1. Now Devadatta on that day, which was Uposatha day, arose from his seat, and gave out voting-tickets 1, saying, 'We went, Sirs, to the Samana Gotama and asked for the Five Points, saying--(&c., as above in VII, 3, 14 and 15). These the Samana Gotama will not allow; but we live in accordance therewith. Whosoever of the venerable ones approves of the Five Things, let him take a ticket.' Now at that time there were five hundred Bhikkhus, Vesâliyans, and belonging to the Vaggian clan 2, who had but recently joined the Order, and were ignorant of what he had in hand 3. These took the voting-tickets, believing [the Five Points to be according to] the Dhamma, and the Vinaya, and the teaching of the Master. And Devadatta, having thus created a division in the Samgha, went out to the hill Gayâ-sîsa, taking those five hundred Bhikkhus with him. Then Sâriputta and Moggallâna went to the Blessed One, and bowed down before him, and took their seats on one side. And when they were so seated, Sâriputta said to the Blessed One: 'Devadatta,
2. Now at that time Devadatta, surrounded by a great number of adherents, was seated, preaching the Dhamma. And when he saw from afar Sâriputta and Moggallâna coming towards him, he said to the Bhikkhus: 'See, O Bhikkhus, how well preached must be my doctrine, in that even the two chief disciples of the Samana Gotama--Sâriputta
'Even so, friend,' said the venerable Sâriputta, in assent to Devadatta. And Devadatta spread his waist-cloth folded in four on the ground, and lay down on his right side. And in a moment even sleep overcame him who was tired, and had lost his presence of mind and his self-consciousness 2. 3. Then the venerable Sâriputta taught and exhorted the Bhikkhus in a religious discourse touching the marvels of preaching, and the venerable
And Sâriputta and Moggallâna went back to the Veluvana, taking those five hundred Bhikkhus with them. But Kokâlika awoke Devadatta, and said: 'Arise, friend Devadatta! Your Bhikkhus have been led away by Sâriputta and Moggallâna. Did I not tell you, Devadatta, not to trust Sâriputta and Moggallâna, in that they were inclined towards evil, and were under the influence of evil desires?' Then hot blood came forth from Devadatta's mouth 2. 4. But Sâriputta and Moggallâna went to the place where the Blessed One was, and bowed down before him, and took their seats on one side. And when they were so seated, Sâriputta said to the Blessed One: 'It were well, Lord, that Bhikkhus who have turned aside to schism should be received afresh into the higher grade of the Order.' 'Nay, Sâriputta, let not the reordination of schismatical
5. Then the Blessed One addressed the Bhikkhus, and said: 'Once upon a time, O Bhikkhus, there was a great pond in a forest region. Some elephants dwelt beside it; and they, plunging into the pond, plucked with their trunks the edible stalks of the lotus plants, washed them till they were quite clean 1, masticated them 2 without any dirt, and so eat them up. And that produced in them both beauty and strength, and by reason thereof they neither went down into death, nor into any sorrow like unto death. Now among those great elephants, O Bhikkhus, there were young elephant calves, who also, in imitation of those others, plunged into that pond, and plucked with their trunks the edible stalks of the lotus plants; but they did not wash them till they were clean, but masticated them, dirt and all, and so eat them up. And that produced in them
That shakes the earth, and eats the lotus plant, and watches through the night among the waters 2-- So will he, poor creature, die that emulateth me.' 6. 'A Bhikkhu who is possessed of eight qualifications is worthy, O Bhikkhus, to do the work of an emissary. And what are the eight? The Bhikkhu, O Bhikkhus, must be able to hear and to make others listen, able to learn, able to bear in mind, able to discern and to make others discern, skilful to deal with friends and foes, and no maker of quarrels. These are the eight qualifications of which when a Bhikkhu is possessed, he is worthy, O Bhikkhus, to do the work of an emissary. 'Sâriputta, O Bhikkhus, being possessed of eight qualifications, is worthy to do the work of an emissary. What are the eight (&c., as in last paragraph)?
7. 'Devadatta, O Bhikkhus, being overcome, his mind being taken up by eight evil conditions 2, is irretrievably (doomed to) remain for a Kalpa in states of suffering and woe 3. And what are the eight? He is overcome, his mind is taken up by gain, by want of gain, by fame, by want of fame, by honour, by want of honour, by his having wicked desires, and by his having wicked friends. These, O Bhikkhus, are the eight evil conditions by which Devadatta being overcome, and his mind being taken up, he is irretrievably(doomed to) remain for a Kalpa in states of suffering and woe. 'It would be well, O Bhikkhus, that Bhikkhus should continue in complete ascendancy over any gain or loss, any fame or the reverse, any honour or
There are three evil conditions, O Bhikkhus, by which Devadatta being overcome, and his mind being taken up, he is irretrievably doomed to remain for a Kalpa in states of suffering and woe. And what are the three? His having wicked desires, and his having wicked friends, and his having come to a stop on his way (to Nirvâna or Arahatship) because he had already attained to some lesser thing 3. These are the three (&c., as before).'
