Ud 7.5 - Ud 7:5 The Dwarf | Lakuṇṭha Sutta
Translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu
Source: https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/Ud/ud7_5.html
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Copyright: Copyright 2014 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, Revised edition 2017
License notice: Copyright 2014 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, Revised edition 2017 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Unported. To see a copy of this license visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. “Commercial” shall mean any sale, whether for commercial or non-profit purposes or entities. Questions about this book may be addressed to Metta Forest Monastery Valley Center, CA 92082-1409 U.S.A. Additional resources More Dhamma talks, books and translations by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu are available to download in digital audio and various ebook formats at dhammatalks.org. Printed copy A paperback copy of this book is available free of charge. To request one, write to: Book Request, Metta Forest Monastery, PO Box 1409, Valley Center, CA 92082 USA.
Attribution: From Handful of Leaves, Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu; https://www.dhammatalks.org/Archive/Writings/Ebooks/SuttaPitaka_251113.epub. Copyright 2014 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, Revised edition 2017 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Unported. To see a copy of this license visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. “Commercial” shall mean any sale, whether for commercial or non-profit purposes or entities. Questions about this book may be addressed to Metta Forest Monastery Valley Center, CA 92082-1409 U.S.A. Additional resources More Dhamma talks, books and translations by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu are available to download in digital audio and various ebook formats at dhammatalks.org. Printed copy A paperback copy of this book is available free of charge. To request one, write to: Book Request, Metta Forest Monastery, PO Box 1409, Valley Center, CA 92082 USA.
Publisher references (not part of the sutta): See also: SN 21:5
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.

Ud 7:5 The Dwarf (Lakuṇṭha Sutta)

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Sāvatthī at Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery. And on that occasion Ven. Bhaddiya the Dwarf, following behind a large number of monks, was going to the Blessed One. From afar, the Blessed One saw Ven. Bhaddiya the Dwarf coming, following behind a large number of monks: ugly, unsightly, stunted, treated with condescension1 by most of the monks. On seeing him, the Blessed One addressed the monks, “Monks, do you see that monk coming from afar, following behind a large number of monks: ugly, unsightly, stunted, treated with condescension by most of the monks?”

“Yes, lord.”

“That, monks, is a monk of great power, great might. The attainment already attained by that monk is not of a sort easily attained. And by means of it he has reached & remains in the supreme goal of the holy life for which clansmen rightly go forth from home into homelessness, knowing & realizing it for himself right in the here-&-now.”

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

  Faultless,
canopied in white,
the single-spoked chariot rolls along.
See him coming, untroubled:
  one whose stream is cut,
  free from bonds.2

Notes

1. The Commentary notes that misbehaving monks liked to stroke his hands and catch hold of his ears.

2. In SN 41:5, Citta the householder explains this verse as follows:

“Faultless stands for virtues.

“Canopied in white stands for release.

“Single-spoked stands for mindfulness.

“Rolls along stands for coming and going.

“Chariot stands for this body composed of the four elements….

“Passion is a trouble; aversion is a trouble; delusion is a trouble. These have been abandoned by a monk whose effluents have ended–their root destroyed, made like a palmyra stump, deprived of the conditions of development, not destined for future arising. That’s why the monk whose effluents have ended is said to be untroubled.

“Him coming stands for the arahant.

“Stream stands for craving. That has been abandoned by a monk whose effluents have ended–its root destroyed, made like a palmyra stump, deprived of the conditions of development, not destined for future arising. That’s why the monk whose effluents have ended is said to be one whose stream is cut.

“Passion is a bond; aversion is a bond; delusion is a bond. These have been abandoned by a monk whose effluents have ended–their root destroyed, made like a palmyra stump, deprived of the conditions of development, not destined for future arising. That’s why the monk whose effluents have ended is said to be free from bonds.” 

SN 21:6 starts with the same prose passage as this udāna but ends with a different verse:

Swans, cranes, & peacocks,
elephants & spotted antelope
all fear the lion
(though) in body there’s no comparison.
In the same way, among human beings,
even if one is small
but endowed in discernment,
one is great for that–
not the fool endowed in physique.