{"collection":"Buddhism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/bud/sbe20/sbe20077.htm","path":"bud/sbe20/sbe20077.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/bud/sbe20/sbe20077.htm","text":"1. Now Devadatta on that day, which was Uposatha day, arose from his seat, and gave out voting-tickets 1, saying, 'We went, Sirs, to the Samana Gotama and asked for the Five Points, saying--(&c., as above in VII, 3, 14 and 15). These the Samana Gotama will not allow; but we live in accordance therewith. Whosoever of the venerable ones approves of the Five Things, let him take a ticket.'\nNow at that time there were five hundred Bhikkhus, Ves\u00e2liyans, and belonging to the Vaggian clan 2, who had but recently joined the Order, and were ignorant of what he had in hand 3. These took the voting-tickets, believing [the Five Points to be according to] the Dhamma, and the Vinaya, and the teaching of the Master. And Devadatta, having thus created a division in the Samgha, went out to the hill Gay\u00e2-s\u00eesa, taking those five hundred Bhikkhus with him.\nThen S\u00e2riputta and Moggall\u00e2na went to the Blessed One, and bowed down before him, and took their seats on one side. And when they were so seated, S\u00e2riputta said to the Blessed One: 'Devadatta,\n[paragraph continues] Lord, has gone forth to Gay\u00e2-s\u00eesa, taking five hundred Bhikkhus with him.'\n'Verily, S\u00e2riputta and Moggall\u00e2na, there must be a feeling of kindness towards those young Bhikkhus among you both. Go therefore, both of you, before they have fallen into entire destruction.'\n'Even so, Lord,' said S\u00e2riputta and Moggall\u00e2na, in assent to the Blessed One. And rising from their seats, they bowed down before him, and keeping him on their right hand as they passed him, they set out for Gay\u00e2-s\u00eesa.\nThen at that time a certain Bhikkhu, standing not far from the Blessed One, began to weep. And the Blessed One said to him: 'Why, O Bhikkhu, dost thou weep?'\n'Those, Lord, who are the Blessed One's chief disciples, S\u00e2riputta and Moggall\u00e2na, even they have gone to Devadatta's side, approving the Dhamma of Devadatta.'\nThat, O Bhikkhu, would be impossible, that S\u00e2riputta and Moggall\u00e2na should approve his teaching. They are gone only to gain those Bhikkhus over again 1:\n2. Now at that time Devadatta, surrounded by a great number of adherents, was seated, preaching the Dhamma. And when he saw from afar S\u00e2riputta and Moggall\u00e2na coming towards him, he said to the Bhikkhus: 'See, O Bhikkhus, how well preached must be my doctrine, in that even the two chief disciples of the Samana Gotama--S\u00e2riputta\nand Moggall\u00e2na--are coming to join me, being pleased with my Dhamma.'\nWhen he had thus spoken Kok\u00e2lika said to Devadatta: 'O venerable Devadatta, trust not S\u00e2riputta and Moggall\u00e2na, for they are inclined towards evil, and under the influence of evil desires.'\n'Nay, my friend, let us bid them welcome since they take pleasure in my teaching (Dhamma).'\nAnd Devadatta invited S\u00e2riputta to share his own seat, saying, 'Come, friend S\u00e2riputta. Sit thou here!'\n'Nay (there is no need of that),' said S\u00e2riputta; and taking another seat, he sat down on one side. And Devadatta instructed and incited and aroused and gladdened the Bhikkhus far into the night with religious discourse; and then made request to S\u00e2riputta, saying, 'The assembly, friend S\u00e2riputta, is still alert and sleepless. Will you, friend S\u00e2riputta, be so good as to think of some religious discourse to address to the Bhikkhus 1? My back is tired, and I would stretch myself a little.'