Ghatikara Sutta SN

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10. Ghatikara Sutta: Discourse to Ghatikara 50. (The brahma Ghatikara said) "Seven bhikkhus have been reborn in the AvihaBrahma realm, and have  been released from all defilements (through attainment of arahatship).  Extinct in them are attachment and hatred. They have transcended Craving  in the world of sentient beings.  "Who are the bhikkhus that have crossed over the mire (of  defilements), death's domain, very difficult of transversing? Who are the ones that have left behind the human frame1 and (also) have destroyed bonds that cause rebirth in the deva realms2? "Upaka, Palagandha, Pukkusati, the trio, and then Bhaddiya,  Khandhadeva, Bhahuraggi and Singiya - these seven have left behind then  human frame and (also) have destroyed the bonds that cause rebirth in the  deva realms" (The Bhagava said) "You speak of the faultlessness of these bhikkhus who have have been  able to do away with Mara's snare. Knowing whose teaching have they been  able to break up the bonds of existence?" (The brahma said) "Without the Bhagava they would not have been able to break up the  bonds of existence. Without the Bhagava's teaching they would not have  been able to break up the bonds of existence. It was only after knowing  the Bhagava's teaching that they have been able to break up the bonds of  existence.  "In Nibbana mind and matter cease utterly. In this Teaching these bhikkhus comprehend that Nibbana and have (accordingly) been able to break up the bonds of existence." (The Bhagava said) "You say what is profound, what is difficult to know what is particularly subtle to be perceived. Knowing whose teaching do you speak in such terms?"  (The brahma said:) "In the past I had been a potter by the name of Ghatikara in the village of Vekalinga. I looked after my parents. And I was a lay disciple of Kassapa Buddha. I abstained from sex and led a pure life being devoid of sensual desire. 3I was of the same village as yourself and was an old friend of yours." "I know of these seven bhikkhus who have been released form defilements (through attainment of arahatship) in whom attachment and hatred are extinct, and who have transcended Craving in the world of sentient beings." (The Bhagava said:) "Bhagava,4 what you said is just as what had taken place in the past. You had been a potter in the village of Vekalinga. You looked after your parents. And you were then a lay disciple of Kassapa Buddha. "We belonged to the same village and were old friends. You abstained  form sex and led a pure life being free from sensual desire" (Addendum by the Theras of the First Synod.) Thus took place the reunion of two persons who were friends in a  former existence and who both had cultivated their minds and who were bearers of their last mortal frames. End of the Ghatikara Sutta, the tenth in this vagga End of the Aditta Vagga, the fifth in this samyutta. Explanations: 1. the human frame manusam deham: Here this term includes the devas of the sensuous realms. Five lower fetters cause rebirth in the sensuous realms. 2. (a) destroyed: In the Pali text - upaccagum, lit, went over, fig., passed beyond, overcome, transcended, (b) the deva realms: Here this term means the brahma realms. 3. Ghatikara was then an anagami. 4. Bhaggava: The personal name of the potter in the previous existence of Brahma Ghatikara Ghatikflra means 'jar-maker', potter

Note : Also see Ghatikara Sutta in Majjhima Nikaya