A monk makes an untimely visit to a village (SA-2.22)

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

At that time a large group of monks put on their robes, took their begging-bowls and entered the town to beg for food. There was a young, newly ordained monk who entered the village at an inappropriate time. The monks noticed this young, newly ordained monk in several places and said to him: “You have just begun training and do not yet know the discipline. What are you doing among the families?” The newly ordained monk said to the other monks: “The venerable Elders all visit the families. Why should I be denied this and not visit the families?”

Then the monks, having eaten what they had received on their alms-round, put away their robes and begging-bowls, washed their feet, and went to the Buddha. Having paid homage at his feet, they sat to one side and said. Then they said to the Buddha: “World-honored One! When we entered the town to beg for food, we saw a young, newly ordained monk, who did not visit the families at the appropriate time. We said to him: ‘You have just begun training and do not yet know the discipline. Why do you visit the families at an inappropriate time?’ He answered us: ‘The elder monks as well have come to the families. Why should I alone be denied this?’”

At that time the Buddha said to the monks: “In a vast wilderness there was a large lake. A number of full-grown elephants used to enter the lake and with their trunks pull out the lotus roots that were growing there. After giving them a shake, they cleaned them in the water and ate them. Their bodies became fat and full, and they grew extremely strong. Some juvenile elephants also ate of the lotus roots, but did not know how to shake them and clean them in the water. They ate them together with the mud and became weak and thin, they did not grow strong. Some died, some almost died.”

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

“When full-grown elephants enter a lake /
and pull out lotus roots with their trunks,
they shake them and wash off the mud /
and only then eat them.

Those monks who /
practice the unsullied Dhamma,
when receiving alms /
are not tainted by any fault.
Them I call practitioners /
who are like the full-grown elephants.

Those who do not well understand skillful means /
suffer later for their faults,
they suffer later pain and distress /
like the juvenile elephants.”

The monks, having listened to what the Buddha 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.