SN 7.9PTS (1st ed) SN 1.1673 min read

With Bhāradvāja of Sundarikā

Sundarikasutta

A brahmin conducting a fire sacrifice wishes to offer the sacrificial cake. He sees the Buddha meditating and wants to give it to him, but hesitates when he realizes he is a shaven-headed ascetic. He asks the Buddha’s caste, but the Buddha argues that conduct is the important thing, not caste. The Buddha gives a metaphorical reinterpretation of the elements of brahmanical ritual.

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

0.1Saṁyutta Nikāya 7.9Linked Discourses 7.9
0.21. Arahantavagga1. The Perfected Ones

0.3SundarikasuttaWith Bhāradvāja of Sundarikā

1.1Ekaṁ samayaṁ bhagavā kosalesu viharati sundarikāya nadiyā tīre.At one time the Buddha was staying in the Kosalan lands on the bank of the Sundarikā River.¹

1.2Tena kho pana samayena sundarikabhāradvājo brāhmaṇo sundarikāya nadiyā tīre aggiṁ juhati, aggihuttaṁ paricarati.Now at that time the brahmin Bhāradvāja of Sundarikā was serving the sacred flame and performing the fire sacrifice on the bank of the Sundarikā.²

1.3Atha kho sundarikabhāradvājo brāhmaṇo aggiṁ juhitvā aggihuttaṁ paricaritvā uṭṭhāyāsanā samantā catuddisā anuvilokesi:Then he rose from his seat and surveyed the four quarters, wondering,1.4“ko nu kho imaṁ habyasesaṁ bhuñjeyyā”ti?“Now who might eat the leftovers of this oblation?”³

1.5Addasā kho sundarikabhāradvājo brāhmaṇo bhagavantaṁ aññatarasmiṁ rukkhamūle sasīsaṁ pārutaṁ nisinnaṁ.He saw the Buddha meditating at the root of a certain tree with his robe pulled over his head.1.6Disvāna vāmena hatthena habyasesaṁ gahetvā dakkhiṇena hatthena kamaṇḍaluṁ gahetvā yena bhagavā tenupasaṅkami.Taking the leftovers of the oblation in his left hand and a pitcher in the right he approached the Buddha.1.7Atha kho bhagavā sundarikabhāradvājassa brāhmaṇassa padasaddena sīsaṁ vivari.When he heard Bhāradvāja of Sundarikā’s footsteps the Buddha uncovered his head.

1.8Atha kho sundarikabhāradvājo brāhmaṇo “muṇḍo ayaṁ bhavaṁ, muṇḍako ayaṁ bhavan”ti tatova puna nivattitukāmo ahosi.Bhāradvāja of Sundarikā thought, “This man is shaven, he is shaven!” And he wanted to turn back.

1.9Atha kho sundarikabhāradvājassa brāhmaṇassa etadahosi:But he thought,1.10“muṇḍāpi hi idhekacce brāhmaṇā bhavanti;“Even some brahmins are shaven.1.11yannūnāhaṁ taṁ upasaṅkamitvā jātiṁ puccheyyan”ti.Why don’t I go to him and ask about his birth?”

2.1Atha kho sundarikabhāradvājo brāhmaṇo yena bhagavā tenupasaṅkami; upasaṅkamitvā bhagavantaṁ etadavoca:Then the brahmin Bhāradvāja of Sundarikā went up to the Buddha, and said to him,2.2“kiṁjacco bhavan”ti?“Sir, what are you by birth?”⁴

3.1“Mā jātiṁ puccha caraṇañca puccha,“Don’t ask about birth, ask about conduct;⁵3.2Kaṭṭhā have jāyati jātavedo;for the fire of Jātaveda is born from sticks.⁶3.3Nīcākulīnopi muni dhitimā,A steadfast sage, even though from a low class family,3.4Ājānīyo hoti hirīnisedho.is a thoroughbred checked by conscience.
4.1Saccena danto damasā upeto,Tamed by truth, fulfilled by taming,4.2Vedantagū vusitabrahmacariyo;a complete knowledge master <j>who has completed the spiritual journey—⁷4.3Yaññopanīto tamupavhayetha,that’s who a sacrificer should woo,⁸4.4Kālena so juhati dakkhiṇeyye”ti.and offer a timely oblation <j>to one worthy of a religious donation.”
5.1“Addhā suyiṭṭhaṁ suhutaṁ mama yidaṁ,“My sacrificial offering <j>must have been well performed,5.2Yaṁ tādisaṁ vedagumaddasāmi;since I have met such a knowledge master!5.3Tumhādisānañhi adassanena,It’s because I’d never met anyone like you5.4Añño jano bhuñjati habyasesan”ti.that others ate the leftover oblation.

