Dhammapada Verses 11 and 12
Sariputtatthera Vatthu
Asare1saramatino
sare2casaradassino
te saram3 nadhigacchanti
micchasankappagocara.
Saranca sarato natva
asaranca adhigacchanti
te saram adhigacchanti
sammasankappagocara.
Verse 11: They take untruth for truth; they take truth for untruth; such
persons can never arrive at the truth, for they hold wrong views.
Verse 12: They take truth for truth; they take untruth for untruth; such
persons arrive at the truth, for they hold right views.
1. asare: lit., essenceless; according to the Commentary, wrong view,
i.e., untruth.
2. sare: lit., essence; according to the Commentary, right view, i.e.
, truth.
3. siram: Truth — According to the Commentary, essence of the
Dhamma. The essence of the Dhamma comprises sila (moral precepts or
morality), samadhi (concentration), panna (knowledge), vimutti (liberation),
vimutti-nanadasasana (Knowledge of and Insight into liberation), haramattha
(ultimate truth) and Nibbana.
The Story of Thera Sariputta
While residing at Veluvana, the Bamboo Grove monastery in Rajagaha, the
Buddha uttered Verses (11) and (12) of this book, with reference to Sanjaya, a
former teacher of the Chief Disciples, the Venerable Sariputta and the Venerable
Moggallana (formerly Upatissa and Kolita).
Upatissa and Kolita were two youths from Upatissa and Kolita, two villages
near Rajagaha. While looking at a show they realized the insubstantiality of
things and they decided to search for the way to liberation. First, they
approached Sanjaya. the wandering ascetic at Rajagaha, but they were not
satisfied with his teachings. So they went all over Jambudipa and came back to
their native place, after searching for, but not finding the true dhamma. At
this point they came to an understanding that one who found the true dhamma
should inform the other.
One day, Upatissa came across Thera Assaji and learned from him the substance
of the dhamma. The thera uttered the verse beginning with "Ye dhamma
hetuppabhava", meaning, "those phenomena which proceed from a
cause". Listening to the verse, Upatissa became established in the
Sotapatti Magga and Phala. Then, as promised, he went to his friend Kolita,
explained to him that he, Upatissa, had attained the state of Deathlessness and
repeated the verse to his friend. Kolita also become established in Sotapatti
Fruition at the end of the verse. They both remembered their former teacher and
so went to Sanjaya and said to him, "We have found one who could point out
the Path to Deathlesseness; the Buddha has appeared in the world; the Dhamma has
appeared; the Sangha has appeared... Come, let us go to the Teacher." They
had hoped that their former teacher would go along with them to the Buddha and
by listening to the discourses he, too, would come to realize Magga and Phala.
But Sanjaya refused.
So Upatissa and Kolita, with two hundred and fifty followers, went to the
Buddha, at Veluvana. There, they were initiated and admitted into the Order as
bhikkhus. Upatissa as son of Rupasari became known as Thera Sariputta; Kolita as
son of Moggali became known as Thera Maha Moggallana. On the seventh day after
the initiation Maha Moggallana attained Arahatship. Thera Sariputta achieved the
same a fortnight after initiation. On that day, the Buddha made them his two
Chief Disciples (Agga-Savaka).
The two Chief Disciples then related to the Buddha how they went to the
Giragga festival, the meeting with Thera Assaji and their attainment of
Sotapatti Fruition. They also told the Buddha about their former teacher
Sanjaya, who refused to accompany them. Sanjaya had said, "Having been a
teacher to so many pupils, for me to become his pupil would be like a jar
turning into a drinking cup. Besides, only few people are wise and the majority
are foolish; let the wise go to the wise Gotama, the foolish would still come to
me. Go your way, my pupils."
Thus, as the Buddha pointed out, Sanjaya's false pride was preventing him
from seeing truth as truth; he was seeing untruth as truth and would never
arrive at the real truth.
Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:
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Verse 11: They take untruth for truth; they take
truth for untruth; such persons can never arrive at the truth, for
they hold wrong views.
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Verse 12: They take truth for truth; they take
untruth for untruth; such persons arrive at the truth, for they hold
right views. At the end of the discourse, many people came to be
established in Sotapatti Fruition.
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At the end of the discourse, many people came to be established in Sotapatti
Fruition.