SN8:1 Renounced
- DG BB TBW © Translated from the Pali by Bhikkhu Bodhi. (More copyright information)
1Thus have I heard.
[n.484] His verses are at Th 1209–79. Vv. 707–57 are parallel to Th 1209–62, but with variant readings and major differences especially in the verses corresponding to vv. 753–57. The verses are collected and translated in Ireland, Vaṅgīsa: An Early Buddhist Poet. For the resolution of philological problems posed by these verses I have relied largely upon Norman's notes in EV I.
On one occasion the Venerable Vangisa was dwelling at Aḷavi at the Aggaḷava Shrine together with his preceptor, the Venerable Nigrodhakappa.
[n.485] Cetiyas are memorial shrines, similar to stūpas, originally made from mounds of earth.
Spk: Before the Buddhas arise the shrines such as Aggaḷava and Gotamaka are the haunts of yakkhas and nāgas, etc., but when Buddhas arise people drive the spirits away and build monasteries there.
Now on that occasion the Venerable Vangisa, newly ordained, not long gone forth, had been left behind as a caretaker of the dwelling.
Then a number of women, beautifully adorned, approached the Aggaḷavaka Park in order to see the dwelling. When the Venerable Vangisa saw those women, dissatisfaction arose in him; lust infested his mind. [n.486] I translate anabhirati as "dissatisfaction," and the nearly synonymous arati as "discontent." Although the meanings of the two words overlap, arati is often glossed in the commentaries as discontent with remote lodgings and with meditation (pantasenasanesu c ’ eva bhavanaya ca ukkaṇṭhitaṁ: Spk I 264,29–31 [to SN7.17]) or discontent with the Buddha’s Teaching (sasane aratiṁ: Spk I 269,23–24 [to SN8.2]). Anabhirati usually implies distress caused by sensual passion, often inducing a wish to give up the celibate life and return to the enjoyment of sensual pleasures. In the expression sabbaloke anabhiratasañña, "the perception of nondelight in the entire world," anabhirata is used in a positive sense as the designation for a particular topic of insight meditation (see AN V 111,3–7). The delight (abhirati) that Vangīsa will arouse in himself is, of course, delight in the holy life, not the unwholesome delight in the five sense objects, a mode of craving. Then it occurred to him: "It is a loss for me indeed, it is no gain for me! It is a mishap for me indeed, it is not well gained by me, that dissatisfaction has arisen in me, that lust has infested my mind. How could anyone else dispel my dissatisfaction and arouse delight? Let me dispel my own dissatisfaction and arouse delight by myself."
Then the Venerable Vangisa, having dispelled his own dissatisfaction and aroused delight by himself, on that occasion recited these verses:
2v.707 "Alas, though I am one who has renounced,
Gone from home into homelessness,
These thoughts still run over me,
Impudent thoughts from the Dark One.
[n.487] From the Dark One (kaṇhato). Spk: "From the dark faction, the faction of Māra." Māra is addressed as Kaṇha in the refrain of the verses at MN I 337–38.
3v.708 "Even if mighty youths, great archers,
Trained men, masters of the bow,
A thousand such men who do not flee
Should surround me on all sides,
[n.488] Spk explains uggaputta in pāda a as the powerful and royal sons of aristocrats (uggatanaṁ putta mahesakkha rajaññabhūta). CPD, s.v. ugga, says they are members of the ugga caste, a mixed caste sprung from a kṣatriya father and a śūdra mother. Members of this caste, it seems, served as police, guards, and professional soldiers. Spk glosses daḷhadhammino as "those of firm bows bearing a teacher's bow of the maximum size" (daḷhadhanuno uttamapamaṇaṁ acariyadhanuṁ dharayamana); see n. 181 above, II, n. 365, and EV I, n. to 1210. With Spk, I take apalayinaṁ as a metrically shortened genitive plural used in apposition to sahassaṁ, not as an accusative singular. Spk paraphrases pāda d: te samanta sarehi parikireyyuṁ; "they might surround (me) with arrows on all sides." Although Spk-pṭ glosses parikireyyuṁ with vijjheyyuṁ, "they might shoot," the use of the expression samanta parikiriṁsu at Ja VI 592,11–15 clearly shows that parikireyyuṁ does not imply shooting. (The wrong spelling parikaraṁsu in Ee of Ja should be corrected to parikiriṁsu as in Be: Ja II 372, vv. 2431–35.) The commentary (Ja VI 589,5) glosses the word with parivarayiṁsu, "to accompany (as members of a retinue)."
