4: The Book of the Fours
XXVI. Insight — AN 4.257: With Māluṅkyaputta
- © Translated from the Pali by Bhante Sujato. (More copyright information)
1Then Venerable Māluṅkyaputta went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and said to him:
2“Sir, may the Buddha please teach me Dhamma in brief. When I’ve heard it, I’ll live alone, withdrawn, diligent, keen, and resolute.”
“Well now, Māluṅkyaputta, what are we to say to the young monks, when even an old man like you, elderly and senior, asks the Realized One for brief advice?”
“Sir, may the Buddha teach me the Dhamma in brief! May the Holy One teach me the Dhamma in brief! Hopefully I can understand the meaning of what the Buddha says! Hopefully I can be an heir of the Buddha’s teaching!”
3“Māluṅkyaputta, there are four things that give rise to craving in a mendicant. What four? For the sake of robes, alms-food, lodgings, or rebirth in this or that state. These are the four things that give rise to craving in a mendicant. That craving is given up by a mendicant, cut off at the root, made like a palm stump, obliterated, and unable to arise in the future. Then they’re called a mendicant who has cut off craving, untied the fetters, and by rightly comprehending conceit has made an end of suffering.”
4When Māluṅkyaputta had been given this advice by the Buddha, he got up from his seat, bowed, and respectfully circled the Buddha, keeping him on his right, before leaving.
Then Māluṅkyaputta, living alone, withdrawn, diligent, keen, and resolute, soon realized the supreme culmination of the spiritual path in this very life. He lived having achieved with his own insight the goal for which gentlemen rightly go forth from the lay life to homelessness.
He understood: “Rebirth is ended; the spiritual journey has been completed; what had to be done has been done; there is no return to any state of existence.” And Venerable Māluṅkyaputta became one of the perfected.
1Atha kho āyasmā mālukyaputto yena bhagavā tenupasaṅkami; upasaṅkamitvā bhagavantaṁ abhivādetvā ekamantaṁ nisīdi. Ekamantaṁ nisinno kho āyasmā mālukyaputto bhagavantaṁ etadavoca:
2"Sādhu me, bhante, bhagavā saṅkhittena dhammaṁ desetu, yamahaṁ bhagavato dhammaṁ sutvā eko vūpakaṭṭho appamatto ātāpī pahitatto vihareyyan"ti.
"Ettha idāni, mālukyaputta, kiṁ dahare bhikkhū vakkhāma; yatra hi nāma tvaṁ jiṇṇo vuddho mahallako tathāgatassa saṅkhittena ovādaṁ yācasī"ti.
"Desetu me, bhante, bhagavā saṅkhittena dhammaṁ; desetu sugato saṅkhittena dhammaṁ. Appeva nāmāhaṁ bhagavato bhāsitassa atthaṁ ājāneyyaṁ; appeva nāmāhaṁ bhagavato bhāsitassa dāyādo assan"ti.
3"Cattārome, mālukyaputta, taṇhuppādā yattha bhikkhuno taṇhā uppajjamānā uppajjati. Katame cattāro? Cīvarahetu vā, mālukyaputta, bhikkhuno taṇhā uppajjamānā uppajjati. Piṇḍapātahetu vā, mālukyaputta, bhikkhuno taṇhā uppajjamānā uppajjati. Senāsanahetu vā, mālukyaputta, bhikkhuno taṇhā uppajjamānā uppajjati. Itibhavābhavahetu vā, mālukyaputta, bhikkhuno taṇhā uppajjamānā uppajjati. Ime kho, mālukyaputta, cattāro taṇhuppādā yattha bhikkhuno taṇhā uppajjamānā uppajjati. Yato kho, mālukyaputta, bhikkhuno taṇhā pahīnā hoti ucchinnamūlā tālāvatthukatā anabhāvaṅkatā āyatiṁ anuppādadhammā, ayaṁ vuccati, mālukyaputta, ‘bhikkhu acchecchi taṇhaṁ, vivattayi saṁyojanaṁ, sammā mānābhisamayā antamakāsi dukkhassā’"ti.
4Atha kho āyasmā mālukyaputto bhagavatā iminā ovādena ovadito uṭṭhāyāsanā bhagavantaṁ abhivādetvā padakkhiṇaṁ katvā pakkāmi.
Atha kho āyasmā mālukyaputto eko vūpakaṭṭho appamatto ātāpī pahitatto viharanto nacirasseva – yassatthāya kulaputtā sammadeva agārasmā anagāriyaṁ pabbajanti, tadanuttaraṁ – brahmacariyapariyosānaṁ diṭṭheva dhamme sayaṁ abhiññā sacchikatvā upasampajja vihāsi.
"Khīṇā jāti, vusitaṁ brahmacariyaṁ, kataṁ karaṇīyaṁ, nāparaṁ itthattāyā"ti abbhaññāsi. Aññataro ca panāyasmā mālukyaputto arahataṁ ahosīti.
Catutthaṁ.