Khuddaka Nikaya - Nettippakarana - First Grouping - Illustrative Quotations 2

Khuddaka Nikaya - Nettippakarana ( The Guide ) - First Grouping - Illustrative Quotations 2

ACCORDING TO
KACCANA THERA

TRANSLATED FROM THE PALI BY
BHIKKHU NANAMOLI
Pali Text Society
Group [2]
787. Herein, what is the type of Thread dealing with morality?
(Ideas are heralded by mind,
Mind heads them, and they are mind-made.
If someone with a placid1
mind
Is wont to speak or act, then bliss
Sure follows after him as does
His shadow keep him company ) (Pe 24, 163; Dh. 2; cf. §768).
This is the type of Thread dealing with morality.
788. (Mahdndma the Sakyan said this to the Blessed One: 'Venerable
sir, this [city of] Kapiluvatthu is successful, prosperous, populous
and crowded with people, its alleys are teeming. Now, venerable
sir, it happens that when I have done honour to the Blessed One or to
reverend bhikkhus, I then go in the evening into Kapilavatthu, and I
encounter perhaps an uncontrolled elephant or an uncontrolled horse
or an uncontrolled carriage or an uncontrolled cart or an uncontrolled
man. On that occasion, venerable sir, mindfulness instigated by the
Blessed One is forgotten, mindfulness instigated by the True Idea is
forgotten, mindfulness instigated by the Community is forgotten
Venerable sir, I wonder: Were I to pass away on that evening, what
would my destination be, what would my prospect be?'—[134] 'Do
not fear, Mahanama, do not fear. Your death will be free from evil,
your passing away free from evil. When a noble hearer possesses
four ideas he tends to extinction, he inclines to extinction, he leans to
extinction. What are the four ? Here a noble hearer, through
experience undergone, has confidence in the Enlightened One thus:
'That Blessed One is such since he is accomplished, .. . [as in §296] . . .
teacher of gods and men, enlightened Blessed . . . in the True Idea . . .
in the sense of one who is 'unlucky' enough to act against his own welfare
to so great an extent . Consequently this verse is in no sense an imprecation
or commination—a 'consigning to hell', which would be impossible to effect—
but simply a description and an apostrophe as a warning to others not to
make the same miserable mistake through greed, hate and delusion.
787/1 ' "Placid" through confidence in the law of action and its ripening'
(NettiA. 192).

[as in §297] . . . in the Community .. . [as in §298] . . . And then
he possesses the kinds of virtue desired by Noble Ones, untom . . .
[as in §299] . . . and conducive to concentration. Suppose that a
tree tended to the east, inclined to the east, leaned to the east, what
side would it fall to when cut at its root?'—'Venerable sir, it would
fall where it tended, would fall where it inclined, would fall where it
leaned.'—'So too, Mahanama, when a noble hearer possesses four ideas
he tends to extinction, he inclines to extinction, he leans to extinction.
Do not fear, Mahanama, do not fear. Your death will be free from
evil, your passing away free from eviV) (cf. Pe 24, 170; S. v, 371).
This is the type of Thread dealing with morality.
789. (Not with the rod maltreating cruelly
Beings that desire but pleasure,
When he too his own pleasure seeks
Departing hence he meets with it) (Ud. 12; Dh. 132; ef. §772).
This is the type of Thread dealing with morality.
790. (W hen cattle go across a ford
And the bull leader goes aright
Then all the others go aright
Because the guide has gone aright.
So too it is among mankind;
If the appointed ruler acts
According to the True Idea,
How much more all the other folk;
The whole realm prospers when its king
Acts following the True Idea) (A. ii, 76; cf. §773).
This is the type of Thread dealing with morality.
791. (The Blessed One was living at Savatthi in J eta's Wood, Andtha-
pindika's Park. Now on that occasion a number of bhikkhus were
engaged on robe-work for the Blessed One, [135] [thinking] 'The
Blessed One will go wandering when the robes are finished'. And
on that occasion the officials, Isidatta and Pur ana, were staying at
Saketa for some business or other. They heard: 'It seems that a
number of bhikkhus are engaged in robe-work for the Blessed One
{thinking] "The Blessed One will go wandering when the robes are
finished." ' Then they posted a man on the path, [telling him] 'Good
man, when you see the Blessed One coming, accomplished and fully

