The five boons for Mahākaccana

^Kd.5.13.3 Then as the venerable Soṇa was keeping the rains and meditating in seclusion, a reasoning arose in his mind thus: “I have only heard that this Lord is such and such a one, but I have not seen him face to face. I would go and see this Lord, the perfected, the all-awakened one, if a preceptor would allow me.” Then the venerable Soṇa, emerging from seclusion towards the evening, approached the venerable Kaccāna the Great; having approached, having greeted the venerable Kaccāna the Great, he sat down at a respectful distance. As he was sitting down at a respectful distance, the venerable Soṇa spoke thus to the venerable Kaccāna the Great:

^Kd.5.13.4 “Now, as I, honoured sir, was meditating in seclusion, a reasoning arose in my mind thus: ‘I have only heard that this Lord is such and such a one, but I have not seen him face to face. I would go to see this Lord, the perfected, the all-awakened one, if a preceptor would allow me.’ I, honoured sir, would go to see this Lord, the perfected, the all-awakened one, if the preceptor allows me.”

“Good, it is good, Soṇa. Do you, Soṇa, go to see this Lord, the perfected, the all-awakened one.

^Kd.5.13.5 “You, Soṇa, will see this Lord, who is pleasant and inspires one to be pleased,^[1] who is calmed in his sense-organs, calmed in mind, who has attained the uttermost taming and peace, the hero^[2] tamed, guarded, controlled in his sense-organs. Well then, do you, Soṇa, in my name salute the Lord’s feet with your head, saying: ‘Lord, my preceptor, the venerable Kaccāna the Great, salutes the Lord’s feet with his head’,^[3] and then speak thus: ‘Lord, the southern region of Avantī ^BD.4.263 is short of monks. At the end of three years (he), with difficulty, with trouble, having had convened for me from here and there an Order of monks consisting of ten, I received ordination. Perhaps the Lord would allow ordination by a smaller group in the southern region of Avantī.

^Kd.5.13.6 “‘Lord, in the southern region of Avantī the surface-soil is dark, hard, trampled by the hooves of cattle.^[4] Perhaps the Lord ^Vin.1.196 would allow sandals with many linings in the southern region of Avantī. Lord, in the southern region of Avantī people attach importance to bathing, to purification by water.^[5] Perhaps the Lord would allow constant bathing^[6] in the southern region of Avantī. Lord, in the southern region of Avantī hides (are used as) coverings: sheep-hide, goat-hide, deer-hide. As, Lord, in the middle districts,^[7] eragu, moragu, majjhāru, jantu^[8] (are used), so, Lord, in the southern region of Avantī hides (are used as) coverings. Perhaps the Lord would allow hides (to be used as) coverings in the southern region of Avantī: sheep-hide, goat-hide, deer-hide.

^Kd.5.13.7 “‘At present, Lord, people give robe-material to monks who have gone outside the boundaries, saying: “We are giving this robe-material for so and so.” When these have come back (the others) announce: “Your reverences, robe-material was given for you by the people so and so”. But these, being scrupulous, do not consent to it, thinking: “Let there not be an offence involving forfeiture for us.”^[9] Perhaps the Lord would explain the procedure^[10] in regard to robe-material.’”

“Yes, honoured sir”, and the venerable Soṇa having spoken in assent to the venerable Kaccāna the Great, rising from his ^BD.4.264 seat, having greeted the venerable Kaccāna the Great, having kept his right side towards him, having packed away his lodging, taking his bowl and robe, set out for Sāvatthī.

^Kd.5.13.8 In due course he approached Sāvatthī, the Jeta Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery, the Lord; having approached, having greeted the Lord, he sat down at a respectful distance. Then the Lord addressed the venerable Ānanda, saying: “Ānanda, make ready a lodging for this incoming monk”. Then the venerable Ānanda thought:

“The Lord desires to stay in the same dwelling-place together with this monk, the Lord desires to stay in the same dwelling-place together with the venerable Soṇa; it is he in regard to whom the Lord enjoined me, saying: ‘Ānanda, make ready a lodging for this incoming monk’,” and he made ready a lodging for the venerable Soṇa in that dwelling-place where the Lord was staying.

