Saṃyutta Nikāya
II. Nidāna Vagga
12. Nidāna Saṃyutta
2. Āhāra Vagga
The Book of the Kindred Sayings
Part II. The Book Called the Nidāna-Vagga
Containing Kindred sayings on Cause
and Other Subjects
12. The Kindred Sayings on Cause
2. Sustenance-Suttas
Sutta 19
Bāla-Paṇḍita Suttaṃ
The Wise Man [Compared] with the Fool
Translated by Mrs. Rhys Davids
Assisted by F. L. Woodward
Originally Published by
The Pali Text Society
Public Domain
[1][than][olds][bodh] Thus have I heard:
The Exalted One was once staying near Sāvatthī
at the Jeta Grove
in Anāthapiṇḍika's Park.
And there the Exalted One addressed the brethren, saying:
"Brethren!"
"Master!" responded those brethren.
The Exalted One said:
"For the fool, brethren,
cloaked by ignorance
and tied to craving,
this body is wrought on this wise:
There is just this body
and names-and-shapes without:
thus this pair.
Because of the pair [there is] contact,
just six spheres of sense.
Touched by these,
or by one of them,
the fool experiences pleasure and pain.
■
For the wise man, brethren,
cloaked by ignorance
and tied to craving
this body is wrought on this wise:
There is just this body
and names-and-shapes without:
thus this pair.
Because of the pair [there is] contact,
just six spheres of sense.
Touched by these,
or by one of them,
the wise man experiences pleasure and pain.
§
What, brethren, is there here that is different,
distinctive,
diverse
between the wise man and the fool?"
"For us, lord, things have the Exalted One as their root,
their guide,
their resort.[1]
Well indeed were it
if the meaning [20] of this that he has spoken
were to manifest itself in the Exalted One.
Hearing it from him
the brethren will remember it."
"Well then, brethren,
listen,
give your mind thoroughly
and I will speak."
"Even so, lord,"
responded those brethren.
The Exalted One spake thus:
"The ignorance, brethren,
wherewith the fool,
whose body is so wrought,
is cloaked,
the craving whereto he is tied,
that ignorance the fool has not thrown off,
that craving is not withered away.
How is that?
The fool has not lived the divine life
for the right withering away of ill,
therefore the fool
at the breaking up of the body
is on his way to [another][2] body.
He being on his way thither
is not set free from birth,
nor from old age
and death,
nor from grievings,
from lamentings,
from ills,
from sorrows,
from despairs -
I say, he is not set free from Ill.
■
The ignorance, brethren,
wherewith the wise man,
whose body is so wrought,
is cloaked,
the craving whereto he is tied,
that ignorance the wise man has thrown off,
and that craving is withered away.
How is that?
The wise man has lived the divine life
for the right withering away of ill,
therefore the wise man
at the breaking up of the body
is not on his way to [another sense-] body.
He not being on his way thither
is set free from rebirth,
from old age
and death,
from grievings,
from lamentings,
from ills,
from sorrows,
from despairs -
I say, he is set free from Ill.
This, brethren, is how the wise man is different,
distinctive,
diverse from the fool,
namely in that he lives the divine life."
[1] Or referee. The Comy. draws a picture analogous to that of the animals receiving names from Adam in the book of Genesis, the animals' here being contact and the factors of mind. Cf. Buddhist Psychology, p. 69.
[2] So Comy.: 'is one who goes towards another rebirth-body.'
