Maha-sihanada-sutta

The Long Challenge

Thus have I heard. Once when the Lord was staying at Vesali, outside the town in the dense forest to the west, Sunakkhatta the Licchavi, who had recently left this creed and rule, was telling people there was nothing superhuman about the recluse Gotama's ennobling gifts of knowledge and insight, that it was Gotama's own reasoning which had hammered out a Doctrine of his own evolving and of his personal invention, such that whoso hears it preached for his good has only to act up to it to be guided to the utter ending of Ill.

Now in the morning early the reverend Sariputta, duly robed and bowl in hand, went for alms into Vesali, where he heard Sunakkhatta saying this. On his return after his meal, Sariputta came to the Lord and with due obeisance took a seat aside, telling the Lord what Sunakkhatta was saying, Sunakkhatta — was the Lord's reply — is a man of wrath and folly; wrath prompted his remarks; yet, though dispraise is his object, the foolish person is actually singing the Truth-finder's praises. [69] For, praise it is when a man says: Whoso hears it preached for his good has only to act up to it to be guided to the utter ending of Ill.

Never, Sariputta, will this foolish person attain to the Doctrine's teaching about myself that — He is the Lord, Arahat all-enlightened, walking by knowledge, blessed, knowing all worlds, the matchless tamer of the human heart, teacher of gods and men, the Lord of enlightenment. Never will this foolish person attain to the Doctrine's teaching about myself that — He is the Lord in whom reside all psychic powers: from being one to become manifold, from being manifold to become one, to be visible or invisible, to pass at will through wall or fence or hill as if through air, to pass in and out of the solid earth as if it were water, to walk on the water's unbroken surface as if it were the solid earth, to glide in state through the air like a bird on the wing, to touch and to handle the moon and sun in their power and might, and to extend the sovereignty of his body right up to the Brahma world. Never will this foolish person attain to the Doctrine's teaching about myself that — He is the Lord who, with the Ear Celestial, which is pure and far surpasses the human ear, hears both heavenly and human sounds. Never will this foolish person attain to the Doctrine's teaching about myself that — He is the Lord who with his own heart comprehends the heart of other creatures and of other men so as to know them for just what they are, — filled with passion or free from passion,... focussed or wandering, large-minded or small-minded, inferior or superior, stedfast or unstedfast, Delivered or lacking Deliverance.

Ten in number, Sariputta, are a Truth-finder's powers, whereby he knows his precedence as leader of the herd, issues his lion-like challenges in public assemblies¹ and sets a- rolling the excellent Wheel of Truth. And the ten powers are these:

(i) The Truth-finder knows precisely both what is and what is not a specific cause;

(ii) [70] he knows the precise nature of the consequences that must inevitably result from everything done in the past, present and future;

(iii) he knows the precise nature of the future to which every course leads;

(iv) he knows the precise nature of the manifold and diverse physical factors which make up the world;

(v) he knows the precise nature of each creature's particular bent;

(vi) he knows the precise nature of all that is going on in the hearts of others;

(vii) he knows the precise nature of the imperfections, the specific stage, or the uprising of the several achievements of Ecstasy, Deliverance, and Rapt Concentration;

(viii) he recalls to mind his divers existences in the past, — a single birth... (etc. as in Sutta No. 4) right up to the time when he passed to his present life here;

(ix) he sees — with the Eye Celestial, which is pure and far surpasses the human eye — creatures in the act of passing hence and re-appearing elsewhere, creatures high and low... (etc. as in Sutta No. 4);

(x) [71] by eradicating the Cankers, he — here and now, of and by himself — comprehends, realizes, enters on, and abides in the Deliverance of heart and mind which knows no Cankers.

Such are the Truth-finder's ten powers, whereby he knows his precedence as leader of the herd, issues his lion-like challenge in public assemblies and sets a-roll-ing the excellent Wheel of Truth. Now, if of me who know and see all this anyone were to say that there is nothing superhuman about the recluse Gotama's ennobling gifts or his knowledge and insight, and that it is Gotama's own reasoning which has hammered out a Doctrine of his own evolving and personal invention, — if such a one does not recant these words of his, change his heart, and renounce his view, he will find himself hauled off to purgatory. Just as an Almsman who is equipped with virtue, concentration, and insight will here and now come to (the Arahat's) plenitude of knowledge, so this other equipment — if the man does not recant his words, change his heart, and renounce his view — will end in his being hauled off to purgatory.

