Aṇguttara Nikāya
Chakka Nipāta
VI. Mahā Vagga
The Book of the Gradual Sayings
The Book of the Sixes
Chapter VI: The Great Chapter
Sutta 59
Dāru-Kammika Suttaṃ
The Wood-Seller[1]
Translated from the Pali by E.M. Hare.
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[1] Thus have I heard:
Once, when the Exalted One was staying in the Brick Hall at Nādika,
a householder,
a wood-seller,
visited him,
saluted
and sat down at one side.
So seated, the Exalted One said to him:
'Maybe, householder, alms are given by your family?'
[279] '0 yes, lord, and in this way too:
such monks as are forest-gone,
almsmen,
rag-wearers -
arahants
or men won to the arahant's Way -
to them, lord, alms are given by my family.'
■
'But surely, householder,
it's a hard thing for you -
a layman,
engrossed in pleasures,
encumbered with children,
odorous with Kāsi's sandalwood,
decked with flowers and scented oils,
merry with silver and gold[2] -
to tell which are arahants
and which have won
to the arahants' Way!
■
If a forest-gone monk, householder,
be puffed[3] up,
proud,
excitable,
a mouthy speechifier,
forgetful of mindfulness,
not self-possessed nor composed,
a scatter-brain,
rude in sense-governance -
he on that count is blameworthy;
if he be not puffed up,
proud,
excitable,
a mouthy speechifier,
but upright in mindfulness,
self-possessed,
composed,
one-pointed,
controlled in faculties -
he on that count is praiseworthy.
■
So, too, if a monk
dwelling on the village outskirts
be puffed up,
proud,
excitable,
a mouthy speechifier,
forgetful of mindfulness,
not self-possessed nor composed,
a scatter-brain,
rude in sense-governance -
he on that count is blameworthy;
if he be not puffed up,
proud,
excitable,
a mouthy speechifier,
but upright in mindfulness,
self-possessed,
composed,
one-pointed,
controlled in faculties -
he on that count is praiseworthy.
■
So, too, if a monk,
an almsman
be puffed up,
proud,
excitable,
a mouthy speechifier,
forgetful of mindfulness,
not self-possessed nor composed,
a scatter-brain,
rude in sense-governance -
he on that count is blameworthy;
if he be not puffed up,
proud,
excitable,
a mouthy speechifier,
but upright in mindfulness,
self-possessed,
composed,
one-pointed,
controlled in faculties -
he on that count is praiseworthy.
■
So, too, if a monk,
a guest[ed1]
be puffed up,
proud,
excitable,
a mouthy speechifier,
forgetful of mindfulness,
not self-possessed nor composed,
a scatter-brain,
rude in sense-governance -
he on that count is blameworthy;
if he be not puffed up,
proud,
excitable,
a mouthy speechifier,
but upright in mindfulness,
self-possessed,
composed,
one-pointed,
controlled in faculties -
he on that count is praiseworthy.
■
So, too, if a monk,
a rag-wearer
be puffed up,
proud,
excitable,
a mouthy speechifier,
forgetful of mindfulness,
not self-possessed nor composed,
a scatter-brain,
rude in sense-governance -
he on that count is blameworthy;
if he be not puffed up,
proud,
excitable,
a mouthy speechifier,
but upright in mindfulness,
self-possessed,
composed,
one-pointed,
controlled in faculties -
he on that count is praiseworthy.
■
So, too, if a monk
the wearer of the householder's robe,[4]
be puffed up,
proud,
excitable,
a mouthy speechifier,
forgetful of mindfulness,
not self-possessed nor composed,
a scatter-brain,
rude in sense-governance -
he on that count is blameworthy;
if he be not puffed up,
proud,
excitable,
a mouthy speechifier,
but upright in mindfulness,
self-possessed,
composed,
one-pointed,
controlled in faculties -
he on that count is praiseworthy.
§
Nevertheless, householder,
give alms to the Order.
An you do so,
your heart will become tranquil;
and tranquil in heart,
you will, on the breaking up of the body after death,
arise in the good way,
the heaven-world.'
'I, too, lord, henceforth from today
will give alms to the Order.'
[1] Dāru-kammika.
[2] Cf. A, iv, 281; Ud, 65.
[3] See above V, § 167; VI, § 46.
[4] Gahapati-cīvara-dhara, the robe given by a householder, not from the rag heap. F. Dial, i, 21, [Ed.?] 'clad in lay attire,' and so also P.E.D. Bu. in both places is silent.
[ed1] Hare has abridged this list such that it is possible to read it as meaning any guest, but what is intended in all cases is a bhikkhu who is of such a sort. Here one who has accepted an invitation to a meal. Bhk. Bodhi has done this more clearly with: "If a bhikkhu who accepts invitations to meals ...".
