Ud 3.6 - Pilinda Sutta: Pilinda
Translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Source: https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/ud/ud.3.06.than.html
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Copyright: ©2012 Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
License notice: The text of this page ("Pilinda Sutta: Pilinda", by Thanissaro Bhikkhu) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. To view a copy of the license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. Documents linked from this page may be subject to other restrictions.
Attribution: ©2012 Thanissaro Bhikkhu. The text of this page ("Pilinda Sutta: Pilinda", by Thanissaro Bhikkhu) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. To view a copy of the license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. Documents linked from this page may be subject to other restrictions. Transcribed from a file provided by the translator. Last revised for Access to Insight on 30 August 2012. How to cite this document (a suggested style): "Pilinda Sutta: Pilinda" (Ud 3.6), translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight (BCBS Edition), 30 August 2012, https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/ud/ud.3.06.than.html . Alternate format:
Changes: Presentation only: original HTML markup reflowed into plain text; wording, numbering and source repetitions retained. No repetitions expanded.
Completeness: ABBREVIATED. Every source-unit character is preserved, including introductions, notes and verse structure. Thanissaro's collection-level note explicitly states that repetitions were cut: https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/about.html. This is evidence about the translation method, not an assertion that every individual unit contains an omission; no repetitions reconstructed.

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Rājagaha at the Bamboo Grove, the Squirrels' refuge. Now at on that occasion Ven. Pilindavaccha went around addressing the monks as if they were outcastes.

So a large number of monks went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, bowed down to him and sat to one side. As they were sitting there they said to him, "Lord, Ven. Pilindavaccha goes around addressing the monks as if they were outcastes."

Then the Blessed One told a certain monk, "Come, monk. In my name, call Pilindavaccha, saying, 'The Teacher calls you, friend Vaccha.'"

Responding, "As you say, lord," to the Blessed One, the monk went to Ven. Pilindavaccha and on arrival said to him, "The Teacher calls you, friend Vaccha."

Responding, "As you say, my friend," to the monk, Ven. Pilindavaccha went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down to him, sat to one side. As he was sitting there, the Blessed One said to him, "Is it true, Pilindavaccha, that you go around addressing the monks as if they were outcastes?"

"Yes, lord."

Then the Blessed One, having directed attention to Ven. Pilindavaccha's previous lives, said to the monks, "Don't take offense at the monk Vaccha. It's not out of inner hatred that he goes around addressing the monks as if they were outcastes. For 500 consecutive lifetimes the monk Vaccha has been born in brahman families. For a long time he has been accustomed to addressing people as outcastes. That's why he goes around addressing the monks as if they were outcastes."

Then, on realizing the significance of that, the Blessed One on that occasion exclaimed:

 In whom there's no deceit or conceit, his greed ended, unpossessive, free from longing, his anger dispelled, his mind unbound:[1] He's a contemplative. He is a brahman : a monk. 

Note

1.

The first part of this verse is nearly identical with the first part of a verse in Sn 3.4 (verse 469 in the PTS edition).