Sujāta is praised (SA-2.1)

Thus have I heard, once, the Buddha stayed in a mango grove in the country of Mithilā.

At this time the Venerable Sujāta had just gone forth and shaved off his hair and beard. He came to the Buddha, paid homage by touching the Buddha’s feet and sat down to one side. The Buddha told the other monks: “This son of a good family, Sujāta, is splendid in two ways: First, his appearance is of extraordinary beauty, his features exceptionally handsome. Second, he was able to shave off his hair and beard and clothe his body with the Dharma robe. Feeling deeply that family life was all too ephemeral, he went forth and pursued the way. He ended all afflictions, is filled with purity, has liberated his mind from desire, has attained liberation from ignorance by wisdom.

In this very body he has attained the unconditioned, forever ended the cycle of life and death. Established in the pure life, he will not have to endure another existence.”

Having said this, the Buddha spoke this verse:

“The monk, always calm and concentrated /
cuts off desire and abandons life and death;
he abides in his final body /
he can defeat Māra’s armies,
training his mind, he breaks all fetters /
his uprightness is without equal.”

When the Buddha had finished this discourse, 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.