3:3 Well Spoken

Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling at Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s Park. There the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus thus: “Bhikkhus!”

“Bhante!” those bhikkhus replied. The Blessed One said this:

“Bhikkhus, when speech possesses four factors, it is well spoken, not badly spoken, and it is blameless and irreproachable by the wise. What four? Here, a bhikkhu speaks only what is well spoken, not what is badly spoken. He speaks only Dhamma, not non-Dhamma. He speaks only what is pleasing, not what is displeasing. He speaks only what is true, not lies. When speech possesses these four factors, it is well spoken, not badly spoken, and it is blameless and irreproachable by the wise.”

This is what the Blessed One said. Having said this, the Fortunate One, the Teacher, further said this:

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450“Well-spoken speech is best, the good say;
speak Dhamma, not non-Dhamma — that is second.
Speak what is pleasing, not displeasing — that is third;
speak the truth, not lies — that is fourth.” (1) [79]

Then the Venerable Vaṅgīsa rose from his seat, arranged his upper robe over one shoulder, and having reverently saluted the Blessed One, said to him: “An inspiration has come to me, Blessed One! An inspiration has come to me, Fortunate One!”I here follow Be, which reads paṭibhāti maṃ bhagavā, paṭibhāti maṃ sugatā ti. Ee omits the utterance addressed to bhagavā, while Ce has bhagavā in both utterances.

The Blessed One said: “Then express your inspiration, Vaṅgīsa.”

The Venerable Vaṅgīsa then extolled the Blessed One to his face with suitable verses:

451“One should utter only such speech
by which one does not torment oneself
nor cause injury to others:
that speech truly is well spoken. (2)

452“One should utter only pleasant speech,
speech that is gladly welcomed.
One should speak words that bring nothing bad,
[speech] that is pleasing to others. (3)

453“Truth, indeed, is deathless speech:
this is an ancient principle.
The good and the Dhamma, good people say,
are established upon truth.The explanation here presupposes that the three nouns — sacce, atthe, and dhamme — are all locatives and āhu an aorist of honti (= ahū). But āhu should probably be taken instead as a perfect meaning “[they] said.” Based on the work of Lüders, Norman suggests (1969, note to 1229) that atthe and dhamme were originally nominatives in an Eastern dialect that had the nominative singular in –e. When transposed into Pāli they were mistaken for locatives. I follow Norman in my rendering of the line, and thus there is dissonance between my translation and the explanation of Pj II. (4)

454“The speech that the Buddha utters
for the attainment of nibbāna, the secure,
for making an end to suffering,
is indeed the supreme speech.” (5)

Subhāsitasutta

Evaṁ me sutaṁ. Eka samayaṁ bhagavā sāvatthiyaṁ viharati jetavane anāthapiṇḍikassa ārāme. Tatra kho bhagavā bhikkhū āmantesi: "bhikkhavo"ti.

"Bhadante"ti te bhikkhū bhagavato paccassosuṁ. Bhagavā etadavoca:

"Catūhi, bhikkhave, aṅgehi samannāgatā vācā subhāsitā hoti, na dubbhāsitā, anavajjā ca ananuvajjā ca viññūnaṁ. Katamehi catūhi? Idha, bhikkhave, bhikkhu subhāsitaṁyeva bhāsati no dubbhāsitaṁ, dhammaṁyeva bhāsati no adhammaṁ, piyaṁyeva bhāsati no appiyaṁ, saccaṁyeva bhāsati no alikaṁ. Imehi kho, bhikkhave, catūhi aṅgehi samannāgatā vācā subhāsitā hoti, no dubbhāsitā, anavajjā ca ananuvajjā ca viññūnan"ti. Idamavoca bhagavā.

Idaṁ vatvāna sugato, athāparaṁ etadavoca satthā:

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450"Subhāsitaṁ uttamamāhu santo,
Dhammaṁ bhaṇe nādhammaṁ taṁ dutiyaṁ;
Piyaṁ bhaṇe nāppiyaṁ taṁ tatiyaṁ,
Saccaṁ bhaṇe nālikaṁ taṁ catutthan"ti.

Atha kho āyasmā vaṅgīso uṭṭhāyāsanā ekaṁsaṁ cīvaraṁ katvā yena bhagavā tenañjaliṁ paṇāmetvā bhagavantaṁ etadavoca: "paṭibhāti maṁ, bhagavā, paṭibhāti maṁ, sugatā"ti.

"Paṭibhātu taṁ, vaṅgīsā"ti bhagavā avoca.

Atha kho āyasmā vaṅgīso bhagavantaṁ sammukhā sāruppāhi gāthāhi abhitthavi:

451 "Tameva vācaṁ bhāseyya,
yāyattānaṁ na tāpaye;
Pare ca na vihiṁseyya,
sā ve vācā subhāsitā.

452 Piyavācameva bhāseyya,
yā vācā paṭinanditā;
Yaṁ anādāya pāpāni,
paresaṁ bhāsate piyaṁ.

453 Saccaṁ ve amatā vācā,
esa dhammo sanantano;
Sacce atthe ca dhamme ca,
āhu santo patiṭṭhitā.

454 Yaṁ buddho bhāsati vācaṁ,
Khemaṁ nibbānapattiyā;
Dukkhassantakiriyāya,
Sā ve vācānamuttamā"ti.

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Subhāsitasuttaṁ tatiyaṁ.