Khuddaka Nikaya - Theragatha 21

Khuddaka Nikaya - Theragatha 21

Thag 21
Vangisa
Translated from the Pali by
John D. Ireland
Alternate translation:Hecker/Khema (excerpt)Ireland
PTS: vv. 1209-1279



Source: Vangisa: An Early Buddhist Poet, Buddhist Publication Society
Wheel Publication No. 417/418. Transcribed from a file provided by the
BPS.
Footnotes refer to those appearing in Vangisa: An Early Buddhist Poet.



Copyright © 1997 John D. Ireland.
Access to Insight edition © 2005
For free distribution. This work may be republished, reformatted,
reprinted, and redistributed in any medium. It is the author's wish,
however, that any such republication and redistribution be made available
to the public on a free and unrestricted basis and that translations and
other derivative works be clearly marked as such.



I. Departed (Nikkhantam)
1209. Alas! Now that I have departed from home to the homeless state, these
reckless thoughts from the Dark One1 come upon me.
1210. Mighty warriors, great archers, trained, steady bowmen, one thousand
fearless men, might surround me on all sides.
1211. Even if more women than these will come,2 they will not cause me to waver,
for I am firmly established in the teaching.
1212. In his presence I heard from the Awakened One, the Kinsman of the Sun, of
this path leading to nibbana; it is there that my mind is attached.
1213. Evil One, while I am living thus, if you assail me, so shall I act, O
Death, that you will not see my path.
II. Disliking (Aratim)
1214. Entirely giving up disliking and liking, and the thinking associated with
the life of a householder, one should not have craving for anything. He indeed
is a monk who is wholly without craving.
1215. Whatever there is here of form, inhabiting the earth and the sky, immersed
in the world,3 all is impermanent and decaying. So understanding, the wise live
their lives.4
1216. Regarding objects of attachment, people are greedy for what is to be seen
and heard and touched and otherwise experienced.5 Being unmoved, dispel desire
for them, for they call him a sage who does not cling to them.
1217. Then, caught in the sixty,6 full of (speculative) thoughts, because of
being outsiders,7 they are established in wrong teaching. But one who is a monk
would not take up a sectarian viewpoint, much less seize upon what is bad.
1218. Intelligent, for a long time composed (of mind), not deceitful, wise, not
envious, the sage has experienced the peaceful state, depending on which,
attained to quenching, he awaits his time.8
III. Despising the Well-behaved (Pesala-atimaññana)
1219. Abandon conceit, Gotama,9 get rid of the way of conceit completely.
Because of being infatuated by the way of conceit, for a long time you have been
remorseful.
1220. Soiled by contempt (for others), destroyed by conceit, people fall into
hell. Persons destroyed by conceit grieve for a long time upon being reborn in
hell.
1221. A monk never grieves who is a knower of the path,10 one who has practiced
it properly. He experiences fame and happiness; truthfully they call him "a seer
of Dhamma."
1222. Therefore be without barrenness11 here ( in this world), energetic,
purified by abandoning the hindrances. Having completely abandoned conceit, be
an ender (of suffering) through knowledge and become one who dwells at peace.
IV. Ananda
[Vangisa:]
1223. "I burn with sensual desire, my mind is enflamed (with passion). Out of
pity please tell me, Gotama,13 the effective extinguishing of it."
[Ananda:]
1224. "Your mind is enflamed because of distorted perception. Shun the aspect of
beauty associated with passion. (A)
1224B. "See constructions14 as other, as painful, not as self, (and thus)
extinguish strong passion; do not burn again and again. (B)15
1225. "Devote the mind, one-pointed and well-composed, to the contemplation of
foulness.16 Let mindfulness be directed towards the body and be full of
disenchantment for it.
1226. "Contemplate the signless17 and cast out the underlying tendency to
conceit. Then by the penetration of conceit you will go about at peace."
V. Well-spoken (Subhasita)
1227. One should speak only that word by which one would not torment oneself nor
harm others. That word is indeed well spoken.
1228. One should speak only pleasant words, words which are acceptable (to
others). What one speaks without bringing evils to others is pleasant.
