पुस्तक II

II

2. “This resolve of thine is an excellent counsel, not unfit in itself but only unfit at the present time : it could not be thy duty, loving duty as thou dost, to leave thy father in his old age to sorrow.

3. “Surely thy mind is not very penetrating, or it is ill-skilled in examining duty, wealth, and pleasure,— when for the sake of an unseen result thou departest disregarding a visible end.

4. “Again some say that there is another birth,— others with confident assertion say that there is not, since then the matter is all in doubt, it is right to enjoy the good fortune which comes into thy hand.

5. “If there is any activity hereafter, we will enjoy ourselves in it as may offer ; or if there is no activity beyond this life, then there is an assured liberation to all the world without any effort.

6. “Some say there is a future life, but they do not allow the possibility of liberation ; as fire is hot by nature, and water liquid, so they hold that there is a special nature in our power of action.

7. “Some maintain that all things arise from inherent properties,—both good and evil and existence and non-existence : and since all this world thus arises spontaneously, therefore also all effort of ours is vain.

8. “Since the action of the senses is fixed, and so too the agreeableness or the disagreeableness of outward objects,—then for that which is united to old age and pains, what effort can avail to alter it ? Does it not all arise spontaneously ?

9. “The fire becomes quenched by water, and fire causes water to evaporate ; and different elements, united in a body, producing unity, bear up the world.

10. “That the nature of the embryo in the womb is produced as composed of hands, feet, belly, back, and head, and that it is also united with the soul,—the wise declare that all this comes of itself spontaneously.

11. “Who causes the sharpness of the thorn? Or the various natures of beasts and birds ? All this has arisen spontaneously ; there is no acting from desire, how then can there be such a thing as will ?

12. “Others say that creation comes from Isvara,

CALL FROM HOME

II —what need then is there of the effort of the conscious soul ? That which is the cause of the action of the world, is also determined as the cause of its ceasing to act.

13. “Some say that the coming into being and the destruction of being are alike caused by the soul, but they say that coming into being arises without effort, while the attainment of liberation is by effort.

14. “A man discharges his debt to his ancestors by begetting offspring, to the saints by sacred lore, to the gods by sacrifices ; he is born with these three debts upon him,—whoever has liberation (from these), he indeed has liberation.

15. “Thus by this series of rules the wise promise liberation to him who uses effort ; but however ready for effort with all their energy, those who seek liberation will find weariness.

16. “Therefore, gentle youth, if thou hast a love for liberation, follow rightly the prescribed rule ; thus wilt thou thyself attain to it, and the king’s grief will come to an end.

17. “And as for thy meditations on the evils of life ending in thy return from the forest to thy home,— let not the thought of this trouble thee, my son,—those in old time also have returned from the forests to their houses.” He mentioned Ambarish Drumakesha, Rama and others.

§ 7. The Buddha’s Determination

1. Then having heard the affectionate and loyal words of the minister, who was as the eye of the king,—firm in his resolve, the king’s son made his answer, with nothing omitted or displaced, neither tedious nor hasty:

2. “This doubt whether anything exists or not, is not to be solved for me by another’s words ; having determined the truth by asceticism or quietism, I will myself grasp whatever is the truth concerning it.

3. “It is not for me to accept a theory which depends on the unknown and is all controverted, and

II which involves a hundred prepossessions ; what wise man would go by another’s belief ? Mankind is like the blind directed in darkness by the blind.

4. “But even though I cannot discern the truth yet still, if good and evil are doubted, let one’s mind be set on the good ; even a toil in vain is to be chosen by him whose soul is good.

5. “But having seen that this ‘sacred tradition’ is uncertain, know that that only is right which has been uttered by the trustworthy ; and know that trustworthiness means the absence of faults ; he who is without faults will not utter an untruth.

6. “And as for what thou saidst to me in regard to my returning home, the examples you give are no authority,—for in determining duty, how canst thou quote as authorities those who have broken their vows ?