^Kd.5.13.9 Then the Lord, having spent a great part of that night in the open air, entered the dwelling-place. The venerable Soṇa also, having spent a great part of that night in the open air, entered the dwelling-place. Then the Lord, getting up in the night towards dawn, requested the venerable Soṇa, saying:

“May (some) dhamma occur to you to speak, monk.”^[11]

“Very well, Lord”, and the venerable Soṇa, having replied in assent to the Lord, spoke from memory everything belonging to the Divisions in the Eights.^[12] Then the Lord at the end ^BD.4.265 of the venerable Soṇa’s recital^[13] expressed his approbation saying:

“Good, it is good, monk, that by you, monk, the Divisions in the Eights are well learnt, ^Vin.1.197 well attended to, well reflected upon, and that you are endowed with lovely speech, distinct, without hoarseness, so as to make the meaning clear.^[14] Of how many years’ standing are you, monk?”^[15]

“I, Lord, am of one year’s standing.”

^Kd.5.13.10 “But what have you, monk, done thus long?”

“For long, Lord, I have seen peril in pleasures of the senses, but household lives are crowded,^[16] there is much to be done, much business.” Then the Lord, having understood this matter, at that time uttered this utterance:

“Having seen peril in the world,
having known dhamma without attachment, /
the noble one delights not in evil,
the pure one delights in instruction.”^[17]

^Kd.5.13.11 Then the venerable Soṇa, thinking: “The Lord is much pleased with me, this is the time for that for which the preceptor prepared^[18] me,” rising from his seat, having arranged his upper robe over one shoulder, having inclined his head to the Lord’s feet, spoke thus:

“Lord, my preceptor, the venerable Kaccāna the Great, salutes the Lord’s feet with his head, and speaks thus: ‘The southern region of Avantī, Lord … (as in Kd.5.13.5, Kd.5.13.6) … perhaps the Lord would explain the procedure in regard to robe-material’.” Then the Lord, on this occasion, in this connection, having given reasoned talk, addressed the monks, saying:

“Monks, the southern region of Avantī is short of monks. ^BD.4.266 I allow, monks, in all border districts ordination by a group^[19] with, as fifth, an expert on discipline.

^Kd.5.13.12 “For this purpose,^[20] these are the border districts^[21]: the little town^[22] called Kajaṅgala^[23] is in the eastern direction, beyond it is Mahāsālā,^[24] further than that are border districts, on this side are the middle (districts). The river called Sallavatī^[25] is in the south-eastern direction, further than that are border districts, on this side are the middle (districts). The little town called Setakaṇṇika is in the southern direction, further than that are border districts, on this side are the middle (districts). The brahmin village called Thūna^[26] is in the western direction, further than that are border districts, on this side are the middle (districts). The mountain slope called Usīraddhaja^[27] is in the northern direction, further than that are border districts, on this side are the middle (districts). I allow, monks, in such border districts as these, ordination by a group with, as fifth, an expert on discipline.

^Kd.5.13.13 “In the southern region of Avantī, monks, the surface-soil is dark, hard, trampled by the hooves of cattle. I allow, monks, in all border districts, sandals with many linings. In the southern region of Avantī, monks, people attach importance to bathing, to purification by water. I allow, monks, in all border districts, constant bathing. In the southern region of Avantī, monks, hides (are used as) coverings: sheep-hide, ^{BD.4.267 Vin.1.198} goat-hide, deer-hide. As, monks, in the middle districts eragu, moragu, majjhāra, jantu (are used), so, monks, in the southern region of Avantī hides (are used as) coverings: sheep-hide, goat-hide, deer-hide.^[28] I allow, monks, in all border districts, hides (to be used as) coverings: sheep-hide, goat-hide, deer-hide. And moreover, monks, people give robe-material for monks who have gone outside the boundaries, saying: ‘We are giving this robe-material for so and so’. I allow you, monks, to consent (to it). That reckoning is not necessary until it reaches the hand.^[29]”

The Fifth Section: that on Hides

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

pasādanīya, i.e. to be pleased with his teaching.

