Saɱyutta Nikāya
4. Saḷāyatana Vagga
35. Saḷāyatana Saɱyutta
§ II: Paññāsaka Dutiya
5. Saḷa Vagga

The Book of the Kindred Sayings
4. The Book Called the Saḷāyatana-Vagga
Containing Kindred Sayings on the 'Six-Fold Sphere' of Sense and Other Subjects
35. Kindred Sayings the Sixfold Sphere of Sense
§ II: The 'Second Fifty' Suttas
5. The Chapter of the Six

Sutta 103

Uddaka Suttaɱ

Uddaka

Translated by F. L. Woodward
Edited by Mrs. Rhys Davids

Copyright The Pali Text Society
Commercial Rights Reserved

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[83] [49]

[1][bodh] Thus have I heard:

The Exalted One once staying near Sāvatthī.

Then the Exalted One addressed the brethren, saying:

"Brethren."

"Lord," responded those brethren to the Exalted One.

The Exalted One thus spake:

"It was Uddaka,^[1] Brethren,
the son of Rama,
who spoke these words:

'Lo! Versed in lore,^[2] all-conqueror am I!
'Tis I that have dug out the root of ill,^[3]
Not rooted out before.'

As to that, Brethren,
Uddaka, son of Rama,
though unversed in lore,
exclaims:

'Versed in lore am I.'

Though he was no conqueror of all,
he exclaims:

'All-conqueror am I.'

[50] Though the root of ill was not uprooted,
yet he exclaims:

'I have dug out the root of ill,
not rooted out before.'

Now herein, Brethren, a brother would be right in saying:

'Lo! Versed in lore, all-conqueror am I!
'Tis I that have dug out the root of ill,
Not rooted out before.'

And how, Brethren, is a brother
versed in lore?

In so far as he understands,
as they really are,
the arising,
the destruction,
the satisfaction,
the misery,
the way of escape
from the sixfold sphere of sense, -
that is how a brother is versed in lore.

And how, Brethren, is a brother
all-conqueror?

In so far as he sees,
as they really are,
the arising,
the destruction,
the satisfaction,
the misery,
the way of escape
from the sixfold sphere of sense, -
he is freed without grasping, -
that is how a brother is all-conqueror.

And how, Brethren, is a brother
one who has dug out the root of ill,
that imposthume not rooted out before?

'Imposthume,' Brethren,
is a term for this body,
of the four elements compounded,^[4]
of parents sprung,
on rice and gruel fed,
impermanent,
of a nature to be worn away,
pounded away,^[5]
broken
and scattered.

'Root of the imposthume,' Brethren,
is a term for craving.

When a brother has rooted out craving,
cut it down at the root,
made it like a palm-tree stump,
made it something that has ceased to be,
so that it cannot grow up again in future time, -
that, Brethren, is how a brother
has rooted up the root of the imposthume,
never rooted out before.

It was Uddaka, Rāma's son, Brethren, who said:

'Lo! Versed in lore, all-conqueror am I!
'Tis I that have dug out the root of ill,
Not rooted out before.'

As to that, Brethren,
Uddaka, son of Rama,
though unversed in lore,
exclaims:

'Versed in lore am I.'

Though he was no conqueror of all,
he exclaims:

'All-conqueror am I.'

Though the root of ill was not uprooted,
yet he exclaims:

'I have dug out the root of ill,
not rooted out before.'

But a brother (who has dug out the root of -craving) might well indeed exclaim:

'Lo! Versed in lore, all-conqueror am I!
'Tis I that have dug out the root of ill,
Not rooted out before.'"

 

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^[1] Cf. M. i, 165. He was the teacher whom Gotama followed on his way to enlightenment. Dissatisfied with his doctrine, he left him as he had left Āḷāra.

^[2] Jātu vedagu. Jātu is a doubtful word, used as an adverb. Sanskrit dictionaries derive it from jantu (man), and it generally means 'ever,' 'surely.' Possibly it is for jānātu ('take notice '), as I translate here. Cf. K.S. i, 178 n. Comy. has ekaṅsena vedagū, veda-sañkhātena ñāṇena ñeyyesu gato, pandit' asmi.
Idaṅ: See here! Ecce! Idaṅ jātu, the Oyez of the town-crier.

^[3] Gaṇḍa-mūlaṅ = dukkha-mūlaṅ. Comy. Cf. Dhp. 60, taṇhāya mūlaṅ khaṇatha. Gaṇḍa means 'root' or 'stalk' as well as 'boil,' in which sense the Buddha interprets. Text reads palikhitaṅ, but Comy. has apalikhitaṅ, expl. as apalikhataṅ. We mast read palikhataṅ, as in the repetition below, for the sake of the metre, but the Buddha's quotation seems to favour apalihhataṅ in the gāthā, and I have translated accordingly.

^[4] Cf. Dialog, i, 87 and n.; infra. xli, 5; S. v, 369.

^[5] Comy. describes the shampooing (sambāhana) of the body from childhood onwards, which wears it gradually away (tanu-vilepana).