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With Māgaṇḍiya

Māgaṇḍiyasutta

Māgandiya offers the Buddha his daughter in marriage. The Buddha refuses and further subdues Māgandiya’s pride by describing a state of peace that Māgandiya doesn’t understand.

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

  • 0.1Sutta Nipāta 4.9Anthology of Discourses 4.9

0.2MāgaṇḍiyasuttaWith Māgaṇḍiya

1.1“Disvāna taṇhaṁ aratiṁ ragañca,“Even when I saw the sirens <j>Craving, Malignancy, and Lust,11.2Nāhosi chando api methunasmiṁ;I had no desire for sex.1.3Kimevidaṁ muttakarīsapuṇṇaṁ,What is this body full of piss and shit?21.4Pādāpi naṁ samphusituṁ na icche”.I wouldn’t even want to touch it with my foot.”3

2.1“Etādisañce ratanaṁ na icchasi,“If you do not want a gem such as this,2.2Nāriṁ narindehi bahūhi patthitaṁ;a lady desired by many lords of men,2.3Diṭṭhigataṁ sīlavataṁ nu jīvitaṁ,then what manner of theory, <j>precepts and vows, livelihood,2.4Bhavūpapattiñca vadesi kīdisaṁ”.and rebirth in a new life do you assert?”

3.1“Idaṁ vadāmīti na tassa hoti,“After judging among the teachings,”43.2(māgaṇḍiyāti bhagavā)said the Buddha to Māgaṇḍiya,3.3Dhammesu niccheyya samuggahītaṁ;“none have been adopted thinking, ‘I assert this.’3.4Passañca diṭṭhīsu anuggahāya,Seeing views without adopting any,3.5Ajjhattasantiṁ pacinaṁ adassaṁ”.searching, I saw inner peace.”5

4.1“Vinicchayā yāni pakappitāni,“O sage, you speak of judgments you have formed,”4.2(iti māgaṇḍiyo)said Māgaṇḍiya,64.3Te ve munī brūsi anuggahāya;“without having adopted any of those views.4.4Ajjhattasantīti yametamatthaṁ,As to that matter of ‘inner peace’—4.5Kathaṁ nu dhīrehi paveditaṁ taṁ”.how is that described by the attentive?”

5.1“Na diṭṭhiyā na sutiyā na ñāṇena,“Purity is spoken of not as due to view,”5.2(māgaṇḍiyāti bhagavā)said the Buddha to Māgaṇḍiya,5.3Sīlabbatenāpi na suddhimāha;“learning, knowledge, or precepts and vows;75.4Adiṭṭhiyā assutiyā añāṇā,nor without view, learning,5.5Asīlatā abbatā nopi tena;knowledge, or precepts and vows.5.6Ete ca nissajja anuggahāya,Having relinquished these, not adopting them,5.7Santo anissāya bhavaṁ na jappe”.peaceful, independent, one would not pray <j>for another life.”

6.1“No ce kira diṭṭhiyā na sutiyā na ñāṇena,“It seems purity is spoken of not as due to view,”6.2(iti māgaṇḍiyo)said Māgaṇḍiya,6.3Sīlabbatenāpi na suddhimāha;“learning, knowledge, or precepts and vows;6.4Adiṭṭhiyā assutiyā añāṇā,nor without view, learning,6.5Asīlatā abbatā nopi tena;knowledge, or precepts and vows.6.6Maññāmahaṁ momuhameva dhammaṁ,If so, I think this teaching is sheer folly;6.7Diṭṭhiyā eke paccenti suddhiṁ”.some believe that purity comes from view.”

7.1“Diṭṭhañca nissāya anupucchamāno,“Continuing to question while relying on a view,”7.2(māgaṇḍiyāti bhagavā)said the Buddha to Māgaṇḍiya,7.3Samuggahītesu pamohamāgā;“you’ve become confused by all you’ve adopted.7.4Ito ca nāddakkhi aṇumpi saññaṁ,From this you’ve not glimpsed the slightest idea,7.5Tasmā tuvaṁ momuhato dahāsi.which is why you consider the teaching folly.

8.1Samo visesī uda vā nihīno,If you think that ‘I’m equal,8.2Yo maññati so vivadetha tena;special, or worse’, you’ll dispute about that.8.3Tīsu vidhāsu avikampamāno,Not wavering due to the three discriminations,8.4Samo visesīti na tassa hoti.they have no thought, ‘I’m equal or special’.

9.1Saccanti so brāhmaṇo kiṁ vadeyya,Why would that brahmin say, ‘It’s true’,9.2Musāti vā so vivadetha kena;or with whom would they dispute, ‘It’s false’?9.3Yasmiṁ samaṁ visamaṁ vāpi natthi,There is no equal or unequal in them,9.4Sa kena vādaṁ paṭisaṁyujeyya.so who would they take on in debate?

10.1Okaṁ pahāya aniketasārī,After leaving their bastion to migrate without abode,810.2Gāme akubbaṁ muni santhavāni;a sage doesn’t get close to anyone in town.10.3Kāmehi ritto apurakkharāno,Rid of sensual pleasures, not expecting,10.4Kathaṁ na viggayha janena kayirā.they wouldn’t get in arguments with people.

