Aṅguttara Nikāya
Pañcaka-Nipāta
XIX. Arañña Vaggo

The Book of the Fives

Chapter XIX: The Forest

Sutta 182

Paṃsu-Kūlika Suttaṃ

Rag-clad^ed1

 

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[161]

Thus have I heard:

Once the Exalted One dwelt near Sāvatthī;
and there he addressed the monks, saying:

"Monks."

'Yes, lord,' they replied;
and the Exalted One said:

"Monks, these five are rag-clad men.

What five?

One is rag-clad
out of folly and blindness;

one out of evil desires and longings;

one foolish and mind-tossed;²

one at the thought:

"It is praised by Buddhas and their disciples";

and one is rag-clad
just because his wants are little,
just for contentment,
just to mark³ (his own faults),
just for seclusion,
just because it is the very thing.⁴

 

§

 

Verily, monks, of these five
who are rag-clad,
he who is rag-clad
just because his wants are little,
for contentment,
to mark (his own faults),
for seclusion,
just because it is the very thing —
he of the five
is topmost,
best,
foremost,
highest,
elect.

■

Monks, just⁵ as from the cow comes milk,
from milk cream,
from cream butter,
from butter ghee,
from ghee the skim of ghee
there reckoned topmost;
even so, monks,
of these five rag-clad men,
he who is rag-clad
just because his wants are little,
for contentment,
to mark (his own faults),
for seclusion
and just because it is the very thing —
he of the five
is topmost,
best,
foremost,
highest,
elect.'

 

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^ed1 Paṃsu-kūlika, lit. dust-pile-rag man. Hare has abridged this sutta down to it's title referencing AN 5.181. Except for this first one, which I have edited as called for by the change of subject, I have left the footnotes intact as they apply.

² Cf. above, § 93.

³ Sallekha, from √likh; F. Dial. i, 10: 'purgation of evil'; Dial iii, 109: resigned';; but it is as in the Psalms (cxxx, 3): 'If thou shouldeet mark iniquities, who can stand?'

⁴ Idam aṭṭhitaṃ, to S.e., and Comy. which explains: imāya kalyāṇāya paṭipattiyā attho etassa.

⁵ This simile recurs at S. iii, 264; A. ii, 95; v, 182; Cf. J. vi, 206.