net, the stumbling-stone I’ve hacked away, And cloven is the rock so hard to break, And crossed the flood. Rapt in ecstatic thought I dwell, from bondage unto evil freed. (68(3)

Now one day the Thera rebuked a bhikkhu, who had fallen into bad habits through unworthy friendships, and admonished him, saying : A bhikkhu of distraught, unsteady mind, Who doth associate with vicious friends, In the great flood [of constant living] falls Headlong and drowning sinks beneath its waves. (681) But who, with concentrated, steady mind, Discreet and self-restrained in heart and sense, Doth wisely join himself to virtuous friends, His it may be to put an end to Ill. (682) 1 Here repeat the two preceding lines. Cf. Dhammapada , verses 277-279. 2 All metaphors from the Suttas — e.g., Diglia Nik., iii. 230; Sayy. Nik., i. 105/.; i. 27 ; Majjli. Nik., iii. 130. Lo ! here1 a man with worn and pallid frame ; Like knotted stems of cane his joints, and sharp Th’ emaciated network of his veins ; In food and drink austerely temperate, His spirit neither crushed nor desolate. (683) In the great forest, in the mighty woods, Touched though I be by gadfly and by gnat, I yet would roam, like warrior-elephant, In van of battle, mindful, vigilant. (684) With thought2 of death I dally not, nor yet Delight in living. I await the hour

Like any hireling who hath done his task. (685) With thought of death 1 dally not, nor yet Delight in living. I await the hour With mind discerning and with heedfulness. (686) The Master hath my fealty and love, And all the Buddha’s bidding hath been done. Low have I laid the heavy load I bore, Cause for rebirth is found in me no more. (687) The Good3 for which I bade the world farewell, And left the home to lead the homeless life, That highest Good have I accomplished. What need have I as cenobite to dwell ? (688) Reborn in this Buddha-age at Kapilavatthu in a brahmin family, he saw the power and majesty of the Buddha when 1 = CLXXVIII. This to enjoin the hermit-life on the erring one (Commentary). 2 = verses 606/., 654/ ; 604 and 655. 3 Cf. verse 605. The Commentary adds that he went and dwelt twenty-two years at the Chaddanta Lake before he passed away, only visiting the Buddha shortly before that event to announce his assurance of it. he visited his family, believed in him, entered the Order, and in due course became an arahant. Now there are these three Theras named Udayin : the minister’s son, Kaludayin, recorded above,1 this brahmin, and Udayin the Great.2 This one, when the Sutta of the Elephant Parable had been taught on the occasion when Seta, King Pasenadi’s elephant, was publicly admired,3 was stirred to enthusiasm at thought of the Buddha, and thinking : ‘ These people admire a mere animal. Come now, I will proclaim the virtues of that great and wondrous Elephant, the Buddha !’ he uttered these verses :

Buddha the Wake, the son of man, Self-tamed, by inward vision rapt, Bearing himself by ways sublime, Glad in tranquillity of heart ; (689) To whom men honour pay as one Who hath transcended all we know;4 To whom gods also honour yield : — So I, an arahant, have heard — (690) From jungle to Nibbana come,5 With every fetter left behind, Glad in renouncing worldly joys, Extracted like fine gold from ore, (691) Like elephant superb is he, On wooded heights in Himalay : — Lo, him behold ! Naga superb — 2 It is not easy to elicit from the canonical episodes mentioning ayasma Udayi,’ which is the last named. Such a personage frequently appears, getting into trouble in the Vinaya, conversing with the Buddha and apostles in the Suttas, but never called ‘ Great,’ or doing anything to merit the title. Conceivably he lived nearer the Commentator’s time. 3 See Ang. Nik., iii. 345/., where the psalm is also given. Translated by E. Hardy, Buddha, 1903, p. 51. 4 Dhammd — i.e., things as cognizable. 5 Vand nib-bdnam dgatay ; the word-play [cannot be reproduced. See Compendium, p. 168. ‘ On wooded heights in Himalayd From Schimper’s Plant Geography, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1SP3.

For, sure, of all we 4 Naga ’ name, (Serpent or elephant or man) Supremely true that name for him — (692) This Naga will I praise to you, For he 4 no sin ’ — na agun — doth.1 Mercifulness, sobriety :2 These be two of the Naga’s feet ; (693) Intelligence and mindfulness : Other two feet of this Elephant. The Naga’s trunk is confidence ; His white tusks, equanimity ; (694) His throat awareness,3 and his head Is insight ; testing touch of trunk Is weighing wisely good and bad ; Shrine of the Norm his viscera ; Detachment is the tail of him. (695) So musing rapt, and breathing bliss,4 Composed in body and in mind, Composed, this Naga, when he walks, Composed, this Naga, when he stands, (696) Composed, this Naga, lying down, And eke composed while he sits ; Self -governed whatsoe’er he doth : This is the Naga’s perfect way. (697) Blameless in all that he enjoys, Enjoying naught that calls for blame, Hath he but gotten food and gear, From store laid up he doth refrain. (698) 1 Naga, whatever its real, not (as here) exegetical, derivation, meant a fairy, daimon, or mysterious being. The serpent was as mysterious for the Indian as for Cretan and Greek. So was the elephant. So was the saint. The bracketed line is from the Commentary. Cf. Sutta-Nipata , verse 522.

