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SN 9.4PTS (1st ed) SN 1.1991 min read

Several Mendicants Set Out Wandering

Sambahulasutta

When a group of mendicants leave the forest in which they had been staying, the local deities lament their absence.

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

  • 0.1Saṁyutta Nikāya 9.4Linked Discourses 9.4
  • 0.21. Vanavagga1. In the Woods

0.3SambahulasuttaSeveral Mendicants Set Out Wandering

1.1Ekaṁ samayaṁ sambahulā bhikkhū kosalesu viharanti aññatarasmiṁ vanasaṇḍe.At one time several mendicants were staying in the land of the Kosalans in a certain forest grove.

1.2Atha kho te bhikkhū vassaṁvuṭṭhā temāsaccayena cārikaṁ pakkamiṁsu.Then after completing the three months of the rainy season residence, those mendicants set out wandering.1.3Atha kho yā tasmiṁ vanasaṇḍe adhivatthā devatā te bhikkhū apassantī paridevamānā tāyaṁ velāyaṁ imaṁ gāthaṁ abhāsi:Not seeing those mendicants, the deity haunting that forest cried. And on that occasion they spoke this verse:

2.1“Arati viya mejja khāyati,“Dissatisfaction, <j>it seems to me today,12.2Bahuke disvāna vivitte āsane;seeing so many vacated seats.2.3Te cittakathā bahussutā,They were so learned, such brilliant speakers!2.4Kome gotamasāvakā gatā”ti.Where have these disciples of Gotama gone?”

3.1Evaṁ vutte, aññatarā devatā taṁ devataṁ gāthāya paccabhāsi:When they had spoken, another deity replied with this verse:

4.1“Māgadhaṁ gatā kosalaṁ gatā,“They’ve gone to Magadha, they’ve gone to Kosala,4.2Ekacciyā pana vajjibhūmiyā;and some are in the Vajjian lands.4.3Magā viya asaṅgacārino,Like deer that wander free of ties,4.4Aniketā viharanti bhikkhavo”ti.the mendicants live with no abode.”2

Translator’s notes

  1. The idiom viya me khāyati (“seems to me”) is used for suppositions, so it must refer to the presumed dissatisfaction of the mendicants, rather than the disappointment of the deity.

    ↩ sn9.4:2.1

  2. A Brahmanical renunciate is said to wander “without fire or abode” (anagniraniketa, Manusmṛti 6.25, 6.43).

    ↩ sn9.4:4.4