enlightened, then tell us'. When the man had waited two days or
three, he saw the Blessed One coming in the distance. When he saw
him, he went to Isidatta and Pur ana, and he told them 'Sirs, this
Blessed One is coming, accomplished and fully enlightened. Now is
the time to do as you wilV. Then the officials, Isidatta and Pur ana,
went to the Blessed One, and after paying homage they followed close
behind him. Then the Blessed One stepped aside from the road and
sat down on a seat made ready at the root of a tree. The officials,
Isidatta and Purana, paid homage and sat down at one side. When
they had done so they said: 'Venerable sir, when we hear that the
Blessed One is going from Sdvatthi wandering among the Kosalans
we are dissatisfied on that occasion and we grieve that the Blessed
One will be far from us. And when we hear that the Blessed One
has gone from Sdvatthi to wander among the Kosalans we are dis-
satisfied on that occasion and we grieve thai the Blessed One is far
from us. When we hear tliat the Blessed One is going wandering
among the people of Kasi and Magadha, we are dissatisfied on that
occasion and we grieve that the Blessed One [136] will be far from us.
And when we hear that the Blessed One has gone to wander among
the people of Kasi and Magadha we are not a little dissatisfied on
that occasion and we grieve not a little that the Blessed One is far
from us. When we hear that the Blessed One is going wandering
among the people of Magadha and Kasi we are dissatisfied on that
occasion and we grieve that the Blessed One will be far from us. And
when we hear that the Blessed One has gone to wander among the people
of Magadha and Kasi we are dissatisfied on that occasion and we
grieve that the Blessed One is far from us. But when we hear that
the Blessed One is going wandering among the Kosalans back to
Sdvatthi we are satisfied on that occasion and we rejoice that the Blessed
One will be near to us. And when we hear that the Blessed One is
living in Sdvatthi in Jeta's Wood, Anathapindika's Park, we have
no little satisfaction and we rejoice no little that the Blessed One is
near to us.'—'That, officers, is because the house-life is a constrained
and dirty place; but the life gone forth is wide open: enough so indeed
for you to be diligent.'—'Venerable sir, we have a constraint more
constraining and counted more constraining than that.'—'What is
this constraint of yours more constraining and counted more con-
straining than that?'—'Here, venerable sir, when king Pasenadi of
Kosala would go to the parade-ground, we have to see that king Pasenadi
of Kosala's elephants are got ready for his mounting, and we have
then to seat the king's favourite consorts, one before him and one

behind. Now, venerable sir, those ladies have scent like that of a
scent-casket just opened, as may be expected of those embellished with
scents that are fit for a king. And, venerable sir, those ladies have a
bodily touch like [137] that of tula-cotton or that of kappasa-cotton,
as may be expected of kings' daughters brought up to pleasure. Now
on that occasion, venerable sir, the elephant must be guarded and the
ladies must be guarded and we ourselves too must be guarded. Yet
we have never known evil thoughts to arise in regard to those ladies.
Venerable sir, we have this constraint more constraining and counted
more constraining than that.''—'That, officers, is because the house-
life is a constrained and dirty place; but the life gone forth is wide
open: enough so indeed for you to be deligent. When a noble hearer
possesses four ideas he has entered the stream, he is no more inseparable
from the idea of perdition, he is certain [of rightness] and bound for
enlightenment. What are the four ? Here a well taught noble hearer,
through experience undergone, has confidence in the Blessed One thus:
'That Blessed One is such since .. . [as in §296] . . . blessed' . . . in
the True Idea .. . [as in §297] . . . in the Community .. . [as in
§298] . . . field of merit for the world'. And then he abides in the
house-life with his heart free from stain and avarice, freely generous,
open-handed, delighting in relinquishing, expecting to be asked, and
rejoicing in giving and sharing. A noble hearer possessing these
four ideas has entered the stream, he is no longer inseparable from
the idea of perdition, he is certain [of rightness] and bound for
enlightenment. Now, officers, you, through experience undergone,
have confidence in the Enlightened One thus: . . . in the True Idea
thus: . . . in the Community thus: . . . And whatever there is in the
clan to be given, none of it is withheld from the virtuous who are
inseparable from the idea of good. How do you conceive this: how
many people are there among the Kosalans your equals in giving
and sharing V—'For us, venerable sir, it is gain, for us it is great
gain, that the Blessed One knows this about us') (S. v, 348f.).
This is the type of Thread dealing with morality.
792. [138] (I gave only a single flower;
Thereafter eighty myriad aeons
Mid gods and human kind [I lived]
To reach extinction with trace left) (cf. Thag. 96).
1
This is the type of Thread dealing with morality.
792/1 See similar untraced quotation at KhpA. 222.

