{"collection":"Samyutta Nikaya","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/suttacentral_sn3.1/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/suttacentral_sn3.1","id":"suttacentral_sn3.1","license":"CC0","rights_basis":"suttacentral_bilara_data_cc0","source":"suttacentral","source_url":"https://suttacentral.net/sn3.1/en/sujato","summary":null,"tags":["Early Buddhist Texts","Samyutta Nikaya"],"text":"So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near S\u0101vatth\u012b in Jeta\u2019s Grove, An\u0101thapi\u1e47\u1e0dika\u2019s monastery. Then King Pasenadi of Kosala went up to the Buddha, and exchanged greetings with him. When the greetings and polite conversation were over, he sat down to one side and said to the Buddha, \u201cDoes the worthy Gotama claim to have awakened to the supreme perfect awakening?\u201d \u201cIf anyone should rightly be said to have awakened to the supreme perfect awakening, it\u2019s me. For, Great King, I have awakened to the supreme perfect awakening.\u201d \u201cWell, there are those ascetics and brahmins who lead an order and a community, and tutor a community. They\u2019re well-known and famous religious founders, deemed holy by many people. That is, P\u016bra\u1e47a Kassapa, the bamboo-staffed ascetic Gos\u0101la, the Jain ascetic of the \u00d1\u0101tika clan, Sa\u00f1jaya Bela\u1e6d\u1e6dhiputta, Pakudha Kacc\u0101yana, and Ajita of the hair blanket. I also asked them whether they claimed to have awakened to the supreme perfect awakening, but they made no such claim. So why do you, given that you\u2019re so young in age and newly gone forth?\u201d \u201cGreat king, these four things should not be looked down upon or disparaged because they are young. What four? An aristocrat, a serpent, a fire, and a mendicant. These four things should not be looked down upon or disparaged because they are young.\u201d That is what the Buddha said. Then the Holy One, the Teacher, went on to say: \u201cA man should not despise an aristocrat of impeccable lineage, high-born and famous, just because they\u2019re young. For it\u2019s possible that that lord of mankind, as aristocrat, will gain the throne. And in his anger he\u2019ll execute a royal punishment, and have you violently beaten. Hence you should avoid him for the sake of your own life. Whether in village or wilderness, wherever a serpent is seen, a man should not look down on it or despise it for its youth. With its rainbow of colors, the serpent of fiery breath glides along. It lashes out and bites the fool, both men and women alike. Hence you should avoid it for the sake of your own life. A fire devours a vast amount, a conflagration with a blackened trail. A man should not look down on it just because it\u2019s young. For once it gets fuel it\u2019ll become a big conflagration. It\u2019ll lash out and burn the fool, both men and women alike. Hence you should avoid it for the sake of your own life. When a forest is burned by fire, a conflagration with a blackened trail, the shoots will spring up there again, with the passing of the days and nights. But if a mendicant endowed with ethics burns you with their power, you\u2019ll have no children or livestock, nor will your heirs find wealth. Childless and heirless you become, like a palm-tree stump. That\u2019s why an astute person, seeing what\u2019s good for themselves, would always treat these properly: a serpent, a conflagration, a famous aristocrat, and a mendicant endowed with ethics.\u201d When this was said, King Pasenadi of Kosala said to the Buddha, \u201cExcellent, sir! Excellent! As if he were righting the overturned, or revealing the hidden, or pointing out the path to the lost, or lighting a lamp in the dark so people with clear eyes can see what\u2019s there, the Buddha has made the teaching clear in many ways. I go for refuge to the Buddha, to the teaching, and to the mendicant Sa\u1e45gha. From this day forth, may the Buddha remember me as a lay follower who has gone for refuge for life.\u201d","title":"Young","tradition":"Samyutta Nikaya","translated_text":null,"word_count":600}