Aṅguttara-Nikāya
I. Ekanipāta
Suttas 258-295
[24]
(g) Lay-followers, women.
'Monks, chief among my women disciples
who are layfollowers
of those who first took refuge (in my teaching),
is Sujātā, Senāni's daughter.117
■
'Monks, chief among my women disciples
who are layfollowers who minister to the Order,
is Visākhā, Migāra's mother.118
■
'Monks, chief among my women disciples
who are layfollowers of wide knowledge,
is Khujjuttarā.119
■
'Monks, chief among my women disciples
who are layfollowers who live in kindliness,
is Sāmāvatī.120
■
'Monks, chief among my women disciples
who are layfollowers of meditative power,
is Uttarā, Nanda's mother.121
■
[25] 'Monks, chief among my women disciples
who are layfollowers who give choice alms-food,
is Suppavāsā of the Koliyans.122
■
'Monks, chief among my women disciples
who are layfollowers who nurse the sick,
is Suppiyā, the lay-follower.123
■
'Monks, chief among my women disciples
who are layfollowers of unwavering loyalty,
is Kātiyānī.124
■
'Monks, chief among my women disciples
who are layfollowers who converse intimately,
is Nakula's mother.125
■
'Monks, chief among my women disciples
who are layfollowers who believe,
even from hearsay,
is Kāḷī, the lay-follower of Kurara-ghara.126
Chapter XV
§§ 1-28. The impossible.
'It is impossible, monks,
it cannot come to pass,127
that a person who is possessed of (right) view
should regard anyone phenomenon128
as permanent.
But, monks, it is quite possible
for the uneducated manyfolk to do so.
■
It is impossible, monks,
it cannot come to pass,
that a person who is possessed of (right) view
should regard anyone phenomenon
as happiness.
But monks, it is quite possible
for the uneducated manyfolk to do so.
■
It is impossible, monks,
it cannot come to pass,
that a person who is possessed of (right) view
should regard any one thing129
as the self.
But, monks, it is quite possible
for the uneducated manyfolk to do so.
■
[26] It is impossible, monks,
it cannot come to pass,
for a person who is possessed of (right) view
to slay his mother.
But it is quite possible
for the uneducated manyfolk to do so.
■
It is impossible, monks,
it cannot come to pass,
for a person who is possessed of (right) view
to slay his father.
But it is quite possible
for the uneducated manyfolk to do so.
■
It is impossible, monks,
it cannot come to pass,
for a person who is possessed of (right) view
to slay an Arahant.
But it is quite possible
for the uneducated manyfolk to do so.
■
It is impossible, monks,
it cannot come to pass,
for a person who is possessed of (right) view
with evil intent
to draw the blood of a Tathāgata.
But it is quite possible
for the uneducated manyfolk to do so.
■
It is impossible, monks,
it cannot come to pass,
for a person who is possessed of (right) view
to cause schism in the Order.
But it is quite possible
for the uneducated manyfolk to do so.
■
It is impossible, monks,
it cannot come to pass,
for a person who is possessed of (right) view
to proclaim some other teacher.
But it is quite possible
for the uneducated manyfolk to do so.
■
It is impossible, monks,
it cannot come to pass,
that in one world-system
at one and the same time130
there should arise two Arahants131
who are Fully Enlightened Ones.
But, monks, it is quite possible
for a single Arahant,
a Fully Enlightened One,
to arise.
■
It is impossible, monks,
it cannot come to pass,
that in one world-system
at one and the same time
there should arise two universal monarchs.
But, monks, it is quite possible
for one to do so.
■
It is impossible, monks,
it cannot come to pass,
that a woman should be an Arahant
who is a Fully Enlightened One.
But, monks, it is quite possible
for a man to be one.
■
It is impossible, monks,
it cannot come to pass,
that a woman should be an universal monarch.
But, monks, it is quite possible
for a man to be one.
■
It is impossible, monks,
it cannot come to pass,
that a woman should be a Sakka.
But, monks, it is quite possible
for a man to be one.
■
It is impossible, monks,
it cannot come to pass,
that a woman should be a Māra.
But, monks, it is quite possible
for a man to be one.
■
It is impossible, monks,
it cannot come to pass,
that a woman should be a Brahmā.
But, monks, it is quite possible
for a man to be one.
■
It is impossible, monks,
it cannot come to pass,
that the fruit of a deed ill done by body
should be pleasant, dear, delightful.
But that it should be quite otherwise
is possible indeed.
■
It is impossible, monks,
it cannot come to pass,
that the fruit of a deed ill done by speech
should be pleasant, dear, delightful.
