Buddhist shelf · Pali Canon · Dīgha Nikāya 3
AmbaṭṭhasuttaA Young Brahman's Rudeness and an Old One's Faith
The Pali beside T. W. Rhys Davids’s English translation of 1899, from Dialogues of the Buddha, part 1.
Public domain. Rhys Davids’s translation was published in 1899; he died in 1922. The Pali is the Mahāsaṅgīti edition published by SuttaCentral under CC0. Rhys Davids prints the page numbers of the Pali Text Society edition in his translation, and SuttaCentral records the same page numbers in the Pali, so each PTS page of Pali (pp. 87–110) is shown beside the English of that page.
Rhys Davids’s introduction
Introduction
Amba Tth a Sutta.
THIS is one of several Suttas (mentioned in the notes to the celebrated verse quoted at the end of Chapter I) which deal with the subject of caste.
It is sufficiently evident from the comparative frequency of the discussions on the matter of Brahman pretensions that this was a burning question at the time when the Dialogues were composed. No other social problem is referred to so often; and Brahmans would not be so often represented as expressing astonishment or indignation at the position taken up regarding it by the early Buddhists unless there had really been a serious difference on the subject between the two schools. But the difference, though real, has been gravely misunderstood.
Some writers on Buddhism do not hesitate to ascribe to Gotama the rôle of a successful political reformer, by representing him as having fought for the poor and despised against the rich and privileged classes, and as having gone far to abolish caste. Other writers gird at the Buddha because most of the leaders of this Order were drawn from the ranks of the respectable and the well-to-do, with an education in keeping with their social position; and disparage him for neglecting the humble and the wretched, for not using his influence to abolish, or to mitigate, the harshness of caste rules.
Both views are equally unhistorical. It is well known that the population of India is now divided into a number of sections (we call them 'castes'), the members of which are debarred from the right of intermarriage (from the connubium) with those outside their caste, and also, but in constantly varying degrees, from the right of eating together (of commensality) with the members of other sections. Each such 'caste' has also a councilor committee by which it is governed, and which settles all disputes regarding the caste.
The disastrous effects, from the ethical, social, and political points of view, of these restrictions, and of caste as a whole, have been often grossly exaggerated, and the benefits of the system ignored. And we are entirely unwarranted in supposing the system, as it now exists, to have been in existence also at the time when Buddhism arose in the valley of the Ganges. Our knowledge of the actual facts of caste, even as it now exists, is still confused and inaccurate. The theories put forward to explain the facts are loose and irreconcilable. And an accurate statement of the corresponding facts, if any, at the time of Gotama, has yet to be drawn up.
We have long known that the connubium was the cause of a long and determined struggle between the patricians and the plebeians in Rome. Evidence has been yearly accumulating on the existence of restrictions as to intermarriage, and as to the right of eating together, among other Aryan tribes--Greeks, Germans, Russians, and so on. Even without the fact of the existence, now, of such restrictions among the modern successors of the ancient Aryans in India, it would have been almost certain that they also were addicted to similar customs. It is certain that the notion of such usages was familiar enough to some at least of the tribes that preceded the Aryans in India. It is quite a mistake to look upon all these tribes as far below the Aryans in culture. Both the Kolarians and the Dravidians were probably quite the equals of the Aryans in social organisation. And the Aryans probably adopted much from them, especially in matters relating to land tenure, village community, government, taxation, and so on. Their custom of endogamy and exogamy, their ideas as to purity and the reverse, may have differed from those of the Aryans, but were similar in kind. Rules of endogamy and exogamy; privileges, restricted to certain classes, of eating together, are not only Indian or Aryan, but world-wide phenomena. Both the spirit, and to a large degree the actual details, of modern Indian caste usages, are identical with these ancient, and no doubt universal, customs. It is in them that we have the key to the origin of caste.
At any moment in the history of a nation such customs seem, to a superficial observer, to be fixed and immutable. As a matter of fact they are never quite the same in successive centuries, or even generations. A man's visible frame, though no change is at any moment perceptible, is really never the same for two consecutive moments, and the result of constant minute variations becomes clear after the lapse of time. The numerous and complicated details which we sum up under the convenient (but often misleading) single name of caste are solely dependent for their sanction on public opinion. That opinion seems stable. But it is always tending to vary as to the degree of importance attached to some particular one of the details, as to the size and complexity of the particular groups in which each detail ought to be observed.
This last statement may be illustrated by the case of the Chaliyas. When the Dutch started cinnamon cultivation in Ceylon on a large scale, they wanted labourers. The peasantry, who belonged almost exclusively to one caste, the Goigamas, regarded it as unworthy of a free man to work for hire. Some of them, however, in the struggle of motives, found the pressure of poverty too strong for them, and accepted service as coolies. The others, thinking this bad form, became averse to giving their daughters in marriage to such coolies. These feelings were naturally stronger at first among the Goigamas of good social position, and it became a mark of superiority not to have a relative married to a worker in the cinnamon gardens. And such workers were called Chaliyas. By the time that the families of Chaliyas were numerous enough to afford mates for the male or female coolies, the Chaliyas found it impossible to find wives elsewhere. And thus, under the very eyes of Europeans, the size of one group had been diminished by the very considerable number of persons engaged in a new and despised trade; In other words, what we call a new caste had arisen, the caste of the Chaliyas. When the English took Ceylon they gave up the government cultivation of cinnamon. The gardens were carried on, in ever lessening numbers, by private individuals. The number of the Chaliyas consequently declined. Numbers of them, as they gradually returned to ordinary peasant work, became reabsorbed among the Goigammas. This was an instance of a change precisely contrary to that which happened when the caste gradually arose. But all did not succeed in returning; and there are, therefore, still some Chaliyas left. And the caste survives though the members of it are now no longer exclusively, or even largely, employed in cinnamon gardens; and many of them have become wealthy and honoured.
What had happened in this case was, not two separate and striking revolutions, but a long series of slight changes in public opinion, no doubt quite imperceptible at the time to the very people among whom the changes were taking place. And after all the changes were not so very slow. Three or four generations were enough to cover the whole series with the consequent results. Who can doubt but that the history of ancient India, if we had only access to the necessary evidence, would be found to cover, in its two thousand five hundred years, and through its wide territory, a constant succession of similar variations; and that similar variations are recurring still to-day.
Owing to the fact that the particular set of people who worked their way to the top based its claims on religious grounds, not on political power or wealth, the system has, no doubt, lasted longer in India than in Europe. But public opinion still insists in considerable circles, even in Europe, on restrictions of a more or less defined kind, both as to marriage and as to eating together. And in India the problem still remains to trace in the literature the gradual growth of the system--the gradual formation of new sections among the people, the gradual extension of the institution to the families of people engaged in certain trades, belonging to the same sect or tribe, tracing their ancestry (whether rightly or wrongly) to the same source, All these factors, and others besides, are real factors. But they are phases of the extension and growth, not explanations of the origin, of the system.
There is no evidence to show that at the time when the conversations recorded in the Dialogues took place (that is to say, in the sixth century B.C.) there was any substantial difference, as regards the barriers in question, between the peoples dwelling in the valley of the Ganges and their contemporaries dwelling on the shores of the Mediterranean. The point of greatest weight in the establishment of the great difference in the subsequent development--the supremacy, in India, of the priests--was still being hotly debated. And all our evidence tends to show that at least in the wide extent of territory covered by the Pitakas--countries close upon a hundred thousand square miles in area--the struggle was being decided rather against the Brahmans than for them. There were distinctions as to marriage; endogamous and exogamous groups. In a few instances, all among the lower classes of the people, these amounted, probably, to what would now be called caste-divisions. But of castes, in the modern sense, among the preponderating majority there is little or no conclusive evidence, There was a common phrase current among the people, which divided all the world into four vannâ (colours or complexions)--the nobles, the priests, the other Aryan people, and the non-Aryan Sûdras (Khattiyâ, Brâhmanâ, Vessâ, and Suddâ). The priests put themselves first, and had a theological legend in support of their contention. But it is clear from the Pitakas that this was not admitted by the nobles, And it is also clear that no one of these divisions was a caste. There was neither connubium nor commensality between all the members of one vannâ, nor was there a governing council for each. The fourth was distinguished from the others by race, The remaining three were distinguished from each other by social position. And though in a general rough way the classification corresponded to the actual facts of life, there were insensible gradations within the four classes, and the boundary between them was both variable and undefined.
And this enumeration of the populace was not complete. Outside these classes there were others, resembling in many points the modern low castes, and always when mentioned in the Pitakas following after the above four. Thus in Anguttara I, 1621, the argument is that just as there is no real difference in oxen, in spite of the fact that they can be arranged in classes by difference of colour (vanna), and the strong, active, well-trained ox is selected by preference, without regard to his colour (vanna); so also, when presenting gifts, the man of strong, active, well-trained mind should be selected as donee--without reference to the fact of his belonging to any one of the four classes of society (vannâ), or of his being a Kandâla or a Pukkusa. It is plain that this passage distinguishes the last two from the four vannâ and therefore from the Sûdras.
Other old texts2 insert between these two three further names--the Venas, the Nesâdas, and the Rathakâras, that is to say, the workers in rushes3, bird-catchers, and cart-makers. By these are meant aboriginal tribesmen who were hereditary craftsmen in these three crafts; for they are called hîna-gâtiyo, low tribes. They no doubt formed castes in the modern sense, though we have no information as to their marriage customs. They are represented in the Gâtaka book as living in villages of their own; outside the towns in which ordinary people dwelt, and formed evidently a numerically insignificant portion of the populace.
In the last passage quoted in the previous note there are mentioned, as distinct from these low tribes (the hîna-gâtiyo), certain low occupations (hîna-sippâni)--mat-makers, potters, weavers, leather-workers, and barbers. As they are excluded from the list of those distinguished by birth (gâti), it is implied that there was no hard and fast line, determined by birth, for those who gained their living by these trades. There would be a natural tendency for the son to follow the father's craft4; centuries afterwards they had become castes, and they were then on the border line. But they were not castes as yet.
Besides the above, who were all freemen, there were also slaves. We only hear of them quite occasionally, as domestic servants, in the houses of the very rich. Individuals had been captured in predatory raids, and reduced to slavery (Gât. IV, 220); or had been deprived of their freedom as a judicial punishment (Gât. I, 200); or had submitted to slavery of their own accord ('Vinaya Texts,' I, 191; Sum. I, 168). Children born to such slaves were also slaves, and the emancipation of slaves is often referred to. But we hear nothing of such later developments of slavery as rendered the Roman latifundia, or the plantations of some Christian slave-owners, scenes of misery and oppression. For the most part the slaves were household servants, and not badly treated, and their numbers seem to have been insignificant1.
What we find then, in the Buddha's time, is caste in the making. The great mass of the people were distinguished quite roughly into four classes--social strata--of which the boundary lines were vague and uncertain. At the one end of the scale certain outlying tribes, and certain hereditary crafts of a dirty or despised kind, were already, probably, castes. At the other end of the scale Brahmans by birth (not necessarily sacrificial priests, for they followed all sorts of occupations) were putting forward caste claims that were not yet universally admitted. There were social customs about the details of which we know very little (and dependent probably, more exactly upon the gotta rather than upon the gâti), which raised barriers, not seldom broken through, as to intermarriage of people admittedly belonging to the same vanna, and a fortiori of others. And there was a social code, based on the idea of impurity, which prevented familiar intercourse (such as commensality) between people of different rank; and rendered disgraceful the use of certain foods. We find, however, no usages which cannot be amply paralleled in the history of other peoples throughout the world in similar stages of social evolution. The key-stone of the arch of the peculiarly Indian caste organisation--the absolute supremacy of the Brahmans--had not yet been put in position, had not, in fact, been yet made ready. The caste-system, in any proper or exact use of the term, did not exist.
In the face of this set of circumstances Gotama, took up a distinct position. It meets us, it is true, in two phases; but it forms one consistent and logical whole.
In the first place, as regards his own Order, over which alone he had complete control, he ignores completely and absolutely all advantages or disadvantages arising from birth, occupation, and social status, and sweeps away all barriers and disabilities arising from the arbitrary rules of mere ceremonial or social impurity.
One of the most distinguished members of his Order, the very one of them who was referred to as the chief authority, after Gotama himself, on the rules of the Order, was Upâli, who had formerly been a barber, one of the despised occupations. So Sunita, one of the brethren whose verses are chosen for insertion in the Thera Gâthâ, was a Pukkusa, one of the low tribes. Sâti, the propounder of a deadly heresy, was of the sons of the fisherfolk, afterwards a low caste, and even then an occupation, on account of its cruelty, particularly abhorred. Nanda was a cowherd. The two Panthakas were born out of wedlock, to a girl of good family through intercourse with a slave (so that by the rule laid down in Manu 31, they were actually outcasts). Kâpâ was the daughter of a deer-stalker, Punnâ and Punnikâ had been slave girls. Sumangalamâtâ was daughter and wife to workers in rushes, and Subhâ was the daughter of a smith. More instances could doubtless be quoted already, and others will become known when more texts are published.
It does not show much historical insight to sneer at the numbers as small, and to suggest that the supposed enlightenment or liberality was mere pretence. The facts speak for themselves; and the percentage of low-born members of the Order was probably in fair proportion to the percentage of persons belonging to the despised gâtis and sippas as compared with the rest of the population. Thus of the Therîs mentioned in the Therî Gâthâ we know the social position of sixty, of whom five are mentioned above--that is, 8½ per cent. of the whole number were base-born. It is most likely that this is just about the proportion which persons in similar social rank bore to the rest of the population.
Whether the Buddhist Order differed in this respect from the other similar communities which are mentioned in the Buddhist books as having already existed when the Buddhist Order was founded, is still matter of controversy. The Buddhist books are mostly silent on the matter. But that very silence is valuable evidence. It is scarcely likely that if there had been much difference, there should be no allusion to it in the Pitakas. And the few passages in print confirm this. We have seen how in the Sâmañña-phala Sutta (above, p. 77) it is taken for granted that a slave could join an Order (that is any order, not the Buddhist). And in the Aggañña Sutta of the Dîgha, and the Madhura Sutta of the Magghima, there is express mention of Sûdras becoming Samanas, as if it were a recognised and common occurrence, long before the time of the rise of Buddhism. So in the Gâtaka (III, 381) we hear of a potter, and at IV, 392 of a Kandala, who become Samanas (not Buddhist Samanas)1.
On the other hand, it is just possible that in these passages the custom afterwards followed in the Buddhist Order is simply put back to earlier times, and is an anachronism. The low-born, however earnest in their search after truth, were no doubt excluded from any community of hermits or religious recluses in which Brahmans had the upper hand. But all the twice-born (the Dvigas, that is the Khattiyas, Brâhmanas, and Vessas) were certainly justified, by public opinion, in becoming Samanas. To what extent the Sûdras, and the tribes below the Sûdras, were accorded, in communities other than the Buddhist, a similar privilege, is at present doubtful. But the Buddha certainly adopted, and probably extended, the most rational view current at the time.
There is one point, however, in which he seems to have restricted (and for a valid reason) the existing custom. It is impossible to avoid the inference from the passage just referred to (in the Sâmañña-phala, above, p. 77 ), that the existing orders, or most of them, admitted slaves to their ranks. Now among a number of rules laid down to regulate admission to the Buddhist Order, in such wise that the existing rights of third parties should not be encroached upon, there is a rule (translated in 'Vinaya Texts,' S. B. E., I, 199) that no runaway slave shall be admitted. And in the form of words to be used at the chapter held for admitting new members, one of the questions asked of the candidate is: 'Are you a freeman2?' Whenever slaves were admitted to the Order, they must have previously obtained the consent of their masters, and also, I think, have been emancipated.
Secondly, as regards all such matters as we may now fairly call 'questions of caste' outside the Order, the Buddha adopted the only course then open to any man of sense; that is to say, he strove to influence that public opinion, on which the observances depend, by a constant inculcation of reasonable views. Thus in the Âmagandha Sutta3 of the Sutta Nipâta (certainly one of the very oldest of our documents) it is laid down, in eloquent words, that defilement does not come from eating this or that, prepared or given by this or that person, but from evil deeds and words and thoughts.
