Toh 302 — What Mendicants Hold Most Dear

Bhikṣuprareju

Translated by the Achi Translation Group under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha

The Sūtra on What Mendicants Hold Most Dear

F.125.aF.125.b Homage to the Omniscient One.

Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was residing in the Blooming Lotus Monastery in the great city of Śrāvastī together with a retinue that consisted of a saṅgha of 12,500 mendicants. At that time, among the assembled retinue of the Blessed One, there was a noble one called Upāli, whose senses were disciplined, who was well learned, and who had profound wisdom. He was devoted to the Dharma and Vinaya excellently taught by the Blessed One, and he held them in the highest esteem. Upāli rose from his seat, draped his upper robe over one shoulder, and, kneeling on his right knee with palms joined at his heart, he smiled and supplicated the Blessed One with these words:

“Arisen like a lotus from the mud of saṃsāra,

Protector, unshakable like a mountain, your sage’s body

Ornamented by the adornments of the minor marks and beautiful with the blossoms of the major marks,

One never tires of looking at you. To you, utterly supreme, I pay homage!

“Since there are only mendicants residing here, I supplicate you,

O Sage, to please teach us who are gathered here these four points:

The nature of mendicants, their types,

The usage of the term, and their obligations.”

The blessed Well-Gone One was very pleased

And, looking at Upāli, responded as follows:^[1]

“Listen well, Upāli, my son,

For I will satisfy you

And explain this for the benefit of mendicants.

“Mendicants are the victory banner of the Dharma,

And mendicants are the adamantine life pillar.^[2]

Mendicants are those who have abandoned suffering,

And mendicants are the heirs of the victorious ones.

Mendicants are those who have cut the life force of afflictions,

And mendicants are those who enter the garden of liberation.

“The very nature of mendicants is restraint,^[3]

And their completely pure obligations are the two hundred and fifty precepts,^[4]F.126.a

Such as those on the four root downfalls, which comprise disciplined conduct.

“As for the types of mendicants, what are they called?

There are those who hold only the outer attributes, and there are genuine mendicants.

“As for the usage of the term, because their afflictions are completely exhausted,^[5]

Because they arouse wholesomeness,^[6] beg for food,

Abide in peace, have entered the path,

Lead a proper life, have abandoned attachment,

And are attractive, for these reasons they are called ‘mendicants.’^[7]

“Mendicant means adorned:^[8]

They are well adorned by the adornment of abandoning adornment.

Having abandoned attachment, they practice with great attachment.

They enjoy the unsurpassed balm, ablution, food,

Ornament, garment, and color,^[9]

And when it comes to horses, elephants, palanquins, and the like,

They ride the unsurpassed mount.^[10]

Those who have acquired these are mendicants,

And those who have not acquired these are not mendicants.”

Upāli then supplicated

The Blessed One with the following words:^[11]

“How is that? The Well-Gone One has given a derivation^[12]

That is difficult to understand.

Well-Gone One, please shed light

On those words’ obscurity

With the lamp of your words!”

The Blessed One responded:

“Having completely abandoned worldly ornaments

Such as gold, adorn yourself

With the supreme ornament of compassion!

Wear not worldly garments, but the garment of training—

That is the excellent, supreme garment.

“Anoint yourself not with camphor or the like,

But with the supreme balm of disciplined conduct.

The most beautiful color is not white or red or the like,

But the color of faith.

The swiftest mount is not a worldly mount,

But the unsurpassed mount of diligence.

“The Dharma practice of meditative stability is the supreme nourishment

Whose taste is more refined than rice pudding.

In the celestial palace of the saṅgha gathering,

Apply yourself fully on the seat of calm abiding!

“Those endowed with these do not fall back.

They are genuine mendicants.

“Those who have the three main robes and the five accompanying implements

Along with the sage’s bowl and staff,

Who are completely restrained in body, speech, and mind,

And who show ascetic discipline^[13] in their conduct—

They are also genuine mendicants.

“Both types of genuine mendicants will approach the city of liberation F.126.b

And experience the supreme bliss of liberation.