4v.709 And if women were to come here
Still more numerous than this,
They would never make me tremble
For I stand firmly in the Dhamma.
[n.489] I read pāda d with Ee1 as dhamme s’ amhi patiṭṭhito and take s’ amhi to be a conjunct of so amhi, with so functioning as the first person pronoun, a common enough form in Pali. Ee2 supports this with its reading dhamme sv amhi patiṭṭhito. The whole expression dhamme s’ amhi patiṭṭhito would then be a nominative periphrastic construction, with the word order inverted in compliance with the metre. Th 1211 can also support this interpretation if read, as Norman suggests, as dhamme svamhi. Be and Se, however, have the accusative patiṭṭhitaṁ, apparently in apposition to maṁ in pāda c. Commenting on the basis of this reading, Spk explains dhamme samhi as meaning sake sasanadhamme, "in my own Dhamma teaching," with samhi understood as the locative singular of sa < Skt sva. While this interpretation at first sight seems strained, we do find sehi dhammehi at Sn 298, glossed by Pj II 319,16 as sakehi carittehi. This shows that the reading accepted by Spk is feasible, though less plausible than the alternative.
Spk connects the simile with this verse thus: "If a thousand archers were to shoot arrows all around, a trained person might take a staff and knock down all the arrows in flight before they strike him, bringing them to his feet. One archer cannot shoot more than one arrow at a time, but these women each shoot five arrows at a time, by way of form and the other sense objects. If more than a thousand of these were to shoot in such a way, still they would not be able to shake me."
sn.i.186
5v.710 "I have heard this as a witness
From the Buddha, Kinsman of the Sun:
The path leading to Nibbāna—
That is where my mind delights.
[n.490] Spk explains maggaṁ in pāda c as a transformation of case (lingavipallasa). Spk: "This statement refers to insight (vipassanā); for that is the preliminary phase of the path leading to Nibbāna. His mind delights in his own tender insight called the path leading to Nibbāna."
6v.711 "If, while I am dwelling thus,
You approach me, Evil One,
I will act in such a way, O Death,
That you won’t even see my path."
[n.491] Spk: "I will so act that you will not even see the path I have gone along among the realms of existence, modes of origin, etc." See vv. 49 (= 105), 479, 494.
1Evaṁ me sutaṁ— ekaṁ samayaṁ āyasmā vaṅgīso āḷaviyaṁ vihārati aggāḷave cetiye āyasmatā nigrodhakappena upajjhāyena saddhiṁ. Tena kho pana samayena āyasmā vaṅgīso navako hoti acirapabbajito ohiyyako vihārapālo.
Atha kho sambahulā itthiyo samalaṅkaritvā yena aggāḷavako ārāmo tenupasaṅkamiṁsu vihārapekkhikāyo. Atha kho āyasmato vaṅgīsassa tā itthiyo disvā anabhirati uppajjati, rāgo cittaṁ anuddhaṁseti. Atha kho āyasmato vaṅgīsassa etadahosi: "Alābhā vata me, na vata me lābhā; dulladdhaṁ vata me, na vata me suladdhaṁ; yassa me anabhirati uppannā, rāgo cittaṁ anuddhaṁseti, taṁ kutettha labbhā, yaṁ me paro anabhiratiṁ vinodetvā abhiratiṁ uppādeyya. Yannūnāhaṁ attanāva attano anabhiratiṁ vinodetvā abhiratiṁ uppādeyyan"ti.
Atha kho āyasmā vaṅgīso attanāva attano anabhiratiṁ vinodetvā abhiratiṁ uppādetvā tāyaṁ velāyaṁ imā gāthāyo abhāsi:
2"Nikkhantaṁ vata maṁ santaṁ,
agārasmānagāriyaṁ;
Vitakkā upadhāvanti,
pagabbhā kaṇhato ime.
3Uggaputtā mahissāsā,
sikkhitā daḷhadhammino;
Samantā parikireyyuṁ,
sahassaṁ apalāyinaṁ.
4Sacepi etato bhiyyo,
āgamissanti itthiyo;
Neva maṁ byādhayissanti,
dhamme samhi patiṭṭhitaṁ.
5Sakkhī hi me sutaṁ etaṁ,
buddhassādiccabandhuno;
Nibbānagamanaṁ maggaṁ,
tattha me nirato mano.
6Evañce maṁ vihārantaṁ,
pāpima upagacchasi;
Tathā maccu karissāmi,
na me maggampi dakkhasī"ti.