The Medium Discourses

Chapter 12: The Brahmins

153. Sugandika

Introduction

1. Thus I have heard: One time, the Buddha traveled to Kuru and was staying in Bhāradvāja’s most quiet abode, sitting on a straw seat there.[1]

2. After the night had passed and the sun rose, the Buddha put on his robe and took his bowl into Kalmāṣadamya[2] to walk the alms round. He returned in the afternoon when his meal was finished, put away his robe and bowl, and washed his hands and feet. He put his sitting mat over his shoulder and went out to a forest where he would spend the day practicing. The Bhagavān entered that forest, spread out his sitting mat under a tree, and sat cross-legged there.

3. Just then, the heretic Sugandika[3] was out wandering in the afternoon, and he went to Bhāradvāja’s most quiet abode, too. Sugandika saw from a distance that there was a straw seat spread out at Bhāradvāja’s most quiet abode where someone had lain on their side like a lion, an ascetic, or a religious practitioner. After seeing that, Sugandika asked, “Who’s straw seat is this here at Bhāradvāja’s most quiet abode? They have lain there on their side like a lion, an ascetic, or a religious practitioner.”

4. The priest Bharadvāja replied, “Sugandika, it’s the ascetic Gautama of the Śākyans, who renounced his Śākya clan, shaved off his hair and beard, put on the reddish-brown robes, became a believer, and left home to train on the path in homelessness. He awakened to the unsurpassed, correct, and complete awakening. It’s his straw seat here at our most quiet abode where someone had lain on their side like a lion, an ascetic, or a religious practitioner.”

5. Sugandika said, “Bharadvāja, I see what can’t be seen, and I hear what can’t be heard. That is, I see where that ascetic Gautama has lain. Why is that? That ascetic Gautama has destroyed the ground.[4] Someone who destroys the ground is of no use.”

6. Bharadvāja said, “Sugandika, you shouldn’t criticize that ascetic Gautama on this account. Why is that? The ascetic Gautama has many wise people, wise warriors, wise priests, wise householders, and wise ascetics. When he teaches those wise people, they attain noble knowledge.

7. “Sugandika, I’d like to tell that ascetic Gautama about this. Would that be all right?”

8. Sugandika said, “Bharadvāja, if you want to tell him, then do what you like. I have no objection. Bharadvāja, if I were to see that ascetic Gautama, I would tell him that, too. Why is that? That ascetic Gautama has destroyed the ground. Someone who destroys the ground is of no use.”

9. The Bhagavān was at his daytime practice spot at the time. He overheard the priest Bharadvāja and the heretic Sugandika having this conversation using the purified heavenly ear that goes beyond that of humans. Having heard them, he rose from his seat of repose late in the afternoon and went to the priest Bhāradvāja’s most quiet abode. He spread out his sitting mat on his straw seat there and sat cross-legged.

10. Bharadvāja had seen the Bhagavān among the trees in the distance. He was sitting upright and looked beautiful like the moon among the stars. His brilliant splendor shined like a mountain of gold. Replete with the signs and excellencies, his majesty was awe-inspiring. His face was peaceful and settled. Nothing could obstruct him. He had accomplished the training, and his stilled mind was quiet. Having seen this, Bharadvāja approached the Buddha, exchanged polite greetings with him, and withdrew to sit at one side.

11. The Bhagavān asked him, “Bharadvāja, did you have a conversation with the heretic Sugandika about this straw seat?”

The priest Bharadvāja answered, “Yes, Gautama. I was going to tell the ascetic Gautama about what happened, but he already knows about it before I could! Why is that? Because he’s the Tathāgata, the Arhat, and the Completely Awakened One.”

The Well Trained

12. The Bhagavān and Bharadvāja then discussed what had happened. Later, Sugandika was out wandering and paid a visit to Bhāradvāja’s most quiet abode. Seeing him coming from a distance, the Bhagavān said this: “Sugandika, someone who doesn’t train his eye faculty, who doesn’t guard or cultivate himself, will surely experience a painful result. ‘The ascetic Gautama is someone who trains himself well, guards and cultivates himself well, so he surely gets a pleasant result.’ Sugandika, was this the reason you said the ascetic Gautama destroys the ground, that someone who destroys the ground is of no use?”

Sugandika replied, “Yes, Gautama.”