“As for the other type—those who are disingenuous^[14]—

With their alms bowls and other implements ablaze,

They will be boiled like molten iron

In the hells for four thousand eons.

“The disciplined conduct of some brings happiness;

The disciplined conduct of others is the cause of suffering.

Possessing disciplined conduct is supreme happiness;

Disordered disciplined conduct is suffering.

“One who restrains oneself most excellently through disciplined conduct,

Such a person gains a beautiful outer appearance.

The merit amassed by a person

Who, even for a single day, closely abides by the Vinaya

And places their trust in the training of disciplined conduct

Is without measure.

Accumulate it and bring forth the result of buddhahood!

“Deceiving yourself,

Claiming, ‘I am a mendicant,’

Based merely on the outer appearance

Of bearing the Well-Gone One’s victory banner,^[15]

Yet not abiding by the training,

Is like tying a sword to the trunk of a mad elephant,^[16]

Or like a pregnant woman drinking overly sour liquids.

“The seeds from misdeeds that such a person amasses

In a single day are without measure,

And they only commit

All sorts of harms against themselves.

“Rather than not abiding by the training

While bearing the Well-Gone One’s victory banner,

It would be better if that person were to cast off this outer appearance and remain a householder

The moment they no longer abide by the training.^[17]

“A holder of the outer attributes who does not abide by the training—

This worldly person

Will fail to appeal to anyone’s heart,

And they will become the object of everyone’s disparagement.

“It is explained that, like branches that grow

For a long time from a strong trunk,

If that person has only the outer attributes for a long time,

Reprehensible talk will increase,

And misdeeds too will increase.

“Disciplined conduct is supreme happiness.

Disciplined conduct is the path to liberation.

Disciplined conduct is the field of good qualities.

Disciplined conduct is the cause of buddhahood.

“Disciplined conduct is most supreme.

Protect it like your own eyes!

It is unwise and foolish to cast aside

Disciplined conduct, even if your life is at stake.

“If you lose your life, you will be reborn thereafter, F.127.a

But disciplined conduct, once lost, will not be like that.^[18]

Therefore, Upāli and all you others,

Hold on to it firmly!”

Thus proclaimed the Blessed One, and Upāli and the other mendicants praised what the Blessed One had said.

This completes “The Sūtra on What Mendicants Hold Most Dear.”

