Saṁyutta Nikāya
I. Sagātha Vagga
8. Vaṅgīsa-Thera-Saṁyutta
I. Kindred Sayings with Verses
8. The Vaṅgisa Suttas
Sutta 12
Vaṅgīsa Suttam
Vaṅgīsa
[248]
[12.1]THUS HAVE I HEARD: —
The Exalted One was once staying near Sāvatthī,
at the Jeta Vana,
Anāthapiṇḍika's Park.
Now on that occasion the venerable Vaṅgīsa had but a little while ago won Arahantship,1
and experiencing the bliss of emancipation,
in that hour he spake these verses: —
"Drunk2 with divining art,3 of old we roamed
From town and village on to town again.
Then we beheld the All-Enlightened [him
Who hath transcended all that we can know].
He in the Norm instructed me [the Seer
Who hath transcended all the power of ill.
And when we heard that Norm our heart was glad],
And faith and trust therein rose up in us.
Hearing that Norm concerning body, mind,
Sensations, objects of the same, and all
The data of our knowledge — learning these
I left the world to lead the homeless life.
0 surely for the weal of many folk ...
The Brethren and the Sisters, who have found
And seen salvation's system and its way,4
The holy seer did win enlightenment ...
0 welcome wast thou then to me who now,
Have lived and studied at my Buddha's feet! ...
[249] The greater Triple Veda have I won,
The training in the Buddha's Rule is done.
I know as what I lived in times gone by,
Clear is the vision of the heavenly eye;
And magic power, the threefold lore is mine,
And thoughts of others can my thought divine."
1 B. here gives his legend, agreeing with that given by Dhammapāla, though not told in quite identical words.
2 = Theragāthā (Pss. of the Brethren), vers. 1253-62, but omitting several padas and even whole lines. The portions omitted in the S. are in italics, and below are indicated by ...
3 On kaveyya matto see above, IV, 2, § 3, and note in op. and loc. cit. just above.
4 Niyāmagataddasā, explained as having got to, and seeing the Niyāma — the 'way,' that is, of salvation, or 'assurance' concerning it. See Points of Controversy, p. 177, n. 1.