Verses on Dhamma 6.4.p12

6.4.p12

Tāpi te disvā pañcapatiṭṭhitena vanditvā, ‘‘bhante, tumhākaṃ tāva pabbajitakiccaṃ matthakaṃ patta’’nti vatvā satthāraṃ vanditvā ekamantaṃ ṭhitā pabbajjaṃ yāciṃsu. Evaṃ kira vutte ‘‘satthā uppalavaṇṇāya āgamanaṃ cintesī’’ti ekacce vadanti. Satthā pana tā upāsikāyo āha – ‘‘sāvatthiṃ gantvā bhikkhunīupassaye pabbajethā’’ti. Tā anupubbena janapadacārikaṃ caramānā antarāmagge mahājanena abhihaṭasakkārasammānā padasāva vīsayojanasatikaṃ gantvā bhikkhunīupassaye pabbajitvā arahattaṃ pāpuṇiṃsu. Satthāpi bhikkhusahassaṃ ādāya ākāseneva jetavanaṃ agamāsi. Tatra sudaṃ āyasmā mahākappino rattiṭṭhānadivāṭṭhānādīsu ‘‘aho sukhaṃ, aho sukha’’nti udānaṃ udānento vicarati. Bhikkhū bhagavato ārocesuṃ – ‘‘bhante, mahākappino ‘aho sukhaṃ, aho sukha’nti udānaṃ udānento vicarati, attano kāmasukhaṃ rajjasukhaṃ ārabbha kathesi maññe’’ti. Satthā taṃ pakkosāpetvā ‘‘saccaṃ kira tvaṃ, kappina, kāmasukhaṃ rajjasukhaṃ ārabbha udānaṃ udānesī’’ti. ‘‘Bhagavā me, bhante, taṃ ārabbha udānabhāvaṃ vā anudānabhāvaṃ vā jānātī’’ti? Satthā ‘‘na, bhikkhave, mama putto kāmasukhaṃ rajjasukhaṃ ārabbha udānaṃ udāneti, puttassa pana me dhammapīti nāma dhammarati nāma uppajjati, so amatamahānibbānaṃ ārabbha eva udānaṃ udānesī’’ti anusandhiṃ ghaṭetvā dhammaṃ desento imaṃ gāthamāha –

When the women saw the monks, they paid obeisance to them with the Five Rests, and said, “Reverend Sirs, now have you reached the goal of your religious life.” Having so said, they paid obeisance to the Teacher, stood respectfully on one side, and requested to be admitted to the Order. We are told that when they made this request, some of the monks said, “The Teacher thought of the coming of Uppalavaṇṇā.” But the Teacher said to those female lay disciples, “Go to Sāvatthi and enter the religious life in the Convent of Nuns.” So those female lay disciples started out on foot and journeyed from place to place, the populace everywhere offering them hospitality and bestowing honor upon them, and after a journey of a hundred and twenty leagues they reached the Convent of Nuns, were admitted to the Order, and attained Arahatship. The Teacher taking the thousand monks with him, flew through the air to Jetavana.

At Jetavana Venerable Kappina the Great went about the night-quarters and the day-quarters breathing forth the solemn utterance, “Oh happiness! oh happiness!” The monks reported the matter to the Exalted One, saying, “Reverend Sir, Venerable Kappina the Great is going about saying, ‘Oh happiness! oh happiness!’ Presumably he is talking about the happiness of his own rule as king.” The Teacher sent for him and said to him, “Kappina, is it true, as they say, that you are breathing forth utterances regarding the happiness of love and the happiness of rule?” “Reverend Sir, the Exalted One himself knows whether or not I am breathing forth utterances regarding happiness of that kind.”

The Teacher said to the monks, “Monks, it is not with reference to the happiness of ruling that my son is breathing forth solemn utterances. He that drinks the Law delights in the Law. It is with reference to Nibbāna the Deathless that he is breathing forth these solemn utterances of joy.” And having so spoken, the Teacher joined the connection and instructed them in the Law by pronouncing the following Stanza,