On going to Pācīnavaṃsadāya

^{Kd.10.4.2 BD.4.501} Now at that time the venerable Anuruddha^[1] and the venerable Nandiya^[2] and the venerable Kimbila^[3] were staying in the Eastern Bamboo Grove.^[4] The keeper of the Grove saw the Lord coming from afar; seeing him he spoke thus to the Lord: “Do not, recluse, enter this Grove; there are three young men of respectable families staying here desiring self^[5]; do not cause them discomfort.” The venerable Anuruddha heard the keeper of the Grove conferring with the Lord; having heard, he spoke thus to the keeper of the Grove: “Do not, good grove-keeper, ^Vin.1.351 impede the Lord. It is our teacher, the Lord, who is arriving.” Then the venerable Anuruddha approached the venerable Nandiya and the venerable Kimbila; having approached, he spoke thus to the venerable Nandiya and to the venerable Kimbila:” Go forward, venerable ones, go forward, venerable ones; our teacher, the Lord is arriving.”

^Kd.10.4.3 Then the venerable Anuruddha and the venerable Nandiya and the venerable Kimbila, having gone out to meet the Lord, one received his bowl and robe, one made ready a seat, one set out water for the feet, a footstool, a foot-stand. Then the Lord sat down on the seat made ready; as he was sitting down he had his feet bathed. Then these venerable ones, having greeted the Lord, sat down at a respectful distance. As the venerable Anuruddha was sitting down at a respectful distance, the Lord spoke thus: “I hope that things are going well with you, Anuruddhas,^[6] I hope you are keeping going, I hope you are not short of almsfood.”

“Things are going well, Lord, we are keeping going, Lord, and, Lord, we are not short of almsfood.”

^BD.4.502 “I hope that you, Anuruddhas, are living all together on friendly terms and harmonious, as milk and water blend, regarding one another with the eye of affection?”^[7]

“Yes, certainly, Lord, we are living all together on friendly terms and harmonious, as milk and water blend, regarding one another with the eye of affection.”

“And how is it that you, Anuruddhas, are living … of affection?”

^Kd.10.4.4 “As to this, Lord, it occurred to me: ‘Indeed it is a gain for me, indeed it is well gotten by me, that I am living with such Brahma-farers.’ On account of this, Lord, for these venerable ones amity^[8] as to bodily conduct, whether openly or in private, has risen up in me, amity as to speech, amity as to thought, whether openly or in private, has risen up.^[9] Because of this. Lord, it occurred to me: ‘What now, if I, having surrendered my own mind, should live only according to the mind of these venerable ones?’ So I, Lord, having surrendered my own mind, am living only according to the mind of these venerable ones. Lord, we have divers bodies,^[10] but assuredly only one mind.”

And the venerable Nandiya too, and also the venerable Kimbila spoke thus to the Lord: “And it occurred to me too, Lord: ‘Indeed it is a gain for me … only one mind’. It is thus, Lord, that we are living all together on friendly terms and harmonious, as milk and water blend, regarding one another with the eye of affection.”

^Kd.10.4.5 “And I hope that you, Anuruddhas, ^Vin.1.352 are living zealous, ardent, self-resolute?”

“Yes, certainly, Lord, we are living … self-resolute.”

“And how is it that you, Anuruddhas, are living … self-resolute?”

“As to this, Lord, whichever^[11] of us returns first from the village for almsfood, he makes ready a seat, puts out water for washing the feet, a footstool, a foot-stand; having washed a refuse-bowl he sets it out, he sets out water for drinking ^BD.4.503 and water for washing. Whoever returns last from the village for almsfood, if there are the remains of a meal and if he so desires, he eats them; if he does not desire to do so he throws them out where there are no crops or drops them into water where there are no living creatures; he puts up the seat, he puts away the water for the feet, the footstool, the foot-stand, having washed the refuse-bowl, he puts it away, he puts away the water for drinking and the water for washing, he sweeps the refectory. Whoever sees a vessel for drinking water or a vessel for washing water or a vessel (for water) for rinsing after an evacuation, void and empty, he sets out (water). If it is impossible for him (to do this) by a movement of his hand, having invited a companion to help us by signalling (to him) with the hand, we set out (water); but we do not, Lord, for such a reason break into speech. And then we, Lord, once in every five nights sit down together for talk on dhamma. It is thus, Lord, that we are living, zealous, ardent, self-resolute.”^[12]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Verses at Thag.892–Thag.919. He and his friends, Nandiya and Kimbila, are often mentioned together, as at MN.i.205, which although set in the Gosinga Wood, is similar to the above Vinaya passage. See also the six friends (not including Nandiya) who, with Upāli, the barber, are mentioned at Vin.2.182.

[2]:

Verses at Thag.25. Thag-a.86 says that while Nandiya was in the Eastern Bamboo Grove, Māra appeared before him in a terrible form.

[3]:

Verses at Thag.118, Thag.155.

[4]:

For the following cf. MN.i.205ff. (where the scene is laid in the Gosinga Sāl-Woodland Grove).

[5]:

On attakāmarūpa see Mrs. Rhys Davids, Buddhism (Home University Library) 2nd edition, p.81.

[6]:

The plural, Anuruddhā, is used instead of the names of the three separate monks.

[7]:

Stock, as at MN.i.206, MN.i.398, MN.iii.156, AN.i.70, AN.iii.67, AN.iii.104, SN.iv.225.

[8]:

On amity, mettā, see Mrs. Rhys Davids, Outlines of Buddhism, p.30ff.

[9]:

Cf. MN.i.321, which after “amity as to speech” fills in “whether openly or in private has risen up”, as does MN.i.206.

[10]:

We are many (or several) men, persons, kāyā.

[11]:

Cf. Kd.4.1.

[12]:

The versions at MN.i.207, MN.iii.154, break off here, and both go on from here in different ways.