Aṇguttara Nikāya
Catukka Nipāta
XVI: Indriya Vagga

The Book of the Gradual Sayings
The Book of the Fours
XVI: Controlling Powers

Sutta 160

Sugata-Vinaya Suttaṃ

The Wellfarer's Discipline^[1]

Translated from the Pali by F. L. Woodward, M.A.

Copyright The Pali Text Society
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[150]

[1][olds] 'Monks, when a Wellfarer or a Wellfarer's Discipline abides in the world,
that is done for the profit of many,
the happiness [151] of many;
it is out of compassion for the world,
for the weal,
for the profit,
for the happiness of devas and mankind.

 

§

 

And of what sort, monks, is a Wellfarer?

Herein, monks, a Tathāgata arises in the world,
an Arahant,
a Fully Enlightened One,
perfect in knowledge and conduct,
a Wellfarer,
a world-knower,
unsurpassed driver of men to be driven,
Teacher of devas and mankind,
a Buddha,
an Exalted One.

This, monks, is a Wellfarer.

■

And of what sort, monks, is a Wellfarer's Discipline?

He is one who teaches Dhamma,
lovely in youth,
lovely in middle age,
lovely at the end of life,^[2]
both in the spirit and the letter.

He makes plain the holy life,
entirely complete and purified.

This, monks, is the Discipline of a Wellfarer.

Monks, when a Wellfarer
or a Wellfarer's Discipline
abides in the world,
that is done for the profit of many,
for the happiness of many;
it is done out of compassion for the world,
for the weal,
for the profit,
for the happiness of devas and mankind.

 

§

 

Monks, these four things conduce to the confusion,
to the vanishing away
of Saddhamma.

What four?

In this case, monks,
the monks get by heart a text^[3] that is wrongly taken,^[4]
with words and sense that are wrongly arranged.

Now, monks, if words and sense are wrongly arranged,
the meaning also is misleading.

This is the first thing which conduces to the confusion,
to the vanishing away of Saddhamma.

■

Then again the monks are difficult to speak to,
possessed of qualities which make them difficult to speak to;
they are intractable,
incapable of being instructed.^[5]

This, monks, is the second thing which conduces to the confusion,
to the vanishing away of Saddhamma.

■

Then again those monks who are widely learned,
versed in [152] the doctrines,^[6]
who know Dhamma by heart,
who know Vinaya by heart,
who know the summaries^[7] by heart, -
these do not dutifully hand on a text to another;
thus, when they pass away,
the text is cut down at the root,
it has nothing to stand on.

This is the third thing which conduces to the confusion,
to the vanishing away of Saddhamma.

■

Yet again the elder monks live in abundance,^[8]
they are lax,
taking the lead in backsliding (to the worldly life),
shirking the burden of the secluded life,
they set going no effort
to reach the unattained,
to win the goal not won,
to realize the unrealized;
so the generation that follows
comes to depend upon their view.

That generation also lives in abundance,
is lax,
takes the lead in backsliding (to the worldly life),
shirking the burden of the secluded life,
sets going no effort to reach the unattained,
to win the goal not won,
to realize the unrealized.

This, monks, is the fourth thing which conduces to the confusion,
to the vanishing away of Saddhamma.

 

§

 

Now, monks, these four things conduce to the support,
to the non-confusion,
to the not vanishing away of Saddhamma.

What four?

Herein the monks get by heart a text that is rightly taken,
with words and sense that are rightly arranged.

Now if words and sense are rightly arranged
the meaning also is easy to follow.

This is the first thing that conduces to the support,
to the non-confusion,
to the not vanishing away of Saddhamma.

■

Then again the monks are easy to speak to,
possessed of qualities which make them easy to speak to;
they are tractable,
capable of being instructed.

This, monks, is the second thing that conduces to the support,
to the non-confusion,
to the not vanishing away of Saddhamma.

■

Yet again those monks who are of wide knowledge,
versed in the doctrines,
who know Dhamma by heart,
who know Vinaya by heart,
who know the summaries by heart, -
these dutifully hand on a text to another;
thus, when they pass away,
[153] the text is not cut down at the root,
it has something to stand on.

This, monks, is the third thing that conduces to the support,
to the non-confusion,
to the not vanishing away of Saddhamma.

■

Yet again the elder monks live not in abundance,
they are not lax,
they take not the lead in backsliding (to the worldly life),
they shirk not the burden of the secluded life,
they set going an effort
to reach the unattained,
to win the goal not won,
to realize the unrealized.

So the generation that follows
comes to depend upon their view.

That generation also lives not in abundance
they are not lax,
they take not the lead in backsliding (to the worldly life),
they shirk not the burden of the secluded life,
but makes an effort
to reach the unattained,
to win the goal not won,
to realize the unrealized.

This, monks, is the fourth thing that conduces to the support,
to the non-confusion,
to the not vanishing away of Saddhamma.

So these, monks, are the four things thing that conduce to the support,
to the non-confusion,
to the not vanishing away of Saddhamma.

 

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^[1] Cf. S. v, 14.

^[2] With Sakya, p. 73, I take these epithets to refer not to Dhamma itself but to the times of life. Elsewhere trans. 'Lovely in its middle,' etc.

^[3] Suttantaṃ pariyāpuṇanti = s. valañjenti. Comy. Cf. A. i, 59; [?] M. i, 133, where Comy. expl. by uggaṇhanti.

^[4] Duggahītaṃ = 'in an impossible sense.' Comy.

^[5] As at S. ii, 204 (a general complaint made to the Master by Kassapa). A-ppadakkhiṇa-gahin = 'a left-hander,' so 'clumsy.'

^[6] Cf. A. i, 117; infra, 175; iii, 360. Āgat'āgamā. The āgama (what one goes by) is canonical 'scripture.' In Ceylon the word is used today for the 'Buddhist religion.'

^[7] Mātikā= 'leads, lodes' (like netti) or mnemonics.

^[8] Cf. M. i, 14, 32, etc.; G.S. i, 66. Bāhulikā (generally spelt bāhullikā). Comy. expl. as 'getting plenty of necessaries.' Such are called in A. i 'the ignoble company of monks.'