13. “Thus, Sugandika, someone who doesn’t train their ear … nose … tongue … body … doesn’t train their mind faculty, who doesn’t guard and cultivate themselves, will surely experience a painful result. ‘The ascetic Gautama trains himself well, guards and cultivates himself well, so he surely gets a pleasant result.’ Sugandika, was this the reason you said the ascetic Gautama destroys the ground, that someone who destroys the ground is of no use?”

Sugandika answered, “Yes, Gautama.”

Ordinary Desires

14. The Bhagavān asked him, “Sugandika, what do you think? Suppose that someone has yet to leave home and train on the path. Their eye recognizes forms that are lovely, wished for, and associated with what’s desirable. Sometime later, they abandon those forms that their eye recognizes. They shave off their hair and beard, put on the reddish-brown robes, become a believer, and leave home to train on the path in homelessness. Truly seeing the formation, cessation, enjoyment, danger, and escape of forms that their eye recognizes, they wander with an inner calm.[5]

15. “Suppose they see another person who has yet to part with desire for forms. They’re eaten by the craving for forms and burned by a fever for forms. Their eye recognizes forms that are lovely, wished for, and associated with what’s desirable. When they see this person pursuing [forms], they don’t praise that, nor are they delighted by that.[6]

16. “Sugandika, what do you think? Suppose someone possesses these pleasures that are caused by craving and forms. When they’re enjoying these pleasures, they don’t praise that because it’s contemptible, nor is it a delight to them because it’s contemptible. Sugandika, would you have something to say to them?”

He replied, “No, Gautama.”

17. “Sugandika, what do you think? Suppose someone has yet to leave home and train on the path. Thus, their ear recognizes sounds … their nose recognizes smells … their tongue recognizes flavors … their body recognizes touches that are lovely, wished for, and associated with what’s desirable. Sometime later, they abandon touches that their body recognizes. They shave off their hair and beard, put on the reddish-brown robes, become a believer, and leave home to train on the path in homelessness. Truly seeing the formation, cessation, enjoyment, danger, and escape of touches that their body recognizes, they live with an inner calm.

18. “Suppose they see another person who has yet to part with desire for touches. They’re eaten by the craving for touches and burned by a fever for touches. Their body recognizes touches that are lovely, wished for, and associated with what’s desirable. When they see this person pursuing [touches], they don’t praise that, nor are they delighted by that.

19. “Sugandika, what do you think? Suppose someone possesses these pleasures that are caused by craving and touches. When they’re enjoying these pleasures, they don’t praise that because it’s contemptible, nor is it a delight to them because it’s contemptible. Sugandika, would you have something to say to them?”

He replied, “No, Gautama.”

The Five Merits of Desire

20. “Sugandika, what do you think? Suppose someone has yet to leave home and train on the path. The five merits of desire[7] are lovely, wished for, and associated with what’s desirable. Sometime later, they abandon those five merits of desire. They shave off their hair and beard, put on the reddish-brown robes, become a believer, and leave home to train on the path in homelessness. Truly seeing the formation, cessation, enjoyment, danger, and escape of the five merits of desire, they live with an inner calm.

21. “Suppose they see another person who has yet to part with desire. They’re eaten by the craving for desires and burned by a fever for desires. The five merits of desire are lovely, wished for, and associated with what’s desirable. When they see this person pursuing [desires], they don’t praise that, nor are they delighted by that.

22. “Sugandika, what do you think? Suppose someone possesses these pleasures that are caused by desire and craving for desires. When they’re enjoying these pleasures, they don’t praise that because it’s contemptible, nor is it a delight to them because it’s contemptible. Sugandika, would you have something to say to them?”

He replied, “No, Gautama.”

23. “Sugandika, before I left home and trained on the path, I could get the five merits of desire easily, not with difficulty. They were lovely, wished for, and associated with what’s desirable. Sometime later, I abandoned the five merits of desire. I shaved off their hair and beard, put on the reddish-brown robes, became a believer, and left home to train on the path in homelessness. Truly seeing the formation, cessation, enjoyment, danger, and escape of the five merits of desire, I lived with an inner calm.

24. “I saw another person who had yet to part with desire. They were eaten by the craving for desires and burned by a fever for desires. The five merits of desire were lovely, wished for, and associated with what’s desirable. When I saw this person pursuing [desires], I didn’t praise that, nor was I delighted by that.

