27 02 2012 LESSON 537 The Dhammapada Verses and Stories
Dhammapada Verse 83 Pancasatabhikkhu
Vatthu The Wise Are Tranquil
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LESSONS 537
Practice a Sutta a Day Keeps Dukkha Away
Verse 83. The Wise Are Tranquil
Everything the good renounce,
the peaceful chatter not of fond delights,
and whether touched by pleasure or pain
nor joy or woe in the wise is seen.
Explanation: The noble and wise persons are
not attached to anything whatsoever in the world. The disciplined persons do
not talk desiring worldly things, material benefits or sensual delights.
Whatever fortune or ill-fortune may touch them, they remain calm, neither
depressed or elated.
Dhammapada Verse 83
Pancasatabhikkhu Vatthu
Sabbattha ye sappurisa cajanti
na kamakama lapayanti santo
sukhena phuttha atha va dukhena
na uccavacam pandita dassayanti.
Verse 83: Indeed, the virtuous give up all
(i.e., attachment to the five khandhas, etc.); the virtuous (lit., the
tranquil) do not talk with sensual desire; when faced with joy or sorrow, the
wise do not show elation or depression.
The Story of Five Hundred Bhikkhus
While residing at the Jetavana monastery, the
Buddha uttered Verse (83) of this book, with reference to five hundred
bhikkhus.
At the request of a brahmin from Veranja, the
Buddha was, on one occasion, staying at Veranja with five hundred bhikkhus.
While they were at Veranja, the brahmin failed to look after them. The people
of Varanja, who were then facing a famine, could offer very little to the
bhikkhus when they went on their rounds for alms-food. In spite of all these
hardships, the bhikkhus were not disheartened; they were quite contented with
the small amount of shrivelled grain which the horse-traders offered them
daily. At the end of the vasa, after informing the brahmin from Veranja, the
Buddha returned to the Jetavana monastery, accompanied by the five hundred
bhikkhus. The people of Savatthi welcomed them back with choice food of all
kinds.
A group of people living with the bhikkhus,
eating whatever was left over by the bhikkhus, ate greedily like true gluttons
and went to sleep after their meals. On waking up, they were shouting, singing
and dancing, thus making themselves a thorough nuisance. When the Buddha came
in the evening to the congregation of bhikkhus, they reported to him about the
behaviour of those unruly persons, and said, “These people living on the
leftovers were quite decent and well-behaved when all of us were facing
hardship and famine in Veranja. Now that they have enough good food they are
going about shouting, singing and dancing, and thus make themselves a thorough
nuisance. The bhikkhus, however, behave themselves here just as they were in
Veranja”.
To them the Buddha replied, “It is in
the nature of the foolish to be full of sorrow and feel depressed when things
go wrong, and to be full of gladness and feel elated when things go well. The
wise, however, can withstand the ups and downs of life.”
Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:
| Verse 83: Indeed, the virtuous give up all (i.e., attachment to the five khandhas, etc.); the virtuous (lit., the tranquil) do not talk with sensual desire; when faced with joy or sorrow, the wise do not show elation or depression. |