{"collection":"Samyutta Nikaya","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/suttacentral_sn15.13/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/suttacentral_sn15.13","id":"suttacentral_sn15.13","license":"CC0","rights_basis":"suttacentral_bilara_data_cc0","source":"suttacentral","source_url":"https://suttacentral.net/sn15.13/en/sujato","summary":null,"tags":["Early Buddhist Texts","Samyutta Nikaya"],"text":"Near R\u0101jagaha, in the Bamboo Grove. Then thirty mendicants from P\u0101v\u0101 went to the Buddha. All of them lived in the wilderness, ate only almsfood, wore rag robes, and owned just three robes; yet they all still had fetters. They bowed to the Buddha and sat down to one side. Then it occurred to the Buddha, \u201cThese thirty mendicants from P\u0101v\u0101 live in the wilderness, eat only almsfood, wear rag robes, and own just three robes; yet they all still have fetters. Why don\u2019t I teach them the Dhamma in such a way that their minds are freed from defilements by not grasping while sitting in this very seat?\u201d Then the Buddha said to the mendicants, \u201cMendicants!\u201d \u201cVenerable sir,\u201d they replied. The Buddha said this: \u201cMendicants, this transmigration has no known beginning. No first point is found of sentient beings roaming and transmigrating, shrouded by ignorance and fettered by craving. What do you think? Which is more: the flow of blood you\u2019ve shed when your head was chopped off while roaming and transmigrating for such a very long time, or the water in the four oceans?\u201d \u201cAs we understand the Buddha\u2019s teaching, the flow of blood we\u2019ve shed when our head was chopped off while roaming and transmigrating is more than the water in the four oceans.\u201d \u201cGood, good, mendicants! It\u2019s good that you understand my teaching like this. The flow of blood you\u2019ve shed when your head was chopped off while roaming and transmigrating is indeed more than the water in the four oceans. For a long time you\u2019ve been cows, and the flow of blood you\u2019ve shed when your head was chopped off as a cow is more than the water in the four oceans. For a long time you\u2019ve been buffalo \u2026 sheep \u2026 goats \u2026 deer \u2026 chickens \u2026 pigs \u2026 For a long time you\u2019ve been bandits, arrested for raiding villages, highway robbery, or adultery. And the flow of blood you\u2019ve shed when your head was chopped off as a bandit is more than the water in the four oceans. Why is that? This transmigration has no known beginning. \u2026 This is quite enough for you to become disillusioned, dispassionate, and freed regarding all conditions.\u201d That is what the Buddha said. Satisfied, the mendicants approved what the Buddha said. And while this discourse was being spoken, the minds of the thirty mendicants from P\u0101v\u0101 were freed from defilements by not grasping.","title":"Thirty Mendicants","tradition":"Samyutta Nikaya","translated_text":null,"word_count":406}