793. (Under a Wisdom Tree
Broad and tall-grown and greenly shining
As I sat meditating
A sign I saw as of an Enlightened One.
Today these thirty aeons
Have passed, and I since then no more have been
To a bad destination,
And the Triple Science has been verified,
The moral of that sign) (cf. TJiag. 217-18).
This is the type of Thread dealing with morality,
794. (The Foremost of Men entered for alms
The capital of Kosala
Before the meal, compassionate,
The Stilled One, healer of [all] craving.
A man had in his hand a chaplet
Bedecked with every kind of bloom;
He saw the Fully Enlightened One
With a Community of Bhikkhus
Entering on the king's high way,
Honoured by gods and human beings.
Happy, with confidence at heart,
He drew near to the Blessed One.
The chaplet full of blossom-fragrance
Gay with many a charming colour
He gave with his own hand in faith
[To grace] the Fully Enlightened One.
Then from the Buddha's lips came forth
With colour as of fiery flames
A beam of full a thousand rays,
Like lightning flashing from his mouth.
After rounding him to the right
It thrice revolved upon the head
Of the Sun's Kinsman, and thereon
Vanished away upon his brow.
On seeing this most wonderful,
This marvellous hair-raising thing,
Ananda asked the Blessed One,
Setting his robe upon one shoulder:
'0 mighty Stilled One, tell the cause
Wherefor you manifest a smile.

It will light up the True Ideal
1
If you dispel our wonderings.'
Then he in whom is ready ever
Knowledge about everything
[139] Did answer the Elder Ananda
[Who stood there] wondering in doubt
'This man, Ananda, since he has
Had confidence in me at heart
Will go to no bad destination
For four and eighty thousand aeons.
And after ruling heavenly realms
Of godly beings among the gods,
He will be ruler among men,
He will be king of a [whole] realm,
And in the end he will go forth
To find the True Idea's own law
And be the Hermit Enlightened One
Vatamsaka, free from all lust.
No trivial offering is that
Made with a heart [full resolute]
Confiding in a Perfect One
Fully enlightened, or his hearer.
Measureless are the Enlightened Ones,
Measureless is their True Idea,
Measureless fruit for those who place
Their confidence in the measureless ) ( ).
This is the type of Thread dealing with morality.
795. ('Here, bhikkhus, with cognizance I penetrate some person's
cognizance by means of the Enlightened One's eye, and I understand
thus: According as this person is behaving, and according to the way
he is practising and the path he is taking, were he to die on this occasion,
then as if carried [there], so [would he be] placed in heaven. Why is
that? His heart is confident. It is because of his heart's confiding
that here, on the dissolution of the body, after death, someone reappears
in a good destination, in heaven.' This is the meaning the Blessed
One stated. Herein, it is stated as follows:
On recognizing here some person
Whose heart was full of confidence,
794/1 Read dhammdloko as one compound and resolve as dhammassa dloko.

