The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha
Page 48
19. “So, Evil One, when those bhikkhus had been thus advised and instructed by the Blessed One Kakusandha, accomplished and fully enlightened, then, gone to the forest or to the root of a tree or to an empty hut, they abided contemplating foulness in the body, perceiving repulsiveness in nutriment, perceiving disenchantment with all the world, contemplating impermanence in all formations.
20. “Then, when it was morning, the Blessed One Kakusandha, accomplished and fully enlightened, dressed, and taking his bowl and outer robe, he went into the village for alms with the venerable Vidhura as his attendant.
21. “Then the Māra Dūsī took possession of a certain boy, and picking up a stone, he struck the venerable Vidhura on the head with it and cut his head. With blood running from his cut head, [337] the venerable Vidhura followed close behind the Blessed One Kakusandha, accomplished and fully enlightened. Then the Blessed One Kakusandha, accomplished and fully enlightened, turned around and looked at him with the elephant look: ‘This Māra Dūsī knows no bounds.’ And with that look, Evil One, the Māra Dūsī fell from that place and reappeared in the Great Hell.529
22. “Now, Evil One, there are three names for the Great Hell: the hell of the six bases for contact, the hell of the impalement with stakes, and the hell to be felt for oneself.530 Then, Evil One, the wardens of hell came up to me and said: ‘Good sir, when stake meets stake in your heart, then you will know: “I have been roasting in hell for a thousand years.”’
23. “For many a year, Evil One, for many a century, for many a millennium, I roasted in that Great Hell. For ten millennia I roasted in the auxiliary of that Great Hell, experiencing the feeling called that of emergence from ripening.531 My body had the same form as a human body, Evil One, but my head had the form of a fish’s head.
24. “What can hell be well compared to
Wherein Dūsī roasted, assailant
Of Vidhura the disciple
And the brahmin Kakusandha?532
Stakes of steel, even a hundred,
Each one suffered separately;
These can hell be well compared to
Wherein Dūsī roasted, assailant
Of Vidhura the disciple
And the brahmin Kakusandha.
Dark One, you have much to suffer
By assaulting such a bhikkhu,
An Enlightened One’s disciple
Who directly knows this fact.
25. “In the middle of the ocean
There are mansions aeon-lasting,
Sapphire-shining, fiery-gleaming
With a clear translucent lustre,
Where iridescent sea-nymphs dance
In complex, intricate rhythms.
Dark One, you have much to suffer…
Who directly knows this fact.
26. “I am one who, when exhorted
By the Enlightened One in person,
Shook Migāra’s Mother’s Palace
With his toe, the Order watching.533
Dark One, you have much to suffer…
Who directly knows this fact.
27. “I am one who, wielding firmly
Strength of supernormal powers,
Shook all Vejayanta Palace
With his toe to incite the gods:534 [338]
Dark One, you have much to suffer…
Who directly knows this fact.
28. “I am one who, in that palace,
Posed to Sakka this question:
‘Do you know then, friend, deliverance
In craving’s utter destruction?’
Whereupon Sakka then answered
Truly to the question asked him:535
Dark One, you have much to suffer…
Who directly knows this fact.
29. “I am one who thought of posing
Brahmā this question
In Sudhamma Hall in heaven:
‘Is there still found in you, friend,
The wrong view you once accepted?
Do you see the radiance
Surpassing that in the Brahmā-world?’
Brahmā then answered my question
Truthfully and in due sequence:
‘There is found in me no longer,
Sir, the wrong view that once I held;
Indeed I see the radiance
Surpassing that in the Brahmā-world.
Today how could I maintain
That I am permanent and eternal?’:536
Dark One, you have much to suffer…
Who directly knows this fact.
30. “I am one who, by liberation,
Has touched the peak of Mount Sineru,
Visited the Pubbavidehans’ grove
And whatever humans dwell on earth.537
Dark One, you have much to suffer
By assaulting such a bhikkhu,
An Enlightened One’s disciple
Who directly knows this fact.
31. “There has never been found a fire
Which intends, ‘Let me burn the fool,’
But a fool who assaults a fire
Burns himself by his own doing.
So it is with you, O Māra:
By assaulting the Tathāgata,
Like a fool who plays with fire
You only burn yourself alone.
By assaulting the Tathāgata,
You generate much demerit.
Evil One, do you imagine
That your evil will not ripen?
Doing thus, you store up evil
Which will last long, O End-maker!
Māra, shun the Enlightened One,
Play no more your tricks on bhikkhus.”
So the bhikkhu chastened Māra
In the Bhesakaḷā thicket
Whereupon the sombre spirit
Disappeared right then and there.
