3:4 Sundarika Bhṅradvṅja

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('â', Are you among the brahmans?â" The Buddha: "If you say youâre a brahman and Iâm not a brahman, I ask you the three lines of the Sṅvitti and its twenty-four syllables."4 Sundarika: "Because of what did seers, men, noble warriors, & brahmans —many of them here in the world— (first) arrange sacrifices to devas?" The Buddha: "Whoever has attained the end, an attainer-of-knowledge, should receive an oblation at the time of a sacrifice, his (sacrifice), I say, would succeed."5 Sundarika: "So yes, our sacrifice will succeed for we have seen an attainer-of-knowledge like you. Itâs from not seeing those like you that someone else eats the sacrificial cake." The Buddha: "Therefore, brahman, as you are seeking your benefit, approach and ask. Perhaps you may find here one at peace, with no anger, no desire, no affliction: one with good wisdom." Sundarika: "I delight in sacrifice, I desire to sacrifice, but I donât understand where a sacrifice succeeds. Teach me, sir. Tell me that." The Buddha: "In that case, brahman, lend ear. I will teach you the Dhamma. Donât inquire about birth.6 Inquire about conduct. As from wood, a fire is born,7 so a sage, even from lowly birth —steadfast, restrained through a sense of shame— becomes a thoroughbred. One tamed by truth, endowed with self-control, attained to the end of knowledge, having fulfilled the holy life: To him, at the right time, you should bestow an offering,8 to him a brahman aiming at merit should sacrifice. Those with well-restrained minds, straight as a shuttle: To them, at the right time, you should bestow an offering, to them a brahman aiming at merit should sacrifice. Those devoid of passion, their faculties well-centered, released like the moon from the grasp of an eclipse: To them, at the right time, you should bestow an offering, to them a brahman aiming at merit should sacrifice. Unattached, they wander in the world, always mindful, abandoning possessiveness: To them, at the right time, you should bestow an offering, to them a brahman aiming at merit should sacrifice. Who, abandoning sensuality, wanders victorious, who knows the end of birth & death, totally unbound, cool as a pool of water: The Tathṅgata deserves9 the sacrificial cake. Consonant among the consonant, far from the discordant, the Tathṅgata of infinite discernment, not smeared here or beyond: The Tathṅgata deserves the sacrificial cake. In whom no deceptiveness dwells, no conceit, devoid of greed, un- possessive, un- desiring, his anger dispelled, his mind entirely unbound, a brahman who has abandoned the stain of grief: The Tathṅgata deserves the sacrificial cake. He has abandoned the homes of the mind, has no possessions at all, no clinging here or beyond: The Tathṅgata deserves the sacrificial cake. Centered, heâs crossed over the flood, he knows the Dhamma through the highest view, effluents ended, bearing his last body: The Tathṅgata deserves the sacrificial cake. Whose effluent of becoming and harsh speech are destroyed, finished, do not exist— he, an attainer-of-knowledge, everywhere totally released10: The Tathṅgata deserves the sacrificial cake. Gone beyond snares, for whom there are no snares, who, among those attached to conceit, is unattached to conceit, comprehending stress along with its field & its site11: The Tathṅgata deserves the sacrificial cake. Independent of desire, seeing seclusion,12 gone beyond the views known by others, who has no supports no mental objects13 at all: The Tathṅgata deserves the sacrificial cake. In whom, having understood them, phenomena from high to low are destroyed, finished, do not exist14— at peace, released in the ending of clinging: The Tathṅgata deserves the sacrificial cake. Seeing the end & ending of fetters & birth, having dispelled the path of passion without trace, pure, faultless, stainless, clear: The Tathṅgata deserves the sacrificial cake. Who doesnât contemplate self by means of self,15 centered, straightened, steadfast in mind,16 truly unperturbed, free from rigidity, free from doubt: The Tathṅgata deserves the sacrificial cake. Who has no conditions for delusion, with knowledge & vision of all phenomena he carries his last body, having attained the unexcelled self-awakening, auspicious— to that extent is the purity of a spirit17: The Tathṅgata deserves the sacrificial cake." Sundarika: "And may my offering be a true offering from having obtained an attainer-of-knowledge like you. As Brahmṅ is my witness, may the Blessed One accept, may the Blessed One eat, my sacrificial cake." The Buddha: "Whatâs been chanted over with verses18 shouldnât be eaten by me. Thatâs not the nature, brahman, of one whoâs seen rightly. Whatâs been chanted over with verses Awakened Ones reject. That being their Dhamma, brahman, this is their way of life. Serve with other food & drink a fully-perfected great seer, his effluents     ended, his anxiety     stilled, for that is the field for one looking for merit." Sundarika: "Itâs well, Blessed One, how I understand who should eat the offering of one like me, whom I should seek at the time of sacrifice having received your advice." The Buddha: "Whose violence is fully gone, whose mind is     limpid, whose sloth is     dispelled —fully released from sensuality— one who has subdued boundaries,19 a master of birth & death, a sage consummate in sagacity20: When one like this has come to the sacrifice, then, subduing scorn, with hands palm-to-palm over the heart, do homage. Worship him with food & drink. In this way the offerings will succeed." Sundarika: "Master, the Awakened One, field of merit unexcelled          in all the world, recipient          for all the world21 deserves          the sacrificial cake. A gift given to you, master, bears great fruit. Then the brahman Sundarika Bhṅradvṅja said to the Blessed One, "Magnificent, Master Gotama! Magnificent! Just as if he were to place upright what was overturned, to reveal what was hidden, to show the way to