Saṃyutta Nikāya
5. Mahā-Vagga
48. Indriya Saṃyutta
5. Jarā Vagga
The Book of the Kindred Sayings
5. The Great Chapter
48. Kindred Sayings on the Faculties
5. Old Age
Sutta 49
Piṇḍola Suttaṃ
Scrap-Hunter
Translated by F. L. Woodward
Edited by Mrs. Rhys Davids
Copyright The Pali Text Society
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[1] THUS have I heard:
On a certain occasion the Exalted One was staying at Kosambī
in Ghosita Park.
Now on that occasion the Bhāradvājan,
the venerable Scrap-hunter,[1] so called,
had declared gnosis,
to wit:
"I know full well
that destroyed is rebirth,
lived is the holy life,
done is the task,
there is no more of being here for me."
Then a number of monks[2] came to visit the Exalted One,
and on coming to him,
saluted him
and sat down at one side.
So seated,
those monks said this to the Exalted One:
"Lord, the Bhāradvājan,
the venerable Scrap-hunter,
had declared gnosis,
to wit:
'I know full well
that destroyed is rebirth,
lived is the holy life,
done is the task,
there is no more of being here for me.'
Pray, lord, in consequence of what observation[3]
did the Bhāradvājan,
the venerable Scrap-hunter,
thus declare gnosis,
to wit:
'I know full well
that destroyed is rebirth,
lived is the holy life,
done is the task,
there is no more of being here for me.'?"
■
"Monks, it was in consequence of having cultivated
and made much of
three controlling faculties
that the Bhārad- [200] vājan,
the venerable Scrap-hunter,
thus declared gnosis,
to wit:
'I know full well
that destroyed is rebirth,
lived is the holy life,
done is the task,
there is no more of being here for me.'
What three?
The controlling faculty of mindfulness,
the controlling faculty of concentration,
the controlling faculty of insight.[4]
It was in consequence of having cultivated
and made much of
these three controlling faculties
that gnosis was declared by the Bhāradvājan, the venerable Scrap-hunter,
to wit:
'I know full well
that destroyed is rebirth,
lived is the holy life,
done is the task,
there is no more of being here for me.'
§
Now these three controlling faculties, -
what do they end in?
They end in destruction.
They end in destruction of what?
They end in the destruction of rebirth,
old age
and death.
Monks, it was because he saw full well
that rebirth was destroyed,
that old age was destroyed,
that death was destroyed,
that the Bhāradvājan, the venerable Scrap-hunter,
was able to declare gnosis,
to wit:
'I know full well
that destroyed is rebirth,
lived is the holy life,
done is the task,
there is no more of being here for me.'"
[1] Piṇḍola, of Bhāradvāja. There are several of this clan, e.g., at K.S. i, 204 ('conjey man') among the Brahmin Suttas. At K.S. iv, 68 (where see note) he takes refuge with the Master. Bhāradvāja is on the river Jumna. Cf. Buddhist India, 36.
[2] For sambahulā see n. supra, text 108.
[3] Kiṇ atthavasaṇ sampassamānena, generally equivalent to kāraṇaṇ (causâ).
[4] At UdA. 252, Dhammapāla says, after describing his nickname, his scrap-hunting life, his huge bowl, gradually wasted to a mere sherd, and his subjection to the Master's injunctions: 'on a subsequent occasion, by cultivatmg controlling-faculty culture, be was established in the topmost fruit of Arahantship.' Our Comy. says nothing.
