Saṃyutta Nikāya
I. Sagātha Vagga
8. Vaṇgīsa-Thera-Saṃyutta
The Book of the Kindred Sayings
I. Kindred Sayings with Verses
8. The Vaṇgisa Suttas
Sutta 10
Moggallāna Suttam
Moggallāna
Translated by Mrs. Rhys Davids
Assisted by Sūriyagoḍa Sumangala Thera
Copyright The Pali Text Society. Public Domain.
[10.1]THUS HAVE I HEARD: —
The Exalted One was once staying near Rājagaha,
on the slopes of Seer's Hill
at the Black Rock.[1]
And with him was a large company of brethren,
even 500,
all of them Arahants.
[247] Now the venerable Moggallāna the Great[2]
intuitively discerned the mind of these
as being emancipated,
void of the conditions of rebirth.
Then the venerable Vaṇgīsa,
arising from his seat,
and draping his outer robe over one shoulder,
bent his clasped hands saluting toward the Exalted One, and said:
"It is revealed to me, Exalted One!
it is revealed to me, Blessed One!"
And the Exalted One said:
"Be it revealed to thee, Vaṇgīsa."
Then the venerable Vaṇgīsa extolled the venerable Moggallāna the Great
before the Exalted One in appropriate verses: —
"High on the hilly slopes disciples wait,
Holders of triple lore, slayers of death,
Upon the presence of the seated Saint,
Who hath transcended all the power of ill.
And Moggallāna, great in mystic power,
Doth scrutinize in thought the hearts of all,
And thus examining he finds them freed,
And having naught wherefrom to be reborn.[3]
So do they wait upon that Holy One —
Who hath transcended all the power of ill,
And perfected on every hand his work,
Himself with every virtue crownèd — GOTAMA."
[1] See above, IV, 3, § 3.
[2] On Moggallāna's powers see VI, 1, §§ 5, 9, 10.
[3] Expansion of nirupadhiṃ.
