1.9 The Story about the Elder Nanda
Nandattheravatthu

“Just as the rain can penetrate,” {1.115} this Dhamma teaching was given by the Teacher while he was in residence at Jetavana with reference to venerable Nanda.

9a Nanda Becomes a Bhikkhu

For after the Teacher had set in motion the glorious Wheel of the Dhamma, he went forth to Rājagaha and took up his residence at Veḷuvana. Thereupon his father, the great king Suddhodana, sent ten ambassadors to him, one after the other, each with a retinue of a thousand men, saying to them: “Fetch my son here and show him to me [28.218] before my face.” After nine ambassadors had gone there, attained Arahatship, and failed to return, Elder Kāḷa Udāyī went there and attained Arahatship. And knowing that it was the proper time for the Teacher to go, he described the beauties of the journey and conducted the Teacher with his retinue of twenty thousand Arahats to Kapilapura. And there, in the company of his kinsfolk, the Teacher, taking a shower of rain for his text, related the Birth Story about Vessantara. BG: Ja 547. On the following day he entered the city for alms. By the recitation of the verse: “One should strive and not be heedless,” BG: Dhp 168. he established his father in the fruition of Stream-entry; and by the recitation of the verse: “One should live by Dhamma,” BG: Dhp 169. he established Mahā Pajāpatī in the fruition of Stream-entry and his father in the fruition of Once-returning. And at the end of the meal, with reference to the praise bestowed on him by the mother of Rāhula, he related the Birth Story about the Kinnara Canda. BG: Ja 485.

On the following day, while the ceremonies of Prince Nanda’s consecration, house-warming, and marriage were in progress, the Teacher entered the house for alms, placed his bowl in Prince Nanda’s hands, and wished him good luck. Then, rising from his seat, he departed without taking his bowl from the hands of the prince. Out of reverence for the Realised One, Prince Nanda did not dare say: “Venerable Sir, receive your bowl,” but thought within himself: “He will take his bowl at the head of the stairs.” But even when the Teacher reached the head of the stairs, he did not take his bowl. Thought Nanda: “He will take his bowl at the foot of the stairs.” But the Teacher did not take his bowl even there. {1.116} Thought Nanda: “He will take his bowl in the palace court.” But the Teacher did not take his bowl even there. Prince Nanda desired greatly to return to his bride, and followed the Teacher much against his own will. But so great was his reverence for the Teacher that he did not dare say: “Receive your bowl,” but continued to follow the Teacher, thinking to himself: “He will take his bowl here! He will take his bowl there!”

At that moment they brought word to his bride Janapada Kaḷyāṇī: AJ: the name means Beauty of the Country. “My lady, the Fortunate One has taken Prince Nanda away with him; it is his purpose to deprive you of him.” Thereupon Janapada Kaḷyāṇī, with tears streaming down her face and hair half-combed, ran after Prince Nanda as fast as she could [28.219] and said to him: “Noble sir, please return quickly.” Her words caused a quiver in Nanda’s heart; but the Teacher, without so much as taking his bowl, led him to the monastery and said to him: “Nanda, would you like to go forth?” So great was Prince Nanda’s reverence for the Buddha that he refrained from saying: “I do not wish to go forth,” and said instead: “Yes, I should like to go forth.” The Teacher said: “Well then, let Nanda go forth.” Thus it happened that on the third day after the Teacher’s arrival at Kapilapura he caused Nanda to go forth.

On the seventh day the mother of Rāhula adorned Prince Rāhula and sent him to the Fortunate One, saying: “Dear son, go look upon this ascetic, possessed of a retinue of twenty thousand ascetics, possessed of a body of the hue of gold, possessed of the beauty of form of Mahā Brahma. This ascetic is your father. To him once belonged great stores of treasure. From the time of his Great Renunciation we have not seen him. Ask him for this your inheritance, saying: ‘Dear father, I am a royal prince, and so soon as I shall receive the ceremonial consecration, I shall become a Universal Monarch. I have need of wealth; bestow wealth upon me; for to a son belongs the wealth which formerly belonged to his father.’”

Accordingly Prince Rāhula went to the Fortunate One. The moment he saw him he conceived a warm affection for his father, and his heart rejoiced within him. And he said: “Ascetic, pleasant is your shadow,” {1.117} and said much else befitting his own station. When the Fortunate One had finished his meal, he pronounced the words of thanksgiving, arose from his seat, and departed.

