One Useful Verse Is Better Than A Thousand Useless Verses
The Story of Bahiyadaruciriya
Chapter 8: The Thousands • Verse 2
The Story of Bahiyadaruciriya
Chapter 8: The Thousands • Verse 2
Better than a thousand useless verses is one useful verse, hearing which one attains peace.
While residing at the Jetavana Monastery, the Buddha spoke this verse with reference to Bahiyadaruciriya.
A group of merchants put out to sea, and their ship was wrecked. All of them drowned except one, who clung to a plank and eventually came ashore at the port of Supparaka.
Having nothing to wear, he tied a piece of bark around his body, took a bowl, and sat where people could see him. Passers-by gave him rice and gruel, and some, taking him for a holy man, paid him respect.
Some brought him clothes, but he refused them, fearing that if he wore clothes people would respect him less. And because some people said he was an Arahat, he mistakenly came to believe that he really was one. Because he wore bark (daru) as clothing, he became known as Bahiyadaruciriya.
One night Mahabrahma came to him and told him that he was not an Arahat, and did not even have the qualities that make one an Arahat. Bahiya admitted this, saw that he had done great wrong, and asked whether there was anyone in the world who truly was an Arahat.
Mahabrahma told him that in Savatthi lived a Teacher, Gotama Buddha, an Arahat, perfectly self-enlightened.
Bahiya made the journey of a hundred and twenty leagues in a single night. He found the Buddha on his alms-round with other monks, followed him respectfully, and begged him to teach the Dhamma.
The Buddha replied that it was not the time for a discourse while they were on the alms-round. Knowing that Bahiya was overwhelmed with joy after his long journey, he wanted him to grow calm first so that he could take in the Dhamma properly.
But Bahiya kept pleading, saying that no one could know what danger might come to the Buddha's life or his own. So, standing in the road, the Buddha taught him: in what is seen, let there be only the seen; in what is heard, only the heard; in what is smelled, tasted, or touched, only that; and in what is thought, only the thought.
On hearing this, Bahiya attained Arahatship and asked to join the Sangha. The Buddha told him to obtain robes, a bowl, and the other requisites. On his way to get them, Bahiya was gored to death by a cow, which was really a female evil spirit in the form of a cow.
When the Buddha and the monks came out after their meal, they found Bahiya lying dead on a rubbish heap. At the Buddha's direction, the monks cremated his body and enshrined his remains in a stupa.
Back at the Jetavana Monastery, the Buddha told the monks that Bahiya had realized Nibbana, and that among his disciples he was foremost in the swiftness of his attainment. Puzzled, the monks asked when Bahiya had become an Arahat, and the Buddha said it was while he listened to the Buddha's brief instruction on the road.
When the monks wondered how one could become an Arahat after hearing just a few sentences, the Buddha told them that the number of words or the length of a teaching does not matter if it truly benefits the listener.
The Story of Bahiyadaruciriya
Chapter 8: The Thousands • Verse 2
Better than a thousand useless verses is one useful verse, hearing which one attains peace.
While residing at the Jetavana Monastery, the Buddha spoke this verse with reference to Bahiyadaruciriya.
A group of merchants put out to sea, and their ship was wrecked. All of them drowned except one, who clung to a plank and eventually came ashore at the port of Supparaka.
Having nothing to wear, he tied a piece of bark around his body, took a bowl, and sat where people could see him. Passers-by gave him rice and gruel, and some, taking him for a holy man, paid him respect.
Some brought him clothes, but he refused them, fearing that if he wore clothes people would respect him less. And because some people said he was an Arahat, he mistakenly came to believe that he really was one. Because he wore bark (daru) as clothing, he became known as Bahiyadaruciriya.
One night Mahabrahma came to him and told him that he was not an Arahat, and did not even have the qualities that make one an Arahat. Bahiya admitted this, saw that he had done great wrong, and asked whether there was anyone in the world who truly was an Arahat.
Mahabrahma told him that in Savatthi lived a Teacher, Gotama Buddha, an Arahat, perfectly self-enlightened.
Bahiya made the journey of a hundred and twenty leagues in a single night. He found the Buddha on his alms-round with other monks, followed him respectfully, and begged him to teach the Dhamma.
The Buddha replied that it was not the time for a discourse while they were on the alms-round. Knowing that Bahiya was overwhelmed with joy after his long journey, he wanted him to grow calm first so that he could take in the Dhamma properly.
But Bahiya kept pleading, saying that no one could know what danger might come to the Buddha's life or his own. So, standing in the road, the Buddha taught him: in what is seen, let there be only the seen; in what is heard, only the heard; in what is smelled, tasted, or touched, only that; and in what is thought, only the thought.
On hearing this, Bahiya attained Arahatship and asked to join the Sangha. The Buddha told him to obtain robes, a bowl, and the other requisites. On his way to get them, Bahiya was gored to death by a cow, which was really a female evil spirit in the form of a cow.
When the Buddha and the monks came out after their meal, they found Bahiya lying dead on a rubbish heap. At the Buddha's direction, the monks cremated his body and enshrined his remains in a stupa.
Back at the Jetavana Monastery, the Buddha told the monks that Bahiya had realized Nibbana, and that among his disciples he was foremost in the swiftness of his attainment. Puzzled, the monks asked when Bahiya had become an Arahat, and the Buddha said it was while he listened to the Buddha's brief instruction on the road.
When the monks wondered how one could become an Arahat after hearing just a few sentences, the Buddha told them that the number of words or the length of a teaching does not matter if it truly benefits the listener.