2 On sobriety ( soraccay ; Commentary = silay), see Bud. Psy., p. 349. The other two feet are, in Ang. NiJc., called ‘austerity’ (tapo) and 4 holy life.’ 3 Sati, 4 mindfulness,’ above, is also sati. 4 Lit., 4 delighting in inhaling,’ a word meaning also comfort — namely, of Nibbana (Commentary). Whether the tie be coarse or fine, Bonds of all kinds he knaps in twain ; He goeth wheresoe’er he will, Nor careth wheresoe’er he goes. (699) As lotus born within a lake, By water nowise is defiled, But groweth fragrant, beautiful, (700) So is the Buddha in this world, Born in the world and dwelling there, But by the world nowise defiled, E’en as the lily by the lake. (701) A mighty fire that’s spent itself, And hath no fuel dieth down, And of the smouldering ashes men Do say ‘ That fire is now extinct.’1 (702) Lo ! here’s a parable the wise Have taught to make their meaning known. Great Nagas, they will understand The Naga, by that Naga taught : (703) With passion gone, and hatred gone, And dulness gone, sane and immune, This Naga yielding up his life, Will clean ‘ go out,’ sane and immune. (704)

(POEMS OF SIXTEEN, SEVENTEEN, EIGHTEEN , NINETEEN VERSES DESUNT) Reborn in this Buddha-age as the sister’s son of the Thera Sankicca,1 he left the world under his uncle’s tuition, and while only a novice, won arahantship. And dwelling in the bliss of fruition, he wished for full ordination, and went home to ask his mother’s leave. Now as he went, he fell in with highwaymen on the look-out for an offering to their deity, and they seized on him as a suitable sacrifice. He, thus assailed, stood undaunted and without blenching. Then the robber-chief was amazed, and commended him, saying : Of all the lot whom we, for god2 or pelf, Have smitten in our time, there’s not been one But hath shown fear, trembled and clamoured sore. (705) But thou, who’rt not affrighted, nay, whose face Shows brighter bloom,3 why dost thou not lament, When such a fearsome peril threatens thee? (706) 1 See CCXL. 2 Lit., ‘for sacrifice.’ 3 Adhimutta was a young novice. No misery of mind, 0 chief, is there For him who hath no wants. All fear have I Transcended, since the Fetters were destroyed. (707) By death of that which leadeth to rebirth,1 The truths are seen e’en as they really are,

And hence in death there lies no fear for me, Tis as a laying down the load I bore. (708) Well have I lived the holy life, and well Made progress in the Ariyan Path ; no fear There lies in death, who puts an end to ills.2 (709) Void of delight the forms of birth appear,3 Like drinking poison one has thrown away. (710) He who hath passed beyond, from grasping free, Whose task is done, sane and immune, is glad, Not sorry, when the term of lives is reached, As one who from the slaughter-house escapes. (711) He who the ideal order4 hath attained, All the world over seeking nought to own, As one who from a burning house escapes, When death is drawing nigh he grieveth not. (712) All things soever which have come to be, And all rebirth wherever it is got, Nowhere therein is personal design : — 5 So hath the mighty Sage declared to us. (713) 1 Bhavanetti — i.e ., tanlid . 2 Lit., diseases. Cf. Tennyson’s Elaine: ‘ And sweet is death who puts an end to pain.’ 3 That ‘life is not worth living,’ which is Dr. Neumann’s rendering, seems to me scarcely sound Buddhism. Life can yield arahantship — the thing supremely worth having, the crown of all previous upward effort. ‘ Rebecomings are unsatisfying’; ‘ nirassddd bhavii ’ is the literal rendering of the text. We need to leave our own ‘saws ’ behind in getting at the Buddhist standpoint.

4 Dhammatay uttamay — i.e., ‘ the nature of the Norm; in, and because of, completed arahantship ’ (Commentary). 5 Na-issaray— lit., that which has no lord or ruler; issdra is used for a personal creator. And he Avho knows that things are even so, As by the Buddha it is taught, no more W ould he take hold of any form of birth Than he would grasp a red-hot iron ball. (714) Comes not to me the thought : ‘ Tis I have been,’ Nor comes the thought : ‘ What shall I next become ?’ Thoughts, deeds and words are no persisting [soul], Therefore what ground for lamentations here?1 (715) To him who seeth, as it really is, The pure and simple2 causal rise of things, The pure and simple sequence of our acts : — To such an one can come no fear, 0 chief. (716) That all this world is like the forest grass And brushwood [no man’s property] : — when one By wisdom seeth this, finds naught that’s ‘ Mine,’ Thinking : ‘ ’tis not for me,’ he grieveth not.3 (717) This body irketh me ; no seeker I To live. This mortal frame will broken be,

And ne’er another from it be reborn. (718) Your business with my body, come, that do E’en as ye will; and not on that account Will hatred or affection rise in me. (719) The young men marvelled at his words, and thrilled With awe, casting away their knives they said: (720) What are your honour’s practices,4 or who Is teacher to you ? Of whose Ordinance A member, have you gained this grieflessness? (721) My teacher is the Conqueror knowing all And seeing all, the Master infinite In pity, all the world’s Physician, He. (722) 1 Lit., will pass away.’ ‘ Soul ’ is supplied from the Commentary. 2 Suddhay , pure, unmixed — i.e., with attd ; phenomenal process only : dhammamattappavatti (Commentary). 3 = Sutta-Nipdta, verse 951. 4 Tapas : religious austerities or magic (Commentary). And He it is by whom these truths are taught, Norm to Nibbana leading, unsurpassed. Within His Rule I’ve won this grieflessness. (723) Now when the robbers heard the well-spoke utterance of the sage, They laid aside their knives, their arms, and some forsook that trade, And some besought that they might leave the world for holy life. (724) They leaving thus, within the Buddha’s welcome Rule 1 grew wise,