7. “Even the sun therefore may fall to the earth, even the mountain Himavat may lose its firmness ; but never could I return to my home as a man of the world, with my senses only alert for external objects.

8. “I would enter the blazing fire, but not my house with my purpose unfulfilled.” Rising up in accordance with his resolve full of disinterestedness, he went his way.

9. Then the minister and the Brahmin, both full of tears, having heard his firm determination, and having followed him a while with despondent looks, and overcome with sorrow, slowly returned to Kapilavatsu.

10. Through their love for the prince and their devotion to the king they returned, and often stopped looking back, they could neither behold him on the road nor yet lose the sight of him,—shining in his own splendour and beyond the reach of all others, like the sun.

11. Having failed to persuade him to return home, the minister and the priest went back with faltering steps, saying to each other, “How shall we approach the king and see him, who is longing for his dear son ?”

PART V Campaign for Conversion resumed

1. Conversion of Rustic Brahmins. 2. Conversion of the Brahmins of Uttaravati.

(या पानावर मजकूर नाही — ते कोरे किंवा चित्राचे पान असू शकते.)

CAMPAIGN FOR CONVERSION RESUMED

II § 1. Conversion of Rustic Brahmins

1. At the back of the Gridhrakutta mountains, near Rajagriha, there was a village, of some seventy or so families, all of them Brahmins.

2. The Buddha, wishing to convert these people, came to the place and sat down under a tree.

3. The people seeing the dignity of his presence, and the glorious appearance of his body, flocked round him, on which he asked the Brahmins how long they had dwelt in the mountain there, and what their occupation was.

4. To this they replied: “We have dwelt here during thirty generations past, and our occupation is to tend cattle.”

5. On asking further as to their religious belief they said : “We pay homage and sacrifice to the sun and the moon, the rain (water), and fire, according to the several seasons.

6. “If one of us dies, we assemble and pray that he may be born in the heaven of Brahma, and so escape further transmigrations.”

7. The Buddha replied: “This is not a safe way, not by it can you benefit. The true way is to follow me, become true ascetics, and practise complete selfcomposure with a view to obtain Nirvana”; and then he added these lines :

8. “They who consider truth as that which is untrue, and regard that which is untrue as truth, this is but to adopt heretical opinions, and can never lead to true advantage.

9. “But to know as truth that which is true, and to regard as false that which is false, this is perfect rectitude, and this shall bring true profit.

10. “Everywhere in the world there is death— there is no escape from it.

11. “To consider this as the condition of all states of being that there is nothing born but must die, and, therefore, to desire to escape birth and death, this is to exercise one’s self in Religious Truth.”

12. The seventy Brahmins hearing these words,

II desired at once to become Shamans ; and on being welcomed by Buddha, their hair fell off, and they presented the appearance of true disciples.

13. Then they all set out to return to the Vihara, and on the road certain thoughts about their wives and families troubled them whilst at the same time a heavy downpour of rain prevented their advance.

14. There were some ten houses on the roadside, in which they sought shelter; but on entering one of them it was soon perceived that through the roof the rain found its way, and there was but little protection from the rain.

15. On this the Buddha added these lines, and said, “As when a house-roof is not properly secured, then the rain finds a way through it and drops within, so when the thoughts are not carefully controlled, the desires (sexual desires) will soon bore through all our good resolutions.

16. “But as when a roof is well stopped then the water cannot leak through, so by controlling one’s thoughts, and acting with reflection, no such desires can arise or disturb us.”

17. The seventy Brahmins, on hearing these lines, although convinced that their desires were reprehensible, yet were not wholly free from doubt, nevertheless they went forward.

18. As they advanced they saw some scented wrapping on the ground, and Buddha took the opportunity of calling their attention to it; and after this, seeing some fish-gut also lying about, he directed their notice to its ill odour and then added these lines and said :

19. “He who consorts with the low and the base, contracts the same character as he who handles a foul substance; he goes from worse to worse, and utterly without reason, he perfects himself in wickedness.

