Discourse
to Bharadvaja, the Farmer
(Kasibharadvaja Sutta) (1)
Thus have
I heard:
On one occasion
the Blessed One was living at Dakkhinagiri (monastery), in the
brahmana village Ekanala, in Magadha. Now at that time, it being
the sowing season, five hundred ploughs of the Brahmin Kasibharadvaja
were put to use. Then in the forenoon the Blessed One having
dressed himself, took bowl and (double) robe, and went to the
place where Brahmin Kasibharadvaja's work was going on. It was
the time of food distribution by the brahmin, and the Blessed
One drew near, and stood at one side. Bharadvaja seeing the
Blessed One standing there for alms said to him:
- Recluse,
I do plough, and do sow, and having ploughed and sown I eat.
You also, recluse should plough and sow; having ploughed and
sown you should eat.'
- I, too,
brahmin, plough and sow; having ploughed and sown, I eat.
- We do
not see the Venerable Gotama's yoke, or plough, or ploughshare,
or goad or oxen. Nevertheless the Venerable Gotama says: "I,
too, brahmin, plough and sow; having ploughed and sown, I eat."
'
Thereupon
the brahmin addressed the Blessed One in a stanza:
1. 'You
profess to be a ploughman, yet your plough we do not see; asked
about your plough and the rest, tell us of them that we may
know.'
2. 'Faith
is my seed, austerity the rain, wisdom my yoke and plough, modesty
is the pole, mind the strap, mindfulness is my ploughshare and
goad.
3. Controlled
in speech and conduct, guarded in deed and speech, abstemious
in food (2) I make truth my weed cutter;
Arahantship, my deliverance complete.
4. Exertion,
my team in yoke, draws me to Nibbana's security, and on it goes
without stopping, wither gone one does not suffer.
5. Thuswise
is this ploughing ploughed which bears the fruit of Deathlessness;
having ploughed this ploughing one is freed from every ill.'
Then brahmin
Kasibharadvaja filling a golden bowl with milk-rice offered
it to the Blessed One saying: 'May the Venerable Gotama partake
of this milk rice; a ploughman, indeed, is Venerable Gotama
who ploughs a plough for the fruit of Deathlessness (Nibbana)'.
6. 'What
I receive by reciting verses, O brahmin, I should not eat. It
is not the tradition of those who practice right livelihood.
The Buddhas reject what is received by reciting verses. This
brahmin, is the conduct (of the Buddhas) as long as Dhamma reigns.
7. To those
wholly consummate, taintless, and well-disciplines great sages,
should thou offer other food and drink; sure field is that for
merit-seeking men.'
'To whom,
then Venerable Gotama, shall I give this milk rice?'
'Brahmin,
in the world of Devas, Maras, and Brahmas or among the generation
of recluses, brahmanas, deities and humans, there is no one
by whom this milk rice, if eaten, could be wholly digested except
by the Tathagata (the Buddha), or the disciple of a Tathagata.
Therefore, brahmin, either cast this milk rice where there is
no grass, or into water where there are no living creatures.'
Thereupon
the brahmin flung that milk rice into water where there were
no living creatures, and the milk rice thrown into the water
smoked and steamed making the noise 'cicchita, citicita', just
like a ploughshare heated during the day, when thrown into water,
smokes and steams making the noise 'cicchita, citicita'.
Then the
brahmin Kasibharadvaja, alarmed, with hair standing on end,
approached, and fell with his head at the Blessed One's feet
and said as follows.
'Most excellent,
O Gotama, is thy teaching, most excellent. Just as a man would
set upright what is overturned, reveal what is concealed, point
out the way to one gone astray, bring an oil lamp into the darkness
so that those with eyes could see objects, even so the Dhamma
(doctrine) has been declared in many a manner by the Venerable
Gotama. I take refuge in the Venerable Gotama (the Buddha),
in the Dhamma and in the Sangha (the Order). I wish to receive
the novice's ordination (pabbajja) and higher ordination
(upasampada).'
Brahmin
Kasibharadvaja duly received both the pabbajja and upasampada
from the Blessed One. Not long after his upasampada the
Venrable Bharadvaja dwelling alone and aloof, diligent, strenuous
and resolute, ere long, by his own insight, here and now, realized
and attained the highest perfection (Arahantship), the end of
the Noble Life - for the sake of which men of good family go
forth from home to live the homeless life. Birth is destroyed,
lived is the noble life, done is what has to be done, there
is no more of this state. The Venerable Bharadvaja became one
of the Arahants.
NOTES:
1. Sn.
p. 12; S. i. p. 172.
2. In the use of the four requisites: robes, food, lodging,
medicine, (Com).