The Master did express the meaning
In the bhikkhus' presence thus:
'Now should it happen that the person
Came to die at such a moment
He then would reappear in heaven
Through the confiding of his heart;
For confident-hearted creatures go
On to a happy destination.
As if he had been carried off
And placed [there], so a wise man like this
After the body's dissolution
Reappears in heaven.'
This was the meaning stated by the Blessed One, so I heard) (cf. Iti.
13f.;cf. §777).
This is the type of Thread dealing with morality.
796. [140] (On board a boat a woman was
With a gold awning overspread.
She plunged her hand into the pool
And with it plucked a lotus flower) (Vv. p. 4).
('Whence comes the beauty that you have ?
Whence comes the radiance of your being ?
All riches seem to flow to you^
No matter what your mind may wish;
Tell me, 0 deity, when asked,
What is the action gave this fruit V
Most happily the deity,
Thus questioned by the king of gods
In answering did thus reply
To Sakka's question, as I heard:
'While I was on a journey going
I saw a truly lovely shrine,
Wherein my heart had confidence
In Kassapa of great renown.
I offered lotus flowers there
In confidence with my own hands.
Such is the fruit, the ripening of that action,
Which those that have made merit do obtain ) ( ).
This is the type of Thread dealing with morality.

797. (Talk on giving, talk on virtue, talk on heavens) (M. i, 379),
(talk on merit, talk on ripening ofmerit) ( ).
This is the type of Thread dealing with morality.
798. (Besides, men that have helped to build
Earth-monuments made dedicate
To those who wield the Powers Ten
Abide in the joys of heaven) ( ).
This is the type of Thread dealing with morality.
799. (All with a god's son's bodily appearance
And with the blessing of fair shapeliness,
Have earth prepared by wetting well with water
And raise
1
a monument to Kassapa.
Fair-limbed ones, 'tis a shrine built for a sage
Sublime with the Ten Powers, walking in Truth:
These gods and men who work with confidence
Thereon will be released from ageing and death) ( ).
This is the type of Thread dealing with morality.
800. (It was indeed a mighty thing
That I upon the monument
Erected to the Greatest Sage
[141] Did place four lilies and a wreath.
Today these thirty aeons have passed,
And I since then have no more been
To a bad destination; for
I honoured the Master's monument) ( ).
This is the type of Thread dealing with morality.
801. (1 honoured once the monument of him that wore
The Marks of a Great Man that number thirty-two,
The Helper of the World, Victorious in Battle,
For which I have rejoiced a hundred thousand aeons.
Such was the merit that I stored away [thereby]
And such the godly blessing through that merit [gained]
That I had work of kings to do [for all that time]
Without once ever going to perdition. [Now]
My heart is so disposed that I obtained in full
799/1 C, Ba and Bb read vaddhetha.

That Eye [of understanding] in the Dispensation
Of him that was the Tamer great of the untamed;
My heart is freed, and now the Creeper, has been shaken off)
( )•
This is the type of Thread dealing with morality.
802. (It was but a samaka-measure of rice
1
That I gave to a Hermit Enlightened One,
Whose heart was freed from the five Wildernesses,
2,
Who, taintless, without conflict did abide,
And in his heart no clinging. I did fancy
In him to be the peerless True Ideal
And to that True Idea disposed my mind:
'0 let me meet with those who thus abide,
Quite unconcerned for any kind of being.,'
Then owing to the ripening of that action
I had a thousand births among the Kurus,
z
Those long-lived creatures who call nothing 'mine
9
,
4
"
Who gain distinctions that they do not lose.
And owing to the ripening of that action
I had a thousand births among the Thirty,
5
Among those with distinguished bodies going,
Famously decked with many a garland gay.
And owing to the ripening of that action
My heart is freed from the [five] Wildernesses,
Taintless, I met those bearing their last bodies,
[142] And who have passed beyond both woe and weal;
6
I realized what that Perfect One had told:
'What men of virtue want may well befall;'
According as my mind did think it out
So it befell. This is my last existenco ( ).
This is the type of Thread dealing with morality.
802/1 NettiA (p. 196) reads sdmdkapatthodanamattam and expands to
sdmaka4indnam nalik-odana-mattam.
802/2 For the 'Wildernesses of the heart ' (ceto-khila) see M. Sutta 16.
802/3 l
Kurusu—among the Kurus' means here the Uttara-Kuru, said to
inhabi t the 'Northern Continent' of Uttara-Kuru.
802/4 l
Amama—who call nothing "mine" ' : = appariggaha (NettiA).
802/5 Tidasd: variant name for Tdvatimsd, 2nd of the 6 sensual-sphere
heavens, governed by Sakka Ruler of Gods. See JSn. 679.
802/6 NettiA paraphrases hitdhitdsihi by kusaldkusale vitivattehi (p. 196).

