The Samyutta Nikaya
The Grouped Discourses
Samyutta Nikaya III.20
Aputtaka Sutta
Heirless (2)
Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
Translator's note: It might come as something of
a surprise that the Buddha, in this discourse, seems to speak favorably of
the lavish enjoyment of sensual pleasures. Taken in light of his teachings
in AN V.41, his remarks here are less surprising. There he points out that
the enjoyment of pleasure is one of the legitimate rewards of wealth,
although the proper enjoyment of wealth doesn't end there. In this
discourse, he speaks of a man who, because of his past kamma, couldn't
even enjoy sensual pleasures. This is a useful discourse for illustrating
the point that the Buddha's ultimate rejection of sensual pleasure is not
that of a man who was too aversive or stingy to enjoy them. Rather, he
rejects them because he was capable of enjoying them but realized that
this sort of enjoyment was not the path to true happiness.
As for the moneylender mentioned in this discourse,
even though his inability to enjoy his wealth can be traced to attitudes
in the past, his unwillingness to make merit in this lifetime is not the
fault of his past kamma. People are always free to choose to practice the
Dhamma at any time. In his case, he chose not to. Thus he got no
legitimate use out of his wealth at all.
At Savatthi. Then King Pasenadi
Kosala went to the Blessed One in the middle of the day and, on
arrival, having bowed down to the Blessed One, sat to one side. As he was
sitting there the Blessed One said to him, "Well now, great king,
where are you coming from in the middle of the day?"
"Just now, lord, a money-lending householder died
in Savatthi. I have come from conveying his heirless fortune to the royal
palace: ten million in silver, to say nothing of the gold. But even though
he was a money-lending householder, his enjoyment of food was like this:
he ate broken rice & pickle brine. His enjoyment of clothing was like
this: he wore three lengths of hempen cloth. His enjoyment of a vehicle
was like this: he rode in a dilapidated little cart with an awning of
leaves."
"That's the way it is, great king. That's the way
it is. Once in the past that money-lending householder provided alms for
the Private Buddha named Tagarasikhi. Saying [to his
servant], 'Give alms to the contemplative,' he got up from his seat and
left. After giving, though, he felt regret: 'It would have been better if
my slaves or servants had eaten those alms.' And he also murdered his
brother's only heir for the sake of his fortune. Now, the result of his
action in having provided alms for the Private Buddha named Tagarasikhi
was that he appeared seven times in a good destination, the heavenly
world. And through the remaining result of that action he acted as
money-lender seven times in this very same Savatthi. But the result of his
action in feeling regret after giving [those] alms -- 'It would have been
better if my slaves or servants had eaten those alms' -- was that his mind
didn't lend itself to the lavish enjoyment of food, didn't lend itself to
the lavish enjoyment of clothing, didn't lend itself to the lavish
enjoyment of a vehicle, didn't lend itself to the lavish enjoyment of the
five strands of sensuality. The result of his action
in having murdered his brother's only heir for the sake of his fortune was
that he boiled in hell for many years, many hundreds of years, many
thousands of years, many hundred-thousands of years. And through the
remaining result of that action he has left this seventh heirless fortune
to the royal treasury.
"Now, because of the wasting away of that
money-lending householder's old merit and his non-accumulation of new
merit, he is today boiling in the Great Roruva hell."
"So he has reappeared in the Great Roruva hell,
lord?"
"Yes, great king. He has reappeared in the Great
Roruva hell."
That is what the Blessed One said. Having said that,
the One Well-Gone, the Teacher, said further:
Grain, wealth, silver, gold,
or whatever other belongings you have;
slaves, servants, errand-runners,
& any dependents:
you must go without taking
any of them;
you must leave
all of them
behind.
What you do
with body, speech, or mind:
that is yours;
taking
that you go;
that's
your follower,
like a shadow
that never leaves.
Thus you should do what is fine
as a stash for the next life.
Acts of merit
are the support for beings
in their after-death world.
---o0o---
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