Aṅguttara Nikāya

[Home]  [Sutta Indexes]  [Glossology]  [Site Sub-Sections]
[PEDPāḷi English Dictionary]  [Sutta SearchSutta Search]

Aṅguttara Nikāya
IX. Navaka Nipāta
II. Sīhanāda Vagga

The Book of Nines

Sutta 19

Devatā Suttaṃ

Devas

Translated from the Pāḷi
by
Michael M. Olds

 

 

[1][pts][upal] I hear tell:

Once upon a time The Lucky Man
Sāvātthi-town revisiting
Anāthapiṇḍika's Jetavana sporting ground.

There then the Lucky Man
addressed the Beggars:

"Towards the end of this night, beggars,
a number of devas
of uncommonly beautiful radiance,
illuminating the whole of Jetavana,
approached me, and
having approached
gave respectful greetings and
stood to one side.

Standing to one side then,
one group of those devas said to me:

'At an earlier time, bhante,
when we were human beings,
if an ascetic approached our house
we rose from our seats,
but did not then
extend a kindly welcome.

That we, bhante,
did not bring this situation to
a satisfactory conclusion
resulted in
our later feeling remorse,
for the outcome is
having attained this humble body.'[1]

Then, beggars,
another group of devas
approached me and said this:

'At an earlier time, bhante,
when we were human beings,
if an ascetic approached our house
we rose from our seats,
extended a kindly welcome
but did not then
offer a seat and
something to eat.

That we, bhante,
did not bring this situation to
a satisfactory conclusion
resulted in
our later feeling remorse,
for the outcome is
having attained this humble body.'

Then, beggars,
another group of devas
approached me and said this:

'At an earlier time, bhante,
when we were human beings,
if an ascetic approached our house
we rose from our seats,
extended a kindly welcome,
offered a seat and
something to eat,
but did not then share
according to our ability,
according to our power.

That we, bhante,
did not bring this situation to
a satisfactory conclusion
resulted in
our later feeling remorse,
for the outcome is
having attained this humble body.'

Then, beggars,
another group of devas
approached me and said this:

'At an earlier time, bhante,
when we were human beings,
if an ascetic approached our house
we rose from our seats,
extended a kindly welcome
offered a seat and
something to eat, and shared
according to our ability,
according to our power,
but did not then
sit down to hear Dhamma.

That we, bhante,
did not bring this situation to
a satisfactory conclusion
resulted in
our later feeling remorse,
for the outcome is
having attained this humble body.'

Then, beggars,
another group of devas
approached me and said this:

'At an earlier time, bhante,
when we were human beings,
if an ascetic approached our house
we rose from our seats,
extended a kindly welcome
offered a seat and
something to eat, and shared
according to our ability,
according to our power, and
then sat down to hear Dhamma,
but did not then
attentively listen to
the Dhamma we heard.

That we, bhante,
did not bring this situation to
a satisfactory conclusion
resulted in
our later feeling remorse,
for the outcome is
having attained this humble body.'

Then, beggars,
another group of devas
approached me and said this:

'At an earlier time, bhante,
when we were human beings,
if an ascetic approached our house
we rose from our seats,
extended a kindly welcome
offered a seat and
something to eat, and shared
according to our ability,
according to our power,
sat down to hear Dhamma,
attentively listened to
the Dhamma we heard,
but did not then
keep in mind
the Dhamma we heard.

That we, bhante,
did not bring this situation to
a satisfactory conclusion
resulted in
our later feeling remorse,
for the outcome is
having attained this humble body.'

Then, beggars,
another group of devas
approached me and said this:

'At an earlier time, bhante,
when we were human beings,
if an ascetic approached our house
we rose from our seats,
extended a kindly welcome
offered a seat and
something to eat, and shared
according to our ability,
according to our power,
sat down to hear Dhamma,
attentively listened to
the Dhamma we heard,
kept in mind
the Dhamma we heard,
but did not then
test the meaning of the Dhamma
so as to understand it.

That we, bhante,
did not bring this situation to
a satisfactory conclusion
resulted in
our later feeling remorse,
for the outcome is
having attained this humble body.'

Then, beggars,
another group of devas
approached me and said this:

'At an earlier time, bhante,
when we were human beings,
if an ascetic approached our house
we rose from our seats,
extended a kindly welcome
offered a seat and
something to eat, and shared
according to our ability,
according to our power,
sat down to hear Dhamma,
attentively listened to
the Dhamma we heard,
kept in mind
the Dhamma we heard,
but did not then
test the meaning of the Dhamma
so as to understand that
"conformity with the Dhamma"
meant
using conformity with
the Dhamma within the Dhamma
to regulate one's life.

That we, bhante,
did not bring this situation to
a satisfactory conclusion
resulted in
our later feeling remorse,
for the outcome is
having attained this humble body.'

Then, beggars,
another group of devas
approached me and said this:

'At an earlier time, bhante,
when we were human beings,
if an ascetic approached our house
we rose from our seats,
extended a kindly welcome
offered a seat and
something to eat, and shared
according to our ability,
according to our power,
sat down to hear Dhamma,
attentively listened to
the Dhamma we heard,
kept in mind
the Dhamma we heard,
tested the meaning of the Dhamma
so as to understand that
"conformity with the Dhamma"
meant
using conformity with
the Dhamma within the Dhamma[2]
to regulate one's life and walked accordantly.

That we, bhante,
brought this situation to
a satisfactory conclusion
did not result in
our later feeling remorse,
for the outcome is
having attained this superior body.'

These, beggares,
are the roots of trees,
these are empty huts
educate[3] yourselves, beggars,
do not be careless,
do not regret hereafter
as did those first devas."

 

[1] Hina = low. This may look like a contradiction in that these devas are described as having uncommonly beautiful bodies, but that is the point! This way the Buddha gets to teach two lessons simultaneously. The first is the surface instruction of the advantage to bringing such a situation to the point of walking in accordance with Dhamma. The second is the result in an uncommonly beautiful body of even so little respect to an ascetic as is shown by all but the last group of devas. Buddhaghosa apparently has a different understanding of this situation, but I prefer my own. Sister Upalavanna has this entire sutta backwards.

[2] Dhammānudhamma means the advice or instructions or rules or laws or suggested behaviors, etc. (Dhamma) within the teaching (Dhamma)

[3] jhāyatha PED: to meditate, contemplate, think upon, brood over (with accusative): search for, hunt after. It really means none of these. It refers to the practice of developing jhāna which is the act of letting go resulting in less and less and from the first Jhāna on, there is to be no thinking or pondering. To translate it properly we would need to say: "practice knowing", which would make no or the wrong sense here today [Thursday, October 8, 2026 3:08 PM]

 

 

Contact:
E-mail
Copyright Statement