1229. Truth is indeed the undying word; this is an ancient verity. Upon truth,
the good say, the goal and the teaching are founded.19
1230. The sure word the Awakened One speaks for the attainment of nibbana, for
making an end of suffering, is truly the best of words.
VI. Sariputta
1231. Of profound wisdom, intelligent, skilled in knowledge of the right and
wrong path, Sariputta of great wisdom teaches Dhamma to the monks.
1232. He teaches in brief, he speaks with detailed explanation, his voice is
(pleasing) like that of the mynah bird; he demonstrates readiness of speech.20
1233. Listening to his sweet utterance21 while he is teaching with a voice that
is captivating, pleasing, and lovely, the monks give ear, with minds elated and
joyful.
VII. The Invitation Ceremony (Pavarana)
1234. Today on the fifteenth (of the fortnight)23 five hundred monks have
gathered for the ceremony of purification, cutters of fetters and bonds,
untroubled, seers finished with renewed existence.
1235-36. As a wheel-turning monarch, surrounded by his ministers, tours all
around this ocean-girt earth, so do the disciples with the threefold knowledge,
who have left death behind, attend upon the victor in battle, the unsurpassed
caravan leader.
1237. All are the Fortunate One's sons; there is no chaff found here. I pay
homage to the destroyer of the dart of craving, the Kinsman of the Sun.
VIII. More than a Thousand (Parosahassam)
1238. More than a thousand monks attend upon the Happy One as he is teaching the
stainless Dhamma concerning nibbana, where no fear can come from any quarter.
1239. They hear the taintless Dhamma taught by the Fully Awakened One. The
Awakened One is truly resplendent as he is revered by the community of monks.
1240. You are called a naga,24 Fortunate One; of seers, you are the best of
seers.25 Like a great rain-cloud, you rain down upon the disciples.
1241. Leaving his daytime abode, wishing to see the Teacher, your disciple
Vangisa pays homage at your feet, Great Hero.
IX. Overcoming (Abhibhuyya)
1242. Overcoming the devious ways and range of Mara, he walks (free), having
broken up the things that make for barrenness of mind.27 See him producing
release from bonds, unattached, separating (the Teaching) into its constituent
parts.28
1243. He has shown the path in a variety of ways with the aim of guiding us
across the flood. Since the undying has been shown (to them), the Dhamma-seers
(are those who) stand immovable.
1244. The light-maker, having penetrated (the Dhamma), saw the overcoming of all
standpoints.29 Having understood and experienced it, he taught the topmost
(Dhamma-teaching) to the five.30
1245. When the Dhamma has been thus well taught, what indolence could there be
in those who know the Dhamma? Therefore, vigilant and ever revering, one should
follow the training in the Fortunate One's dispensation.
X. Kondañña
1246. The Elder Kondañña, strong in energy, who was enlightened after the
Awakened One,31 is repeatedly the obtainer of pleasurable abidings and
seclusions.32
1247. Whatever is to be attained by a disciple who does the instruction of the
Teacher, all that has been attained by him, vigilant and disciplined.
1248. Having great power and the threefold knowledge, skilled in knowing the
thoughts of others, Kondañña, the Awakened One's heir, pays homage at the
Teacher's feet.
XI. Moggallana
1249. Disciples, possessors of the threefold knowledge who have left death
behind, attend upon the sage seated on the mountain side, who has gone to the
far shore beyond suffering.
1250. Moggallana, of great supernormal powers, encompasses (their minds) with
his mind, seeking their minds, completely freed, without attachments.33
1251. Thus do they attend upon Gotama endowed with so many virtuous qualities,
the sage possessed of all the attributes and gone to the far shore beyond
suffering.
XII. Gaggara
1252. As the moon shines in the sky free from clouds, as also the spotless sun,
even so, Resplendent One, Great Sage, do you outshine the whole world with your
fame.
XIV. Vangisa (2)
1253. Intoxicated with skill in the poetic art, formerly we wandered from
village to village, from town to town. Then we saw the Awakened One gone to the
far shore beyond all (worldly conditioned) phenomena.
1254. The sage gone to the far shore beyond suffering taught me the Dhamma. On
hearing the Dhamma we gained confidence in him; faith arose in us.
