{"collection":"Khuddaka Nikaya","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/suttacentral_snp1.4/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/suttacentral_snp1.4","id":"suttacentral_snp1.4","license":"CC0","rights_basis":"suttacentral_bilara_data_cc0","source":"suttacentral","source_url":"https://suttacentral.net/snp1.4/en/sujato","summary":null,"tags":["Early Buddhist Texts","Khuddaka Nikaya"],"text":"So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying in the land of the Magadhans in the Southern Hills near the brahmin village of Ekan\u0101\u1e37a. Now at that time the brahmin Bh\u0101radv\u0101ja the Farmer had harnessed around five hundred plows, it being the season for sowing. Then the Buddha robed up in the morning and, taking his bowl and robe, went to where Bh\u0101radv\u0101ja the Farmer was working. Now at that time Bh\u0101radv\u0101ja the Farmer was distributing food. Then the Buddha went to where the distribution was taking place and stood to one side. Bh\u0101radv\u0101ja the Farmer saw him standing for alms and said to him, \u201cI plough and sow, ascetic, and then I eat. You too should plough and sow, then you may eat.\u201d \u201cI too plough and sow, brahmin, and then I eat.\u201d \u201cI don\u2019t see the worthy Gotama with a yoke or plow or plowshare or goad or oxen, yet he says: \u2018I too plough and sow, brahmin, and then I eat.\u2019\u201d Then Bh\u0101radv\u0101ja the Farmer addressed the Buddha in verse: \u201cYou claim to be a farmer, but I don\u2019t see you farming. Tell me your farming when asked, so I can recognize your farming.\u201d \u201cFaith is my seed, fervor my rain, and wisdom is my yoke and plough. Conscience is my draft-pole, mind my strap, mindfulness my plowshare and goad. Guarded in body and speech, I restrict my intake of food. I use truth as my scythe, and gentleness is my release. Energy is my harnessed beast, transporting me to sanctuary from the yoke. Without turning back, it goes to where there is no sorrow. That\u2019s how to do the farming that has freedom from death as its fruit. When you finish this farming you\u2019re released from all suffering.\u201d Then Bh\u0101radv\u0101ja the Farmer poured milk-rice in a large bronze cup and presented it to the Buddha: \u201cMay the worthy Gotama eat the milk-rice! The worthy one is a farmer. For the worthy Gotama does the farming that has freedom from death as its fruit.\u201d \u201cFood enchanted by a verse isn\u2019t fit for me to eat. That\u2019s not the principle of those who see, brahmin. The Buddhas cast aside things enchanted with verses. Since there is such a principle, brahmin, <j>that\u2019s how they live. Serve with other food and drink the consummate one, the great seer, with defilements ended and remorse stilled. For he is the field for the seeker of merit.\u201d \u201cThen, worthy Gotama, to whom should I give the milk-rice?\u201d \u201cBrahmin, I don\u2019t see anyone in this world\u2014with its gods, M\u0101ras, and divinities, this population with its ascetics and brahmins, its gods and humans\u2014who can properly digest this milk-rice, except the Realized One or one of his disciples. Well then, brahmin, throw out the milk-rice where there is little that grows, or drop it into water that has no living creatures.\u201d So Bh\u0101radv\u0101ja the Farmer dropped the milk-rice in water that had no living creatures. And when the milk-rice was placed in the water, it sizzled and hissed, steaming and fuming. Suppose there was an iron cauldron that had been heated all day. If you placed it in the water, it would sizzle and hiss, steaming and fuming. In the same way, when the milk-rice was placed in the water, it sizzled and hissed, steaming and fuming. Then Bh\u0101radv\u0101ja the Farmer, shocked and awestruck, went up to the Buddha, bowed down with his head to the Buddha\u2019s feet, and said, \u201cExcellent, worthy Gotama! 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, worthy Gotama has made the teaching clear in many ways. I go for refuge to the worthy Gotama, to the teaching, and to the mendicant Sa\u1e45gha. May I receive the going forth, the ordination in the worthy Gotama\u2019s presence?\u201d And Bh\u0101radv\u0101ja the Farmer received the going forth, the ordination in the Buddha\u2019s presence. Not long after his ordination, Venerable Bh\u0101radv\u0101ja, living alone, withdrawn, diligent, keen, and resolute, soon realized the supreme culmination of the spiritual path in this very life. He lived having achieved with his own insight the goal for which gentlemen rightly go forth from the lay life to homelessness. He understood: \u201cRebirth is ended; the spiritual journey has been completed; what had to be done has been done; there is nothing further for this place.\u201d And Venerable Bh\u0101radv\u0101ja became one of the perfected.","title":"With Bh\u0101radv\u0101ja the Farmer","tradition":"Khuddaka Nikaya","translated_text":null,"word_count":752}