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Spiky the Native Spirit

Sūcilomasutta

Another yakkha challenges the Buddha with riddles and threatens to “hurl out his mind, rip open his heart, or hurl him across the River Ganges” if he doesn’t solve the riddles to the yakkha’s satisfaction.

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

  • 0.1Sutta Nipāta 2.5Anthology of Discourses 2.5

0.2SūcilomasuttaWith Spiky

1.1Evaṁ me sutaṁ—So I have heard.1.2ekaṁ samayaṁ bhagavā gayāyaṁ viharati ṭaṅkitamañce sūcilomassa yakkhassa bhavane.At one time the Buddha was staying near Gayā on the cut-stone ledge in the haunt of Spiky the native spirit.1.3Tena kho pana samayena kharo ca yakkho sūcilomo ca yakkho bhagavato avidūre atikkamanti.Now at that time the native spirits Shaggy and Spiky were passing by not far from the Buddha.11.4Atha kho kharo yakkho sūcilomaṁ yakkhaṁ etadavoca:So Shaggy said to Spiky,1.5“eso samaṇo”ti.“That’s an ascetic.”1.6“Neso samaṇo, samaṇako eso.“That’s no ascetic, he’s a faker!1.7Yāvāhaṁ jānāmi yadi vā so samaṇo, yadi vā so samaṇako”ti.I’ll soon find out whether he’s an ascetic or a faker.”

2.1Atha kho sūcilomo yakkho yena bhagavā tenupasaṅkami; upasaṅkamitvā bhagavato kāyaṁ upanāmesi.Then Spiky went up to the Buddha and leaned up against his body,2.2Atha kho bhagavā kāyaṁ apanāmesi.but the Buddha pulled away.2.3Atha kho sūcilomo yakkho bhagavantaṁ etadavoca:Then Spiky said to the Buddha,2.4“bhāyasi maṁ, samaṇā”ti?“Are you afraid, ascetic?”2.5“Na khvāhaṁ taṁ, āvuso, bhāyāmi;“No, respectable sir, I’m not afraid.2.6api ca te samphasso pāpako”ti.But your touch is nasty.”

3.1“Pañhaṁ taṁ, samaṇa, pucchissāmi.“I will ask you a question, ascetic.3.2Sace me na byākarissasi, cittaṁ vā te khipissāmi, hadayaṁ vā te phālessāmi, pādesu vā gahetvā pāragaṅgāya khipissāmī”ti.If you don’t answer me, I’ll drive you insane, or explode your heart, or grab you by the feet and throw you to the far shore of the Ganges!”2

4.1“Na khvāhaṁ taṁ, āvuso, passāmi sadevake loke samārake sabrahmake sassamaṇabrāhmaṇiyā pajāya sadevamanussāya yo me cittaṁ vā khipeyya hadayaṁ vā phāleyya pādesu vā gahetvā pāragaṅgāya khipeyya.“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 could do that to me.4.2Api ca tvaṁ, āvuso, puccha yadākaṅkhasī”ti.But anyway, ask what you wish.”4.3Atha kho sūcilomo yakkho bhagavantaṁ gāthāya ajjhabhāsi:Then Spiky addressed the Buddha in verse:

5.1“Rāgo ca doso ca kutonidānā,“Where do greed and hate come from?35.2Aratī ratī lomahaṁso kutojā;From where spring discontent, desire, and terror?5.3Kuto samuṭṭhāya manovitakkā,Where do the mind’s thoughts originate,5.4Kumārakā dhaṅkamivossajanti”.like a crow let loose by boys.”

6.1“Rāgo ca doso ca itonidānā,“Greed and hate come from here;6.2Aratī ratī lomahaṁso itojā;from here spring discontent, desire, and terror;6.3Ito samuṭṭhāya manovitakkā,here’s where the mind’s thoughts originate,6.4Kumārakā dhaṅkamivossajanti.like a crow let loose by boys.

7.1Snehajā attasambhūtā,Born of affection, originating in oneself,7.2Nigrodhasseva khandhajā;like prop roots sprouting from a banyan;47.3Puthū visattā kāmesu,the many kinds of attachment to sensual pleasures7.4Māluvāva vitatāvane.are like camel’s foot creeper <j>creeping through the woods.5

8.1Ye naṁ pajānanti yatonidānaṁ,Those who understand where they come from8.2Te naṁ vinodenti suṇohi yakkha;dispel them—listen up, spirit!8.3Te duttaraṁ oghamimaṁ taranti,They cross this flood so hard to cross,8.4Atiṇṇapubbaṁ apunabbhavāyā”ti.not crossed before, so as to not be reborn.”

8.5Sūcilomasuttaṁ pañcamaṁ.

Translator’s notes

  1. “Shaggy” is khara and “Spiky” is sūciloma, literally “needle-hair”. Some yakkhas are magnificent kings or warriors, but this pair are more like grotesque demons (rakkhasas), a stereotype that bedeviled yakṣas of later times. Khara is found for a number of demons in Sanskrit. We don’t find suciloma, but compare the demons Khara and his twin sister, the ugly and mutilated Śūrpaṇakhā (“wicker-nails”).

    ↩ snp2.5:1.3

  2. Considering the Ganges is 100 km away, this is even more impressive.

    ↩ snp2.5:3.2

  3. Despite their savage demeanor, they pivot right away to deep Dhamma questions. This kind of rapid pivot is characteristic of such conversion narratives.

    ↩ snp2.5:5.1

  4. The banyan is “trunk-born” (khandhaja) in two ways. As an epiphyte, it is sometimes called the “strangler fig”, since it grows around the trunk of a previous tree, strangling it. Then the banyan sends out aerial roots from the branches; when they reach the ground they establish themselves as supportive trunks known as “prop roots”, so that even if original trunk dies, the tree survives. Thus the tree itself is “trunk-born” and its multiple prop roots are also “trunk-born”. Grammar and commentary indicate the second sense is meant here. The metaphor is even more apt, since the word nigrodha (“banyan”) means “down-grower”, as the tree grows not to the sky but back into the earth.

    ↩ snp2.5:7.2

  5. The “camel’s foot creeper” (māluva) takes root and grows over the tree, ultimately engulfing and destroying it (MN 45:4.1).

    ↩ snp2.5:7.4