0.1Saṁyutta Nikāya 3.7Linked Discourses 3.7
0.21. Paṭhamavagga1. Shackles

0.3AḍḍakaraṇasuttaJudgment

1.1Sāvatthinidānaṁ.At Sāvatthī.

1.2Ekamantaṁ nisinno kho rājā pasenadi kosalo bhagavantaṁ etadavoca:Seated to one side, King Pasenadi said to the Buddha,1.3“idhāhaṁ, bhante, aḍḍakaraṇe nisinno passāmi khattiyamahāsālepi brāhmaṇamahāsālepi gahapatimahāsālepi aḍḍhe mahaddhane mahābhoge pahūtajātarūparajate pahūtavittūpakaraṇe pahūtadhanadhaññe kāmahetu kāmanidānaṁ kāmādhikaraṇaṁ sampajānamusā bhāsante.“Sir, when I’m sitting in court I see well-to-do aristocrats, brahmins, and householders—rich, affluent, and wealthy, with lots of gold and silver, lots of property and assets, and lots of money and grain. But they tell deliberate lies for the sake of sensual pleasures.¹1.4Tassa mayhaṁ, bhante, etadahosi:Then it occurred to me:1.5‘alaṁ dāni me aḍḍakaraṇena, bhadramukho dāni aḍḍakaraṇena paññāyissatī’”ti.‘Enough with passing judgment today. Now my dearest will be known by the judgments he makes.’”²

2.1“Evametaṁ, mahārāja, evametaṁ, mahārāja.“That’s so true, Great King! That’s so true!2.2Yepi te, mahārāja, khattiyamahāsālā brāhmaṇamahāsālā gahapatimahāsālā aḍḍhā mahaddhanā mahābhogā pahūtajātarūparajatā pahūtavittūpakaraṇā pahūtadhanadhaññā kāmahetu kāmanidānaṁ kāmādhikaraṇaṁ sampajānamusā bhāsanti;Those who are well-to-do aristocrats, brahmins, and householders tell deliberate lies for the sake of sensual pleasures.2.3tesaṁ taṁ bhavissati dīgharattaṁ ahitāya dukkhāyā”ti.That is for their lasting harm and suffering.”

2.4Idamavoca …pe…That is what the Buddha said. …

3.1“Sārattā kāmabhogesu,“Full of desire for possessions and pleasures,3.2giddhā kāmesu mucchitā;greedy, infatuated by sensual pleasures;3.3Atisāraṁ na bujjhanti,they don’t notice that they’ve gone too far,3.4macchā khippaṁva oḍḍitaṁ;like fish swiftly snared.3.5Pacchāsaṁ kaṭukaṁ hoti,It’ll be bitter later on;3.6vipāko hissa pāpako”ti.for the result will be bad for them.”

Translator’s notes

In the previous Sutta, Pasenadi lamented the corrupting influence of wealth. Here he talks of how he sees this corruption in his court. he speaks further of his frustrations at MN 98:13.1.

Read aḍḍa (variants attha, aṭṭa) which in Sanskrit has the senses “solve, infer, argue, discern”. The commentary interprets aḍḍakaraṇa as the “place of judgment” i.e. the court, which is clearly the case at DN 17:1.11.1.

↩ sn3.7:1.3

Bhadramukha is used here by by a king of his grown son. Elsewhere, by a family for a child (MN 40:6.2); by lay people addressing monks (MN 81:21.1); by a laywoman addressing a deity (AN 7.53:3.4); (SN 3.7:1.5); and, with the addition of the familiar tāta, by a brahmin wife to her husband (MN 100:3.5). The term is of Sanskritic form and is found commonly in the Avadāna literature. Turning to later Sanskrit sources, Nāṭyaśāstra 19.12 says it should be used when addressing inferiors, while Sāhityadarpaṇa 6.154 says it is used when addressing a prince (see SN 3.7 above). The early Pali usage, however, suggests it was an affectionate and respectful term of somewhat elevated usage, but not restricted by status. Since bhadda by itself is a common form of address in the sense “my dear”, I think the suffix -mukha has its intensive sense here, “dearest”, rather than “dear face”.

↩ sn3.7:1.5