Dhammapada Verse 225
Buddhapitubrahmana Vatthu
Ahimsaka ye munayo
niccam kayena sarmvuta
te yanti accutam1 thanam
yattha gantva na socare.
Verse 225: The arahats, who do not harm others and are always restrained in
their actions, go to the deathless Nibbana, where there is no sorrow.
1. accutam: changeless; deathless. It does not mean immortality.
The Story of the Brahmin who had been the 'Father of the Buddha'
While residing at the Anjana wood, near Saketa, the Buddha uttered Verse
(225) of this book, with reference to a brahmin, who claimed that the Buddha was
his son.
Once, the Buddha accompanied by some bhikkhus entered the town of Saketa for
alms-food. The old brahmin, seeing the Buddha, went to him and said, "O
son, why have you not allowed us to see you all this long time? Come with me and
let your mother also see you." So saying, he invited the Buddha to his
house. On reaching the house, the wife of the brahmin said the same things to
the Buddha and introduced the Buddha as "Your big brother" to her
children, and made them pay obeisance to him. From that day, the couple offered
alms-food to the Buddha every day, and having heard the religious discourses,
both the brahmin and his wife attained Anagami Fruition in due course.
The bhikkhus were puzzled why the brahmin couple said the Buddha was their
son; so they asked the Buddha. The Buddha then replied, "Bhikkhus, they
called me son because I was a son or a nephew to each of them for one thousand
five hundred existences in the past." The Buddha continued to stay
there, near the brahmin couple for three more months and during that time, both
the brahmin and his wife attained arahatship, and then realized parinibbana.
The bhikkhus, not knowing that the brahmin couple had already become arahats,
asked the Buddha where they were reborn. To them the Buddha answered:
"Those who have become arahats are not reborn anywhere; they have
realized Nibbana."
Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:
| Verse 225: The arahats, who do not harm others and are
always restrained in their actions, go to the deathless Nibbana, where
there is no sorrow.
|