[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [The Pāli Canon](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada) › [Basket of Discourses](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.sp) › [The Minor Collection](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.sp.khuddaka) › [Dhammapada](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.sp.khuddaka.dhammapada) › [Commentary on the Dhammapada](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.sp.khuddaka.dhammapada!dhammapadatthakatha) › 5.11.p6 # Verses on Dhamma 5.11.p6 Dhammapadaṭṭhakathā 5.11.p6 - **Language:** Pāli ### [5.11.p6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.sp.khuddaka.dhammapada!dhammapadatthakatha.5.11.p6) Itare tassa kiriyaṃ disvā ājīvakānaṃ ārocayiṃsu. Taṃ sutvā ājīvakā ‘‘aho bhāriyaṃ kammaṃ, sace samaṇassa gotamassa sāvakā jāneyyuṃ, ‘ājīvakā gūthaṃ khādamānā vicarantī’ti amhākaṃ akittiṃ pakāseyyuṃ, nāyaṃ amhākaṃ anucchaviko’’ti taṃ attano santikā nīhariṃsu. So tehi nīharito mahājanassa uccārakaraṇaṭṭhāne pattharito eko piṭṭhipāsāṇo atthi. Tasmiṃ mahantaṃ soṇḍi, piṭṭhipāsāṇaṃ nissāya mahājanassa uccārakaraṇaṭṭhānaṃ. So tattha gantvā rattiṃ gūthaṃ khāditvā mahājanassa sarīravalañjanatthāya āgamanakāle ekena hatthena pāsāṇassa ekaṃ antaṃ olubbha ekaṃ pādaṃ ukkhipitvā jaṇṇuke ṭhapetvā uddhaṃvātābhimukho mukhaṃ vivaritvā tiṭṭhati. Mahājano taṃ disvā upasaṅkamitvā vanditvā, ‘‘bhante, kasmā ayyo mukhaṃ vivaritvā ṭhito’’ti pucchati. ‘‘Ahaṃ vātabhakkho, añño me āhāro natthī’’ti. Atha ‘‘kasmā ekaṃ pādaṃ jaṇṇuke katvā ṭhitosi, bhante’’ti? ‘‘Ahaṃ uggatapo ghoratapo, mayā dvīhi pādehi akkantā pathavī kampati, tasmā ekaṃ pādaṃ ukkhipitvā jaṇṇuke ṭhapetvā ṭhitomhi. Ahañhi rattindivaṃ ṭhitakova vītināmemi, na nisīdāmi, na nipajjāmī’’ti. Manussā nāma yebhuyyena vacanamattameva saddahanti, tasmā ‘‘aho acchariyaṃ, evarūpāpi nāma tapassino honti, na no evarūpā diṭṭhapubbā’’ti yebhuyyena aṅgamagadhavāsino saṅkhubhitvā upasaṅkamitvā māse māse mahantaṃ sakkāraṃ abhiharanti. So ‘‘ahaṃ vātameva bhakkhāmi, na aññaṃ āhāraṃ. Aññañhi me khādantassa tapo nassatī’’ti tehi abhihaṭaṃ na kiñci icchati. Manussā ‘‘mā no, bhante, nāsetha, tumhādisena ghoratapena paribhoge kate amhākaṃ dīgharattaṃ hitāya sukhāya saṃvattatī’’ti punappunaṃ yācanti. Tassa añño āhāro na ruccati. Mahājanassa pana yācanāya pīḷito tehi ābhatāni sappiphāṇitādīni kusaggena jivhagge ṭhapetvā ‘‘gacchatha, alaṃ vo ettakaṃ hitāya sukhāya cā’’ti uyyojesi. Evaṃ so pañcapaññāsa vassāni naggo gūthaṃ khādanto kese luñcanto bhūmiyaṃ sayamāno vītināmesi. > Now the public jakes was a pool of considerable size, formed by a depression in the surface of a flat rock. When Jambuka had been expelled by the Ājīvakas, he used to go by night to the public jakes and eat filth. When people came to ease themselves, he would stand leaning with one hand on one side of the rock, with one foot raised and resting on his knee, with his mouth wide open, facing in the direction of the wind. When people saw him, they would approach and salute him and ask him, “Reverend Sir, why does your noble self stand there with mouth wide open?” “I am a wind-eater,” Jambuka would reply; “I have no other food.” “But, Reverend Sir, why do you stand with one foot resting on your knee?” “I am a man who practices cruel austerities, dreadful austerities. If I walk with my two feet, the earth quakes. Therefore I stand with one foot resting on my knee. I spend my life in a standing posture, never sitting and never lying down.” > — Eugene Watson Burlingame 1921, Buddhist Legends (Harvard Oriental Series 28–30) > For the most part men believed whatever he said. Therefore all the inhabitants of Aṅga and Magadha were greatly agitated and said, “Oh, how wonderful are such ascetics as these! Never before have we seen such ascetics!” And month after month they brought him abundant food. But he was unwilling to accept anything they brought him and said, “I eat only the wind. I have no other food; for were I to eat any other food, it would make an end of my austerities.” But the people replied, “Reverend Sir, do not destroy us. If only an austere ascetic like you would partake of food at our hands, it would insure our welfare and salvation for a long period of time.” They asked him repeatedly, but other food did not please him. But finally, under the pressure of their entreaties, he placed on the tip of his tongue with the tip of a blade of kusa grass some butter, honey, and molasses they brought him, and dismissed them with the following words, “Go your way now; this will suffice to your welfare and salvation.” In this manner he spent fifty-five years, going naked, eating excrement, tearing out his hair, and making his bed on the ground. > — Eugene Watson Burlingame 1921, Buddhist Legends (Harvard Oriental Series 28–30) - [Previous: 5.11.p5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.sp.khuddaka.dhammapada!dhammapadatthakatha.5.11.p5) - [Next: 5.11.p7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.sp.khuddaka.dhammapada!dhammapadatthakatha.5.11.p7) - [Up: 5.11](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.sp.khuddaka.dhammapada!dhammapadatthakatha.5.11) ## Translations (1) - [Buddhist Legends (Harvard Oriental Series 28–30)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.sp.khuddaka.dhammapada!dhammapadatthakatha~en-burlingame.5.11.p14) — Eugene Watson Burlingame 1921, English ## Linked texts (1) - [Dhammapada](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.sp.khuddaka.dhammapada.69) — Pāli --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.sp.khuddaka.dhammapada!dhammapadatthakatha.5.11.p6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.sp.khuddaka.dhammapada!dhammapadatthakatha.5.11.p6) · Pramāṇa