6.10 The Story about Listening to the Dhamma
Dhammassavanavatthu
Dhp 85-86
Burlingame: “Few There Be That Find It”
Some people in Sāvatthī went to listen to Dhamma, but were overcome by lust, hatred or drowsiness, and none of them gained from it; the Buddha explained that this is quite common amongst people with a verse.
Keywords: Pollutants, Listening to Dhamma
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“Amongst humans few people go beyond,” this Dhamma teaching was given by the Teacher while he was in residence at Jetavana with reference to the subject of listening to the Dhamma.
We are told that the residents of a certain street in Sāvatthī banded themselves together,
On the following day the bhikkhus heard of the incident and discussed it in the Dhamma Hall. The Teacher came in and asked them: “Bhikkhus, what are you sitting here now talking about?” They told him. “Bhikkhus, creatures here in this world are for the most part attached to existence, and live clinging to the realms of existence. Those that go to the other shore are few in number.” And joining the connection and instructing them in the Dhamma, he pronounced the following verses:
85-86. Appakā te manussesu ye janā pāragāmino,
athāyaṁ itarā pajā tīram-evānudhāvati,
ye ca kho sammad-akkhāte Dhamme dhammānuvattino,
te janā pāram-essanti, maccudheyyaṁ suduttaraṁ.
Amongst humans few people go beyond,
the rest of the people run down the bank,
but those who live righteously, conforming
with this well-taught Dhamma, they go beyond
the realm of death, that which is hard to cross.
At the end of the teaching many reached the fruition of Stream-entry and so on.
