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SN 47.20PTS SN 5.1691 min read

The Finest Lady in the Land

Janapadakalyāṇīsutta

A parable that sets up an impossible challenge: to walk between a popular performer and the crowd jostling to see her, carrying a bowl of oil filled to the brim, while a man with a drawn sword waits to chop off your head if you spill a drop. That’s mindfulness!

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

  • 0.1Saṁyutta Nikāya 47.20Linked Discourses 47.20
  • 0.22. Nālandavagga2. At Nāḷandā

0.3JanapadakalyāṇīsuttaThe Finest Lady in the Land

1.1PTS 5.170Evaṁ me sutaṁ—So I have heard.1.2ekaṁ samayaṁ bhagavā sumbhesu viharati sedakaṁ nāma sumbhānaṁ nigamo.At one time the Buddha was staying in the land of the Sumbhas, near the town of the Sumbhas named Sedaka.1.3Tatra kho bhagavā bhikkhū āmantesi:There the Buddha addressed the mendicants,1.4“bhikkhavo”ti.“Mendicants!”

1.5“Bhadante”ti te bhikkhū bhagavato paccassosuṁ.“Venerable sir,” they replied.1.6Bhagavā etadavoca:The Buddha said this:

2.1“Seyyathāpi, bhikkhave, ‘janapadakalyāṇī, janapadakalyāṇī’ti kho, bhikkhave, mahājanakāyo sannipateyya.“Mendicants, suppose that on hearing, ‘The finest lady in the land! The finest lady in the land!’ a large crowd would gather.12.2‘Sā kho panassa janapadakalyāṇī paramapāsāvinī nacce, paramapāsāvinī gīte.And the finest lady in the land would dance and sing in a most thrilling way.22.3Janapadakalyāṇī naccati gāyatī’ti kho, bhikkhave, bhiyyoso mattāya mahājanakāyo sannipateyya.On hearing, ‘The finest lady in the land is dancing and singing! The finest lady in the land is dancing and singing!’ an even larger crowd would gather.

2.4Atha puriso āgaccheyya jīvitukāmo amaritukāmo sukhakāmo dukkhappaṭikūlo.Then a person would come along who wants to live and doesn’t want to die, who wants to be happy and recoils from pain.2.5Tamenaṁ evaṁ vadeyya:They’d say to him,2.6‘ayaṁ te, ambho purisa, samatittiko telapatto antarena ca mahāsamajjaṁ antarena ca janapadakalyāṇiyā pariharitabbo.‘My man, this is a bowl full to the brim with oil. You must carry it in between this large crowd and the finest lady in the land.2.7Puriso ca te ukkhittāsiko piṭṭhito piṭṭhito anubandhissati.And a man with a drawn sword will follow right behind you.2.8Yattheva naṁ thokampi chaḍḍessati tattheva te siro pātessatī’ti.Wherever you spill even a drop, he’ll chop off your head right there.’

2.9Taṁ kiṁ maññatha, bhikkhave,What do you think, mendicants?2.10api nu so puriso amuṁ telapattaṁ amanasikaritvā bahiddhā pamādaṁ āhareyyā”ti?Would that person lose focus on that bowl, and negligently get distracted outside?”

2.11“No hetaṁ, bhante”.“No, sir.”

3.1“Upamā kho myāyaṁ, bhikkhave, katā atthassa viññāpanāya.“I’ve made up this simile to make a point.3.2Ayaṁ cevettha attho—And this is what it means.3.3samatittiko telapattoti kho, bhikkhave, kāyagatāya etaṁ satiyā adhivacanaṁ.‘A bowl of oil filled to the brim’ is a term for mindfulness of the body.

3.4Tasmātiha, bhikkhave, evaṁ sikkhitabbaṁ:So you should train like this:3.5‘kāyagatā sati no bhāvitā bhavissati bahulīkatā yānīkatā vatthukatā anuṭṭhitā paricitā susamāraddhā’ti.‘We will develop mindfulness of the body. We’ll cultivate it, make it our vehicle and our basis, keep it up, consolidate it, and properly implement it.’3.6Evañhi kho, bhikkhave, sikkhitabban”ti.That’s how you should train.”

3.7Dasamaṁ.

3.8Nālandavaggo dutiyo.

4.0Tassuddānaṁ

4.1PTS 5.171Mahāpuriso nālandaṁ,4.2Cundo celañca bāhiyo;4.3Uttiyo ariyo brahmā,4.4Sedakaṁ janapadena cāti.

Translator’s notes

  1. The introduction to Ja 96 quotes from this Sutta.

    ↩ sn47.20:2.1
  2. Janapadakalyāṇī is typically rendered as “the most beautiful lady in the land”, but here we see her talents as a dazzling singer and dancer. While she was famed for her beauty (Ud 3.2:9.1), the word kalyāṇa normally means “(morally) good, fine, lovely” and does not refer solely to her appearance.

    ↩ sn47.20:2.2