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Eighth Khandhaka. Chapter 15

15.

1.
Now when the Blessed One had remained at Benares as long as he thought fit, he went onwards on his journey toward Svatthi. And in due course journeying 'straight on he arrived at Svatthi; and there, at Svatthi, he stayed at the "G"etavana, Antha-pi"n"d"ika's rma. And Viskh the mother of Migra went up to the place where the Blessed One was; and when she had come there, she saluted the Blessed One, and took her seat on one side. And the Blessed One taught Viskh the mother of Migra seated thus: and incited, and aroused, and gladdened her with religious discourse. And Viskh the mother of Migra when she had been thus taught, and Viskh the mother of Migra, perceiving that the Blessed One had consented, rose from her seat, and saluted the Blessed One, and keeping him on her right side as she passed him, she departed thence.

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2.
Now at that time, when the night was far spent, there was a great storm of rain over the whole world 1. And the Blessed One said to the Bhikkhus:

'Just as it is raining in the "G"etavana, O Bhikkhus, so is it raining over the whole world. Let yourselves, O Bhikkhus, be rained down upon, for this is the last time there will be a mighty storm of rain over the whole world.'

'Even so, Lord,' said those Bhikkhus in assent to the Blessed One; and throwing off their robes they let themselves be rained down upon.

3.
And Viskh the mother of Migra having provided sweet food, both hard and soft, gave command to a slave girl, saying,

'Go thou 2 to the rma; and when you are there, announce the time, saying, "The time, Sirs, has arrived, and the meal is ready."'

'Even so, my Lady,' said the slave girl in assent to Viskh, the mother of Migra; and going to the rma she beheld there the Bhikkhus, with their robes thrown off, letting themselves be rained down upon. Then thinking, 'These are not Bhikkhus in the rma, they are naked ascetics letting the r tin fall on them,' she returned to the place where Viskh the mother of Migra was, and said to her:

There are no Bhikkhus in the rma; there are

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naked ascetics there, letting the rain fall on themselves.'

Then it occurred to Viskh the mother of Migra--she being learned, expert, and wise--'For a certainty the venerable ones must have thrown off their robes in order to let themselves be rained down upon, and this foolish girl thinks therefore that there are no Bhikkhus in the rma, but only naked ascetics letting the rain fall on them.' And she again gave command to the slave girl, saying,

'Go thou to the rma; and when you are there, announce the time, saying, "The time, Sirs, has arrived, and the meal is ready."'

4. Now the Bhikkhus when they had cooled their limbs, and were refreshed in body, took their robes, and entered each one into his chamber, When the slave girl came to the rma, not seeing any Bhikkhus, she thought: 'There are no Bhikkhus in the rma. The rma is empty.' And returning to Viskh the mother of Migra she said so.

Then it occurred to Viskh the mother of Migra--she being learned, expert, and wise--'For a certainty the venerable ones, when they had cooled their limbs and were refreshed in body, must have taken their robes, and entered each one into his chamber.' And she again gave command to the slave girl, saying,

'Go thou to rma; and when you are there announce the time, saying, "The time, Sirs, has arrived, and the meal is ready."'

5. And the Blessed One said to the Bhikkhus: 'Make yourselves ready, O Bhikkhus, with bowl and robe; the hour for the meal has come.'

'Even so, Lord,' said the Bhikkhus in assent to

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the Blessed One. And in the morning the Blessed One, having put on his under-garment, and being duly bowled and robed, vanished from the "G"etavana as quickly as a strong man would stretch forth his arm when it was drawn in, or draw it in again when it was stretched forth, and appeared in the mansion 1 of Viskh the mother of Migra. And the Blessed One took his seat on the seat spread out for him, and with him the company of the Bhikkhus.

6.
Then said Viskh the mother of Migra: Most wonderful, most marvellous is the might and the power of the Tathgata, in that though the floods are rolling on knee-deep, and though the floods are rolling on waist-deep, yet is not a single Bhikkhu wet, as to his feet, or as to his robes.' And glad and exalted in heart she served and offered with her own hand to the company of the Bhikkhus, with the Buddha at their head, sweet food, both hard and soft. And when the Blessed One had finished his meal, and had cleansed his hands and the bowl, she took her seat on one side. And, so sitting, she spake thus to the Blessed One:

'Eight are the boons, Lord, which I beg of the Blessed One.'

'The Tathgatas, O Viskh, are above granting boons (before they know what they are) 2.'

'Proper, Lord, and unobjectionable are the boons I ask.'

'Speak then, O Viskh.'

7.
'I desire, Lord, my life long to bestow robes

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for the rainy season on the Sa"m"gha, and food for in-coming Bhikkhus, and food for out-going Bhikkhus, and food for the sick, and food for those who wait upon the sick, and medicine for the sick, and a constant supply of congey, and bathing robes for the nuns.'

