Aṅguttara Nikāya
Chakka Nipāta
VI. Mahā Vagga
The Book of the Sixes
Chapter VI: The Great Chapter
Sutta 59
Dāru-Kammika Suttaṃ
The Wood-Seller1
[278]
Thus have I heard:
Once, when the Exalted One was staying in the Brick Hall at Nādika,
a householder,
a wood-seller,
visited him,
saluted
and sat down at one side.
So seated, the Exalted One said to him:
'Maybe, householder, alms are given by your family?'
[279] '0 yes, lord, and in this way too:
such monks as are forest-gone,
almsmen,
rag-wearers -
arahants
or men won to the arahant's Way -
to them, lord, alms are given by my family.'
■
'But surely, householder,
it's a hard thing for you -
a layman,
engrossed in pleasures,
encumbered with children,
odorous with Kāsi's sandalwood,
decked with flowers and scented oils,
merry with silver and gold2 -
to tell which are arahants
and which have won
to the arahants' Way!
■
If a forest-gone monk, householder,
be puffed3 up,
proud,
excitable,
a mouthy speechifier,
forgetful of mindfulness,
not self-possessed nor composed,
a scatter-brain,
rude in sense-governance -
he on that count is blameworthy;
if he be not puffed up,
proud,
excitable,
a mouthy speechifier,
but upright in mindfulness,
self-possessed,
composed,
one-pointed,
controlled in faculties -
he on that count is praiseworthy.
■
So, too, if a monk
dwelling on the village outskirts
be puffed up,
proud,
excitable,
a mouthy speechifier,
forgetful of mindfulness,
not self-possessed nor composed,
a scatter-brain,
rude in sense-governance -
he on that count is blameworthy;
if he be not puffed up,
proud,
excitable,
a mouthy speechifier,
but upright in mindfulness,
self-possessed,
composed,
one-pointed,
controlled in faculties -
he on that count is praiseworthy.
■
So, too, if a monk,
an almsman
be puffed up,
proud,
excitable,
a mouthy speechifier,
forgetful of mindfulness,
not self-possessed nor composed,
a scatter-brain,
rude in sense-governance -
he on that count is blameworthy;
if he be not puffed up,
proud,
excitable,
a mouthy speechifier,
but upright in mindfulness,
self-possessed,
composed,
one-pointed,
controlled in faculties -
he on that count is praiseworthy.
■
So, too, if a monk,
a guested1
be puffed up,
proud,
excitable,
a mouthy speechifier,
forgetful of mindfulness,
not self-possessed nor composed,
a scatter-brain,
rude in sense-governance -
he on that count is blameworthy;
if he be not puffed up,
proud,
excitable,
a mouthy speechifier,
but upright in mindfulness,
self-possessed,
composed,
one-pointed,
controlled in faculties -
he on that count is praiseworthy.
■
So, too, if a monk,
a rag-wearer
be puffed up,
proud,
excitable,
a mouthy speechifier,
forgetful of mindfulness,
not self-possessed nor composed,
a scatter-brain,
rude in sense-governance -
he on that count is blameworthy;
if he be not puffed up,
proud,
excitable,
a mouthy speechifier,
but upright in mindfulness,
self-possessed,
composed,
one-pointed,
controlled in faculties -
he on that count is praiseworthy.
■
So, too, if a monk
the wearer of the householder's robe,4
be puffed up,
proud,
excitable,
a mouthy speechifier,
forgetful of mindfulness,
not self-possessed nor composed,
a scatter-brain,
rude in sense-governance -
he on that count is blameworthy;
if he be not puffed up,
proud,
excitable,
a mouthy speechifier,
but upright in mindfulness,
self-possessed,
composed,
one-pointed,
controlled in faculties -
he on that count is praiseworthy.
§
Nevertheless, householder,
give alms to the Order.
An you do so,
your heart will become tranquil;
and tranquil in heart,
you will, on the breaking up of the body after death,
arise in the good way,
the heaven-world.'
'I, too, lord, henceforth from today
will give alms to the Order.'
1 Dāru-kammika.
2 Cf. A, iv, 281; Ud, 65.
3 See above V, § 167; VI, § 46.
4 Gahapati-cīvara-dhara, the robe given by a householder, not from the rag heap. F. Dial, i, 21, [Ed.?] 'clad in lay attire,' and so also P.E.D. Bu. in both places is silent.
ed1 Hare has abridged this list such that it is possible to read it as meaning any guest, but what is intended in all cases is a bhikkhu who is of such a sort. Here one who has accepted an invitation to a meal. Bhk. Bodhi has done this more clearly with: "If a bhikkhu who accepts invitations to meals ...".