But that it should be quite otherwise
is possible indeed.
■
It is impossible, monks,
it cannot come to pass,
that the fruit of a deed ill done by thought
should be pleasant, dear, delightful.
But that it should be quite otherwise
is possible indeed.
■
It is impossible, monks,
it cannot come to pass,
that the fruit of a deed well done by body
should have a result
that is unpleasant, hateful, distasteful.
But that it should be otherwise is quite possible.
■
It is impossible, monks,
it cannot come to pass,
that the fruit of a deed well done by speech
should have a result
that is unpleasant, hateful, distasteful.
But that it should be otherwise
is quite possible.
■
It is impossible, monks,
it cannot come to pass,
that the fruit of a deed well done by thought
should have a result
that is unpleasant, hateful, distasteful.
But that it should be otherwise
is quite possible.
■
It is impossible, monks,
it cannot come to pass,
that one addicted to ill deeds of body,
should, consequent on that,
as a result of that,
when body breaks up, after death
be reborn in the Happy Lot,
in the Heaven World.
But that it should be otherwise
may well be.
■
It is impossible, monks,
it cannot come to pass,
that one addicted to ill deeds of speech
should, consequent on that,
as a result of that,
when body breaks up, after death
be reborn in the Happy Lot,
in the Heaven World.
But that it should be otherwise
may well be.
■
It is impossible, monks,
it cannot come to pass,
that one addicted to ill deeds of thought
should, consequent on that,
as a result of that,
when body breaks up, after death
be reborn in the Happy Lot,
in the Heaven World.
But that it should be otherwise
may well be.
■
[27] It is impossible, monks,
it cannot come to pass,
that one addicted to good deeds of body,
should consequent on that,
as a result of that,
when body breaks up, after death
be reborn in the Waste,
and the Way of Woe,
in the Downfall,
in Purgatory.
But the opposite may well be.'
■
It is impossible, monks,
it cannot come to pass,
that one addicted to good deeds of speech,
should consequent on that,
as a result of that,
when body breaks up, after death
be reborn in the Waste,
and the Way of Woe,
in the Downfall,
in Purgatory.
But the opposite may well be.'
■
It is impossible, monks,
it cannot come to pass,
that one addicted to good deeds of thought
should consequent on that,
as a result of that,
when body breaks up, after death
be reborn in the Waste,
and the Way of Woe,
in the Downfall,
in Purgatory.
But the opposite may well be.'
117 Cf. JA. i, 68 ff.; Sisters, 4. She gave milk to Gotama, which gave him renewed strength in his striving for illumination.
118 Daughter of Dhanañjaya and daughter-in-law of Migāra. Henceforth he called her 'mother.' She was one of the seven famous sisters in Ap. 546; Sisters, 16; infra, text 205.
119 'Nanda's mother. Cf. Ap. 429. She was so called because she was hump-backed (khujja).
120 Cf. Sisters, 32. Friend of the nun Sāmā, whom her death induced to renounce the world. Not mentioned in Ap. Comy. gives an example of the miraculous power of her metta. Cf. Path of Purity, ii, 441.
121 Not in Ap. Cf. VvA. 63. Neither Comy. makes any mention of Nanda, of which name there were several. PvA. 244 makes her the mother of Nandaka.
122 Not in Ap. At Ud. ii, 8; UdA. 126, 156. she was pregnant for seven years and by her faith relieved by the Master, in return for which she gave seven meals to the Order. Our Comy. says nothing of this, but that her son was the thera Sīvalī. Cf. A. iii, 42. [?]
123 Not in Ap. Cf. UdA. 127; DA. 1, 258; SnA. 352. She fed a sick monk, who was craving for a meal of meat, with flesh from her own thigh, fell ill herself, and on a message from the Master rose up cured.
124 Not in Ap.
125 Not in Ap. Wife of Nakulapitar (supra).
126 A close friend of Kātiyānī (supra). While awaiting her confinement, she overheard the "two yakkha's Sātāgiri and Hemavata (cf. UdA. 64) praising the Triple Gem, and was there and then established in the fruits of Stream-winning.
[At this point ends the first volume of the Commentary (Pāli Text S. ed.).]
127 Aṭṭhānaṅ anavakāso = hetu-paccaya-denial. Comy. M. iii, 64 f.; Vbh. 335.
128 Sankhārā, the four elemental compounds.
129 Dhammaṅ.
130 Apubbam acarimaṅ.
131 In this connexion 'arahant' is not in the usual sense of an ordinary person who has completed the four transcendental paths.