The Numerical Discourses

Chapter 13: Profit

6. Good Deeds

1. Thus I have heard:[1] One time, the Buddha was staying on Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa near Rājagṛha. He was accompanied by a large assembly of five hundred monks.

2. One day, Śakra the Lord of Gods[2] visited the Bhagavān after nightfall. He bowed his head at the Buddha’s feet and then stood to one side. Śakra then asked about the Tathāgata’s teaching in verse:

• “Could you say, could you explain in detail,
  How to cross the flood and be uncontaminated,
  How to cross the sea of mortality?
  I now ask Gautama about this subject.

• I’ve observed these sentient beings here
  And their performance of blessed deeds.
  Of the many kinds of practitioners,
  A gift to whom is a blessing most honored?

• To the sage who’s here now on Vulture’s Peak:
  Please give me a teaching on this subject,
  So I’ll know the gist of the Śākyan’s thought
  And get an explanation on giving.”

• “The four who make merit for cessation,[3]
  And the four who’ve fully achieved the fruits.
  It’s the trainees and realizers of the path
  Who ought to be believed, their Dharma served.

• When someone lacks any desire or anger,
  Their foolishness and contamination ends.
  Those who completely cross the whole ocean,
  Giving to them achieves a great reward.

• These are the classes of sentient beings
  Who do virtuous deeds that make merit.
  Of the many kinds of practitioners,
  Giving to the Saṅgha obtains much merit.

• The assemblies are broad and measureless
  Like the treasures that come from the ocean.
  The noble assemblies are just the same,
  For they explain the wise Dharma of light.”

• Kauśika,[4] a good place is
  Where one can give to the Saṅgha.
  They’ll obtain merits inestimable,
  For their teaching is the Supreme Victor’s.”

4. Once Śakra the Lord of Gods heard what the Buddha taught, he bowed at the Buddha’s feet, withdrew from him, and departed. When Śakra the Lord of Gods heard what the Buddha taught, he rejoiced and approved.

Notes

1. This sūtra is parallel with SN 11.16, SĀ 19.21-22, and T100.52. [back]
2. Śakra the Lord of Gods. C. 釋提桓因 (EMC. ʃɪɛk-dei-ɦuan-•iĕn = G. śak[ra]-devan[aṃ]-iṃ[dra] = S. śakro-devānām-indrah). This was a well-known abbreviated translit. for Śakra’s full title as the Lord of Gods. The -v- in deva was pronounced as a -w-. [back]
3. cessation. Here, 無 appears to be a verb meaning “to become inexistent,” which I take to refer to Nirvāṇa. I’ve translated it more literally as “cessation.” [back]
4. Kauśika. C. 拘翼 (EMC. kɪu-yiək). G. koyig[a] > G. kośiga? > S. kauśika. The derivation of what the C. transliterates is unclear to me since it’s not typical that -ś- becomes -y- in G. sources, but it appears to be the case here.
   I’ve followed the alternate reading, which makes this last stanza the Buddha’s conclusion. The Taisho reads 瞿曇 (“Gautama”) instead, which would make it Śakra addressing the Buddha. [back]

Translator: Charles Patton

Last Revised: 25 July 2023