A Vajji (SN9.9)

Linked Discourses 9.9

1. In the Woods

A Vajji

At one time a certain Vajjian mendicant was staying near Vesālī in a certain forest grove.

Now at that time the Vajjis were holding an all-night event in Vesālī.

Then that mendicant, complaining at the noise of musical instruments being beaten and played, on that occasion spoke this verse:

“We dwell alone in the wilderness,

like a log dumped in the forest.

On a night like this,

who’s worse off than me?”

The deity haunting that forest had sympathy for that mendicant, and wanted what’s best for them. So they approached that mendicant wanting to stir them up, and addressed them in verse:

“You dwell alone in the wilderness,

like a log dumped in the forest.

Lots of people are jealous of you,

like beings in hell of those going to heaven.”

Impelled by that deity, that mendicant was struck with a sense of urgency.