Four in number are a Truth-finder's assurances whereby he knows his precedence as leader of the herd, issues his lion-like challenge in public assemblies, and sets a-rolling the Excellent Wheel of Truth; and the four are these: —

(i) I see nothing to indicate that anyone — be he recluse or brahmin or god or Mara or Brahma or anyone else in the wide world — [72] will, with justice, charge me with lacking enlightenment on those states of mind on which I profess to be all-enlightened. And, as I see nothing to indicate this, my state is one of tranquillity, fearlessness, and assurance.

(ii) I see nothing to indicate that anyone... will, with justice, charge me with not having extirpated the Cankers as I profess. And, as I see nothing to indicate this, my state is one of tranquillity, fearlessness, and assurance.

(iii) I see nothing to indicate that anyone... will, with justice, charge it against me that the states of mind which I have declared to be stumbling-blocks, are not such at all, to him who indulges in them. And, as I see nothing to indicate this, my state is one of tranquillity, fearlessness, and assurance.

(iv) I see nothing to indicate that anyone... will, with justice, charge it against me that the Doctrine I have preached for the profit of whomsoever it be, fails, if he acts up to it, to guide him to the utter ending of Ill. And, as I see nothing to indicate this, my state is one of tranquillity, fearlessness, and assurance.

Such are the Truth-finder's four assurances whereby he knows his precedence as leader of the herd, issues his lion-like challenge in public assemblies, and sets a-rolling the excellent Wheel of Truth. Now, if of me who know and see all this anyone were to say there is nothing superhuman about the recluse Gotama... will end in his being hauled off to purgatory.

Eight in number are the assemblies, namely the assemblies of nobles, brahmins, heads of houses, recluses, the four Great Regents, the Thirty-three gods, Mara and Brahma. Strong in the aforesaid four assurances, I have experience of going to some hundreds of each of these eight assemblies, sitting and talking with them and holding converse. Yet never did I see anything to indicate that fear or nervousness would come upon me. And, as I saw nothing to indicate this, my state is one of tranquillity, fearlessness, and assurance. [73] Now, if of me who know and see all this anyone were to say that there is nothing superhuman about the recluse Gotama... will end in his being hauled off to purgatory.

Four in number are the modes in which life is engendered, — from the egg, from the womb, from moisture, and by translation. From the egg are those creatures said to be born who at birth break the shell that contains them. From the womb are those creatures said to be born who at birth break the womb. From moisture are those creatures said to be born who are born in putrid fish, corpses, or rice, or in refuse-pools or rubbish-shoots. By translation come gods, denizens of purgatory, some human beings and some dwellers in the four states of woe. Now, if of me who know and see all this anyone were to say that there is nothing superhuman about the recluse Gotama... will end in his being hauled off to purgatory.

Five in number are the destinies after life, — in purgatory, as an animal, as a ghost, as a human being, and as a god. Purgatory I know, the road thereto, the courses that lead to it, and what courses a man pursues to pass, at the body's dissolution after death, to rebirth in some unhappy state of misery or woe or purgatory. The animal world I know, and the worlds of ghosts and men, together with the roads to each, the courses that lead to each and what courses a man pursues to pass to each, at the body's dissolution after death. Gods I know, the road thereto, and the courses that lead to their world, and what courses a man pursues to pass, at the body's dissolution after death, to a state of blessedness in heaven. I know too Nirvana, the road leading thereto, the courses that lead to it, [74] and what courses a man pursues to dwell — here and now — by the extirpation of the Cankers, in that Deliverance of heart and mind which knows no Cankers, a Deliverance which he has, for and by himself, thought out and realized, so as to enter and to abide therein.

Suppose that my heart's knowledge of the heart of a given man tells me that his courses and behaviour and the road he has taken are such as will bring him at the body's dissolution after death to a state of suffering and woe or purgatory. Later on, with the Eye Celestial which is pure and far surpasses the human eye, I duly see him, at the body's dissolution after death, in some state of suffering and woe or purgatory, there experiencing violent, acute and racking pain. It is just as if there were a pit, over a man's height deep, filled with embers showing neither flame nor smoke; and if there drew near a man overcome and overpowered by the midsummer heat, exhausted and beside himself with thirst, making straight for the ember-pit ahead of him; and if a man with eyes to discern were to observe him and say his course and behaviour and the road he was taking would surely bring him to that very pit of embers; and if later that observer were to see the wayfarer fallen into the pit of embers, there experiencing violent, acute and racking pain; — even so does my heart's knowledge of the heart of a given man tell me that his courses and behaviour... and racking pain.

