Dhammapada 14.7: 7. Ānandattherapañhavatthu

14.7.p1

Dullabhoti imaṃ dhammadesanaṃ satthā jetavane viharanto ānandattherassa pañhaṃ ārabbha kathesi.

_It is not easy to find._ This religious instruction was given by the Teacher while he was in residence at Jetavana with reference to a question asked by the Elder Ānanda.

14.7.p2

Thero hi ekadivasaṃ divāṭṭhāne nisinno cintesi – ‘‘hatthājānīyo chaddantakule vā uposathakule vā uppajjati, assājānīyo sindhavakule vā valāhakassarājakule vā, usabho goājanīyo dakkhiṇapathetiādīni vadantena satthārā hatthiājānīyādīnaṃ uppattiṭṭhānādīni kathitāni, purisājānīyo pana kahaṃ nu kho uppajjatī’’ti. So satthāraṃ upasaṅkamitvā vanditvā ekamantaṃ nisīditvā etamatthaṃ pucchi. Satthā, ‘‘ānanda, purisājānīyo nāma sabbattha nuppajjati, ujukato pana tiyojanasatāyāme vitthārato aḍḍhateyyasate āvaṭṭato navayojanasatappamāṇe majjhimapadesaṭṭhāne uppajjati. Uppajjanto ca pana na yasmiṃ vā tasmiṃ vā kule uppajjati, khattiyamahāsālabrāhmaṇamahāsālakulānaṃ pana aññatarasmiṃyeva uppajjatī’’ti vatvā imaṃ gāthamāha –

One day as the Elder sat in his day-quarters, he thought to himself, “The Teacher has told us whence come well-bred elephants, horses, and bullocks. ‘Noble elephants,’ said he, ‘are bred from the stock of Chaddanta or of Uposatha; noble chargers from the stock of Valāhaka, king of horses; and noble bullocks are raised in the Dekkan.’ But _men_ of noble birth, — now whence pray come they?” He went to the Teacher, saluted him, and asked him about the matter. Said the Teacher, “Ānanda, your ‘men of noble birth’, — it is not everywhere that they are born. But in the Middle Country, three hundred leagues long in a straight line and nine hundred in a circuit, — there they are born. But when they are born, it is not in any family soever that they are born, but only in a family here and there of some Khattiya or Brahman noble.” So saying, he pronounced the following Stanza,

14.7.193

‘‘Dullabho purisājañño, na so sabbattha jāyati;
Yattha so jāyatī dhīro, taṃ kulaṃ sukhamedhatī’’ti.

193. It is not easy to find a man of noble birth; it is not everywhere that such a man is born;
Wherever is born a man that is steadfast, the family prospers wherein he is born.

14.7.193_2

Tattha dullabhoti purisājañño hi dullabho, na hatthiājānīyādayo viya sulabho, so sabbattha paccantadese vā nīcakule vā na jāyati, majjhimadesepi mahājanassa abhivādanādisakkārakaraṇaṭṭhāne khattiyabrāhmaṇakulānaṃ aññatarasmiṃ kule jāyati. Evaṃ jāyamāno yattha so jāyati dhīro uttamapañño sammāsambuddho, taṃ kulaṃ sukhamedhatīti sukhappattameva hotīti attho.

14.7.193_3

Desanāvasāne bahū sotāpattiphalādīni pāpuṇiṃsūti.

14.7.193_4

Ānandattherapañhavatthu sattamaṃ.