A forest spirit admonishes a monk (SA-2.21)

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

At that time a certain monk put on his robes, took his begging-bowl and entered the town to beg for food. When he had eaten and returned, he washed his feet, took up his sitting mat and went into the Forest of Regained Sight. Having spread out grass beneath a tree he sat down to meditate. But evil thoughts arose in his mind, desire for the five sensual pleasures. The spirit of the Forest of Regained Sight knew the monks thoughts and saw that they were impure. “In this forest one should not have evil inclinations,” the spirit thought, “I will wake him up.” And he said: “Monk, monk, why do you have an ulcer?” The monk answered: “I will bandage it.” The forest spirit spoke again: “Your ulcer is as big as a pot. How will you bandage it?” The monk answered: “I will bandage my ulcer with right thought.” The forest spirit praised him, saying: “Very good, very good! This monk knows well how to bandage his ulcer, how truly to bandage his ulcer.” The Buddha, with his divine hearing, heard the exchange between the forest spirit and the monk.

At that time the World-honored One spoke this verse:

“Worldly desires /
are born of evil thoughts.
Once an ulcer has grown /
it nurtures swarms of flies;
desire is this ulcer /
thought and reflection are the flies.

Because of greed, arrogance /
pierces our heart.
Because of greed for fame and profit /
we are caught in doubts,

do not know how to escape /
One whose mind is trained in concentration
trained in the supernormal powers /
does not grow ulcers
but in peace and stability beholds the Buddha /
and attains Nirvāṇa.”

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.