\n'Even so, friend,' said the venerable S\u00e2riputta, in assent to Devadatta. And Devadatta spread his waist-cloth folded in four on the ground, and lay down on his right side. And in a moment even sleep overcame him who was tired, and had lost his presence of mind and his self-consciousness 2.\n3. Then the venerable S\u00e2riputta taught and exhorted the Bhikkhus in a religious discourse touching the marvels of preaching, and the venerable\n[paragraph continues] Moggall\u00e2na taught and exhorted the Bhikkhus in a religious discourse touching the marvels of Iddhi. And whilst they were being so taught and exhorted those Bhikkhus obtained the pure and spotless Eye of the Truth 1--(that is, the knowledge that) whatsoever has a beginning, in that is inherent also the necessity of dissolution. Then the venerable S\u00e2riputta addressed the Bhikkhus, and said: 'Let us go, my friends, to the Blessed One's side. Whosoever approves of his doctrine (Dhamma), let him come.'\nAnd S\u00e2riputta and Moggall\u00e2na went back to the Veluvana, taking those five hundred Bhikkhus with them. But Kok\u00e2lika awoke Devadatta, and said: 'Arise, friend Devadatta! Your Bhikkhus have been led away by S\u00e2riputta and Moggall\u00e2na. Did I not tell you, Devadatta, not to trust S\u00e2riputta and Moggall\u00e2na, in that they were inclined towards evil, and were under the influence of evil desires?'\nThen hot blood came forth from Devadatta's mouth 2.\n4. But S\u00e2riputta and Moggall\u00e2na went to the place where the Blessed One was, and bowed down before him, and took their seats on one side. And when they were so seated, S\u00e2riputta said to the Blessed One:\n'It were well, Lord, that Bhikkhus who have turned aside to schism should be received afresh into the higher grade of the Order.'\n'Nay, S\u00e2riputta, let not the reordination of schismatical\n[paragraph continues] Bhikkhus seem good to thee. But rather cause such Bhikkhus to confess that they have committed a thullakkaya offence. And how, S\u00e2riputta, did Devadatta treat you?'\n'When Devadatta, Lord, had instructed and aroused and incited and gladdened the Bhikkhus far into the night with religious discourse, he then 'made request to me, saying, \"The assembly, friend S\u00e2riputta, is still alert and sleepless. Will you, friend S\u00e2riputta, think of some religious discourse to address to the Bhikkhus? My back is tired, and I would stretch myself a little.\" This, Lord, was the way in which Devadatta behaved to me.'\n5. Then the Blessed One addressed the Bhikkhus, and said: 'Once upon a time, O Bhikkhus, there was a great pond in a forest region. Some elephants dwelt beside it; and they, plunging into the pond, plucked with their trunks the edible stalks of the lotus plants, washed them till they were quite clean 1, masticated them 2 without any dirt, and so eat them up. And that produced in them both beauty and strength, and by reason thereof they neither went down into death, nor into any sorrow like unto death. Now among those great elephants, O Bhikkhus, there were young elephant calves, who also, in imitation of those others, plunged into that pond, and plucked with their trunks the edible stalks of the lotus plants; but they did not wash them till they were clean, but masticated them, dirt and all, and so eat them up. And that produced in them\nneither beauty nor strength; and by reason thereof they went down into death, and into sorrows like unto death. Just so, O Bhikkhus, will Devadatta die who, poor creature, is emulating me.\n'Like the elephant calf who eateth mud in imitation, of the great beast 1\nThat shakes the earth, and eats the lotus plant, and watches through the night among the waters 2--\nSo will he, poor creature, die that emulateth me.'