The Blessed One went from the hermitage of Uruvilvā Kāśyapa with a great assembly of monks, twelve hundred and fifty in number, to Dharmāraṇya, the place of the hermitage of the Great Ṛṣis. At that time seven hundred long-haired ascetics lived there, each of them a hundred and twenty years of age, all of whom had attained the four meditations and the five higher knowledges, and all of whose wholesome roots were thoroughly ripe and who were in their last existence. The Blessed One went to the place of the hermitage in order to help them.
The Blessed One spoke the ‘Thousands’ chapter of the Dharmapada to the long-haired ascetics:
1. Better than a thousand sayings
Made up of useless words
Is one saying with meaning
Which calms you to hear it.
2. Better than a thousand verses
Made up of useless words
Is one line of verse
Which calms you to hear it.
3. Though you should conquer in battle
A hundred thousand men
You’re the finest battle-winner
If you conquer just one – yourself.
4. Though you should conquer, month by month,
A hundred thousand at a time
You’re not worth a sixteenth part
Of confidence in the Buddha.
5. Though you should conquer, month by month,
A hundred thousand at a time
You’re not worth a sixteenth part
Of confidence in the Dharma.
6. Though you should conquer, month by month,
A hundred thousand at a time
You’re not worth a sixteenth part
Of confidence in the Saṅgha.
7. Though you should conquer, month by month,
A hundred thousand at a time
You’re not worth a sixteenth part
Of those who are endowed with morality.
8. Though you should conquer, month by month,
A hundred thousand at a time
You’re not worth a sixteenth part
Of those of the well-taught Dharma.
9. Though month after month a fool
Eats food with the tip of a kuśa-grass blade
He’s not worth a sixteenth part
Of confidence in the Buddha.
10. Though month after month a fool
Eats food with the tip of a kuśa-grass blade
He’s not worth a sixteenth part
Of confidence in the Dharma.
11. Though month after month a fool
Eats food with the tip of a kuśa-grass blade
He’s not worth a sixteenth part
Of confidence in the Saṅgha.
12. Though month after month a fool
Eats food with the tip of a kuśa-grass blade
He’s not worth a sixteenth part
Of those who trust in meditation.
13. Though month after month a fool
Eats food with the tip of a kuśa-grass blade
He’s not worth a sixteenth part
Of those who are endowed with morality.
14. Though month after month a fool
Eats food with the tip of a kuśa-grass blade
He’s not worth a sixteenth part
Of those of the well-taught Dharma.
15. You could live a hundred years,
Tend the fire,
Eating leaves, wearing skins,
Practising all kinds of asceticism,
16. But if you were to pay respect to a developed person
Once, just for a moment,
That single worship would be better
And not the hundred-year offering.
17. Whatever sacrifice or offering in the world
One who seeks merit might offer for a year,
All that is not worth a quarter as much
As reverence to those who are upright.
18. Better than living a hundred years
Ill behaved, unconcentrated,
Is living for one day
Well behaved, a meditator.
19. Better than living a hundred years
Lazy, without effort,
Is living for one day
Steadfastly making effort.
20. Better than living a hundred years
Not seeing the Buddha’s dispensation
Is living for one day
Seeing the Buddha’s dispensation.
21. Better than living a hundred years
Not seeing the supreme Dharma
Is living for one day
Seeing the supreme Dharma.
22. Better than living a hundred years
Not seeing arising and passing away
Is living for one day
Seeing arising and passing away.
23. Better than living a hundred years
Not seeing the unfallen state
Is living for one day
Seeing the unfallen state.
24. Better than living a hundred years
Not seeing the deathless state
Is living for one day
Seeing the deathless state.
And they were brought by the Blessed One to a state of mastery of the powers; and they all attained parinirvāṇa. The Blessed One performed their funerary rites and built stūpas for them.
Then from Dharmāraṇya he came to the Goatherd’s Banyan Tree …
From Mahāvastu Avadāna 3.434–7: ‘Dharmapadeṣu sahasravargaḥ’ (pp. 581–5 of Basak’s edition). An equivalent chapter is also found in the Udānavarga, but called ‘Peyālavarga’ (‘Repetition Chapter’) rather than ‘Thousands’.
In what follows, I have noted where verses in the extract have close equivalents in the Pali Dhammapada. The symbol ‘=’ denotes that, apart from the normal sound-changes between Sanskrit and Pali, the verses are identical. Where the verses are closely related but not identical, I have marked them as ‘equivalent’.
with a great assembly of monks, twelve hundred and fifty in number: Literally, ‘with a great community (saṅgha) of monks, with twelve and a half hundred monks’, or rather, using the usual curious Sanskrit/Pali idiom, ‘… with hundreds of monks having half [i.e. instead of another whole hundred] as their 13th’. The repetition of bhikṣu (‘monks’), while natural in the original languages, seems awkward in English.