Part Two
The Middle Fifty Discourses
(Majjhimapaṇṇāsapāḷi)
1
The Division on Householders
(Gahapativagga)
Kandaraka Sutta
To Kandaraka
[339] 1. THUS HAVE I HEARD. On one occasion the Blessed One was living at Campā on the banks of the Gaggarā Lake with a large Sangha of bhikkhus. Then Pessa, the elephant driver’s son, and Kandaraka the wanderer went to the Blessed One. Pessa, after paying homage to the Blessed One, sat down at one side, while Kandaraka exchanged greetings with the Blessed One, and when this courteous and amiable talk was finished, he stood at one side.538 Standing there, he surveyed the Sangha of bhikkhus sitting in complete silence,539 and then he said to the Blessed One:
2. “It is wonderful, Master Gotama, it is marvellous how the Sangha of bhikkhus has been led to practise the right way by Master Gotama. Those who were Blessed Ones, accomplished and fully enlightened in the past, at most only led the Sangha of bhikkhus to practise the right way as is done by Master Gotama now. And those who will be Blessed Ones, accomplished and fully enlightened in the future, at most will only lead the Sangha of bhikkhus to practise the right way as is done by Master Gotama now.”540
3. “So it is, Kandaraka, so it is! Those who were Blessed Ones, accomplished and fully enlightened in the past, at most only led the Sangha of bhikkhus to practise the right way as is done by me now. And those who will be Blessed Ones, accomplished and fully enlightened in the future, at most will only lead the Sangha of bhikkhus to practise the right way as is done by me now.
“For, Kandaraka, in this Sangha of bhikkhus there are bhikkhus who are arahants with taints destroyed, who have lived the holy life, done what had to be done, laid down the burden, reached the true goal, destroyed the fetters of being, and who are completely liberated through final knowledge. And in this Sangha of bhikkhus there are bhikkhus in higher training, of constant virtue, living a life of constant virtue, sagacious, living a life of constant sagacity. They abide with their minds well established in the four foundations of mindfulness.541 What four? Here, Kandaraka, [340] a bhikkhu abides c
ontemplating the body as a body, ardent, fully aware, and mindful, having put away covetousness and grief for the world. He abides contemplating feelings as feelings, ardent, fully aware, and mindful, having put away covetousness and grief for the world. He abides contemplating mind as mind, ardent, fully aware, and mindful, having put away covetousness and grief for the world. He abides contemplating mind-objects as mind-objects, ardent, fully aware, and mindful, having put away covetousness and grief for the world.”
4. When this was said, Pessa, the elephant driver’s son, said: “It is wonderful, venerable sir, it is marvellous how well the four foundations of mindfulness have been made known by the Blessed One: for the purification of beings, for the surmounting of sorrow and lamentation, for the disappearance of pain and grief, for the attainment of the true way, for the realisation of Nibbāna. For, venerable sir, we white-clothed lay people also from time to time abide with our minds well established in these four foundations of mindfulness.542 Here, venerable sir, we abide contemplating the body as a body…feelings as feelings…mind as mind…mind-objects as mind-objects, ardent, fully aware, and mindful, having put away covetousness and grief for the world. It is wonderful, venerable sir, it is marvellous how amid man’s tangle, corruption, and deceptions, the Blessed One knows the welfare and harm of beings. For humankind is a tangle but the animal is open enough. Venerable sir, I can drive an elephant to be tamed, and in the time it takes to make a trip back and forth in Campā, that elephant will show every kind of deception, duplicity, crookedness, and fraud [he is capable of].543 But those who are called our slaves, messengers, and servants behave in one way with the body, in another way by speech, while their minds work in still another way. It is wonderful, venerable sir, it is marvellous how amid man’s tangle, corruption, and deceptions, the Blessed One knows the welfare and harm of beings. For humankind is a tangle but the animal is open enough.For humankind is a tangle but the animal is open enough.”
5. “So it is, Pessa, so it is! [341] Humankind is a tangle but the animal is open enough. Pessa, there are four kinds of persons to be found existing in the world.544 What four? Here a certain kind of person torments himself and pursues the practice of torturing himself. Here a certain kind of person torments others and pursues the practice of torturing others. Here a certain kind of person torments himself and pursues the practice of torturing himself, and he also torments others and pursues the practice of torturing others. Here a certain kind of person does not torment himself or pursue the practice of torturing himself, and he does not torment others or pursue the practice of torturing others. Since he torments neither himself nor others, he is here and now hungerless, extinguished, and cooled, and he abides experiencing bliss, having himself become holy.545 Which of these four kinds of persons satisfies your mind, Pessa?”
“The first three do not satisfy my mind, venerable sir, but the last one satisfies my mind.”
6. “But, Pessa, why don’t the first three kinds of persons satisfy your mind?”
