29. Then the brahmin Brahmāyu addressed the Blessed One in stanzas:“The two-and-thirty marks I learned
That are the signs of a Great Man—
I still do not see two of these
Upon your body, Gotama.
Is what should be concealed by cloth
Hid in a sheath, greatest of men?
Though called by a word of feminine gender,861
Perhaps your tongue is a manly one?
Perhaps your tongue is large as well,
According to what we have been taught?
Please put it out a little bit
And so, O Seer, cure our doubt
For welfare in this very life
And happiness in lives to come.
And now we crave for leave to ask
Something that we aspire to know.”
30. Then it occurred to the Blessed One: “This brahmin Brahmāyu sees, more or less, the thirty-two marks of a Great Man on me, except two; he is doubtful and uncertain about two of the marks, and he cannot decide and make up his mind about them: about the male organ being enclosed in a sheath and about the largeness of the tongue.”
Then the Blessed One worked such a feat of supernormal power that the brahmin Brahmāyu saw that the Blessed One’s male organ was enclosed in a sheath. Next the Blessed One extruded his tongue, and he repeatedly touched both ear holes and both nostrils, and he covered the whole of his forehead with his tongue.
31. Then the Blessed One spoke these stanzas in reply to the brahmin Brahmāyu: “The two-and-thirty marks you learned
That are the signs of a Great Man—
All on my body can be found:
So, brahmin, doubt no more on that.
What must be known I’ve directly known,
What must be developed I have developed,
What must be abandoned I have abandoned,
Therefore, brahmin, I am a Buddha.862 [144]
For welfare in this very life
And happiness in lives to come,
Since leave is given you, please ask
Whatever you aspire to know.”
32. Then the brahmin Brahmāyu thought: “Permission has been granted me by the recluse Gotama. Which should I ask him about: good in this life or good in the lives to come?” Then he thought: “I am skilled in the good of this life, and others too ask me about good in this life. Why shouldn’t I ask him only about good in the lives to come?” Then he addressed the Blessed One in stanzas:“How does one become a brahmin?
And how does one attain to knowledge?863
How has one the triple knowledge?
And how is one called a holy scholar?
How does one become an arahant?
And how does one attain completeness?
How is one a silent sage?
And how is one called a Buddha?”864
33. Then the Blessed One spoke these stanzas in reply:“Who knows about his former lives,
Sees heaven and states of deprivation,
And has arrived at birth’s destruction—
A sage who knows by direct knowledge,
Who knows his mind is purified,
Entirely freed from every lust,
Who has abandoned birth and death,
Who is complete in the holy life,
Who has transcended everything—
One such as this is called a Buddha.”865
34. When this was said, the brahmin Brahmāyu rose from his seat, and after arranging his upper robe on one shoulder, he prostrated himself with his head at the Blessed One’s feet, and he covered the Blessed One’s feet with kisses and caressed them with his hands, pronouncing his name: “I am the brahmin Brahmāyu, Master Gotama; I am the brahmin Brahmāyu, Master Gotama.”
35. Those in the assembly wondered and marvelled, and they said: “It is wonderful, sirs, it is marvellous, what great power and great might the recluse Gotama has, for the well-known and famous brahmin Brahmāyu to make such a display of humility!”
Then the Blessed One said to the brahmin Brahmāyu: [145] “Enough, brahmin, arise; sit down in your own seat since your mind has confidence in me.”
The brahmin Brahmāyu then rose and sat down in his own seat. 36. The Blessed One then gave him progressive instruction,866 that is, talk on giving, talk on virtue, talk on the heavens; he explained the danger, degradation, and defilement in sensual pleasures and the blessing of renunciation. When he knew that the brahmin Brahmāyu’s mind was ready, receptive, free from hindrances, elated, and confident, he expounded to him the teaching special to the Buddhas: suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path. Just as a clean cloth with all marks removed would take dye evenly, so too, while the brahmin Brahmāyu sat there, the spotless immaculate vision of the Dhamma arose in him: “All that is subject to arising is subject to cessation.” Then the brahmin Brahmāyu saw the Dhamma, attained the Dhamma, understood the Dhamma, fathomed the Dhamma; he crossed beyond doubt, did away with perplexity, gained intrepidity, and became independent of others in the Teacher’s Dispensation.
