Aṇguttara Nikāya
X. Dasaka-Nipāta
IX: Thera-Vagga

The Book of the Gradual Sayings
X. The Book of the Tens
IX: The Elders

Sutta 89

Kokālika Suttaṃ

The Kokālikan^[1]

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

Copyright The Pali Text Society
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[113]

[1] THUS have I heard:

Once the Exalted One was dwelling near Sāvatthī,
at Jeta Grove,
in Anāthapiṇḍika's Park.

Now the Kokālikan monk came to see the Exalted One,
and on coming to him saluted him
and sat down at one side.

So seated he said this to the Exalted One:

"Sir, Sāriputta and Moggallāna have wicked desires,
they are a prey to wicked desires."

■

"Say not so, Kokālikan!

Say not so, Kokālikan!

Calm your heart towards Sāriputta and Moggallāna.

Of dear virtues are Sāriputta and Moggallāna."

 

§

 

Then for a second time the Kokālikan monk said this to the Exalted One:

"Sir, Sāriputta and Moggallāna have wicked desires,
they are a prey to wicked desires."

And a second time the Exalted One reproved him saying:

"Say not so, Kokālikan!

Say not so, Kokālikan!

Calm your heart towards Sāriputta and Moggallāna.

Of dear virtues are Sāriputta and Moggallāna."

 

§

 

Then for a third time the Kokālikan monk said this to the Exalted One:

"Sir, Sāriputta and Moggallāna have wicked desires,
they are a prey to wicked desires."

And a third time the Exalted One [114] reproved him saying:

"Say not so, Kokālikan!

Say not so, Kokālikan!

Calm your heart towards Sāriputta and Moggallāna.

Of dear virtues are Sāriputta and Moggallāna."

■

Thereupon the Kokālikan monk rose up from his seat,
saluted the Exalted One,
keeping his right side towards him,
and departed.

■

Not long after he had departed
the whole body of the Kokālikan monk
broke out with pustules
of the size of mustard-seed.

-◦-

From being of the size of mustard-seed
they grew to the size of lentils,
then to that of chick-peas,^[2]
then to that of kola-nut stones,
then to the size of a jujube,
then to that of myrobalan,
then to that of unripe vilva fruit,^[3]
then to that of billa fruit.

Having grown to that size
they burst
discharging pus and blood.

-◦-

And there he lay on plantain leaves,
just like a poisoned fish.^[4]

 

§

 

Thereupon Tudu, the individual Brahmā,^[5]
went to see the Kokālikan monk,
and on reaching him
stood on a cloud
and said this to him:

"Kokālikan,
calm your heart towards Sāriputta and Moggallāna!

Of dear virtues are Sāriputta and Moggallāna."

■

"Who are you, your reverence?"

"I am Tudu,
the individual Brahma."

■

"Were you not pronounced a non-returner
by the Exalted One?

Then how is it that you come here?

See how you have erred in this matter."^[6]

 

§

 

Thereupon Tudu the individual Brahmā
addressed the Kokālikan monk
in these verses:

"In sooth to every man that's born
A hatchet grows within his mouth,
Wherewith the fool, whene'er he speaks
And speaks amiss, doth cut himself.

[115] Who praiseth him who should be blamed
Or blameth who should praised be,
He by his lips stores up ill-luck,
And by that ill-luck finds no bliss.

Small is the ill-luck of a man
Who gambling loseth all his wealth.
Greater by far th' ill-luck of him
Who, losing all and losing self,
'Gainst the Wellfarers fouls his mind.

Whoso reviles the worthy ones,
In speech and thought designing ill,
For an hundred thousand periods,
For six and thirty, with five more
Such periods, to purgatory's doomed."^[7]

■

But the Kokālikan monk
met his end by that same sickness.

■

When he had made an end
he rose up again in Paduma^[8] Purgatory,
for hardening his heart against Sāriputta and Moggallāna.

 

§

 

Then when the night was far spent,
the Brahmā Sahampati
shedding radiance
lit up Jeta Grove from end to end,
and came to see the Exalted One,
and on coming to him
saluted him and stood at one side.

Thus standing
the Brahmā Sahampati said this to the Exalted One:

"Sir, the Kokālikan monk has met his end,
and having met his end
has risen up again in Paduma Purgatory,
for hardening his heart against Sāriputta and Moggallāna."

Thus spake the Brahmā Sahampati,
and so saying
saluted the Exalted One,
keeping his right side towards him,
and vanished there and then.

■

But the Exalted One,
when that night had gone,
addressed the monks, saying:

"Monks, last night
when night was waning
the Brahmā [116] Sahampati
shedding radiance
lit up Jeta Grove from end to end,
and on coming to me
saluted me and
and stood at one side.