6.1“Bhuñjatu bhavaṁ gotamo.May the worthy Gotama eat!6.2Brāhmaṇo bhavan”ti.The worthy one is a brahmin.”⁹

7.1“Gāthābhigītaṁ me abhojaneyyaṁ,“Food enchanted by a verse isn’t fit for me to eat.¹⁰7.2Sampassataṁ brāhmaṇa nesa dhammo;That’s not the principle of those who see, brahmin.7.3Gāthābhigītaṁ panudanti buddhā,The Buddhas cast aside things enchanted with verses.7.4Dhamme sati brāhmaṇa vuttiresā.Since there is such a principle, brahmin, <j>that’s how they live.
8.1Aññena ca kevalinaṁ mahesiṁ,Serve with other food and drink8.2Khīṇāsavaṁ kukkuccavūpasantaṁ;the consummate one, the great seer,8.3Annena pānena upaṭṭhahassu,with defilements ended and remorse stilled.8.4Khettañhi taṁ puññapekkhassa hotī”ti.For he is the field for the seeker of merit.”

9.1“Atha kassa cāhaṁ, bho gotama, imaṁ habyasesaṁ dammī”ti?“Then, Worthy Gotama, to whom should I give the leftovers of this oblation?”

9.2“Na khvāhaṁ, brāhmaṇa, passāmi sadevake loke samārake sabrahmake sassamaṇabrāhmaṇiyā pajāya sadevamanussāya yasseso habyaseso bhutto sammā pariṇāmaṁ gaccheyya aññatra, brāhmaṇa, tathāgatassa vā tathāgatasāvakassa vā.“Brahmin, I don’t see anyone in this world—with its gods, Māras, and divinities, this population with its ascetics and brahmins, its gods and humans—who can properly digest these leftovers, except the Realized One or one of his disciples.¹¹9.3Tena hi tvaṁ, brāhmaṇa, taṁ habyasesaṁ appaharite vā chaḍḍehi appāṇake vā udake opilāpehī”ti.Well then, brahmin, throw out those leftovers where there is little that grows, or drop them into water that has no living creatures.”¹²

10.1Atha kho sundarikabhāradvājo brāhmaṇo taṁ habyasesaṁ appāṇake udake opilāpesi.So Bhāradvāja of Sundarikā dropped the leftover oblation in water that had no living creatures.10.2Atha kho so habyaseso udake pakkhitto cicciṭāyati ciṭiciṭāyati sandhūpāyati sampadhūpāyati.And when those leftovers were placed in the water, they sizzled and hissed, steaming and fuming.10.3Seyyathāpi nāma phālo divasaṁsantatto udake pakkhitto cicciṭāyati ciṭiciṭāyati sandhūpāyati sampadhūpāyati;Suppose there was an iron cauldron that had been heated all day. If you placed it in the water, it would sizzle and hiss, steaming and fuming.10.4evameva so habyaseso udake pakkhitto cicciṭāyati ciṭiciṭāyati sandhūpāyati sampadhūpāyati.In the same way, when those leftovers were placed in the water, they sizzled and hissed, steaming and fuming.

11.1Atha kho sundarikabhāradvājo brāhmaṇo saṁviggo lomahaṭṭhajāto yena bhagavā tenupasaṅkami; upasaṅkamitvā ekamantaṁ aṭṭhāsi.Then the brahmin Bhāradvāja of Sundarikā, shocked and awestruck, went up to the Buddha, and stood to one side.11.2Ekamantaṁ ṭhitaṁ kho sundarikabhāradvājaṁ brāhmaṇaṁ bhagavā gāthāhi ajjhabhāsi:The Buddha addressed him in verse:¹³

