{"collection":"Khuddaka Nikaya","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/suttacentral_snp2.14/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/suttacentral_snp2.14","id":"suttacentral_snp2.14","license":"CC0","rights_basis":"suttacentral_bilara_data_cc0","source":"suttacentral","source_url":"https://suttacentral.net/snp2.14/en/sujato","summary":null,"tags":["Early Buddhist Texts","Khuddaka 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 the lay follower Dhammika, together with five hundred lay followers, went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and addressed him in verse: \u201cI ask you, Gotama, whose wisdom is vast: what does one do to become a good disciple, both one who has left the home, and the lay followers staying at home? For you understand the course and destiny of the world with all its gods. There is no equal to you who sees the subtle meaning, for you are the Buddha most excellent, they say. Having experienced all knowledge, you reveal the teaching out of sympathy for beings. All-seer, you have cast off the veil, and immaculate, you dazzle the whole world. The dragon king Er\u0101va\u1e47a, hearing you called \u2018Victor\u2019, came into your presence. He consulted with you then, having heard your words, left consoled, saying \u2018Excellent!\u2019 And King Kuvera Vessava\u1e47a also approached to ask about the teaching. You also answered him, O attentive one, and hearing you he too was consoled. Those monastics of other religions given to debate, whether \u0100j\u012bvakas or Jains, all fail to overtake you in wisdom, like a standing man next to a sprinter. Those brahmins given to debate, some of whom are quite senior, all end up beholden to you for the meaning, and others too who think themselves debaters. So subtle and pleasant is the teaching that is well proclaimed by you, Blessed One. It\u2019s all we long to hear. So when asked, O Best of Buddhas, tell us! All these mendicants have gathered, and the layfolk too are here to listen. Let them hear the teaching the immaculate one discovered, like gods listening to the fine words of V\u0101sava.\u201d \u201cListen to me, mendicants, I will educate you in the cleansing teaching; all bear it in mind. A thoughtful person, seeing the meaning, would adopt the deportment proper to a renunciate. No way would a mendicant go out at the wrong time; at the right time, they\u2019d walk the village for alms. For chains bind one who wanders at the wrong time, which is why the Buddhas avoid it. Sights, sounds, tastes, smells, and touches, which drive beings mad\u2014 dispel desire for such things, and enter for the morning meal at the right time. After receiving alms for the day, on returning a mendicant would sit in private alone. Inwardly reflective, they\u2019d curb their mind from outside things, keeping themselves collected. Should they converse with a disciple, with anyone else, or with a mendicant, they\u2019d bring up only the sublime teaching, not dividing or blaming. For some contend in debate, but we praise not those of little wisdom. In place after place they are bound in chains, for they send their mind over there far away. Alms, a dwelling, a bed and seat, and water for rinsing the dust from the cloak\u2014 after hearing the teaching of the Holy One, a disciple of outstanding wisdom would use these after appraisal. That\u2019s why, when it comes to alms and lodgings, and water for rinsing the dust from the cloak, a mendicant is unsullied in the midst of these things, like a droplet on a lotus-leaf. Now I shall tell you the householder\u2019s duty, doing which one becomes a good disciple. For one burdened with possessions does not get to realize the whole of the mendicant\u2019s practice. They\u2019d not kill any creature, nor have them killed, nor grant permission for others to kill. They\u2019ve laid aside violence toward all creatures frail or firm that there are in the world. Next, a disciple would avoid knowingly taking anything not given at all, they\u2019d not get others to do it, nor grant them permission to steal; they\u2019d avoid all theft. A sensible person would avoid the unchaste life, like a burning pit of coals. But if unable to remain chaste, they\u2019d not transgress with another\u2019s partner. In a council or assembly, or one on one, they would not lie. They\u2019d not get others to lie, nor grant them permission to lie; they\u2019d avoid all untruths. A householder espousing this teaching would not consume liquor or drink. They\u2019d not get others to drink, nor grant them permission to drink; knowing that ends in intoxication. For drunken fools do bad things, and encourage other heedless folk. Shun this field of demerit, the maddening, deluding frolic of fools. You shouldn\u2019t kill living creatures, or steal, or lie, or drink liquor. Be chaste, refraining from sex, and don\u2019t eat at night, the wrong time. Not wearing garlands or applying fragrance, you should sleep on a low bed, or a mat on the ground. This is the eight-factored sabbath, they say, revealed by the Buddha, who has gone to suffering\u2019s end. Then having rightly undertaken the sabbath complete in all its eight factors on the fourteenth, fifteenth, and eighth of the fortnight, as well as on the fortnightly special displays, at daybreak after the sabbath a clever person, rejoicing with confident heart, would distribute food and drink to the mendicant Sa\u1e45gha as is fitting. One should rightfully support one\u2019s parents, and undertake a legitimate business. A diligent layperson observing these duties ascends to the gods named \u2018self-radiant\u2019.\u201d","title":"With Dhammika","tradition":"Khuddaka Nikaya","translated_text":null,"word_count":880}