Saṃyutta Nikāya
4. Saḷāyatana Vagga
41. Citta Saṃyutta
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
41. Kindred Sayings about Citta
Sutta 9
Acela Suttaṃ
The Unclothed (Ascetic)
Translated by F. L. Woodward
Edited by Mrs. Rhys Davids
Copyright The Pali Text Society
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[1] Thus have I heard:
Now at that time Kassapa,[1] the Unclothed,
an old family friend,
had come to Macchikasaṇḍa.
And Citta, the housefather, heard it said:
"They say our old family friend, Kassapa, the Unclothed,
has come to Macchikasaṇḍa."
So Citta, the housefather, went to visit Kassapa, the Unclothed,
and on coming to him
greeted him in friendly wise,
and after the exchange of greetings and courtesies
sat down at one side.
So seated, Citta, the housefather, said to Kassapa, the Unclothed:
"How long have you been a Wanderer, worthy Kassapa?"
"Full thirty years, housefather,
have I been a Wanderer."
"In those thirty years, sir,
have you come by any superhuman experience,[2]
any truly Ariyan excellence of knowledge and insight,
any comfortable life?"
"In these full thirty years, housefather,
that I have been a Wanderer,
I have never come by any superhuman experience,
nor any truly Ariyan excellence of knowledge and insight,
nor any comfortable life, -
nothing but nakedness
and a shaven crown
and dusting away the gravel."[3]
[209] At these words Citta, the housefather,
said to Kassapa, the Unclothed: -
"A strange thing indeed!
A wonder indeed,
the good teaching of the Norm!
To think that in full thirty years
one should come by no superhuman experience,
no truly Ariyan excellence of knowledge and insight,
nor any comfortable life, -
nothing but nakedness
and a shaven crown
and dusting away the gravel!"
"But you, housefather, -
how long is it since you entered
on the life of the disciple?"
"I too, sir, have been full thirty years a disciple."
"But in those full thirty years, housefather,
have you come by any superhuman experience,
any truly Ariyan excellence of knowledge and insight,
any comfortable life?"
"How should it not be so, sir?
I, sir, when I so desire,
aloof from lust,
aloof from states that are evil,
can enter upon the first trance,
which is joined with thought directed and sustained,
born of solitude,
zestful and easeful,
and abide therein.
I, sir, when I so desire,[ed1]
by the calming down of thought directed and sustained,
entering on the inward calm,
that single-mindedness of will,
apart from thought directed and sustained,
born of mental balance,
zestful and fll of ease,
can enter on the second trance
and abide therein.
I, sir, if I so desire,
by the fading out of zest
become balanced and remain mindful and composed,
and experiencing with the body
the happiness of which the Arians aver:
'The balanced thoughtful man dwells happily'
can enter on the third trance
and abide therein.
I, sir, if I so desire,
by rejecting pleasure and pain,
by the coming to an end
of the joy and sorrow which I had before,
can enter on the fourth trance
and abide therein.
Why, sir, if I should make an end
earlier than the Exalted One,
'twere no wonder if the Exalted One
should pronounce thus of me:
'There is no fetter,
bound by which Citta, the housefather,
could come back again to this world.'"
At these words Kassapa, the Unclothed,
said to Citta, the housefather: -
"A strange thing, indeed!
A wonder, indeed,
the good teaching of the Norm!
To think that a householder,
one who wears white clothes,
should come to such superhuman experience,
such truly Ariyan excellence of knowledge and wisdom,
such comfortable living.
Oh, housefather,
may I get ordination in this Norm-discipline?
May I get full ordination?"
Thereupon Citta, the housefather, took Kassapa, the Un- [210] clothed,
to some elder brethren.
And on coming to them he said: -
"Sirs, this is Kassapa, the Unclothed,
an old family friend of ours.
Let the elders ordain this man.
Let them give him full ordination.
I for my part
will do my best
to supply the requisites of robes,
alms
and lodging,
and comforts and medicines in time of sickness."[4]
So Kassapa, the Unclothed, got ordination in the Norm-diseipline,
got full ordination.
And not long after he was ordained
did the venerable Kassapa,
dwelling solitary,
secluded,
zealous,
ardent
and aspiring,
in no[5] long time
attain that goal supreme of the righteous life,
to win which the clansmen
rightly go forth from home to the homeless.
So that in that very life,
of himself,
he fully understood it,
realized it
and abode therein,
and knew:
"Destroyed is rebirth,
lived is the righteous life,
done is the task,
for life in these conditions
there is no hereafter."
So the venerable Kassapa
was yet another of the Arahants.
[1] Cf. Dialog, i, 223 ff.; S. ii, 19, 22 for this Kassapa, the Unclothed.
[2] Uttari-manussa-dhamma. Comy. explains that the ten ways of meritorious action (three of deed, four of speech, three of thought) constitute the normal good man's life. Anything beyond this is utttariṇ-. Cf. M. i, 68 f., Sunakkhatta's attack, and iii, 157, where the Buddha asks the same question of Anuruddha. Buddh. Psych., 105.
[3] Pāvāḷā-nipphoṭanāya according to text. The word occurs here only. Paii Dict. expl. as 'plucking out the hair' (?), but Comy. reads (pavāḷa, gritty soil), and explains that a bunch of peacock's feathers was used for beating away dust and grit from the place where one sits on the ground, a painful thing for the naked!
[4] Cf. supra. Mahaka, xli, § 4.
[5] Text omits na.
[ed1] Woodward abridges this and the following. I have picked up his wording from SN 4.35.19 pg152. His abridgment of the 4th jhāna does not fit his rendering there.
