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SN 21.6PTS SN 2.2791 min read

With Bhaddiya the Dwarf

Lakuṇḍakabhaddiyasutta

Venerable Lakuṇṭaka Bhaddiya is a dwarf, considered to be ugly and unsightly. The Buddha warns the monks not to despise him as he had realized full awakening.

Translated by Bhikkhu Sujato · Pāli: Mahāsaṅgīti Tipiṭaka · Public domain (CC0) via SuttaCentral

  • 0.1Saṁyutta Nikāya 21.6Linked Discourses 21.6
  • 0.21. Bhikkhuvagga1. Monks

0.3LakuṇḍakabhaddiyasuttaWith Bhaddiya the Dwarf

1.1Sāvatthiyaṁ viharati.At Sāvatthī.

1.2Atha kho āyasmā lakuṇḍakabhaddiyo yena bhagavā tenupasaṅkami.Then Venerable Bhaddiya the Dwarf went to the Buddha.1

1.3Addasā kho bhagavā āyasmantaṁ lakuṇḍakabhaddiyaṁ dūratova āgacchantaṁ.The Buddha saw him coming off in the distance,1.4Disvāna bhikkhū āmantesi:and addressed the mendicants:1.5“passatha no tumhe, bhikkhave, etaṁ bhikkhuṁ āgacchantaṁ dubbaṇṇaṁ duddasikaṁ okoṭimakaṁ bhikkhūnaṁ paribhūtarūpan”ti?“Mendicants, do you see this monk coming—ugly, unsightly, deformed, and despised by the mendicants?”

1.6“Evaṁ, bhante”.“Yes, sir.”

1.7“Eso kho, bhikkhave, bhikkhu mahiddhiko mahānubhāvo, na ca sā samāpatti sulabharūpā yā tena bhikkhunā asamāpannapubbā.“That mendicant is very mighty and powerful. It’s not easy to find an attainment that he has not already attained.1.8Yassa catthāya kulaputtā sammadeva agārasmā anagāriyaṁ pabbajanti, tadanuttaraṁ brahmacariyapariyosānaṁ diṭṭheva dhamme sayaṁ abhiññā sacchikatvā upasampajja viharatī”ti.And he has realized the supreme culmination of the spiritual path in this very life. He lives having achieved with his own insight the goal for which gentlemen rightly go forth from the lay life to homelessness.”

1.9Idamavoca bhagavā …pe…That is what the Buddha said.1.10satthā:Then the Holy One, the Teacher, went on to say:

2.1“Haṁsā koñcā mayūrā ca,“Geese, herons, and peacocks,2.2hatthayo pasadā migā;elephants and spotted deer—22.3Sabbe sīhassa bhāyanti,though their bodies are not equal,2.4natthi kāyasmiṁ tulyatā.they all fear the lion.

3.1Evameva manussesu,So it is for humans—3.2daharo cepi paññavā;if a little person is wise,3.3So hi tattha mahā hoti,they’re the truly great one,3.4neva bālo sarīravā”ti.not the fool with a good body.”3

3.5Chaṭṭhaṁ.

Translator’s notes

  1. Bhaddiya’s enlightenment came when being taught by Sāriputta (Ud 7.1), who, however, underestimated him and kept teaching anyway (Ud 7.2). His verses are at Thag 7.2. He was declared as the monk with the most charming voice (AN 1.194). This discourse, with different verses, is also at Ud 7.5

    ↩ sn21.6:1.2

  2. Read pasatamigā, where pasata is Sanskrit pṛṣata, “spotted”.

    ↩ sn21.6:2.2

  3. It is this verse that establishes Bhaddiya as a small person, hence the commentaries say lakuṇṭaka means “dwarf”. I follow the tradition, but it is weakly attested. It does not appear elsewhere and has no Sanskrit cognate (unless it is lākuṭika, “staff-bearer”). Sanskrit texts rather have lavaṇabhadrika (“Handsome Bhadda”), which might not be a mistake, but rather a reformed epithet indicating his true beauty.

    ↩ sn21.6:3.4