Saṅgāmaji and his former wife (SA-2.11)

Thus have I heard, once, the Buddha was staying at Jeta Grove, the Anāthapiṇḍika Park.

At that time the elder Saṅgāmaji had travelled to Sāvatthī from Kosala and gone to the Jeta Grove in the Anāthapiṇḍika Park. At that time Saṅgāmaji’s former wife learned that he had come to Sāvatthī. She got dressed, put on her jewelery, took their son with her and went to Saṅgāmaji’s place. When Saṅgāmaji came out to walk about in the open, she approached him and said: “Our son is too small to sustain himself, therefore I have come to see the venerable one.” Although he saw her, he did not speak with her. She addressed him a second and a third time, but though the Venerable Saṅgāmaji stood facing her, he did not look at her nor speak. His former wife then said to him: “I came to see you, but you will not speak with me. Here is your son, raise him yourself!” Placing the son in his father’s path, she left him there and went back. Some distance away she stopped and looked back. The venerable still did not speak to his son. There the former wife thought to herself: “This renunciant has well attained liberation, he has been able to cut off the fetter of attachment. The cutting off, which the seer the Buddha, has accomplished, he too has attained completely.” Her wish unfulfilled, she went back, took the child, and carried him back home.

At that time the World-honored One, with his pure divine hearing surpassing human hearing, heard what Saṅgāmaji’s former wife had said and spoke this verse:

“To see them coming and not rejoice /
to see them leaving and not be sad,
one who has cut off all attachment and desire /
is the very best brāhmaṇa.

When they come, one does not rejoice /
When they leave, one is not sad,
getting rid of defilements, practicing in purity /
this is called a wise brāhmaṇa.”

When the Buddha had finished speaking, the monks, having listened to what he had said, were happy and remembered it well.

Translation by Marcus Bingenheimer, 2005–8 (minor revisions 2009). First version published in Buddhist Studies Review vol. 23.1 (2006). The translations used here were revised by the translator and published in his Studies in Āgama Literature—with Special Reference to the Shorter Chinese Saṁyuktāgama, Dharma Drum Buddhist College, 2010.

Translated from the Taishō text of the CBETA-Database (Version Feb. 2006). All sutta titles added by the translator.

This series of translations were part of the project “A Digital Comparative Edition of the Bieyi za ahan jing” conducted at the Chung-hwa Institute for Buddhist Studies (中華佛學研究所) and the Dharma Drum Buddhist College (法鼓佛教研修學院), funded by the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange (蔣經國國際學術交流基金會). The full project, including parallel Chinese, Pali, and Sanskrit texts, is available online here.

Used with kind permission of the translator.

Prepared for SuttaCentral by Bhikkhu Sujato.