Saṃyutta Nikāya
I. Sagātha Vagga
7. Brāhmana Saṃyutta
The Book of the Kindred Sayings
I. Kindred Sayings with Verses
7. The Brāhmana Suttas
Translated by Mrs. Rhys Davids
Assisted by Sūriyagoḍa Sumangala Thera
Public Domain
I: Arahants
Sutta 10
Bahu-Dhītu Suttaṃ
Of Many Daughters[1]
[10.1] THUS HAVE I HEARD:
The Exalted One was once staying among the Kosalans
in a certain forest.
Now on that occasion
a certain brahmin of the Bhāradvājas
had lost fourteen oxen.
And he came seeking those oxen into the forest.
And there he saw the Exalted One
seated in the cross-legged position,
his body set upright[2] and mindfulness evoked before his face.[3]
Seeing the Exalted One,
he drew near,
and before him uttered these verses[4]: —
"For this good friar there sure are not six days to-day
Since fourteen oxen have been lost to sight,
Therefore the friar a happy man is he!
For this good friar there sure are not grain crops gone bad,
One leaf, two leaves a stalk of sesamum!
Therefore the friar a happy man is he!
For this good friar there sure are not in empty barn
Rats dancing rampantly[5] around,
Therefore the friar a happy man is he!
[215] For this good friar there sure is not, seven months [unwatched],
A siesta-couch covered by vermin swarm,[6]
Therefore the friar a happy man is he!
For this good friar there sure are not seven daughters all
Widows with one child, maybe two [to cadge],[7]
Therefore the friar a happy man is he!
For this good friar there's sure no tawny speckled one
To wake the weary slumb'rer with her foot,[8]
Therefore the friar a happy man is he!
For this good friar there surely never come at dawn
Duns chiding him with debts: Come pay! come pay!
Therefore the friar a happy man is he!"
[The Exalted One: —][9]
"For me, brahmin, there sure are not six days to-day
Since fourteen oxen have been lost to sight,
Therefore a happy man, brahmin, am I!
For me, brahmin, there sure are not grain crops gone bad,
One leaf, two leaves a stalk of sesamum!
Therefore a happy man, brahmin, am I!
For me, brahmin, there sure are not in empty barn
Eats dancing rampantly around,
Therefore a happy man, brahmin, am I!
For me, brahmin, there sure is not, seven months [unwatched],
A siesta-couch covered by vermin swarm,
Therefore a happy man, brahmin, am I!
For me, brahmin, there sure are not seven daughters all
Widows with one child, maybe two [to cadge],
Therefore a happy man, brahmin, am I!
For me, brahmin, there's sure no tawny speckled one
To wake the weary slumb'rer with her foot,
Therefore a happy man, brahmin, am I!
For me, brahmin, there surely never come at dawn
Duns chiding me with debts: Come pay! come pay!
Therefore a happy man, brahmin, am I!"
[216] When he had thus spoken, the Bhâradvàja said:
"Most excellent, lord, most excellent!
Just as if a man were to set up
that which had been thrown down,
or were to reveal
that which was hidden away,
or were to point out the right road
to him who had gone astray,
or were to bring a lamp into the darkness
so that those who had eyes could see external objects
— even so, lord, has the lord Gotama shown me his doctrine in various ways.
I even I, lord, betake myself
to the Exalted One as my refuge,
to the Norm
and to the Order.
I would leave the world
under [the Rule of] Gotama;
I would take orders.'
So the Bhāradvāja brahmin left the world
under the Exalted One, and was ordained.
And not long after his ordination the venerable Bhāradvāja,
remaining alone and separate,
earnest,
ardent and strenuous,
attained [ere long] to that supreme goal of the higher life,
for the sake of which the clansmen rightly go forth from home into the homeless;
yea, that supreme goal did he by himself,
even in this present life,
come to understand and realize.
He came to understand that
rebirth was destroyed,
that the holy life was being lived,
that his task was done,
that for life as we conceive it
there was no hereafter.
And the venerable Bhāradvāja became one of the Arahants.
[1] This quaint title, about which B. is silent, can be derived only from the fifth stanza, as if that dealt with the most impressive grievance of this farmer, so down in luck. Dhītā in its crude forms in compounds becomes dhītī, and dhītu (Ed. Müller, Pali Grammar, 84).
[2] 'With the trunk erect so that the eighteen "back-thorns" (vertebrae) were end to end.' Comy.
[3] 'Fixing the "confronting" mindfulness (or memory) of Jhāna-exercise, or causing it to be near the face, as it is said in the [Jhāna-] Vibhanga (Vibh. 252): "either at the tip of the nose, or in the image of the face (or mouth)." 'Cf. Manual of a Mystic, 1. (PTS. 1916).
[4] The verses are in sloka metre, save that the first of each four padas has two redundant feet:
Na hi nūn-imassa samaṇassa.
They give an interesting picture of a cultivator of ancient N. India in straits, and are fairly racy of the soil.
[5] Ussoḷhikāya, not met with elsewhere. B. says: 'they spring up squeaking and vigorous, their ears, tails, etc., erect ... playing in the unfilled granaries their outdoor games.'
[6] 'There is no one to attend to the couch he has made of straw and leaves to rest on after his labours, so that vermin infest it and assail him.'
[7] They send their children cadging to the grandfather, whose hand is crowded out of his own food-dish by these hungry pensioners. Comy.
[8] Reading tilak'āhatā* B. embroiders to the following effect: the brahmin, kept awake by rats and vermin, lies sleepless till dawn. Scarce have his eyelids closed when comes kick and summons: 'What doest thou, brahmin?' and the day's coming burdens are enumerated. Presumably the wife is meant.
[9] The Buddha's acquiescence in the harassed brahmin's imputation of a happiness free from cares makes this Sutta form an effective pendant to the Dhaniya Sutta (Sn. 1,2). There, the farmer gloating over his prosperity, the Buddha is no less complacent over his own freedom from all wealth.
