{"collection":"Buddhism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/bud/snp/snp3-11.htm","path":"bud/snp/snp3-11.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/bud/snp/snp3-11.htm","text":"Asita the seer, in his mid-day meditation,\nsaw the devas of the Group of Thirty\n-- exultant, ecstatic --\ndressed in pure white, honoring Indra,\nholding up banners, cheering wildly,\n& on seeing the devas so joyful & happy,\nhaving paid his respects, he said:\n\"Why is the deva community\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 so wildly elated?\nWhy are they holding up banners\n& waving them around?\nEven after the war with the Asuras\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 -- when victory was the devas',\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the Asuras defeated -- \neven then there was no excitement like this.\nSeeing what marvel\nare the devas so joyful?\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 They shout,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 they sing,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 play music,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 clap their hands,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 dance.\nSo I ask you, who live on Mount Meru's summit.\nPlease dispel my doubt quickly, dear sirs.\"\n\"The Bodhisatta, the foremost jewel,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 unequaled,\nhas been born for welfare & ease\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 in the human world,\nin a town in the Sakyan countryside,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lumbini.\nThat's why we're all so wildly elated.\nHe, the highest of all beings,\nthe ultimate person,\na bull among men, foremost of all people,\nwill set turning the Wheel [of Dhamma]\nin the grove named after the seers,\nlike a strong, roaring lion,\nthe conqueror of beasts.\"\nHearing these words,\nAsita quickly descended [from heaven]\nand went to Suddhodana's dwelling.\nThere, taking a seat, he said to the Sakyans:\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \"Where is the prince?\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I, too, want to see him.\"\nThe Sakyans then showed\nto the seer named Asita\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 their son, the prince,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 like gold aglow,\nburnished by a most skillful smith\nin the mouth of the furnace,\nblazing with glory, flawless in color.\nOn seeing the prince blazing like flame,\npure like the bull of the stars\ngoing across the sky\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 -- the burning sun,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 released from the clouds of autumn -- \nhe was exultant, filled with abundant rapture.\nThe devas held in the sky\na many-spoked sunshade\nof a thousand circles.\nGold-handled whisks\nwaved up & down,\nbut those holding the whisks & the sunshade\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 couldn't be seen.\nThe matted-haired seer\nnamed Dark Splendor,\nseeing the boy, like an ornament of gold\non the red woolen blanket,\na white sunshade held over his head,\nreceived him, happy & pleased.\nAnd on receiving the bull of the Sakyans,\nlongingly, the master of mantras & signs\nexclaimed with a confident mind:\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \"This one is unsurpassed,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the highest of the biped race.\"\nThen, foreseeing his own imminent departure,\nhe, dejected, shed tears.\nOn seeing him weeping,\nthe Sakyans asked:\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \"But surely there will be\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 no danger for the prince?\"\nOn seeing the Sakyans' concern\nhe replied, \"I foresee for the prince\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 no harm.\nNor will there be any danger for him.\nThis one isn't lowly: be assured.\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This prince will touch\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the ultimate self-awakening.\nHe, seeing the utmost purity,\nwill set rolling the Wheel of Dhamma\nthrough sympathy for the welfare of many.\nHis holy life will spread far & wide.\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But as for me,\nmy life here has no long remainder;\nmy death will take place before then.\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I won't get to hear\nthe Dhamma of this one with the peerless role.\nThat's why I'm stricken,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 afflicted, & pained.\"\nHe, having brought the Sakyans\nabundant rapture,\nthe follower of the holy life\nleft the inner chamber and,\nout of sympathy for his nephew,\nurged him on toward the Dhamma\nof the one with the peerless role:\n\"When you hear from another the word,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \"Awakened One,\"\nor \"Attaining self-awakening,\nhe lays open the path of the Dhamma,\"\ngo there & ask him yourself.\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Follow the holy life\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 under that Blessed One.\"\nInstructed by the one\nwhose mind was set on his benefit,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Such,\nseeing in the future the utmost purity,\nNalaka, who had laid up a store of merit,\nawaited the Victor expectantly,\nguarding his senses.\nOn hearing word of the Victor's\nturning of the foremost wheel,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 he went, he saw\nthe bull among seers. Confident,\nhe asked the foremost sage\nabout the highest sagacity,\nnow that Asita's forecast\nhad come to pass.\nNow that I know\nAsita's words to be true,\nI ask you, Gotama,\nyou who have gone\nto the beyond of all things.