\n6. 'A Bhikkhu who is possessed of eight qualifications is worthy, O Bhikkhus, to do the work of an emissary. And what are the eight? The Bhikkhu, O Bhikkhus, must be able to hear and to make others listen, able to learn, able to bear in mind, able to discern and to make others discern, skilful to deal with friends and foes, and no maker of quarrels. These are the eight qualifications of which when a Bhikkhu is possessed, he is worthy, O Bhikkhus, to do the work of an emissary.\n'S\u00e2riputta, O Bhikkhus, being possessed of eight qualifications, is worthy to do the work of an emissary. What are the eight (&c., as in last paragraph)?\n7. 'Devadatta, O Bhikkhus, being overcome, his mind being taken up by eight evil conditions 2, is irretrievably (doomed to) remain for a Kalpa in states of suffering and woe 3. And what are the eight? He is overcome, his mind is taken up by gain, by want of gain, by fame, by want of fame, by honour, by want of honour, by his having wicked desires, and by his having wicked friends. These, O Bhikkhus, are the eight evil conditions by which Devadatta being overcome, and his mind being taken up, he is irretrievably(doomed to) remain for a Kalpa in states of suffering and woe.\n'It would be well, O Bhikkhus, that Bhikkhus should continue in complete ascendancy over any gain or loss, any fame or the reverse, any honour or\ndishonour, any evil longing or evil friendship, that may accrue to them. And for what reason 1? For as much, O Bhikkhus, that bad influences (\u00e2savas) arise, full of vexation and distress 2, to one who is not continuing in complete ascendancy over each of these eight things, but to one, who is so continuing, such influences arise not. This is the reason, O Bhikkhus, why it would be well (&c., as before). Let us then, O Bhikkhus, continue in complete ascendancy over any gain or loss, any fame or the reverse, any honour or dishonour, any evil longing or evil friendship, that may accrue to us. And thus, O Bhikkhus, should you train yourselves.\nThere are three evil conditions, O Bhikkhus, by which Devadatta being overcome, and his mind being taken up, he is irretrievably doomed to remain for a Kalpa in states of suffering and woe. And what are the three? His having wicked desires, and his having wicked friends, and his having come to a stop on his way (to Nirv\u00e2na or Arahatship) because he had already attained to some lesser thing 3. These are the three (&c., as before).'\n256:1 It may be noticed that Devadatta here takes upon himself the office of a sal\u00e2ka-g\u00e2h\u00e2pako without having been appointed to it in the manner required by the rule laid down in Kullavagga IV, 9 and 10. On the process to be followed when voting with tickets, see IV, 4, 26.\n256:2 So it is the Vaggians from Ves\u00e2l\u00ee who are represented, below XII, 1, 1, to have put forward those Ten Points which gave rise to the Council and the schism at Ves\u00e2l\u00ee a hundred years after the Buddha's death.\n256:3 Apakata\u00f1\u00f1uno.\n257:1 Bhikkhu-sa\u00f1\u00f1attiy\u00e2. The phrase occurs above at IV, 14, 26, and below XII, 2, 8, and corresponds to the expression ganam sa\u00f1\u00f1\u00e2peti (above, VII, 3, 14), used of Devadatta's trying to gain the people over to his views.\n258:1 Patibh\u00e2tu tam bhikkh\u00fbnam dhamm\u00ee kath\u00e2. See our note above on Mah\u00e2vagga V, 13, 9.\n258:2 Compare Mah\u00e2vagga VIII, 16 = Sutta-vibha\u1e45ga, Samgh\u00e2disesa I, 2, 1.\n259:1 This expression is the standing one in conversions; see, for instance, Mah\u00e2vagga I, 7, 6; Kullavagga VI, 4, 5, VII, 3, 6.\n259:2 The later legends preserved in Spence Hardy and Bigandet say that Devadatta died on the spot.