12.1“Mā brāhmaṇa dāru samādahāno,“When you’re kindling the wood, brahmin,12.2Suddhiṁ amaññi bahiddhā hi etaṁ;don’t imagine this is purity, for it’s just external.12.3Na hi tena suddhiṁ kusalā vadanti,For those who are skilled say this is no way to purity,12.4Yo bāhirena parisuddhimicche.when one seeks purity in externals.
13.1Hitvā ahaṁ brāhmaṇa dārudāhaṁ,I’ve given up kindling firewood, brahmin,13.2Ajjhattamevujjalayāmi jotiṁ;now I light only the inner flame.13.3Niccagginī niccasamāhitatto,Always blazing, always serene,¹⁴13.4Arahaṁ ahaṁ brahmacariyaṁ carāmi.I am a perfected one leading the spiritual life.
14.1Māno hi te brāhmaṇa khāribhāro,Conceit, brahmin, is the burden of your pack,¹⁵14.2Kodho dhumo bhasmani mosavajjaṁ;anger your smoke, and lies your ashes.¹⁶14.3Jivhā sujā hadayaṁ jotiṭhānaṁ,The tongue is the ladle, the heart the fireplace;¹⁷14.4Attā sudanto purisassa joti.a well-tamed self is a person’s light.¹⁸
15.1Dhammo rahado brāhmaṇa sīlatittho,The teaching is a lake, brahmin, <j>into which ethics are the stairs,¹⁹15.2Anāvilo sabbhi sataṁ pasattho;unclouded, praised by the fine to the good.15.3Yattha have vedaguno sinātā,There the knowledge masters go to bathe,15.4Anallagattāva taranti pāraṁ.and cross to the far shore with dry limbs.²⁰
16.1Saccaṁ dhammo saṁyamo brahmacariyaṁ,Truth, principle, restraint, the spiritual life,²¹16.2Majjhe sitā brāhmaṇa brahmapatti;attaining divinity based on the middle, brahmin—²²16.3Sa tujjubhūtesu namo karohi,pay homage to the upright ones.²³16.4Tamahaṁ naraṁ dhammasārīti brūmī”ti.I declare that man one who follows the teaching.”²⁴

17.1Evaṁ vutte, sundarikabhāradvājo brāhmaṇo bhagavantaṁ etadavoca:When he had spoken, the brahmin Bhāradvāja of Sundarikā said to the Buddha,17.2“abhikkantaṁ, bho gotama …pe…“Excellent, worthy Gotama …” …17.3aññataro ca panāyasmā bhāradvājo arahataṁ ahosīti.And Venerable Bhāradvāja became one of the perfected.