This is a particularly interesting passage, being one of the few in which sayings of previous Buddhas are recorded. In other words the Buddhists put forward this view as having been enunciated long ago--with the intended implication that it was a self-evident proposition which was common ground to the wise. No originality, no special insight, is claimed on account of a view that would have put an end to so many foolish prejudices based on superstition. The Buddha's position is again to adopt, in this matter, the sensible position already put forward by others.
As to other details also, which it would take too long to set out here, Gotama followed the same plan. On the general question, however, he had opinions, presumably his own. For they are not found elsewhere. And in the early Buddhist texts (always ready to give credit to others, and even anxious wherever possible to support their views by showing that others, especially in ancient times, had held them) these views are not referred to as part of the doctrine of either earlier or contemporary teachers.
We may class the utterances on this point under three heads--biological, ethical, and historical.
In the Vâsettha Sutta of the Sutta Nipâta (several verses of which have been inserted also in the Dhammapada) the question, as in the Sonadanda Sutta, translated below, is as to what makes a man a Brahman. As his answer the Buddha reminds his questioners of the fact that whereas in the case of plants (large or small), insects, quadrupeds, serpents, fish, and birds, there are many species and marks (due to the species) by which they can be distinguished--in the case of man there are no such species, and no such marks. 'Herein,' as pointed out by Mr. Chalmers1, 'Gotama was in accord with the conclusion of modern biologists, that "the Anthropidae are represented by the single genus and species, Man"--a conclusion the more remarkable as the accident of colour did not mislead Gotama' as it did so many of his contemporaries then; and even, within living memory, so many in the West. He goes on to draw the conclusion that distinctions made between different men are mere matters of prejudice and custom; that it is wisdom and goodness that make the only valid distinction, that make a man a Brahman; that the Arahat is therefore the true Brahman; and that it is only the ignorant who had, for so long, maintained that it was birth that made a man a Brahman.
Similar arguments frequently recur. In the Madhura Sutta, a dialogue, shortly after the Buddha's death, between the king of Madhura and Kakkâna, the point raised is whether the Brahmans are right in their exclusive claims. 'The Brahmans say thus, Kakkâna:--"The Brahmans are the most distinguished of the four divisions into which the people is classified1; every other division is inferior. The Brahmans are the white division; all the rest are black. The Brahmans alone are accounted pure, not those who are not Brahmans. The Brahmans are the legitimate sons of God (of Brahmâ), born from His mouth, specially made by Him, heirs of Brahmâ! What do you, Sir, say to this?"'
The Buddhist answer is first to remind the king of the actual facts of life--how a prosperous member of any one of the four vannas would find members of each of the other three to wait upon him and serve him. There was no difference between them in this respect. Then, secondly, he points out how a wicked man (whatever his vanna), in accordance with the doctrine of Karma acknowledged by all good men (not only by Buddhists), will be reborn in some state of woe; and a good man in some state of bliss. Thirdly, a criminal, whatever his vanna, would be equally subject to punishment for his crime. And lastly, a man, whatever his vanna, would, on joining an order, on becoming a religieux, receive equal respect and honour from the people2.
A Brahman might object that all this ignores the important point that the Brahmans were, originally, born of Brahmâ, and are his legitimate heirs. It was this claim to especial connection with the mysterious powers of a supernatural kind, so widely believed in, that formed their chief weapon in the struggle. We find the Buddhist reply to that in the Aggañña Sutta of the Dîgha, in many respects one of the most interesting and instructive of all the Dialogues3. It is a kind of Buddhist book of Genesis. In it the pretensions of the Brahmans are put forward in the same terms as those just quoted above from the Madhura Sutta.
Gotama replies that they make these claims in forgetfulness of the past. The claims have no basis in fact. It is righteousness (dhamma) and not class distinction (vanna) that makes the real difference between man and man1. Do we not daily see Brahman women with child and bearing sons just like other folk? How can they then say that they are born of God? And as to their origin, when the evolution of the world began, beings were at first immaterial, feeding on joy, giving light from themselves, passing through the air. There was thick darkness round about them, and neither sun nor moon, nor stars, nor sex, nor measures of time. Then the earth rose in the midst of the waters, beautiful as honey in taste and colour and smell, and the beings, eating thereof, lost their brightness, and then sun and moon and stars appeared, and time began to run. And then also their bodies became more coarse and material, and differences of complexion (vanna) became manifest among them. Then some prided themselves, and despised others, on the ground of their finer complexion. And thereupon the fine-tasting earth ceased to be so.
Then successively fine moss, and sweet creepers, and delicate rice appeared, and each time the beings ate thereof with a similar result. Then differences of sex appeared; and households were formed; and the lazy stored up the rice, instead of gathering it each evening and morning; and the rights of property arose, and were infringed. And when lusts were felt, and thefts committed, the beings, now become men, met together, and chose certain men, differing from the others in no wise except in virtue (dhamma), to restrain the evil doers by blame or fines or banishment. These were the first Kshatriyas. And others they chose to restrain the evil dispositions which led to the evil doing. And these were the first Brahmans, differing from the others in no wise, except only in virtue (dhamma).
Then certain others, to keep their households going, and maintain their wives, started occupations of various kinds. And these were the first vessas. And some abandoned their homes and became the first recluses (samanas). But all were alike in origin, and the only distinction between them was in virtue. And the highest of them all was acknowledged to be the Arahat, who had made himself so by the destruction of the Four Mental Intoxications (the Âsavas) and by breaking the bonds that tied him to rebirths; the man who had laid aside every burden, who had lived the life, had accomplished all that had to be done, had gained his end, and by the highest knowledge was set free!
We may not accept the historical accuracy of this legend. Indeed a continual note of good-humoured irony runs through the whole story, with its fanciful etymologies of the names of the four vannâ; and the aroma of it would be lost on the hearer who took it au grand sérieux. But it reveals a sound and healthy insight, and is much nearer to the actual facts than the Brahman legend it was intended to replace.
Had the Buddha's views on the whole question won the day--and widely shared, as they were, by others, they very nearly prevailed--the evolution of social grades and distinctions would have gone on in India on lines similar to those it followed in the West, and the caste system of India would never have been built up1.
Rhys Davids’s notes (7)
2. Assalâyana (No. 93 in the Magghima); Anguttara II, 85 = P. P. IV, 19; Samyutta I, 93; Vinaya IV, 6-10, &c.
3. Sometimes explained as carpenters, sometimes as basket-makers, sometimes as makers of sunshades.
4. Further exemplified by the number of people described as kevatta-putto, assâroha-putto, nata-putto, sûda-putto, &c.}
1. See also A. I, 145, 206; II, 67; III, 36, 132, 217; Vin. IV, 224; D. I, 5, 60, 72, 93, 141 (translated above); Gât. I, 226, 385; III, 343, 437; Dhp. Cy. 238, &c.
2. 'Vinaya Texts,' I, 230.
3. Translated by Fausböll, S. B. E., pp. 40-43.}
1. J. R. A. S., 1894, p. 396.
2. This Madhura Sutta has now been edited and translated, with valuable introduction and notes, by Mr. Robert Chalmers, in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1894.
3. The larger portion of this Sutta (from the beginning of the genesis part down to the election of the first king) is also preserved in the Mahâvastu. See Senart's edition, vol. i, pp. 338-348. The reading agninyam (p. 340, 17, &c.) represents the Pâli aggaññam.}
1. The words here are quoted in the Milinda, vol. i, p. 229 of my translation.
1. There is an admirable little book by M. Senart on the origin of caste, on the Brahman views about it, and on the present actual facts of caste in India, entitled 'Les Castes dans I'Inde.' Dr. Fick also in his 'Sociale Gliederung im nordöstlichen Indien zu Buddha's Zeit' has collected the evidence found in the Gâtaka book, and analysed it with great skill. Similar monographs on the Pitakas, and on the Epics, are much to be desired.
Pali
Evaṁ me sutaṁ— ekaṁ samayaṁ bhagavā kosalesu cārikaṁ caramāno mahatā bhikkhusaṅghena saddhiṁ pañcamattehi bhikkhusatehi yena icchānaṅgalaṁ nāma kosalānaṁ brāhmaṇagāmo tadavasari. Tatra sudaṁ bhagavā icchānaṅgale viharati icchānaṅgalavanasaṇḍe.
1. Pokkharasātivatthu
English Rhys Davids 1899
I. 1. Thus have I heard. The Blessed One, when once on a tour through the Kosala country with a great company of the brethren, with about five hundred brethren, arrived at a Brahman village in Kosala named Ikkhânankala; and while there he stayed in the Ikkhânankala Wood.
Now at that time the Brahman Pokkharasâdi was dwelling at Ukkattha, a spot teeming with life, with much grassland and woodland and corn, on a royal domain, granted him by King Pasenadi of Kosala as a royal gift, with power over it as if he were the king1.
2. Now the Brahman Pokkharasâdi2 heard the news:
'They say that the Samana Gotama, of the Sâkya clan, who went out from a Sâkya family to adopt the religious life, has now arrived, with a great company of the brethren of his Order, at Ikkhânankala, and is staying there in the Ikkhânankala Wood. Now regarding that venerable Gotama, such is the high reputation that has been noised abroad:--That Blessed One is an Arahat, a fully awakened one, abounding in wisdom and goodness, happy, with knowledge of the worlds, unsurpassed as a guide to mortals willing to be led, a teacher for gods and men, a Blessed One, a Buddha. He, by himself, thoroughly knows and sees, as it were, face to face this universe,--including the worlds above of the gods, the Brahmas, and the Mâras, and the world below with its recluses and Brahmans, its princes and peoples,--and having known it, he makes his knowledge known to others. The truth, lovely in its origin, lovely in its progress, lovely in its consummation, doth he proclaim, both in the spirit and in the letter, the higher life doth he make known, in all its fullness and in all its purity.
Pali
Tena kho pana samayena brāhmaṇo pokkharasāti ukkaṭṭhaṁ ajjhāvasati sattussadaṁ satiṇakaṭṭhodakaṁ sadhaññaṁ rājabhoggaṁ raññā pasenadinā kosalena dinnaṁ rājadāyaṁ brahmadeyyaṁ. Assosi kho brāhmaṇo pokkharasāti:
“samaṇo khalu, bho, gotamo sakyaputto sakyakulā pabbajito kosalesu cārikaṁ caramāno mahatā bhikkhusaṅghena saddhiṁ pañcamattehi bhikkhusatehi icchānaṅgalaṁ anuppatto icchānaṅgale viharati icchānaṅgalavanasaṇḍe. Taṁ kho pana bhavantaṁ gotamaṁ evaṁ kalyāṇo kittisaddo abbhuggato— ‘itipi so bhagavā arahaṁ sammāsambuddho vijjācaraṇasampanno sugato lokavidū anuttaro purisadammasārathi satthā devamanussānaṁ buddho bhagavā.’ So imaṁ lokaṁ sadevakaṁ samārakaṁ sabrahmakaṁ sassamaṇabrāhmaṇiṁ pajaṁ sadevamanussaṁ sayaṁ abhiññā sacchikatvā pavedeti. So dhammaṁ deseti ādikalyāṇaṁ majjhekalyāṇaṁ pariyosānakalyāṇaṁ, sātthaṁ sabyañjanaṁ, kevalaparipuṇṇaṁ parisuddhaṁ brahmacariyaṁ pakāseti. Sādhu kho pana tathārūpānaṁ arahataṁ dassanaṁ hotī”ti.
2. Ambaṭṭhamāṇava
Tena kho pana samayena brāhmaṇassa pokkharasātissa ambaṭṭho nāma māṇavo antevāsī hoti ajjhāyako mantadharo tiṇṇaṁ vedānaṁ pāragū sanighaṇḍukeṭubhānaṁ sākkharappabhedānaṁ itihāsapañcamānaṁ padako veyyākaraṇo lokāyatamahāpurisalakkhaṇesu anavayo anuññātapaṭiññāto sake ācariyake tevijjake pāvacane: “yamahaṁ jānāmi taṁ tvaṁ jānāsi; yaṁ tvaṁ jānāsi tamahaṁ jānāmī”ti.
Atha kho brāhmaṇo pokkharasāti ambaṭṭhaṁ māṇavaṁ āmantesi: “ayaṁ, tāta ambaṭṭha, samaṇo gotamo sakyaputto sakyakulā pabbajito kosalesu cārikaṁ caramāno mahatā bhikkhusaṅghena saddhiṁ pañcamattehi bhikkhusatehi icchānaṅgalaṁ anuppatto icchānaṅgale viharati icchānaṅgalavanasaṇḍe. Taṁ kho pana bhavantaṁ gotamaṁ evaṁ kalyāṇo kittisaddo abbhuggato: ‘itipi so bhagavā, arahaṁ sammāsambuddho vijjācaraṇasampanno sugato lokavidū anuttaro purisadammasārathi satthā devamanussānaṁ buddho bhagavā. So imaṁ lokaṁ sadevakaṁ samārakaṁ sabrahmakaṁ sassamaṇabrāhmaṇiṁ pajaṁ sadevamanussaṁ sayaṁ abhiññā sacchikatvā pavedeti. So dhammaṁ deseti ādikalyāṇaṁ majjhekalyāṇaṁ pariyosānakalyāṇaṁ, sātthaṁ sabyañjanaṁ kevalaparipuṇṇaṁ parisuddhaṁ brahmacariyaṁ pakāseti. Sādhu kho pana tathārūpānaṁ arahataṁ dassanaṁ hotī’ti. Ehi tvaṁ, tāta ambaṭṭha, yena samaṇo gotamo tenupasaṅkama; upasaṅkamitvā samaṇaṁ gotamaṁ jānāhi, yadi vā taṁ bhavantaṁ gotamaṁ tathāsantaṁyeva saddo abbhuggato, yadi vā no tathā. Yadi vā so bhavaṁ gotamo tādiso, yadi vā na tādiso, tathā mayaṁ taṁ bhavantaṁ gotamaṁ vedissāmā”ti.
“Yathā kathaṁ panāhaṁ, bho, taṁ bhavantaṁ gotamaṁ jānissāmi: ‘yadi vā taṁ bhavantaṁ gotamaṁ tathāsantaṁyeva saddo abbhuggato, yadi vā no tathā. Yadi vā so bhavaṁ gotamo tādiso, yadi vā na tādiso’”ti?
English Rhys Davids 1899
'And good is it to pay visits to Arahats like that.'
3. Now at that time a young Brahman, an Ambattha1, was a pupil under Pokkharasâdi the Brahman. And he was a repeater (of the sacred words) knowing the mystic verses by heart, one who had mastered the Three Vedas, with the indices, the ritual, the phonology, and the exegesis (as a fourth)2, and the legends as a fifth. learned in the idioms and the grammar, versed in Lokâyata sophistry, and in the theory of the signs on the body of a great man1,--so recognised an authority in the system of the threefold Vedic knowledge as expounded by his master, that he could say of him: 'What I know that you know, and what you know that I know.'
4. And Pokkarasâdi told Ambattha the news, and said: 'Come now, dear Ambattha, go to the Samana Gotama, and find out whether the reputation so noised abroad regarding him is in accord with the facts or not, whether the Samana Gotama is such as they say or not.'
5. 'But how, Sir, shall I know whether that is so or not?'
'There have been handed down, Ambattha, in our mystic verses thirty-two bodily signs of a great man,--signs which, if a man has, he will become one of two things, and no other2. If he dwells at home he will become a sovran of the world, a righteous king, bearing rule even to the shores of the four great oceans, a conqueror, the protector of his people, possessor of the seven royal treasures.
Pali
“Āgatāni kho, tāta ambaṭṭha, amhākaṁ mantesu dvattiṁsa mahāpurisalakkhaṇāni, yehi samannāgatassa mahāpurisassa dveyeva gatiyo bhavanti anaññā. Sace agāraṁ ajjhāvasati, rājā hoti cakkavattī dhammiko dhammarājā cāturanto vijitāvī janapadatthāvariyappatto sattaratanasamannāgato. Tassimāni satta ratanāni bhavanti. Seyyathidaṁ—cakkaratanaṁ, hatthiratanaṁ, assaratanaṁ, maṇiratanaṁ, itthiratanaṁ, gahapatiratanaṁ, pariṇāyakaratanameva sattamaṁ. Parosahassaṁ kho panassa puttā bhavanti sūrā vīraṅgarūpā parasenappamaddanā. So imaṁ pathaviṁ sāgarapariyantaṁ adaṇḍena asatthena dhammena abhivijiya ajjhāvasati. Sace kho pana agārasmā anagāriyaṁ pabbajati, arahaṁ hoti sammāsambuddho loke vivaṭṭacchado. Ahaṁ kho pana, tāta ambaṭṭha, mantānaṁ dātā; tvaṁ mantānaṁ paṭiggahetā”ti.