'But what circumstance is it, O Viskh, that you have in view in asking these eight boons of the Tathgata?'

'I gave command, Lord, to my slave girl, saying, "Go thou to the rma; and when you are there, announce the time, saying, 'The time, Sirs, has arrived, and the meal is ready.'" And the slave girl went, Lord, to the rma; but when she beheld there the Bhikkhus with their robes thrown off, letting themselves be rained down upon, she thought: "These are not Bhikkhus in the rma, they are naked ascetics letting the rain fall on them," and she returned to me and reported accordingly. Impure, Lord, is nakedness, and revolting. It was this circumstance, Lord, that I had in view in desiring to provide the Sa"m"gha my life long with special garments for use in the rainy season 1.

8.
'Moreover, Lord, an in-coming Bhikkhu, not being able to take the direct roads, and not knowing the places where food can be procured, comes on his way wearied out by seeking for an alms. But when he has partaken of the food I shall have provided for in-coming Bhikkhus, he will come on his way without being wearied out by seeking for an alms, taking the direct road, and knowing the place where food can be procured. It was this circumstance

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that I had in view in desiring to provide the Sa"m"gha my life long with food for in-coming Bhikkhus.

'Moreover, Lord, an out-going Bhikkhu, while seeking about for an alms for himself, may be left behind by the caravan 1, or may arrive too late at the place whither he desires to go, and will set out on the road in weariness. But when he has partaken of the food I shall have provided for out-going Bhikkhus, he will not be left behind by the caravan; he will arrive in due time at the place whither he desires to go, and he will set out on the road when he is not weary. It was this circumstance, Lord, that I had in view in desiring to provide the Sa"m"gha my life long with food for out-going Bhikkhus.

9.
'Moreover, Lord, if a sick Bhikkhu does not obtain suitable foods his sickness may increase upon him, or he may die. But if a Bhikkhu have taken the diet that I shall have provided for the sick, neither will his sickness increase upon him, nor will he die. It was this circumstance, Lord, that I had in view in desiring to provide the Sa"m"gha my life long with diet for the sick.

'Moreover, Lord, a Bhikkhu who is waiting upon the sick, if he has to seek out food for himself, may bring in the food (to the invalid) when the sun is already far on his course 2, and he will lose his

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opportunity of taking his food 1. But when he has partaken of the food I shall have provided for those who wait upon the sick, he will bring in food to the invalid in due time, and he will not lose his opportunity of taking his food. It was this circumstance, Lord, that I had in view in desiring to provide the Sa"m"gha my life long with food for those who wait upon the sick.

10.
'Moreover, Lord, if a sick Bhikkhu does not obtain suitable medicines his sickness may increase upon him, or he may die. But if a Bhikkhu have taken the medicines which I shall have provided for the sick, neither will his sickness increase upon him, nor will he die. It was this circumstance, Lord, that I had in view in desiring to provide the Sa"m"gha my life long with medicines for the sick.

'Moreover, Lord, the Blessed One when at Andhakavinda, having in view the ten advantages ther, allowed the use of congey 2. It was those advantages I had in view, Lord, in desiring to provide the Sa"m"gha my life long with a constant supply of congey.

11.
'Now, Lord, the Bhikkhuns are in the habit of bathing in the river A"k"iravat with the courtesans, at the same landing-place, and naked. And the courtesans, Lord, ridiculed the Bhikkhuns, saying, "What is the good, ladies, of your maintaining 3 chastity when you are young? are not the

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passions things to be indulged? When you are old, maintain chastity then; thus will you be obtainers of both ends.
" Then the Bhikkhuns, Lord, when thus ridiculed by the courtesans, were confused. Impure, Lord, is nakedness for a woman, disgusting, and revolting. It was this circumstance, Lord, that I had in view in desiring to provide the Bhikkhun-sa"m"gha my life long with dresses to bathe in.'

12.
'But what was the advantage you had in view for yourself, O Viskh, in asking these eight boons of the Tathgata?'

'Bhikkhus who have spent the rainy seasons in various places will come, Lord, to Svatthi, to visit the Blessed One. And on coming to the Blessed One they will ask, saying, "Such and such a Bhikkhu, Lord, has died. Where has he been re-born, and what is his destiny?" Then will the Blessed One explain that he had attained to the fruits of conversion, or of the state of the Sakadgmins, or of the state of the Angmins, or of Arahatship 1. And I, going up to them, shall ask, "Was that brother, Sirs, one of those who had formerly been at Svatthi?"