\n260:1 The last three lines have occurred word for word in Mah\u00e2vagga VI, 20, 2.\n260:2 Samkh\u00e2ditv\u00e2. Compare the use of this word at G\u00e2taka I, 507.\n261:1 Mah\u00e2-var\u00e2ha. At Abhidh\u00e2na-ppad\u00eepik\u00e2, verse 1115, var\u00e2ha is said to mean 'elephant' as well as 'boar;' and so here Buddhaghosa says Mah\u00e2-var\u00e2hassa mah\u00e2-n\u00e2gassa. As this explanation possibly rests only on such passages as the present, we have chosen an ambiguous rendering.\n261:2 Nad\u00eesu gaggato ti. Ettha so kira hatthi-n\u00e2go s\u00e2yanhasamayam tam nad\u00ee-n\u00e2makam pokkharanim og\u00e2hetv\u00e2 kilanto sabbarattim v\u00eetin\u00e2mesi g\u00e2likam karoti. Tena vuttam nadisu gaggato ti (B.).\n262:1 On these lines compare some similar expressions at Mah\u00e2vagga X, 6, 3.\n262:2 Asaddhamma. It is very difficult to find a proper rendering for this expression. Dhamma here means, no doubt, 'quality,' 'condition' (as it does in the title of the Sanskrit work Saddharma-pundar\u00eeka, unhappily rendered by Burnouf, 'Lotus de la bonne loi'). But the details of the various particulars suggest rather the rendering 'surrounding occurrences' or 'matters,' for they are objective, external, and not (or only incidentally and secondarily) subjective, internal.\n262:3 \u00c2p\u00e2yiko nerayiko. 'Liable to re-birth in ap\u00e2ya and in niraya: Of these the former includes the latter, and also the states of being an animal, a disembodied ghost (peta), or an asura. Hell, though a convenient, is a misleading translation of the latter of the two words, for the reasons given by Rh. D. on Mah\u00e2-parinibb\u00e2na Sutta I, 23. All the expressions used here recur below at VII, 5, 4.\n263:1 Kim (read kam) atthavasam patikka. So also above, Mah\u00e2vagga VIII, 15, 7; Kullavagga VII, 1, 6, and in the Mah\u00e2-parinibb\u00e2na Sutta V, 28, and Dhammapada, verse 289. The whole of the previous sentence is here repeated in the text.\n263:2 Vigh\u00e2ta-paril\u00e2h\u00e2. This is a standing epithet of the \u00c2savas, recurring, for instance, many times in the Sabb\u00e2sava Sutta, \u00a7\u00a7 18-37 (Rh. D.'s 'Buddhist Suttas,' pp. 302 and following). The word 'influence,' here chosen as a rendering for \u00e2sava, is suggested by Dr. Morris as being similar, both in its derivation and in the history of its meaning, to the P\u00e2li one. The principal objection against it is that it has never acquired the bad connotation of \u00e2sava, and requires, therefore, to be supplemented by some epithet.\n263:3 Oramattakena vises\u00e2dhigamena antar\u00e2 vos\u00e2nam \u00e2p\u00e2di. On this phrase, which recurs in full in the Mah\u00e2-parinibb\u00e2na p. 264 Sutta, I, 7, see Buddhaghosa's note there, quoted by Rh. D., 'Buddhist Suttas,' p. 7. The 'lesser thing' here referred to is doubtless the pothugganik\u00e2 iddhi mentioned above in \u00a7 4:\n264:1 Anukinno \u00e2sagganam. On the former of these two words the passages at D\u00eepavamsa I, 18, and G\u00e2taka I, 20 (verse 126), and below, VII, 5, 2 = Mah\u00e2vagga X, 5, 4, may be referred to. The latter seems to bear the same relation to \u00e2s\u00e2dana, 'attack,' as vikubbana does to vikarana. Buddhaghosa's notes (text. p. 325) presuppose different. readings of both words.\n264:2 'Guarded fourfold' is katudv\u00e2ram, that is, 'having gates and the ramparts (through which they pass) on all four sides.' On the general sentiment of these stanzas, and especially of this line, compare the Kok\u00e2liya Sutta in the Sutta Nip\u00e2ta (III, 10).\n264:3 Bhasm\u00e2 is explained by Buddhaghosa as equal to bhay\u00e2nako.","title":"SBE 20: Seventh Khandhaka: Chapter 4","type":"page"}