Tipitaka >> Sutta Pitaka >> Samyutta Nikaya >> Ghatikara Sutta
Translated by U Tin U (Myaung), Yangon
1.50 Ghatikara Sutta: Discourse to Ghatikara
(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[Buddha] 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[Buddha] 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[Buddha] 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