The seven Factors practising and eke the Forces live, Trained in the Powers, with hearts elate, happy they reached the Goal. (725) Reborn in this Buddha-age at Savatthi as the son of a certain very eminent brahmin, he was called, when adult, after his family name Parapara, ‘ the Parapariya ’ (Paraparite).2 Well educated in brahmin lore and accomplish¬ ments, he went one day into the Jeta Grove Vihara, at the Master’s preaching hour, and took his seat at the fringe of the assembly. The Master, contemplating his character, 1 Lit., the rule of the Welcome ( su-gata ), a title often used for the Buddha. For Factors, Forces, and Powers, see Compendium, p. 180, called factors, powers, faculties, respectively. ‘ Reached the Goal ’ — lit., ‘ touched (attained) the state of Nibbana, the unconditioned.’ The Commentary adds that the youthful saint went imperturbably on his way, obtained his mother’s consent to enter the Order, and was ordained by his uncle. On verse 722 Dhammapala refers to his own Commentary on the Iti-vuttakci. 2 Connected with, perhaps, but not identical with, the Parapariya of CXVI. of the Rajagaha Paraparas. This one is the Parapariya of CCLVII. taught the Sutta, called ‘Practice of Faculties,’1 where¬ upon Parapariya found faith and entered the Order. After learning the Sutta by heart, he pondered over the meaning, thinking : * In verses the meaning would appear so and so.’ Thus pondering on the subject of sense -perception he established insight, and in due time won arahantship. Later he expressed his meditations in verse as follows :

To a Brother came these musings To the bhikkhu Parapariya, As he sat alone, secluded, World-detached and meditating : (726) What is there of course or order, What is there in rite, or conduct, Which may make a man accomplish That which to himself is owing, Nor work harm on any other? (727) Lo ! the parts and powers of humans Make for welfare and for evil : Powers unguarded make for evil, Guarded powers make for welfare. (728) One who guardeth parts and powers, One who tendeth parts and powers, He may do to self his duty, Nor work harm on any other. (729) If he go with unrestrained Power of sight among sense-objects, 1 The only Sutta I can discover with this title ( Indriya-bhdvand ) is the last Sutta in the Majjhima Nihlya. This refers to the methods used by the brahmin teacher Parasariya, and then gives the method of ‘ faculty-training ’ taught in the ‘ Ariyan Vinaya,’ the Buddha speaking (at Kajangala, not SavatthI), and the interlocutors being Uttara, the brahmin’s pupil, and Ananda. Identity of subject is the one thing connecting Sutta and poem. There is no identity of treatment, and the two problems are set up : (1) Was Parapariya paraphrasing another version? (2) Was Parapariya Parasariya himself?

All the evil ne’er discerning. He doth not escape from sorrow.1 (730) If he go with unrestrained Power of hearing sounds about him, All the evil ne’er discerning, He doth not escape from sorrow. (731) If in divers kinds of odours He indulge, voluptuously, Way of refuge ne’er discerning,2 He doth not escape from sorrow. (732) Taste of sour and sweet and bitter Relishing and pondering over, Cleaving to desires of palate : Ne’er his heart will be awakened. (733) Lovely, luring things of contact, Touching, feeling, pondering over, Lust-exciting, he impassioned Findeth divers forms of sorrow. (734) Yea, who in these sense-impressions Cannot guard the mind [recipient], Sorrow thereby will pursue him, E’en by way of all five senses. (735) Body full of blood and matter And of plenteous other carrion, So by human skill and wit is Rendered fair like painted casket, (736) That the bitter suffering from it Shows as sweetly satisfying, Bound to what we hold beloved, As a razor- blade, that’s hidden Neath thick crust of honey-syrup, The Commentary supports the reading na lii muccati , altered by Neumann. 2 Dr. Neumann’s fUnd nicht die freie Hohe sieht’ is perhaps unnecessarily free, and is scarcely a good antithesis to fragrant odours, as anyone knows who has left a malodorous Alpine village for the odours of the flower-covered uplands in June.

Undiscerned [by the greedy].1 (737) He who dotes on form of woman, Taste and touch and scent of woman, Findeth divers shapes of sorrow. (738) All that emanates from woman,2 Permeating [all men’s senses,] — This and that man’s five gates [open,] — ’Gainst all these to make a barrier If a man have grit and valiance, (739) He is wise and he is righteous, He is clever and far-seeing ; For he may, at ease and cheerful, Set himself to righteous duties. (740) When immersed in temporal profit,3 If he shun vain undertakings, If he judge it right to shun them, He is earnest and far-seeing. (741) Is a work with good connected, Is his love set on th’ Ideal,4 Let him take the work and do it ; Other loves that Love surpasseth. (742) Many, manifold the methods Whereby man his fellows cheateth ; Smiting, slaying, sore afflicting He with violence oppresses.5 (743) As a strong man plying woodcraft, Useth nail to smite a nail out, 1 ‘ As one greedy of sweet things licking the edge of a razor ’ ( Commentary). 2 Lit., streams — i.e ., her visible shape, etc., objects of sense (Com¬ mentary). The Pali is more refined than the Neumann German version, and the dragging in again of the maligned concrete 1 Weib ’ — ‘ Wo nieder man zum Weibe sinkt ’ — is entirely unwarranted by the Pali.