Suppose, again, that my heart's knowledge of the heart of a given man tells me that his courses and behaviour and the road he has taken are such as will bring him at the body's dissolution after death to rebirth as an animal. Later on, with the Eye Celestial which is pure and far surpasses the human eye, I duly see him, at the body's dissolution after death, reborn as an animal and experiencing, as such, violent, acute and racking pain. It is just as if there were a jakes, a man's height deep, full up with ordure, and if there drew near a man overcome [75] and overpowered by the midsummer heat... (etc. as in previous paragraph, substituting ordure for embers)... racking pain.

Or, suppose that my heart's knowledge of... reborn as a ghost, there experiencing, as such, violent, acute and racking pain. It is just as if on rugged ground there grew a tree with but the tiniest leaves and foliage and with but meagre strips of shade beneath; and if there drew near a man overcome and overpowered by the midsummer heat, exhausted and beside himself with thirst, making straight for the tree ahead of him; and if a man with eyes to discern were to observe him and to say that his course and behaviour and the road he was taking would surely bring him to that very tree; and if later that observer were to see the wayfarer seated or lying under that tree's shade, experiencing violent, acute and racking pain; — even so does my heart's knowledge of the heart of a given man tell me that his courses and behaviour and the road he has taken are such as to bring him, at the body's dissolution after death, to rebirth as a ghost, there to experience violent, acute and racking pain.

Or, suppose that my heart's knowledge of... reborn as a man, there experiencing much felicity. It is just as if on level ground there grew a tree with thick luxuriant foliage and with dense shade beneath; and if there drew near a man overcome... (etc. as in previous paragraph)... see the wayfarer seated or lying in the shade of the tree, there experiencing much felicity; — even so does my heart's knowledge of the heart of a given man tell me that his courses and behaviour and the road he has taken are such as to bring him, at the body's dissolution after death, to rebirth among mankind, there to experience much felicity.

[76] Or, fourthly, suppose that my heart's knowledge of... reborn in bliss in heaven, there experiencing exceedingly great felicity. It is just as if there were a palace and in it a gabled pavilion, plastered within and without, sheltered from winds, complete with well-barred doors, and windows that fasten; and if within this pavilion there were a divan, spread with white coverlets of fleecy wool embroidered with flowers, strewn over with rare antelope-skins as rugs, and furnished with counterpanes and a red cushion at either end; and if there drew near a man overcome... see the wayfarer seated or lying on that divan in exceedingly great felicity; — even so does my heart's knowledge... there to experience exceedingly great felicity.

Or, lastly, suppose that my heart's knowledge of the heart of a given man tells me that his courses and behaviour and the road he has taken are such as will, by the extirpation of the Cankers, ensure his dwelling — here and now — in that Deliverance of heart and mind which knows no Cankers, a Deliverance which he has, for and by himself, thought out and realized, so as to enter and abide therein. Later on, with the Eye Celestial which is pure and far surpasses the human eye, I duly see him with his Deliverance achieved, experiencing exceedingly great felicity. It is just as if there were a lotus-pond of clear pleasant cool gleaming water with firm banks and in every way delightful, with a dense wood hard by; and if there drew near a man overcome... see the wayfarer — after going down to the pond and there bathing and drinking and easing his weary frame of all its fatigue and distress — come out of the water and sit or [77] lie down in the dense wood in exceedingly great felicity; — even so does my heart's knowledge... with his Deliverance achieved, experiencing exceedingly great felicity.

Such are the five destinies hereafter. Now, if of me who know and see all this anyone were to say that there is nothing superhuman about the recluse Gotama's ennobling gifts or his knowledge and insight, and that it is Gotama's own reasoning which has hammered out a Doctrine of his own evolving and personal invention, — if such a one does not recant these words of his, change his heart, and renounce his view, he will find himself hauled off to purgatory. Just as a Brother who is equipped with virtue, concentration, and insight will — here and now — come to the (Arahat's) plenitude of knowledge, so this other equipment — if the man does not recant his words, change his heart, and renounce his view — will end in his being hauled off to purgatory.

Aye, Sariputta, I have lived the fourfold higher life; — I have been an ascetic of ascetics; loathly have I been, foremost in loathliness; scrupulous have I been, foremost in scrupulosity; solitary have I been, foremost in solitude.

