Aṇguttara Nikāya
VIII. Aṭṭhaka Nipāta
VI. Gotamī Vagga
The Book of the Gradual Sayings
VIII. The Book of the Eights
VI: The Gotamid
Sutta 53
Sankhitta Gotami-y-Ovāda Suttaṃ
Dhamma in Brief[1]
Translated from the Pali by E.M. Hare.
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Once the Exalted One was staying at the Gabled Hall in Mahāvana near Vesālī,
Mahā-Pajāpati, the Gotamid, came to him and saluted and stood to one side.
So standing, she spoke thus to the Exalted One:
"Well were it for me, lord,
if the Exalted One would teach me Dhamma briefly,
so that after hearing the Exalted One's word
I might dwell alone,
secluded,
earnest,
zealous
and resolute."
§
"Those things of which you know thus:
These things lead to passion,
not to release therefrom;
■
these to bondage,
not to release therefrom;
■
these to the piling up[2] (of rebirth),
not to [187] the dispersion thereof;
■
these to wanting much,
not to wanting little;
■
these to discontent,
not to contentment;
■
these to sociability,
not to solitude;
■
these to indolence,
not to exertion;
■
these to luxury,[3] not to frugality
■
- of these things hold definitely:
'This is not Dhamma;
this is not the discipline;
this not the word of the Teacher.'
§
But as to those things of which you know: 'This thing leads to ~, not to' in the Pali.
— p.p.
But as to those things, O Gotamid, which you know
lead to dispassion,
not to passion;
■
to release from bondage,
not to bondage;
■
to the dispersion of rebirth,
not to the piling up (of rebirth);
■
to wanting little,
not to wanting much;
■
to contentment,
not to discontent;
■
to solitude,
not to sociability;
■
to exertion
not to indolence;
■
and to frugality,
not to luxury;
■
be assured that they are Dhamma,
the discipline
and the word of the Teacher."
[1] Cf. the whole of this sutta with VII, § 79 (p. 96 f.) above.
[2] Ācayāya. Comy. vaṭṭassa vaḍḍhanatthāya. Bu. adds that Mahāpajapati attained arahantship by this exhortation. The sutta recurs at Vin. ii, 258.
[3] Dubbharatāya; so Vin., but Comy. and S.e. dubh-; Comy. glosses, dupposanatthāya. Rhys Davids translates: hard to satisfy, difficult to support.
