Saṃyutta Nikāya
5. Mahā-Vagga
55. Sot'Āpatti Saṃyutta
5. Sagātha-Puññā-Bhisanda Vagga
The Book of the Kindred Sayings
5. The Great Chapter
55. Kindred Sayings on Streamwinning
5. Flood of Merit with Verses
Sutta 41
Paṭhama Abhisanda or Sayhaka or Asaṇkheyya Suttaṃ
Flood or Capacious[1] (a)
Translated by F. L. Woodward
Copyright The Pali Text Society
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[1] Thus have I heard:
On a certain occasion the Exalted One addressed the monks,
saying:
"Monks."
"Yes, lord," replied those monks to the Exalted One.
The Exalted One said:
"Monks, there are these four floods of merit,
floods of good things,
that bring happiness.
What are the four?
Herein, monks, the Ariyan disciple is blessed with unwavering loyalty to the Buddha,
thus:
'He it is the Exalted One,
Arahant,
a fully Enlightened One,
perfect in knowledge and practice,
a Happy One,
world-knower,
unsurpassed charioteer
of men to be tamed,
teacher of devas and mankind,
a Buddha,
an Exalted One.'
That is the first flood of merit.
■
He is blessed
with unwavering loyalty to the Norm,
thus:
'Well proclaimed by the Exalted One
is the Norm,
seen in this very life,
a thing not involving time,
inviting one to come and see,
leading onward,
to be known for themselves
by the wise.'
That is the second flood of merit.
■
He is blessed
with unwavering loyalty to the Order,
thus:
'Walking righteously is the Exalted One's Order,
walking uprightly,
walking in the right way,
walking dutifully
is the Exalted One's Order of Disciples:
namely,
the four pairs of men,
the eight sorts of men.
That is the Exalted One's Order of Disciples.
Worthy of honour are they,
worthy of reverence,
worthy of offerings,
worthy of salutations with clasped hands, -
a field of merit unsurpassed for the world.'
That is the third flood of merit.
■
He is blessed
with the virtues dear to the Ariyans,
virtues unbroken,
whole,
unspotted,
untarnished,
giving freedom,
praised by the wise:
virtues untainted (by craving or delusion),
which lead to concentration of the mind.
That is the fourth flood of merit.
These are the four floods.
§
[343] Now it is no easy thing
to reckon up the measure of merit
that accrues to the Ariyan disciple
who is blessed with these four floods of merit,
these four floods of good things,
that bring happiness.
One cannot say they are thus and thus in quantity.
Nay, they are only to be described in terms like
'incalculable,
boundless.'
Just as, monks, it is no easy thing
to reckon the water in the mighty ocean thus:
'There are so many gallons of water,
so many hundred,
so many thousand,
so many hundreds of thousand gallons of water in it.'
Nay, one can only say of it:
'It is a mighty mass of water,
incalculable
and boundless.'
Just so, monks,
it is no easy thing to reckon up
the measure of merit
that accrues to the Ariyan disciple
who is blessed with these four floods of merit,
these four floods of good things,
that bring happiness.
One cannot say they are thus and thus.
Nay, they are only to be described in terms like
'incalculable,
boundless.'"
Thus spake the Exalted One.
"The mighty sea, unmeasured mighty lake,
The fearsome home of multitudes of pearls, -
'As rivers, serving countless hosts of men,
Flow widely forth and to that ocean come:
Just so on him that giveth food, drink, clothes,
Who bed and seat and coverlet provides,
Torrents of merit flood that mortal wise,
As rivers, bearing water, reach the Main."[2]
[1] Sayhaka (sub-title of this Sutta, but not in uddana) seems to mean capax. Sayha is gerund of sahati. See stanzas below and text, 391.
[2] Cf. K.S. iv, 267.
