PSALMS OF THE BRETHREN
Canto III.
Psalms of three Verses
CLXXIII
Dhaniya
Translated from the Pali by Mrs. C.A.F. Rhys Davids.
Public Domain
Reborn in this Buddha-age at Rājagaha in a potter's family and named Dhaniya, he practised the potter's craft. It was at his house that the Master taught Pukkusāti the noble the Sutta of the System of Elements.[1] Dhaniya, hearing of Pukkusāti dying as an arahant [that very night], thought: 'Mighty to guide verily is the Buddha-sāsana, wherein a single night suffices to release a man from the sorrows of rebirth!' So he entered the Order. But he continued to occupy himself with making tiles for roofs.[2] Reproved for making a clay hut by the Exalted One, he took up his abode in a bhikkhu's lodging, and there won arahantship.
Thereafter, on the occasion of admonishing bhikkhus who, as self-mortifying, held themselves superior to others, he confessed aññā thus:
[228] If one in the recluse's discipline
Take thought how he may live in happy ease,
Let him not scorn the Order's uniform,
Nor hold in disrespect its food and drink.
[229] If one in the recluse's discipline
Take thought how he may live in happy ease,
Let him frequent a shelter like the lair
Of watersnake or mouse [primitive, bare].[3]
[230] [162] If one in the recluse's discipline
Take thought how he may live in happy ease,
Let him be glad whate'er the day may bring,[4]
And let him be intent on one main thing.[5]
[1] 'Dhātu-vibhanga-sutta,' Majjh. Nik., iii. 237 ff., where the potter's name is not mentioned. Cf. above XCVII., and my Buddhism, 1912
[2] Dhaniya's skill in brick-making: clay-work red as the indigopaka (cf. verse 13), and giving a bell like sound when tapped, is described, in this connection, in Vinaya, iii. 41 f.
[3] Commentary: 'the hole of the moment, where he can go in and out at will.'
[4] Lit., glad at one thing or another.
[5] I.e., let him be in earnest (Commentary) whatever be the eka-dhammaṃ of his study.