25. “Sugandika, what do you think? Suppose someone possesses these pleasures that are caused by desires and craving for desires. When they’re enjoying these pleasures, I don’t praise that because it’s contemptible, nor is it a delight to me because it’s contemptible. Sugandika, would you have something to say to me?”

He answered, “No, Gautama.”

The Heavenly Five Merits of Desire

26. The Bhagavān told him, “Sugandika, take the example of a householder or a householder’s son who’s extremely prosperous, whose wealth is measureless. Many are his grazing pastures, residences, and districts, and his means of living are diverse and abundant. He obtains the five desires easily, not with difficulty. He achieves marvelous physical conduct … verbal conduct … marvelous mental conduct. When he’s about to die, he doesn’t enjoy the five merits of desire and abandons them. When his body breaks up and his life ends, he ascends afterward to a good destination, being born up in Heaven. There, he’s endowed with and roams in the five merits of desire.

27. “Sugandika, would this god or son of a god rather abandon the five heavenly merits of desire? Would he rejoice when remembering his enjoyment of human desires?”

28. “He answered, “No, Gautama. Why would that be? Human desires are a foul place that’s impure. It would be detestable, unapproachable, horrible, and very painful to his mind. Gautama, the desires in Heaven are so much higher, more marvelous and superior, than human desires. It would never happen that this god or son of a god would abandon the five merits of desire up in Heaven or rejoice when remembering his enjoyment of human desires.”

29. “So it is, Sugandika. I ended human desires and went beyond the desires in Heaven. I shaved off their hair and beard, put on the reddish-brown robes, became a believer, and left home to train on the path in homelessness. Truly seeing the formation, cessation, enjoyment, trouble, and escape of the five merits of desire, I lived with an inner calm.

30. “I saw another person who had yet to part with desire. They were eaten by the craving for desires and burned by a fever for desires. The five merits of desire were lovely, wished for, and associated with what’s desirable. When I saw this person pursuing [desires], I didn’t praise that, nor was I delighted by that.

31. “Sugandika, what do you think? Suppose someone possesses these pleasures that are caused by desire and craving for desires. When they’re enjoying these pleasures, I don’t praise that because it’s contemptible, nor is it a delight to me because it’s contemptible. Sugandika, would you have something to say to me?”

“No, Gautama.”

The Parable of the Deluded Leper

32. The Bhagavān told him, “Sugandika, take the example of someone afflicted with leprosy. Their body festers and is eaten by worms. They scratch open their sores and hold them over burning coals. Sugandika, what do you think? Suppose that leper’s body festers and is eaten by worms. They scratch open their sores and hold them over burning coals. Would they rather have the ability to rid themselves of their illness, for their limbs to be uninjured,[8] and to be freed from leprosy? Wouldn’t they rather their body were whole, restored, and returned to how it was originally?”

He replied to the Bhagavān, “No, Gautama.”[9]

33. “Thus, Sugandika, that leper’s body festers and is eaten by worms. They scratch open their sores and hold them over burning coals. In this way, the sores that arise increase in number, and his original sores grow larger. Still, that person considers those sores of leprosy to be pleasant.

34. “Thus, Sugandika, are sentient beings who have yet to part with desire. They are eaten by the craving for desires and burned by a fever for desires, but they pursue those desires. In this way, their desires increase in number, and their craving for desires becomes larger. Still, they consider that craving for desires to be pleasant.

35. “If they don’t end their desire and don’t part with the craving for desires, it’ll never happen that they’ll have an inner calm in their past, future, and present travels. Why is that? It would make no sense for them to roam in desires when they’ve ended desire and parted with craving for desires.”

The Parable of the Indulgent King

36. The Bhagavān told him, “Sugandika, take the example of a king or great minister who obtains the five desires easily, not with difficulty. If he doesn’t end his desire and part with the craving for desires, it’ll never happen that he’ll have an inner calm in his past, future, or present travels. Why is that? It would make no sense for him to roam in desires when he has ended desire and parted with craving for desires.

