1 See 1 Buddhism/ pp. 108-110, and below, VI, 9.
believing the Blessed One to be the Holy One,
the Fully-enlightened One, Wise, Upright, Happy,
World-knowing, Supreme, the Bridler of mens way-
ward hearts, the Teacher of gods and men, the
Blessed Buddha. And that he (the disciple) is
possessed of faith in the Truth — believing the truth
to have been proclaimed by the Blessed One, of
advantage in this world, passing not away, wel-
coming all, leading to salvation, and to be attained
to by the wise, each one for himself. And that he
(the disciple) is possessed of faith in the Order —
believing the multitude of the disciples of the Blessed
One who are walking in the four stages of the noble
eightfold path, the righteous, the upright, the just,
the law-abiding — believing this church of the
Buddha to be worthy of honour, of hospitality, of
gifts, and of reverence; to be the supreme sowing
ground of merit for the world; to be possessed of
the virtues beloved by the good, virtues unbroken,
intact, unspotted, unblemished, virtues which make
men truly free, virtues which are praised by the
wise, are untarnished by the desire of future life
or by the belief in the efficacy of outward acts, and
are conducive to high and holy thought V
10. * This, Ananda, is the way, the mirror of truth,
which if an elect disciple possess he may himself
predict of himself : " Hell is destroyed for me ; and
rebirth as an animal, or a ghost, or in any place of
woe. I am converted ; I am no longer liable to be
reborn in a state of suffering, and am assured of final
salvation/' '
11. There, too, at the Brick Hall at Nddika the
1 See above, § I, 11.
Blessed One addressed to the brethren that com-
prehensive religious discourse on the nature of up-
right conduct, and of earnest contemplation, and of
intelligence.
'Great is the fruit, great the advantage of earnest
contemplation when set round with upright conduct.
Great is the fruit, great the advantage of intellect
when set round with earnest contemplation. The
mind set round with intelligence is freed from the
great evils, that is to say, from sensuality, from
individuality, from delusion, and from ignorance/
12. Now when the Blessed One had remained as
long as he wished at Nddika, he addressed Ananda,
and said : ' Come, Ananda, let us go on to Ves&li/
'So be it, Lord!' said Ananda, in assent, to the Blessed One.
Then the Blessed One proceeded, with a great
company of the brethren, to Ves&li ; and there at
Vesdli the Blessed One stayed at Ambap&li's grove-
13. Now there the Blessed One addressed the
brethren, and said : ' Let a brother, O mendicants,
be mindful and thoughtful ; this is our instruction
to you/
14. ' And how does a brother become mindful ?'
' Herein, O mendicants, let a brother, as he dwells
in the body, so regard the body that he, being
strenuous, thoughtful, and mindful, may, whilst in
the world, overcome the grief which arises from
bodily craving — while subject to sensations, let
him continue so to regard the sensations that
he, being strenuous, thoughtful, and mindful, may,
whilst in the world, overcome the grief arising from
the craving which follows our sensation — and so also
M AH A-PARINIBB AN A-S U TTA .
as he thinks or reasons or feels let him overcome
the grief which arises from the craving due to ideas,
or reasoning, or feeling/
15. 1 And how does a brother become thoughtful ?'
4 He acts, O mendicants, in full presence of mind
whatever he may do, in going out and coming in,
in looking and watching, in bending in his arm or
stretching it forth, in wearing his robes or carrying
his bowl, in eating and drinking, in consuming or
tasting, in walking or standing or sitting, in sleeping
or waking, in talking and in being silent.
* Thus let a brother, O mendicants, be mindful and thoughtful ; this is our instruction to you V
1 This doctri ne of being ' mindful and thoughtful ' — s a t o s a m p a- gzno — is one of the lessons most frequently inculcated in the Pali Pi/akas, and is one of the ' Seven Jewels of the Law.' It is fully treated of in each of the Nikayas, forming the subject of the Maha Satippa//Mna Sutta in the Digha Nikdya, and the Satipa//Mna Sutta of the Ma^g^ima Nikaya, and the Satippa/Mana Vaggo of the Sazrayutta Nikaya, as well as of various passages in the Anguttara Nikaya and of the work called Vibhahga in the Abhi- dhamma Pi/aka. I am glad to learn that Dr. Morris intends to collect and compare all these passages in his forthcoming work on the ' Seven Jewels of the Law.' These sections of the Maha- parinibbina Sutta and the treatment in the Vibhahga have pre- served, in Dr. Morris's opinion, the oldest form of the doctrine. Compare Chap. II, § 34.
Buddhaghosa has no comment here on the subject itself, re- serving what he has to say for the comment on the Suttas devoted entirely to it ; but he observes in passing that the reason why the Blessed One laid stress, at this particular time and place, on the necessity of being 'mindful and thoughtful/ was because of the imminent approach of the beautiful courtezan in whose grove they were staying. The use of the phrase sati upa/Mapetabba Wow, Chap. V, § 13 (text. p. 51), in reference to the way in which women should be treated, is quite in accordance with this explanation. But see the next note.
30 THE BOOK OF THE GREAT DECEASE. CH.
1 6. 1 Now the courtezan Ambap&li heard that the
Blessed One had arrived at Ves&li, and was staying
at her mango grove. And ordering a number of
magnificent vehicles to be made ready, she mounted
one of them, and proceeded with her train towards
her garden. She went in the carriage as far as
the ground was passable for carriages ; there she
alighted ; and she proceeded on foot to the place
where the Blessed One was, and took her seat
respectfully on one side. And when she was thus
seated the Blessed One instructed, aroused, incited,
and gladdened her with religious discourse.
