Aṅguttara Nikāya
Catukka Nipāta
XXVI: Abhiññā Vagga
The Book of the Gradual Sayings
The Book of the Fours
Chapter XXVI: Higher Knowledge
Sutta 254
Māluṅkya-Putta Suttaɱ
Māluṅkyā's Son[1]
Translated from the Pali by F. L. Woodward, M.A.
Copyright The Pali Text Society
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[1] Thus have I heard:
On a certain occasion the Exalted One was staying near Sāvatthī.
'Now the venerable Māluṅkyā's son came to visit the Exalted One,
and on coming to him
saluted the Exalted One
and sat down at one side.
As he sat thus
the venerable Māluṅkyā's son said this
to the Exalted One:
'Well for me, lord, if the Exalted One
would teach me Dhamma in brief!
Hearing which Dhamma from the Exalted One's lips
I could dwell alone,
remote,
earnest,
ardent
and resolute.'
'Now, Māluṅkyā's son,
what am I to teach the young monks,
when you,[2]
a broken-down old man,
far-gone in years,
beg a teaching in brief
of the Tathāgata?
[254] 'Nay, lord, let the Exalted One
teach me Dhamma in brief!
Surely I could understand the meaning
of the Exalted One's words!
Surely I could become heir
to the Exalted One's words!'
'Well, Māluṅkyā's son,
there are these four ways
in which craving arises in a monk
when it does arise.
What four?
It is because of the robe
that craving arises in a monk when it does arise;
it is because of alms-food,
that craving arises in a monk when it does arise;
it is because of lodging,
that craving arises in a monk when it does arise;
it is because of failure or success
to become this or that[3]
that craving arises in a monk when it does arise.
Now, Māluṅkyā's son,
when craving is abandoned in a monk,
cut down at the root,
made like a palm-tree stump,
made not to become again,
made of a nature not to arise again in future time,
this monk is called
"One who has cut off craving,
broken the bond,
by perfect comprehension of conceit
has made an end of Ill."'[4]
Thereupon the venerable Māluṅkyā's son,
thus instructed by the Exalted One
with this instruction,
rose from his seat,
saluted the Exalted One,
and keeping his right side towards him
went away.
Then the venerable Māluṅkyā's son,
living solitary,
remote,
earnest,
ardent
and resolute,
in that very life
himself comprehending and realizing
that unsurpassed perfection of the holy life,
for which clansmen rightly go forth from the home
to the homeless,
having attained it
abode therein,
so that he fully comprehended the meaning of:
Cut off is rebirth,
lived is the holy life,
done the thing that should be done,
there is no more of this state of things.
And the venerable Māluṅkyā's son
was yet another of the arahants.[5]
[1] Cf. S. iv, 72 = K.S. iv, 42, where see n. There the teaching given is on the organs of sense. Comy. and Sinh. text read Māluṅkyā (brāhmiṇī)-putta. Cf. SA. ii, 382. Text has Mālukya.
[2] S. iv reads yatra hi nāma = yo nāma. Comy. The old man had missed his chance in youth.
[3] Itibhavābhava-hetu; cf. supra, § 9.
[4] Cf. M. i, 12; S. iv, 205.
[5] One of the eighty great disciples. Comy. (on S. iv, 72).
