Buddhism · Sutta Pitaka · Linked Discourses (Saṁyutta)

SN 21.11

With Mahākappina · Mahākappinasutta

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At Sāvatthī. Then Venerable Mahākappina went to the Buddha. The Buddha saw him coming off in the distance, and addressed the mendicants: “Mendicants, do you see that monk coming—white, thin, with a pointy nose?” “Yes, sir.” “That mendicant is very mighty and powerful. It’s not easy to find an attainment that he has not already attained. And he has realized the supreme culmination of the spiritual path in this very life. He lives having achieved with his own insight the goal for which gentlemen rightly go forth from the lay life to homelessness.”

Sāvatthiyaṁ viharati. Atha kho āyasmā mahākappino yena bhagavā tenupasaṅkami. Addasā kho bhagavā āyasmantaṁ mahākappinaṁ dūratova āgacchantaṁ. Disvāna bhikkhū āmantesi: “passatha no tumhe, bhikkhave, etaṁ bhikkhuṁ āgacchantaṁ odātakaṁ tanukaṁ tuṅganāsikan”ti? “Evaṁ, bhante”. “Eso kho, bhikkhave, bhikkhu mahiddhiko mahānubhāvo. Na ca sā samāpatti sulabharūpā yā tena bhikkhunā asamāpannapubbā. Yassa catthāya kulaputtā sammadeva agārasmā anagāriyaṁ pabbajanti tadanuttaraṁ brahmacariyapariyosānaṁ diṭṭheva dhamme sayaṁ abhiññā sacchikatvā upasampajja viharatī”ti.

That is what the Buddha said. Then the Holy One, the Teacher, went on to say:

Idamavoca bhagavā. Idaṁ vatvāna sugato athāparaṁ etadavoca satthā:

“The aristocrat is best among people who take clan as the standard. But one accomplished in knowledge and conduct is best among gods and humans.

“Khattiyo seṭṭho janetasmiṁ, ye gottapaṭisārino; Vijjācaraṇasampanno, so seṭṭho devamānuse.

The sun blazes by day, the moon radiates at night, the aristocrat shines in armor, and the brahmin shines in absorption. But all day and all night, the Buddha blazes with glory.”

Divā tapati ādicco, rattimābhāti candimā; Sannaddho khattiyo tapati, jhāyī tapati brāhmaṇo; Atha sabbamahorattiṁ, buddho tapati tejasā”ti. Ekādasamaṁ.