Saɱyutta Nikāya
4. Saḷāyatana Vagga
41. Citta Saɱyutta
The Book of the Kindred Sayings
4. The Book Called the Saḷāyatana-Vagga
Containing Kindred Sayings on the 'Six-Fold Sphere' of Sense and Other Subjects
41. Kindred Sayings about Citta
Sutta 5
Paṭhama Kāmabhū Suttaɱ
Kāmabhū (i)
Translated by F. L. Woodward
Edited by Mrs. Rhys Davids
Copyright The Pali Text Society
Commercial Rights Reserved
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Once the venerable Kāmabhū was staying at Macchikasaṇḍa
in Wild Mango Grove.
Then Citta, the housefather, came to visit the venerable Kāmabhū,
and on coming to him
saluted him
and sat down at one side.
As he thus sat,
the venerable Kāmabhū said to Citta, the housefather: -
"'Pure-limbed,[1] white-canopied, one-wheeled, the car rolls on.
Lo! he that cometh: faultless, stream-cutter, bond-less he.'
Of this that is said in brief, housefather,
how say you the Full meaning should be regarded?"
"Was this said by the Exalted One, sir?"
"It was, housefather."
"Then, sir, do you wait a moment
while I look into the meaning of it."
So Citta, the housefather, was silent a moment,
and then said to the venerable Kamabhū: -
"'Pure-limbed,' sir,
is a term for the virtues.
'White-canopied,' sir,
is a term for release.[2]
'One-wheeled,' sir,
is a term for mindfulness.
'Rolls on,' sir,
is a term for coming and going.
'Car,' sir,
is a term for body,
of the four great essentials compounded,[3]
of parents sprung,
on rice- [200] gruel fed,
impermanent,
of a nature to be worn away,
pounded away,
broken
and scattered.
Lust, sir, is a fault.
Hatred is a fault.
Illusion is a fault.
In a brother who has destroyed the āsavas,
these are abandoned,
cut down at the root,
made like the stump of a palm-tree,
made things that have ceased to be,
so that they cannot sprout again in time to come.
Therefore a brother who has destroyed the āsavas
is 'faultless.'[4]
'That cometh,'[5] sir,
is a term for the Arahant.
'Stream,' sir,
is a term for craving.
In a brother who has destroyed the āsavas,
this is abandoned,
cut down at the root,
made like the stump of a palm-tree,
made something that has ceased to be,
so that it cannot sprout again in time to come.
Therefore, sir, a brother who has destroyed the āsavas
is called 'stream-cutter.'
Lust, sir, is a bond.
Hatred is a bond.
Illusion is a bond.
In a brother who has destroyed the āsavas
these are abandoned,
cut down at the root,
made like the stump of a palm-tree,
made something that has ceased to be,
so that it cannot sprout again in time to come.
Therefore, sir, a brother who has destroyed the āsavas
is called 'boundless.'
Thus, sir, as regards what was said by the Exalted One:
'Pure-limbed, white-canopied, one-wheeled, the car rolls on.
Lo! he that eometh: faultless, stream-cutter, bond-less he.'
thus, sir, should be understood in full
the meaning of this saying in brief."
"Good for you, housefather!
Well gotten for you, housefather,
that in you
the eye of wisdom is conversant
with the profound teaching of the Enlightened One!"
[1] Nelanga = 'niddosa (n'etaṅ).' Comy. See K.S. ii, 189; Ud. 76. § 5; Ud.A. 370 (nelagga), where the same words are said of the dwarf-brother Lakuṇṭaka. Cf. Asl. 398 (Expos. 506).
[2] Vinmtti, 'the fruits of Arahantship,' Comy. who remarks that this was a hard thing for a layman to know: that it must be called an inference of Citta's, not a proof that he was Arahant. The brother is perhaps naturally, slow to admit a layman's, insight.
[3] Cf. supra. § [xxxv] 103 n.
[4] Anīgha. For the word see Pāli Dict. Anīgha is properly an-igha, not nīgha, as here explained by the housefather. Comy. 'niddukkha.'
[5] Text has ayantante for ayantan ti.