“Evaṁ, bho”ti kho ambaṭṭho māṇavo brāhmaṇassa pokkharasātissa paṭissutvā uṭṭhāyāsanā brāhmaṇaṁ pokkharasātiṁ abhivādetvā padakkhiṇaṁ katvā vaḷavārathamāruyha sambahulehi māṇavakehi saddhiṁ yena icchānaṅgalavanasaṇḍo tena pāyāsi. Yāvatikā yānassa bhūmi yānena gantvā yānā paccorohitvā pattikova ārāmaṁ pāvisi.
Tena kho pana samayena sambahulā bhikkhū abbhokāse caṅkamanti. Atha kho ambaṭṭho māṇavo yena te bhikkhū tenupasaṅkami; upasaṅkamitvā te bhikkhū etadavoca: “kahaṁ nu kho, bho, etarahi so bhavaṁ gotamo viharati? Tañhi mayaṁ bhavantaṁ gotamaṁ dassanāya idhūpasaṅkantā”ti.
Atha kho tesaṁ bhikkhūnaṁ etadahosi: “ayaṁ kho ambaṭṭho māṇavo abhiññātakolañño ceva abhiññātassa ca brāhmaṇassa pokkharasātissa antevāsī. Agaru kho pana bhagavato evarūpehi kulaputtehi saddhiṁ kathāsallāpo hotī”ti.
Te ambaṭṭhaṁ māṇavaṁ etadavocuṁ: “eso, ambaṭṭha, vihāro saṁvutadvāro, tena appasaddo upasaṅkamitvā ataramāno āḷindaṁ pavisitvā ukkāsitvā aggaḷaṁ ākoṭehi, vivarissati te bhagavā dvāran”ti.
English Rhys Davids 1899
And these are the seven treasures that he has--the Wheel, the Elephant, the Horse, the Gem, the Woman, the Treasurer, and the Adviser as a seventh1. And he has more than a thousand sons, heroes, mighty in frame, beating down the armies of the foe. And he dwells in complete ascendancy over the wide earth from sea to sea, ruling it in righteousness without the need of baton or of sword. But if he go forth from the household life into the houseless state, then he will become a Buddha who removes the veil from the eyes of the world. Now I, Ambattha, am a giver of the mystic verses; you have received them from me.'
6. 'Very good, Sir,' said Ambattha in reply; and rising from his seat and paying reverence to Pokkharasâdi, he mounted a chariot drawn by mares, and proceeded, with a retinue of young Brahmans, to the Ikkhânankala Wood. And when he had gone on in the chariot as far as the road was practicable for vehicles, he got down, and went on, into the park, on foot.
7. Now at that time a number of the brethren were walking up and down in the open air. And Ambattha went up to them, and said: 'Where may the venerable Gotama be lodging now? We have come hither to call upon him.'
8. Then the brethren thought: 'This young Brahman Ambattha is of distinguished family. and a pupil of the distinguished Brahman Pokkharasâdi. The Blessed One will not find it difficult to hold conversation with such.' And they said to Ambattha: 'There, Ambattha, is his lodging2, where the door is shut, go quietly up and enter the porch gently, and give a cough, and knock on the cross-bar. The Blessed One will open the door for you.'
9. Then Ambattha did so. And the Blessed One opened the door, and Ambattha entered in. And the other young Brahmans also went in; and they exchanged with the Blessed One the greetings and compliments of politeness and courtesy, and took their seats. But Ambattha, walking about, said something or other of a civil kind in an off-hand way, fidgeting about the while, or standing up, to the Blessed One sitting there.
Pali
Atha kho ambaṭṭho māṇavo yena so vihāro saṁvutadvāro, tena appasaddo upasaṅkamitvā ataramāno āḷindaṁ pavisitvā ukkāsitvā aggaḷaṁ ākoṭesi. Vivari bhagavā dvāraṁ. Pāvisi ambaṭṭho māṇavo. Māṇavakāpi pavisitvā bhagavatā saddhiṁ sammodiṁsu, sammodanīyaṁ kathaṁ sāraṇīyaṁ vītisāretvā ekamantaṁ nisīdiṁsu. Ambaṭṭho pana māṇavo caṅkamantopi nisinnena bhagavatā kañci kañci kathaṁ sāraṇīyaṁ vītisāreti, ṭhitopi nisinnena bhagavatā kañci kañci kathaṁ sāraṇīyaṁ vītisāreti.
Atha kho bhagavā ambaṭṭhaṁ māṇavaṁ etadavoca: “evaṁ nu te, ambaṭṭha, brāhmaṇehi vuddhehi mahallakehi ācariyapācariyehi saddhiṁ kathāsallāpo hoti, yathayidaṁ caraṁ tiṭṭhaṁ nisinnena mayā kiñci kiñci kathaṁ sāraṇīyaṁ vītisāretī”ti?
2.1. Paṭhamaibbhavāda
“No hidaṁ, bho gotama. Gacchanto vā hi, bho gotama, gacchantena brāhmaṇo brāhmaṇena saddhiṁ sallapitumarahati, ṭhito vā hi, bho gotama, ṭhitena brāhmaṇo brāhmaṇena saddhiṁ sallapitumarahati, nisinno vā hi, bho gotama, nisinnena brāhmaṇo brāhmaṇena saddhiṁ sallapitumarahati, sayāno vā hi, bho gotama, sayānena brāhmaṇo brāhmaṇena saddhiṁ sallapitumarahati. Ye ca kho te, bho gotama, muṇḍakā samaṇakā ibbhā kaṇhā bandhupādāpaccā, tehipi me saddhiṁ evaṁ kathāsallāpo hoti, yathariva bhotā gotamenā”ti.
“Atthikavato kho pana te, ambaṭṭha, idhāgamanaṁ ahosi, yāyeva kho panatthāya āgaccheyyātha, tameva atthaṁ sādhukaṁ manasi kareyyātha. Avusitavāyeva kho pana, bho, ayaṁ ambaṭṭho māṇavo vusitamānī kimaññatra avusitattā”ti.
English Rhys Davids 1899
10. And the Blessed One said to him: 'Is that the way, Ambattha, that you would hold converse with aged teachers, and teachers of your teachers well stricken in years, as you now do, moving about the while or standing, with me thus seated?'
11. 'Certainly not, Gotama. It is proper to speak with a Brahman as one goes along only when the Brahman himself is walking, and standing to a Brahman who stands, and seated to a Brahman who has taken his seat, or reclining to a Brahman who reclines. But with shavelings, sham friars, menial black fellows, the offscouring of our kinsman's heels1--with them I would talk as I now do to you!'
'But you must have been wanting something, Ambattha, when you came here. Turn your thoughts rather to the object you had in view when you came. This young Brahman Ambattha is ill bred, though he prides himself on his culture; what can this come from except from want of training2?'
12. Then Ambattha was displeased and angry with the Blessed One at being called rude; and at the thought that the Blessed One was vexed with him, he said, scoffing, jeering, and sneering at the Blessed One: 'Rough is this Sâkya breed of yours, Gotama, and rude; touchy is this Sâkya breed of yours and violent.
Pali
Atha kho ambaṭṭho māṇavo bhagavatā avusitavādena vuccamāno kupito anattamano bhagavantaṁyeva khuṁsento bhagavantaṁyeva vambhento bhagavantaṁyeva upavadamāno: “samaṇo ca me bho gotamo pāpito bhavissatī”ti bhagavantaṁ etadavoca: “caṇḍā, bho gotama, sakyajāti; pharusā, bho gotama, sakyajāti; lahusā, bho gotama, sakyajāti; bhassā, bho gotama, sakyajāti; ibbhā santā ibbhā samānā na brāhmaṇe sakkaronti, na brāhmaṇe garuṁ karonti, na brāhmaṇe mānenti, na brāhmaṇe pūjenti, na brāhmaṇe apacāyanti. Tayidaṁ, bho gotama, nacchannaṁ, tayidaṁ nappatirūpaṁ, yadime sakyā ibbhā santā ibbhā samānā na brāhmaṇe sakkaronti, na brāhmaṇe garuṁ karonti, na brāhmaṇe mānenti, na brāhmaṇe pūjenti, na brāhmaṇe apacāyantī”ti.
Itiha ambaṭṭho māṇavo idaṁ paṭhamaṁ sakyesu ibbhavādaṁ nipātesi.
2.2. Dutiyaibbhavāda
“Kiṁ pana te, ambaṭṭha, sakyā aparaddhun”ti?
“Ekamidāhaṁ, bho gotama, samayaṁ ācariyassa brāhmaṇassa pokkharasātissa kenacideva karaṇīyena kapilavatthuṁ agamāsiṁ. Yena sakyānaṁ sandhāgāraṁ tenupasaṅkamiṁ. Tena kho pana samayena sambahulā sakyā ceva sakyakumārā ca sandhāgāre uccesu āsanesu nisinnā honti aññamaññaṁ aṅgulipatodakehi sañjagghantā saṅkīḷantā, aññadatthu mamaññeva maññe anujagghantā, na maṁ koci āsanenapi nimantesi. Tayidaṁ, bho gotama, nacchannaṁ, tayidaṁ nappatirūpaṁ, yadime sakyā ibbhā santā ibbhā samānā na brāhmaṇe sakkaronti, na brāhmaṇe garuṁ karonti, na brāhmaṇe mānenti, na brāhmaṇe pūjenti, na brāhmaṇe apacāyantī”ti.
Itiha ambaṭṭho māṇavo idaṁ dutiyaṁ sakyesu ibbhavādaṁ nipātesi.
2.3. Tatiyaibbhavāda
English Rhys Davids 1899
Menials, mere menials1, they neither venerate, nor value, nor esteem, nor give gifts to, nor pay honour to Brahmans. That, Gotama, is neither fitting, nor is it seemly!'
Thus did the young Brahman Ambattha for the first time charge the Sâkyas with being menials.
13. 'But in what then, Ambattha, have the Sâkyas given you offence?'
'Once, Gotama, I had to go to Kapilavatthu on some business or other of Pokkharasâdi's, and went into the Sâkyas' Congress Hall2. Now at that time there were a number of Sâkyas, old and young, seated in the hall on grand seats, making merry and joking together, nudging one another with their fingers3; and for a truth, methinks, it was I myself that was the subject of their jokes; and not one of them even offered me a seat. That, Gotama, is neither fitting, nor is it seemly, that the Sâkyas, menials as they are, mere menials, should neither venerate, nor value, nor esteem, nor give gifts to, nor pay honour to Brahmans.'
Thus did the young Brahman Ambattha for the second time charge the Sâkyas with being menials.
14. 'Why a quail, Ambattha, little hen bird though she be, can say what she likes in her own nest. And there the Sâkyas are at their own home, in Kapilavatthu. It is not fitting for you to take offence at so trifling a thing.'
15. 'There are these four grades1, Gotama,--the nobles, the Brahmans, the tradesfolk, and the work-people. And of these four, three--the nobles, the tradesfolk, and the work-people--are, verily, but attendants on the Brahmans.
Pali
“Laṭukikāpi kho, ambaṭṭha, sakuṇikā sake kulāvake kāmalāpinī hoti. Sakaṁ kho panetaṁ, ambaṭṭha, sakyānaṁ yadidaṁ kapilavatthuṁ, nārahatāyasmā ambaṭṭho imāya appamattāya abhisajjitun”ti.
“Cattārome, bho gotama, vaṇṇā— khattiyā brāhmaṇā vessā suddā. Imesañhi, bho gotama, catunnaṁ vaṇṇānaṁ tayo vaṇṇā— khattiyā ca vessā ca suddā ca— aññadatthu brāhmaṇasseva paricārakā sampajjanti. Tayidaṁ, bho gotama, nacchannaṁ, tayidaṁ nappatirūpaṁ, yadime sakyā ibbhā santā ibbhā samānā na brāhmaṇe sakkaronti, na brāhmaṇe garuṁ karonti, na brāhmaṇe mānenti, na brāhmaṇe pūjenti, na brāhmaṇe apacāyantī”ti.
Itiha ambaṭṭho māṇavo idaṁ tatiyaṁ sakyesu ibbhavādaṁ nipātesi.
2.4. Dāsiputtavāda
Atha kho bhagavato etadahosi: “atibāḷhaṁ kho ayaṁ ambaṭṭho māṇavo sakyesu ibbhavādena nimmādeti, yannūnāhaṁ gottaṁ puccheyyan”ti.
Atha kho bhagavā ambaṭṭhaṁ māṇavaṁ etadavoca: “kathaṁ gottosi, ambaṭṭhā”ti?
“Kaṇhāyanohamasmi, bho gotamā”ti.
“Porāṇaṁ kho pana te, ambaṭṭha, mātāpettikaṁ nāmagottaṁ anussarato ayyaputtā sakyā bhavanti; dāsiputto tvamasi sakyānaṁ. Sakyā kho pana, ambaṭṭha, rājānaṁ okkākaṁ pitāmahaṁ dahanti.
Bhūtapubbaṁ, ambaṭṭha, rājā okkāko yā sā mahesī piyā manāpā, tassā puttassa rajjaṁ pariṇāmetukāmo jeṭṭhakumāre raṭṭhasmā pabbājesi— okkāmukhaṁ karakaṇḍaṁ hatthinikaṁ sinisūraṁ. Te raṭṭhasmā pabbājitā himavantapasse pokkharaṇiyā tīre mahāsākasaṇḍo, tattha vāsaṁ kappesuṁ. Te jātisambhedabhayā sakāhi bhaginīhi saddhiṁ saṁvāsaṁ kappesuṁ.
English Rhys Davids 1899
So, Gotama, that is neither fitting, nor is it seemly, that the Sâkyas, menials as they are, mere menials, should neither venerate, nor value, nor esteem, nor give gifts to, nor pay honour to the Brahmans.'
Thus did the young Brahman Ambattha for the third time charge the Sâkyas with being menials.
16. Then the Blessed One thought thus: 'This Ambattha is very set on humbling the Sâkyas with his charge of servile origin. What if I were to ask him as to his own lineage.' And he said to him:
'And what family do you then, Ambattha, belong to?'
'I am a Kanhâyana.'
'Yes, but if one were to follow up your ancient name and lineage, Ambattha, on the father's and the mother's side, it would appear that the Sâkyas were once your masters, and that you are the offspring of one of their slave girls. But the Sâkyas trace their line back to Okkâka the king2.
'Long ago, Ambattha, King Okkâka, wanting to divert the succession in favour or the son of his favourite queen, banished his elder children--Okkâmukha, Karanda, Hatthinika, and Sinipura--from the land. And being thus banished they took up their dwelling on the slopes of the Himâlaya, on the borders of a lake where a mighty oak tree grew.
And through fear of injuring the purity of their line they intermarried with their sisters.
'Now Okkâka the king asked the ministers at his court: "Where, Sirs, are the children now1?"'
'There is a spot, Sire, on the slopes of the Himâlaya, on the borders of a lake, where there grows a mighty oak (sako). There do they dwell. And lest they should injure the purity of their line they have married their own (sakâhi) sisters.'
'Then did Okkâka the king burst forth in admiration
Pali
Atha kho, ambaṭṭha, rājā okkāko amacce pārisajje āmantesi: ‘kahaṁ nu kho, bho, etarahi kumārā sammantī’ti?
‘Atthi, deva, himavantapasse pokkharaṇiyā tīre mahāsākasaṇḍo, tatthetarahi kumārā sammanti. Te jātisambhedabhayā sakāhi bhaginīhi saddhiṁ saṁvāsaṁ kappentī’ti.
Atha kho, ambaṭṭha, rājā okkāko udānaṁ udānesi: ‘sakyā vata, bho, kumārā, paramasakyā vata, bho, kumārā’ti. Tadagge kho pana, ambaṭṭha, sakyā paññāyanti; so ca nesaṁ pubbapuriso.