13.
'If they should reply to me, "He had formerly been at Svatthi," then shall I arrive at the conclusion, "For a certainty did that brother enjoy either the robes for the rainy season, or the food for the in-coming Bhikkhus, or the food for the out-going Bhikkhus, or the food for the sick, or the food for those that wait upon the sick, or the

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medicine for the sick, or the constant supply of congey." Then will gladness spring up within me on my calling that to mind; and joy will arise to me thus gladdened; and so rejoicing all my frame will be at peace; and being thus at peace I shall experience a blissful feeling of content; and in that bliss my heart will be at rest; and that will be to me an exercise of my moral sense, an exercise of my moral powers, an exercise of the seven kinds of wisdom 1! This, Lord, was the advantage I had in view for myself in asking those eight boons of the Blessed One.'

14.
'It is well, it is well, Viskh. Thou hast

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done well in asking eight boons of the Tathgata with such advantages in view.'

And the Blessed One gave thanks to Viskh the mother of Migra in these verses;

'Whatsoever woman, upright in life, a disciple of the Happy One, gives, glad at heart and overcoming avarice, both food and drink--a gift, heavenly, destructive of sorrow, productive of bliss,--

'A heavenly life does she attain, entering upon the Path that is free from corruption and impurity;

'Aiming at good, happy does she become, and free from sickness, and long does she rejoice in a heavenly body.'

And when the Blessed One had given thanks to Viskh the mother of Migra in these verses, he arose from his seat, and departed thence.

15.
Then the Blessed One on that occasion, after he had delivered a religious discourse, addressed the Bhikkhus, and said:

I allow you, O Bhikkhus, garments for the rainy season 1, and food for in-coming Bhikkhus, and food for out-going Bhikkhus, and diet for the sick, and food for those that wait upon the sick, and medicine for the sick, and a constant supply of congey, and bathing robes for the sisterhood.'

"Here ends the chapter called the Viskh-bh"n"avra.

Footnotes

217:1
\"K"tuddpiko, literally, 'over the four continents,' into which the world was supposed to be divided. Compare Genesis vii. 44.

217:2
Ga"k"kh"a "g"e; where "g"e is the appropriate form of address invariably used to a female slave or maid-servant. Compare Childers, in the 'Dictionary,' p. 617.

219:1
Ko"t"th"aka does not only mean a room, as given by Childers: it signifies here, as at "G"taka I, 227, a battlemented dwelling, the house of a person of rank.

219:2
See our note on this phrase at I, 54, 4.

220:1
See below, the note on 15.

221:1
Compare sukh vihyati in the Siglovda Sutta at p. 302 of Grimblot's 'Sept Suttas Plis.'

221:2
Compare Ussra-seyyo in the Siglovda Sutta at p. 302 of Grimblot's 'Sept Suttas Plis;' and Bhtlingk-Roth, under utsra.

222:1
Bhatta"k"kh"eda"m" karissati, because he may not eat solid food after sun-turn.

222:2
See Mahvagga VI, 24. The ten advantages are enumerated in 5 there.

222:3
In the text read "k"i"n"n"ena. Compare Bhikkhun-vibhaga, P"k"ittiya XXI, 1, where the whole passage recurs. The first sentence also recurs ibid., P"k"ittiya Ii.

223:1 A
conversation of the kind here referred to is related, as having actually taken place at Ndika, in the 'Book of the Great Decease,' Ii, 5-8.

224:1
The succession of ideas in this paragraph is very suggestive, and throws much light both upon the psychological views and upon the religious feelings of the early Buddhists. The exact rendering of course of the abstract terms employed in the Pli text is no doubt, as yet, beset with difficulty, for the reasons pointed out in Rh. D.'s 'Buddhist Suttas from the Pli,' pp. xxv, xxvi; but the general sense of the passage is already sufficiently clear. For one or two words we have no real and adequate equivalent.

Kya is neither 'body' nor 'faculties;' it is the whole frame, the whole individuality, looked at rather objectively than subjectively, and rather from the outward and visible than from the inner, metaphysical, stand-point. Compare the use of Sakkya-di"t"th"i and of Kyena passati.

Sukha is not so much 'happiness,' simply and vaguely, as the serenity of the bliss which follows on happiness. It is contrasted with, and follows after, pmo"g"g"a and pti, in the same way as in this passage, in the standing description of the "Gh"nas (translated by Rh. D. in the Mah-sudassana Sutta II, 5-8, in the 'Buddhist Suttas,' p. 272). Its opposite, Dukkha, is a positive state of pain, and in comparison with this, sukha is negative, the absence of pain.

"K"itta is always more emotional than intellectual. It has the connotation, not of 'mind,' as is usually and erroneously supposed, but of 'heart.'

225:1
The size of such a garment is limited by the 91st P"k"ittiya to six spans by two-and-a-half--that is just enough to go round the loins from the waist half down to the knee. It would be decent, and yet avoid the disadvantage of wearing the robes in the rain, where they would become wet and heavy in the manner described, for instance, at Mahvagga Vii, 1, 1.
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