Saṃyutta Nikāya
II. Nidāna Vagga
21. Bhikkhu Saṃyutta
The Book of the Kindred Sayings
II. The Book Called the Nidāna-Vagga
Containing Kindred sayings on Cause
and Other Subjects
21. Kindred Sayings about Brethren
Sutta 6
Bhaddi or Lakuṇṭaka Bhaddiya Suttaṃ
Bhaddiya
Translated by Mrs. Rhys Davids
Assisted by F. L. Woodward
Originally Published by
The Pali Text Society
Public Domain
[1][niza][bodh][than] Thus have I heard:
The Exalted One was once staying near Savatthī
at the Jeta Grove in Anāthapiṇḍika's Park.
[2][niza] Now the venerable Bhaddiya the Dwarf[1]
came into thepresence of the Exalted One.
[3][niza] And the Exalted One saw him coming,
and seeinghim he addressed the brethren: —
[4][niza] "See ye, brethren,
this brother coming,
ugly,
unsightly,
hunchbacked,
dispised by the brethren?"
"We do, sir."
[5][niza] "Now that brother is highly gifted, brethren,
of a lofty nature.
Not easy matter is it
to win that which he formerly had not won,
even that for the sake of which
clansmen rightly leave the home
for the homeless,
even that uttermost goal of the divine living
which he has attained,
wherein he abides,
having come to know it thoroughly for himself
and to realize it."
[6][niza] The Exalted One spake this.
The Wellfarer so saying, the Master spake this yet further: —
Swans, herons, peacocks, elephants, and eke the dappled deer,
Varied as may their bodies be, all dothe lion fear.
So among men a puny lada, if o nlyhe be wise,
Is truly great, not so the fool though large he be in size.
[1] See Pss. of the Brethren, p. 230. The Comy. here also gives the legends of the karma that made him so unslghtly (as a rāja he mocked old people), and that gave him the lovely voice which finds no mention in this work.