Rañño kho pana, ambaṭṭha, okkākassa disā nāma dāsī ahosi. Sā kaṇhaṁ nāma janesi. Jāto kaṇho pabyāhāsi: ‘dhovatha maṁ, amma, nahāpetha maṁ amma, imasmā maṁ asucismā parimocetha, atthāya vo bhavissāmī’ti. Yathā kho pana, ambaṭṭha, etarahi manussā pisāce disvā ‘pisācā’ti sañjānanti; evameva kho, ambaṭṭha, tena kho pana samayena manussā pisāce ‘kaṇhā’ti sañjānanti.
Te evamāhaṁsu: ‘ayaṁ jāto pabyāhāsi, kaṇho jāto, pisāco jāto’ti. Tadagge kho pana, ambaṭṭha, kaṇhāyanā paññāyanti, so ca kaṇhāyanānaṁ pubbapuriso. Iti kho te, ambaṭṭha, porāṇaṁ mātāpettikaṁ nāmagottaṁ anussarato ayyaputtā sakyā bhavanti, dāsiputto tvamasi sakyānan”ti.
Evaṁ vutte, te māṇavakā bhagavantaṁ etadavocuṁ: “mā bhavaṁ gotamo ambaṭṭhaṁ atibāḷhaṁ dāsiputtavādena nimmādesi. Sujāto ca, bho gotama, ambaṭṭho māṇavo, kulaputto ca ambaṭṭho māṇavo, bahussuto ca ambaṭṭho māṇavo, kalyāṇavākkaraṇo ca ambaṭṭho māṇavo, paṇḍito ca ambaṭṭho māṇavo, pahoti ca ambaṭṭho māṇavo bhotā gotamena saddhiṁ asmiṁ vacane paṭimantetun”ti.
English Rhys Davids 1899
: "Hearts of oak (sakyâ) are those young fellows! Right well they hold their own (paramasakyâ)2!"
'That is the reason, Ambattha, why they are known as Sâkyas. Now Okkâka had a slave girl called Disâ. She gave birth to a black baby. And no sooner was it born than the little black thing said, "Wash me, mother. Bathe me, mother. Set me free, mother, of this dirt. So shall I be of use to you."
'Now just as now, Ambattha, people call devils "devils," so then they called devils "black fellows" (kanhe). And they said: "This fellow spoke as soon as he was born. 'Tis a black thing (kanha) that is born, a devil has been born!" And that is the origin, Ambattha, of the Kanhayanas s. He was the ancestor of the Kanhâyanas3. And thus is it, Ambattha, that if one were to follow up your ancient name and lineage, on the father's and on the mother's side, it would appear that the Sâkyas were once your masters, and that you are the offspring of one of their slave girls.'
17. When he had thus spoken the young Brahmans said to the Blessed One: 'Let not the venerable Gotama humble Ambattha too sternly with this reproach of being descended from a slave girl. He is well born, Gotama, and of good family; he is versed in the sacred hymns, an able reciter, a learned man. And he is able to give answer to the venerable Gotama in these matters.'
18. Then the Blessed One said to them: 'Quite so. If
Pali
Atha kho bhagavā te māṇavake etadavoca: “sace kho tumhākaṁ māṇavakānaṁ evaṁ hoti: ‘dujjāto ca ambaṭṭho māṇavo, akulaputto ca ambaṭṭho māṇavo, appassuto ca ambaṭṭho māṇavo, akalyāṇavākkaraṇo ca ambaṭṭho māṇavo, duppañño ca ambaṭṭho māṇavo, na ca pahoti ambaṭṭho māṇavo samaṇena gotamena saddhiṁ asmiṁ vacane paṭimantetun’ti, tiṭṭhatu ambaṭṭho māṇavo, tumhe mayā saddhiṁ mantavho asmiṁ vacane. Sace pana tumhākaṁ māṇavakānaṁ evaṁ hoti: ‘sujāto ca ambaṭṭho māṇavo, kulaputto ca ambaṭṭho māṇavo, bahussuto ca ambaṭṭho māṇavo, kalyāṇavākkaraṇo ca ambaṭṭho māṇavo, paṇḍito ca ambaṭṭho māṇavo, pahoti ca ambaṭṭho māṇavo samaṇena gotamena saddhiṁ asmiṁ vacane paṭimantetun’ti, tiṭṭhatha tumhe; ambaṭṭho māṇavo mayā saddhiṁ paṭimantetū”ti.
“Sujāto ca, bho gotama, ambaṭṭho māṇavo, kulaputto ca ambaṭṭho māṇavo, bahussuto ca ambaṭṭho māṇavo, kalyāṇavākkaraṇo ca ambaṭṭho māṇavo, paṇḍito ca ambaṭṭho māṇavo, pahoti ca ambaṭṭho māṇavo bhotā gotamena saddhiṁ asmiṁ vacane paṭimantetuṁ, tuṇhī mayaṁ bhavissāma, ambaṭṭho māṇavo bhotā gotamena saddhiṁ asmiṁ vacane paṭimantetū”ti.
Atha kho bhagavā ambaṭṭhaṁ māṇavaṁ etadavoca: “ayaṁ kho pana te, ambaṭṭha, sahadhammiko pañho āgacchati, akāmā byākātabbo. Sace tvaṁ na byākarissasi, aññena vā aññaṁ paṭicarissasi, tuṇhī vā bhavissasi, pakkamissasi vā ettheva te sattadhā muddhā phalissati. Taṁ kiṁ maññasi, ambaṭṭha, kinti te sutaṁ brāhmaṇānaṁ vuddhānaṁ mahallakānaṁ ācariyapācariyānaṁ bhāsamānānaṁ kutopabhutikā kaṇhāyanā, ko ca kaṇhāyanānaṁ pubbapuriso”ti?
English Rhys Davids 1899
you thought otherwise, then it would be for you to carry on our discussion further. But as you think so, let Ambattha himself speak1.'
19. 'We do think so; and we will hold our peace. Ambattha is able to give answer to the venerable Gotama in these matters.'
20. Then the Blessed One said to Ambattha the Brahman: 'Then this further question arises, Ambattha, a very reasonable one which, even though unwillingly, you should answer. If you do not give a clear reply, or go off upon another issue2, or remain silent, or go away, then your head will split in pieces on the spot3. What have you heard, when Brahmans old and well stricken in years, teachers of yours or their teachers, were talking together, as to whence the Kanhâyanas draw their origin, and who the ancestor was to whom they trace themselves back?'
And when he had thus spoken Ambattha remained silent. And the Blessed One asked the same question again.
Pali
Evaṁ vutte, ambaṭṭho māṇavo tuṇhī ahosi.
Dutiyampi kho bhagavā ambaṭṭhaṁ māṇavaṁ etadavoca: “taṁ kiṁ maññasi, ambaṭṭha, kinti te sutaṁ brāhmaṇānaṁ vuddhānaṁ mahallakānaṁ ācariyapācariyānaṁ bhāsamānānaṁ kutopabhutikā kaṇhāyanā, ko ca kaṇhāyanānaṁ pubbapuriso”ti? Dutiyampi kho ambaṭṭho māṇavo tuṇhī ahosi.
Atha kho bhagavā ambaṭṭhaṁ māṇavaṁ etadavoca: “byākarohi dāni, ambaṭṭha, na dāni, te tuṇhībhāvassa kālo. Yo kho, ambaṭṭha, tathāgatena yāvatatiyakaṁ sahadhammikaṁ pañhaṁ puṭṭho na byākaroti, etthevassa sattadhā muddhā phalissatī”ti.
Tena kho pana samayena vajirapāṇī yakkho mahantaṁ ayokūṭaṁ ādāya ādittaṁ sampajjalitaṁ sajotibhūtaṁ ambaṭṭhassa māṇavassa upari vehāsaṁ ṭhito hoti: “sacāyaṁ ambaṭṭho māṇavo bhagavatā yāvatatiyakaṁ sahadhammikaṁ pañhaṁ puṭṭho na byākarissati, etthevassa sattadhā muddhaṁ phālessāmī”ti. Taṁ kho pana vajirapāṇiṁ yakkhaṁ bhagavā ceva passati ambaṭṭho ca māṇavo.
Atha kho ambaṭṭho māṇavo bhīto saṁviggo lomahaṭṭhajāto bhagavantaṁyeva tāṇaṁ gavesī bhagavantaṁyeva leṇaṁ gavesī bhagavantaṁyeva saraṇaṁ gavesī upanisīditvā bhagavantaṁ etadavoca: “kimetaṁ bhavaṁ gotamo āha? Punabhavaṁ gotamo bravitū”ti.
“Taṁ kiṁ maññasi, ambaṭṭha, kinti te sutaṁ brāhmaṇānaṁ vuddhānaṁ mahallakānaṁ ācariyapācariyānaṁ bhāsamānānaṁ kutopabhutikā kaṇhāyanā, ko ca kaṇhāyanānaṁ pubbapuriso”ti?
“Evameva me, bho gotama, sutaṁ yatheva bhavaṁ gotamo āha. Tatopabhutikā kaṇhāyanā; so ca kaṇhāyanānaṁ pubbapuriso”ti.
2.5. Ambaṭṭhavaṁsakathā
Evaṁ vutte, te māṇavakā unnādino uccāsaddamahāsaddā ahesuṁ: “dujjāto kira, bho, ambaṭṭho māṇavo; akulaputto kira, bho, ambaṭṭho māṇavo; dāsiputto kira, bho, ambaṭṭho māṇavo sakyānaṁ. Ayyaputtā kira, bho, ambaṭṭhassa māṇavassa sakyā bhavanti. Dhammavādiṁyeva kira mayaṁ samaṇaṁ gotamaṁ apasādetabbaṁ amaññimhā”ti.
English Rhys Davids 1899
And still Ambattha remained silent. Then the Blessed One said to him: 'You had better answer, now, Ambattha. This is no time for you to hold your peace. For whosoever, Ambattha, does not, even up to the third time of asking, answer a reasonable question put by a Tathâgata (by one who has won the truth), his head splits into pieces on the spot.'
21. Now at that time the spirit who bears the thunderbolt1 stood over above Ambattha in the sky with a mighty mass of iron, all fiery, dazzling, and aglow, with the intention, if he did not answer, there and then to split his head in pieces. And the Blessed One perceived the spirit bearing the thunderbolt, and so did Ambattha the Brahman. And Ambattha on becoming aware of it, terrified, startled, and agitated, seeking safety and protection and help from the Blessed One, crouched down beside him in awe2, and said: 'What was it the Blessed One said? Say it once again!'
'What do you think, Ambattha? What have you heard, when Brahmans old and well stricken in years, teachers of yours or their teachers, were talking together, as to whence the Kanhâyanas draw their origin, and who the ancestor was to whom they trace themselves back?'
'Just so, Gotama, did I hear, even as the venerable Gotama hath said. That is the origin of the Kanhâyanas, and that the ancestor to whom they trace themselves back.'
22. And when he had thus spoken the young Brahmans fell into tumult, and uproar, and turmoil; and said: 'Low born, they say, is Ambattha the Brahman; his family, they say, is not of good standing; they say he is descended from a slave girl; and the Sâkyas were his masters. We did not suppose that the Samana Gotama, whose words are righteousness itself, was not a man to be trusted!'
23. And the Blessed One thought:
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Atha kho bhagavato etadahosi: “atibāḷhaṁ kho ime māṇavakā ambaṭṭhaṁ māṇavaṁ dāsiputtavādena nimmādenti, yannūnāhaṁ parimoceyyan”ti.
Atha kho bhagavā te māṇavake etadavoca: “mā kho tumhe, māṇavakā, ambaṭṭhaṁ māṇavaṁ atibāḷhaṁ dāsiputtavādena nimmādetha. Uḷāro so kaṇho isi ahosi. So dakkhiṇajanapadaṁ gantvā brahmamante adhīyitvā rājānaṁ okkākaṁ upasaṅkamitvā maddarūpiṁ dhītaraṁ yāci.
Tassa rājā okkāko: ‘ko nevaṁ re ayaṁ mayhaṁ dāsiputto samāno maddarūpiṁ dhītaraṁ yācatī’ti, kupito anattamano khurappaṁ sannayhi. So taṁ khurappaṁ neva asakkhi muñcituṁ, no paṭisaṁharituṁ.
English Rhys Davids 1899
'They go too far, these Brahmans, in their depreciation of Ambattha as the offspring of a slave girl. Let me set him free from their reproach.' And he said to them: 'Be not too severe in disparaging Ambattha the Brahman on the ground of his descent. That Kanha became a mighty seer1. He went into the Dekkan, there he learnt mystic verses, and returning to Okkâka the king, he demanded his daughter Madda-rûpî in marriage. To him the king in answer said: "Who forsooth is this fellow, who--son of my slave girl as he is--asks for my daughter in marriage;" and, angry and displeased, he fitted an arrow to his bow. But neither could he let the arrow fly, nor could he take it off the string again2.
'Then the ministers and courtiers went to Kanha the seer, and said: "Let the king go safe, Sir; let the king go safe3."
"The king shall suffer no harm. But should he shoot the arrow downwards, then would the earth dry up as far as his realm extends."
"Let the king, Sir, go safe, and the country too."
"The king shall suffer no harm, nor his land. But should he shoot the arrow upwards, the god would not rain for seven years as far as his realm extends4."
"Let the king, Sir, go safe, and the country too; and let the god rain."
"The king shall suffer no harm, nor the land either, and the god shall rain. But let the king aim the arrow at his eldest son. The prince shall suffer no harm, not a hair of him shall be touched."
'Then, O Brahmans, the ministers told this to Okkâka, and said: "Let the king aim1 at his eldest son. He will suffer neither harm nor terror." And the king did so, and no harm was done. But the king, terrified at the lesson given him,
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Atha kho, māṇavakā, amaccā pārisajjā kaṇhaṁ isiṁ upasaṅkamitvā etadavocuṁ: ‘sotthi, bhaddante, hotu rañño; sotthi, bhaddante, hotu rañño’ti.
‘Sotthi bhavissati rañño, api ca rājā yadi adho khurappaṁ muñcissati, yāvatā rañño vijitaṁ, ettāvatā pathavī undriyissatī’ti.
‘Sotthi, bhaddante, hotu rañño, sotthi janapadassā’ti.
‘Sotthi bhavissati rañño, sotthi janapadassa, api ca rājā yadi uddhaṁ khurappaṁ muñcissati, yāvatā rañño vijitaṁ, ettāvatā satta vassāni devo na vassissatī’ti.
‘Sotthi, bhaddante, hotu rañño sotthi janapadassa devo ca vassatū’ti.
‘Sotthi bhavissati rañño sotthi janapadassa devo ca vassissati, api ca rājā jeṭṭhakumāre khurappaṁ patiṭṭhāpetu, sotthi kumāro pallomo bhavissatī’ti.
Atha kho, māṇavakā, amaccā okkākassa ārocesuṁ: ‘okkāko jeṭṭhakumāre khurappaṁ patiṭṭhāpetu. Sotthi kumāro pallomo bhavissatī’ti.
Atha kho rājā okkāko jeṭṭhakumāre khurappaṁ patiṭṭhapesi, sotthi kumāro pallomo samabhavi. Atha kho tassa rājā okkāko bhīto saṁviggo lomahaṭṭhajāto brahmadaṇḍena tajjito maddarūpiṁ dhītaraṁ adāsi.
Mā kho tumhe, māṇavakā, ambaṭṭhaṁ māṇavaṁ atibāḷhaṁ dāsiputtavādena nimmādetha, uḷāro so kaṇho isi ahosī”ti.
3. Khattiyaseṭṭhabhāva
Atha kho bhagavā ambaṭṭhaṁ māṇavaṁ āmantesi: “Taṁ kiṁ maññasi, ambaṭṭha, idha khattiyakumāro brāhmaṇakaññāya saddhiṁ saṁvāsaṁ kappeyya, tesaṁ saṁvāsamanvāya putto jāyetha. Yo so khattiyakumārena brāhmaṇakaññāya putto uppanno, api nu so labhetha brāhmaṇesu āsanaṁ vā udakaṁ vā”ti?
“Labhetha, bho gotama”.
“Api nu naṁ brāhmaṇā bhojeyyuṁ saddhe vā thālipāke vā yaññe vā pāhune vā”ti?