(i.) To such a pitch of asceticism have I gone that² naked was I, flouting life's decencies, licking my hands after meals, never heeding when folk called to me to come or to stop, never accepting food brought to me before my rounds or cooked expressly for me, never accepting an invitation, never receiving food direct from pot or pan or within the threshold or among the faggots or pestles, never from (one only of) two people messing together, never from a pregnant woman or a nursing mother or a woman in coitu never from gleanings (in time of famine) nor from where a dog is ready at hand or where (hungry) flies congregate, never touching flesh or fish or spirits or strong drink or brews of grain. I have visited only one house a day and there taken only one morsel; [78] or I have visited but two or (up to not more than) seven houses a day and taken at each only two or (up to not more than) seven morsels; I have lived on a single saucer of food a day, or on two, or (up to) seven saucers; I have had but one meal a day, or one every two days, or (so on, up to) every seven days, or only once a fortnight, on a rigid scale of rationing. My sole diet has been herbs gathered green, or the grain of wild millets and paddy, or snippets of hide, or water-plants, or the red powder round rice-grains within the husk, or the discarded scum of rice on the boil, or the flour of oil-seeds, or grass, or cow-dung. I have lived on wild roots and fruit, or on windfalls only. My raiment has been of hemp or of hempen mixture, of cerements, of rags from the dust-heap, of bark, of the black antelope's pelt either whole or split down the middle, of grass, of strips of bark or wood, of hair of men or animals woven into a blanket, or of owls' wings. In fulfilment of my vows, I have plucked out the hair of my head and the hair of my beard, have never quitted the upright for the sitting posture,³ have squatted and never risen up, moving only a-squat, have couched on thorns, have gone down to the water punctually thrice before night-fall to wash (away the evil within). After this wise, in divers fashions, have I lived to torment and to torture my body; — to such a length in asceticism have I gone.

(ii.) To such a length have I gone in loathliness that on my body I have accumulated the dirt and filth of years till it dropped off of itself, — even as the rank growths of years fall away from the stump of a Tinduka-tree. But never once came the thought to me to clean it off with my own hands or to get others to clean it off for me; — to such a length in loathliness have I gone.

(iii.) To such a length in scrupulosity have I gone that my footsteps out and in were always attended by a mindfulness so vigilant as to awake compassion within me over even a drop of water lest I might harm tiny creatures in crevices; — to such a length have I gone in scrupulosity.

(iv.) To such a length have I gone as a solitary that, [79] when my abode was in the depths of the forest, the mere glimpse of a cowherd or neatherd or grass-cutter, or of a man gathering firewood or edible roots in the forest, was enough to make me dart from wood to wood, from thicket to thicket, from dale to dale, and from hill to hill, — in order that they might not see me or I them. As a deer at the sight of man darts away over hill and dale, even so did I dart away at the mere glimpse of cowherd, neatherd, or what not, in order that they might not see me or I them; — to such a length have I gone as a solitary.

I took up my abode in the awesome depths of the forest, depths so awesome that it was reputed that none but the passion-less could venture in without his hair standing on end. When the cold season brought chill wintry nights, then it was that, in the dark half of the months when snow was falling, I dwelt by night in the open air and in the dank thicket by day. But when there came the last broiling month of summer before the rains, I made my dwelling under the baking sun by day and in the stifling thicket by night. Then there flashed on me these verses, never till then uttered by any: —⁴

Now scorched, now frored in forest dread, alone,
naked and fireless, set upon his quest,
the hermit battles purity to win.

In a charnel ground I lay me down with charred bones for pillow. When the cowherds' boys came along, they spat and staled upon me, pelted me with dirt, and stuck bits of wood into my ears. Yet I declare that never did I let an evil mood against them arise within me. — So poised in equanimity was I.⁵

[80] Some recluses and brahmins there are who say and hold that purity cometh by way of food, and accordingly proclaim that they live exclusively on jujube-fruits, which, in one form or other, constitute their sole meat and drink. Now I can claim to have lived on a single jujube-fruit a day. If this leads you to think that this fruit was larger in those days, you would err; for, it was precisely the same size then that it is to-day. When I was living on a single fruit a day, my body grew emaciated in the extreme; because I ate so little, my members, great and small, grew like the knotted joints of withered creepers; like a buffalo's hoof were my shrunken buttocks; like the twists in a rope were my spinal vertebrae; like the crazy rafters of a tumble-down roof, that start askew and aslant, were my gaunt ribs; like the starry gleams on water deep down and afar in the depths of a well, shone my gleaming eyes deep down and afar in the depths of their sockets; and as the rind of a cut gourd shrinks and shrivels in the heat, so shrank and shrivelled the scalp of my head, — and all because I ate so little. If I sought to feel my belly, it was my backbone which I found in my grasp; if I sought to feel my backbone, I found myself grasping my belly, so closely did my belly cleave to my backbone; — and all because I ate so little. When I wanted to retire for the calls of nature, down I fell on my face; — and all because I ate so little. If for ease of body I chafed my limbs, the hairs of my body fell away under my hand, rotted at their roots; — and all because I ate so little.