37. “Thus, Sugandika, sentient beings who have yet to part with desire are eaten by the craving for desires and burned by a fever for desires, but they pursue those desires. Sugandika, suppose sentient beings have yet to part with desire, are eaten by their craving for desires, and are burned by their fever for desires. In this way, their desires increase in number, and their craving for desires becomes larger, but they consider the craving of desires to be pleasant.

38. “If they don’t end their desire and don’t part with the craving of desires, it’ll never happen that they’ll have an inner calm in their past, future, and present travels. Why is that? It would make no sense for them to roam in desires when they’ve ended desire and parted with craving for desires.

The Parable of the Cured Leper

39. “Sugandika, it’s like the leper whose body festers and is eaten by worms. They scratch open their sores and hold them over burning coals. Someone who sympathizes and pities the leper tries help and benefit them, tries to bring them well-being and happiness. To that end, they give the leper an excellent medicine. Having given them that excellent medicine, the leper gets the ability to rid themselves of disease, for their limbs to be uninjured. Freed from leprosy, their body is made whole, restored, and returned to how it was originally.

40. “Suppose they then see another person afflicted with leprosy whose body is festering and eaten by insects. They scratch open their sores and hold them over burning coals. Sugandika, having seen that person, would they rather wish for, praise, or rejoice in [that medicine] again?”

He answered, “No, Gautama. Why is that? Someone sick needs medicine, but someone healthy doesn’t.”

41. “Sugandika, what do you think? Suppose that leper gets the ability to rid themselves of disease, for their limbs to be uninjured. Freed from leprosy, their body is made whole, restored, and returned to how it was originally. Then, two strong men seize them and hold them over burning coals. In the confusion of trying to escape, their body is burned again. Sugandika, what do you think? Wouldn’t those burning coals have been hotter, more painful, and grievous before rather than now?”

42. He replied, “No, Gautama. Before, that person was afflicted with leprosy. Their body was festering and eaten by worms. They scratched open their sores and held them over burning coals. Touching that painful fire was a pleasant experience. Their mind was deranged, so they had a mistaken perception of it.

43. “Gautama, that person got the ability to rid themselves of disease, for their limbs to be uninjured. Freed from leprosy, their body was made whole, restored, and returned to how it was originally. Now, touching that painful fire would be a painful experience. Their mind would be at peace, and they’d have an unmistaken perception of it.”

44. “Sugandika, [those sentient beings are] like that leper whose body was festering and eaten by worms. They scratched open their sores and held them over burning coals. Touching that painful fire was a pleasant experience. Their mind was deranged, and they had a mistaken perception of it.

45. “Thus, Sugandika, are sentient beings who aren’t free of desires. They’re eaten by the craving for desires and burned by a fever for desires, but they pursue those desires. They perceive those painful desires as pleasant desires. Their minds are deranged, and they have mistaken perception of them.

The Buddha Was Like the Cured Leper

46. “Sugandika, take the example of the person who gets the ability to rid themselves of disease, for their limbs to be uninjured. Freed from leprosy, their body is made whole, restored, and returned to how it was originally. Touching that painful fire would be a painful experience. Their mind would be at peace, and they would have an unmistaken perception of it.

47. “Thus, Sugandika, I perceived those painful desires as painful desires, having gotten the true and unmistaken perception of them. Why is that? In the past, Sugandika, I desired an impure and foul place. My thinking was quite polluted and unapproachable, and I loathed painful contact. In the future and present, I desired an impure and foul place. My thinking was quite polluted and unapproachable, and I loathed painful contact.

Being Healthy and Nirvāṇa

48. “Sugandika, the Tathāgata, Arhat, and Completely Awakened One teaches: ‘Being healthy is the supreme blessing, and Nirvāṇa is the supreme happiness.’”

49. The heretic Sugandika said to the Bhagavān, “Gautama, I’ve trained for a long time in the religious practice with virtuous and senior elders. I’ve heard this from them: ‘Being healthy is the supreme blessing, and Nirvāṇa is the supreme happiness.’”

50. The Bhagavān asked, “Sugandika, so you’ve trained for a long time in the religious practice with virtuous and senior elders, and you’ve heard this from them: ‘Being healthy is the supreme blessing, and Nirvāṇa is the supreme happiness.’ Sugandika, what is ‘being healthy,’ and what is ‘Nirvāṇa’?”