Prince Rāhula followed in the footsteps of the Fortunate One, saying: “Ascetic, give me my inheritance; ascetic, give me my inheritance.” The Fortunate One did not repel the prince; even the attendants were unable to prevent the prince from accompanying the Fortunate One. In this manner the prince accompanied the Fortunate One to the grove. Then the thought occurred to the Fortunate One: “The paternal inheritance which this youth seeks inevitably brings destruction in its train. Behold, I will bestow upon him the sevenfold noble inheritance which I received at the foot of the Bodhi tree; I will make him master of an inheritance which transcends the world.”

Therefore the Fortunate One addressed Venerable Sāriputta: “Well then, Sāriputta, let Prince Rāhula go forth.” When, however, Prince Rāhula had gone forth, the king his grandfather was afflicted with great sorrow. Unable to endure his sorrow, [28.220] he made known his sorrow to the Fortunate One and made the following request of him: “It were well, venerable Sir, if the noble bhikkhus did not give the going forth to any youth without the permission of his mother and father.” The Fortunate One granted him this request.

Again one day, as the Fortunate One sat in the royal palace after breakfast, the king, sitting respectfully at one side, said to the Fortunate One: “Venerable Sir, while you were practicing your austerities, a certain Deva approached me and said to me: ‘Your son is dead.’ But I refused to believe him and replied: ‘My son will not die until he attains Awakening.’” The Fortunate One said: “Now will you believe? In a previous existence also, when a Deva showed you bones and said to you: ‘Your son is dead,’ you refused to believe it.” And with reference to this incident he related the The Long Birth Story about Dhammapāla. BG: Ja 447: 4.50-55. At the conclusion of the story the king was established in the fruition of Non-returning.

9b Nanda and the Accharās

When the Fortunate One had thus established his father in the three fruitions, {1.118} he returned once more to Rājagaha, accompanied by the assembly of bhikkhus. Now he had promised Anāthapiṇḍika to visit Sāvatthī, so soon as the great monastery of Jetavana should be completed, and receiving word shortly afterwards that the monastery had been completed, he went to Jetavana and took up his residence there. While the Teacher was thus residing at Jetavana, venerable Nanda, becoming discontented, told his troubles to the bhikkhus, saying: “Friends, I am dissatisfied. I am now living the spiritual life, but I cannot endure to live the spiritual life any longer. I intend to abandon the higher precepts and to return to the lower life, the life of a lay disciple.”

The Fortunate One, hearing of this incident, sent for Venerable Nanda and said this to him: “Nanda, is the report true that you spoke as follows to a large company of bhikkhus: ‘Friends, I am dissatisfied; I am now living the spiritual life, but I cannot endure to live the spiritual life any longer; I intend to abandon the higher precepts and to return to the lower life, the life of a lay disciple’?” – “It is quite true, venerable Sir.” – “But, Nanda, why are you dissatisfied with the spiritual life you are now living? Why can you not endure to live the spiritual life any longer? Why do you intend to abandon the higher precepts and [28.221] to return to the lower life, the life of a lay disciple?” – “Venerable Sir, when I left my house, my noble wife Janapada Kaḷyāṇī, with hair half-combed, took leave of me, saying: ‘Noble sir, please return immediately.’ Venerable Sir, it is because I keep remembering her that I am dissatisfied with the religious life I am now living; that I cannot endure to live the spiritual life any longer; that I intend to abandon the higher precepts and to return to the lower life, the life of a lay disciple.”

Then the Fortunate One took venerable Nanda by the arm, and by psychic power conducted him to the Realm of the Thirty-Three. On the way the Fortunate One pointed out to venerable Nanda in a certain burnt field, seated on a burnt stump, a greedy monkey which had lost her ears and nose and tail in a fire.

When they reached the Realm of the Thirty-Three, he pointed out five hundred pink-footed Accharās who came to wait upon Sakka, the Lord of the Devas. {1.119} And when the Fortunate One had shown venerable Nanda these two sights, he asked him this question: “Nanda, which do you regard as being the more beautiful and fair to look upon and handsome, your noble wife Janapada Kaḷyāṇī or these five hundred pink-footed Accharās?”

“Venerable Sir,” replied Nanda, “as far inferior as this greedy monkey which has lost her ears and nose and tail is to Janapada Kaḷyāṇī, even so far inferior, venerable Sir, is my noble wife Janapada Kaḷyāṇī to these five hundred pink-footed Accharās. In comparison with these Accharās my noble wife does not come into the count; she does not come within a fraction of them, she does not come within a fraction of a fraction of them; on the contrary, these five hundred pink-footed Accharās are infinitely more beautiful and fair to look upon and handsome.”