Other recluses and brahmins there are who, saying and holding that purity cometh by way of food, proclaim that they live exclusively on beans — or sesamum — or rice — as their sole meat and drink. [81] Now I can claim to have lived on a single bean a day — on a single sesamum seed a day — or a single grain of rice a day; and [the result was still the same]. Never did this practice or these courses or these dire austerities bring me to the ennobling gifts of super-human knowledge and insight. And why? — Because none of them lead to that noble understanding which, when won, leads on to Deliverance and guides him who lives up to it onward to the utter extinction of all Ill.

Again, there are other recluses and brahmins who say and hold that purity cometh by way of successive transmigrations, [82] — or of a particular rebirth — or particular abode. Now, it would not be easy to find the transmigration or rebirth or abode that has not been mine in all this long past of mine, — save and except the heaven of the pure abode. ⁶ And even if I were to transmigrate to — or be reborn in — or abide among the gods of that particular heaven, I could never more return to earth.

Again, there are recluses and brahmins who say and hold that purity cometh by sacrificing or by fire-ritual. Now it would not be easy to find either the sacrifice which I have not offered or the fire-ritual which I have not performed, — whether as a king anointed as such from among the nobles, or as a brahmin magnate.

Lastly, there are recluses and brahmins who say and hold that, as long as a man is in the prime of his youth and early manhood, with a wealth of coal-black hair untouched by grey, and in all the beauty of his prime, — so long only are the powers of his mind at their best; but that when he has grown broken and old, aged and stricken in years, and draws to his life's close, then the powers of his mind are in decay. This is not so. I myself am now broken and old, aged and stricken in years and at the close of my life, being now round about eighty. Imagine now that I had four disciples — each living to be a full hundred, each of perfect alertness, resolve, and power to reproduce and expound, — four disciples as perfect in their scope as a mighty archer of renown, so skilled and dexterous with his bow and so schooled in its use that he can with ease shoot even a feather-weight shaft right over a towering palm. [83] Imagine further that these four gifted disciples ply me with questions (say) about mustering-up mindfulness, receive my answers, take in my exposition as expounded to them, never put to me a single subsidiary question, and never pause in their questioning except for meals, for the calls of nature, and for necessary repose. — Still uncompleted withal would be the Truth-finder's teaching, still uncompleted would be his exposition of the Sayings, still uncompleted would be his answers to their questions; but meantime my four disciples would have lived out their allotted century and would have expired. If you have to carry me about on a litter, Sariputta, yet will my mind still retain its powers.

Of me, if of anyone, it may truly be said that in me a being without delusions has appeared in the world for the welfare and good of many, out of compassion towards the world, for the profit, welfare and good of gods and men.

At the time the venerable Nagasamala was standing behind the Lord, fanning him; and he said to the Lord: — Wonderful, sir; marvellous! As I listened to this discourse, the hairs of my body stood on end. What is the title of this discourse?

Well, then, Nagasamala, treasure it up in your memory as 'the Grisly discourse.'⁷

Thus spoke the Lord. Glad at heart, the reverend Nagasamala rejoiced in what the Lord had said.

Footnotes:

1. From D.I., 175, it will be seen that Gotama had been unjustly criticized for roaring like a lion only in safe privacy, where he could not be answered.

2. Cf. infra Suttas No. 36, 45, 51, etc.; and see Dialogues I, 227, for these — and one or two more — ascetic practices (of Ajivakas) and their interpretation (by Buddhists).

3. Jain practices, see Sutta No. 14.

4. Less detail is given at Dialogues I, 232 (note i), and the 94th Jataka (which contains the verses following, with a commentary which is fuller and — I think — later than Buddhaghosa's commentary on them in this Sutta).

5. This bojjhanga addition (see Sutta No. 2) does not appear in the Digha catalogue of asceticisms.

6. This heaven is deliberately ignored in Sutta No. 1. At Digha II, 50 (v. Dialogues II, 39, note 2), Gotama paid a visit of curiosity to this heaven, which is only dragged in here per contumeliam, to pour contempt on all the pride of brahmins in their purity and its apotheosis.

7. As this Maha-sihanada-sutta is also thus styled the Lomahamsa-pariyaya, so the Sigal-ovada-sutta of the Digha was also (Dialogues III, 171) known as the layman's Vinaya. So the Anumana-sutta (infra. No. 15) was known as the Bhikkhu-patimokkha; and the Ariya-pariyesana-sutta (infra, No. 26) is alternatively styled by Bu. Pasarasi-sutta. See also the penultimate paragraph of Sutta No. 115 for five alternative titles, all attributed to Gotama himself.

*Majjhima Nikaya 12, translated by Lord CHALMERS

Maha-sihanada-sutta

The Long Challenge

Footnotes:

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