37. Then he said to the Blessed One: “Magnificent, Master Gotama! Magnificent, Master Gotama! Master Gotama has made the Dhamma clear in many ways, as though he were turning upright what had been overthrown, revealing what was hidden, showing the way to one who was lost, or holding up a lamp in the dark for those with eyesight to see forms. I go to Master Gotama for refuge and to the Dhamma and to the Sangha of bhikkhus. From today let Master Gotama remember me as a lay follower who has gone to him for refuge for life. Let the Blessed One, together with the Sangha of bhikkhus, consent to accept tomorrow’s meal from me.”
The Blessed One consented in silence. Then, knowing that the Blessed One had consented, the brahmin Brahmāyu rose from his seat, and after paying homage to the Blessed One, keeping him on his right, he departed.
38. Then, when the night had ended, the brahmin Brahmāyu had good food of various kinds prepared in his residence, and he had the time announced to the Blessed One: “It is time, Master Gotama, the meal is ready.” [146]
Then, it being morning, the Blessed One dressed, and taking his bowl and outer robe, he went with the Sangha of bhikkhus to the brahmin Brahmāyu’s residence and sat down on the seat made ready. Then, for a week, with his own hands, the brahmin Brahmāyu served and satisfied the Sangha of bhikkhus headed by the Buddha with various kinds of good food.
39. At the end of that week, the Blessed One set out to wander in the country of the Videhans. Soon after he had gone, the brahmin Brahmāyu died. Then a number of bhikkhus went to the Blessed One, and after paying homage to him, they sat down at one side and said: “Venerable sir, the brahmin Brahmāyu has died. What is his destination? What is his future course?”
“Bhikkhus, the brahmin Brahmāyu was wise, he entered into the way of the Dhamma, and he did not trouble me in the interpretation of the Dhamma. With the destruction of the five lower fetters, he has reappeared spontaneously [in the Pure Abodes] and will there attain final Nibbāna, without ever returning from that world.”
That is what the Blessed One said. The bhikkhus were satisfied and delighted in the Blessed One’s words.
Sela Sutta
To Sela
1. THUS HAVE I HEARD.867 On one occasion the Blessed One was wandering in the country of the Anguttarāpans with a large Sangha of bhikkhus, [102] with twelve hundred and fifty bhikkhus, and eventually he arrived at a town of the Anguttarāpans named Āpaṇa.
2. The matted-hair ascetic Keṇiya heard: “The recluse Gotama, the son of the Sakyans who went forth from a Sakyan clan, has been wandering in the country of the Anguttarāpans with a large Sangha of bhikkhus, with twelve hundred and fifty [103] bhikkhus, and he has come to Āpaṇa. Now a good report of Master Gotama has been spread to this effect...(as Sutta 91, §3)...Now it is good to see such arahants.”
3. Then the matted-hair ascetic Keṇiya went to the Blessed One and exchanged greetings with him, and when this courteous and amiable talk
was finished, he sat down at one side. The Blessed One instructed, urged, roused, and gladdened him with a talk on the Dhamma. Then, having been instructed, urged, roused, and gladdened by the Blessed One with a talk on the Dhamma, the matted-hair ascetic Keṇiya said to the Blessed One: “Let Master Gotama together with the Sangha of bhikkhus consent to accept tomorrow’s meal from me.”
When this was said, the Blessed One told him: “The Sangha of bhikkhus is large, Keṇiya, [104] consisting of twelve hundred and fifty bhikkhus, and you place full confidence in the brahmins.”
