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 24

1. Then the paribbājaka Moggallāna said to the paribbājaka Sāriputta: 'Let us go, friend, and join the Blessed One; that He, the Blessed One, may be our teacher.'

(Sāriputta replied): 'It is on our account, friend; that these two hundred and fifty paribbājakas live here (as followers of Sañjaya), and it is we whom they regard; let us first inform them also of our intention; then they may do what they think fit.'

Then Sāriputta and Moggallāna went to the place where those paribbājakas were; having approached them, they said to the paribbājakas: 'Friends, we are going to join the Blessed One; that He, the Blessed One, may be our teacher.'

(The paribbājakas replied): 'It is on your account, Sirs, that we live here, and it is you whom we regard; if you, Sirs, are about to place yourselves under the spiritual direction of the great Samaṇa, we all will place ourselves also under the spiritual direction of the great Samaṇa.'

2. Then Sāriputta and Moggallāna went to the place where the paribbājaka Sañjaya was; having approached him, they said to the paribbājaka Sañjaya: 'Friend, we are going to join the Blessed One; that He, the Blessed One, may be our teacher.'

(Sañjaya replied): 'Nay, friends, do not go; let us all three share in the leadership of this body (of disciples).'

And a second time Sāriputta and Moggallāna said, &c. And a third time Sāriputta and Moggallāna said, &c. (And a third time he replied): 'Nay, friends, do not go; let us all three share in the leadership of this body (of disciples).'

3. But Sāriputta and Moggallāna took with them those two hundred and fifty paribbājakas and went to the Veḷuvana. But the paribbājaka Sañjaya began, on the spot, to vomit hot blood from his mouth[1].

And the Blessed One saw them, Sāriputta and Moggallāna, coming from afar; on seeing them he thus addressed the Bhikkhus: 'There, O Bhikkhus, two companions arrive, Kolita and U patissa[2]; these will be a pair of (true) pupils, a most distinguished, auspicious pair.

When[3] (Sāriputta and Moggallāna), who had reached emancipation in the perfect destruction of the substrata (of existence), which is a profound subject accessible only to knowledge, came to the Veḷuvana, the Teacher, who saw them, foretold about them: 'These two companions who are now coming—Kolita and Upatissa—these will be a pair of (true) pupils, a most distinguished, auspicious pair.'

4. Then Sāriputta and Moggallāna went to the place where the Blessed One was; having approached him, they prostrated thernselves, inclining their heads to the feet of the Blessed One, and said to the Blessed One: 'Lord, let us receive the pabbajjā and upasampadā ordinations from the Blessed One.'

'Come, O Bhikkhus,' said the Blessed One, 'well taught is the doctrine; lead a holy life for the sake of the complete extinction of suffering.' Thus these venerable persons received the upasampadā ordination.

5. At that time many distinguished young Magadha noblemen led a religious life under the direction of the Blessed One. The people were annoyed, murmured, and became angry (saying), 'The Samaṇa Gotama causes fathers to beget no sons; the Samaṇa Gotama causes wives to become widows; the Samaṇa Gotama causes families to become extinct. Now he has ordained one thousand Jaṭilas, and he has ordained these two hundred and fifty paribbājakas who were followers of Sañjaya; and these many distingtiished young Magadha noblemen are now leading a religious life under the direction of the Samaṇa Gotama.' And moreover, when they saw the Bhikkhus, they reviled them in the following stanza: 'The great Samaṇa has come to Giribbaja (i.e. Rājagaha) of the Magadha people, leading with hi in all the follawers of Sañjaya; who will be the next to be led by him?'

6. Some Bhikkhus heard those people that were annoyed, murmured, and had hecome angry; these Bhikkhus told this thing to the Blessed One. (He replied): 'This noise, O Bhikkhus, will not last long; it will last only seven days; after seven days it will he over. And if they revile you, O Bhikkhus, in this stanza: "The great Samaṇa has come, &c.," you should reply to the revilers in the following stanza: "It is by means of the true doctrine that the great heroes, the Tathāgatas, lead men. Who will murmur at the wise, who lead men by the power of the Truth?"'

7. At that time the people, when seeing the Bhikkhus, reviled them in the following stanza: 'The great Samaṇa has come, &c.' Then the Bhikkhus replied to the revilers in the following stanza: 'It is by means of the true doctrine, &c.'

Then the people understood: 'It is by truth, and not by wrong, that the Sakyaputtiya Samaṇas lead men;' and thus that noise lasted only seven days, and after seven days it was over.

Here ends the narration of the ordination of Sāriputta and Moggallāna.

End of the fourth Bhāṇavāra.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

The later Burmese and Chinese works translated by Bigandet (Life of Gaudama, p. 152) and by Beal (Romantic Legend, p. 330) add that he died. This is not in the Pāli text, and the Sinhalese account given by Hardy (Manual, p. 197) is directly opposed to that statement.

[2]:

Upatissa was called Sāriputta after his mother ('The Son of Sārī'); Kolita had the family name Moggallāna (compare Beal, Romantic Legend, pp. 324, 331). The name Upatissa occurs in Asoka's well-known edict which has been found at Bairāt. The king there quotes 'The Question of Upatissa' among the texts, the study of which he recommends to the brethren and sisters of the fraternity and to the laymen of either sex. This very probably refers to the dialogue between Assaji and Sāriputta.

[3]:

As to this repetition of what had been related before, comp. the note on chap. 15. 6, 7. The words from gambhīre down to upadhisaṃkhaye form a śloka. This is one of several instances where an older passage in verse, and probably first composed in some nearly related dialect, appears in the Pāli Piṭakas in prose. It is this which explains the extraordinary grammatical construction of the first seven words. Compare Rh. D.'s note on the similar instance at Mahā-parinibbāna Sutta V, 62. The exclamation put into the mouth of Sāriputta, and afterwards of Moggallāna (above, chap. 23, §§ 5, 10), ought also, perhaps, to be included in the same category.

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