145. The brahman Sangarāva said to the Lord: “Good Gotama, we brahmans perform the sacrifice and encourage others to do so. Whoever does this creates much good that benefits many people. But one who goes forth from home into homeless life as a monk only benefits himself, only calms himself, leads only himself to Nirvana. I say that such a person is practicing something that benefits only himself.”
And the Lord said: “Well, brahman, I will ask you a question, answer as you think fit. Let us say a Tathāgata arises in the world, a Noble One, a fully enlightened Buddha, with perfect knowledge and conduct, happily attained, a knower of the worlds, a guide unsurpassed for people to be tamed, a teacher of gods and humans, a Buddha, the Lord. And then he says: ‘Come! By my own power of realization I have attained great happiness as a result of this practice, this way. You practice it too! By your own powers of realization you too will attain great happiness as a result of this practice.’ Thus, this teacher teaches Dhamma to many hundreds, many thousands, many hundreds of thousands of such people. Now brahman, since this is so, is this going forth into the homeless life as a monk a practice that benefits only one person or many people?”
“Good Gotama, it is a practice that benefits many people.”
A.I,168 (AN 3.60)
No comments:
Post a Comment