3 The Commentary upholds the atho (in exegesis tato) sidati sannutav , adding ‘ if he lays hold of good of a temporal kind.’ 4 Dhammagata rati — lit., set on the Norm. 5 Redundant padas, omitted in translating, have got into the Pali. So the wise and virtuous brethren Use one power to smite out others : — (744) Faith and effort, concentration, Mindfulness and wisdom plying, Five by other Five outsmiting, Goes the saint from flaws released.1 (745) He is wise and he is righteous ; He hath kept the Rule proclaimed Wholly, fully by the Buddha. He is happy, he doth prosper. (746) He was reborn in this Buddha-age, before the Master’s birth, at SavatthI, in a brahmin family, and named Telakani. Matured as to antecedents, he wearied of worldly desires, and left the world as a wandering recluse. Seeking for emancipation of spirit, he toured about, think¬ ing : ‘ W ho is he in the world who has got beyond ?’ and asking questions of recluses and brahmins without re¬ ceiving satisfaction. Meanwhile our Exalted One had arisen, and was rolling the Norm-Wheel, working the good of the world. Him one day Telakani heard, and found faith, was ordained, and not long after won arahantship. Sitting one day with bhikkhus, and remembering his own toiling and winning, he declared it all to them thus :

Oh the long days I cast about in thought, Ardent to find truth [that could set me free] ! 2 N o peace of mind I won, [but up and down I fared,] asking of brahmin and recluse : (747) 1 Here again the German translation misses the point. Satisfaction with the five modes of sensuous pleasure is to be ejected by the five modes of spiritual sense, sense-powers or faculties by spiritual powers. See XV., n. 2, and Compendium , p. 180. Cf. above, verse 725, n. There is a play on words in dni, nail, anigho, flawless, untranslatable in English. 2 So the Commentary, vimuttidhammav , vimoTcJchadhammo. ‘ What man in all the world hath got beyond ? Who in the Ambrosia hath a foothold won ?1 2 Whose doctrine can I to my bosom take, Whereby the Highest2 I may come to know ?’ (748) Caught on a hook within, my spirit hung E’en as a fish that swallows baited food. Captured I lay, as Yepachitti once, The Asura, in mighty Indra’s toils.3 (749) I dragged my chains along, nor found release From this [unending source of] grief and dole. Is there no man on earth who can unloose My bonds, and make me know Enlighten¬ ment ? (750)

What brahmin, what recluse can tell me how To break them off ? Whose Norm can I accept, Able to bear away old age and death? (751) Behold this load ! coil of perplexity And doubt, the mortal force of it Wearing the temper, stiffening the mind, And lacerating with a vast desire, (752) Fell offshoot from the bow of craving, due To [forms of false opinion,] twice fifteen4 — Behold, I say, how mightily about My breast this pressure crushes where it lies !5 (753) The ruck of vain opinions6 not put off 1 ‘In this world among those who are acknowledged as religious teachers, who now has gone up to Nibbana beyond Sarjsara (i.e., con¬ secutive livings and dyings) ? Who is established in Nibbana, in the path of emancipation ?’ (Commentary). 2 Paramattlia , the supreme good, or meaning. 3 See Sayy. Nik., i. 220, § 4. 4 According to the Commentary, the ‘ twice fifteen ’ refers to the twenty forms (5 x 4) of sahhdy ad/it thi, or soul-speculation ( Dh . S., § 1003 = Bud. Psy., p. 259), and the ten forms of micchdditthi ( Vibhanga , p. 392). 5 I read with the Commentary bdlhay and titthati.

6 The word anuditthinay is paraphrased by sesadittliinay . . . sassataditthi ddinay. But quickened by fond hopes and memories : 1 By this transfixed I stagger to and fro, And quiver as a leaf blown by the wind. (754) Tis from within me that hath sprung the dart,2 Whence swiftly is consumed this self of me,3 Even this body with its sixfold field Of contact, where it doth proceed alway. (755) I see him not, that surgeon skilled, who can Extract the dart and purge me of my doubts By subtle probe, and not by other knife.4 (756) Can any one, without or knife or wound, Leaving the members of me all unscathed, Draw out this shaft that’s stuck within my heart ? (757) He who is master of the truth and best, Who can the venoms fever-scathe disperse, Who, were I fallen in the deep, could show A hand and5 point where shallows sloped to land. (758) Yea, in a pool it is that I am plunged, A pit of dust and mire undrainable, Extended wide with treacherous counterfeit, Envy and overstrain,6 torpor and sloth. (759) The Commentary reads sankappa-paratejitay . . . micchdvitakkena parajane . . . nssdliitay. The other reading, sankappasaratejitay, seems more intelligible and less forced in construction. There is an approximate precedent in sarasankappd (. Majjh . Nik., i. 453 ; Sdyy. Nik., iv. 76). Lit., the ‘ not putting off’ is ‘ quickened.’

2 Stress is laid in the Commentary on the wound being self-inflicted, much in the style of Christ’s words : ‘ . . . those things which . . . come forth from the heart ; . . . they defile the man ’ (Matt. xv. 18). 3 Mdmakay = ?nama santakay attablidvay. Doubts, as ‘ the dart,’ are here said to typify the entire group of kilesas (lit., torments, cankers ; cf. Bud. Psy ., 327, n.). The probe, ndndrajja, is paraphrased by esani-saldka . Ahiysay=abddhento. 5 The Commentary reads pdnifi ca. 6 Sdrambha (cf. verse 752) is explained by karakuttariya-lakkhano. Thunder of thought distracted overhead, And fettering wraiths of cloud about my path The rush of lust-borne impulse and intent Doth thither sweep me— to a sceptic’s doom.1 (760) And everywhere the streams are flowing by, And ever burgeoning the creeper stands— Those streams whose strength avails to stop ? That creeper who can sever from its root ? 2 3 (761) Make thee a dyke, good sir, to dam the streams ; See that the mind’s strong current ruthlessly Dash thee not hence like any log away ! (762) ’Twas even so for me who sought in fear,

