Saɱyutta Nikāya
4. Saḷāyatana Vagga
42. Gāmani 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
42. Kindred Sayings about Headmen
Sutta 9
Kula Suttaɱ
Clan
Translated by F. L. Woodward
Edited by Mrs. Rhys Davids
Copyright The Pali Text Society
Commercial Rights Reserved
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Once the Exalted One was going his rounds among the Kosalans
together with a great company of brethren
and reached Nalanda.
Then the Exalted One stayed at Nalanda in Pāvārika Mango Grove.
Now at that time Nalanda was stricken with famine,
hard to get one's living in,[1]
white with men's bones,[2]
its crops grown to mere stubs.[3]
And on that occasion Nāṭa's Son, the Unclothed,
was lodging at Nalanda,
together with a great following of the Unclothed.
Then Asibandhaka's Son, the headman,
a follower of the Unclothed,
came to visit Nāṭa's Son, the Unclothed,
and on coming to him
saluted him
and sat down at one side.
Then said Nāṭa's Son, the Unclothed,
to Asibandhaka's Son, the headman,
as he thus sat: -
"Come thou, headman!
Go and join issue[4] with Gotama, the recluse,
and such a goodly report of thee
shall be noised abroad,
to wit:
'Asibandhaka's Son, the headman,
has joined issue with Gotama, the recluse.'"
"But, how, sir,
shall I join issue with Gotama, the recluse,
who is of such great magic power,
of such great prestige?"
"Go thou, headman, to visit Gotama, the recluse,
and on coming to him say this: -
'Lord, is it not a fact
that in divers ways
the Exalted One extols consideration for clansmen,
extols carefulness,
extols compassion for clansmen?'
Now, headman, if Gotama, the recluse, thus questioned
replies thus:
'Even so, headman, [229] the Tathāgata,
in divers ways
does extol consideration for clansmen,
does extol carefulness,
does extol compassion for clansmen,' -
then do you say thus:
'But, lord, how is it that the Exalted One,
with a great company of Brethren,
goes about on his rounds
in a place that is stricken with famine,
a place hard to get a living in,
that is white with men's bones,
its crops grown to mere stubs?
Surely the Exalted One is acting
for the destruction of the clansmen,
for the loss of the clansmen,
is acting to the injury of the clansmen
in so doing.'
Thus questioned by you, headman,
with a two-horned question,[5] Gotama, the recluse, will be unable
either to vomit it up
or to swallow it down."
"Very good, sir,"
said Asibandhaka's Son, the headman,
in reply to Nāṭa's Son, the Unclothed,
and rose from his seat,
saluted him by the right,
and went away to visit the Exalted One.
On coming to him
he saluted the Exalted One
and sat down at one side.
So seated
Asibandhaka's Son, the headman,
said to the Exalted One:-
"Lord, is it not a fact
that in divers ways
the Exalted One extols consideration for clansmen,
extols carefulness,
extols compassion for clansmen?"
"So it is, headman.
The Tathāgata, does in divers ways
does extol consideration for clansmen,
does extol carefulness,
does extol compassion for clansmen"
"Then, lord, how is it
that the Exalted One,
with a great company of the Brethren,
is going his rounds
in a place that is stricken with famine,
hard to get a living in,
white with men's bones,
its crops grown to mere stubs?
Surely the Exalted One in so doing
is acting for the destruction of the clansmen,
for the loss,
for the injury
of the clansmen."
"Headman,
from ninety and one kalpas ago
up to now[6]
I do not remember,
I am not conscious of ever
having wronged a clan
to the extent even of a cooked meal
given in offering.
Those clans were rich,
very rich,
of exceeding great wealth, [230]
abounding in gold and silver,
abounding in sources of wealth,
abounding in wealth of crops.
All that wealth was amassed through charity,
amassed through truthfulness,
amassed through self-restraint.
There are eight reasons, headman,
there are eight causes
for the injury of clans.
Clans meet with injury from rājahs,
from robbers,
from fire,
from water,
they find not treasure that is hidden,[7]
through sloth they abandon toil,
or else in the clan arises a wastrel[8] who scatters,
destroys
and breaks up its wealth.
The impermanence of things
is the eighth cause.
These, headman, are the eight reasons,
the eight causes
for the injury of clans.
Now, headman, since these eight reasons,
these eight causes
exist
and are found to be,
he who should say thus of me:
'The Exalted One acts for the destruction,
for the loss,
for the injury
of the clans,' -
if he abandon not that saying,
if he abandon not that thought,
if he give not up adherence to that view,
he is cast into Purgatory sure enough."
■
At these words Asibandhaka's Son
said to the Exalted One: -
"Excellent, lord!
Excellent it is, lord!
Just as if one should raise what is overthrown,
or show forth what is hidden,
or point out the way
to him that wanders astray,
or hold up a light in the darkness
so that they who have eyes may behold objects, -
even so in divers ways
hath the Norm been set forth by the Exalted One.|| ||
To the exalted One, lord, I go for refuge,
to the Norm
and to the Order of Brethren.
May the Exalted One accept me
as a lay disciple,
as one who hath gone to him for refuge,
from this day forth
so long as life doth last."
[1] Dvīhitlkā (? du-īhihkā), a word of doubtful origin. Comy. explains it as a dilemma, viz.: 'shall we live or shall we not live?' At Vin. iii, 7, Comy. has strange explanations. Considering the neighbouring word salākā-vuttā, I conjecture du-vīhi-tikā (where paddy grows badly)!
[2] Or 'with men's ribs showing white (beneath the skin).'
[3] Salākā-vuttā, 'grown to mere slips and fruitless.' Comy. [Dr. Andersen (Words m S.), J.P.T.S., 1909, p. 128. has 'subsisting by means of pegs; a kind of famine when scraps of food are scraped together with salākas.' But salākas there moans 'slips of wood' used as tickets or 'tallies.' This is an alternative expl. of V.A. l, 175].
[4] Vādaṅ āropehi. Cf. Dialog. i. 15 n., K.S. iii, 13.
[5] Ubhata-koṭlkaṅ pañhaṅ, 'the horns of a dilemma.' Cf. Mil. P., 5, 108.
[6] Dialog. i, 2, the age when Vipassi, the Buddha, was born into the world. A kalpa is reckoned as 1,000 yugas or ages, which make up one day of a Brahmā.
[7] Cf. Khud , 7 [§8] (The Buried Treasure).
[8] Kul'angāra ('clan-charcoal'), wealth-destroyer.
