91. A Means of Subsistence

Vuttañhetaṁ bhagavatā vuttamarahatāti me sutaṁ:

“Antamidaṁ, bhikkhave, jīvikānaṁ yadidaṁ piṇḍolyaṁ.

Abhisāpoyaṁ, bhikkhave, lokasmiṁ: ‘piṇḍolo vicarasi pattapāṇī’ti.

Tañca kho etaṁ, bhikkhave, kulaputtā upenti atthavasikā, atthavasaṁ paṭicca;

neva rājābhinītā, na corābhinītā, na iṇaṭṭā, na bhayaṭṭā, na ājīvikāpakatā.

Api ca kho ‘otiṇṇamhā jātiyā jarāya maraṇena sokehi paridevehi dukkhehi domanassehi upāyāsehi dukkhotiṇṇā dukkhaparetā,

appeva nāma imassa kevalassa dukkhakkhandhassa antakiriyā paññāyethā’ti.

Evaṁ pabbajito cāyaṁ, bhikkhave, kulaputto.

So ca hoti abhijjhālu kāmesu tibbasārāgo, byāpannacitto paduṭṭhamanasaṅkappo, muṭṭhassati asampajāno asamāhito vibbhantacitto pākatindriyo.

Seyyathāpi, bhikkhave, chavālātaṁ ubhatopadittaṁ majjhe gūthagataṁ neva gāme kaṭṭhatthaṁ pharati na araññe;

tathūpamāhaṁ, bhikkhave, imaṁ puggalaṁ vadāmi gihibhogā parihīno sāmaññatthañca na paripūretī”ti.

Etamatthaṁ bhagavā avoca.

Tatthetaṁ iti vuccati:

“Gihibhogā parihīno,

Sāmaññatthañca dubbhago;

Paridhaṁsamāno pakireti,

Chavālātaṁva nassati.

Kāsāvakaṇṭhā bahavo,

pāpadhammā asaññatā;

Pāpā pāpehi kammehi,

nirayaṁ te upapajjare.

Seyyo ayoguḷo bhutto,

tatto aggisikhūpamo;

Yañce bhuñjeyya dussīlo,

raṭṭhapiṇḍamasaññato”ti.

Ayampi attho vutto bhagavatā, iti me sutanti.

Dutiyaṁ.

This was said by the Lord…

“Bhikkhus, this is a contemptible means of subsistence, this gathering of alms. In the world, bhikkhus, it is a form of abuse to say, ‘You alms-gatherer! Wandering about clutching a bowl!’ Yet this means of subsistence has been taken up by young men of good family for a reason, for a purpose. They have not been reduced to it by kings nor by robbers nor because of debt nor through fear nor from loss of an alternative means of livelihood, but with the thought: ‘We are beset by birth, ageing and death, by sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair; overcome by suffering, afflicted by suffering. Perhaps an end can be discerned of this whole mass of suffering!’

“So this young man of good family has gone forth (into homelessness), but he may be covetous for objects of desire, strongly passionate, malevolent, corrupt in thought, unmindful, uncomprehending, unconcentrated, of wandering mind and uncontrolled faculties. Just as a brand from a funeral pyre, burnt at both ends and in the middle smeared with excrement, can be used as timber neither in the village nor in the forest, so by such a simile do I speak about this person: he has missed out on the enjoyments of a householder, yet he does not fulfil the purpose of recluseship.”

He has missed both a layman’s pleasure
And his recluseship, too, the luckless man!
Ruining it, he throws it away
And perishes like a funerary brand.

Far better for him to swallow
A fiery hot iron ball
Than that immoral and uncontrolled
He should eat the country’s alms.