256:1 It may be noticed that Devadatta here takes upon himself the office of a salâka-gâhâpako without having been appointed to it in the manner required by the rule laid down in Kullavagga IV, 9 and 10. On the process to be followed when voting with tickets, see IV, 4, 26. 256:2 So it is the Vaggians from Vesâlî who are represented, below XII, 1, 1, to have put forward those Ten Points which gave rise to the Council and the schism at Vesâlî a hundred years after the Buddha's death. 256:3 Apakataññuno. 257:1 Bhikkhu-saññattiyâ. The phrase occurs above at IV, 14, 26, and below XII, 2, 8, and corresponds to the expression ganam saññâpeti (above, VII, 3, 14), used of Devadatta's trying to gain the people over to his views. 258:1 Patibhâtu tam bhikkhûnam dhammî kathâ. See our note above on Mahâvagga V, 13, 9. 258:2 Compare Mahâvagga VIII, 16 = Sutta-vibhaṅga, Samghâdisesa I, 2, 1. 259:1 This expression is the standing one in conversions; see, for instance, Mahâvagga I, 7, 6; Kullavagga VI, 4, 5, VII, 3, 6. 259:2 The later legends preserved in Spence Hardy and Bigandet say that Devadatta died on the spot. 260:1 The last three lines have occurred word for word in Mahâvagga VI, 20, 2. 260:2 Samkhâditvâ. Compare the use of this word at Gâtaka I, 507. 261:1 Mahâ-varâha. At Abhidhâna-ppadîpikâ, verse 1115, varâha is said to mean 'elephant' as well as 'boar;' and so here Buddhaghosa says Mahâ-varâhassa mahâ-nâgassa. As this explanation possibly rests only on such passages as the present, we have chosen an ambiguous rendering. 261:2 Nadîsu gaggato ti. Ettha so kira hatthi-nâgo sâyanhasamayam tam nadî-nâmakam pokkharanim ogâhetvâ kilanto sabbarattim vîtinâmesi gâlikam karoti. Tena vuttam nadisu gaggato ti (B.). 262:1 On these lines compare some similar expressions at Mahâvagga X, 6, 3. 262:2 Asaddhamma. It is very difficult to find a proper rendering for this expression. Dhamma here means, no doubt, 'quality,' 'condition' (as it does in the title of the Sanskrit work Saddharma-pundarîka, unhappily rendered by Burnouf, 'Lotus de la bonne loi'). But the details of the various particulars suggest rather the rendering 'surrounding occurrences' or 'matters,' for they are objective, external, and not (or only incidentally and secondarily) subjective, internal. 262:3 Âpâyiko nerayiko. 'Liable to re-birth in apâya and in niraya: Of these the former includes the latter, and also the states of being an animal, a disembodied ghost (peta), or an asura. Hell, though a convenient, is a misleading translation of the latter of the two words, for the reasons given by Rh. D. on Mahâ-parinibbâna Sutta I, 23. All the expressions used here recur below at VII, 5, 4. 263:1 Kim (read kam) atthavasam patikka. So also above, Mahâvagga VIII, 15, 7; Kullavagga VII, 1, 6, and in the Mahâ-parinibbâna Sutta V, 28, and Dhammapada, verse 289. The whole of the previous sentence is here repeated in the text. 263:2 Vighâta-parilâhâ. This is a standing epithet of the Âsavas, recurring, for instance, many times in the Sabbâsava Sutta, §§ 18-37 (Rh. D.'s 'Buddhist Suttas,' pp. 302 and following). The word 'influence,' here chosen as a rendering for âsava, is suggested by Dr. Morris as being similar, both in its derivation and in the history of its meaning, to the Pâli one. The principal objection against it is that it has never acquired the bad connotation of âsava, and requires, therefore, to be supplemented by some epithet. 263:3 Oramattakena visesâdhigamena antarâ vosânam âpâdi. On this phrase, which recurs in full in the Mahâ-parinibbâna 264:2 'Guarded fourfold' is katudvâram, that is, 'having gates and the ramparts (through which they pass) on all four sides.' On the general sentiment of these stanzas, and especially of this line, compare the Kokâliya Sutta in the Sutta Nipâta (III, 10). 264:3 Bhasmâ is explained by Buddhaghosa as equal to bhayânako.
Known was he as wise, reputed to be trained;
Aglow with glory did Devadatta stand' (thus have I heard).
He gave himself to vanity, to attacking 1 the Tathâgata:
He fell into the Avîki hell, guarded fourfold and terrible 2.
The injurer of the good, of the man who does no wrong,
Him sin pervades, the man of cruel heart, and void of love.
Though one should think the ocean to befoul with but one poison pot,
Yet could he not befoul it, for awful 3 is the sea, and great;
Just so though one should injure the Tathâgata by words,--
Footnotes