\nI'm intent on the homeless life;\nI long for the almsround.\nTell me sage, when I ask you,\nthe utmost state of sagacity.\nI'll explain to you\na sagacity hard to do,\nhard to endure.\nCome now, I'll tell you.\nBe steadfast. Be firm.\nPractice even-mindedness,\nfor in a village\nthere's praise & abuse.\nWard off any flaw in the heart.\nGo about calmed & not haughty.\nHigh & low things will come up\nlike fire-flames in a forest.\nWomen seduce a sage.\nMay they not seduce you.[1]\nAbstaining from sexual intercourse,\nabandoning various sensual pleasures,\nbe unopposed, unattached,\nto beings moving & still.\n'As I am, so are these.\nAs are these, so am I.'\nDrawing the parallel to\nyourself,\nneither kill nor get others to kill.\nAbandoning the wants & greed\nwhere people run-of-the-mill are stuck,\npractice with vision,\ncross over this hell.\nStomach not full,\nmoderate in food,\nhaving few wants,\nnot being greedy,\nalways not hankering after desire:\none without hankering,\nis one who's unbound.\nHaving gone on his almsround, the sage\nshould then go to the forest,\nstanding or taking a seat\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 at the foot of a tree.\nThe enlightened one, intent on jhana,\nshould find delight in the forest,\nshould practice jhana at the foot of a tree,\nattaining his own satisfaction.\nThen, at the end of the night,\nhe should go to the village,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 not delighting in an invitation\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 or gift from the village.\nHaving gone to the village,\nthe sage should not carelessly\ngo among families.\nCutting off chatter,\nhe shouldn't utter a scheming word.\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 'I got something,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 that's fine.\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I got nothing,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 that's good.'\nBeing such with regard to both,\nhe returns to the very same tree.\nWandering with his bowl in hand\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 -- not dumb,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 but seemingly dumb -- \nhe shouldn't despise a piddling gift\nnor disparage the giver.\nHigh & low are the practices\nproclaimed by the contemplative.\nThey don't go twice to the further shore.\nThis [Unbinding] isn't sensed only once.[2]\nIn one who has no attachment -- \nthe monk who has cut the stream,\nabandoning what is\n& isn't a duty -- \n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 no fever is found.\nI'll explain to you\nsagacity:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 be like a razor's edge.\nPressing tongue against palate,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 restrain your stomach.\nNeither be lazy in mind,\nnor have many thoughts.\nBe committed to taintlessness,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 independent,\nhaving the holy life as your aim.\nTrain in \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 solitude\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 & the contemplative's task,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Solitude\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 is called\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 sagacity.\nAlone, you truly delight\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 & shine in the ten directions.\nOn hearing the fame of the enlightened\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 -- those who practice jhana,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 relinquishing sensual pleasures -- \nmy disciple should foster\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 all the more\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 conviction & conscience.\nKnow from the rivers\nin clefts & in crevices:\nthose in small channels flow\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 noisily,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the great\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 flow silent.\nWhatever's not full\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 makes noise.\nWhatever is full\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 is quiet.\nThe fool is like a half-empty pot;\none who is wise, a full lake.\nA contemplative who speaks a great deal\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 endowed with meaning:\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 knowing, he teaches the Dhamma,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 knowing, he speaks a great deal.\nBut he who,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 knowing, is restrained,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 knowing, doesn't speak a great deal:\nhe is a sage\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 worthy of sagehood;\nhe is a sage,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 his sagehood attained.\n1. For an instance of a man who tried to seduce a nun, see Therigatha XIV. [Go back]\n2. According to the Commentary, the high and low practices taught by the Buddha are, respectively, the practice-mode of pleasant practice and quick intuition, and the practice-mode of painful practice and slow intuition (see AN IV.162; The Wings to Awakening, passage 84). These modes of practice don't go twice to the further shore in the sense that each of the four paths -- to stream-entry, once-returning, non-returning, and Arahantship -- abandons whatever defilements it is capable of abandoning once and for all. There is no need to repeat the path. Unbinding is not attained only once in the sense that it is touched as the result of each of the four paths. [Go back]","title":"Sn III.11: Nalaka Sutta","type":"page"}