SBE 20: Seventh Khandhaka: Chapter 2

2.

1. Now when the Blessed One had stayed at Anupiyâ as long as he thought fit, he set out on his journey towards Kosambî. And journeying straight on he arrived in due course at Kosambî, and there, at Kosambî, he stayed at the Ghosita Ârâma. Now the following thought occurred to Devadatta when he had retired into solitude, and was plunged in meditation: 'Whom now 1 can I so gain over that, he being well pleased with me, much gain and honour may result to me? And it occurred to him, 'Now this prince Agâtasattu is young, and has a lucky future before him. Let me then gain him over; and he being well pleased with me, much gain and honour will result.'

Then Devadatta folded up his sleeping-mat, and set out, fully bowled and robed, for Râgagaha; and in due course he arrived at Râgagaha. Then he laid aside his own form, and took upon himself the form of a child clad in a girdle of snakes, and appeared on the lap of prince Agâtasattu 2. Then was

1, some such thought as this: 'It is I who ought to lead the Bhikkhu-samgha.' And as the idea rose up within him, (that moment) was Devadatta deprived of that his power of Iddhi.

2. Nov at that time a Koliyan, by name Kakudha, who had been (as Bhikkhu) the attendant on Moggallâna, had just died, and had appeared again in a certain spiritual body 2, possessed of a personality as large as two or three of the common rice-fields of a Mâgadha village, and yet so constituted 3 that he was

1. And this celestial being, Kakudha, went to the venerable Moggallâna, and bowed down before him, and took his stand on one side. And so standing, he told the venerable Moggallâna [of the thought that had arisen in Devadatta's mind, and of the result thereof]. And when he had told him, he bowed down before the venerable Moggallâna, and keeping him on his right side as he passed him, he vanished away.

And the venerable Moggallâna went to the place where the Blessed One was, and told him [the whole matter] 2.

'What then, Moggallâna, have you so penetrated the mind of that celestial being Kakudha, that you know that whatsoever he speaks, that will be accordingly, and not otherwise 3?'

'I have, Lord.'

'Keep that saying, Moggallâna, secret; keep that saying secret. Even now that foolish man will himself make himself known.

3 4. 'There are, Moggallâna, these five kinds of teachers now existing in the world. What are the five?

'In the first place, Moggallâna, there is one kind of teacher whose conduct not being pure, he yet

1 to be protected by his disciples in respect of his own conduct.

4. 'Again, Moggallâna,' &c. [as before, putting successively 'mode of livelihood,' 'preaching of the Dhamma,' 'system of exposition,' &c., 'insight arising from knowledge,' 'for 'conduct']. 'These, Moggallâna, are the five kinds of teachers now existing in the world. But I being pure in conduct, mode of livelihood, preaching of the Dhamma, system of exposition, and insight arising from knowledge, give out that I am so, that I am pure, innocent, and without stain in all these things. And neither do my disciples protect me in respect of my own conduct, nor do I expect them to do so.'

5. Now when the Blessed One had remained at Kosambî as long as he thought fit, he set out on his journey towards Râgagaha. And journeying straight on, he arrived in due course at Râgagaha; and there, at Râgagaha, he stayed at the Veluvana in the Kalandaka Nivâpa.

1. Just, O Bhikkhus, as if you were to burst a gall (bladder) 2 before the nose of a fierce dog, the dog would thereby become so much the fiercer, just so long, O Bhikkhus (&c., as before). To his own hurt, O Bhikkhus, has this gain, hospitality, and fame come to Devadatta, to his own destruction. Just, O Bhikkhus, as a plantain, or a bamboo, or a reed gives fruit to its own hurt and its own destruction 3, just so to his own hurt (&c., as before). Just as a young she-mule conceives to her own hurt and her own destruction 4, just so, O Bhikkhus, to his own hurt has this gain, &c., come to Devadatta.

'Its fruit destroys the plantain-tree; its fruit the bamboo and the reed.

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Here endeth the First Portion for Recitation.

 

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Footnotes

233:1 In the text, for kin nu read kam nu.

233:2 This taking upon oneself another shape is not one of the powers of Iddhi included in the first list referred to at note 5, p. 230.

234:1 Compare Mahâvagga V, 1, 22, on this expression. Also below, § 5.

234:2 Aññataram manomayam kâyam upapanno. Perhaps 'in a mode of existence in which his body was changeable at will.' (See Childers, sub voce manomayo.)

234:3 Attabhâvo. See IX, 1, 3.

235:1 Vyâbâdheti. He could occupy the same space as other beings without incommoding them. The word occurs in the same sense in the passage quoted from Buddhaghosa in Rh. D.'s note 1 on the Mahâ-parinibbâna Sutta V, 10, but originally occurring in the Aṅguttara Nikâya.

235:2 The last paragraph is here repeated in the text.

235:3 On the use here of ketasâ keto parikka, compare Mahâ-parinibbâna Sutta I, 16, 17.

235:4 The following two sections are repeated below, VII, 3, 10, to all the Bhikkhus.

236:1 Pakkâsimsati. Perhaps this word here means 'he requires, needs.'

237:1 This phrase runs in the same mould as the one so constantly repeated at the commencement of the Mahâ-parinibbâna Sutta (I, §§ 4-11).

237:2 Pittam bhindeyyum. Literally, 'should break a gall.'

237:3 These three plants die after producing fruit.

237:4 Because she would die if she did. On assatarî, compare above, VI, 4, 3, and our note there.