Saṃyutta Nikāya
II. Nidāna Vagga
13. Abhisamaya Saṃyutta
The Book of the Kindred Sayings
Part II. The Book Called the Nidāna-Vagga
Containing Kindred sayings on Cause
and Other Subjects
13. The Kindred Sayings on Understanding
Sutta 2
Pokkharaṇī Suttaṃ
The Bathing Tank
Translated by Mrs. Rhys Davids
Assisted by F. L. Woodward
Originally Published by
The Pali Text Society
Public Domain
The Exalted One was once staying near Sāvatthī
at the Jeta Grove in Anāthapiṇḍika's Park.
And there the Exalted One addressed the brethren, saying:
"Brethren!"
"Master!" responded those brethren.
The Exalted One said:
"Suppose, brethren, there were a bathing-tank
fifty yojanas in length,
fifty yojanas in breadth,
fifty yojanas in depth,
full of water,
brimming over so that a crow might drink;
and therefrom a man were to draw water
on the tip of a grass-blade.
What think ye, brethren?
Which is the greater:
the water brought up by the tip of the grass-blade,
or the water of the bathing-tank?"
"Just this, lord, is the greater,
the water of the bathing-tank.
Scant is the water brought up by the tip of the grass-blade,
not a hundredth part does it equal,
not a thousandth part does it equal,
not a hundred thousandth part
does the water brought up by the tip of the grass-blade
equal the measure of the water of the tank."
"Even so, brethren,
for the Ariyan disciple who has won vision,
for the person who has understanding
this is the greater ill, to wit,
that which for him is wholly perished,
wholly finished;
little is the ill that remains,
not worth the hundredth part,
not worth the thousandth part,
not worth the hundred thousandth part
when measured with the former ill
which for him is wholly perished,
wholly finished,
to wit, a term of seven times.
So great in good, brethren,
is it to be wise in the Norm;
so great in good is it
to have gained the eye of the Norm."
