Tipitaka >> Sutta Pitaka >> Khuddaka Nikaya >> Theragatha >> Thera(248):Adhimutta
Adapted from the Archaic Translation by Mrs. C.A.F. Rhys Davids.
Note: 'C' in Pali text is pronounced as 'ch' as in 'China'.
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Chapter XVI.
Twenty Verses[]
248. Adhimutta[]
Reborn iā this Buddha-age as the sister's son of the Thera Sankicca,[1] he left the world(for monkhood) under his uncle's tuition, and while only a novice, won arahantship(enlightenment). And living in the bliss of fruition, he wished for full initiation into monkhood, and went home to ask his mother's leave. Now as he went, he fell in with highwaymen on the look-out for an offering to their deity, and they seized on him as a suitable sacrifice. He, thus assailed, stood undaunted and without blenching. Then the robber-chief was amazed, and commended him, saying:
[705] Yaññatthaɱ vā dhanatthaɱ vā ye hanāma mayaɱ pure,||
Avase taɱ bhayaɱ hoti vedhanti vilapanti ca.|| ||
[706] Tassa te natthī bhītattaɱ bhiyyo vaṇṇo pasīdati,||
Kasmā na paridevesi evarūpe mahabbhaye.|| ||
[705] Of all the lot whom we, for god[2] or wealth,
Have overcome in our time, there's not been one
But has shown fear, trembled and clamoured much.
[706] But you, who are not having fear, no, whose face
Shows brighter bloom,[3] why do you not lament.
When such a fearsome peril threatens you?
Adhimutta:
[707] Natthi cetadikaɱ dukkhaɱ anapekkhassa gāmaṇi,||
Atikkantā bhayā sabbe khīṇasaɱyojanassa ve.|| ||
[708] Khīṇāya bhavanettiyā daṭṭhe dhamme yathātathe,||
Na bhayaɱ maraṇe hoti bhāranikkhepane yathā.|| ||
[709] Suciṇṇaɱ brahmacariyaɱ me maggo cāpi subhāvito,||
Maraṇe me bhayaɱ natthi rogānamiva saŋkhaye.|| ||
[710] Suciṇṇaɱ brahmacariyaɱ me maggo cāpi subhāvito,||
Nirassādā bhavā diṭṭhā visaɱ pītvāva chaḍḍitaɱ.|| ||
[711] Pāragū anupādāno katakicco anāsavo,||
Tuṭṭho āyukkhayā hoti mutto āghātanā yathā.|| ||
[712] Uttamaɱ dhammataɱ patto sabbaloke anatthiko,||
Ādittāva gharā mutto maraṇasmiɱ na socati.|| ||
[713] Yadatthi saŋgataɱ kiñci bhavo vā yattha labbhati,||
Sabbaɱ anissaraɱ etaɱ iti vuttaɱ mahesinā.|| ||
[714] Yo taɱ tathā pajānāti yathā buddhena desitaɱ,||
Na gaṇhāti bhavaɱ kiñci sutattaɱva ayoguḷaɱ.|| ||
[715] Na me hoti ahosinti bhavissanti na hoti me,||
Saŋkhārā vigamissanti tattha kā paridevanā.|| ||
[716] Suddhaɱ dhammasamuppādaɱ suddhaɱ saŋkharasantatiɱ,||
Passantassa yathābhūtaɱ na bhayaɱ hoti gāmaṇi.|| ||
[717] Tiṇakaṭṭhasamaɱ lonaɱ yadā paññāya passati,||
Mamattaɱ so asaɱvindaɱ 'natthi me' ti na socati.|| ||
[718] Ukkaṇṭhāmi [72] sarīrena bhavenamhi anatthiko,||
So'yaɱ bhijjissati kāyo añño ca na bhavissati.|| ||
[719] Yaɱ vo kiccaɱ sarīrena taɱ karotha yadicchatha,||
Na me tappaccayā tattha doso pemaɱ ca hohiti.|| ||
[707] No misery of mind, O chief, is there
For him who has no wants. All fear have I
Transcended, since the bonds were destroyed.
[708] By death of that which leads to rebirth,[4] The truths are seen even as they really are,
And hence in death there lies no fear for me,
It is as a laying down the load I was having.
[709] Well have I lived the holy life(celibacy), and well
Made progress in the Ariyan Path; no fear
There lies in death, who puts an end to sorrows.[5]
[710] Void of delight the forms of birth appear,[6] Like drinking poison one has thrown away.
[711] He who has passed beyond, from grasping free,
Whose task is done, sane and immune, is glad,
Not sorry, when the term of lives is reached,
As one who from the slaughter-house escapes.
[712] He who the ideal monk’s order[7] has attained,
All the world over seeking nothing to own,
As one who from a burning house escapes,
When death is drawing near he grievs not.