On this side for the distant shore, when He, The Master, followed by his saintly throng, (763) He the true Refuge, and with insight armed, Held out to me a stairway, strongly wrought, And firm, made of the Norm’s pure heart of oak,4 And to me toiling spake : ‘ Be not afraid ! ’ (764) I climbed up to the terrace where the mind Alert and vigilant applies itself,5 Thence I could contemplate the sons of men Delighting in that sense of ‘ I ’ and ‘ mine,’ 6 Wherein I once was wont to nurse conceits. (765) And when I saw the Way, even the ship On which to embark, and dwelt no more on Self, ’Twas then that I beheld Nibbana’s shore.7 (766) 1 The Commentary interprets valid vahanti as ‘a rush of great waters bearing me to the doom-ocean.’ Cf. Jdt ., v. 388/.; Dlip., ver. 339/ 2 These are standard similes for ‘craving’ ( tanhd ). Cf. verse 1094. 3 Karotlia is ‘ make ye,’ but one meets with this inflexion in the singular sense, such as the context demands. 4 Lit., ‘ made of the pith of the Norm.’ 5 S a tip att hdna-pdsdday .

6 Saklidya , paraphrased as aliay mamati. 7 Titthay uttamay — lit., best or supreme shore — paraphrased by ‘ the landing-place of the ambrosial great-beyond, called Nibbana.’ The dart that sprang from self, offshoot of her Who to becoming leads 1 — to stop all that The perfect Path [the Ariyan] he taught. (767) The knotted bonds long buried in my life, Fixed up about me for so many years, The Buddha loosed and cast them off from me, And every poison canker purged away. (768) He was reborn in this Buddha-age in the country of the Kurus, in the township of Thullakotthika, as the son of a councillor named Ratthapala,2 and was called by his family name. Brought up in a large establishment of retainers, he was united, when adolescent, to a suitable wife, and enjoyed a prosperity resembling that of the devas. Now the Exalted One, touring in the Kuru country, came to Thullakotthika, and Ratthapala went to hear him teach. Receiving faith, he with great difficulty obtained his parents’ leave to renounce the world. Going to the Master, he received ordination from a bhikkhu at the Master’s command, and studying diligently developed in* sight and won arahantship. Thereupon he obtained permission to visit his parents, and went to Thullakotthika, going from house to house for alms. At his father’s house he obtained rancid gruel, but ate it as if it were ambrosia. Invited by his father, he went next day to his home. And

1 Tanka. See p. 292, n. 1. Pabhdvitay=samutthita7j (Commentsacy). 2 Because he was wealthy enough to prop up a bankrupt kingdom (Commentary); This legend is more fully told in Majjhima , vol. ii., No. 82. It reappears also in the Vinaya Texts and the Jdtaka (vol. i., No. 14). See hereon Mr. W. Lupton’s discussion, prefacing his edition and translation of the ‘Ratthapala Sutta,’ JBAS , 1894, p. 769 ff. I have largely profited by Mr. Lupton’s translation of the verses. Dhammapala’s brief resume is given in full. when the ladies in fine array asked him : ‘ What are the celestial nymphs like, my lord, for whose sake you live the holy life ? he taught them the Norm in connection with impermanence, etc., repulsing their insinuating conduct: Behold the tricked-out puppet-shape, a mass Of sores, a congeries diseased, and full Of many purposes and plans, and yet In whom there is no power to persist I1 (769) Behold the tricked-out form, bejewelled, ringed, Sheathed in bones and skinny envelope, By help of gear made fine and fair to see ! (770) Feet dyed with lac, with rouge the lips besmeared : All good enough for dull wit of a fool,

But not for him who seeketh the Beyond ! (771) The locks in eightfold plait, eyes fringed with black: All good enough for dull wit of a fool, But not for him who seeketh the Beyond ! (772) Like a collyrium-pot,2 brand new, embossed, The body foul within is bravely decked : All good enough for dull wit of a fool, But not for him who seeketh the Beyond. (773) The trapper set his snare. The deer came not Against the net.3 We’ve eaten of the bait— Let’s go !4 the while deer trappers make lament. (774) Snapt is the hunter’s snare ! The deer came not Against the net. We’ve eaten of the bait— Let’s go ; the while deer catchers weep and wail. (775) Ratthapala thereupon went through the air5 to the Antelope Park of King Koravya, and seated himself on a stone slab. Now the Thera’s father had had bolts put on 1 Cf. verse 1020 /. 2 Here Mr. Lupton has somewhat missed the point. 3 Ndsadd = na sanghattesi (Commentary). 4 Or, ‘ we go.’ The older chronicle in the Majjhima Nihuya does not mention this feat of the Thera’s, nor the father’s measures. his seven doors, and had sent men to prevent him from getting out, and to take off his yellow robes and clothe him in white.1 Hence the Thera’s going through the air. Then the king, hearing where he was seated, went to him, and with courteous greeting asked him thus :

‘ Master Ratthapala, in this world men renounce it for some kind of misfortune — illness, loss of king, wealth or family. But you who have suffered no such thing, why have you left the world ?’ Then the Thera replied : ‘ The world passes away, is transient ; the world is without refuge or provi¬ dence ; the world has no stronghold ; the world is wanting and destitute, dissatisfied, the slave of craving.’ Thus showing his separate condition, he recited a parallel in verse :

