0.1Saṁyutta Nikāya 6.7Linked Discourses 6.7
0.21. Paṭhamavagga1. The Appeal

0.3KokālikasuttaAbout Kokālika

1.1Sāvatthinidānaṁ.At Sāvatthī.

1.2Tena kho pana samayena bhagavā divāvihāragato hoti paṭisallīno.Now at that time the Buddha had gone into retreat for the day’s meditation.1.3Atha kho subrahmā ca paccekabrahmā suddhāvāso ca paccekabrahmā yena bhagavā tenupasaṅkamiṁsu; upasaṅkamitvā paccekaṁ dvārabāhaṁ nissāya aṭṭhaṁsu.Then the independent divinities Subrahmā and Suddhāvāsa went to the Buddha and stationed themselves one by each door-post.

1.4Atha kho subrahmā paccekabrahmā kokālikaṁ bhikkhuṁ ārabbha bhagavato santike imaṁ gāthaṁ abhāsi:Then Subrahmā spoke this verse about the mendicant Kokālika in the Buddha’s presence:¹

2.1“Appameyyaṁ paminanto,“What wise person here would judge2.2Kodha vidvā vikappaye;the immeasurable by measuring them?2.3Appameyyaṁ pamāyinaṁ,I think anyone who’d do such a thing2.4Nivutaṁ taṁ maññe puthujjanan”ti.is an ordinary person, shrouded.”

Translator’s notes

Kokālika features several times in the suttas (SN 6.9, SN 6.10, AN 10.89, Snp 3.10). In the Vinaya he appears, along with Katamorakatissaka and others, as a reprobate follower of Devadatta (Kd 17:3.14.1). In Ja 331 we learn of a past life as a cuckoo (kokila) laid in a crow’s nest, who is betrayed to his doom by his heedless cry.

↩ sn6.7:1.4