Saṃyutta Nikāya
II. Nidāna Vagga
20. Opamma-Saṃuttaṃ
Sutta 1
Kūṭa Suttaṃ
The Pinnacle[1]
Translated from the Pāḷi
by
Michael M. Olds
Once upon a time Bhagava,
Sāvatthi-town revisiting,
Jeta-woods,
Anāthapiṇḍika's Park.
[2][rhyc] There then, The Lucky Man addressed the beggars:
"Beggars!"
Then those beggars responding "Bhagava!"
the Lucky Man said this:
[3][rhyc] "In the same way, beggars,
as in a pinnacled house,
whatsoever rafters there are
all angle towards [2] the pinnacle,
fit together at the pinnacle
culminate at the pinnacle
all interdepend for support[3] on the pinnacle.
[4][rhyc] In the same way, beggars,
whatsoever unskillful things there are
all are angles of blindness,
fit together with blindness,
are grouped under blindness,
all interdepend for support on blindness.
[5][rhyc] Wherefore, beggars, train yourselves this way:
'Let us not live carelessly!'
This is the way to train yourselves."
[1] Kūṭa -agāra PED: a building with a peaked roof or pinnacles, possibly gabled; or with an upper storey. In such a building the rafters are held in place by the pinnacle. Each rafter exerts a force on the pinnacle which acts as a counter force against an opposing rafter. Round and round.
[2] Kūṭaṇgamā = Kūṭa aṇgamā.
[3] Samugghātaṃ gacchanti. resort to rubbing together. Which is illuminating but doesn't translate well into the image of structural integrity held in the West.
