Saṃyutta Nikāya
4. Saḷāyatana Vagga
36. Vedanā Saṃyutta
3. Aṭṭha-Sata-Pariyāya Vagga

The Book of the Kindred Sayings
4. The Book Called the Saḷāyatana-Vagga
Containing Kindred Sayings on the 'Six-Fold Sphere' of Sense and Other Subjects
36. Kindred Sayings about Feeling
3. The Method of the Hundred and Eight^[1]

Sutta 21

Moḷiya-Sīvaka Suttaṃ

Sīvaka

Translated by F. L. Woodward
Edited by Mrs. Rhys Davids

Copyright The Pali Text Society
Commercial Rights Reserved

For details see Terms of Use.

 

---

[154]

[1][bodh][than][nypo] Thus have I heard:

Once the Exalted One was staying near Rājagaha, in the Bamboo Grove, at the Squirrels' Feeding-ground.

Now on that occasion
the Wanderer Sīvaka of the Top-knot^[2]
paid a visit to the Exalted One.

On coming to him
he greeted him in friendly wise,
and after the exchange of greetings and [155] courtesies,
sat down at one side.

So seated, the Wanderer Slvaka of the Top-knot
said to the Exalted One: -

"There are some recluses and brahmins, master Gotama,
who say thus,
who hold this view:

'Whatsoever pleasure or pain or mental state
a human being experiences,
all that is due to a previous act.'

Now what says master Gotama about this?"

 

§

 

"Now, Sīvaka, in this connection
there are some sufferings
originating from bile.^[3]

You ought to know by experience,^[4] Sīvaka,
that this is so.

And this fact,
that sufferings originate from bile,
is generally acknowledged by the world as true.

Now, Sīvaka, those recluses and brahmins
who say thus,
who hold this view, that
'whatsoever pleasure or pain or mental state a human being experiences,
all that is due to a previous act',
both in what is known by personal experience
and in what is generally acknowledged by the world as true, -
in both they go too far.

Wherefore I declare those recluses and brahmins
to be in the wrong.

■

Also, Sīvaka,
in this connexion,
there are some sufferings
originating from phlegm.

You ought to know by experience, Sīvaka,
that this is so.

And this fact,
that sufferings originate from phlegm,
is generally acknowledged by the world as true.

Now, Sīvaka, those recluses and brahmins
who say thus,
who hold this view, that
'whatsoever pleasure or pain or mental state a human being experiences,
all that is due to a previous act',
both in what is known by personal experience
and in what is generally acknowledged by the world as true, -
in both they go too far.

Wherefore I declare those recluses and brahmins
to be in the wrong.

■

Also, Sīvaka,
in this connexion,
there are some sufferings
originating from wind.

You ought to know by experience, Sīvaka,
that this is so.

And this fact,
that sufferings originate from wind,
is generally acknowledged by the world as true.

Now, Sīvaka, those recluses and brahmins
who say thus,
who hold this view, that
'whatsoever pleasure or pain or mental state a human being experiences,
all that is due to a previous act',
both in what is known by personal experience
and in what is generally acknowledged by the world as true, -
in both they go too far.

Wherefore I declare those recluses and brahmins
to be in the wrong.

■

Also, Sīvaka,
in this connexion,
there are some sufferings
originating from from the union of bodily humours,^[5].

You ought to know by experience, Sīvaka,
that this is so.

And this fact,
that sufferings originate from the union of bodily humours,
is generally acknowledged by the world as true.

Now, Sīvaka, those recluses and brahmins
who say thus,
who hold this view, that
'whatsoever pleasure or pain or mental state a human being experiences,
all that is due to a previous act',
both in what is known by personal experience
and in what is generally acknowledged by the world as true, -
in both they go too far.

Wherefore I declare those recluses and brahmins
to be in the wrong.

■

Also, Sīvaka,
in this connexion,
there are some sufferings
originating from changes of the seasons.

You ought to know by experience, Sīvaka,
that this is so.

And this fact,
that sufferings originate from changes of the seasons,
is generally acknowledged by the world as true.