A second time the matted-hair ascetic Keṇiya said to the Blessed One: “Although the Sangha of bhikkhus is large, Master Gotama, consisting of twelve hundred and fifty bhikkhus, and although I place full confidence in the brahmins, still let Master Gotama, together with the Sangha of bhikkhus, consent to accept tomorrow’s meal from me.” A second time the Blessed One told him: “The Sangha of bhikkhus is large, Keṇiya…”
A third time the matted-hair ascetic Keṇiya said to the Blessed One: “Although the Sangha is large, Master Gotama…still let Master Gotama together with the Sangha of bhikkhus consent to accept tomorrow’s meal from me.” The Blessed One consented in silence.
4. Then, knowing that the Blessed One had consented, the matted-hair ascetic Keṇiya rose from his seat and went to his own hermitage where he addressed his friends and companions, his kinsmen and relatives thus: “Hear me, sirs, my friends and companions, my kinsmen and relatives. The recluse Gotama has been invited by me for tomorrow’s meal together with the Sangha of bhikkhus. Make the necessary purchases and preparations for me.”
“Yes, sir,” they replied, and some dug out ovens, some chopped wood, some washed dishes, some set out water jugs, some prepared seats, while the matted-hair ascetic Keṇiya himself set up a pavilion.
5. Now on that occasion the brahmin Sela was staying at Āpaṇa. [105] He was a master of the Three Vedas with their vocabularies, liturgy, phonology, and etymology, and the histories as a fifth; skilled in philology and grammar, he was fully versed in natural philosophy and in the marks of a Great Man, and was teaching the recitation of the hymns to three hundred brahmin students.
6. At the time the matted-hair ascetic Keṇiya had placed full confidence in the brahmin Sela. Then the brahmin Sela, while walking and wandering for exercise attended by his three hundred brahmin students, came to the matted-hair ascetic Keṇiya’s hermitage. There he saw some men digging out ovens, some chopping wood, some washing dishes, some setting up a water-pot, some preparing seats, while the matted-hair ascetic Keṇiya himself was preparing the pavilion.
7. When he saw this, he asked the matted-hair ascetic Keṇiya: “What, is Master Keṇiya to hold a marriage or a giving in marriage? Or is there some great sacrifice? Or has King Seniya Bimbisāra of Magadha been invited with a large retinue for tomorrow’s meal?”
8. “I will not be holding a marriage or a giving in marriage, Master Sela, nor has King Seniya Bimbisāra of Magadha been invited with a large retinue for tomorrow’s meal, but I am planning a great sacrifice. The recluse Gotama, the son of the Sakyans who went forth from a Sakyan clan, has been wandering in the country of the Anguttarāpans with a large Sangha of bhikkhus, with twelve hundred and fifty bhikkhus, and has come to Āpaṇa. [106] Now a good report of Master Gotama has been spread to this effect: ‘That Blessed One is accomplished, fully enlightened, perfect in true knowledge and conduct, sublime, knower of worlds, incomparable leader of persons to be tamed, teacher of gods and humans, enlightened [buddha], blessed.’ He has been invited by me for tomorrow’s meal together with the Sangha of bhikkhus.”
9. “Did you say ‘Buddha,’ Keṇiya?”
“I said ‘Buddha,’ Sela.”
“Did you say ‘Buddha,’ Keṇiya?”
“I said ‘Buddha,’ Sela.”
10. Then it occurred to the brahmin Sela: “Even this sound ‘Buddha’ is hard to come across in this world. Now the thirty-two marks of a Great Man have been handed down in our hymns, and the Great Man who is endowed with them has only two possible destinies, no other. If he lives the home life he becomes a Wheel-turning Monarch, a righteous king who rules by the Dhamma, master of the four quarters, all-victorious, who has stabilised his country and possesses the seven treasures. He has these seven treasures: the wheel-treasure, the elephant-treasure, the horse-treasure, the jewel-treasure, the woman-treasure, the steward-treasure, and the counsellor-treasure as the seventh. His children, who exceed a thousand, are brave and heroic and crush the armies of others; over this earth bounded by the ocean he rules without a rod, without a weapon, by means of the Dhamma. But if he goes forth from the home life into homelessness, he becomes an Accomplished One, a Fully Enlightened One, who draws aside the veil in the world.”