“Bhojeyyuṁ, bho gotama”.
“Api nu naṁ brāhmaṇā mante vāceyyuṁ vā no vā”ti?
“Vāceyyuṁ, bho gotama”.
“Api nussa itthīsu āvaṭaṁ vā assa anāvaṭaṁ vā”ti?
“Anāvaṭaṁ hissa, bho gotama”.
“Api nu naṁ khattiyā khattiyābhisekena abhisiñceyyun”ti?
“No hidaṁ, bho gotama”. “Taṁ kissa hetu”? “Mātito hi, bho gotama, anupapanno”ti.
English Rhys Davids 1899
gave the man his daughter Madda-rûpî to wife. You should not, O Brahmans, be too severe to disparage Ambattha in the matter of his slave-girl ancestress. That Kanha was a mighty seer:
24. Then the Blessed One said to Ambattha: 'What think you, Ambattha? Suppose a young Kshatriya should have connection with a Brahman maiden, and from their intercourse a son should be born. Now would the son thus come to the Brahman maiden through the Kshatriya youth receive a seat and water (as tokens of respect) from the Brahmans?'
'Yes, he would, Gotama.'
'But would the Brahmans allow him to partake of the feast offered to the dead, or of the food boiled in milk2, or of the offerings to the gods, or of food sent as a present?'
'Yes, they would, Gotama.'
'But would the Brahmans teach him their verses or not?'
'They would, Gotama.'
'But would he be shut off, or not, from their women?'
'He would not be shut off.'
'But would the Kshatriyas allow him to receive the consecration ceremony of a Kshatriya?'
'Certainly not, Gotama.'
'Why not that?'
'Because he is not of pure descent on the mother's side.'
25. 'Then what think you, Ambattha? Suppose a Brahman youth should have connection with a Kshatriya maiden, and from their intercourse a son should be born. Now would the son thus come to the Kshatriya maiden through the Brahman youth receive a seat and water (as tokens of respect) from the Brahmans?'
'Yes, he would, Gotama.'
'But would the Brahmans allow him to partake of the feast offered to the dead, or of food boiled in milk, or of an offering to the gods, or of food sent as a present?'
'Yes, they would, Gotama.'
'But would the Brahmans teach him their verses or not?'
'They would, Gotama.'
Pali
“Taṁ kiṁ maññasi, ambaṭṭha, idha brāhmaṇakumāro khattiyakaññāya saddhiṁ saṁvāsaṁ kappeyya, tesaṁ saṁvāsamanvāya putto jāyetha. Yo so brāhmaṇakumārena khattiyakaññāya putto uppanno, api nu so labhetha brāhmaṇesu āsanaṁ vā udakaṁ vā”ti?
“Labhetha, bho gotama”.
“Api nu naṁ brāhmaṇā bhojeyyuṁ saddhe vā thālipāke vā yaññe vā pāhune vā”ti?
“Bhojeyyuṁ, bho gotama”.
“Api nu naṁ brāhmaṇā mante vāceyyuṁ vā no vā”ti?
“Vāceyyuṁ, bho gotama”.
“Api nussa itthīsu āvaṭaṁ vā assa anāvaṭaṁ vā”ti?
“Anāvaṭaṁ hissa, bho gotama”.
“Api nu naṁ khattiyā khattiyābhisekena abhisiñceyyun”ti?
“No hidaṁ, bho gotama”. “Taṁ kissa hetu”? “Pitito hi, bho gotama, anupapanno”ti.
“Iti kho, ambaṭṭha, itthiyā vā itthiṁ karitvā purisena vā purisaṁ karitvā khattiyāva seṭṭhā, hīnā brāhmaṇā. Taṁ kiṁ maññasi, ambaṭṭha, idha brāhmaṇā brāhmaṇaṁ kismiñcideva pakaraṇe khuramuṇḍaṁ karitvā bhassapuṭena vadhitvā raṭṭhā vā nagarā vā pabbājeyyuṁ. Api nu so labhetha brāhmaṇesu āsanaṁ vā udakaṁ vā”ti?
“No hidaṁ, bho gotama”.
“Api nu naṁ brāhmaṇā bhojeyyuṁ saddhe vā thālipāke vā yaññe vā pāhune vā”ti?
“No hidaṁ, bho gotama”.
“Api nu naṁ brāhmaṇā mante vāceyyuṁ vā no vā”ti?
“No hidaṁ, bho gotama”.
“Api nussa itthīsu āvaṭaṁ vā assa anāvaṭaṁ vā”ti?
“Āvaṭaṁ hissa, bho gotama”.
“Taṁ kiṁ maññasi, ambaṭṭha, idha khattiyā khattiyaṁ kismiñcideva pakaraṇe khuramuṇḍaṁ karitvā bhassapuṭena vadhitvā raṭṭhā vā nagarā vā pabbājeyyuṁ. Api nu so labhetha brāhmaṇesu āsanaṁ vā udakaṁ vā”ti?
“Labhetha, bho gotama”.
“Api nu naṁ brāhmaṇā bhojeyyuṁ saddhe vā thālipāke vā yaññe vā pāhune vā”ti?
“Bhojeyyuṁ, bho gotama”.
“Api nu naṁ brāhmaṇā mante vāceyyuṁ vā no vā”ti?
“Vāceyyuṁ, bho gotama”.
“Api nussa itthīsu āvaṭaṁ vā assa anāvaṭaṁ vā”ti?
“Anāvaṭaṁ hissa, bho gotama”.
English Rhys Davids 1899
'But would he be shut off, or not, from their women?'
'He would not, Gotama.'
'But would the Kshatriyas allow him to receive the consecration ceremony of a Kshatriya?'
'Certainly not, Gotama.'
'Why not that?'
'Because he is not of pure descent on the father's side.'
26. 'Then, Ambattha, whether one compares women with women, or men with men, the Kshatriyas are higher and the Brahmans inferior.
'And what think you, Ambattha? Suppose the Brahmans, for some offence1 or other, were to outlaw a Brahman by shaving him and pouring ashes over his head2, were to banish him from the land or from the township. Would he be offered a seat or water among the Brahmans?'
'Certainly not, Gotama.'
'Or would the Brahmans allow him to partake of the food offered to the dead, or of the food boiled in milk, or of the offerings to the gods, or of food sent as a present?'
'Certainly not, Gotama.'
'Or would the Brahmans teach him their verses or not?'
'Certainly not, Gotama.'
'And would he be shut off, or not, from their women?'
'He would be shut off.'
27. 'But what think you, Ambattha? If the Kshatriyas had in the same way outlawed a Kshatriya, and banished him from the land or the township, would he, among the Brahmans, be offered water and a seat?'
'Yes, he would, Gotama.'
'And would he be allowed to partake of the food offered to the dead, or of the food boiled in milk, or of the offerings to the gods, or of food sent as a present?'
'He would, Gotama.'
'And would the Brahmans teach him their verses?'
'They would, Gotama?'
'And would he be shut off, or not, from their women?'
'He would not, Gotama.'
Pali
“Ettāvatā kho, ambaṭṭha, khattiyo paramanihīnataṁ patto hoti, yadeva naṁ khattiyā khuramuṇḍaṁ karitvā bhassapuṭena vadhitvā raṭṭhā vā nagarā vā pabbājenti. Iti kho, ambaṭṭha, yadā khattiyo paramanihīnataṁ patto hoti, tadāpi khattiyāva seṭṭhā, hīnā brāhmaṇā. Brahmunā pesā, ambaṭṭha, sanaṅkumārena gāthā bhāsitā:
‘Khattiyo seṭṭho janetasmiṁ,
ye gottapaṭisārino;
Vijjācaraṇasampanno,
so seṭṭho devamānuse’ti.
Sā kho panesā, ambaṭṭha, brahmunā sanaṅkumārena gāthā sugītā no duggītā, subhāsitā no dubbhāsitā, atthasaṁhitā no anatthasaṁhitā, anumatā mayā. Ahampi hi, ambaṭṭha, evaṁ vadāmi—
Khattiyo seṭṭho janetasmiṁ,
ye gottapaṭisārino;
Vijjācaraṇasampanno,
so seṭṭho devamānuse”ti.
4. Vijjācaraṇakathā
English Rhys Davids 1899
'But thereby, Ambattha, the Kshatriya would have fallen into the deepest degradation, shaven as to his head, cut dead with the ash-basket, banished from land and township. So that, even when a Kshatriya has fallen into the deepest degradation. still it holds good that the Kshatriyas are higher, and the Brahmans inferior.
28. 'Moreover it was one of the Brahmâ gods, Sanam-kumâra1, who uttered this stanza2:
"The Kshatriya is the best of those among this folk
who put their trust in lineage.
But he who is perfect in wisdom and righteousness,
he is the best among gods and men."
'Now this stanza, Ambattha, was well sung and not ill sung by the Brahmâ Sanam-kumâra, well said and not ill said, full of meaning and not void thereof. And I too approve it; I also, Ambattha, say:
"The Kshatriya is the best of those among this folk
who put their trust in lineage.
But he who is perfect in wisdom and righteousness,
he is the best among gods and men."'
Here ends the First Portion for Recitation4.
Chapter II.
II. 1. 'But what, Gotama, is the righteousness, and what the wisdom spoken of in that verse?'
'In the supreme perfection in wisdom and righteousness, Ambattha, there is no reference to the question either of birth, or of lineage, or of the pride which says: "You are held as worthy as I," or "You are not held as worthy as I," It is where the talk is of marrying, or of giving in marriage, that reference is made to such things as that, For whosoever, Ambattha, are in bondage to the notions of birth or of lineage, or to the pride of social position, or of connection by marriage, they are far from the best wisdom and righteousness. It is only by having got rid of all such bondage that one can realise for himself
Pali
“Katamaṁ pana taṁ, bho gotama, caraṇaṁ, katamā ca pana sā vijjā”ti?
“Na kho, ambaṭṭha, anuttarāya vijjācaraṇasampadāya jātivādo vā vuccati, gottavādo vā vuccati, mānavādo vā vuccati: ‘arahasi vā maṁ tvaṁ, na vā maṁ tvaṁ arahasī’ti. Yattha kho, ambaṭṭha, āvāho vā hoti, vivāho vā hoti, āvāhavivāho vā hoti, etthetaṁ vuccati jātivādo vā itipi gottavādo vā itipi mānavādo vā itipi: ‘arahasi vā maṁ tvaṁ, na vā maṁ tvaṁ arahasī’ti. Ye hi keci, ambaṭṭha, jātivādavinibaddhā vā gottavādavinibaddhā vā mānavādavinibaddhā vā āvāhavivāhavinibaddhā vā, ārakā te anuttarāya vijjācaraṇasampadāya. Pahāya kho, ambaṭṭha, jātivādavinibaddhañca gottavādavinibaddhañca mānavādavinibaddhañca āvāhavivāhavinibaddhañca anuttarāya vijjācaraṇasampadāya sacchikiriyā hotī”ti.
“Katamaṁ pana taṁ, bho gotama, caraṇaṁ, katamā ca sā vijjā”ti?
“Idha, ambaṭṭha, tathāgato loke uppajjati arahaṁ sammāsambuddho vijjācaraṇasampanno sugato lokavidū anuttaro purisadammasārathi satthā devamanussānaṁ buddho bhagavā. So imaṁ lokaṁ sadevakaṁ samārakaṁ sabrahmakaṁ sassamaṇabrāhmaṇiṁ pajaṁ sadevamanussaṁ sayaṁ abhiññā sacchikatvā pavedeti. So dhammaṁ deseti ādikalyāṇaṁ majjhekalyāṇaṁ pariyosānakalyāṇaṁ sātthaṁ sabyañjanaṁ kevalaparipuṇṇaṁ parisuddhaṁ brahmacariyaṁ pakāseti. Taṁ dhammaṁ suṇāti gahapati vā gahapatiputto vā aññatarasmiṁ vā kule paccājāto. So taṁ dhammaṁ sutvā tathāgate saddhaṁ paṭilabhati. So tena saddhāpaṭilābhena samannāgato iti paṭisañcikkhati …pe…
So vivicceva kāmehi, vivicca akusalehi dhammehi, savitakkaṁ savicāraṁ vivekajaṁ pītisukhaṁ paṭhamaṁ jhānaṁ upasampajja viharati …pe… idampissa hoti caraṇasmiṁ.
Puna caparaṁ, ambaṭṭha, bhikkhu vitakkavicārānaṁ vūpasamā ajjhattaṁ sampasādanaṁ cetaso ekodibhāvaṁ avitakkaṁ avicāraṁ samādhijaṁ pītisukhaṁ dutiyaṁ jhānaṁ upasampajja viharati …pe… idampissa hoti caraṇasmiṁ.
Puna caparaṁ, ambaṭṭha, bhikkhu pītiyā ca virāgā upekkhako ca viharati sato ca sampajāno, sukhañca kāyena paṭisaṁvedeti, yaṁ taṁ ariyā ācikkhanti: ‘upekkhako satimā sukhavihārī’ti, tatiyaṁ jhānaṁ upasampajja viharati …pe… idampissa hoti caraṇasmiṁ.
Puna caparaṁ, ambaṭṭha, bhikkhu sukhassa ca pahānā dukkhassa ca pahānā, pubbeva somanassadomanassānaṁ atthaṅgamā adukkhamasukhaṁ upekkhāsatipārisuddhiṁ catutthaṁ jhānaṁ upasampajja viharati …pe… idampissa hoti caraṇasmiṁ. Idaṁ kho taṁ, ambaṭṭha, caraṇaṁ.
So evaṁ samāhite citte parisuddhe pariyodāte anaṅgaṇe vigatūpakkilese mudubhūte kammaniye ṭhite āneñjappatte ñāṇadassanāya cittaṁ abhinīharati abhininnāmeti …pe… idampissa hoti vijjāya …pe… nāparaṁ itthattāyāti pajānāti, idampissa hoti vijjāya. Ayaṁ kho sā, ambaṭṭha, vijjā.
Ayaṁ vuccati, ambaṭṭha, bhikkhu ‘vijjāsampanno’ itipi, ‘caraṇasampanno’ itipi, ‘vijjācaraṇasampanno’ itipi. Imāya ca, ambaṭṭha, vijjāsampadāya caraṇasampadāya ca aññā vijjāsampadā ca caraṇasampadā ca uttaritarā vā paṇītatarā vā natthi.
5. Catuapāyamukha
English Rhys Davids 1899
that supreme perfection in wisdom and in conduct,'
2. 'But what, Gotama, is that conduct, and what that wisdom?'
[Here follow, under Morality (Sîla)1, Then under Conduct (Karana), Under Wisdom (Viggâ), 12. The paragraphs on the Heavenly Ear (Dibbasota). above, p. 79 of the text, §§ 89, 90.
13. The paragraphs on Knowledge of the hearts of others (Keto-pariya-ñânam), above, p. 79 of the text, §§ 91, 92.
14. The paragraphs on Memory of one's own previous births (Pubbe-nivâsa-anussati-ñâna), above, p. 81 of the text, §§ 93, 94.
15. The paragraph on the Divine Eye (Dibbakakkhu), above, p. 82 of the text, § 95, 96.
16. The paragraphs on the Destruction of the Deadly Floods (Âsavânam khaya-ñânam), above, p. 83 of the text, §§ 97, 981.] 'Such a man, Ambattha, is said to be perfect in wisdom, perfect in conduct, perfect in wisdom and conduct. And there is no other perfection in wisdom and conduct higher and sweeter than this.'
3. 'Now, Ambattha, to this supreme perfection in wisdom and goodness
Pali
Imāya kho, ambaṭṭha, anuttarāya vijjācaraṇasampadāya cattāri apāyamukhāni bhavanti. Katamāni cattāri? Idha, ambaṭṭha, ekacco samaṇo vā brāhmaṇo vā imaññeva anuttaraṁ vijjācaraṇasampadaṁ anabhisambhuṇamāno khārividhamādāya araññāyatanaṁ ajjhogāhati: ‘pavattaphalabhojano bhavissāmī’ti. So aññadatthu vijjācaraṇasampannasseva paricārako sampajjati. Imāya kho, ambaṭṭha, anuttarāya vijjācaraṇasampadāya idaṁ paṭhamaṁ apāyamukhaṁ bhavati.