Sugandika’s body was then an illness, a tumor, an arrow, a serpent, something impermanent, a pain, something empty, and not the soul. He rubbed it with both hands and said this: “Gautama, this is being healthy! This is Nirvāṇa!”

The Parable of the Tricked Blind Person

51. The Bhagavān said, “Sugandika, take for example a person born blind who hears someone with eyesight say: ‘It’s clean and immaculate! It’s clean and immaculate!’ Having heard this, they look for something that’s clean. Then, there’s a deceiver seeking their own safety and happiness and not the profit and gain of others. They bring the blind person filthy and impure clothes, saying, ‘You should know that these are clean and immaculate clothes. Kindly take them and put them on.’ The blind person is elated. They take the clothes kindly in both hands and put them on. The blind person then says, ‘It’s clean and immaculate! It’s clean and immaculate!’

52. “Sugandika, did that blind person know what he was saying, or did he not know? Did he see what he was saying, or did he not see it?”

Sugandika answered, “Gautama, someone who speaks in this way doesn’t really know and see it.”

53. The Bhagavān said, “In this way, Sugandika, you are a blind man without eyes. This body is an illness, a sore, an arrow, a serpent, something impermanent, a pain, something empty, and not the soul that you rub with both hands and say, ‘Gautama, this is being healthy! This is Nirvāṇa!’

54. “Sugandika, you’re not even aware of being healthy, so how could you know and see Nirvāṇa? It would never be possible to call that ‘knowing and seeing.’ Sugandika, the Tathāgata, Arhat, and Completely Awakened One says:

• “‘Good health is the supreme blessing,
  And Nirvāṇa is the supreme happiness.
  Of all paths, it’s the noble eightfold path
  That stands in the safety of the immortal.’”

55. There was a crowd of people listening to them. After they heard this verse, that group of heretics turned it over and repeated it to each other, but they couldn’t understand what it meant. Having heard it, they wanted to pursue that teaching, but they were all fools and returned to deceiving each other.

56. Their own present bodies were made of the four basic elements, had been born from parents, raised by food, always being sheltered, rubbed, and bathed. They were forced to endure its deteriorating, eroding, and dispersing nature, but they saw a soul and clung to that soul. Conditioned by clinging, then there was existence. Conditioned by existence, there was birth. Conditioned by birth, there was old age and death. Conditioned by old age and death, there was grief, lamentation, misery, and trouble. In this way, the whole mass of suffering arose.

Clarifying the Dharma Eye

57. Thereupon, the heretic Sugandika rose from his seat, bared one shoulder, and addressed the Buddha with his palms together, “Gautama, I now have the utmost belief in the ascetic Gautama! Please, Gautama, teach the Dharma well! Make me able to understand: ‘This is being heathy. This is Nirvāṇa.’”

58. The Bhagavān said, “Sugandika, if your noble wisdom eye isn’t clear yet, you’ll never be able to understand my teaching about heath and Nirvāṇa, and that would be troublesome for me. Sugandika, it would be like a man born blind who causes someone else to go and say, ‘You should know, this is the color blue … yellow … red … the color white.’ Sugandika, could a man born blind cause someone else to say: ‘I know the color blue … yellow … red … color white’?”

He answered, “No, Gautama.”

59. “So it is, Sugandika. If your noble wisdom eye isn’t clear yet, you’ll never be able to understand my teaching about health and Nirvāṇa, and that would be troublesome to me.

60. “Sugandika, I’ll teach you about something that’s like a marvelous medicine, which will cause your noble wisdom eye to become clear. Sugandika, if your noble wisdom eye becomes clear, you’ll be able to understand for yourself: ‘This is good heath. This is Nirvāṇa.’ Sugandika, [you’d be] like a man born blind who has relatives who care about him. Seeking profit and gain for him and seeking his safety and happiness, they find an eye doctor, and the doctor gives him a variety of treatments. Some are purgatives, some are laxatives. Some are nasal irrigations, some are enemas. Sometimes, his veins are pierced; sometimes, they make his tears flow.

61. “Sugandika, this being the case, both his eyes become clear. Sugandika, if both his eyes become clear, then he can see for himself, ‘This is the color blue … yellow … red … the color white.’ He can also see, ‘Those clothes are filthy and impure.’ Then he thinks, ‘That deceiver was not my friend who fooled me with these filthy clothes for so long.’ Then he has a thought of hatred for that deceiver. Sugandika, perhaps the person then kills that deceiver.

