1On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling among the Magadhans at Andhakavinda. Now on that occasion the Blessed One was sitting out in the open in the thick darkness of the night while it was drizzling. Then, when the night had advanced, Brahma Sahampati … approached the Blessed One, paid homage to him, and stood to one side. Standing to one side, he recited these verses in the presence of the Blessed One:

2v.598 "One should resort to remote lodgings,
Practise for release from the fetters.
But if one does not find delight there,
Guarded and mindful, dwell in the Saṅgha. [n.413] in pāda b, -vippamokkha can be understood as a truncated dative (Spk = -vippamokkhatthaya.)

3v.599 "Walking for alms from family to family,
Faculties guarded, discreet, mindful,
One should resort to remote lodgings,
Freed from fear, liberated in the fearless. [n.414] Spk: Though one has entered into the midst of the Saṅgha, one should not dwell there socializing with one's lay supporters. Having made the mind proficient, having suffused it with joy and contentment, one should again resort to a remote lodging. Pāda d is explained: "Freed from the fear of saṁsara, one should dwell liberated in (vimutto)—that is, resolved upon (adhimutto hutva)—the fearless, Nibbāna."

4v.600 "Where terrible serpents glide,
Where lightning flashes and the sky thunders,
In the thick darkness of the night
There sits a bhikkhu devoid of terror. [n.415] Spk: By this he explains: "Blessed One, just as you are now sitting without attending to the fearful objects situated there, or to the serpents, or to the lightning and thunder, just so do bhikkhus sit when they are intent on striving."

5v.601 "For this has actually been seen by me,
It is not merely hearsay:
Within a single holy life
A thousand have left Death behind. [n.416] Spk explains itihitam in pāda b as if it meant deduced by reasoning or logic or inferred from scripture (idam itiha itiha ti na takkahetu va nayahetu va piṭakasampadanena va aham vadami). The use of the expression elsewhere, however, indicates that it is specifically connected with oral tradition, e.g., at MN I 520,4: so anussavena itihitihaparamparaya piṭakasampadaya dhammam deseti; "he teaches a doctrine by oral tradition, by transmission of hearsay, by what has come down in scriptures." See too MN II 169,12. In pāda d, the thousand who have left Death behind (sahassam maccuhayinam) are the arahants.

6v.602 "There are five hundred more trainees,
And ten times a tenfold ten:
All have entered the stream,
Never returning to the animal realm.

7v.603 "As for the other people who remain—
Who, to my mind, partake of merit—
I cannot even number them
From dread of speaking falsely." [n.417] I interpret the numbers in v. 602 with the aid of Spk, even though this leads to the unlikely conclusion that the number of stream-enterers is not significantly higher than the number of arahants (cp. SN55.5, V 406,11–30). I read pāda b with Be, Se, and Ee2 as dasa ca dasadha dasa rather than with Ee1 dasa ca dasadha satam. Though the latter gives a ten times higher figure, it does not agree with the commentary, which glosses: dasadha dasa ti satam. It is not clear to me whether the "five hundred more trainees" (bhiyyo pañcasata sekkha) means that there are fifteen hundred trainees between the arahant and stream-enterer stages plus an additional thousand stream-enterers, or fifteen hundred trainees who are stream-enterers. V. 603 is also at DN II 218,6–9, uttered by Brahma Sanankumara after he has said that twenty-four hundred thousand (not twenty-four hundred, as Walshe has it at LDB, p. 299) Magadhan followers had passed away as stream-enterers and oncereturners. According to Spk-pṭ, "the other people who partake of merit" (itara paja puññabhaga) are those who have partaken of merit aimed at the ending of the round (but who, presumably, have not yet reached any path or fruit). sn.i.155

1Ekaṁ samayaṁ bhagavā māgadhesu vihārati andhakavinde. Tena kho pana samayena bhagavā rattandhakāratimisāyaṁ abbhokāse nisinno hoti, devo ca ekamekaṁ phusāyati. Atha kho brahmā sahampati abhikkantāya rattiyā abhikkantavaṇṇo kevalakappaṁ andhakavindaṁ obhāsetvā yena bhagavā tenupasaṅkami; upasaṅkamitvā bhagavantaṁ abhivādetvā ekamantaṁ aṭṭhāsi. Ekamantaṁ ṭhito kho brahmā sahampati bhagavato santike imā gāthāyo abhāsi:

2"Sevetha pantāni senāsanāni,
Careyya saṁyojanavippamokkhā;
Sace ratiṁ nādhigaccheyya tattha,
Saṅghe vase rakkhitatto satīmā.

3Kulākulaṁ piṇḍikāya caranto,
Indriyagutto nipako satimā;
Sevetha pantāni senāsanāni,
Bhayā pamutto abhaye vimutto.

4Yattha bheravā sarīsapā,
Vijju sañcarati thanayati devo;
Andhakāratimisāya rattiyā,
Nisīdi tattha bhikkhu vigatalomahaṁso.

5Idañhi jātu me diṭṭhaṁ,
nayidaṁ itihītihaṁ;
Ekasmiṁ brahmacariyasmiṁ,
sahassaṁ maccuhāyinaṁ.

6Bhiyyo pañcasatā sekkhā,
dasā ca dasadhā dasa;
Sabbe sotasamāpannā,
atiracchānagāmino.

7Athāyaṁ itarā pajā,
puññabhāgāti me mano;
Saṅkhātuṁ nopi sakkomi,
musāvādassa ottapan"ti.