Translator’s notes

This Sutta, and its expanded parallel at Snp 3.4, contains a dense array of allusions and plays on Vedic concepts.
↩ sn7.9:1.1
This is evidently the midday fire oblation described at Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 2.2.3. A brahmin householder, worshiping when the sun is at its most powerful and the forces of darkness weakest, renders offerings to Agni so that he will drive away evils.
The Sundarikā was a sacred river (MN 7:20.3). Bathing in the ford there was said to bring beauty (Mahābhārata 3.82.51).
↩ sn7.9:1.2
The concept of “leftovers” (sesa) is supremely important in the ritual, for what is burned away is for the gods and humans live on what is left. Normally leavings would have been given to a brahmin and not lower castes (Manu 4.80, 3.249; Khādira Gṛhyasūtra 2.1.29).
At Snp 3.4:10.5 the offering is specified as a sacrificial cake (pūraḷāsa, Sanskrit puroḍāśa).
↩ sn7.9:1.4
From here the Sutta omits a passage from Snp 3.4:3.1–13.1.
↩ sn7.9:2.2
Here we rejoin Snp 3.4:14.1 for a time.
↩ sn7.9:3.1
The line plays with jāti (“birth”), jāyati (“give birth”), and jātaveda. The latter is a Vedic word for fire. Its meaning is obscure, but I think the sense is jāta (“those who have been born”, i.e. “mortals”) plus vedas (“knowledge”), i.e. “one who brings knowledge to mortals”. This is the fire-god Agni, who comes down from the sun to the sacrificial fire, bringing light and awareness and Vedic knowledge to those who have been born, namely mortal humans. In this passage, it implies that anyone who “has been born” can “give birth” to “knowledge” regardless of their “birth”.
↩ sn7.9:3.2
“Complete knowledge master” is vedantagū, which in the Vedic system would mean, “one who has completely mastered the Vedas”.
↩ sn7.9:4.2
Upavhayati (“woo”) occurs only here and DN 20:11.15 in Pali. It is a Vedic term for invoking or calling up blessings in a whisper.
From here the text diverges again from Snp 3.4:15.3, which inserts a long series of verses.
↩ sn7.9:4.3
Chāndogya Upaniṣad 5.24.4 says that one performing the fire ritual with true wisdom may even offer to an outcaste.
↩ sn7.9:6.2
See SN 2.9:7.3 and note.
↩ sn7.9:7.1
At Snp 3.4:34.4 the Buddha recommends giving instead to arahants.
↩ sn7.9:9.2
In a text on the agnihotra, Prajāpatī is depicted as pouring the oblation on plants and water (Kāṭhaka Saṁhitā 6.2). The Āpastamba Dharmasūtra says that the student must “not leave any food uneaten. If he is unable to do so, he should bury the leftovers in the ground, (or) throw them in the water” (1.4.12). See too Śathapatha Brāhmaṇa 3.8.5.9, where the stake for the heart of the sacrificial beast is disposed on the muddy ground between water and dry land, so as to disturb neither.
↩ sn7.9:9.3
In these verses, the Buddha systematically critiques and realigns the fire sacrifice.
↩ sn7.9:11.2
This passage plays on the homonyms samādahati (“kindle”, root meaning “to burn”) and samādahati (“serene”, “stilled”, “immersed”, root meaning “to place”). He no longer “burns” the sacred flame, but “is serene” with the inner light of samādhi.
↩ sn7.9:13.3
Such passages of equivalences or connections are characteristic of post-Vedic literature. For example, Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 11.5.6 says the juhū spoon is speech, the upabhṛt cup the mind, the dhruvā vessel the eye, the sruvā ladle the mental power, the bath the truth, the conclusion heaven.
A “pack” (khāri) was originally “donkey-load”, but here it must be a heavy weight for a single person. The Buddha is saying that carrying around the cenceit of “self” is a heavy burden.
↩ sn7.9:14.1
Smoke conveys the sacrifice to heaven (eg. Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 3.7.133, “May smoke rise to the sky, light to heaven, may ash fill the earth). For smoke in the sense of “fuming”, see AN 4.200:13.1, MN 23:2.1.
Sacred ash, the purifying divine residue from the fire, was smeared on the forehead or body as a sign of holiness. Here, however, the implication is that when the “fuming” anger is cold, all that is left are the lies spoken in the heat of rage. The line plays with the curse that those who hate us should be reduced to ashes (Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 6.6.3.10, see MN 93:18.19).
↩ sn7.9:14.2
The sujā (Sanskrit sruvā) is a small ladle of udumbara fig wood. It is dipped into the ghee or milk, lapping like a tongue, a metaphor often deployed in the Rig Veda (1.61.5, 3.31.3, 5.1.3, 10.109.5). The sacrifice of ghee, honey, and milk is driven by the craving to experience such delicious tastes.
The jotiṭhāna (“fireplace”) was a depression in the ground in which the fire was kindled. Here joti must be translated “fire”, but it is the same word as “light” in the next line. The Buddha is saying that the light/fire is kindled in the heart (hadayaṁ jotiṭhānaṁ). This draws on Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 4.3.7, where the Self is the “light within the heart” (hṛdyantarjyoti).
↩ sn7.9:14.3
Attā … purisassa joti is a direct reference to Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 4.3.2. Janaka asks Yājñavalkya, “What is this person’s light?” (kiṁjyotirayaṁ puruṣa). Yājñavalkya answers, “The self, indeed, is his light” (ātmaivāsya jyotirbhavati). The key difference is the term “well-tamed” (sudanto). For the Buddha, what is known as a “self” is conditioned and changing, so must be developed, and only then becomes a blessing. In such cases, “self” is practically equivalent to “mind”.
↩ sn7.9:14.4
The lake (rahada) was a pool of water into which the sacrificer descends seeking renewal or protection (Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 4.1.5.12, 4.4.5.10).
The tittha was the sacred bathing place, originally the stairs or descent that provided passage to the waters.
This verse occurs independently at SN 7.21:3.1.
↩ sn7.9:15.1
The use of deliberate paradox—bathe without getting wet—is characteristic of Vedic verse. The water rolls off them as it does a lotus.
↩ sn7.9:15.4
See similar sets of virtues at DN 30:1.6.2 and SN 24.6:1.7.
This verse seems clumsy to me, and I retain that in the translation.
↩ sn7.9:16.1
“Attainment of divinity” (brahmapatti) is found in Brahmanical sense at Katha Upaniṣad 6.18.
↩ sn7.9:16.2
The commentary says the t in sat is a mere particle, and the pronoun should be read as second person.
The “upright ones” are the arahants.
↩ sn7.9:16.3
Dhammasārī is a unique phrase. Normally, sārī means “one who follows”, making this an abbreviation of dhammānusārī, a “follower of teachings”. Elsewhere, however, this refers only to a specific stage prior to stream-entry (SN 25.1:2.1). We do find dhammasāra elsewhere in the sense “heartwood of the teaching” (SN 55.43:5.3, Thag 16.3:18.2), and perhaps sārī here means “having the essence of”. This form is not attested in Pali, but it is found in Sanskrit. Such an option is not endorsed by the commentary, which supplies two possibilities. One relies on the causative form sāretvā, “one who makes unskillful qualities leave”. The second is curious: one is “covered by the sārī of Dhamma”. That this means the saree dress is confirmed by the subcommentary’s “dressed and decorated”. If correct, this may be the earliest occurrence of sārī in this sense; the standard Pali spelling is sāṭī. By this reading we might translate, “draped in the teaching”.
“That man” according to the commentary refers to one who practices in such a way.
↩ sn7.9:16.4