Saɱyutta Nikāya
I. Sagātha Vagga
8. Vaṅgīsa-Thera-Saɱyutta
The Book of the Kindred Sayings
I. Kindred Sayings with Verses
8. The Vaṅgisa Suttas
Sutta 12
Vaṅgīsa Suttam
Vaṅgīsa
Translated by Mrs. Rhys Davids
Assisted by Sūriyagoḍa Sumangala Thera
Copyright The Pali Text Society. Public Domain.
[12.1]THUS HAVE I HEARD: —
The Exalted One was once staying near Sāvatthī,
at the Jeta Vana,
Anāthapiṇḍika's Park.
Now on that occasion the venerable Vaṅgīsa had but a little while ago won Arahantship,[1]
and experiencing the bliss of emancipation,
in that hour he spake these verses: —
"Drunk[2] with divining art,[3] of old we roamed
From town and village on to town again.
Then we beheld the All-Enlightened [him
Who hath transcended all that we can know].
He in the Norm instructed me [the Seer
Who hath transcended all the power of ill.
And when we heard that Norm our heart was glad],
And faith and trust therein rose up in us.
Hearing that Norm concerning body, mind,
Sensations, objects of the same, and all
The data of our knowledge — learning these
I left the world to lead the homeless life.
0 surely for the weal of many folk ...
The Brethren and the Sisters, who have found
And seen salvation's system and its way,[4]
The holy seer did win enlightenment ...
0 welcome wast thou then to me who now,
Have lived and studied at my Buddha's feet! ...
[249] The greater Triple Veda have I won,
The training in the Buddha's Rule is done.
I know as what I lived in times gone by,
Clear is the vision of the heavenly eye;
And magic power, the threefold lore is mine,
And thoughts of others can my thought divine."
[1] B. here gives his legend, agreeing with that given by Dhammapāla, though not told in quite identical words.
[2] = Theragāthā (Pss. of the Brethren), vers. 1253-62, but omitting several padas and even whole lines. The portions omitted in the S. are in italics, and below are indicated by ...
[3] On kaveyya matto see above, IV, 2, § 3, and note in op. and loc. cit. just above.
[4] Niyāmagataddasā, explained as having got to, and seeing the Niyāma — the 'way,' that is, of salvation, or 'assurance' concerning it. See Points of Controversy, p. 177, n. 1.