Now, Sīvaka, those recluses and brahmins
who say thus,
who hold this view, that
'whatsoever pleasure or pain or mental state a human being experiences,
all that is due to a previous act',
both in what is known by personal experience
and in what is generally acknowledged by the world as true, -
in both they go too far.

Wherefore I declare those recluses and brahmins
to be in the wrong.

■

Also, Sīvaka,
in this connexion,
there are some sufferings
originating from stress of untoward happenings,^[6].

You ought to know by experience, Sīvaka,
that this is so.

And this fact,
that sufferings originate from stress of untoward happenings,
is generally acknowledged by the world as true.

Now, Sīvaka, those recluses and brahmins
who say thus,
who hold this view, that
'whatsoever pleasure or pain or mental state a human being experiences,
all that is due to a previous act',
both in what is known by personal experience
and in what is generally acknowledged by the world as true, -
in both they go too far.

Wherefore I declare those recluses and brahmins
to be in the wrong.

■

Also, Sīvaka,
in this connexion,
there are some sufferings
originating from sudden attacks from without,^[7].

You ought to know by experience, Sīvaka,
that this is so.

And this fact,
that sufferings originate from sudden attacks from without,
is generally acknowledged by the world as true.

Now, Sīvaka, those recluses and brahmins
who say thus,
who hold this view, that
'whatsoever pleasure or pain or mental state a human being experiences,
all that is due to a previous act',
both in what is known by personal experience
and in what is generally acknowledged by the world as true, -
in both they go too far.

Wherefore I declare those recluses and brahmins
to be in the wrong.

■

Also, Sīvaka,
in this connexion,
there are some sufferings
originating from ripeness of one's karma.

You ought to know by experience, Sīvaka,
that this is so.

And this fact,
that sufferings originate from ripeness of one's karma,
is generally acknowledged by the world as true.

Now, Sīvaka, those recluses and brahmins
who say thus,
who hold this view, that
'whatsoever pleasure or [156] pain or mental state a human being experiences,
all that is due to a previous act',
both in what is known by personal experience
and in what is generally acknowledged by the world as true, -
in both they go too far.

Wherefore I declare those recluses and brahmins
to be in the wrong."

■

At these words the Wanderer Sīvaka of the Top-knot said to the Exalted One: -

"Excellent, master Gotama!^[ed1]

Excellent it is, master Gotama!

Even as one raises what is fallen
or shows forth what is hidden,
or points out the way
to him that wanders astray,
or holds up a light in the darkness
so that they who have eyes may see objects,
— even so in divers ways
has Dhamma, been set forth
by master Gotama.

I myself go for refuge to Gotama,
the Exalted One,
to Dhamma
and the Order of monks.

May the worthy Gotama
accept me as a follower
from this day forth,
so long as life lasts,
as one who has so taken refuge."

 

---

 

With bile, phlegm, wind, the union
Of humours, seasons' changes and the stress
Of circumstance and awkward happenings,||
The ripeness of one's karma makes the eighth.

 

---

^[1] See end of § 22.

^[2] Moliya, having his hair tied in a moli. Cf. K.S. ii. 9 n. He may have been a physician. Cf. A. iii, 356: Thag. 14.

^[3] Cf. Mil. Pañh., 134, and S.B.E. xxxv, p. 191, Where Nāgasena is questioned on the sinlessness of the Buddha by King Milinda, and quotes this sulta. See infra. p. 161 n. [see inset] A. ii, 87.

^[4] Sāmaṇ.

^[5] MSS. of Comy. agree in reading sannipātāni for text's sannipātikāni. Cf. the additional note on p. 161. [see inset]

^[6] Visama-parihārajāni, e.g. 'as when one goes out hastily at night and is bitten by a snake,' Comy. In the passage quoted above, Mil. P., 134. Prof. Rhys Davids trans. 'avoiding of dissimilarities.' Comy. at A. ii, 87, 'by sitting or standing too long' (any excess).

^[7] Opakkamikāni, e.g. 'arrested as a robber or adulterer.' Comy. M.P. gives as example the wounding of the Buddha's foot by a splinter of rock. The word means 'chance external happenings.'

 

---

^[ed1] Abridged with no recent example. Taken from AN 2.11.17