Dialogues of the Buddha, Part II — trans. T. W. and C. A. F. Rhys Davids (1910)

p. 87

becomes the fruit, great the advantage of intellect when it is set round with earnest contemplation. The mind set round with intelligence is set quite free from the Intoxications, that is to say, from the Intoxication of Sensuality, from the Intoxication of Becoming, from the Intoxication of Delusion, from the Intoxication of Ignorance.'

15. Now when the Exalted One had sojourned at Ambala/^ika asA long as he thought fit, he addressed the venerable Ananda, and said : — ' Come, Ananda, let us go on to Nalanda1.'

' So be it, lord ! ' said Ananda, in assent, to the
Exalted One.

Then the Exalted One proceeded, with a great company of the brethren, to Nalanda ; and there, at Nalanda, the Exalted One stayed in the Pavarika mango grove.

16. 2 Now the venerable Sariputta came to the place where the Exalted One was, and having saluted him, took his seat respectfully at his side, [82] and said : — ' Lord ! such faith have I in the Exalted One, that methinks there never has been, nor will there be, nor is there now any other, whether wanderer or brahmin, who is greater and wiser than the Exalted One, that is to say, as regards the higher wisdom/

'Grand and bold are the words of thy mouth, Sariputta : verily, thou hast burst forth into a song of ecstasy ! of course then thou hast known all the Exalted Ones who in the long ages of the past have been Able, Awakened Ones3, comprehending their

p. 88

minds with yours, and aware what their conduct was, what their wisdom, what their mode of life, and what the emancipation they attained to ? '

1 Afterwards the seat of the famous Buddhist University for so many centuries the centre of learning in India.

2 The following conversation is also given at length in the Sampasadaniya Suttanta of the Digha Nikaya, and a third time in the Satipa/Mana Sawyutta of the Sazrcyutta Nikaya (S. V, 159). It was evidently a very popular passage, and is quite possibly the one referred to in Asoka's Bhabra Edict as the ' Question of Upatissa,' that is, of Sariputta.

3 Arahant Buddhas. The meaning of these words must have been very present to the minds of those who used them at the time of the rise of what we call Buddhism ; and there was little or no difference

' Not so, O lord ! '

' Of course then thou hast perceived all the Exalted Ones who in the long ages of the future shall be Able Awakened Ones comprehending [in the same manner their whole minds with yours] ? '

' Not so, O lord ! '

' But at least then, O Sariputta, thou knowest me as the Able Awakened One now alive, and hast penetrated my mind [in the manner I have mentioned] ? '

' Not even that, O lord ! '

' You see then, Sariputta, that you know not the hearts of the Able Awakened Ones of the past and of the future. [83] Why therefore are your words so grand and bold ? Why do you burst forth into such a song of ecstasy ? '

17. ' O lord ! I have not the knowledge of the hearts of the Able Awakened Ones that have been, and are to come, and now are. I only know the lineage of the faith.

'Just, lord, as a king might have a border city, strong in its foundations, strong in its ramparts and towers, and with only one gate ; and the king might have a watchman there, clever, expert, and wise, to stop all strangers and admit only men well known. And he, on patrolling in his sentry walks over the approaches all round the city, might not so observe all the joints and crevices in the ramparts of that city as to know where even a cat could get out. He might well be satisfied to know that all living things of larger size that entered or left the city, would have to do so between the connotation of the two terms. As time went on the two were more and more differentiated, and hardened into technical terms. See Sav/yutta III, 65 on the difference between the two : and see Sawyutta I, 233; III, 160; IV, 175 for very old explanations of Araha, and Pa/isambhida I, 172 for an ancient commentary on the meaning of Buddha.

p. 89

by that gate. Thus only is it, lord, that I know the lineage of the faith.