Men2 of much wealth I see in the world : — Riches acquiring they err in not giving. Make out of greed a great hoard of their wealth, Yea, hankering yet after ever more pleasures. (776) The king having forcibly conquered the earth, To the shore of the ocean, holding the land This side of the sea, may yet all unsatisfied Hanker after the further side also. (777) See where both king and full many another man Nursing their cravings come to their dying. Paupers becoming,3 they put off this body, For never content lies in pleasures of this world. (778) Kinsfolk bewail him with tresses dishevelled, Crying : 4 Alas ! would our kin were immortal !’ 4 Him in his shroud envelop t they bear away ; Raising a pyre they forthwith cremate him. (779) 1 The layman’s colour. 2 The metre, till verse 789, is in the Tristubh (Vedic) metre, of the 5 + 5 feet variety. 3 I.e., in their wishes (Commentary). 4 Paraphrased by alio vata (lengthened metri causa , 1 gaihasukhattay ’) amhakarj nati amara siyan {? siyuri) ti. He lies a-burning, by forks being prodded, Clad in one garment, stripped of all riches.

Never to one who is dying are kinsfolk Refuge, nor friends, nay, nor even neighbours. (780) His wealth is annexed by his heirs, but the being1 Goeth according to all his past actions. Never doth wealth follow after the dying, Nor children, nor wife, nor wealth, nor a king dom. (781) Never is long life gotten through riches, N or is old age ever banished by property. Brief is this life, all the sages have told us ; Transient it is, and essentially changing. (782) All feel the Touch,2 both the poor and the wealthy; Touched is the wise man no less than the fool. But the fool, smitten down by his folly, lies pros¬ trate ; The wise man, when feeling the Touch, never trembles. (783) Wherefore far better than riches is wisdom, Whereby we arrive even here at the terminus. For from not reaching the goal3 the dull-minded Work wicked deeds in delusion, reborn In spheres whether high or whether of no ac¬ count.4 (784) Cometh a man to the womb and in other worlds Findeth rebirth, being caught in Saijsara, Round sempiternal of livings consecutive ; Him one of little wit follows believing, Cometh to birth both here and in other worlds. (785) E’en as a thief who is taken in burglary,

By his own act is condemned as a criminal,5 1 Satto. 2 Paraphrased by anitthaphassay pdjpunanti. 3 Anadhigatanitthattd (Commentary) . 4 Bhavdbhavesu. This curious term is so paraphrased : mahantd- 5 Quite literally : is ruined ( haniiati ), as being of evil nature. So is the race, after death, in another world, By its own doing condemned as a criminal. (786) For by the charm, sweet and diverse, of sensedesire, One way or other the mind is unbalanced ; And seeing the evil in sensuous pleasures, Therefore, O King, have I gone all forsaking. (787) Fall as fruit from the tree all the sons of men, Youthful and aged, when breaks down the body, This too seeing, O King, have I gone forth. Better the safe, sure life of religion. (788) Full of high confidence1 I left the world And joined the Order of the Conqueror. Blameless my going forth has been, and free From debt I live on my allotted share.2 (789) Looking on sense-desires as fire alight, On gold and silver as a [noxious] knife, [On life] from entry in the womb as ill, And on the fearsome peril of the hells : — (790) Seeing, I say, great evils everywhere,

Thereat was I with anguish sore beset. Then to me, pierced and wounded as I was, Came fourfold victory : o’er sense-desires, O’er rebirth, error, ignorance, victory !3 (791) The Master hath my fealty and love,4 And all the Buddha’s bidding hath been done. Low have I laid the heavy load I bore, Cause for rebirth is found in me no more. (792) 1 This is the dominant note in the Pali term saddha , ‘ faith.’ Cf. Dr. Neumann’s Zuversicht, rather than Glaube. The 61oka metre re-enters here. In the Majjln. the poem ends with (788). 2 Cf. Sisters, verse 110. 3 Expansion of sampatto dsavakTiliciyay. 4 = verses 604, 605, 687. The Good for which I bade the world farewell, And left the home to dwell where home was not, That highest Good have I accomplished, And every bond and fetter is destroyed.1 (793) Then the Thera, having thus taught the Norm to King Koravya, went back to the Master. And He thereafter, in the assembly of the Ariyans, declared Batthapala foremost of those who had left the world through faith.2 The story of this venerable one is given in Canto YI. (CCXIV.), wherein the Thera, established in arahantship, uttered a psalm by way of teaching his kinsfolk about the Path. But in this poem the Thera, not yet an arahant, had asked the Master for doctrine in brief, and he received this response: AVhat think you, Malunkya’s son, things which you have never seen, heard, smelt, tasted, touched, or perceived, of which you have no present impression, nor of which you wish you might have sensations and perception :

— do you feel desire, or longing, or fondness for them?’ ‘No, lord.’ ‘Here, then, Malunkya’s son, when you do get any sensation or perception of things, you will have just the sensations or perceptions only. And inas¬ much as this is so, and you will get no [greed, ill-will, or illusion] thereby, or therein, either here or elsewhere, or hereafter, this, even this, is the end of pain.8