20. “But the wise man (consorting with the wise) contracts the same character, even as the scent of a sweet odour adheres to him who handles it; advancing in wisdom, practising virtue, he goes on to perfection, and is satisfied.”

CAMPAIGN FOR CONVERSION RESUMED

II

21. The seventy Brahmins, hearing these verses, convinced that their desire to return home and enjoy personal indulgence was the evil taint that adhered to them, cast off such thoughts, and, going forward, came to the Vihara, and finally obtained the condition of Arahtas.

§ 2. Conversion of the Brahmins of Uttaravati

1. Once the Buddha was residing in the Jetavana, at Shravasti, and preaching his doctrine for the benefit of men and gods, there were in a country to the eastward, called Uttaravati, a company of 500 Brahmins.

2. They had agreed to go together to the residence of a Nirgrantha ascetic on the banks of the Ganges, who, by polluting himself with dirt, etc., aspired to the condition of a Rishi.

3. On their way they were overtaken in the desert with thirst. Seeing a tree, and hoping to find some human habitation near, they hastened to it, but when they arrived there they found no sign of life.

4. On this they raised their voices in lamentation. Suddenly from the tree they heard the voice of the resident Spirit, who asked them why they lamented so, and on hearing the reason, supplied them to the full with drink and meat.

5. The Brahmins, ready to start onward, asked the Spirit what had been his previous history, that he was thus born.

6. On which he explained that having gone to the assembly of priests in Shravasti when Sudatta had bestowed the garden on the Buddha, he had remained all night listening to the law Dhamma and having filled his drinking cup with water as he went, had bestowed it in charity among the priests.

7. On his return next morning, his wife in anger asked him what annoyance he had received that he should stay away all night. On which he replied that he was not annoyed, but he had been to

II listen to the Buddha preaching at the Jetavana.

8. On this his wife began roundly to abuse the Buddha, and said, “This Gotama is but a mad preacher, who deceives the people,” and so on.

9. “On this” he said, “I resented not her statements, but rather submitted to them and so when I came to die I was born as a spirit, but on account of my pusillanimity I was confined to this tree,” and then he recited these verses.

10. “Sacrifices and such services are sources of misery, day and night, a continual burden and anxiety.

11. “To escape sorrow, and destroy the elements of the body, a man should attend to the Law (of Buddha), and arrive at deliverance from all worldly Rules of Religion (World Rishis).”

12. The Brahmins having heard these words, resolved themselves to go to Shravasti, to the place where the Buddha was, and having explained the object of their visit, the world-honoured said to them:

13. “Although a man goes naked with tangled hair, or though he clothes himself with a few leaves or garment of bark, though he covers himself with dirt and sleeps on the stones, what use is this in getting rid of impure thoughts ?

14. “But he who neither contends or kills, or destroys by fire, who desires not to get the victory, who is moved by goodwill towards all the world, there is no ground in such a case for ill-will or hate.

15. “To sacrifice to spirits in order to find peace (merit), or, after this life expecting reward, his happiness, is not one quarter of that man’s who pays homage to the good.

16. “He who is ever intent on good conduct and due reverence to others, who always venerates old age, four happy consequences increasingly attend that man— beauty and strength, and life and peace.”

17. On hearing this from her husband the wife became reconciled.

PART VI Conversion of the Low and the Lowly

1. Conversion of Upali, the Barber. 2. Conversion of Sunita, the Sweeper. 3. Conversion of Sopaka and Suppiya, the Untouchables. 4. Conversion of Sumangala and other Low Castes. 5. Conversion of Suprabuddha, the Leper.

(या पानावर मजकूर नाही — ते कोरे किंवा चित्राचे पान असू शकते.)

CONVERSION OF THE LOW AND THE LOWLY

II § 1. Conversion of Upali, the Barber

1. While going back Upali, the barber thought: “The Sakyans are a fierce people. If I go back with these ornaments they will kill me thinking that I have killed my companions and run away with their ornaments. Why should I not go the way these young men of the Sakya clan have gone ?”