[2]:

nāga, explained at Vin-a.1087 as “empty of guilt (āgu), empty of the obstructions (kilesa)”. Cf. Snp.522: āgu na karoti … nāgo, and Cnd.337.

[3]:

Udāna version omits from here to end of Kd.5.13.7 and then proceeds much as Vinaya version to end of Kd.5.13.10.

[4]:

kharā gokaṇṭakahatā; cf. AN.i.136.

[5]:

udakasuddhika. Cf. SN.i.182 (KS.i.231); also Vin.4.262, where however “purification by water” is not a rite, but a necessary ablution.

[6]:

Cf. Bu-Pc.57, where it is an offence for a monk to bathe at intervals of less than a fortnight except “at a right time”, specified.

[7]:

Not Majjhimadesa here, but majjhimesu janapadesu.

[8]:

Vin-a.1088 says these are four kinds of grasses, tiṇa, from which are made kaṭasāraka (?, part of a monk’s lodging or bedding, see Vin-a.1088 under senāsanaṃ paññāpesi) and straw mats. Eragu is also called erakatiṇa and is coarse. Moragu is copper coloured at the head, fine, pliable and pleasant to touch, and straw mats are made from it. They make upper cloaks from majjāru (Vin-a.1088 reading majjāru). The colour of jantu is like pearls.

[9]:

Cf. Bu-NP.1., where if a monk’s kaṭhina privileges have been removed he may use an extra robe for ten days. One of the grounds for removal of the privileges depends on a monk’s having gone outside the boundary, Vin.1.255.

[10]:

pariyāya.

[11]:

paṭibhātu taṃ bhikkhu dhammo bhāsituṃ, as at Ud-a.312, AN-a.i.241. Woodward, Verses of Uplift, p.71, n.1, would translate this as “let dhamma arise in your mind for recital”. He notes that paṭibhātu is “let it occur to you, placeat”, but owing to dhamma being in the nominative the sentence cannot mean “let it occur to you to speak dhamma”. Vin-a.1088 says, “may there be (or become, bhavatu) an inclination (abhimukha) to speak of knowledge; of what is called understanding”. Ud-a.312 says “Monk, may dhamma to speak arise in you, let it come to the forefront of knowledge, recite dhamma as you have heard it, as you have learnt it”. Cf. Vin.2.200, Ud.59, SN.i.155.
N.B. the Lord addresses Soṇa as “monk” and not by his name.

[12]:

Aṭṭhakavaggikāni. Aṭṭhakavagga is the name of the fourth Vagga in the Sutta Nipāta. Cited at SN.iii.12, Ud.59. This latter (and also Dhp-a.iv.101–Dhp-a.iv.102) have the “specific amplification that Soṇa recited (or ‘intoned’) ‘all the sixteen’ Aṭṭhakavaggika Suttas”, as Chalmers remarks, Buddha’s Teachings, p.xvi, n.1; and Ud-a.312 the still further amplification that the sixteen Suttas begin with the Kāmasutta. AN-a.i.241 reads Aṭṭhakavaggiyāni, one manuscript adding suttāni. See Journal of the Pali Text Society 1895, p.93 on identification of Divyāvadāna’s (p.20) arthavadgīyāni (recited by Soṇa) with the “sixteen poems”, aṭṭhakavaggikāni, of the Aṭṭhakavagga. The work is also mentioned at Divyāvadāna 35. For references to Chinese versions see Anesaki, Journal of the Pali Text Society 1906–7, p.50; and Étienne Lamotte, Le Traité de la Grande Vertu de Sagesse, Vol.i, p.39, n.2.