1 = verse 136. 2 j 24. 3 That is, you can use sense and intellect without craving being engendered. I have inserted the bracketed words from Buddhaghosa’s Commentary on this passage in his Sdratthapakdsini. Cf. the Thera’s emphasis on tanka in his former poem. The Commentary follows almost verbatim the Sutta Sangaylm in the ‘ Salayatana-Sapyutta ’ (Sayy. Nik., iv. 72), where the poem also occurs. And Malunkya’s son, showing how well he had learnt that doctrine so summarized, expressed it in these verses : Sight of fair shape bewildering lucid thought,1 If one but heed the image sweet and dear, The heart inflamed in feeling doth o’erflow, (794) And clinging stayeth. Thus in him do grow Divers emotions rooted in the sight, Greed and aversion,2 and the heart of him Doth suffer grievously. Of him we say, Thus heaping store of pain and suffering : Far from Nibbana ! (795) Sound,3 smell, taste, touch, bewildering lucid thought, If one but heed the image sweet and dear, The heart inflamed in feeling doth o’erflow, (796) And clinging stayeth. Thus in him do grow Divers emotions rooted in the sense, Greed and aversion ; and the heart of him Doth suffer grievously. Of him we say,

Thus heaping store of pain and suffering : Far from Nibbana ! (797-803) Object, idea,4 bewildering lucid thought, If one but heed the image sweet and dear, The heart inflamed in feeling doth o’erflow, And clinging stayeth. Thus in him do grow (804) 1 See verse 98 and n. ‘ Lucid thought ’ is better for sati than ‘ selfcontrol,’ to which sati conduces. 2 Vihesd , aroused, says the Commentary, when the object is the reverse of agreeable. More probably the enmity born of greed. Cf. Dialogues, ii. 55. 3 Each sense is given a separate stanza. 4 Dhammay natvd — i.e., the aspect of cognition as an act of mind, supplementing, or, it may be, independent of, sense-impressions. Divers emotions rooted in idea, Greed and aversion ; and the heart of him Doth suffer grievously. Of him we say, — Thus heaping store of pain and suffering : — Far from Nibbana ! (805) He who for things he sees no passion breeds, But mindful, clear of head, can suffer sense, With uninflamed heart, nor staying clings ; (806) And as he sees, so normally he feels j1 For him no heaping up, but minishing : Thus doth he heedfully pursue his way.

Of him, building no store of ill, we say : — Near is Nibbana ! (807) He who for things he hears, or smells, or tastes, Or for things touched and felt no passion breeds, But mindful, clear of head, can suffer sense With uninflamed heart, nor staying clings ; (808) And as he hears, or smells, or tastes, is touched, Or doth perceive, so normally he feels ; F or him no heaping up, but minishing : Thus doth he heedfully pursue his way. Of him, building no store of ill, we say : — Near to Nibbana ! (809-817.)2 Then the Thera rose, saluted the Master and departed, not long after so developing insight that he won arahantship. 1 The rest of consciousness follows its gocara, or normal procedure (Commentary). 2 As before, each sense is assigned a complete stanza. The Buddha, according to the Sayyutta Nikdya, accords warm praise to Malunkya’s son’s rendering. Reborn in this Buddha-age, in Anguttarapa,2 *in a brahmin family, at the brahmin village of Apana, he was named Sela. And he dwelt there when adult, proficient in the three Yedas and in brahmin arts, teaching mantras to 300 brahmin youths. Now at that time the Master, leaving Savatthi, toured in Anguttarapa with 1,250 bhikkhus. And divining the maturity of insight in Sela and his pupils, he halted at a certain wood. Then Keniya, the ascetic, having invited the Master and his band for the following day, made preparation of much food.

And Sela with his 300 visited the hermitage and asked : 4 What now, Keniya, is a minister of the King expected?’ and so on. Keniya replied: 4 1 have invited the Buddha, the Exalted One for to-morrow.’ Now Sela, thrilled with joyful enthusiasm at the word 4 Buddha,’ sought out the Master straightway with his youths, and after exchange of courtesies seated himself at one side. Contemplating the Exalted One, he thought : 4 He has all the marks of one who is either a world-emperor, or a Buddha rolling back the veil of the world ; yet I know not whether this religious Brother be a Buddha or not. But I have heard that they who are Exalted Ones, Arahants, Buddhas supreme, reveal themselves when their praises are uttered ; for one who is not such a Buddha, when some one in his presence praises the virtues of a Buddha, is irritated and dissatisfied, because he has not won the

1 Both story and poem form the greater part of the * Sela-Sutta ’ in the Sntta-Nipdta and in the Majjhima Nik ay a (ii. 146). Dhammapala is strangely silent over these older versions. His own version is briefer and, except for the more evolved myth alluded to below (p. 314, n. 2), more simple. His use of ddi, 1 and so on,’ seems, however, to hint at a more standard account as known to him. 2 In the Sutta-Nipdta Commentary this is the country about the Biver Mahl, north of the Ganges. Apana means ‘ bazaar,’ ‘ market.’ serene confidence of Buddhas,1 and cannot endure the allusions.2 What if I were now to praise the Samana Gotama to his face with suitable verses ? So he began : O thou of perfect form and beauty rare, Of fairest parts3 and lovely to behold, Exalted One! thy colour like fine gold, Thou valiant spirit, with the dazzling teeth, (818) Whose body shows the features that betray The man of perfectly adjusted parts, Yea, all the traits that mark the Super-Man; (819) Thou with the eyes so clear, thy countenance So fair, broad,4 straight, majestic, thou dost shine As doth the sun, the centre thou of all The chosen band of brethren gathered round : (820) Thou bhikkhu noble of aspect, whose skin Resembleth gold, say, what is friar’s life To thee with presence so supremely fair? (821)