2. “Why indeed should I not?” asked Upali to himself. And he let down the bundle of ornaments from his back, and hung it on a tree, saying: “Let him who finds it take it as a gift,” and returned to follow the Sakya youths.

3. And the Sakyans saw him coming from afar, and on seeing, they said to him: “What have you come back for, good Upali ?”

4. Then he told them what he felt and they replied: “Thou hast done well, good Upali, in that thou didst not return; for the Sakyans are fierce, and they might have killed thee.”

5. And they took Upali the barber with them to the place where the Blessed One was. And on arriving there, they bowed down before the Blessed One and took their seats on one side. And so seated they said to the Blessed One :

6. “We Sakyans, Lord, are haughty. And this Upali, the barber, has long been an attendant, Lord, upon us. May the Blessed One admit him to the Order before us, so that we may render him respect and reverence, and bow down with outstretched hands before him as our senior and thus shall the Sakyan pride be humbled in us !”

7. Then the Blessed One received first Upali, the barber, and afterwards those young men of the Sakya clan, into the ranks of the Order.

§ 2. Conversion of Sunita, the Sweeper

1. There lived in Rajagraha a scavenger by name Sunita. He earned his living as a road sweeper, sweeping away the rubbish thrown by the householders

II on the roadside. His was a low and hereditary occupation.

2. One day in the early hours of the dawn the Blessed One rose, dressed himself and walked into Rajagraha for alms followed by a large number of Bhikkus.

3. Now Sunita was cleaning the street, collecting scraps, rubbish, and so on into heaps and filling therewith the basket which he carried on a yoke.

4. And when he saw the Master and his train approaching, his heart was filled with joy and awe.

5. Finding no place to hide in on the road, he placed his yoke in a bend in the wall and stood as if stuck to the wall, saluting the Lord with clasped hands.

6. Then the Lord when he had come near, spoke to him in voice divinely sweet, saying: “Sunita ! What to you is this wretched mode of living ? Can you endure to leave home and come into the Order?”

7. And Sunita, experiencing the rapture of one who has been sprinkled with Ambrosia, said: “If even such as the Exalted One may in this life take Orders, why should I not ? May the Exalted One suffer me to come forth.”

8. Then the Master said: “Come Bhikku !” And Sunita by that word received sanction and ordination and was invested with bowl and robes.

9. The Master leading him to the Vihar taught him the Dhamma and the Discipline and said, “By the discipline of holy life, restraint and mastery of self, a man becomes holy.”

10. When asked how Sunita became so great, the Buddha said, “As on a rubbish-heap on highway casta lily may grow, fragrant and sweet, so among rubbishcreatures, worldlings blind by insight shines the very Buddha’s child.”

§ 3. Conversion of Sopaka and Suppiya, the Untouchables

1. Sopaka was a pariah of Shravasti. In her travail at his birth his mother fell into a long deep

CONVERSION OF THE LOW AND THE LOWLY

II swoon, so that her husband and kinsfolk said “She is dead !” And they bore her to the cemetery and prepared to cremate her body.

2. But on account of the storm of wind and rain the fire would not burn. So they went away leaving Sopaka’s mother on the funeral pyre.

3. Sopaka’s mother was not then dead. She died afterwards. Before her death she gave birth to a child.

4. The child was adopted by the watchman of the cemetery and was brought up by him along with his own child Suppiya. The child was known by the name of the community Sopaka to which its mother belonged.

5. The Blessed Lord one day happened to pass by the cemetery. Sopaka, seeing the Lord, approached him. After saluting the Lord he asked his permission to join him as his disciple.

6. Sopaka was then only seven years old. So the Lord asked him to obtain his father’s consent.

7. Sopaka went and fetched his father. The father saluted the Lord and requested him to admit his son to the Order.

8. Notwithstanding that he belonged to the pariah community the Lord admitted him to the Order and instructed him in the doctrine and discipline.