[13]:

sarabhañña. Pali-English Dictionary calls this “intoning, a particular mode of reciting”. Cf. Vin.2.108, where the Lord “allows” sarabhañña, but not the singing of dhamma in a singing voice. Oldenberg quotes Vin-a at Vin.2.316: sarabhaññan ti sarena bhaṇanaṃ, which means “sarabhañña is called repeating (or reciting) by intonation (sara)”. There is perhaps in the text a play upon the word sara, which also means remembering.

[14]:

Stock as at DN.i.114, SN.i.189, SN.ii.280, AN.ii.51, AN.iii.114.

[15]:

I.e. how many years since his ordination. Cf. above, BD.4.76f.

[16]:

sambādhā gharāvāsā. Ud.59, SN.ii.219, SN.v.350, DN.i.63, DN.i.250 read sambādho gharāvāso.

[17]:

sāsane ramati sucī; Ud.59 reading pāpe na ramati sucī,

[18]:

paridassi. Vin-a.1088, “this should be the time for that which the preceptor made known to me, saying: ‘You should say this and that’; come, I will give the message now”.

[19]:

Usually two to four monks.

[20]:

tatra.

[21]:

This passage is quoted at Ja.i.49, DN-a.173, Kh-a.132, MN-a.ii.200, AN-a.i.97 in order to define the boundaries of majjhima (pa)desa, the Middle Country, i.e. the middle of Jambudīpa (India). See B.C. Law Geography Of Early Buddhism, p.2, for some of the place-names mentioned below.

[22]:

nigama, see BD.2.63, n.2.

[23]:

Occurring at AN.v.54, MN.iii.298, DN-a.429. Also Ja.iii.226, Ja.iv.310 The scholiast tells us (Ja.iv.311) that it was a town where materials were easily got, dabbasambhārā sulabhā, not where they “were hard to be got ” (Jātaka translation iv.195, n.1).

[24]:

Called Mahāsalā at Ja.i.49.

[25]:

Spelled Salalavatī at Ja.i.49, DN-a.173, Kh-a.132, Salaṭavatī at MN-a.ii.200 (with variant readings) and in Dictionary of Pali Proper Names. See variant readings at DN-a.173; these do not include Sallavatti as at AN-a.i.97.

[26]:

Mentioned at Ud.78, Ud-a.377 as belonging to the Mallas: also at Ja.vi.62 (with variant reading Dhunna). B.C. Law, India as Described in Early Texts of Buddhism and Jainism, p.21, n.1 says “Consult Cunningham, Ancient Geography of India, Introduction xliii, n.2 as to the identification of Thūṇa with Sthānesvara”.

[27]:

According to B.C. Law, India as Described in Early Texts, p.21, n.2 “it may be said to be identical with Usiragiri, a mountain to the north of Kaṅkhal, I.A., 1905, 179”.

[28]:

Vin-a.1088 here gives a list of six kinds of deer, and says their hides may be used, but not the hides of other kinds of deer, miga, including the kadalīmiga, nor (with a play on words) the hides of beasts of prey, vāḷamiga, which it defines as lions, tigers, panthers, bears and hyenas. Skins of cows, buffaloes, hares and cats may not be used either.

[29]:

na tāva taṃ gaṇanūpagaṃ yāva na hatthaṃ gacchati. This refers to Bu-Pc.1, where an extra robe may be worn for at most ten days. The above phrase means that a monk need not begin to count these ten days until he has actually received the robe-material. Vin-a.1089 says, “So long as having conveyed but not given, or (so long as) having sent but not announced that ‘This robe-material has accrued for you, honoured sirs’; he does not begin the reckoning (gaṇanaṃ na upeti), it (i.e. the robe-material) is not allotted, one does not begin to take up what is not allotted. But when, having conveyed it it is given, or when having sent it it is announced, or when having heard that it has accrued, from then on there is occasion for attention to the ten days”. On upaga, see BD.2.7, n.4; and on anadhiṭṭhita, “not allotted” see ibid., n.1.

[30]:

gilāyano; Sinhalese edition gilānakā.

[31]:

Sinhalese edition upasampadaṃ pañcahi gaṇamgaṇā dhuvasināyanā.