[713] All things soever which have come to be,
And all rebirth wherever it is got,
Nowhere in that is personal design: -[8] So has the mighty Sage declared to us.
[714] And he who knows that things are even so,
As by the Buddha it is taught, no more
Would he take hold of any form of birth
Than he would grasp a red-hot iron ball.
[715] Comes not to me the thought: 'it is I have been,'
Nor comes the thought: 'What shall I next become?'
Thoughts, deeds and words are no persisting [self],
Therefore what ground for lamentations here?[9]
[716] To him who sees, as it really is,
The pure and simple[10] causal rise of things,
The pure and simple sequence of our acts: -
To such an one can come no fear, O chief.
[717] That all this world is like the forest grass
And brushwood [no man's property] when one
By wisdom sees this, finds nothing that's 'Mine,'
Thinking: 'it is not for me,' he grievs not.[11]
[718] This body irks me; no seeker I
To live. This mortal frame will broken be,
And never another from it be reborn.
[719] Your business with my body, come, that do
Even as you will; and not on that account
Will hatred or affection rise in me.
[720] Tassa taɱ vacanaɱ sutvā abbhutaɱ lomahaɱsanaɱ,||
Satthāni nikkhipitvāna māṇavā etadabravuɱ.|| ||
[721] Kiɱ bhaddante1 karitvāna ko vā ācariyo tava,||
Kassa sāsanamāgamma labbhafata taɱ asokatā.|| ||
[720] The young men marvelled at his words, and thrilled
With awe, throwing away their knives they said:
[721] What are your honour's practices,[12] or who
Is teacher to you? Of whose Ordinance
A member, have you gained this grief-lessness?
Adhimutta:
[722] Sabbaññū sabbadassāvī jino ācariyo mama,||
Mahākāruṇiko satthā sabbalokatikicchako.|| ||
[723] Tenāyaɱ desito dhammo khayagāmī anuttaro,||
Kassa sāsanamāgamma labbhato taɱ asokatā.|| ||
[722] My teacher is the Conqueror knowing all
And seeing all, the Lord(Buddha) infinite
In pity, all the world's Physician, He.
[723] And He it is by whom these, truths are taught,
Path(Dhamma) to Nibbana leading, unsurpassed.
Within His Rule I have won this grief-lessness.
[724] Sutvāna corā isino subhāsitaɱ,||
Nikkhippa satthāni ca āvudhāni ca||
Tamhā ca kammā viramiɱsu eke||
Eke pabbajja marocayiɱsu.|| ||
[725] Te pabbajitvā sugatassa sāsane||
Bhavetva bojjhaŋgabalāni paṇḍitā||
Udaggacittā sumanā katindriyā||
Phusiɱsu nibbānapadaɱ asaŋkhatan' ti.|| ||
[724] Now when the robbers heard the well-spoken utterance of the sage,
They laid aside their knives, their arms, and some forsook that trade,
And some pleaded that they might leave the world(for monkhood) for holy life(celibacy).
[725] They leaving thus, within the Buddha's welcome Rule[13] grew wise,
The seven Factors practising and worked hard for the Forces five,
Trained in the Powers, with hearts elate, happy they reached the Goal.
[1] See CCXL.
[2] Lit., 'for sacrifice.'
[3] Adhimutta was a young novice.
[4] Bhavanetti - i.e., taṇhā.
[5] Lit., diseases. Cf. Tennyson's Elaine:
And sweet is death who puts an end to pain.
[6] That 'life is not worth living,' which is Dr. Neumann's rendering, seems to me scarcely sound Buddhism. Life can yield arahantship(enlightenment) - the thing supremely worth having, the crown of all previous upward effort. 'Rebecomings(rebirths) are unsatisfying'; nirassādā bhavā is the literal rendering of the text. We need to leave our own 'saws' behind in getting at the Buddhist standpoint.
[7] Dhammataɱ uttamaɱ - i.e., 'the nature of the Path(Dhamma); in, and because of, completed arahantship' (Commentary).
[8] Nā-issaraɱ - lit., that which has no lord or ruler; issāra is used for a personal creator.
[9] Lit., 'will pass away.' 'Self' is supplied from the Commentary.
[10] Suddhaɱ, pure, unmixed - i.e., with attā; phenomenal process only: dhammamattappavatti (Commentary).
[11] = Sutta-Nipāta, verse 951.
[12] Tapas: religious austerities or magic (Commentary).
[13] Lit., the rule of the Welcome (su-gata), a title often used for the Buddha. For Factors, Forces, and Powers, see Compendium, p. 180, called factors, powers, faculties, respectively. 'Reached the Goal'- lit., 'touched (attained) the state of Nibbāna, the unconditioned.' The Commentary adds that the youthful saint went imperturbably on his way, obtained his mother's consent to enter the Monk’s order, and was initiated into monkhood by his uncle. On verse 722 Dhammapāla refers to his own Commentary on the Iti-vuttaka.