11. [He said]: “My good Keṇiya, where is Master Gotama, the Accomplished One, the Fully Enlightened One, now living?”
When this was said, the matted-hair ascetic Keṇiya extended his right arm and said: [107] “There, where that green line of the grove is, Master Sela.”
12. Then the brahmin Sela went with the three hundred brahmin students to the Blessed One. He addressed the brahmin students: “Come quietly, sirs, tread carefully; for these Blessed Ones are difficult to approach like lions that wander alone. When I am speaking with the recluse Gotama, do not break in and interrupt me, but wait until our talk is finished.”
13. Then the brahmin Sela went to the Blessed One and exchanged greetings with him. When this courteous and amiable talk was finished, he sat down at one side and looked for the thirty-two marks of a Great Man on the Blessed One’s body. He saw, more or less, the thirty-two marks of a Great Man on the Blessed One’s body, except two; he was doubtful and uncertain about two of the marks, and he could not decide and make up his mind about them: about the male organ being enclosed in a sheath and about the largeness of the tongue.
Then it occurred to the Blessed One: “This brahmin Sela sees the thirty-two marks of a Great Man on me, except two; he is doubtful and uncertain about two of the marks, and he cannot decide and make up his mind about them: about the male organ being enclosed in a sheath and about the largeness of the tongue.”
14. Then the Blessed One worked such a feat of supernormal power that the brahmin Sela saw that the Blessed One’s male organ was enclosed in a sheath. [108] Next the Blessed One extruded his tongue, and he repeatedly touched both ear holes and both nostrils, and he covered the whole of his forehead with his tongue.
15. Then the brahmin Sela thought: “The recluse Gotama is endowed with the thirty-two marks of a Great Man; they are complete, not incomplete. But I do not know whether he is a Buddha or not. However, I have heard from elder aged brahmins who speak according to the lineage of teachers that those who are the Accomplished Ones, Fully Enlightened Ones, reveal themselves as such when their praise is spoken. Suppose I extol the recluse Gotama to his face with fitting stanzas.”
Then he extolled the Blessed One to his face with fitting stanzas:
16. Sela “O perfect in body, well favoured,
Well fashioned and lovely to behold;
O Blessed One, golden is your colour,
And white your teeth; you are strong.
The features are seen one and all
That distinguish a man as well born;
They are all to be found on your body,
These marks that reveal a Great Man.
With eyes clear, with countenance bright,
Majestic, erect as a flame,
In the midst of this body of recluses
You shine like the blazing sun.
A bhikkhu so lovely to look on
With skin of so golden a sheen—
With beauty so rare why should you
Be content with the life of a recluse?
You are fit to be a king, a lord of charioteers,
A monarch who makes the wheel turn,
A victor in all the four quarters
And lord of the Jambu-tree G
rove.868 [109]
With warriors and great princes
All devoted to your service,
O Gotama, you should reign
As ruler of men, king above all kings.”
17. Buddha “I am already a king, O Sela,”
the Blessed One replied.
“I am supreme king of the Dhamma;
By means of the Dhamma I turn the wheel,
The wheel that none can stop.”
18. Sela “You claim full enlightenment,” the brahmin Sela said,
“You tell me, O Gotama,
‘I am supreme king of the Dhamma;
By means of the Dhamma I turn the wheel.’
Who is your general, that disciple
Who follows in the Master’s own way?
Who is it who helps you to turn
The Wheel of Dhamma set in motion by you?”
19. Buddha “The wheel set in motion by me,”
The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha Page 83
