Saṃyutta Nikāya
I. Sagātha Vagga
9. Vana-Saṃyutta
The Book of the Kindred Sayings
I. Kindred Sayings with Verses
9. The Forest Suttas
Sutta 13
Pākatindriya (or Sambahulābhikkhū) Suttaṃ
Uncontrolled (or, Very many brethren)
Translated by Mrs. Rhys Davids
Assisted by Sūriyagoḍa Sumangala Thera
Copyright The Pali Text Society. Public Domain.
[13.1] THUS HAVE I HEARD: —
A great number of brethren were once staying among the Kosalese
in a certain forest-tract.
And they were muddled in mind,
puffed up,
vain,
noisy,
loose of speech,
heedless,
unintelligent,
without concentration,
unsteady in mind,
uncontrolled in faculties.
Then the deva who haunted that forest,
moved with compassion for those brethren,
desiring their welfare,
and wishing to agitate them,
drew near and addressed them in the verse: —
"Happy the bhikkhus as they lived of yore,
Who true disciples were of Gotama.
Unhankering they sought their frugal alms,
Unhankering, their lodging and their couch.
The impermanence of things they understood,
And hence of misery they made an end.
Now, making evil-doers of themselves,
Like headmen of the village [taking toll],
Longing for what their neighbours' house contains,
They eat and eat until they sink to rest.
The Order [as a whole] I humbly greet;
To some of those here met I homage pay.
Others, forlorn and leader-less are they,
As cast out bodies of the dead are they.
My message is for them who heedless live.
To earnest diligent souls I say, All hail!"
Then those brethren, agitated by the deva, were greatly moved.