17. Then she — instructed, aroused, incited, and
gladdened with his words — addressed the Blessed
One, and said :
'May the Blessed One do me the honour of
taking his meal, together with the brethren, at my
house to-morrow/
And the Blessed One gave, by silence, his
consent. Then when Ambapdli the courtezan saw
that the Blessed One had consented, she rose from
her seat and bowed down before him, and keeping
him on her right hand as she past him, she departed
thence.
1 From this point down to the words ' he rose from his seat/ in §11, 24, is, with a few unimportant variations, word for word the same as Mahi Vagga VI, 30, 1, to VI, 30, 6. But the passage there follows immediately after the verses translated above, § I, 34, so that the events here (in §§ 16-22) localised at Vesali, are there localised at Ko/igama. Our section II, 5 is then inserted between our sections II, 22 and II, 23; and our section II, 12 does not occur at all, the Blessed One only reaching Ambapali's grove when he goes there (as in our section II, 23) to partake of the meal to which he had been invited. Buddhaghosa passes over this discrepancy in silence.
M AH A-PARINIBBANA-SU TTA.
18. Now the Li^^avis of Ves&li heard that the
Blessed One had arrived at Vesali, and was staying
at Ambap&li's grove. And ordering a number of
magnificent carriages to be made ready, they
mounted one of them and proceeded with their
train to Vesdli. Some of them were dark, dark in
colour, and wearing dark clothes and ornaments :
some of them were fair, fair in colour, and wearing
light clothes and ornaments : some of them were
red, ruddy in colour, and wearing red clothes and
ornaments: some of them were white, pale in colour,
and wearing white clothes and ornaments.
19. And Ambapali drove up against the young
Li^^avis, axle to axle, wheel to wheel, and yoke
to yoke, and the \Akkha.v\s said to Ambapali the
courtezan, ' How is it, Ambap&li, that thou drivest
up against us thus ? '
' My Lords, I have just invited the Blessed One and his brethren for their morrow's meal,' said she.
' Ambap&li ! give up this meal to us for a hundred thousand/ said they.
• My Lords, were you to offer all Ves&li with its
subject territory 1 , I would not give up so honourable
a feast !'
Then the Li^Mavis cast up their hands * exclaim-
ing, 'We are outdone by this mango girl! we are
out-reached by this mango girl 3 ! ' and they went on
to Ambap&li's grove.
20. When the Blessed One saw the Li^£//avis
1 Siharan ti sa-^anapadan. (S. V. /au.)
2 Ahguli poMesu/w. Childers translates this phrase 'to snap the fingers as a token of pleasure;' but Buddhaghosa says, angul! poMesun ti ahguli Mlesu/w. (S. V. /au.)
* Ambapali means mango grower, one who looks after mangoes.
approaching in the distance, he addressed the brethren, and said :
* O brethren, let those of the brethren who have
never seen the Tavatiwsa gods, gaze upon this
company of the Li£££avis, behold this company of
the LL&£^avis, compare this company of the Li^Aa-
vis — even as a company of Tivatiwsa gods 1 .'
21. And when they had ridden as far as the
ground was passable for carriages, the \Akkkaxis
alighted there, and then went on on foot to the
place where the Blessed One was, and took their
seats respectfully by his side. And when they
were thus seated the Blessed One instructed and
roused and incited and gladdened them with reli-
gious discourse 2 .
22. Then they instructed and roused and incited
and gladdened with his words, addressed the Blessed
One, and said, ' May the Blessed One do us the
honour of taking his meal, together with the brethren,
at our house to-morrow ? '
' O Li^^avis, I have promised to dine to-morrow with Ambap&li the courtezan/ was the reply.
1 The Tavatitfzsa-deva are the gods in the heaven of the Great Thirty-Three, the principal deities of the Vedic Pantheon. Buddhaghosa says, 'Ima/rc Li^avi-parisaaz tumhakara £ittena Tavatitfzsa-parisaztf upasa/wharatha upanetha alliy&petha : Yath' eva hi Tavatirasa abhirupa pasadika nil£di-nana-va«»a evaw U ime Li^Mavi-ra^ano ptti. Tavati/rcsehi samake katvd passathd ti attho.'
2 The Malalahkara-vatthu gives the substance of the discourse on this occasion. * The princes had come in their finest and richest dress ; in their appearance they vied in beauty with the nats (or angels). But foreseeing the ruin and misery that was soon to come upon them all, the Buddha exhorted his disciples to entertain a thorough contempt for things that are dazzling to the eyes, but essentially perishable and unreal in their nature/ — Bigandet, 2nd ed. p. 260.
mahA-parinibbana-sutta.
Then the LL&6^avis cast up their hands, exclaiming,
' We are outdone by this mango girl ! we are out-
reached by this mango girl ! ' And expressing their
thanks and approval of the words of the Blessed
One, they rose from their seats and bowed down
before the Blessed One, and keeping him on their
right hand as they past him, they departed thence.
23. And at the end of the night Ambap&li the
courtezan made ready in her mansion sweet rice
and cakes, and announced the time to the Blessed
One, saying, ' The hour, Lord, has come, and the
meal is ready!'
And the Blessed One robed himself early in the
morning, and took his bowl, and went with the
brethren to the place where Ambapili's dwelling-
house was : and when he had come there he seated
himself on the seat prepared for him. And Ambap&li
the courtezan set the sweet rice and cakes before the
order, with the Buddha at their head, and waited
upon them till they refused any more.
24. And when the Blessed One had quite finished
his meal, the courtezan had a low stool brought, and
sat down at his side, and addressed the Blessed One,
and said : ' Lord, I present this mansion to the order
of mendicants, of which the Buddha is the chief.'
And the Blessed One accepted the gift; and after
instructing, and rousing, and inciting, and gladden-
ing her with religious discourse, he rose from his
seat and departed thence 1 .