Thus standing
the Brahmā Sahampati said this to me:

'Sir, the Kokālikan monk has met his end,
and having met his end
has risen up again in Paduma Purgatory,
for hardening his heart against Sāriputta and Moggallāna.'

Thus spake the Brahmā Sahampati,
and so saying
saluted me,
keeping his right side towards me,
and vanished there and then.

 

§

 

At these words a certain monk said to the Exalted One:

"Pray, sir, how long is the measure of life in Paduma Purgatory?"

"Long indeed, monk, is the measure of life in Paduma Purgatory.

It were no easy thing to reckon it thus:

So many years
or so many centuries
or so many thousands of years
or so many hundreds of thousands of years."

■

"But, sir, can a figure be made?"

"It can, monk."

Then the Exalted One added:

"Suppose, monk, a Kosalan cartload
of twenty measures of sesamum seed,
and suppose that at the end of every century
one took out a single seed.

Sooner would that Kosalan cartload
of twenty measures of sesamum seed
be used up and finished by this method
than the period of the Abbuda Purgatory.

-◦-

Just as are twenty such periods of the Abbuda Purgatory,
such is one period of the Nirabbuda Purgatory.

-◦-

Just as are twenty such periods of the Nirabbuda Purgatory,
such is one period of the Ababa Purgatory.

-◦-

Just as are twenty such periods of the Ababa Purgatory,
such is one period of the Ahaha Purgatory.

-◦-

Just as are twenty such periods of the Ahaha Purgatory,
such is one period of the Aṭaṭa Purgatory.

-◦-

Just as are twenty such period of the Aṭaṭa Purgatory,
such is one period of the Kumuda Purgatory.

-◦-

Just as are twenty such periods of the Kumuda Purgatory
such is one period of the Sogandhika Purgatory.

-◦-

Just as are twenty such periods of the Sogandhika Purgatory
such is one period of the Uppalaka Purgatory;

-◦-

Just as are twenty such periods of the Uppalaka Purgatory
such is one period of the Puṇḍarlka Purgatory,

-◦-

Just as are twenty such periods of the Puṇḍarlka Purgatory
such is one period of the Paduma Purgatory.^[9]

■

Now, monk, it is in the Paduma Purgatory
that the Kokālikan monk has risen up again,
for hardening his heart against Sāriputta and Moggallāna."

Thus spake the Exalted One.

 

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The Wellfarer having thus spoken,
the Teacher added this further:

In sooth to every man that's born
A hatchet grows within his mouth,
Wherewith the fool, whene'er he speaks
And speaks amiss, doth cut himself.

Who praiseth him who should be blamed
Or blameth who should praised be,
He by bis lips stores up ill-luck,
And by that ill-luck finds no bliss.

Small is the ill-luck of a man
Who gambling loseth all his wealth.
Greater by far th' ill-luck of him
Who, losing all and losing self,
'Gainst the Wellfarers fouls his mind.

Whoso reviles the worthy ones,
In speech and thought designing ill,
For an hundred thousand periods,
For six and thirty, with five more
Such periods, to purgatory's doomed.

 

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^[1] This well-known story is brought in to support the teachings of the previous suttas. It occurs at Sn. iii, 10 = Lord Chalmers's Trans., p. 156 ff.; S. i, 149 = K.S. i, 187; JA. iv, No. 481, and the gathas are quoted Netti 132 (177). Comy., which is much the same as at SnA. ii, 473; SA. i, 216, and AA., ad loc., states that he was the younger or Cūla-Kokālika, not Mahā-K. the disciple of Devadatta. He had abused the great disciples in a former birth. DhpA. on Dhp. v. 363 describes these gāthās as referring to him. He was a native of the town Kokālī

^[2] Kaḷāya = caṇaka, Comy.

^[3] At Sn. trans. 'a quince.'

^[4] At the porch of Jetavana monastery. This later addition and the appearance of Tudu is in the Jātaka C., and the previous sutta in the Saṃyutta version is from the Commentaries.

^[5] Pacceka Brahmā. Tudu had been K's guru, and on his death was pronounced a non-returner by the Master.

^[6] Passa yāva te idaṃ aparaddhaṃ - i.e., you can't be a non-returner; a mistake has been made. JA. has 'You'll become a yakkha on a dunghill.'

^[7] The first verse is from Mrs. Rhys Davids's trans, at K.S. i, 188; the rest from mine at G.S. ii, 3.

^[8] Comy. 'not a special purgatory,' but presumably one where periods are reckoned according to the thousand-petalled lotus.

^[9] SnA. (but not the others) adds that 'some say that the names of the Purgatories are representations of the lamentations (e.g., ahaha, ababa, aṭaṭa) or occupations of their inmates. Others that they are cold Purgatories (and presumably these words represent the chattering of teeth, etc.).'

 

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References:

For another case of a Non-returner returning to this world for a visit see AN 3.125.