VI. THE UKKHEPANIYA-KAMMA
for not renouncing a sinful doctrine.
32.
1. Now at that time the Blessed Buddha was staying at Sâvatthi, in the Getavana,
the grove of Anâthapindika. And at that time a certain Bhikkhu by name Arittha,
who had formerly been a vulture tormentor 1, had fallen into a sinful belief of
this kind; (that is to say), 'In this wise do I understand the Dhamma preached
by the Blessed One, that to him who practises those things which have been
declared by the Blessed One to be impediments 2,
p. 378
there will arise no impediment sufficient (to prevent his acquiring spiritual
gifts) 1.'
Now many Bhikkhus heard that Arittha, who had formerly (&c., as before, down
to:) to be impediments. And those Bhikkhus went up to the place where Arittha
the Bhikkhu, who had formerly been a vulture tormentor, was; and on arriving
there they asked Arittha the Bhikkhu, who had formerly been a vulture tormentor,
'Is it true, friend Arittha, as they say, that you have fallen into a sinful
belief (&c., as above, down to) spiritual gifts?'
'Certainly 2! I do so understand the Dhamma preached by the Blessed One (&c., as
before):
2. 'Say not so, friend Arittha. Bear not false-witness against the Blessed One.
For neither is it seemly to bring a false accusation against the Blessed One,
nor could the Blessed One have spoken so. By many a figure, friend Arittha, have
the things which are impediments been declared to be impediments by the Blessed
One, and also to be sufficient to prevent him who cultivates them (from
attaining to spiritual gifts) 3. Lusts have been declared by the Blessed One to
be of short taste 4, full of pain, and full of despair, things wherein the
danger is great. Lusts have been declared by the Blessed One to be like the
bones of a skeleton, full of pain, and full of despair, things wherein the
danger is
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great. Lusts have been declared by the Blessed One to be like lumps of raw meat,
full (&c., as before, down to:) is great. Lusts have been declared by the
Blessed One to be like torches made of a wisp of hay . . . ., like a pit full of
live coals 1 . . . ., like the visions of a dream . . . ., like a beggar's
portion . . . ., like the fruits of trees . . . ., like the sword and the
slaughter-house . . . ., like darts and clubs . . . ., like snakes and creeping
things, full of pain, and full of despair, things wherein the danger is great.'
Yet notwithstanding that Bhikkhu Arittha, who had formerly been a vulture
tormentor, when thus being addressed by the Bhikkhus, remained steadfastly
adhering, in the very same way, and with violence, to that sinful doctrine,
declaring, 'Verily I do so understand the Dhamma preached by the Blessed One
(&c., as before, in § 1).'
3. Then since those Bhikkhus were unable to move Arittha the Bhikkhu, who had
formerly been a vulture tormentor, from that sinful doctrine, they went up to
the place where the Blessed One was; and when they had come there, they told
this thing to the Blessed One.
And the Blessed One on that occasion, and in that connection, convened a meeting
of the Bhikkhusamgha, and asked Arittha the Bhikkhu, who had formerly been a
vulture tormentor, 'Is it true, as they say, Arittha, that you have fallen into
a sinful doctrine of such a kind (&c., as before, in § 1)?'
'Certainly, Lord! I do so understand (&c., as before, in § 1).'
p. 380
'How can you, O foolish one, so understand the Dhamma preached by me? Have I
not, by many a figure, O foolish one, declared the things which are impediments
to be impediments, and sufficient to prevent him who cultivates them (from
attaining to spiritual gifts)? Have not lusts been by me declared to be of short
taste (&c., as above, down to:) like snakes and creeping things, full of danger,
full of despair, things wherein the danger is great? Yet now you, O foolish one,
by your having grasped that doctrine wrongly 1, are not only bearing
false-witness against us, but you are also rooting yourself up, and are giving
rise to much demerit, the which will be to you for a long time for an evil and a
woe. This will not conduce, O foolish one, either to the conversion of the
unconverted, or to the increase of the converted; but rather to those who are
unconverted not being converted, and to the turning back of those who have been
converted 2.'
When he had thus rebuked him, and had delivered a religious discourse, he
addressed the Bhikkhus, and said: Let therefore the Samgha, O Bhikkhus, carry
out against Arittha the Bhikkhu, who was formerly a vulture tormentor, the
Ukkhepaniyakamma, for not renouncing a sinful doctrine, to the intent that he
shall not eat or dwell together with the Samgha.'
4. 'Now thus, O Bhikkhus, should it be carried out. In the first place the
Bhikkhu Arittha ought
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to be warned [&c., as in chapter 25, down to the end of the Kammavâkâ, including
the supplementary sentence as to the proclamation].'
Footnotes
377:1 In his commentary on the Pâkittiya, quoted by Oldenberg in his note on
this passage, Buddhaghosa explains this expression to mean 'born in a family of
vulture slayers.' This does not, help us much, vulture slaying as a regular
occupation being somewhat incomprehensible, and not referred to elsewhere.
Whatever its meaning, the occupation referred to is perhaps the origin of, or
should at least be compared with, the statement of Ktesias (circa B.C. 400) in
his 'Indika' (ed. C. Müller, Fragment xiii), that the Indians used not dogs but
vultures, which they trained for that purpose, in hunting hares and foxes.
Lassen in his 'Indische Alterthumskunde,' II, 638, 639, thinks this statement
not incredible, very fairly comparing the use of falcons in Europe in the Middle
Ages. It is not impossible that the correct rendering here should be
'vulture-catcher,' or 'vulture-trainer;' but we prefer to be literal.
377:2 The only one of such things (Dhammâ) known to us elsewhere in the Vinaya
Pitaka itself is deliberate falsehood. This is stated in Mahâvagga II, 3, 3 to
be an impediment, which is explained by the Old Commentator, at Mahâvagga II, 3,
7, to mean an impediment to the attainment of the Ghânas, and other things of
similar nature.
378:1 This is word for word the same speech as that which is condemned in the
68th and 70th Pâkittiyas.
378:2 Byâ is only known to us as an intensive particle occurring in passages
like the present one.
378:3 So far this section is word for word the same as the 68th and the 70th
Pâkittiyas.
378:4 Quoted at Dhammapada, ver. 186.
379:1 Gâtaka I, 231, 232.
380:1 Compare Mahâ-parinibbâna Sutta IV, 8-11.
380:2 Up to this point the whole chapter recurs as the Introductory Story in the
Sutta-vibhaṅga on the 68th Pâkittiya.
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