Dharmāraṇya: The Forest of Dharma.
Great Ṛṣis: Important sages, particularly within the Hindu tradition.
long-haired ascetics: jaṭila, those wearing the jaṭā, the uncut and uncombed hair still characteristic of many Hindu ascetics, often worn as a topknot or as dreadlocks.
four meditations: dhyāna (Pali jhāna) – the four (or in some lists five) states attained through the practice of concentration-based meditation. In these states the mind becomes temporarily freed from the hindrances and so receptive to insight and wisdom.
five higher knowledges: abhijñā (Pali abhiññā) – abilities (‘psychic powers’) thought to result from the deep practice of concentration: clairvoyance, clairaudience, knowledge of the thoughts of others, recollection of past lives, and the knowledge that puts an end to the defilements (āsavas).
wholesome roots: Non-greed (generosity), non-hatred (loving kindness) and non-delusion (wisdom).
in their last existence: At a point when no further births would be needed as a result of karma/kamma. The point being made here is that these ancient ascetics have gone as far as possible with concentration-based meditation. They need the jolt of insight that the Buddha can provide in order to attain complete freedom as Arahats.
of the Dharmapada: Literally, ‘in the Dharmapadas’.
1. Equivalent to Dhammapada 100.
2. Equivalent to Dhammapada 101.
3. Similar to Dhammapada 103.
4–8. Though you should conquer … You’re not worth: Literally, ‘The one who would conquer … He is not worth’. The equivalent verses in the Dhammapada and Udānavarga all have the neuter form: ‘… That is not worth …’
4 conquer: The first half of vv. 4–8, yo jayeta sahasrāṇāṃ māse māse śataṃ śataṃ, is clearly a variation on Dhammapada 106, māse māse sahassena yo yajetha sataṃ samaṃ, but with a repetition of śataṃ, ‘hundred’, in place of samaṃ, ‘for a year’ (Sanskrit samāṃ), and jayeta (from ji-, ‘conquer’,) in place of yajetha (from yaj-, ‘sacrifice’). In some Prakrits, forms from j and y would have been indistinguishable, so we cannot be sure which meaning was the original one. Here I have assumed that ‘conquer’ was intended, since it carries on the theme from v. 3. Moreover, a group of renouncers such as these jaṭilas would not have carried on the rituals (yajña) associated with the household life. But there may well be the hint of a pun here. The equivalent sequence in the Udānavarga (24.21–9) has ‘sacrifice’.
8 those of the well-taught Dharma: svākhyāta-dharmaṇāṃ – literally, ‘those possessing the well-taught Dharma’, or perhaps simply ‘of well-taught dharmas’ (though the preceding item in this list is also a possessive compound referring to persons). In fact it is likely that the expression is a variant of saṅkhāta-dhammānaṃ in Dhammapada 70, ‘of those who’ve mastered dhammas’, where the first element has been misunderstood as svākhyāta (Pali svākkhāta), ‘well-taught’, a very common formula in praise of the Buddha’s teaching.
9–14. Verse 14 is equivalent to Dhammapada 70: see the note on v. 8, above. There is a similar expanded list at Udānavarga 24.17–20, varying in different editions: Udānavarga 24.17–19 corresponds to vv. 9–12 here, and one version of 24.20 corresponds to v. 14 here (reading svākhyāta, as here), while other editions expand the list in varying ways, with virtues such as ‘confidence in morality’ and ‘compassion for beings’. However, in the Udānavarga verses the second half always reads ‘That’s not worth …’ rather than ‘He’s not worth …’
15. wearing skins: Or ‘wearing tree-bark’ – either being characteristic of different kinds of ascetics. Verses 15–16 are an expansion of Dhammapada 107.
17. Equivalent to Dhammapada 108.
18. = Dhammapada 110.
19. = Dhammapada 112.
21. = Dhammapada 115.
22. = Dhammapada 113.
24. = Dhammapada 114.
A further expanded version of vv. 18–24 is found at Udānavarga 24.1–15.
the powers: Faith/confidence, energy/courage, mindfulness, concentration and wisdom.
attained parinirvāṇa: Died as awakened beings, with no need for further rebirth.
stūpas: Sacred mounds housing relics of the Buddha or (as here) of Arahats.