803. ( Thirty-one aeons past the Blessed Victor
Sikhi lived, unperturbed, of infinite vision.
His brother was the king named Sikhandi,
Trusting the Buddha and the True Idea.
When that World-Guide attained complete extinction
The king built a tall stately monument,
One quarter-league around, to that great Sage,
That god of gods, that greatest of all men.
One day a man brought there an offering
And as he offered a tvild-jasmine [spray],
1
One of its flowers fell
2
blown by the wind.
I picked it up and gave it back to him.
And thereupon he said with confident heart:
'This flower I do give you as a gift.'
I took it then and there and offered it,
Minding repeatedly the Enlightened One.
Today these thirty aeons have passed
And I since then have no more been
To a bad destination, through
That bloom placed on that monument ) ( ).
This is the type of Thread dealing with morality.
804. ( There is the town named Kapila
Belonging to king Brahmadatta
Frequented, populous and crowded,
Successful, prosperous as well.
Now there as I was selling bread1
At the last house of the Paucalas
[143] / saw the [Hermit] Enlightened One
Uparittha of holy fame.
Glad and with a confident heart
I did invite that best of men,
Arittha, for a regular meal
To be provided in my house.
803/1 C and Bb have (correctly) jdtisumanarh as one word (Ba does not
divide its words mostly); not in PED, where see sumana.
803/2 Read pati tassa as two words (pati here aor. of patati); patitassa as
gen. pp. of patati makes no sense here.
804/1 Kummasa is here rendered by 'bread' for want of a better word since
in the Vin. Commentaries it is said to be made of wheat (yava), so it cannot
well be 'junket ' as in PED; perhaps 'chapatti' (or 'pasta').

And when the moon was waxen full
Later, in the Kattika month,
2
I took out a new set of clothing
And to Arittha offered it
Knowing the confidence in my heart,
The best of men accepted it,
The Stilled One, cured of all craving,
By pity and compassion moved.
Now by my doing such good action
As the Enlightened Ones commend
I fared among both gods and men
Until I fell from that estate
To reappear in a rich clan
Inhabiting Benares city;
I was a banker's only son
More dear than any living being.
But when I had discretion reached
A god's son did exhort me then:
1 left my mansion's [upper chamber]
And went to the Enlightened One.
He, Gotama, compassionate,
Did teach the True Idea to me:
Suffering, and its Origin,
And what Beyond all Suffering,
And the Noble Eight-Factored Path
That leads to suffering's surcease.
These four Truths of the Noble Ones,
This Stilled One's True Ideal, he taught.
When I had heard his utterance
I dwelt glad in the Dispensation;
I penetrated Quiet, besides,
By night and day unfailingly;
And all the taints that had in me
804/2 Kattika is the 4th month of the Rains; it is also called the 'month
for receiving robes' (clvara-masa). PED ascribes 5 months to the Rains
(under Kattika), but is that ever so? The three Indian seasons have each
4 lunar months, and when, every few years, an 'extra month' (adhika-mdsa) is
added in order to bring the seasons back into line with the solar year, it is
added at the end of the Hot Season (gimharva) as a 5th month, after Asalha,
the 4th month of that Season. The day on which the full moon falls (reckoning
the day to begin at dawn) is the last day of the month.

Objects without, within myself,
Came once and for all to severance
And nevermore did they arise
Now suffering is ended [all];
This is my final body, too;
There is no further future being,
Or roundabout of birth and death ) ( ).
This is the type of Thread dealing with morality.