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

30. And Subhadda, the Wanderer, said to the venerable Ananda : — ' Great is your gain, friend Ananda, great is your good fortune, friend Ananda, in that you all have been sprinkled with the sprinkling of discipleship in this brotherhood at the hands of the Master himself! '

[153] So Subhadda, the Wanderer, was received into the higher grade of the Order under the Exalted One ; and from immediately after his ordination the venerable Subhadda remained alone and separate, earnest, zealous, and resolved. And ere long he attained to that supreme goal of the higher life \ for the sake of which the clansmen go out from all and every household gain and comfort to become houseless wanderers — yea, that supreme goal did he, by himself, and while yet in this visible world, bring himself to the knowledge of, and continue to realize, and to see face to face ! And he became conscious that birth was at an end, that the higher life had been fulfilled, that all that should be done had been accomplished, and that after this present life there would be no beyond !

So the venerable Subhadda became yet another among the Arahants ; and he was the last disciple whom the Exalted One himself converted 2.

End of the H irannavatiya portion, being the
Fifth Portion for Recitation.

1 That is, Nirvana. Compare Mangala Sutta 10, n, and the
Dhammapada, verses 180, 354, and above, Chap. I, § 7.

2 Buddhaghosa says that the last five words in the text (the last twelve words in my translation) were added by the Theras who held the Council. On Subhadda's ordination he has the following interesting note : — ' The Thera (that is, Ananda), they say, took him on one side, poured water over his head from a water vessel, made him repeat the formula of meditation on the impermanency of the body (see my '• Buddhist Birth Stories," p. 161), shaved off his hair and beard, clad him in the yellow robes, made him repeat the " Three Refuges," and led him back to the Exalted One. The Exalted One himself admitted him then into the higher rank of the brotherhood, and pointed out to

170 XVI. MAHA PAR1NIBRANA SUTTANTA. D. ii. 153.

him a subject for meditation (kamma//Mna). He accepted this, and walking up and down in a quiet part of the grove, he thought and meditated upon it, till overcoming the Evil Spirit, he had acquired Arahantship, and with it the discriminating knowledge of all the Scriptures (Pa/isambhida). Then, returning, he came and took his seat beside the Exalted One.'

According to this, no set ceremony for ordination (Sahghak am maw), as laid down in the Vinaya, took place ; and it is otherwise probable that no such ceremony was usual in the earliest days of Buddhism.

CHAPTER VI.

i. [154] Now the Exalted One addressed the venerable Ananda, and said : — ' It may be, Ananda, that in some of you the thought may arise, " The word of the master is ended, we have no teacher more ! " But it is not thus, Ananda, that you should regard it. The Truths, and the Rules of the Order, which I have set forth and laid down for you all, let them, after I am gone, be the Teacher to you.'

2 . ' Ananda ! when I am gone address not one another in the way in which the brethren have heretofore addressed each other — with the epithet that is, of " Avuso" (Friend). A younger brother may be addressed by an elder with his name, or his family name, or the title " Friend." But an elder should be addressed by a younger brother as "Sir'' or as " Venerable Sir 1." '

3. ' When I am gone, Ananda, let the Order, if it should so wish, abolish all the lesser and minor precepts V

4. ' When I am gone, Ananda, let the higher penalty be imposed on brother Channa.'

' But what, lord, is the higher penalty ? '

' Let Channa say whatever he may like, Ananda, the

1 Bhante or ayasma. This question has been fully discussed by
Prof. Franke in the ' Journal of the Pali Text Society,' 1908.

2 According to tradition (trans, by Rhys Davids and Oldenberg, ' Vinaya Texts,' III, 377 foil.) the Order considered this matter shortly after the Buddha's death, and declined to avail themselves of this permission. As to what these lesser precepts were see Rhys Davids, ' Questions of King Milinda,' I, 202 foil.