62. “In this way, Sugandika, I will teach you something that’s like a marvelous medicine, which will cause your noble wisdom eye to become clear. Sugandika, if your noble wisdom eye becomes clear, then you’ll be able to know for yourself, ‘This is good health. This is Nirvāṇa.’

63. “Sugandika, there are four things that can clarify the noble wisdom eye that isn’t clear yet. What are the four? Being close to good friends, paying respects and performing duties, hearing the good Dharma and considering it well, and going from one thing to the next. Sugandika, you should thus train: Be close to good friends, pay respects and perform duties, hear the good Dharma and consider it well, and go from one thing to the next. Sugandika, you should train in this way.

64. “Sugandika, once you’ve been close to good friends and paid respects and performed duties, then you’ll hear the good Dharma. Having heard the good Dharma, then consider it well. Having considered it well, then go from one thing to the next. Having gone from one thing to the next, then you’ll truly know, ‘This is suffering.’ You’ll [truly] know, ‘This is suffering’s formation.’ You’ll [truly] know, ‘This is suffering’s cessation.’ You’ll truly know, ‘This is the path to suffering’s cessation.’

The Four Noble Truths

65. “How does one truly know suffering? ‘It’s the suffering of birth, suffering of old age, suffering of illness, suffering of death, suffering of associating with enemies, suffering of parting with loved ones, and suffering of not getting what’s wanted. In brief, it’s the suffering of the five aggregates.’ Suffering is truly known in this way.

66. “How does one truly know the formation of suffering? ‘This craving will bring a future existence. Please let there be this or that existence in the company of delight and desire.’ Suffering’s formation is truly known in this way.

67. “How does one truly know the cessation of suffering? ‘This craving will bring a future existence. Please let this or that existence in the company of delight and desire cease without remainder, end, be abandoned, rejected, exhausted, disappear, and stop.’ Suffering’s cessation is truly known in this way.

68. “How does one truly know the path to the cessation of suffering? ‘This is the eightfold noble path. The eight are right view … right samādhi.’ The path to suffering’s cessation is truly known in this way.”

The Liberation of Sugandika

69. Once he was taught this Dharma, the heretic Sugandika became far removed from dust and free of dirt, and the Dharma eye arose in him. Thereupon, Sugandika saw the Dharma and got the Dharma. He awakened to the clean Dharma, ended doubt, and was freed from confusion. He had no more recourse to sages and didn’t follows others. Not emulating anyone, he lived in realization of the fruit and attained confidence in the Bhagavān’s Dharma. He then rose from his seat, bowed at the Buddha’s feet, and said, “Bhagavān, please allow me to leave home as a trainee on the path, be accepted fully, and become a monk.”

70. The Bhagavān told him, “Welcome, monk! Cultivate the religious practice!”

71. The heretic Sugandika then left home and trained on the path, was accepted fully, and became a monk. After leaving home, training on the path, being accepted fully, and knowing the Dharma, Sugandika became an arhat.

