Wisdom Does Not Grow If Mind Wavers & The Wide-Awake Is Unfrightened
The Story of Monk Cittahattha
Chapter 3: The Mind • Verse 7
The Story of Monk Cittahattha
Chapter 3: The Mind • Verse 7
There is no fear for an awakened one, whose mind is not sodden (by lust) nor afflicted (by hate), and who has gone beyond both merit and demerit.
While residing at the Jetavana Monastery, the Buddha spoke these verses with reference to the monk Cittahattha.
A young herdsman of a respectable family, living at Savatthi, went into the forest looking for a lost ox. Finding it at midday and releasing the herds, he grew hungry and thirsty and thought he could get something to eat from the monks at the monastery.
He entered the monastery, bowed to the monks, and stood respectfully to one side. They offered him the food left over from their own meal, and after eating and drinking his fill, he asked whether they had been invited to some house that day. They told him no, that monks always received food this way.
The youth thought to himself that no matter how hard people worked, they never got food so deliciously seasoned, yet the monks ate this way continually. He decided he would become a monk himself, and the monks agreed to receive him into the Sangha.
After his full ordination, he performed his duties and, sharing in the rich offerings of the Buddha's dispensation, soon grew fat and comfortable. Then he thought, "Why should I live on alms-food? I will become a layman again," and returned to his house.
After only a few days of household work, his body grew thin and weak, so he thought, "Why should I endure this suffering any longer? I will become a monk," and was re-ordained. But after a few more days as a monk he grew discontented again and returned to lay life.
In this way he entered and left the Sangha six times in succession, until the monks began calling him Cittahattha, or Thought-Controlled, since he lived entirely under the sway of his thoughts.
Meanwhile, his wife became pregnant. The seventh time he returned from the forest, he went home intending to put on his yellow robe once more. He found his wife asleep, her undergarment fallen off, saliva flowing from her mouth, snoring with her mouth wide open, appearing to him like a swollen corpse.
Grasping the thought that all things in the world are transitory and involved in suffering, and realizing it was because of her that he had never managed to remain steadfast as a monk, he ran from the house at once, binding his robe about him as he ran.
His mother-in-law, seeing him flee toward the monastery, went inside and found her daughter still asleep, and concluded that the sight of her had disgusted him into leaving. She woke her daughter with the news, but the wife, unconcerned, said he would be back again within a few days.
As Cittahattha went on his way, repeating to himself that all things in this world are transitory and full of suffering, he attained the fruit of stream-entry. Reaching the monks, he asked once more to be received into the Sangha. They protested that his head was worn like a grindstone from ordaining so many times, but because he had helped them before, they admitted him once again. Within a few days he attained arahatship, together with the supernatural faculties.
The monks remarked that no doubt he alone would decide when it was time to leave again, since he had stayed unusually long this time. He replied that when his mind was still attached to the world he had gone back and forth, but now that he had renounced attachment, he no longer had any desire to leave.
The monks, thinking he was lying, reported this exchange to the Buddha, who told them, "Yes, monks, when my son's mind was unsteady and he did not know the true doctrine, he went and came. But now he has gone beyond both good and evil."
The Story of Monk Cittahattha
Chapter 3: The Mind • Verse 7
There is no fear for an awakened one, whose mind is not sodden (by lust) nor afflicted (by hate), and who has gone beyond both merit and demerit.
While residing at the Jetavana Monastery, the Buddha spoke these verses with reference to the monk Cittahattha.
A young herdsman of a respectable family, living at Savatthi, went into the forest looking for a lost ox. Finding it at midday and releasing the herds, he grew hungry and thirsty and thought he could get something to eat from the monks at the monastery.
He entered the monastery, bowed to the monks, and stood respectfully to one side. They offered him the food left over from their own meal, and after eating and drinking his fill, he asked whether they had been invited to some house that day. They told him no, that monks always received food this way.
The youth thought to himself that no matter how hard people worked, they never got food so deliciously seasoned, yet the monks ate this way continually. He decided he would become a monk himself, and the monks agreed to receive him into the Sangha.
After his full ordination, he performed his duties and, sharing in the rich offerings of the Buddha's dispensation, soon grew fat and comfortable. Then he thought, "Why should I live on alms-food? I will become a layman again," and returned to his house.
After only a few days of household work, his body grew thin and weak, so he thought, "Why should I endure this suffering any longer? I will become a monk," and was re-ordained. But after a few more days as a monk he grew discontented again and returned to lay life.
In this way he entered and left the Sangha six times in succession, until the monks began calling him Cittahattha, or Thought-Controlled, since he lived entirely under the sway of his thoughts.
Meanwhile, his wife became pregnant. The seventh time he returned from the forest, he went home intending to put on his yellow robe once more. He found his wife asleep, her undergarment fallen off, saliva flowing from her mouth, snoring with her mouth wide open, appearing to him like a swollen corpse.
Grasping the thought that all things in the world are transitory and involved in suffering, and realizing it was because of her that he had never managed to remain steadfast as a monk, he ran from the house at once, binding his robe about him as he ran.
His mother-in-law, seeing him flee toward the monastery, went inside and found her daughter still asleep, and concluded that the sight of her had disgusted him into leaving. She woke her daughter with the news, but the wife, unconcerned, said he would be back again within a few days.
As Cittahattha went on his way, repeating to himself that all things in this world are transitory and full of suffering, he attained the fruit of stream-entry. Reaching the monks, he asked once more to be received into the Sangha. They protested that his head was worn like a grindstone from ordaining so many times, but because he had helped them before, they admitted him once again. Within a few days he attained arahatship, together with the supernatural faculties.
The monks remarked that no doubt he alone would decide when it was time to leave again, since he had stayed unusually long this time. He replied that when his mind was still attached to the world he had gone back and forth, but now that he had renounced attachment, he no longer had any desire to leave.
The monks, thinking he was lying, reported this exchange to the Buddha, who told them, "Yes, monks, when my son's mind was unsteady and he did not know the true doctrine, he went and came. But now he has gone beyond both good and evil."