Viyahapannatti 14.8.627

14.8.627

"Venerable Sir! Many people say this, speak this, declare this, and explain this to one another: 'Indeed, Ambaḍa the parivrājaka takes food in a hundred houses, and stays in a hundred houses in the city of Kāmpilyapura.' How is this so, Venerable Sir?"
"Indeed, Gautama, that which those many people say, speak, declare, and explain to one another: 'Indeed, Ambaḍa the parivrājaka takes food in a hundred houses, and stays in a hundred houses in the city of Kāmpilyapura,' this matter is true. I too, Gautama, say this, speak this, declare this, and explain this: 'Indeed, Ambaḍa the parivrājaka takes food in a hundred houses, and stays in a hundred houses in the city of Kāmpilyapura.'"
"For what reason, Venerable Sir, is it said: 'Ambaḍa the parivrājaka takes food in a hundred houses, and stays in a hundred houses in the city of Kāmpilyapura'?"
"Gautama! Because of Ambaḍa the parivrājaka's innate goodness, innate tranquility, innate attenuation of anger, pride, deceit, and greed, possession of gentleness and humility, devotion, and tractability, through continuous austerities of fasting for two days at a time, repeatedly raising his arms upwards towards the sun while exposing himself to heat on the sun-facing ground, through auspicious transformation, through praiseworthy intentions, and through purifications of his leśyā, on a certain occasion, with the subsidence-and-destruction of the obscuring karmas, as he carried out investigation, deliberation, search, and inquiry, the power of energy, the power of transformation, and the power of clairvoyance arose in him.
Then, when that power of energy, power of transformation, and power of clairvoyance had arisen in Ambaḍa the parivrājaka, in order to astonish the people, he took food in a hundred houses and stayed in a hundred houses in the city of Kāmpilyapura. For that reason, Gautama, it is said: 'Ambaḍa the parivrājaka takes food in a hundred houses, and stays in a hundred houses in the city of Kāmpilyapura.'"
"Venerable Sir, is Ambaḍa the parivrājaka capable of shaving his head and renouncing the household life for homelessness before the Beloved of the Gods?"
"This matter is not so. Gautama! Ambaḍa the parivrājaka is a śramaṇopāsaka who comprehends jīva and ajīva, understands merit and demerit, is skilled in āsrava, saṃvara, nirjarā, action, foundation, bondage, and liberation; he cannot be led away from the Nirgrantha doctrine even by gods, asuras, nāgas, suvarṇas, yakṣas, rākṣasas, kinnaras, kiṃpuruṣas, garuḍas, gandharvas, mahoragas, and the like; in this Nirgrantha doctrine he is free from doubt, free from longing, free from uncertainty, has attained the goal, grasped the goal, inquired about the goal, comprehended the goal, decided the goal, and is dyed with affection and love to his very marrow: ...
...'O long-lived ones, this Nirgrantha doctrine is the truth, this is the supreme truth, the rest is untruth'; observing the complete poṣadha on the fourteenth, eighth, new-moon, and full-moon days; serving the Nirgrantha śramaṇas with pure and acceptable food, drink, delicacies, and savories, with robes, bowls, blankets, and broom-dusters, with medicine and treatment, with loan of stools, wooden planks, bedding, and grass-mats; cultivating his soul through morality, vows, virtues, abstinences, renunciations, poṣadha fastings, and austerities appropriate to his capacity, he lives [as such] and, firm in his vow, will make an end [of all suffering]."