72. The Buddha spoke thus. When Venerable Sugandika heard what the Buddha taught, he rejoiced and approved.

Notes

1. For the source text, cf. T26.1.670a26-3a24. This sūtra is a close parallel with MN 75.
   Bhāradvāja. C. 婆羅婆 (MC. bua-la-bua > *Bharva? > G. Bharadvaya). As is often the case, C. translit. drops the final syllable, and Bharvaya is attested in a G. fragment. In MN 75, this is a clan name rather than a personal name.
   most quiet abode. C. 第一靜室. Unsure of the Indic equivalent, I’ve rendered this expression freely. The lit. meaning is “the best quiet abode.” In Pali, the Buddha was staying in a hut for conducting Brahmanical fire rituals (P. agyāgāra). [back]
2. Kalmāṣadamya. C. 釰摩瑟曇 (MC. kɪʌm-mua-ṣɛt-dəm > G. *Kaṃmaṣadam-?), P. Kammāsadamma, S. Kalmāṣadamya. I’ve found no attestation in G. for this placename, but the C. is a reasonable approx. of what it might have sounded like. [back]
3. heretic. C. 異學, P. paribbājaka. The C. translation means “heterodox,” which matches the meaning of S. tīrthika better than S. parivrājaka, as it was used to mean an adherent of another religious tradition. But these terms were often treated as close synonyms, usu. referring to both non-Buddhist mendicants and philosophers as a group.
   Sugandika. C. 鬚閑提 (MC. sui-ɦʌn-dei > G. *Suhandi-), P. Magandiya, S. Makandika or Magandika. The C. was probably equivalent to G. *Sukandika (but the first -k- has been weakened to an -h-), which would the equiv. of S. *Sugandika. A slightly different name, Sugandhi, is attested in S. sources (Edgerton, 597). [back]
4. destroyed the ground. C. 壞敗地, 敗壞地, P. bhūnahuno, bhūnahano, or bhūnahanassa, S. *bhūmihan. The meaning of the Pali parallel is obscure and doesn’t appear to have a clear derivation. Pali commentaries claim that it’s equivalent to bhuti-hanaka, “destroyer of beings.” Here, the Chinese suggests instead S. bhūmihan, “destroyer of the ground.” I suspect the Pali may have been corrupted by the loss of a syllable (perhaps -mi- or -ti-), and then attempts at correcting it created nonsensical words. For all this uncertainty, the word appears to simply mean the Buddha was sprawling about and making a mess of his spot, for which he was being judged as undisciplined. This is supported somewhat by the Buddha’s initial insistence that he is well disciplined. [back]
5. In MN 75, the Buddha uses himself as an example instead of a theoretical third party. As we shall see, the general arguments made and metaphors used are the same here as they are in MN 75, but the two texts are organized differently and expand on different points independently of each other.
   live with an inner calm. C. 内息心遊行, P. ajjhattaṁ vūpasantacitto viharāmi. The verb 遊行, which often translates P. viharati, lit. means “to wander.” The intended meaning may be to go about one’s life in general, but has been translated specifically to the ascetic lifestyle of wandering from place to place. [back]
6. pursuing [forms]. The C. here is 行, which is parallel to P. paṭisevante (from the v. paṭisevati), which means “follows, pursues, practices, indulges in.” “Pursue” is not a typical reading for 行 (which usu. means “walk, do, practice, act”), but 行 seems an imprecise translation in this passage.
   don’t praise that. C. 不稱彼, P. tesaṁ na pihemi. C. 稱 means “to praise, admire,” whereas P. piheti means “to covet, envy.” In C., it’s not clear whether the pronoun 彼 refers to the person or to their practice of enjoying sensual desires. In P., the distinction is made grammatically. The natural reading in C. would be that the person is both not admired and not delightful, but I’ve followed the P. assuming the original here was the same grammatically. [back]
7. five merits of desire. C. 五欲功徳, P. pañca kāmaguṇa. This term refers to the five sensory objects of desire, apparently looking forward to their heavenly counterparts. P/S. guṇa is a word with a number of possible meanings, the most common in Buddhist contexts being “merit, quality, feature, thread, subdivision.” In this case, it’s typically interpreted as “thread” or “part” in Theravāda Buddhism, but the C. translation (功徳) clearly means “merit” or “virtue.” This might be a reference to these desires being rewards of good karma when one is born in the human or heavenly worlds, and these two outcomes will be addressed shortly by the Buddha. [back]
8. limbs to be uninjured. C. 不壞諸根, S. anupahatendriya. The C. appears to be a lit. translation of an Indic term for being physically disabled due to injury. The term typically translated as “faculties” (C. 諸根, S. indriya) in Buddhist texts usually refers to the senses, but does include the rest of the physical body that give a person abilities, like the limbs. So, I’ve translated it as “limbs” in this context.
   Interestingly, though, the same term occurs in MN 75 in the later context of being mentally unsound in the discussion of having mistaken perceptions. There, it refers to mental faculties rather than physical ones. I wonder if a shared ancestor to MN 75 and MĀ 153 had used the term in both ways to link up the concrete metaphor of physical illness (leprosy) for a mental illness (delusion). [back]
9. At this point, a Chinese copyist apparently lost his place and duplicated passages twice. The first duplication puts part of the Buddha’s reply into Sugandika’s mouth here. The second duplication has the Buddha repeating himself verbatim in the next paragraph. I’ve removed both duplications from my translation.

Translator: Charles Patton

Last Revised: 15 October 2024