Puna caparaṁ, ambaṭṭha, idhekacco samaṇo vā brāhmaṇo vā imañceva anuttaraṁ vijjācaraṇasampadaṁ anabhisambhuṇamāno pavattaphalabhojanatañca anabhisambhuṇamāno kudālapiṭakaṁ ādāya araññavanaṁ ajjhogāhati: ‘kandamūlaphalabhojano bhavissāmī’ti. So aññadatthu vijjācaraṇasampannasseva paricārako sampajjati. Imāya kho, ambaṭṭha, anuttarāya vijjācaraṇasampadāya idaṁ dutiyaṁ apāyamukhaṁ bhavati.
Puna caparaṁ, ambaṭṭha, idhekacco samaṇo vā brāhmaṇo vā imañceva anuttaraṁ vijjācaraṇasampadaṁ anabhisambhuṇamāno pavattaphalabhojanatañca anabhisambhuṇamāno kandamūlaphalabhojanatañca anabhisambhuṇamāno gāmasāmantaṁ vā nigamasāmantaṁ vā agyāgāraṁ karitvā aggiṁ paricaranto acchati. So aññadatthu vijjācaraṇasampannasseva paricārako sampajjati. Imāya kho, ambaṭṭha, anuttarāya vijjācaraṇasampadāya idaṁ tatiyaṁ apāyamukhaṁ bhavati.
English Rhys Davids 1899
there are Four Leakages2. And what are the four?'
'In case, Ambattha, any recluse or Brahman, without having thoroughly attained unto this supreme perfection in wisdom and conduct, with his yoke on his shoulder (to carry fire-sticks, a water-pot, needles, and the rest of a mendicant friar's outfit), should plunge into the depths of the forest, vowing to himself: "I will henceforth be one of those who live only on fruits that have fallen of themselves"--then, verily, he turns out worthy only to be a servant unto him that hath attained to wisdom and righteousness.
'And again, Ambattha, in case any recluse or Brahman, without having thoroughly attained unto this supreme perfection in wisdom and conduct, and without having attained to living only on fruits fallen of themselves, taking a hoe and a basket with him, should plunge into the depths of the forest, vowing to himself: "I will henceforth be one of those who live only on bulbs and roots and fruits"--then, verily, he turns out worthy only to be a servant unto him who hath attained to wisdom and righteousness.
'And again, Ambattha, in case any recluse or Brahman, without having thoroughly attained unto this supreme perfection in wisdom and conduct, and without having attained to living only on fruits fallen of themselves, and without having attained to living only on bulbs and roots and fruits, should build himself a fire-shrine near the boundaries of some village or some town, and there dwell serving the fire-god1--then, verily, he turns out worthy only to be a servant unto him that hath attained to wisdom and righteousness.
'And again, Ambattha, in case any recluse or Brahman, without having thoroughly attained unto this supreme perfection in wisdom and conduct, and without having attained to living only on fruits fallen of themselves, and without having attained to living only on bulbs and roots and fruits, and without having attained to serving the fire-god2
Pali
Puna caparaṁ, ambaṭṭha, idhekacco samaṇo vā brāhmaṇo vā imaṁ ceva anuttaraṁ vijjācaraṇasampadaṁ anabhisambhuṇamāno pavattaphalabhojanatañca anabhisambhuṇamāno kandamūlaphalabhojanatañca anabhisambhuṇamāno aggipāricariyañca anabhisambhuṇamāno cātumahāpathe catudvāraṁ agāraṁ karitvā acchati: ‘yo imāhi catūhi disāhi āgamissati samaṇo vā brāhmaṇo vā, tamahaṁ yathāsatti yathābalaṁ paṭipūjessāmī’ti. So aññadatthu vijjācaraṇasampannasseva paricārako sampajjati. Imāya kho, ambaṭṭha, anuttarāya vijjācaraṇasampadāya idaṁ catutthaṁ apāyamukhaṁ bhavati. Imāya kho, ambaṭṭha, anuttarāya vijjācaraṇasampadāya imāni cattāri apāyamukhāni bhavanti.
Taṁ kiṁ maññasi, ambaṭṭha, api nu tvaṁ imāya anuttarāya vijjācaraṇasampadāya sandissasi sācariyako”ti?
“No hidaṁ, bho gotama. Kocāhaṁ, bho gotama, sācariyako, kā ca anuttarā vijjācaraṇasampadā? Ārakāhaṁ, bho gotama, anuttarāya vijjācaraṇasampadāya sācariyako”ti.
“Taṁ kiṁ maññasi, ambaṭṭha, api nu tvaṁ imañceva anuttaraṁ vijjācaraṇasampadaṁ anabhisambhuṇamāno khārividhamādāya araññavanamajjhogāhasi sācariyako: ‘pavattaphalabhojano bhavissāmī’”ti?
“No hidaṁ, bho gotama”.
“Taṁ kiṁ maññasi, ambaṭṭha, api nu tvaṁ imañceva anuttaraṁ vijjācaraṇasampadaṁ anabhisambhuṇamāno pavattaphalabhojanatañca anabhisambhuṇamāno kudālapiṭakaṁ ādāya araññavanamajjhogāhasi sācariyako: ‘kandamūlaphalabhojano bhavissāmī’”ti?
“No hidaṁ, bho gotama”.
English Rhys Davids 1899
should build himself a four-doored almshouse at a crossing where four high roads meet, and dwell there, saying to himself: "Whosoever, whether recluse or Brahman, shall pass here, from either of these four directions, him will I entertain according to my ability and according to my power"--then, verily, he turns out worthy only to be a servant unto him who hath attained to wisdom and righteousness.
'These are the Four Leakages, Ambattha, to supreme perfection in righteousness and conduct2.
4. 'Now what think you, Ambattha? Have you, as one of a class of pupils under the same teacher, been instructed in this supreme perfection of wisdom and conducts?'
'Not that, Gotama. How little is it that I can profess to have learnt! How supreme this perfection of wisdom and conduct! Far is it from me to have been trained therein?'
'Then what think you, Ambattha? Although you have not thoroughly attained unto this supreme perfection of wisdom and goodness, have you been trained to take the yoke upon your shoulders, and plunge into the depths of the forest as one who would fain observe the vow of living only on fruits fallen of themselves?'
'Not even that, Gotama.'
'Then what think you, Ambattha? Although you have not attained unto this supreme perfection of wisdom and goodness, nor have attained to living on fruits fallen of themselves, have you been trained to take hoe and basket, and plunge into the depths of the forest as one who would fain observe the vow of living only on bulbs and roots and frutts?'
'Not even that, Gotama.'
'Then what think you, Ambattha? Although you have not attained unto this supreme perfection of wisdom and goodness, and have not attained to living on fruits fallen of themselves, and have not attained to living on bulbs and roots and fruits, have you been taught to build yourself a fire-shrine on the borders of some village or some town, and dwell there as one who would fain serve the fire-god?'
Pali
“Taṁ kiṁ maññasi, ambaṭṭha, api nu tvaṁ imañceva anuttaraṁ vijjācaraṇasampadaṁ anabhisambhuṇamāno pavattaphalabhojanatañca anabhisambhuṇamāno kandamūlaphalabhojanatañca anabhisambhuṇamāno gāmasāmantaṁ vā nigamasāmantaṁ vā agyāgāraṁ karitvā aggiṁ paricaranto acchasi sācariyako”ti?
“No hidaṁ, bho gotama”.
“Taṁ kiṁ maññasi, ambaṭṭha, api nu tvaṁ imañceva anuttaraṁ vijjācaraṇasampadaṁ anabhisambhuṇamāno pavattaphalabhojanatañca anabhisambhuṇamāno kandamūlaphalabhojanatañca anabhisambhuṇamāno aggipāricariyañca anabhisambhuṇamāno cātumahāpathe catudvāraṁ agāraṁ karitvā acchasi sācariyako: ‘yo imāhi catūhi disāhi āgamissati samaṇo vā brāhmaṇo vā, taṁ mayaṁ yathāsatti yathābalaṁ paṭipūjessāmā’”ti?
“No hidaṁ, bho gotama”.
“Iti kho, ambaṭṭha, imāya ceva tvaṁ anuttarāya vijjācaraṇasampadāya parihīno sācariyako. Ye cime anuttarāya vijjācaraṇasampadāya cattāri apāyamukhāni bhavanti, tato ca tvaṁ parihīno sācariyako. Bhāsitā kho pana te esā, ambaṭṭha, ācariyena brāhmaṇena pokkharasātinā vācā: ‘ke ca muṇḍakā samaṇakā ibbhā kaṇhā bandhupādāpaccā, kā ca tevijjānaṁ brāhmaṇānaṁ sākacchā’ti attanā āpāyikopi aparipūramāno. Passa, ambaṭṭha, yāva aparaddhañca te idaṁ ācariyassa brāhmaṇassa pokkharasātissa.
6. Pubbakaisibhāvānuyoga
Brāhmaṇo kho pana, ambaṭṭha, pokkharasāti rañño pasenadissa kosalassa dattikaṁ bhuñjati. Tassa rājā pasenadi kosalo sammukhībhāvampi na dadāti. Yadāpi tena manteti, tirodussantena manteti. Yassa kho pana, ambaṭṭha, dhammikaṁ payātaṁ bhikkhaṁ paṭiggaṇheyya, kathaṁ tassa rājā pasenadi kosalo sammukhībhāvampi na dadeyya. Passa, ambaṭṭha, yāva aparaddhañca te idaṁ ācariyassa brāhmaṇassa pokkharasātissa.
English Rhys Davids 1899
'Not even that, Gotama.'
'Then what think you, Ambattha? Although you have not attained unto this supreme perfection of wisdom and goodness, and have not attained to living on fruits fallen of themselves, and have not attained to living on bulbs and roots and fruits, and have not attained to serving the fire-god, have you been taught to build yourself a four-doored almshouse at a spot where four high roads cross, and dwell there as one who would fain observe the vow to entertain whosoever might pass that way, from any of the four directions, according to your ability and according to your power?'
'Not even that, Gotama.'
5. 'So then you, Ambattha, as a pupil, have fallen short1 of due training, not only in the supreme wisdom and conduct, but even in any one of the Four Leakages by which the complete attainment thereof is debarred. And your teacher too, the Brahman Pokkharasâdi, has told you this saying: "Who are these shavelings, sham friars, menial black fellows, the offscouring of our kinsman's heels, that they should claim converse with Brahmans versed in the threefold Vedic lore!"--he himself not having even fulfilled any one even of these lesser duties (which lead men to neglect the higher ones). See, Ambattha, how deep]y your teacher, the Brahman Pokkharasâdi, has herein done you wrong.'
6. 'And the Brahman Pokkharasâdi, Ambattha, is in the enjoyment of a grant from Pasenadi, the king of Kosala. But the king does not allow him to come into his presence. When he consults with him he speaks to him only from behind a curtain. How is it, Ambattha, that the very king, from whom he accepts this pure and lawful maintenance, King Pasenadi of Kosala, does not admit him to his presence? See, Ambattha, how deeply your teacher, the Brahman Pokkharasâdi, has herein done you wrong2.'
7. 'Now what think you, Ambattha? Suppose a king, either seated on the neck of his elephant or on the back of his horse, or standing on the footrug of his chariot
Pali
Taṁ kiṁ maññasi, ambaṭṭha, idha rājā pasenadi kosalo hatthigīvāya vā nisinno assapiṭṭhe vā nisinno rathūpatthare vā ṭhito uggehi vā rājaññehi vā kiñcideva mantanaṁ manteyya. So tamhā padesā apakkamma ekamantaṁ tiṭṭheyya. Atha āgaccheyya suddo vā suddadāso vā, tasmiṁ padese ṭhito tadeva mantanaṁ manteyya: ‘evampi rājā pasenadi kosalo āha, evampi rājā pasenadi kosalo āhā’ti. Api nu so rājabhaṇitaṁ vā bhaṇati rājamantanaṁ vā manteti? Ettāvatā so assa rājā vā rājamatto vā”ti?
“No hidaṁ, bho gotama”.
“Evameva kho tvaṁ, ambaṭṭha, ye te ahesuṁ brāhmaṇānaṁ pubbakā isayo mantānaṁ kattāro mantānaṁ pavattāro, yesamidaṁ etarahi brāhmaṇā porāṇaṁ mantapadaṁ gītaṁ pavuttaṁ samihitaṁ, tadanugāyanti tadanubhāsanti bhāsitamanubhāsanti vācitamanuvācenti, seyyathidaṁ—aṭṭhako vāmako vāmadevo vessāmitto yamataggi aṅgīraso bhāradvājo vāseṭṭho kassapo bhagu: ‘tyāhaṁ mante adhiyāmi sācariyako’ti, tāvatā tvaṁ bhavissasi isi vā isitthāya vā paṭipannoti netaṁ ṭhānaṁ vijjati.
English Rhys Davids 1899
, should discuss some resolution of state with his chiefs or princes. And suppose as he left the spot and stepped on one side, a workman (Sûdra) or the slave of a workman should come up and, standing there, should discuss the matter, saying: "Thus and thus said Pasenadi the king." Although he should speak as the king might have spoken, or discuss as the king might have done, would he thereby be the king, or even as one of his officers?'
'Certainly not, Gotama.'
8. 'But just so, Ambattha, those ancient poets (Rishis) of the Brahmans, the authors of the verses, the utterers of the verses, whose ancient form of words so chanted, uttered, or composed, the Brahmans of to-day chant over again and rehearse, intoning or reciting exactly as has been intoned or recited--to wit, Atthaka, Vâmaka, Vâmadeva, Vessâmitta, Yamataggi, Angirasa, Bhâradvaga, Vâsettha, Kassapa, and Bhagu1--though you can say: "I, as a pupil, know by heart their verses," that you should on that account be a Rishi, or have attained to the state of a Rishi--such a condition of things has no existence!'
9. 'Now what think you, Ambattha? What have you heard when Brahmans, old and well stricken in years, teachers of yours or their teachers, were talking together--did those ancient Rishis, whose verses you so chant over and repeat, parade about well groomed, perfumed, trimmed as to their hair and beard, adorned with garlands and gems, clad in white garments, in the full possession and enjoyment of the five pleasures of sense, as you, and your teacher too, do now?'
Pali
Taṁ kiṁ maññasi, ambaṭṭha, kinti te sutaṁ brāhmaṇānaṁ vuddhānaṁ mahallakānaṁ ācariyapācariyānaṁ bhāsamānānaṁ— ye te ahesuṁ brāhmaṇānaṁ pubbakā isayo mantānaṁ kattāro mantānaṁ pavattāro, yesamidaṁ etarahi brāhmaṇā porāṇaṁ mantapadaṁ gītaṁ pavuttaṁ samihitaṁ, tadanugāyanti tadanubhāsanti bhāsitamanubhāsanti vācitamanuvācenti, seyyathidaṁ—aṭṭhako vāmako vāmadevo vessāmitto yamataggi aṅgīraso bhāradvājo vāseṭṭho kassapo bhagu, evaṁ su te sunhātā suvilittā kappitakesamassū āmukkamaṇikuṇḍalābharaṇā odātavatthavasanā pañcahi kāmaguṇehi samappitā samaṅgībhūtā paricārenti, seyyathāpi tvaṁ etarahi sācariyako”ti?
“No hidaṁ, bho gotama”.
“ …pe… Evaṁ su te sālīnaṁ odanaṁ sucimaṁsūpasecanaṁ vicitakāḷakaṁ anekasūpaṁ anekabyañjanaṁ paribhuñjanti, seyyathāpi tvaṁ etarahi sācariyako”ti?
“No hidaṁ, bho gotama”.
“ …pe… Evaṁ su te veṭhakanatapassāhi nārīhi paricārenti, seyyathāpi tvaṁ etarahi sācariyako”ti?
“No hidaṁ, bho gotama”.
“ …pe… Evaṁ su te kuttavālehi vaḷavārathehi dīghāhi patodalaṭṭhīhi vāhane vitudentā vipariyāyanti, seyyathāpi tvaṁ etarahi sācariyako”ti?
“No hidaṁ, bho gotama”.
“ …pe… Evaṁ su te ukkiṇṇaparikhāsu okkhittapalighāsu nagarūpakārikāsu dīghāsivudhehi purisehi rakkhāpenti, seyyathāpi tvaṁ etarahi sācariyako”ti?
