Dhammapada Verses 318 and 319
Titthiyasvaka Vatthu
Avajje vajjamatino
vajje cavajjadassi no
micchaditthisamada
satta gacchanti duggatim.
Vajjanca vajjato natva
avajjanca avajjato
sammaditthisamadana
satta gacchanti suggatim.
Verse 318: Beings who imagine wrong in what is not wrong, who do not see
wrong in what is wrong, and who hold wrong views go to a lower plane of
existence (duggati).
Verse 319: Beings who know what is wrong as wrong. who know what is right as
right, and who hold right views go to a happy plane of existence (suggati).
The Story of the Disciples of Non-Buddhist Ascetics
While residing at the Nigrodarama monastery, the Buddha uttered Verses (318)
and (319) of this book, with reference to some disciples of the Titthis
(non-Buddhist ascetics).
The disciples of the Titthis did not want their children to mix with the
children of the followers of the Buddha. They often told their children,
"Do not go to the Jetavana monastery, do not pay obeisance to the bhikkhus
of the Sakyan clan." On one occasion, while the Titthi boys were playing
with a Buddhist boy near the entrance to the Jetavana monastery, they felt very
thirsty. As the children of the disciples of the Titthis had been told by their
parents not to enter a Buddhist monastery, they asked the Buddhist boy to go to
the monastery and bring some water for them. The young Buddhist boy went to pay
obeisance to the Buddha after he had had a drink of water, and told the Buddha
about his friends who were forbidden by their parents to enter a Buddhist
monastery. The Buddha then told the boy to tell the non-Buddhist boys to come
and have water at the monastery. When those boys came, the Buddha gave them a
discourse to suit their various dispositions. As a result, those boys became
established in faith in the Three Gems i.e., the Buddha, the Dhamma and the
Samgha.
When the boys went home, they talked about their visit to the Jetavana
monastery and about the Buddha teaching them the Three Gems. The parents of the
boys, being ignorant, cried, "Our sons have been disloyal to our faith,
they have been ruined," etc. Some intelligent neighbours advised the
wailing parents to stop weeping and to send their sons to the Buddha. Somehow,
they agreed and the boys as well as their parents went to the Buddha.
The Buddha knowing why they had come spoke to them in verse as
follows:
| Verse 318: Beings who imagine wrong in what is not
wrong, who do not see wrong in what is wrong, and who hold wrong views
go to a lower plane of existence (duggati). |
| |
| Verse 319: Beings who know what is wrong as wrong.
who know what is right as right, and who hold right views go to a
happy plane of existence (suggati). |
At the end of the discourse all those people came to be established in faith
in the Three Gems, and after listening to the Buddha's further discourses, they
subsequently attained Sotapatti Fruition.
End of Chapter Twenty-Two: Niraya