A Prince thou dost deserve to be, a Bull Drawing the chariot of the world’s empire ; Lord of the earth from end to end foursquare, A conqueror, of Jambudipa chief. (822) Nobles and wealthy lords thy vassals be, Thou sovran lord of lords, thou king of men, Take thou thy power, O Gotama, and reign ! (823) Then the Exalted One, fulfilling Sela’s wish, replied : 4 A king, O Sela, verily am I ; King of the Norm, above me there is none. 1 This is based on the conviction that they have the genuine intel¬ lectual and moral qualities required in a Buddha, and that what they teach is true and its results certain (Ang. Nik., ii 8). 2 These negative clauses are not in the Sutta-Nipdta narrative. 3 In the Commentary sujdto is ‘ perfect in presence,’ as to height and breadth. On these proportions, see Dialogues, ii. 14-16. 4 Brahd ; the Commentary reads brahma, excellent- -i.e., in pro¬ portions. And by my doctrine1 do I turn the wheel . Of sovereignty, wheel irreversible.’ (824) Then Sela to win confirmation spoke again : 2 Wholly enlightened thou dost own thyself : ‘ King of the Norm, above me there is none And by my doctrine do I turn the wheel Of sovereignty ’ — so sayst thou, Gotama. (825) Who is the general of my lord the King,

Disciple following in the Master’s steps ? Who after his example turns the wheel ? (826) Now the venerable Sariputta was seated at the right of the Exalted One, his head shining in beauty like a pile of gold. And showing him the Exalted One said : ‘ The wheel I set a-going of the Norm, Above which, Sela, there is none, that wheel Doth Sariputta after my example3 turn, Who hath become like Him -who -Thus- hath - Come. (827) All that which should be known is known by me, All culture of the mind, that have I wrought, Whate’er should be renounced I have renounced, Hence, brahmin ! am I Buddha— one Awake. (828) 1 Pariyatti-dhammo , the Norm in its literary form, or formulated doctrines (Commentary). I omit from the text the glosses ‘ thus Sela said,’ etc., which hamper the Pali metre. 3 Ang. Nile., i. 23. Ann , in anuvatteti , anujdto, is intended to express conformity, likeness, and not so much succession in time. Cf. the latter term in Iti-vuttaJca (trans. Sayings of Buddha ), § 74, where it is applied to children whose lives resemble those of their parents. In becoming an Ariya, says the Commentary, Sariputta became of like birth or caste (jdti) with the Tathagata. Sariputta did not live to succeed the Master as leader.

Subdue thy doubts regarding me, brahmin ! Have faith in me. Hard, hard it is to win Repeated seeing — [as thou mayest now] — Of them who rise on earth Buddhas Supreme. (829) And ’tis of such whose advent in the world Is difficult and rare, that I in sooth Am one, 0 brahmin ! yea, a Buddha I, Surgeon and Healer,1 over whom there’s none. (830) Supreme my place and past compare my work, In crushing the assaults of Mara’s hosts. All that is hostile lieth ’neath my sway, And I rejoice for no whence cometh fear.’ (831) Then Sela the brahmin, so convinced by the Exalted One as to wish to take orders, said : ‘Now pay good heed, sirs, to the words that He Who sees, Healer and Hero, speaks to us, Impressive as a forest lion’s roar. (832) Supreme in place and past compare in work, Who crusheth the assaults of Mara’s hosts : — (833) Who that hath seen him would not feel con¬ vinced, And were he never so obscure of birth?2 He who is fain for me may follow me ; And whoso is not fain may go his way ; But I will in this Rule renounce the world,

’Neath him who is so noble and so wise.’ (834) Then the brahmin youths also, because they had attained to the requisite conditions, replied : ‘ If to thy judgment, sir, this Rule of him, The Supreme Buddha, doth commend itself, We too will in that Rule renounce the world, ’Neath him who is so noble and so wise.’ (835) 1 I.e., of greed, hate and illusion (Commentary). 2 Lit., ‘ one of dark descent,’ paraphrased as riicajdto. Then Sela, delighted because those youths shared in his resolve, showed them to the Master and asked for ordina¬ tion : These thrice one hundred brahmins with clasped hands Beseech thee, O Exalted One, that we May lead the holy life beneath thine eye. (836) Then the Exalted One, inasmuch as in past ages Sela, as teacher of just those 800, had sown the root of merit, and now in the last life had produced both his own insight and their maturity, discerned that they were ripe for ordina¬ tion and said : 4 W ell, Sela, is the holy life set forth, Clear to be seen and heard ; swift is the fruit,1 TV herein not futile is the coming forth

For one who earnestly doth train himself.’ (837) Thereupon the Exalted One said : ‘ Come ye, bhikkhus ! And they, by his mystic power endued with the robes and bowl of bhikkhus of long-standing,2 did obeisance and began their studies for insight, attaining arahantship on the seventh day. Thereat they came to the Master and con¬ fessed anna thus, Sela speaking : Lo ! thou who seest all, ’tis eight days since We came and refuge found. In one sennight, Exalted One ! we’re trained in thy Rule. (838) Thou art Buddha ! our Master thou ! and thou The mighty Seer who Mara didst o’erthrow. Thou who all evil tendencies hast purged, And crossed [the flood of life’s eternal sea], ’Tis thou dost aid the sons of men to cross. (839) 1 PaccaJckho is the paraphrase of sanditthiko ; akdliko — lit., ‘ nottime-ish is explained as where fruition is to be won immediately after [each] path, without interval of time. The Sutta-Nipdta Commeritary explains in practically identical terms. 2 This legendary feature is not in the Sutta-Nipdta story. Thou hast transcended every cause of birth, And shattered every poison-growth within, Thou even as a lion, grasping nought,