chapter-3

CHAPTER-3 BUDDHIST MORALITY

Onec the Bhagava[1] (the Exalted One) made a long journey from Rajagaha to Nalanda with a large company of bhikhus[2] numbering five hundred. Suppiya, a wandering ascetic, was also making a long journey from Rajagaha to Nalanda together with his pupil, the youth Brahmadatta.

In the course of the journey Suppiya, the wandering ascetic, maligned the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Samgha in many ways the youth Brahmadatta, the pupil of Supiya, however, praised  the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Samgha in many ways. Thus the teacher and pupil, each saying things directly contradictory to the other, followed , behind the Bhagava and the company of bhikkhus.

Then the bhagava went up the King’s Rest House at the Ambalatthika garden to put up there there with his company of bhikkhus for one night. The wandering ascetic, Suppiya approached the same Rest House with his pupil, the youth Brahmadatta, to put up there for one  night. At the garden also, the

wandering ascetic, Suppiya maligned the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Samgha in many ways, whereas his pupil, the youth Brahmadatta, praised the Budha, the Dhamma and the Samgha in many ways. And in this manner the teacher and the pupil were each saying things directly contradictory to the other.

Then as the night ended the day dawned, the bhikhus congregated in the pavilion when the following conversation arose:  “ Friends’ How wonderful ǃ And , indeed, how marvelous, Friends, that what has never happened before has now happened ǃ The Exalted One, the All-knowing, the all seeing, the Homage worthy, the Perfectly Self-Enlightened, understands with clear penetration the varied dispositions of sentient beings.

     

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[1]   Bhagava: this the the most frequently used appellation of the Bhuddha in the Suttanta Pitaka.

[2]  Bhikhus: A Bhikhu is amember of the Buddhist Order (the Samgha).