Dighanikaya 1.1_24

1.1_24

Tattha kiñcāpi etesu saṃvaccharādīsu samayesu yaṃ yaṃ suttaṃ yasmiṃ yasmiṃ saṃvacchare utumhi māse pakkhe rattibhāge vā divasabhāge vā vuttaṃ, sabbaṃ taṃ therassa suviditaṃ suvavatthāpitaṃ paññāya. Yasmā pana – ‘‘evaṃ me sutaṃ’’ asukasaṃvacchare asukautumhi asukamāse asukapakkhe asukarattibhāge asukadivasabhāge vāti evaṃ vutte na sakkā sukhena dhāretuṃ vā uddisituṃ vā uddisāpetuṃ vā, bahu ca vattabbaṃ hoti, tasmā ekeneva padena tamatthaṃ samodhānetvā ‘‘ekaṃ samaya’’nti āha. Ye vā ime gabbhokkantisamayo, jātisamayo, saṃvegasamayo, abhinikkhamanasamayo, dukkarakārikasamayo, māravijayasamayo, abhisambodhisamayo diṭṭhadhammasukhavihārasamayo, desanāsamayo, parinibbānasamayoti, evamādayo bhagavato devamanussesu ativiya pakāsā anekakālappabhedā eva samayā. Tesu samayesu desanāsamayasaṅkhātaṃ ekaṃ samayanti dīpeti. Yo cāyaṃ ñāṇakaruṇākiccasamayesu karuṇākiccasamayo, attahitaparahitapaṭipattisamayesu parahitapaṭipattisamayo, sannipatitānaṃ karaṇīyadvayasamayesu dhammikathāsamayo desanāpaṭipattisamayesu desanāsamayo, tesupi samayesu aññataraṃ samayaṃ sandhāya ‘‘ekaṃ samaya’’nti āha.

Therein, although whatever discourse was spoken in whichever year, season, month, fortnight, part of the night, or part of the day among these occasions of years and so forth, all that was well known and well determined by the Elder through wisdom; yet, because when it is said: ‘Thus have I heard, in such-and-such a year, in such-and-such a season, in such-and-such a month, in such-and-such a fortnight, in such-and-such a part of the night, or in such-and-such a part of the day’, it is not possible to easily remember, recite, or have it recited, and much would have to be said, therefore, having summed up that meaning in just one phrase, he said ‘at one occasion’. Or else, those occasions of the Blessed One such as the occasion of entering the womb, the occasion of birth, the occasion of spiritual urgency, the occasion of the great renunciation, the occasion of practicing austerities, the occasion of victory over Māra, the occasion of full awakening, the occasion of pleasant abiding in the present life, the occasion of teaching, the occasion of final passing, and so forth, are exceedingly well known among devas and humans as manifold divisions of time. Among those occasions, he indicates ‘at one occasion’ known as the occasion of teaching. And among the occasions of the function of knowledge and the function of compassion, that which is the occasion of the function of compassion; among the occasions of practice for one’s own welfare and practice for the welfare of others, that which is the occasion of practice for the welfare of others; among the occasions of the two duties for those who have gathered, that which is the occasion of Dhamma talk; and among teaching and practice, that which is the occasion of teaching—with reference to a certain occasion even among those occasions, he said ‘at one occasion’.