Dhammapada (Illustrated)

by Ven. Weagoda Sarada Maha Thero | 1993 | 341,201 words | ISBN-10: 9810049382 | ISBN-13: 9789810049386

This page describes The Story of the Monk who was once a Mime which is verse 418 of the English translation of the Dhammapada which forms a part of the Sutta Pitaka of the Buddhist canon of literature. Presenting the fundamental basics of the Buddhist way of life, the Dhammapada is a collection of 423 stanzas. This verse 418 is part of the Brāhmaṇa Vagga (The Brāhmaṇa) and the moral of the story is “With likes and dislikes cast away, baseless he conquers this world. Him I call a brahmin true”.

Verse 418 - The Story of the Monk who was once a Mime

Pali text, illustration and English translation of Dhammapada verse 418:

hitvā ratiṃ ca aratiṃ ca sītibhūtaṃ nirūpadhiṃ |
sabbalokābhibhuṃ vīraṃ tamahaṃ brūmi brāhmaṇaṃ || 418 ||

418. Abandoned boredom and delight, become quite cool and assetless, a hero, All-worlds-Conqueror, that one I call a Brahmin True.

Person Whose Mind Is Cool‌‌
With likes and dislikes cast away, baseless he conquers this world. Him I call a brahmin true.

The Story of the Monk who was once a Mime

This religious instruction was given by the Buddha while He was in residence at Veluvana with reference to a certain monk who was once a mime.

The story is the same as the foregoing, except that on this occasion the Buddha said, “Monks, my son has put aside both pleasure and pain.”

Explanatory Translation (Verse 418)

ratiṃ ca aratiṃ ca hitvā sītibhūtaṃ nirūpadhiṃ
sabbalokābhibhuṃ vīraṃ taṃ ahaṃ brāhmaṇaṃ brūmi

ratiṃ ca: both lust; aratiṃ ca: and lustlessness; hitvā: given up; sītibhūtaṃ [sītibhūta]: he has become tranquil, calm and cool; nirūpadhiṃ [nirūpadhi]: totally free of defilements; sabbalokābhibhuṃ [sabbalokābhibhu]: who has conquered the whole world; vīraṃ [vīra]: full of effort; taṃ: him;ahaṃ: I; brāhmaṇaṃ brūmi: declare a brāhmaṇa

He has given up lust. He has also given up his disgust for the practice of meditation. This way, he is both lustful and lustless. He has achieved total tranquility. He is devoid of the blemishes that soil the hand. He has conquered the whole world and is full of effort. I call that person a brāhmaṇa.

Commentary and exegetical material (Verse 418)

nirūpadhi: free of upadhi. Upadhi means: substratum of existence. In the commentaries there are enumerated four kinds: The five groups (khandha), sensuous desire (kāma), mental defilements (kilesa), kamma. In the Sutta, it occurs frequently and with reference to Nibbāna, in the phrase “the abandoning of all substrata” (sabbūpadhipaṭinissaggo). The detachment from upadhi subtraction of existence brings about vivekavā which means detachment, seclusion, is according to Niddesa, of three kinds: (1) bodily detachment (kāya-viveka), i.e. abiding in solitude free from alluring sensuous objects; (2) mental detachment (citta-viveka), such as the inner detachment from sensuous things; (3) detachment from the substrata of existence (upadhi-viveka).

vīraṃ: hero. Here, this word is used in the spiritual sense to denote a person who possesses spiritual virility. This virility is referred to as viriya: energy, literally virility, manliness or heroism (from vīra man, hero; is one of the five spiritual faculties and powers (bala), one of the seven factors of enlightenment (bojjhaṅgo) and identical with right effort of the eight-fold path (magga). Viriya is also one of the bala. Bala is power. Among various groups of powers the following five are most frequently met with, in the texts (1) faith (saddhā), (2) energy (viriya), (3) mindfulness (sati), (4) concentration (samādhi), (5) wisdom (paññā).

Their particular aspect, distinguishing them from the corresponding five spiritual faculties (indriya) is that they are unshakable by their opposites: (1) the power of faith is unshakable by faithlessness (unbelief), (2) energy, by laziness, (3) mindfulness, by forgetfulness, (4) concentration, by distractedness, (5) wisdom, by ignorance. They represent, therefore, the aspect of firmness of the spiritual faculties.

The Power (1) becomes manifest in the four qualities of the streamwinner (sotāpannassa angāni), (2) in the four right efforts (padhāna), (3) in the four foundations of mindfulness (satipaṭṭāna), (4) in the four absorptions (jhāna), and (5) in the full comprehension of the four noble truths (sacca).

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