“Cheer up, Nanda!” replied the Fortunate One. “I guarantee that you will win these five hundred pink-footed Accharās.” Venerable Nanda said: “If, venerable Sir, the Fortunate One guarantees that I shall win these five hundred pink-footed Accharās, in that case, venerable Sir, I shall take the greatest pleasure in living the exalted life of a monastic.”

Then the Fortunate One, taking venerable Nanda with him, disappeared from the Realm of the Thirty-Three and reappeared at Jetavana. Now it was not long before the bhikkhus heard the following report: “It appears that it is in the hope of winning Accharās that venerable Nanda, brother of the Fortunate One, son of his mother’s sister, is living the religious life; it appears that [28.222] the Fortunate One has guaranteed that he shall win five hundred pink-footed Accharās.”

As a result venerable Nanda’s fellow bhikkhus treated him as a hireling and as one bought with a price. And they addressed him accordingly, saying: “It appears that venerable Nanda is a hireling; it appears that venerable Nanda is one bought with a price. It appears that it is in the hope of winning Accharās that he is living the religious life; it appears that the Fortunate One has guaranteed that he shall win five hundred pink-footed Accharās.”

Now venerable Nanda, {1.120} although his fellow bhikkhus despised him, were ashamed of him, and tormented him by calling him “hireling” and “a bought man,” nevertheless, living in solitude, withdrawn from the world, heedful, ardent, resolute, in no long time, even in this life, himself abode in the knowledge, realisation, and attainment of that supreme goal of the spiritual life for the sake of which youth of good families go forth from the household life to the houseless life. This did he know: “Destroyed is rebirth, accomplished is the spiritual life, done is what ought to be done, there is no more of this mundane state, this he knew.” And there was yet another venerable elder numbered among the Arahats.

Now a certain Devatā came by night to the Teacher, illuminating the whole Jetavana; and bowing to the Teacher, thus addressed him: “Venerable Sir, venerable Nanda, son of the sister of the mother of the Fortunate One, by extinction of the pollutants, even in this life, himself abides in the knowledge, realisation, and attainment of freedom from the pollutants, emancipation of the heart, emancipation of the intellect. And there arose within the Fortunate One also knowledge of the following: “Through the destruction of the pollutants, Nanda, without pollutants, freed in mind, freed through wisdom, dwells having known, having directly experienced, and having attained (Nibbāna) himself in this very life.”

In the course of the same night venerable Nanda also approached the Fortunate One, bowed to him, and spoke as follows: “Venerable Sir, I release the Fortunate One from the promise which he made when he, the Fortunate One, guaranteed that I should win five hundred pink-footed Accharās.” The Fortunate One replied: “Nanda, I myself grasped your mind with my own mind and saw: ‘Through the destruction of the pollutants, Nanda, {1.121} without pollutants, freed in mind, freed through wisdom, dwells having known, having directly experienced, and having attained (Nibbāna) himself in this very life.’ Likewise a Devatā informed me of the fact, saying: ‘Through the destruction [28.223] of the pollutants, Nanda, without pollutants, freed in mind, freed through wisdom, dwells having known, having directly experienced, and having attained (Nibbāna) himself in this very life.’ When, therefore, Nanda, you ceased to cling to the things of the world, and your heart was released from the pollutants, at that moment I was released from that promise.” Then the Fortunate One, understanding the matter, uttered the following exalted utterance:

He who has got out of the mud,
who crushed the thorn of sense desire,
who arrived at delusion’s destruction,
in pleasure and pain that monk does not shake.

Now one day the bhikkhus approached venerable Nanda and asked him: “Friend Nanda, aforetime you said: ‘I am dissatisfied.’ Do you say the same thing now?” – “Friends, I am in no wise inclined to the life of a lay disciple.” When the bhikkhus heard his answer, they said: “Venerable Nanda says that which is not true, utters falsehood. In former days he used to say: ‘I am dissatisfied,’ but now says: ‘I am in no wise inclined to the life of a lay disciple.” And forthwith they went and reported the matter to the Fortunate One.

The Fortunate One replied: “Bhikkhus, in former days Nanda’s personality was like an ill-thatched house, but now it has come to be like a well-thatched house. From the day he saw the divine Accharās, he has striven to reach the goal of the duties of one gone forth, {1.122} and now he has done his duty.” So saying, he pronounced the following verses:

13. Yathā agāraṁ ducchannaṁ vuṭṭhī samativijjhati,
evaṁ abhāvitaṁ cittaṁ rāgo samativijjhati.

Just as the rain can penetrate
a house with thatching that is poor,
so also passion penetrates
a mind that is undeveloped.

