{"collection":"Anguttara Nikaya","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/suttacentral_an3.64/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/suttacentral_an3.64","id":"suttacentral_an3.64","license":"CC0","rights_basis":"suttacentral_bilara_data_cc0","source":"suttacentral","source_url":"https://suttacentral.net/an3.64/en/sujato","summary":null,"tags":["Anguttara Nikaya","Early Buddhist Texts"],"text":"So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near R\u0101jagaha, on the Vulture\u2019s Peak Mountain. Now at that time a wanderer named Sarabha had recently left this teaching and training. He was telling a crowd in R\u0101jagaha, \u201cI learned the teaching of the ascetics who follow the Sakyan, then I left their teaching and training.\u201d Then several mendicants robed up in the morning and, taking their bowls and robes, entered R\u0101jagaha for alms. They heard what Sarabha was saying. Then, after the meal, when they returned from almsround, they went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and said to him, \u201cThe wanderer named Sarabha has recently left this teaching and training. He was telling a crowd in R\u0101jagaha: \u2018I learned the teaching of the ascetics who follow the Sakyan, then I left their teaching and training.\u2019 Worthy sir, please go to the wanderers\u2019 monastery on the bank of the Serpentine River to see Sarabha the wanderer out of sympathy.\u201d The Buddha consented with silence. Then in the late afternoon, the Buddha came out of retreat and went to the wanderers\u2019 monastery on the bank of the Serpentine River to visit Sarabha the wanderer. He sat down on the seat spread out and said to the wanderer Sarabha, \u201cIs it really true, Sarabha, that you\u2019ve been saying: \u2018I learned the teaching of the ascetics who follow the Sakyan, then I left their teaching and training.\u2019\u201d When he said this, Sarabha kept silent. For a second time, the Buddha said to Sarabha, \u201cTell me, Sarabha, what exactly have you learned of the teachings of the ascetics who follow the Sakyan? If you\u2019ve not learned it fully, I\u2019ll fill you in. But if you have learned it fully, I\u2019ll agree.\u201d For a second time, Sarabha kept silent. For a third time, the Buddha said to Sarabha, \u201cSarabha, the teachings of the ascetics who follow the Sakyan are clear to me. What exactly have you learned of the teachings of the ascetics who follow the Sakyan? If you\u2019ve not learned it fully, I\u2019ll fill you in. But if you have learned it fully, I\u2019ll agree.\u201d For a third time, Sarabha kept silent. Then those wanderers said to Sarabha, \u201cThe ascetic Gotama has offered to tell you anything you ask for. Speak, reverend Sarabha, what exactly have you learned of the teachings of the ascetics who follow the Sakyan? If you\u2019ve not learned it fully, he\u2019ll fill you in. But if you have learned it fully, he\u2019ll agree.\u201d When this was said, Sarabha sat silent, dismayed, shoulders drooping, downcast, depressed, with nothing to say. Knowing this, the Buddha said to the wanderers: \u201cWanderers, someone might say to me: \u2018You claim to be a fully awakened Buddha, but you don\u2019t understand these things.\u2019 Then I\u2019d carefully pursue, press, and grill them on that point. When grilled by me, they would, without a doubt, fall into one of these three categories. They\u2019d dodge the issue, distracting the discussion with irrelevant points. They\u2019d display annoyance, hate, and bitterness. Or they\u2019d sit silent, dismayed, shoulders drooping, downcast, depressed, with nothing to say, like Sarabha. Wanderers, someone might say to me: \u2018You claim to have ended all defilements, but you still have these defilements.\u2019 Then I\u2019d carefully pursue, press, and grill them on that point. When grilled by me, they would, without a doubt, fall into one of these three categories. They\u2019d dodge the issue, distracting the discussion with irrelevant points. They\u2019d display annoyance, hate, and bitterness. Or they\u2019d sit silent, dismayed, shoulders drooping, downcast, depressed, with nothing to say, like Sarabha. Wanderers, someone might say to me: \u2018Regardless of your goal in teaching the Dhamma, it does not deliver one who applies it to the complete ending of suffering.\u2019 Then I\u2019d carefully pursue, press, and grill them on that point. When grilled by me, they would, without a doubt, fall into one of these three categories. They\u2019d dodge the issue, distracting the discussion with irrelevant points. They\u2019d display annoyance, hate, and bitterness. Or they\u2019d sit silent, dismayed, shoulders drooping, downcast, depressed, with nothing to say, like Sarabha.\u201d Then the Buddha, having roared his lion\u2019s roar three times in the monastery for the wanderers on the bank of the Serpentine River, rose into the air and flew away. Soon after the Buddha left, those wanderers beset Sarabha on all sides with sneering and jeering. \u201cReverend Sarabha, you\u2019re just like an old jackal in the formidable wilderness who thinks, \u2018I\u2019ll roar a lion\u2019s roar!\u2019 but they still only manage to squeal and yelp like a jackal. In the same way, when the ascetic Gotama wasn\u2019t here you said \u2018I\u2019ll roar a lion\u2019s roar!\u2019 but you only managed to squeal and yelp like a jackal. You\u2019re just like a marsh hen who thinks, \u2018I\u2019ll cry like a cuckoo!\u2019 but they still only manage to cry like a marsh hen. In the same way, when the ascetic Gotama wasn\u2019t here you said \u2018I\u2019ll cry like a cuckoo!\u2019 but you still only managed to cry like a marsh hen. You\u2019re just like a bull that thinks to bellow only when the cowstall is empty. In the same way, you only thought to bellow when the ascetic Gotama wasn\u2019t here.\u201d That\u2019s how those wanderers beset Sarabha on all sides with sneering and jeering.","title":"With Sarabha","tradition":"Anguttara Nikaya","translated_text":null,"word_count":885}