The Samyutta Nikaya
The Grouped Discourses
Samyutta Nikaya VII.17
Navakammika Sutta
The Builder
Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
On one occasion the Blessed One was staying among the Kosalans
in a certain forest thicket. Now at that time the
brahman Navakammika ("Builder") Bharadvaja was getting some work
done in that forest thicket. He saw the Blessed One sitting under a sala
tree -- his legs folded crosswise, his body held erect, with mindfulness
set to the fore. On seeing him, the thought occurred to the brahman:
"Here I am, taking delight in getting work done in this forest
thicket. But what does this contemplative take delight in getting
done?"
So he went to the Blessed One and on arrival recited
this verse:
"What jobs are getting done,
monk in the sala forest?
Alone in the wilderness,
in what does Gotama
find delight?"
[The Buddha:]
I have no work
to do in the forest.
The forest of restless dancing about
I've cut
at the root.
Though in the forest, I'm
deforested,
de-arrowed.
I delight alone,
discontent cast away.
When this was said, the brahman Navakammika Bharadvaja
said to the Blessed One: "Magnificent, Master
Gotama! Magnificent! Just as if he were to place upright what was
overturned, to reveal what was hidden, to point out the way to one who was
lost, or to carry a lamp into the dark so that those with eyes could see
forms, in the same way has Master Gotama -- through many lines of
reasoning -- made the Dhamma clear. I go to Master Gotama for refuge, to
the Dhamma, & to the community of monks. May Master Gotama remember me
as a lay follower who has gone for refuge from this day forward, for
life."
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