Notes

Note that these two lines are in verse even though they are spoken neither by the Buddha nor by Upāli, but by the narrator.
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This refers to the central inner pillar or tree trunk that is said to give life to a stūpa or sacred statue.
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This is likely playing on the word for “vows” (Skt. samvara, Tib. sdom pa), which in both Sanskrit and Tibetan shares a root with “restraint” (Skt. samvṛta, Tib. bsdams pa).
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This is the approximate number of precepts for fully ordained monks. Nuns have roughly one hundred additional precepts, the exact count depending on the lineage.
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Though the Tibetan does not actually make this explicit, we have read “exhausted” here as referring to the afflictions, which are the basis of saṃsāra, becoming depleted. It may reflect a common Pali definition of bhikkhu as being so called due to bhinnakilesattā, “the state of having broken (bhinna) the afflictions (kilesa, Skt. kleśa).” See the respective aṭṭhakathās to the Abhidamma Vibhaṅga (PTS 328) and to the Vimānavatthu (PTS 29, 114, 310) and Petavatthu (PTS 51, 146) in the Khuddakanikāya. This definition is based on a traditional etymological analysis of the word bhikkhu.
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“Arouse wholesomeness” (Tib. dge slong) is a literal translation of the Tibetan term for bhikṣu, rendered throughout as “mendicant.” Note that the Tibetan uses the same verb for “arouse” wholesomeness and “beg for” food, creating a wordplay that is lost in the English translation.
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This passage presents a list of traditional definitions of the term bhikṣu. The first three definitions are traditional etymologies of the word bhikṣu. These are not actual linguistic etymologies but more akin to folk etymologies. They work by using homophones to elucidate a word’s meaning, and they are tied to ancient Indian beliefs about the power of language to both shape and embody reality. Rather than being etymologies, the last five definitions cited in this verse are synonyms that encapsulate the defining characteristics of a bhikṣu. Like the folk etymologies, these lists of synonyms have ancient roots in Buddhist literature.
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This may be a play on the Sanskrit words bhikṣu and vibhūṣaṇa (“adornment”), which sound similar. The Buddha seems to be defining bhikṣu by pointing to an etymology based in wordplay, suggesting that bhikṣu and “adornment” come from the same root (Skt. dhātu) and therefore bhikṣu means “adornment.” Without the original Sanskrit text, we cannot confirm that the word for “adornment” is a semi-homophone to bhikṣu. Thus, while our interpretation remains speculative, it is in accord with the frequent wordplay in the rest of the sūtra. If this interpretation is correct, the Buddha here is adding a new etymology of the word “mendicant” (not found in other discourses) to the list of classic etymological definitions of the term just rehearsed in the preceding paragraph.
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“Color” here probably refers to colored powders applied to the body, such as those used by Hindus for the “bindi” on the forehead.
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While the preceding verse contains wordplay on the meaning of the term bhikṣu, in this list of a mendicant’s adornments, the Buddha instead employs a symbolic mode, playing further on the meaning of “adornment.” Taken literally, the list appears counterintuitive and surprising, since it contains luxurious items that are restricted by a mendicant’s vows. However, the meaning of these items is symbolically inverted from examples of unwholesome indulgence to supremely wholesome characteristics, as the Buddha continues to explain later.
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Note that, as in the case above, these two lines are kept in verse even though they are spoken neither by the Buddha nor by Upāli, but by the narrator.
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The Tibetan skad kyi byings, which we translate as “derivation,” is a grammatical term for the “root” (Skt. dhātu) of a word. If our interpretation is correct, “derivation” (Tib. skad byings, lit. “verbal root”) refers to the Buddha’s deriving the term for “mendicant” (Skt. bhikṣu) from the word for “ornament” (perhaps Skt. vibhūṣaṇa), which is not found among the standard etymologies given for the term in Buddhist literature (#UT22084-072-002-58). Since this derivation is both unique and counterintuitive, Upāli here asks the Buddha for further explanation. Another possible interpretation of skad byings in this context would be “concealed speech,” by which Upāli might refer to the preceding coded series of surprising adornments listed by the Buddha (#UT22084-072-002-59).
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“Ascetic discipline” (Skt. vrata, Tib. brtul zhugs) refers to the twelve ascetic practices (dvādaśadhūtaguṇāḥ, sbyang pa’i yon tan bcu gnyis) regarding food, clothing, and residence. These include practices like begging for alms, wearing castoff clothing, and living in seclusion.
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Degé reads gnyis (“two”) for the number of other types, but our translation follows that of several other Kangyurs (H, KY, J, KQ, N, C) that read gcig (“one”).
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“Bearing the Well-Gone One’s victory banner” refers to wearing monastic robes, which are the outer signs of being a follower of the Buddha.
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Here the reading in Degé is sda, which we emend to sna based on the other Kangyur versions.
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While the Tibetan in most Kangyur versions uses the term for “body” (Tib. gzugs po, lit. “one with form”) here, it carries the same meaning as the term for “form” (Tib. gzugs) or “outer appearance” used in the verses above. We should therefore understand this as referring to the outer appearance of wearing the monastic robes. Even though the Comparative Edition does not list this, some Kangyur versions (S, F, and possibly also D) use gzugs bor (lit. “casting off the form”), changing the Tibetan letter pa into ba, since the letters look very similar. Since this explains the additional por/bor syllable, we are following this alternate reading.
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A possible understanding of these two lines is that if we lose our life, we will regain it in rebirth, but if we lose our discipline, we may not get a chance to regain it, particularly if we are not reborn in a precious human body with the opportunity to be liberated. “Once lost” has been read by implication in the second line of this verse. Literally the Tibetan here might be rendered, “You are reborn after you lose your life, but not so after disciplined conduct.”
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