“Venerable sir, the kind of person who torments himself and pursues the practice of torturing himself, torments and tortures himself though he desires pleasure and recoils from pain; that is why this kind of person does not satisfy my mind. And the kind of person who torments others and pursues the practice of torturing others, torments and tortures others who desire pleasure and recoil from pain; that is why this kind of person does not satisfy my mind. And the kind of person who torments himself and pursues the practice of torturing himself, and who also torments others and pursues the practice of torturing others, torments and tortures himself and others, both of whom desire pleasure and recoil from pain; that is why this kind of person does not satisfy my mind. [342] But the kind of person who does not torment himself or pursue the practice of torturing himself and who does not torment others or pursue the practice of torturing others; who, since he torments neither himself nor others, is here and now hungerless, extinguished, and cooled, and abides experiencing bliss, having himself become holy—he does not torment and torture either himself or others, both of whom desire pleasure and recoil from pain. That is why this kind of person satisfies my mind. And now, venerable sir, we depart. We are busy and have much to do.”
“You may go, Pessa, at your own convenience.”
Then Pessa, the elephant driver’s son, having delighted and rejoiced in the Blessed One’s words, rose from his seat, and after paying homage to the Blessed One, keeping him on his right, he departed.
7. Soon after he had left, the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus thus: “Bhikkhus, Pessa, the elephant driver’s son, is wise, he has great wisdom. If he had sat a while longer until I had expounded for him in detail these four kinds of persons, he would have greatly benefited. Still he has already greatly benefited even as it is.”546
“This is the time, Blessed One, this is the time, Sublime One, for the Blessed One to expound in detail these four kinds of persons. Having heard it from the Blessed One, the bhikkhus will remember it.”
“Then, bhikkhus, listen and attend closely to what I shall say.”
“Yes, venerable sir,” the bhikkhus replied. The Blessed One said this:
8. “Bhikkhus, what kind of person torments himself and pursues the practice of torturing himself?547 Here a certain person goes naked, rejecting conventions, licking his hands, not coming when asked, not stopping when asked; he does not accept food brought or food specially made or an invitation to a meal; he receives nothing from a pot, from a bowl, across a threshold, across a stick, across a pestle, from two eating together, from a pregnant woman, from a woman giving suck, from a woman in the midst of men, from where food is advertised to be distributed, from where a dog is waiting, from where flies are buzzing; he accepts no fish or meat, he drinks no liquor, wine, or fermented brew. He keeps to one house, to one morsel; he keeps to two houses to two morsels;…he keeps to seven houses, to seven morsels. He lives on one saucerful a day, on two saucerfuls a day…on seven saucerfuls a day. He takes food once a day, [343] once every two days…once every seven days; thus even up to once every fortnight, he dwells pursuing the practice of taking food at stated intervals. He is an eater of greens or millet or wild rice or hide-parings or moss or ricebran or rice-scum or sesamum flour or grass or cowdung. He lives on forest roots and fruits, he feeds on fallen fruits. He clothes himself in hemp, in hemp-mixed cloth, in shrouds, in refuse rags, in tree bark, in antelope hide, in strips of antelope hide, in kusa-grass fabric, in bark fabric, in wood-shavings fabric, in head-hair wool, in animal wool, in owls’ wings. He is one who pulls out hair and beard, pursuing the practice of pulling out hair and beard. He is one who stands continuously, rejecting seats. He is one who squats continuously, devoted to maintaining the squatting position. He is one who uses a mattress of spikes; he makes a mattress of spikes his bed. He dwells pursuing the practice of bathing in water three times daily including the evening. Thus in such a variety of ways he dwells pursuing the practice of tormenting and mortifying the body. This is called the kind of person who torments himself and pursues the practice of torturing himself.
9. “What kind of person, bhikkhus, torments others and pursues the practice of torturing others? Here a certain person is a butcher of sheep, a butcher of pigs, a fowler, a trapper of wild beasts, a hunter, a fisherman, a thief, an executioner, a prison warden, or one who follows any other such bloody occupation. This is called the kind of person who torments others and pursues the practice of torturing others.
10. “What kind of person, bhikkhus, torments himself and pursues the practice of torturing himself and also torments others and pursues the practice of torturing others? Here some person is a head-anointed noble king or a well-to-do brahmin. 548 Having had a new sacrificial temple built to the east of the city, and having shaved off his hair and beard, dressed himself in rough hide, and greased his body with ghee and oil, scratching his back with a deer’s horn, he enters the sacrificial temple together with his chief queen and his brahmin high priest. There he lie
s down on the bare ground strewn with grass. The king lives on the milk in the first teat of a cow with a calf of the same colour [344] while the chief queen lives on the milk in the second teat and the brahmin high priest lives on the milk in the third teat; the milk in the fourth teat they pour onto the fire, and the calf lives on what is left. He says thus: ‘Let so many bulls be slaughtered for sacrifice, let so many bullocks be slaughtered for sacrifice, let so many heifers be slaughtered for sacrifice, let so many goats be slaughtered for sacrifice, let so many sheep be slaughtered for sacrifice, let so many trees be felled for the sacrificial posts, let so much grass be cut for the sacrificial grass.’ And then his slaves, messengers, and servants make preparations, weeping with tearful faces, being spurred on by threats of punishment and by fear. This is called the kind of person who torments himself and pursues the practice of torturing himself and who torments others and pursues the practice of torturing others.