“No hidaṁ, bho gotama”.
“Iti kho, ambaṭṭha, neva tvaṁ isi na isitthāya paṭipanno sācariyako. Yassa kho pana, ambaṭṭha, mayi kaṅkhā vā vimati vā so maṁ pañhena, ahaṁ veyyākaraṇena sodhissāmī”ti.
7. Dvelakkhaṇādassana
English Rhys Davids 1899
'Not that, Gotama.'
'Or did they live, as their food, on boiled rice of the best sorts, from which all the black specks had been sought out and removed, and flavoured with sauces and curries of various kinds, as you, and your teacher too, do now?'
'Not that, Gotama.'
'Or were they waited upon by women with fringes and furbelows1 round their loins, as you, and your teacher too, do now?'
'Or did they go about driving chariots, drawn by mares with plaited manes and tails2, using long wands and goads the while, as you, and your teacher too, do now?'
'Not that, Gotama.'
'Or did they have themselves guarded in fortified towns, with moats dug out round them3 and crossbars let down before the gates4, by men girt with long swords, as you, and your teacher too, do now?'
'Not that, Gotama.'
10. 'So then, Ambattha, neither are you a Rishi, nor your teacher, nor do you live under the conditions under which the Rishis lived. But whatever it may be, Ambattha, concerning which you are in doubt or perplexity about me, ask me as to that. I will make it clear by explanation.'
11. Then the Blessed One went forth from his chamber, and began to walk up and down. And Ambattha did the same. And as he thus walked up and down, following the Blessed One, he took stock of the thirty-two signs of a great man, whether they appeared on the body of the Blessed One or not. And he perceived them all save only two.
Pali
Atha kho bhagavā vihārā nikkhamma caṅkamaṁ abbhuṭṭhāsi. Ambaṭṭhopi māṇavo vihārā nikkhamma caṅkamaṁ abbhuṭṭhāsi. Atha kho ambaṭṭho māṇavo bhagavantaṁ caṅkamantaṁ anucaṅkamamāno bhagavato kāye dvattiṁsamahāpurisalakkhaṇāni samannesi. Addasā kho ambaṭṭho māṇavo bhagavato kāye dvattiṁsamahāpurisalakkhaṇāni yebhuyyena ṭhapetvā dve. Dvīsu mahāpurisalakkhaṇesu kaṅkhati vicikicchati nādhimuccati na sampasīdati— kosohite ca vatthaguyhe pahūtajivhatāya ca.
Atha kho bhagavato etadahosi: “passati kho me ayaṁ ambaṭṭho māṇavo dvattiṁsamahāpurisalakkhaṇāni yebhuyyena ṭhapetvā dve. Dvīsu mahāpurisalakkhaṇesu kaṅkhati vicikicchati nādhimuccati na sampasīdati— kosohite ca vatthaguyhe pahūtajivhatāya cā”ti. Atha kho bhagavā tathārūpaṁ iddhābhisaṅkhāraṁ abhisaṅkhāsi. Yathā addasa ambaṭṭho māṇavo bhagavato kosohitaṁ vatthaguyhaṁ. Atha kho bhagavā jivhaṁ ninnāmetvā ubhopi kaṇṇasotāni anumasi paṭimasi, ubhopi nāsikasotāni anumasi paṭimasi, kevalampi nalāṭamaṇḍalaṁ jivhāya chādesi.
Atha kho ambaṭṭhassa māṇavassa etadahosi: “samannāgato kho samaṇo gotamo dvattiṁsamahāpurisalakkhaṇehi paripuṇṇehi, no aparipuṇṇehī”ti.
Bhagavantaṁ etadavoca: “handa ca dāni mayaṁ, bho gotama, gacchāma, bahukiccā mayaṁ bahukaraṇīyā”ti.
“Yassadāni tvaṁ, ambaṭṭha, kālaṁ maññasī”ti. Atha kho ambaṭṭho māṇavo vaḷavārathamāruyha pakkāmi.
Tena kho pana samayena brāhmaṇo pokkharasāti ukkaṭṭhāya nikkhamitvā mahatā brāhmaṇagaṇena saddhiṁ sake ārāme nisinno hoti ambaṭṭhaṁyeva māṇavaṁ paṭimānento. Atha kho ambaṭṭho māṇavo yena sako ārāmo tena pāyāsi.
English Rhys Davids 1899
With respect to those two--the concealed member and the extent of tongue1--he was in doubt and perplexity, not satisfied, not sure.
12. And the Blessed One knew that he was so in doubt. And he so arranged matters by his Wondrous Gift that Ambattha the Brahman saw how that part of the Blessed One that ought to be hidden by clothes was enclosed in a sheath. And the Blessed One so bent round his tongue that he touched and stroked both his ears, touched and stroked both his nostrils, and the whole circumference of his forehead he covered with his tongue2.
And Ambattha, the young Brahman, thought: 'The Samana Gotama is endowed with the thirty-two signs of a great man, with them all, not only with some of them.' And he said to the Blessed One: 'And now, Gotama, we would fain depart. We are busy, and have much to do.'
'Do, Ambattha, what seemeth to you fit.'
And Ambattha mounted his chariot drawn by mares, and departed thence.
13. Now at that time the Brahman Pokkharasâdi had gone forth from Ukkattha with a great retinue of Brahmans, and was seated in his own pleasaunce waiting there for Ambattha. And Ambattha came on to the pleasaunce. And when he had come in his chariot as far as the path was practicable for chariots, he descended from it, and came on foot to where Pokkharasâdi was, and saluted him, and took his seat respectfully on one side. And when he was so seated, Pokkharasâdi said to him:
14. 'Well, Ambattha! Did you see the Blessed One?'
'Yes, Sir, we saw him.'
'Well! is the venerable Gotama so as the reputation
Pali
“kacci, tāta ambaṭṭha, addasa taṁ bhavantaṁ gotaman”ti?
“Addasāma kho mayaṁ, bho, taṁ bhavantaṁ gotaman”ti.
“Kacci, tāta ambaṭṭha, taṁ bhavantaṁ gotamaṁ tathā santaṁyeva saddo abbhuggato no aññathā; kacci pana so bhavaṁ gotamo tādiso no aññādiso”ti?
“Tathā santaṁyeva, bho, taṁ bhavantaṁ gotamaṁ saddo abbhuggato no aññathā, tādisova so bhavaṁ gotamo no aññādiso. Samannāgato ca so bhavaṁ gotamo dvattiṁsamahāpurisalakkhaṇehi paripuṇṇehi no aparipuṇṇehī”ti.
“Ahu pana te, tāta ambaṭṭha, samaṇena gotamena saddhiṁ kocideva kathāsallāpo”ti?
“Ahu kho me, bho, samaṇena gotamena saddhiṁ kocideva kathāsallāpo”ti.
“Yathā kathaṁ pana te, tāta ambaṭṭha, ahu samaṇena gotamena saddhiṁ kocideva kathāsallāpo”ti? Atha kho ambaṭṭho māṇavo yāvatako ahosi bhagavatā saddhiṁ kathāsallāpo, taṁ sabbaṁ brāhmaṇassa pokkharasātissa ārocesi.
Evaṁ vutte, brāhmaṇo pokkharasāti ambaṭṭhaṁ māṇavaṁ etadavoca: “aho vata re amhākaṁ, paṇḍitaka, aho vata re amhākaṁ, bahussutaka, aho vata re amhākaṁ, tevijjaka, evarūpena kira, bho, puriso atthacarakena kāyassa bhedā paraṁ maraṇā apāyaṁ duggatiṁ vinipātaṁ nirayaṁ upapajjeyya. Yadeva kho tvaṁ, ambaṭṭha, taṁ bhavantaṁ gotamaṁ evaṁ āsajja āsajja avacāsi, atha kho so bhavaṁ gotamo amhepi evaṁ upaneyya upaneyya avaca. Aho vata re amhākaṁ, paṇḍitaka, aho vata re amhākaṁ, bahussutaka, aho vata re amhākaṁ, tevijjaka, evarūpena kira, bho, puriso atthacarakena kāyassa bhedā paraṁ maraṇā apāyaṁ duggatiṁ vinipātaṁ nirayaṁ upapajjeyyā”ti, kupito anattamano ambaṭṭhaṁ māṇavaṁ padasāyeva pavattesi. Icchati ca tāvadeva bhagavantaṁ dassanāya upasaṅkamituṁ.
8. Pokkharasātibuddhūpasaṅkamana
English Rhys Davids 1899
about him I told you of declares; and not otherwise. Is he such a one, or is he not?'
'He is so, Sir, as his reputation declares, and not otherwise. Such is he, not different. And he is endowed with the thirty-two signs of a great man, with all of them, not only with some.'
'And did you have any talk, Ambattha, with the Samana Gotama?'
'Yes, Sir, I had.'
'And how did the talk go?'
Then Ambattha told the Brahman Pokkharasâdi all the talk that he had had with the Blessed One.
15. When he had thus spoken, Pokkharasâdi said to him: 'Oh! you wiseacre! Oh I you dullard! Oh! you expert, forsooth, in our threefold Vedic lore! A man, they say, who should carry out his business thus, must, on the dissolution of the body, after death, be reborn into some dismal state of misery and woe. What could the very points you pressed in your insolent words lead up to, if not to the very disclosures the venerable Gotama made1? What a wiseacre; what a dullard; what an expert, forsooth, in our threefold Vedic lore.' And angry and displeased, he struck out with his foot, and rolled Ambattha over. And he wanted, there and then, himself, to go and call on the Blessed One.
Pali
Atha kho te brāhmaṇā brāhmaṇaṁ pokkharasātiṁ etadavocuṁ: “ativikālo kho, bho, ajja samaṇaṁ gotamaṁ dassanāya upasaṅkamituṁ. Svedāni bhavaṁ pokkharasāti samaṇaṁ gotamaṁ dassanāya upasaṅkamissatī”ti.
Atha kho brāhmaṇo pokkharasāti sake nivesane paṇītaṁ khādanīyaṁ bhojanīyaṁ paṭiyādāpetvā yāne āropetvā ukkāsu dhāriyamānāsu ukkaṭṭhāya niyyāsi, yena icchānaṅgalavanasaṇḍo tena pāyāsi. Yāvatikā yānassa bhūmi yānena gantvā, yānā paccorohitvā pattikova yena bhagavā tenupasaṅkami. upasaṅkamitvā bhagavatā saddhiṁ sammodi, sammodanīyaṁ kathaṁ sāraṇīyaṁ vītisāretvā ekamantaṁ nisīdi. Ekamantaṁ nisinno kho brāhmaṇo pokkharasāti bhagavantaṁ etadavoca: “āgamā nu khvidha, bho gotama, amhākaṁ antevāsī ambaṭṭho māṇavo”ti?
“Āgamā kho te, brāhmaṇa, antevāsī ambaṭṭho māṇavo”ti.
“Ahu pana te, bho gotama, ambaṭṭhena māṇavena saddhiṁ kocideva kathāsallāpo”ti?
“Ahu kho me, brāhmaṇa, ambaṭṭhena māṇavena saddhiṁ kocideva kathāsallāpo”ti.
“Yathākathaṁ pana te, bho gotama, ahu ambaṭṭhena māṇavena saddhiṁ kocideva kathāsallāpo”ti? Atha kho bhagavā yāvatako ahosi ambaṭṭhena māṇavena saddhiṁ kathāsallāpo, taṁ sabbaṁ brāhmaṇassa pokkharasātissa ārocesi.
Evaṁ vutte, brāhmaṇo pokkharasāti bhagavantaṁ etadavoca: “bālo, bho gotama, ambaṭṭho māṇavo, khamatu bhavaṁ gotamo ambaṭṭhassa māṇavassā”ti.
“Sukhī hotu, brāhmaṇa, ambaṭṭho māṇavo”ti.
English Rhys Davids 1899
16. But the Brahmans there spake thus to Pokkharasâdi: 'It is much too late, Sir, to-day to go to call on the Samana Gotama. The venerable Pokkharasâdi can do so to-morrow.'
So Pokkharasâdi had sweet food, both hard and soft, made ready at his own house, and taken on wagons, by the light of blazing torches, out to Ukkattha. And he himself went on to the Ikkhânankala Wood, driving in his chariot as far as the road was practicable for vehicles, and then going on, on foot, to where the Blessed One was. And when he had exchanged with the Blessed One the greetings and compliments of politeness and courtesy, he took his seat on one side, and said to the Blessed One:
17. 'Has our pupil, Gotama, the young Brahman Ambattha, been here?'
'Yes, Brahman, he has.'
'And did you, 'Gotama, have any talk with him?'
'Yes, Brahman, I had:
'And on what wise was the talk that you had with him:
18. Then the Blessed One told the Brahman Pokkharasâdi all the talk that had taken place. And when {l. Âsagga âsagga . . . upanîyya upanîyya. Buddhaghosa is somewhat ambiguous in his interpretation of this idiomatic phrase, on which compare M. I, 250, 251; A. I, 172.} he had thus spoken Pokkharasâdi said to the Blessed One:
'He is young and foolish, Gotama, that young Brahman Ambattha. Forgive him, Gotama.'
'Let him be quite happy, Brahman, that young Brahman Ambattha.'
Pali
Atha kho brāhmaṇo pokkharasāti bhagavato kāye dvattiṁsamahāpurisalakkhaṇāni samannesi. Addasā kho brāhmaṇo pokkharasāti bhagavato kāye dvattiṁsamahāpurisalakkhaṇāni yebhuyyena ṭhapetvā dve. Dvīsu mahāpurisalakkhaṇesu kaṅkhati vicikicchati nādhimuccati na sampasīdati— kosohite ca vatthaguyhe pahūtajivhatāya ca.
Atha kho bhagavato etadahosi: “passati kho me ayaṁ brāhmaṇo pokkharasāti dvattiṁsamahāpurisalakkhaṇāni yebhuyyena ṭhapetvā dve. Dvīsu mahāpurisalakkhaṇesu kaṅkhati vicikicchati nādhimuccati na sampasīdati— kosohite ca vatthaguyhe pahūtajivhatāya cā”ti. Atha kho bhagavā tathārūpaṁ iddhābhisaṅkhāraṁ abhisaṅkhāsi yathā addasa brāhmaṇo pokkharasāti bhagavato kosohitaṁ vatthaguyhaṁ. Atha kho bhagavā jivhaṁ ninnāmetvā ubhopi kaṇṇasotāni anumasi paṭimasi, ubhopi nāsikasotāni anumasi paṭimasi, kevalampi nalāṭamaṇḍalaṁ jivhāya chādesi.
Atha kho brāhmaṇassa pokkharasātissa etadahosi: “samannāgato kho samaṇo gotamo dvattiṁsamahāpurisalakkhaṇehi paripuṇṇehi no aparipuṇṇehī”ti.
Bhagavantaṁ etadavoca: “adhivāsetu me bhavaṁ gotamo ajjatanāya bhattaṁ saddhiṁ bhikkhusaṅghenā”ti. Adhivāsesi bhagavā tuṇhībhāvena.
Atha kho brāhmaṇo pokkharasāti bhagavato adhivāsanaṁ viditvā bhagavato kālaṁ ārocesi: “kālo, bho gotama, niṭṭhitaṁ bhattan”ti. Atha kho bhagavā pubbaṇhasamayaṁ nivāsetvā pattacīvaramādāya saddhiṁ bhikkhusaṅghena yena brāhmaṇassa pokkharasātissa nivesanaṁ tenupasaṅkami; upasaṅkamitvā paññatte āsane nisīdi. Atha kho brāhmaṇo pokkharasāti bhagavantaṁ paṇītena khādanīyena bhojanīyena sahatthā santappesi sampavāresi, māṇavakāpi bhikkhusaṅghaṁ. Atha kho brāhmaṇo pokkharasāti bhagavantaṁ bhuttāviṁ onītapattapāṇiṁ aññataraṁ nīcaṁ āsanaṁ gahetvā ekamantaṁ nisīdi.
