Vinaya (2): The Mahavagga

by T. W. Rhys Davids | 1881 | 156,382 words

The Mahavagga (part of the Vinaya collection) includes accounts of Gautama Buddha’s and the ten principal disciples’ awakenings, as well as rules for ordination, rules for reciting the Patimokkha during uposatha days, and various monastic procedures....

Mahavagga, Khandaka 1, Chapter 2

1. Then the Blessed One, at the end of those seven days, arose from that state of meditation, and went from the foot of the Bodhi tree to the Ajapāla banyan tree (banyan tree of the goat-herds[1]). And when he had reached it, he sat cross-legged at the foot of the Ajapāla banyan tree uninterruptedly during seven days, enjoying the bliss of emancipation.

2. Now a certain Brāhmaṇa, who was of a haughty disposition[2], went to the place where the Blessed One was; having approached him, he exchanged greeting with the Blessed One; having exchanged with him greeting and complaisant words, he stationed himself near him; then standing near him that Brāhmaṇa thus spoke to the Blessed One: 'By what, Gotama; does one become a Brāhmaṇa, and what are the characteristics that make a man a Brāhmaṇa?'

3. And the Blessed One, having heard that, on this occasion pronounced this solemn utterance: 'That Brāhmaṇa who has removed (from himself) all sinfulness, who is free from haughtiness, free from impurity, self-restrained, who is an accomplished master of knowledge (or, of the Veda), who has fulfilled the duties of holiness, such a Brāhmaṇa may justly call himself a Brāhmaṇa, whose behaviour is uneven to nothing in the world.'

Here ends the account of what passed under the Ajapāla tree.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Buddhaghosa: 'The goat-herds used to go to the shadow of that banyan tree and to sit there; therefore it was called the banyan tree of the goat-herds.' The northern Buddhists say that this tree had been planted by a shepherd boy, during the Bodhisatta's six years' penance, in order to shelter him; see Beal, Rom. Legend, pp. 192, 238, and the Mahāvastu.

[2]:

'Huhuṅkajātiko.' Buddhaghosa: 'Because he was diṭṭhamaṅgalika, he became filled with haughtiness and wrath, and went about uttering the sound "huhuṃ."' Diṭṭhamaṅgalika (having seen something auspicious ?) is obscure to us.

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