The Discourse about Piṇḍola (UD4.6)

Thus I heard: At one time the Gracious One was dwelling near Sāvatthī, in Jeta’s Wood, at Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery. Then at that time venerable Piṇḍola Bhāradvāja was sitting not far from the Gracious One, after folding his legs crosswise, and setting his body straight, a forest-dweller, an alms gatherer, a rag-rober, one with only three-robes, with few longings, satisfied, completely secluded, unattached, with energy aroused, being one who spoke about the ascetic practices, who was applying himself to the higher mind.

The Gracious One saw venerable Piṇḍola Bhāradvāja, who was sitting not far away, after folding his legs crosswise, and setting his body straight, a forest-dweller, an alms gatherer, a rag-rober, one with only three-robes, with few longings, satisfied, completely secluded, unattached, with energy aroused, being one who spoke about the ascetic practices, who was applying himself to the higher mind.

Then the Gracious One, having understood the significance of it, on that occasion uttered this exalted utterance:

“Not finding fault, not hurting, and restraint in regard to the Pātimokkha,
Knowing the correct measure in food, and living in a remote dwelling place,
Being devoted to the higher mind—
this is the teaching of the Buddhas.”

Translated by Bhikkhu Ānandajoti from the Buddha Jayanthi Tripitaka text. Version 2.2, revised February 2008.

The text and translation, together with detailed notes and discussions, may be found in multiple formats on the translator’s website, Ancient Buddhist Texts.

Used by kind permission of Bhikkhu Ānandajoti.

The original translation was released under the following licence: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Prepared for SuttaCentral by Bhikkhu Sujato.