14. Yathā agāraṁ succhannaṁ vuṭṭhī na samativijjhati,
evaṁ subhāvitaṁ cittaṁ rāgo na samativijjhati.

Just as rain does not penetrate
a house with thatching that is good,
so passion cannot penetrate
a mind that is well-developed.

At the conclusion of the verses many reached the fruition of Stream-entry, and many people had benefit from the teaching.

The bhikkhus began to discuss the incident in the Dhamma Hall: “Friends, the Buddhas are marvelous! Venerable Nanda became dissatisfied with the spiritual life all because of Janapada Kaḷyāṇī; but the Teacher, employing Devaccharās as a lure, won him to complete obedience.”

The Teacher came in and asked them: “Bhikkhus, what is it you are sitting here now talking about?” When they told him, he said: “Bhikkhus, {1.123} this is not the first time Nanda has been won to obedience by the lure of the opposite sex; the same thing happened in a previous existence also.” So saying, he related the following [28.224]

9c Story of the Past: Kappaṭa and the Donkey

Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta reigned in Bārāṇasī, there dwelt at Bārāṇasī a merchant named Kappaṭa. Now Kappaṭa had a donkey which used to carry loads of pottery for him, and every day he used to go a journey of seven leagues. On a certain occasion Kappaṭa loaded his donkey down with a load of pottery and took him to Takkasilā.

While he was engaged in disposing of his wares, he allowed the donkey to run loose. As the donkey wandered along the bank of a ditch, he saw a female of his own species and straightaway went up to her. She gave him a friendly greeting and said to him: “Where have you come from?” – “From Bārāṇasī.” – “On what errand?” – “On business.” – “How big a load do you carry?” – “A big load of pottery.” – “How many leagues do you travel, carrying a big load like that?” – “Seven leagues.” – “In the various places you visit, is there anyone to rub your feet and your back?” – “No.” – “If that’s the case, you must have a mighty hard time.”

Of course animals have no one to rub their feet and their back; she said this merely to join bonds of love between them.

As the result of her talk, the donkey became dissatisfied. After the merchant had disposed of his wares, he returned to the donkey and said to him: “Come, let’s be off.” – “Go yourself; I won’t go.” {1.124} Over and over again the merchant tried with gentle words to persuade him to go; and when, in spite of his efforts, the donkey remained balky, he vented abuse upon him. Finally he thought to himself: “I know a way to make him go,” and pronounced the following verse:

I make a goad for you,
with a sixteen-inch thorn,
I will cut your body,
you should know this, donkey.

When the donkey heard that, he said: “In that case I shall know just what to do to you.” So saying, he pronounced the following verse:

You make a goad for me,
with a sixteen-inch thorn,
I will plant my fore feet,
and kick with my back feet,
and knock your teeth right out,
you should know, Kappaṭa!

When the merchant heard that, he thought to himself: “What can be the reason for his talking thus?” The merchant looked this way and that, and finally his eyes fell upon the female donkey. “Ah!” thought the merchant to himself, “she must have taught him these tricks. I will [28.225] say to the donkey: ‘I will bring you home a mate like that.’ Thus, by employing the lure of the opposite sex, I will make him go.” Accordingly he pronounced the following verse:

A four-footed female, with a pearly face,
having every mark of beauty,
a wife will I bring to you,
you should know this, donkey.

When the donkey heard that, his heart rejoiced, and he replied with the following verse:

A four-footed female, with a pearly face,
having every mark of beauty,
a wife you will bring to me,
you should know, Kappaṭa,
Kappaṭa, I will go further,
(I will go) fourteen leagues a day! {1.125}

“Well then,” said Kappaṭa, “come!” And taking the donkey with him, he went back to the place where he had left the cart.

After a few days the donkey said to him: “Didn’t you say to me: ‘I will bring you a mate’?” The merchant replied: “Yes, I said just that, and I will not break my word; I will bring you home a mate. But I will provide food only for you. It may or may not be enough for both you and your mate, but that is a matter for you alone to decide. After you both have lived together, foals will be born to you. The food I shall give you may or may not be enough for both you and your mate and your foals too, but that is a matter for you alone to decide.” As the merchant spoke these words, the donkey lost his desire.

When the Teacher had ended his lesson, he concluded the Birth Story AJ: not recorded in the present Jātaka collection. as follows: “At that time, bhikkhus, the female donkey was Janapada Kaḷyāṇī, the male donkey was Nanda, and the merchant was I myself. In former times, too, Nanda was won to obedience by the lure of the female sex.”