Aṇguttara-Nikāya
III. Tika Nipāta
IV. Deva-Dūta Vagga
The Book of the Gradual Sayings
or
More-Numbered Suttas
III. The Book of the Threes
IV. Messengers of the Devas
Sutta 37
Dutiya Catu-Mahārāja Suttaṃ
Sakka
Translated from the Pali by
F.L. Woodward, M.A.
Copyright The Pali Text Society
Commercial Rights Reserved
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[1][wrrn][bodh] Thus have I heard:
On a certain occasion the Exalted One addressed the monks, saying:
"Monks."
"Yes, Lord," replied those monks to the Exalted One.
The Exalted One said this:
"Once upon a time, monks, Sakka, lord of the Devas,
was instructing[1] the Devas of the Thirty-Three,
and on that ocoasion uttered this verse:
'He who would be like unto me should keep
The fourteenth, fifteenth day and eke the eighth
Of the half-month, likewise the extra fast,[2]
To observance of the precepts eight well given.'[3]
But, monks, this verse was ill sung,
not well sung
by Sakka, lord of the Devas.
It was wrongly,
not rightly uttered.
How so?
Monks, Sakka, lord of the Devas,
was not rid of passion,
not rid of malice,
not rid of delusion:
whereas a monk who is arahant,
one in whom the āsavas are destroyed,
who has lived the life,
done what was to be done,
who has laid down the burden,
attained his own welfare,
utterly destroyed the fetter of becoming,
who is perfectly released by knowledge, -
by such an one this saying of:
'He who would be like unto me should keep
The fourteenth, fifteenth day and eke the eighth
Of the half-month, likewise the extra fast,
To observance of the precepts eight well given.'
were fitly uttered.
Why so?
Because that monk is rid of passion,
rid of malice,
rid of delusion.
Once upon a time, monks, Sakka,
lord of the Devas,
was instructing the Devas of the Thirty-Three,
and on that ocoasion uttered this verse:.
'He who would be like unto me should keep
The fourteenth, fifteenth day and eke the eighth
Of the half-month, likewise the extra fast,
To observance of the precepts eight well given.'
But, monks, this verse was ill sung.
It was wrongly,
not rightly uttered.
How so?
Monks, Sakka, lord of the Devas,
was not released from birth,
old age
and death,
from sorrow,
lamentation
and woe.
[128] He was not released
from despair and tribulation.
He was not released from Ill,
I declare.
Whereas the monk who is arahant,
one in whom the āsavas are destroyed,
who has lived the life,
done what was to be done,
who has laid down the burden,
attained his own welfare,
utterly destroyed the fetter of becoming,
who is perfectly released by knowledge, -
by such an one this saying of:
'He who would be like unto me should keep
The fourteenth, fifteenth day and eke the eighth
Of the half-month, likewise the extra fast,
To observance of the precepts eight well given.'
were fitly uttered.
Why so?
Because that monk is fully released from birth,
old age
and death,
from sorrow,
lamentation
and woe:
he is fully released
from despair and tribulation.
He is fully released from Ill,
I declare."
[1] Text anunayamāno. Comy. anusaññāyamāno = anubodhayamāno (cf. JA. vi, 139).
[2] Paṭihāriya-pakkhaṃ.
DHP 404: "Him I call indeed a Brāhmaṇa who keeps aloof both from laymen and from mendicants, who frequents no houses, and has but few desires." -Müller, trans.
— p.p.
