Saṃyutta Nikāya
I. Sagātha Vagga
10. Yakkha-Saṃyutta

The Book of the Kindred Sayings
I. Kindred Sayings with Verses
10. The Yakkha Suttas

Sutta 2

Sakkanāma Suttaṃ

Sakka

Translated by Mrs. Rhys Davids
Assisted by Sūriyagoḍa Sumangala Thera
Copyright The Pali Text Society. Public Domain.

 

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[263]

[2.1][olds] THUS HAVE I HEARD: —

The Exalted One was once staying near Rājagaha,
on the Vulture's Peak Hill.^[1]

Then a fairy named Sakka^[2] drew near to the Exalted One
and addressed him in the verse: —

"It is not well, not fit that thou, who art
A friar, who hast all ties of every sort
Renounced, and dost emancipated live,
Shouldst [spend thy life] exhorting other men."^[3]

[264] [The Exalted One:—]

"Whate'er the apparent cause,^[4] Sakka, whereby
Men come to dwell together^[5] none doth fit
The Wise Man's^[6] case. Compassion moves his mind.
And if, with mind thus satisfied, he spend
His life instructing other men, yet he
Thereby is nowise bound as by a yoke.
Compassion moveth him and sympathy."

 

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^[1] See Psalms of the Sisters, pp. 28, 66.

^[2] There is no tradition, revealed in the Comy., that Sakka, ruler of the Thirty-three Gods, is meant; this is only 'eko yakkho Mārapakkhiko' (one yakkha of Māra's faction); cf. the same accusation brought by Māra (IV, 2, § 4). But that this deity was originally meant is not impossible.

^[3] Anusāsati, to give continuous, or consecutive, systematic instruction, not merely 'to teach' (deseti). He is free, yet he makes to himself ties. Few finer logia than the answer here given are to be found ascribed to any teacher.

^[4] Vaṇṇa.

^[5] Sayvāso ('living together'); Comy.: 'living as one, friendliness, amity.'

^[6] Sappañño ti suppañño sambuddho.