11.1Yehi vivitto vicareyya loke,A spiritual giant would not take up for debate11.2Na tāni uggayha vadeyya nāgo;the things in the world from which they live secluded.11.3Jalambujaṁ kaṇḍakavārijaṁ yathā,As a prickly lotus born in the water11.4Jalena paṅkena canūpalittaṁ;is unsullied by water and mud,11.5Evaṁ munī santivādo agiddho,so the greedless sage, proponent of peace,11.6Kāme ca loke ca anūpalitto.is unsmeared by sensuality and the world.

12.1Na vedagū diṭṭhiyāyako na mutiyā,A knowledge master does not become conceited12.2Sa mānameti na hi tammayo so;due to view or thought, <j>for they are not determined by that.12.3Na kammunā nopi sutena neyyo,They’ve no need for deeds or learning,912.4Anūpanīto sa nivesanesu.they’re not indoctrinated in dogmas.10

13.1Saññāvirattassa na santi ganthā,There are no ties for one detached from ideas;13.2Paññāvimuttassa na santi mohā;there are no delusions for one freed by wisdom.13.3Saññañca diṭṭhiñca ye aggahesuṁ,But those who have adopted ideas and views13.4Te ghaṭṭayantā vicaranti loke”ti.wander the world causing conflict.”

13.5Māgaṇḍiyasuttaṁ navamaṁ.

Translator’s notes

  1. Māra’s daughters, the archetypal temptresses. Their failed seduction is told at SN 4.25.

    ↩ snp4.9:1.1

  2. The commentary is surely correct in glossing these lines as kimevidaṁ imissā dārikāya muttakarīsapuṇṇaṁ rūpaṁ. Idaṁ (neuter) refers to the body (rūpa) not to the girl. It’s a meaningful distinction; the Buddha was criticizing the nature of the body, not shaming the person.

    ↩ snp4.9:1.3

  3. Icche is 1st optative. Naṁ is rendered as feminine (“her”) by Norman and Bodhi, but it agrees with idaṁ in the previous line, so it should be neuter (“it”). Again, the Buddha says nothing in criticism of the woman, only of the body.

    ↩ snp4.9:1.4

  4. The sense only emerges with the specific nuance of terms. Niccheyya means to “judge, decide” not simply “consider”; and samuggahītaṁ means “[a view that is] adopted” (not “assumed” or “grasped”). Finally, the na here applies, not just to idaṁ vadāmi, but also to samuggahītaṁ, with which idaṁ agrees.

    ↩ snp4.9:3.1

  5. This presumably refers to the times when the Buddha-to-be rejected his former teachers.

    ↩ snp4.9:3.5

  6. Two Māgaṇḍiyas appear in the Pali canon: here and in MN 75 where he attacks the Buddha as a destroyer of life. As to the protagonist of the current sutta, the Pali commentary, Divyāvadāna 36—which calls him Mākandika—and the Chinese parallel in the Arthapada (T iv 180) say he too hails from the Kuru country, as also at MN 75. Now, the Mahābhārata and other Sanskrit sources name Mākandī as a city or province on the banks of the Ganges, in the Pañcāla kingdom south of Hastināpura. This more-or-less agrees with Māgaṇḍiya’s home in the Kuru country, and suggests his name means “the man from Mākandī”. Divyāvadāna 36 and Sanskrit fragment say the Mākandika of the current sutta was also a wanderer, which does not contradict the position of the Pali commentaries and the Arthapada that he was a brahmin. At AN 5.294–302:1.1 māgaṇḍika is listed as a type of ascetic; these could well be students of Māgaṇḍiya. Kathāsaritsāgara 15 tells the comic farce of an ascetic from Mākandikā on the banks of the Ganges, who fell in love with the daughter of a merchant and went to ridiculous lengths to obtain her, only to end up a laughing-stock. This story could well have begun life as a comic inversion of this sutta. Reading all these sources together, we can posit that there was a brahmin wanderer from Mākandī on the Ganges in Kuru, who gained a certain fame and following as a teacher, but who is mainly remembered for his failed schemes. The Pali commentaries further specify that the Māgaṇḍiya of MN 75 is the nephew of the one in the current sutta.

    ↩ snp4.9:4.2

  7. Pi here doesn’t qualify sīlabbata (per Norman), it co-ordinates with nopi tena. I capture this with the not/nor construction.

    ↩ snp4.9:5.3

  8. This verse is quoted and discussed at SN 22.3:1.4.

    ↩ snp4.9:10.1

  9. Neyyo has the sense “needing to be led”, for example a student who “requires education” before they can master a passage (AN 4.133:1.3). Here it refers to the arahant.

    ↩ snp4.9:12.3

  10. Anupanīto (“not led in”) relates to neyyo in the previous line. Anupanīto has the sense of “one who has been educated (in recitation)” at MN 93:15.2. Compare English “brought into the fold”. The sense of “dogma” for nivesana is established at Snp 4.3:6.3 and Snp 4.5:6.3.

    ↩ snp4.9:12.4