1255. Having heard his word and learnt of the aggregates, bases, and elements, I
went forth into homelessness.
1256. Indeed Tathagatas appear for the good of the many men and women who
practice their teaching.
1257. Indeed the sage attained enlightenment for the good of those monks and
nuns who see the course to be undergone.34
1258. Well taught are the Four Noble Truths by the Seeing One, the Awakened One,
the Kinsman of the Sun, out of compassion for living beings.
1259. Suffering, the origin of suffering, the overcoming of suffering, and the
noble eightfold path leading to the allaying of suffering.
1260. Thus these things, thus spoken of, have been seen by me as they really
are. The true goal has been reached by me; the Awakened One's instruction has
been done.
1261. It was good indeed for me, my coming into the presence of the Awakened
One. Among things shared out I obtained the best.
1262. I have attained the perfection of the direct knowledges, I have purified
the element of hearing, I have the threefold knowledge and obtained supernormal
powers and am skilled in knowing the minds of others.
XV. Nigrodhakappa
1263. "I ask the teacher of superior wisdom, one who in this very life is the
cutter-off of doubts: The monk, well known and famous, who has died at
Agga.lava, was he completely quenched in mind?
1264. "Nigrodhakappa was the name given to that brahmin by you, Fortunate One.
Looking for release, strenuously energetic, he went about revering you, O seer
of the secure state (i.e., nibbana).
1265. "Sakka, All-seeing One, we all wish to know concerning that disciple. Our
ears are ready to hear. You are the teacher, you are unsurpassed.
1266. "Sever our doubt. Tell me this, you of extensive wisdom, that he
experienced quenching. Speak in our very midst, All-seeing One, like the
thousand-eyed Sakka in the midst of the gods.
1267. "Whatever bonds exist here (in the world), ways of delusion, on the side
of ignorance, bases for doubt, they no longer exist on reaching the Tathagata,
for that vision of his is supreme among men.
1268. "If no man were ever to disperse the defilements as the wind disperses a
mass of clouds, the whole world, enveloped, would surely be darkness, and even
illustrious men would not shine forth.
1269. "But the wise are light-makers. O Wise One, I think you are just such a
one. We have come upon him who knows and is gifted with insight. Make evident to
us, within the companies (of disciples), the fate of Kappa.
1270. "Quickly enunciate your beautiful utterance, O beautiful one! Like a goose
stretching forth (its neck), honk gently with your melodious and well-modulated
voice; we are all listening to you attentively.
1271. "Pressing the one who has completely abandoned birth and death, I shall
urge the purified one to speak Dhamma. For among outsiders there is no acting as
they wish, but among Tathagatas there is acting with discretion.35
1272. "This full explanation of yours, (coming from) one with upright wisdom, is
well learnt. This last salutation is proferred. You of superior wisdom, knowing
(Kappa's fate), do not keep us in ignorance.
1273. "Having known the noble Dhamma in its full extent, you of superior energy,
knowing (Kappa's fate), do not keep us in ignorance. I long for your word as one
overcome by heat in the hot season longs for water. Rain down on our ears.36
1274. "Surely the purpose for which Kappayana practiced the holy life was not in
vain. Was he quenched or had he a residue remaining?37 Let us hear in what way
he was released."
1275. "He cut off craving here for mind-and-materiality", said the Fortunate
One, "the stream of craving which for a long time had lain latent within him. He
has crossed beyond birth and death completely." So spoke the Fortunate One, the
foremost of the five.38
1276. "On hearing your word, O best of seers, I believe. My question was truly
not in vain; the brahmin did not deceive me.
1277. "As he spoke, so he acted. He was a disciple of the Awakened One. He cut
through the strong, spread-out net of Death the deceiver.
1278. "Kappiya saw the starting point of grasping, O Fortunate One. Kappayana
has certainly gone beyond the realm of Death, so difficult to cross.
1279. "I pay homage to you, the god of gods,39 and to your son, O best of
bipeds, to the great hero born in your tracks, a naga, a true son of the
naga."40