English Rhys Davids 1899
19. And the Brahman Pokkharasâdi took stock, on the body of the Blessed One, of the thirty-two marks of a Great Being. And he saw them all plainly, save only two. As to two of them--the sheath-concealed member and the extensive tongue--he was still in doubt and undecided. But the Blessed One showed them to Pokkharasâdi, even as he had shown them to Ambattha1. And Pokkharasâdi perceived that the Blessed One was endowed with the thirty-two marks of a Great Being, with all of them, not only with some. And he said to the Blessed One: 'May the venerable Gotama grant me the favour of taking his to-morrow's meal with me, and also the members of the Order with him.' And the Blessed One accepted, by silence, his request.
20. Then the Brahman Pokkharasâdi, seeing that the Blessed One had accepted, had (on the morrow) the time announced to him: 'It is time, oh Gotama, the meal is ready.' And the Blessed One, who had dressed in the early morning, put on his outer robe, and taking his bowl with him, went, with the brethren, to Pokkharasâdi's house, and sat down on the seat prepared for him. And Pokkharasâdi, the Brahman, satisfied the Blessed One, with his own hand, with sweet food, both hard and soft, until he refused any more, and the young Brahmans the members of the Order. And when the Blessed One had finished his meal, and cleansed the bowl and his2 hands, Pokkharasâdi took a low seat, and sat down beside him.
21. Then to him thus seated
Pali
Ekamantaṁ nisinnassa kho brāhmaṇassa pokkharasātissa bhagavā anupubbiṁ kathaṁ kathesi, seyyathidaṁ— dānakathaṁ sīlakathaṁ saggakathaṁ; kāmānaṁ ādīnavaṁ okāraṁ saṅkilesaṁ, nekkhamme ānisaṁsaṁ pakāsesi. Yadā bhagavā aññāsi brāhmaṇaṁ pokkharasātiṁ kallacittaṁ muducittaṁ vinīvaraṇacittaṁ udaggacittaṁ pasannacittaṁ, atha yā buddhānaṁ sāmukkaṁsikā dhammadesanā, taṁ pakāsesi— dukkhaṁ samudayaṁ nirodhaṁ maggaṁ. Seyyathāpi nāma suddhaṁ vatthaṁ apagatakāḷakaṁ sammadeva rajanaṁ paṭiggaṇheyya; evameva brāhmaṇassa pokkharasātissa tasmiññeva āsane virajaṁ vītamalaṁ dhammacakkhuṁ udapādi: “yaṁ kiñci samudayadhammaṁ sabbaṁ taṁ nirodhadhamman”ti.
9. Pokkharasātiupāsakattapaṭivedanā
Atha kho brāhmaṇo pokkharasāti diṭṭhadhammo pattadhammo viditadhammo pariyogāḷhadhammo tiṇṇavicikiccho vigatakathaṅkatho vesārajjappatto aparappaccayo satthusāsane bhagavantaṁ etadavoca: “abhikkantaṁ, bho gotama, abhikkantaṁ, bho gotama. Seyyathāpi, bho gotama, nikkujjitaṁ vā ukkujjeyya, paṭicchannaṁ vā vivareyya, mūḷhassa vā maggaṁ ācikkheyya, andhakāre vā telapajjotaṁ dhāreyya: ‘cakkhumanto rūpāni dakkhantī’ti; evamevaṁ bhotā gotamena anekapariyāyena dhammo pakāsito. Esāhaṁ, bho gotama, saputto sabhariyo sapariso sāmacco bhavantaṁ gotamaṁ saraṇaṁ gacchāmi dhammañca bhikkhusaṅghañca. Upāsakaṁ maṁ bhavaṁ gotamo dhāretu ajjatagge pāṇupetaṁ saraṇaṁ gataṁ.
Yathā ca bhavaṁ gotamo ukkaṭṭhāya aññāni upāsakakulāni upasaṅkamati, evameva bhavaṁ gotamo pokkharasātikulaṁ upasaṅkamatu. Tattha ye te māṇavakā vā māṇavikā vā bhavantaṁ gotamaṁ abhivādessanti vā paccuṭṭhissanti vā āsanaṁ vā udakaṁ vā dassanti cittaṁ vā pasādessanti, tesaṁ taṁ bhavissati dīgharattaṁ hitāya sukhāyā”ti.
“Kalyāṇaṁ vuccati, brāhmaṇā”ti.
English Rhys Davids 1899
the Blessed One discoursed in due order; that is to say, he spake to him of generosity, of right conduct, of heaven, of the danger, the vanity, and the defilement of lusts, of the advantages of renunciation. And when the Blessed One saw that Pokkharasâdi, the Brahman, had become prepared, softened, unprejudiced, upraised, and believing in heart, then he proclaimed the doctrine the Buddhas alone have won; that is to say, the doctrine of sorrow, of its origin, of its cessation, and of the Path. And just as a clean cloth from which all stain has been washed away will readily take the dye, just even so did Pokkharasâdi, the Brahman, obtain, even while sitting there, the pure and spotless. Eye for the Truth, and he knew: 'Whatsoever has a beginning in that is inherent also the necessity of dissolution.
22. And then the Brahman Pokkharasâdi, as one who had seen the Truth, had mastered it, understood it, dived deep down into it, who had passed beyond doubt and put away perplexity and gained full confidence, who had become dependent on no other man for his knowledge of the teaching of the Master, addressed the Blessed One, and said:
'Most excellent, oh Gotama (are the words of thy mouth), most excellent! Just as if a man were to set up that which has been thrown down, or were to reveal that which has been hidden away, or were to point out the right road to him who has gone astray, or were to bring a light into the darkness so that those who had eyes could see external forms,--just even so, Lord, has the truth been made known to me, in many a figure, by the venerable Gotama. And I, oh Gotama, with my sons, and my wife, and my people, and my companions, betake myself to the venerable Gotama as my guide, to the truth, and to the Order. May the venerable Gotama accept me as a disciple, as one who from this day forth, as long as life endures, has taken him as his guide. And just as the venerable Gotama visits the families of others, his disciples, at Ukkattha, so let him visit mine. Whosoever there may be there, of Brahmans or their wives, who shall pay reverence to the venerable Gotama, or stand up in his presence, or offer him a seat or water, or take delight in him, to him that will be, for long, a cause of weal and bliss.'
'It is well, Brahman, what you say.'
Here ends the Ambattha Sutta.
Rhys Davids’s notes (24)
The land revenue, payable of course in kind, would be a tithe. If the king had full proprietary (zemindary) rights as well, which is the probable meaning of râga-bhoggam, his share would be, either with or without the land tax, one half. The grant would be of his own rights only. The rights of the peasants to the other half, and to the use of the common and waste and woods, would remain to them. If Buddhaghosa's interpretation of brahmadeyyam is correct, then the grantee would also be the king's representative for all purposes judicial and executive. Elsewhere the word has only been found as applied to marriage; and the first part of the compound (brahma) has always been interpreted by Brahmans as referring to themselves. But brahma as the first part of a compound never has that meaning in Pâli; and the word in our passage means literally 'a full gift.'
2. His full name was Pokkharasâdi Opamañño Subhagavaniko (M. II, 200); where the second is the gotta (gens) name and the third a local name. See the Introduction to the Mahâli Sutta.}
2. The fourth is not expressly mentioned. Buddhaghosa (p. 247) says we have to supply the fourth Veda, the Atharva. But the older Pâli texts do not acknowledge the Atharva as a Veda. It only occurs, as the Athabbana Veda, in the Atthakathâs and Tîkâs. And it is quite unnecessary to suppose a silent reference to it here. The fourth place is quite sufficiently filled as suggested in the translation. The Âthabbana, given (in S. N, 927) as the name of a mystic art (together with astrology, the interpretation of dreams and of lucky signs, and so forth), is probably not the Veda, but witchcraft or sorcery. The Pitakas always take three Vedas, and three only, for granted. And the whole point of the Tevigga Sutta (translated in full in my 'Buddhist Suttas') is this three-, not four-, fold division. Four Vedas are referred to in the Milinda, at p. 3, and the Atharva-veda, at p. 117.}
2. The knowledge of these thirty-two marks of a Great Being, (Mahâ-purusha) is one of the details in the often-recurring paragraph giving the points of Brahman wisdom, which we have just had at § 3. No such list has been found, so far as I know, in those portions of the pre-Buddhistic priestly literature that have survived. And the inference from both our passages is that the knowledge is scattered through the Brahman texts. Many of the details of the Buddhist list (see the note below on p. 106 of the text) are very obscure; and a collection of the older Brahman passages would probably throw light upon them, and upon a curious chapter in mythological superstition. Who will write us a monograph (historical of course) on the Mahâ-purusha theory as held in early times among the Aryans in India?}
2. Vihâra; often rendered 'monastery,' a meaning the word never has in the older texts.}
2. And is therefore, after all, not so much his fault as that of his teacher. That this is the implication is clear from the text, pp. 90, 91 (§§ 10-13) below.}
2. Santhâgâra. Childers is quite wrong about this word. It is the hall where a clan mote was held, and is used exclusively of places for the assemblies of the householders in the free republics of Northern Kosala. It never means a royal rest house, which is râgâgâraka, as we had above (p. 1, § 2 of the Pâli text). Thus at M. I, 353, 4 and Gât. IV, 147 we have this identical hall of the Sâkyas at Kapilavatthu, and at M. I, 457 a similar one of the Sâkyas at Kâtumâya; at M. P. V, 56 (VI, 23 of the translation in my 'Buddhist Suttas') we have the congress hall of the Mallas of Kusinârâ, and at M. I, 228 and Vin. I, 233 that of the Likkhavis of Vesâlî-all of them called Santhâgâra, and all referred to in connection with a public meeting of the clan.
3. Anguli-patodakena. The Introductory Story to the 52nd Pâkittiya (Vin. IV, 110 = III, 84) tells how a Bhikshu was inadvertently done to death by being made to laugh immoderately in this way. It must there mean 'tickling.' Here, and at A. IV, 343, it seems to have the meaning given above.}
2. On this famous old king see the legends preserved in the M. B. V, 13; Mahâvastu I, 348;Gât. II, 311; Sum. I, 258.}
2. The oak (which doesn't grow in the text, and could not grow in the Terai) has been introduced to enable the word play to be adequately rendered. The Pâli Saka means a teak tree.
3. Kanhâyana is the regular torm of patronymic from Kanha.
4. Buddhaghosa gives further details as to his subsequent life.}
2. Aññena aññam patikarasi. For this idiom, not in Childers, see M. I, 250; Vin. I. 85; A. I, 187, 198; Mil. 94; Sum. I, 264. It is answering one thing by alleging another.
3. This curious threat--which never comes to anything, among the Buddhists, and is apparently never meant to--is a frequent form of expression in Indian books. and is pre-Buddhistic. Comp. Brinad Âr. Up. III, 6. 2 and 9. 26. Buddhist passages are M. I, 231; Dhp. 72; Dhp. A. 87, 140; Gât. I, 54; V, 21, 33, 87, 92, 493, &c.}
2. Upanisîdati; whence Upanishad, a mystery, secret, listened to in awe.}
2. The effect of course of the charm which, Buddhaghosa tells us (p. 265), was known as the Ambattha charm.
3. Sotthi hotu. This is the old mystic word swasti. We have lost the use of such expressions, Faustum fac regem.
4. All this, says Buddhaghosa, was brutum fulmen. The Ambattha charm had only power to stop the arrow going off; not to work such results as these.}
2. Thâlipâka. See Gât. I, 186; Mil. 249. It is used in sacrifices, and also on special occasions.}
2. Assa-putena vadhitvâ, literally 'killing him with (the proceeding called) the Ash-basket.' Compare the idiom 'cut him dead.' It is also mentioned at A. II, 242.}
Hofrath Bühler has pointed out that in the Mahâbhârata III, 185 (Bombay edition) there is an interesting passage where Sanat-kumâra (the Sanskrit form of the name Sanam-kumâra) is actually represented by the Brahmans themselves as having uttered, as referee in a dispute on a point similar to the one here discussed, not indeed the actual words here imputed to him, but others of a very similar import. See the whole article in the J. R. A. S., 1897, pp. 585-588. We either have in our text a quotation from an older recension of the same legend, or one of the two--either the Brahman editors of the Mahâbhârata, or the composers of our Sutta--have twisted the legend a little in their own favour.
2. The verse is a favourite one. It occurs also at M. I, 358; S. I, 153; II, 284; and below in the Aggañña Sutta.}
The next line might also be rendered 'when perfect,' &c., referring to the Kshatriya.
4. This question of caste, besides being often referred to in isolated passages, is described at length also in the Assalâyana, Kannakathâla, and Madhura Suttas, all in the Magghima. The first has been translated into German by Professor Pischel and the last into English by Mr. Chalmers, J. R. A. S., 1894, p. 341 and foll. On the facts of caste as disclosed in the Gâtaka book see Fick's 'Sociale Gliederung in Indien zu Buddha's Zeit,' Kiel, 1897; and on the general history of caste in India see Senart's 'Les Castes dans l'Inde,' Paris, 1896.}
1. Buddhaghosa, p. 268, seems to have had a different reading--idam p'assa hoti sîlasmim--from that preserved in our text. It comes to much the same result, but is better, as omitting the word bhikkhu.
1. It is important to notice that these are put, not under wisdom, but under conduct.
2. Apâya-mukhâni, 'outlets, leakages, so that it cannot fill up.' The word aya-mukham, inlet, is used in its concrete sense at D. I, 74. and both words at A. II, 166; and 'outlet' occurs figuratively, in a secondary sense, as in this passage, in the Sigâlovâda Sutta, p. 299.}
2. Buddhaghosa here (p. 270) says that all sorts of Brahman ascetics are here intended to be included, and he gives further details of eight different sorts (discussed in the Journal of the P. T. S. for 1891, pp. 34 foll.).
3. Sandissasi sâkariyako. Compare M. P. S. 6, 7, 8, 9, 24, 25.}
2. By concealing this suggestive fact, and thereby leaving you ignorant that the king, a Kshatriya, looked down on a Brahman, even one whom he considered, as a Brahman, of great merit. So at Gât. V, 257 a king calls a Brahman 'low born' (hîna-gakko) compared with himself.}
1. On these names see Tevigga Sutta I, 13 (p. 172 of my 'Buddhist Suttas') and 'Vinaya Texts,' II, 130.
2. Kutta-vâlehi. The chariot of the time, as represented on the bas reliefs, had standing room for four passengers, the steeds wore plumes on their heads, and had their manes and tails elaborately plaited. 'Stûpa of Bharhut,' Pl. XII, shows us the chariot of Pasenadi, king of Kosala (see ibid. pp. 124, 125). Kutta is not in Childers. But it occurs frequently. See Gât. I, 296, 433; II, 127, 128; IV, 219; Asl.321.
3. Compare Gât. IV, 106; Mil. 330.
4. Okkhitta-palighâsu. Childers says (following the Sanskrit dictionaries) bars 'of iron.' But where does the iron come in? This is surely a modern improvement. Unfortunately the word is found elsewhere (M. I, 139; A. III, 84; Dhp. 398) only in an ethical sense.}
As to the means by which the Buddha made the first visible to Ambattha, Buddhaghosa simply quotes Nâgasena (at Mil. 169) to show that he made a visible image of himself fully dressed in his robes. And the difficulty is to see how that would have helped matters. Only an historical explanation of the meaning of the marks can here guide us to what is inferred.
2. These are two of the thirty-two bodily marks of a Great Being (Mahâ-purisa), as handed down among the Brahmans (see note above, p. 88 of the text, § 5) and adopted by the Buddhists. They are in part adaptations to a man of poetical epithets applied to the sun, or to the personification of the mystic human sacrifice; partly characteristics of personal beauty such as any man might have; and one or two of them--the little wart, for instance, between the eyes with white hair on it, and the protuberance at the top of the head--may possibly be added in reminiscence of personal bodily peculiarities which Gotama actually had.
One of the Dialogues in the Dîgha, the Lakhana Sutta, is devoted to these thirty-two marks. They are also enumerated, with slight differences, in the Mahâpadhâna Sutta; and later books give other lists differing from each other, and from the old lists, in many small points. The story told here in §§ 11, 12 recurs in identical words in the Sela Sutta (S. N. No. 33 = M. No. 92) and forms the subject of one of the dilemmas put by King Milinda to Nâgasena (Mil 167).}
2. Onîta-patta-pânim. See the note at 'Vinaya Texts,' I, 83.}