Thera 11.1: Sankicca

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Adapted from the Archaic Translation by Mrs. C.A.F. Rhys Davids.

Note: 'C' in Pali text is pronounced as 'ch' as in 'China'.

Chapter XI. Saying(gatha) of Eleven Verses

240. Sankicca

Reborn in this Buddha-age at Sāvatthī in a family of very eminent brahmins(priests), his mother died just prior to his birth, so that he was discovered unburnt upon the funeral pyre. For the life of a being in his last birth cannot perish before he attain arahantship(enlightenment), even if he fell down Mount Sineru. At seven years of age, when he heard of his mother dying at his birth, he was thrilled, and said, 'I will leave the world(for monkhood).' So they brought him to Sāriputta. And he won arahantship(enlightenment) even as his hair was being cut off. How he offered his life to robbers to save 8,000 bhikkhus(monks) is told in the Dhammapada Commentary.[1]

Now a certain layman, desiring to wait upon him, asked him to live in the neighbourhood, saying:

[597] Kiɱ tavattho vane tāta ujjuhāno va pāvuse,|| Verambā ramaṇīyā te paviveko hi jhāyinaɱ.|| ||

[597] What is the gain for you, dear lad,[2] to live During the rains within the distant woods, Like Ujjuhāna, marshy, jungle-crowned? Sweeter for you Verambhā, Cave of Winds, Since they who meditate must live apart.[3]

Then the Thera, to show the charm of the forest and other things, replied:

[598] Yathā abbhāni verambo vāto nudati pāvuse,|| Saññā me abhikīranti vivekapaṭisaññutā.|| || [599] Apaṇḍaro aṇḍasambhavo sīvathikāya niketavāriko,|| Uppādayātava me satiɱ sandehasmiɱ1 virāganissitaɱ.|| || [600] Yaɱ ca aññe na rakkhanti yo ca aññe na rakkhati,|| Sa ve bhikkhu sukhaɱ seti kāmesu anapekkhavā.|| || [601] Acchodikā puthusilā gonaŋgulamigāyutā,|| Ambusevālasañchannā te selā ramayanti maɱ.|| || [602] Vasitaɱ me araññesu kandarāsu guhāsu ca,|| Senāsanesu pantesu vāḷamiganisevite.|| || [603] Ime haññantu vajjhantu dukkhaɱ pappontu pāṇino.|| Naŋkappaɱ nābhijānāmi anariyaɱ dosasaɱhitaɱ.|| || [604] Pariciṇṇo mayā satthā kataɱ buddhassa sāsanaɱ,|| Ohito garuko bhāro bhavanetti samūhatā.|| || [605] Yassa catthāya pabbajito agārasmānagāriyaɱ,|| So me attho anuppatto sabbasaññojanakkhayo.|| || [606] Nābhinandāmi maraṇaɱ nābhinandāmi jīvitaɱ,|| Kālaɱ ca paṭikaŋkhāmi nibbisaɱ bhatako yathā.|| || [607] Nābhinandāmi maraṇaɱ nābhinandāmi jīnitaɱ,|| Kālaɱ ca paṭikaŋkhāmi sampajāno patissato' ti.|| || [598] Even as the wind of the monsoon blows up And all around the cloud-thunder, in the rains, [So in the forest lone, remote, arise] The thoughts that with detachment harmonize, And all my spirit whelm and overspread.[4]

[599] it was the vulture(eating corpse),[5] in charnel-field(cemetry) Going his rounds, that made to rise in me Clear thought about this body, passion-cleaned.

[600] Moreover, he whom others need not guard, He too who has no others whom to guard: - Even the bhikkhu, lives in happy bliss, Regardless of what men desire and love.[6]

[601] Crags where clear waters lie, a rocky world, Haunted by black-faced apes and timid deer, Where beneath bright flowers run the silver streams: - Those are the highlands of my heart's delight.[7]

[602] I have lived in forests and in mountain caves, In rocky gorges and in places remote, And where the creatures of the wild do roam;

[603] But never mine the quest, with ill-will fraught, Ungentle and ignoble .[8] - 'Let us hunt, Let's kill these creatures, let us work them ill!'

[268] [604] The Lord(Buddha) has my loyalty and love, And all the Buddha's teaching has been done. Low have I laid the heavy load I was having;[9] Cause for rebirth is found in me no more.

[605] The Good for which I gave the world farewell, And left the home a homeless life to lead, That highest Good have I accomplishèd, And every bond and chain is destroyed.'[10]

[606] With thought of death I become easy not, nor yet Delight in living. I await the hour, Like any hireling who has done his task.

[607] With thought of death I become easy not, nor yet Delight in living. I await the hour With mind discerning and with complete meditative attentiveness.[11]

[1] Vol. ii, pp. 240-252: the story of Sankicca the novice, and how he converted the highwaymen, explaining the circumstances of Dhammapada, verse 110. With his birth, cf. Dabba, V., p. 10, n. 4.

[2] Tāta, speaking to the boy as if he were his father, says Dhammapāla. Kim, he adds, is for ko (attho).

[3] Ujjuhāna is said to have been either a hill covered with jungle and abounding in waters, or a bird that lived in thickets during the rains. Similarly, verambha is the monsoon wind, or a certain cave nearer the layman's home than the woods. I am of an open mind as to which was really meant.

[4] The Pali is here very terse. For abhikīranti (see Jāt., iii. 67) = ajjhottharanti. Cf. Ps. CXXXII., kīranti.

[5] I.e., the carrion crow(or vulture), at home in the charnel-field, feeding on the dead. Apaṇḍaro, not-clear, not-bright, is paraphrased as kāḷavaṇṇo.

[6] See Jāt., i., No. 10.

[7] See CXIII., CCLXI.

[8] Cf. XLVIII., CCXLIV.

[9] 'The load of the Khandhaas' (Commentary) - i.e., he had removed the cause (taṇhā, see next line) of their future renewal. He now concludes his reply in terms of the question put to him, viz., of 'good,' or 'gain' (attha).

[10] = ver. 136; 380.

[11] See CLXVIII., CCLIX. (1002 f.); cf. Milinda, I 70. The hireling, working for another, takes no great joy in the completion of his work (Commentary). Cf. Laws of Manu (S.B.E. xxv.), p. 207