{"collection":"Khuddaka Nikaya","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/suttacentral_thag18.1/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/suttacentral_thag18.1","id":"suttacentral_thag18.1","license":"CC0","rights_basis":"suttacentral_bilara_data_cc0","source":"suttacentral","source_url":"https://suttacentral.net/thag18.1/en/sujato","summary":null,"tags":["Early Buddhist Texts","Khuddaka Nikaya"],"text":"\u201cYou shouldn\u2019t live for the adulation of a following; it turns your mind, making it hard to get immersion. Seeing that popularity is suffering, you shouldn\u2019t consent to a following. A sage should not visit respectable families; it turns your mind, making it hard to get immersion. If you\u2019re eager and greedy for flavors, you\u2019ll miss the goal that brings such happiness. They know it really is a bog, this homage and veneration in respectable families. Honor is a subtle dart, hard to extract, and hard for a reprobate to give up.\u201d \u201cI came down from my lodging and entered the city for alms. I courteously stood by while a leper ate. With his putrid hand he offered me a morsel. Putting the morsel in my bowl, his finger dropped off right there. Sitting by a wall, I ate that lump of rice. I did not feel any disgust while eating or afterwards. Anyone who makes use of leftovers for food, rancid urine as medicine, the root of a tree as lodging, and cast-off rags as robes, is at ease in any quarter.\u201d \u201cWhere some have fallen to ruin while climbing the mountain, there Kassapa ascends; an heir of the Buddha, aware and mindful, owing to his psychic powers. Returning from almsround, Kassapa ascends the mountain, and practices absorption without grasping, with fear and dread given up. Returning from almsround, Kassapa ascends the mountain, and practices absorption without grasping, quenched amongst those who burn. Returning from almsround, Kassapa ascends the mountain, and practices absorption without grasping, his task completed, free of defilements.\u201d \u201cStrewn with garlands of the musk-rose tree, these regions are so delightful, so lovely, echoing with the trumpeting of elephants: these rocky crags delight me! Glistening, they look like blue stormclouds, with waters cool and streams so clear, and covered all in ladybugs: these rocky crags delight me! Like the peak of a blue stormcloud, or like a fine bungalow, lovely, echoing with the trumpeting of elephants: these rocky crags delight me! The rain comes down on the lovely flats, in the mountains frequented by seers. Echoing with the cries of peacocks, these rocky crags delight me! It\u2019s enough for me, who loves absorption, to remain resolute. It\u2019s enough for me, a resolute monk who wants what\u2019s best. It\u2019s enough for me, a resolute monk who loves comfort. It\u2019s enough for me, resolute and unaffected, loving meditation. Covered with flowers of flax, like the welkin covered with stormclouds, full of flocks of many different birds, these rocky crags delight me! Empty of householders, frequented by herds of deer, full of flocks of many different birds, these rocky crags delight me! The water\u2019s clear and the rocks are broad, monkeys and deer are all around; festooned with dewy moss, these rocky crags delight me!\u201d \u201cEven the music of a five-piece band can never give such pleasure as when, with unified mind, you rightly discern the Dhamma.\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t get involved in lots of work, avoid people, and don\u2019t try to acquire things. If you\u2019re eager and greedy for flavors, you\u2019ll miss the goal that brings such happiness. Don\u2019t get involved in lots of work, avoid what doesn\u2019t lead to the goal. The body gets worn out and fatigued, and when you ache, you won\u2019t find serenity.\u201d \u201cYou won\u2019t see yourself by merely reciting words, wandering stiff-necked and thinking, \u2018I\u2019m better than them.\u2019 The fool is no better, but they think they are. The wise don\u2019t praise pompous people. Whoever does not waver due to the discriminations\u2014 \u2018I am better\u2019, \u2018I\u2019m not better\u2019, \u2018I am worse\u2019, or \u2018I am the same\u2019\u2014 with such understanding, unaffected, steady in ethics, and devoted to serenity of mind: that is who the wise praise.\u201d \u201cWhoever has no respect for their spiritual companions is as far from the true teaching as the earth is from the sky. Those whose conscience and prudence are always rightly established, thrive in the spiritual life; for them, there are no future lives. When a mendicant who is haughty and fickle wears rags from the rubbish-heap, that doesn\u2019t make them shine: they\u2019re like a monkey in a lion skin. But if they not restless or fickle, alert, with senses restrained, then, wearing rags from the rubbish-heap, they shine like a lion in a mountain cave.\u201d \u201cThese many gods powerful and glorious, all 10,000 of them, belong to the host of the Divinity. They stand with cupped palms honoring S\u0101riputta, the General of the Dhamma, the hero, the serene great meditator: \u2018Homage to you, O thoroughbred! Homage to you, supreme among men! We don\u2019t understand the basis of your absorption. The profound domain of the Buddhas is truly amazing. We don\u2019t understand, though we\u2019ve gathered here to split hairs.\u2019 When he saw the host of gods paying homage to S\u0101riputta\u2014 who is truly worthy of homage\u2014 Kappina smiled.\u201d \u201cAs far as the range of the Buddha extends, apart from the great sage himself, I am distinguished in austerities, no equal to me is found. I\u2019ve served the Teacher and fulfilled the Buddha\u2019s instructions. The heavy burden is laid down, now there\u2019ll be no more future lives.\u201d \u201cLike a lotus flower to which water will not stick, Gotama the immeasurable is unstained by robes, lodgings, or food. He inclines to renunciation, and has escaped the three states of existence. The great sage\u2019s neck is mindfulness meditation; faith is his hands, and wisdom his head. Having great knowledge, he always wanders, quenched.\u201d The Book of the Forties is finished.","title":"Mah\u0101kassapa","tradition":"Khuddaka Nikaya","translated_text":null,"word_count":915}