one who was lost, or to carry a lamp into the dark so that those with eyes could see forms, in the same way has Master Gotama—through many lines of reasoning—made the Dhamma clear. I go to Master Gotama for refuge, to the Dhamma, & to the Saṃgha of monks. Let me obtain the Going-forth in Master Gotamaâs presence, let me obtain Acceptance (into the Bhikkhu Saṃgha)." Then the brahman Sundarika Bhṅradvṅja obtained the Going-forth in the Blessed Oneâs presence, he obtained Acceptance. And not long after his Acceptance—dwelling alone, secluded, heedful, ardent, & resolute—he in no long time reached & remained in the supreme goal of the holy life, for which clansmen rightly go forth from home into homelessness, knowing & realizing it for himself in the here-&-now. He knew: "Birth is ended, the holy life fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for the sake of this world." And so Ven. Sundarika Bhṅradvṅja became another one of the arahants. vv. 456–486 Notes 1. The account in SN 7:9 goes immediately from this question to the Buddhaâs response marked by footnote 6. 2. See AN 4:36. 3. According to SnA, the "clan" of the run-of-the-mill is the five aggregates. However, the clan of run-of-the-mill people might also refer to the customs of all lineages that donât follow the customs of the noble lineage set out in AN 4:28. 4. This is apparently a reference to ṃgveda iii, 62, 10, an invocation addressed to Sṅvitrī, or the Sun: tat savitur vareṃ(i)yaṃ bhargo devasya dhīmahi dhiyo yo nah pracodayṅt "Let us meditate on the glory of the excellent deva Sṅvitrī, that he may inspire our thoughts." This verse, in the Gṅvitrī meter, is recited during the upanayana ceremony, when a young brahman is invested with the sacred thread that initiates him into the status of a "twice-born" brahman and he begins his study of the Vedas. Although similar passages were recited when young men of other castes began their education, ṃgveda iii, 62, 10 was reserved exclusively for brahmans. It was also the subject of many meditations on its esoteric meaning, some of which can be found in the major Upaniṃ£ads: Bṃhad-ṅraṃyaka 6.3.6; ñvetṅñvatara 4.18; and Maitrī 6.7 and 6.34. SnA suggests that the Buddhaâs question about this verse surprises Sundarika, making him suspect that the Buddha knows more about brahmanical lore than he does, which is why he changes his tone with the following question. SnA also asserts that the Buddhist equivalent to the Sṅvitti—three lines, 24 syllables—is the expression of homage to the Triple Gem: Buddhaṃ saraṃaṃ gacchṅmi, Dhammaṃ saraṃaṃ gacchṅmi, Saṃghaṃ saraṃaṃ gacchṅmi. 5. In other words, the original motivation for performing sacrifices was that the recipient of the oblation would be a pure person. The Buddha gives another answer to a very similar question in Sn 5:3. 6. In SN 7:9, the Buddhaâs initial response to Sundarika begins here. 7. SnA explains this analogy by saying that it doesnât matter what kind of wood is used to make a fire, for in each case the fire is equally hot and bright. See MN 93. 8. In SN 7:9, the initial exchange between the Buddha and Sundarika ends here. Sundarika then offers the sacrificial cake to the Buddha, who refuses it with the passage beginning with the line marked by footnote 18. Then, as in Sn 1:4, he tells Sundarika to throw away the offering, which sizzles in the water into which it is thrown. Shocked, Sundarika returns to the Buddha, who teaches him five more verses of Dhamma. Donât, brahman, when lighting kindling, imagine that purity comes from that outside, for the skilled say that purity doesnât come through that: whoever searches outside for purity. Having abandoned the lighting of kindling, I, brahman, ignite just the inner fire. Constantly afire, constantly centered in mind, I am a worthy one, living the holy life. Conceit, brahman, is the burden on your shoulder, anger your smoke, false speech your ashes. The tongue is the ladle; the heart, the fire-altar; the well-tamed self is the fire of a man. The Dhamma is a lake whose ford is virtue —limpid, praised by the good to the good— where attainers-of-knowledge, having bathed cross, dry-limbed, to the further shore. Truth, Dhamma, restraint, the holy life, attainment of Brahmṅ dependent on the middle: Pay homage to those whoâve become truly straightened: That, I call a man in the flow of the Dhamma. After hearing these verses, Sundarika asks for Acceptance into the Saṃgha, and the sutta concludes in the same way as the account given here. 9. This is a play on words: arahati, "deserves," is related to arahant. 10. On the implications of being "everywhere released," see The Paradox of Becoming, chapter 7. 11. According to SnA, the field and site of stress is a reference to defilements. It could also be a reference to the objects of clinging that can form a basis for stress: such things as the aggregates, sense media, and properties (dhṅtu). 12. According to SnA, "seclusion" here means unbinding. See SN 21:10 and SN 35:63. 13. Supports/mental objects = ṅrammaṃṅ. See Ud 8:1, SN 12:64, and SN 22:53. 14. On unbinding as the end of phenomena, see AN 10:58 and Sn 5:6. 15. For examples of seeing self by means of self (or self by means of not-self, or not-self by means of self), see MN 2. 16. This verse contains a play on words, in that attṅ can mean both "self" and "mind," and it is used in both senses here. 17. Spirit = yakkha. According to SnA, the word yakkha in this context means "person." See Sn 4:11, note 4. 18. See Sn 1:4. 19. Boundaries = sīmantṅ. According to SnA, this is an epithet for defilement, in that the territory (sīmṅ) stands for good manners, and the end of the territory, or boundary, (sīmanta) stands for the defilements that lie outside of the realm of good manners. For a very different meaning for "territory," see Sn 4:4, note 12. 20. See AN 3:123 and Sn 1:12. 21. The word, sabba-lokasmiṃ—"in all the world," "with regard to all the world"—apparently functions as a lamp in this verse. See also: SN 3:24; AN 6:37; AN 9:20 - --> - - - -