9. Sopaka later became a Thera.

10. Suppiya and Sopaka had grown together from childhood and Sopaka having been adopted and brought up by Suppiya’s father, Suppiya learned the Lord’s doctrine and discipline from his companion, Sopaka, and requested Sopaka to admit him to the Order, although Sopaka belonged to a community which was lower in rank than the community to which Suppiya belonged.

11. Sopaka agreed and Suppiya, a member who belonged to the despised community whose occupation was to perform the duties of watchmen in the cemetery, became a Bhikku.

II § 4. Conversion of Sumangala and other Low Castes

1. Sumangala was a peasant of Shravasti. He earned his living by work in the fields, working with a little sickle, plough and spade.

2. Channa was a native of Kapilavatsu and was a slave in the house of Suddhodana.

3. Dhanniya was a resident of Rajagraha. He was a potter.

4. Kappata-Kuxa was a native of Shravasti. The only way he knew of, to support himself, was to go about, clad in rags, pan in hand, seeking for rice-grains. Hence he became known as Kappata-Kura—“Rags and-rice.” When grown up, he maintained himself by selling grass.

5. All of them sought from the Buddha permission to become Bhikkus and enter the Order. The Buddha without hesitation and without caring for their low birth or their previous condition, admitted them into the Order.

§5. Conversion of Supprabuddha, the Leper

1. Once the Exalted One was staying near Rajagraha, in the bamboo grove, at the squirrels’ feeding-ground.

2. Now there lived in Rajagraha at that time a certain man, who was a leper, named Supprabuddha, a poor, wretched, miserable creature.

3. And it happened at that time that the Exalted One was sitting there in the midst of a great multitude, teaching the Dhamma.

4. And Supprabuddha, the leper, saw from afar the multitude gathered together, and at the sight he thought, “Without a doubt an alms-giving of food, both hard and soft, is toward yonder. Suppose I draw near to yonder crowd, I might get there something to eat, food soft or hard.”

5. So Supprabuddha, the leper, drew near that crowd, and he beheld the Exalted One sitting there amid

CONVERSION OF THE LOW AND THE LOWLY

II a great crowd, preaching the Norm. So, seeing the Exalted One he thought : “No. There is no almsgiving here of food. It is Gotama the Samana preaching the Dhamma in the assembly. Suppose I were to listen to his teaching.”

6. So he sat down at one side, thinking, “I too will listen to the teaching.”

7. Now the Exalted One, reading with His thought the thoughts of that whole gathering, said to Himself, “Who, I wonder, of these present, is able to grasp the Truth ?” Then He saw Supprabuddha, the leper, sitting in the crowd : and at the sight of him He knew, “This one can grasp the Truth.”

8. So for the sake of Supprabuddha, the leper, the Master preached a sermon, dealing in due order with these topics. On alms-giving, on the holy life, and on the heaven-world : and He pointed out the meanness and vileness of sensual desires and the profit of freedom from the asavas.

9. Now when the Exalted One saw that the heart of Supprabuddha, the leper, was softened, pliant, set free, elated, and full of faith, then He set forth to him the Dhamma most excellent of the Buddha, to wit, suffering, the cause of suffering, the ceasing of suffering, and the path.

10. Then, just as a white cloth, free from stains, is ready to receive the dye, even so in Supprabuddha, the leper, as he sat there in that very place, arose the pure stainless insight of the Truth, the knowledge that whatsoever hath a beginning, that also must have an end. And Supprabuddha, the leper, saw the Truth, reached the Truth, perceived the truth, plunged into the Truth, crossed beyond doubting, was freed from all questionings, won confidence, and needing nothing further, being established in the Master’s teaching, sprang up from his seat and drew near to Him, and there he sat down at one side.

11. So seated he said to the Exalted One, “Excellent, O Lord Excellent, O, Lord, just as if, Lord, one should lift up the fallen, discover the hidden,

II point out the way to one bewildered, show a light in the gloom, saying, ‘Now they who have eyes to see can see shapes,’ even so in diverse ways has the Exalted One expounded the truth. I, even I, Lord, do go for refuge to the Exalted One, to the Norm and to the Order of Brethren. May the Exalted One accept me as His follower, as one who from this time forth even to life’s end has gone to refuge in Him.”

