100. Sangārava Sutta

1.Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was wandering in the Kosalan country with a large Sangha of bhikkhus.

2.Now on that occasion a brahmin woman named Dhānañjānī was staying at Caṇḍalakappa, having full confidence in the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha.⁹¹⁷ Dhānañjānı̄ was a stream-enterer. MA says that Sangārava was her husband’s younger brother. One time she stumbled, and [on recovering her balance] exclaimed three times: “Honour to the Blessed One, accomplished and fully enlightened! Honour to the Blessed One, accomplished and fully enlightened! Honour to the Blessed One, accomplished [210] and fully enlightened!”

3.At the time there was a brahmin student named Sangārava staying at Caṇḍalakappa. He was a master of the Three Vedas, with their vocabularies, liturgy, phonology, and etymology, and the histories as the fifth; skilled in philology and grammar, he was fully versed in natural philosophy and in the marks of a Great Man. Having heard the brahmin woman Dhānañjānī utter those words, he said to her: “This brahmin woman Dhānañjānī must be disgraced and degraded, since when there are brahmins around she praises that bald-pated recluse.”

[She replied:] “My dear sir, you do not know the virtue and wisdom of the Blessed One. If you knew that Blessed One’s virtue and wisdom, my dear sir, you would never think of abusing and reviling him.”

“Then, madam, inform me when the recluse Gotama comes to Caṇḍalakappa.”

“Yes, dear sir,” the brahmin woman Dhānañjāni replied.

4.Then, after wandering by stages in the Kosalan country, the Blessed One eventually arrived at Caṇḍalakappa. There in Cạ̣alakappa the Blessed One lived in the Mango Grove belonging to the brahmins of the Todeyya clan.

5.The brahmin woman Dhānañjānī heard that the Blessed One had arrived, so she went to the brahmin student Sangārava and told him: “My dear sir, the Blessed One has arrived in Caṇḍalakappa and he is living here in Caṇḍalakappa in the Mango Grove belonging to the brahmins of the Todeyya clan. Now, dear Sir, you may go at your own convenience.”

“Yes, madam,” he replied. Then he went to the Blessed One and exchanged greetings with him. When this courteous [211] and amiable talk was finished, he sat down at one side and said:

6.“Master Gotama, there are some recluses and brahmins who claim [to teach] the fundamentals of the holy life after having reached the consummation and perfection of direct knowledge here and now.⁹¹⁸ Diṭṭadhammābhiññāvosānapāramippattā ādibrahmacariyaṁ paṭijānanti. MA glosses: They claim to be the originators, creators, producers of a holy life, saying: “Having directly known here and now in this present existence and having reached the consummation, we have attained Nibbāna, called ‘perfection’ because it is the transcendence of everything.” Where among these recluses and brahmins does Master Gotama stand?”

7.“Bhāradvāja, I say that there is a diversity among those recluses and brahmins who claim [to teach] the fundamentals of the holy life after having reached the consummation and perfection of direct knowledge here and now. There are some recluses and brahmins who are traditionalists, who on the basis of oral tradition claim [to teach] the fundamentals of the holy life after having reached the consummation and perfection of direct knowledge here and now; such are the brahmins of the Three Vedas. There are some recluses and brahmins who, entirely on the basis of mere faith, claim [to teach] the fundamentals of the holy life after having reached the consummation and perfection of direct knowledge here and now; such are the reasoners and investigators.⁹¹⁹ It is puzzling that the reasoners and investigators (takkı̄, vı̄maṁsı̄) are here said to rely on the basis of mere faith (saddhāmattakena). Elsewhere faith and reasoning are contrasted as two different grounds of conviction (MN 95.14), and “mere faith” seems more closely allied with reliance on oral tradition than with reasoning and investigation. There are some recluses and brahmins who, having directly known the Dhamma for themselves⁹²⁰ Sāmaṁ yeva dhammaṁ abhiññāya. This phrase emphasises direct personal realisation as the foundation for promulgating a holy life. among things not heard before, claim [to teach] the fundamentals of the holy life after having reached the consummation and perfection of direct knowledge here and now.

8.“I, Bhāradvāja, am one of those recluses and brahmins who, having directly known the Dhamma for themselves among things not heard before, claim [to teach] the fundamentals of the holy life after having reached the consummation and perfection of direct knowledge here and now. As to how I am one of those recluses and brahmins, that may be understood in the following way.

9.“Here, Bhāradvāja, before my enlightenment, while I was still only an unenlightened Bodhisatta, I considered thus: ‘Household life is crowded and dusty; life gone forth is wide open. It is not easy while living in a home to lead the holy life utterly perfect and pure as a polished shell. Suppose I shave off my hair and beard, put on the yellow robe, and go forth from the home life into homelessness.’

10–13.“Later, Bhāradvāja, [212] while still young...(as Sutta 26, §§14–17)...And I sat down thinking: ‘This will serve for striving.’

14–30.“Now these three similes occurred to me spontaneously never heard before...(as Sutta 36, §§17–33; but in the present sutta in §§17–22—corresponding to §§20–25 of Sutta 36—the sentence “But such painful feeling that arose in me did not invade my mind and remain” does not occur)...the five bhikkhus were disgusted and left me, thinking: ‘The recluse Gotama now lives luxuriously; he has given up his striving and reverted to luxury.’

31–41.“Now when I had eaten solid food and regained my strength, then quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states...(as Sutta 36, §§34–44; but in the present sutta in §§36, 38, and 41—corresponding to §§39, 41, and 44 of Sutta 36—the sentence “But such pleasant feeling that arose in me did not invade my mind and remain” does not occur)...as happens in one who abides diligent, ardent, and resolute.”

42.When this was said, the brahmin student Sangārava said to the Blessed One: “Master Gotama’s striving was unfaltering, Master Gotama’s striving was that of a true man, as it should be for an Accomplished One, a Fully Enlightened One. But how is it, Master Gotama, are there gods?”

“It is known to me to be the case, Bhāradvāja, that there are gods.”

“But how is this, Master Gotama, that when you are asked, ‘Are there gods?’ you say: ‘It is known to me to be the case, Bhāradvāja, that there are gods’? If that is so, isn’t what you say empty and false?”⁹²¹ MA says that Sangārava had the idea that the Buddha spoke thus without actual knowledge, and he therefore accuses the Buddha of false speech. The sequence of ideas in this passage is difficult to follow and it is likely that the text is corrupt. K.R. Norman has proposed a reconstruction of this portion of the dialogue, but it is hard to follow him in details. See Norman, Collected Papers, 2:1–8.

“Bhāradvāja, when one is asked, ‘Are there gods?’ [213] whether one answers, ‘There are gods,’ or ‘It is known to me to be the case [that there are gods],’ a wise man can draw the definite conclusion that there are gods.”

“But why didn’t Master Gotama answer me in the first way?”

“It is widely accepted in the world, Bhāradvāja, that there are gods.”

43.When this was said, the brahmin student Sangārava said to the Blessed One: “Magnificent, Master Gotama! Magnificent, Master Gotama! Master Gotama has made the Dhamma clear in many ways, as though he were turning upright what had been overturned, revealing what was hidden, showing the way to one who was lost, or holding up a lamp in the dark for those with eyesight to see forms. I go to Master Gotama for refuge and to the Dhamma and to the Sangha of bhikkhus. Let Master Gotama remember me as a lay follower who has gone to him for refuge for life.”