12. Thereupon Supprabuddha, the leper, being taught, established, roused, and made happy by the Exalted One’s pious talk, praised and welcomed His words, gave thanks and rose up from his seat, saluted the Exalted One by the right, and went away.

13. Unfortunately it came to pass that a young calf flung the leper Supprabuddha down and gored him to death.

PART VII Conversion of Women

1. Conversion of Mahaprajapati Gotami, Yeshodhara and her Companions. 2. Conversion of Prakrati, a Chandalika.

(या पानावर मजकूर नाही — ते कोरे किंवा चित्राचे पान असू शकते.)

CONVERSION OF WOMEN

II § 1. Conversion of Mahaprajapati Gotami and Yeshodhara and her Companions

1. When the Blessed One had been on a visit to his father’s home the desire to join the Sangh was as keen among the Sakya women as it was among the Sakya men.

2. The leader of such women was no other than Mahaprajapati Gotami.

3. Now at the time when the Blessed One was staying among the Sakyas in the Nigrodharama, Mahaprajapati Gotami went to him and said: “It would be well, Lord, if women were allowed to become Parivrajakas and enter the Sangh under the doctrine and discipline proclaimed by the Tathagata !”

4. “Enough, O Gotami! Let not such a thought come into your mind.” And a second and a third time did Mahaprajapati make the same request in the same words, and a second and a third time did she receive the same reply.

5. Then Mahaprajapati Gotami, sad and sorrowful, bowed down before the Blessed One, and went away weeping and in tears.

6. After the Blessed One had left Nigrodharama for his wanderings, Mahaprajapati and the Sakya women sat together to give further consideration to their request for admission to the Sangh and the refusal of the Lord to grant such a request.

7. The Sakya women refused to take the Lord’s refusal as final. They decided to go further to assume the garb of a Parivrajaka and present the Lord with a fait accompli.

8. Accordingly Mahaprajapati Gotami cut off her hair and put on orange-coloured robes and set out with a number of women of the Sakya clan, on her journey to meet the Lord who was at that time staying in Vesali in the Mahavana in the Kutagara Hall.

9. In due course Mahaprajapati Gotami with her companions arrived at Vesali and with swollen feet and covered with dust came to the Kutogara Hall.

II

10. Again she made the same request to the Blessed Lord which she had made when he was staying at Nigrodharama and he refused it again.

11. On receiving his refusal a second time Mahaprajapati withdrew and was standing outside the entrance of the hall not knowing what to do. While she was so standing Ananda on his way to the hall saw her and recognized her.

12. He then asked Mahaprajapati, “Why standest thou there, outside the porch, with swollen feet, covered with dust, and sorrowful, weeping and in tears ?” “Inasmuch, O Ananda, as the Lord, the Blessed One, does not permit women to renounce their homes and enter the homeless state under the doctrine and discipline proclaimed by the Tathagata,” said Mahaprajapati.

13. Then did the Venerable Ananda go up to the place where the Blessed One was, and bowed down before the Blessed One, and take his seat on one side. And, so sitting, the Venerable Ananda said to the Blessed One : “Behold, Lord, Mahaprajapati Gotami is standing outside under the entrance porch, with swollen feet covered with dust, sad and sorrowful, weeping and in tears, inasmuch as the Blessed One does not permit women to renounce their homes and enter the homeless state under the doctrine and discipline proclaimed by the Blessed One. It were well, Lord, if women were to have permission granted to them to do as she desires.

14. “Has not Mahaprajapati proved herself of great service to the Blessed One, when as aunt and nurse she nourished him and gave him milk, and on the death of his mother suckled the Blessed One at her own breast; it were, therefore, well, Lord that women should have permission to go forth from the household life and enter the homeless state, under the doctrine and discipline proclaimed by the Tathagata.”

15. “Enough Ananda! Let it not, please, that women should be allowed to do so.” A second time and a third time did Ananda make the same request, in the same words, and received the same reply.